The Kevin Sheehan Show - WFT's Playoff Push

Episode Date: December 2, 2021

Kevin and Thom today reflect on Washington's 3-game win streak, their current NFC playoff position, and try their best to describe what they've been seeing in WFT's recent run and where it's headed. Kevin talked WFT playoff "scenarios" and specifically discussed how many wins it would take for Washington to get in. Kevin recapped Maryland's loss last night to Virginia Tech, the boys talked Wizards, Brian Kelly to LSU, and RG3's suggestion that he was sexually harassed when he played in Washington.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. All right. The show today is presented by MyBooky. Everybody's trying to cash in on the next best crypto.

But if you want a guaranteed way to double your money, all you need to do is use my promo code, Kevin D.C. At MyBooky. It's simple. Sign up at MyBooky with my promo code Kevin D.C. And your first deposit is immediately doubled all the way up to $1,000. Okay? so you understand, you put in 300, you'll have 600 to gamble with, put in 800, you'll have

1,600 to gamble with, put in 1,000, you'll have 2,000 to gamble with. We're at that important part of the calendar, lots of big college games, and then bowl season where you'll have games every single day if you're primarily a football better. And right now, Washington becoming a pretty good bet here recently, Tommy. And I'll tell you what, very possible, if not like, they will be in the smell test tomorrow. They are catching less than three to the Raiders Sunday. And really, this is a heavily bet public game on the Raiders.

I'm a little bit surprised at that. But the fact that the line is sitting there at two and a half, and I would advocate that you buy the line to three, you know, you pay, you know, minus 115, minus 120 to get it to plus three. Hopefully you don't have to pay more than that. And you don't at my bookie, by the way. I like Washington this week. Let me just get that out there right now.

That's going to start the show here today as I'm reading the spot for my bookie. I like Washington on Sunday against the Raiders buying the half point plus the three. Real quickly, because I'm looking at my bookie's site right now, the odds on the division, a couple of weeks ago, Dallas was like a minus 3,000 favorite to win the division.

They're now minus 1,200, and Washington is plus 670 to win the division. division. That gap is narrowing very much in the NFC East. Anyway, go to MyBooky, MyBooky.ag, mybooky.com. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. If you've got a place you're already betting, who cares? Sign up at MyBooky. Take their free money. Also, if you're a customer of MyBooky, re-up with them so you have a chance to qualify for a lot of their other offers. They've got so many offers on their site. Tommy is with me. I will make up the missed podcast yesterday with a podcast on Saturday.

I did have a guest scheduled, and they bailed at the last minute, and then it got late, and I just bailed on the podcast altogether. You know what I realized, Tom? Monday night football games devastate me for the week. Really? They set you back, Dave? Oh, my God. I am not a complainer when it comes to this stuff.

I don't sit there and tell you, you know, what time I got up and how long my drive was and all of that stuff. Hopefully I don't. It's really, you know, I've tried not. I hear too much of it. You don't. I hear too much of it from people in our business. It drives me nuts. But the Monday night game, it's not just staying up for the Monday night game because I've stayed up, you know, during the year for the conclusion of a Monday night game.

But it's then prepping for the show afterwards. So, you know, I was up prepping for the Tuesday morning show until like, 1 a.m. 115, 130. That's, so that, that sets you back if you're on three hours sleep instead of trying to get five or six, which is normal for me. And so yesterday, when my guest, who I think you will hear on Saturday, bailed, I'm just like, can you do Saturday? And they're like, yeah, I can do Saturday.

And I'm like, good. Let's do that. I'm going to go home and go to sleep, which is what I did. And my wife came home and she goes, what are you doing? I go, I just, I was tired. And I went to sleep in the middle of the day. There you go. There you have.

Are you a nap guy at all? No, I mean, there are times like here in the studio, like I'll doze a little bit, maybe, especially when I'm doing the podcast with you and you're talking, I'll doze occasionally. But no, no, no, I'll tell you what will happen occasionally. Like between the time the radio show ends in the time we start or after we finish in the car sometimes as I'm trying to get caught up on different things on the phone, reading texts, you know, whatever. I will sometimes doze off in the car in the parking lot. That's happened a couple of times. I think, you know, like in the summer when the air conditioning's, you know, the sound of the air conditioning and it's blowing or if it's a beautiful day and I've got the winter.

windows down and there's a breeze, that, that leads to at least, you know, a 10 minute maybe doze off. But no, not a bit... Wow, you're, you sound almost romantic. Not a big neighbor. There's a breeze blowing. You're sitting in the car. Wow. Yeah, real romantic, sitting in a car in a parking lot.

Very touchy feely there. You know what, Tom? I swear to God, I would sleep every single night with every window, you know, in my bedroom open year round. except obviously when it's super hot. But cold doesn't bother me. It helps me sleep. My wife likes the heat.

She's not a big crank the heat person. But 25 degrees, open up those windows, and I think I would sleep much better. I'm not, I can't stand the heat running and a hot place to sleep. I think most people are that way, aren't they? Probably. I don't know. Yeah, I mean, I would much rather deal with. cold and hot. I mean, I can't, I mean, I can't sleep if it's hot in the room. Oh, no. I cannot sleep

if it's hot in the room. I end up, yeah, I end up waking up and it's, it's a disaster. But I'm saying in the middle of winter on a cold night, if I were single and living by myself, the windows would be open. They'd at least be cracked a little bit. Because I, to have that fresh air and to have it chili in the room is much better for me. Anyway. I'll bet your wife goes to sleep before you do. Can't you just crack the window open? I could do that.

And pay the consequences tomorrow and the next day? I don't think that would be fair because she would wake up and she'd say, what's going on in here? How did it get so cold? And then she'd wake me up. Oh, it's not about, I mean, how long you've been married? It's not about fair. Come on.

That's probably true. You know, you're right. It shouldn't be about fair anymore. That's a great attitude. You've already lost that battle. We have so much to talk about today. I was just before I called you to start the show, I was just writing down, God, there's so much going on. And there's a lot that we haven't talked about. And look, the Robert Griffin, the third thing, we're going to talk about today. Because the other day, the news had just hit. I hadn't even watched the video. and there's a lot to this and there's been a lot of follow-up.

I will tell you, I did a poll yesterday, Tom. Did you see it? Did you vote in the poll on RG3? You didn't see this poll. I don't recall. I put out a poll. I voted in today's poll. I put a poll out on Twitter during the radio show yesterday. The RG3 tell-all book titled Surviving Washington comes out in August.

He promises to reveal the dysfunction he experienced in D.C. you going to read it. Now, before I give you the results of that poll, I did contemplate the, you know, possibility of doing a slightly different poll. Like, are you interested in it, you know, somewhat interested, not interested, very interested, to kind of get a better reflection of what people thought of the book, because a lot of people don't read books anyway. You know, and a lot of people on these kinds of things, they're interested in the story, but they're not going to actually read the book. But the bottom line is the results of the poll, 82.5%, 3,500 votes, pretty decent sample size of Washington football fans, 82% said they're not reading the book.

18% said they will read the book. Well, I would suggest you should have followed up with another poll that asked them, have you read any book in the last year? That's my point. And see how close that is. Yeah, that's why I suggested that I was thinking about doing the first. poll in a more, you know, drilled down way. Like, are you interested in what he has to say in the book and doing like very interested,

somewhat interested, not interested at all kind of a thing, rather than asking if they'll actually read the book? But anyway, I do think... People will get it piecemeal. It will get a lot of attention. You know what a lot of people said? People will write about it. People will post stuff on social media about it.

they'll be talk radio about it and people will get bits and morsels of what they need. They don't need to read the book probably to get what they want out of it. A lot of people responded to the poll by saying, I'm not going to read the book, but I'm going to tune into you and Tom and listen to what you guys say about the book, which I understand that. I guess that means we have to read the book, I guess. It looks like we have a responsibility come August. I think so.

My point is, I guess my point is, I don't think that people are, I don't think all these people are lying, and I think it does reflect some level of lack of interest. But I also think, look, I think some people are like very interested in this story. And when it comes out, it will be in the middle of August and games won't be going on, and it'll be a big deal based on what he says if he says anything, you know, that becomes headline worthy. But there is a lot. And you and I have talked about this a lot in recent years. There's a shitload of RG3 fatigue.

I don't even think he realizes how tired people are of his everyday social media inspirational lectures. I don't even – I think he's too narcissistic to understand that. Yeah, I think he is. He's terribly narcissistic. but it's hard for us to measure, you know, that fatigue level outside of our area. You know? I mean, there's still a lot of people outside this sphere of Washington football

that are convinced that the franchise ruined them. Yeah, but I don't think that percentage is very high anymore among the fan base or what's left of it. I think that those people... Not among the fan base, but beyond the fan base. You know, he has two million Twitter followers. He can't ignore that. Right.

So, I guess... Somebody's paying attention. I guess what I'm saying is with our fan base, it was a very, very, as we know, we lived it here every single day, a very, very emotional, passionate, polarizing issue. Very much so. And I don't think it is anymore. I think with our fan base... I think there's an exhaustion level.

You're right. It's not only exhaustion, but it's a recognition of the people that thought he was being wronged after, you know, seven more years of a career that went nowhere, that maybe they were wrong

and it was as much his fault. At the very least, they're willing to, you know, concede that he was as much at fault for it not working as everybody else that they blind. and he blamed. Look, like I referred to him in my column, he's a co-conspirator, okay?

Yeah. I mean, he's not a victim. He's a co-conspirator. Right. Did we just talk about it, or should we wait a little bit longer? Because I do want to get to the sexual harassment stuff, because I thought it was interesting the way he and his wife and even Gary Myers responded to some of the stuff.

We'll do that a little bit later. Let me tell you about today's poll, because I want to start the conversation with some football. talk. Today's poll that I put out there and we ended up taking calls on it and I'm going to ask you this question. What exactly are we watching? What are we witnessing right now with this team having won three games in a row? What's going on here? Is this a team that is surging towards a playoff berth as a good football team? Is it a team that's improved but really, you know, they're not going to make the playoffs, but they've improved and it's a a nice little cute thing the way they're getting better here at the end of the year? Or is it just

kind of fools gold? They've gotten lucky. They've played a Seattle team that was terrible on Monday night. They played a Carolina team and Cam's first game back. You know, they did be Tampa. What are witnessing? I'll let you answer the question first. Well, my inclination is to say that they're heading towards a playoff spot. But I know that the easy. answer is the middle answer. You know, they're winning some games, but you know, they're probably

going to hit a wall at some point and fall short. But unless something goes wrong with their stud quarterback, I don't see that the playoff train derailing. That's, oh, God.

I mean, it's just, it's just let's always remember this. When it really has to do so much more with our conversations about NFL than anything else. It just changes. And you have to allow it to change. You can't be stuck on one opinion from September when it comes to this league. I think it's going to hold up. No, you can't. I think this team right now, at the very least, is a massively improved team from where they were, you know, at the end of the Denver game heading into the buy week.

And it's a team that I have this confidence level in right now that they're going to play well the rest of the way. That offensively they're going to play well. I think they're going to be tested on Sunday defensively more than they have been in their last two games. I think they're going to be tested if Dallas is healthy in two weeks or a week from Sunday. And I think that'll be an interesting thing to keep an eye on because I, you know, Carolina and, Seattle, I mean, I mentioned this on Monday with you. It was the worst quarterbacked performance against them all season long. But I am confident in how they're playing right now, and I'll take it a step further.

I'm confident in the coaching staff. God, we've had this conversation so many times. I am kind of glad that I didn't bail on I'm still kind of a Ron guy. and I know we've all wavered those of us that were Ron, Ron guys, like happy that they hired him, thought they overachieved in hiring him, not, you know, calling him a Belichick or, you know, a Peyton or somebody like that. But to say they, you know, outkicked their coverage and the hiring of him and they've got a high-quality person and they've got a competent head coach,

which is what I've thought from the moment they hired him. And there have been times, including last year, when some of the comments were contradicting what we were seeing, it got a little bit dice and we talked about it at the by week. I mean, is he in trouble? And I didn't think he would be and I didn't think he should be. I think he is Tommy a really strong motivator and leader. I don't know where I would put him on the X's and O's part of the coaching. And I don't really know right now and I think it's too early to sort of judge him completely on his record of being essentially the head decision maker when it comes to personnel.

I think that that's not been an obvious strength yet. But, you know, we're only, we're not even two years in. And he's got players who are making contributions who, you know, a lot of people thought, well, that's a terrible pick. And by the way, Jamie Davis is starting to play better. But I'm getting sidetracked because I think the most important thing is this is the highest quality person and the most adult person they have had in their organization in a long time. And we saw it last year when they were one in five, two and seven, no matter what the circumstances

and the context was bad division, bad opponents, third string quarterbacks, the whole thing. Because he's done this before in Carolina. You know, his winning percentage in December is outstanding. His teams always improve. And his best players, guys like Luke Keekly, I had Sam Fortier from the Washington Post on the radio show, and he interviewed for a story last year, and he remembered it Keekly and a couple of other players from the Panthers,

and they said, when he stands up, even in a bad situation, and tells us it's going to be okay and it's going to work out, we believe them. I think that I'm confident in this staff. right now. Would I be more confident in Belichick? Of course. Seven, eight other guys and their staffs. But they've got a real leader and a motivator, and I think these players are responding for a second straight year. I don't know if it'll be enough to get them into the playoffs, but I think that they're going to be competitive and have a chance in almost all of these games that they play over the final six. Now, I think they're going to have to win four of them,

so I don't know if they will. But I have a level of confidence, especially after Monday night. And I should have had it more so after the first two wins. But something's happening here that's positive for them. Yeah, I agree. I agree with most of what you said. I told you what I heard a while ago

that when it comes to the actual coaching of the team, Del Rio has a lot to do with it, which doesn't take away from anything you said about Ron Rivera. It might enhance it. Right, as a leader and a motivator. I'm not to argue in that at all. And I don't know what kind of relationship the two of those men have. I've heard nothing to indicate that they don't have a good relationship, so I don't really know one way or the other.

I agree with you. I think that, look, here's where I think they are. We've talked about this before. I think they're a team that's playing good, not necessarily a good team. Okay? And I don't know if anything will get in the way of that between now and the end of the season. I mean, arguably, I mean, when we looked at the beginning of the year, At this point, I mean, they're past, for the most part, the mind field that we thought this schedule was going to be.

I mean, now, you know, now we're facing, you know, after you get past the Raiders, you're facing division games. And those are totally unpredictable, no matter how good one team is and the other. But the games all before this, that stretch of games that we thought, you know, where they're playing all these great quarterbacks, they're almost done. Yeah, I mean, they've got a good one Sunday, and they've got a good one, especially if his weapons are back, and then they're going to be back tonight, Cooper and Lamb and Prescott. So that's three of their six games.

But, yeah, I think, and by the way, better stated, as a journalist should state it, I think they're a team playing well, but I don't, but I'm not sure that they're not good. You think they're a team playing well, but they're not a good team. I think right now they're not a bad team, and I think they're playing well, and that they are right now a good team, not a great team. Not, you know, there are four teams in the NFC right now that are obviously better. You know, the Packers, the Buccaneers, the Cardinals. And to be honest with you, I still think the Cowboys and the Rams are both better.

And the 49ers might be better now as well. Some of those teams, though, aren't playing well. But I think they are good teams when they're healthy. But I think Washington is playing well and is right now a good team. Subject to change, of course. Watch him get blown out Sunday, you know, with Deshawn Jackson running. you know, by McCain and everybody else in the secondary. There was something else you said that I wanted to, that was so, that was so good per usual.

And now I forget what it was. But I think, oh, what I was going to get to, let me get to this real quickly. So I had somebody tweet me, Victor tweeted, and I want to read it. Here it is. Kevin, are you going to be the playoff scenario guy this year or not? playoff scenario guy. Seems to me that we could get in with an eight and nine record, which means just a three and three finish.

That doesn't seem to be that hard. Also, has any team ever made the playoffs two years in a row with a losing record? I, well, first of all, yeah. At this time of year, I'm always trying to figure out the playoff stuff, whether it's with our team or other teams. So I will keep you posted on all of the playoff scenarios. I promise about on that. But Tommy, this would be unbelievable.

First of all, I knew the answer to his question. The answer is no. There have only been a couple of teams that have ever made the playoffs with a losing record. Ron Rivera has two of the three. Now, taking the 82 season, the strike shortened season out of the equation because there were two teams that were four and five and made the postseason in an expanded playoff format because of the strike short and season, if you recall, there were eight teams in each conference. Washington went to the Super Bowl and one. it that year. But since the merger, there

have only been three teams to make the postseason with a losing record. The Seahawks in 2010, with Beast Mode in that run he had against the Saints. They won a playoff game at 7 and 9 in Seattle against the Saints. Ron Rivera's Panthers in 2014

made it at 7, 8, and 1. And the Washington football team last year with Ron Rivera at the helm made it at 7 and 9. Can you imagine if Washington were to be the seventh seed at eight and nine this year, and Rivera's taken three teams to the postseason with a losing record? I mean, you'd have to call it, you know, the Rivera playoff path or something.

I mean, it's so rare. By the way, when you and I have had conversations about Rivera in the past, and I remember one conversation that just occurred to me, the conversation where you're like Mike McCarthy is just a much better coach you cited his record and the fact that Ron Rivera had, you know, six losing seasons and nine, yada, yada, yada, whatever. I still think you're wrong, and not because of the three-game winning streak. I just, I'm not a big fan of Mike McCarthy and have never been.

But anyway, it really would be unbelievable because eight and nine is possible for the seven seed. Now, I went through all the team's schedules to see if it was more. of just a distant possibility versus a probability. I personally think that you're going to have to get to nine wins to make the postseason in the NFC. And there are, for those that don't know how it works, seven teams now. By the way, the chances of making it to the playoffs with a losing record are higher now. And they were higher last year.

Not because of the 17th game, but because of the seventh playoff team. last year was the first year of having seven playoff teams. Now, Washington would have made it even if it were just six because they won their division. But the odds are higher now that a losing record team will make it then with fewer playoff teams. Anyway, I think most people understand the probability difference there. On the NFC playoff race, the four division winners make it and then three wild cards. Right now, Washington is actually in the seven spot, the third wild card with a five and six

record. I was looking at, though, the possibility. Right now, they're four, five, and six teams, Washington, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Minnesota. And they're all tied for the seven seed. And right now, Washington owns the tiebreakers, which is why they're penciled in as the seven seed right now with still six games left. I think more likely than not, one of those four teams, and by the way, it might be Washington, is going to go four and two down the stretch and get to nine wins. So if you assume that the sixth seed is going to have a winning record, at least nine wins, I think the seven seed is going to be a nine win team. It's not a long shot. I would put it at like one and three chance, like a 33 percent chance that an eight and nine record gets you in,

which means they've got to go four and two from my standpoint to make the playoffs. I think four and two is required. And four and two at nine and eight isn't going to win the division either. I mean, I don't think it's going to be unless you really think Dallas is only going to win two of their final six games. There's a chance. Tonight's big. Tonight's big either way. If Dallas loses, it's good for the division race. If New Orleans loses, it's good for the wild card race. Right. So either result is helpful tonight. But, um, Really, you probably want to root for a New Orleans loss. Yeah, because you think your wild card is the way in.

It's still the more likely path to the postseason for Washington. And remember, you lost to New Orleans, so you don't want to be in that seven spot with a two-team tiebreaker because you would lose that tiebreaker to New Orleans. You would win it with Atlanta because you beat Atlanta. There are also two teams lurking, Philadelphia and Carolina, that have the same number of wins that everybody else has, but they've got one more loss.

So for them to get to nine, they've got to go four and one. You think four and two for Washington down the stretch is possible? I think it's possible. I don't know that they'll do it. I'm not predicting that they'll do it. In fact, I'm predicting that they won't. I think three and three and eight and nine finish and outside of the playoffs is my best bet right now.

What do you think? You know, I think it's possible. I think everything you said is pretty good. I want to talk a little bit more about the Ron Rivera losing record playoff phenomenon. But isn't their last game in season against the Giants? Yes. Wasn't it be ironic one more time? If the Giants are out of it and Washington needs to win that game

and they lose it to the Giants, a team that has nothing to play for, with maybe a coach on his way out again. I mean, like they've done before to that team. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. I see what you're saying, because I was thinking about, well, they beat Philadelphia in that spot. You're talking about the Giants for the game from a few years ago, yeah. Yeah. But the Giants were a playoff team that year, remember.

No, that one time the Giants were not a playoff team. Well, in 2016, in 2016, when Washington finished 871, missed the playoffs and all they had to do is beat the Giants at FedEx on New Year's Day. The Giants were an 11-5 team that year. They were already in the postseason. Right, that was the Ben McAdoom team. Yeah, that was the Kirk Cousin pick to Rogers Cromartie at the end. Right.

And I like to point out the defense was horrendous in that game as well. But whatever. But which giant game are you talking about? I know what it was. Jay Gruden had declared that if they beat the Giants in the last game, that year, they'd have a winning season. And Jay Gruden had declared that it was important, like Ron Rivera, to have a winning record.

They weren't going to make the playoffs. But Jay Gruden had gone on the record that said it was important for his team to have a winning record. Oh, right, right, right. Right, right, right, right. A terrible giant team. A terrible giant. Right, that was, yeah, but I mean, I don't know.

I mean, I would, I, I, I, I, that you're talking about the end of the end of the game. of the 2017 season. I don't think about those games at all. I mean, it's like the... I know you don't. Yeah, I mean, why would you? But the coach had put... Oh, okay. But the coach had raised the state. Yeah, but the coach can't get players who were already checked out and already have, you know, their flight book to, you know, Turks and Kekos. They can't get them to play that game. It's like, I remember... But the giant had the same flights. Yeah, right. Okay. The Giants had the same flights, but... My point,

what is your point? To bounce off that. No, that was my point. To bounce off that, Jay Gruden thought it was important to have a winning record. Okay. Ron Rivera, let's say they make the playoffs for the second year in a row with a losing record and then get bounced in the first game of the playoffs for the second straight year.

Is that a successful season? Oh, yeah. So, yes, it is. Last year, Yeah, because you know me. I'm not the guy rooting for draft position when you've got a chance to go to the postseason. That's not what I mean.

I mean, isn't it so, don't at so point when you play over the quarter of a year? If they rallied from two and six to go eight and nine, and they finished, you know, call it three and three the rest of the way, and made the post season, this would be a success. season in context. It wouldn't be from where our, actually, look, what was your prediction before the season started? My prediction, I think you were eight, I was, remember I chickened out and said eight, eight, and one. So that's what I thought, I thought that we would get to the end of the

season and we would think we saw an improved football team, but it wasn't going to be good enough to be a playoff team this year. But, you know, everything changes. Like the way they started, they were a bad football team. They were a bad football team that was underachieving based on, you know, they do have some talent. You know, it's not like they're not as bad as some of the real horrendous teams. They're not the Jets talent-wise. Anyway, would it be a successful season?

What if they lose that first playoff game? Is that what you said? Yeah. Don't at some point you have to start winning during a regular season? Yeah, but can you imagine it would be the first time since in 30 years that they went to the playoffs in back-to-back years? And they did it with losing records. That would be Washington football. It would be, but I think a run from two and six into the postseason.

So what would that ultimately, well, that would have been a six and three finish, right? From two and six to eight and nine. And doing it with, you know, basically the backup quarterback this year, even though maybe he should have been the starter from the beginning, we'll never know what Ryan Fitzpatrick would have done. I asked him that question when he was on with me a few weeks ago. I said, we don't know. What do you know?

What do you think? What would Ryan Fitzpatrick have done? How, you know, would this team have been a better team? And that was at 2 and 6. And he said, we were really excited. about what Ryan was going to provide for us, you know, in the same way that Alex provided, but with more, you know, physical capability. I don't know. Maybe they would have been better with Ryan Fitzpatrick,

but he wouldn't have been able to help the defense, although, you know, scoring points and keeping the game, you know, competitive also helps a defense. Anyway, we're rambling here. I, you see, the Rivera thing, I'm, I'm a believer that this is a high quality. guy who's a great motivator and a great leader. I don't know about the X's and O's thing. Oh, this is what I wanted to say to you. You know what I've noticed also about him in recent weeks? Listen to when he is being asked a question that leads to a positive answer. More times than not, it's all about his assistant coaches or the players themselves. I've noticed that about him.

And by the way, a great characteristic of a leader that when things, Things are going well, it's everybody else that's making it happen. And when things aren't going well, it's, you know, the buck stops here. And there was a lot of buck stops here talking during the two and six. I just think from that standpoint, I think he gets it. I mean, I'm still, yeah. He's a stand-up guy. I mean, I've never met him.

From afar, he seems like a stand-up guy who most people believe they can trust. You know, and that organization, that's been a rare currency over the years. So I'm sure he stands out because of that. And you're right. Deflecting credit to others is the sign of a good leader. I mean, you let your accomplishments speak for themselves. You know, you can throw bouquets out to the people who help you reach those accomplishments because the smart people are going to recognize that, you know, you're the guy on top,

so you set the tone for all of it. You know, you don't have to blow your own horn. 100%. That should be a lesson to all your kids out there. Let everybody else talk about how great you are. You don't need to do it yourself on social media or any other way. Now, let me point out, if you go back and listen to the post-game interview on the field from Taylor Heineke, he does exactly that.

Every question. Very good point. Every single question. I mean, it's a great walking from the offensive line. I agree. The defense gave him, put us in great position. Yep. It's, you know, I had great all that.

You just don't, I mean, it's so, I mean, which is impressive. Yeah. So, a kid who's probably waited his whole life for this situation. So, you know, other than maybe being a little bit too, platitude-driven, which, you know, Ron can rely on a lot, which, you know, whatever. It's a coach, and you get a lot of that from coaches over time. I think, as he would say, there are things that are interesting and there are things that are important.

And what you just pointed out, and what I just pointed out, with the head coach and the quarterback, these are important things. Yeah. That's what I would say. These are the things that have been missing. thing. Right. I wanted to, because I was going to do this on the show yesterday, just clean up a few loose ends from the Monday night game. I still do not understand at all why they didn't kick the 20-yard field goal at the end, or, you know, fourth and goal at the four, the 20 would have been a 21-yard

field goal up 17 to 9. I don't think that that was a great decision. I personally just don't think it was a great decision. Now, I can't wait to ask him that. I'm going to ask him that today. I record my interview with him on Thursday afternoons, and it runs tomorrow morning on the radio show on 980 at 8 a.m. I just can't believe, Tommy, that if the score had been, let me just, let me start with this. He said kicking was not an option. He said that. It was not an option the other night. I was told by Nate Katzer or special teams coach can't kick. We can't do it. The operation not going to work.

Okay. I wonder if it had been 14 to 14 or they had been down 14 to 13. Would he have gone for the fourth and goal from the four or would he have sent his punter out there to kick a field goal that most of you out there who are fathers with your daughters or sons might have, you know, them holding for you occasionally at your local, you high school field to see if you can make an extra point or a college extra point. It's not an NFL extra point anymore. Could probably make four or five out of ten. Don't you think Tress away could? Yeah, I do. But Courtney Rivera, Ron's daughter, tweeted out the following on Tuesday.

She tweeted out, something that I feel like some of you don't know or forget. Tress is a lefty punter. If Tress kicks, that means we have a backup holder. Why? Because Tressway, of course, is the main holder. Holding for a lefty kicker. So a backup holder holding for a lefty kicker. It's hard enough to be a holder when you don't practice it every day, but to go from righty to lefty kicker isn't easy. Really? Really? Why? What am I missing? Okay, I don't know. I'm going to take their word for that. Okay, well, I'm going to ask him about it. Let me start with this.

There should be a contingency plan for losing your kicker, okay? That's the key. That's the key. They should have a plan B. So the great leader and motivator that I just spent 20 minutes talking about did not have a contingency plan for losing his kicker. And you should because it's not an impossibility that you will lose a kicker. You know, they're involved in these kickoffs that sometimes break through

and there you see him trying to chase somebody or they get mowed over by somebody and they can get hurt in a game. You should have a contingency kicking plan. The punter, I would imagine, is the contingency kicker in most situations. And I would imagine that the quarterback, the starting quarterback, or the backup quarterback,

or somebody like Logan Thomas, who played quarterback, is the contingency holder. Well, if your backup kicker is a left-footed kicker, well, then you should have somebody holding that can hold for a left-handed kicker. Now, on the left-handed kicker thing, the difference is if you're a right-hander, okay, and you're holding for a right-hander, you kneel on the right-side of the kicker, and your arm that reaches out the furthest that will have the first contact with catching the ball

is your dominant arm. So Kyle Allen is the backup holder. Kyle Allen with a left-footed kicker would have to catch it more with his less dominant arm, which I guess is the point on why maybe Courtney Rivera believes that it's harder. But Kyle Allen's a quarterback in the NFL. He can catch a ball, even for a lefty kicker, put it down. He doesn't need the laces or, you know, if he doesn't want the laces, who cares? It's 20 yards.

It's a punch. Look, I didn't have, I didn't have any problem with his call. because, and I was proven wrong on this, I thought myself, the worst that could happen is you don't get the touchdown. They're on, what, the two-yard line. Four-yard line, yeah. They haven't, okay, they haven't been able to move the ball 10 yards from half, most of the game.

They're not going to march down the field and score with less than two minutes left. It's not going to happen, which is exactly what happened. Let me separate. I don't disagree with you. I don't disagree with you. Okay. Because I want to separate the fact that he said kicking wasn't an option from whether or not the decision not to kick was the right decision. What you just said is totally, you know, totally makes sense.

Like if the answer had been, look, we thought we had a better chance of scoring. And if we didn't, it would have really increased the difficulty given what they had. done already. And we didn't want to give them the ball at the 20-yard line with a miss field goal because it would go to the 20. You know, any kick inside 20 yards, no matter where they put it down, and they would put it down at the 10 or the 11-yard line. It would go to the 20 if it were missed. I didn't want to give them any room. We thought we could score. And by the way, they nearly did. And that was just the decision. But that wasn't the reason he gave. The reason he gave was kicking was not an option there. And then we got the

explanation from his daughter. And by the way, I don't think she was the only one who said this. Well, it's because Tressway is a lefty kicker. It's harder. Okay. By the way, if that had been the explanation, I would have understood it. Still, you ice the game with a field goal, but I didn't think Seattle was going to move the ball, 80 yards, let alone 96, so I'm with you on that. But how about moving forward? You got a contingency plan for losing your kicker, who, by the way, the new kicker is Brian Johnson. He went to Gonzaga locally. So we've got another local kicker, which is really hysterical.

Now, you're not going to say to him at any point in your interview, you know, I could have made that kick. You're not going to do that, are you? I knew you're going to say that. You know who would say that. You're not going to say, you know, David. Well, because he can actually really kick. Yes, I know.

But, you know, you know what they would say. It's easy to shoot foul shots on the playground when there's nobody around. Oh, yeah. As opposed to when the game's on the line at 18,000. I wouldn't say that, but, you know, Tressway, I mean, he was 11 for 11 on college PATs at Oklahoma when he was forced to kick, I guess, for a partial part of a season. I think he could have probably more likely than not stuck it through the uprights from 20 yards. Look, maybe one of the reasons was the previous PAT had been,

blocked and they were, you know, they were worried about it getting blocked and going the other way. And what if Trisway said to him, I can't do it. He didn't, though. I don't think. I don't. I think, yeah, I think the special teams coach said it. I think Tressway told the special teams coach, Nate Katzer, hey, I think, you know, if we really need it from like 20 yards, I think I can do that one. Now, an extra point is a 37-yarder, but they didn't have an extra point.

They had a college extra point, which would have counted three in the NFL from basically the 20 yards, 21 yards out. Whatever. We've spent too much time on that. I'll ask the question respectfully and just say, why didn't you have a kicking contingency? Do, I mean, do you have, how should I ask it? Go ahead.

Tell me how I should ask it. Okay. Are you going to have another option other than Tressway to, to kick extra points if this moving forward. Well, they're not going to carry two kickers, so it's got to be a truss way. Well, no. There could be a guy on the roster.

I mean, basically, that's where you gather everybody together, and you say everybody who's kicked field goals in high school, raise your hand. Yeah, true. And then you just take them off on the side of the field and start practicing field goals for 10 minutes of practice. Yeah. That's what Coach Levera would do.

By the way, I don't know that he's the only team that might not have a kicking contingency. I'm just saying, make sense to me that maybe for 20 minutes a week, your contingency kicking plan, because it is a big part of the game and can be a decisive part of the game. Hey, Kyle Allen and Tressaway, let's get out there with Cam Cheesman in the center. let's work on, you know, 15 minutes of 30 yard and in. You know, Kyle, he's left-footed. You're going to have to line up, you know, on his left side and catch it with your left hand more than your right hand

and just put it down. Just get it down in some way that gives him a chance to kick it through the uprights. I'll tell you what. George Allen would have had a plan big. Well, he was a special team's guru. He and Marv Levy. Well, I can tell you right now, Mike Bragg was the backup kicker. They lost Kurt Knight.

They lost Mark Mosley a couple times, and Mike Bragg was the backup field goal kicker. In fact, I may be wrong about this, but I think Mike Bragg kicked in a playoff game, field goals for them one year. All right. Oh, the other thing I just wanted to mention real quickly, because I went back and did a little bit of watching the game on Tuesday, and I didn't have the podcast yesterday. The three short yardage misses, I believe the first two were read options that Taylor Heinekees should have kept the ball. ball on. The DN crashed down hard, and they looked like read option plays. It's another thing I'm

going to ask Ron today, because if they were, you know, options for the quarterback to keep the ball, he made a big mistake on two short-yardage downs. They were easy reads. The defensive end commits early, crashes early towards the running back, and he would still be running had he kept him on both of those. The first one was the third and two, the six. The first one was the third and two, second one was a third and one. And the game would have, you know, the scoreboard probably would have more reflected the dominance of Monday night had they not punted on three consecutive possessions because they got stopped on three straight third downs.

And then, you know, the fourth down run that they got was called back for a hold on sheriff. The third one was not a read option. They went with more sort of outside zone with Patterson. And I thought he made the wrong read. I thought he should have stayed to the outside, pressed, press, pressed, as they say in zone run, and kept it all the way outside because there was no cutback opportunity, and I think he would have been okay. All right. I will weigh in on the Maryland game last night.

There may be a smell test on tonight's Saints Cowboys game. The Wizards won last night and the combination in their centers were incredible numbers put up. I want to have a bit of a conversation about the college football coaching carousel Tommy, and we'll get to the RG3 thing. I don't know why I'm teasing all of this. You guys will hear it hopefully if you listen to the rest of the show. We will get to all of those things and more right after these words from a few of our sponsors. A reminder to all of you.

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it really does help us on the business end. So Marilyn lost again last night. Tommy. They lost to Virginia Tech in the ACC Big Ten Challenge. Virginia Tech is a good team. They were borderline ranked to start the season. I'm not going to sit here and tell you how great Virginia Tech is. I think they're a good team and a lot of people think they're going to contend for, you know, a top four, top five finish in the ACC this year. And they're well coached and Maryland had a seven point lead in the second half. And then the bottom line is Virginia Tech out executed Maryland. over the final nine, ten minutes of the game.

All of you that listen to the Maryland stuff, and I know many of you do because I see the follow-up. I know what you want. You want me to say, I'm done with Turgent. Turgent's not a good coach. When am I going to realize it after 11 years that they're never going to do anything big as long as Mark Turgent is the coach?

Well, I'm not going to say that because it's not true. He is a good coach. as I've said many times. You only have to ask other coaches what they think of Mark, and I've done that many times over the years. And he's very well respected. Is he an elite coach? No, and I've never said he was an elite coach.

Last night, he got out at executed, period. Virginia Tech executed very well on offense. They got their best shooters, wide open looks, in the key portions of the game, and those shooters knocked down shots. and Maryland couldn't make shots in part because they weren't getting good shots with their offense. That's the way I saw last night's game. If you want to call that coaching, certainly coaching played a role in the game last night.

Virginia Tech executed at a high level and Maryland did not. Now, further on Maryland, what's become clear here through eight games, to me, my opinion, is they don't have a lot offensively in particular. And I don't know that they're that great defensively either. I said last night to a friend of mine, Steve Sands and I were talking last night, Sands, huge Maryland guy. And I said, you know, this is one of the first times in a while this early in the season because he's had some tough results early in seasons.

And I've said, hang in there, hang in there, it's going to change. I see, you know, I think Cowan's going to be better. I think Sticks is going to emerge. Or I think Morsell and Wiggins and, you know, and I think I, Al is, and I, like, saw Tommy a way for them to get good. And, you know, November basketball is November basketball. They've lost a lot of games, you know, at various points in seasons. And then come back and had pretty good seasons, meaning early in seasons. You know, they lost an early game.

to Seton Hall. They looked horrible in a game a few years ago against the Seton Hall team that was just okay. And everybody wanted him fired. And then he came back and they won like seven straight Big Ten games, something like that. I don't feel very good about what I'm watching this year. They don't have. Go ahead. You follow Michael Onergan?

Do I follow Michael On Twitter? No. On Twitter? I don't. Michael O'Herkin posted that after the game. First of all, he had two posts related to the game. He said the team is loaded with talent, as a good coach, and could have a great season, but somebody needs to tell the players to stop shooting trees and feed the beast.

Then he went on to say that hopefully by Christmas, Turgeon will realize that Wahab, Their center from Igeria is their best player and play him more minutes and give him the ball every time down the court. Yeah, so I disagree with him about, what did you say? He said they're loaded with talent? I totally disagree with that. I totally disagree with that. Yeah, he said they have loaded with talent. Yeah, I'm reading a tweet right now.

I just pulled it up. They're loaded with talent. I have a good coach and could have a great season. but okay, here's the thing. So Wahab was really good last night offensively, and they didn't double him. A lot of teams have doubled him, and he has struggled as a passer with the double team,

which I know it would worry me a little bit. And they fed him more than they fed him in any game this year because there wasn't a double, and he was scoring. Then he got in foul trouble, and he is at times a liability defensively. And when he got in foul trouble, he got pulled. ended up playing 25 minutes. Most of the reason he didn't play like 35 minutes or 30 minutes at least is because of the foul trouble. And I know that Turge also, I think gets very, defense is his thing,

more than anything else. And I think he's always had a good sense of what, you know, what kind of players he needs on the floor based on the opponent to have a good defensive outing. And there have been a couple of games where Wahab couldn't be on the floor, because they didn't have a center on the other end, or if they had a center, it was an athletic center that could take him out to the three-point line. And he is definitely a post-presence, offensive, and defensive player. So that would be the reason.

But I will say this based on Mike's tweet, and I know Mike pretty well. I hate that. I hate when I hear coaches say, well, we had to go small to match up with the other team. I couldn't play him in that game because he couldn't guard anybody on the other team and we just suffered so much defensively. Because sometimes it means that the other team is struggling to match up with you on the other end. You know, I would always, Tommy, the default should be play your best players and figure it out.

You know, it's really more of a last 10 to 15 year phenomena when you hear coaches say we had to go. go big or we had to go small. I couldn't play him because he's a defensive liability and I had to take him out. It hurts when we don't have him on the floor because we're missing something. No, play your best players and make the other team figure out how to deal with you. I actually was in a text discussion last night with a certain Hall of Fame coach. And he said there's not an alpha offensively on this team, which is true. They've had that in recent. years, you know? They've had somebody that could really bail them out on a bad shooting night, you know, whether it was Cowan or Sticks or Wiggins. And they don't have that on that team.

That's not Eric Ialla. Eric really excelled playing off of guys like Cowan and Wiggins. Fats Russell is not that guy, not in a half-court set. There's a lot I love about Fats Russell, but you've got to rebound well and you've got to turn people over to get into, you know, a high-level transition game because they don't run off made buckets typically. And Virginia Tech was very well coached. They were back on defense, you know, and it was going to be tough to run against them anyway. That's one of the things you'll always hear from people who, you know, can't stand a program or a coach or whatever. They should run more. They should run more. They should have more pace. And I agree over the years with Turgeon's teams, I've told them this before, by the way. You know, as a youth

coach, of course I would tell him this. I think they should be much higher in pace of play. Their possessions, they've been one of the lower-ended D-1 schools in possessions per game almost every year that he's been here. And they are again so far this year. And he's had some teams that have been much more talented than this team that should have run more and should have pressed more and should have created more up-tempo play. But you can't do that. if you don't rebound, you know, and I will tell you in the Big Ten, so many well-coached teams, it's hard to run against some of those teams unless you're turning them over on the perimeter or really rebounding well, because they're not going to get beaten transition off a made bucket.

Anyway, they don't have an alpha offensively. They don't have playmakers offensively. Russell is a playmaker in the open floor, not in the half court. they don't have consistent shooters. Now, Scott should be a better shooter, and Ayala can shoot it, and Hart can shoot it at times. But they just are right now, for me, the Wahab comment, yeah, if they're not going to double

and you've got a good matchup, I would go inside out all night long with Wahab. I mean, they were one for 13 from behind the arc. They have not shot it well from behind the arc in any games, with the exception of the Richmond game, where they exploded like in the second half with a bunch of threes. But I am worried about this team. I don't think it's loaded with talent.

I think the perception was based on how they, you know, got Wahab and got Russell and got Martinez, who, by the way, should not be a backup point guard. That is becoming very obvious. He's not a good enough ball handler. He's not a good enough passer. He's not good enough in sort of the feel of it. game. I know why he's got him out there. He looks like he's a pretty good defender and pretty

athletic, not a point guard. But I'm worried. If he figures this one out as he's done with some teams where we've been, where most people have been worried before, then, you know, look, I put it on him, by the way, that they don't have enough talent. You know, that that that's part of his responsibility too. He may say, what are he kidding me? Wahab. and Fats were two of the biggest wins in the transfer portal. I don't care what some rating service says. I'm watching them play right now. Wahab's decent.

Fats Russell's decent. They're, you know, nobody, they're not loaded with talent. They don't have major difference makers right now on this team. They have had difference makers the last several years. Wiggins and Morsell, you know, more sell defensively. And then obviously the team that had Wiggins and Cowan and Smith. And then before that, Bruno and Sticks and Cowan and Wiggins. You know, and Herder.

You know, they've had some difference makers. I don't see any difference makers right now in this team. That worries me in what is, you know, a pretty loaded Big Ten. We'll see what happens. They could have won the game last night against a team that's only, only got two losses, and their two losses were to rank teams. They lost to Xavier by a point, and they lost to Memphis by eight. So they'd come in with, you know, a couple of losses,

but I think everybody knows that Virginia Tech is supposed to be good this year in the ACC. And Maryland had a chance. You know, they had a seven-point lead. Then they cut it to one. And their kid, Mutz, literally drove baseline, lost the ball. The ball goes up in the air, tips off a Maryland player and goes in. and then Reese misses a wide open layup by like five feet when he should have flushed it. But they didn't deserve to win last night.

If they had won, they didn't deserve it necessarily. They didn't execute as well as Virginia Tech did. No doubt. Virginia Tech got everything they wanted over the last 10 minutes, maybe except for the last minute or so. But they got everything they wanted. Maryland really struggled to get what they wanted. And I don't know what the answers are. That's going to be for him to figure out.

He's figured out a lot of shit in recent years. I mean, you know, that team last year had no business having the season that they had and winning a game in the tournament. That was, you know, a rebuild year off the year that they should have had a chance to go to a final four with the team they had during the COVID year with no tournament. But I don't know, man. I'm concerned. I'm definitely concerned. And I'll tell you what, Tommy, if they have a bad season and,

and they, you know, win 14, 15 games and don't go to the tournament, I don't know what Damon Evans will do. That contract wasn't like a massive commitment. You know, I think the press release on the contract was a little bit more than the financial commitment. We'll see. I'm rooting for him. I know he's a good coach.

And I know he'll, you know, he and Matt Brady and Danny Manning and that staff will figure it out if they can figure it out. but I don't see it right now with that squad. So there you go. That's my Maryland take. I know it got a little bit long, but they lost to Virginia Tech. By the way, if you want a team right now that is underachieving, look at Michigan. Carolina blew them out last night.

This game was in the second half was never close. Michigan is now lost by 21 and 18 within a week. This was a team projected to be a final four team. the Big Ten runner-up or champion, Purdue's phenomenal. And Joanne Howard's team is really underachieving so far this year based on expectations. Purdue's my favorite team in the country right now. I think they're the best team in the country. By the way, there was a four-overtime game last night between NC State and Nebraska.

It was tremendous. The Big Ten did win the ACC Big Ten Challenge, if you were wondering. Do you have any follow-up to that? Did you want me to answer any of your questions, or did you want to say anything? No. Okay. No, I'm done with that. Can I just tell you real quickly, because I didn't watch the Wizards game like I've been watching the games, because the Maryland game was on at the same time, and that is my priority, even though I love the Wizards. Last night, and their win over the Timberwolves, Gafford and Harrell combined to go 18 of 22 from the floor.

They combined for 45 points on 18 of 22 from the floor. They combined for 15 rebounds and three block shots. Harold scored 27 points in 21 minutes. That's unbelievable. He's really something special. They were losing that game and then, you know, they came back and they had a bad loss the other night. They got pummeled by San Antonio. San Antonio.

Yeah, I saw that. That was Monday night. I was watching both games at the cigar bar. And for about two-thirds of the game, I thought the Wizards were going to finally win in San Antonio. And then I wasn't paying attention. And before I knew, they had lost. Do you know I was right around the corner?

I was at Maastros, you know, the Steakhouse right down the street from Shillies. Oh, yeah. For dinner two weeks ago? whatever. Mastros, by the way, is one of my favorite steakhouses. It's so good. Anyway, I was there for dinner, and I almost, before I went in for dinner, I almost walked down to see if you were there, because I had a feeling

you might be there. It was like a Thursday night. I think it was a Thursday night a couple weeks back. I'm there Thursday after I teach. I know, and I was thinking, and I was thinking, and I was running late, not to make an excuse, but I was running late, and got in there. But I almost was like, shit, I should just run down the block because it's, you know, it's a half a block from Maastro. Yeah.

Yeah. But she didn't. I didn't. And I like to say the thought, I like to say the thought counts, but it really doesn't. Well, what would have happened had I walked in and said, hey, I just wanted to see if you were here, but I'm late for dinner. See you? Instead of sitting down and having a beer with you because I didn't have time to do that. Well, you wouldn't have been able to get out of there that quick because every,

everybody would have jumped up and said, Kevin Shee is. Yeah, right. Okay. So I, we'll get to the RG3 thing to finish up the show here in a couple of minutes. Did you read the Brian Kelly quote from his press conference in Baton Rouge yesterday? Or did you hear any of it? No, I did you hear about it? No.

Let me, before I get to it, are you interested or fascinated by this incredible, unprecedented coaching movement carousel among major programs over the last week and a half. Is it interesting to you or not? It's interesting only that I'm just like blinded by the obscenity of it. What the money? The money? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

You know, and like, you know, I don't want to, you know, get out of my soapbox about it, but, you know, Louisiana is not a rich state. Right. And I know that one has necessarily have to do with the other, but it's more about optics as much as anything. And it's just an obscenity

to me, you know? So that's my only interest in it. So Brian Kelly leaves Notre Dame to take the LSU job. And he was announced as LSU's new head coach yesterday. And here's one of the quotes from the press conference.

Quote, I came down here because I wanted to with the best. The resources here are outstanding. It starts with the alignment, excellence, the standard of expectations. Listen, you're looked at in terms of championships here. I want that. I want to be under the bright lights. I want to be on the Broadway stage. That's what my passion is. So yeah, that's part of the draw. There's no doubt about that closed quote. Oh, my God. He was the coach of Notre Dame. I know. I mean, talk about high profile and bright rights.

That's a, when I, that's amazing, it's amazing to me. But Tommy, I thought about this. And he's right. The bright lights, Broadway is the SEC. Notre Dame's now off Broadway. They're not the bright lights. You know, Notre Dame, I think when it's all said and done, they fucked up. by not going into the Big Ten

when they had a chance to go into the Big Ten. Not being a part of a conference, I think has really impacted Notre Dame. And I say that, and they're 11 and 1, and if certain things happen this weekend, they're going to be in the playoff. And he's taking them to the playoff. They didn't win a championship,

and they got throttled by SEC schools or by Clemson, I think, one time. but Notre Dame is not Notre Dame anymore. LSU and Alabama and Auburn and Texas A&M. The SEC is Broadway. The SEC is the biggest stage in all of college sports, SEC football. That's what he's telling you. And that's what it proves.

He left Notre Dame to go to Baton Rouge and LSU. I know LSU. LSU is a massive program. They've won national championships, plural. And by the way, then run their coaches after they win them. And I know what the expectations are, but this is all about being a part of the best conference and the most intense environment in all of college sports.

And so someone might say, well, why didn't Lincoln Riley stay at Oklahoma then, Sheehan? They were headed into the SEC. Well, it's a good question. but I think USC and Los Angeles has a sort of allure that maybe Notre Dame and South Bend doesn't. I would agree. And Norman doesn't.

I read some of the details of the deal for Lincoln Riley. Oh, it's insane. Yeah. Not that, by the way, I do think that not only would he have gone into the SEC with Oklahoma, I believe that LSU may have been interested in Riley even before going to Kelly. Anyway, that's not the point. The point is, Brian Kelly has been the Notre Dame coach forever. He is second to Rockney.

He's been at Notre Dame. And he said yesterday that he's here at LSU because he wants to have a job where he's under the bright lights, that he's on the Broadway stage, that you're looked at in terms of championships. That's just an amazing statement. An amazing statement. And anybody that tells you that's not in the know that tells you that it's not a surprise that Brian Kelly left Notre Dame to go to LSU, I think that's bullshit. I'm a big college football fan, college basketball fan.

I was stunned by that. I did hear, like a week ago, that Kelly could be a candidate for one of these jobs, but I'm like, yeah, but he's not going to leave for LSU or Oklahoma or, you know, if Riley leaves or USC's at Notre Dame. But when you give it further thought and deeper thought, you know, Notre Dame plays North Carolina and Wake Forest. You know, they play these ACC teams. They're still not in a league. It hurt them not joining the Big Ten. They had that opportunity whenever that was to join the Big Ten, and they should have done it. Probably.

What else do I have on my list of things for you? Let's wrap up with RG-3. Let's do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey, guys, if you're looking for a place Saturday to hang out, watch football, watch the SEC championship game between Alabama and Georgia. I've got a recommendation. The Half Street Fairgrounds, the bullpen, right next to Nats Park. They are holding an SEC championship football tailgate this Saturday, featuring the 19th Street band.

They're going to have some moors. They're going to have fire pits. They're going to have hot drinks and cold drinks as well. Doors open at 12. It's free admission. Most of you have spent, you know, a night or seven at the bullpen before a Nats game or after a Nats game. They're holding an SEC championship football tailgate this Saturday. Again, doors open at 12, free admission.

lots of fun live band, the 19th Street band. Such a great spot for Nats games, but it's going to be a fun day with all the football leading up to Bama, Georgia later on in the afternoon. So check that out. By the way, Washington football team news related Benjamin St. Juice to the IR. That's why he hasn't been playing as much.

Apparently, he has a concussion. He has not played really anything, any amount of defensive snaps since the by week. I like him, by the way, as a player. I think they do too. But we've seen more Danny Johnson here recently. So back to the RG3 thing. One of the things he said in his video was that, you know,

he's going to shed light on sexual harassment stuff that he experienced when he was in Washington. And so people started to ask him, right, Tommy, You can help me tell this story, but people started to ask him, well, if you witness some sexual harassment stuff, why haven't you come forward? And why would we want to wait 10 months when you can be helping some of these people? Right? That's essentially what came out from some of the women like Emily Applegate and some of the others that, you know, are still trying to get the emails released and, you know, et cetera, and Congress to push harder, et cetera. Right?

Yes, it is. Okay. Absolutely. So when someone pushed back on him, I don't know who it was, on essentially saying, well, why haven't you? Pro football talk, I think, did. So he and his wife sent out tweets, the wife saying, let's clear up a misconception about surviving Washington, the name of the book. In the book, Robert is not talking about other people's experiences with sexual harassment in Washington. he is talking about his own experience with sexual harassment in Washington.

Griffin, in his response, RG3 to pro football talk, who did ask him, why hasn't he come forward with it before, said sexual harassment victims should share their stories when they are ready, not when you want them to. The book is not about other people's experiences with sexual harassment in Washington. It's about my experience with sexual harassment in Washington. Washington, hopefully you will listen. So he's clearly, and his wife are clearly saying that the part of the book that will deal with sexual harassment in Washington is his own personal experience of being sexually harassed. Is there another way to read that? I don't even know what it means. I mean,

that's, that's, that's, that's the inference that he's saying. You know, I mean, what does that even mean, though? Well, what are you saying? I mean, men can be sexually harassed. I know that, but how? By another man, by another woman? Well, it can be by any, it can be in a lot of different situations. I mean, men get sexually harassed, you know, as well.

I mean, I'm not saying that it's more prevalent. I don't know the data on any of this. so I'm not going to speak out of my ass, but he is inferring, implying that I'm not telling you about other people's experiences. I'm going to tell you about my experience with sexual harassment. Right. So at some point, maybe we'll find that out before the book comes out. I suggested in my column that the House Committee should call him to testify.

Nothing stopping them from calling them to testify if he was saying. sexual harassed or if he saw sexual harassed. Right. The committee should call him to testify. If they call anybody to testify. If they do. Yeah. Yeah.

If they do. Beth Wilkinson should have interviewed him. Yeah, that would certainly give a lot of juice to the, if there were any kind of hearings to have RG3 up there. Wouldn't it? Oh, my God. Meantime. Listen, in my, in my, in my car,

I call him. He could be to Sammy the Bull Gravano to Ed's John Gotti. Yeah. I mean, I mean, this is not good for Snyder. He won't have to go into witness protection, would he? No, I don't think so. I don't think so. But the book, it's got to have Dan Snyder worries. I mean, he worries about, I think he worries about everything. I have no idea. All this stuff. So Gary Myers, who co-authored the book with him, said about this stuff. He was asked the same thing, said that's a good question. He heard things he didn't witness. So Gary Myers is essentially conflicting RG3's wife and RG3's account that he was.

So I think personally, this is my theory. They didn't think this thing through on the sexual harassment thing. And they're like, didn't think about people saying, well, wait a minute. minute. If you witness this stuff, if you saw this stuff, why haven't you been an active participant in disclosing this stuff? And then they realized, ooh, that'll make me look bad. Let me put a different spin on this. This isn't me witnessing it. This is me experiencing it. And I don't know, maybe they'll be, you know, in addition, something put into the book. I, I, I, I, boy, you want me to tell you what I first thought of?

What? Obviously, I have no knowledge of anything. Okay, no knowledge. This is pure, just being honest about one of the things I thought about when they both claimed, he and his wife both claimed that the sexual harassment was something that he, or they implied, that he experienced, that was directed towards him. I think that's a takeaway, right? At least a big takeaway based on him saying what he said.

I think that is the inference, but I still am not clear what exactly he means. There were rumors about his sexuality. Do you remember some of that? From Baylor. From Baylor. Yes. So is it possible that people said things to him about that Baylor, you know, story? And, you know, I don't know if it was a story.

It could have been. That it could have been. I mean, the story could be totally false. But it wouldn't stop a player or a coach for maybe making a remark. It could be. That could be something as simple as that. Right. Basically, you know, somebody, you know, questioning him or saying some kind of smartest comment to him.

That's right. Related to those rumors. Yes. That's what I thought of. So if it comes out when his book comes out and he writes about something like that, there was a story about Baylor, it wasn't true, and somebody in the building. Now, if it does go that route, let's all pray that it was the owner who made the remark. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I don't you get the feeling that he's going to torch the owner?

I think he's going to torch Shanahan, too. Well, that's easy. He's going to do that. Did you see Shannon Sharp yesterday? Did you hear him go off? No. On his show with, uh, who does he do, does he do the show with Cowherd? Who does he do the show with?

I lose track of all these shows. Shannon Sharp, who obviously played for Mike and is a big Mike fan and Mike Defender. Somebody sent me something. Maybe it was Neil and Rockville said, here's the one guy that's going to defend your boy Shanahan more than you. Well, apparently Sharp went off and said,

the only way this book has any validity is if RG3 comes clean on his role in all of this. And he goes, I don't think he will. And he started to say things like, there are stories. You know, people have asked me and you and other, tell us all the stories.

stories that you've been hearing. Well, you know, there's stories that we've heard that, you know, we weren't there. We don't know for sure. And there he said he said, it's not about sexual harassment, but about things like, you know, him walking around the building, you know, essentially telling players and coaches, hey, I'm going to put a good word in for you with the owner. He had a very, according to a lot of people, you've talked to him and I've talked to him. He had a very entitled stature in that building in 2012 and 2013 when he was here because the owner gave him a status that no other player or coach had. He was the owner's guy. He was the most powerful guy. He was the most powerful guy in the building. Right. At one point. And he... And how do you coach a guy like that?

Well, it's completely dysfunctional. You can't coach a guy like that. But, you know, Shannon Sharp went on about all these stories you say, because I'll tell you what, if they're not in the book, that's when I'm going to start telling some of these stories. And that's what, you know, you got a narcissist, you got a guy who's been delusional, you've got a guy that had a lot of people that totally believed in him. I think less of those people believe in him now. You do have an incident that will still and forever be debated. And that is the Seattle playoff game, and he promises to tell you everything

about that Seattle game and how, I guarantee you, he will say it ruined his, the brilliant career that he was going to have. And, you know, it's going to be, who do you believe? You know, RG3 side, Shanahan side, you know, you won't ever hear from the owner about any of this stuff. There will be a lot of anti-mic. There will be probably a lot of anti-other people in the organization. I am very interested to see what he does with the owner and how hard he goes against the owner, considering it was the owner who was the person in that organization that loved him more than anybody else. And when people started to turn a little bit away from him being the savior, the owner was there to say, no, no, no, no, it's him we're

keeping, not all of these other people. These other people who all have either Hall of Fame resumes or will be very successful head coaches in the future, we're not going to believe them. We're to believe him. Yeah, I mean, look, it's called surviving Washington. So, I mean, he's already paid himself as a victim with the title of the book. Of course. You know? Yeah, it's a victim title.

Right. Right. So you're not going to get, you're not going to get, he's not going to come clean with his role. He's not going to admit to be anything other than a victim in this. Still, the collateral damage could be at least. damaging this lighter. I don't see how you can write this book at all

without some damage and some criticism and some talking about the owner. It's impossible. You know, maybe, I have no idea. I honestly have no idea what to predict about this book.

I'd be disingenuous completely if I told you that I'm not going to be interested when it comes out. I, you know, and I will. read it. By the way, I think there's going to be a very, I bet you there's some stuff in there that is very anti-D.C. media and how the DC media was out to get him. Wouldn't surprise me if Tom Levero is mentioned in the book. But, you think he'll use Super Bob references

in the book? Super Bob, Bobby Three Sticks. I mean, Doc got so frustrated with him. He started to referring to him as Bobby Three Sticks were just Bob. in a very sarcastic way. You guys all have to understand that for me, I was all on board in 2012. I was like, this is going to be effing great. And then after that season and the stories from people,

I'm not talking about from Mike or Bruce, or, you know, I'm talking about from different players and from people who were close to certain players, the stories that started to come out. And then, you know, I knew from Mike about the meeting that the very famous meeting that came after a surgery, you know, in late January or February of 2013, well after the playoff game, when Robert called the meeting with Mike, Kyle, and Matt LaFleurr and got up there on a whiteboard and basically said, these plays will be stricken from the playbook. it is unacceptable for me to run these plays. And, you know, the father was saying that he was Peyton Manning and Aaron Rogers,

and that's what he was saying. And I remember Mike telling us this. This was on the air. Mike is looking at Matt and Kyle, Kyle in particular, who was furious. And he said, stop, stop. Robert, thanks very much for bringing us to our attention. We appreciate it. And Mike, you know, claims that day he got in his car and drove right to the owner's house and said, what you just?

did by telling him to do this is going to ruin him. Forget about the team. It's going to ruin his chances. You have to let us coach him, period. We have to be the person he answers to. It can't be you. And, you know, Mike said that Robert came in and was using all of the terms that Dan uses. And he said one of the major terms was unacceptable. Like he said unacceptable so many times that he and Kyle and they looked at each other and they're like, this is coming straight from Dan. And, you know, look, Robert didn't, remember, Robert did not deny that meeting took place.

He denies the tone of that meeting and said that it was more of a collaborative meeting where he wanted to express how he felt about the way they played him in 2012. and that he didn't think that, you know, he needed to be that moving forward. And by the way, they weren't going to just do that moving forward. They wanted to turn him into, they wanted to develop him in more of a drop-back way. Whatever.

Do you have anything else on that? Because I have one more thing that I wanted to mention to you. No, I got this one thing I wanted to mention. It has nothing to do with that. Well, at this. I should have mentioned this in the Maryland. Okay, go ahead and mention it. On Friday after Thanksgiving in Baltimore, I was at this store called Second Chance.

It's a giant warehouse in Baltimore, where they have all kinds of used stuff from all over the place. I mean, like giant statues that were donated and all kinds of wild stuff. You know what's in there? What? The Maryland from the floor of Cole Fieldhouse. what the the M the whole word

Maryland in red letters giant red letters that was in the floor at Cole Fieldhouse it's hanging on the wall at this place called Second Chance

I don't know what you're talking about though I mean I remember the coal floor which changed a little bit you know on the end lines they had terrapins on one end Maryland on the other which Maryland because there wasn't

there was, where was the Maryland that you're talking about? I don't, was it on the floor? I don't know where on the floor it was. Okay, but you say it came from the floor. Okay, all right. Yes. Just if you wanted to buy it, I think it's for sale. By the way, thanks to the Maryland people for sending me the Lenn-Bias jersey.

I appreciate that. I really do. We haven't talked a lot about Lenn-Bias. In the last couple days, he got inducted into the college basketball Hall of which is why they honored him last night. And they did it well. You know, they prepared for it. They did it well.

The father and mother were there. I mean, what lives they've had. And like I feel like in talking about bias, like I've done it so much over the years on every anniversary, the net of it is for me, he's the greatest basketball player in Maryland history. Juan Dixon's the greatest winner. But bias is the best I ever saw.

And I've seen them all. going back to, you know, lefties days. I can't give you the Bud Milliken guys. I can't give you Gene Chu, Tommy, and some of the others. But Leonard was the best player I've ever seen. He's one of the best college basketball players I've ever watched. And there are so many moments, you know. There's the North Carolina moment when they won at the Dean Dome.

There's a moment that, you know, I remember very vividly from a game against Villanova in the regular season where he got an offensive rebound and dunked on Ed Pinkney and just stared down on him as he was hanging from the rim. There's the famous senior game against Virginia where he had, you know, old and Polonis had, you know, had blocked a shot in the game at U-Haul earlier in the year and barked about it and bias swatted at a Polynes shot early in the game. And while the play was going on, he just was in his face barking at him. And it was just amazing. He was one mean competitor. He was a badass competitor. I've said it many times. I don't think he was Jordan. I think he was Dominique Wilkins. That's the comp. He was not a ball handler. He may have improved it. But he wasn't a two guard. Jordan was a shooting guard. Bias was a forward. You know, bias had a much better shot than Jordan. Jordan eventually developed into a great shot. shooter. Bias was a natural shooter, but bias was a human highlight reel like Dominique Wilkins was.

And I think he would have had that kind of career. And that would have been the comp more than Jordan would. One of my favorite things, I'll never forget the first time I did that on the air. And Coach Thompson came in, you and I were doing the show, and Coach Thompson came in either before the show ended or it was out in the bullpen. And he just looked at me and he said, that's the comp. You nailed it. It's not Jordan. And, you know, a coach was close with Jordan, obviously, with Nike. And he said, Dominic Wilkins was bias's comp.

That's who he was similar to. And by the way, what a hell of a player to be comped to, you know? Yeah, absolutely. But he would have been a human highlight reel. Two quick things. One, at the same time that Robert Griffin was announcing the book thing, Trent Williams was doing a podcast with Adam Schaefter. I listened to some of it.

and good for Trent not to get into great detail. He was very emotional during this podcast about the cancer and the diagnosis that led to somebody telling him, a doctor telling him, get your affairs in order. I can only imagine what that would be like for somebody our age, my age, your age, let alone somebody so young. They told him to get his affairs in order because it was, you know, a tumor in his head. He got very emotional about that. Schefter really tried to go down the Washington path, and he really didn't want to go there. He just kept saying over and over again, I'm not, you know, hell bent on reliving the past, you know, and it just wasn't for me to be there anymore. They had a different direction, and I went a different direction.

I've heard a lot of things about the, you know, what happened and the accusations he made about the organization that they were furious about because they don't believe them to be true. That, you know, he may have missed a couple of the doctor appointments that they had scheduled originally. You know, Snyder flew him on the plane to see the neurosurgeon out in Chicago. But that relationship with Snyder and with, you know, key people in that organization, ended, you know, because he made racial accusations. Remember, when he came back, you know, before that deadline in October of 2019, is it now, 2018. By the way, just as an aside, he is having his best season.

He has been dominant this year. But Washington's offensive line's been great. He's got a documentary coming out. Yes, he does. Well, that's why he was doing the Schefter podcast. I'm sorry. It's called Silverback. You know, that was his nickname.

And that's why he was doing the Schefter podcast. I did reach out to him to ask him, do you want to come on the radio show? And he has not responded yet. I'd love to get Trent on. I always enjoyed him, by the way, as a guest. I think Trent's really smart and bright and interesting in the whole thing. He's having a phenomenal year. Last thing, I did watch King Richard.

What do you think? I thought Will Smith was great. I thought it was good. I'm with you on this. I thought it was good. I don't know how much of the story is missing, but if you read some of the reviews, a lot of the story is missing.

I thought it was good. I enjoyed it. But that's because I'm a Serena and Venus fan. I've always been a huge Serena fan. And there's a lot that I didn't know. Let me just tell you that if it's true, that he was, obviously push, he very much pushed his kids, clearly.

But given the situation that they grew up in in Compton, I totally get why he was so overbearing and so pushy. But if it's also true that he pushed them, but at the same time never put a lot of pressure on them, which is really what the movie reflects. It reflects a guy that understood, hey, this is their way out. And if they don't get out this way, it's going to be a lot of trouble because of where we live and where they're growing up.

But he made it fun for them. And he never put pressure on them by, you know, and there's that part, Tommy, about some of those early junior tennis tournaments that Venus was playing in, that Serena wasn't because Venus was the, you know, perceived, you know, star. And you see all of the other parents and the pressure they're putting on their, you know, white privilege. kids, you know, and I'm not so sure all of them are privileged, but I bet a lot of them were. And he recognized how wrong that was. I give him a lot of credit because if that part of it's true and he didn't push them and put pressure on them and, you know, he was very, like he seems to have been, if it's true, very upbeat and positive with them.

It was a very positive experience, even though he didn't really give them a choice. but he didn't give them a choice because of their, you know, the situation they were in. And if he'd given them a choice, it could have gone badly for both of them. By the way, I think, and I've always felt this way about both of them, that they are very innately, highly intelligent. And that, by the way, they were as students too. And by the way, the other kids were too. But I don't know. I just don't know about the first family and the other kids from the other marriage.

and, you know, how that worked out. None of that story was told. No. It's worth watching. It's worth watching. It's worth watching. I mean, you can say that about almost anything Will Smith is in. Will Smith did a great job. Didn't you think?

Yeah, I did. I think he did a good job. Yeah. Okay. There it is. We ended the show with a recommendation. King Richard. It's about Richard Williams, the father of Serene and Venus, and how he turned them into champions.

All right, Tom, that was a lengthy show, I believe. But I enjoyed it. I hope you did too. We'll talk to you on Tuesday. I do want a quick prediction from you. I guess we almost forgot that. What's your prediction about Sunday? Oh, I think Washington wins 27 to 20.

There you go. First time I think you picked him to win in a while, right? Yeah, it is. I picked them to lose last week. No smell test picked tonight. I would lean New Orleans, though. and I'm probably going to play New Orleans, but it's not an official pick.

The whole smell test in its entirety tomorrow. That's it for the day, back tomorrow.