The Kevin Sheehan Show - A Big Cooley WFT Idea

Episode Date: November 13, 2020

Cooley and Kevin preview and pick the Washington-Detroit game. Cooley had a big idea/change for Washington on defense which he went through in detail while Kevin shared his notes from the day Alex Smith was traded to the Skins in 2018. Kevin has 11 "Smell Test" picks. Chris had two "Locks of the Week". Cooley likes Washington's chances on Sunday and explains why. 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. Of Cooley and Kevin Friday, a Washington, Detroit preview, an NFL preview, a smell test, the lock of the week. A little bit of a recap of the game last night.

Some Masters talk, if we feel like it. Big day here on the show. Sorry, I missed you yesterday. I just, I've had my voice just going in and out. I'm not going to complain anymore. I feel great today. A lot of people thought I had the Rona. Several people when I missed the radio show yesterday morning.

You got the Rona. No, I don't have the Rona. I don't have any fever. I don't have bodyache. I've just had a sore throat. Dude, stop with that. And a hoarse voice periodically. I'm going to get tested.

You didn't go get tested? You're not. Yes, I am going to be. You're not. You can have no symptom. You could be asymptomatic. I know I could be. And have the Rona.

I could have the Rona. I think I've had the Rona. All right. Let's just get started here. My daughter's quarantining right now. She is? Why? Somebody had it at school.

Somebody had it at school. She doesn't have the Rona. Okay. She went, got tested. Good. That's good news. Let's get right to it. Okay, let's not fool around today.

Tennessee and Indy last night. Did you watch the game? I watched for a while. I can't figure out Indy. I can. I like their team. I like their team a lot. That was at.

That was a really good game last night. If I had been on, let me just tell everybody, and you would have known this. I had Indy last night for the maximum allowed, all right, and I would have given them out as a smell test picking. Yes, I could have tweeted it out. I could have, and I didn't. The smell test, you know, been a little bit off this year, but Indy was a major anti-public side. I had them. I did want to just mention this about their.

team. Well coached, like you've pointed out, with Reichen Evers. So is Tennessee as well. But I just want to bring up the game for this single reason. Philip Rivers passed Dan Marino on the all-time passing list. He's now fifth on the all-time passing yardage list. And for me, I mean, it's not even a debate. Like, Philip Rivers will be a first ballot Hall of Famer. I don't think there's any doubt about it, but a lot of people think this is going to be a debate similar to the Eli Manning debate for different reasons, right? Philip Rivers has amassed a Hall of Fame statistical regular season career. Eli Manning has amassed a pretty impressive career too, but he's got two Super Bowl rings for those two playoff runs. There's been something about Philip Rivers' career that I've

always loved. He's been one of my favorite players. Many of you know that. It goes back to watching him in the ACC when Maryland was back in the ACC, and NC State and Maryland had some really big games, conference games, in the mid-2000s. Ralph Region and Scott McBrion and Company went down to Raleigh on Philip Rivers' senior day and beat him 26 to 24 in his senior day. It was a phenomenal game. Maryland scored 10 points in the final two and a half minutes to win the game. Nick Novak kicked the game, went winner, actually, after Leroy,

ambush, separated ball from Charlie McClendon's body. Marilyn recovered, got in field goal range, won the game. It was a devastating day for Rivers. I'll never forget how upset he was. But he was such a really, he was such a swagger, you know, badass, competitive quarterback in college. And I just always thought he was going to be a really good pro. And he had that, he was that from the time I met him. I played in the senior bowl with him.

You've never told me this. No, we played in the senior bowl together. What? It came out. We were the same class. Yeah, no, I know you were. But you didn't tell me you played in this. So did you get to know him there?

Yeah, for a week. And then I got to see him again at the Combine. Were you on his team? I just remember thinking, I just remember, yeah, I was on his team. I remember thinking like, I think I was on his team, actually. I have to look that up again. But I remember thinking, who's this dorky-ass kid who thinks he is the king shit? And?

And he was. That was him. He's this goofy-ass kid that thinks he is champion of the world. And I liked it. I didn't have a problem. He wasn't rude. He was really nice. He was really friendly. He was always a good guy to be around.

I enjoyed being around him. Whenever I saw him, we rarely played them. Yeah, you really didn't play him that much. The interesting thing that I keep thinking with Rivers, though, is how can you be Eli-like? And how can you be but as good as you are statistically? and year in and year out as consistent as you are, even in years with lack of talent, and not fall into one good Super Bowl run.

Well, I mean, a lot of a lot of Hall of Fame quarterbacks. Marino can answer that question for him, but seriously, a lot of most good quarterbacks fall into one. Well, Marino fell into one Super Bowl and lost. Right, not a win. No. But Sonny Jurgensen never fell into a Super Bowl. I mean, you have, you have,

You have so many career all-time Hall of Fame quarterbacks. Warren Moon was never in a Super Bowl. Dan Fouts was never in a Super Bowl. Yeah, I mean, I'm just thinking about some of the all-time greats that didn't play in the Super Bowl that are Hall of Famers. I just ripped off a couple of them. Here's the thing. Rivers is fifth on the all-time yardage list. He's five and six as a playoff quarterback.

It's not like he hasn't been in the playoffs. He's had some bad luck on a couple of playoff teams. Nate Cating missed three field goals in a playoff game in 2010, and they lost by three. They got to the AFC championship game. That was the furthest he got. North Turner was the coach that year. And he had torn his ACL in the game before when they went to Indianapolis and beat Peyton Manning and company in the playoffs in Indianapolis,

28-24. You know, he's got two wins over Peyton Manning and the Colts in the postseason. They beat him that year in Indy, when Indy, I think was the one seed. And then they lost to the Patriots in the AFC title game, but Rivers played on a torn ACL. Remember that. I mean, he had torn his ACL the week before and played on it in that AFC championship game, and they lost that game to Brady and company 21 to 12. But it was a close game. Like it was, You know, it was a two-point game. I think it was 14 to 12 into the fourth quarter of that game. But I don't know.

To me, it's not even a debate. I love when people will say, Rivers is debatable, man. He's definitely not a first ballot. I will bet big money that when he's eligible five years from 2022, you know, whenever his last year is he is a first ballot Hall of Famer. I wouldn't disagree with that. he's not going to make it in the first run

I think you will know maybe he will recent years Matt Ryan Tony Romo Carson Ramos not a hall of famer Matt Ryan

Matt Ryan might be putting If Romo played five more years is he off statistically from what you were getting from Rivers because I bet he's not I'll bet you're in and year out

he was close um Maybe Rivers is in his 17th year. How many years did Romo play? Romo played. Well, Romo was three or four years into when I started and was done. Romo, but Roma didn't play a lot anywhere near as many games. No, I'm suggesting Romo probably only had a 10, 11, 12 year career at most.

Yeah, in terms of a starter. That's true. Because remember, he was not a starter his first couple of years. Nobody even thought much of them except for Bill Parcells. You don't remember, did you catch a pass from him in that senior bowl? Or do you... I don't remember. I only got a couple passes.

I don't remember if I did or not. I'm looking to see... I'm sure there's a stat line. Actually, I'm looking for it. I can't find the 2004 senior bowl... Statistics. Statistics. I'm looking through to see even if they have, like, the rosters from the 2004 game.

They do on the senior bowl webpage. Would it have been the 2004 game or the 2003 game? Four. Well, you were drafted in four, but was it played in three? No, it would have been played in 2004. If you're doing that? God, there's not a lot of really good ones. Boomer Seison was in it, though, you know?

Yeah, Boomer played. He should have won a Super Bowl. Rich Gannon was in it. Well, he's not a Hall of Famer. Just good quarterbacks in general. I mean, they're sunny. You can't count Jim Kelly. He should have won it.

McNabb was in it. McNair. Was McNair in it? Yeah, he took the tennis to the Super Bowl. Moon never took Houston to the Super Bowl, right? Did not. They were good on offense. But I'm focused more on the guys that were, you know,

I'm just saying in general, how many good quarterbacks don't take their team to at least one Super Bowl? A lot. No. And then there are. The answer to that is no. Really good quarterbacks fall into taking their team to. one Super Bowl. One Super Bowl.

Well. You're going to find a short list of really good quarterbacks that didn't take their team to one Super Bowl. Yeah. Well, I mean, I gave you the Hall of Famers that didn't do it. Warren Moon, Dan Fouts, Sonny Jurgensen. I'll go down the list now. Hall of Fame quarter. Well, now we're getting into guys.

I don't even know they didn't play in the Super Bowl. Look, to your point, there are not a lot of Hall of Fame quarterbacks that didn't at least play in one Super Bowl. Now, Sonny was on a team that played in the Super Bowl, but he was hurt. Dan Fouts was a prolific and an absolute Hall of Fame quarterback. His first team all pro twice. That's immediate Hall of Fame or six Pro Bowls for Fouts. Yes, so he was, he didn't take anybody, he didn't take his team and Warren Moon did not take his team. And Warren Moon was a cinch Hall of Famer.

Yeah, I mean, and statistically, I mean, Rivers is ahead of those guys. Rivers is going to the Hall of Fame. I don't, that's, Rivers is more of a Hall of Famer than Kurt Warner. I disagree. I actually would disagree with you on that. You take Kurt Warner before Rivers? Yeah, Kurt Warner to me, I don't think it's. nearly the due that he deserves. Kurt Warner, you know, obviously took, was played in three

Super Bowls, really very easily could have won two of those three. He won one of them, the first one he went to, lost obviously to the Patriots in the second Super Bowl, and then went back and took Arizona to the Super Bowl, a lesser team, lesser organization, and nearly won that Super Bowl, too. I think Kurt Warner was a spectacular quarterback. Cooley. I think he was one of the... I think he was a good quarterback that was surrounded by one of the most spectacular teams and there was a perfect timing. Yeah.

And it was also a terrific fit for what they were trying to do. I don't... That's a tough debate. The Super Bowls changed things a little bit, but so does the team around you. Can you think of football, Kevin, without Kurt Warner? Can you think of football without Philip Rivers? Can you go back and relive the history of the NFL and not put Philip Rivers in it? I can't stand that, are you?

I think it's a ridiculous way. It's not. But do you know how many players are in the Hall of Fame that you would not, you know, you can write the history of the NFL without ever mentioning? Make offensive linemen out of it because it's not fair. Okay. They should get their dues, but their names were never, unless they had some weird. Yeah.

So let's, I don't know. Their names were in. Take it. Take that out. Let's just go. Let's just go to the running back. Sorry, can you, can you talk about the NFL without ever mentioning Curtis Martin's name?

I think you can. Can you mention and talk about... For me, maybe, but I mean, Curtis Martin was a massive part of me growing up and watching football. Okay. Well, you can talk about the NFL even in the era in which he played and not have to mention him. You can do the same with Jerome Bettis. You can do the same... Curtis Martin played for the...

Curtis Martin was a good play on the Super Bowl team for the Patriots. He was great running back for the Jets. Jerome Bettis, did you say? Yeah, Jerome Bettis. Can you write... Nobody's going to relive the history of the NFL without the bus. Of course you can. No.

I don't even think, I'll be honest with you, I don't even think Bettis is a Hall of Famer. He probably isn't, but his persona puts him into the Hall of Fame. You don't think you can talk about the NFL without ever mentioning Thurman Thomas? Of course you can. No, he was in four freaking, you know how good Thurman Thomas was? You got to, you got to. If they won, if they had a total of-

talk about the NFL without ever talking about Terrell Davis. Come on. Yeah, I could do that. Trail Davis was a two-year Mike Shanahan guy. That one I can give you. But I didn't think he should have been in. in the Hall of Fame when he got into the Hall of Fame. I think you can talk about the NFL without ever talking about Edgern James.

I think you can talk about the... I mean, I get that, but Edron James was... He was one of the best backs in the league for a while. And so was Philip Rivers, and so was Kurt Warner from the quarterback. I'm not suggesting Philip Rivers isn't in the Hall of Fame. I was simply asking you a question. I was not answering my own question. Look, I don't think that that's a bad way to evaluate your...

Well, I can't think of the Hall of Fame without any of the guys you mentioned. Oh, I can. I mean, Curtis Martin, Curtis Martin, I bet you a lot of NFL fans that aren't die hard, don't even know he's in the Hall of Fame. I think he was of the backs, you know, I'm going through right now the top 10 list of all-time rushers. He is by far and away the least known. Emmett Smith, Walter Payton, Frank Gore is three now. Barry Sanders, Adrian Peterson, Curtis Martin, L.T. Bettis Dickerson, Dorset. And obviously, a lot of the guys that are behind them are better all-time running backs, but they didn't play as many games. You know, Jim Brown played in 12 games seasons.

You know, several of the – I mean, do you know, Riggins is still top 20 all-time leading rush. He's 19th on the list. And for much of his – for a lot of years in his career, he played in – 14 game seasons, not 16 game seasons. Anyway, if that were the criteria for determining Hall of Fame or not, can you talk about the NFL without talking about this person? And if the answer is yes, then he's not in the Hall of Fame.

Then a lot of players wouldn't be in the Hall of Fame. Let me rephrase it. Can you talk about that era of the NFL? Without talking about Philip Rivers? Yes. I don't think so. So you got to say that era, because I can't tell you who Jimmy Consulman was. I think that...

Do you know who Jimmy Consulman is? I don't. No, he's in the Hall of Fame. Yeah. As a quarterback from 1920 to 1929. Okay, very good for him. Good on him. So his era, maybe you've got to put Consulman in.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Do you know John McNally? Nope. No, great halfback from 25 to 38. I mean, not a lot of people know him now. I guess to rephrase my question, can you talk about that era? Curtis Martin's on the fringe.

Thurmond Thomas is not. Edron James is not. I don't think. Edron James started to change the game. Do you know how many young backs modeled themselves after Edron James? That surprises me. And I love Edron James. And I've always been a fan of Edgern James.

But I don't know the story of a lot of young backs patterning their game after Edron James. I don't. I remember how cool Edron James was. I mean, what do you think about Frank Gore being the third all-time leading rush? Isn't that amazing? Because I think you can go through the last 12 years of football and not have to mention Frank Gore. I agree. But he will probably be a Hall of Famer because if Curtis Martin got in because of his rushing totals,

Frank Gore's going to get in. I'm sorry? If you're third on the list, it's hard to keep you out. It would be really hard to keep you out. And that's why if you're in the top. five of all-time passing yardage. Pretty tough to keep you out. I'm going to make an argument that he's met much better than Harold Grange.

Harold Red Grange? Are you out of your mind? You know, the other thing about the 2004 draft, which you were involved in, that was obviously the Peyton Manning, Ben Rolfesberger, Philip Rivers draft. If you were drafting number one overall and had a desperate need for quarterback, and you were drafting from the 2004 quarterback class, and you know what you know now, who would you pick? It wasn't the, it was the Eli Manning. Did you say Eli?

What did I say? You said, you said Peyton. Yeah, I meant Eli. Yeah, sorry. So you've got Eli, you've got Rivers, you've got Rothesberger, and you are desperate for a quarterback, and you've got the number one pick in the draft, and you know what you know about all three of them now. Who would you take? Philip Rivers.

I mean, you just answered the question because Eli is going to be in the hall. Well, I'm not going to take Eli. I won two Super Bowls. You know, it's funny. I've never been overly impressed with Eli. And I keep telling you, I think Daniel Jones is Eli Manning. And I'm, and I've said to you, if he is, that's pretty damn good. I actually.

But that's not Hall of Fame. I think I've been more impressed with Eli than most people have been with Eli. I'm surprised you picked Rivers over Rutherford. Well, you asked me if I know what I know now, and if I know what I know now, I do think Philip, or that Ben's a pretty good dude. I know both of them have battled injuries. Ben more so than Philip Rivers. But Ben went through a lot of drama for a five-year period.

And I don't want my quarterback going through that drama. Philip Rivers is squeaky clean. Okay, forget all the drama, just in terms of the player. Ben. Yeah, it'd be really, really, really close call for me. Ben obviously played on much better teams for the most part. But Ben was also, Philip Rivers, I think, has always been really well-liked among his team.

I think there's been some issues. You know, there's also that. I think just watching your guys play on the field, I think Ben's made some just spectacular. So is Philip. I'm not discounting that, but Ben. Yeah, you know, God, I mean, Thaisman says this all the time.

It's the most dependent sport there is, right? I mean, you're only out there for half the time. The defense is out there for half the time. So you have to have good defenses. You know, Ben was lucky enough to play on teams with good defenses, with, you know, maybe the best, talent, most talented wide receiver of his era.

And certainly one of the most talented backs of the era. And Rivers... Jerome Bettis. Yeah, Rivers had LT. You didn't catch that. Well, I did catch that, and that was early on. And then, you know, and then obviously he had... He always had a lot of talent, including, you know,

winners like Heinz Ward, et cetera. Rivers did have LT. Rivers had L.T. And he had Antonio Gates. He had Gates. Yep. He did. I mean, there was a couple more receivers that went through San Francisco that were pretty

good players for Rivers. Through San Francisco? So San Diego. Through San Diego. Yeah. Wells Vagena. Yeah. Anyway.

Okay. Enough on that. I like Indy to make a big run here in the second half. I think Tennessee is a good team, too. I think they're both good teams. I think Indy's going to win that division. Let me ask you one more question. Yeah.

What we know now, would you ship Drew Breeze out to draft Philip Rivers? No. Isn't that the amazing thing about Rivers? I know. It's always been the Drew Breeze shadow. I know, but you know what? Drew Breeze, boy, the combination of Drew Breeze and Sean Payton was a really good thing for both of them. Agreed.

And maybe Philip would have went to. New Orleans and Ben Drew Brees. Yeah. I mean, he's went through a boatload of coaches. Yes, he has. He's gone through a boatload of coaches. Anyway, what was I saying? I was just saying that I think Indianapolis is, I think both teams are good,

but I think Indianapolis wins that division. Do you agree with me or not? I think Indianapolis wins a division as well. Yeah, I would tend to agree with you in that. Look, Tennessee's got a trend downward at this point. God, they do. They've had this downward trend. And it backs up to that three straight weeks of like game, four days later, game, four days later. No practice in the middle of all of it. I knew that was going to be hard. They pulled off one of those wins. I knew that was going to be hard on that team, though. Tennessee will bounce back. Oh, yeah. They got a game with the Ravens a week from Sunday. Yeah, I mean, Tennessee is going to bounce back a little bit here. And he's just one of those teams I can't quite figure out. They're almost like, you can't figure out New Orleans. The Indy's my New Orleans.

I think I've got Indy figured out. I think Indy is... They're a seven and a half out of ten, and they're going to lose a couple more games. I think... They're 10 and 16. I think they're exceptional in defense. They are that.

By the way, Xavier Rhodes is having a good season, and he stunk last year. Well, Minnesota's back end has clearly been a problem. Yeah. Xavier Roads is a baller. He was in Minnesota last year, and how many times you saw him look back at Harris,

and Smith like I know you're doing bro and then they're like wow let's save your roads and he's doing that that Josh Norman thing where he's like I'm trying to play my response I'm trying to do what I've been saying I'm going to do right

he showed him so many times where he was he was irate and you're like why are you mad it looks like you busted yeah sometimes it's not him you know you look at

the Colts without Marlon Mac and he was so good last year and they still they still have backs. Heinz is good. Taylor's pretty good. I think this guy Wilkins is a bit of a problem. They used him in a lot of short yardage stuff last night. I thought that was stupid.

But to me, their defense is good enough. More than good enough. It is one of the best defenses in the NFL. It'll come down to Rivers. You know, Rivers has, he may be playing on the best defensive team of his career. He may have the best defensive team. Does he have the greatest offensive supporting cast? It'd be much better for him if he had Marlon Mack.

But this guy Pittman's pretty good. They still have T.Y. Hilton. You know, the guy that you wanted, Trey Burton from a few years ago is pretty damn good. He's got, you know. I necessarily wanted, but he was good out there. They're good enough around him. The defense is good enough. You know what's funny?

What? Was the Chargers defense last year was better? Chargers defense was excellent last year. That's true. That is true. They had an excellent defense last year. And what happened to them last year? Two years ago, they beat the Chiefs at Arrowhead, and that was, they were devastated with injuries last year. Remember, they lost so many players.

Yeah, the year before, they were really good on defense as well. Yeah. And the year before was when they started 0 and 4 under Anthony Lynn and almost got back into the playoffs. No, no, no. The year before was when they went to the playoffs and they beat. Kansas City late at Arrowhead on a Thursday night. Was that 2018? Yeah. What year did they... Rivers had a two-point conversion throw. When did they go Owen Four? And they lost to New England when everybody thought they were going to beat New England.

The Anthony... Oh, the O and four was 2017, and they got back to nine and seven. And they didn't make the playoffs. But 2018 was an excellent year with a really good defense. Rivers had a big year and they beat Baltimore, remember in Lamar Jackson's first start in the postseason, and then they lost to New England when everybody thought they were going to beat the Patriots because that was the year everybody was like, all right, this is finally the River's team that's going to do it, and they didn't do it. We'll see if he gets it done in Indy. It's interesting. His arm's strength still, to me, doesn't look like it used to, but man, the decision making is incredible, and it just comes out sidearm and usually right into the hands of somebody as they're able to pick up

yards after catch. It's interesting to watch his career. Anyway, enough on him. Let's get to Washington beats Detroit if. We'll do it right after this word from one of our sponsors. All right, we're going to get to Washington beats Detroit if, but I want to share a text with you. You know Ryan Keel, right? Ryan was the longtime long-snapper in the NFL, local kid, went to Whitman, my high school, played with my younger brother in high school and then went to UVA and was like you know had like a 14 year career as a long snapper in the NFL do you know Ryan yeah I know I know Ryan really well yeah I would talk to him pregame every game great for the Giants and he's even in the last couple years yeah and he's worked in the media locally um anyway so he texted me and he said you know he listens to the

podcast and he loved the conversation we were having the other day about um about uh the onside kick stuff and Fourth and 15 versus, you know, on-side kick, et cetera. And he said- He would know more than anybody else that we currently know because he spends all those time of kickers. Right, right. That's not dismissive. I mean, the Lonsmember is with the kickers every single day.

He would absolutely have so much insight into that. So Ryan said that he listens to the podcast and was listening to us the other day talk about, you know, the fourth and 15 versus the on-side kick stuff. And he's like, I'd love to hear you guys talk about how the league consciously is changing how they're calling offensive holding and offensive pass interference. And it continues to be in his mind. The biggest story nobody's talking about or really analyzing impacts every other potential rule. And it changes, you know, a lot of the stats and everything like that.

And he went on to say, you know, regarding offensive holding, guys are getting mugged, turned, wrapped by O'LL, line and nothing's getting called. Would love to know if sacks are up or down, you know, over the year. And, you know, they're calling, there's no chance they're calling holding away from the point of attack on runs. So why call a legal contact on defense when ball is clearly going to the other side of the field, which was my point. I had brought up our conversation in the past about how defensive holding we both sort

of think should be like 10 yards, not automatic first down. You know, there's nothing more frustrating than a third and 19. that, you know, somebody throws a bubble to one side of the field for six yards, and they call a legal contact on the other side of the field, and it's an automatic first down. Well, realistically, it's just a five-yard penalty, so it should just be a five-yard penalty and replay the down. Right.

So anyway, I looked up the offensive holding penalties in particular. The offensive holding penalties aren't – I mean, he's right. They're not just down. They're way down. There were 732 offensive holding calls last year through the entire season. This year, and there are several teams that have already played nine games, so it's actually technically beyond the halfway mark of the season. Only 234 holding calls this year.

That's really... What was there? Last year was an emphasis year. where they called everything. 2019 was the most excessive holding year of all time. Okay. They called everything to the point where Tom Brady was tweeting somebody during a game or tweeted out during a game.

Like, I can't even watch this game. There's so many. Oh, yeah. You're right. Yes, yes. You're right. So the holding penalties, what is it in 2006, 2007, 2008? Hold on.

Before they started making emphasis. emphases out of all of this. The penalty... You have by here? I do. Hold on for one sec. You won't me... I can't go back that far. How about if I just go back to 2010?

What's it? Well, yeah, go 2010. Okay. 2010 offensive holding. 616 offensive holding penalties throughout the year. Now, you know what? God, they take into account the playoffs that year. But anyway, the point is it was less, but not a lot less, but a lot, lot. Not a lot less than last year, but a lot less than we're looking at.

Yeah, so this year should probably end up being close to 400 and some. So maybe you're down or close to 500. So it's not that far down. What do you mean not that far down? At 400, it would be down 30%. If you count the playoffs, too, through the end of the year, what did you say you're at 2 to what? Yeah, but it's 732 was total last year.

No, don't count. Last year's an anomaly. Count it out. And actually, they only can't. count the regular season for last year for some reason what was 2010 in playoffs whatever number i gave you 630 what what was is what are they at this year as we stand okay hold on hold on for one second okay first google faster stop so so wait a minute i want to i want to incorporate um okay my fault so last year was 732 which included included included uh

the playoff games. So we're not exactly halfway there this year with our 2-32 number or whatever. But let me just do the quick. Okay, so basically we're talking about 23 holding penalties per team, all right, league-wide, right? Something like that. That's about right. So now let's go to this year, 2020, and... I'm not going to talk about 2019.

Why? I just want to give you the average of offensive holding penalties on each team, because I'm just taking the number and dividing it by 32. Okay, so that we get an average. Last year should be, it's just like a golf handicapping system. We're going to throw out your high score. Huh? I don't care that you shot 114. You're not, we're not, we're that one's bounced out of the system.

times two. So we'll do 500 divided by 32. So basically we're at seven less holding penalties. We're on a pace for seven less holding penalties per team for the year. So it's way down. It's way down this year. He's right. So that would be another reason for the increase in scoring.

You know, we've been talking about the increase in scoring. We're on pace for one of the highest, if not the highest scoring year in NFL history. Well, fewer penalties, especially fewer offensive penalties, would matter a lot. More defensive penalties would matter a lot, too. I don't know if we're up on defensive penalties or not. I remember at one point DPI was up a little bit. I personally believe, and I heard Aaron Rogers say this, and somebody else said it to me recently, a coach and or a player.

I'm trying to think who it was. said that the lack of fans is a major factor. Oh, Matt Mellon was on with me the other day on radio. Matt Millan said, absolutely, with no fans, road teams now are, you know, have much, a big obstacle that isn't in their way towards audibling and calling the plays they want at the line of scrimmage. Aaron Rogers said it's made it much easier to operate on the road. But offensive penalty, offensive holding would be a big reason. How many drives over the course of the year?

That was a big play coming back. Why do you think they're doing that? Because it got impossible to watch football games last year. Yeah. With 3,000 offensive holding penalties. That's to me what it seemed to. And look, I remember going through the year. In the last couple years, they've tried to make an emphasis out of offensive holding,

I guess to even the game to some extent. And I went through over and over and over and said, geez, like none of these are holds. Yeah. You know, I've went through and found a ton that you really have to contest holds. There's holding on every play. But Kevin, when you look at holding, if my hands are inside of your armpits, it isn't holding. Okay.

You're grabbing and your hands are holding. Maybe we should change the name of the penalty to grabbing or pulling. Offensive polling. But holding is not a penalty because you grab. It's because of where you grab, essentially. Or if you pull someone down. You know, holdings where you reach out and see Jersey tugged. But torquing someone down to the ground,

that was what they basically did last year in the last couple of years was flagged any offensive lineman that took a defensive lineman to the ground. If it was lateral at the line of scrimmage and the defensive lineman tripped and the offensive lineman kind of fell down, they're like, that has to be a hold. There's only one way he got him on the ground. hold him down. He's like he didn't hold him down. It was holding. So I don't know, man. I don't know either. You just like the Jaguars had 30 holding penalties in 2019. 30. That's

the highest mark. You would think certainly things like sacks are down, pressures are down with less holding being called. I think more of the holds last year were not called. I think more of the holds last year were not called in past situations. I think more of the holds, especially for Washington, were called in run-type situations. All right. Let's get to Washington. 2006, the Cleveland Browns led the league in holds. 18.

Wow. In 2019, the Jaggars had 30 holds. I mean, you go back historically, and it's not as many. Actually, we did this earlier on something. We didn't. Like what they used to call holds. holding. They used to call everything holding. Used to have to block with your elbows.

You used to have to block with your elbows. No, in like the 40s, they had to block with their elbows. Well, I mean, you have a... I looked this whole thing up. I remember looking this whole thing up. I have this somewhere. Coolly, blocking now includes hands and arms extended, right? And their old football cards, I used to collect football cards as a kid. And your fists would be clenched.

your arms would be inward at your chest, and that was the blocking mode. That's not how people are talked to block anymore. Sometimes. That's how Jason Witten was taught to block his whole career. He would reach out, grab, and then suck arms to his chest. He would suck him as close to his chest as he could because they wouldn't call hold. And I was like, I hate watching this dude block because I don't block like that.

That's garbage. That's how Witt blocked. He would get up into them and then pull them tight to him. So you never create any movement that way. Going back as far as I can on the NFL penalty stats, offensive holding in 2009, 17.19 offensive holding penalties per team league-wide. So that's closer to where we are now, the 15 number than the 22 number from last year. So there we go.

All right. Do you think when he meant he put OPI into that? I think more OPIs are called now. But I think they're called because they're looking for picks more than they've ever looked for picks. I can't find OPI. They don't. Okay, like here's it. Here's for what it's worth.

Right now the Giants have six OPI calls. Where do you see that? Is it on the penalty, the NFL penalties. Um, football database. I've got the NFL Penalties.com and they don't have offensive pass interference. I'm at the football database. In 2013, the Atlanta Falcons finished the season with five total OPI's. That led the league.

They were actually tied 49ers, Broncos and Cowboys all had five OPI's. So in 2013, what led the league in OPI's was five. In 2006, as far back as I can go, five led the league. The Giants already have six calls OPI. They're calling OPI a little bit more. By the way, Washington, one of the least penalized teams in the league this year. New England's number one, Rams 2, Houston, 3, Miami, 4, Vegas, Vegas. The Raiders, 5 in Washington is 6, which would make them the, you know,

the sixth least penalized team in the league. That's really good math on that. Well, I know. I was just, yeah. You were counting from the bottom. So you did it. We saw them sitting there at 205, 26. You had to redo that number.

So the Bears are the most penalized team this year. How about this? The Raiders only have one hold. No, that's one. Yeah, Las Vegas only has one offensive hold. Washington has no hold. No, that's, I'm looking at this and it says Washington has no offensive holding. That's not true.

That must have been before last week. Las Vegas does have one hold. Washington's got five holds on the season. Five. The team that leads the league in holding is Kansas City. You're not going to touch my quarterback, Pat Mahomes. I'm going to grab you before you touch my quarterback. The conversation is really, what do they want to make a point of emphasis out of?

And I think the point of emphasis this year was just because some dude falls, don't call it holding. You know, Kansas City and Buffalo are the top two teams in offensive holds. Green Bay is up there, Tennessee's up there. You're also talking about the teams that run 80 offensive plays a week. Well, okay, good point. You're also talking about the quarterbacks that extend plays for longer periods of time, where maybe there's just a longer time between snap and action. actual throw, which probably increases the possibility.

I think the only way you really do this is just do percentage of holds per play. Okay. Let's get to Washington. Kansas City's definitely ran 20% more plays than Washington. Yeah, no doubt. They run 75 plays a game. No doubt. So they probably have the same amount of holds called per play.

You're right. The percentage of penalties, you know, per play would be the best thing to look at. Let's start a website. Well, all this data is out there. Sometimes I think some websites do a really good job of aggregating the data and then presenting it in a way that's very easy. And I actually think the NFL Penalties.com does a pretty good job of this. But like if you try to do it by penalty, there's no offensive pass interference here. There's holding, false start, DPI, defensive holding, defensive off sides, unnecessary,

roughness neutral zone, roughing the passer, delay of game, and a legal block above the waste. But they don't have any other options or so many other penalties. And you would certainly want to see a number on offensive pass interference. You know what I'm actually interested in saying now? Who leads the league in delay of games? Chicago, Cleveland, Minnesota, Tennessee, all tied with four delay of games. Sometimes I think that that's like, it's like either the quarterback where it's like, damn it, get the play in already? Or the coach saying, you're not going to burn a timeout in the first half because you didn't get the play run.

Let's see, this is actually interesting, roughing the passer. The Jets lead the league in roughing the passer. It's not even close. They've got 10, Atlanta's second with four. Some teams don't have any. Some teams don't have any roughing the passers. And it just seems like roughing the passers is the biggest bullshit call. year in and year out in recent years.

It certainly is. I have a question for you. What's the question? On strategy. Yeah. So just bear with me the scenario. Okay. You are trailing in a football game, 21 to zero.

There's eight minutes left in the third quarter. You have the ball on your own eight yard line. It's second and 13. You don't get the play in in time. Also, keep in mind, you're not a passing team. You're a running team. Let's say college high school, high school for sure.

The scenario actually happened. I watched it happen. It's second 13 from your own eight and the play doesn't come in. You're down 210, 8 minutes in the third quarter. Do you, A, call time out and get the play in, or B, take the penalty, take your medicine, punt, keep your time out. At the high school level? I mean, I need to know if I got to, can I, do I have, down 21-0,

the running game is with eight minutes left in the third quarter. It's pretty much over. I'm probably going to take to delay a game because it's half the distance to the goal. So it's going to be a two and a half yard penalty and I'm going to be faced with second. Ding, ding, ding. You just selected the right answer. Second and 15 and a half. Yeah, that's what I'm going to do.

Second and 15 and a half versus second and 13. And you keep your extra time out. Right. I thought you were throwing in, we can't throw, we're only a round, running team is a way to say, you know, it's going to be much harder to get 15 yards on three runs. No, I'm just throwing in the full scenario. You can't throw.

It's not, you're not, you're not a team that's, it's impossible to throw. Yeah. But you're not a good passing offense. I will tell you this, I am not as against using timeouts in the first half. No, no, perfect. Okay, to avoid potentially a penalty, a delay of game. penalty that may force you to punt. The second half's a bigger issue, but, you know, I hear people say, you know, all the time,

those, it's, you got to treat them like gold, the timeouts. You know what? You know what? In the first half, if you are a team that struggles to overcome second and, you know, second and 12 versus second and seven, and second and 12 means more likely than not you're going to punt, I'm going to use the timeout. try to make first down and keep the ball. That's what I'm going to do.

The one other caveat to this would be most high school teams, your punter's going to hit it about 36 yards. Yeah, well, I, I, you're not going to get the first down from your own eight, now you're on your own 10, you're going to punt it to the 50 at best. But that's why you go for it on Fort Down in high school football, even around midfield, even at your own 35, because a lot of high school teams are only going to flip the field 22 yards.

sure I've told you this, but when my boys were playing football when they were younger, shout out to Blessed Sacrament, Rockville Football League, to Maplewood, too. Maplewood's a great football organization as well. The, I never understood, certainly at a young age, why they've ever punted. There was no reason to punt. No. First of all, if you actually had a guy that could punt and he got it, you know, 25 yards. it was going to be returned for a touchdown anyway

because you weren't going to get down there and tackle them. But more times than not, the ball might travel, if it traveled forwards, forward, because many times it would just be a backward punt. You'd be a loss of yardage pun. The net was always a loss of yardage. The net of whatever they kicked in the return

was going to be negative yardage from your line of scrimmage. So just go, you should never punt at that age. So for you younger fathers that are getting into football coaching and it's peewee or it's pony and it's eight, nine, ten year olds, don't even practice the punt team. Don't punt. You don't have to punt. It's a total waste of time.

I'm up with a fourth and 15. The only way I would punt is as a quick, quick, I do a quick kick. If it was third down in 40 and, you know, and I was up, it's never 14. up 12 to nothing, then I might do a quick kick at that point because there's nobody back there to return it. But no puns. All right. Washington beats Detroit.

If I went first last week, you're going first today. Washington beats Detroit if Terry McLaurin and McKissick are collectively over 200 yards of total offense. Okay. those are your two guys, they both have to be over 100 yards of total offense and a piece. And I personally think, in the caveat to that would be, McKissick gets 10 carries at a minimum. I think McKissick's a guy that can do anything you want him to do in the run game. I think there's some tendency stuff that goes on to McKissick being in the backfield right now,

determining run-pass situations. I like Gibson and I have no problem with two backs in the backfield. I think a great tendency break this week would be to have two backs in the backfield and maybe use motion where you're getting McKissick behind the quarterback and now we get some quick hit stuff with McKissick. We get some pitch stuff with McKissick. We get 41 the football. He needs to have over 100 yards.

I think Terry McLaren also, and this shouldn't be that hard. You should almost say Terry McLaurin has 150 yards. But you throw Cam Simpson in the mix and maybe just, It's just my two dudes, they need touches. That's it for me on offense. With what Alex Smith is and should be as a quarterback, my two dudes that get the most yards after the catch need the most touches. You know, they had a combined 197 last week.

Yeah, well, they didn't win, did they? No. Three more yards? Three more yards. Actually, oddly enough, Kevin, yeah. Three more yards on a throw to McKissick that ended up being high and tip then over his head for a pick

might have put you close enough to field goal range. It would have been a 55-yarder at that point. They might have tied it up right there. Three more yards. So before I get to my first, I know we're bouncing around here, but I nearly forgot to share something with you. So yesterday, I was trying to get organized.

I didn't speak much, and I just got organized. I had a bunch of sort of cleanup. I'm very much a minimalist, and I hate when things get, overflowing with, you know, I throw everything out. And so yesterday was a throw everything out day. And I came across some old notes in a folder for the show.

You and I were doing the show at this time. And it was the day after Alex Smith came to Washington via a trade with Kansas City. And there was a piece of paper. And I had written down. I must have been in my car when I heard the news. but I wrote down a bunch of notes all right about how I felt about the trade because let me just tell you

Washington wins if it has something my first one has something to do with Alex Smith but I'm going to interject this piece of information because I think it's kind of funny to look back on exactly what I thought in the moment when they traded for Alex Smith let me read it to you are you ready they could have done a lot worse than Alex Smith

given the context of the Kirk's situation, which wasn't going to work out here, they blew that opportunity. Alex Smith isn't a terrible solution. Kirk's better in my view, and he's younger with still his best football in front of him, but Kirk wasn't an option anymore. So the solution is Smith. I don't mind it. I love his ability to make plays with his legs. He's a better off schedule QB than Cousins.

I've always liked that about Smith. Then point two, I don't like the trade price. A third round pick is fine. Actually, it's pretty good. Adding Fuller to the deal, not good. Everyone that wanted Kirk gone so the team could build a great defense. Remember, that was part of the argument of the day. If we get rid of Kirk, you know, we can spend all that money on a great defense.

Well, you just gave up one of your best and youngest defensive players. And Fuller, a player on the rise at a difficult position to find really good players. I'm sure Bruce Allen will say that the competition for Smith was really, really significant. The skins wouldn't have gotten Smith without throwing a player like Fuller into the deal. Well, that would have been a deal breaker for me. And then I go to my third point. But the biggest deal breaker is the contract. He got $94 million for a four-year extension.

Basically the Derek Carr deal, a top three to five deal for a 33-year-old going on 34 years old. I would have never given him the extension. I would have made him earn it with his play. So I wrote netting it out. They got a decent quarterback, but not on the cheap. It was pricey in every measurable way. It better work out because we know how desperately they wanted to move on from cousins. And I wrote, it's up to Smith to prove it.

And if they don't, then heads will roll. Jobs should be lost on this one. And I also wrote, he needs to win nine plus games and get to the playoffs this coming year. Well, he was going to get nine wins. They were six and three, balling. Well, they were going to be six and four. And they were going to go eight and eight. And I said, they've got to go 11 and five and win at least two playoff games over his next three years.

or this was a total bust. I was right about the contract, man. I was totally right. I didn't predict, obviously, I didn't predict a major injury. But I remember not having a problem with Alex Smith being our quarterback and wanting it to work out, but thought it was way too much. Anyway, I just thought you'd find that interesting. That's what I...

What's you got to do? What'd you say? What's you got to do this week? By the way, I wrote down they're going to get a third round compensatory for Kirk and look like morons for that. So they beat Detroit if they make an effort to be balanced. Why? Well, because it's important for Alex Smith. It's always been important for Alex Smith.

His successful games throughout his career have come more often than not when he's had a running game. And so now there's another part to this. the Lions are 30th ranked in the league and rush defense in the NFL. And remember, and we talked about this the other day, Scott Turner has decided, I think, more of his game planning is game planning around the opponent's weakness than being the coordinator that says, we're going to impose our will with our great players. Well, I think he understands some of the limitations, and that's why they ran it a lot against Dallas,

but didn't have much of an intention to run it against a much better rush defense. week in the Giants defense. The Lions rush defense is 30th in the NFL. Last week, the Vikings rushed for 275 yards. Dalvin Cook had 206 of them. Now, Washington clearly isn't the rush offense that Minnesota is. And I will mention this, that Detroit's rush numbers are a bit misleading because they've had some massive bad games, but they've had some good games, too. They held Gurley and Atlanta to two and a half yards per carry. But I think they have to try to run. I think they have to give Alex balance because balance gives Alex the best chance to do what he does best, which is just distribute the ball. He's a distributor. And without some balance, it's going to be

harder for him to distribute, even though you can make the case. They had no balance last week, and he distributed it pretty well. That's true. But historically for him over his career, he needs everything to be pretty good around him and balanced around him. I think that's a big part of Sunday's offensive success is staying balanced. I love it. We've got to have balance.

Detroit's not a great defense. What's your next one? You want to hear it? I do. It's bold. Washington wins if. they fix their safety situation. I actually went through this week and watched the film breakdown.

Watched, watched the film breakdown. Did the film breakdown? Yes, she did. Said both the safeties were in a D situation. I thought, you know, even as what it was, maybe you switched the two. I personally thought Curl saw things better from a little bit more depth. That said, I think that both strong safeties. Washington wins if they have the balls in Jack Del Rio, and I'm not the boss of him,

but I would say he should do this. Takes his best free safety, who is Kendall Fuller, plays him at Free All-game, moves Jimmy Morland outside to corner because Jimmy Morland's a outside guy. I know he's small, and I know he's got some tackling ability and some physicality, but he's not an inside zone corner. He's an outside play eyes to the quarterback corner,

which they started him out early in this season. You play him outside, and you play Kendall Fuller over the top, You play DeShayzer Everett at Strong Safety, and then your big nickel becomes Cameron Curl. And that is your best defensive lineup. You play your best defensive lineup against the Detroit Lions, and you should win a game. Wow. That is, that's a bit radical, but I like it. Remember, Cameron Curl was essentially the nickel corner early in the season.

So I was told by somebody to go back to the postseason last year and watch Kendall Fuller. You know, Kendall Fuller did in the postseason for the Chiefs last year. Was he playing free safety? played free safety. And you know what he was? Damn good. Well, and you know what? Remember that game? Which game was it? When I came in here and I said, was Fuller playing some safety? And you said he was. Play three snaps when they were in some blitz packages like week three, week four. Yeah. And they got waxed in a couple of those situations, but not because of Fuller. So you play full, you play Fullert Free, Deshaezer it's strong, curl,

becomes your nickel corner. Yep. And, oh, by the way, and Moreland's playing outside. If you want to take it a step further, this isn't even a debate. You now play Cole Holcomb at middle linebacker, and you play KPL as your offline backer. And if you need to bring somebody in,

if you want a three linebacker package, you can bring in Bostick, but in your nickel situations, Bostick comes off the field. No doubt. No question. Not even. this is a non-issue non-starter don't start this argument with me what if bostick's in there strictly to blitz and maybe a zone blitz situation okay sure okay for bostick in when you want your blitz package whatever I mean you can get away with it one game but you play your best lineup on

defense which means moving moving Kendall fuller to free and taking bostick off the field as much as you can I love that I love that I love see this is where I always say to people. Like when you listen to Chris and he talks about stuff like that, he's giving you like legitimate, you're, you've, one of the things I've always loved about you is you're not afraid to, you know, consider significant change if it makes sense. And you're always looking for it. Like I think you like to look for the radical answer, which is fine. It's not radical. I know it's not radical. I know it's not radical. I'm looking for the best possible scenario. You know what, you're right. It's not radical, but wouldn't you be surprised

if they did it? I could tell you you've got to win the turnover battle if Washington wins if. That would make this a hell of a show, wouldn't it? We would have an outstanding podcast that we should promote nationally. All right. Here's my next one. Washington beats Detroit. And I think this is the biggest question mark going into this game. What are we going to get from Alex? Like, we right this time last week, I told you I think they should have released him. Like, where is the end game? And I still believe that, by the way.

I think this is a path to nowhere. But they're competing in their own mind for a division right now, and he gives them the best chance to win of the quarterbacks that are healthy. So that's fine. But what are we going to get from him? Well, if they're going to beat the Lions, they certainly can't get the Alex from the Rams game. They've got to get something similar to what we saw. last week, obviously minus the turnovers. Really decisive, really quick getting the ball out. A good

distributor of the ball to a group of playmakers that I think you and I both believe are a little bit underrated with respect to the conversation that most fans have about him. McClorin's a real threat. McKissick is a weapon. Maybe Cam Sims becomes the same. Smith is always at his best when things are normal. The offense is ahead of the chains, and he can distribute the ball. based on the threat of run and balance. And by the way, he was prepared as hell last week. We didn't talk enough about that. You know, he came in off the bench and just he looked like he was totally prepared

with the game plan and the offense. He looked very comfortable in the offense. I still was, you know, wanting to see more of Kyle Allen. The three interceptions were clearly an issue. You know, it's the – One was a bad one. It's the old – yeah. None of them are good ones.

I know. But the three intercept. But two of them were not lack of preparation interceptions. Right. So there was a little bit of a shooting. But anyway, other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln? And he did have those three interceptions. But I, you know, I can't deny what I saw last week from him, which was shocking. He looked totally presentable as an NFL quarterback.

And I didn't think that was possible. But at the same time, I'm just wondering, what are we going to get this week? Who the hell knows? But if he's decisive, if he's a quick distributor, if he's smart, he knows the offense, and he doesn't make those mistakes, they're going to be a competitive offense. They're going to be a competent offense like they were with Kyle Allen. So Alex has to be, at the very least, what he was last week for them to have a chance. I completely agree.

and I'm going to give you my last Washington wins if, which kind of goes right off of that. He's got to be what he was last week, but they need two to three, 40 plus yard plays in this game. So he can be what he's supposed to be, right? You get, look what Cam Sims was with speed last week. Man, let's get Cam Sims something deep down the field.

Let's get one of those run action passes where we get him on that post corner post over the top. And you go, ah, look Cam Sims. and if you don't, let's let's let's let's let's let him take coverage and let's get Terry on the deep crosser. Like some of their run action passed up, they haven't gotten hardly anything down the field. They're not a big play team. And Alex is a quarterback that timing is so easy for him to go check down, check down, underneath throw. And he can make all those plays.

But if you don't push coverage, Detroit's going to start to collapse on all those plays. And they're a team that's going to bring a bunch of blitzes. They're a team that's going to show you different looks in the secondary. You get them over the top in a couple situations early. Drop plays where you know you're going to get certain looks and bam, let's hit cam deep over the top. Here we go. Here's Terry, 25, 30 yards down the field and he's going to take and run with one. Now all of a sudden you simplify what they're doing defensively.

They start to say our initial levels got to get more depth to take some of those things away. And here we go. McKissick's on the checkdown. Oh, look, you got Logan Thomas, boom, eight yards and he's turning up and running for seven more. You know, that to me is what Alex needs. right now. That was what good, good, great Alex was in Kansas City when you have Tarek Hill just scorching down the middle of the field and all of a sudden, Kelsey's on a deep corner and now he can hit his underneath stuff in timing. I've got to get a couple big 40 plus yard throws.

You know, it leads me to ask you this question. Remember in 2018, you felt, and I would ask you questions about why is Jay's system, this system with this quarterback? Why isn't he running more quick game stuff with Alex? Why are we dropping him back more? Why aren't we using his mobility more? And you didn't have an answer for it. Like, it was clearly not the right fit for Alex. And whether or not, you know, they would have found what the right fit was had he stayed healthy, I don't know. But they weren't a very good offensive team in 2018. They just weren't. And I'm wondering in watching Alex last week if the system that they've been running with Kyle Allen anyway is much better suited to what he does well. Well, it's simple. I think there's some simplicity to the system that

they've been running with Duane and with Kyle Allen and even with Alex into last week. Now, granted, he's coming off the bench, but Alex Smith isn't a guy that you say, okay, if we had to go to quarterback number two, do we have another series of plays that he feels comfortable with Alex? Alex feels comfortable with everything. I don't know exactly what was going on with Jay's system with Alex. Kev, he's not a straight dropback quarterback unless you got real speed to show him who's a winner right now. So when you say I don't have an answer to that question, The answer was I don't know why Jay is doing that, even though I disagree with what they were doing. I mean, the other thing when you talk about Detroit, they're not good in the back end. Acuta's not playing great football. Trufant's not playing great football right now.

You know, Amani, I can't even pronounce his last name. He was 24. I watch them on film is okay. Justin Coleman's okay, but they're not the devastating lockdown defense. They're a defense that tries to play a ton of man to man. and I don't think they're counted enough to lock you down in man to man. What about Okuda? You said he hasn't looked good?

He's been really average this season, really average. He's going to be pretty familiar with old Terry McLaren, former teammate. I want to mention real quickly on your McKissick thing. Everybody's been talking about the Adrian Peterson revenge game. Hell with that. This is McKissick's revenge game going back to Detroit. The last, thank you to Polly for that. The last thing that I had is, you know, Stafford will hold on to the ball.

They got to get to him. They've got to disrupt him. He'll turn it over. He will take sacks. By the way, he was banged up a little bit last week in that game against Minnesota, had a neck, had a concussion symptoms. He practiced yesterday. I don't know about today.

That's one of the reasons for those of you that were wondering the line wasn't up everywhere. It's a question about Stafford. He also thought he had the Rona last week. They thought he had the Rona last week. The backup, just FYI, is Chase Daniel, who's still in the league. Chase Daniel must be the most beloved quarterback for coaches and coordinators. I loved him when he was with us. I thought he was great.

So anyway, this could be a four-plus sack game. and if it is, it's really going to increase their chances of winning. And I think they can. I think they can get to him a bunch with that defense. And, you know, it's the same thing that I said about the giant game and the cowboy game. I want to see the defense be overwhelmingly dominant. It can be up front. You know, I want to see it just.

I think it was disruptive early last week against the Giants and he ended up getting the fourth and one stop. I think it was disruptive late when they got the ball back twice down 2320. I want to see that kind of disruption because Detroit, if you let Stafford get into a rhythm, he can be damn good. I mean, I've always been a Stafford fan. You know, I don't know about Ghaladay. He may not play this weekend. Hawkinson may not play. I think they're both questionable.

That would be huge for Washington. Neither have practiced this week. Right. So, you know, you cannot let him just sit back there. He will carve you up. and I think they have the potential to get to them and get to them a lot on Sunday and really knock them around. I hope we see that early. I hope we see one of those, you know, sometimes when you're watching a game, at least as a fan, with the team you're familiar with.

And you're like, I think we're pretty good on defense. And then early in the game, it's like, you know, they try to run the ball and it's one yard. And then they drop back and there's immediate pressure, there's an incomplete pass. And they're like, they punt in a three and out. And you're like, okay, I think we're going to be okay defensively. One possession. Like, I'd like to see the game start with two possessions of, like, really disrupting Stafford after they've stopped the run. I don't want to see them come out and AP rips off a seven-yard run.

Second and three, Stafford goes, you know, bootleg. And there's Marvin Jones wide open for 18. Like, you can't be off balance against this guy. He will and can carve you up. They're capable, totally capable of putting 30 plus points up on the board on a decent defense. They are capable of that. So I hope that the defense comes out and is super aggressive and really overwhelms Detroit. Because I think this defensive front is capable of doing that against almost anybody.

I totally agree with you. All right. We'll take a break and be back with the smell test and the lock of the week to finish up. the show. Kevin looks where the John Q public is putting their cash and does the opposite. It's time for the smell test. All right, smell test is brought to you by my bookie.orgie offering right now, if you use my promo code, Kevin DC, a match all the way up to half of your deposit, up to a thousand bucks. So if you deposit $1,000 to open up your account, they'll give you $500 additional dollars to play with. We've got plenty of football the rest of the way

obviously. And you can bet the Masters all weekend long. Cooley, I don't know how much of this you watched yesterday. I watched all of it. I'll be watching the Masters as much as I'll be watching anything this weekend. It's so weird that it's the Masters right now. I know. It is weird, but it's kind of cool. Anyway, my bookie, I've always said this about any of you that want to start gambling. Be careful. All right. It's not for everybody. but if you're going to do it, you want to do it with a reliable shop, a reliable place, and that's MyBooky. My bookie, you can trust them, point spreads, money lines, pricing. Everything is fair, and most importantly, if you win, you'll get paid.

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All right. So the smell test hasn't been very good this year. It's really struggling. We've got a lot of season left. We've got half the NFL season. Let's hope the season doesn't get shut down and I end up with a losing record. College already, Cooley, 11 games called off for tomorrow or postponed.

Maryland, Ohio State, not, you know, is canceled. They're not even going to make that game. I think college is so tough to bet right now because, like, unless you're really keeping track of who's going to play, what coaches have the Rona, who's going to coach, who's going to do what. I know. It's an impossible year to pick these. So, lines could change tons of points in the last day. So it's not even fair to you on the day before like today to pick them.

Yeah, if there's a big outbreak and a game goes off the board, we won't count that on Monday. We're not going to count something like that. Oh, yeah. Corona smell test caveat. So somebody tweeted me last week after listening to, I think they were listening to the two of us talk during this segment. And they said, Sheehan, there's a flaw that you have with your smell test. flaw is you inject too much analysis into it when you've told us all along that it's sort of the anti of analysis.

And I thought that was really interesting because... Normally you give anti-analysis. Normally you say, this team's been really bad and all of a sudden they're a favorite to win. I know, but I think he was referring... Yeah, I get you. But see, I know what he's saying. And there are many times, like, I'll give the pick and then you and I'll end up in a conversation either during the segment or shortly after it, you know, talking about some of these

teams. And look, you know, in some ways, it's just a segue way to get to a conversation about the teams. But let me be clear. The handicapping philosophy has nothing to do with what I personally think. In fact, I can't tell you how many times I put a smell test pick out or I wager on that game myself. And I'm like, oh my God, I just don't see it. I don't see it. I don't see it. it. There's no way this can happen. The team that I'm betting on stinks, and they're playing a team that's really good. So, but that's not the point. The smell test is a contrarian handicapping philosophy. Major anti-public sides backed by information that I get on where Shart money is. And that's always been the philosophy, even if sometimes it, you know, it segues into a conversation

about the teams that are playing each other. Anyway, um, um, I wanted to mention that. I would have definitely had we had a show yesterday, just so everybody knows, I would have given out Indianapolis. And I think most of you know that. I didn't, we didn't have a show yesterday, and I would never take credit for it after the fact, obviously. And I hate people that tell you about all their winners after the fact. But Indy was favored last night at Tennessee. So, of course, you know, based on my philosophy, I would have been on Indy last night.

Everybody was on Tennessee, Cooley. Tennessee was playing that game at home with some fans, I think 20%, and they were getting a point in that game. Anyway, 4151 and 2 on the year. Not good. Not good at all. 3 and 8 last week after two winning weeks in a row. All right, let's start with tomorrow. I gave out Virginia Tech last week as a 15-point favorite against Liberty, who was ranked and undefeated. Ah, that didn't work out. Liberty won the game on a last second field goal outright. This week, I got Virginia Tech again. I don't understand this line at all, nor do most bettors because they're betting the other side.

Miami is six and one and right ninth in the country, and they are a two-point underdog in Blacksburg tomorrow against Virginia Tech. I mean, it's not like Blacksburg is a normal home field advantage, Blacksburg. They're two-point favorites over Miami tomorrow as a four-and-three team playing the ninth-ranked team in the country. take Virginia Tech and lay the two. That makes no sense. Michigan State's getting seven against undefeated and 10th ranked Indiana tomorrow. Indiana has been very impressive. Very, very impressive. By the way, Aden Rafferty and the Rafferty, shout out to you. I coached Aiden in basketball. He is an offensive lineman at Indiana and gets some time. I think he's a redshirt sophomore this year. Aiden was a terrific athlete, all-round athlete. Anyway, Indiana.

is getting, is favored by seven at Michigan State. Last week, remember I gave you Iowa laying seven against Michigan State coming off that win over Michigan. This week, I got Michigan State plus the seven. The betting public really likes this Hoosier team, ranked 10th in the country, undefeated. Michigan State under Mel Tucker, some people questioned that higher. They played well against Michigan a couple of weeks ago, and then they got blown out by Iowa last week. I mean, blown out. And yet they're only getting a touchdown.

Michigan State plus the seven. TCU tomorrow. Is that West Virginia getting three? West Virginia, remember, two weeks ago I had them against K State. They won easily. Last week, they were close, had a chance at Texas. They are laying three at home against TCU. That's not a big number, and the public really likes this Mountaineer team. TCU is so well coached. Gary Patterson's outstanding. I'll take TCU plus the three. There are three more college games. Let me just mention them real quickly. Temple's getting 25 and a half against UCF. The public loves UCF. Don't ask me why they love UCF. I can't tell you that much about either team this year, which again really doesn't matter with the philosophy that I have.

But I like Temple in that one getting the big number. I actually Cooley very much think that Utah State is right tomorrow. They're getting. Well, if you want to know why, use my theory and see if it works. What's your theory? New head coach. Oh, right. They fired Gary Anderson. Cover spread.

Well, they're plus 10. The public loves Fresno. I'll take Utah State. Plus, there's very sharp money on Utah State. I got that note late last night. Check out Utah State. Lots of sharp money. That was the note that I got.

They've been listening to the podcast, all these sharp. No. They're like, Cooney's theory's been working. You fire head coach midseason. You at least cover the next week. And then I like UCLA plus two and a half, buy it to three at home against Utah. Let's go to Sunday where there are a few games I like. I'll start with an obvious one.

And this is like the one I didn't give out last week. I should have given out Dallas. Cooley asked me, why aren't you giving out Dallas? I'm like, I think that line might climb higher, whatever. I should have given out Dallas plus 14 against Pittsburgh. Well, Jacksonville is getting 13 and a half against Green Bay. the world is on the Packers, and especially that it's 13 and a half and not 14. It's like, oh, all they got to do is win by two touchdowns.

I'll take Jacksonville plus the 13 and a half. You want to buy the half point to get it to 14. I think the Chargers come through this week. The public's on Miami, even with some of the issues there this week, but Miami's on a roll. People really like Brian Flores. I do too, by the way. And the Chargers have been so close.

I'll take the Chargers plus the point in a half. The Bills, big win against Seattle last week, now they're at Arizona on Sunday, and the Cardinals coming off that loss to Miami are laying two and a half. The public's on the bills. The bills will become a very popular public play here recently, except for last week against Seattle. I'll take Arizona lay the two and a half. Cooley, the Rams are the right side based on the smell test criteria. The public's on Seattle plus two against the Rams. Here's where I'll just interject this. It has nothing to do with why I'm playing the game. Not too much analysis now. Why I'm playing the game is because the Rams are two-point favorites over Seattle and the world's on Seattle and there is sharp money on L.A. I think we're going to see the beginning of a bit of a fall for Seattle.

Their defense is terrible. I mean, it is terrible. And Russell Wilson's phenomenal. They gave up 44 last week. they gave up 37 two weeks ago. They should have lost to Minnesota. And Minnesota could have scored a lot more, but they were really super conservative in that game.

I think the Rams are good defensively, and this would be of the games that I like this weekend, personally, without the smell test, I think the Rams are going to destroy Seattle Sunday. And then the Patriots in the Sunday night game, nobody's playing New England. And remember, they covered against Buffalo a couple weeks ago, and then barely didn't cover against the Jets Monday night.

It's a Monday night thing into a Sunday night thing. I'm going to take the Patriots plus seven and a half because the public really likes Baltimore in this game. And if you're wondering why I'm not on Chicago, I've been so right about Minnesota all year long, six and O involved in games with them. I actually personally believe Chicago will win this game. They're an underdog at home,

but there is sharp money on Minnesota. That line, Minnesota's two and a half, and it wouldn't surprise me if they're a three-point favorite with sharp money on them on Monday night. I don't buy it, though, because I actually think Chicago is a good team defensively. I think they're really good defensively. And this has been the worst division matchup for Cousins

since he got into the NFC North, but I'm staying off that game because there's too much sharp money on Minnesota. I almost gave out Chicago as a play. So anyway, let me recap the pick. Virginia Tech, Michigan State, TCU, Utah State, Temple, UCLA, Jacksonville, the Chargers, the Cardinals, Rams, and Patriots. So that is 11 plays this week. If I go 11 and O Cooley, I'm up for the year. All right.

What's your lock of the week? I have two. Okay. I have not taken Washington into my lock. of the week yet this year. Okay. Who you like us? They're going to win.

They're going to win the game. I think Washington beats Detroit. Detroit's laying three and a half, but I think Washington wins out, right? That line might be a little bit higher in some spots. It's four, four and a half, five now. I'll give you the three and a half, though. It doesn't matter. I mean, I think Washington's-

No, wait a minute, wait a minute. That's right. They're a dog. I'm going to give you four and a half. I'm going to give you Washington plus four and a half. I'll take it. And then look, the Chargers are, the Chargers are really good football team. And you can only find so many ways to not win ball games.

And just because Tua played pretty well in his second game as an NFL starter, granted, against a good defense in Arizona, it doesn't mean that I'm all over Tua. And the other thing, Miami's not going to keep scoring on defense. You just don't. You don't keep scoring points on defense. I think they're like at 20, 21, 24 points. Well, they can't score a field goal on defense.

But essentially, they've accounted for over 30 points in the last two weeks with turnovers down in the red zone and turnovers for touchdowns. The Chargers are going to win this game. Chargers are going to find a way to win this game. And that's going to crush Miami. I don't think two will plays well. I like Herbert, man. I do.

He's been awesome. He has been awesome. And I think the Chargers finally find a way to win a game, which really doesn't do them much good in that division. I'm going to give you Washington plus four and a half and you get the Chargers plus one and a half. There you go. You're predicting a Washington win. Do you have a final score for me? Yeah, I think you're going to get a win here, 27 to 17.

God, I hope you're right. It's better for us if they stay in this race. I like Detroit 23 to 20, same score they lost by last week. I have no idea what we're going to see from Alex Smith, but I am fascinated to watch. By the way, one last point on this game, Dwayne Haskins, young man, be ready, be ready in case you've got to go into the game. When you weren't ready against the Giants and the Vikings last year coming off the bench, it was a disaster. three interceptions against the Giants and a half basically, an interception and a couple of sacks against the Vikings and a half.

I really want and hope the people around him and him in particular, because it really does come down to him. I hope he is preparing. I hope he is working hard at this thing. I hope he is the first one in the last to leave right now. I hope it is translatable onto the field. We're going to see Dwayne Haskins again this year. You know, the injury to Kyle Allen guaranteed that pretty much.

And it could come Sunday, as we know. I mean, we were not expecting Alex Smith to play against the Rams, and we weren't expecting him to play last week. Dwayne couldn't play the last several weeks because he was the inactive third quarterback, but he will be suited up and he could easily go into that game Sunday. I hope he's ready to play, and I hope he plays coolly with the urgency and the competitiveness that we saw him play with at times last year at the end of last year. I thought he was starting to get comfortable.

We never saw that this year. Anyway. One last thing before we move on. Yes. This Giants Philly game is huge for us. Yeah. I mean, I give the Giants. I give the Giants a chance.

Definitely give them a chance. I almost put them in there. I almost put Denver in there, too. But there were a couple reasons. I mean, but smell test or not smell test, it would be so. big to have the Giants come up with a win against the Eagles. Yeah, then Washington. So big, especially, the other thing is especially is if you end up with shortened games,

you're further, if you end up with two less games this season and it just goes to win percentage. Yeah. You need Philly to start losing games right now. Right. You're right. Right now. So this Giants game is absolutely huge.

If Washington wins, if you're right, and the Giants win, which they're capable of doing against Philadelphia, they should have won two weeks ago. They had 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. Then Washington will once again be in second place, a half game out of first. All right. We're rolling for the day. I am going to be in tomorrow because I missed doing a podcast yesterday. I'm going to do a podcast tomorrow morning.

It will be available late morning, early afternoon. I'm going to be doing it with J.P. Finley, some of it with J.P. Finley. And we'll have something else for you to consume over the weekend. but listen to this. Don't forget, subscribe, review, and rate where you can. Subscribing really helps us. Rating and reviewing really, really helps the podcast. And keep spreading the word that even if people don't know how to listen to a podcast, they can just go to the Kevin Sheehan Show.com, and it's right there. Have a great safe weekend. Cooley, I'll talk to you Monday.

See you.