00:00You heard Deshaun Watson immediately address the fact that, you know,
00:05we might be playing my old team, but that's really in the rearview mirror
00:09five years ago.
00:09Forget about it.
00:10It seems like it's been an eternity.
00:12Sounds like a nice thing to say.
00:14Don't even really know anybody over there anymore.
00:16I'm not buying it at all.
00:17Are you?
00:19A little bit.
00:20I'm not buying it.
00:21It's been a long time.
00:23It wouldn't be normal if he didn't have a little bit of extra incentive
00:27for this game.
00:28I thought that he was asked all the things we were wondering, Andy.
00:35Didn't practice all week.
00:37He understood not playing, but he did say he felt like he could go.
00:40Yeah, I thought that was probably the most interesting thing that he said.
00:43I thought there were three or four really interesting things.
00:45I wonder if he made the argument to say, why am I not playing?
00:48Play me.
00:48I feel good.
00:49I feel good to go.
00:50Yeah, whatever.
00:51He felt like he could go, but he understood.
00:55He said, why was he not named the starter on Monday?
01:00Why didn't Todd say something?
01:02I have no idea.
01:04Ask Todd.
01:05Or Monk.
01:07Yes.
01:09And are you going to be the starter the rest of the season,
01:11our buddy Tom Withers, up to Monk in the front office?
01:15Those are tough questions.
01:16They're very tough questions.
01:17They need to be asked, but yet they don't need to be answered.
01:21I don't know if that makes...
01:22I thought he actually handled those all really well.
01:25He did give you a little insight when he said he thought he could go.
01:29Yeah, actually, I was a little taken back when he said that.
01:33Does that make a difference?
01:39I don't know.
01:41He did say if I was another position other than quarterback.
01:46Again, we've talked about this.
01:48And if he's your starting quarterback and he's cleared the day before.
01:55And he tells you he's ready to go.
01:58And he doesn't play.
02:00Why?
02:03Again, take a look around me.
02:05It makes me two things.
02:05I think one thing about two guys.
02:09I don't think they're coming back next year.
02:11Either one of these guys.
02:12And, you know, I think Watson we're prepared for based on the contract.
02:19And if you're Sanders and you did what you did in the second half,
02:23and they're still telling you you're not playing again this week,
02:25you're not starting this week, I got to think that hurts a little.
02:29Andy, I don't get that.
02:32Remember Isaiah Bond had a really good game earlier in the season?
02:35Yeah.
02:36Well, he didn't suddenly displace Casey Concepcion and Denzel Boston.
02:41Yeah, but he's not in a position to control the ball on the field.
02:46So he's at the mercy of the quarterback every week.
02:49Okay.
02:50Every play, every snap.
02:51The quarterback, one of them, has led five come-from-behind wins.
02:57And the other one lost to a bad defense.
03:01I don't mean to be blunt about that.
03:03I thought Shadour did a nice job.
03:05I'd like to see more.
03:07But they didn't beat New Orleans.
03:10So what does that tell you?
03:11It just says, okay, he's a backup, and we're going to let him develop.
03:13And when the time comes next year, then we'll maybe give him another opportunity?
03:17You know what it tells me?
03:18This team needs a quarterback next year.
03:21That's why every Tuesday or Wednesday we do the 2027 franchise quarterback bit.
03:26They don't have one.
03:28Could he be here?
03:29Yeah, maybe.
03:30Do I think he's here?
03:31No, I don't.
03:34And I know we've had fun with this.
03:38I mean it.
03:39The quarterback to me that I think is the most intriguing guy is the fourth string guy
03:44because I love his skill set.
03:45Well, they must be intrigued, too, because it's really easy to send him back to the practice squad
03:49or cut him.
03:50Yeah.
03:51They must be intrigued by him.
03:53And then the next most intriguing guy is Shadour.
03:57And, you know, it's just my own personal thing on Taylor Greene.
04:00Shadour is probably, to most people, the most intriguing quarterback here.
04:04I understand that completely.
04:06But I – they need a quarterback.
04:09And then where does Dylan Gabriel fit in any of this?
04:11Because based on that conversation we just had, they probably should have released him
04:15or cut him.
04:15No, you know what I would do?
04:17That's what it sounds like.
04:17I would keep Dylan here and I would keep him in uniform and I would bring him back this
04:22offseason and I would give him every chance to try and win the job.
04:27Can he?
04:27I don't know.
04:28That's – I mean, can I go to Sean on you?
04:31Sure.
04:31You'll have to ask Todd in the front office.
04:33Well, he's right.
04:33He's right.
04:34Dan, what have we learned?
04:35No, but he's right about that.
04:36But I think that's the same thing with Dylan.
04:38I mean, the guy who drafted Dylan ahead of Shadour is still drafting players here.
04:46Somebody liked him.
04:48You can't – you know, don't tell me it was Kevin Stefanski because Kevin's job is not
04:55to draft players.
04:56He might have recommended Dylan.
04:58Maybe he really did like Dylan more.
05:00That's the narrative that's out there.
05:02I don't think we've ever heard that from anybody, but I would think if, you know,
05:09if everybody thinks Dylan is Kevin's kind of quarterback, it's probably Todd's kind
05:14of quarterback too.
05:16Hey, you can run my offense the way I want it run?
05:19Beautiful.
05:19Let's go.
05:20Yeah, that's great, but if I can't catch on the field, what's the difference anyway?
05:23There you go.
05:25Dan, what's your take on this whole mix here?
05:27Oh, I mean, I don't think either of these guys are back either.
05:31Maybe Shadour.
05:32I can see Shadour coming back just because he's –
05:33I can see Shadour back.
05:35Promising.
05:36You know, there seems to be something there that people want to see.
05:40Not to mention, let's be 100% honest with ourselves, him not being owed a whole bunch
05:44of money helps this cause quite a bit.
05:45Absolutely.
05:46Especially if you're going to be in a cap crunch because you're going to have to eat
05:48cutting the quarterback.
05:50So, I can see Shadour being back.
05:52I don't see Watson coming back.
05:53There's no way.
05:55Here are a couple other things about Shadour.
05:56Or, you know, you can say, well, you know, turn the wrong way or whatever
06:01and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
06:03You also saw some plays that made you think, can we build on that?
06:09Can we coach that up a little more?
06:11I mean, he did some things against the Saints.
06:14He did some things last year that make you think, man, if we can get more of that,
06:20we might have something here.
06:22I think that's legit, don't you?
06:25There are things there that make me say, can we just go forward with Shadour
06:30and let's just go.
06:31Let's go.
06:32Because I don't really – do you think we're making the playoffs?
06:35I'm not willing to say –
06:37Until you're not, you're not.
06:38Until they say you're – and that's my problem with the whole thing.
06:41That you've got a guy that's gone out there.
06:43He's helped you win five games.
06:45It's hard to turn your back on that if you still think you have a shot at the playoffs.
06:48They feel like if this team is going to make the playoffs, they're going to do it
06:51with the team they've had for the majority of the season without –
06:55you've turned the bottom of the roster a little bit,
06:57but you haven't done anything really at the top.
06:59So they must feel good about what they have.
07:02They must feel good.
07:03I did Todd Munkin not say Deshaun Watson was a starter on Monday after there had
07:12already been a report from ESPN saying that Deshaun was going to be the starter.
07:16What was the thing?
07:18And you and I went back and forth and I said one of the things is that the chain of
07:23command
07:24to make sure the people that need to know first need to find out first.
07:28And I had included Shador in that conversation.
07:32He came out today and said I wanted to make sure my coaches knew first.
07:36I mean, I'm not – I don't think that's earth-shattering.
07:41I do.
07:42Why?
07:44Because if there was ever – if – to me, the whole thing screams – and I think he said
07:52something later that backs this up.
07:54He said Deshaun has played well enough to remain our starter.
07:59He also said why did I even need to say anything at all?
08:01Backing up what you said.
08:03But he's – but he's – the fact that he said he's played well enough to remain our
08:07starter to me was a good thing for him to say, but it also I think is telling.
08:13You know, Andy Reid's not saying, yeah, Patrick – Patrick has played well enough to be
08:19our starter, so he's going to be back in there.
08:23Well, I'm serious now.
08:25You know, so it makes me think, okay, Deshaun, you're the starter for now, but you don't
08:30get it done, we're going to move to this guy.
08:32And that's okay because I'm not sold on Deshaun, you're not sold on Deshaun, I'm
08:38not sold on Shador.
08:39It sounds like the competition's still going on, and that's okay.
08:44In other words, hey, he is the number one quarterback for this team right now.
08:53Now, you know, they're not thinking about putting Sam Howell in for Dak Prescott in
08:57Dallas.
08:57I just still think –
08:58You know what I mean?
08:58Yeah, no, I totally get what you're saying.
09:00But the fact that if he had to say something to the staff, hey, we're going to go with
09:04Deshaun this week, well, you know, in Dallas, they're not saying, oh, we're not going
09:13to Sam?
09:14Wow, you're going to start Dak.
09:16I mean, it goes unsaid, but here he felt a need to say it, which is okay.
09:22And actually, I think that's fine because I don't think any of us are sold on anybody
09:27at quarterback here.
09:28So that's good.
09:29Keep playing well, you keep the job.
09:31Nothing wrong with that.
09:32Isn't everybody's job temporary, though?
09:34Oh, in the whole world, yeah, because we're all going to die.
09:38Well, I wasn't looking at it that way.
09:40Way to go off the deep end on that.
09:42I was like, you show up to work lathered up, you're probably not coming back to work the
09:49next day, right?
09:52And let's just say you have a bad day at the office, and you start wondering, and paranoia
09:57sets in, and you're like, well, what if so-and-so, that young go-getter over there, is going
10:01to come take over my job, or if this is going to happen here, that it's the same in the
10:05NFL.
10:05But I think it's amplified because the shelf life of a player is five years at max, normally
10:12three, if you're not a quarterback, right?
10:16So if, I just think that I get exactly what Todd Munkin was thinking here, that he was
10:24saying, want to make sure I was talking to my staff.
10:26I didn't want to tell my staff something, so my staff didn't hear it on ESPN.
10:30Same thing, you know, I said the same thing for Shador.
10:32Or, hey, I just want to make sure I talk to my staff.
10:35Isn't it their job to go back and reassess the game?
10:37And maybe if they find something that's like, wow, we need to play that guy, or wow, we need
10:43to never see that guy on the field again, that the coach has that information available to
10:48him before he tells the media what's going on.
10:52And again, I think he's right.
10:53He doesn't need to tell the media anything.
10:56Do you feel like the honeymoon's over for him?
10:58A little bit, I do.
11:01For Todd?
11:02Yep.
11:04He's getting a little.
11:05I don't know if any head coach has that.
11:07He said something else.
11:08What else did he say today that was?
11:09He said, he went Mike Cargrove on us later.
11:12And I think this is good.
11:14He flat out said, you know, the false starts and everything else and pre-snap penalties.
11:19He said, we're not changing out our starters.
11:21It's like your kids.
11:22You're not going to throw them away.
11:23Right.
11:24You're going to work with them.
11:25But then he used Mike's famous line, and I'll bet he doesn't even know Mike said it.
11:29Starters are starters for a reason.
11:33So don't look for, you know, what I've wondered.
11:36Do they think somebody on, you know, on the bench, offensive line-wise, might step in?
11:42Doesn't sound that way.
11:44Starters start is the way I always heard that.
11:47Starters start.
11:48I've heard starters are starters for a reason.
11:50Yeah.
11:51Which is just the junior version of saying that, I guess.
11:54Dan, did he blow you away with anything they said today?
11:56I just thought it was like, I don't really need to tell you people who my starting quarterback is.
12:02And I don't think he was arrogant.
12:04I think he was just right.
12:05Oh, no.
12:07No.
12:08It was a press conference.
12:10Oh.
12:10It happened.
12:13You didn't get a ton.
12:14You didn't get anything out of it, then.
12:16It went about how I thought it would go, which is he sat down.
12:19He was asked why he didn't announce it.
12:21He gave you the reason that he didn't announce it.
12:23He wanted to check around.
12:24I thought it was interesting that he went, well, we're all day-to-day, week-to-week.
12:27It was kind of the generic answer on that whole thing.
12:30And we'll see where it goes.
12:32I don't know.
12:33We're all stuck watching Deshaun Watson play quarterback.
12:35Fuck on.
