The Kevin Sheehan Show - A Slip & Slide Shutout + Tony Kornheiser

Episode Date: October 21, 2019

Kevin opened with a recap of the Skins' 9-0 shutout loss to the 49ers. He discussed the Trent Williams news from over the weekend and went Around the NFL as well. Tony Kornheiser was on the show to talk World Series and Redskins too. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now, here's Kevin. I'm here. Aaron's here. Tony Kornheiser is going to be a guest on the show later on. I'm destroying a box of chips-ahoy thins. Aaron, you seem to be unfamiliar with the thin cookies. I mean, I'm familiar with them, but I've never had the chips-a-hoy. Yeah, the problem with the thins is that on a per-cookie basis, you're getting less cookie. than the original or the regulars. The problem is you've got to eat like 17 of them. They're really good. The Oreo thins are pretty good too.

Hey, we've got a World Series game tomorrow night. And the Nats know who their opponent is. It's the Astros after a Saturday night that just was awesome. And I was at the Penn State-Michigan game, but I got back to where we were going a bar afterwards to see the ninth-inning two-run homer that tied the game and then the Altovae 2-run walk-off homer that won it for the Astros in the bottom of the 9th. It's Houston, it's Washington, it's amazing, but the World Series starts tomorrow night,

and a team from Washington is in it. They'll play the first two games in Houston. It's a two-three-two format. Houston's game one tomorrow night, game two, Wednesday night. The series shifts back here for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, if necessary. There is rain in the forecast for this weekend. another potential soaker, but right now it looks like Friday would be okay, Saturday would be the problem if we end up having rain, but plenty of time for that forecast to change between now and then.

How about the fact that Houston opened up as a minus 235 favorite? The biggest favorite since 2007. Red Sox Rockies. How? Did that surprise you? No, I didn't necessarily expect 220, but I didn't think, I thought it was going to be around 200. I expected the Astros to be a heavy favor. Really?

I didn't think it would be that big. of a favorite. But it is, and it's come down a little bit in series price. Like on my two sites, it's minus 225, you know, as of 10 minutes ago. But still, for those of you that don't understand that, you have to wager $225 to win $100 if you bet on Houston. All right, that's a two, that's a two and a quarter to one favorite. All right, that's a big time favorite in baseball. The Nats, the comeback, meaning if you bet the Nats, you are plus 185 right around there. And that means if you bet $100, you would win $185. And that's a pretty hefty underdog approaching a two-to-one underdog.

What I am surprised, I'm a little surprised at the game one line. Game one, Astros are a minus 190 favorite. Yeah, over Max Scherzer with Garrett Cole, who's been unhittable. He has given up one earned run, and he has struck out. 32 in three postseason starts. That's been awesome. That's pretty good. And then the game two matchup is set with Verlander and with Strasbourg.

And then for now, Corbyn will start game three. It'll just be interesting if they get into a bind in one of these first two games, if Dave Martinez would use Corbyn and then maybe push his start back to game four. We'll see. Heavy favorite, the Astros are still a lot of excitement, and we'll do a lot of world series preparation and preview tomorrow and Tommy's on the show. All right, let's get to the Redskins. A 9-0-0 loss to the 49ers at home. They covered. They did cover. They did cover. You know, as far as, like a lot of you seem, I tweeted out a couple of things after the game.

I'll be honest. I'm becoming less and less interested in the Redskins. And, you know, on an NFL Sunday, where, by the way the smell test was terrible this weekend. Worst weekend of the year. I'm still way up for the year. I mean, for those of you that complained, a lot of you didn't complain about the weekend. You really were upset about the Denver pick on Thursday night, as we talked about on Friday. So yeah, I mean, I've given out a lot more winners than losers, but a rough weekend for the smell test, a rough weekend, actually, Aaron, just for wagering in general, because I had other games. In addition, you know, I had Cincinnati yesterday. I did bet Arizona and I did bet Dallas last night. And I told you I leaned Redskins and Cowboys, and the Redskins did cover. I actually

did not bet the Redskins. After I saw the field conditions, I just said, I don't know what's going to happen in this game. But anyway, look, there are two things that can be true at the same time. I can say about the game yesterday, hey, I thought it was a professional effort. They competed hard. And at times, I actually thought they played pretty well. I can say, can say that and also and at the same time also believe that this is a total shit show of an organization that they are in complete and utter chaos dysfunction and it's not going to change anytime soon and i hate all of them right now because of what they've done to my favorite team so both things can be true i just i get a kick out of the people on twitter that see me tweet out at the end of

the game yesterday and i'll read you exactly the tweet missed a field goal, seven penalties, more than anything else, the Peterson fumble late third quarter doomed them. Defense was pretty good until the final drive, and I wrote a pro effort today. And then I said, one in six, countdown to Haskins in 2020. And people ripped me for saying a pro effort today. I actually thought that they played pretty decently and had a legitimate shot to win the game. They did.

The game was there for the taking. The 49ers were undefeated coming in, 5 and 0. They left 6 and 0, but they had to earn it. It was not an easy win. The game could have gone either way. If you pull back from the macro, which is the organizational mess and the hopelessness that we have right now in the organization that we have as fans in terms of where this organization is headed, you can still in the micro, in the game upon, you know, the game itself as a standalone, you can say, hey, they, had a chance to win the game because you know why? They did. Three nothing, late third quarter, driving for at least a game-tying field goal attempt, and Adrian Peterson fumbled. And that was the biggest

change, biggest play of the game, game changing play of the game. So in the macro, though, yesterday was another wasted opportunity to begin the process of building for the future. Adrian Peterson, and when I get to my game take, which I will do. Adrian Peterson was good at times yesterday, really good. He was among the key reasons they even had a chance to win the game. Adrian Peterson's more likely than not going to be on the team next year. More likely than not won't be on the team whenever if it does, if it is ready to compete and have games that matter in the standings.

He's not going to be on the team. So I wouldn't play him. That's just me. I would be trying out Craig Reynolds. I would be trying out anybody that potentially could be a part of your future. Case Keenham's not under contract after this year. He more likely than not will be somewhere else next year as a backup at best. Why in God's name is he starting games in a lost season with a quarterback on the roster

that you drafted 15th overall? Why? The answer keeps coming as he's not ready. And old man Callahan said it after the game yesterday, that not only is he not ready, but Dwayne would admit that he's not. not ready. He's not ready to hand the ball off in the rain and throw a grand total of 12 passes. Are you serious? By the way, if he isn't ready to do what Case Keenham did yesterday, that is becoming a major indictment on where he was drafted. Major indictment. If you took this guy in the

second or third round, which by the way is the grade that apparently nearly half the teams in the league had on him, then we wouldn't be pushing as hard. We'd be pushing, but we'd be pushing, but wouldn't be nearly as irate or nearly as worried that a top half of the pick was wasted. What we've seen and begged for for over a year still hasn't sunk in with the brain trust in Ashburn. They aren't close to anything important. They weren't last year. They aren't this year. They more likely than not won't be next year. We know Case Keenham is a nice guy and a hard worker. This is nothing to do with him. If he was actually good, which he isn't, and the team was four in three or three and four, then I think we'd all sort of understand some of this, but the team is

one and six. And the one was barely a one. Beating the dolphins by one point was another alarm bell that should have gone off for Dan and Bruce, but they keep sleeping through all the alarm bells. zero points, Aaron, on a day that you could argue you didn't play that poorly. And they got zero points. That should be an even louder alarm bell. You actually didn't suck yesterday. And you scored zero points. They scored zero points.

That's what we've been reduced to, by the way. We're not comparing their performances to the performances of competent NFL franchises. We're comparing their performances to their previous performances, which have been barely of NFL caliber. So they didn't play as badly yesterday as they have, but they also didn't score yesterday. We've beaten the big picture to death over the last weeks, months, years. We all know it's time to move on to 2020 and beyond. You know it, I know it. Aaron knows it.

The rest of the league knows it. the rest of the interested world in professional football knows it. They apparently don't at Redskin Park. You know, I mentioned this morning. They're essentially they got redskin helmets on with drool cups hanging off of them, telling each other and convincing each other that if Alex Smith hadn't broken his leg last year, they would be reigning Super Bowl champions. They're just utterly detached from reality.

And it's impossible to help them anymore. We've tried, you know. We're not going to games anymore. many of you aren't even watching the games. There's been, you know, pleading on sports talk radio from people like me and columnists and blogs that have just ripped them. There are people around the league that keep weighing in saying what a complete and utter joke the franchise is. We've tried hashtags, memes, jiffs, or gifts, however you pronounce it, they aren't listening. They think we're the ones that are crazy.

So anyway On radio this morning I asked basically myself Why am I doing a game take on the game yesterday? And the reason is really simple Like first of all, I'm not giving up You know, I'm staying in the fight I'm going to fight to the finish

And if we don't keep it this thing What are we going to talk about? If we're not watching these games And evaluating the games the way we do We'll be out of practice when it matters But there are players and coaches is that have a future here and we should be evaluating them. That's the basis for so many of our conversations and it has been over the years. So let's get to it. Let's get to the game

take. Pay attention. Here's Kevin's Game Take. All right, there are a few things I actually liked. As I mentioned, I think, you know, if you're evaluating the game, not the two franchises and the state of the two franchises, if you were just tuning in to watch a football game and you were trying to objectively evaluate it, you would have said this was a game that was winnable by either team late into the fourth quarter. One of the reasons it was is because of Adrian Peterson. I love him.

I love watching him. He's a badass. He's a competitor. It's always been something that I try to identify as a sports fan. And by the way, as a coach, as a basketball coach, on and off for 25 years. I mean, I've got that perspective, and a lot of you have that similar perspective. You know people who are innate, tough, competitive people versus those who are not innately

competitive. By the way, I think it is something that tends to be innate, not taught. You know, I love the parents, you know, and Aaron, you'll get there at some point, hopefully, and you'll, you know, you'll see parents that will be, you know, really, you know, screaming at Charlie to try harder, to compete harder. But you know what? There's nothing wrong with just being a nice kid. You know, there's this kind of thing is innate.

I'm telling you, I've coached for 25 plus years of my life. And my feeling is these insanely competitive traits you're born with. You're not taught. Leave little Charlie alone if he's just having a good time out there with his friends. and if he's not really competing or if he doesn't fight back when there's some contact, that may not be Charlie's nature, and that's okay. Little Charlie's going to be fine. Adrian Peterson, at six years old, I guarantee you if he got hit in the mouth was punching back.

He is a born competitor. And by the way, the thing that I love about him, too, at 34 years old, he's still playing with that urgency, you know, that never half-assing it. You're going to win with people like Adrian Peterson, not at 34 years old, getting ready to turn 35 and beyond. His best days are by him. You know, it's interesting to watch him, though, because if he doesn't beat you with, you know, some of those physical characteristics, you know, speed, you know, power, if he doesn't beat you you with a good move because he's got great vision, he just basically, he just basically, carries you for two yards. He must have had at least three runs yesterday where he got an extra

yard or two that no other running back would get. Maybe Zeke Elliott. I don't know. I like Adrian Peterson a lot and he made the biggest, you know, error of the day. The fumble was the thing that really ultimately determined the game more likely than not. I'm not saying that the Redskins would have definitely won the game. They were headed for at least a game-tying field goal attempt. very least. I don't know. I like him a lot. He is, you know, in that opening drive, they just kept handing him the ball. He actually got the ball nine times in that opening drive. Eight of them counted because there was a penalty on one of the plays. 49 yards, eight carries on the opening drive. It was a tone setter. And then old Dustin Hopkins comes out and misses. You know,

it's a tough field, tough end of the field, I understand. Anyway, I liked Adrian Peterson in the game yesterday. I liked a lot of what I saw on defense until the last few drives. Obviously, the weather and field conditions made it tough for everybody in the game. But the defense played pretty well with the exception of those final two drives. They got, they were good against the run for much of the day. They tackled well, you know, especially considering the conditions. They got pressure on Garoppolo, who by the way isn't very good. Garopolo's just not that good. He's the limiting, he's the limitation for the 49ers this year, I think. There were several outstanding defensive performances.

Landing Collins played pretty well again. Ionitis was a monster. Pain, Allen, Kerrigan, sweat had his moments. Dunbar is damn good. Apkey had the interception and a really good return. You could see his speed on the return. He also got beat, you know, in for Nicholson. The bottom line is the defense held the Niners to nine points in under 300.

yards. That's a winning effort. Would the Niners have produced more on a dry field in good weather conditions? Maybe, probably, but the defense did its part. The last thing that I liked, and this apparently was controversial when I said it this morning, according to some of you on Twitter, I actually thought that Kevin O'Connell, for the most part, made this very clear this morning. There were things that I didn't like. But for the most part, felt things that. game, the score, the type of game it was, low possession, fast moving, and called a decent game. I would have preferred more shots. I would have. You know, more early down and distance, play action shots. But I also told you on Friday that teams don't throw the football against

the 49ers. And when you do, you are turning their best part of their defense at a quarterback that potentially is going to take some big hits, fumble, and the game could get away from you. I thought O'Connell had a really nice third and 12 screen to Smallwood, had a second and 18 draw to Peterson early that got him into that position, I think right before the fourth and one miss. Again, should he have thrown the ball more? Or receivers at an advantage over DBs on a field like that, probably?

I don't know. O'Connell's one of the guys that we need to be paying a touch. attention to here over the final nine games. Is he a legitimate play caller? Is he a good schemer, offensive schemer? I know people were frustrated with the lack of imagination and the shovel passes to Sims Jr. every time he was in the game. I get it. It was a weird game though yesterday. You know, the Redskins only had seven possessions in the game. I don't count that final one when they got it back down nine nothing with 23 seconds. Only seven possessions in the entire game. And so you were in one of those bad weather, fast-moving, low-possession games where it's zero-zero at

halftime, it's 3-0 at the end of the third quarter, and you don't want to be the team that makes the crucial error. And dropping them back a lot, and by the way, did you see him throw the football? He wasn't comfortable throwing the football. He's not very good, and the ball was wet, and you're turning the best part of the San Francisco defense after a quarterback who isn't comfortable in the weather. Of course I would have played Dwayne Haskins. That's beside the point. He wasn't. And you could have gotten blown out had you gotten too aggressive in the game. Anyway, yeah, I would have preferred more shots. All right, things I didn't like. The defense at the end, just, you know, they did enough and they did plenty to win the game.

But they needed one or two more stops, and they couldn't get them. The 49ers, in the game yesterday, moved the ball on all four of its second half drives. They only had the ball four times in the second half. They moved it and threw a pick, which was a good play by Apki, on the first possession of the second half. And then the Niners' final three drives were eight plays, 67 yards, field goal, 12 plays, 55 yards, field goal. And then the final drive was the worst one of the day for the defense. It's still a one-score game at 6-0. There's 6 minutes and 42 seconds left.

And the Niners go 11 plays, 55 yards, eating up all but 23 seconds of the clock and kick a game-clinching field goal to make it 9-0. And the worst part of that final drive is the defense gave up big yards on the ground. Six of the seven-niner plays to start that drive were runs. for 35 yards, so nearly six yards per carry. So the Skins defense certainly in its entire day. Overall, nine points less than 300 yards, had a good day. But they needed at least one more stop to give the offense one last chance

in a one-score game, and the Niners ran it down their throats to finish the game. I hated the fourth and one call. We've had this conversation before, but we've all watched enough football to know that on fourth and one, when you line up heavy with a bunch of tight ends and a bunch of extra offensive linemen, and you've got your tail back and you're essentially saying, we're going to run it right at you. We're going to go hat on hat, we're going to win at the point of attack, and we're going to get this half yard.

We've seen it over the years, you know, when the opponent's got to, like 10 in the box. I mean, didn't you know pre-snap Aaron on that fourth and one that they weren't going to make it? Oh, yeah. I mean, we all, we have a good sense of these things as football as football fans. I like, first of all, sneaking it, you know, is an option there. Spreading the ball and running it is perhaps a better option. Going heavy and then going play action with a fullback or a tight end that gets loose, you know, with a quarterback on the edge, that's an option. But you just, the line it up, this is what we're going to do. We're handing it to our guy, and our line is going to blow you off the ball at the point

of attack. Just never works. Remember this about the running game. It's one of the geniuses of sort of the, you know, the read option and turning these quarterbacks into dual threats is that you're now more even up in the run game. The run game starts with the defense having 11 and you having 10. and you having 10, but really nine when you take away the ball carrier that can block 11. So you're down too.

You know, the quarterback's not blocking, and the quarterback's not a runner in that situation. The running back has the ball, they're not a blocker. So you've got nine blocking 11. It's a disadvantage. Dustin Hopkins missed a crucial field goal. Yesterday is one of those games. He's like, you know, I'm not saying that it would have made the difference completely, but he missed a field goal in that situation.

And getting a 3-0 lead may have been huge. How about the penalties? Didn't like those. I mean, you know, they've got refs in a practice. They've got the music off. There's a new era of discipline and accountability. Jay's gone, thank God, because now they can get back to solid, clean football. Yeah, right.

seven penalties yesterday in the game. A bunch of holding penalties, two on sheriff, by the way, seven penalties for 47 yards. They're still lacking in lots of discipline. And, you know, this notion that old man Callahan had when he took over and he held that first press conference, it's all about rushing attempts and completion percentage. Well, they got their rushing attempts yesterday, and they got their completion percentage, and it led to zero points. That's a guy stuck in basically the wrong decade. He's not a head coach moving forward for anybody. Nice man.

Really seems like a pleasant fella. It's not about completion percentage and attempts. It's about what are you averaging on those attempts? What is your completion percentage getting you? You know what it got him yesterday? 77 yards from Case Keenham. By the way, is an aside, 49ers have now held the starting quarterbacks of their last three opponents to 100 yards,

78 yards, and 77 yards. That is amazing. Baker Mayfield, 8 for 22, 100 yards two weeks ago. Jared Gough last week, 13 of 24, 78 yards. Case Keenham, 9 of 12, 77 yards. The 49ers are really good. I do think their limitation is Garapolo. I really do. A couple of other things. Have you seen a field like that in modern NFL, like the last four or five years? Not quite like that, not the slip and slide. I mean, by the way, the slip and slide at the end that apparently people took offense to, Larry did on the broadcast. I don't have a problem with that.

Why would you? They get so many other issues that are so much more serious. And by the way, it's like, you know, it's Nick Bosa. He's a rookie. The game ends. And it's like, we, they're not. That was not a rub-in-in-in move. I didn't think.

No, that was a, we're going to celebrate. And you know what? This is a cool, unique way to celebrate because we never get to do this. Never get to do this. It's better than running into the end zone as a full team and celebrating an interception. I've never seen such bad drainage. I've never seen. And you don't see with all the field turf now, you don't see mud games anymore.

I used to love mud games. I may have given this recommendation out in the past. I gave it out on the radio show. If you're like me of a certain age when you remember true mud games, the best mud game is available on YouTube. Just search on YouTube, Rams Vikings' 1977 NFC playoffs. The Coliseum was the venue. It had rained like it was rainy season in L.A. It had been raining all week.

You'll never see a field like that. I actually enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it. A couple of other things about the game. Case Keenham overall, to me, he's a nice guy. He competes hard. He tries to make plays. He's just not that good.

I mean, come on. This is what we've said when they signed him. He's just not that good. The Minnesota year was the aberration. Everything around him was perfect that year. They had a dominant defense, a great running game, a really good and healthy offensive line, and everything broke right for a guy like him in that season.

He's a low end of the league from 27 to 32 starter, but really what he is is he's more a backup on a decent team. He's starting because it's the Redskins. He shouldn't be anymore. It should be Dwayne Haskins from this point forward. By the way, that was a fast NFL game, man. That game was over 3,000. 38 p.m. As mentioned, basically a 14, 15 possession game. The Redskins had seven real possessions

in the game. And it was the first scoreless first half in the NFL since December of 2017. All right, a couple of other things. You can turn the music down. Kirk, Kyle, Kirk. I've got Kirk on the brain after the performance yesterday, sorry. Speaking of which. We'll get to that here shortly. Okay. What? No, I was going to bring up something about Kirk, but we'll get to it shortly. Kyle Shanahan gave the game ball to his father. He said this about the game afterwards, about whether or not he really, you know,

whether or not this game came with any extra juice. I mean, it's, I mean, I've been in a number of buildings, and not all of it always ends good. But, you know, it had nothing to do with the game. You know, I think it was a, so everyone's a little more sensitive things that things involve your family. So that's why it's always, I'm always a little more sensitive to this because of what I went through with my dad here. And that's why it was nice to get the win. But it had definitely had nothing to do with the game, has nothing to do with the score. But you always want to take care of things the right way when you're bothered by how some things have been for a family member.

And that was Kyle after the game. Gave his father the game ball. The net of what happened here really is, you know, a lot of you were upset and with the record and you don't want to hear about the Shanahan's having a problem with the Redskins. But you just look at everybody else. Everybody else that leaves here with the exception of Gibbs is in the same boat. You know, losing record, dysfunction, you know, not feeling good about the organization. That's just what happens here.

The Shanahan's are no different. The big difference is they had a really good, you know, group of, coaches in the building. They did, and the owner sabotaged that by empowering the number two pick in the draft, Robert Griffin III, and essentially turning the quarterback against the coach, empowering, not allowing Mike Shanahan to be the final say and the final voice, not allowing his direct coaches, quarterback coaches, offensive coordinators to be more of his mentors, more of the final say. And unfortunately,

RG3 didn't have enough maturity to understand what was going on. It's honestly, you know, for Griffin, and I've said this many times, he should be more upset than anybody else because ultimately the best thing that could have happened for RG3 would have been to stay with the Shanahan's

and McVeigh and LaFleur and be, you know, coached by them. But instead, He felt really good about the owner's infatuation with him, and it got sideways for a lot of reasons. And, you know, I'm sure Mike, you know, would admit that he probably didn't handle a lot of those things well. You know, he mentioned when he was a guest with me on radio about a month ago that, you know, he didn't like the way he handled maybe the McNabb situation, you know, at the end and other things.

But look, the root cause of all of this stuff is Dan Snyder and Bruce Allen. They are absolutely. the root cause of all of this mess that the Redskins are in right now and all of the people that have come through and have had problems with them. The 49ers, I think, are a good team. I don't think they're a championship team. That's my view. I think the quarterback is a limitation on that.

All right, I'll get to the Trent Williams stuff here in a little bit. Tony's going to join me here next. Quick word about mybooky.orgie.org. Go to mybooky.org.org. Use my promo code, Kevin, D.C., and they'll double your first. first deposit. Forget about what you're betting on. That's important. You've got to find the place to bet through first, a place that you can rely on with fast payouts and better lines than other sports books. And mybooky.ag is one of those places. Don't do the research on your own. You can,

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Let's bring in a good friend of mine who's never been on the podcast, Tony Kornheiser. And it's funny because I've thought about bringing you on the podcast a number of times. I know we tried to work it out. You're not going to remember any of this. It doesn't even matter to you, which is fine. It matters to me. but in the early days of my podcast after you so generously helped me get my podcast started when I left radio over a year ago,

I invited you on and you couldn't do it. And then I think I invited you another time and you couldn't do it. And then I think I just sort of figured, you know what, it's not really something he wants to do, which is fine. But I know that's not true either. You're here now. I'm excited about it. And I thought of you because you're really into the nets.

and you're really into the fact that there's a World Series in Washington, and I thought perfect timing, too, because we can talk about the Redskins being one and six. First of all, how are you? How's your back? I'm not good. Nobody wants to hear how bad I am, but I'm just not good. And the truth of the matter is, and I don't want to go on anybody's podcast. I didn't want to go on Simmons podcast, and I love Simmons, and the reach of that podcast is astonishing. But I avoid all, I just avoid almost everything, because it's who I am. But I love you and I'm happy to talk to you.

I know. And my reach isn't anywhere near Simmons's reach. But there are a lot of people that are listening and a lot of people that listen to your podcast. I'm glad. I'm glad. Listen to this podcast. Good. What's your favorite sport?

To play, to watch, what, to talk about? All of them. Yeah, I mean, I grew up with baseball. The sport I know the least about is football, obviously. nobody knows much about football unless they study it and look at film, and I have nothing in my life that wants me and compels me to look at film. But baseball is what I grew up with. Baseball, I understand when I first started out as a sports writer, I took baseball trips to replace in the summer the regular baseball writers who wanted some time off. And I learned baseball the way that everybody learns baseball in those days.

you go to the dugout four hours before a game and you talk to the manager. And he tells you everything he did the night before and you learn. So I had like a crash course in baseball when I was in my 20s and I've remembered it. And I love it. I do. I mean, I love it. I do. I love basketball too and you actually. I do. And I think you know a lot about basketball. I think that's always been, you know, whether.

It's tough working with Wilbon who loves basketball so much. and so I sort of have gone the other way, you know, because I don't want to just have a love fest for basketball all the time, but I do. I know it pretty well, sure. Why are you so excited about the Nationals being in the World Series? It's a World Series. I mean, you know, a World Series is a very exciting event. The two events that are the most exciting are, you know, in a professional city are the Super Bowl in the World Series, and you never get the Super Bowl in your city unless you live in a warm weather place or, you know, New Orleans or something like that.

it's wonderful to have your own team in a World Series. It's just, it's really nice. It's the culmination of the entire year or maybe even more than that year, and it's very surprising to me because their bullpen is so dreadful, so it's surprising they got there, and I'm sort of enchanted by it, and I have a ticket for game three, and I'm very excited about that. Wow. Even though it's late at night, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, you were at one of the NLCS games because a friend of mine, well, you know, Nico Pappas was sitting either right behind you or right in front of you. But so, so that's great. Did you stay till the end, by the way? No. Okay. No, no.

Will you stay until the end of the words? Oh, come on. I mean, it's a World Series. You just said it's the World Series. I'll try to stay till the end, but I go, you know, I'm tired. I don't want to have anybody look at me in the stands and see me asleep. So, you know, we'll take that. I'm happy to go there, though.

Will you be going with Michael? Yep, yep, yep. So, by the way, I have. had Mori Povich on the show the other day. He was great. Of course he's great. Everyone, I don't understand why Fox doesn't do a whole thing with Mori, honestly, to talk about Shirley and to talk about the senators that he remembers. Yeah, he was so good. He was on the radio. He wasn't on the podcast with me. So you are, for those that don't know, I mean, you grew up, you know, obviously in New York, and you were a Met fan, right, growing up? Yep, yep. But you're now, you're now a Nationals fan.

Yeah, it's sold out. Wilbon yells at me. Wilbon believes you have to stay with the same team forever and ever and ever, no matter what. And I believe that it's fun to root for the team in your own city that you see all the time, because baseball is a local sport. It's not a national sport. The ratings prove that. The World Series will get good ratings, and the playoffs are okay, but those games of the week, they don't do much. It's not like football. What does it do for this city and for baseball in this city? Oh, I don't know. I mean, those are such long-reaching. questions. I don't know what it does for the city. I think people are happy that the Nats are in it. I think the Nats have been fun. I think they've been very successful over the short period of time that they've been around. I don't think that anybody looks at the Washington Nationals and says,

well, I'm going to rethink what I think of Washington, D.C. And people write that columnists who have nothing else to do write about the impact of, you know, a major sporting event on a city, and they've talked to three cab drivers. And, you know, they really don't know their behinds from third base. They don't, and none of us understands any of this. It's just a pleasant thing to have that unites the people of a city who are inclined towards that team, which is what the Capitals did in the Stanley Cup with their watch parties, which sort of amazed me.

And each time that there is a successful team around here, you think more and more about how terrible the Redskins are. It makes you sad, doesn't it? It does. I mean, I think as a native Washingtonian, I think it's actually kind of cool that the city is getting this sort of attention. But I understand what you're saying. I think actually a much more interesting conversation, and it's not for everybody, and I recognize that. And not everybody delves into things like television ratings like you and I do.

But I think the conversation about the impact on the Nats standing in the city among the sports teams is an interesting conversation. and where it's going because of this run? Well, I mean, I hope it's high. I'd certainly think if you talk about the four major teams, the four major leagues and you're leaving out all the other leagues. If we do that, the Redskins are still number one, but the slippage is enormous. The basketball team is four.

You know, and I mean, I don't even know what they're doing. Hockey might be two coming out of a Stanley Cup, but hockey is a really niche audience. So I think it's the Nats are two and rising, don't you? Yeah, I do. I think it's definitely number two. I've always felt, and I'm not sure that you felt the same way. I have always felt because I know this city and how important basketball is

and how many people are involved in basketball, from parents to playing, to coaching, to roughing, all of it, that if the wizards were actually ever any good and they played into late May in June, I think that would be your number two. But it just doesn't seem like it's very possible. I think the Nats with this run are clearly number two over the caps. I think they're gaining on the Redskins. The Redskins, I don't know how you feel about this, and I don't even know if I'm right. But I, you know, I was going back and forth between the Red Zone and the Redskins yesterday afternoon. And when the Redskins kicked the first field goal, they made the attempt and they missed.

Maybe it was just the people in the end zone, but there was enormous cheering, enormous cheering when the Redskins missed that field goal. And because people were wearing ponchos and weren't necessarily identified as 49er fans or Redskins fans, I mean, I got the sense, my God, this team is 3,000 miles away, and they have as many people in there,

or maybe just in key locations, but as many people in there as the Redskins have, it's very I don't want to use the word depressing because that overrates it but when I got here 40 years ago and I came from New York in New York there's two of everything

so there's not any one thing that is dominant there isn't there isn't any one team that everybody coalesces around and the Redskins were that I'd never seen anything like it and they were that for 30 years for 30

but in the last five, six years, they're not that anymore. And they're selling tickets to fans from other teams, and they are there in abundance. And then you see the huge swaths of empty seats sometimes when there's, you know, when there's just no draw for the other team. Like if Jacksonville were to play here, there'd be 20,000 empty seats, and you go, wow, what happened? What happened? So I do think about that.

whereas the nationals, and they're in the middle of the pack in attendance. They're not in the top five or six or anything like that, but everybody who goes there seems to be a Nats fan, seems to wear something having to do with the Nats. They sort of move the Philly fans out, move the Mets fans out by and large, and the experience seems to be much more positive when you go to a game, don't you think? Oh, yeah. Yes, of course.

I mean, the Redskin fan base has eroded at an alarming rate. I mean, it's what Snyder... It's sort of like the polar ice cap. It's never coming back. Yeah, but it's actually a faster decline. I mean, the erosion in recent years is almost exponential. I mean, we've seen moments in the past, you know, during the Snyder ownership era,

where, you know, the Pittsburgh fans came in and took over the park in 2008. But nothing like what we've seen over the last two years in particular. And the television ratings, which you follow and I follow, and I think they are more reflective of true interest than attendance, because attendance is just a fraction of the people that are actually watching and consuming the game. I mean, they have fallen to numbers. I mean, the game last week did a 14-something. That game last week would have been doing a 2930 just five years ago.

So you've lost half your television audience. too. I agree. I agree. And yesterday's game could not be highly rated. No chance. No, no possibility. Yeah, I mean, look, you know me. I watch these games and I spend a bunch of time yacking about the games the following day. I'm going back and forth with Red Zone. I'm more interested in better football. Back to the baseball. Do you like that it's sort of a throwback series and throwback team with respect to or because of, the starting pitching being so important and so impactful? You know, I think that that's one of those trends that is being over-analyzed and over-discussed and all of that.

There are some teams that have better bullpens than they have starting pitchers, but if you have starting pitchers, you're going to use starting pitchers, seven innings if you can, and maybe more if they're hot. The entire World Series will be decided in effect when you see what Scherzer and Strasbourg do against Colin Verlander. That's exciting for me, just because that's the baseball, that I understand. I don't understand starting relievers and putting in nine relievers. And, you know, the Nats Bullpen is so awful that they can barely, you know,

they can barely get 15 outs if they started relievers and just went with them. They'd be still out there. Well, I mean, out there for eternity. I thought it was really interesting the way Dave Martinez was super aggressive in the wild card game, in the short series against, you know, the best of, using starters, and I've heard people suggest, who did I have on the show the other day? It was Ray Knight suggested that, you know, it's great. He's awesome.

He said, basically, I know Corbyn's scheduled more likely than not to start game three, but it wouldn't surprise him if Davy's in a pinch that he might use Corbin out of the bullpen in games one and two and then start him in game four. Well, if you look at everybody other than Doolittle and Hudson, you're surrendering the game if you put them in. Although rainy pitch is pretty well. Maybe. Maybe. We'll see. But yeah, they used Strasberg and they used Scherzer and they used Corbyn.

And Davey managed in Richard Justice's words like his hair was on fire. And that was the way he had to manage. I don't know they don't manage the World Series that way. I don't know. We'll see. Did you talk about this morning the fact that the Astros are the biggest favorite in 12 years in the World Series? The idea that was mentioned, that doesn't really mean a whole lot to me. the Astros are the best team in baseball, and they have been for a while. They're really good. They're really good, and they have an advantage in this regard.

The two of their top three pitchers were recently in the National League and probably know the Nets line up pretty well. We'll see. Again, how does Scherzer do, how to Strasbourg do in the first two games, right? Don't you think that that's critical? Well, of course. Yeah, I mean, and just the – I mean, the matchups, I mean, it's so – it's – to see Cole, who, by the way, struck out third, and giving up one earned run is three postseason starts. Opposite, one of the real badass competitors in the sport will be awesome to watch. Who are you picking? Well, I would pick the Astros, wouldn't you?

I want the Nats to win. I'm a Nats fan. I've got a Nats warm-up jacket that I wear on PTI, and I'm 5'0 every time that I've worn it. But I'd be crazy not to believe that the Astros didn't have a better team. they have equal starters. They have a better bullpen. They have an up and down their lineup. They have more power.

I mean, tell me where I'm wrong in anything I'm saying. I want the Nats to win. You don't favor the Astros? Well, of course they're favored. No, no, no, I don't have a problem with it. I was surprised that they were a prohibitive favorite. Well, I think that's nuts. Yeah, that's great.

So there's probably some value in point of Nats. But anyway, before I let you go. So I know you don't talk to Dan Snyder. When's the last time you had a conversation? I don't talk to him because we had a fight. We were friendly. We were always friendly over a long period of time. I have not talked to him probably in close to 10 years.

But we had a very cordial, friendly relationship all the time. And I called him Danny all the time. And he didn't tell you to call him Mr. Snyder? Never. We got along well. And I will also say that when I worked on his radio station, Never once, never once that he attempt to get me to do anything that I didn't want to do. One time he asked me if I would have George Allen on, and I said, sure, but I'd also like to have Tim Kaine on.

I think they were running against each other for the Senate. Yeah. And I did, with no interference whatsoever. No, zero. I've told everybody the same thing, that in the 12 years that, you know, I worked for Red Zebra from the start, not once. Not once. There was one moment where Jacoby on a post-game show, got hammered and basically said,

Dan's this team will never win anything as long as Dan Snyder's the owner. And Gibbs called him up and told him he needed to apologize to the owner. That's it. That's the only involvement ever. All right, so you don't talk to him. You haven't talked to him in 10 years. But if he called you in this new rock bottom moment

and said, give me advice, what would you tell him? I think you've got to change out Bruce Allen. it's got to change out Bruce Allen. He can't be running it. I mean, you can't be running it just because you guys are pals. He can't be running it. You've seen a steady erosion of the team under Bruce Allen. So you can keep them around, but you've got to bring in football people, real live football people. And you've done that before, and you haven't given them full rain, really, and that's what you have to do. Wouldn't you say the same thing?

Yeah, I just think, I just don't know if it'll happen. And I just don't know if the really highly qualified football people would pick the Redskins over a better option. They probably wouldn't. The other thing that I would do right now is I would say the season is completely lost. You're actually terrible. Miami would have beaten you if they had just not decided to throw a screen pass to lose the game deliberately. If they go to kick the point, they go to overtime. Fitzpatrick has thrown, has led them for two touchdowns in the last nine minutes, so they're going to beat you.

So now I don't care how terrible the Ohio State kid is. I don't care. Put him in the game. Because he's never going to get game experience if you don't. Put him in the game. Am I wrong on that? No, not even a little bit. All right.

John Tyler, 10. Enjoy the day. Fantastic. Bye. Let's see you. All right, good to catch up with Tony. We do this thing. We're at the end of calls, instead of saying it's Tony, or he usually says,

Miller Fillmore, 13. Like, that's his phone number, but it's actually the number president he was. So that's where the John Tyler 10 came from. Aaron, you should know your presidents. Hopefully you do. You went to a fine institution in the university. Maryland, hopefully you learned them in high school.

All right. We have an app. And for the most part, a lot of good feedback on the app, and I appreciate that. I got one complaint. I would ask you to continue to give it a run. You were not a big fan of the Team 980s app, and I know we're working on that at the radio station. This app for the podcast, simpler, easier, not a lot of stuff, not a lot of options. It's this podcast, and you can get whatever I'm tweeting or what Aaron is sending out on our Facebook page.

But try out the app, and if you do, rate us and review us on the app. That helps us a lot. All right, I want to get back to the skins here for a moment, and then we'll do a quick, around the NFL and talk about some of the other things that happened this weekend. Trent Williams hasn't been traded yet. Mike Garifolo from the NFL Network had the latest news. Remember last week it was, you know, the reports that John Dorsey, the Cleveland GM, had reached out. And he basically said it takes two to tango, meaning that Bruce Allen wasn't interested in trading him.

This was Mike Garifolo, NFL Network on Saturday, talking about Trent Williams and the Redskins. Trent Williams, so John Dorsey, the Browns GM, came out this week and he said it takes two to tango, meaning that he has clearly made contact with the Redskins. It's not just like a one-time thing that he called and said, hey, you're trading Trent Williams. From my understanding, he has called the Redskins every single week for like the last month and a half. And every single time the Redskins have said, we are not trading this guy. Now, let me put a little caveat on that. Because I've heard this from a number of people, and I trust them completely on this one.

the Redskins are not going to trade him in the next couple of weeks before the trading deadline. However, they have made it clear. Check back with us in the offseason because we might be interested in making a move in the off season. And the rationale is if we make a move now, it doesn't do anything for us anyway, number one. And number two, we don't yet know the draft slotting of whatever picks we're going to get back in those trades. All right, that was Mike Garifolo from over the weekend. So Trent Williams is not going to be traded according to him. during the season, but it's more probable that it'll happen at the end of the season and during the offseason.

So there are a couple of things here that he said. First of all, let me just say this, because all of you know this. This is pure insanity. The stupidity level in Ashburn right now with not playing Dwayne Haskins, with not trading Trent Williams, is, it's frustrating, but it's hardly like something that's surprising at this point. is not the brightest group and it hasn't been for years and they're incredibly petty. Now, with that said, and I've said this before, I do understand where they're coming from with respect to their anger over the Trent Williams situation. I have sympathy for their situation.

I am typically, and it's pretty much because of my personal professional history, which before broadcasting, I was typically in ownership, management on that side, okay, in multiple startups that I founded a couple of them, was part of another one or two. And I've always, in most of you know this, I've typically sided with management in these situations more than employees. It's just my perspective. In every situation is different. I'm very open-minded, and I'm not always pro-management, but in situations like this, I tend to be more sort of understanding of the owner and or management perspective. And I do in this particular case have this sense that if it were me, I'd be angry as hell.

I'd be so pissed that a guy with two years left on his deal is indirectly badmouthing, you know, our medical people, our training people, you know, groups that I believe, or they believe, our quality, that this is bullshit, that it's all about money, and he's taken a path where he is really defaming us in a lot of ways, and he is slandering various people. He hasn't done it directly, but through his surrogates, you know, some of the former players, some of his former teammates. And I can understand where and why they would be really, really angry, and they would want to make sure that they don't get taken on this. I would also understand to a certain degree that you don't want it to be a precedent-setting situation. You know that you don't want others who

want out, and there are probably a lot of players in this organization that would rather be in another organization. You don't want players in similar situations to Trent Williams in the future to say, hey, Trent got his way. I'm going to do it the same way. I understand that part too. On that part, though, I would say that Trent Williams is unique. that this is not a precedent-setting situation, that you don't have another Trent Williams on your roster right now. Maybe you will with John Allen or Duran Payne in a couple of years. I understand that that's a possibility.

But Trent Williams right now, a unique situation, right? He's 31 years old. You should have been thinking about trading him in the first place. Like, he's not going to be, this is a guy that, and by the way, the other part of being angered from a management standpoint that I have sympathy for, that I can relate to, is that you supported him. And I understand that.

Dan and Bruce and the organization, when he went through some of the stuff he was going through with suspensions because of weed, the organization was incredibly loyal to him. So I understand where they're the root of their anger and the wanting to make sure that he understands that you're not going to be taken advantage of. With that said, what Tommy always says when it comes to these things,

is the juice worth the squeezing? It isn't in this case. And the logic when it comes to the timing of trading him doesn't make any sense to me. I've said this multiple times that when you get into training camp and then you get into the season, this is the time when typically you can absolutely fleece somebody. You get a contender or a team that's struggling that thinks it should contend, thinks it should contend that will overpay. Who cares where their drafting position is?

I'm not saying you shouldn't project, but who cares that you don't know definitively where it is? If the offer that Houston made to Miami, if anything resembling that offer was made to the Redskins for Trent Williams, it was malpractice, professional football malpractice, that you didn't deal him to Houston. If Cleveland is offering, say, a package of a first and a, a third or a first and a conditional, and you haven't taken it, that's malpractice professionally.

You're not gaining that much of an advantage knowing their draft position definitively. You're giving up the timing, which is some of these teams may be desperate. I don't know specifically what anybody's offered. The only news that I had was that the Patriots did at one point early in training camp consider a first rounder for Trent Williams, but the Redskins said we're not trading Trent Williams. I think Houston reached out to the Redskins. I don't know that for sure.

I would assume that they would have been very interested in Trent Williams, just like Cleveland is now. By the way, just like New England still might be. You should be trying to trade him now. By the way, if he steps back into your building before week 10 and he gets the accrued season, now you're going to be trading him with one year left on his deal. And by the way, the value of trading him with two years left on his deal

is only valuable if he, He's not going to demand a new deal when he gets to the new place, which is what you've been saying he really wants. It's one of these days, probably not anytime soon. We will get an explanation, you know, other than, well, Trent is under contract. He's got two years left. We expect him to play for us. We expect him to be in by the mandatory minicamp.

We expect him to be in mandatory training camp. We expect him to be here for the opener against Phil. Philadelphia. He hasn't been here for any of those things, and he's not coming back. And nothing speaks to the lack of a damn good culture, Bruce Allen, more than the player that you could argue has been your best player. Not only doesn't want to play for you, he's essentially coughing up cash in the form of fines not to play for you. That's not an indication of a damn good culture. Got to trade him. Have to trade him before the deadline. And of course, we are now, what, nine days away from that deadline. Maybe he will wow us with the, I was just keeping that position because I wanted the best possible offer. And we ended up getting a first, second, and third from Cleveland for Trent Williams. And if he does, I will bow to Bruce Allen and say, great job leveraging the hell out of this to get the best possible deals. You know, you're taking that stand. publicly, that position publicly that you're not interested in dealing him to make somebody

really desperate to offer something that you couldn't refuse. I certainly hope he's listening to deals. That would be insanity, not to. All right, let's go around the NFL real quickly, Aaron. The biggest plays and the clutch moment. It's time to go around the NFL. All right. We're going to rip through a few games. I want to start actually, I know most of you think I'm going to start with Kurt Cousins and the performance yesterday against the Lions. I actually want to start with the Ravens because Lamar Jackson's becoming one of my two or three favorite players to watch play football. And I don't give a shit about the one read and the checkdown is you running. There is a real understanding in Baltimore of how to get the most out of their players. By the way, Ozzie Newsom

drafting Lamar Jackson as his final first round pick was you know, a great parting gift from one of the best evaluation people, one of the best general managers this league has had in the last 20 years, 15 to 20 years, whatever it was. Lamar Jackson, okay, may not throw with great anticipation, may not read defenses perfectly here in his second year. All right, but what he is when he's on the field is he's one of the best one, two, maybe three players on the field. usually the best player on the field. And when John Harbaugh talked over the summer, we're going to have an offense that the NFL hasn't seen.

Well, here it is, brother. Lamar Jackson with his third 100-yard-plus performance of the year on the ground, he threw for a buck 43. And by the way, if Mark Andrews could catch a ball, Mark Andrews, their tight end, dropped like four balls right in his hands. The tight end from Oklahoma, the guy that was like a third-round pick,

two years ago, maybe, three years ago, something like that. Hayden Hurst was their number one pick in 2018. I think Andrews must have been 2017, third or fourth round pick, whatever. If he had caught three or four of those balls, Jackson would have had a much better day. I love how the Ravens figure out how to get their best players on the field and get the most out of them. That's called coaching. John Harbaughn Company can flat out coach. Eric DeCosta and Ozzie Newsom and all those people can flat out evaluate talent.

Remember Cooley telling me before the draft, Lamar Jackson, to me, Cooley said, is the best running back in this draft. And he's one of the best football players in this draft. And that's why you would take him. But in terms of playing quarterback traditionally, it may not work out. It could, but it won't initially. But that's where the right team, you know, taking what my, Mike and Kyle did with RG3 in 2012.

I love Lamar Jackson. I don't give a crap about the stereotypes of the way quarterbacks should play and all that. This dude flat out is one of the two or three best players on the field when he's on it. And by the way, one of the best competitors in the league. The Ravens rolled Seattle, rolled them. And by the way, played some really good defense. I still think that Baltimore's defense last year was so much better

than it is this year. You know, you give up C.J. Mosley and Zadarious Smith and Eric Weddle and you lose T-sugs. That's a lot of really big-time playmaking defensive talent. But anyway, Marlon Humphrey's really becoming a good, really, really good corner. And it was payback for Earl Thomas yesterday on the Seahawks. The Sunday night game real quickly, boy, the Eagles, they're in trouble. They're in real trouble. You know, you predict, as Doug Peterson did, that you're going to go win this game in a three-and-three showdown against the Cowboys, and you turn the ball over four times, and Carson Wentz plays the way he did, and you give up, you know, five and a half yards per carry on the ground. I don't know, man, the Eagles, they have the bills this coming Sunday on the road

errand. They still have games against the Patriots and the Seahawks and the Bears. I think they're in big trouble. It's definitely an uphill climb. I don't know if I'd push the panic button quite yet, but if they go out next week, then yeah, they're on the verge of it. What's the line against the bills? I'm actually curious about that because the bills are so good defensively. And they're not even that good offensively,

and they put up 31 on the dolphins yesterday, and the Redskins could only put up 17. I am seeing Buffalo minus one and a half, too, depending on the book. Yeah, I mean, the Eagles may be dropping to three and five at the halfway mark. Meantime, the Cowboys, that's a big win for them, and they get the Giants after a bye week on the road on Monday night football. They get to five and three at the halfway mark. They still have some brutal games. They've got the Vikings.

They've got the lions on the road. They got the Patriots. They get the Bills on Thanksgiving Day. They got the Bears in Chicago. They have a brutal schedule, too. They get the Rams. The NFC East has just a brutal schedule because they got the NFC North this year. you know, which is a really good division.

Speaking of the NFC North. So anyway, I'll just start with this. I have talked about Kirk Cousins after bad performances this year and good performances this year, Aaron. Will you back me up on that? You have. You have criticized him. Yeah. In fact, in August, I suggested and predicted

that the Vikings would not make the playoffs and said that it could be a difficult year for Kirk Cousins. And I do recognize that he hasn't played any great defense. in the last three weeks. I do. Do you know, though, that yesterday with the 337 passing yards, by the way, four touchdowns, but the 337 passing yards in the 141.4 passer rating, that he became the first quarterback in NFL history to have three consecutive games of 300 plus yards and a passer rating of 130 or higher? I'm not just giving you that because it's a great feat that he's accomplished, you know, in terms of a statistical feat. I'm actually surprised that that hasn't been

done before. That doesn't seem like it would be that much of a, of a barrier for some of the, you know, big time pass-happy quarterbacks. 300 yards, 130 plus passer rating, three consecutive weeks? It's probably the passer rating part because you throw one interception that screws it up, you throw enough incomplete passes that screws it up, which with the pass-happy, you know, offense, you can sometimes get a lot of yards but not get the pass-er rating. Speaking of pass-serating, Did you know that Kirk Cousins is now leading the NFL in passerating? I didn't know that. Where is he on QBR?

I don't know about it. He's something like 10th, 12th. He's a lot farther down on QBR, but passerating, he's up there. To me, QBR is a better representation of the way you're playing the position, but you're right. He's leading the league in passerating. That's freaking unbelievable. And he's 1, 2, 3rd. He's 11th.

11th in QBR. Ryan Fitzpatrick's one ahead of him there. Yeah. Well, I mean, here's the thing. What's changed in Minnesota over the last three games is, A, they weren't playing Kaleel Mack and the Bears, or playing the Packers' defense, you know, in Lambo. Two really good defensive teams that they faced in their two losses. But what's really changed is that they've decided to be more balanced.

They've decided that Mike Zimmer's idea of offense, which is running Dalvin Cook 95 times into a wall. It's fine against Atlanta, and it's fine against the Giants, you know, in bad teams, but you're not going to beat good teams with that, and they've turned Kirk and their best weapons loose over the last three weeks. The Giants defensively aren't very good. The Eagles were banged up. Detroit's been a good defensive team, just so you know. I mean, like Detroit actually has been good defensively. I know the Chiefs lit them up, not to the tune of what Kirk lit him up for, The Packers, you know, last week, struggled a little bit against them. But anyway, the Vikings are on a roll,

and I totally understand that this could go south for Kirk, you know, against tough defenses with an offensive line, really that is not very good. But they're scheming around the offensive line right now. But, you know, I just, I guess I've gotten to the point when it comes to the conversation about him. I just think most people, reasonable people, people understand that he can play. All right, he's not elite, but he doesn't stink. Like, he just doesn't stink. He's, you put the right scheme and the right pieces around him, and you can say

this about 15 quarterbacks in the NFL that aren't named Rogers or Russell Wilson or Patrick Mahomes or Tom Brady, that he's in that in that group of like another 12 to 15 quarterbacks that if everything around him is good, you can win with him. And you can win with him, by the way, against good teams. If you play good defense. Anyway, they get the Redskins Thursday night in another game with storylines.

It was Kyle this week. Thursday night, it's going to be Kirk. It's going to be Adrian Peterson and Case Keenham going back to Minnesota, and Minnesota is a 16-point favorite. I don't know that I've changed my mind totally on the Vikings yet. I want to see more.

I want to see a game, and some of you said this to me on Twitter, and I agree. I want to see a game against a really good defensive opponent where they are unstoppable offensively like they've been the last three weeks. I want to see that against a really good defensive team. And by the way, you know, right now the Redskins, in terms of the way they're playing defense, aren't that bad. They've gotten better defensively here in recent weeks. But they've got a game coming up down the road at Seattle

on a Monday night. They've got a game with Denver, who's very good defensively. They play at Dallas. They play at Kansas City in a couple weeks. Minnesota does. Real quickly, the other games of note, the Tennessee Charger game was crazy. The Chargers actually had two touchdowns overruled by replay on the final drive down 2320, and then on a final play, had Melvin Gordon fumble going into the end zone, which, by the way, was revealed by replay. Really brutal loss for the Chargers, who have found ways to lose games this year in tough, tough ways. now 2 and 5. And an AFC West that you would think the Chiefs will still win, but everybody else is falling backwards. Aaron Rogers had the five touchdowns throwing the perfect passer

rating yesterday for Aaron Rogers. First time in Packers history, did you know that? That you had a perfect passer rating, 158.3. He was 25 to 31 for 429. Five touchdowns only got sacked once, also had a rushing touchdown in the game. Derek Carr, for the second time in his career, stuck the ball out, you know, into the end zone and lost it for a touchback. Why do people do that? Stop. I hate the rule, but while it's the rule, stop doing it. Yeah, it's insane. How about Jacoby Brissette, four touchdown passes? They beat the Texans. And how about the Cardinals? How about the Cardinals and the Saints? Like, I didn't think the Cardinals, I thought the Cardinals stunk. They're now 3-3-1, and Kyler Murray's really starting to kick ass. And the

Saints defensively are so good. And Bridgewater had a good game yesterday. The Bears were one of those smell test losers for the weekend. Real quickly, before we finish up here for the day. Marilyn lost. I did watch that game, actually, very late last night because I didn't see it live. I was at the Penn State Michigan game, as I mentioned to you. Great atmosphere in Happy Valley and a really good football game. But Piggy, I guess, had a change. Aaron late. I know you were in Memphis for the weekend. You were at a wedding, so assuming you didn't see it either. Nah, I was just following on game tracker. Yeah. So they're now really in a position where I don't know that they're going to win another game. They're going to be big underdogs in the rest of their games. That's for sure. They have to play at Minnesota next week, the undefeated golden gophers next week where they are, I think, 16 point underdogs next week. I thought very impressive performances by LSU and Florida in particular coming off that incredible. intensity of last Saturday night in Death Valley. And then there was one other. Oregon, Washington

apparently had multiple opportunities in that game and blew it. Oh, I wanted to mention this real quickly. The Virginia Tech North Carolina game was the first time this year we've seen the new college football overtime rule in effect after four overtimes. Yes. So for those of you that don't know, the last year's Texas A&M LSU game that went to seven overtimes, and it was 74 to 72, which was just absurd. I watched that whole game. It was actually wild to watch. They instituted a new rule that after the fourth overtime, there's no more starting at the 25-yard line. It's just two-point conversion.

So you get one snap on a two-point conversion, and you just go that route the rest of the way until it's decided because of, you know, safety concerns. If they really had safety in mind, they would just do the NFL rule. That's the safest. The game can be over on one play. The game can be over on one drive. If you want to guarantee both teams get the ball, that's fine, but don't do it at the 25. Play real football. Use special teams.

Have to drive the field. Use the whole field. But to determine a game on a two-point conversion, which Virginia Tech made theirs in the 6th overtime, and North Carolina didn't. By the way, the Hokies are five and two. Surprising. Happy for my friends who are big Virginia tech people because they thought that Fuentes was in trouble.

After what would this be, year three, just a few weeks ago. I know they haven't really beaten anybody, but the win over North Carolina is a decent win. But give me a break, a two-point conversion to decide it. Seriously, got to do better than that, college football. That is a three-point shooting contest to determine a playoff NBA, to determine an NBA game or a college game. I mean, it's just, there's nothing that says football about that.

It's one snap from the two-yard line. Started at least at the 10-yard line. I mean, let me see some football. Let me see four downs. I just go to the NFL rule. Do you like the college overtime rule? I hate it. I've always hated it.

I think it's interesting. I don't mind gimmicks that much. And it's exciting. It makes for exciting television, that's for sure. So at that point, especially in a game like that where it's two not necessarily exciting teams to watch, I don't mind it. The irony is if they were really concerned about safety, they wouldn't do this where it can go on essentially forever. You know, you'd have a timed overtime with the ability for it to end before the 15 minutes are up. All right, two more things, I promise, then we're going to run.

Number one, did you see the Redskins ticket yesterday? Yes. Game ticket. Yes. On it were former starting quarterbacks who won championship Sammy Baugh in his years, 1937 and 1943, I think, 42. And then it was Mark Rip in 1991. And then they had Joe Thaisman and Doug Williams on the ticket as well.

Joe Thysman's championship, according to the ticket, came in 1987. And Doug Williams came in 1982. As most of you know, that's not true. It's the reverse. Joe won it in 82. and Doug Williams, the 87 season. It's the London Flector thing all over again, you know? It's like the little things, the details, they don't get right.

So how are they going to ever get the big things right? It really is an absolute joke of a franchise. It's incredible. One last thing. In the Sunday night game, I want you to pay attention to this, Aaron, please. He looks at me like, I am paying attention. All right. Aaron, like all these people at their age, is just constantly in his phone.

I got another show to prepare for in a few hours. I know you do. I know you do. So last night before the Eagles won the toss and took the ball last night in the Sunday night game. And Al Michaels, who I still like, I know a lot of you think that he's lost his fastball. I think Michael still does a pretty good job. I'm okay with Collinsworth. This attention to pro football focus, which he's an owner in, you know, is really starting to annoy me.

You know, in the references to pro football focus, it's just in so many ways, I think a lot of it is a sham. But anyway, that's not what the conversation's about. Al Michaels said last night that he made a big deal out of Doug Peterson winning the toss and taking the ball, which was the first time the Eagles have won the toss and not deferred since 2016. and Michaels said that the reason most teams defer, he said, and this is what he said, and by the way, he may be correct, this is why many teams choose to defer,

but this is the thing that drove me nuts, and I'll explain why in a second. He said that coaches choose to defer so that they can capture the advantage of getting back-to-back possessions at the end of the first half in the start of the second half. I think many of you know and understand what I'm about to say. For those of you that don't understand it,

that think that deferring guarantees this concept of the double possession, the end of first half in the start of the second half, is not true. It can be, but it's not a guarantee. First of all, by deferring, the other team takes the ball to start, you are guaranteed the ball to start the second half, okay? And if you don't get it to start the second half, you can't have back-to-back possessions

end the first half and beginning of second half. However, just so we're all clear on this, you are not guaranteed the final offensive possession of the first half if you defer on the coin toss. Okay? It's a total crapshoot as to which of the two teams playing in the game will have the final possession of the first half. There's not an increase in odds of getting the last possession of the first half if you defer, and there's no guarantee.

You guys understand that, right? Aaron, you understand that? Yes, absolutely. Okay. So I've heard people talk about this, oh, well, they defer because of the double possession. There's no double possession guarantee. There's a better shot of it because you're going to get it to start the second half, which means that it's the only way you can get it. But there's another part of this, too, just to be clear, if you do end up getting the last possession of the first half and the first possession of the second half after deferring to start the game, first of all, you want that last possession of the first half to be a valuable possession, not from your own 18 yard line with 18 seconds left and no timeouts. That counts as a possession, but it's not a real possession or real opportunity. but the other part of it, some of you have suggested to me that it increases the chances that you will have more possessions in the game than your opponent. That is also not true. Just because you got it to end the first half and you got it to start the second half does not mean you're going to have more possessions in the game than your opponent.

let me tell you why most of the smart coaches have chosen to defer over the years. They've chosen to do it because of the environment in the stadium. If you've been to a game, but you probably even know this when you watch a game, the crowd is in their seats and ready to go more for the opening kickoff than they are for the third quarter, the second half kickoff. Half times are short, very short. By the time people get back from the bathroom and concession stands, the third quarter is underway. How many times have you watched a game or been at the game?

And at the beginning of the third quarter, the stadium's half-filled. And the atmosphere is not what it is typically at the beginning of the game. Now, I'm not talking about FedEx Field here in recent weeks, in recent years. I'm talking about a real stadium that's filled, sold out for a big game. So you defer if you're the home team to make the visitor start on offense when you're crowd is in full throat and in their seats versus starting in the second half when the crowd's in the bathroom and at the concession stands and it's quiet. And if you're the visiting team, you defer, because you don't want to take the ball to start the game, because you realize that it's a better

thing to have the ball to start the second half. That's the slight tiny advantage in certain situations that you may get from deferring, and is why initially I think Belichick or Pete Carroll, I forget which one. One of them was the first to really understand that there may be a slight advantage deferring, whether you're the visiting team or the home team. But no, you are not guaranteed more possessions or a double possession if you defer at the start of the game. That's really not something that you're guaranteed of. Anyway, that's it for the day.

Did I miss anything from today? Nope, forget everything. All right. Thanks to Tony for. joining us. Tommy will be in tomorrow. We'll have a huge preview of the World Series and of Game 1 specifically. Have a great day. Don't forget, rate us, review us if you're listening to us on iTunes or Apple Podcasts, or if you've downloaded the app, if you could rate us and review us, that would be really nice as well. It doesn't cost you anything, and it helps us out on the

revenue side. Thanks, have a great day.