The Kevin Sheehan Show - What Are The Redskins Waiting For?

Episode Date: January 2, 2019

Kevin starts with an update on a few things Redskins-related including Cooley's status and why the Skins haven't done anything yet. Kevin describes a new idea for owner Dan Snyder to consider. Jerry Brewer/Washington Post is a guest on the show too. Kevin talks College Football expanded playoff. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now, here's Kevin. All right, happy new year, everybody. I'm here. Aaron's here. This show's presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them we told you to call. The holiday season is over. I hate when the holiday season's over. I hate when bowl season is over, Aaron. And winter isn't even here yet. It doesn't feel like it. How about that day yesterday? yesterday, 60 degrees. I know. I couldn't decide whether to go outside or actually stay in and watch all the bowl games. I was outside. I did a lot of stuff outside yesterday. Actually didn't watch a lot of those first few bowl games of the day. Got back for the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl.

Not very often you get 60 degrees on New Year's Day. Felt great. Winter is coming. It is coming. And by that, of course, I mean that one of the first things I thought of when 2019 was rung in was Game of Thrones. season 8. The final season. After waiting two long years, we're now just a few months away. Six episodes. I think each of them is going to be an hour and a half or so. It starts in April. We'll definitely turn the show into a recap show around that time. I think we're going to have to.

Some sort of trailer is coming out soon. There was a trailer. That wasn't the one though. Right. That was a teaser. That was a teaser with a lot of old stuff. Right. The new trailer apparently is due out any day now. Anyway, I'm going to start the show with three things. Answers, if you will, to various questions that you've hit me up with on Twitter since Monday's show. We did not do a show on New Year's Day. We didn't have to do a show on New Year's Day because there wasn't any news. The first is this.

Many of you, like a lot of you, over the last two days, have tweeted me about Chris Cooley in Dan Snyder's Suite for a meeting after the game on Sunday against the Eagles, and a lot of you assume that Cooley is going to work in the Redskins front office. Long shot. Long shot. Probably not going to happen. Now, it's a good idea. And I know some of you who tweeted me mentioned that this was something that I talked about a few weeks ago, and I did. I said that the organization could do themselves, that Dan Snyder would do himself well by consulting or even hiring somebody like Cooley. Let me just explain this to everybody that hasn't figured it out over the last few years with Cooley in the media.

He is smarter than almost everybody in that organization that I know. Now that's not saying much, I get it. But he's really smart and has great instincts when it comes to football and people. So anyway, to answer all of you on Twitter, Cooley in the front office, Long shot, probably not going to happen. He'll come on with us later in the week or sooner if he's got news about anything or even if he doesn't have news. He'll come on no later than Friday to preview the NFL playoff games. The second thing that I wanted to address, Dan Snyder and Bruce Allen, they don't care what you think.

I don't know if I emphasize this enough on Monday or last week or the week. for. They still don't believe that the problem involves anything they've done or not done. And while they do, they do now recognize that their fans are what's left of their fan base, that that fan base, what's left of it, is demanding certain things like hashtag fire Bruce Allen. They are aware of that. Have you noticed that the Redskins haven't tweeted in about 48 hours? I'm going to get to that too. Because you know why that happened.

because the reaction to every single tweet they sent out was fire Bruce Allen, hashtag. But they do realize that, which is a step for them to actually recognize that there are unhappy fans and that they're demanding certain things. But as explained on Monday's show, you know, them being surprised at the level of reaction doesn't mean that they're going to care about the level of reaction. So just understand that, that just because they have heard the reaction and they now recognize it, and it was stunning, according to the story last week or earlier this week, it doesn't mean that they care that much. Lastly, this.

As of yesterday, this may have changed by the time you hear this recording of our podcast. But as of yesterday and as of this morning, but certainly as of yesterday, nothing has been done with respect to changes or big changes. And the owner isn't really sure about what to do. My belief, and I've shared this with all of you before, I think that the narcissism and arrogance, that he doesn't believe that it's him or Bruce. and so basically F everybody that thinks otherwise. But even if he were susceptible to a brief moment of clarity and vision rather than delusion, I think the problem is where does he turn? Where does Dan Snyder turn if he even decided I'm going to run Bruce or I'm going to reassign Bruce?

Keep in mind that Bruce has allowed Dan Snyder to be the recluse that he's become. come, that he's more comfortable being when it comes to this franchise. He doesn't want to be the face or voice of it. He's not comfortable with that. So while yes, there's an incredible amount of narcissism, he's also insecure and uncomfortable being the face and voice of his own franchise, whether that be in public or league meetings. He's just a reluctant public speaker, clearly. He's not good at it. The few attempts he, he's, he's made, you know, to communicate publicly. It's not his thing. And I'm not being overly critical about it. My guess is he's one of those people very good in small groups or one-on-one

as a salesperson. But he's not comfortable it would appear in front of larger groups or audiences. Again, nothing wrong with it, not being critical of that at all, just pointing out that this may be one of the reasons he's comfortable with Bruce. It's a big reason, I believe. Now, Bruce doesn't talk much publicly anymore either. I would expect if Bruce ends up staying that there will be an interview with, you know, the guy in San Diego, Dan Sillio, who's a friend of his and he's done many interviews with him. He'll look for a safe landing in his next interview. More likely than not, it won't be done locally. If it is, it'll be with someone he deems to be safe. But Bruce's Dan's security blanket. He's become a relative, he really has, he's become a relative public recluse

since hiring Bruce. You know, he'll make various appearances at charity events, small introductory remarks, things like that, but he's not taking questions or doing something in front of local media. He hasn't done that in a long, long time. Anyway, excuse me, anyway, where does he turn if he lets Bruce go? That's part of the problem right now. Now, I'm going to stick with my prediction of something is going to happen because it just has to, and that's been my feel for a while like it did with Vinny in late 2009. That's my prediction. I'm not backing off of it. The prediction that Bruce will be gone or reassigned.

I'm just pointing out the problem with Dan pulling the trigger on that. You know, he, A, doesn't think that he and Bruce are the problems. And B, where does he turn? Who does he hire to provide him with the comfort of not having to be a public figure? as the owner of a franchise in a league that's very public. So, recapping those things. I guess I'm recapping a few of those things real quickly for you.

Number one, Cooley Longshot to work in their front office, too. Snyder and Allen don't care what you think, or what I think. They don't care about Scott's rant on SportsCenter the other night. It was great if you haven't seen it. He made a reference to, being at the Super Bowl last year. And he's made reference to that with me on the radio and on the podcast about being at the Super Bowl last year and being followed and trailed by a few Redskins executives at the

time. And I'll never forget, he called me like the minutes afterwards. And he said, who are these people? They are so arrogant and obnoxious. And I said, well, I don't know who you're talking about. Who was there? And he starts describing the people and I knew who they were. when he started to describe the people.

One of them was in the cheerleader, part of the cheerleader scandal and is no longer with the organization. And a couple of the other people are more PR-related. So he mentioned that in his column, and he said, not at his column, in his rant on television the other night, he mentioned that. And he said, he said, they still walk around like their royalty, but they're Sears. Their brand is Sears. And that was a good line. Watch the rant.

It was good. Sally's column was really interesting, too. Sally essentially urged all lawmakers and public jurisdictions to steer clear of giving Dan Snyder one dime, one penny for a new stadium because he's such a bad investment risk. I mean, her column, I mean, she really, I mean, she does what she does so well. She takes a keyboard and eviscerates people she wants to eviscerate. Her first paragraph, You've got to be a drunk, a gambler, or Daniel Snyder to tank your business in the NFL. The Washington Redskins owner has firmly established just what a bad investment risk he is.

It is therefore the height of irresponsibility for any local government to even think of giving him a dime of public money or a foot of free land for a new stadium. It would be nothing but a bailout welfare. There is, I thought, from her column, and I am opening up a newspaper if that's what you're hearing the sound of because sometimes it's just easier to have the newspaper spread out in front.

I read everything online, but I also, I still get the newspaper delivered, whatever. She writes, the, I'm looking for, well, here's one of the paragraphs. All Snyder is done as an NFL owner is freeload off massive revenue streams he didn't help create while breeding fan ill will. He bought the Redskins for $800 million with a brand new stadium that was the largest in the league, then sat back and collected his built-in cut of the league's massive TV contracts, which paid every team $255 million last year no matter how they performed.

He pressed long-suffering fans to pay $7 for short beers and $40 to park and gave them among the worst food for the highest price. in the NFL. In 2016, the Redskins offered the most expensive game day for a family of four in the entire league, even though they've won eight games or fewer, in 15 of 19 years. How's that for branding? I jumped ahead there, but I'm looking for the Bruce Allen part. In Sally's column, she talks about what other owners think about the Redskins and Dan Snyder and Bruce Allen. She writes, Even his fellow owner billionaires in the NFL are embarrassed and unhappy about the yawning decks of unfilled seats and the black mood of the few influentials who still go to Redskins games, a league executive told me, told her. If there's one thing that the NFL owners don't like, it's apathy in a major market. They are especially bothered by apathy in the nation's capital, where they rely on strong interest in relationships to protect their business practices. Here's a quote from a league executive.

Washington, D.C. is Washington, D.C. and there is a trickle-down effect. NFL owners put the blame for the bleeding of goodwill squarely on the so-called management of Snyder and his Pally team president, Bruce Allen, whom they regard as, quote, literally a joke, closed quote. I do believe that she heard that from some people, but I have also, heard when it comes to people in the league and other league executives that Bruce is respected to a certain degree. Now, not as a football person, but as an organized administrator. That seems condescending. So it's probably more than that as a political being in the NFL. But that, but that

is quite the quote that Sally pulled from somebody. Literally a joke, Bruce Allen is regarded as, uh, by, um, by some NFL owners. Anyway, um, I just got it, I got sidetracked there. I mean, Jerry Brewer's column was great. Jerry Brewer's going to join us here shortly. Um, but what I was going to say is, you know, in recapping sort of the, the few things that I just mentioned here at the top, Cooley, long shot to work for the front office. Number two, Snyder and Allen, they don't care about these columns or these rants by Scott or Sally or Jerry. They don't read them. They don't. They don't care about them even if they do hear about them.

They don't. And then lastly, Snyder as of yesterday, and as of this morning as I'm recording this, although I haven't gotten an update since yesterday morning. But he hadn't made up his mind about Bruce or about Jay or about anybody. But again, the challenge for him, if he were to get rid of Bruce, is where does he turn? He doesn't have a lot of football friends or confidants. For that first decade of his ownership, you know, he had Joe Gibbs. And he still has Joe Gibbs to a certain degree, but Joe Gibbs isn't coming back to work for him. He became friendly with Mike Shanahan before hiring him.

He knew Bruce. Who does he have a relationship with now? I'm not saying that he doesn't. Perhaps he does. I don't know of somebody that he has a good relationship with that he could bring in to replace Bruce. There was the guy in Buffalo. He knew pretty well from what I've been told. The guy that worked for the Pagula's, for Terry, the Pagula family, who now own the Buffalo Bills. The guy's name was Brandon. Brandon. Russ Brandon. I think it was Russ Brandon. Looked out of to make sure I have that right, Aaron. He He doesn't work there anymore because there was some sort of, there was some sort of scandal. Yes. Or there, he resigned or was turned loose because of an investigation, if I recall, regarding, like, inappropriate relationships with employees. Yeah, he was the president of the bills and the sabres and had to step down for both.

Right. Exactly. Okay. So I do remember his name being bandied about in recent years and hearing his name more than once as somebody who Dan, Dan thinks highly of. But I don't even know if that would be. I think the reason he got, am I right about that, that there was some sort of investigation regarding something with female employees? Yes. Okay. So he's not going to go there. I mean, you know, they're so tone deaf. Who knows. They brought in Rubin Foster. Yeah. So anyway, we wait. We wait. Jay Gruden apparently is still

waiting. What an interesting Monday press conference from him. I want to to play this one sound bite from Jay Gruden's Monday press conference. Listen to this and see if you read it the same way I read it or heard it. What's the one thing that you would, in that subsequent meeting, you would want to emphasize that you think needs to change going forward? You know, it's hard to say. It's really hard to say. There's a lot of things that probably need to change.

but I think just moving forward we just got to be on the same page as far as personnel coaching and all that stuff but you know we have a good communication system, a good system in place right now, but with all the injuries that we've had it's just hard

to gauge I mean is this guy, would we have been better with this guy in here and all our healthy guys? You know, it's just hard to gauge. So you heard Ben Standig's question. Ben's now working for NBC Sports Washington and we'll have him on the show. here in the next few weeks as well. The answer, though, on the thing that he feels needs to change

the most moving forward. That first line, it's hard to say, and he he hems and haws there at the beginning. It's hard to say. It's really hard to say there are a lot of things that probably need to change, but I think just moving forward, we all have to be on the same page as far as personnel coaching and all of that stuff. And then he quickly catches himself, but we have a good communication system, a good system in place right now. I think Jay, who is really, almost always, really honest.

I mean, remember all of the times that he's been too honest, certainly too honest for Bruce and for Dan. I mean, going back to when he just shredded Robert Griffin III publicly, in that first season. I mean, I don't think in recent years we've ever heard a coach bury a player, one of his own players, the way Jay Gruden did in the middle or towards the end of that 2013 season. He just couldn't help himself. And we realized at that point, he wasn't really PR savvy and his default was brutal honesty. You know, even remember the job was going to be available for a competition. You know, and, you know, and,

the off season after 2013 and then quickly that was shut down. It's Robert's job. Anyway, I think what he was saying there is that there's a problem between the coaching staff and the personnel department, that, you know, it's not exactly in sync. I also believe that he is saying that among the coaches, there isn't, there's a few disconnects. I've made these predictions on Friday and Monday again. I think Bill Callahan's going to be gone. I don't think he's coming back. I don't think Minusky's going to come back either. That's my guess on him. And I think there are a few others that are going to be gone. I think there's going to be some coaching staff shakeup at the very least. But I don't think that the Callahan Gruden thing has worked. I'm sure Bruce and Dan wanted it

to work. I'm sure they thought with their infinite football wisdom that, hey, Bill Callahan, Cowboys, Offensive Line Coach. This is perfect. Jay, look at who we got for you. So anyway, I thought that that was a moment of some honesty there in that press conference. The other moments during that press conference that were really interesting were just him continually saying, if I'm here. He said that twice during the press conference, you know? He did not sound confident at all through that.

And he hadn't had his meeting with Dan. I don't know as of this morning if he's had it or not. One other quick thing before, actually two other quick things, before we get to Jerry Brewer. So Howard Eskin, does everybody know who Howard Eskin is? Howard Eskin's a long-time voice in the Philadelphia market, and television voice, Eagles, sidelines, you know, he hosted afternoon drives there forever on WIP in Philadelphia.

He sent out this tweet the other day. Did you guys see the video? There are a lot of things that have happened, actually, over the last few days. How about the Redskins.com picture that was titled as a picture from Lincoln Financial Field? Did you see that? I did see that. It was on Redskins.com, the Redskins put out a picture of the team in their game or getting ready for the game, and they labeled the picture as getting ready for.

a game at Lincoln Financial Field. Hard to blame them. I'll tell you what. Seriously. Some of those social media people, I don't know how many of them Brian Lafamina and his staff brought in, but I wonder if that may have been intentional. Anyway, now as Aaron mentioned earlier, they're basically reluctant now to be putting stuff out on social media, which is probably smart for them right now. But Howard Eskin, back to him for a moment. So he sent out this text. on New Year's Eve. The Redskins are so classless. Oh, let me, let me preface it by the, what happened. John Allen, was it John Allen or Duran Payne? Who walked through Elliott's field goal practicing before the game? I believe that was John Allen. Okay, so I think it was John Allen, too.

So John Allen walked right through the Philadelphia kicker warming up pregame and, you know, basically knocked the ball off the kicking tea thing. And Howard Eskin sent out this text. He said the Redskins are so classless. The fact that this bleephole from the Redskins kicks the ball while Eagles kicker Jake Elliott is trying to warm up. Classless, but ever more of a disgrace is that Washington posts it on Twitter, which they did, stupid to post that on Twitter. Don't troll before a game when your team and your organization is an embarrassment.

By the way, I'm not saying that he's wrong about this. But I'm going to get to the point here. So he says, classless, but ever more of a disgrace is that Washington, the Redskins, posted it on Twitter. That's why they are who they are. So, you know, I'm at that level of borderline indifference apathy when it comes to the Redskins. But every once in a while, things make me upset. And especially when it comes from long time, deep. deeply ingrained, um, rivalry, uh, you know, people, uh, Eagle fans, Eagle media,

cowboy fans, Cowboy media, Giant fans, giant media. And when I read that, I just thought, who the fuck is this guy? The Eagles calling the Redskins classless. Now the Redskins are classless and they're stupid. He's not wrong. All of those things are true. But who the hell are they to call out the Redskins. I mean, they're the ones that literally, I mean, nearly took Chief Z's life at Veterans Stadium. And so I tweeted back at Howard Eskin, who I used to have on the radio show, had him many times on the radio show. And by the way, I don't dislike Howard Eskin. I actually think he's entertaining, even though a lot of people in Philadelphia can't stand him. But it's, you know, I always have felt about this NFC East thing. Like there's this, we're family somehow.

We hate each other, but we're also part of this fraternity. It's the marquee division in the NFL. It's maybe the marquee division in all of professional sports. I mean, there are no such things as divisions in the NBA anymore, really. And in hockey, the divisions are long gone. I mean, it's the American League East and the NFC East. Those are the two marquee divisions in sports. And there's been this level of camaraderie but also rivalry.

but also rivalry. And so I tweeted back at him. I said, Chief Z thinks you're an idiot and appreciates the classy kick while we're down. We should have taken more satisfaction in your franchise sucking for 40 plus years while we, Cowboys and Giants, celebrated 12 combined Lombardi trophies,

and I essentially just said, you're so Nouveau-Riche, which is really what the Eagle fans are. Like, they've sucked for so long. They've been losing. for so long. They've never been invited to the parties that giant cowboy and redskin fans threw Super Bowl time a year because they were beneath everybody. They were. Their team was beneath everybody. Their fan base was beneath everybody. They sucked. And they were the only team

without a Lombardi trophy and they'd hold up 1960 like it was the Super Bowl era, like it happened yesterday. They were so delusional. I mean, them winning the Super Bowl last year is just gut-wrenching for the other three NFC East teams. What's ironic about it is when it was happening last year, I actually really respected the way they were playing and appreciated it to a certain degree, but I did not want them to win the Super Bowl. I made that so clear on the radio show last year.

And that's the NFC East rivalry part of it. So when I read this, I'm like, right now, they are an embarrassment, they're dumb, they're arrogant, Redskins, that is, the franchise has been tarnished, nearly ruined, by the ownership of the last 20 years. So he's not wrong about any of that. But that has made many of us apathetic we feel much differently than we used to feel.

But occasionally you get something from one of those rival teams. And it's like, damn it! I want us to be good again! I want us to be good again, and I want to have games against the Eagles, where we win games to go to the postseason and contend for a Super Bowl. Like, most of you don't even know what you missed out on. It was so great when the Redskins were good.

It was so good. It was so much fun. The rivalries, the feelings about the Eagles, Giants, and Cowboys were so real. It was such a legitimate, genuine passion of hate. But it was also this group of four teams. I mean, the Cardinals were a part of it for a long time, but it's this group of four teams that it's been so special. And we're not holding up our end of the bargain anymore.

We are an embarrassment. And it sucks because it would be so much fun again to have a feeling that you can actually kick the Eagles ass or the Giants' ass in a big game in January or December and that you'd actually contend for something legitimate other than mediocrity is the best we can do and it's embarrassing mediocrity year and year out. So to Howard Eskin, I know where you're going with this,

and the only thing I'll say is I don't feel like Redskins. Redskins, not the Snyder Redskins, but the Redskins fans have been classy because we could have rubbed your nose in your succotitude for a lot more than we did. But you know what? We really, we pretty much turned our noses up at you because you were so low rent.

From your team to your fans, but we still embraced you as part of ours, part of the NFC East. So I'm not pissed at Howard Eskin, but what it did to me was just for a brief moment. There it was. It's like, I do still. I still care. I do want it to be relevant again. I do want it to be important again. I do want my franchise to be relevant again. And you know what? And I've said this so many times over the years, Aaron, my Redskins fantasy, whenever I've thought about, wouldn't it be great to be good again and a contender again? I've always wanted simultaneously for the Cowboys to be good too. I want the Redskin Cowboy games to be what they,

you know, used to be. You know, we got sort of excited for a Thanksgiving Day game this year. But really, I mean, this franchise with this owner, it's hard to really get genuinely excited about anything. But to have games against the Eagles, Giants, and Cowboys, where everybody's good and everybody's a contender, there were years in the 80s and 90s where it's like three of the four teams were legitimate Super Bowl contenders. No less than two. with the teams were Super Bowl contenders. And these games were heavyweight matchups. I mean, still today, and I mentioned this last week, still to this very day,

these NFC East matchups are featured on national television over and over again, even with the Redskins involved, as bad as we've been. Because people have this spot, this NFL emotional thing that says, these are big games, man, cowboy's skins, Eagles, Cowboys, Giants, Eagles, Eagles, Giants, Reds, I mean, these are big games. They mean something. Even though for our franchise, the one we've rooted for, a lot less passionately in recent years than it used to be for all of the reasons described many times over, it hasn't felt the same. But I want it to feel the same. I still have that in me. And I think a lot of fans still have it in them, at least the longtime fans,

that remember what it was like on a Sunday, the few hours leading up how excited you were for a 405 kick against the Cowboys at RFK or FedEx, even FedEx. There were years at FedEx where these games were big. You know, a big matchup, heavyweight matchup against the Eagles. I mean, some of those Giants Redskins games in the late 80s and 90s were massive, massive. And you know what never effing happened? Not once. Never was our stadium invaded. They wouldn't even think about invading RFK.

Just like we would never think about invading the vet. All right? RFK and the vet were by far in a way the two most imposing places in the division to play. They were one and two in terms of most difficult venues. You didn't, as an opposing fan, if you went, you went quietly. because if you went loudly, you got the shit kicked out of you. And that happened at RFK too. I can remember cowboy fans and Stauback jerseys being dragged out of the park.

You may say that that is, you know, that that's brutish and wrong. But it was heated. It was real. And I missed those days. And so when I read that tweet for a moment, I was like, damn it, I want to be good again. so that we can shut people like him up. But right now,

they're a million times better of a franchise than the Redskins. It's not even close. Before we get off of this, I did just see one more stat to add to the list of things in 2018. The full attendance numbers are out for all the teams. The Redskins, of course, have the biggest drop. By percentage, do you want to guess what the number is from you to year?

Was it 20-something percent? 19% year to year. Yeah. Yeah, again, and it's funny because Scott and I had this conversation before he did this thing on SportsCenter the other night. And he said that eagle game was amazing. And I said it was, but it was expected. The eagle crowd on Sunday, we all predicted. We all knew it was coming.

The most jarring crowd this year, the most shocking moment from an attendance standpoint this year was the year was the. the home opener. No one could have anticipated that a team that won its opener on the road, with Adrian Peterson rushing for 100 plus yards, and Alex Smith is a new quarterback coming off a really solid opening day game, nobody could have anticipated 50,000, you know, 20-something thousand short of a sellout on opening day, on a beautiful day in September as a one-and-o team with some, you know, some reason to be a little bit optimistic. Before we get to Jerry Brewer, I have a new theory about an old theory that I just want to put out there real quickly. It's more like a new idea about an old way of doing business.

Bear with me on this one, because I'm definitely open-minded enough to change my mind on this by tomorrow. But I was thinking about this late last week and over the weekend. Bruce Allen was Dan Snyder's attempt at being a good owner. Let me explain that because most of you won't follow it. But Bruce Allen, the hire of Bruce Allen was Dan Snyder saying, I've got to become a better owner. I've got to have a responsible league executive running my organization. Because remember, in those first 10 years of ownership, Dan was far too involved.

far too involved. And, you know, he was essentially directing his stooge Vinnie Serrato to do his dirty work. By the way, as a quick aside, when I went through all of the numbers on Monday show about how inept this organization has been, and I said they've only played five playoff games since Snyder on the team, 1999, 2005, 2007, 2012, and 2015, some of you pointed out that, you know, the 99 playoff run, which included one of the two playoff wins during Snyder's ownership tenure, shouldn't be credited towards Snyder because he came in as the owner, you know, midway through 1999. And that team was really set up by, you know, Charlie Casserly and Norff Turner, who was the coach

at the time. And that's a fair point. And I'll go one step further. And I remembered this when somebody brought this to my attention. You know, one of the stories at the time was that Dan Snyder wanted to reverse the Brad Johnson trade. When he finally became owner, it was shortly after the Redskins had made the deal, the trade for Brad Johnson, to bring Brad Johnson from Minnesota to Washington to be their starting quarterback for the 1999 season. And after he purchased the team, there were stories that he tried to get that trade reversed.

So if he had had his way in 1999, they probably wouldn't have gone to the playoffs because that year that Brad Johnson had was spectacular. You know, it was the first time in a while they had had some really solid professional quarterbacking. I mean, Gus Ferrat did a decent job there for a few years. But if Snyder had had his way in 99, they may not have gone to the playoffs. And they may not have gotten the one win they got that year, which was over Detroit and Gus Ferrat, ironically enough. And then they lost at Tampa in the second round in a 14 to 13 game, which was really the closest they've been in 20 years to getting to the NFC championship game they had in that game a 13 to nothing lead at halftime.

But anyway, I digress because I want to get back to my new idea about an old way of doing business. I've said many times over the last nine years that Snyder has been a bad owner, but a different owner, and it's true, because Bruce is frugal. Bruce is not player or agent friendly. Players and agents in particular used to love Washington. Dan was the classic, Dan and Vinny were the classic marks for anyone selling anything. He never asked about price. He never negotiated.

How much does it cost? 10 million, three years. I'll give you 15 million over three years. You know, and the deals got done. Bruce isn't a good. football evaluator. He's ineffectual as a leader. But damn, if he can't negotiate a good price for an average player, you know? Seriously, the fiscal discipline that Bruce brought was in some ways, I think, very good for an organization that was consistently overpaying for players who in many cases had big

names, but were either past their prime or just didn't fit, you know, with the system or the scheme, or the locker room. But Dan has been a different owner, a much different owner since hiring Bruce. You know, Bruce was voted as the least trusted executive among NFL agents. It's because they never get a good deal with Bruce. And Dan's involvement has really been lessened over the years with Bruce here. Now, you know, the trade for McNabb and Griffin and the interference with Griffin and the picking Griffin over a coach.

But Dan's preferred style of ownership isn't the way he's owned the team over the last nine years. So here's my new idea for the day. All right. Start spending big again. Go big on a coach. Take a truck full of money to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and give it to Jim Harbaugh. Give Jim Harbaugh the keys to the car. I think he takes it, too.

Well, here's one thing that Jim Harbaugh's got experience with. He's worked for terrible ownership in San Francisco, and he made it work. You know, and start spending on players. Labion Bell, Teddy Bridgewater, Jadavian Clown. Trade for Antonio Brown now. How's that for an offseason? You know, Eric Schaefer, he'll figure out how to make it work. You fire Bruce.

I mean, imagine that press release. Let Doug announce it because you're not comfortable standing up there and talking about it. Doug will talk about it. elevate Eric Schaefer to team president and general manager, elevate Kyle Smith to general manager and let Kyle be the lead talent evaluator. You don't want to let him get away anyway from what I'm told. Let Doug continue to help out in these areas and scouting and looking at players. And you can let Doug be the voice to all of it. You've thrown him out there to take the hits before. Let him announce and talk about Labion Bell and Teddy Bridgewater and Jadavian Clowney and Jim Harbaugh.

I know that there isn't enough cap room for all of this, but there never was. Eric Schaefer always figured out a way to structure contracts and make it work. Could the old way actually be worse than this way? Seriously, I'm being serious about this. Why not? Imagine the off-season headlines. Harbaugh would be a jaw dropper. Bruce fired would be a, I mean, you'd get more than a golf clap for that.

Clowny, Levion Bell, Teddy Bridgewater, it can't be worse than the way it's been. If you want to pay Bruce a fortune to be a consultant, as a 1099 employee, a consultant to manage the stadium project, and pay, you know, he probably won't want to do it, so you'll have to overpay him to do it. But look, if Dan's going to be 7 and 9 or 8 and 8 or 6 and 10, he might as well start having fun in the offseason again.

There's no way that that way could be worse. It's not going to work in terms of long-term sustained winning. I went through that in detail on Monday show. They're never going to be a professional football operation that wins consistently. But cheap, disingenuous Bruce, who isn't liked by the fan base, he's despised by the fan base. He isn't liked by players or agents either. I mean, if you're going to suck being an owner, do it. way. Seriously, if you're going to suck as an owner, you might as well do it the way that you

had fun doing it. There are still enough people out there ready to buy in to Lavian Bell, Jadavian Clowny, Jim Harbaugh, and Teddy Bridgewater. Doug can be your voice and face. Eric and Kyle can do all the work. Overpay everybody. It won't be any worse than it is now. You'll get the stadium at some point. You'll take a hit if it's not in D.C., but you'll be able to spin up some faux excitement for that. Go do it the old way. I am being totally serious about this thought that I had late last week over the weekend. I think the key to all of it would be Harbaugh, because Jim Harbaugh, he wins everywhere he goes. Most notably, however, he wins where people think you can't win. Stanford before he got there. The 49.

before he got there. Nobody will think he can win here either. You know, really when you think about it, if you still hold out hope that despite the ownership and the management, that there's still a fluky way, a fluky way that the Redskins could have a mini run of sorts, the only way it happens is with the flukish hiring of a coach. Like you stumble into Frank Reich, you know, or you overpay to bring in Jim Harbaugh, who's won in every situation he's been in, you know, every situation. Look at, you know what Harbaugh's record is as an NFL coach? 4419 and one. That's hard to do. Three straight championship games as the head coach in San Francisco. That's the way you fluke your way into something. I'm just, I'm being completely honest when I say, I know it wouldn't work.

It wouldn't be a sustained model for long-term winning, but it can't be any worse than what they've been doing. You know, I was all for Bruce's fiscal responsibility because we had just witnessed how horrific it was to let Vinnie Serrato do the dirty work of the owner and overpay these aging stars that never fit and weren't, you know, we're on the backside of their careers anyway. but as it turns out Bruce was so damn frugal, so damn disingenuous, so difficult that this wasn't going to work either and hasn't worked. I mean, it's been a bigger failure than the first go-round. I mean, look at the records. I mean, Gibbs had a lot to do with that. But look at the records. I mean, Vinny's record is actually better than Bruce Allen's. Look, it's never going to work the way it should work, so you might as well try it. the old way again. And maybe you can overpay a coach like Harbaugh that'll come in here and turn it

around at least for a brief moment until he gets sick of the owner and the owner gets sick of him and then it's all over. But right now, I would pay for an NFC championship game. If you told me right now they're going to lose in the NFC championship game in 2020, I'll pay for that. You know what, especially with Harbaugh. I'm a Harbaugh fan. I prefer the Marty Schottonheimer's of the world, especially when they work for owners like Snyder. Like you don't have any discipline. You've got recklessness throughout, or you did. You need straightforward, blunt structure discipline.

Anyway, that was the thought I had over the weekend. Went on there for a while. We're going to get to Jerry Brewer here in a moment. Did you want to say something? You had something you wanted to say. I was going to just say, for people who would say, probably rightly, why would Jim Harbaal leave Michigan for the Redskins? I think he's going to look for it.

I think you can see the mob starting to form a little bit. They can't beat Ohio State. They can't win bowl games. And while that's really not fair to him, that's the reality of college sports. That mob is starting to form. So if there is a golden parachute out there, an NFL team that's willing to pay him $10 million a year to come coach, I think he takes it. I think you're right. I think you're right.

And I think that the job that he's done at Michigan in terms of people who want to bash it is a little bit overstated. I thought he had a hell of a football team there for a while this year. He just didn't have some of the offensive athletes that Ohio State had. He didn't. Wind donation. All right. So they've still got their triple zero sale going. Zero down payment, zero payment, zero interest until 2020.

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save tomorrow, save forever. 86690 Nation or visit WindowNation.com. That's 86690 Nation or shop window nation. And tell them I told you to call. All right, let's bring in Jerry Brewer, who you've been here now three or four years, right? You've been in town for about three or four years? Yeah, just a little shy of And I love Jerry, and I've had him on the radio show a lot, and I think this is his first visit here on the podcast. And I've said about your work that, you know, Tommy, Tom Levero, who is, you know, a close friend and is part of this show two days a week. I always consider Tommy to be a fearless writer, and I think you are, you're the same in many ways, which is why I've always enjoyed reading you. But you've been here, you know, for a little bit longer than a cup of coffee now. And I was curious as someone who's written and covered teams before and you were in Seattle before this,

have you ever, ever seen a dysfunctional mess like this organization? And then the second part of that is, do you think this is the worst it's ever been? Wow. Those are two loaded questions. You know, it's interesting. I cover the Seattle Mariners in Seattle for a good while, and I think they, currently have the major league record of the longest period without making the playoffs. They haven't made the playoffs since 2001.

And there was plenty of dysfunction in that franchise and strange things, strange things that happened, but not to the level of this one. And it's interesting because if you want to compare them on the field to some of the things that I saw with the Mariners, I think you could say that the skins have their act together a little more. But I've never seen a situation in which normally a team that loses, they can't put together sustained success, a lot of times it's just purely because you can't get players or there's just something wrong with that component of it.

Here, I look at situations in which they could have won, but the front office, consistently holds them back. The front office in the way that they do things, how they deal with people, how they allow public relations issues to turn into disasters. That's the big problem. I actually think they have a competent locker room, and I don't think they're, they have as many problems with coddling guys as other organizations that fail due. But it's just that the front office is the strangest front office I've ever seen in sports. So if someone came to you and said, Jerry, you've been in Washington for three, four years now, you know, I live on the West Coast and I know that they're not very good and there's all this dysfunction. Why? Why is it so strange? How would you answer that question, specifically? Exactly. Bad ownership.

You know, an owner who virtually has no connection with this fan base. I think, you know, you start there. And then I think you go from there, you go directly to the team president that the owner has empowered. I mean, so it's Daniel Snyder and it's Bruce Allen. It's as simple as that. Bruce Allen, there is talent in that building. I think he gets in the way of the guys who really can do a good job doing their job. I think he gets jealous.

I mean, when you look at Brian Lafamina and everything that happened there, I think a lot of that was a power struggle. I think, you know, as much as the Redskins have played Scott McLuhan as an alcohol issue, there was a power struggle there. He did not, Bruce Allen did not like the fact that, that Scott McClure was kind of viewed as this white knight. He did not like the fact that Brian LaFena was viewed as this white knight. And he got in the way of those guys doing their jobs.

And, I mean, when you just look at his track record since, what, 2009, so he would be going on 10 years if he remains, it's pathetic. It's embarrassing. And it's one thing for a team president to lose. You know, we've seen that a lot in sports. It's another thing to have the losing record and the PR disasters and then the lack of accountability. And if your team president is going to have final say on all matters in football operations and he never shows his face anymore and refuses to be the face of the organization,

what do you really have? And that's a huge problem. And I think Sally Jenkins, you know, talked to a league executive who went unnamed and you kind of know about what he said why he decided to be unnamed. Called Bruce Allen literally a joke. Literally a joke.

That's how he's viewed in NFL circles. You have a guy who's literally a joke. So it's not just that the fans consider him a joke. it's not just that the media considers him a joke. The league, you know, who can make excuses for a lot of reasons for teams. Someone in the league is openly saying this guy is a joke. Yet, to this point, Daniel Snyder refuses to get rid of him. All right, to this point, as we sit here on Wednesday, January 2nd,

and haven't heard one thing from the organization to date. What do you think should happen? What do you think will happen? Well, I think should happen is I think they need to clean house at the top. You need a new team president, and Bruce Allen cannot have any power role in the organization. If you wanted to say that he retired and can keep him as a consultant on stadium issues, I guess that would be fine, but you know, you keep hearing things like maybe he would just slide back over into the business role and they would hire a football operations head.

That's not going to work. That's not going to work. He's going to get in the way of that football operations guy doing his job, just like he got in the way of the business operations guy doing his job. And, you know, part of the problem is it's hard to have somebody in an organization correcting the mistakes that you. you made. And because Bruce Allen is the way that he is, he's good at schmoozing, he understands how to communicate with Snyder in a way that others don't. If Snyder's such an unconventional guy, I think you have to be willing to hear him erupt and you have to take some things that he says and be able to take it with a grain of salt and spend time with him and do all that shoozing. Bruce

Allen is a master at that. I've actually taken Kevin to saying that, you know, it's like inception with him. Like I think he's planning ideas in Daniel Snyder's head, and Daniel Snyder doesn't even know that these ideas are being planted in his head. But as long as he's around, no one is going to be able to effectively do their job. So should, you just got to, like, remove the plague on this organization. and Bruce Allen and empower other people to do things their way. I think that's what should happen. And then everything else that happens is just kind of at the discretion of that new

team president. You know, do they want to keep Jay or not, et cetera, et cetera? What I think will happen is I think they'll just slide Bruce Allen back over into business ops and they'll bring somebody in as a team president or whatever you want the title to be. You know, it's kind of the head of that department. And it'll likely be someone who's got some kind of name recognition because they have to do something to inspire hope or at least change the conversation. And I think that's what they're likely to do.

But that person, I'm not sure if they would have the power to make an independent decision on Jay Gruden or not. And I think it's incredibly bizarre that, I mean, they haven't even come out and said formally this guy is staying or he is going. But I think it's tied to some other thing that they're trying to finalize. And typical Redskins, I think they're probably more excited about the move than the public will be. Yeah. So, you know, it's interesting because there are a lot of. of things, you know, floating around there. I was very clear at the beginning of this podcast that some of the recent conversation about my old partner, Chris Cooley, that's not likely

going to happen. That's a long shot. So I think I know what you're potentially referring to. But, you know, here's the thing, Jerry. I've thought for a while that there's just, we've gotten to that point that he got to with Vinny Serrato at the end of 2009, where he has not. no choice. The big difference here is that Dan has become publicly reclusive during this Bruce era, and he likes it that way. He's not a comfortable public speaker. He's not comfortable taking questions about his franchise. And Bruce has provided that cover. Now, Bruce hasn't talked recently either, and they've pushed Doug out there, you know, here over the last year or so. You know, Bruce will do that interview with the San Diego guy, Dan Sillio, at some point here in the next few weeks, or some other, you know, soft landing spot.

But I've said this a few times today already. The problem with getting rid of Bruce is where does he turn for that comfort? Bruce has provided him with the ability to stay in the background publicly, which is much more comfortable than him. He's going to have to find that person that can also fill that role. Do you agree or disagree? I agree. And he's someone who, Dan Snyder, he's someone who is a strange personality. And he's not going to be able to get along with everyone.

Right. And everyone's not going to want to deal with him. And there is an awkward chemistry between he and Allen that he likes. And it's not odd for an owner to stay in the business. background and not talk. No, that's true. That's true. I never got a one-on-one with Paul Allen or the Glazer family or anything like that, but it is odd for them not to have someone appointed who's willing, who's willing and comfortable in that role. And, uh, I mean, right now, I just, I mean,

it feels like a rudderless ship. Yeah, it does. And, and they have to, and that, that creates this frenzy, this panic. Um, this, you look at the Ruben Farh, foster situation. If you have, it's not unprecedented that a team would do that. As much as they got hammered for it, there are situations in which teams have done that. But when you do that, you go out of your way to make sure that you're on message. You go out of your way to make sure that the person who made the decision gets in front of cameras, gets in front of recorders and talks about it.

And the way that they handled it, by throwing Doug out there, who's the last person in the world that you would want to talk in a sensitive situation like that, that's just indicative to what's going on here. And that's why that, which is a bad PR situation in any NFL city, turns into a disaster on a national. level. And something that I don't feel like the franchise has recovered from that, even though that happened six weeks ago, you know, more than that, eight weeks ago. Well, it requires some savviness

that no one in the organization has had for years. It requires less arrogance and narcissism that the organization is filled with to come up with the answers to that. You know, there was a way that it could have been presented by Dan or Bruce. They would have been crushed by it, but there was a way they could have said, look, he's never going to play for us. We're not for domestic assault. You're going to kill us.

We're already at our lowest point ever with maybe some self-deprecation, which they're completely, Jerry, as we know, incapable of at any point in time. And the only way out of this thing is to have a good football team. So if he's cleared, he'll play for us, maybe. And if he's not, he'll never play for us.

Like, they just, they're not, there's no savvy at all. And, and I've pointed this out so many times, when you're not smart and you're arrogant, you never think you're the one that's the problem. And therefore you can't learn from the mistakes you make. And that has been this incredible cycle that they've been in for years, years upon years. but I wanted to, you know, you wrote in your column over the weekend, or on Monday, the Monday column that was in the paper, I think you wrote it on Sunday, that the title of the column is the Redskins keep telling us they're close and to what. But you did sort of make the case, and you've already mentioned it here briefly in this conversation, that you do think that there are parts of the organization and in the locker room that are close to something. Explain. Yeah, I think, you know, I mean, the basics of football, if you've got, if you get your line play together, you've got an opportunity.

I mean, that is the foundational piece of a football team. And I think they've got three good defensive linemen, if you want to put ionitis in with Payne and Allen. All those guys, 25 and younger, making an impact, not perfect. I'm not sure that we see a Fletcher Cox or definitely not an Aaron Donald or a young Domicon Sue, you know, among that group. But I think I think you could look at them and you could say at minimum, Jonathan Allen is at least going to be a Ryan Carrigan caliber player on the defensive line.

You know, so a guy who's going to make multiple pro bowls and you're not going to have to worry about him. There's a chance that he could be better than that. And I think with pain, while he's not going to be as splashy, I think he is someone who is going to anchor a defense that can really stop the run. His impact on the run defense is incredible, even when they're giving up 150 rushing yards. Like he is something that you have to account for, and Ionitis is a perfect blend piece with those guys. And you look at their office. offensive line. I think a lot of people have more issues with their offensive line than I do. Obviously, the injuries and the fact that that's been a problem for multiple seasons is an issue,

but you still have one of the best left tackles in the game and Trent Williams, and he still puts good film out there. I think, you know, Brandon Sheriff is a guy who had been healthy until this injury and I think he's going to come back and still be one of the best guards in the game. Morgan Moses is fine and the great thing about Morgan is he does a great job taking care of his body so when he does get nicked up he can play through it. You need one more good solid piece there but I think their offensive line is something that you look at and you look at them based on where they were say five years ago and you say it's more than a enough to work with. It's not like you have to tear the whole thing down and get multiple first

round picks. You've got talent there. So the fact that you've got talent on those two lines, it gives you an opportunity. Now around that, there's a whole lot. You know, and this used to be a team that used to have a few shiny pieces, but no foundation. Now they're the exact opposite. And it gets tricky into exactly how you fix this when you start saying, you know, you need, you need speed rusher, you need really fast linebackers, which is one of the reasons they took the chance on Ruben Foster. I think if you're going to play as much single safety high as they want to play, you need a safety who can run, you know, like Earl Thomas, young Earl Thomas Calder,

a guy who makes an impact sideline to sideline and flushes out a lot of different things. you need wide receivers. Don't come trotting out. Jordan Reed talking about he's our best player on offense. You need a young tight-in who you think is going to be able to replace Jordan Reed or minimize Jordan Reed. Maybe he becomes more in the Vernon Davis-type role. Maybe that's where he belongs. Jerry, you need a quarterback.

You need a quarterback. I mean, you buried the lead because I'm with you on. both lines. And I've said repeatedly, the thing that you, you've, the one positive you have with respect to this franchise right now is you have a nice young nucleus along your defensive front with ionitis pain and Allen. It is potentially a very good defensive front. And yes, a guy like Brandon Sheriff, assuming he can stay healthy and Rueh and Trent Williams. I don't know when his play will start to tail off. But you, Cooley and I had this conversation. the podcast last week. I actually think the needs on both sides of the ball in terms of the number

of new starters you need may be no different than it's been in recent years. You may need seven new starters offensively and at least three to four defensively. That's half a team. Yeah, that's a lot. And we're talking about, you know, we're talking about some pretty highly paid positions. They're going to have to make some decisions because they are a team that's starting to get up there in salary, even though I think they manage the cap very well. So then it becomes, you know, you should have to start making decisions. I mean, is this a team that can have a $15 million a year cornerback? Right. Who hasn't, you know, I mean, who had not been in all pros since he's been here in Norman. I think he's been, for the most part, good and better

than what they'd had. But he hasn't been special. And they signed him to be special. So he started looking at that. And, you know, Trent Williams has a high number. And Brandon Sheriff, because he's coming off injury, maybe his, you get a little bit of a break. But he's a guy you absolutely have to sign. And guards are starting to make outrageous money. Right.

So you start to look around at this team and you see little things here and there. They've got to do some maintenance on some things that you thought were already solid. Right. In addition to going out and getting new pieces. So it gets complicated. And this is why I felt like this is the way I've always felt. And you go back to kind of my initial reaction on Alex Smith. You don't want to pay Kirk Cousins fine.

And I think there's a lot of – my biggest problem was that they weren't aggressive in the initial stages with Cousin. Right, me too. By the late end, it had gotten to the point where it was ridiculous. You weren't going to pay him. It would have taken $30-something million a year and probably $100 million guaranteed just to get him to consider you as bad as that situation was. You don't want to pay that to a guy who's not a top five perennial quarterback. I understand that. I docked you for not being aggressive early when you could have gotten them at a number that would seem awfully small compared to what quarterbacks are making now.

My problem is, then you go out and then you go and you sign essentially the same type of player, except he's not as good of a passer as cousins. And he's also significantly older. And you give him $94 million on an extension, $71,000 of which is guaranteed. And now you don't have this advantage in which a lot of teams are using in which you get a quarter of who can really play, he's on a rookie deal for four years, you're able to boost up all of the weapons that you have around him. And then when it's time to pay him, you will have spent four years developing him. I think there was an opportunity if they had been more aggressive

with some of the quarterbacks in this class, that they could have done that. Or I think you could have done more of a stock gap guy who would have been just as productive as what we saw from Smith in those first eight or nine games. And you could have gotten by that way, the way that they wound up playing. But now they've got, you know, I mean, his contract is not outrageous compared to other quarterbacks, but it's still significant, and you've got so many other needs. So I think they went middle of the road on that decision, which they had consistently done at quarterback.

They went middle of the road, you know, they're very wishy-washy. in the early years with Kirk, they went through two, you know, two years on a franchise tender, which was ridiculous. And then they solve it by going middle of the road again. You know, and they saw it. Not only did they go in middle of the road, they did that very early in the evaluation process. Yeah, they did. Jay Gruden, never even looked at the...

No, he didn't. He didn't. Look, unilateral is the way to describe how the deal went down. with Alex Smith. It was a Bruce Allen deal. I mean, Jay Gruden wasn't even allowed to, it wasn't even asked to evaluate the quarterbacks in the draft. I mean, that's a fair point. And the Cousins conversation, of course, is a tough conversation to have right now, although I'll never back away from it. I agree with you, and I've said it repeatedly over the years. They completely messed up by not getting them at a number at the end of the 2015 season that would

have made them look really smart. And then they further messed up by not trading him when they realized they didn't really like him and he didn't really like them and they could have gotten something from the 49ers of note for him after the 2016 season but yeah they moved quickly on Alex Smith it was January 31st a year ago they they weren't anywhere near you know in you know indie at that point and evaluating other guys and young thinking about the going the young route Jerry in part because they again miss on sort of the PR savvyness they thought hey if we'd make a trade for Alex Smith, that will put perfume on this, you know, on this last two or three years of the Cousins' contract, you know, situation. But whatever. I thought out. And I think they've,

I think they've misread also, Kevin, where they are. And so now they've got this. That's true too. That's fair point. And the strength of your team and the young strength of your team is that defensive line. You would like to have everything kind of be on a similar schedule. And I just don't think they have enough high-impact players between 22 and 26 that match up on a timeline so that they can grow together. You've got part of the team into their 30s. You've got, you know, the guys who are sort of young, 30-ish, right in there 28 to 30, the Trent Williams of the team. And so now you've got this sort of three levels of the team in which you would like the bulk of the team to be young and growing with pain and Allen.

And it's unfortunate that they are in this mode. And that's why I think, you know, if you took a look at where, and a serious look and not looked at it, you know, they're in this, I think they look at the team building with every year with like, how do we get to 10 and 6 and make the playoffs and shut people up? I think instead of looking at it and saying, how do we build a team that's going to be good for a really long time? Well, they don't think that way. They've never thought that way.

It's not, I don't think they're capable of thinking that way. But I think you made a really interesting point that I want to follow up on, that they misread how, you know, for the lack of a better description, how close they were. Because, you know, Bruce Allen said at the end of last year, look, our biggest, you know, talent push is going to be from the 20-something players at run injured reserve, as if these players were really significant, you know, impact Super Bowl winning players.

And that's why they went out. made the trade. I mean, I think part of the trade was to also have an answer to the cousin's contract debacle over the previous years. But I think to your point, they thought the seven and nine in 2017, if they had stayed healthy, they would have potentially been a 10 and 6 team and in the postseason, although the NFC was loaded last year, much more than it was this year record-wise in terms of what it would take to get to the postseason. But I think, you know, Bruce said it. Bruce, you know, and maybe this was the stuff that he was continuing to feed into Dan Snyder inception-wise is, hey, once these guys come back healthy with Alex, we're

going to win the division. We're going to host a playoff game. And you know what? It's not inconceivable. Obviously, it's six and three that if they had stayed healthy, they could have won nine or ten games and won the division. It's possible. You know, I don't want to go back and because I've already done this multiple times and talk

about what we all really thought they were at six and three. Nobody saw a juggernaut at six and three. Nobody even really saw a good team at six and three, but it was a team that could have been in the postseason at six and three had they stayed healthy. But anyway. Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I'm not going to name the names, but there have been some talent evaluators that I've dealt with over the years. And one thing was always really consistent with them. They always had a much more pessimistic view of where the team was than we do. So you'd be sitting there and you talk to them at the end of the year and you'd be like, man,

that's great. You guys won 11 and 5. We're really getting somewhere. And they would tell you, I really think we had like 9 and 7 talent. And I think we're a few more pieces away than what you think. And it's the opposite year. The Redskins always seem to be, you know, a couple games more. optimistic. So they are looking at this year and they're saying we were six and three.

Well, it was a week six and three, you know, in terms of strength of victory. No question about that. And the fact that you had injuries, you know, a lot of the guys who got injured have histories of injuries and you probably depended on them a little too long. And there clearly is something wrong with the way that you're training some of these players that you need to address, that you haven't done a good enough job of addressing, even though that you've made changes. So that's kind of, and they've taken some risk on some guys who are injured in college. And guess what? They get injured in the pros as well.

So they've got to be very careful about this. Yeah, so do veterans like Colt McCoy. When they play, they get injured. I mean, you know, some of this was predictable. I mean, Alex Smith, shattering his leg wasn't predictable, you know, so we understand that. All right, real quickly, before I let you run, just give me where you stand as of AM on January 2nd. Bruce gone, reassigned, stays in the same role. Jay, you know, quickly maybe on another coach or two, where do you stand right now?

What are your predictions? My predictions, Jay Grude stays. Bruce Allen gets reassigned but doesn't really lose power. And we're talking about, you know, some due talent evaluators going to be held as the savior or some, you know, organizational change with someone who is easier to talk to and will actually, you know, do interviews and press conferences and get them through the off season.

but ultimately it's not going to have an impact on winning in 2019. Only to find out at the Indy Combine in February of 2020, that said person couldn't make it because his grandmother passed away and had to go to a funeral. That's probably the way that one will play out. Thank you for doing this and thank you for spending so much time. Really appreciate it. Happy New Year to you. Happy New Year you, too.

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Get out to Farish. They're right there in Fairfax Circle in the heart of Fairfax. And again, ferrishcars.com for everything you need to know about Farish. Best deals, pricing, live inventory. All right. One last thing. I'll save coaching, blunders, and NFL buy and sell for tomorrow. It was good to catch up with Jerry. We went along with him, kept him probably too long, but I enjoy him. A few things on the college football bowl season, which is concluded. And now we're waiting one more game, the national championship game, Clemson and Alabama. By the way, I'll tell you right now, I sort of like Clemson.

I just have a feeling they've got a chance to win the national championship game outright. Like that may be a money line play for me when we get there. Right now the line is right around six. I was surprised it opened under seven. That was a big sign to me. Me too. Now, I will tell you, the action is very split. I don't know that it'll be a smell test pick necessarily.

The smell test came back a little bit. I'm sorry I didn't give the plays out on Monday, my fault. I did tweet out the updated play. and on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, I went three and two. Had two winners yesterday with Washington. What a cover that was last night. There was no chance of you dub covering down 283 to start that fourth quarter getting six and a half. And a lot of you had a lower number.

Six and a half was when I sent it out on Monday. I actually played it early and bought the half point personally. So I had it at plus seven, which was a great number. Don't always get the great number, but I had it. I had to pay for it. But they were down 283, had no chance of covering that game and scored on three out of four possessions, including with 40-something seconds left. They scored a touchdown to make it 2823 for the cover, except for they went for two.

It got picked off, and the dude for Ohio State's running down the sideline for the two-point return, which would have made it seven, and somehow got tripped up. I mean, miraculously, because once he got to the sideline and there was open green grass, I'm like, oh, my God, this is going to be one of the worst. It went from being one of the best wins to one of the worst all-time losses. Or for me, it would have been a push for a lot of you a loss if he returns this for two. Anyway, unbelievable cover, right? Oh, I mean, and you go back through it, you have that shaked punt that Ohio State could have repunt in there, just like, nah, we'll just keep that one. There are so many things that went for Washington.

I had the other side, of course. You've gone against me here as hot as I've been. You've gone against me here recently. I loved Kentucky yesterday. That was the game that was the biggest anti-public play of the day yesterday. It was Kentucky against Penn State. And then on New Year's Eve, I had Missouri, which didn't work. I had Michigan State, which did.

They were getting one and a half, and they lost by a point. And then I had Utah laying the six and a half. they were up 20 to 3 in that game and they lost by 11. So it was the 3 and 2 after the worst weekend of the year, not of the year, in six weeks, because I had gone six consecutive weeks winning. I had a bad NFL Sunday, ended up 5 and 8 for the entire week if you factor in the bowls. Anyway, what I wanted to say is this about college football. And those of you that tweeted me saying,

Kevin, your desire and want for an expanded playoff really took a hit yesterday with UCF losing to LSU. First of all, they were close. And let's not forget UCF had their backup quarterback. And let's also not forget that UCF isn't the reason that I want the playoff to be expanded. I'm not looking to get UCF in, although I would make a spot available for an undefeated non-power-5 as a lock into the 18th field. But Georgia losing last night to Texas was a big thing for all of you. You know, first of all, for all of those people that think that it wouldn't work, that somehow it's overrated in terms of the reaction from a fan standpoint or television dollars or viewers, you're out of your effing mind.

This would be a bonanza from a television standpoint. Quarterfinal Saturday played the Saturday of the Army. Navy game as a possibility that second weekend in December when there is no other college football and having a quadruple header, you know, game number one starting at noon, then the next one comes at 3.30 and then the next one at 7 and then the final game kicks off at 1030 at night, you know, West Coast SC or somebody hosting it. Or, you know, you could start the first game at 11 and the last game at 9.30, however you want to make it work. It would become one of the best days on the sports calendar, similar to those first four days of the NCAA tournament, or, you know,

the first two days when you've got, when you have 16, you know, 32 games each day, right? 16 games each day. You get 16 games each day and 32 over two days, and people love that. Quarter final Saturday with home field advantages in some of these iconic venues, you know, the big house, the shoe, you know, a Jordan Hare. You know, between the hedges, Al Tuscaloosa, all of these places hosting, if you have one versus eight, two versus seven, three, six, four, five, there is no possible way that that ends up being a dud, none. And with respect to, well, you're just creating a long way to get to the same four teams anyway. I disagree with that. You know, not every year is going to be Clemson, Bama. It seems that way right now. But, you know, Clemson and Bama playing a semis final game against a better team. Regardless of what you saw last night, Georgia was the team that

nearly beat Alabama. No one else has nearly beaten Alabama. Georgia, remember, had the letdown after not being a part of this playoff. There's a lot of the psychology in these bowl games that for all intents and purposes are exhibition games. They're NIT games. Put them in the NCAA tournament and see what kind of game you get out of them at that point. But, you know, you're a lot. But, you even if you ended up with the same thing, that quarterfinal day would be a magical day in sports. In my view, I'm a college football fan. I'm a massive college football fan. So my position is biased going in. It's not objective. I would want to see it. And I just assume everyone else would too. So I've made that mistake before. I will concede that point.

But if you don't think that the TV networks would pay massive money on the expectation that, it would become a big day in sports. I think you're really delusional. I think that would be, that is the only Saturday from the beginning of September until the end of the Super Bowl, essentially, that doesn't have legitimate football. Did the NFL play Saturday games that Army and Navy Day? I think they did actually. And they started that last year.

They moved two NFL games into that spot because that was the... Though they did it after the game, right? Yeah, after Army Navy. Yes. Yes, it was later in the day. So that was good that they've gotten the NFL back involved in that day. But that should be a day for quarterfinal Saturday. The bowl games in general, I enjoy them, but I bet.

They're made for betters, these bowl games. And they're made for, you know, December, bad weather, holiday time, people just liking to see football on their television set. Were there any great games? I actually really enjoyed the Texas Georgia game last night. I thought Texas and Sam Ealinger in particular was outstanding. And boy, did he turn things around there because after they lost to Maryland at FedEx Field,

Texas people who are incredibly impatient. And also one of those fan bases that can be a little bit delusional about what they are. You know, because Texas, you can put Texas if you want into the Bama, Ohio State category. I think they're just a tick below. but of course they think they're better than everybody. So Herman could have been in trouble if this season hadn't gone the way it went,

but he got it together, and they were one of the only teams in the Big 12 that played defense. They actually played some legitimate defense during the course of the season, not necessarily against Oklahoma, although they pulled out the first win over Oklahoma. But I enjoyed that game. Here's the other game that I wanted to briefly mention, because I've talked about Mississippi State, all year long and they lost the whatever bowl it was. I don't even know the names of these bowls anymore. They're irrelevant.

Steve Sands texted me yesterday early and he said, I really like the under in the outback bowl. And I said, I don't even know who's playing in the Outback Bowl. I know the matchups on Bowl Day, but the names of these bowls and their title sponsors have become irrelevant, right? Did you know that Mississippi State and Iowa were playing in the Outback Bowl? Or did you know that they were just playing in a bowl game? Because you're a college football fan.

Yeah. I think I would have known it right off the bat. If you had told me, okay, these two are playing which bowl is it, I would have been able to figure it out. Right now, right now, name the New Year 6. New Year's Six. It's Outback. No, no, no, no, the New Year's Six. Oh, oh, the New Year's six.

Even though they didn't play them all on New Year's. Do I need to name the proper names for it? The six rotation of semi-final and championship. Orange, Chick-fil-A, slash peach, whatever I call it, sugar, cotton, rows. What am I missing? Fiesta. There we go. So I think people even have a difficult time sometimes with that. And with the Peach Bowl, as an example, not in the rotation this year,

do you even know who played in the Peach Bowl this year? I'll tell you, it was a team that I remember watching the game. That I liked all year long. Florida, crushed Michigan. Yeah, that's right. Florida, Michigan. So Mississippi State, real quickly. Mississippi State, to me, of the college football I watched this year, they were the best defensive team that I watched all year. They have multiple NFL players on defense.

Remember, we had Loxley on the show, and I asked him, who was the toughest defense you faced? He said Mississippi State. Mississippi State yesterday, in the Outback Bowl, against Iowa. They were not a smell test pick. I did play Mississippi State laying the 7. I just liked them personally, and I lost. Iowa won the game 27 to 22.

Iowa finished the game. Listen to this. With minus 15 yards rushing and won the football game. With 189 yards of total offense and won the football game. How did that happen? Mississippi State turned it over a bunch of times. When you turn it over three or four times, you know, it doesn't matter how great your defense is. You'll eventually lose and they did. Their offense was horrible all year long, but God, they were a breathtaking defense to watch this year play. and they were yesterday.

Iowa was one for 12 on third down, and they won the game. 189 yards of total offense, and they won the game, minus 15 yards rushing, and they won the game. That was not a bad beat, but I just, I bet Mississippi State because I liked him. Anyway, thanks to Jerry Brewer for joining the show today. Thanks to Aaron for producing it. Tommy will not be here tomorrow, I don't think, although he just called me during the recording of this.

Maybe he's got to change. of mind. I don't know if we'll have news by this time tomorrow, maybe, but as of the recording of this podcast right now, we don't, other than what I started the show with, which is Cooley, front office, long shot. Would be smart. Would be a smart thing to do, long shot. And I'm not even sure that that's, you know, what he would want to do, but I'm not going to speak for him. Anyway, thanks. Happy New Year. Back tomorrow. Thank you.