The Kevin Sheehan Show - 2022 NFL & Commanders Predictions

Episode Date: September 8, 2022

Kevin and Thom with some musing, arguing, and contemplating on various subjects in the open. Then, at 42:40, it's their 2022 NFL and Washington Commanders' season predictions. They pick their seven playoffs teams in each conference along with the SB Matchup. They've got sleeper teams, under-performing teams, MVPs and more. They picked the NFC East order with records before getting to their Washington Commanders' season record predictions. They finished up the show (1:14:43) with Thom's pick for Sunday's Washington-Jacksonville game and Kevin made a pick for tonight's NFL season opener between the Bills and Rams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Chean Show. Here's Kevin. Yeah, it's football season. The time is here. on NBC, the Bills.

Two and a half point favorites, Tommy, over the Rams. In the season opener, the defending champion Rams, coached by Sean McVeigh, against the Super Bowl consensus favorites, the Buffalo Bills coached by Sean McDermott. Both of those men have ties to Washington. McVeigh was a coach here, and McDermott coached for Ron Rivera as his defensive coordinator.

for several years at Carolina. Yes. Yes, they did. And the bigger thing for me, going into my course tonight, the business of sports media, which now we're in our eight-year teaching this. It's amazing.

It's amazing I teach at Georgetown, period, but alone for eight years. We've covered that ground, and you're right. Our big discussion will be the significance of this being on Amazon, only. Only on Amazon Well, not tonight, not tonight. It isn't? No, that starts with the next week

on Thursday night. Tonight is NBC's kickoff to the season. Next week, the Chiefs and the Chargers will be the first Thursday night game on Amazon. Okay. Yeah. I stand

corrected. That's okay. Because it's a big deal, the Amazon deal. And remember they tried one of the those Saturday games late in the season last year or the year before on Amazon. And they had issues with it. They had issues. I meant to talk to John Orand about this the last time he was on because there were complaints about the sound not matching up with the video exactly.

They had some issues. Also, the one game that was on Amazon during the preseason, and I know it's the preseason, but it did not do well. very, did not do very well in the ratings at all compared to kind of the same spot on network TV a year earlier. I mean, we understand. Well, they actually made it, they actually made a deal with Nielsen for Nielsen to expand their ratings to include, I mean, streaming, watching in bars. I don't know how they're going to encompass doing that, but Nielsen is committed to trying to get as many devices as possible measured to give it closely accurate, because it's going to be

significant, it's going to be lower than it has been. It's just, it's just, the mathematics aren't just going to add up initially. Well, plus they've added this year that NFL plus thing, which I think comes with my NFL subscription to the All-22, I think it does, where you can basically now stream every game on your phone. I don't know if they'll be able to account for that either. Which, by the way, can I just add something? And this is not meant to take a shot at the radio broadcast team or the radio broadcast of this team or any other team.

But you know, and many of you who are listening know, that for the first time, in a very long time, the games are not going to be on. the team 980, which has been the flagship home for the Redskins and for the Washington football team, you know, the last two years for, you know, going back to 2000 and, I don't know, 2004 or something like that, whatever it was. And, and it's moved over to IHeart radio. But, you know, at the time, people were asking me, oh, this is a big blow to the station. And I said, very matter-of-factly, but very honestly, it really isn't. And I tried to explain that, you know, 1067 the fan who has been a major sports talk radio station in town for, you know, whatever it's been now, 10 years, something like that.

2009. Yeah, didn't have the games. A lot of major sports talk stations and markets don't carry games. And the truth of the matter was the team went with the outfit that decided to pay a lot more than the team 980 was offering, which, by the way, I think the team made the right decision. But I'm saying all of this to get to this. I just don't think as many people, well, it's not that I think. I know that not as many people listen to games on radio anymore, as much as I love radio broadcasts and certain radio broadcasters over the years, you have basically a demographic of radio game listeners

that are like well over the age of 50 years old. Young people don't listen to games on radio. And now that, you know, you can essentially get most games on your phone, you know, the actual broadcast, the television broadcast of the games on your phone, it will become even less significant. A lot of the iconic play-by-play announcers, which many of them are in the college ranks, Tommy. A lot of them, whether they are dying off or retiring, are being replaced by young 28-year-old guys that'll do it for next to nothing. Because, you know, the listening to games is just becoming, it was a big part of your life. It was a big part of my life, but it's not, it's going to continue to be less, you know, important as you're able to access these games on your phones, you know, which you can do, you know, pretty much anyway anyway, anyway, already. You're always going to have a segment of the population that it's going to be physically unable to watch a game.

Yes. on a particular day, but can listen to it. You know, whether it's work or some other kind of issue, there's always going to be a segment of the population that's going to need that. That's going to need that audio in order to be able to catch the game. But it's certainly not what it used to be, obviously. Well, one of the results of FedEx Field turning into Ghost Town Field is that, you know, a lot of people that used to go to the games don't go to the games anymore,

they're out doing other things during the games. And some of those people in recent years have said, yeah, I listen to the game. I was in my car. Usually I'm dead set in front of the TV or I'm at the game. But I'm not as interested anymore, but I'll flip on the radio to get, you know, a quick update on what's going on in the game. And you have also, which you've always, always had, you have the parents with younger kids who have sporting events all weekend long. And trust me, I went through this phase where you're out and about and it's like, you know, you'd rather probably be home watching the game that's on, but you don't have any choice.

But again, even in those situations, unless you're in your car and you're the driver, you're going to be able to watch the games on your phone wherever you are. Yeah. And when you watch games... Or you're at work and they, or you're at work, and they don't let you watch it, but you can listen to it. Yeah, right. Although I think a lot of those people will sneak a peek at their phone to watch it if they can. They're sitting in there at a desk or living around. They wouldn't get away with that if you were their boss.

You're a real catmaster. We had a little incident earlier, which I'll get to here at a moment. But if you are going to watch the games or you're going to listen to the games, you know, you might be interested in betting on the games. and if you don't have a place to bet on the games, I would suggest, I would more than suggest, I would advocate heavily for My Bookie. My Bookie is fair. The pricing is excellent, and their offer right now really is as good as it gets for a promotional offer to kick off this season.

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begins today, hopefully, exclusively at my bookie. No smell test pick for me on the Thursday night game, but we will pick the game. And yeah, Tommy, Tommy, you know, I think he does this every year and he doesn't even realize it. I sent him earlier this morning, I sent him a list of things, which I never do, ever. I never send you, hey, this is what we're going to talk about today, be prepared. Do I ever do that? No, you never do I never do that Because you know why I don't

Except now Do you know why I don't do that? Why? Because I know you'll be ready And I know even if you're not ready You will come up with a take or a response Or you will initiate something That will be better than if you had planned for it

But today I sent Tommy a quick note And I said look, today is the day we do our NFL predictions because you're not on Friday show, and the NFL season opens tonight, and every year, and it seems like every year you don't remember doing this, we pick the AFC playoff teams, the NFC playoff teams, the Super Bowl matchup, and then we pick the Washington season prediction of their record, the NFC East standings, what it'll look like at the end of the year. And I did add a couple of other things.

I added, you know, your AFC MVP, your NFC MVP, you know, kind of a sleeper team and maybe a team that'll disappoint and then one bold prediction. And what did you send me back when I sent this? Are you on drugs? No, you sent that, you texted that to me. In your email, you wrote, this, no, too much. meaning the only thing and you put the only thing you were ready to do, actually you put

the only thing you were ready to do is NFC East predictions with one bold prediction per team and I emailed them back in capital letters do it exclamation point exclamation point let me tell you what this is like this is like not riding a bike

for like a year and then going out for a 50-mile bike ride okay you didn't just give me like a couple of crumbs you've been walking a lot a whole plate you know this is um below i mean my wife said to me jesus what are you doing what are you writing what is all this paperwork i said it's this cock i'm working for it's unbelievable i mean he doesn't ask me to do anything all year and now he asked me to write the constitution of the united states Well, I think the running 50 miles is a better analogy, because you could probably write the Constitution without much prep work.

But you have been walking a lot. You've been walking a lot. You've been, you know, catching up with friends a lot. I understand that this is, you know, a little bit of extra labor for you because you're not into all of the offseason thinking about the NFL. You start watching it, and then you talk about what you see when the right. season games begin, and I can appreciate that. I wish I could do that. Because really, that's all I'm interested in. But, you know, this podcast talks a lot about the local football team that plays at Ghost Town Field and the rest of the league. In fact, we have to talk about the

rest of the league because more years than not, the local team that plays at Ghost Townfield become, they become less of a story as the season goes along. No, I, you're... Well, I'm ready. You are ready? I'm ready. Yes, I am. I've worked my ass off this morning.

All right, well, we're going to do that. Within limitations. Well, we're going to do that in the upcoming segment. All right, I wanted to read this to you real quickly, because I saw this story right before the show started. You know, the World Cup is in November, in Qatar, which is, I think, the correct pronunciation of Q-A-T-A-R. And recently they cleared the hurdle to sell alcohol at these games. But there is a dire warning from the World Cup and the Cutter government. And that is fans traveling to the 2022 World Cup will not be able to take alcohol for personal consumption into Qatar.

You can't bring any alcohol with you into the country. and then you cannot bring any alcohol with you into these games. Because if you do, you're in big trouble in that country. This isn't a taking your flask as you walk through the turnstile at Ghost Town Field and saying, nah, sorry, this is out. This is going to go in the trash. This is six months in prison. So for those...

It's amazing that the World Cup. is there. I mean, it really is amazing. It's unbelievable how corrupt FIFA is. They're like a mob family. You know? Yeah, you want to pay us to have the World Cup in this obscure little country where you can go to jail for looking at a woman the wrong way. Absolutely. Well, I mean, that much worse than that, you know, trying to sneak in a butt or two, what could cost you six months in the clink. That would not be... You know what's coming next.

What? Once they pull this off and not too many people get killed or thrown in jail, the NFL's next. What do you mean? The Super Bowl is in some other country? No, no, not the Super Bowl. But how they play these games now, and they're playing in Germany this year for the first time.

Right, right. They'll be a game in Saudi Arabia or Qatar. within five years. Well, I mean, if Saudi Arabia is going to take some of that oil money and offer the same kind of money to the NFL that they've offered to all these Liv Tor players, the NFL might take it. The NFL really doesn't need it, though, because the NFL is really this country's jugger.

But they're hip on expansion. They're hip on expansion. That's what the NFL is into right now. Do you know how long we've been talking about this? Do you know how long we've been talking about international expansion? I guarantee you at some point within the last 10 years with me, you predicted a team in Europe by 2015 or 2017. No, I didn't.

No, I never thought they'd put a franchise there. I thought they would continue just putting games there. I never thought they would put an NFL franchise there. They're playing a couple of games in Mexico this year, in addition to a game in Germany, and then you have the English games as well. The Saudis have already said, their goal is to host the Olympics.

So there's going to be an NFL game in Qatar or Saudi Arabia within five years. Okay. Maybe is that your bold prediction for the year? See, you just knocked off one of the things I asked you to do. You're done. Am I done? Is that it? You're done.

You know, there are five international games this year. I don't think that's an increase, is it? Isn't that pretty much what the NFL's done for several years now? It's their first game in Germany. First game in Germany. That's right. First one in Germany. And the Germans apparently love the NFL.

Yes. And then they're playing in Mexico City where they played a couple times and they had a game canceled there. Remember a few years ago when the field conditions were so awful. And then they're playing three games in the UK, two at Tottenham and one at Wembley. So there you go. Tonight's game is in Los Angeles. and we'll give a prediction on that and we'll do all of our NFL predictions coming up. I just, Tom's column today that he just sent me is, I will retweet it.

100% will retweet it. Every once in a while, not every once in a while, I would say a lot, very often, reading Tommy's columns, I just start laughing out loud to myself. Sometimes it happens when I'm in front of somebody like my, wife and she's like, what are you laughing at? I'm like, Tommy is so good sometimes with his columns. And I'm just going to read to all of you. And this is not a bash the team, you know, segment. We're not doing a lot of that today. Okay. This is predictions. We are going to talk about Carson Wentz a little bit. But Tommy's column starts with the Washington commanders have so many ghosts of Christmas

past investigating the franchise that they, that they could haunt a house the size of Skipper Dan Snyder's mansion. As of press time, and this really is remarkable as you started to list them. And I know you did this the other day on the podcast, but still to see it in print is even more jarring. As of press time, note the possibility of a Friday news dump of the results of one of these investigations. There are seven different probes into Skipper Dan, the Sailing Man, and his football team. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform, the Federal Trade Commission, the Virginia Attorney General, the D.C. Attorney General, the NFL, which has two going on, the Mary Joe White probe into the Tiffany Johnson sexual allegations. By the way, as your editor, I would have said, and the financial impropriety allegations. That's part of the Mary Joe White purview as well. You didn't write that. You need a better editor. And the questions surrounding fired head trainer Ryan Vermilion's. drugstore. And the NFLPA also reportedly looking into the possibility of wrongdoing stemming from

the Vermillion scandal. And let me add a possible eighth inquiry by the Maryland Attorney General. That's nearly enough for a Dick Wolf Law and Order, Washington Commander series. The ninth investigation starts Sunday at Ghost Town Field, the examination of this team's ability to compete and win, which at least a segment of the remaining commanders fan focus, group. I'm glad I could give you that one. Likely cares about the most. You're getting some mileage out of the focus group line, aren't you? Yes, I am. It's a

good one. In the ways that the NFL does business, this one, the opening game against the Jacksonville Jaguars may mean the most. After all, ultimately, it is the game that typically runs roughshod over everything else, the football that eventually blocks out all the other

noise. Typically, though, most teams don't face the intensity of the noise facing the commanders. It may take a lot of football to drown out the sometimes deafening self-destructive noise that has consumed this football team. The aura of self-destruction has never been stronger. And then this is where it starts to get pretty fun. And I'm not going to read the whole thing because I want people to go read it and I'll retweet it. And you can go to Tommy's Twitter page at Tom Levero and read it as well.

Head coach Ron Rivera, who walks around with a box of handy wipes to tell everyone that his hands are clean of the infection. Hold on, let me read it again. Head coach Ron Rivera, who walks around with a box of handy wipes to tell everyone that his hands are clean of the infection. And then you write parenthetically, who is this Ryan Vermillion person you speak of as if Ron Verzer? I don't have anything to do with him. Now has the opportunity to have his team judged by his standards on the field. A win over the Jaguars, a train wreck last season under one and done coach Urban Meyer, will be the first piece of evidence he can produce to make his case.

Then you quote Rivera. The important thing is it's football. I'm here to be judged on that, okay? The judgment starts with winning and losing closed quote. Tommy's column continues, to date the judgment, to date the judgment on the field hasn't been good in Rivera's first two seasons in Washington, a two-year record of 14 and 19 and one accidental NFC East division title. But that's forgotten history.

teams that we don't speak of anymore. The Redskins and their nameless offspring, you got this wrong too, the Washington Football Club. Remember, they were the Washington football team. Are you upset that I'm editing as I'm going along? No, no, you're right, they were. But that's forgotten history. Teams that we don't speak of anymore,

the Redskins and their nameless offspring, the Washington Football Club. No, this is the new era of commanders. You remember? The new name, the team unveiled right here at Ghost Town, field on that infamous February 2nd with all the fanfare of an opening of a new 7-Eleven. And then you get into the whole, they've been telling people that they have a quarterback, and then you get into a whole thing about Carson Wentz that is pretty funny as well.

Read Tommy's column today. They're quick reads. They are quick reads. And you know that even if we didn't have the relationship we have, well, then again, I don't know if I would be reading your columns because of the website situation. But if I, even if I didn't have the relationship that I have with you, I would have been reading Tom Leverro columns for years. Because in many ways like Sally, the two of you of all of the columnists in town are the two that are utterly fearless and can be really, really, you know, sort of quick, funny in your

columns. Actually, you're funnier than Sally. Sally's wicked. Sally really goes for the jugular, which you do too, but you use humor to get there. And she doesn't always do that. That's what I would say is the difference between the two of you. Maybe she has more awards. Well, thank you for all these kind words. Now I feel bad about not completing the assignment. Well, that was the purpose. Okay. But I think you'll be happy with how much I got done. I bet. Well, I know. You fake it as quickly and as well as anybody else does. I just want to real quickly give out some props to Francis Tiafo, who won again yesterday, dominated Andre Rublev. He's the first American to make it to the U.S. Open semifinals since 2006 when Andy Roddick made the semifinals. He is the first black American man. to make the U.S. Open semifinals since Arthur Ash did it.

So I really have, even though I'm not super into tennis anymore, I really have followed the story of Francis Tiafo and his results, especially at all these majors, ever since Liz Clark wrote a column about him when he was 16 years old, eight years ago in 2014. And we told the story of Tiafo the other day, And I interviewed a guy from the JTCC College Park Tennis Complex for the radio show yesterday. He basically saw Francis from age five pick up the racket for the first time and it's been a big part of the career.

A lot of people in Tiafo's box yesterday. Others not even in the box, but they're like Bradley Beale and KCP was there. Contavius Caldwell Pope was there. Some of the Wizards were there. Beal's been there for all of his matches. Mark Ein, the owner of the Washington Castles, has known the Tiafo family forever. He was in the box. It's kind of exciting.

I can't wait to watch his match tomorrow night with one of the real up-and-coming stars, people have told me. Carlos Alcaraz from Spain, he's 19, Tommy. And his match last night, quarterfinal match against Sinner, the Italian, ended. at 250 a.m. this morning. A five-hour, 15-minute epic men's quarterfinal with Alcarez advancing, and he plays Tiafo tomorrow night. So I'm happy for Tiafo. He's from here.

Grop in Hyattsville. The family emigrated from Sierra Leone. It's just a great story, and he's quite the personality, too. Not only is he charismatic as kind of an interview and a player to watch, his game is exciting to watch. I think he can win the whole thing. I mean, it's wide open. There's no Jokovic. There's no Nadal.

There's no Federer. This thing is wide open for the men for the first time in a long, long time. Do you have anything to say? No, I just think it would be great for the area to be able to root for somebody like him. and I was a big I wasn't a big fan, but I was a fan of tennis during the Connor's

McEnroe Borg era Yeah, I know And you know I would love to watch it again I'm rooting for him That one's tomorrow night I think it's tomorrow night There are two men's semifinals tomorrow

One at three, one at seven I would assume that Alcaraz and Tiafah are going to be the night primetime match because the other semifinal isn't nearly as compelling. By the way, one last quick tennis thing. Jessica Pagula, who is, I think, ranked eighth in the world, and she played a quarterfinal match last night before the long match between Alcaraz and Center.

Her parents are Terry and Kim Pagula. They're the owners of the Buffalo Bills. Big Penn State family, the ice rink in State College is named after it's the Pagula. Center or the Pogula Ice Rink or whatever it is. She played last night. She lost in two sets to the number one seed, Egas-Witech. I think her name is pronounced as.

Afterwards, Tommy, I don't know if you saw this on social media. Afterwards, in the press conference, Jessica Pugula was sucking down a Heineken. Good for her. I can't remember. I don't like her. Was it a no-alcohol, Heineken? No, no, no. It was a real beer. And she was...

Okay, because I know people who drink zero alcohol Heineken. No. It could have been, but she was asked by somebody in the press conference. It's pretty cool you're drinking a Heineken. And she said, I'm paraphrasing here, I've got to pee for a dope test. And I just lost so I think I deserve it. You know, it would have been much cooler. being from, you know, where her family is from?

Are they from, like, the Buffalo area? I don't know if they're Pennsylvania people or Buffalo people. I'll look that up. That's a good question. I don't know. I don't know that. Well, I mean, it would have been cool if she was drinking the Genesee Creamail. That's an upstate New York beer.

Yeah. Yes. They're Pennsylvania. The old man, Terry Pagula, Penn State guy, and grew up in Pennsylvania. Slovenia. But he owns the, before buying the bills, he was the owner of the Sabres. Okay. His wife, Kim Pagula, I think she's sick, actually.

I think I read that recently. Yeah, here it is. In June 2020, Kim Pagula was hospitalized in intensive care in Boko-Ratone for reasons the family would not disclose. Pagula's daughter, Jessica, later stated that her mother's condition had improved. by the time her appearance at Wimbledon and was rehabilitating. Yeah, her father and brother were in her box last night, but the mother wasn't. So, you know, anyway, hopefully she's getting better.

And the Bills, you know, the father and son, and probably Jessica, jumped on what I would certainly imagine to be private transportation to Los Angeles for tonight's Bills, Rams season opener, the kickoff to the NFL season. Speaking of the NFL season, all of our NFL predictions, including our commander's predictions, next right after these words, from a few of our sponsors. We will get to our NFL predictions here. Also, I have some season prop bets that I gave out last year that did pretty well, much better than the smell test did last year. And I've got a couple of season prop bets that I will tell you that I have already made.

I've got one thing I like. like to add before we close out the show as well. Okay. Very good. Can I predict what it's going to be about? No, you can't. You don't want to predict this. It's something solemn.

Oh, it's something solemn. Because today is the 50-year anniversary of something that I wanted to talk about in the final segment of the show. What I wanted to say to everybody is yesterday we talked about some of the Carson Wentz rankings, 27th in the... and the ringer, the 27th ranked quarterback. We talked about that. What a joke it was that he's 27th.

To have guys like, you know, I don't care about Daniel Jones as much as guys like Gino Smith and Marcus Marriota in front of him. I mean, he's not the 27th best quarterback in the league. He's not. Yesterday, 538 sports, you know, the analytics, Nate Silver production, put out their list of the quarterbacks. And they ranked every quarterback right now on an NFL roster for this opening weekend. So essentially, that's, you know, three times 32, somewhere in the neighborhood of 96. Not every team has three quarterbacks.

Some have two on the roster. Carson Wentz was the 34th ranked quarterback in the league. C.J. Bethard, who will be backing up Trevor Lawrence on Sunday for Jacksonville, was 33rd. Bobby Bethard's grandson, who's never been a starter in the NFL. Nick Mullins, who we made fun of a few years ago because the defense was piling up all these big games against some of these backup quarterbacks like Ben Danucci and Ryan Finley and Nate Sudfeld and Nick Mullins. I actually like Nick Mullins in the way he's played in the NFL.

So do I. I like Nick Mullins too. Yeah, there's a lot of Taylor Heineke in Nick Mullins, actually, although Mullins, I think, is bigger. But anyway, Mullins came in at 32. You can't deny. You can't deny this. This is the conversation about Carson Wentz around the league. No matter whether you agree with it or not, this is the conversation about Carson Went in the NFL right now. It's much more of a conversation outside of this market.

It's much more of a national conversation where there isn't great. belief in Carson Wentz. I asked JP this yesterday in the podcast. He and I talked about it. And maybe he brought it up, I forget. But I wonder if this negative, you know, sort of predicting of Carson Wentz's future would be the same had he landed in another NFL city. I don't know it'd be that much different. Although that's a reasonable conclusion. Because like, part of the reason I'm skeptical is this is, this is, not the place typically where people go to get their careers right. Yeah.

You know, this is not where people go to get straightened out, typically. I don't know if it'd be that much different or not. Now, there was a solid ranking yesterday. NFL.com came out with their list of quarterbacks, one through 32, the starting quarterbacks, and he was 20th. And to me, I've said, you know, for a while now, somewhere between 17 and 21 is where I would have. right now. But with a ceiling that's higher than some of the guys in front of them, several of the guys in front of them. I'm skeptical as to whether or not he will, you know, reach it. But that

is, you know, not to me unreasonable. 34 with C.J. Bethard and Nick Mullins and Gino Smith and Drew Locke in front of them. Oh, and Colt McCoy. In front of them, Colt McCoy came in at 22. That goes without saying. I don't even know why that would be a surprise. Well, Kirk Cousins was nine on this list. Mitch Trubisky came in at 12 on this list. So the 538, you know, intensive analytics, you know,

site, you know, we watch these games with our own eyes. We don't just look at numbers. And Mitch Trubisky is not the 12th best quarterback in the NFL. And by the way, Kirk Cousins isn't the ninth. best quarterback in the NFL. Colt McCoy certainly isn't the 22nd best quarterback in the NFL. I mean, they had Joe Burrow one spot ahead of Trubisky, and they had Russell Wilson one spot behind Trubisky.

Real quickly, just as an aside, I'm not going to go through all of it. I did that on radio this morning, but there was a really good story about the Russell Wilson saga in Seattle written. yesterday on ESPN.com. I'm trying to pull up the story to give the author credit, but just search it. It's basically taking you through the whole Russell Wilson saga of not the last year or the last two years,

but the last five years. The relationship between Russell Wilson and the Seahawks has been deteriorating for half a decade now. There is stuff in that story that I found really, really interesting and surprising. We're talking about one of the great quarterbacks of the last 10 years. A future Hall of Fame quarterback. Yeah, Russell Wilson is a future Hall of Fame quarterback. I don't think that that's crazy to say. I mean, he's a Super Bowl winner. He's been in another one. I just pulled up his career. His overall record is a starting quarterback for those of you that think that it's only about the record.

Okay, he is 51 games above 500 as a starter. It's not even close. He's a three-time all-pro player. He is a one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine-time pro bowler. Of course, he's a lock first ballot hall of famer. Guess what? In 2017, John Schneider, the GM, who just for memory reasons and reminder reasons, was here in Washington with Marty Schottenheimer in 2001.

John Schneider went to private workouts for Patrick Mahomes, who he was in love with. And this story claims Seattle in 2017 would have taken Mahomes had he fallen to them. And then in 2018, went out to Josh Allen's private workouts. And in 2018, the Seahawks offered. Russell Wilson to the Cleveland Browns for the number one overall pick in the draft. And Cleveland didn't take it and instead drafted Baker Mayfield. That's unbelievable. That's remarkable stuff.

Why did the relationship deteriorate? Lots of reasons. Russell Wilson didn't think they were doing enough to protect him. Russell Wilson didn't like sometimes the emphasis on the rush attack offensively. And then the fact that they found out that he had been shopped to Cleveland in 2018 really changed the ballgame. The irony is he signed a long-term contract right after that trade thing fell through. The agent knew about it. But remember, even before this past off season, last off season, the 2021 off season, he put out that list of the four teams that he would accept to trade to, even though he has a no trade clause. And then in the story as well is, you know, confirmation. that Washington, the Saints, and the Giants, along with the Broncos,

were the biggest suitors for Russell Wilson in the offseason. Wilson wanted Denver, according to the story. Schneider really wanted to trade him outside of the conference, and Denver had much more ammo. Washington didn't have a quarterback that they liked, and Seattle liked Drew Locke. Schneider liked Drew Locke. Ironically, he's not going to be the starter on opening day.

Gino Smith beat him out. The other thing, too, if I didn't mention it already, that was a prevailing theme in this story, is that the people in Seattle, many people in Seattle, just don't think Russell Wilson is Russell Wilson anymore. They think he's deteriorating, and they think Denver is getting, you know, a shell of what Russell Wilson used to be.

Even though, by the way, I'll just add, that he played really good football at the end of last year after he got healthy. Anyway, let's get to our NFL predictions for 2022. We'll save the commanders for last year. Let's start with the AFC. I'll give you my division winners in the three wild cards and then I want yours. I think Buffalo's going to win the AFC East.

I think Cincinnati will beat out Baltimore. In fact, I like the Bengals to be good this year. They're being downplayed a little bit after making the Super Bowl last year. A lot of people believe they're just better teams like Buffalo and Kansas City and Denver and the Chargers and even Baltimore in the AFC. I like Cincinnati this year. I like them to win the AFC North. I like Indianapolis, and you'll hear it my prop bets.

I really like the Colts this year. I think they win the AFC South. I've got the Chiefs and maybe the most competitive top-to-bobiles. NFL division going into a season that we've ever seen, the AFC West. I've got the Chiefs winning the West, and my three wild cards are the Chargers, the Broncos with Russell Wilson, and the Baltimore Ravens. Tommy, give me your AFC division winners and wildcard teams. Okay. I've got the bills went in the AFC East with a 12 and 5 record.

I've got the Patriots finishing second nine now. We're not doing the whole division. Okay. I got the AFC West. I have the Chiefs with a comfortable 13 and 4 mark. The AFC North,

I have the Bengals winning, I mean, I have the Ravens winning 10 to 7. Winning with a 10 and 7 record. 10 and 7 record. And the AFC South, I have the Colts winning with an 11 and 6 record.

Okay. Who are your three wild cards? My wild cards for the AFC are the Chargers, the Bengals, and the Titans. Bengals and Titans. Didn't you last year, actually I'm reminded to this, you know, as you were bitching about making all these picks, when we did it last year, you picked the Titans to be in the Super Bowl. Yes, I did. And they were.

I'm sorry? What did you say? They were not. No, they weren't, but they had an incredible regular season. I know. They were the one seed, weren't they? I think they were the one seed in the AFC playoffs last year. So that was a pretty good job to pick the Titans last year.

You got the Titans as a wild card. All right, my AFC title game, the bills over the Chargers, the bills go to the Super Bowl out of the AFC. What's yours? I have the bills and the Chargers in the AFC title game. I have the Chargers winning that game and going to the Super Bowl. Nice. I was really close to having the Colts in that AFC championship game,

and I thought about the Chargers winning as well. So we have the same game. We've got different Super Bowl teams out of the AFC. You've got the Chargers in the Super Bowl. I have the Bills in the Super Bowl. My AFC MVP is Josh Allen. Who's yours? And I've got Justin Herbert as my AFC MVP.

That's a good one. I mean, you got the Chargers winning the AFC title game? You got them in the Super Bowl, and you've got Justin Herbert. Herbert as your AFC MVP. All right, just a couple of other quick things on the AFC, and we'll do this with the NFC as well. Give me a team that you consider to be a sleeper that's going to be better than most people think and a team that will kind of underperform. Well, my overachiever, I mean, I struggle with this.

I don't think, are a lot of people picking the Chargers to win to go to the AFC title game? Yeah, I think a lot of people like the Chargers this year. Okay, well, then I don't have a sleeper team. An overachiever. Okay. Yeah, and my underachieving team would be the Raiders. The Raiders? Perennially, yeah.

I mean, I got them at the bottom of that competitive division with a losing record. My overperforming teams, and I've got two of them, are the Colts. Because I think it's more than them just being a division winner. I think they're going to make some noise in the postseason. I think they're going to win a lot of regular season games as well. And I like the Jets to be better than most people think they will be. Now, they're not going to have Zach Wilson. Joe Flacco is going to start the first four games,

and I know many of you are like, Sheehan loves that. He loves Flacco. They've just got a lot of weapons. The Jets actually have a ton of weapons on that team. I think the Jets are going to be improved. Underperforming, I'm with you. I think the Raiders will be an underperforming team. All right, let's get to the NFC.

Because you've got the Chargers in the Super Bowl. I've got Buffalo in the Super Bowl. I like in the NFC. I like Philly in the East. And I've been saying this all along. I think the Eagles are a Jalen Hertz step up from where he was last year, not even a major step up, a moderate step up from where he was a year ago. to like 12 plus wins and the one seed.

I think they have that kind of potential. I like the Vikings in the north. I really do. I think the Packers could take a step back, and I think Kevin O'Connell is going to make a big difference. They are certainly loaded on offense. They just have to be a little bit better defensively because they weren't very good last year on defense.

I've got Minnesota in the north. I do have in the south the Saints, and you'll hear in my prop bets that it's my favorite prop bet of the year. I'll get to that momentarily. I like the Saints to win the South, the Rams, the defending champions to win the West,

and then my wild cards are the 49ers, Packers, and Cowboys. Give me your division winners and your three wild cards in the NFC. Okay. In the NFC, in the NFC East, like you, I have the Eagles

because they have such a great roster of a player. They have the most talent. I've got them winning 12 games. In the NFC West, I have the Rams as a division winner, winning 13 games over in the NFC West. I've got the Packers winning the NFC North

with a 12-5 record. And the NFC South, I have the Bucks winning the division with 10 and 7. Okay. And your wildcard teams? My wildcard teams in the NFC are the Eagles. No, no, no, no. Wild card teams are Vikings, Cowboys, and 49ers.

Vikings, Cowboys, and Niners. So neither one of us has Washington in the postseason this year. My NFC championship game, the team that I'm really, really intrigued with. I just think that they have a chance, and I know that they've got left tackle issues. Paul Chartian told me this morning that even the backup may not go in the opener for them on Sunday, which is a problem. You know, that's James Winston's blind side. I'm a James Winston fan. I think there's a second act to his career.

I know I've called for that for two straight seasons, or I call it. for it last year anyway, and he got injured. I've got the NFC championship game, and what should be a wide open NFC, the Saints over the Eagles. So I've got a Buffalo Saints Super Bowl. That's a pretty bold statement for the Saints, considering they're not coached by Sean Peyton. I know.

Dennis Allen, by the way, would be coach of the year if that were to happen. Yes. Yeah. Now, what is my NFC title game? The Rams and the Vikings. The Rams and the Vikings. Wow. You've got the Vikings as a wild card making it to the NFC championship game.

Okay? Yes. And who wins the NFC championship game? The Rams. It's going to be in all Los Angeles Super Bowl, except they're not going to be playing in Los Angeles. You've got a Chargers Rams Super Bowl. I have a Buffalo Saints Super Bowl.

I will give you much. Super Bowl winner tomorrow, but I want Tommy's Super Bowl winner today. Who wins the Super Bowl? The Rams are the Chargers. I think the Chargers do. Okay. Do you have an NFC MVP?

Yes, I do. Everybody listen closely. Kirk Cousin. You know, it is a regular season award. You've got them in the NFC championship game, but you only had them as a wildcard team.

I got the win in 11 and 6. I got the win in 11 games. All right. One less than the Packers. Okay. I'm just saying that usually the MVP is usually a quarterback, and it's usually from a team that's, you know, threatening the one seed is in a 5, 6, or 7 seed.

I know, but the conversation about Kirk Cousins, if it finally matches his talent could change dramatically this year and because it would change dramatically, I think that people would fall over themselves to reward him for it. You know, Michael Irvin had him as his surprise MVP pick. I can't. I actually think it's worth the plus $5,000 plus $4,000 price on him. And look, it's not everybody knows that I'm a Kirk Cousins fan,

but I also recognize very much as limitations and have spoken to those over the years as well. The reason that a few people here and there have said Kirk Cousins is a reasonable bet is because of Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen, Irv Smith, Delvin Cook, and Kevin O'Connell. Kevin O'Connell is the first coach since Jay, because Jay did like Kirk, you know, much more than people thought at the time. I mean, Jay's been on the podcast a ton. Jay will be on the podcast tomorrow, by the way. And, you know, he was in a battle with Mike Zimmer for the four seasons preceding this one in Minnesota. He was with a coach that wanted to run the football, play good defense, and, you know, not, you know, put the team at risk too much offensively. And even with that coach, you know, he's put up 33 and 7 last year, 34 and whatever it was the year before.

So a lot of people do like them. I'm not going out on a limb there. I'm going to go out on a limb somewhere else. My NFC MVP is James Winston. The Saints, you know, well, you are really in on these guys. I'm in on the Saints. Remember I was in on the Eagles last year, you know, before the season started. And I really liked their chances to be a playoff team when no one thought they were going to be a playoff team.

There are people that think the Saints will be a playoff team. Michael Thomas is back. Jarvis Landry's a saint. Chris Ilave, they drafted after they traded with Washington and moved up. They still have one of the best, you know, versatile backs in the game in Camara. They still have a thumper and ingram. Their offensive line's got some issues right now at left tackle, and then their defense is loaded. I like this team to be, you know, a team that is definitely in the playoff mix when we get there.

And, yeah, this is a bit bold. But, you know, I say every year, the NFL, is the most unpredictable league, and you're going to have a couple of teams that you just never saw coming. And I think it's going to be the Saints, and I think it's going to be James Winston, who ends up having a career year. He's got some weapons to work with. I like the Saints to be in the Super Bowl, and I like Winston to be the MVP. I can't wait to see the reaction from everybody on this one. My underperforming team in the NFC is a team that I did not put in the postseason, and that is Tampa Bay. I just think there's something weird going on with Brady,

whether it's a family thing and missing camp, and then they've got all of those injuries to the offensive line. And I'm a big Todd Bowles fan, so I don't want this to happen. I want them to have some success with Todd Bowles at head coach. But I think this is a step-back year for Tampa, and then my overperforming team is easy. It's the Saints. Underperforming Bucks, overperforming Saints. Who's your underperforming sleeper and who is your overperforming sleeper and your underperforming team? Well, my overperforming team are the Vikings to have them making it to the

NFC title team, and they're a wildcard team. Right. My underperforming team are the Cardinals. That's a good one. I think it's a bad organization. I think the mess that they went with the off-season where they had language written into Murray's contract

where he had to do film study and they could dock him pay if he didn't now supposedly they took that out of there I just think that that that smells like the aura self-destruction out there in Arizona I think that's a good one I thought about them I don't have them in the post season. I don't, I don't know, they were not a good football team at the end of last year.

And God, that was one dreadful performance in the playoff loss against the Rams. I mean, it really was. Cover your eyes performance. It was terrible. I mean, you know, it could be one of those where it was the first for Kingsbury, the first for Kyler Murray, and maybe they come back, but they're not going to have Hopkins, you know, for several games. I, I'm not a fan of the Cardinals either. Before we get to our wife, Washington Commanders predictions for the season and the NFC East specific predictions. Let me give you a couple of my prop bets that I've made already. I took the Saints over eight and a half wins.

Last year my prop bets outperformed the smell test. I had four. They just coincidentally came from the same division. I had Philadelphia over. I had Dallas over. I had Washington under their season totals in wins. and I had the Giants over. I went three and one on those picks.

I was right about Washington, Dallas, and Philly, wrong about the Giants. It was just a coincidence that all of my preseason season total bets last year were all out of the NFC East. This year, I placed five wagers on season totals. I took the Saints over eight and a half. I took the Colts over nine and a half wins. I took Cincinnati over nine and a half wins.

I like Cincinnati this year. I took Philly over nine and a half wins. And that's painful for me because if I had played Philly and I had a hunch about Philly a while ago, not that it's going to turn out to be right. But I was feeling Philly two months ago when their number was at eight and a half. Now it's nine and a half. And by the way, I'm paying minus 125 on the overplay, which is pricey. And then my last season prop bet, Tampa under 11 and a half.

So I've got the Saints over 8 and a half, Indy over 9 and a half, the Bengals over 9 and a half, Philly over 9 and a half wins, and Tampa under 11.5. If you're wondering if I considered Washington, whose number is 7.5 going over, I did. But it's very pricey to play them on the over right now. you got to lay like minus 145 somewhere in that neighborhood with the sites that I play on. And I, you know, I said the other day, I said seven is the floor, you know, nine is the ceiling. And, you know, I think they can, I put it this way. If you force me to wager on Washington season total, I would play the over.

I would. And I played the under last year. But I would play the over this year. but I don't love it enough to put money on it. I just don't love it enough to put money on it. So there you go. Those are my season prop bets. So let's get to Washington, Tommy.

Final record prediction with one bold prediction on their season. You want to go first? Okay. Final record prediction is 8 and 9. Okay. Another losing season under Ron Rivera. I already gave my ball prediction that Carson Wentz

will be gone as the starting quarterback by what, the game 10? Week 10, you said. Week 10, something like that. Benched, by the way, benched. Not injured, benched. Okay, okay, I'll have to stick with that. Whatever. I think we went through this and you said maybe injured too.

Fine, I'll just give you week 10, no matter how it happens. That's fine. Okay. Okay. I'm going to add a second bowl prediction. Jack Del Rio is fired during the season. Yeah, a lot of people have that one. A lot of people have that one.

All right, my final... And it could have nothing to do with football. What will it have to do with? He's going to say something stupid. He's going to do something stupid on Twitter because he can't help himself. I think voodoo jack has it in him. They'll be talking to D.C. Like, there'll be this big story.

D.C. in Washington. talking about a stadium, and then Del Rio will tweet something about the election on the second Tuesday of November, the midterbs. And then, no, we're done. All right, my final record prediction for the inaugural season of the expansion team known as the Washington commanders, this is such a cop-out because I really feel eight and nine, but I went eight, eight, and one. with the tie, I'm going to give you the date and the night that they end up tying. They're going to tie the...

You should. You should, because, I mean, to go out of your way to predict a tie in a 17-game season. Yeah. It was the way I got to 500. It's really something you should apologize for. So let's hear... Okay, well, I'm not going to apologize for it. on Thursday night, October 13th, they go to Soldier Field to face the Bears,

and it's going to be one hideous night weather-wise and game-wise, as the Bears and the commanders fight it out to a 13-13 tie at Soldier Field. There you go. That's my season prediction. That's a pretty good one. My bold prediction, which I think I just made the Bull. prediction, which is that they would tie Chicago on October 13th. But my bold prediction is that the rush defense struggles this year and is a big reason for a non-playoff season. I'm not convinced that

defensively, they're ready to stop some of the rush attacks they're going to face this year. They didn't last year, and everybody was so, well, they had a good run defense, and they were 7th DVOA against the run. I'm not so convinced of it. And it will put a lot of pressure on Rivera at the end of the year to move on from Del Rio because at 8-8-1, they'll be in contention. They'll be in the mix for that seven seed. As long as the wins 5, 6, 7 and 8 don't come at the very end of the year when they're

already out of it, you know, assuming kind of a back-and-forth year, which is what I'm That's what I'm predicting. You know, a win here, two losses there, a win there, a loss there, two wins there, a tie here, and then a win and a loss. And you're going back and forth, and you get to December and you're like 6, 6 and 1, you're going to actually be in the mix. But they're not going to be able to stop the run. It's going to be a big issue for them defensively. That's my bold prediction. And that will be, at the end of the year, one of the reasons, a big reason.

why we say the defense just wasn't good enough. You know, it wasn't well-rounded enough. And they ended up missing out on the postseason by a game and a half or whatever. All right, NFC East predictions. I'll go first. Philly 12 and 5. A quick bold prediction on Philadelphia, they'll have the best offensive team in the NFC statistically.

They'll lead the NFC in total offense. Dallas at 10 and 7, Micah Parsons wins the defensive most valuable player award. Beats out Aaron Donald, Miles Garrett, and Nick Bosa. He is going to be unstoppable this year. Washington comes in third at 8, 8 and 1, and then the Giants finish 7 and 10. They're a more competitive team than you think.

And Ojo Lari, as Ojolari, they're outside. linebacker is a pro bowler this year for the Giants. He was really good as a rookie. I think that he has a chance to become a star in the NFL. He ends up making the Pro Bowl for the Giants. So I've got Philly 12 and 5, Dallas 10 and 7, Washington 8, 8, and 1, and the Giants 7 and 10. Tommy, your NFC East predictions. I have the Eagles at 12 and 5. And let me say something about the Eagles. I still think they could wind up with this record, even if Gardner Minshu is their quarterback. I know they've got a very good backup quarterback.

By the time the season ends. Yep. Yes. The Cowboys at 10 and 7. Commanders at 8 and 9 and have the Giants at 6 and 11. Okay. Giants at 6 and 11. I'm writing all these down.

We've got Washington being really a competitive team this year. You know, we have, you've. You've got them winning more games. You've got them winning more. Well, they were two and six at the halfway mark and pretty damn close to being 0 and 8. So I don't necessarily agree with those that say, you know, they were pretty competitive last year. The people that, including you, that say, well, they won seven last year with Taylor Hineke against a brutal schedule. They better win a lot more than seven this year.

Every year's different as we know. and that team was dreadful during the first half of the season. Dreadful. I mean, they were a Dexter Lawrence off-sides call and a Taylor Heineke balloon throw into the end zone in Atlanta that Terry McClurent somehow came down with away from being 0 and 8. So they were much closer their final record 7 and 10 to 5 and 12 than they were to 9 and 8.

And I know people will say, well, they got injured and they had all the COVID, and they would have won more games down the stretch. It just wasn't a good football team. Now, during that four-game stretch, they played very well. Remember we said, as they got ready for the Dallas game, are they just playing well, or are they actually a good football team right now? I think I may have said in the moment,

they're actually not a bad football team right now at 6-6. Well, we've had this discussion going back to when we first started. There's a difference between being a good football team and playing well. And you never seem to always to understand the difference. Yeah, I do. Well, you haven't in the past, you just said you didn't last year when you referred to them as a good football team. I'm just saying we had a conversation when they had won four in a row, or maybe prior to that Raiders game, are they just playing well or have they turned into a

good football team. Having that conversation by definition means that I understood the difference. I understand the difference between the two. What I'm saying is I think that when we were having the conversations either after the Raiders game and before the Cowboys game or maybe before the Raiders team, I actually think I said in the moment, they're actually turning into a decent football team. And I gave them, I didn't pick them against Dallas and they got run out of the building by Dallas until the last four minutes of the game. But I gave him a chance, I think. I can't remember what I predicted.

But anyway. I don't think there'll be a good football team this year either. I don't think they'll be a good football team either. I think all I'm saying with the 8, 8 and 1 and 8 and 9 is we're both predicting them to be better than they were last year. Record-wise, we each have them with an 8th win. I have them with two less losses. into account a much weaker schedule.

Maybe. I mean, I couldn't bring myself to make them be worse. Maybe it's a much easier schedule. It should be, but again, you know, you know how those things go every year. You just never know. Well, listen, listen, listen. This exercise here, you know, you don't like the schedule game, and I know everybody does this, but this is as big a hand job as the schedule game.

It really is. By the way, you know what? They're underrated. It depends on who's given them. They're so underrated. Anyway, anyway, go, go. I mean, we don't have a clue.

I think I don't. About any of this. I know, nor do I. It's the NFL. Here's what you know. You know what? Patrick Mahomes is really good. So the Chiefs will probably be a good team.

Josh Allen's exceptional. The bills will probably be good. Aaron Rogers is the best. They'll probably be a pretty competitive team unless those players get injured. And then it all changes for those teams as well. I mean, I'm looking at Washington schedule. And I agree. Certainly, you know, they were given a nice,

they were given a nice hand job by the league. with Jacksonville and Detroit. You know, it was like, hey, we've got an expansion team in D.C. It's important for them to get off to a good start. Let's help them out a little bit. I actually think they could have helped out more by giving them Houston and Atlanta. Because I think Jacksonville and Detroit are actually better teams this year than what they were last year. Actually, I think Houston could be better, too.

But, you know, Indianapolis could be better than they were last year. They still have the Packers. You pick the Titans to win the Divor. division. You know, they still have teams on their schedule, including four games in their division against teams that we both think will be much better. So get into eight wins when you're not a good team, which we're both saying they're not. And I have said, let me just make sure everybody's clear on this. I don't think they're a bad team either. I don't see them being a bad team. But if they are flirting with 8 and 9 or 8,8, and 1,

it's very possible that we're in, you know, by the way, their bye week is in December. They play the Giants, then have a by week, then they come back with the Giants. But, you know, if you're looking at those final four games against the Giants, the 49ers, a Deshawn Watson-led Cleveland Brown's team more likely than not, and Dallas, I'm saying at 8-8-1, you're in mathematical contention for a wild-card spot heading down the stretch with your first game. game during that stretch being against the Giants at home. So, I mean, let me just tell you something, boys and girls.

I really hope that's the case. I don't have nearly as much passion for this team as I used to. I have been very, very honest about that. But it's so much better. And it's so much easier to do these shows, produce this content, and have you guys be into it. if they are in the mix. They haven't been in major contention for 30 years, as we know.

But just being in the mix after Thanksgiving and having games that matter is more fun than the just absolute, painful drudgery of playing out the string. There's nothing worse. How many times have they done that? meaningful games in December are more fun to write about than your typical December swoon collapse embarrassment. I mean, we've written that. I've written that so many times.

You know, I've run out of words in the dictionary to use. I can come up with a whole new word. There just have been too many of those seasons where you get to that stretch of the schedule, and you're already talking about the draft and free agency. And it would be better now that the season's longer and it stretches into the second week of January if you've got a couple of meaningful games there down the stretch. And what I'm saying with my record prediction

is they will have some games that'll mean something. Look, last year technically they did as well. You know, they more than did. I mean, that game against the Cowboys was a big, game in mid-December at 6-and-6. They got themselves back into contention. And then, you know, it kind of fell apart, but it wasn't all their fault to be fair to them.

They had a lot of, you know, players out. All right. Chargers over the Rams for you, bills over the Saints for me. Obviously, the Saints is the boldest prediction for either one of us in terms of team performance. We're both pretty much in the same spot as far as the commanders go. We've got them in the same spot in the division, almost identical records. I'm embarrassed giving out 8, 8, 8, and 1, but at least I gave you the game that they'll tie in.

And that's it. And tomorrow I'll have a preview of the Jacksonville game, a pick on the Jacksonville game. Tommy, in the next segment, is going to pick the Jacksonville game since he won't be back tomorrow. But we've got a couple of other things to get to right after these words from a few. of our sponsors. All right, Tommy, give me a pick on the game Sunday since you won't be here tomorrow.

Okay. I'm going to say, Washington manages to win the home opener at Ghost Townsfield by a score of 22 to 16. 2216, Washington. I'll have my pick on that

tomorrow. Let me just tell you that I like Buffalo tonight. There's no smell test pick. The public's on. Buffalo to a certain degree, not overwhelmingly. I kind of like the over. A lot of people kind of like the under, two really good defensive teams from last year. I like Buffalo in a route tonight, 37 to 17 over the Rams. I think, you know, the last time we saw Buffalo win a game that mattered was in

the playoffs against the Patriots. They had seven offensive drives in the game, and they scored seven touchdowns in that 47 to 17 win over the Patriots. And then they lost obviously one of the all-time great playoff games in NFL history to the Chiefs at Arrowhead 42 to 36. Preseason doesn't matter, but I think I may have mentioned this previously, but in their second preseason game against Denver a few weeks ago, the last time their starters played, their first seven possessions ended in touchdown. The bills are really explosive.

They're also well-coached. They're also really good on defense. And I think the Rams with Stafford playing for the first time, and maybe not, you know, they're saying he's 100%. And having a little bit of that Super Bowl hangover, I like the bills to really, you know, handle the Rams tonight with ease. I know you wanted to finish up the show.

you had something that you said was solemn that you wanted to mention. Yes. The news came out this morning that former CNN anchor Bernard Shaw died Wednesday of pneumonia. Wow. Unrelated to COVID, Shaw's family announced in a statement. He was 82. He was a friend of Dan Snyders, and I saw Bernie almost every Sunday for home games for the football team. there's a little outdoor platform behind where the press box and the owner's box and the suites are

where you can smoke and I go out there usually pregame and have a cigar and he would always be out there smoking as well and he was a big fan of our show the sports six and we used to talk about football and politics and the media business he was just a really really really nice guy to talk to. Very sad news. I have some very fond memories of conversations with him. I remember you telling me that he said he was a fan of the show. But when you said that he was good friends with Dan Snyder,

I know that he had been in Dan Snyder's box there for years. But wasn't he also in Jack Kent Cook's box at RFK? Or am I? He may have. He probably was. Yeah. I mean, I would think so. I mean, he made his bones as, remember reporting the first Gulf War live from back.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's my memory of him back in 1991. I mean, I'm trying to think of, you know, the people that were in Jack Kent Cook's box. Leslie Stahl was, right? She was a big, you know, weekly person in that box. I'm trying to think of who else. I mean, I'm trying to picture back then.

I think Bernard Shaw was. I think he was one of the people that... Probably. You know, he was just a big fan of the team, obviously. Yes, he was. Yeah. You know, back in those years, people who weren't from here ended up adopting the Redskins as their team

because they were so successful. There were so many national media people that weren't from Washington that ended up becoming, you know, swept up into Redskins fever during those years. Well, because it was the communal connection back then. Right. I mean, if you stopped for breakfast at a coffee shop in downtown D.C.,

the person who waited on you was probably a Redskins fan. And it was really, really kind of a big deal to be at games. It was the toughest ticket in town by miles. It was hard to access tickets to home games. And, you know, there were certainly some big games where it was a virtual who's who in the stadium. You know, certainly in some sections of the stadium. And, you know, where the general population, like my family, sat section 513 row 13 seats one two and three upper deck 10 yard line it was the same people

every week for years they saw me grow up in that stadium but yeah it became you know it became a big deal i think barbara walters was sometimes a jack kent cook guest leslie stall i'm pretty sure was the one more than any other i could be missing somebody big time um there but i think bernard shaw may have been a part of that as well okay um great job on getting all of the picks together. You did a really nice job, and you're a good sport about it, and I don't know why we have to fight about this every year. You do it every year, and next year you'll do it again.

You don't like it again. It's the same thing as the schedule games, you know, and you hate that. Well, I hate picking games when the schedule comes out. I like doing the mock schedule. I mean, this is coming from the guy that does the mock schedule. All right, have fun mocking us tomorrow on the show, a football Friday. We'll get you ready for commanders, Jags. I'll have a smell test tomorrow, and Jay Gruden will be on the show.

We'll get his thoughts about the NFL season in week one as well. All right, that's it for the day. Have a great rest of the day. Thanks, Tommy. All right, boss.