The Kevin Sheehan Show - Who Replaces Alex Smith?

Episode Date: January 28, 2019

Kevin has a ton of thoughts on Ian Rappaport's tweet that the Skins will be without Alex Smith in 2019. How should the Redskins approach the QB situation? Who should the Redskins be looking at and what will they end up doing? He also talks Maryland basketball, Anthony Davis, and even Rent Live. <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, I am here. Aaron is here. This show is presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation. And tell them we told you to call. More on Window Nation and their latest deal coming up here shortly. We're going to get to the Alex Smith report from Ian Rappaport over the weekend in a few minutes. Lots to digest there. Although we've really been expecting that we are going to have to digest that news for a while now. Yeah, not, not unexpected, but still big news. And I'm not even sure what he really reported. So we'll get to that in a few minutes. But Alex Smith, you know, as J.P. Finley had mentioned to us last week, I believe, that he was pretty sure based on his sources that Alex Smith wasn't going to play in 2019.

I did not watch one second of the Pro Bowl. I swear to you. And in fact, I will tell you, the God's honest truth. I didn't know until this morning that the game was in Orlando and not Hawaii. It hasn't been in Hawaii for years. See? What a disgrace of a product this is.

They just need to do away with it because there's no way to do it well. There is absolutely no creative answer to making the Pro Bowl interesting. It doesn't mean that people aren't watching. You know, people are, they probably did a good number. Yesterday. I'm sure the numbers are always ridiculous. But I wasn't going to watch that. I mean, yesterday I watched college hoops, watched a lot of the golf, which I watched all weekend long.

Tiger did a nice job finishing in the top 20, shot 67 yesterday. Rose is ridiculous right now, 21 under par to win Tori Pines, which I said on Friday, and it's one of the reasons I continued to watch all weekend long. It just looked so beautiful there. And it is. Talk to Steve Sand. a couple of times over the weekend, and he was like, yeah, it's gorgeous here. And he was feeling better by the time he got to Sunday's broadcast. If you miss Steve last week, he joined us from Tori Pines, where he had a terrible cold. I watched The Wizards briefly last night. Love the win on Friday night against Orlando.

They gave up a big lead, but then held on. Erisa had a huge steal. Beal turned it over late, but he was really good. Beal's really scoring right now. he's, you know, he's an all-star and he deserves to be and he just is really difficult to guard right now. He still has too loose of a handle for me and it ends up being turnover city at times for him. They lost to the Spurs last night. That's happened now going all the way back to 1999.

I'm going to actually get to a Scott Allen from the post tweet earlier this morning about the cover of the post the last time the Spurs lost to the Wizards in San Antonio. We'll do that a little bit later on. So, college hoops yesterday, golf, and then of course last night, Rent Live. That's what I watched, and I was looking forward to watching Rent Live. Even though it really wasn't live, recorded because the guy who was playing Roger broke his foot in rehearsal the day before. I love Rent. Always have, always will. What very few of you know about me and most of you don't know about me. I'm not a theater nerd by any stretch of the imagination, but I do go a lot and I like to go a lot. My wife and I like to do that. We'll go to New York twice a year. We see shows here in town. We've already been to two shows this year.

Saw Beautiful, the Carol King story. We saw that in New York a year or two years ago. I forget now. Saw it at the National Theater, end of December. And we went and saw School of Rock a couple of ago. Last week, in fact, it's terrible. That movie is a great movie with Jack Black. Amazing movie. But it was not a very good show in my view. But Rent is an all-timer. And it's a top 10 all-time run on Broadway, I think. Hundreds of millions in revenue, I would guess. The story isn't for everybody, but there is something to take from it for everybody. The music is as good as you'll get in the musical, in my opinion. I think I've seen it four or five times over the years, maybe six originally in the late 90s in New York, seen it here.

But last night on Fox, the attempt to do it live on television, were sort of live. Noble effort, but it didn't work for me. Have any of those Fox live? No. I feel like they've always been really bad. I don't think I've watched the others. I watched last night because I saw it being pubbed all week.

When the original cast joined the show at the very end, it was moving for those that have watched it and are fans of it, but didn't want. work for me on TV. But anyway, that's enough on rent. I'm sure you guys are really thrilled with that little piece of information. But for those that enjoy and are fans of rent and you watch it last night, you know what I'm talking about. I don't think it did the musical justice on television, but you know what that show was if you've seen it live on Broadway or elsewhere. To the person on Twitter who asked me who I liked in college hoops on Saturday, my apologies.

Somebody tweeted me, Aaron, on Saturday, early Saturday morning. You like anybody today? And I liked a lot of people on Saturday. I don't know. I think I had eight or nine different wagers on Saturday. But I gave the guy my favorite two, and I said one of them is going to be unpleasant, potentially, to watch. But I liked Notre Dame getting the points against Virginia, not even close.

And I liked Xavier getting a couple of points against Marquette. And they actually had the lead at times. but that was loser number two. Those are the two I gave the guy on Twitter, so I apologize for that. By the way, consider yourself lucky that I didn't give you all of my plays from Saturday because it was not a good day.

But it was a bad beat day, Aaron. I don't know if you saw this, but I had Missouri Saturday, late afternoon, early evening, getting six against LSU at home. LSU's 25th ranked team in the country. Missouri had a 14th,000. point lead with 2.10 left in regulation.

Up 14, and they're getting six. What is my win probability at that point getting six points? 99.8%. There might be like a 0.2% chance. I don't know what it is. I hate those win probability things.

The bottom line is, and I never make this mistake, some of you who gamble will, if you're keeping it on a sheet of paper, we'll just check it, we'll write the W next to it. I never do that. Until the game's gone final. The South Davis Sharpie. I remember Cooley once.

I think I sort of got Cooley into betting a little bit the last couple of years. He's not a better at all. But he really started to follow point spreads in games. And there was this one Saturday, two, three years ago, West Virginia was playing BYU at FedEx Field. Do you remember that? I think it was West Virginia, BYU at FedEx Field. Sounds right. Anyway, I can't even remember which team I convinced

Cooley to take. But the team that I convinced him to take, let's just say it was West Virginia, because I barely remember it now. He called me in the third quarter, late third quarter, and said, hey, that was a good call man on West Virginia. Cooley, you never do that. You do not, you never, ever chalk up a win until the clock has three zeros on it, or four zeros in the places where they go to four zeros. You never do that. And sure enough, of course, BYU, if that, I forget, It may have been flipped. The team that we didn't want came back, covered, maybe won the game outright. And I said, you can never do that.

That's just, you know, that's the kiss of death. And Missouri, 14-point lead, getting six with 210 left. The game goes to overtime. They bungle the 14-point lead over the final two minutes, and they lose by six in overtime. That's a push, boys and girls, all right? It's a push. It's not a loss. It feels like a loss.

It's like the Redskins Cincinnati game in London. I must have referred to that game as a loss 20 times in the weeks and months that followed, because it felt so much like a loss, because Dustin Hopkins missed a 30-yard field goal to win it in overtime at the end of overtime. It felt like a loss. I actually pushed with Missouri plus six on Saturday night. But that is why, boys and girls, when Ted, Leonis and his son, I think his name is Zach.

Is that his son's name? I think that's it. Yes. When they tell you that if you just crunch the numbers really well and you get into the analytics and predictive modeling that you can beat the house, no, you can't beat the house. That is not being honest. They know it too.

They're pushing gambling like a drug dealer pushes dope. All right. Look, it is fun gambling. That is true. It can be a lot of fun. It is also a lock that you will lose more money over time than win money. That is also true. And that is not a theoretical whiteboard prognostication.

That is real-world practical, actual experience. It's fun, not just when the team that looked like an easy winner getting six points and up 14 with 210 left. When you lose that better push it like I did, that's painful. That's not exactly fun, but it makes it exciting. What was fun yesterday, however, Aaron, was the ultimate smell test play yesterday. Now, I don't do college basketball smell tests, in part because on the Friday show, you don't even have the Sunday lines out, okay, for college basketball. Those that don't bet basketball or hockey, the point spreads for those games don't come out until about 24 hours prior to the game. So on Friday, all I'd be giving to you on the podcast or some Saturday games,

and not even all of the Saturday games would be out at the time that we record the podcast. But yesterday was the ultimate smell test play in any sport. Michigan State ranked six in the country, undefeated in the Big Ten regular season since early last year. They haven't lost since early last year. They were on the road against Purdue. And guess what? Purdue was favored. Did you know this?

I didn't realize they were favorite. I knew it was a short line. You know, Purdue went off as a one, one and a half, somewhere around there, one to two-point favorite in the game. I didn't see any twos, actually. I saw ones and one and a halfs. And when I saw that yesterday morning, I was, because I had not seen it from the previous night,

and I woke up yesterday morning, and I looked at that, and I said, well, that looks like a winner to me. Because if Purdue had been a three-point or four-point underdog, the public would have bet, Michigan State big. But they went off as a favorite, which meant the house, you know, those taking bets in Vegas and the Caribbean and in Jersey and in West Virginia and all the other places places around the country now that take bets from guys wearing jerseys with their own names on the back. Those are the guys that love to now get into gambling. They're going to take down the house.

Those guys, the house, they needed Purdue yesterday. Yes, the house, the house, often has a big need. They can't always even up their books and take the Vig. Take the 10% fee or take the 8% fee or the 12% fee, wherever it is. Yesterday, when it came to any kind of volume of betting, number of bets, dollar volume, et cetera, the house needed Purdue laying the point, point in a half, and they didn't seem to mind at all, at all.

And so who did I have yesterday? Purdue for the maximum allowed. Largest wager of the year for me in college hoops, I will tell you that it did not get back what I lost on Saturday, but it still was a healthy-sized win. Purdue won the game by 10. They were up by 20 at one point in this game. Michigan State got it back to five,

but Purdue was the better team all day. Matt Painter has been, and those of you that have listened to the radio show over the years, you know that he's been one of my favorite under-the-radar coaches. I think he's massively under-ratered. by fans of the sport. Those in the sport know how good he is, but Matt Painter does an incredible job with Purdue.

They've become, over the last few weeks, a team that appears to be a late-into-the-tournament contender, you know, maybe even a final four contender. They have the great guard in Carson Edwards. They've got size, they've got shooting, and they're well-coached. They're on a roll right now. They've won five in a row. They come to Maryland in two weeks.

I think it's two weeks from tonight, I think. Carson Edwards is so, but he's got to be, he might be the most under-heralded player in the country right now. He is. He takes some bad shots, but I love that Painter. A part of it is just the team around them, though. Yeah. Painter is a, um, Painter is a grinded out kind of guy, but when he has the right kind of talent, he lets him play. Speaking of Maryland, uh, because Purdue comes to Maryland in two weeks, and this gets me to what happened on Saturday.

A bad loss for the Terps Saturday in New York to Illinois. No other, no other way to put it. It's a bad loss. And I'll just start with this. Do not in the future give away home games in January when your students are back. All right? That is beyond, beyond stupid. I don't know how it happened.

It may have been the last athletic director that decided to do it. It may be the current athletic director who's been the interim. I don't know how that works. I know that what I thought it was, it is not. It is not like this Big Ten initiative, where every team's going to give up a home game over a period of time to play in New York. I don't know that Maryland had to do it. There are a ton of Maryland alum in the New York area, New York, Connecticut, Jersey,

Bergen County, Fairfield County, all of New York, Long Island, lots of Maryland alum in that area. I would bet that Maryland's among the top five, top six, seven, eight, top ten, you know, bases in the New York metro area. Maybe it's not. It's got a lot of alum, a ton of alum. Anybody that has gone to the University, anybody that went to the University of Maryland

knows how many New Yorkers are at the school. All right, it is, it's noticeable. Always was, I don't know if it still is, actually. I can't speak to what it is now. But when I was there, basically, the University of Maryland was like Long Island South. It really was. When I was there, it was same way.

Yeah, it was Bergen County, Fairfield County, Connecticut, and Long Island South. And then there was a ton of Philadelphia, too. A ton of, I mean, I can't tell you how many guys I knew from Cherry Hill, from South Jersey. Seriously. I mean, that was what Maryland was like. And I know that when they have played in New York in previous games, that there's usually a pretty good Maryland turnout.

And it appeared as if there was a decent turnout Saturday for the Illinois game. Play your New York game, if you want to play a New York game, in November. Play it against a non-conference opponent in November. November. Do not give up a home game in January, late January in your conference season to play in New York. Stupid. I'm not saying that they would have definitely won had the game been at Xfinity Center, but I think they would have won. I do. I think it would have been a completely different environment and a completely different game. They may have played poorly on Saturday at home as well. I think they would have won the game at home. I can't guarantee it, but they had a better chance of winning

it at home than they did on a neutral floor. And it may not have been or felt like a neutral floor. There were more Maryland fans. You could hear it on TV than there were Illinois fans, but it wasn't Xfinity Center. Now look, it's just their third Big Ten loss of the year. It's a nine, nine and a half point favorite, which is what Maryland went off as on Saturday. You're supposed to win that game. They've got more talent than Illinois. Illinois is not a terrible team, all right? They have players. They play a style that can be frenetic at times, although that wasn't really why they won on Saturday. They blew out Minnesota a few weeks ago. They're a capable team. I told, I may have said this on Friday to you. I know I said it to Corbin, who was producing on Friday, that, you know,

I'm a little bit concerned about the game. And then I saw the point spread that was fairly high. It actually opened at 11 and came down. So there was some sharp money on Illinois. I just, you can't lose to Illinois. And you just can't. lose to them. And they did. But again, Illinois's not terrible. Maryland's better. Here's, here were the problems for Maryland. There are two major problems for Maryland, 21 turnovers and transition defense. Those were the two biggest issues for Maryland on Saturday. And really the two reasons they lost the game. The 21 turnovers, it's really, really hard in a 40-minute college basketball game to have 21 turnovers when you play a grind-it-out style that Maryland plays. That's what

Maryland has become. I hate it because I personally think they would be a better team and less vulnerable against lesser teams if they tried to play faster, but they're a grind-it-out, walk-it-up-the-court team most of the time. And when you play that way, it's hard to turn it over 21 times because there aren't as many possessions in the game. So that's a high number of of turnovers, an extremely high number, in a style that they like to play or that they have been playing. I can't stand. It's my biggest frustration point, Aaron, with Turgeon coach teams and this team in particular. And I know that it's not that he's against trying to play faster. You know, early in the season, they pressed a little bit. He wanted to, and talked about, they want to

play more up-tempo, but they just haven't recently. You know, more attempts to run, get out and transition not only after misses, but after made shots too. The more possessions you can have in a game when you're the more talented and deeper team, which Maryland is going to be much of the time this year, the better chance you're going to have of winning. They have talent, they have depth. Walking it up the floor and constantly playing against a set defense is painful to watch when you have one of the fastest guards end-to-end in the country in Cowan, and you have guys who can finish and spot up behind the arc. Maryland is 12th in the Big Ten out of 14 teams, Aaron,

12th out of 14 teams in number of field goal attempts per game. That is not a good number for them. 12th, only two teams shoot it less than them. It's not because they're getting all these free throws, and it's not because they lead the league in turnovers. They just don't get enough shots. They don't get enough possessions. They don't get enough shots.

They are second in the league in defensive rebounding, second in the league in rebounding margin. They're second in the league in block shots. All of this should lead to opportunities to push the tempo and play faster, but they don't do it enough. It's my biggest complaint about this team and some recent turgeon teams. It's much easier, much easier. All of you basketball people know. All right? Much easier to face a scrambling defense than it is to face a set defense. Not every team should play that way, and many teams can't play that way.

Maryland can, and more often than not, they don't. It's the preference of the coach, clearly. And they do have some good half-court stuff this year. You know, it's not as bad as it's been in recent years or as inconsistent. I don't hate it when they set up and they dump the ball to Bruno Fernando in the post. You know, we didn't see enough of that down the stretch on Saturday against Illinois. 21 turnovers when you're playing slow is almost impossible. It's almost impossible to pull off.

They had 21 turnovers in a lower possession type of game. I think they would have less turnovers. Still some, and in some games plenty. But if they played faster, the high number of turnovers would be less harmful. But again, I think if they played faster, they might end up with fewer turnovers than they. do. Biggest complaint of mine. That's it. They've had the talent. They have a ton of it right now and some depth to go with it. When they get stops and rebounds, run. Put pressure on the defense. Cowan should be putting constant pressure on a defense with his speed while a defense is still

trying to get back and set up. Maryland's other players can run too. You know, their bigs can run. Jalen Smith runs the floor very well. Think about the open looks Wiggins and Iyalla would get with Cowan pushing and probing. Iowa scored 95 points against Illinois. Michigan, Michigan, who plays a lower possession game, scored 80 against Illinois. Maryland got 67. Again, I think they're running better half-court stuff this year than in the past, but it's still not so great that they shouldn't against lesser teams in particular

try to throttle somebody running with their talent. fewer possessions, slower, grinded out game, advantage to the underdog. The other problem Maryland had against Illinois was the same problem they had against Michigan State. Their transition defense was awful. They gave up several open threes in transition, especially at the end of the half that got Illinois back in the game after Maryland had an 11-point lead. It's the same thing. What Illinois did against Maryland and what Michigan State did against Maryland is what Maryland should be trying to do to others. They're taking it out of the net and pushing it up the court to try to get something before a defense is set.

Maryland has not been doing a good job of getting back on defense here recently, not at all. Two games in a row of being beat down the court after made buckets. Michigan State ran on Monday night after a made free throw. That's really hard to do. They took it out of the net on a made free throw, and they pushed it up the court. Maryland wasn't set defensively, and they got a shot off within about six. seven seconds, six seconds. Maryland tomorrow night against Northwestern, a Northwestern team that's been playing better recently,

although they got beat pretty handily by Wisconsin over the weekend, but it's another danger point. Look, last week was not a good week. The Michigan State loss is completely reasonable. The loss Saturday had to be painful for the coaching staff. Turgeon got a technical late. You could see his frustration. I think he was frustrated that they didn't get back on defense well enough.

I think he was frustrated with the officiating to a certain degree. I think if they had played faster and more up-tempo, they would have scored more points and had a better chance of winning the game. And I think if they had played that game at Xfinity Center, they would have had a better chance to win the game. The Big Ten is loaded. It is a loaded league this year. I don't want to hear from anybody this year that the Big Ten,

anybody debating that the Big Ten top to bottom isn't the best list. league in the country this year. Top to bottom, it is. It will have the most teams in the tournament, almost definitely. Almost definitely. And the bottom of the league, you know, they've got capable teams, like Illinois's capable. Look, Rutgers beat Nebraska last week. They've got three conference wins. Penn State's the only team in the league that's winless, Aaron. They beat Virginia Tech earlier in the year. Virginia Tech's been ranked in the top 10 this year. Big 10, top to bottom, top to bottom, best league in college basketball. And the talk that they don't have the national championship contenders the ACC has

with Duke, Virginia, maybe Carolina, I don't know. I don't know, Michigan State, Michigan look pretty good right now. Purdue's a dangerous team. I think Maryland in the tournament is going to be very difficult early on. Again, their style of play, the way they're playing, makes them vulnerable. Not in the same way it does with Virginia, but it's the same idea. fewer possessions the more talented team is more at risk. The longer the game, the more possessions you have, talent, depth should win.

And Maryland has talent and depth advantages in a lot of the games that they are playing. I'd like to see them absolutely throttle Northwestern tomorrow night. I don't know if it'll happen, but I want to see a game where they score 88, all right, coming up here soon. I want 88 points. I want pressure, and I want Cowan and I'll. to take the ball out of the rim, out of the net on a maid bucket from the opponent. And I want to see the ball back down court within six seconds and trying to get something before a defense is completely set.

You'll plenty of time to run your half court set if nothing's there. Georgetown got a win yesterday in the garden against St. John's. I didn't see any of it. I did talk to CJ over the weekend, Chris Johnson, program director, 980, one of my close friends. He's a massive Georgetown fan. And he said, you know, they're capable, but they haven't been able to get over the hump in these close games. They've had a lot of close losses.

Marquette, Creighton, St. John's the first time. But you can see if you watch Georgetown. They actually have some talent. Matt McClung, 25 yesterday for the freshman. He had a dunk two on a breakaway. My God, he's 6-2. What is his vertical? Insane.

It's got to be 40-plus. Yeah. He is he, he's got to be a. candidate for rookie of the year in the Big East, right? I mean, I'm not following the Big East closely. You are more than I. Who's a great freshman right now in the Big East? Oh, boy, I'd have to think about that one. Nova's got to have somebody, right? Yeah, I haven't followed. I'll be honest, I haven't followed the Biggie's as close as I usually do. He's got to be averaging 14, 15 a game. Every time I look at him, he's in the high

teens somewhere around there, and he had 25 yesterday. You know, Georgetown's tied for third in the Big East at 3 and 4. Big East is truly top heavy right now. with Villanova and Marquette. Villanova's really gotten on a roll. They crushed Seton Hall yesterday. But good win for them to go to the garden and beat St. John's. They had a chance to beat St. John's at home as well. If you didn't know, St. John's is decent. And Shammory Ponds is a first round pick in the NBA draft next June. He is a scorer, man. And he's got some James Hardin in them when you watch him. He really does. The big news of the day, and we're going to get to the Alex Smith thing, I promise. I'm just rambling here about a lot of different things,

and then we'll spend a lot of time on Alex Smith. The big news of the days that Anthony Davis wants to be traded from New Orleans. He says he won't sign with the Pelicans, wants the Lakers. I mean, this isn't a shocker. I think he'll sign a long-term deal with them. According to Brian Windhorst, this was interesting early this morning. Brian Windhorst said that he would consider signing a long-term deal with the Knicks if he got traded to New York. That, when I heard that, I'm like, I don't believe that. I do not believe that. This is a little bit of my current feeling about the Redskins and the state of the organization.

The Knicks are sort of the same thing. They're a mess organizationally. I think that's a long show. Why would Anthony Davis, who's got a chance when the season is over or before it, to be traded to a team or signed with a team after the season that can win, why would he want to sign in New York? I understand it's New York. I understand the passion of the fan base up there.

Why would he sign in New York? Let me also just mention this about Anthony Davis because I was thinking about this when I heard the report about the Knicks. It made me think of the way I used to think about Kevin Love. And they're not the same player, okay? Anthony Davis is a much better player, a much more skilled player than Kevin Love. But remember, Kevin Love,

Minnesota did not win a thing. He could not elevate that team by himself to respectability, to, you know, I'm not talking about an NBA championship, I'm talking about a couple of playoff series wins, you know, maybe getting to the Western Conference finals. If he was, if he was as great as everybody thought he was at the time, and remember, his numbers in Minnesota were ridiculous. Didn't he have a game in which he had 30 points, 30 rebounds? I think he had a game. I mean, He was a high volume score, high volume rebounder, and everybody thought he was a superstar, but he couldn't elevate Minnesota. And Anthony Davis is a better player.

Don't get me wrong. But he hasn't been able to elevate New Orleans into a winner. They've won one playoff series in his six full seasons, and this year they're on their way to no postseason. So you almost just say one playoff series win in seven years. he's only played in three total playoff series. The two of them have been against Golden State. Okay, so I understand that. But he's played three total playoff series.

He's a great player. I love his game. But if he goes to the Knicks, is he going to win there? Not anytime soon. I mean, they'd have to give up a ton to get him there. So some of their better players and future great players would be part of a deal to get them there, I would guess. I don't see the Knicks.

I see what most people see. His agent's Rich Paul, LeBron's agent, he's going to go to L.A. before the trade deadline next week. He's going to go to L.A. And then we're going to have all spring to talk about whether or not the Lakers with Anthony Davis and LeBron James, etc.,

can beat the Warriors in a best of seven. And, you know, you still have other teams out West. You know, you still have other teams that think that they are the team to get to the Western Conference Finals to face Golden State. Denver thinks they are. Oklahoma City thinks they are. Houston probably thinks they are. I've watched a lot of Oklahoma City. I mentioned this two weeks ago maybe. Paul George is the best co-star with Russell Westbrook that he's had. Better than Durant, you know, Oladipo.

He's just, Paul George is the perfect fit. And I've never, I don't think I've seen Russell Westbrook play with more trust in a teammate than he plays with Paul George. And that's the crucial thing for a Westbrook team. He's always felt like he had to be the guy, which is why he would die trying. I mean, that dude will die trying. But he would take bad shots, four shots, bad turnovers, end of games, because he didn't think he had anybody else he could rely on.

They beat the Bucks last night. and Paul George had 36. Russell Westbrook had 13, 11, and 13, 13 rebounds, 11 assists, 13 points, you know, a triple double, another triple double for him. Didn't play well, didn't shoot it well, hasn't shot it well all year, but man, he's got some trust in Paul George. That to me is an interesting team to watch. One more thing before we get to Alex Smith.

A week ago today was the Monday following the two thrilling and very, controversial in one case championship games and I spent time a week ago Aaron if you recall going through the past controversial NFL playoff endings in NFL history in an attempt really to illustrate that the blown pass interference call in New Orleans was horrible but it wasn't unique and I listed a bunch of examples and many of you added to them and I and the one game I forgot to mention was mentioned to me on Twitter by Gary. Actually yesterday, I think Gary sent me this tweet. He said, you didn't mention the Giants playoff game against the 49ers at Candlestick. Was that a, that wasn't a championship game. It was a wild card. Yes. It was as bad a missed call as you will ever see. In fact,

I would put it up there with the Roby Coleman pass interference. Oh yeah. You know, this was the wild card game at Candlestick, the T-O-49ers. The Giants had rallied. They'd come back. Then they were down 39, 38. They were in, you know, easy field goal range, and there was a bad snap with six seconds to go. Bad snap to the holder. He picks it up. He rolls right and he throws it to Siebert. Remember the giant offensive lineman? Was it Rich Seabert? I don't remember the name, but I remember the play. And he was downfield and he got tackled as the ball was pretty well thrown, right to him, had a chance to catch it and potentially take it into the end zone even. Now, if he had caught it and been tackled in bounds, then the game would have ended.

But he was tackled before the ball got there. He was taken down, clear pass interference, not even debatable, like the call that didn't go against the Rams. Should have gone against the Rams as well. This was an egregious pass interference call. And so Collinsworth was doing the game with Joe Buck on Fox, because I'm I went and watched it on YouTube last night. And Collinsworth and Buck immediately said, oh, there it is. It's going to be interferes and they'll have an untimed down.

So the giants are going to have a chance to kick the field goal again. And then all of a sudden, you see the referees huddle up. And then you get the flag was an ineligible receiver downfield. And they called it on Siebert being the ineligible receiver downfield. There was one problem with that. Seabird had checked in as an eligible receiver on the field goal. attempt. And the league did come out the following day and say that they made an error, that it should have been, it was not an ineligible receiver. He was not an ineligible receiver.

The problem was, is they did not flag the pass interference. So the league did not speak to pass interference specifically, but it was a clear pass interference. They admitted the next day that they blew the ineligible receiver. Now, that's a wild card game. All right, it's a wild card game. I understand that. But you've had that in the postseason many, many times before. And I appreciate Gary for bringing that one up because I had forgotten that play. Very controversial play. Although I don't think that anybody in New York, I don't know that there were any lawyers suing the league to have that game continued.

Well, that was the impetus to get the Super Bowl in New York, right? They were saying, oh, they should give us the Super Bowl because of that. And then, you know, a few years later, they put the Super Bowl in New York. More than a few years later, but it was a decade later. But I feel like that was when the drive really first started for that. Window Nation quickly before we get to Alex Smith. They love this podcast, Harley, Aaron, and Eric, listen all the time. If you've been thinking about new windows, I promise you as someone who has had Window Nation install windows in my home, you can't go wrong by giving them a call.

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That's 8669 Nation. or Windonation.com and tell them that you heard about this deal on this Kevin Sheehan Show podcast. All right, let's get to this Alex Smith news that Ian Rappaport, I guess broke yesterday. He tweeted out the following, quote, one storyline to follow for 2019, the Redskins are planning as if they won't have quarterback Alex Smith next season, sources say. They believe he'll miss the entire season with his broken leg issues and are acting accordingly. If he's ready, they will be pleasantly surprised. Close quote. That was his tweet yesterday, I think, early yesterday, I think. It may have been late Saturday. I don't know.

So I think this has been the expectation for Redskins fans for some time now. I think we all have felt over the last month, especially, and really it started with the reports of the infection and Alex Smith's lengthy stay in the hospital and then various, you know, reports and that one former NFL team doctor out in San Diego that writes for the San Diego San Diego Tribune, Chow, I think is his last name, has sort of predicted some of this stuff based on the things that he's read. And then we saw the shot of Alex Smith last week at the Wizards game wearing that contraption that literally looked like a mini jungle gym that was around his leg. And the guy Chow explained what it was and actually gave indication that if

there are more surgeries to come and that, you know, next year is probably out, and his career could be over as well. So Ian Rappaport, you know, confirming, I guess, through sources, because he sourced this story, confirming that the Redskins are planning as if they won't have Alex Smith, they believe he'll miss the entire season with his broken leg issues and are acting accordingly. So now acting accordingly, what does that mean? Well, the obvious implication is the Redskins are going to be in the mode of trying to find a starting quarterback for 2019, because right now it's Colt McCoy and potentially Josh Johnson if they were to resign Josh Johnson. That's it.

I really doubt that Mark Sanchez is going to be given another opportunity. Week one, Mark Sanchez. I don't think Sanchez is going to be in the mix here, but I would expect that Josh Johnson's going to be resigned, that Colt McCoy will be here. to compete. And then the big question that everybody has debated here for a few weeks, and we'll debate, you know, over the next, you know, month or so is do you sign somebody in free agency, or do you draft a quarterback? And Scott Allen, who does a good job with the bog now at the post, put out this from earlier today. He put out all of the current mock draft picks. you know, indicated how many of them are saying that the Redskins will take a quarterback.

USA Today's got Redskins taking Kyler Murray at 15. NFL.com's got the Redskins taking Daniel Jones, the quarterback from Duke. Senior Bowl MVP? Yep, CBS Sports has Drew Locke from Missouri. I watched a little bit of the Senior Bowl, not a lot of it. I, you know, I like to read some of the stuff that comes out of the Senior Bowl, what coaches thought, you know, and you'll get some stuff from Kuiper and McShay and others who talk to the coaches and review it themselves. You know, somebody tweeted me the other day. Drew Lock's got terrible footwork. Daniel Jones has great footwork.

Look, Cutcliff is a real coach, a real offensive quarterback's coach. He's the guy that Peyton Manning still, to this day, would probably turn to if he were going to play a football game next week to get him ready. So Daniel Jones may be a little bit more polished. I personally like Drew Locke. I think he throws with anticipation. I think he's got a quick release. He's a big dude. But as of now, of the guys I saw this year, none of them blow me away.

None of them do. Kyler Murray does because of his athleticism. But anyway, there's a couple of others. Bleacher Report has the Redskins taking Daniel Jones as well. So the Redskins are going to be among the teams that are in the market for a quarterback. And if you start to look at, you know, the, the draft board and the possibilities for the first round. You know, Arizona's going to pick number one overall.

They're going to definitely, Steve Kimes, going to be in the trade market, you know, for sure. Because teams are going to say if they want Haskins as an example, I'm just not going to, you know, mess around with trying to get in front of, you know, Oakland. Oakland might be the first opportunity for a quarterback at four. Now you say why they've got Derek Carr. Remember, it doesn't really appear that John Gruden's a massive fan of Derek Cars. So they could take a quarterback at four. You certainly have a possibility at six with the Giants taking a quarterback.

Even if Eli Manning comes back and is your starter next year, the Giants have to be, they've got to be in the market this year, especially holding number six overall of trying to take their quarterback of the future. Jacksonville at 7 is in the market for a quarterback, although, you know, I think Kofflin and company are going to go the route of free agency with either Flacco or Foles because they probably view themselves very close to winning big. They've got a championship defense. They do. They have a championship potential championship talent at running back. They just need a quarterback. We've seen it for two years. So you throw foals or you throw flacco in there. And then at number

seven, they're probably looking for an offensive lineman. So they're probably not in the market for a quarterback. I don't think Detroit's in the market for a quarterback. They could be. Buffalo won't be. Denver will be at 10. Cincinnati could be at 11. Green Bay won't be. Miami definitely will be at 13. And then Atlanta won't. And then you've got the Redskins. You know, so Jones, Locke, Murray, Haskins, Greer. The Redskins are going to have a chance at one of those guys at 15 more likely than not. But if they love somebody, and let's just say it's Haskins. Let's just say Haskins is the only guy that they like.

They're going to have to trade up. They may have to trade up if Daniel Jones or Drew Locke are the only guys they like. Like one of those two guys they love, let's just say. Let's say it's Daniel Jones, because we've heard some, you know, Doug Williams watching Daniel Jones practice. I don't know if they like them or not. Just for the purposes of this conversation, assume they really love Daniel Jones. They cannot be assured of getting Daniel Jones at 15. Cannot.

We know what happens with quarterbacks and the draft between now and draft day. They fly up the board more often than not. They don't stay where they're projected mid-year. to late first round or early second. The teams that really need a quarterback, they typically will try to move up and take that quarterback. The Redskins may have to trade up to get the quarterback they like. If there's somebody that they really like,

it's a limited market and free agency, a limited market. Foles ain't coming here. Let's be honest. Come on, he's going to go somewhere where he can win. He's participated now in the Super Bowl, in a run to the Super Bowl and had his team on the doorstep if his receiver holds on to the football late in the game at New Orleans, the number one seat in the divisional round.

He's not coming here. I personally think there's no chance that A, the Redskins would even be interested in Joe Flacco, and B, that Flacco would want to come here. I think Flacco is going to try to make a move. Here's what I would guess with Flacco and Foles. We had Jason Lockenfora on the show on Thursday, and he said Jacksonville is a Foles or Flacco, situation. I think he leaned towards

Foles. Yes. To me, it's Denver and Jacksonville. I was going to say Denver, yeah. You know, those are the two, Foles and Flacco are going to end up in those two places. One to Denver, one to Jacksonville. Two teams that have defenses ready to win now.

And they need postseason experienced quarterbacking. That's what they need. Teddy Bridgewater is a free agent. Tyrod Taylor is a free agent. These are your guys. I mean, you know, I mean, do you want to trade for Andy Dalton? I mean, do you want to wait for Andy? These are the free agent quarterbacks. You know, you're Josh Johnson's a free agent

quarterback. So you're just not more likely than not going to be able to solve your starting quarterback in free agency. What about Teddy Bridgewater? I am, I'm a Bridgewater fan. I've been a Bridgewater fan. I like Teddy Bridgewater. Again, is Bridgewater, you know, he's going to be more reasonably priced, I would guess. I still think there's a chance, a chance, that New Orleans tries to hang on to Teddy Bridgewater. Probably. You know, because eventually he could be the guy for Breeze and learning under Breeze. How many years do you think Breeze has? I'm beyond trying to guess on this, because Rivers just said over the weekend, he thinks he's got at least three left.

Brady probably thinks he has at least two or three left. Breeze probably thinks he's got two or three left. But yeah, I mean, free agency, Foles, Flacco, neither is going to want to come here. And I don't think that the Redskins should be in the Joe Flacco market anyway or the Nick Foles market. I'm not a massive Nick Foles fan. Like, I think it would be insane if the Eagles had actually even considered for a moment.

keeping Foles over Wence. Wence is an elite talent. Foles has been a clutch performer. There's no doubt about it. He was also on a pretty good football team the last two years. I don't hate Nick Foles. I think he's decent. And if you told me Nick Foles is going to be the starting quarterback next year, I can tell you this, he'd be better than Colt McCoy, better than Josh Johnson, and really, I think he might be better than a healthy Alex Smith. But he's not your long-term. term answer at the position to have an elite quarterback. You've got to put yourself into a position here. Next year is not a winning season. Can we all agree on that? I did this last week on the podcast. We can all agree, right, going in, that this is a more likely than not on paper double digit loss

team. I mean, the only way it's not a double digit loss team is if somehow you draft a quarterback that ends up being Mahomes, even a year before Mahomes. Like he is transcendent talent, and he's ready to go right now. I don't, I think it's, I think, you know, predicting quarterbacks is one of the hardest things to do. You know, college quarterbacks to pro, I mean, people get it wrong all the time. They probably get this position wrong more than any other. I don't look at any of these guys in the draft, you know, including, Haskins, you know, as a big prototypical pocket passer or Kyler Murray as this unique, you know,

potentially 21st century, smaller but fast, dual threat guy. I don't look at any of them. Right now, I fully admit that more likely than not, I'll be wrong, as will all of you, but nobody's Andrew Luck coming out of the draft, right? Oh, absolutely. And if that's the case, is that an argument to just go with Colt McCoy? If there's no one who's going to make a big difference for 2019, is that an argument to say, let's just start Colt? I'll just say this, and this would be my strategy every year in the draft when your team like the Redskins,

you draft the best player available when you pick. If there is a quarterback that you are in love with and you think is an organizational game changer, then I'm all for even trading up together. that player. I don't believe, though, that we have anybody in this organization that I, as a fan, would be confident in evaluating the player as an organizational transcendent elite talent, and then making a trade that would be reasonable to go up and get them. I just don't have any confidence in the organization is currently structured to evaluate the position and then to

procure that player via a trade. You know, or look, if that player falls to 15, have at it. But this, the quarterback position is such a crapshoot. So to answer your question, if they don't love any of these guys, if they don't see any of these guys as a true game-changing top 10 type of, you know, starting quarterback, they should draft the best player on the board at any time. position. Offensive line, defensive line. Look, at this point, you probably don't want to draft another interior defensive lineman, you know, so if the guy from Michigan, what's his name,

Rishon Gary, if Rishon Gary slips, you know, is that the guy you're going to take, you know, if the guy from, if one of the guys from Clemsons, Clemson are there, you know, you're, you know, Cleland Farrell, interior defensive line. If one of the best defensive interior guys falls to 15, Quinn and Williams from Alabama, who would be almost like the interior detackle, not nose tackle necessarily, but a John Allen,

Duran Payne, I guess you don't really need that right now. So I would hope at 15, the best player on the board, isn't an interior defensive lineman. If your quarterback isn't there, I hope your best available player at 15 is an outside pass rusher. You know, this guy polite from Florida has been mock drafted to the Redskins a couple of times. He's a legitimate edge rusher.

You know, well, the guy that's climbing up the boards now and could potentially go number one overall is Josh Allen, the linebacker, outside linebacker from Kentucky. There's the possibility he could go before Bosa by the time we get to the draft. he has flown up the boards. Not that he wasn't a top 10 pick anyway, but he is, you know, explosive edge pass rusher. You got corners in this draft.

Greedy Williams from LSU's not going to fall to 15. All right, he won't, but the kid Baker from Georgia might, that's a possibility. You've got to need there. Look, Alex Smith isn't coming back. Let's just make that. Let's take Ian Rappaport at his,

word on this report and that his sources are strong and that the team doesn't believe that he's coming back. And if he does, it's a pleasant surprise. Look, at this point after last year, pleasant surprise, I don't want to be mean-spirited here, but I don't think most Redskin fans are like, you know, in the mode of, oh my God, if he were healthy and ready to go, go win 11 games with Alex Smith the quarterback. I think based on what we saw last year, it wasn't a great fit. He was not the guy with this particular team that he was in Kansas City because he didn't have the weapons here. He's always performed at a reasonably high level when he's had really good talent around him. Didn't have that here this year. He's getting older. There's not a, you know,

even if he can play in 2020, what's the legitimate future for the Redskins with Alex Smith? It's nothing. It's nothing. And then you get to the cap implications of Alex Smith. And this is where I think JP may have written about this early this morning. And I want to give them proper credit if that's where I read it because I read a bunch of stuff early this morning. Yes, it was JP. JP wrote about it early this morning. The Redskins, it's a story on NBCSports.com and you can get it from JP's Twitter account. He wrote the story, The Redskins have no real options to deal with Alex Smith's 2019 salary. Alex Smith basically has two years left guaranteed for an aggregate amount of just over $50 million.

Somewhere in that neighborhood is what it is, give or take a million bucks. The bottom line is that he's going to count this year on the Redskins cap as in 2019, $20 million, and then potentially close to $30 million in the second year. and one of the things JP suggests is what he calls the nuclear option, which is they cut him and they absorb all of his salary cap hit in 2019. It would be a devastating hit. But if you go into 2019 and you say, you know what, let's swallow it now, so we've got room to maneuver starting in 2020,

you'd only do that if you believed that you weren't close. and they don't believe that. Bruce Allen told us that last week. He believes they're close. So I don't think that that's an option for the team. As a fan of the team, I think it should be an option. I do think it should be an option because I cannot envision any possibility

of this team next year, barring the craziness of the NFL. They're totally healthy. They find a quarterback that can really play. Their young defense steps up with, you know, I would like to say with a new coordinator, but I can't say that. It's going to be with Greg Mniewski and plays out of their mind. They have a plus 23 turnover margin. You know, every team they play just coughs it up, left and right.

Tip balls get picked off. They don't fall incomplete. Fumbles on your own get recovered by the offense, not by the defense. Every break in the world goes your way. teams get these seasons all the time in the NFL. You know, five, six, seven teams a year get these seasons. Redskins don't ever seem to get those seasons. But barring that kind of a season,

that by the way, would only lead to 9 and 7 or 10 and 6. Not a Super Bowl, but maybe 9 and 7, 10, and 6 back to a wild card. You know, first round loss in a wild card round in Soldier Field. All right, or Minnesota. I just threw that in for the hell of it. I don't know if they'll be in the playoffs next year. I think they might. But anyway, the nuclear option to me is not a bad option.

Take it all this year. Treat it as a salary cap penalty season. All right? And just draft young. And you got a lot of ways to figure this out. There are a lot of ways. I wrote some notes down, so give me a second to find them. I had this from Thursday, ready to go Friday, and I never got to it.

Just sort of what the Redskins can do from a contract standpoint to really free up some space. All right. If you're going to take Alex Smith and his $20 million cap hit in 2019, you have to create more room. And there are a couple of players that you can do that with. Zach Brown, you can do that with. I think that's roughly 6 million of cap savings. Vernon Davis, I think, is just short of 5 million in cap savings. Mason Foster and Stacey McGee would combine somewhere near 4.5 to 5 million in cap savings.

These are things that they have to do. Josh Norman would be a significant cap savings in the rough area of between 8 and 9 million, I believe, if my math was right on that. I just don't know who you're going to play a corner if you don't have Josh Norman. But I also don't believe that Josh Norman is a part of the future when, let's just say, in fantasy land, you have a team ready to win. I don't know if Josh Norman is playing at a level at that point that's going to help you. So I would think about cutting Josh Norman loose. At least ask him to restructure.

Restructure at the very least. but actually the player that I would think about restructuring with is somebody like Jordan Reed. I could give up on Jordan Reed, but you only have, as Cooley used to point out, how many A players do you have or potential A players do you have, really? Jordan Reed's still one of those players. He is. I know that he can't stay healthy. And if they give up on him, okay.

But I think they could restructure him. and potentially save a couple of million dollars this year, you know, to free up free agency dollars. I do think they've got to extend Brandon Sheriff here, you know, and that would probably increase his cap hit in 2019, but you can't wait until the end of next year to re-up with Brandon Sheriff. You could potentially lose him. So I'd be surprised if Brandon Sheriff isn't extended. in the next few months or shortly before the season next year. I would be very, very surprised at that.

I don't know what they're going to do with their own free agents. Crowder in particular, Preston Smith. I really don't. Ha ha, Clinton Dicks. Would it shock you if they re-signed him? And here's why they might do it. A, he didn't play so badly and they'll find him. few games. He seemed to start to get it a little bit. Gruden referred to that late in the season.

And the other thing is they hate admitting mistakes. They hate it. You know, they traded a fourth rounder for him. They don't want to admit that that was a mistake. Don't be surprised if they sign Ha ha, ha, Clinton Dix, re-sign him. The Crowder and Preston Smith, I have no sense as to what they'll do. I think Trey Quinn's an answer for Crowder, and I think they believe he's an answer for Crowder. So I think Crowder leaves. Preston Smith, you know, is he such a great player that you pay him what the, what the market might pay him? I think he's going to get some money. You know, there's some guys out there in free agency, edge guys, better edge pass rushers that are available probably for cheaper money. I've always, always been a Shane Ray fan. He's a,

he's an unrestricted free agent out of Denver. I loved him coming out of that draft. and so, you know, he could be a true edge rusher. I mean, we'll go through, you know, free agent, you know, projecting their free agency in a couple of weeks, but they can create some space by cutting some of the players that I mentioned. They can do that. They're also going to add some money to the cap if they restructure Brandon Sheriff, or I'm sorry, extend Brandon Sheriff, which is what I think they should do.

I think they need to do that. There are a couple of other possibilities, but back to Alex Smith, I don't think they'll do it. I don't think that that's their mindset. I think that they will probably tell us if 2019 becomes officially out that they still look forward to having him in 2020.

I think that that's what they'll say, and they're not going to release him. That would be my guess. Anyway, we're not going to have Alex Smith for 2019. more likely than not. They've got to come up with an answer quarterback. Free agency is limited. I do like Bridgewater.

I don't know what he'll get money-wise, but I do like Bridgewater. I've always been a Bridgewater fan. But I don't know what he is now. You know, the limited moments we've seen him since he returned from that horrific injury himself, horrific leg injury himself. He hasn't looked great.

You know, he had an opportunity, he threw a couple of picks and the only opportunity he had this year, New Orleans. So you'd really have to, evaluate that really well. Yeah, the other two guys you probably wouldn't want, but who you would at least have words would be Fitzpatrick

and Tyrod Taylor. I don't know if you're interested in either of those guys. I like, I'll tell you this, I like Ryan Fitzpatrick more than I like Colt McCoy. Yeah. I do. I actually think I like Tyrod Taylor more than I like Colt McCoy. But, not personally, because Colt's a great guy. He's the best. But anyway, there's something that came out of a story that John Kime wrote this weekend that I want

wanted to read. All right, here it is. John Kime wrote a story on Saturday. It was actually a follow-up story to a story that Jason Reed wrote for ESPN's undefeated, the undefeated. Jason Reed, who of course covered the skins. He was a columnist in town for many years, wrote a story on Sean McVeigh. And really, it was a story about Mike Shanahan's coaching tree. You know, having McVeigh and Kyle and Matt LaFleur now all as head coaches in the league. and they were all on the same staff in Washington. And of course, you know, a lot of you will refer to Shanahan's record in Washington and say he would say that he and his staff were terrible.

No, it's just that most coaches that come here don't have a winning record. You've got to start considering the place, not the people, that they bring in. But anyway, the Kime wrote a really good story saying, look, McVeigh got away, but, you know, it'd be really difficult to, fault the Redskins for it. And, you know, he talked about, look, they had, you know, they, I mean, the most logical portion of this, and we all know this, but it's, it's, it made it impossible to, to fire Gruden and elevate McVeigh, is that Jay Gruden had just taken a team to the playoffs, you know,

and had an eight, seven, and one season in which they nearly made the playoffs. He had just put back-to-back winning seasons together for the first, in forever for any coach, including Joe Gibbs. So it would have been really, really difficult in that moment to fire Jay Gruden and hire Sean McVeigh. Also would have taken incredible vision. And this is the part that I don't think is necessarily spoken to when it comes to McVe. Few in the organization had that kind of vision. Cooley did. I've talked about that many times. Cooley told me before Sean McVeigh was even elevated to offensive coordinator, Sean McVeigh is going to be a head coach much sooner than anybody thinks. Once he interviews, he'll get hired.

And Cooley was right. Basically, the first interview he was hired immediately at his age. But John did a good job of sort of identifying why it was difficult for the Redskins to elevate McVeigh. So for those that want to blame the Redskins for having McVeigh in the organization and losing him, you got to have some context to it. You know, 2000, end of that. 2016 season before he got the job, you know, in the offseason of 2017 in Los Angeles, the Redskins had just put together back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since I think 97, 96-97. I mean, it just, it had been forever that they had had back-to-back winning seasons. That's an amazing statistic on its own, that it had been basically, you know, 20 years since they

had had back-to-back winning season. So you just weren't going to fire Gruden, not to mention how close Gruden was with Bruce Allen, et cetera. Anyway, so there's this paragraph in the in the Kimes story that I wanted to get to that had little to do with the McVeigh and the Shanahan coaching tree and the response to the Jason Reed story and the undefeated. He wrote that McVeigh's departure from Washington is very different from perhaps the biggest mistake of Dan Snyder's tenure as an owner, which also involved losing a 30-year-old

prodigy. When the Redskins fired Coach Marty Schottenheimer after the 2001 season, despite winning eight of their last 11 games, they also fired then-vice president of player personnel John Schneider. Schneider landed on his feet and spent seven seasons as a successful front office executive with the Green Bay Packers before he was hired as EVP and general manager of the Seattle Seahawks in 2010. He assembled a team that has made the playoffs in six of the past seven years and won the Super Bowl after the 2014 season. Schneider's been a star in the sport in Seattle, and the Redskins had him here in Washington as a 30-year-old Marty Schottenheimer brought him to town. I have said for many, many years, to me, the single biggest mistake made by

Dan Snyder during his ownership tenure was firing Marty Schottenheimer after one year. I also think it was a massive mistake to move on from Mike Shanahan and choose a very young, self-absorbed, delusional quarterback in Robert Griffin III over a borderline Hall of Fame coach with a great staff. Felt that way in the moment. Somebody said after reading the Jason Reed story this morning, or yesterday, somebody said to me on Twitter, this is going to be a mic drop moment for Kevin talking about Mike Shanahan. It's not going to be a mic drop moment. I said in the moment that they made a mistake, that Mike's record was not indicative of how good of a coach and how good of a coaching staff it was, and that if they were going to win, they needed that kind of group together.

But anyway, one of the things that Kheim wrote about, he said, people who worked with Schneider in Washington say that even years after being fired, Schneider would talk about the five-year vision he and Schottenheimer shared for the franchise. The Redskins have won one playoff game since that season. You could see at that moment more than any other during Dan Snyder's ownership, going back to 1999. If you really have been a Redskins fan and you paid attention to all of the shenanigans over the years, all of the horrible decisions that have been made over the years, none of it, none of them compare to him firing Marty Schottenheimer after one season. Marty Schottenheimer with Tony Banks and Kent Graham won eight of their last 11 games.

They had young talent, and Marty had a young 30-year-old, what turned out to be, prodigy, in player evaluation. We didn't even know of the Schneider situation then, and what they would be losing with him. But Dan wasn't having any fun. He wanted more control. He wanted Vinny back in the organization. Marty said no. Why? Because Marty knew. Marty knew that Dan and Vinny were a complete disaster. Couldn't work for somebody like Dan and Vinny Serrato picking his players and having more control and more say.

Biggest mistake ever. Didn't even know Schneider at the time. But in hindsight, not only did they have one of the great coaches, not great postseason coaches, I will grant you that. Marty never got it done in the postseason. Never ever got it done in the postseason. But he was a very good head coach and was the perfect kind of coach for Dan Snyder. Should be the perfect kind of coach. Somebody who is going to take the football side of the operation

and give it some discipline, and give it some structure, and give it some competence, and give it some maturity, give it some grownups. And then on the marketing side, Do whatever the hell you want. Do whatever the hell you want.

I got the football side and you're out of it. And the people you want to put in it are out of it. They're morons. We're not having them involved in this. Couldn't do it. One season. Eight out of the final 11 games. And then what did he do?

He went to San Diego. One 12 games once. One 14 games. Once. One nine. Worst record in San Diego. He had a bad season before the 12 and four season. in which they lost a wild card game on a miss field goal.

He had some bad luck in the postseason. But they were four and twelve in his second year there. By the third year, they had won the division 12 and 4. Then they went 9 and 7. Then they went 14 and 2 in 2006 his final season there. And they lost to the Patriots in that divisional round game in San Diego, the one in which they had an interception to seal the game. And instead of going down with the interception,

the DB started running around and he fumbled it back to the Patriots, and they went on to win that particular game, 24 to 21. Marty would have, from 2002 through 2006, the five years he had in San Diego, if he had had those five years in Washington, I don't know. I think he would have won three division titles and gone to the playoffs two to three times in five years

and would have had, you know, a 12 and 13 win season along the way. I don't know if they would have ever won the Super Bowl. He seemed to really be snake bit in the postseason, the drive, the fumble when he was in Cleveland. I mean, he's just one outrageously unlucky loss after another in the postseason. And yes, he probably coached very conservatively when he got to the postseason, too conservatively when he got to the postseason. Had a hell of a staff in Washington and had a 30-year-old prodigy on the staff as well as a personnel guy. and John Schneider, who would eventually probably have become, you know, the player personnel lead, a GM, because that's what he eventually became in Seattle.

Anyway, enjoyed both of those reads over the weekend, both Jason Reed's story and Kimes' follow-up story on, you know, McVeigh getting away and the coaches that they had here, even though the record with Shanahan here and all of those coaches wasn't very good. Look, if you ever have any doubt that it's the owner and the front office more than it is anybody else, you just look at a staff that had Mike Shanahan, Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVeigh, and Matt LaFleur on it. And you say, those guys couldn't, they got to one playoff game, one, and had a lead, 14-0-0 lead, and then the quarterback got hurt. And by the way, Robert Griffin III had his only great season as a starter with that. them and would have benefited if that staff had stayed. Imagine Robert Griffin III getting a chance

to continue to build his career with Mike, Kyle, Matt, Sean McVeigh. Would have been better than what it turned out to be. You can blame the owner for that. All right, let me tell you real quickly about Ferrisch Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Fairfax, Virginia. If you're looking for something new, give him a shot. If you're looking for a Chrysler, a minivan, a Dodge Caravan, a Jeep, or Grand Cherokee, or Wrangler or Ram pickup, Subaru, they've got a dealership for Subaru as well. Give them a shot. They're right there in the heart of Fairfax and Fairfax Circle. Ask for Ralph Perkins when you get there. Tell him that I sent you. They've got the best rebates they've had all year long, great inventory options. You'll probably be able to find the make model and color you're looking for

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He'll help you out. Farish Cars.com for all of the information you need right now, including live inventory, live pricing, and their best deals. Scott Allen from the Washington Post. I wanted to mention this real quickly. put out a tweet this morning with the he does this and and Dan Steinberg does it as well and I actually always enjoy these things when they put the cover of the post out from you know a momentous day a day

of note and this morning they the wizards lost their their losing streak in san antonio is now 19 games they have not won in san antonio since 1990. It was a Saturday, December 11th, 1999, and Tracy Murray led the way for the Wizards win over the Spurs. But what I always enjoy about these stories is they'll put the cover of the post sports section. They'll attach it, and Scott Allen did that this morning. And I always look at what else was going on in the world of sports on December 12, 1999, a Sunday morning following the Wizards beating the San Antonio Spurs in San Antonio. That was the last time they did it. Maryland had beaten Kentucky the day before. That was a game at Cole Fieldhouse. They'd beaten Kentucky 72 to 66. I remember

that game. I was at that game on that particular Saturday in December. And you know who was coaching Kentucky? Tubby Smith was coaching Kentucky on that particular day against Gary Williams. And Maryland was, you know, a powerhouse in college basketball. And so was Kentucky. Maryland had yet to win the national championship. But Gary at that point, had already been to four sweet 16s, I think, in the previous five or six years. Six years, I think it was. Anyway, the other thing that was on the cover, two things. One, there was this story about Steve Francis, who was in Houston at the time.

But the story right next to it on the front page of the sports section on that particular day was playoffs may be in the cards. Redskins need win today versus rising. Arizona. That was the 1999 Redskins team that actually had a good season. Dan Snyder had taken over ownership, I think, in April earlier that year in 1999. He had yet to put his deadly losing imprint on the franchise at that point. Norff Turner was still the coach. They had made a trade before Dan took over the team to acquire Brad Johnson in the offseason. Charlie Casserly was still the the general manager. Brad Johnson had an unbelievable season. They were the second ranked offense in the

NFL in the regular season that year. Brad Johnson threw for 4,000 5 yards, 24 touchdowns, 13 picks, was over 60% completion percentage, which was really good for the year. He was 31 years old. He'd played in Minnesota for a few years, but he was the difference. They had a top flight running back in Stephen Davis, you know, a Pro Bowl running back talent in Stephen Davis. Brian Mitchell was still on that team. They had acquired Larry centers in the offseason, the fullback who caught a ton of passes. In fact, he caught like 70 balls in 1999. I think he was their leading receiver in 1999. And I think Westbrook, Michael Westbrook, and probably Albert Connell, and, you know, it was probably Albert Connell, they were the others. I bet Irving Friar had a bunch of

catches on that team, and B. Mitch probably had a bunch of catches on that team, but it was Larry Centers, who was just deadly coming out of the backfield, and Norv Turner could scheme it up with the best of them offensively. He could, and they had a really good season. This wasn't, you know, you have to win four games in the final, you know, five games over the final month, you know, five game, no room, no margin for error, have to win them all or you're not, they had a good season. They were five and two, they were seven and four, you know, Thanksgiving weekend, and they had lost to Detroit going to Arizona for that December 12th Sunday game, the one that Scott Allen printed with the cover of the post from the last time that the Wizards beat San Antonio. And the Cardinals had been playing

well leading up to that game. They had won four in a row, and they were a 500 team. So this was a big game in the NFC. The Redskins, you know, were definitely in the hunt for the division at that particular moment, but they were just in the hunt for a playoff berth in general. This was a huge game, and the Redskins, you know, had the Cardinals at home, and I went and looked up all the particulars from the game. First of all, sold out. You know, this is, at this point, we are in year three of FedEx Field, sold out, you know, 77,000 plus. That's a lot. That's a lot. You know, we are in, They moved it to 80 and beyond in the years after Snyder bought it. Back then, you know, when it was still Jack Kent Cook Stadium,

and they hadn't expanded the stadium, as Snyder would do, looking to extract every single nickel out of that stadium, that attendance was still in the 75 to 77,000 range. And the Redskins blew the Cardinals out that day, 28 to 3. They were starting to play better defensively because it wasn't a great defensive team. Brad Johnson had a couple turnovers, but it was Stephen Davis. 37 carries 189 yards and a touchdown. They ran it down their throat. They got their record to 8 and 5. They were in first place in the division, and they would go on to win two of their

final three, win the division. They actually clinched the division in the next last week of the season, and they finished 10 and 6. Finish 10 and 6. And they lost a game that year on the road to the Colts. The Colts that particular year, that was a Jim Mora season. They were a 13 and 3 team, and their one loss down the stretch was a loss to the Colts 24, 21 against a really good Colt team. A cult team that finished 13 and 3 that particular year. But anyway, that was one of the only good seasons they've had was that first season. And those of you that have mentioned this to me over the years, I think it's completely reasonable to say that you don't really necessarily give Dan Snyder credit for that particular playoff season.

They ended up losing to Tampa Bay in the divisional round because, in fact, what he wanted to do was rescind the Brad Johnson trade. It's one of the first things he tried to do when he became owner is he didn't want Brad Johnson. He wanted Jeff George eventually and would get him, um, we would. get him the following season. But anyway, that's what happened on that particular day, the last time the Wizards won in San Antonio. One last thing before we finish up the show today. Back to the Alex Smith conversation in the conversation about the quarterback. And I wrote this note down and I just didn't see it when I was talking about it. But I'm going to give you a you heard it here first prediction, bold prediction. I don't know if it's that bold. I don't think they'll draft a quarterback.

I don't think they'll draft the quarterback. And here's why. It's something that Lock and Fora said to me when he was on the show last Thursday. And if you still haven't heard that, I'd urge you to go pick up Thursday show and listen to that interview with Jason. It was pretty good. That Dan is stubborn. And the hashtag fire Bruce Allen stuff has just made him further entrenched in his desire to keep Bruce Allen

and to basically middle finger the fan base, that the more you tell him he's wrong, the more that he thinks he is right. Bruce Allen is the same way. They just are never wrong. Between the two of them, if you're not sure, just ask them. They're not wrong.

It's somebody else's fault always. And I think there's a lot of momentum being gained on this Redskins draft quarterback at number 15 discussion. And on some level, Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder may push back on something like that as well. They may say, no, we don't need a quarterback.

We've got Colt McCoy. You know, Bruce brought Colt McCoy here, and Jay really likes Colt McCoy, and if Colt McCoy hadn't gotten hurt against Philadelphia, we would have gone to the playoffs last year. We would have won a game in the playoffs last year as a 9-and-7 team. And they believe in Colt McCoy. I definitely think that's true. Now, not to the point where I would take back what I've argued with Tommy over the years, which is they liked Kirk Cousins more. I do believe that. I think all of them, the consensus before the 2015 season was that Kirk Cousins gives us the best chance to win.

That's why they went in and told Bruce and told Dan, we can't win with RG3. Kirk gives us a legitimate chance to win and even more so than Colt. Now, I don't know for sure that Jay Gruden thinks that. I think Jay Gruden thinks he can win with just about anybody that can run his system, and he believes in Colt McCoy to run the system. I think they're going to push back on all this quarterback talk. I think they believe in Colt McCoy. I think they'll look at a – if they really, really love a quarterback,

you know, if somebody like Kyle Smith or maybe even Doug, hopefully Doug, he is a quarterback, says this is the next Patrick Mahomes. Daniel Jones is the next superstar, and he's sitting here at 15. and if he is, we got to take him. But I think they'll push back on all the quarterback talk. They feel like they're building this organization the right way. Remember that. Bruce has never in the history of being on the teams that he's been on and been involved with,

I'm sorry, in the front office. He's never known how to handle the quarterback position. You know, you had Rich Gannon and you had, you know, guys in Tampa that were just okay. He's never been in the big market for quarterbacks. He's never paid. Alex Smith is probably the biggest contract extension he's ever given to the position, and the biggest move he's ever made for the position. That's in some way why he didn't really know how to handle the cousins thing. He's small time.

He's cheap. You know, I've mentioned this over and over again over the last couple of of months. Nobody gets a better deal on an average player more than Bruce Allen. He's a master at getting a phenomenal to the nickel deal on an average player. He doesn't think big enough. Dan does. He definitely does. And I do still have this sense that Dan's going to say, you know what, F all of you. I'm going to start doing it my way again. We're drafting Drew Locke or we're drafting Kyler Murray. We're drafting Kyler we're going to trade up to draft Kyler Murray. We're putting a jolt of excitement back into this franchise.

But with everybody telling him that he's going to draft the quarterback and as stubborn as they are, I don't think they're going to pick a quarterback at 15 overall right now. I don't think they are. I think Colt McCoy is going to be the starter in 2019. And that will be a lock on a double-digit loss season with what they have coming back in my view. Anyway, no guess today.

That was not necessarily intentional. We had somebody lined up that had to bail at the very last second. Won't mention who it was. Hopefully we'll get them back at some point this week. As far as Super Bowl trivia goes, maybe tomorrow. I just, I don't know if I want to do it, Aaron. I loved doing it on the radio. It was fun.

It was also fun when I had, you know, maybe I'll do it, but Tommy's not here this week. He's on vacation. So it was fun to do with Tommy. It was fun to do with Cooley. I can do it with you. We'd have fun doing it. Maybe we'll do it a couple days. I'll give it more thought this after. If not, I have a big packet of prop bets here. We can go over this week.

There are a lot of prop bets for the Super Bowl, a ton. I think it's a record number of prop bets for the Super Bowl. All right, that's it for today. Back tomorrow. Tommy will join us from vacation by phone. And we'll start talking more about the Super Bowl this week. And we'll get his thoughts on the Redskins and what they'll do at quarterback as well. But think about it.

You know, it's going to be, you know, a long discussion about how to handle it. I don't think they go free agency. I think it's Colt McCoy. I don't think they draft somebody. That's where I stand right now in January 28, 2019. I'll probably be wrong. But the more people push them to take a quarterback at 15 and to draft the quarterback of the future and to say to them, your only hope is to draft a quarterback, I think you'll get some pushback from them. Have a great day.