Latest / DMV Mess Hall / "Where There's Smoke..." episode 199

Transcript

"Where There's Smoke..." episode 199 · DMV Mess Hall

0:00
Hi folks, this is Rick Doc. Walker to DOC.
0:02
This is John Kime, and you're listening to the mess hall with
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rally Captain and tailgate Ted E.
0:09
L. GLESEO, what's going on?
0:16
Rally, welcome back from the City of Brotherly Love.
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Man, how you doing? Never gets old.
0:25
Never gets old. Hey, I'm alive.
0:29
I'm well. You know the link.
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It is as bad as people say it is.
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I'm I'm still here in one piece, you know, and I have to tell
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you, man, Philadelphia fans obviously are Philadelphia fans.
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You have just tune them out. Did I hear some choice words?
0:48
Of course. Did more so than any other
0:51
stadium, Yes, a little bit more. However, when you go there, you
0:56
just got to tune out. You do and, and, and enjoy
1:00
yourself to the best of your whether we win, lose or we die.
1:06
Now before I go any further, I got to address the elephant in
1:11
the room, which is a lot of fans who do not want us to win.
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And they really thought that the 5th pick was going to be that
1:23
much better than the 7th pick. And Ted, I got to tell you, man,
1:29
I I'm catching a lot of crap because they're called me a Dick
1:33
rider of the team that they're they're calling me a Dick rider
1:39
of the team because stuff like I reason why that that the team
1:45
wants to be mediocre because our fans can't stick together.
1:50
And so I'm saying, I'm saying wait a minute, are you telling
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me that you don't know best for your team and winning is the
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best thing for this team? Regardless what anybody said,
2:02
winning is the betting for this team can say that we are
2:08
defeated in 26. I saw you post that man, and I,
2:13
I did chuckle, right? Because it's you're not the only
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one that's posting it. And hey, it's true, right?
2:18
We are undefeated. In 20. 6 And you know, if we can
2:21
have we talked about it at the last pod, I felt that the
2:24
momentum, the negative momentum we had losing 55 to 23 against
2:30
those bastards up north kind of carried into this offseason.
2:34
And granted, we beat an Eagles team that refused to start any
2:38
of their starters and that decision bit them in the butt,
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but I also think that they chose not to start them because they
2:45
thought their backups would beat our backups.
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All right? And I'm just happy to hear it,
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but I'm pissed to hear that people giving you slack about
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it, man. I'm, I'm getting the same thing
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too. Because I, I do remember being
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in New York for The Jets game, Christmas Eve or so and wanting
3:05
us to lose that game because that meant we were going to go,
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if we won from the second pick to the 7th pick or the 8th pick
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and we weren't going to be able to get Jayden Daniels.
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But to go from the 5th to the 7th when we already have our
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franchise quarterback, to me is not that big a deal.
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And to beat those guys is an even bigger deal than, you know,
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dropping back two spots. Yeah, also like you said, we
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played stars but we also played better UPS.
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Let alone this is what really me.
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I had Eagle fans saying, yeah, you guys just beat a backup and
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I said if you guys had beat us, you would be high in high heaven
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round if you beat us. But the fact is you're upset
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because a 39 year old backup third string backup quarterback
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beat you guys come on man, you make this stuff up.
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Just just be happy that you're in the and you guys are far a
4:15
far better team than we are. Now.
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You guys got it goes to you and appreciate that.
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But no, you got to talk. Try to talk trash to me and
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whatever, you know what I mean. And I said.
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They already had excuses lined up, man.
4:31
Right. And I said one thing you can't
4:32
take away from me is this. I'm more out of the link.
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A winner period. Now what happens after this is
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what happens. But today on the January 2026,
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the commanders won and that's all that matters.
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The score the the stats don't say when, but with backs playing
4:52
against backups it says when. So leave it alone and I'm in my
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truck and I'm driving my little tail back down 95 S.
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Boom. Amen, man, Amen.
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And it's just they kept talking about, well, we're we're playing
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our backups. We're playing our backups like,
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and I don't expect them to know how many starters we're missing
5:13
or that we've missed this entire season, right?
5:15
I mean, yes, Terry was out there and made him look foolish.
5:19
Debo was out there and made him look foolish, but we were
5:22
missing three stars on our offensive line.
5:24
We're on our third quarterback, who, by the way, hadn't actually
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thrown a touchdown pass since 2021.
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They allowed for the people in the back here.
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Since 2021 this young man had been in the XFL, the UFL, the
5:40
AAF. Like what the hell is the AAFI?
5:42
Have no idea, but Josh Johnson being 39 years old ran and beat
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you guys right and it just goes to show that if you would have
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had the injuries that we had this season, would you be where
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you are? I don't think so because with
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your backups, our backups, I don't want to spank you, but
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definitely put up a good fight, right.
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And man, it, it reminds me of that eight Mile when Eminem, you
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know, and the rap battling back and forth and you always want to
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go second so you can just retaliate to what the guy going
6:18
against you has to say. Well, he decided to go first
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because he knew everything that whatever the Hell's guy's name
6:26
was going to say against him so that it left him speechless when
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it was his turn. We knew before this was going to
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happen that the Eagles fans would Oh, well, we're sitting on
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players. We know we don't need to play
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you guys, blah, blah, blah. It's all about the play offs.
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Meanwhile, the Lions actually beat the Bears.
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And because of that, that meant if the Eagles won, they would
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have got the second seed. They would be playing the Green
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Bay Packers, not the 49ers, but the Green Bay Packers who have a
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quarterback that is banged up to high hell right now, and Jordan
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Love, and not the 49ers, who are firing on, you know, decent
7:05
amount of cylinders over there. They don't have Fred and Lorner
7:07
back yet. But I'm telling you from a
7:09
matching perspective, most people want to play the Packers
7:13
versus Niners and to also potentially host another playoff
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game. You can't tell me that Siriani
7:20
didn't want to win that game. I just think that he was
7:23
overlooking us and didn't realize that a 39 year old was
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going to come in there and go B to A and get his first touchdown
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since 2021. Amazing, simply amazing.
7:35
And you said he looked past us, but there is something that we
7:41
said that on on one aspect, because I was I was talking to
7:46
some Eagles fans who were down the earth hands and like, man, I
7:52
can't believe we didn't play our starters.
7:54
And I said, well, let me add this technically for you guys,
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technically it's kind of a meaningless game.
8:00
Yes, you will get succeed, home field advantage, all that type
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stuff. The fact is you're in the
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playoffs and whoever you got to play, you got to play.
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But would you rather have Jalen and I don't wish injury won, but
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would you rather have roll out and somebody tears freaking
8:16
meniscus or an Achilles or AC or have you would you really want
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that on this type of game? And they and they thought they
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said, no, I wouldn't want that to happen.
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And I said that's why you guys are playing your backs, man.
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Appreciate what that is trying to do.
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Now whether it succeeds or not is a different story, but I can
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really appreciate what city is trying to do, man, because they
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they go on to visiting teams and put B to AM.
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Obviously we did it last year with Tampa and Detroit, so it
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shouldn't be wherever you are, whatever stadium, you got to
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play the game and just because you get home does not guarantee
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you a win. It just didn't.
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So on that aspect, I appreciate what Ronnie was saying.
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On the other aspect, I don't care what he said, we got the
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doubt. We that's all that matters.
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We got the doubt. Hey, man, man, hey, man, I mean
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eagles Twitter, whatever reason, just I didn't I can post
9:21
something about like the full moon out and they just feel like
9:25
chiming in, right. It reminds me of any time the
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commanders would post something, all you would see or you know,
9:32
the Redskins at that point, all you would see is fire Bruce
9:35
Allen, you know, sell the team, Dan Snyder.
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It's just like constant back and forth.
9:40
So the one phrase I forgot to mute was go birds.
9:44
So luckily you know I added that one to the list this weekend.
9:47
So now I no longer see pretty much any of their stuff other
9:49
than the people that just send me memes.
9:52
I can't block just random memes from people posting out there,
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but it is nice to know that their offense is still having
10:00
problems. They're going into the
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postseason with those questions. I am curious to see what Hard
10:06
Knocks is going to say this week leading into it because I feel
10:09
like Hard Knocks has been on the Eagles jock considering they are
10:13
the only team going into the post season.
10:15
But hats off to you. I did see some other burgundy
10:18
and gold in the stands and I actually didn't see you on TV,
10:23
but just know that there were some other in the fan base that
10:26
were up there and that were representing.
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It was just it was an awesome sight to see.
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And I know that you guys got to go home with the dub just I'm
10:35
sure made that drive down 95 and walking out of that horrible
10:38
place just that much better. Because I remember walking out
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of there and you grabbing me from behind and me trying to
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swing on you all right, when we were leaving there after the NFC
10:49
Championship game. But I'm guessing you're out.
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Your experience probably wasn't as hectic as the one you know we
10:55
had last year up there because the stakes just weren't as high.
10:58
Don't get me wrong, as I said earlier, there were people who
11:00
were trying, they were trying to talk cash.
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And I said, OK, yeah, whatever, whatever, just it doesn't
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matter. Just whatever.
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So man, you know, they they tried, but they didn't succeed.
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Nah, it is what it is and I'm going to be a massive 49ers fan.
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Actually maybe want to get a Trent Williams jersey if I can
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get it rushed to the house for this weekend because I'm pulling
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for them to take B to A and go from there.
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But for the Commanders, fans of Washington fans that are pissed
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dropping from the fifth seed to the 7th seeds in the draft, like
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I, I get it right. There's a lot of questions going
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in, but we don't have that many picks.
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From a trade value perspective, there is not a huge difference
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going from the 5th to the 7th. And who knows what's going to
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happen in the draft, You know, All I know is we're recording
12:04
this. It's Monday evening, ish.
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Kingsbury, not Kingsbury. Peters and DQ are set to speak.
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We're not going to get a chance to talk about that this week,
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but we'll cut some clips and make sure we react to it for the
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next show. And now Peters doesn't go to
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work, right? He knows where he is going to be
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in the draft. He knows where we're picking
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what's going on. We have 30, 30 free agents,
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right? 30 plus heading into this
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offseason, and I'd have people just sending me.
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Oh, well, the Commanders have 90 million in projected cap.
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Yeah, we got 90 million in cap space.
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But a roster is 53 people. Half of your roster are
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unrestricted free agents, right? So just keep that part in mind.
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So I don't know if we're keeping a bunch of these guys like, OK,
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Josh Johnson, free agent Mariota, free agent Austin
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Ecklers, Jeremy Mcnichols, Chris Rodriguez, all free agents,
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right? Debo, free agent Noah Brown, we
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know he's not coming back. Free agent Traylon Burks, free
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agent Robbie chosen, right? Odds are Robbie ain't going to
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be here. Zach Ertz question, is he going
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to come back? Who knows?
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Chris Paul played a heck of a season.
13:15
Free agent Andrew Wiley, then a good backup, right?
13:19
Trent Scott, good backup. Bobby Wagner, right?
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Eddie Goldman, Von Miller, right.
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These are just a couple of the names.
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So yeah, there's 90 million in cap space.
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But the part that is starting to, I don't want to say
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frustrate me, but the part I'm starting to get concerned about
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is you're trying to build a team and half of your team is
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potentially turning over year to year, right?
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So the core that you're trying to build around hasn't been able
13:47
to been solidified at all. And we're going into year 3 and
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the clip we put up talking about how the sins of Rivera and the
13:57
past and this and that, like it kind of went crazy again.
14:01
And people saying, oh, how can you blame Ron?
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He was hired by Snyder. Ron had full control, right?
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Snyder brought him in here, but Ron bought the ingredients and
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cooked a meal. All right?
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So Dan had nothing to do with any of that.
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And because we don't have that cupboard full of good
14:18
ingredients, we're just constantly turning people over,
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and that's what has me really worried heading into this
14:24
offseason. Well, let's not forget Ron
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Rivera said. The only way I'm coming to you
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guys is it have full control. I want to be the general manager
14:37
as well as the head coach. You, you, everybody represents.
14:42
So when you only have in the kitchen and the food doesn't
14:47
taste good on that shift. And so like you said, we got to
14:53
deal with it, which also brings us up to where we are right now.
14:59
It's going to be very difficult to try to keep up with the
15:03
Eagles, if you will, for the 49ers because those guys have
15:09
had years upon years upon years of creating death and also
15:17
picking great players and all and paying their players.
15:24
So we've got like Smokey and the Bandit, a lot of work to do in a
15:31
short time. And I don't know if it's going
15:36
to all get done in in seven months.
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I just don't I don't, I don't think it's going to get done in
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seven months or actually 6 actually take five months.
15:46
I don't think it's going to get done five months.
15:49
But and you're a fan. We have a huge Burgundy and gold
15:54
fan base. So we've got to really as as I
15:59
say, we get simmer down a little bit.
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I don't want to I want I'll go balls to the wall 100%.
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But I realized, hey, you know what, that's not going to happen
16:10
unless I can just go into his back tricks and just pull all
16:15
kinds of rabbits out of the hat. Do it.
16:20
We're going to see. And and let's also not forget
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that we've got coaches who are not going to be here.
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So what do you do with that? We've got a lot to work on.
16:34
Speaking of which, did you hear about the Diana Rossini report
16:38
that came out on Saturday? No, I didn't hear about what
16:42
what what happened with Diane. So for those that don't know,
16:46
Diana Rossini was a reporter here on NBC4 and then she got
16:51
caught up to the big leagues at ESPN.
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She actually is a senior insider with The Athletic now.
16:57
She actually came out with this and this is a quote.
17:00
Washington has also had conversations about potentially
17:03
moving on from Kingsbury even if he doesn't get a head coaching
17:07
job. Some of the buildings say
17:09
there's been a disconnect between Kingsbury and general
17:12
manager Adam Peters. When was the last time we were
17:15
watching to see if an offensive coordinator was going to get
17:18
fired while he was also preparing for head coaching
17:21
interviews? We'll see how this shakes out.
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The Commanders likely won't make any final decisions until they
17:26
see how the broader coaching market develops.
17:30
So I was kind of surprised because they have done a damn
17:33
good job of not letting anything leak outside the building.
17:38
But some people in the building told this to Rossini.
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And I also thought it was kind of weird because since when does
17:45
the GM and the OC talk to each other, right?
17:50
And you and I have talked about it during the season.
17:53
I felt the DQ was too lackadaisical with his generals.
17:58
I felt that he gave Joe Witt too much leeway.
18:02
And then he did the same thing with Cliff.
18:05
But now you're hearing that there's potentially, you know,
18:09
some unhappy people inside the building at the Big Bear AI, you
18:13
know, center out there. And I was actually kind of
18:16
shocked that this came out the night before the last game of
18:19
the season. What do you think when you hear
18:21
this? There's smoke in the city and
18:26
when there's smoke there is fire or someone will get fired.
18:32
I don't want to see anybody get fired, but let's face it, when
18:38
when you you have a lot of Brent situations, if you will, where
18:46
with fans said it's third and one on the goal line.
18:54
You're in shotgun or you want to do this loop the duty fancy play
19:01
instead of instead of, you know, Moyimano and and we did we it
19:06
was a very low percentage play online.
19:11
And I'm saying everybody was saying this isn't anything new.
19:15
Why it's not in that play. Come on, man.
19:19
And I think that that resonated upstairs.
19:25
Let me see. You're right there and you're
19:29
selling for a goal or you or you didn't make it.
19:33
No man. And part of those games, well, I
19:37
should say a lot of them, but some of those games, as I said,
19:42
you know, you're on the golden line.
19:44
Here you are and shotgun and European inches or third inches
19:49
or whatever have you. So I can tell you this, if
19:56
they're looking doing this, you better do it soon then later
20:02
because you know as well as I, I, I, I'm going to harm this in
20:05
the offseason. We got five months.
20:09
You want, as you said, the generals to be in place.
20:13
You want to get them in place because they're going to want
20:16
their personnel, they're going to want their schemes.
20:19
There's so much to do in such a short period of time and you get
20:23
tired of saying that. But that is where we are right
20:27
now. We don't have our time to to to
20:30
plow. So the NFL new league year
20:33
starts in mid March, right? That's when everything's going
20:36
to open up. I mean, you're going to want to
20:38
have have your coaches in place before then so you can figure
20:41
out who you want to go after and free agency, what you want to do
20:45
on the draft if there's a lot of things that have to happen.
20:48
And I actually, I thought it was kind of funny because today was
20:52
locker clean out day and the report came out Saturday.
20:57
Jaden's mom actually put a tweet out there and I'll show that up
21:02
here in a minute. Jaden and all the other
21:05
quarterbacks got asked about Cliff.
21:07
So this was actually Jaden sharing his thoughts on
21:10
Kingsbury. I think there's been a lot of
21:12
talk about Cliff, his future here with the head coaching job
21:15
or whatever would have been your thoughts on him as a coordinator
21:18
and just, you know, in the offense.
21:20
I mean, I love working with Cliff, you know, me and he'll
21:23
have a special relationship. You know, we kind of built that
21:26
over these past two years. And, you know, I kind of just
21:30
wish I was out there more to to play for him this past year.
21:34
So I mean, that's kind of the focus for me in this offseason.
21:37
I was just rebuilding myself from the ground up and hopefully
21:41
go out there and that's the most important thing to be available
21:43
for my team. I don't expect Jaden to say
21:48
anything other than that about Cliff, right?
21:50
Who are you going to? What are you going to expect him
21:52
to actually come out with and say?
21:54
And I understand that, you know, Kime's asking the question, but
21:57
realistically, he's not going to go out there and bash the guy.
21:59
Even if he had a problem with him, he's not going to go out
22:01
there and bash the guy. I mean, kudos to the reporters.
22:07
It's your job to ask questions. It's your job to elicit
22:11
responses like you, Ted, what are you expecting to say?
22:16
Or there are plenty of times when I thought that I should
22:18
have been underneath the center versus playing shotgun or he's
22:22
not going to say it. He Jaden's a smart individual to
22:25
know you. You say the right answer and but
22:29
you understand the chips are going to fall where they fall as
22:32
far as the OC is concerned. And I don't doubt that that
22:35
they, he didn't have a good relationship.
22:37
I don't doubt that. So I don't think he's lying, you
22:40
know? I mean, he's there so early in
22:42
the morning. They're, you know, in the bubble
22:45
at 5:00 in the morning, running through plays and doing all this
22:47
stuff, right. I did think it was funny,
22:49
though, when Jaden's mom put this tweet out starting 2026 on
22:55
the right foot. And it's from the Commanders.
22:57
And it's basically, you know, them putting the picture of Josh
23:00
Johnson beating the Eagles for, you know, 24 to 17.
23:03
And she quote tweeted it heading in the right direction.
23:07
Let's go officially loading JD 5/KK Season 3.
23:15
So the fact that she added Kingsbury to that tweet kind of
23:20
cracks me up a little bit because what offensive
23:24
coordinator would you really think to stick inside there,
23:28
right? You don't want to put Jayden and
23:29
DQ right? You, I mean, it's just, I
23:33
thought it was kind of weird to add the KK part to her tweet
23:37
that you put out there. What do you think?
23:40
It it just brings it all home at the end of the day.
23:45
I don't think that she has much say, but like JD, she has to be
23:53
politically correct as well. You don't want to tip your hat
23:57
if she knows something. You don't ever want to tip your
23:59
hat to the public because they'll run with it.
24:03
Similar to what we're doing right now.
24:05
We're, we're trying to figure out what she's saying.
24:08
But hey, I would say the exact same thing as far as Mr. Klaus,
24:15
we'll see you next year or, or you know anybody.
24:19
You know, I'm thinking cuz he's our, he's our president and we
24:21
just had a president change. But Mr. Klaus, we'll see you
24:24
next year or, you know, so and so we'll see you next year.
24:27
When do I really know that I'm going to see him next year?
24:30
I I don't know, but that's what I would do to just solidify my
24:34
post. I would have put JD 5 and 17,
24:37
right. You know, Terry's going to be
24:38
here next year, OK. I mean, you know, to me that
24:41
that makes more sense, right? To, you know, have that 5 and 17
24:45
connection. I think Travis Kelsey and
24:48
Patrick Mahomes have that restaurant, like whatever the
24:51
hell it is. It's their numbers combined like
24:53
1587 or something like that in Kansas City that's supposed to
24:56
be phenomenal. Like, you know, to put like 5
24:58
and 17 Season 3, you know, let's go officially.
25:01
Loading. I just thought it was kind of
25:02
odd because people have been concerned about Kingsbury
25:05
leaving since last year, getting potential head coaching jobs and
25:09
opportunities because the office did so well.
25:12
Now this year, you've got some that want him gone.
25:15
And I am, I'm going to say I'm one of those fans that will be
25:19
OK if Kingsbury leaves, if he sticks around, great.
25:23
If he's gone, great. I'm not going to cry one way or
25:26
the other. I do think that his offense at
25:29
times, like you had mentioned, tries to get a little cute.
25:32
I mean, I was pissed with a tackle eligible throw he did to
25:36
Coleman when we were on our eight game losing streak, right?
25:39
I get so angry and frustrated when he calls random Wildcat
25:42
plays out of nowhere trying to have Traylon Burks throw the
25:45
ball right. And, you know, the flea flicker
25:49
yesterday I think was actually a good call and a good play design
25:52
other than Bill, you know, didn't get the ball back to
25:54
Johnson during it. But it turns out that Kingsbury
26:00
does have some suitors. This is X from Jordan Schultz
26:03
today. The expectation is that the
26:06
Titans, Giants and other teams with openings will request to
26:09
interview Commanders OC Cliff Kingsbury for their head
26:12
coaching jobs, per sources. One of the league's top QB
26:16
developers, Kingsbury has worked with Jaden Daniels and Carla
26:18
Murray in their Offensive Rookie of the Year seasons and with
26:21
Patrick Mahomes at Texas Tech. So I don't know if he's going to
26:26
be here for me, I I feel that Jayden needs to be in an offense
26:32
more where he's used as a pocket passer because we have all said
26:37
the young man has an arm and he can throw his legs.
26:41
Just give him that special ability.
26:43
I just feel that this offense relies on the legs too much and
26:47
that if he were in a, a Shanahan style offense, a different type
26:51
of offense in Kingsbury, not a, you know, air raid offense, that
26:56
it's better for him long term. And let's start that long term
27:01
process now, not years from now. Well, the thing.
27:08
So let's let's rewind last year. Why shouldn't say last year this
27:12
time, but last year, if you will?
27:15
No, how about this earlier this year?
27:19
No, it's 2026. So last year, my apologies.
27:22
Last year this around this time we were in the playoffs.
27:26
But one thing that we heard was Cliff, are you thinking about
27:31
going anywhere else? And what did you hear?
27:33
You heard a resounding no, I'm staying here.
27:36
I'm this is where I want to be. You don't hear that now.
27:41
You don't hear it. So, so that that could be
27:44
writing on the wall if if we want to look at the tea leaves,
27:46
you know, last year it was a resounding no, I'm not going
27:50
anywhere. This is Washington where I want
27:52
to be, you know? Yeah, other people have said
27:54
they want to reach out to me. But no, I don't want this year.
27:57
Hey, people reaching out to you, you haven't heard a word.
28:01
So maybe he's trying to get his mind in order or maybe he's
28:03
trying to maybe he has a meeting with the the top brass to to put
28:10
him on the carpet to say, if we bring you back, why are you
28:14
going to run this offense? We need to understand more.
28:19
We don't know, but it's it's quite interesting.
28:22
Like you said though, it's something to think about.
28:25
Yeah, I know that there are some that just want him here because
28:28
he wants to, you know, keep the offensive continuity.
28:33
And odds are, if Kingsbury's gone, then Mariota's gone.
28:36
This is actually Marcus talking about Cliff.
28:39
I think so much if Cliff. He's a very good coach,
28:42
unbelievable with the quarterbacks, but like an even
28:45
better person. And when you're able to play for
28:47
somebody that you truly like, believe in and trust, I think
28:50
that's why I end up playing my best, so I'm biased.
28:53
I think so highly of Cliff and we'll see what lays out for him.
28:56
I would love to see him get another shot at it.
28:59
But the end of the day, what I was able to accomplish here was
29:02
a lot of hard work from a lot of different guys, and we had a
29:04
bunch of guys that were kind of in and out of the lineup.
29:07
It's a cred to the staff of getting these guys prepared.
29:11
Mariota is a Kingsbury disciple, right?
29:14
He goes where Cliff goes, right? That's his offense that he likes
29:17
to run. And I'm on record saying last
29:20
week that if Marcus is going to get paid $15 million as a
29:24
backup, I'm good with him leaving, right?
29:27
I don't know if I want to pay him 15,000,000.
29:30
Not saying that Josh Johnson is the answer, but the young man's
29:33
39 years old right and just beat the Eagles and actually has the
29:39
same amount of wins as a starter this season as Marcus Mariota.
29:45
Let that settle in all. Right.
29:48
Mario was one and five as a starter.
29:52
Johnson's one and one, right? And you can only play who's in
29:55
front of you at that point. All I'm saying is Marcus did not
29:59
light the world on fire for me and neither did Johnson and I
30:03
just We have 90 million in cap space but over 30 free agents.
30:08
Spending 15 of that on Mariota just bothers me.
30:12
And if it's close system that he's really I guess why he is
30:16
the best that he is. And if Cliff ain't here, then I
30:19
don't see 8 coming back either, which I'm fine with too.
30:23
Very interesting point. I didn't know that they were
30:26
that married to each other, but OK.
30:30
And also, what is he going to? He's not going to badmouth.
30:34
I don't he's not going to badmouth the coach either.
30:36
I don't see anyone that's going to badmouth any person on the
30:42
staff simply because A, you don't know if you're going to be
30:48
back. B, the new coach that you may go
30:51
work for May may say, well Dang, that's what he said against his
30:55
ladder coach. I don't know if I want to bring
30:58
him on board because he can't keep his mouth closed or
31:01
whatever. Have you, you know, so it's it's
31:04
a lose lose if you if you speak out.
31:07
The best thing is just keep it medium.
31:11
Like I like my steak. I'm a medium rare guy.
31:15
Did you get your victory steak yet?
31:16
Cheese steak. I have not OK, well, I had two
31:19
cheese steaks, but no, I I didn't have my steak yet.
31:23
And and I do like my steak. I do like my steak medium rare
31:26
but a lot of times it's it's medium though Ted for me.
31:29
I hear you, I hear you. And it's just a lot of these,
31:33
some of these guys, I won't say a lot of these guys, they get
31:35
media training right there, whether it's their agent getting
31:39
them training or the team is getting them training.
31:42
Everyone knew it was locker clean out day. 9:00 AM today was
31:46
locker clean out day. So I am sure that at some point
31:49
in time someone had to tell the players, whether it was the PR
31:52
staff or the coaches, there's going to be reporters.
31:55
Like the reporters were in the locker room.
31:57
It was kind of weird because some people were just like
32:00
videotaping guys, like just recording guys.
32:02
I almost felt like they had their meta glasses on and they
32:05
just left them on and we're just watching people just, you know,
32:09
take their helmets out, their lockers or pictures of the
32:11
family out their lockers. Didn't actually talk to the
32:13
guys. They were just stalking them
32:14
from afar. And I feel like the guys had to
32:17
know that this was going to happen today.
32:18
So just make sure you don't say anything stupid.
32:21
I'm sure that they probably were coaching them on the way on the
32:24
plane back, the plane ride back from Philadelphia.
32:28
You know, I it, it's no different than when people asked
32:33
to go on your on a show and you say, all right, what's the Q&A?
32:37
Give me, give me, let me know what my topics are.
32:39
Don't blind side me. You know, so that's it's, it's
32:42
similar. Yeah, I I wish when I go on Fox,
32:45
they don't give me the topics. So I'm just literally sitting
32:48
there at the seat of my pants the entire time.
32:50
I'm like, all right, what's what's Chad going to ask me now?
32:53
Like what's guy going to come up with at this point and just got
32:55
to go from there? But no, I hear you.
32:57
I mean, for the most part, you usually get those topics ahead
33:00
of time. So in these scrums on locker
33:02
clean up day, you don't. So it's kind of interesting.
33:05
You know, it's the first time we've really heard Jaden speak
33:07
in a while. So to have him actually do what
33:10
you know that that I think it was like maybe a 5 minute press
33:13
conference out there. It was great.
33:15
Now one thing that he was asked was what gives him the
33:18
confidence that this season that we had this year won't happen
33:22
again next season? This is what 5 had to say about
33:25
it. What gives you the confidence,
33:28
Jaden, that a season like this won't happen again next season,
33:32
collectively as a team? I mean, every season different.
33:35
It's a new year. Every year you got to go out and
33:38
put insane work and you know when it started offseason,
33:41
everybody BE00I. Mean, I was getting crap from
33:48
people saying that, you know, next season there's there's
33:52
promise there, there's still hope, right?
33:55
And some, you know, they just, there's just always negative
33:58
people online. They said, how can you be
34:00
excited about next season with this roster and blah, blah,
34:03
blah, blah, blah. I'm like, you know, just, I
34:05
don't bother replying to all the negative nancies out there.
34:08
Life's just too short to live in that.
34:11
And I, I am excited. I didn't, I've been asked this
34:15
multiple times. What's the worst season you can
34:18
remember as a fan? And to me, it was 2013, right?
34:24
Even though this season we've only won five games, some people
34:27
are saying that this was their worst season they can remember
34:31
as being a fan of this team. And their answer, and this was
34:34
actually Lurch from the Sports junk.
34:36
He's asking me this when I saw him during their holiday show
34:39
saying, man, I this season to me, and he's not a fan of our
34:42
team. You know, he's a Niners fan.
34:44
He's saying because the expectations were so high that
34:48
this is the worst season for him that he can think of personally,
34:52
because we were supposed to be in the playoffs and back there.
34:56
But from my perspective, it's not because we have a
35:00
quarterback. And I have those out there that
35:03
are mocking me, saying, well, how do you know that Jaden's a
35:05
right quarterback? Because the young man played 20
35:08
games last year and did what he did right.
35:11
And I know that he's going to be able to do that again, even if
35:15
his coordinator changes, because if Cliff is gone, all I know is
35:18
Jada will put the work in with his goggles and dive into that
35:22
playbook, whatever it may be, from whoever comes in as OC, and
35:27
memorize the hell out of it. Also, this is just going into
35:31
his third year, so he's maturing and he understands that.
35:39
You know what? I necessarily can't put my body
35:44
on the line the way that I did in some of these situations.
35:49
Not saying that he didn't want to win, but you're the
35:52
quarterback. You got to think a little bit
35:54
smarter. You know, I may practice sliding
35:58
in the offseason. I may practice doing some other
36:01
things in the offseason, realizing where his where his
36:05
game may have been weak to make it stronger than offseason.
36:09
And, and, and truthfully, that's what the offseason is all about,
36:12
realizing where your deficiencies lie and making them
36:16
stronger so that you can be a part of the team for the long
36:21
haul. You know, it was it was great
36:24
seeing the young man his rookie year do what he did.
36:27
And no one can change that his sophomore year.
36:30
You're saying maybe we don't want you to do that as much His
36:35
his his third year. We're going to see that.
36:40
I believe we're going to see a smarter, smarter JD 5I.
36:46
I believe that. Yeah, I don't think he's going
36:48
to put himself in harm's way like he did this year.
36:51
I just, I think, and he said it himself, you know, the best
36:54
ability is availability, right? And he wasn't available.
36:58
He let his team down to a degree, right, because of some
37:02
of the choices he made on that field.
37:04
And there were repercussions where he wasn't able to go back
37:06
out there and be there for his brothers, right?
37:10
They talk about the brotherhood. Did you see the post game with
37:13
the game ball and who they gave it to?
37:16
No, I didn't. I was.
37:17
I was driving so I didn't see it.
37:20
So hear it from DQ, This is who got the game ball yesterday.
37:24
Hey, before the game, Jake said. The Brotherhood game and the
37:26
start in 2026, man, that was cool battling for one another.
37:31
Like there's only one game ball to go out tonight and I brought
37:34
one of the old heads in. So Fletch.
37:37
All right, man. Hey, listen.
37:39
And the history of the National Football League has been played
37:42
over 100 years. There have been three players to
37:46
clip the 2000 tackle mark only only three players.
37:51
So Ray Lewis, myself, and today, Bobby Wagner.
38:12
Thank you guys. I appreciate you man.
38:13
Ever since I got out here, man, the love of the game, you guys
38:16
helped bring that back to me. And you know, I know we've had
38:20
some up and down, but I would never want to go ups and downs
38:23
with this group. This group is special.
38:25
It means something to me. It's something I'll always
38:27
remember. I'm so grateful for you guys and
38:29
let's keep pushing. It tell you about it.
38:41
I mean, they played for each other yesterday, right?
38:45
We talked about finishing with Pride in a prior episode, right?
38:49
They played to, you know, Von Miller got that one sack.
38:53
Guess how much money he made off that one sack?
38:56
How much? $500,000 off that one sack.
39:00
He needed to hit his incentive right.
39:02
Debo was out there, had a couple incentives on the table, didn't
39:06
get him I think because he got passed, interfered with a bunch.
39:10
But guys wanted to have Bobby break that record and people
39:15
were trying to talk to him about you going to be back next year,
39:17
this and that. He's just trying to live in the
39:19
moment. I mean, one thing is DQ has not
39:22
lost his locker room, all right? To me, that is very apparent
39:26
from the outside looking in and I I look at all the content
39:30
that's out there, whether it's put out by the team or the
39:33
different beat reporters and everybody else.
39:35
He has not lost that locker room and we were we were bad before
39:40
he got here and they were able to turn it around.
39:43
He got asked what gives him the confidence that that could
39:47
happen again, and this is what DQ had to say.
39:50
You stood at this lectern at the end of the season in two very
39:54
different seasons, Yes, does that.
39:57
Give you hope that. Flipped around one year, is it
40:00
doable to flip around in in a single off season again?
40:04
Yeah, I'm not there yet, like reflectively, but I've got high
40:08
hopes because of the locker room to see so many different pieces
40:13
in. But over the last four weeks,
40:15
the battle, the fight remain the same.
40:18
By no means was it clean or turnovers or tackling or any
40:21
things that I like. But if you have your attitude
40:23
right and they want to fight for one another, I think that that
40:26
alone is a standard that you have to have to build a
40:29
championship program. And no one likes the roller
40:33
coaster of year up to year down. But seeing that kind of fight
40:37
for the guys that were able to do that tonight, that's a big
40:39
deal to me. That's another reason why I am
40:44
excited about next season because we have we have watched
40:48
teams that have had four win seasons, three win seasons, 5
40:52
win seasons, give up on their coach.
40:54
But I remember watching, you know, Jay Gruden's tenure here,
40:59
right? Watching N Turner's tenure here,
41:01
watching Rivera's tenure here and those teams just gave up on
41:06
them. There's a reason why those
41:07
coaches were fired. In today's Black Monday, Rivera,
41:12
not Rivera D QS name, is not on the hot seat.
41:15
He is not going to be let go. He is going to be here and for
41:19
those fans out there that don't want that to happen, I'm sorry
41:23
for you. He's our coach now.
41:25
Next season, if they've got the same record and it goes horribly
41:30
wrong again, then OK, right, the seats going to be super hot or
41:34
might be completely melted at that point.
41:36
But I'm excited because the players don't want to play for
41:39
him. And the ones that are not free
41:41
agents are that base that they're trying to build, still
41:45
want to fight and players want to come here.
41:48
In the past, they just want to come here to get paid now.
41:51
They want to come here because of who our coach is, who our
41:53
quarterback is and because of the potential that we have.
41:57
And the new resounding culture that's out there that they, the,
42:01
the players on the outside didn't want to come here because
42:04
of facilities, food, everything that's off the field, if you
42:09
will, or that deals with the, the football aspect of things.
42:13
Now they're hearing, no, those guys spent money on the locker
42:18
room. They spent money on on food,
42:21
they spent money on training. They spent money on all the
42:23
things that players need to be able to succeed.
42:26
So, So yes. And and it doesn't, it doesn't
42:29
help that you've got a great quarterback and a coach who
42:32
believes in who's a players type of coach.
42:35
So yeah, man, they, they want to come here.
42:38
They, they see that it's not the old Redskins, if you will.
42:43
This, this, this is a new regime who believes in treating their
42:48
players the way that they're supposed to be treated.
42:51
Yeah, and I mean, the NFLPA comes out with that report card
42:55
each year, right? And the Commanders made huge
42:58
strides. But I think Josh Harris was
43:01
quoted saying I'm, I'm, you know, I'm not an F minus guy,
43:05
right? And the very next year they
43:07
improved on a ton of that stuff. And I'm curious to see what the
43:10
grades are going to come back this year.
43:12
But all I do know is who are going to play next season right
43:17
now that the season's over with the schedule's not out, but who
43:22
we play is out. So coming to DC, we got
43:27
obviously the NFC East. Not going to waste my time
43:29
saying their name. The Rams are coming to town, the
43:32
Seahawks are coming to town, the Falcons, the Texans, the Colts,
43:38
and the Bengals. So Seattle's no joke, the Rams
43:43
are no joke, Houston's no joke, and Daniel Jones had the Colts
43:47
moving till he got hurt. And Joe Burrow healthy is still
43:53
a bad ass. So that that is five teams on
43:57
there that are going to be some tough opponents next year.
44:00
Now, from a road perspective, I'm curious and you've been to
44:06
all these stadiums, which of these are you most looking
44:11
forward to going to for the stadium aspect and for the city
44:16
aspect? Because you know, you often like
44:18
to say it. It's, you know, it's about the
44:20
entire experience and being in that town, not just the game.
44:25
So for those that don't know, on the road, I'm not going to go
44:27
over the east teams that we play.
44:29
We got the Cardinals in Arizona, obviously the Niners, the
44:33
Vikings, which you went to this year.
44:35
And there are frozen pigeons everywhere, the Jaguars and the
44:40
Titans. So if our listeners could only
44:44
afford to do 1 SB events trip with you next year, not counting
44:48
the international game, which would you recommend?
44:52
You're going to want to come to San Francisco with SB Events.
44:57
Why San Fran? Well, San Fran, First off, I'm
45:01
going to have a some tours that are involved or or not involved,
45:06
but some tours that will be company with the trip.
45:11
Their food is good. You got an Alcatraz?
45:14
The sightseeing is good. I can't tell you all my secrets,
45:17
Ted. All right, I'm not going to tell
45:20
you my secrets. But the food is good, the
45:22
atmosphere is good, the weather normally is good, and the
45:28
stadium has a great vibe as well as their stadium.
45:32
Food also has whatever is on your plate, your palate, if you
45:38
will. They have a great variety and
45:43
itinerary of food. So I'd say San Francisco because
45:49
I just believe that that it's going to be more bang for your
45:52
buck to go there with SB events. Yeah, Levi Stadium's 11 years
45:57
old. I've never actually been out
45:58
there for a game. I've been out there for, you
46:01
know, work and just kind of visiting the area.
46:04
You're going to get a chance to be there in the Super Bowl,
46:07
which I'm, you know, I can't wait to live vicariously through
46:10
you and your pictures and everything else and seeing how
46:12
that goes. So you get to do a little lay of
46:14
the land. Chef Michael Mina, who's a
46:17
friend, has a restaurant out there at the.
46:20
Stadium. So the food experience is
46:22
freaking top notch. But for me if I had to choose
46:27
one Rd. game that is not the international game because I'm
46:30
going with that regardless. Unless somehow my passport gets
46:33
taken away, but I'll still find a way to sneak in.
46:35
That country is Nashville, man. I I want to go to Nashville.
46:40
I want to go to Tennessee for the Titans game.
46:43
I was so jealous when the draft was there that year.
46:47
Just being down there, it looked like so much fun.
46:50
And I'm not a country music guy, but I do like Old Dominion and a
46:53
couple bands that misses Tailgate brainwashed me to like.
46:58
True story. When we were dating she had a
47:01
small little apartment. It was like 500 square feet, and
47:05
she would have her iTunes playlist just playing in the
47:08
background. And there are times when I would
47:11
sleep and it was still on the background, right?
47:14
We go to a concert. It's a country band.
47:17
And I'm only going because I'm trying to court this woman,
47:20
right? I do not want to be at this
47:21
country show by any means. And I'm sitting there during the
47:25
show, and I'm tapping my feet like I'm getting into the music.
47:30
Then I started like, I know these words was freaking
47:35
osmosis. It was seeping into my head when
47:37
I was sleeping and she was brainwashing me.
47:40
So now I actually like Sugar Land, a couple of these other
47:42
country bands. So I was hoping to head out
47:45
there and head to the Titans game and catch one spot out
47:49
there. On top of the fact that they're
47:50
going to have a new head coach, their team probably is going to
47:52
be that good and maybe we get AW.
47:55
But that for me is the road game I want to get out to next year.
47:59
Well, I'm here to tell you that they have a lot of boot shops
48:04
down there and I I got I got Miss Riley, her first pair of
48:09
boots down in Tennessee and they were a buy what they were a BOGO
48:13
baby. So I always get a go with
48:15
another pair of boots as long as one of pairs for you.
48:20
I'm not going to say I'll never wear them.
48:23
I mean if there's some burgundy and gold cause I've actually
48:25
been trying. If you look at my search history
48:28
I'm trying to find some commanders Air Force ones and I
48:31
was trying to design some that came out horrible because I'm
48:34
color blind and I Ron McDonald if I ever want to be him as a
48:38
side gig I can wear those shoes but if they have some burgundy
48:42
and gold cowboy boots out there then I will consider leaving
48:46
that state with them on after I get my Nashville hot chicken.
48:50
Well, we'll get them shipped to you, but we can work on that
48:53
because I'm due for another pair.
48:56
So I think I, I think I'm going to get some ostrich.
48:59
I like ostrich and, and they, they have different brands who,
49:03
who make them. But you know, I've seen a couple
49:05
of that that really have caught my eye.
49:08
So yeah, the captain will get another pair of boots shipped
49:11
back to the DMV. There you go.
49:14
Well, I mean, between San Fran and Tennessee and going
49:19
overseas, man, I just, this season wasn't what we all had
49:24
hoped, but there's some stuff to look forward to next year.
49:28
And I just, I can't wait for things to start to get
49:33
solidified where I, I think we'll find our international
49:37
game where we're playing before the schedule comes out.
49:40
Historically that has happened. They announced where they just
49:44
don't announce when that's going to go through.
49:47
So some of the key dates in the offseason for me as a fan,
49:50
right, is when that drops. Obviously when the schedule
49:54
drops, you and I are still going to be around.
49:56
We're still going to be here. We're going to definitely catch
49:59
up with whatever Peters has to say tonight and we'll have that
50:03
for you all next week. But closing time for this
50:06
season. Still got help, man.
50:08
Just cuz we got 5 and we got a good coach, we still got hope.
50:12
So where do you want to what? What international country do
50:16
you want to play in next year, early or later this year?
50:21
If I had my choice, I'd say London, just because you can use
50:26
London as your base if you want to go to the rest of Europe.
50:29
And I mean, I'd love to go to Germany.
50:31
I just don't think we're going to get Germany.
50:34
So I, I really, to me, going to Mexico City isn't going
50:38
international. I know it is.
50:39
I know you need a passport, but I you know I want to.
50:43
I want the plane to fly over water for me to get there,
50:46
right? How about your?
50:46
OK, you know what man, I agree with you.
50:51
I, I, I wouldn't mind London because the, the experience that
50:54
I had in London in 2016 was just a wonderful experience.
50:59
People still talk about it to this day.
51:03
They they put it up there with the Madrid trip without the
51:06
ticket fiasco, if you will. Speak English so that that
51:10
helps. And that's another reason why I
51:12
want London, because they're more modern, if you will, with
51:15
their ticket process. And they've been in the game
51:19
since when, like 2012, two, 1010.
51:22
Yeah, it's been a while. They've been, Yeah.
51:24
So they know how to get the tickets to be able to transfer.
51:28
And that's something else that I brought up with Mr. Klaus before
51:30
we get ready to go because I hear the music playing in the
51:32
background. He's, I told him the ticket
51:34
fiasco in Madrid and he says keep me updated with that
51:37
because we don't need that to happen anywhere we play.
51:41
And he goes, you weren't the only one who had that ticket
51:44
problem. And we've talked about it and,
51:45
and I'm not going to be a dead horse, but basically if he has
51:48
anything to say about it, he's going to run up a chain to
51:51
wherever we play, get that situation resolved.
51:55
So I'm happy to hear about that. But I heard the music playing in
51:59
the background, which lets me know that the 202526 season is
52:07
closed and all we can do is look forward to the 26th, 27th
52:13
season. And I can't wait to ride with
52:16
you, Ted, as well as our fans and see where this thing goes.
52:22
I cannot wait. That's going to do it for the
52:26
DMV mess hall no matter what. I always tell you guys, you Rep
52:32
it hard. You don't Rep it at all.
52:36
Rally Captain Tailgate Ted signing off for the 2526 season
52:43
route.