- 16 hours ago
Ross Tucker joins the show to discuss the Commanders new-look offensive line and some other headlines around the NFL.
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00:00Fired up to jump on the rude guest hotline and talk to our guy, Mr. Ross Tucker, the Odyssey NFL
00:06insider.
00:07Ross, what's up, dude? How you been?
00:08I am doing great. Great to hear you guys' voices. How are you?
00:12Doing good, man. What's happening with you, Ross?
00:15Oh, man, I am very much enjoying the offseason.
00:22When you're away from your family every weekend starting, I guess, August 10th or whenever the Eagles' first preseason game
00:29is, through the Super Bowl, it's nice to have a lot of quality time.
00:35In fact, we're actually leaving for spring break later today, so you guys got me at a good time.
00:41Awesome. Where are you guys headed?
00:44The Bahamas. It seems like a lot of people are. I don't know. My mom told me like four other
00:48people going to the Bahamas.
00:49Because, like, all of her older friends are like, well, hopefully I don't run into any of them.
00:54You see them by the pool, right?
00:56Yeah, you don't want to see your mom friends by the pool, though.
01:02Excited to have our friend Ross Tucker joining us now.
01:06Ross, I did want to ask you before we get too far into the NFL stuff, what's up with myfrontpagestory
01:12.com?
01:13You know what? I appreciate that, JP.
01:15We absolutely crushed it for Valentine's Day.
01:19For those of you that haven't heard me talk about it before, my buddy started the company.
01:23He's like a former sports writer that got laid off, I guess, is probably the best way to describe it.
01:29And so he started this business.
01:32I'm in it with him now.
01:33And it's awesome.
01:35It's by far the best gift.
01:37Like, Mother's Day is what?
01:39Five or six weeks away?
01:40By far the best Mother's Day gift I've ever seen.
01:44You talk to a writer for 10 minutes while you're driving home from work.
01:48Or you can just fill out a quick email.
01:49They write this unbelievable story about your wife or your mom.
01:54It looks like it's on the cover of the newspaper, like the Washington Post.
01:58Maybe not the best example right now.
02:00But framed.
02:01Beautiful.
02:02I mean, there's pictures.
02:04The thing I tell people, because I've seen so many videos now, B-Mitch, like, when they're opening it, they
02:12have no idea what it is.
02:14And the truth is, your wife, your mom, they've never had a story written about them.
02:18Nobody's ever written anything about them.
02:20So for them to open it and just say, I want to do something special for you.
02:25So I had a story written about you.
02:27Like, that sounds amazing.
02:29And then when they're reading it, make sure when you put this, when you fill out the email or you
02:34talk to the writer, make sure you say, I just never thanked them enough for all the little things they
02:40do.
02:41Even if you can't think of anything, in their mind, there's like a million little things that they do for
02:46you every day.
02:47They cry.
02:48I'm telling you.
02:49Oh, yeah.
02:49She will cry.
02:50She will cry.
02:51You will win.
02:54Myfrontpagestory.com.
02:55Definitely better than whatever you were thinking about getting your wife or your mom, I promise.
03:01Myfrontpagestory.com.
03:02And then you got to put that thing in a frame.
03:04I think they probably frame.
03:06Yeah, it comes frame.
03:06Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:07That'll last forever right there, brother.
03:09You know what's so funny that you say that?
03:12People hang it up in their house, right?
03:14So it's awesome because if, like, let's say you get one for your wife for Mother's Day.
03:20Next time you get in an argument over something stupid, you can just point to the wall and be like,
03:26Go read that.
03:26Did you have a story written about me?
03:28No, I have a story written about you and how amazing you are.
03:33I gave my wife socks for Valentine's Day, and it didn't go very well, so maybe I should check this
03:37out for Mother's Day.
03:38Oh, my gosh.
03:40B thought it was a good idea to get the socks, though.
03:45B's going silent on that.
03:46What did he say?
03:46I was just mentioning to Ross that after the socks for Valentine's Day, I could use the win.
03:53So, Ross, I am curious, dude.
03:55I'm in Arizona for these league meetings, and it's a kind of buzzless league meeting.
04:02Like, the owners aren't even really voting on anything today.
04:04Like, the Tush Push dominated everything last year.
04:08Why do you think, especially, I mean, you do a ton of work with the Eagles.
04:12You're in the greater Philly area, I would say.
04:15Like, why do you think the Tush Push wasn't as successful this year?
04:21Do you think it was officiating?
04:22Or do you think the Eagles line wasn't as dominant?
04:24Like, because it's not the topic it was.
04:28Well, this is such a fascinating topic on multiple levels.
04:33Number one, think about how silly is probably the better word.
04:39You know, my daughters would say stupid.
04:41And I'd say, don't say stupid.
04:42Say silly.
04:44Silly is probably the better word.
04:46That it was the hubbub all last offseason.
04:52And whatever it was, 20 teams wanted to ban it so bad because of player safety and all that.
05:00And this year, nobody even brings it up.
05:02Right.
05:03It's not even a thing.
05:05So, that part of it, to me, is comical and kind of shows you how the sausage is made.
05:13I think a couple things happened.
05:15I think, number one, maybe the biggest part of it, their center and left guard were not the same guys.
05:24You know, they both had offseason surgeries.
05:29Landon had two.
05:30The left guard, who is, I mean, he's a monster, like 360 pounds.
05:35He's a mover of men.
05:37The same with Cam Juergens.
05:39I don't think the center.
05:40I don't think Milado was 100% all year.
05:43So, I don't think they were getting the same movement up front.
05:48I also do think defenses came up with some more creative ways to try to slow it down, to stop
05:57it, to come off the edge.
05:59You know, the Eagles didn't do a great job at times protecting the edge.
06:03And so, you could kind of, you know, what used to happen is you would stop the initial surge.
06:09And then it would be like the second wave that Hurts would ride.
06:13What they figured out is if you can come off the edge and, like, pull Hurts back before that second
06:21wave, you got a shot.
06:23I think what happened, the league started to basically call police to play more than they did before.
06:31The Eagles were offside a lot.
06:32And they started to call that.
06:34And it makes you more hesitant.
06:36If you get five yards penalty, you're not going to try to do it from five yards deep.
06:40And I think that changed it up, too.
06:42And the stuff you said also, but they started to call the calls that they didn't call prior.
06:48Well, that's part of it.
06:50And so, the guys had to be a little bit more careful about where they lined up.
06:54They had to be more careful about being early.
06:58I mean, there's a bunch of little things that all combine to make it not as successful.
07:04But, I don't know.
07:06I mean, you look at, like, Buffalo and some of these teams, and the Bills still with Josh Allen were
07:12super successful doing it.
07:15Which, by the way, is hilarious to me because Sean McDermott was one of the people that voted against it.
07:21And he said it was because of player safety.
07:24And it's like, I'm so confused.
07:27You either think it's not safe, so why are you running it, or, you know, with your own players,
07:35or you just said that because you wanted to get rid of it because you didn't like that the Eagles
07:40were so good at it.
07:41Yeah, my thing with the tush-push last year was I thought the owner should be on the league to
07:49get it correctly officiated.
07:50And that, in turn, would change a lot.
07:53Because, as much as I'm not an Eagles fan, like, to change the rules of the entire league
08:00because one team is really effective at running one certain play is just the most chicken bleep, like, schoolyard nonsense.
08:09You know what I mean?
08:11Can you imagine back in the day, JP, like, in the 80s with the Hogs, if, like, they outlawed the
08:18counter-tray?
08:19Yeah, exactly.
08:20Which is not fair.
08:21They're pulling two big linemen, and then they got Donnie Warren coming earlier.
08:25Are you kidding?
08:25I mean, like, and the other thing about it is no matter how you try to write the rule,
08:33there was going to be loopholes unless you just outlawed any pushing whatsoever.
08:40And I really dislike the idea of, you know, let's say you're at the five-yard line and the running
08:47back,
08:48you know, you hand off to the running back and he gets to the one and kind of gets stoned.
08:52And the idea that you can't come in as an offensive lineman and then try to knock him forward while
08:58seven defenders are not,
08:59like, that to me, like, that goes against every instinct I would have as an offensive lineman.
09:05Yeah, totally.
09:07We're excited to have our friend Ross Tucker joining us right now, the NFL insider for Odyssey.
09:13You can check out the Ross Tucker Football Podcast anywhere on social, at Ross Tucker NFL.
09:20Ross, I'm curious for you, dude, with kind of everything going on in Washington and you played here,
09:28you understand what a football crazy market it is, but how everything has changed over the last five years as
09:34ownership has changed.
09:35Tremendously.
09:37How significant are two new coordinators in one offseason?
09:45Well, I think it's, number one, I think it's very significant.
09:48And, number two, I can't emphasize this enough, and you guys would know more than me because, you know, you're
09:56down there every day.
09:58It really does feel like one of the biggest years the franchise has had in a long, long time.
10:10And the reason why I say that is, you guys know, my sister and my nieces and nephews live down
10:16there in Potomac,
10:17and, you know, he plays lacrosse at Gonzaga College Prep or whatever it's called.
10:22I mean, like, so I know what it's like down there, and I still have a bunch of people I
10:27know that are Washington fans.
10:30A lot of them were really fed up, and rightfully so, by the Snyder era.
10:36The new ownership kind of got them intrigued.
10:41What they did in 2024 was so awesome, and it felt like they got, you know, Jane Daniels and NFC
10:50Championship game.
10:51It felt like, I don't know, you'd have to tell me, if, you know, whatever the peak fandom was in
10:57the 80s and 90s,
10:58did they get it 85% back, 90, 90?
11:01I don't know what the number is.
11:03But then last year, you know, it being so disappointing and such a step back, it just kind of feels
11:12like I'm curious how many people just bounced out again.
11:17They're like, nope, I'm out.
11:18It was just a one-year aberration.
11:20I feel like it's super important that they have a legitimate year, that they are like a double-digit win
11:33team, a playoff team,
11:35because there's a lot of people that feel like, to me, the people I've talked to, they're kind of on
11:43the fence waiting whether or not they really want to buy in with the new owner,
11:47and is it really different?
11:50Should I really give them my heart and soul again?
11:54And maybe I'm reading it wrong, but that seems to be the temperature of the people I've been talking to.
12:01Yeah, I mean, in 24, when they won 12 games and got to the NFC title game, it was all
12:07in.
12:07But last year, I think the biggest crossroads for Washington is, was 24 the outlier or was 25?
12:15And we're not going to know, we're not really going to have an idea on that until probably about Halloween,
12:21when we see, is this defense rebuilt?
12:24Can the offense with a new coordinator be far more functional than it appeared at times?
12:29And last year, you also had the outlier of just injury after injury after injury.
12:34And you know what's crazy?
12:36And I'm sure you guys talk about this all the time, but I've talked to several people about this.
12:41They really should not have won 12 games two years ago.
12:45I mean, when you think about, oh my gosh, the Hail Mary and all the fourth downs and everything that
12:52went their way.
12:54But conversely, you know, they had those things go against them.
12:58I was in the booth for radio for the Bears.
13:02Probably was a Monday night or maybe a Thursday nighter when, you know, they fumble.
13:07They were going to win that game and they fumble.
13:10So where did the record end up last year?
13:13I can't even remember.
13:15What was it, 5-12?
13:165-12, yeah.
13:18Yeah, so I think they probably were more like a 7-win team last year.
13:25And then the year before, maybe 7 or 8.
13:28And then the year before, maybe more like a 9 or 10-win team.
13:31And obviously, the quarterback injury is a big part of that, blah, blah, blah.
13:35But I don't think that they were at the extremes that maybe people think they were those two years.
13:44See, I think you're totally right.
13:46But, you know, people don't judge you based on what you should have been.
13:48They judge you based on what you were.
13:50Yeah.
13:50And they were 12-5.
13:52They were 5-12.
13:52They're going to be judged off of that.
13:54I see a lot of people who still are buying in because they get respect from the ownership.
14:00They didn't get respect from Dan, no matter what.
14:02And when you see somebody working towards something, you give them a little bit more leeway.
14:07I don't think Dan got any leeway because he didn't deserve it.
14:13Yeah, it's interesting that you guys, that you say that, B-Mitch, because I don't know if you guys remember,
14:18but week 18, I called the Commander's Eagles for CBS with Kevin Harlan.
14:26So, Trent Green's son was getting married or something, so they put me on Harlan's crew.
14:30I came in and talked to y'all that day.
14:32Yeah, yeah.
14:33So, I called that game.
14:35Interestingly, you know, before the game, I'm at the hotel working out next to a nice lady,
14:42and all of a sudden, Josh Harris walked in.
14:46And I never met him, but I'm a Sixers fan.
14:50You know, I grew up outside of Philly, so, you know, I like the Phillies, Sixers, whatever.
14:56Truth be told, I don't really get into it until, like, I'm at that stage, that level of fandom,
15:02now that, like, I kind of wait until the Phillies and Sixers are in the playoffs.
15:06I'm the fan I used to hate when I was 12 years old, you know?
15:11Like, there's just so many games in the regular season.
15:14I got my kids are doing stuff.
15:15But when they get in the playoffs, I'm into it.
15:17So, that was my first time meeting Josh Harris and really enjoyed the conversation.
15:23I mentioned the Sixers, and so we talked about that for a while.
15:28And I mentioned, you know, that I started and finished my career with the Redskins
15:32and kind of told them how I felt about Dan Quinn, which is, I think, a couple weeks before,
15:39I had done a couple Jets games, maybe.
15:43And obviously, they were terrible, and they were out of it.
15:46And just watching the tape, those guys never quit on Dan last year.
15:52Oh, no.
15:53And that says a lot about him.
15:56I mean, they were, you think about Debo.
15:58Yeah, I mean, Debo and the Christmas game where he ran over the DB for the Cowboys, you know, whatever.
16:06Those guys clearly like Dan, and they play for him, and they're going to,
16:11there was, even in that Week 18 game, you know, they could have laid down like the Giants did the
16:16year before.
16:17The Eagles wanted to win that game.
16:19The Eagles wanted to have, you know, the two seed and all of that.
16:23They didn't want to get their guys hurt, but they wanted to win the game.
16:25And even with Josh Johnson out there, those guys played their you-know-what's-off.
16:30And they won.
16:31I thought it was a really good thing for Dan Quinn's resume, so to speak,
16:40that even in such a disappointing lost year with, quote-unquote, nothing to play for,
16:47that those guys still went out there and laid it on the line for him.
16:51Hey, Ross, you're the right guy to ask this, somebody that played O-line in the NFL.
16:57Maybe the most curious decision of the Commander's offseason, they cut Tyler Biotish.
17:02He immediately signed with the Chargers.
17:04They're going to roll with Nick Allegretti, it looks like, as their starting center.
17:08What, if anything, do you make of that?
17:10And maybe that's too obscure to ask you about the Commander's center position.
17:13But I just wonder if that crossed your radar at all this offseason.
17:17No, it very much did.
17:20And because Nick started center in that Week 18 game,
17:26and I think Biotish had gotten hurt maybe the week before, in the Christmas game,
17:33because I spoke to Biotish before the Christmas game.
17:35I think he got hurt in that.
17:38I think it's a combination of a few things.
17:42One is Biotish had that injury.
17:46Two, I think, you know, that you need to find cost savings somewhere.
17:51If you're going to bring in Adafi Owe and Chico Conquil and the other guys,
17:58you need to find some cost savings somewhere.
18:01And I think they felt like Allegretti could give them pretty much
18:08or almost what Biotish gave them for a lot less money.
18:13I do think that there's a risk there.
18:16You know, Allegretti's probably similar to Tyler.
18:19Neither one of them's a great athlete.
18:20Neither one of them would you really want at guard,
18:23but they can get it done for you there.
18:24But I think they think that Nick is tough and smart
18:27and can get it done at center.
18:29We'll see.
18:30He's been around long enough that he's seen a lot of those things.
18:34I think the question is, I doubt he'll be above average.
18:40Is he average or is he below average?
18:42Because the funny thing about offensive line is,
18:45you just can't be below average.
18:48You know, like, you don't need a dominant O-line to go to the Super Bowl.
18:53You just, they can't be bad.
18:54I think you do need a dominant D-line.
18:57I mean, if you think about the last couple Super Bowls,
19:00Seattle just killing the Patriots O-line and Drake May,
19:04or the year before the Eagles murdering Mahomes.
19:07I think, you know, you can get by with just not having liabilities on the O-line.
19:16On D-line, you need some legit dudes.
19:19And so I think the commanders kind of realized that.
19:22Yeah.
19:22Yeah, I agree with you.
19:23Ross, we'll be listening to the Ross Tucker NFL podcast.
19:26Enjoy the Bahamas, bro.
19:27Thanks for making time for us.
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