The Kevin Sheehan Show - Zach Ertz + Season Opener At Tampa

Episode Date: May 15, 2024

Kevin had new Washington TE Zach Ertz on the show today. He also talked Commanders' schedule which as of the recording of the pod included information that at Tampa Bay is the season opener. Kevin reacted to some of what Kliff Kingsbury said yesterday about Jayden Daniels and had plenty on Nikola Jokic's masterpiece last night in Denver. He also had thoughts on the Senate Hearing on the RFK bill today which included Senator Steve Daines demands of the team and NFL regarding the old logo.  Download the PrizePicks app today and use code Sheehan for a first deposit match up to $100! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Chean Show. Here's Kevin. New Washington tight end, Zach Ertz, will be on the show with me today. Coming up in the next segment, you'll hear from Zach Ertz. I know I promised another tight end on the show today, Doc Walker.

We'll get to Doc either later in the week or early next week, I promise. The show is presenting sponsor, as always. is Wind Donation. Call them at 86690 Nation or head towindonation.com. Mention my name for a free, no-risk in-home estimate. Tomorrow, the PGA Championship at Valhalla gets underway. You've got golf tomorrow, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. You want a fun way to watch the golf? How about downloading the prize picks app?

It's the largest daily fantasy sports platform in North America. It's just you against the numbers in a very simple way. You don't battle other players. It's just you either picking more than or less than on between two and six players, or in this case, golfers and some of their stat projections. As an example, for tomorrow's first round, the more than or less than number on Tiger Woods, who's won at Valhalla before, is seven. 72 and a half.

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A $3 bet pays $9. Do it any way you want, but prize picks is a lot of fun. It's so simple for DFS, and you can win up to 100 times your money on the prize picks app with as little as four correct Picks. Download the prize picks app today. Use my code Sheehan for a first deposit match of up to $100. That's the prize picks app. Download it today. Use my code Sheen, S-H-E-E-H-A-N, for a first deposit match of up to $100. It is schedule day today, and by the time some of you listen to the podcast. This schedule will be out already. It comes out tonight at 7. I'm recording this at around 2.30. I did report per sources earlier today that Washington will open the 2024 season in Tampa

against the Buccaneers on Sunday, September 8th. I also had sources tell me and I tweeted out that they would not be playing on Thanksgiving this year. I'm happy about that. And that they would end this season in week 18 against the Cowboys on the road. I had all three of those earlier today via Twitter. Follow me on Twitter at Kevin Sheen, D.C. None of those three matched up against my mock schedule, which I also tweeted out earlier today for those of you who missed it when I did it last week. So that's what I've been able to confirm as of the recording of this show. I did see that J.P. Finley reported that they would play the Giants in week two at home and then play the Giants on the road in week nine. J.P. also had a week 17 matchup. That's the next to last week of the season at home against

Kirk Cousins, you know who, and the Atlanta Falcons. Again, you may have the whole schedule in front of you right now as you're listening to this. So if you do, feel free to move on. I think one of the more incredible schedule stories of the day. And our friend John Orand of Puck, of Puck News, was the first to report this last week, but there was more information on it today. Netflix is going to carry the two Christmas Day games on Wednesday, December 25th, for nearly $150 million each, according to initial reports. $300 million or close to $300 million for two games, two on Christmas Day.

That's why the NFL broke their promise of not playing on days that they typically don't play on. Wednesdays, not a day that they've ever played on, with the exception of COVID. And they broke that promise because they're going to collect nearly 300,000. million dollars from Netflix for two games. And then I think Netflix also is signed on for a Christmas Day game next year. I haven't even looked to see what day of the week Christmas is on next year. I would imagine a Thursday, if it's Wednesday this year. Sometimes the leap year makes it bounce two days year to year, which is what happened this year. I think that's what happened. Anyway, the matchups on Christmas Day, according to various reports, are

Kansas City and Pittsburgh in one game, Baltimore and Houston in the other. We'll have time on tomorrow's show to talk schedule when we have the whole thing in front of us. Tommy will be on the show with me. But mark it down September 8th at Tampa Bay for the coaching debut of Dan Quinn in Washington. And I very much think the debut of the number two overall pick in the draft, Jaden Daniels. Tampa Bay, remember, won the NFC South last year and won a playoff game over Philadelphia before going to Detroit, remember Detroit's first home game since 95 or whatever, and they lost to Detroit 31 to 23 in the second round of the playoffs.

They were in that game. Baker Mayfield's back. They re-signed Mike Evans as well. Todd Bowles did a really nice job with that team last year, although remember in that playoff game how they pretty much tapped out against the Lions at the end. Bulls refusing to use his timeout when the Lions inexplicably snapped the ball with, you know, like 30 seconds left on the play clock. I mean, both coaches, Dan Campbell and Todd Bowles looked like total buffoons at the end of the game last year. But Bulls overall, I've always been a fan of Todd Bowles'

defensive mind. He's just always been an outstanding defensive coach. They were 14th in DVOA defensively last year. Now, defense doesn't hold up year to year like offense does, as we know. We know that certainly more than anybody else does. Washington was ninth, I think, in 2022 defensively per DVOA and then 31st last year, were they 32nd or 31st? But, at Tampa in September for the opener. And, you know, when you're playing in a place like Tampa, you know, on September 8th, you know, two things can be an issue. One, heat almost definitely will be an issue.

And then two, you never know. It's a long shot, but we've certainly had hurricanes for the Florida teams and New Orleans impact games in September before. Washington's overall schedule strength per the Warren Sharp method of determining schedule strength. We had Warren Sharp on the show week and a half ago, which is really the right way to do a schedule strength before a season starts, is based on what the teams are projected to do in the upcoming season, not based on how they finished last year. and if you go by his method, Washington will have the 13th easiest schedule in the league. That's, of course, as of now, going into the season.

You know, there are other things that we'll find out with the schedule, times, dates for games, which will determine, you know, how many short weeks you have. Washington right now, I think based on the expected travel for next year, has the least amount of travel of any team in the NFL. They only have one West Coast game all season long at Arizona. They don't play any games against Mountain Time Zone teams. That means all of their games are in the eastern and central time zones with the exception of at Arizona. But we know right now that Tampa Bay will be the season opener and at Dallas to close. And it would appear if JP's reporting is right, they have the Giants for the home opener in week two.

Remember, Washington had opened four straight years in their season opener at home, which is why my mock had them opening on the road. They also had two straight years of finishing at home, and they're going to finish on the road this year in Dallas. All right. There's something else that I wanted to get to here in the opening segment of the show. and that is Cliff Kingsbury spoke yesterday at OTA day number one. They had another OTA day today, but there was no media today.

But Cliff Kingsbury spoke yesterday for the first time since February, whenever his introductory press conference was, was it late January or February? I forget the time frame now. He had a lot to say about Jaden Daniels, and I wanted to play some of those sound bites. for you. The first being actually about the draft process and it was a question that wanted to sort of dig into whether or not he was involved in the draft process with Adam Peters and with

Dan Quinn. Here's what he said. Yeah, you know, it was awesome working with us two guys. I was along for the ride. It was cool for me because when I was in Arizona, he was at ASU. So I'd been following him. I was so I remember him beating Oregon and like a true freshman doing what he's doing. But, you know, this was AP's deal and he had a good feel for it. And, you know, I felt very strongly as well, so it worked out. So you heard him say that he was kind of along for the ride, that this was AP as in Adam Peters's deal. But he also said there at the very end, I felt very strongly as well. So it worked out.

I mentioned this either on yesterday's show or the day before. What I've learned about just the drafting of Jaden Daniels post-draft is that everybody, everybody was on board, that this was something where Dan Quinn, Adam Peters, the scouts, the other people in the front office, Cliff Kingsbury, the analytics staff, everybody loved Jaden Daniels and was in on Jaden Daniels. Daniels at number two. And you heard Adam Peters, you know, basically say, not basically, he did say that Jaden Daniels was the number one overall player on their board, which means that would have included Caleb Williams. So there was more from Kingsbury on Jaden Daniels. And I'm going to play two sound bites for you back to back. There's a question from Sam 40A of the Washington

Post about what kind of learner Jaden Daniels is. And then you'll you'll hear Scott Abraham follow up from Channel 7. You'll just get a sense from Cliff Kingsbury as to the type of guy that he is starting to realize he's working with. What kind of a learner is Jaden? He works really hard at it. So we've only had him a couple of days, but he works really hard at it. And what I liked most probably about the college tape is just the drastic improvement you saw year and year out. That shows that the guy's putting in the work and studying and doing those things.

you have to do to try and be great. You know, we all see Jaden putting in the work, practice, throwing, but what are some of the things that we don't see that really impress you about Jaden? Yeah, like I said, just his, everything he does is intentional. He has a plan for studying, he has a plan for practice, has a plan for watching film. He knows what he wants to be and where he wants to go.

And to be that young and come in there with that mindset is really encouraging. in the work, studying, doing the things that, you know, allowed him to improve year and year out, which was very impressive to Kingsbury, being intentionally said, having a plan, being prepared for practice, for studying, for watching film. These are the things that we just keep hearing over and over again, and I just think they're very encouraging. And again, I think I said this the other day. I don't think when it comes to Jaden Daniels that if he isn't successful, it's going to be because he didn't work at it, that he wasn't prepared. These are, you know, the big things they had to learn in the lead-up to the draft. They had to find out what kind of worker he was,

how much he loves football, how much he improves after he puts in the time, stuff. studying and working at it. There were two more quick sound bites that I wanted to play from Cliff Kingsbury. He was asked about the playbook and where Daniels is, and is he ahead of where he expected? Here's what he said. Yeah, that's football IQ is really high. I think protections.

I've been really impressed by that. A lot of guys coming in to the league, that's not an area that they major in in college. They don't have a lot of time. It's four hours per day to have rules, but he's really well-versed in the protections, and he works at it. His football IQ is very high, Cliff Kingsbury said about Jaden Daniels, and then he got specific about it. He said protections.

A lot of college guys are not well-versed coming into the league on protections, but Jaden is, and that is something that he's been impressed by. There was a follow-up question to that on why he thinks. that is. Why does he think that Jaden is advanced when it comes to protections? Why his football IQ is really high. This is what he said. Yeah, I think Coach Kelly, Coach Sloan there at LSU, Coach Kelly is phenomenal offense of mine always has been. He's very demanding. Coaches him hard, and you can tell that Jaden bought into that and really studied it because he's farther ahead, definitely than I thought. So there you go, some Cliff Kingsbury after a few days of rookie minicamp

and one OTA Day with Jaden Daniels. All right. Up next, Zach Ertz will be my guest right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey, guys, I want to tell you about Harry's. Many of you have probably heard of Harry's razors and shaving products, maybe even from this podcast. They've been an occasional advertiser over the years. I'm a customer.

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And again, if you schedule your appointment today, you'll get an additional bonus offer. Put an end to your window problems. Get them installed before the summer heat. Schedule a fast, no obligation, in-home appointment now, with the pros at Window Nation. Mention my name when you call them at 86690 Nation or visitwindonation.com. Jumping on with me right now is Zach Ertz for much of his career, a Philadelphia Eagle, who had actually some of his biggest games of his career against Washington,

but now he's here reuniting with his coach in Arizona, Cliff Kingsbury. And Zach, let me properly introduce you, because while I knew as an NFL fan and as an NFC East teams fan how good you were before I started looking things up, your career actually is ridiculously impressive. 12 years in the league, 709 receptions for nearly 7,500 yards, 46 career touchdowns. You are seventh all-time among tight ends on the receptions list. 2018, you set the record for tight-end receptions in a season with 116. You finished second that year to Michael Thomas.

You're obviously a Super Bowl champion. You caught the go-ahead touchdown pass with just over two minutes to go from Nick Foles and the Eagles Super Bowl 52 win over the Patriots. I mean, it's been a damn good career. I hope you're not done yet. You got a lot left? Oh, yeah, I feel great. You know, being out here in this environment.

with these coaches, man. It's really giving me a new renewed energy. I would say, you know, last year in Arizona was extremely tough for a multitude of reasons, physically coming off the ACL the prior year and just a lot of drama behind the scenes. So I'm just excited to be here, start fresh, the people that truly believe in me. They brought me here. They're a very player empowerment staff, so they're really putting on the leaders to kind of set the tone for the team and the foundations for something, hopefully that turns into something great. So I'm excited to be a part of it. So I added it up. You've played 17 games against Washington, 14 against the Redskins,

two against the Washington football team, and one last year against the commanders in the season opener playing for the Cardinals. 93 total catches, three touchdowns. I actually thought you would have had more touchdowns against Washington. But give me a memory or two that stands out from all of those games against Washington over the years. Yeah, I mean, the thing that stands out playing against Washington all those years is we really struggled running the football. Their front seven was so talented with Kerrigan and Payne and Jonathan Allen and a rack boat when I was real young in the league.

So this team has been known for a physical front seven defense, and we just couldn't really run the ball. When I was in Philly or on some of those other teams, and we just had to throw the ball. And I pride myself on getting open consistently, and the ball just found me in those games. some of the games are huge games and wins some of them were in losses but we always had our battles against Washington so I've always respected this place from afar and I've always respected

Dan Quinn from afar so I'm excited to be here especially with Cliff offense that I know an offense that I've excelled in in the past so I feel like I'm really just picking up where I left off with Cliff by the way your career best receptions-wise you had 15 catches in 2014 at FedEx Field in a game against Washington. That's the most for you in any game in your career. So just tell me a little bit about how it came together in this offseason. Like, did Cliff reach out to you first? Was it Adam Peters?

How did it all come together? Yeah, I mean, obviously I was a free agent early, so I could sign early. Right. And I wanted to sign before free agency started. And I also didn't want to be a vet that signed midway through training camp and didn't get the experience of bonding with the guys. So I wanted to do the whole off-season program. And when Cliff kind of turned down or whatever happened in Las Vegas,

then he came to Washington, you know, my, I'll say my eye picked up, perked up, perked up, per se, especially with a guy like Adam Peters who you knew was going to bring in a great organizational culture guy coming from San Francisco. So it really would, Cliff was obviously a huge part. Chavita Pritchard was also a big part. He was a fifth-year senior at Stanford. when I was a true freshman, so I've known him for a long time, even when I went back to Stanford to train.

He was offensive coordinator. So there's a lot of connections in this building that I've had from afar, and everyone was just raving about how much different it is. You know, from afar you kind of see the stories, you hear the stories. But everyone says it's just been night and day from last year. And so I can't speak on that, obviously. But this is something that from my own experience has been nothing but positive and something that I really enjoy.

Yeah, I was going to ask you about. that given that you had played with a first-rate organization for much of your career in Philadelphia. This has been pretty much a train wreck here for so long, but now new ownership, new front office, new coaching staff. And it sounds like so far this place looks pretty good to you. Yes. I mean, don't get me wrong. Everything is great when it's new and people are fresh and they have great energy. But I truly feel this is going to be sustained energy, sustained success. you know, anybody can do anything once and fake it one time. But I truly believe that this place has been something special. Obviously, the NFC East, in my opinion, is the best division of

football, so I'm excited to be back in it. And yeah, I think, like I said, I can't speak on what's happened in the past, but I think the foundation that they're laying right now is going to last for a long time. Tell us about Cliff Kingsbury and what kind of offensive coordinator you think he'll be in the NFL? I think it's going to be a phenomenal. I love playing for him as a head coach and now he's able to just truly focus on offense and let a DQ handle a lot of things that he had to deal with so he could just truly be the offense coordinator now

and it's a really fun offense to play and all the skill guys are going to love it. The O-line is going to love it because we're going to be on the attack always we're not just going to sit there where the play counts, ticking down, worrying about delay of game penalties. We're going to play on the attack. And I think that's our mindset, not only on offense, but really in this whole building,

offense defense and stuff things that we want to play on the attack. We want to set the tempo. We want teams to react to us. I think that's something that we're really trying to put our best look forward in this offseason to kind of hold that standard. How do you see your role on the offense first and then kind of as a veteran player in the locker room? I mean, my role is to be the best version of myself that I can possibly be. people may see me going into my 12th year and think this guy can only play 50% of the snaps.

But the way I train, the way I feel right now, I think I can have one of my best years in this league. I'm really excited playing with Marcus or Jaden or whoever it is at quarterback and being in this offense again. I still think I could have the same impact now that I've had my entire career. And then from a big picture leadership standpoint, you know, I understand that I'm closer to the end than the beginning. And I want to be able to lay a foundation for this place that's going to carry on for a long time. And when they kind of look back at this thing, hopefully 10 years from now, DQ, still the head coach, AP, still the GM. They point to some of the older vets like me, Bobby, some of the guys they brought in early. You guys made a big difference, even though they didn't play here for as long as some of these other guys did.

And so I feel like that's the kind of impact that one. They go on the field and off the field. And yeah, that's about it. Give me your early impressions of Jaden Daniels. very, very, very impressed. Obviously, the physical traits jump out at you. I've only been there with him for three days. I'm going to put it at that, leave it at that.

I'm going to leave my opinion able to change. Not that I think it's going to, but I've been very, very impressed. The way he's approached this thing, his physical talent jumps off. Don't get me wrong. The way he throws the ball to snap when it leaves his hand. But the way he approaches the game, the way he's committed to learning, it doesn't seem like he's been nothing surprised him

his preparedness has been kind of unbelievable honestly you can tell how much he cares about being great for not himself because he really deflect praise almost per se you talk to him on a side he's always talked about his teammates at LSU or ASU and so I think

I think the city and this community is really going to love Jay and Daniel you know you've spent time around young quarterbacks I mean you played for a number two overall pick in the 2016 draft in Carson Wentz. What's, you know, from your vantage point, having gone through this with a young, highly drafted rookie quarterback, what's the hardest part for them at that position

going from college to the NFL? I mean, most of these guys, when they come in, the number two overall picks, Carson was at North Dakota State, obviously. Kyler was at Oklahoma, Jaden was at LSU. Their teams are just more talented than every other team typically, and they're able to throw to receivers that have a ton of separation that they don't really have to worry about ball placement per se. And so when you get to the NFL, the margin of air is extremely small.

The windows are much smaller. You've got to throw with anticipation. And so I think that's the biggest thing is you're not waiting to see guys open. You've got to throw them open in the NFL. And Jaden seems to be able to play on time. in rhythm, not hold on to the ball. Because if you hold on to the ball in this league for too long, you got guys like Jonathan Allen, Darren Payne,

some of these guys rushing the quarterback, and you're not going to win that battle too many times. You only got so much time to hold on to the ball when those guys are rushing. So I'm excited to see how he does in team drills as we get going in training camp. But right now, like I said, I've been very impressed. Did you just out of curiosity spend any time in the build-up to the draft looking at the quarterbacks knowing that your new team was going to draft a quarterback number two overall?

Personally, I'm not a guy that puts a lot of stock into the draft. I would say at this point in my career. Yeah. But you didn't know we were going to draft a quarterback, and I figured it was going to be Jason. And I didn't have any knowledge going into the draft, too, it was going to be. But I feel like the buzz around him was so positive, and everyone kind of knew what should have what they're going to do. And so when you guys come into the building,

I really just leave my opinions to be able to be formulated upon meeting them. I don't rely on anyone else's opinion because I want to see how they are with their teammates and how they approach this thing. Because really, for me at this point in my career, I've learned that the guys who care are the guys that you want to go to battle. You don't want to go to battle with guys that are leaving early, the last one's in, first ones out. you want to go to battle with guys that truly care

and are going to give everything they have to be the best version of themselves. And honestly, I'd rather go to battle with guys that are a little less talented that are giving it their all every day than guys who are the most talented, but are completely different every other day. And the good news of Jayden is it seems like he's one of those guys with a ton of talent and he really care.

So I think a lot of guys are going to love playing for him. Just a couple of more with Zach Ertz. You know, people sometimes say that you know, a big tight end, you know, 6-5-250, somebody like you, is comfort can be a quarterback's best friend, especially a young quarterback's best friend. Is that true? I mean, I think so. I mean, obviously I'm a little biased, but I think I'm going to do everything I can to be open in the middle of the field and give them a big target to throw the ball to. I'm proud of myself and my career of being a guy that's able to separate consistently, get open, and make tough catches if I'm not

able to be completely open. And I understand there's a lot of talent on this offense. I'm not going to be a guy that's going to say, I need this many catches. I need this many yards, this many touchdowns. I'm just going to put wins on tape, and if the ball finds me, great. If not, I know guys like Terry or Jehan or some of these other guys, maybe even Luke McCaffrey, some of these guys are going to be able to do the same thing. So my job is to get open for who's ever at quarterback, to do everything I can from now until training camp into the season to put my best support and create as much separation as I can. I know it's really early, but give me a player or two on this roster that has really stood

out to you so far? That's a great question. Let me give a shout out to a guy that most people probably haven't heard of Kaz Allen. Little guy, quick as heck, shifty, young, hungry. he's a guy that immediately stood out. And defensively, Jeremy Chin is a guy who I think is very underrated throughout the league. He kind of had a down year last year dealing with injury. But he's one of the best deep safeties that I've gone against in my career.

He's just so long, so smart, I'm physically gifted. I think he's that for a big year, especially in his defense. You know, it's interesting that you brought up Kaz Allen because I had him on the show last year during training camp, maybe. or maybe before training camp. I think he still holds the record for the most touchdowns in a high school season or career, something like that. Do you envision him potentially with these new kickoff rules being a returner? You know, I don't know anything about how they're going to approach these kickoff rules.

I think you're going to get, I don't think there's going to be necessarily true special teams players on that play anymore. You're going to see guys that are maybe not starters, but play a lot of football on offense, having key roles, whether it be blocking. I think you're going to see linebackers in there. You could see if you have an athletic lineman, a 6-0 lineman that's able to block and get hands on guys right away where there's not that much room to run.

Who knows if a sub-team's coach is going to try that. And I think that's what's unique about this rule that's so different. You know, when they change the extra point and they just moved it back, the rules didn't change that much, or the schemes didn't change that much. But something like this that's going to be drastic, you're going to see a lot of coaches experimenting and kind of hiding things in the preseason

to kind of show them in the regular season. So I think you'll see one thing in the preseason of coaches showing, like, very vanilla, very, oh, this is the status quo around the NFL is what we're going to do. And then you're going to see week one, two, and three, kind of everything in play, and a whole different thing. new schemes, new personnel that are on the field. So it's going to be interesting for sure, and I'm excited to see it.

Yeah, it's going to look so different, too, just for football fans, you know, who have had this consistent forever kickoff formation appearance. Oh, one last one. What is your initial impression, again, super early, of Ben Sennett, the tight end that they took in the second round? Yeah, like you said, it is early, and I haven't been able to. to be with him on the field as much as probably I have with Jaden. But at the same time, I mean, everyone raves about him. I think his combine numbers, I think someone said he tested off the charts.

And so I'm going to do everything I can to help him grow and be the best version of himself he can be. I understand I'm at that point in my career where it's something that I'm definitely better at now than maybe I was early in my career. So I'm trying to help all these tight ends as much as I can. and hopefully he's able to make an impact for us. You know, I'm going to do everything I can to push the room to be as great as they can. And then from there, it's up to us as players to determine who's going to be on the field and that's whoever is the best player.

And so obviously everyone wants to play all the snaps, but everyone has got to find a role and embrace their role. That's kind of what the message for this team is right now, is we're doing everything we can to be the best version of ourselves. And when the season comes around, everyone's got their role. And so I'm excited to get to know Ben and some of the other young tight-ins that we have. You feel good, you're healthy? Oh, yeah, I feel great.

Obviously last year was tough for a lot of different reasons, but I feel like I'm a new guy. I've got a renewed energy or renewed sense of NFL career back. And so I feel like I'm flying around out there, excited, make them play. So I love football, man. It's been fun. You know, I tell people all the time to say, Zach, we need you to take less reps.

I say, hey, it's the only way you get better at football and I'm playing football. So I need to get better right now, and I enjoy that part of it. Zach, thanks so much for doing this. Welcome to D.C. Best of luck to you. Appreciate it. Yep, all right, brother. Take care.

Zacherts, everybody. We will finish up the show next with the latest on the RFK Stadium bill. What Senator Steve Danes said in terms of what it will take to get his vote. and we'll talk some NBA playoffs as well, right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey guys, most of us are interested in our mental and physical well-being to a certain degree. And with that in mind, I'd like to welcome and introduce a new sponsor to the podcast. The new sponsor is Unified Healing, Unified spelled, U-N-I-F-Y-D healing. It doesn't matter if you're a big-time world-class athlete or just a somewhat,

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diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care providers with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen including E.E. system. Do you think they should change the name to something else to keep that identity rolling?

Dale? I think they should change it back to the football team. The Washington football team is a really cool name. I don't feel that way around the commanders. You know, rely on a few years. Maybe it'll sort of become normal and feel normalized to me. But that Washington football team name was kind of cool. Dale Earnhardt Jr. from the Rich Eisen podcast, I think most of you know, Dale Jr. is a huge fan of the team. And, that speaks to me, and I know some others out there, that's what makes the most sense to me, knowing that Redskins is not coming back. Sorry, some of you think I'm speaking it into existence. No, I'm just essentially repeating what they have said and what I know to be true, and that is Redskins is not coming back.

And knowing that, to me, Washington would be the least polarizing of the solution. Washington football team, FC Washington, Washington FC. Sorry, Murph, my friend Pat Murphy, who hates when I say FC Washington or Washington FC because he doesn't want it to sound anything like soccer. But yeah, Washington being the central part of the brand makes the most sense to me.

There was a lot of discussion about not the name, but the logo on Capitol Hill today, and I will get to that here, momentarily. But first, let me mention that this segment of the podcast is brought to you by MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.orgie. Use my promo code for a cash bonus on your initial signup. My bookie's got some of the week one NFL lines up. Now, these are just for the games that are official so far. If you go to My Bookie tomorrow, they'll have the Washington, Tampa Bay line up there. I'm going to guess that when we see a Washington-Tampa Bay number tomorrow or late tonight, that Tampa Bay is a five-point favorite over Washington.

Might be a little bit more. Four and a half to five-and-a-half. That's what I'm going to guess the Washington-Tampa Bay point spread to be. But they've already got the games that have been made official by the league up. Kansas City is a three-point favorite over Baltimore. in the Thursday night, September 5th kickoff to the NFL season. Philly's up to minus two and a half over Green Bay in the Brazil game on Friday night, September 6th. The Sunday game that we know about is the late Fox doubleheader game, which Tom Brady will call,

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use my promo code, Kevin D.C. So the Senate hearing on the RFK Stadium Bill was today. We talked about this on yesterday's show. Now, by the time you listen to this, there may be additional information, including maybe even a vote, I doubt it. The star of the show was this Senator Steve Danes, the Republican from Montana. Sam Fortier had written yesterday,

and Tommy and I talked about the story, which described Steve Daines holding his vote back and potentially voting no unless the team and Walter Blackie Wetzel's family came together and agreed on a proper way to honor the logo that Walter Blackie Wetzel designed back in 1972. well, Steve Daines today, who is the ranking member of the Senate National Park Subcommittee, spent about 10 and a half minutes discussing this. I'm going to play about, I don't know, two to three minutes of it. I think the important part of it, but before I get to that, let me set it up with kind of what he pitched and presented today down on the hill. First of all, he set up the ask, which I'm going to play, by going through the history of the logo. You know, the Redskins logo from 1972 until 2022, the one designed by Walter Blackie Wetzel of the Blackfeet tribe out in Montana with the help of George Allen or the consent of George Allen, the coach and general manager at the time.

and he talked about the incredible pride in this logo, taken not only by the Blackfeet tribe and by the Wetzel family, but by Indian country as a whole. And, you know, he went through all of that, and he also specifically said that he is not asking for the old name to return. But after he went through the history, of the logo, the importance of Walter Blackie Wetzel, his family, and Indian countries love for this logo. He got to the crux of what he wanted to say, and it was the ask or the demand,

and that's the part I'm going to play for you right now. What I'm demanding here is very straightforward that the new team leadership and the NFL sit down with the Wetzel family, sit down with the blackfeet, sit down with tribal leaders, and find a way to properly honor the history of the logo and the heritage of our tribal nations and to rededicate the organization as an advocate for Indian country. That effort might take several forms. It might result in restoring the logo with a new team name that is supported by tribal leaders and will bring unity across communities.

It could also be telling the story of the logo's connection to the Wetzel family in honoring the native communities it represents. It could be resuming merchandise sales featuring the logo and maybe using a portion of the proceeds to bring awareness to missing and murdered indigenous women and other tribal causes. For example, on the NFL website, you can buy a retro Houston Oilers jersey with the old logo. But nowhere on the website can you find merchandise with this logo for sale. The new owners in the NFL have the opportunity to heal old wounds, work with families, and enter into a new wear. They can properly honor the heritage of the Wetzel family, the Blackfeet tribe, Native Americans across our country.

They could honor former players and the community as a whole. There are a lot of former players that signed this helmet. The team can be a beacon of light for these communities. But until I see meaningful actions that satisfy the Wetzel family and other tribal stakeholders, I cannot support this legislation. That was a portion of the senator's remarks today down on the hill. And I really just carved out the part where he talks about what he wants for his vote, essentially. And it's a little bit unclear to me, to be honest with you,

whether or not he can kill this vote single-handedly. I know there are ways to attach this to other legislation. but I'll let the bill experts weigh in on that. But let me just mention that overall, I found the 10 minutes that he spoke, and you can find the entire 10-plus minutes that he spoke about the logo, about what he wants, to be completely reasonable. You know, he wants the team in the league to sit down with the Wetzel family, with the Blackfeet tribe, with tribal leaders, and find a way to properly honor the history of the logo and the heritage of tribal nations and rededicate the organization as an advocate for Indian country.

He got more specific. He would like that to take a form or take several forms potentially. One is restoring the logo with a new team name that is supported by, tribal leaders. I don't know how likely that is. My personal view is that the logo will not be a part of anything moving forward, although there's no good reason other than it really doesn't fit with the current name, and it may not be the perfect fit as a logo for a future name change if it isn't Native American oriented. My feeling on the logo has always been, I don't get why we put the logo and the name in the same category.

The name is dictionary defined in some dictionaries as racially insensitive. Now, of course, it is a very debatable, complex subject, as we've talked about many times in the past. The logo, there is no one that's ever said that. it is insensitive or racist. In fact, it's been embraced by Native Americans, like the name has actually in a large majority of Native American country, but there's never been anything controversial about the logo.

So I personally don't understand why the two get lumped together, especially when you have, you know, still available on Amazon, Chief Wahoo gear. I mean, that is racially insensitive. The Tomahawk Chop at Arrowhead or in Atlanta for Braves games is insensitive. You know, it's openly mocking Native Americans. The logo not even close. But again, does that logo fit with the commander's name? Does it fit with a new name that they may use, even if it's Washington football team or just Washington?

I don't know. Restoring the logo with a new team name, I'd love it that is supported by tribal leaders, but my guess is that's not the direction that they end up going in. Telling the story of the logo, yes, totally reasonable. Using it on merchandise so that, you know, merchandise sales could partially go to, you know, missing indigenous women and other tribal needs, you know, other Indian needs. I found him to be totally reasonable. I thought the presentation of what he was talking about made a lot of sense.

And, you know, other than, you know, and he didn't suggest that these were the only forms that it could take. But one of the forms being restoring the logo with a new team name that is supported by tribal leaders would be awesome. but I don't see that being the way it happens. Look, they've already met once the grandson, Ryan Wetzel, with the team. He called the meeting fantastic. And the team called it a successful meeting as well. We'll see where it goes from here. I still, my gut tells me that this will get through the Senate,

that the city will begin a negotiation with the team over the city. the DC RFK site, but stay tuned. One other thing that I wanted to get to. And, you know, I actually heard from some of you who watched Nicola Yokic last night and admitted finally that it was more than worth the watch. Nicola Yokic last night had perhaps the best game of his career. His third quarter is one of the greatest quarters of any NBA center I've ever seen. And it's up there. Like Tim Legler, you know, our good friend watching the game last night, tweeted,

if every NBA player could submit one tape with a full quarter of any game of their career is a testament to their greatness. Nicola Yokic would be wise to submit the third quarter from last night. It was damn near basketball. affection. So last night, Denver, who had lost the first two games of their Western Conference semifinal series to Minnesota at home in decisive fashion, I mean, they were manhandled by the league's best defensive team. They have now bounced back to win three consecutive games. They won last night by 15, and the Joker had what, you know, some are calling the best game of

his career. 40 points, 13 assists, no turnovers. On a night, by the way, where he received before the game started his third MVP trophy. By the way, if you want to see a cool video, check out the video of his teammates' reaction to him being handed the third MVP trophy by Adam Silver. They came out and they jumped all over him. It's clear that there is tremendous admiration, respect, and defection for Yokic. his teammates. But anyway, back to the game. 40 points, 13 assists, no turnovers. It's only been done one other time in the history of the NBA playoffs, 40 or more, 10 assists or more with no turnovers. Chris Paul did it in 2018. Just to give you a little bit of perspective on how rare

it is, just one other player has done the 4010 with no turnovers. Only three other players in the of the NBA postseason has done 30 points or more with 10 assists or more without a turnover. Think about it from this standpoint. Yokic has the ball in his hands pretty much 90% of the time he's on the floor. When he's in the game, he is an orchestrating maestro center who plays point guard to. He brings the ball up court. He leads fast breaks. the offensive possessions in the half court run through him pretty much every single time down court,

and against the best defensive team in the league, he had zero turnovers. Being guarded, by the way, a lot of the night by the defensive MVP, Rudy Gobert, zero turnovers. 40 points. 13 assists. He was so good last night. he took a one point early third quarter deficit. And in that third quarter that was so great, he was six to seven, scored 16 points,

pretty much orchestrated every single possession. And they were up 14 at the end of the third quarter. He was lauded by every corner of the NBA world, but I'll give you what Anthony Edwards said, the brilliant young player for the Timberwolves. quote, I just laughed. That's all I can do. I can't be mad. He's good, man. I think I said after game one when we won and game two when we won, he's the MVP. He's the best player in the NBA. He showed it last night. Three games, three games in a row. He did it tonight. He was special

tonight. I got to give him his flowers. I don't know what we were supposed to do, closed quote. By the way, there was a lot of criticism of Rudy Gobert, the defense. player of the year for the fourth time, the defensive MVP. I'll be honest, in watching that game last night, I didn't think Rudy Gobert defended him poorly. I think he did the best he could. I just don't think there's any answer for Yokic right now. A longtime NBA coach, George Carl, on Twitter last night, said Yokic and then gave the greater than sign, Shack. Yokic greater than Shack. He also said, I'm not a big gumbo soup guy, but I agree. Yokage is a unique stew of Bird, Duncan, Magic, and Sabonis, Sr.

As in Arvetus, Sabonis. That's a pretty good mixture. He was just so great last night. And watching Denver is really cool to watch. They have a heart of a champion. There's that, you know, cliche. at work for sure. The combination of Yokic with Murray's great.

I actually think the combination of Yokic and Aaron Gordon is like two bigs that are similar to almost McAil and Bird playing together. The IQ of the Denver team is outrageous. Yokic led. NBA playoffs have been great in watching Denver is the best part of it. The Knicks won last night by 30, amazing, after the way they looked over the weekend and Brunson had 44. He's been amazing. It is truly awesome to watch him work his way towards the rim.

I think he's a bit too ball dominant at times, personally, you know, like a lot of the players in the league are. You know, Donchich, for sure, you know, super ball dominant. I like to see the ball move a little bit more. But this is what the NBA has become with, you know, primarily the reasons being, you know, defenses switch so much more than they ever have. They play more zone. There's a 24-second shot clock. It's like they seek out the matchups they want for ISO or for two-man, and that's when they start attacking. But the Knicks are up 3-2 in that series. I think somehow Indiana will get it back to a game seven. By the way, Tyrese Halliburton really struggling. The playoffs are the ultimate

reveal truly of players and whether or not they're legitimately great. The regular season just isn't. They're two totally different sports as we've talked about. And Halliburton has had some real off games. But the problem with his bad games like last night is he's just so passive. Last night he took nine total shots in a game five in which they needed him. In game one when they lost, he took six shots. He's had a couple of really good games, but there are moments where you're like, and he's got time, he's only 24 years old to get it together. All right.

Hope you enjoyed Zach Ertz. I did. We'll do Doc either later in the week or next week. Tommy will be with me tomorrow, and we will have the entirety of. of the NFL schedule, specifically Washington's schedule, at our feet, ready to discuss. At our feet? In our hands, whatever. Ready to discuss.

Have a great day. Enjoy the reveal of the schedule. New to try and time. Damsing with Go Bill.