The Kevin Sheehan Show - Best Show in Town

Episode Date: December 20, 2018

Kevin and Thom open the show talking Caps-Pens and then briefly discuss how repulsive the Wizards have become. They talk Montae Nicholson, Joe Flacco, the Redskins and their chances at Tennessee on Saturday. Scott Van Pelt joins the show to talk about a horrible college basketball beat last night and more. NFL Power Poll and more NFL discussion 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. You're listening to The Sports Fix. Hi, I am here. Tom is here. Aaron is here. And the show is presented by Window Nation as it is every day. If you're in the market for Windows call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them we told you to call. We're a little bit late getting the show out this morning, in part, because we had to wait. about 25 minutes for Tom to be prepared physically to do this show. He's been coughing. He's been making weird noises, stomach-related noises. And I think you're now ready after we just had about a 20-minute wait for you. Listen, I think there's something in this studio.

In fact, I think I'm going to call O'Sha and ask for an investigation. Oh, God, remember those days? The studio that we worked in was done. dangerous at times. Well, it's real dangerous for you because you used to smash your head on the speaker all the time. There was a big speaker that hung down from the ceiling. And if you were taller than six foot one, six foot two, you had to duck when you walked in that general area. And I'll never forget, Tommy, you were there, I think. I can cussed myself on that. I'm surprised you didn't collapse. I knocked, I walked into that thing. I turned and walked into that thing so hard.

and it was one of those, you know, seeing stars for a quick and then asking you, what just happened? So CTE, if I get CTE down the road, I'm going after. You should have sued. We should have sued them for everything. Should have sued the Redskins. They were Snyder's company. We should have sued them just on principle. But Tommy was always, Tommy's the big liberal, you know, let's get management.

Let's own this thing with any little thing they've done wrong. I'm less litigious when it comes to things like that. But I think we've got a pretty nice studio here. I don't know what you could be allergic to other than me. I think there's something going on here. So I think, you know... You feeling all right? Yeah, I'm feeling fine.

Can we do the show? Let's rock and roll, baby. All right. You know that regular season NHL isn't my thing. Never has been. Probably never will be. I like the playoffs a lot. But I don't, as you know, watch much hockey in November, December, or January.

Well, last night, I did. Well, you picked the good night. The Wizards repulsed me so much. Actually, let me rephrase. John Wall in particular, on Tuesday night against the Hawks, and last night to start the game, repulsed me so much that I turned it to NBC Sports Network to watch the Caps and the Pends.

And from the moment I turned on that station, that network, the intensity of that game popped through the television, Tommy, so much. I couldn't turn it off. Plus, I love Doc Emrick when he calls a game. He's the best. I love me some Joe B. in locker. Of course you do.

But we get them every night. Doc Emrick was on the call last night. And this was a rivalry game. And you know what? I was thinking about this. And somebody tweeted it out. It may have been JP. So I'll give him credit.

I didn't go back and look at this. I think it was. About where this fits in on the rivalry scale. That's right. So it was JP. Yeah. This is really and truly the only rivalry we have in this town now, right now, today that feels like a rivalry and matters like a rivalry should in championship ways. 100%. The last three Stanley Cups were won by these two teams.

That game last night was awesome. And another quick note about it, typical of hockey. And I don't know how you felt. It seemed to me that typical of hockey, the better team lost the game last night. And I don't even know what the game was statistically if it was one-sided in the Caps favor. That's irrelevant to me because watching it, it felt like the Caps had so many more legit scoring chances. And the puck just hit the poster was barely cleared from crossing the line by a Pittsburgh defensive. In a way, it was a very frustrating game. Yeah.

Because of opportunities. I mean, I'm used to watching hockey and understanding that the results are often determined by this random puck luck. Right. The intensity of that game, the fight early on, the physical nature of that game, you could feel the hatred among the teams, the importance of the game. I loved it. And they're not playing again until March. And hopefully they'll play in the spring. I want to see them play the Penguins.

but for sports entertainment purposes last night, Tommy, that was high-level sports entertainment. Yeah, let me just point out. It's harder than ever to believe that the same guy owns both teams, the Capitals and the Wizards. It's really hard to believe sometimes that Ted Leonez's owns both teams

because you couldn't have a more stark contrast. And I know there's all kinds of reasons why, but look, I got to give Todd Reardon credit I mean, he's got the capitals playing great hockey. Ovechkin is so interesting right now because you have a guy who probably in some ways wasted the best, not wasted, but the prime years. The prime year, not wasted, but didn't get the most out of his prime years because he was a young guy who liked to have fun. You know, he was a fun loving guy. It wasn't a bad guy.

You know, it wasn't like he was getting in trouble or anything, but he probably didn't maximize his NHL career during his prime years, but he was so good, he was still compelling the watch. Now, with the wisdom of age, with maturity, with a family, with the taste of what it feels like to be a champion, he sort of like put the brakes on the old Ovechkin, but what that's done is you're getting a smarter, better version of maybe what you would. I can't even quite explain it.

Are you, is Riggins an analogy? It might be. I don't know if Riggins ever put the brakes on. No, but Riggins' best years where he figured it out finally. Yeah. Were his, in his 30s. Yeah. Like, I've heard people discuss this, and I don't feel qualified.

to discuss Ovechkin when he was 24 compared to, or 23, compared to Ovechkin 10 years later. But I've heard people say, you know, there is in that sport, and you see a lot of longevity in that sport. For as physical as that sport is, you see a lot of long careers. Yes. You know, careers, I'm not talking about quarterback kicker careers. I'm talking about guys that are skating, and this is a physical sport that are playing well into their mid to late 30s, 40s in some cases. I mean, hell. I mean, we've seen players play

until they're 50, you know, in that sport, but that they, there's a figuring out of how to play it and how to play it the right way that takes a lot of time. It's all, it's, I mean, as I'm speaking to you and saying this, it's like the quarterback position in some ways in the NFL. I'm not saying his position. I'm just saying there is a maturity required and a number of, you know, you know, experiences that you have to have before you figure it out, like actual experience. That seemed to be the case with him, and I think the taste of,

I think in the last couple of years, the pressure of not having the championship was weighing on him. And I think part of what happened last year, and, you know, there was this infamous meeting where Barry Trotz went to Russia and for some other business and met with Ovechkin and I pretty much told them that, you know, you're going to be defined not by all your great regular seasons, but by what you haven't done in the postseason.

That seemed really to hit home with him, maybe with the gray hair that he was seeing in the mirror in the mornings. But after getting a taste of that championship, he seems to, we may see the best of Ovechkin moving forward. Well, we just did see the best in terms of a consecutive game points streak. Which ended last night. So, I mean, which is pretty remarkable because it's not his peak years. Right. But he's so talented that even a lesser, even an older Ovechkin under control may be more productive than a younger out of control at his peak physically, Ovechkin. How about some of the shots he was ripping there at the end, you know, to try to tie that thing up when they went with, you know, when they pulled a,

Holtby. I still can't believe some of their their attempts didn't go in, but that's hockey. Yeah, he's, he is a compelling watch for a sports fan. You don't have to be a hockey fan. I still think that the best part of last June for me was Ovechkin winning the cup and seeing his personal journey of an understanding the pressure and the 10,000 pound gorilla that had been on his back and all of the naysayers and all of and the fact that he was, you know, the window for him actually getting it done. I thought, or a lot of people thought that we were coming to the close of that window at the beginning of last year, even in last year's postseason. And to see his excitement and relief and just.

joy over winning the cup. That was the most thrilling part of it for me. And I think most sports fans that weren't, you know, diehard cap fans. It was the best celebration we've seen in recent memory. Oh, in terms of winning a championship. No doubt. Yeah. Absolutely. And you know what also came clear? Because it was a great story. Everybody can identify with the guy. I mean, imagine if Patrick Ewing had finally won a title or Charles Barkley had finally won a title. thinking about, you know, the guys, Marino. What if Marino, remember how people cheered, not even Elway fans or Denver Bronco fans, when Elway finally won the Super Bowl?

Yes. You know, that was the analogy that I made last June, because I think that was the one that was the closest was Ovechkin to Elway. Imagine if Marino at 37 years old, 38 years old, 39 years old, it finally won a Super Bowl. It's that, it really, the people. that come up short on winning, but nothing else. When they finally get over the hump, it's always a great story. Yeah, it is.

Something else that came through last night was the rivalry between Sidney Crosby and Ovechkin is real. Did you see the interview that Pierre did with Crosby at the end of that game? Yeah. Yeah. It's real. Where they had the exchange where Crosby said to Ovechkin, why don't you find O'Lele? elect the act. Yeah.

And, and O.V. said to him, why don't you fight me? Yeah. You know? Wilson took care of that dude pretty quickly. Yeah.

That was a punch. Yes. Did you see the interview with Wilson after the game? No, I didn't see that. So I'm going to paraphrase here, but essentially he said, look, this is hockey,

and I hope he's okay, and it's unfortunate when it ends the way it ended, but it's hockey. He threw his gloves. It was, clear that we both agreed that this was going to happen. I love that part of hockey. I never want that part of hockey to go away. I'm serious. That to me, watching that, I'd love to see that at least once a game. I don't care about the purists or the people that say it somehow diminishes

the sport or turns people off of it. I totally disagree with that. I think your average sports fan loves that. I'm not going to speak for the average sports fan. I love that part of the game. But Kevin. I miss that part of the game, not the fighting. I miss the physical big hits of the NFL. I love that about hockey. That's the part of the game that's always going to keep it fourth tier.

Because you need more than the average fan in order to compete, and hockey is never going to have that. I think many of the average fans like that. But you don't want it legislated out. You need more than the average fan. This is why you're always. You're going to survive on your core and nothing else because of this. Tommy, this sport's never going to compete with the other three major sports.

It's never going to have a chance to, as long as they've got that kind of stuff in it. Legislating out of it is not going to help it. Oh, I think it absolutely would. It rise to those levels. I think it absolutely. Look, Kevin, what if in the NFL, would you like it in the NFL if at one point during the game, two guys who have been going against each other on the field all of a sudden were allowed to take their helmets off? and duke it out. Would you like that?

Well, I went penalty. I went flat, won it flag, but in a rivalry game? You want that? I used to love the Cowboys and Redskins in some of those rivalry games. I mean, the referees, people were dropping gloves. The referees get out of the way, two guys take off their helmets, and they punch each other for 20 seconds. In baseball, same thing. Would you like that? I love baseball brawls.

This is absurd. No, it's not. This is absurd. You can't tell me that. This is why hockey's always going to be a bottom rung sport in this. country. That's why TV's never going to embrace it. Great punch by Wilson. And, well, it's absurd that that's allowed.

It was a great punch. I mean, that's assault. Kevin, if he did that on the street, he'd be arrested. Yes, he would, but they weren't on the street, were they? No, they weren't. I didn't think so. They were on ice. Right. And the point of the game is not to fight. It's not boxing. It's not mixed martial arts. It's actually quite amazing that he, that some of the fighting that you can connect so cleanly

on a punch when you run skates. He, uh... I think it's absurd. I think it's an absurd part. It's a subjective thing, Tommy. You don't like it. You know what? I like it.

You know, it might be a subjective thing, but that kind of violence, where it's not the definitive reason that the sport exists, unlike boxing or mixed martial arts, seems absurd to me. It adds a little flavor to it, to me. I prefer to see at least one of those a night. And when it happens in other sports, A baseball brawl, sometimes those things are entertaining as hell to watch. Yeah, but they don't do anyone any good.

They don't do anyone. Kevin, it's time to evolve as a human being. Okay. Thanks, Dad. It's time to start evolving a little bit. Well, you know what? I did evolve last night. I watched something much better than what I usually would have watched last night,

which were the wizards. I watched enough of it to know what happened. You know that Houston set an NBA mark last night with 26 threes. Yes. They made 26 of 55. At one point, they were 24 of 48. That's 50% on threes. The hardest part is they were able to do it with the tough defense to Wizards play.

They don't like defense much. John Wall in particular, he really is not a big fan of defense. John Wall has always been a bad technique, bad form defender, a low IQ defender. And more often than not has chosen not to give enough effort to be effective, even if he were technically good as a defensive player, which he isn't, it's time, Tommy, for John Wall to either sit because he's hurt, all right? Maybe he's hurt, or be dealt because he doesn't care to be here. Have you seen some of the memes and some of the videos going around

with him just standing and watching last night? I saw it against Atlanta the other night when Jeremy Lynn had five layups in the fourth quarter. Five. These weren't a fast-frake layups. They were half-court offensive set layups last night. James Hardin is unguardable. I'm not going to act like anybody can check James Hardin because they can't. And Chris Paul's nearly uncheckable at times too. But nothing is as unprofessional as his effort has been in two consecutive games. And what makes it unprofessional more than anything else, Tommy, is that he had the game and the effort that he had against the Lake. on Sunday night. So you know he cared Sunday night because they're playing LeBron and they're playing the Lakers and he's capable of performing at a higher level, but apparently only when it suits his personal whims. Did you hear what your voice said after the game? I did. Trevor Rees after the game said about their defense, where is it? I'll paraphrase. I can't find the quote. Well, basically he used that word. Effort. Yeah, he said right. Yeah, on the defense thing, it really,

it's just not good enough effort right now. Didn't take him long to figure it out. Nope, absolutely. He's got the post-game script down pat. He's going to hate that he got traded. Yes, of course he is. He's going to hate it. I don't. He still could get traded again

by the trading deadline. Well, maybe they can package him and John up together. John Wall embarrassed himself last night and the night before, and he's done it a lot this year. And if he's hurt, if he's hurt, sit him. If he's got personal issues that we don't know about, get him help. but if I own the team or if I was the general manager,

I would go to my coach, Scott Brooks, and say, it is your responsibility to get him to give proper professional effort. And if you can't and you don't sit him, you're fired. As an owner, I would go to my general manager and my coach and I would have a three-minute meeting. His effort defensively, the last two nights, is unprofessional on every level. and we are paying him an extraordinary sum of money.

Your job as the coach is to get him to play with effort, and if he doesn't play with effort, and you don't bench him as a consequence, you're fired. But you know the track record of the general manager will backstab the coach who does that. I knew you'd say that. But he's done it every time. I know.

He did it with Gilbert and Eddie Jordan. He did it with Flip Saunders and Andre Blotch, when both of those guys tried to discipline those players, and then the next day they had to go up there and say, oh, they're going to play anyway. You know, and Ernie would do the same thing with John Wall. I know. And the owner seemed not to be interested or frightened to force both of them

to get on the same page. He needs to sell the team. He needs to sell the team. Kevin, John Wall has no respect for the coach and won't listen to anything he says. There's no question about that. Right. You know, remember when I was telling you, you know,

I know everybody hates Randy Whitman, and I know the players don't really relate to him, and I know he doesn't have great personality, but that dude can coach. And I remember getting pushed back from some of the writers in town. What are you talking about? I'm like, ask any basketball person.

They'll tell you Randy Whitman can coach. I remember at a game one night, I'm walking into the parking lot underneath where I had media parking. where you never where they don't let me go where they don't let you go for some reason and I'm walking

I get on the elevator with JT3 and he just happened to have been at the game and we're having a conversation walking out of the parking lot and he just said did you see some of the plays the out of bounds plays that Randy Whitman drew up he said

he said something to the extent of I told my wife to record the game because I'm going to copy all of them he's like he's so good at some of that stuff and I'm like yeah he he knows what he's doing but you know in the NBA you've got to be more than just an X's and O's coach you know you've got to relate to the players you got to be a guy that the players like I guess I don't know they should have hired Tibbs that was the guy that I wanted to hire a guy that would have structure and discipline you know but you know what tips would never work for Ernie Scott Brooks is a nice guy and he was able to get away with sort of a summer league approach to basketball, offensive basketball in particular in Oklahoma City, because he had two elite players. He doesn't have two elite players in Washington. He didn't have any choice.

Well, that may be true. I mean, Russell Westbrook does what Russell Westbrook wants to do. But let's be clear about this. John Wall is not an elite player at the level that Scott Brooks has coached before. No, he's not. They suck defensively. Markief Morris, too, was in particular. looked completely disinterested last night.

But they suck defensively already, but they suck more when walls in the game defensively. I mean, they're an embarrassment. They're embarrassment to the franchise. They're embarrassment to the city. They should be embarrassing to the owner who promised that he was going to be more transparent with strategy with the fans.

Boy, that ship has sailed, hasn't it? All you hear from Ted now is about, you know, how he's the next ace Rothstein. Exactly. I talked about that yesterday because there was some video with him talking about how, hey, this is great. Legal gambling in D.C. Get ready, everybody. You're going to be able to make a living doing this.

By the way, on that real quickly, because I said something yesterday during that, I'm getting off track here. But I said about card counting that it's illegal. you're right everybody that that tweeted me and I appreciate it I know it's not illegal it's just frowned upon and if they find you doing it you're not going to be able to gamble in that you're going to wind up in a vice with your eyeballs popping out but you're but but of course it's not illegal and I and I did know that and I just I misstated that it's against casino rules yeah so um so let's know let's just stick the gambling real quick ace Rothstein eight Roths you know it's funny you know Ted is upset about the new DC law because it just allows the DC lottery to be the mobile app that, you know, that where allows you to bet.

It doesn't let other entrepreneurs come to town and run their apps as part of the program. I know. Like draft kings, which Ted has money in. I actually didn't know that. And I didn't know that he was upset about the DC lottery. He's upset about that. I mentioned yesterday. And he's upset that they haven't let them in.

And it's important to point out that Ted has money in draft kings. No wonder he's upset. Well, look, he will, there will be benefit for Ted and for the learners and anybody else that has an arena in town. Because you're going to be able to pay a fee to make it available in your arena. $250,000 for five years. Nothing. I mean, that's nothing. Kevin, you and I can get.

We open up a retail business. $5,000 for two years. I did see that. But see, Tommy, I mean, I'd like to see the economics of the relationship. Not the relationship with you if we were to do this together. What I'm saying is you're not going to benefit from people gambling directly, meaning when Harry Jones loses $100 bucks on the Redskins plus 10 on Saturday, you're as the retailer, you're not going to participate in that.

You're going to participate. This is what I don't know this. I don't know what the relationship is, but my guess is you're going to participate by getting incremental business, by offering gambling at Capital One Arena or at Nat's Park or at a restaurant in town and being able to promote the fact that you can gamble and watch games and, you know, everything else that the arena or the restaurant offers, it's going to give you a chance to generate more business.

They're not going to participate in the House's money, in the D.C. Gaming Commission's take on this, and the city's taking this. I don't think so. The city, I think it's going to get 25%. I think that's their take. So there's still a lot of money left. 25% of what?

The gross or the net? I don't, I'd like to. I haven't. Look, there's a lot that nobody knows yet. I haven't explored. Fairly, there's a lot. Well, they're going to have to make that clearly available. That's going to be a matter of public information, right?

$5,000. Oh, it's nothing. Let's get a license, baby. Let's open up a sports book. Come on. Put it in chatter. Yeah. Kevin and Tom's sportsbook.

Come on. But then we've got to find somebody to run it because you and I aren't running it. I mean. I don't know. I always dreamed of being Rick from Casablanca. I always dreamed of that. I could run a sports book. It's, you know, I,

I said to Aaron yesterday, this isn't, this may be for me, I doubt it is for the people that already bet illegally and have, this, it doesn't matter to me that DC got gambling. I mean, it, I, but it will matter when you go to, when you go to a game. No, it won't. Yes, you will. I can bet it a game right now if I want to. Yeah, I know that, but when you're at a game, then you'll tend to bet. When I'm at a game, I tend to bet anyway, and I have.

I mean, I think Well, if your wife goes in a game with you, she might bet now. That's the best is when your wife or your girlfriend's also a better. Who did I have this conversation with? Oh, Michael Jenkins, who I actually really like Michael Jenkins over to NBC Sports, Washington. He and I did something together like two or three weeks ago, and it was sort of gambling related. And he told me that his wife bets, and I was just fascinated.

with that and probably asked him about 15 to 20 questions. My wife doesn't even like sports. Neither is mine. I mean, Kara doesn't even understand. She watches the three boys and I sit there and watch games, and she just, she still doesn't understand it after all these years. She thinks it's a complete waste of time. Let me give you one revelation that, uh, that we weren't doing this together when this

happened. And it speaks to the power of what the capitals did last year with the Stanley Cup. You know, my wife. Got into it. She doesn't like any sports. She likes going to baseball games live during the day when the sun's out. Because she likes to sit in the sun. Right.

Other than that, she's not particularly interested. When's the last time you took her to a baseball game? Well, we usually go with my son and her once a year. Okay. We usually go at least together once a year. Last year, she was watching Caps Vegas final games by herself. Kara watched that too. Kara watched that too.

That was stunning. Yeah. She watched the caps in that final, you know, in that final game in Game 5 in Vegas. She was texting me during the game. I'm at, you know, Capitol Water Arena. And she's texting me. What a goal. Well, I mean, you know, we should ask them what they think about fighting,

what they thought about the game last night. Let me do this quick read for Windon Nation, and we'll get to some Redskins stuff, including the Monte Nicholson video from yesterday. Wind Donation right now is offering their triple zero sale. Zero down payment, zero payments, and zero interest until 2020. But that's not all. Window Nation's triple zero sale is a triple deal.

You'll also get $200 off every window, any size, any style, and with a whole house order of windows, Windonation will pay your heating bill until the new windows are installed. You'll save hundreds, even thousands of dollars right now, and who knows how much more, with energy savings and higher home value for years to come. Wind Donation windows give the greatest gift an inviting warm, cozy, comfortable home.

So visitwindonation.com today for the triple zero sales, zero down payment, zero payments, and zero interest for 12 full months and $200 off each window no minimum purchase required. Plus, Windonation will pay your heating bill until the new windows are installed. You'll save today, save tomorrow, save forever. Call 86690 Nation,

or visit windownation.com. That's 86690 Nation or shopwindonation.com and tell them we told you to call. Did you see the Monta Nicholson video? Yes, I did. Okay, so this is what I thought about when I thought about this conversation with you today. Some kind of juvenile thing, I know.

I thought somehow you are going to connect this back to organizational dysfunction. Well, Kevin, it's only, connected in the sense that people can't forget everything. I'll give me an example. It was a hell of a punch, wasn't it? It was a hell of a, not as good as Tom Wilson's. Not as good as Wilson's.

But it was a pretty good shot. You know, my boss at WJFK, Chris Kinerd, had tweeted after the Redskins won against Jacksonville how they needed that win for just more than the win. The team needed something positive to happen given all the negative.

And I responded back. It felt like there was a sinkhole under the building, and this kind of props it up, at least for another week, providing nothing stupid happens this week. Of course, something was going to happen. And sure enough, something happens. I mean, so it's the aura of self-destruction. Is that not a thing now? Is that not a true thing?

It is a thing. It's been a thing, okay? You're right. You're right. So, of course, by itself, it's not connected to anything. It's a rogue player getting drunk at two in a morning and getting in a fight. But it doesn't exist by itself. No, but self-inflicted stuff like Ruben signing Ruben Foster, 72 hours after a second domestic violence issue in less than a year. That is, that's a direct link to stupidity. Yes, it does.

But it opens you up to everything else that happened since then. I mean, again, they have earned their reputation. Well, it's like we talked about this a few weeks ago, I think we did. God, I'm forgetting what we talked about a few weeks ago all the time now. But remember when we did the show together and we would sit there after show preparing for the next day's show. And if we didn't have a lot, we would just say to each other, the Redskins will do something stupid today and we'll have that to talk about. And it really, it didn't happen all the time. But within a week it usually happened, something they would do.

Football-wise, off-the-field-wise, winning off-the-field-wise, would be stupid, and we'd have content. And if you think this is just... I'm glad they immediately put him on this, you know, reserve non-football injury list rather than... I mean, first of all, he's not even playing. You know, he's not even taking defensive snaps because, you know, Bruce Allen wants Ha-ha Clinton Dicks to play, because they traded for him. But I, he's, I mean, look, some people said they should have cut them immediately. The only reason you would do that is to, a, send a message to either your fan base that we're not going to tolerate this kind of behavior or to send that message to your locker room. That, you know, we have certain standards and this isn't one of them, except everybody would laugh in their face.

Right. I mean, this team is so beyond message. This team is so beyond symbols. Like you're trying to change the cold. You know, the only reason to do that, let's say there was a new coach that got hired two weeks ago. And this happened. Then if you're the new coach, you do cut that guy. Right.

Because you say this is not the way we're doing business around here. But now this group, I mean, no one's going to take that seriously. You're sending a message that we're not going to tolerate this, us. Are you kidding me? We're the prostitutes of the NFL. We are the red light district of the league right now. Look, remember Ben McAdu in an interview before the season? The Redskins.

He was asked to go through the NFC, and he said, Washington's Washington. This is what he was talking about. They'll self-destruct. That's an industry view. That's not just the media view. You know, in this red light district, you know what a bigger red flag is as it relates to this issue, is it somebody like me and probably a lot of people like me who have been fans forever. don't even care about how they handle it.

I saw this, I watched the video. It didn't even occur to me that I was interested in how they were going to handle it. Seriously, I'm being serious. I couldn't have given a shit yesterday what they did with Monta Nicholson. I don't expect them to do the right thing ever, but it's gotten beyond that point. And this is the point we've talked about many times over the years, the point of apathy. being much worse for the franchise than any other emotion. It's the absence of passion.

It's, is that I, yesterday, you know, I got a bunch of text messages, you see the Monta Nicholson thing? No, I haven't seen it yet. And I didn't go right to it. Maybe an hour later, I waited until I was home, and I didn't feel like looking at it and I watched it. And I'm like, oh, that's a pretty good punch right there. I mean, I feel sorry for the guy that got hit.

It didn't even occur to me to think about or care about. how they were going to handle it. And in fact, I always read the transcript of the J. Gruden Media Meet every day. Absolutely. And the first six, seven questions were about Montaie Nicholson. And I'll be honest with you, I didn't care what the answers were. I'm being serious. And no one has been a bigger fan for a longer period of time.

There may be many people out there that have been as big of a fan, but I was at the top of the P1 list, as we call it in radio. And I don't give a crap about how they handled Monta Nicholson. And I'll tell you what, this game on Saturday, we're going to go through the Friday football motion tomorrow, talk about Redskins beat Titans if. I don't think they have a chance in hell of winning that game. I don't.

I don't think they have a chance in hell. I think dysfunction is at an all-time high. I think the people involved in running this organization are totally incapable of building a sustained winner and probably incapable of building a limited winner. And until there are significant changes, and I know no one's going to get what you really want, which is a new owner and new ownership, you're not going to get that. but until there's a total reboot and something that I can sort of sink my teeth into and say, you know what, I'm going to give Kyle Smith a chance. I'm happy they hired Greg Williams. Or I'm happy, you know, I had this conversation yesterday about, you know,

a lot of people said to me they're going to have to keep Jay. And those people may be right because it's such an undesirable place to come that you're not going to get the choice of the best candidates. So I said if that's true, and there are too many openings in whatever the number of openings there are, let's say it's seven, the Redskins are going to be at the bottom of the list in terms of the top candidates and where they would prefer to go. And so I started thinking, well, if you're bringing Jay Gruden back, Alan, Bruce has to go. But if they're bringing Jay Gruden back, you know, hire Todd Bowles for me. Get me a real defensive mind and defensive, you know, disciplinarian and guy.

I mean, I think Greg Williams now is going to get a head job. He may be the coach in Cleveland next year. But give me Ron Rivera, you know, give me somebody on the defensive side where they're going to be coached up a little bit better. I don't have anything I can sink my teeth into right now. I have no, I'm at that point. I don't have much hope. Where's the hope that they're going to beat Tennessee and Philadelphia?

No, they're not. No, they're not. I got news for you. They're not beating Tennessee in Philadelphia. you. You know, you're taking the glow off my Josh Johnson. Oh, I'm still bathing in Josh Johnson. I am rooting for him. I mean, you know, we still got a couple of days before reality sets him. Saturday at 4.30, I'm going to be rooting for number eight. I am. I like him and I like his story. And he is, as you said, potentially a Christmas miracle. Yes. Now, that said, there is one, there's one road for Hope for the Redskins fans. And it's such a disgusting, despicable road. I'm almost tempted not to bring it up. Bring it up. It's the Jerry Richardson Road.

Oh. It's your hoping. Oh, oh, you mean in terms of fans hoping that Snyder does something so stupid that he's forced to sell the team? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. That's your only hope. My big picture is big reboot.

And it's going to come with Dan Snyder owning the team. And as I've mentioned multiple times over the last few weeks, there's going to have to be some sort of an epiphany. that he has and the delusion needs to be erased and reality has to set in that he is the owner of one of the worst professional sports franchises in North America. And it just happens to also be a franchise that has the potential, the potential to be one of the best. But right now, under his leadership and his ownership, it has, it has at various times been close to the worst in professional sports.

It's certainly been in the bottom quarter of franchises in professional sports in terms of the way it's been run. But right now, in this moment, you could argue it's one of the three or four worst run, worst franchises in all of professional sports in our country. Right up there with the Knicks and James Dolan. Yep, right up there. You know, by the way, let's do a little football real quick. Real football stuff. Can we wait on that? Because Scott Van Pelt needs to get on now.

Let's get on for Mr. Van Pelt. All right. Let me first tell you about Ferris, Chrysler, Dodge, because remember, we've got the NFL power pole coming up, so you can save all your NFL talk for them, and I've got some things for you, too. Ferris, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Fairfax should be on your list if you're considering something new.

They make it easy for you. Ralph Perkins, Kevin Farish, for a decade plus, they supported the radio shows we were involved in, and now they're supportive of this podcast. They're smart, they know what their customers want, and they make it easy for you. I talked to Ralph over the weekend, And he's actually on vacation in Florida for a few days.

He's usually in the store, but he took a few days off. But he emphasized right now over this final, you know, 9, 10, 11 days of December that they've got the best rebates they've had all year long. They're trying to get rid of all of their inventory before the end of the year so they can bring in new shipments of vehicles post-January 1. And that means great deal opportunities for you. Plenty of inventory on the lot right now, whatever you're looking for, you'll likely find it in the make-mobiles. in color and be able to drive at home that day. Specifically, they've got the best deals of the year on the RAM pickups and then the Jeep Cherokee, the Jeep Grand Cherokee, and the Jeep Wrangler. If you like this show and you're thinking about buying something new and it's a Chrysler,

Dodge Jeep or Subaru, they've got a Subaru dealership out there as well, head out to Farish and Fairfax and I promise that it'll work out for you. They're located right there in Fairfax Circle. Ask for Ralph when you get there. He'll put you in touch with their best sales person and take good care of you. You can also find out everything Farish has in stock right now, live inventory, live pricing, and their best deals at ferrish cars.com. All right, it's Thursday. Scott Van Pelt joins us every Thursday and he's with us right now. I do want to talk some NFL with you in a moment, but did you see the bad beat last night, Duquesne and Penn State? Did you see what happened in that game? Oh yeah. It's our job, Kevin, to

see that. It's our, we're the stewards of the things, aren't we? And when we heard about it, it was like, all right, well, let's see how bad it is and then how bad it is. And it's a, I mean, that's on the short list of

all timers. When you did a foul call and the problem was the first technical was terrible. It was just, it's just way too quick a whistle. Keith Dan brought their head coach, got mad about a block charge. But you've got to understand the moment. You've got to understand. Tell everybody

what happened that missed it. Okay, so it's a tie game, Duquesne and Penn State. So in the grand scheme, is this a bigger game for Duquesne or Penn State, obviously for Duques. They've just tied the game at 67. There was a block charge call on, with like five seconds left, Penn State took the ball of the basket. They called Block. Penn State, Duques coach, Keith Danbrook, goes nuts and waves off the call and immediately gets a technical. Now, after the first technical, now he's really pissed, and rightfully so, and continues to Houtenhollow, and gets a second technical. So if you're doing the math on this, you're going to get two free throws on the block

charge. You're going to get two free throws for each technical, and Penn State made all six free throws. Now, why does that matter? Well, what matters is Duquesne was getting five points in the game. So it's a tie game. Duquesne's plus five, six free throws with five seconds left, and then we're not. when Duquesne went to inbound the ball.

It kind of got knocked around by Penn State. People were rolling around on the floor of the game ends, and you just got crushed if you had Duquesne plus fire. Yeah, one of the worst beats ever, Tommy. And it's one of those situations if, you know, if you bet for a long, long time like Scott and I have and like others who are encouraging people to bet now that it's legal in D.C., who haven't actually bet, you actually are in a position at 67-67,

if you've got Duquesne plus the five. I think it was five and a half in most spots. But you're in position there to lose the game if it goes to overtime. You want it to end in regulation. I've lost so many games where I'm getting plus five plus six because the game goes to overtime and you lose by six or seven. So if you're watching that game and you've got Duquesne Plus, you're okay with the foul call and you're actually okay with the first tech.

It's the second tech that kills you because the... The first tech now, you got four free throws, and you got a pretty good chance for that game to end in regulation with five seconds to go as a four-point final, or maybe a one-point final if they hit a three or a two-point final if you hit a two. But you're in better shape of not going to overtime and losing. It was that second technical that made it one of the worst, worst beats or one of the best wins. Do you've ever had if you had Penn State-Land-a number? I made the point, Kevin, on the show last night. I said, listen, if you had Penn State. day tonight, then what you need to do on Christmas is you need to take all your gifts back. You need to get the money for the gifts and you need to give it to charity to square it with karma around the universe. That's what you have to do. Those are the rules. I didn't make the

rules, but those are the rules and everyone knows them. On your segment, I think we've talked about this before, Bad Beats, which has become so popular on your show. You and Steve both do it so well, it's highly entertaining. I know we've had this conversation off the year. I don't think we've had it on the air. How much do you feel, especially now that sports gambling is becoming more legal, and we're going to have more and more people involved in betting.

How much more explanation on, as an example, totals do you think is required for the majority of the audience watching? That's an interesting question, Because you're right. Not everybody is as familiar with it as those who've been in the game, so to speak, for a while. But I can't treat the segment like gambling talk for dummies because the majority of the people who enjoy the segment get the segment. So I can't really slow the car down so that the people like, well, wait, I don't understand what's the total. I'm not doing the show that segment for you.

You know what I mean? Yeah, I know. I'm not trying to get everybody up to speed. I just assume that if I say over or under, you can figure it out. And if you can't, well, then we'll just hang on for a minute. We'll have a highlight that's for you in a second. I just, I think most of it's fairly understandable. But the bigger picture that you paint and the bigger question I think that comes up now is as things happen,

as are, you know, they paved the way in D.C. for more people to bet. is that people need to understand what it is they're getting into if they're just sort of if they've casually talked around at the office about it and you know old dave really knows the n hl okay well just i just want dave to be careful before he starts you know taking the 401k and bet it nightly on the canucks you know what i mean because that's not a that's not a proposition that's going to work out for you uh well well scott if if that's the case uh wouldn't it behoove you to try to educate these people in Washington as to the proper way to, you know, to bet and bet with your head and all that? And wouldn't the best way to do that to be a partner

with me and Kevin in the sports book that we're going to open here in town? You know, $5,000 gets you a license for two years, buddy. That's pocket change. Really? Yes. $5,000 for a two-year license. But again, Tommy, it's not to become the house. It's just to be able to

offer it. Well, for retailers, I mean, I can't figure out, I understand for any arena what the attraction is, but the $5,000 license is for retailers. What are you going to pack the menu with? Cheese sandwiches? Is that going to be it? I mean, chicken tenders. Chicken tenders and cheese sandwiches.

People that bet love chicken tenders. I, uh, I, I, I, I, I, look, it's funny because it sounds so hypocritical for people like you and I to, to give out warnings about gambling because we love it so much. And it's probably been over the years, you and I who have been close, close, close friends for 30 years now,

it's probably been 20% of the conversation that we've had over the years. And that may be high, but it's been a significant part of the conversation that we've enjoyed over the years together. And that's part of the fun of betting is the conversation about it. and the friendships that you create because of it. But it really, it bothers me when I hear people who know nothing about how addictive this is and about how incredibly lucky you have to be to win occasionally. That it's not a game of skill, all right? No, no, no, no.

It is mostly a game of chance. and they love to paint it as a game of skill. Okay, well, look, this is all about, you know, how you can use analytics and like, and as if that means that the gate, as if that means the gate to the back door to the candy shop is unlocked. Come, take all you want. That's not, that isn't how it works. And, I mean, listen, I started this segment last night, Kevin, with Penn State and Duquesne. And I just, the first words out of my mouth were, never bet.

Because this is, and I've said a million times in different interviews, people ask me about bad beats because everybody seems to enjoy it so much. The point I make is, isn't it a weekly sort of don't ever bet? Isn't this instructive about how difficult it is to win? Isn't this, I'm not painting this is some glamorous thing that you should just go do. I'm not encouraging anyone to do it. I'm just telling you if you do, and a lot of people enjoy it, because it is, it makes the game more interesting to some people.

And it also is this maddening, impossible chase where you might have the team. Like if you had Duquesne, throughout that game, you had what we would call the right side. Like, they were clearly the right side. It was a competitive game, and they should probably win, whether they want on the floor or not, they should win the bet. Well, they don't in the end, because that's what happens. and your analytics can be in your favor, and you still don't win because that happens.

And so the notion that you could game the game with your computer models and whatever else, there are people out there. There are the syndicate types out there that are brilliant people. But we're talking about the 1% of the 1% of the 1% of the 1% that could do that. Most of the hacks like us,

we're just trying to win 53% just to be even. That's all you're talking. trying to really do. Yeah, and the syndicate of the syndicate and the 1% of the 1% of the 1% is, it's even, even they don't get cut off. They may get limited the very few. And as you and I both know, because we know a lot of people on the other side, this is a group of people less than two dozen on the planet. They don't get cut off. They get limited. You and I have been limited betting college hoops before. But they don't get cut off.

The house is not going to stop taking even their action when it comes to the NFL or college football Saturdays because they know, and I mentioned this yesterday, look, if you think that you've got it all figured out, just understand it's already been factored into the price. All right? The other side knows what you know. Well, this is what you guys need to do.

You need to contact the D.C. lottery and say, hey, why don't you have Scott Van Pelt and Kevin Sheean do a scared straight video? We could do it. I do every Monday. It's all bad beat. But you know what? That scared straight video of the guy that's been in prison and dealt with all that goes with a prison, we've been in prison. We've taken our lumps over the years, as has anybody who's ever bet.

And the people that tell you that they always win, they don't. They're lying. Of course not. Of course not. Anyway, NFL. Yeah. It's actually, Tommy and I had this conversation the other day, and I want your thoughts. I think, well, you and I had this conversation, I'm pretty sure, after the Chiefs Rams game.

And I think we both agreed that that wasn't what the NFL was going to become, you know, contrary to popular belief. A lot of people said, there's your NFL. That's the future of the NFL. And sure enough, we get Dallas over New Orleans, we get the Bears over the Rams, and we get what we saw on Monday night, a 12-9 game with the Saints involved. I am a believer right now that this year, and we don't have this every year, but there are really, really good defensive teams. We don't have this every year, but we've got four or five exceptional defensive teams,

and I think they can win and get to the Super Bowl. What do you think? I think that the Bears defense is actually. Excellent. Let me back up. To me, this is a question of trust, and this is how I framed it on the show the other night. Obviously, there's a lot to love about that Bears defense. I worry that Jason can't go, because he's a big part of it. But there's a lot to love about the Bears' defense. But do you trust to Trubisky to not make a mistake in the playoffs? I think it's hard to know yet. There's a lot to like about that Saints defense, frankly. Statistically, they've been good, and they'll be at home. they'll be in that building where I think it's a combination of the defense, but, you know,

obviously you got Drew Brees on the other side. But I don't know that the teams are going to win a title with defense. I mean, I guess I'm also thinking, Kevin, the last Super Bowl we saw where Philadelphia and New England punted once in the entire game, you know, are we going to see, are we going to see playoffs games that are 54-51? No, I don't think in a million years we're going to see that. But I don't know that we're going to see another Dallas, New Orleans. What was that final?

1310. 13. 13. That's right. That's right, because Breeze got picked and they just ended a field goal. I think that we'll see offenses pick back. I think we'll see New Orleans's offense pick back up now that they're not on the road. I mean, three straight road games and Breeze has never been as good on the road.

But I'd be worried about the Rams offense because they've got guys that are hurt. They lost cup. That changed things. Seattle at home this week. Kansas City on the road. They've been kind of brought back to the middle some. This is a rambling answer. This isn't answering your question. You don't get to play, you don't get to play garbage defenses in the playoffs. So, I mean, I just don't think you're going to see games with totals in the 70s. That isn't happening.

I guess more, because when you mentioned New Orleans's defense, I agree with that. I think they're actually much better defensively than we thought early in the year. And their home field advantage will be the best in the postseason. So I would still favor them to win two games at home and get to the Super Bowl. But as we've watched over the last few weeks, I am giving Dallas. I am giving Chicago. I am giving now Minnesota because they now have, since Everson Griffin's returned and they've gotten a bit healthier, they have a championship defense.

I'm giving the Chargers for sure. They're the most complete team, but I'm giving Houston a chance. If Baltimore gets in, last year, if Baltimore had gotten in, that would have been the best defense in the playoffs if they had gotten into the postseason. And I don't know that they're going to get into the postseason because they pretty much got to beat the Chargers on Saturday night to get in. But I would give Baltimore, even with their unorthodox approach to offense right now, I just think that some of these teams, one of them is going to emerge.

and that the teams that have great offense that don't have good defense, like the Chiefs, are going out early. Yeah. Well, I mean, I agree with that. I agree with that. And it was that, that Chiefs' Rams game was certainly a lot of fun, and everybody watched, and thank you for that. But, you know, we've seen the Rams really look ordinary in these last few weeks.

And, you know, I think that Chiefs melt down the other night was kind of a one-off. I think it was just because they were facing the guy in Philip Rivers, who in many ways is unique, and there's really nobody else like that guy out there slinging it for the charges. And I love that team. I always do. I always do because of Rivers.

Yeah, you and I both. There's something about the guy. But I don't think you're just going to go outscore people 48 to something and win three playoff games in a row. Last thing. I had Loxley on the show last week. He's great.

He can, I mean, you can, you can totally tell when you have a conversation with this guy, why he connects with so many people on so many levels. How did they do yesterday? It's a short turnaround from his hiring to, you know, the early signing period, but how did they end up doing yesterday, recruiting-wise? They only took a few players yesterday, which people are going to be like, how could you only have a recruiting class of six guys? Well, because this isn't the end. This is just the early signing. Day, which is a new thing in college football. But what's sticky about this is that he comes in and inherits the commitments that were commitments

to the former coaching staff. And as an example, there's a quarterback from up here in Connecticut, as a matter of fact, last name is Summers. My guy Stanford, Steve, has seen him play a bunch. They want to stay tidal. He had like six touchdown passes in the title game. But he committed to play for Canada. and he did not sign yesterday.

Now, it doesn't mean that Maryland couldn't decide in the end, well, this coaching staff wants to keep you, but I don't know that they're going to. That's just one example of a commitment who didn't sign yesterday. There were several who didn't. But there are also some local kids, Kevin, who are committed to play at other programs that didn't sign. Notably, there's a kid at DeMatha named Cross.

He's a safety. He's a Florida State commitment. there are people that believe maybe he'll decide to stay at Maryland. So how'd they do yesterday? Not well at all, but that's not the end of the class. The bulk of the recruiting that he will do will come after the playoff in a like two-week frenzy before the February signing period. So I don't think you'll be able to judge reasonably his impact on recruiting with this class

because there's such a small window. But the 2020 class locally is excellent. And I think that's where you're really going to see his ability to connect with people. And I agree with you. I've known Lox for a long time. I was very vocal that whatever went on in New Mexico and, of course, that gets brought up and blah, blah, blah. That was 10 years ago he got hired there. He will kill it at Maryland.

He was the guy for this job. And I'm thrilled that Maryland was able to look past the past and recognize what the future can be with him in there. You don't agree. No, I don't agree. I'm just the opposite, but I'm not a Maryland fan. I understand, and listen, I understand people are going to point to this stuff, and I know what they're going to point to, and I get it. I understand all that, and I made this point, Tommy, to people that if you're not a Maryland person,

you don't get it. But you know what? None of the people, none of the people, and I would challenge you on this. When he was a coach at Maryland, did you bring up any of this? Because he's been a coach at Maryland since New Mexico. Did you have all this outrage about his past and why he shouldn't be there when he was the coach? Because he's been a coach at Maryland since then. That was before a player died in the program.

Okay, the rules have changed. The rules have changed forever for Maryland. And people haven't gotten it yet. How does that impact him in New Mexico? What's that got to do with him in Mexico? It impacts everybody who comes to work for this program from now on. And the fact that Locke and that young man's father are actually, are actually friends and Marty McNair came to there to show his support for Mike Loxley.

This is a guy that lost his. Mike Loxley lost his son, too, didn't have to. A horrible circumstance. He's familiar with losing a child. He lost a child of violence. I understand all that. My gut feeling is if something goes wrong with the program, this is a cover-up guy. A cover-up guy.

A guy who will cover it up. All right. Well, listen, I'm just going to say, I'll just say, I'll just say, I, I disagree with you as vehemently as I can disagree with you, and I'll just leave it at that. And by the way, hold on. If we really want to have a talk about this, what's still, it's almost criminal is that Damon Evans is still the athletic director. And why is that criminal? That's unbelievable.

I'm not going to, I'm not disagree with you. I'm just curious. You read the report, the independent report about what he was doing. I mean, he was backstabbing, he was backstabbing maybe a bad AD, but he was still backstabbing him. He showed no interest in overseeing the program whatsoever. And, again, talk about cover-up, did everything he could to cover it up. I mean, the fact that Damon Evans is the AD still taints the whole Maryland football. Nobody wants – people have grown tired of it.

They want to move on. They want to embrace Loxley. And I don't really have a strong opinion about it one way or the other. Yes, you do. You've had a strong – Well, I did. You wrote a column about it. I wrote a few columns about it.

But that was before they hired Mike Loxy. I haven't written about that. I think what Marilyn did, and actually I think that they kowtowed a bit too much because I think there was some preference to bring back Durkin, who, by the way, and I don't think we've mentioned this over the last week, has been hired as a consultant by Nick Saban. No, he wasn't hired as a consultant. He's not hired. Okay, so he's not being paid, but he's consulting Nick Saban. Actually, he's for no pay? He's coming.

He's looking at the program. Which something that Saban does. He invites coaches in to, or coaches ask him to come look at the program. I think that the Maryland made what was the best decision for Maryland. And if people in the media have a problem with that, who cares? They're the ones that have to live with the consequences, economic and otherwise of the people that they hire and fire. And because there's outrage over this guy's resume,

most of it from 10 years ago, and as Scott points out, he's worked at Maryland in the interim, and your retort to that of things are different now because somebody's died, that's your opinion, and it's not unreasonable. But I can just tell you this, Tommy, if they didn't hire him, it would have been worse for them.

In the current environment for that school, not hiring him would have been worse for the program and for everybody affiliated with the program moving forward. And that's the part of it, that I don't you've got to take some time to look into but they would have had a program that would have been DOA had they not hired I didn't want I didn't want to do this again I know okay but I just I think that you know when you're making decisions that are in the best interest of the school that many of those decisions end up being economic related and you can say you just do the right thing

but the right thing sometimes can cost you um you know in that particular situation even more down the road. I didn't want to get into this either. Anything else you want to say? No, I just, I think that we can, I think that we can disagree on this and it's clear that we do. And time, as it always is, will be the barometer for what will happen. So, I make no apologies to anybody for the fact that I supported him and that

I'm rooting for him because I root for Maryland and support whoever the coach is. So I'm hopeful with that. And I wish everyone, happy holidays, Merry Christmas. May there be no bad beats under your tree, and we will talk again soon. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas, Scott. Thanks. Merry Christmas, fellas.

Scott Van Pelt, everybody. If you're listening to this show and other people want to listen to the show and they don't know how to listen to the show, just tell them to go to the Kevin Gians Show.com, please. I had a conversation with Big Tony last night. Really? Big Tony called. Boy, it's been years since I've talked to him. Oh, I mean, I talked to him at least once a week. Big Tony is a massive Steelers fan.

He was pushing Jalen Samuels. He's like, they don't need Levian Bel. They don't even need James Connor because Jalen Samuels, the guy that ran wild last week against the Patriots is so awesome. But I said, have you been listening to the show? And he said, I can't listen to this show. And I said, yes, you can listen to the show. And Big Tony is like a lot of you out there, or a lot of, not you out there that are listening to the show, but you know people who are like, Sheen and Lavera are back on together?

Where? How do I get it? Yeah, just go to iTunes. How do I do that? What do you mean a podcast? And so many people just are intimidated. They're intimidated by podcasts. I don't get it.

But anyway, all you got to tell them is just go to the Kevin Sheeonshow.com. It's really easy. And when you go to that website, all of those people are on the web all the time. For porn in particular, but for other things as well. And just tell them to go to the Kevin Sheeonshow.com. And there's a big old blue button with an arrow on it that says play. And they can listen to it. And those of you that are listening to it on iTunes and other places where you can rate the podcast, it helps if you rate it for us.

Subscribe first. There's no cost. And then just review it and rate it. That's a big help to us. And remember on your- Efforts on the revenue side. On your iPhone, there's a podcast app. It's right there.

It comes with your iPhone. It does. And all you got to do is hit that and then in the search in Kevin Sheehan. And it'll come right up. Come right up. All right, before we get to your favorite part of the week, which is the NFL power pole, you and I both wanted to have a conversation about J.P. Finley, who on his podcast, great podcast, mentioned the possibility that if somehow Josh Johnson and the Redskins were to pull off a win on Saturday at Tennessee, that Colt McCoy may be ready to play health-wise, and that more likely than not the Reds, am I saying this correctly, more likely than not the Redskins, would start Colt McCoy in week 17 against the Eagles if Josh Johnson won the game on Saturday. That's the way I understand it.

Now, obviously, everybody knows, everybody within 500 miles knows that I'm one of the biggest Colt McCoy fans out there. I know. If Josh Johnson manages to preside over a win over the Tennessee Titans on Saturday, there's no way. you can take him out of the game and bring in Colt. I don't care how much you love Colt or how much you think you have a better chance of beating the Eagles with Colt McCoy. You cannot take Josh Johnson, the biggest story,

the biggest inspiration, the only ray of decency on this team who manages to win two games, or at least not lose two games that people expected you to lose, And then put them on the bench for, you can't do that, right? No. You can't bench them.

I, so JP and I were tweeting back and forth with one another earlier this morning about this. And I'm just looking for the exchange real quickly because. And look, I get it. You know, in a way, what it would do, it would actually reinforce what I've been saying for years as to how much Jay Gruden really loves. Oh, he does. Oh, McCoy. Yeah. So, you know, I just basically said, look, I don't think there's much of a chance that they're going to beat Tennessee in the first place.

But if they do, there's no chance that Colt McCoy would start. And I just essentially, you know, sent something back that said, unless, of course, Bruce says so. You know, with a winking emoji. And JP said there's a lot of support for Colt in the building. And it starts with the head coach. More importantly, though, I don't understand the rush for this conversation. and let's see what happens in Nashville. The cart has fully lapped the horse.

No, I get it. And I was saying it was having fun with it as much as anything else because I don't personally believe that the chances of winning at Tennessee are very great. Anyway, so this is going to be a conversation that's not worth having. But if Josh Johnson played well Saturday and they beat Tennessee, he's going to start against the Philadelphia Eagles. The locker room will demand it. As much as they love Colt, and I'm sure Colt would probably say,

you can't take this guy out now. How do you come back that quickly from a fractured leg or tibia? He didn't have a fracture. He had a crack. I know. He had a crack. It was not broken. It was a crack.

You know? Look at, look it. You banged your head on a speaker at the old radio station and you played so Colt McCoy can play. And you know what? Here's the other thing, Kevin. If they don't be Jacksonville, if they don't be Tennessee, what's the point of playing Colt McCoy in the last game? There isn't. Anyway.

No, there isn't. There's no reason. Well, actually, there's still a chance. They could lose to Tennessee and still get into the playoffs as a wild card. That's so bizarre. We just created that. That's so true. If he were to, let me, I don't know why I didn't think of this.

The King of Playoff scenarios. If they, and the reason I didn't think about it is because I don't care. I just told you that a little while ago. It's not as important right now because I want the reboot so much. But if they were to lose to Tennessee and Josh, Johnson played poorly through two picks, fumbled once, and they got run 34 to 7. But Philly lost to Houston and Seattle lost to Kansas City and Minnesota lost to Detroit. Oh, well, the Minnesota losing Detroit. No, that's possible. It's on the road. They're only a four-point

favorite. Five-point favorite. All those things are possible. Five and a half now. So then all of a sudden the Philadelphia game has meaning and Colt McCoy's healthy? Yeah. Yeah. That would be the situation. You're right. You could actually see Colt McCoy back in line. If Paul McCoy can play, he's got playing that game. But we don't expect that to happen. We expect Josh Johnson to wash all over us this weekend with goodness, as you said the other day. No, no, I said that goodness stops at 430 on Saturday. Oh, man. It would actually be a phenomenal story if he went out and played well, and they won the game as a 10-point underdog. Yes, it would. I think we've talked about everything that we need to talk about Redskins related, right? Yeah, let's get to the dent.

No, no, Joe Flacco. Joe Flacco. Oh, okay. The Joe Flacco odds came out yesterday on Bavada. The odds on where Joe Flacco will be week one of the 2019 NFL season. Guess who the favorite is? I know who the favorite is because I was on with Chad Dukes yesterday afternoon, Wednesday afternoons. I'm on with Chad on 1067 a fan.

You can also hear me with Andy Poll on Saturday mornings, 9 o'clock. to noon on 106-7 the fan. Chad, they came out right when I was on Chad's show, and we talked about that, the fact that the Washington Redskins are the number one team. They're the favorite. They're plus 220 on Bovada. That's the favorite, okay? So that's just a little bit more than two and a half to one,

just a little bit more than two to one at plus 220. The Jaguars are the second favorite at plus 240, and then it's the Dolphins, Raiders, Giants, and Bucks, The Redskins are the favorite right now for Joe Flacco. Go ahead, finish your thought. Well, I did something that I know is sacrilegious to you, but I suggested that the people in the desert might not really have all the information necessary to make that kind of reasonable.

Like salary cap? Yes. Yeah, they can't. Well, that was going to be my number one answer. Yeah, that's it. They can't afford to. They can't afford Flacco. Yeah.

So I said that to somebody yesterday, and they said to me, What do you mean they can't afford Flacco? Flacco's not going to get a big contract. I'm like, you're insane. Of course he is. He's going to get a huge contract. He's a starting NFL quarterback. With a Super Bowl ring.

He's going to have bidders. You can think whatever you want to think about Joe Flacco there, hon. But he's starting in the NFL for somebody at, you know, probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 14 million bucks a year, 15 million bucks a year. 12 to 15 million a year. Okay, so that ain't, that ain't happening in Washington with what they, oh, Alex Smith. Not going to happen. The Redskins really right now in all seriousness are auditioning Josh Johnson because he's the one they can afford. They may not even be able to, well, I think they can

afford Colt. They can probably afford Colt for another year. But hopefully they're going to draft somebody young. That's the most affordable solution to start next year if you're rebooting the whole thing is to play your rookie if he, you know, if he's halfway ready to play. But, you They can't afford Joe Flacco. That's number one. I also wanted to say this, Tommy. Alex Smith, if he can't play football again physically, it's unfair from a salary cap standpoint that teams end up having to account for that and have to count that on their cap. It doesn't make any sense to me that a player that has a devastating career-ending injury,

that the team should be penalized for that. It doesn't make any sense to me. You know, it's one thing. Well, you know what? Maybe, maybe your hope is that Bruce Allen will come up with some kind of secret plan to get out from under Alex Smith's contract like he did with Albert Hainsworth in 2010. And maybe, you know, maybe the league won't notice. I don't think Bruce fucked that thing up.

Oh, he didn't. I don't. I don't. 30 teams got it right. Two teams didn't. Three. Who was the third? It was the Cowboys, the Redskins, and the Saints, I think.

No. There was the third team. There was the third team that got fined. I guarantee you, I guarantee you there was a third team that got fined. There was not. And we're going to have our crack research staff. Yes, we are. We got it up right now.

But there was a $10 million salary cap penalty in 2012. And there was a $36 million. I think New Orleans got fined something minimal. They probably got fined for the NFL strips, Cowboys and Redskins of Salary Cap room is the headline on March 13th, You keep looking there, research staff. That's it, baby. There's somebody else there.

No, there isn't. I think New Orleans got to find a small amount. So two teams got it wrong. And of course, the two teams with the aura of self-destruction. The Cowboys and the Redskins. Whatever, I don't want to go down this path anymore. Joe Flacco is not playing for the Redskins. Now, the other part of this is most of you who have listened to me before

know that I actually am one of the few Flacco fans out there. Yes, you are. I think he has been, he's not an elite quarterback. Never suggested that Flacko's. an elite quarterback. But he's, I think he's been, certainly, and it's been proven out, good enough to win the Super Bowl with. And in fact, if you look at their Super Bowl that they won in 2012, that was not a defensive-led Raven Super Bowl. That was a Joe Flacco offensive-led Super Bowl with him coming up with one clutch performance after another. I've always thought about Flacco that

it's the, it's that curse of the uncluttered mind. You know, he's so oblivious to everything. He just, he is Joe cool in clutch moments. He, if you look at his road playoff record, if you look at some of these games that he's played over the years that have been big games for the Ravens, those are the games that he's played well in. He really has played well in their biggest games over the years,

but I don't want Joe Flacco as the Redskins quarterback. I would much prefer, Well, if you're going to go veteran, I want Teddy Bridgewater, if you're going to go in that, because he's got a bigger upside, I think, down the road. But I'm ready for a young quarterback that you can build around. And plus, I can't afford them. I'm going to dual threat guy. I mean, you'd be spending almost $40 million on one position.

Do you have some information? Not about the, about the Saints thing. I think you might be conflating bounty gig with the, no, I'm not. Because that was the exact same time. It may not have been. You know what? Hey, let me throw something out. The only two teams find or punished under the salary cap where the Cowboys and Reds are.

Let me throw out this possibility. Kevin may be wrong. How's that? Let me throw that out there. Kevin may be wrong. I guess I'm wrong. I guess I am wrong. Let's get to the dentist portion of the show now.

Hold on for a second. Come on. I'm reading something right now to see if I'm right. Oh, God. You are so wrong. Hold on. Hold on here. Okay.

sources said that the amounts that the Redskins and Cowboys have been penalized with the Cobb could, okay. The New Orleans Saints and Oakland Raiders are the only two teams that will not receive a portion of the money, but will also not lose any of their cap according to the sources. All right, maybe that's what I was thinking of. Okay, you're right. You're right. The Cowboys and Redskins, I guess, were the only two.

I could have sworn there was a third team involved, but you're right. What were we just talking about before then? We were talking about Flacco, but we're about to move on to NFL power rankings. Let's do that. Rangham, 1 to 5. It's time for our weekly NFL Power Bowl. This show is going awfully long today, right, Aaron? Are we, no?

No, not as long as the last one. Not as long as Tuesdays, I'll bet you. Did you see before we get to the NFL PowerPole that John Gruden signed Nathan Peterman? Said that he's got a big upside? Well, he does have a big. upside because he can't have any more of a downside. He's already reached the downside. It's really, it's funny about some of those guys that fans watching, oh my God, he's horrible. And yet coaches will keep giving opportunities to. It's clearly something that coaches and organizations

see in somebody and believe in somebody. And sometimes they're right. And part of its ego, part of it is the guy who thinks they can fix what other people aren't able to. I'm smarter than everybody else. He'll play for me. Do you think Mike Shanahan's going to coach Denver next year? Wouldn't that be great? Wouldn't that be great? I tell you what, it shows how much Elway still really likes Mike Shanahan, wants to recapture that magic.

Two of the all-time greatest quarterbacks, John Elway and Steve Young, revere him and think he is a genius offensive mind. But our organization decided that his record, not Bruce Allen's record now, or Jay Gruden's record, meant that we had to move on from him. Plus, you know,

he hated the quarterback. All right, what's your top five? This is going to be an interesting week. A lot of possibilities. Yes, there are a lot of possibilities. My number five is the are the Chicago Bears. Ten and four, and moving up fast. Mitch Trubisky has proven to be the perfect quarterback for that defense. I mean, you know, he's not, he's having a pretty good season, 23 touchdowns for, you know, for a second year quarterback is pretty good. And that may be the team that nobody wants to play in the playoffs moving forward with that defense. Number four are the Kansas City Chiefs. You know, I think you're going to be proven right about the Chiefs when push comes to shove.

I think defensively they're going to fall apart. And part of that is also Andy Reid's teams usually fall apart in the postseason as well and fall short. So I think you're right about the Chiefs are not going to wind up making it. I'm going to put the Rams at number three. three. They seem to be struggling a lot. Something's not right there right now. Something's not right yet. But I think, you know, I've got a lot of faith in Sean McVeigh that he'll be able to stop it and recapture what they've been doing to get them into the playoffs.

My number two team is the Los Angeles Chargers. There you go. There you go. Talking about teams you don't want to play. The Chargers are definitely that team. And they may have the coach of the year in Anthony Lynn. And they've got the quarterback that we love. love in Phil.

I've always loved, you love them more, but I've always liked them. Philip Rivers. And number one, the New Orleans Saints, and let me just make it clear, I've said this on a show before, I am so rooting for a Chargers-Ram Super Bowl. I know you are. I think it's going to be, I think it'd be one of the great stories in Super Bowl history.

How about this Josh Gordon story? He's done in New England. He's clearly got issues again. And if New England can't figure out your issues, it doesn't sort of portend anything great. for you in the future. He's stepping away. Stepping away from football to focus on mental health. Right. And according to ESPN.

This is an addiction problem, right? Am I right about that? Well, you know, if it's marijuana, it's not an addiction problem. It's a dependence problem, probably. We don't know. I mean, people suspect it's marijuana. And the NFL, you know, is still behind the times on marijuana. And eventually, you know what, five years from now, that's something you want. get suspended for it in the NFL. And according to ESPN, he's facing a possible suspension to come before he's, you know, so he's kind of preempting it by stepping away. And he's, you know, he's had a difficult life.

We'll get Tommy's pick on the Redskins Titans game before we finish up the show to get show today. This is, right now, this is a really hard top five to put together because I don't know that the teams that we've had at the top of this list, New Orleans, the Rams, you know, in some cases Kansas City. I just don't know if they're the favorites to go to the Super Bowl anymore. So I think New Orleans is because of the home field thing, and I think they're a good team. I think Scott pointed this out, and this is the interesting thing about the Saints, is they're a good defensive team. They weren't thought to be a good defensive team early

in the season, but they are. You know, they've got playmakers defensively, which is interesting. I mean, Latimore's been a really good player. Rankins and Cameron Jordan, man, he's going to be a television star down the road. Have you watched Cameron Jordan in front of a mic before? He's got some personality. You know, DeMario Davis, all these guys, they are good defensively.

Look at the games they've played here in recent weeks haven't been against offensively. of juggernauts necessarily, although Tampa was. And they held Tampa to 14. Carolina to 9. By the way, they did shut Cam Newton down. He shouldn't have played Monday night. He couldn't throw the football. So New Orleans is my number one team.

I'll bury, I'll bring the lead to the four, you know, at the front here. Because to me, they've got the best odds of getting to the Super Bowl. So my other four are teams that I think, in order have the best chance of getting to the Super Bowl. My number two team are the Chargers now. I think they've got the second best chance to get to the Super Bowl of all of the teams in the league. And I think part of that is because I see Kansas City potentially losing Sunday night to Seattle while the Chargers beat the Ravens and then finish up the season with a win against the Broncos to clinch the AFC's West Division and the number one seat overall.

I think you're right. While they won't have a great home field advantage, they won't have to go on the road and play at Arrowhead either. Right. So the Chargers are number two for me. Houston's number three. Really? Yes. I think there's a good chance that your AFC title game is Houston and L.A.

The Chargers and the Texans in the AFC championship game. Those are really the two most complete teams in the AFC. I'm intrigued by Baltimore and what they're doing. I can't wait to watch that game Saturday night. to see the Ravens for the first time with Lamar Jackson against a legit defense. They haven't played any legit defenses. And I know what the Ravens defense is. It is lights out, Tommy.

It is a championship Super Bowl defense. But I think the Texans are so complete offensively and defensively. So I've got Houston three. I've got the Bears four. I think in terms of possibilities to get to the Super Bowl, right now I would bet New Orleans Chicago is the NFC Championship game, and Houston Chargers is the AFC title game. And so tied for fifth, I've got a tie, a three-way tie. A three-way tie.

Boy, you should be a boxing judge. I just did that for you. But I'll just put the Kansas City Chiefs and the L.A. Rams as tied for fifth. I'd throw New England in there because that's the one team. They are a wild card factor in the postseason, because you know they can. could go to the Super Bowl. Like, are you really going to say New England at Kansas City or New England in L.A. against the Chargers or New England in Houston against the Texans that they can't win that

game? Of course they can win that game. Not this year. Anyway, I do think there are other intriguing teams to watch. You know, I still think the Ravens are intriguing if they were to get in. I think Dallas, I think their quarterback will hurt them with a bad break. The coach will hurt them. but they're good enough with enough talent right now to make a run.

I don't know that I believe as much in Indianapolis, even with the way they've played. If we haven't talked about this, Frank Reich's going to be a really good NFL head coach. He's doing a really good job now. He's an outside-the-box thinker. He's a motivator. He's a good X's and O's offensive guy. You know, another guy. You know what?

He might have been a good Maryland coach. Would have been a great Maryland coach. Was a really good Maryland quarterback. Wasn't a great Maryland quarterback. Right. He was famous for what he did in the Orange Bowl, down 31-0 at halftime. He's had two of the greatest comebacks in the history of football, period.

That one in 1984 in the Orange Bowl, down 31-0 to get to the Cains, and let him back to a 42-40 win, and down 3-3 in a playoff game is the backup quarterback to Jim Kelly when the bills came back and beat the Oilers. You know, Bormo-Bulmer, Oscein really pushed for Frank Reich to get the Maryland job last time around. I know. I know. They are very good friends. And, you know, there was a stretch there, the Bobby Ross, you know, Terps and even the Joe Krivak Terps, where Maryland was quarterback you. Quarterback you. They kept going to the NFL.

Kept going to the NFL. All right. Before we end today, who do you like Saturday? Well, you know, we were both wrong last week. And the only reason we were. We were were wrong was because Josh Johnson didn't turn the ball over like we thought. I mean, at least that's why I was wrong. I counted on two interceptions. I actually didn't think that they were going to be able to stop four net. Well, I thought Josh Johnson would throw two interceptions, turn the ball over. He turned in an Alex Smith line. Right. 150 yards passing, no no turnovers. I don't know if that's going to happen two weeks in a row, but I think it'll be a hard-fought game. I'm saying Tennessee 1710.

Tennessee 1710. Wow, a cover. I'll have my pick tomorrow. Andy will be on. You didn't answer my question, though. I was just thinking about this as you were talking because you got so sidetracked with the salary cap thing and being right about the two teams that had the salary cap penalty.

Do you agree with me that it's unfair for a team to be hit with 15% of their salary cap on a quarterback that had or a player that had a career-ending deal? devastating injury. I'd have to give it more thought than sitting here in this podcast studio for two seconds to think about. Look at all. Look around you. You're bathed in things that can help you with thought. I'd have to give something like that a little bit more thought. I have no opinion. Let me help you with this. No. I'm going to help you with this. Just you can take it if you want it and or you can come back the next time and we can talk about it. There are situations, there are situations where teams are irresponsible in signing a player to a much bigger contract with a much bigger risk factor,

where you almost say, you know what, you brought that on yourself. That's your problem. You need to eat it because everybody saw that this guy had multiple risk factors, injury factors, off the field issues, whatever, you know, is. But I think there's room for context in this. Alex Smith had an unfortunate potential, we don't know this at this point, career-ending injury, and he's not going to count, the Redskins weren't irresponsible with their contract extension with Alex Smith. I thought it was a bit much for a 34-year-old quarterback, but it wasn't an irresponsible move, and they're going to get stuck with this thing if he can't play, and it's really going to

limit their ability to compete. I just don't think it's, I think there should be situations or something. some sort of rule that is created for teams to get relief from that, not having to pay him. Obviously, they've got to pay him, but to get salary cap relief from a situation like that. The four words that you mentioned are changed the whole dynamic. The ability to compete. The Redskins have the inability to compete. You mean it doesn't matter anyway?

Right. Okay. Merry Christmas to you. Merry Christmas to you, buddy. We won't be doing a show on Tuesday together because it's Christmas Day. but we will be back together late next week on Thursday with the show. So Merry Christmas to you and to the family. And this is fun and it's a lot of fun to do.

Scott was great today. Aaron's great producing the show. Tomorrow I think Cooley will be on with us. Andy will be on with us. We'll do a football Friday show. And I will summon up enthusiasm for Redskins beat Titans if. I don't think it's going to happen though. It'll happen on the show, the segment.

I just don't see the Redskins winning. I think I agree with Tommy for a second consecutive week. Enjoy it. Have a great holiday.