The Kevin Sheehan Show - 41 to 16!

Episode Date: November 27, 2020

Cooley and Kevin recapped Washington's 41-16 blowout of the Cowboys in Dallas. They also talked about the pre-game report that Washington wants Alex Smith back next year. Kevin had 14 "Smell Test" picks. Cooley had two "Locks of the Week". 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 Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Here's a play made by the defense for the touchdown. Montez Sweat. Up to knock it down and he ends up picking it off and turning it into a touchdown.

What a play. That's a great athletic play by Montez Sweat. Well, that was fun, wasn't it? Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving. No doubt. made more enjoyable by the ass kicking that Washington put on Dallas yesterday, 41 to 16. They embarrassed Cooley, embarrassed the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day. Gosh, I love the afternoon game on Thanksgiving to watch on TV.

Is it not amazing when it's your team to have the afternoon game? It was awesome. It was actually a game, and we talked about this on Wednesday. I mean, I was really looking forward to it. I mean, my sons who are not really into the skins, you know, they've lost a generation of fans. I mean, they're into it if there's a chance that they're good. They were looking forward to seeing the game yesterday. There was a real, I mean, for where they were several weeks back, Cooley, there was a bit of an anticipation for this one because, I mean, we've talked about it.

They have been better here over the last six weeks. They've been a professional NFL outfit for six weeks. And I kind of felt like even though the two bad teams, two bad records, I didn't think Washington sucked. It was something I said after the Detroit game. I mean, that was my theme that day, the overarching theme, which is, you know what, I don't think we suck. Now, the question is, are we good?

I don't know if we're good or not, but we definitely are approaching some. something close to at least mediocre because we've played well. Now, obviously, the real test will come against Pittsburgh. And then San Francisco, who's getting healthier and very good on defense. And then Seattle. So we'll see. But my God, that was really a major beatdown yesterday of a team that, oh, my God, was the pregame stuff obnoxious.

Everybody seemingly jumping on Dallas as a team that was about to get on a role. They played their best game at Minnesota. They had played really well against the Steelers. They were getting a little bit healthier. And there was a benefit yesterday of their two backup tackles to the starters, and now we were facing the backups to the backups when they got hurt. There was a lot of good fortune, but really start to finish pretty much a one-sided, throttling of a team that people were, I think, more so than Washington,

in expecting to play well down the stretch? I thought they played really competent football on a lot of levels, and I think that's the start to be in an excellent or a good football team, being a really competent football team. And for me, it was sound. It was physical. It was playing with identity, kind of knowing who they were. They were aggressive across the board offensively and defensively.

You know, shut down the run game, pressure on the quarterback, flip side of it, did a very good job. with the run, Gibson was excellent in that game. Alex didn't have to do much, and to me, that understanding and competence of this is who we are is giving them a chance to win games, and that's the start of being a good football team. I was really impressed. I'm not going to sit here and say that I was impressed with Dallas.

I thought Dallas was better than they showed yesterday. I thought McCarthy shit the bed. I'd be surprised if McCarthy makes it through the year, even though it's his first year, because I thought that was horrible on his side. But it was fun. It was a well-coached game. It was fun. They took chances.

They took risk. I mean, the fumble rusky is awesome. In critical situations. And their risk paid off to where Dallas's risk didn't pay off. But they were clearly a dominant football team in that game. They were better from top to bottom. I think you have to be impressed by that. I want to start off before we get to your, uh, uh, uh, and um, and, um,

my game take. I want to start off with what I was really thinking watching that game yesterday, because it goes back to my position when they hired Ron Rivera, which was I thought it was a really good hire. I thought that in Ron Rivera, they were getting a guy that, you know, as a football fan, as an NFL fan from afar, I had always felt, and I told you this at the time, I had always felt that every time I watched the Panthers under Ron Rivera, that they were really tough and physical and disciplined and many times overachieved. You know, even if they didn't have a great team, I always felt confident most of the time you were going to get a team that looked well coached,

especially on defense. And I really felt yesterday was the finest moment of his first season in Washington because that's what I was expecting. Look, we can put all of the disclaimers out there. Dallas isn't very good. Washington isn't very good. Records aren't very good. Whatever you want to put out there. What I'm saying is specific to yesterday, and really very much about the last six weeks, I saw what I expected when they hired him, a team that would have a professionalism about it that it hasn't had in years, a team that would be tough and physical on defense, a team that wouldn't beat itself with things that it could control, teams that would play with discipline, but also, a team that had a head coach who had a nickname Riverboat Ron who would go for it on occasion in big spots like yesterday, a game they had to win pretty much. He went for it. He rolled out all the plays

that you wouldn't see necessarily in a game against the Giants in week six. You know, saving it for a game for first place in late November, regardless of the records, on Thanksgiving Day, in front of a national TV audience against your arch rival. I mean, are you kidding me? A fumble rusky? You know, and I love the way he referred to it afterwards as a bummer Ruski, which is a nod to the late and long time Houston Oilers coach, Bum Phillips, who actually deserves the credit for being the first ever coach to run the play as a high school coach back in the 1950s. I actually shared the long story of sort of the fumble rusky, the punt rusky, any kind of rusky you want to call it, um, on the on the radio show this morning.

You know, he also referred to the movie. I mean, it's not a fumble roosky. The fumble rusky, you've got to put the ball on the ground. You do. And the offensive guards are going to pick up the fumble. There's a lot of different ruskies. There's a lot of different ruskies. He referred to it as the bummeruski and gave credit to bum.

He also, you know, referred back to the little giants movie, the Ed O'Neill movie, where he says that's where, you know, at first gave him the idea of doing it. He also ran this play successfully. in Carolina for a touchdown. By the way, Dallas played it pretty well. It gained six yards, but they weren't completely fooled by it. But you're right, the true bummer rusky, the true fumble rusky, the punt rusky that Florida State ran to beat Clemson many years ago was leaving it on the ground for one of the

offensive linemen to come by and pick up. But anyway, he went for it yesterday. Logan Thomas throwing a pass, taking a snap under center and short yardage situation. The man? I just, you know. know, you and I have had some agreement on Rivera, some disagreement on Rivera. Certainly the start to the season and what he was going through personally and the mixed messaging and some of these very confusing, you know, pressers early in the season, you know,

were concerning, and I expressed that concern, but what I saw yesterday was what I was hoping for, you know, when they hired him. I think the teams, there were so many things, there were so many things, that stood out to me. Terry McCorn's play, obviously, on Jalen Smith after the interception. But to me, the hitting and the tackling yesterday really stood out. I think Washington really took it to the Cowboys. And there were opportunities for the Cowboys. You know, after that Jalen Smith interception, when Terry McCorn ran him down and prevented the touchdown, C.D. Lamb did drop a touchdown pass on third and Cole from the 10. It was right in his hands.

You know, the fourth and one that McCarthy took the risk on, analytics people will tell you, of course you should go for that fourth down. They didn't hand it to Zeke Elliott, though. They threw it back to their fade. But, you know, Washington got a break, because I thought that was clearly past interference on Darby. I did. But all of that didn't matter.

Washington was the better team. They were the better coach team. They have swept Dallas. It's the first time a Washington head coach swept Dallas in his first season ever. Vince Lombardi didn't do it. Joe Gibbs didn't do it. Marty Schottenheimer didn't do it. Mike Shanahan didn't do it.

Ron Rivera had a team to me that was in deep trouble after that Rams loss. Deep trouble for this year and even the foreseeable future. And yet he has turned it around. They never quit on him. It's something you've pointed out. I've pointed out. There are three and three since that Rams game. Three losses by a total of seven points.

The three wins by a total of 58 points, including two wins over Dallas by a combined 47 points. The average score are the two games with Dallas this year. Washington 33, Dallas, nine and a half. So it's totally reasonable to say, and I get it, there are four and seven football team, Sheehan. They haven't played one team over the last six games. that's any good. Well, they will next week. And maybe that will be a reality check for everybody. But this team, there's something to like about the job that Rivera and his staff are doing and some of the young players they have Cooley, which I think bodes well for the future in terms of the

actual football operation. We always know what can happen in this organization. Even when there have been, you know, the few fleeting moments of light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes it gets back, you know, it gets sideways for whatever reason. But I like the trajectory that the team is on right now. And I want the playoffs now. I think the next three games, if they can get one of them, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seattle, that they will be in the driver's seat if they can get one of these next three to win the division and host a playoff game. right there in first place right now right where we wanted to be yeah oh yeah that's incredible and you shouldn't be there but you are there and we'll see and i think they'll play well over the next three weeks i'm not convinced that they'll win any of the next three games but i'm

not convinced that they will lose all of the next three games i think i've seen enough and the the thing you i think you really start to see is this i think christian believes in itself a little bit I think that they're not going to be intimidated in any way by playing any of the next three ball clubs. Yeah, I don't think so. It's a fun game to watch, man. It really was a fun game to watch. It was good to see him smoke Dallas. I was definitely impressed.

All right. Let's start with our respective game takes. You go first. Give me some of the ums because there were a lot of those. And if you have any. I don't have many. I can tell you that. No, I'm not going to have many.

is either. The biggest was that they controlled the line of scrimmage on both of the ball. I think you had to be impressed by the fact that they really truly controlled the line of scrimmage. It to me was a team that out physicaled another team. And while it was a close game

to some extent at 20 to 16, I felt like Washington was in control of that ball game because they were controlling the line of scrimmage. They ran the ball effectively. They moved Dallas off the point. They got them out of some of those gaps situations, deals where they wanted to play in the run game.

And then defensively, it was just dominant. I mean, Chase Young was absolutely dominant in that game. And we've been waiting to see that, even in situations where he didn't quite get there. Like, he's shedding the tight end in a pass race, and they've blown up the running back. And I think that was on the touchdown play, the touchdown throw. Like, Chase Young went through two dudes and was there in about 2.2 seconds. The ball is just thrown on one hitch. Right.

You know, they didn't give up big plays, really. I mean, you understand one where Darby gets run by a little bit, doesn't find the ball, but essentially they didn't have massive lapses in defense and massive lapses in coverage. And ultimately, the biggest, mm-to-me, was you put your foot on the gas pedal at 20 to 16. How many times have we seen that over the last six years? Not very many. That they didn't continue to just have to grind something out.

Find a way they put their foot on the gas pedal. So that, to me, was the biggest, hmm. I think Antonio Gibson is really getting. better week and week out. Again, we continue to talk about vision and where he's in the back and he was a spot. But I think he's getting better week and week out. I think he runs hard, man.

He is a guy that's going to make something happen because he's going to break a tackle because he's going to make a jump cut. There's a downhill, a little bit of a cut mentality to him where he's a pretty a back. Terry McCorn just continues to impress me with everything. he does. And it's not, he doesn't have to have huge impacts on games, but he, that you see productive-wise, but at the same time,

like, he's dictating coverage, and they haven't had that in the past six or seven years. There's a guy that will dictate coverage in demand. The offensive line is a big, I think that's a group that's getting better. Morgan Moses goes over the left tackle. He's doing a pretty

a good job over there. I think Switzer is really going to be a pretty good pro here. Sheriff's doing a heck of a job. Like, the offensive line is consistent. They're a consistent offensive line. Dallas is a team that can generate a ton of pressure, and there were times where there were pressures,

but at the same time, I think the offensive line did a really outstanding job, so impressed by that. Darby, you know, Darby made the plays in that game. I was impressed. You know, he gave one up, but then came back and made some big plays. I didn't think the fourth down stop was pass interference.

I thought he was doing enough running through the receiver to make a play on that ball, and there wasn't enough grabbing on either side, to say that CD Lamb didn't push Darby or, like, that was a huge play in that game. One, they controlled the big plays. The big plays of the game went to Washington. The fumble play, that's awesome, man. You know the other thing I love about that play, the Ruski?

Your players love practicing that, that creates an excitement, that it creates an enthusiasm, and then you execute it and it's successful. That was awesome. Oh, we were talking about that. The truest form of the Ruski play, though, is that you don't block it. Right. You know, they ended up pulling three offensive linemen or taking three offensive linemen to block the Ruski play.

The truest form of the Ruski play is to put it under McKissick's legs for everybody to run right. McKissick to sit there for another half count and then go a low. Yeah, that's true. That's a real. Good point. Yeah. So they actually blocked it almost as a running play. It was like a delayed run.

Right. Which probably is why it's probably. why my impression was Dallas didn't get fooled by it because they were actually hanging right where the blockers were headed, which is also where the runner headed. Yeah, normally Alex would start right, put it under his legs, and then everybody goes right. Right. That's the play you see on the punt, too, is, you know, you have three upbacks. He snap it to the first upback. He puts it under the second upback's legs, and then the entire team runs fake punt to the right. Right. Yeah. How about that, how about that McCarthy fake punt play?

Okay, one, they saw something they liked, so I'm not going to say that they didn't think they could get something with that. But fake punt, in my opinion, is not down. Well, they were down 23, 14, 14, 4th, and 10 from their own 24. No, they were down more than that. No, it was a 4-point game. No, it was 4-point game. No, it was a 4-point game. No, it was a 4-point game, Chris.

It was 20 to 16, and they, I'm pretty sure it was 20 to 16. I'm pretty sure it was a nine-point game at that point. Well, I don't think it was ever. I don't have a computer. I don't think it was ever, first of all, I don't think it was ever a nine-point game at all. No, yeah, it was 20 to 16. It was 20 to 16, fourth and 10 from their own 24, with 1254 to go in the game. 20 to 16.

Wow. Yeah. I don't want to call a fake pun there. No. Not that far backed up. I just, the idea of a fake pun is ludicrous at that point. Of course, if it works,

McCarthy said, if it works, it works. McCarthy said it was execution. So there's been some indication that Wilson, number 11, was supposed to throw the ball and that the receiver was wide open down the field on the throw. but I haven't looked. The coach's thing isn't out yet, and they certainly didn't indicate that on the broadcast.

But here's the thing. Fourth and 10 from your own 24 in a four-point game, even if the play, you see something you like, with people that aren't used to throwing the football and aren't used to running the football trying to execute the play, more times than not something goes wrong with that play, that's a game-changing play.

They had actually held Washington to a three-and-out on the previous drive. because of a hold, it was pretty much derailed by a holding penalty on Hemingway, the tight end that was in there. But you punt it and you keep the game a four-point game. They got the stop and there was, you know, one play later. First and ten touchdown, down 11. I just see that fake punt play is a play that you really need to extend a drive. You can't get anything going on offense.

And Dallas was struggling somewhat on offense. but were they completely inept that they couldn't get anything going if they didn't get a first step? Like, I just didn't see that as the right time. No. I mean, if you're Dallas right now where it is, you're saying like, my coach. Get a ball to Ezekiel Elliott. Give the ball to Ezekiel Elliott.

Dalton is under huge pressure. You're not getting guys making, like other than Cooper, you're not, you guys aren't really making plays. I mean, there was a point earlier in the game where I think they hadn't hit. Elliot ended up getting a first down, gets called back, they overcome the first and 20, they get to another first intent, and they drop back and throw the ball. Like, what are you doing? So I thought the McCarthy side of it was not well-called or not well-executed.

I do think that Washington is a bad matchup for Dallas just because of their front against the JV offensive line. Yeah, and they had the freshman offensive line after Irving and Zach Martin went down. I mean, it was another beneficiary, Washington being the beneficiary of catching Dallas's O-line injuries at the right time, like they did a month ago. And they caught them again, and they were, you know, they had guys in there. They just, you know, they couldn't function with. I'm still surprised, and I think you were essentially insinuating this. I just don't know why last week against Minnesota, where they were effective, was being balanced, running the football. This game was 20 to 16 in the fourth quarter.

It was 20 to 16. This game was never a game in which Dallas was behind and had to get completely sideways in terms of run-pass balance. In fact, at halftime, you know, at 1713, and Dallas at halftime had run the ball. Hold on, I had it here for a second, had run it nine times, thrown it 19 times. But this is who McCarthy is. Remember, I mean, this is what he was in Green Bay, with Aaron Rogers, of course. But he doesn't like to run the football. Well, Zeke Elliott's your highest paid player. And you know what? Washington had been gashed a little bit here and there over the last few games by the Giants and the Lions in particular. it was just not well done by McCarthy, not well done at all,

and very well done by Rivera and staff, including Scott Turner. Yeah, I thought Rivera and staff clearly outcoached McCarthy and staff. Yeah. You know, I'm not going to go with this huge mm-hmm with Alex Smith, But he did what Alex Smith is supposed to do. Right. He did what he needs to do to win football games. You know, they're going to play good defense.

He's going to be 19 to 26 or 150 to 250 yards in different situations. And, you know, he's going to keep you competent offensively and you're going to keep getting opportunities. That success on offense. He's not going to take the ball out of your hands. He's not going to make that stupid play, that risky play. he's not going to put you behind the chain. Alex is going to give you opportunities.

Again, it's still impressed by even the flight mobility that he has. I was actually told this week that, you know, he has that drop foot deal, that nerve will continue to grow. It grows 1% a year or something. 1% back at some point drop foot will go away for him. And he won't need whatever he's using to be able to lift that leg? Yeah, my father-in-law. drop foot.

So he said he does not have it at all now. And he said he had to wear that apparatus, but it got better. I don't know. Everyone's medical thing could be different. He's good enough that you're going to win a game like that, and if you're going to play that type of defense. You saw the pregame report right from Ian Rappaport, Washington wants him back next year, that $19 million?

Yeah. I think that you're dead cap money still enough that you just, pay him again next year. You can't just cut him. Well, you would save $13 to $14 million if you released him. Right, but releasing him, you're still going to pay like $8 million or something. I can't remember the exact number. But you're, no, Alex gives you a chance to win football games, especially with this team

that we think is going to be better next year. It's just amazing. You know, Scott Jackson asked me about it in the pregame show. as he was hosting the first two hours of the pregame show. And I said, look, you know, I'm done making predictions about Alex Smith. I mean, four weeks ago, I thought that they should cut him. I didn't think it was a path to anywhere, and I didn't think he could play, and I thought he would be endangering himself.

And more importantly, you know, it wasn't going to help the team. That Kyle Allen right now was who either Allen or Duane is who I wanted to see. And, you know, there's still five games left, and he's going to play the best defensive teams that he's played this year, certainly in Pittsburgh and San Francisco over the next two games. So I'd like to see how he performs against them. But I'm cautiously optimistic. It's been an amazing story.

I'm done predicting what he's going to do. But with that said, that's why I'm not going to sit here and say, well, of course he should be back. They have to have him back next year. Let's see how these final five games go. He's been really impressive. And he's clearly a guy that the players and the coaches respond to. You know, Chase Young put out a tweet at the end of the game, something like all props to number 11 or something like that.

They clearly like him. What else you got before I get to my game? No, he's a great leader. I mean, the Terry McClure running down, Jalen Smith is a huge play in that game in a lot of respects. Those are always going to be in big plays. Oh, huge game. Somehow there's a spark from watching a dude sell out in that fashion. They just had every momentum play that they needed to make, they made.

And that's props to Ron as well. And it's props to Del Rio and it's props to Turner and the coaching staff and the players. But every momentum play they had to make in that game, I think they made in that football game. It's like, I'm going to do the Kevin Sheehan thing. I hated not trying to score points at the end of the half, Not getting a little bit more time, and then you're going to down the ball with like 28 seconds left and three timeouts. Why?

Are we that way that Alex is going to throw a pick? There were 19 seconds left. I mean, you could make the – I try to get 20 yards down the field and see what happens. You might get a PI call. You might get anything. I don't – I don't – I don't believe in it. It goes back to Al Saunders who would never do.

down the ball before the half. You never know what's going to happen. You never discount that a player can make a play. I was fine with that. I didn't. I think Washington has to, I don't think they're one of these big strike, you know, teams. From the 20, you know, look, put 29 seconds on the clock. Yeah, I'm going for it. You know, 19 seconds. Look, if they had gone for it, I would have been pleased. I hate wasted possessions. Hate them. and Dallas was going to get the ball to start the second half. But I think a lot of teams in their situation there with the lead on the road, with 19 seconds left, probably aren't going to press it there.

All right. No, I trust me, I understand. And then here's like, I mean, little, I mean, obviously the challenge, that was not a challenge that you were going to win in that situation. I didn't like that challenge called. Oh, wait, no, no, no. What are you talking about? Which challenge?

Wait, wait, am I thinking about the Lions game? I think you've got... If Ron have a challenge that was overturned, or am I thinking about the... No. Stafford play. You might be thinking of the Stafford play. The challenge, they challenged the Zeke Fumble

on the first drive of the second half, and they obviously won that challenge because it was a fumble, and there was a clear recovery by John Allen. And then the Gallup, you know, one of the things I was going to mention, and I'll mention it right now, there were a lot of bad spots by the officiating crew in the game. Oh, yeah.

And they gave Gallup. right around that two-minute mark, that third and ten moved the sticks, or it was under two minutes, and they went to the booth. You couldn't challenge that, but they rightly and correctly put it back a half-yard, which made it a fourth. And one, Dallas went for that and got it. Gibson had a second and five run in the first half that was marked really poorly. And Inman, who I'd really like to see, try harder, you know, to get first downs. I actually think he had that first down. I thought that was a bad spot. But he still needs to finish with a little bit more urgency and physicality. Get a little Ryan Grant. Yeah, a little bit too much fall down, you know, stop, you know,

when he feels contact, kind of a thing. All right, you ready for my game take? Oh, yeah, I am. But here, let me give you my last thing that I think could change his offense a little bit. I like Campton. They got to find a way to incorporate him as a downfield threat more often. He had the one target that was a pass interference. I thought was a pass interference, but Cam Tim's with no catches. Look, I think that there's something to Sims.

Now, maybe there's something that they think is missing, but they still don't have that other guy besides Terry. I think it's really, really hard when Logan Thomas is going to essentially have three or four catches a game for 40 yards, and Terry's going to be Terry, which is excellent, but then there's nobody else.

Like to make it four guys that are Gibson, McKissick, maybe Logan Thomas, and then you've got like Sims is going to catch one or two. I think that there's got to be a better way of incorporating that second receiver offensively. To me, that's something that is going to have to come together if they want to be better on offense. Agreed. All right.

Let's get to my game take. Pay attention. Here's Kevin's Game Take. I'm going to rip through this pretty quickly because a lot of it's going to be repetitive. I'm going to start with, you know, as I mentioned at the top. I just thought that this was a big-time coaching win. I think they completely outwitted and outsmarted McCarthy and his staff, and I was really pleased to see it.

They had the team ready. You know, this narrative of the last month or so, we don't start quickly. Look, on the scoreboard, it's true. They weren't scoring a lot of points in some of these games in the first half, and they were falling behind. But, you know, there's always, you know, nuance to things. And if you're watching the games rather than just reading the box scores and looking at the halftime score, you know that they were doing the things offensively that typically lead to points.

You know, they're moving the football, converting third downs, possessing the ball. You know, it was more flukeish in some of those games that they didn't have more points at halftime. And it typically was because they turned it over or they missed field goals. Well, yesterday, the possessing of the football and the converting on third downs paid off. They had 17 points at halftime. And the process of possessing the ball and converting third downs and creating makeable third downs led to really good results. They were urgent defensively. They tackled exceptionally well. They outhit Dallas. I just loved the coaching job by Ron Rivera and staff. Obviously on the things that I like the list, Terry McClorn's touchdown-saving hustle play on the Jalen Smith interception was outstanding.

I mean, he's just a winner. You can tell it. You can see it. He's not only, you know, an A receiver, and a guy that's emerging is one of the better number one receivers on a team in the league. I mean, I don't want to go nuts yet, okay, but he's got a lot to him. But that hustle play was a four-point play, as it turned out. Yes, C.D. Lamb dropped the touchdown pass.

But still, ultimately, Dallas was forced to convert. and make a play because McLaren caught Jalen Smith. Loved it. Everything else that Terry McLaren did, seven catches, 98 yards, 93 yards, whatever it was. Brilliant. As I mentioned, I love the tackling. I love the hitting in the game. I thought they were fierce up front.

I thought, as you said, they dominated the line of scrimmage on defense. A lot of it had to do with the Cowboys, missing people, and losing people during the game up front. It's been their issue all year long, not to mention no Dak Prescott. but they dominated up front. Up next on the list of things that I liked, the weapons around Alex Smith, you know, Cooley, there were two,

there have been two major surprises for this team through 11 games this year. Alex Smith is surprise number one, you know, the fact that he's not only back out onto an NFL field, but he's performing at a high level. I think the second surprise, for many listening,

is that what they have around him offensively, you know, with the theme that I started two weeks ago against Detroit, which is more of a Doc Walker theme, they don't suck. You know, he's got weapons. Like when you and I were talking in August and in September about, you know, the offensive question marks, it was a lot about, well, what do they have? You know, well, Dwayne Haskins, obviously, was a big question mark, but what do they have offensively?

Who's going to throw the ball to? You know, who's going to run the ball? Well, we caution people, and I remember this specifically, we don't know what Antonio Gibson is. We don't know what J.D. McKissick is going to be. I liked McKissick in Detroit. We don't know if Logan Thomas maybe emerges as a big-time player. We don't know who the other receiver, you know, we just don't know enough about it.

Well, the surprise, the second surprise of the year is Gibson's good. McKissick's good, and they're versatile. Barber is really good in short-yardage. Obviously, Logan Thomas continues to grow. McClorn's not just good. He may be great, if not elite. I think that Alex Smith is benefiting from, A, a scheme that I think works for him better than the Gruden scheme, as we mentioned a few weeks back.

And B, they've got good players on offense. They got playmakers on offense. And so part of the list of things that I liked, especially were the playmakers around Alex Smith, but Gibson and Barber in particular, I thought Barber ran with great vision and really tough in short yardage running. And I thought Gibson, you know, there were

a couple of times when I'm thinking about you in terms of did he miss his cut back on that zone run or not. You know, I still think he misses a couple of things, but he had a big day. Man, does he run with power? On the list of things that I liked is just this team continues now,

you know, for six weeks running, converting on third down. They were seven to 13 on third down in the game. They had a 12-minute time of possession advantage. When you convert over 50% on third down, you're going to end up with really good time of possession, unless you're going quickly, which they really don't do much of. They do some of it. Of the seven third-down conversions, they had five third-and-ones. That is really amazing. Five-third-and-ones. They also had a fourth-and-one in the game. Barber converted on two of those third-and-ones, and also on the fourth and one. Barber's first conversion on the team's second offensive drive of the game

was so good. He got stopped. And then he turned and with second effort, spun out of it and made it. You know, to convert in those situations, the offensive line's got to be good. I think the offensive line is another part of those, that big question mark, you know, back in August and September. And it's been pretty good. You know, at some point maybe next week, we can talk about whether or not Morgan Moses should be considered to be the future starting left tackle. But it's worked out pretty well. We both warned everybody on Wednesday. Look, Dallas is fast and athletic up front.

And it's interesting. I was listening to Alex Smith after the game. He said, we knew that the numbers weren't necessarily what we were going to face defensively, that they were fast up front and they could really rush the passer. And yet the offensive line did a really good job. job. Look, I think he was pressured more in this game maybe than in other games, and he took a couple of sacks, and he also avoided a couple. But I thought the O-line played well. I thought the D-line was obviously outstanding Chase Young. I mean, you people that are buying into this, oh, he's only got four

and a half sacks now in the year, as if sacks is some sort of magic number, Chase Young was great yesterday in the game. Not good, great. And he influences so much of what happens in these games. Their third down defense was excellent. Four for 13. And by the way, two of the four converts were scrambles by Dalton, and the other two were third and ones. The red zone defense, you know, even considering that Lamb dropped that touchdown pass, was excellent.

And what else did I have? You know, special teams getting the stop on the fake punt. Tressway had a huge punt in the third quarter, and Hopkins didn't miss yesterday. That's my list of things I liked. I like Logan Thomas in this game, too. I thought he was very versatile. What I didn't like,

I thought Darby got beat too bad, misplayed not one, but two balls in the first half to Cooper. And it looked like a bit of a mismatch there that Dallas thought that they could take advantage of. And, you know, really, it worked against them sort of playing into your point about Darby, who got better after the start, but it also got them away from their run game.

Like they decided, oh, we can beat these guys with a deep throw with our weapons and they got away from being balanced, which got them off the field and allowed Washington to dominate time of possession. Few other observations, real quickly. Alex Smith, I thought, was pressured more than he's been pressured. But I thought he was good again. I thought he did a nice job on almost everything. And I think Turner's play calling kept them balanced, kept the pressure off him.

The interception was the worst play he's made since the, end of the giant game where he had the two interceptions to end the game. It was a heck of a play by Jaylon Smith. It was a good play by Jaylin Smith, but it was not a throw that he should have made. And it looked like he missed McLaurin early there. He took a couple of sacks, but he also got out of a couple of sacks with mobility. I thought he threw into coverage a couple of times, Cooley. I thought the throw to McClorn after the Logan Thomas,

throw to McLaren. They came back to McClureen on the next play, and it really looked obvious to me that he was throwing into double coverage and trying to force it in there. And the DB made a good play. It was a very good throw. But I thought overall, it's the first time since Alex has started a game start to finish that I haven't had him on the things that I liked list or the things that I really loved list, but he wasn't on the other list. I thought he played perfectly fine. I thought But it's funny, when they go empty set, man, that seems to be where you see him light up. Like they went empty set on one of those plays. It was five wides and they had McLorn in the slot and Sean Lee was covering him.

And it's like Alex Smith sees everything so quickly. And I think sometimes in those empty sets or even in a one back, the ball's coming out quickly and he knows exactly where to go. I thought he was sharp again. And they didn't need him to put up big numbers. What else? I thought, oh, I should have added him to the things I didn't like list. I just think Apke, man, you nailed it early in the season. He just misjudges in space. It's really interesting to watch him. There was a play where Fuller fell down on a Cooper catch early in the game. We had that a little banana around. Yeah, and Apkey comes up and misses him completely.

I thought Jeremy Reeves and his, you know, played as many snaps as Apke did at free safety. I thought Reeves looked better, and I think it wouldn't surprise me if he gets more of the snaps against Pittsburgh, although it would be nice to have Everett back. Anyway, that was pretty much it. I didn't like a Sims Jr. fielding a punt, you know, basically at his five-yard line, then they had a penalty. And I do think Danny Johnson almost, and maybe. it's coached this way. It probably is. Because I would think that Danny Johnson would like to return more kicks.

He had two returns yesterday. There are a lot of kickoffs in the last couple of weeks that have barely hit at the goal line, just inside the end zone that he's passed on. And maybe Rivera and Katzer are saying, we want it first and 10 at the 25, period. We don't want the. And you know what? It's not a bad strategy with as many penalties that get called on kick and punt returns. let's take it at the 25 rather than starting at our own 12.

And I don't mind that strategy, but it just looks, I'd like to see, and now that they're able to really move the football, which we've seen, maybe we don't need the big play from a special teams guy. But anyway, that was it. You know, this team over six weeks is three and three, three losses by a total of seven points. They lead the league in third down conversion percentage over that six week period. They're top five in time of possession.

They're top five in the fewest number of punts during that period of time. It's a totally different team since they benched Dwayne Haskins. We don't have to go back and revisit it. I think personally, Kyle Allen would have, you know, we saw it. He was getting similar results in terms of moving the football. But Alex Smith has been spectacular, and the weapons, the young weapons are continuing to grow. somebody asked me this morning, why didn't McKissick play as much? Well, they had a lot of third and ones. So there weren't a lot of third and fours, third and threes, third and fives, third and tens for

McKissick to be in the game. They had five third and ones. They had, you know, on the third and ones, they've got either Gibson or Barber in the game. So that's, I think, one of the reasons the snap count was down. And we saw it in the same way the first time they played Dallas. They thought they could run the football against Dallas. And they were right. You know, Gibson now has 40 carries against the Cowboys for 243 yards. You know, he's basically averaging 5.9 yards per carry and had three touchdowns yesterday. He was outstanding. It was a really, really fun game to watch one that they were clearly the better team, clearly the better team.

And now we'll find out, you know, with their next game, if they're much. more than just an improving team. We'll find out if they've become maybe, you know, a better than mediocre team, maybe a good team. You cannot judge a team on its whole season. You have to look at where they are in the moment. We're going to know a lot more after Pittsburgh. We're going to know a lot more, you know? We're really going to know a lot more after the next three.

They've got to win one of the next three. I think they will, personally. I'm not sure which one it's going to be, but I think they will. will. I think they looked like they got a chance to be a playoff team, and winning one of the next three would be absolutely critical. Or maybe not, but I think one of the next three would demand that they would be the division champ. What happens with the Giants this weekend? I don't think the Eagles have any shot. I mean, the Giants should win handily against Cincinnati. But geez, Kev. I started, I mean, I would we talk two days ago? I said, you can literally start at zero and zero right now. You can start fresh and say, look, this is six-game span. Let's go get in the playoffs.

And there's not anybody in the NFC right now. Well, there may be a couple teams that you wouldn't want to play, Rams being one of them, but there's not a big grouping of teams that you say, we can't win a game in the playoffs. All right. Well, let's see him get there first. No, I know, but there's got to be a reason to want to get there. I don't want to just get there to say, well, we made the playoffs.

Now we can go get our ass-citions in the game. The reason to try to get there is to play in that kind of a game. And by the way, along the way you're going to be playing in those kinds of games. All of these games to a certain extent are going to feel like games you have to have. I think yesterday was really the first one. If they fall the 3 and 8 and Dallas improves to 4 and 7, I think they're done. And I think now Dallas looks done and Washington at 4 and 7 is more than alive. And if they can get one of the next three and they're five.

and nine going into Panthers, Eagles to finish out the season. They got a chance to finish seven and nine, which would absolutely win the division. Six and ten may have a chance, but I think the Giants are going to win three more personally. And they would own the tiebreaker over Washington in that particular situation. I wanted to mention one quick thing to you. You know, many of you are probably, you know, you've been following the situation. And maybe by the time you listen to this podcast, there will be an update to this story. But this Raven Steelers thing is a very interesting and, you know, developing story.

The game got, you know, postponed from last night to Sunday at 115. It certainly looks right now like the game is not going to be played on Sunday. Jackson tested positive. Lamar Jackson did for COVID. They're not allowed back in the facility in Baltimore until Monday, so how are they going to play a game in Pittsburgh on Sunday? They're not. I saw a recent tweet, and I'll try to update it real quickly,

from Schaefter and others, that basically the league right now is considering, actually it was Masky. Let me just, let me pull up Maskey's tweets because he's been following this story very closely. Steelers are not practicing Friday as NFL deliberates about Raven Steelers game currently scheduled for Sunday. He said that the NFL's options are as follows. One, they can try to play the game, which I think seems like a long shot. Two, they can push the game back to Monday or Tuesday, also delaying Ravens Cowboys, which is scheduled for Thursday night. More on that in a second, coolly. They can postpone the game until later and possibly add a week 18 to the season, which has been discussed already, a potential

week 18, if any other games get postponed. They can make the Ravens forfeit the game based on potential protocol violations. Roger Goodell, previously threatened game forfeits or loss of draft picks for protocol violations resulting in adjustments to the schedule. But as Maski tweeted out, and it's a great point, always keep in mind that a forfeit can't be televised. It's a great point. So Masky also recently tweeted out, also worth keeping in mind as the NFL works through

its options on Raven Steelers, this season is not, never has been about command. competitive fairness, 100% right. It's about trying to find a way to play a season amid a pandemic. This is not going to be about competitive fairness to the Ravens. It's not, or the Steelers, for that matter. So one of the things that Field Yates from ESPN tweeted out late last night, and I think it makes sense, the Ravens Cowboys game, which is scheduled to be the Thursday night game, it's very possible that that game's not going to be played. You know, if both, Baltimore can't play, let's just say they were to forfeit against the Steelers, and they're not going to be ready to play that Thursday night game.

They could push Baltimore, Dallas to next weekend Sunday or Monday night of next week. And then Washington, Pittsburgh, would be the game. They could move into the Thursday night spot. Just keep that in mind. Field Yates threw that out there, and I thought it made a lot of sense. If the Ravens can't play this weekend and they need more, time. They may move that Baltimore Dallas game to the following Sunday or Monday. And then I doubt they're going to let that Thursday night thing go blank and go dark. That would be another big hole and a big TV opportunity. And Washington and Pittsburgh would be the most likely teams to play it because

they would not be playing it on four days rest. Washington would be playing it on a full week's rest and Pittsburgh would be playing it on a week and a half rest. So something to keep in mind there. No, there would be an advantage to the rest, for sure, for Pittsburgh. But the other thing to keep in mind is there's not this massive game plan advantage that a buy would provide because Pittsburgh spent the entire week game planning for Baltimore, which I'm sure is excessive for that staff. And so they would then turn and have four days or three days to game plan for Washington.

So you'd play as we get some more rest. And Pittsburgh hasn't had a buy week. I think Pittsburgh was really hoping to play this Thursday night game because this essentially would act as their buy week. Yeah, I mean, Pittsburgh had the issues. earlier in the year when they were supposed to play the Titans. They've really been impacted this year by the COVID stuff. But we were back on track, schedule-wise, until this Baltimore-Pittsburg game.

If it doesn't get played Sunday, we're now into a new situation because there's no way to play it without a week 18 at that point. And so, you know, it would be perhaps a forfeit situation. And again, and Maskey's 100% right. I talked about this at the beginning of this year. this will not be about competitive fairness this year. This will be about trying to satisfy television contracts and provide enough football to have enough football and enough of their big TV windows

so they don't have to give them a bunch of the money back at the end of the year. Denver. I like the week 18 idea, which is really only hurting them. Competitive fairness, as you were saying, certain playoffs teams are going to get an extra buy week. But other than that, I like the idea of playing every game. you're too close right now, I think, to start putting in a four-foot situation. Had there been four-foot situations in week five, six, seven, eight, whatever,

then I understand that completely. But I think you're getting too close to the end of this year to take games from teams and give other teams just immediate wins in those situations. You should just play that last week. It doesn't. It's good for football. It's good for everybody to have another week of it anyway. I think every fan would prefer week 18 over.

Well, forfeit one of the best games of the year in Pittsburgh. of Baltimore. Yeah, agreed. One last thing before we get to the smell test and lock of the week to finish this up. A lot of people really enjoyed the Alex Smith run towards the near sideline late in the game. He's trying to stay in bounds, and he goes down and Dwayne Haskins was over there to pick him up real quickly. And, you know, there's a lot of that video being sent.

out via social media. Even Dwayne retweeted it. Got your back 11. Great game. Now let's eat. Happy Thanksgiving. Yeah, that's a nice thing. Okay. Dwayne Haskins will impress me when he gets the opportunity to play, if he gets the opportunity to play. And it's clear that he's been doing the things that the coaching staff has asked and he's ready to perform. All of this stuff, just like all of the stuff over the summer. And I'm not, this wasn't, this was a nice gesture from him. I'm not being overly critical of it. But those of you that are going nuts over it, like it's some big indication that Dwayne's

really on top of it, are the same people that were looking at his body being transformed over the summer and him playing catch with Terry McLaurin and Antonio Brown in Florida saying, oh my God, he is ready to kill it this year. So I'll believe it when I see it on the field. And I want to see it on the field. I want Dwayne to succeed. But anyway, my smell test coming up without Cooley, before we get to the break for a word from one of our sponsors,

Cooley's going to give his lock of the week. What's your lock of the week? I think New England getting two points against the Cardinals is the lock of the week. Nobody right now believes in New England, and they're such an up-and-down team, which is really strange to see a Belichick team have no consistency. But their defense is just, it's a tough matchup for a quarterback who runs around a lot and a quarterback who's got to make plays off script and off schedule.

And I think they really will end up doing a pretty good job handling Tyler Murray. He's a guy that can turn it over. And so, for me, I look at that game. I'm like, Arizona should be four or five-point favorites at a minimum, if not bigger than that, especially with stadiums that have, no attendance. I mean, one way or another, I just,

I think Arizona should, personally I think Arizona should handle that game. The public thinks Arizona should handle that game. Vegas doesn't. No, they don't. We win Patriots as the lock of the week.

I also like Cincinnati this week. They're not even starting Ryan Finley. They're starting some other random. Brandon Allen. Yeah, Brandon Allen. Who's Brandon Allen? I think he was that Arkansas quarterback. I think Brandon Allen,

was he at Texas A&M? God, I'm forgetting now. I'm going to look it up because that's driving me. I can't remember where he was, but he's not necessarily. He played in an NFL. Yeah, an NFL quarterback. And Joe Mixen's out, some Ajay P runners. Like, there's nothing about Cincinnati right now that

because they shouldn't get beat by the Giants by 30 points. And I mean, I know it's the Giants, but there, come on. Like, the Giants should win this game by two touchdowns. They're playing good ball. Everyone's got to, everyone's believing in a judge. And everybody's believing in what they've become, and all of a sudden you're like, here comes Cincinnati. This is this crap team, and this line's just not big enough. So I like the Bengals.

This is my other luck, Louie. All right. Coolie is obviously a smell test convert if he didn't know that already. He gives the same picks and the same reasons for the picks. Enjoy your drive back. We'll talk on Monday. All right, thanks, buddy. All right, my smell test coming up right after this word from one of our sponsors.

Kevin looks where the John Q public is putting their cash and does the opposite. It's time for the smell test. And the smell test is brought to you by MyBooky. MyBooky.ag offering a great deal right now, which is a deposit matched halfway up to $1,000 to help add even more excitement to one of the greatest football weekends of the year. Yeah, that's true. I mean, Thanksgiving weekend is one of the great sports weekends of the year. different this year without all the, you know, the college basketball, Maui tournament and all the,

you know, great college basketball that usually leads you into Thanksgiving Day and takes you through the weekend with all the football, the big time football and the rivalry game football going on in college. And then, you know, you got an NFL weekend with a couple of games on Thursday and then games on Sunday, Sunday night and Monday night. My bookie, it's really important to understand this. If you haven't bet before, but you've been looking for a place to bet, you can trust my bookie. The lines are fair. The pricing is fair and if you win, you get paid. And more importantly, take advantage of the opportunity right now to have your deposit matched halfway up to $1,000. That means if you deposit $1,000, they're going to give you an extra $500 to play with using

my promo code, Kevin D.C. If you've already got a place that you're wagering, sign up at my bookie anyway. You can comparison shop on all the point spreads and the pricing, which you should be doing anyway, and you're going to get your deposit matched halfway and get some free money to play with. MyBooky.ag, use my promo code, Kevin, D.C. All right, last weekend, 11 and 7 on the smell test. Four and one on the NFL. Gave out Washington as an early smell test pick on Wednesday, so I'm 1 and 0 on the week so far. You know, it's really hard college football these days, really hard. You don't even know which games are going to be played. Last week, I think I gave out Stanford and the game was postponed. So that's why it didn't count one way or the other.

It would be a voided bet because the game wasn't played. Going into this weekend, already a bunch of cancellations, and there will be more to come between now and tomorrow. Now, there are games being played right now, so I'm going to try to get this smell test out and the podcast out quickly because there's a game that starts at 1 p.m. Eastern. I like Nebraska plus 14. I'm a glutton for punishment. They have not done me well here over the last couple of weeks. They're playing at Iowa. I like Nebraska plus 14. The public's on Iowa.

I like North Carolina plus six against Notre Dame and one of the biggest games of the day today. The public's all over Notre Dame. North Carolina can really score. But the reason I have them, just so everybody's clear, is because this is an anti-public play and there's sharp money on the heels too. I like Stanford. I liked them last week. I like them against Cal in that rivalry game today.

They're laying a point in a half. half. A lot of people think Cal, a lot of the public betters for whatever reason, think Cal's pretty good, and Stanford's not very good. I think I did have Stanford a couple of weeks ago, and I lost. I like them today, minus the point and a half. And I really like Oregon State in the Civil War game, plus 13 and a half. Of course, you want to get that. Actually, it's plus 14, my fault. Oregon State plus 14 as a smell test pick against Oregon. I had UCLA plus 17 last week against Oregon. They nearly won the game outright. I don't know if it's that Oregon State's better than people think, or maybe that Oregon's not as good as people think, but those are the

four Friday picks. Nebraska, North Carolina, Stanford, and Oregon State. Tomorrow, Maryland looks like the right side against Indiana. Indiana nearly, you know, went to distance with Ohio State. Hey, you know, had opportunities down a touchdown late. Maryland's getting 11 and a half. That lines down from opening up at 13, 13.13 and a half. Public's all over the Hoosiers. They've been very impressive. Maryland hasn't played in two weeks. They had the Ohio State game and the Michigan State games canceled. I like the Terps plus 11 and a half at Indiana tomorrow. I love Pitt plus 24 Clemson. A, they're the anti-public side. The thing that works really for me in this game as well is that Clemson always struggles with pro offenses. You know, BC had more of a pro-style offense. Now, Trevor Lawrence didn't play in that game. We understand. DC nearly pulled the upset. Pit runs a pro-style offense. I think they hang in there. I don't think they win the game, but I like them plus 24. Clemson's a big public play this weekend with Trevor Lawrence back. I have no idea why Northwestern, who's been as impressive as anybody in the country,

is laying less than two touchdowns to Michigan State. But I'll take Michigan State plus the 13-5. Public loves Northwestern. They were dominant last week against Wisconsin. Obviously by the half-point, to get it to plus 14. Lastly, I'm going with the rainbows for the second straight week. Had Hawaii last week, they got a little backdoor cover late with a couple of scores late. Apparently, it was wild the way they did it. I didn't stay up and watch it. Nevada's undefeated.

11 p.m. Saturday night in Honolulu against Hawaii. They're laying seven. That number's short. Hawaii is the sharp side plus the seven in that one. Let's go to Sunday. two, like Cooley, love the Patriots plus the two. The public is on Arizona. Give me the Pats plus the two coming off that loss against Houston. I also like the Bengals. The public loves the Giants and they're thinking a burrowless Cincinnati team has no chance. They're starting

Brandon Allen. I'll take the Bengals plus the six. I like the Chargers. You know, they finally got a win last week. They've been playing so well. And now the Chargers are in Buffalo and they're they're getting less than a touchdown against the bills. The public really likes Buffalo in this game. I will take the Chargers plus the five and a half in that game. Wouldn't surprise me if that line continues to come down. So I'd play that now and maybe buy the half point to get it to six if you need to do that. I like the Jet Sam Darnold's back.

I almost gave the Jets out last week getting the big number against the Chargers and they covered. I bet them personally. I like them plus the seven against Miami. And I like Denver. You know, Denver's been a bit of a covering machine here of late, and they've had opportunities. Let me back up. They haven't been a covering machine.

They've looked like the right side several weeks in a row, and they finally got it done last week against Miami getting four. They're getting six at home against New Orleans on Sunday. I like Denver in that game on Sunday. I think the Broncos are actually better than people think. So there you go. Oh, Monday night. I like the Eagles plus five against Seattle. Nobody's on Philadelphia. The world is on Seattle. People think Philadelphia is done. Repeating for today. Nebraska, I had Washington yesterday. Nebraska, Carolina, Stanford, Oregon State today. Maryland, Pitt, Michigan State, and Hawaii tomorrow. The Patriots, Bengals, Chargers, Jets, Broncos on Sunday, and the Eagles on Monday night. All right, that's it. Have a great holiday weekend. Enjoy all the leftovers today. When we

reconvene on Monday, we'll have a better sense of where Washington is in the division. If the Giants win, they're in first place, Philadelphia doesn't play until Monday night. So we won't really know until Tuesday if Washington is keeping their first place, current first place position. But there will be a lot to talk about next week. Have a great weekend, everybody.