The Fernando Mendoza Era Begins | Remembering Dan Hicks & Commanders-Giants on TNF — Afternoon Drive with the Coach Thursday 11/12/26

Coach starts Afternoon Drive late after a PGA Tour voiceover session, and opens on a hard day for the golf and broadcasting world: Dan Hicks, NBC's longtime voice of golf and the Olympics, has died at 64, as his wife, ESPN's Hannah Storm, shared on Thursday. Coach remembers the calls every young sportscaster dreams about, Tiger Woods at the 2008 U.S. Open and Michael Phelps in Beijing the same summer, and puts Hicks alongside Jim Nantz and Ernie Johnson as the kind of anchor the business looks up to.

Then it's Thursday Night Football: the 2-5-1 Commanders visit the 5-2-1 Giants on Prime Video. Coach can't let go of the Week 5 27-27 tie, when Washington reached field-goal range with no timeouts and never got the kick off, says the first-place Giants have impressed him, walks through their run-in, and looks around a Week 10 slate with Patriots vs. Lions in Munich, Chiefs at Falcons, Vikings at Packers and 49ers at Cowboys. Picks are Coach's opinion; lines move.

Topic three is the Fernando Mendoza era in Las Vegas. Coach never would have taken Mendoza No. 1 and doesn't think a rookie should start for a good team, but he loves how the rookie thanked Kirk Cousins and his family for mentoring him with "no restrictions." Coach says Cousins could easily have frozen him out and didn't, and that Cousins' return to Minnesota could be the single most important move any team makes this year after Carson Wentz's 81-yard night. He closes on injuries, and why he thinks the Achilles is the worst one in football.

Housekeeping: Afternoon Drive Tue/Thu 2 PM ET; Coach and Company and Coach and Bro Mon/Wed/Fri; BTT Prime Time tonight 9 PM ET for premium members; BTT Studios on Roku and Amazon Fire TV; BTT Radio streaming live; new Turnbuckle Mafia merch. Watch: youtu.be/nzgcPVdA_9E · All shows: bttstudios.tv

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