Chick Hernandez, my friend WUSA TV in Washington DC, is joining us. Did you know that Taylor Swift was a huge Chiefs fan? Well, I knew that she liked the tight end. She did.
She did like the... She does, I assume. A-type. A-type. Not the A. A-type.
Thank you very much. Play with me, would you please? I was trying to let that go. No, no, no, no. That's not the way I work.
Not the way I work. Uh, yeah, you and I are in the same boat. All right, let's, uh, I'm curious here because the last time we spoke, I mean, I don't want to use the term. I mean, I joked about it a second ago that it was a coronation of Ben Johnson, but they were talking about it, you know, during the playoffs that, well, we all assume that Ben Johnson's going to go to Washington and become the head coach of the commanders, and then he withdrew. My assumption was he withdrew because maybe Washington was simply looking for a more experienced coach, and he has no experience as a head coach, uh, but I don't know, maybe, you know, you, you obviously know more than I do.
So, how did this go sideways? Well, I think several factors. One, you know, I think, you know, when, when reports come out, usually there's a little bit of truth to them, so, you know, weeks before that, it was Ben Johnson asking for somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 million, which is absolutely ludicrous, but he's going for the, he wants to go to the right spot, blah, blah, blah. Well, the commanders aren't doing that. They've been there, done that with a guy named Mike Shanahan. Um, when they brought Joe Gibbs 2.0 back, all that kind of, they overspent this, this ownership group did not play in that game. Uh, and the other thing about the ownership group is they're not letting leaks out. You know, everything that you heard came from, uh, agents, uh, possible candidates was never the ownership group. Whatever Adam Peters, Josh Harris, Mitch rails, Mark, I, and those guys, they've been so tight vested on it. And I personally like, even though I'm in the business of trying to break stories and get Intel, it's fine.
It's, you know, it's, it's the complete opposite of what took place here the last 25 years. So I'm okay with that. And they just, they did their own process.
Sure. Ben Johnson was a candidate. And I will tell you that they did find out, you know, in the air that Ben Johnson had pulled his name, um, from, from consideration for there and Seattle. Um, and so they move on because they were interviewing a lot of candidates. Uh, I talked with the owner, Josh Harris yesterday, and he was like, we did, uh, you know, just a crap ton of work and use those words.
Um, you know, several hours with each candidate, um, and trying to get a feel for these people because they're really looking for the right leader, the right fit. And so here we are with Dan Quinn, who, if you talk to anybody who's ever been coached by him, including one of the best defenders in the game, Micah Parsons, like this dude's, you know, the dude and want to put blame on him solely for losing the super bowl when they're up 28 to three, when he was coach of the Falcons, well, that's just impossible because, you know, the, the, the offense didn't score anymore under Kyle Shanahan during that game. So, you know, what are we talking about here? So, uh, you know, I sat down with Dan Quinn yesterday. It was a refreshing conversation.
I could look and, and feel, uh, the passion from him. Um, and, and the want to, he has, you know, gone through a firing and kind of basically self-evaluated in Hawaii, by the way, which, you know, if I'm going to Hawaii, I don't think I'm self-evaluating at this point. I think I'm surfing and probably dying. Surfing surfing. I would, I would do that. I mean, I've written, I've written a bull for heaven's sakes.
I think I can surf. Um, you know, so I think, you know, it's, we'll see, it's always, we'll see, but as far as, uh, you know, what he said yesterday, the press conference, which was by the way, the longest press conference ever of the nine coaches, the full-time coaches that I've covered. And it was, and it wasn't dragging. It was like, okay. He just kept, you know, he was effusive with us, with his knowledge and what he's talking about.
So it was all, it was all good. Chick Hernandez from W USA sports in Washington. See also CBS sports network at mr. Chick sports on Twitter here. Talk about, uh, Washington's new head coach, Dan Quinn, who had been a coach with the Falcons.
Yes. You mentioned the super bowl. Uh, they were up 28 to three and Tom Brady Patriots came back. Kyle Shanahan was the offensive coordinator. We'll get to him in a second. Uh, cliff Kingsbury is going to be the offensive coordinator for Washington, the natural connection there to Kayla Williams, the one-time Heisman trophy winner presumptive first pick overall.
They would have to trade up one spot, but they have the draft capital to do that if they want to, but I'm curious about Quinn. Does he give off any of a Dan Campbell vibe to you? Not during the press conference, because there was no mention of biting kneecaps or unfortunate. Yeah.
I mean, you know, it's a terrible picture, but you know, um, um, the vibe, not really, uh, not really. I, you know, he, I mean, I think he's a fiery guy. I think he was tempered yesterday. He, look, he admitted, he admitted that, you know, he curses a lot. So I took it upon myself to count how many times he actually cursed during the press conference. It was seven and it was subtle.
It was subtle. Um, I was counting. And then when he joined me for the one-on-one, I held up seven fingers and he goes, what's that?
I said, the number of times you curse. He goes, really? Yeah.
He goes, I'm trying so hard. So automatically started to like the guy from that standpoint. Cause I am a big time cursor as well. Anybody that, uh, who wants to ruin my career could just leave the mic open and I'd be dead. Um, I was stereotyping big white coaches who might wear their hat backward with goatees.
So my fault, my fault for, uh, for doing that. No, I think once we get to the, to the, to the actual game, uh, in practice, I mean, we're going to see some fire. Um, and we'll probably see a little bit different guy, but he was tempered yesterday for sure. Was there any interest at all in Bill Belichick? I would say they may have looked at it, but I don't think that was ever a serious consideration because even though Quinn is 50, what, 53, 54, one of the older coaches, uh, they weren't going that, that route with Belichick. Um, yeah, it just, again, that's, that's what the prior franchise owner would have done in a heartbeat. Hey, let's get this guy.
He's got name value. They weren't looking for that. They're looking for somebody that can kind of change this locker room a little bit more.
It was changed under Ron Roberta to a certain degree as culture goes, but they're, they're, they're skewing younger and a little, and something different. And, you know, this is, he mentioned, you know, uh, Quinn being in the Superbowl. Well, he was in three of four Superbowls because he was a Seattle as their DC and, you know, won a title there. So he's, he's been there and he knows what it takes to get there. Um, and that was my first question to him is, you know, I said, look, everybody's looking at your resume and going, oh, you lost a Superbowl after being up 20 to three. I said, I said, I think it's lost on people, how hard it is to get there. And he went through what it takes to get there.
So it's a, you know, it's a sake in air quotes, team effort, check her nanas before I, uh, before I let you go. Um, Kyle Shannon, you mentioned his time, I don't know how many years, five years or so, four years as the offensive coordinator under his dad in DC. Um, I don't know what kind of relationship that you guys had, if he was, uh, you know, difficult to deal with or what, but how do you look at him as he's developed?
Uh, and are you rooting for him to win a Superbowl? Yeah. Adversarial was what it was, uh, back in the day because yeah, shocking. Um, just because, you know, he, you know, was trying to fight the nepotism thing and they were struggling, uh, you know, under his dad and, and it was him versus the DC.
Jim has, but I mean, literally those guys were like, it was comic. It was chaos is what it was. And like, to the point where they were arguing over who was going to talk to us on Thursdays, the coordinators are available Thursday. Who was going to talk to us first? That's what they were quibbling over.
Like, who's going to go up to the podium first. And we're like, you know, just, can we just have one of you? I, we don't care.
Just give us what you know. And so it started there. We asked tough questions. Um, a former colleague, Kelly Johnson was very good at asking very tough questions and he didn't appreciate that. Um, but what I've watched from him as far as press conferences go post game availability and midweek is that he's a different guy.
He has learned a lot. Um, am I rooting for him? Um, yeah, I mean, I don't have a rooting interest.
Yeah. I don't have a rooting interest. You know, I, I, I watched Kansas city. I was at the game for Kansas city in Baltimore, uh, last week or two weeks ago last week. And I tell you, Adam, to be in person, to watch the first touchdown, the homes to Travis Swift slash Kelsey, um, to see that in person, I just thought to myself, it's, it's indefensible.
Like the man is on his back. There's no chance. And that ball got there and there's a turn and a catch. I'm like, all right, so I fully expect the homes and company to do, and for Travis to bring some hardware home since his girlfriend did the other night. Yeah.
She, uh, she won a Grammy, her fourth for, uh, outboard record with a pop vocalist of the year. And, uh, Travis Kelsey will have to win another super bowl just to even keep pace. Right. He's just trying to keep up at this point.
Hey, listen, we're all trying to keep up with our better has simple as that. You're you're a, are you a Swifty? I, I am. I mean, I'm not, I mean, look, she's a, she's a phenomenal artist. So talented with the writing of her music, all of that. The fact that she went back and got the rights to her music, all of that, that's impressive as hell. There's no way the, the, the, the vitriol over her and the, all the, you know, the, the bros about why, why she's, you know, the vote and all that, like, I mean, just that's our, that's our, that's our culture today is we all want to talk about and rave about something.
I don't care. She's gorgeous. She's talented. And so is Travis Kelsey for heaven's sake. He is handsome. There's no doubt. He is handsome. That is a positive sandwich family right there.
That's what that is. Chicken and is that Mr. Chicks sports. I love talking to you, man. I'll talk to you soon, my friend. Okay, brother, take it easy.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-02-06 23:55:52 / 2024-02-07 00:01:10 / 5
