The Kevin Sheehan Show - Brady or Belichick?

Episode Date: September 20, 2018

Kevin and Thom discuss the Belichick book and whether the Patriots would have won five Super Bowls with any top 15 quarterback, as one coach alleges they believed. Also, Kirk Cousins is currently a top 5 MVP candidate based on betting odds. And is Bradley Beal actually better than John Wall? Plus, NFL Power Polls. All that and more on today's show. <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. Yeah, that's right. It's a Tuesday with or a Thursday with Lerre. Oh, my God. I'm mad of it. I'm so out of it today. You know something? That just gave me clear sailing for the rest of the show because nothing I'll say will be as pathetic as getting the day wrong in the first five seconds. You want to bet? I'll bet you. Tommy's here. The podcast is presented by Window Nation. Thanks to Harley and Aaron.

If you need Windows, call Window Nation at 86690 Nation or go to Windonation.com. We're at Chatterin Friendship Heights, Tony's podcast studio, Wisconsin and Jennifer Street's Northwest. Great food, lots of high-deaf screens. And the bartenders are outstanding here. The Nationals open a seven-game homestand tonight. Maybe the final opportunity to see Bryce Harper. We'll talk about that a little bit later on. We are hopeful that Scott Van Pelt will join us,

but we've had some cable issues and some internet issues today and phone issues. So we'll hopefully get him at some point. We'll get it done. That's what we do. We get it done. Look, I hate to do this. God, I'm going to piss so many people off right now. You say you hate to do this.

You don't hate to do this. I know. I actually hate starting a show like this, but I'm going to do it anyway because when I mentioned it to Tom, mentioned it to Tom 30 seconds ago. He just gave the, oh, you got to talk about that. Two things. Number one is this.

Kirk Cousins right now at Sportsbook.com is the fifth favorite to win the MVP. So it's Mahomes. It is Rogers. It's Fitzpatrick. I think Cleal Mack is fourth. And then it's Kirk Fifth. Kirk Cousins, you mean the guy who used to beat a quarterback here? That one.

That guy, it's not a different guy, is it? No, it's not a different guy. It's not Kurt, Cousins. Well, it is to some. Okay. It is to some. Look, before I get to the number two here, this is Tommy's move. It's what he does all the time to tell you how right he was.

But to many of you over the last year, I have said, if he leaves here, he's going to be at some point an MVP candidate, mark it down. and most of you laughed at me and just said, oh, you're such, what is it with you and cousins? MVP, that's laughable. Well, who's laughing now? Two weeks into his career in Minnesota, he's actually in the top five odds-wise to win the MVP. Now, it is sort of ridiculous to talk about it after two weeks, but I did want to read this quote. And it came from Mike Freeman's story on the NFL yesterday. And Bleacher Report, right?

And Bleacher Report. He writes, to many who watched him over the years, Kirk Cousins was what he was, an okay player who had his moments, an average quarterback, not terrible, but nothing special. Coaches who have watched Cousins from afar, however, have long felt differently. To them, Cousins was a physically gifted player in a poor organization that didn't know how to surround him with talent on either side of the ball. In the right system on the right team, many of those coaches thought Cousins could be a star. And then he quotes, Tommy, he quotes an AFC East Assistant Coach, who told Freeman last week, quote,

you see what happens when you put him in a real organization with all around good players, he's going to tear our league apart, closed quote. Think what you want to think. Think what you want to think. He's off to a really good start in Minnesota. He's got talent around him. This is what many of us have always thought that if you put the right pieces around, him. He could be in that top 10, you know, grouping.

I don't think he's worse than top 12 last year with that terrible team that he played on and an injured team last year that he played on. But he is two games into his non-redskinned career. A talked about now MVP candidate for the 2018 season. This is one of

the things that you and I have both agreed upon. You were leading the parade before me. I was slow to come around, but not that slow. For a couple of years now, I've recognized that Kirk Cousins is a very good quarterback, and that given a better organization, he would probably flourish. Let's set aside all your Kirk Cousins, for all the listeners out there, your Kirk Cousins' biases and hatred, and speak to a bigger issue there.

Look what that coach said and what the article says, well, particularly the quote about the coach, about your organization in Washington, Redskins. Basically, within the industry of football, it's clear now, if it's not clear to you before, that the perception of the Washington Redskins is that they're a terrible organization. I mean, let's go back to Ben McAdoo's comments before the beginning of the year. He may have been a lousy head coach, but he was, he won 11 games the year before and found the way to beat the Redskins all the time. And when he was assessing the NFC East before the season, when he got to Washington, he said, he said, he was.

said, well, Washington is Washington. You know, you expect the worst from them. And this is the industry-wide. It's not new, though. Why are you acting like it's new? Well, because people, I don't think people... Oh, everybody knows. I don't think people realize, within your business,

if your reputation is like that, that's really bad. Oh, I understand the point you're making, but this isn't a revelation. Redskin fans know how their organization's been perceived by the rest of the league for a while now. They think by the media. No. I don't don't think that they think that their organization. It's been a bottom-wrung organization now for 20

years. I get that. I don't think that they really take into account the professional opinion of people in the profession about their organization. And if they do, they should take it more seriously. I mean, because basically, you know, it's like whatever business you're in, if everyone else in the business thinks you're a bottom feeder, then you've got a problem. Look, last thing on this, I promise. I promise, and I shouldn't have started the show that way. I should have saved it for the end. But Kirk Cousins, they didn't want him. And after a while, he looked around the building and said,

why would I possibly want to work here for $30 million less than what they're, based on what I can get on the open market versus what they're offering? This is the part so many of you missed is like he's in a bad organization. organization, he's looking around the building and he's like, he doesn't like me, he doesn't like me, and they're going to offer, and they did just offer me 30 million less in guaranteed money than my agent is telling me I can get on the open market, which by the way, his agent was correct, because eight months later, that's what he got from Minnesota. Would have gotten more from the Jets? Yes. But you know what Kirk said? No, this is a better organization over here.

It gives me a chance to win also being on a good team. All right, that's enough of that. I wanted to Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. One other thing that you got to address, and it's fair. I mean, Kirk Cousins came out recently with public comments saying that he thought he would play his full career in Washington. That basically he expected to make a deal to stay in Washington. Some of these comments from him have been disingenuous. He really has presented, in some ways, a disingenuous notion that,

that he didn't want to leave Washington. And we know that's not true. I think that he wanted to stay, and I think the opportunity, and I'll never, ever change my view on this, that the opportunity to get him was at the end of the 2015 season, and before Sean McVeigh left, in particular, because I think he recognized McVeigh as different from the rest of the group in Ashburn and a guy that he could tie himself to for the rest of his career.

But I think if McVeigh had stayed and hadn't, become a head coach, Kirk at the end of the 2016 season, so the 17 off season, was absolutely interested in staying here. But once McVeigh left Tommy, then he looked around the building and he said, well, they're not making me an offer. So I don't have to turn anything down anyway. They haven't made me a market level offer. Now, he said that when Bruce came out and talked about the offer, he said all the right things about how, well, they, you know, they showed interest in me and they made an offer, et cetera. But he was still beating this drum recently. that he thought he would finish his career in Washington.

I don't believe that. Well, then he's, then, then, you know, then Pious Kirk is lying. Yeah, but here's the, but here's the only two, here's the only fact that you can actually take from this whole situation. You don't know that he would have said no. My instinct after McVeigh left is that he wasn't going to be here, but it was all sort of pushed by the Redskins having very little interest in him. And what you never had the opportunity to see is whether or not Kirkway. cousins would have accepted a market level offer. Why? Because one was never made. I get that.

But we're operating. We are operating under the premise that he wanted to leave. Okay. I believe that. I do. Especially one Sean. Well, I believe it too. Yeah. But what he says is a different narrative. And I think he's got this Eddie Haskell act going here. He's got some of that. And there have been a couple of things that he said about not being able to lead or it's easier when he got to Minnesota, he said it's easier to lead when they want you to lead or something. I'm paraphrasing. And I thought that was a bit of a cop out from last year. I'm not saying he's a choir boy. All I'm saying is that what I've been saying is that Kirk Cousins at some point, you know, relatively soon, I didn't think it would be this year, would be an MVP candidate. And by choosing the path, which was the non-Kirk

cousin's future path, that's what you were steering away from. And so Bruce and Doug and Jay better be goddamn right about it. That's what they better be. And this is the year, because if that team isn't in the playoffs and that team isn't good with Alex Smith, it's on them. It's their prerogative, and it was their prerogative all along to say, you know what, he's not our guy. We can't win with him. We don't even like him. That's fine. Your solution better be a better solution that provides playoffs. Without it, they should be gone. You know, Doug Williams may have covered to hide under because Bruce Allen told him not to answer his phone. Remember? Yeah. So, Doug could say, hey, they told me not to answer the phone. What was I supposed to do? They told me

about the trade after it was done. All right, I want to get to this Patriots thing. I don't know how many of you out there have seen or read about the book that Ian O'Connor wrote on Belichick. Yes. There's a lot of revealing stuff in this book. And a lot of the, if the book's not out yet, it's coming out what next week? And this is the pre-sell of it. There's been excerpts that have come out. And it's a book that I'm probably going to make a point to read because I'm fascinated by

Bill Belichick. Me too. This is one that I will read. Yeah. This was the one excerpt out of the book that. I find it's a fascinating part of the book, and that is essentially the Patriot coaches just didn't think Brady was that good.

Here's the quote. One New England assistant said the general feeling among staff members around that time, all right? This is in the last couple of years. Wasn't that Belichick system... Hold on for a second. Let me start over. One New England assistant said

the general feeling among staff members around that time wasn't that Belichick's system could make Super Bowl quarterbacks out of all 32 NFL starters, but if you, quote, gave us any of the top 15, we could do it. I don't think the coaches view Tom as special as everyone else in football does. Mr. Kraft thinks Tom is the greatest gift ever, but the coaches don't. Closed quote. What do you make of that? Look, if it comes down between Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, I'm always,

he's going to come down on Bill Belichick. I mean, because we're talking about a guy who, not as a head coach, but as a defensive coordinator, had success long before he got to New England. I mean, we're talking about, I think, maybe the best coach in the history of pro football, and that would even include Paul Brown, who may have been the best coach in the history of pro football. I think they're right. I think that Belichick's system and Belichick's way of running a team,

could probably result in any number of the 15 quarterbacks, best quarterbacks in the league, taking them to the Super Bowl. I think Tom Brady's infatuation with Tom Brady has been his work ethic. I mean, we've heard about this legendary work ethic, and that may set him apart from other guys. We've heard he's the first guy in the building. He's the guy who demands more of his teammates.

Teammates look at him, and they say, look how hard he's working. So to have him set the tone, is something that is special and may not be there for every quarterback. But as far as the football part of it, I agree with that 100%. I think it's absolutely insane to think that. What you said, and you even said it as you were describing your thought of, you take Belichick over Brady, which I'm not going to argue.

To me, it's a separate debate. The question is whether or not Belichick could have taken any of the top 15 quarterbacks in the league over the last several years and won five Super Bowls with him, with one of those top 15. That's insane. By the way, when you say top 15, what you're really saying is that you could take number 15 and produce the same results. Because if you took Aaron Rogers, you might have the same results. If you'd had Drew Breeze, you may have had the same results. But if you had taken the 15th best quarterback in football each of those five Super Bowl years, do you think they would have won five Super Bowls? Yes. For one thing, no chance. For one thing, the AFC is a paved. easy path. The AFC East has been a paved path for New England.

So I really don't think that would be a problem. I tend to agree with it. It may be an exaggeration on some level. Oh, it's a massive exaggeration. I don't think it is. When you watch this guy play, there are times. They went 11 and 5 with Matt Castle. Yes, they did. And didn't make the playoffs, but that's not their call. They went 11 and 5. I got it. I got it. And where's Matt Castle went after that? I understand that. I understand that. And trust me, Belichick's brilliance is not, I'm not missing it. I get it. And I think Belichick with a upper half of the league quarterback would have gotten to a Super Bowl and maybe one-one. Not five. No chance, Tommy. And I think the 15

number, I think when somebody makes a quote like that, they may be going over the top to make a point. But I think it's close. I think they're right. I don't think there's anything particular special about Brady's football acumen or ability. I think his specialness lies in his work ethic and the tone he sets for that organization, which now with Yoko Ono as his trainer, you know, the Alex Guerrero guy. Is he going to break up the Beatles? You know, has come into question. You are, you're exaggerating now.

Because to say that you could have taken the 15th best quarterback in the NFL. And in one five Super Bowl, it's a massive exaggeration. But it's going over to top to make a point. You've discounted his physical abilities. You've recognized the leadership, the work ethic. I hope you're also recognizing his brilliance at the line of scrimmage and his understanding of everything that's going around him. How many Hall of Fame's fame players has he played with an offense? Do you think he would have that plan for?

Josh McDaniels more than Belichick. Do you think he would have that playing for any other team? I think, yes, I do. I think Brady, let's think of it another way. If Brady had been on other rosters with other coaches with top 15 talent, would he have won a Super Bowl? I think he would have. Would he have won five?

No chance. Would he've gotten to one or two? Tom Brady is a brilliant quarterback, Tommy, physically. He's big, he's strong, he can make every single throw. There's the only thing you can say about his game. There's a lot. The only thing you can say about his game. The only thing you can say about his game.

The only thing you can make every throw. The only thing you can say about his game is he lacks mobility, but his evasiveness, or his elusiveness, excuse me, in the pocket is top tier. Like Peyton Manning, he always had the ability to slide, step up, and feel the pocket. Tom Brady is a Belichick creation. No, he isn't. Yes, he is. Well, he wouldn't be a Belichick creation.

Belichick is a defensive guy. Oh, you don't think he has a hand in the offense? I would give Josh McDaniels over the years more credit for Brady than I'd give Belichick. Oh, no. I get Belichick credit for the defense with no Hall of Famers. One boss in New England. Is Bruske a Hall of Fame? Is Bruske a Hall of Fame?

Is Bruske a Hall of Famer? I don't know. Is Rodney Harrison a Hall of Famer? Who are its Hall of Famers? We're all these Hall of Fame players that Brady had on offense. That shows you what a great coach he is. I mean, Hall of Famers, is that going to be your measure? How about Super Bowls?

If he had had, let's say, if he had had. Andy Dalton was the 15th best quarterback, the last. time the Patriots won the, based on Passerade, the last time the Patriots won the Super Bowl. He could take Andy Dalton and win a Super Bowl. See, I'm an Andy Dalton fan, much more than most people are. He could have taken Andy Dalton and he could have taken, or

Alex Smith was 16, by the way. He could have taken Andy Dalton and been a consistent playoff team out of the AFCs. He could take Alex Smith. There's no way he would have won five Super Bowls. He could take Alex Smith and go to the Super Bowl. Wrong. Yes. He could have gone to one Super Bowl. Brady, do you know what his postseason stats are? Do you know that he's thrown for over

10,000 yards in playoff games? I get that. I understand that. 10,000 yards in playoff games he's thrown for. 71 playoff postseason touchdown passes. His record is 27 and 10. Now, this is the one knock you could put on Brady Belichick and the whole Patriot Dynasty, is they have played in the worst division year in and year out most of the time during this run. So they've not only had a path to the playoffs, but more times than not, they've had a path to home field in the playoffs. Of the 37 post-season games Brady has started, only seven of them have been true road games. I know.

Five of them have been, I'm sorry, eight of them have been neutral sight games because he's lost twice to the Giants and once to the Eagles. So he's been in eight, one-five. So eight of them and the 715, 22 of the 37 have been, home playoff games, which is an advantage in the playoffs. That's the one knock. Other than that, I've watched Brady take all of the numbers and anything else about the coaching out of it.

I've watched Brady play his entire career. He's a great quarterback, and he would have been maybe not an eight-time Super Bowl participant and a five-time Super Bowl winner somewhere else, but he would have been a winner wherever he went. Wherever he went, he would have won. He would have elevated. He probably would have won. I don't know if he would have won a Super Bowl,

but I think the point is, could they take any other quarterback and win Super Bowls? And that's accurate. They could. No, they couldn't. Your belief is they could. I think they would have had to have had another great

Hall of Fame quarterback to have gone to eight Super Bowls and won five of them. We're not talking about one Super Bowl, were two trips and one win. We're talking about they've been there eight times and one at five times. I get that. Andy Dalton wasn't going to eight Super Bowls. No, he wasn't.

But they'd switch them out for another quarterback. Another time? Sort of like somebody did here in Washington, three different times with three different quarterbacks. You don't think Belichick is capable of that? I think Brady's great. I do recognize the conversation when people will say, Aaron Rogers is great.

Brady's more system. I understand why people would think that way. Rogers is so, he's great at everything. Brady does have a flaw. He can't use his legs to get a first down on third and six. He's not a threat to beat you with his legs. He is a threat in the pocket to move around and then find some guy you've never heard of

wide open 35 yards downfield in a playoff game. because that's what he's had around him mostly. And let me ask you a question. You think that's the quarterback or do you think that's the system? You think Tom Brady makes all those nondescript offensive players that you've never heard of better? You really think that, come on. Yes, I do.

Oh, come on. You're deluding yourself. I'm not saying that the system, the offensive system in play calling and game planning from guys who have been the offensive guys, which it's not been Belichick, have participated. and contributed to that. Of course they have. But Brady is the one constant over eight Super Bowls and five. Offensively, offensively.

Oh, come on. You can't be serious and not thinking that Bill Belichick, haven't you watched any time? I love Belichick. He's the best. I don't know if he's, I think, I don't know if he's the best ever. I've, you know me, I've always been a Shula guy. Like, I just think Shula, for what he did over a long period of time, he always, and Belichick's done the same. He's taken, you know, a little and coached it up to great. Marino was great. Don't get me wrong. But Shula won everywhere he went at every stop.

He won. Took teams to the Super Bowl over and over again. Belichick's right there. Belichick's right there in the conversation with Paul Brown, who I never saw you did, and Shula and others. And Gibbs is in the conversation of the greatest coaches ever. I'm not discounting Belichick. I'm discounting that Belich.

Belichick and his staff could have taken the number 15 quarterback in the NFL in those eight seasons that they went to the Super Bowl and gone to the Super Bowl and all of them. That's ridiculous. All of them. I don't think they could have done it more than one or two. One or two. Well, they believe that they could have had the same results with a top 15 quarterback. What they believe is in any given year that they could take the top 15 quarterback and have the same results. It wouldn't be the same quarterback every year.

And I would agree with them. I think they're right. I think it's insane. And you know what? If I didn't know, well, that's not true. Because just watching him, you need everything to go with it. But watching him over the years, he's a brilliant quarterback. He's brilliant with his mind.

He's brilliant with his arm. He's brilliant with his heart and his toughness and all of that. He is. And I think Bill Belichick made him brilliant. Because he was a sixth round pick. before that. Yeah, he was a sixth round pick. I don't know what that had to do with anything.

I mean, we've got quarterbacks. Not all Super Bowl quarterbacks were first round picks, as we know. But how many are six-round picks? I don't have the list in front of me. I know you don't have the list in front of you. And we don't have Internet right now, which hurts me. It's not something that's easily ready available because there's so few, if any, probably. What was Bart Starr?

I don't know what Bart Starr. was. You don't think Vince Lombardi made Bart Starr? I'm just asking you what Bart Starr was. He wasn't a first round pick, was he? I don't know. Did they have the draft in 1957? All right. Namath was certainly a first round pick. Yes. I have the fullest, guys. Lenga. All right. So let's go into the modern errors. We're not counting. No, I want to start from the beginning. Tommy and I like going back to the beginning. If you don't think that Vince Lombardi made Bart Starr? Bart Starr. Bart Starr. Bart Starr was a 17th round. Thank you. What was Len Dosson? First round. Fifth overall pick. Okay. And Nameth was a first round pick. It was first round. Johnny Unitas was a ninth round pick out of Louisville.

Yes. All right. You think it was his coaches that made him great? No, I know. Or Johnny you? Okay. Then you had Staubach. Okay.

Stalbach was a 10th rounder. Right. Grecy was a 10th rounder only because they knew he wasn't going to go in the NFL right away. What was Greasy? Greasy was a first rounder. Fourth overall pick Kilmer was a first rounder, 11th overall thing. Well, Kilmer didn't win a Super Bowl. Well, okay.

Fine. We're just going winners here. Super Bowl 8 is Houston and Miami. All right, let's not go through. It was, what was Tarkington? What was Tarkington? He didn't win it. What was Stabler?

Stabler was a second rounder. Morton was, I'm just, I'm going down. Bradshaw was a first rounder. Plunkett was a first rounder. Montana was a third rounder. The Isman was a fourth rounder. Yeah, Thaisman was a fourth rounder. Plunkett was a first rounder.

All right, that's enough. Doug William. People aren't listening to go through the list. Hold on, hold on, hold on. Mark Rippin was a sixth round pick. Yes, he was. There it is. And you don't think Mark Rippin was a product of his coach?

Good example, Kevin. My mic was off there. He was definitely a product of the coach. But Rippin was for that one season. Nobody threw a better deep ball than Rippin. Brad Johnson was a ninth rounder. That was defense. Yeah.

That was defense. All right, give me a moment here to say thank you to Windon Nation. If you've been thinking about Windows, please consider Wind Donation. I'm back doing this podcast and two days a week with Tommy, which is so much fun, and one of the first to reach out to me

to support this new venture were Harley and Aaron from Window Nation. Harley and I have been friends. Tommy's known the Wind Donation guys for years. We've been friends for a long time. Talk to Harley multiple times a week, always about sports. He's a big Cleveland Browns guy.

He's a Cleveland guy. By the way, that's not a bad game tonight, actually. It's actually an interesting game. Browns Jets. Browns are favored for the first time and forever. If you like this show and you're thinking about buying new windows, I promise you that you'll be thrilled if you call Window Nation. They're back to school sale right now is in full effect. You get one free window for every window you buy wood or vinyl styles. Buy four, get four free, buy eight, get eight, get eight free. There's no limit. Get an A plus in savings and receive zero percent interest for five full years. That's like a

free ride until 2023. Use it towards. your kids' books, clothes, backpack, shoes, or even treat yourself. Call Windonation now. 86690 Nation. That's 86690 Nation, or go to Windonation.com and tell them that I told you to call. Tom's in Tuesdays and Thursdays. We're going to try to get Van Pelt on today. There is an NFL game tonight, a Thursday night game, and it is, I think, the first time. Actually, I think Cleveland was favored early last year in a game. On the road. This is the first one at the home. At home. home since 2015. Who were they favored over last year? They were favored against somebody terrible.

It may have been Buffalo early in the year. I forget who it was, but they were actually favored early in the year, but they're favored tonight against the Jets. It's an interesting game because I forget if I told you this on Tuesday. I talked about this on Monday. Cleveland may have a top five defense in the NFL. That may, I may look awful saying that in a few weeks, but they completely, completely shut down Pittsburgh. Yeah. Turned them over six times, and they really made it difficult on Breeze in the Superdome. And they've got talent.

They've been building up this talent on defense. Peppers, Garrett, you know, the kid Ward that they drafted from Ohio State, I think he's already got two picks and two games. But they've got an idiot for a head coach. I don't think Hugh Jackson's an idiot. Oh, he's an idiot. The only reason he's still the head coach is the owner's wife likes him so much. That's the only reason he has his job.

Wow. I've always liked Hugh Jackson. I don't ask me why. I think he's a good offensive guy. And Greg Williams is the defensive guy. I mean, I think if they had a better head coach, they'd be a better team. Really? That's it. Tonight is a rematch of the first Monday night football game ever played.

Of course, we're going to go back to the Browns and the Jets, which I watched. Of course you did. I saw the first. The reason I watched it was. Well, for one thing, I was a big Namath fan back then, and Namath was the quarterback. And the Browns had a kick returner named Homer Jones. And he used to play for the Giants, and he got traded to the Browns. And he took the opening kickoff for Monday night football and took it all the way for a touchdown.

This is Thursday night football. I know that. Well, it's weekday night football. Do you know who? There was no Thursday night football before there was Monday night football. So Cocell and Meredith were part of the broadcasting. And Keith Jackson. Keith Jackson was the year one Monday night.

night football play-by-play guy and then Gifford took over in year two. Yes. Gifford took over in that second year. But yeah, Tommy, I don't remember the first year of Monday night football. You remember it. I do remember, and I told you this, the first NFL season I really remember is 1971, in part because that was George Allen coming to Washington. That would have an impact.

And turning the Redskins around and the love affair. I know there was a love affair with the Redskins before 71, but not. not like after. George Allen got here. George Allen built a winner here and made it the thing in town by miles. Now, it may not be any more, as we've talked about this week, but from 71 until at least, you know, sometime in the mid-two, you know, in the early 2000s, it was George Allen who started that run. Gibbs finished it off. It's, you know what, it's sort of analogous, because we talked about him last week. Lefty started it, Gary finished it off. Yes. You know, George Allen started it. Joe Gibbs finished it off. Somebody told me, by the way, Tommy, this was one of those calls that I'll

never forget from the show. This was early in the summer. Somebody called up and just mocked me for saying that George Allen was the second best coach in Redskins history. He said he's not even in the top three. And then he proceeded to name names that I had never heard of that I'm sure you have heard of. from the 30s and the 40s. George Allen's the second best coach in Redskins history. Am I right about that or not? I don't know if you're right about that. All right.

Just some NFL things to talk about. The number of roughing the passer penalties in the first two weeks of the season is 21 roughing the passer penalties. Last year it was nine. So roughing the passer now, even more than this helmet-to-helmet thing, which everybody thought was going to be the big issue, remember with the new rule of the helmet-to-helmet? It's roughing the passer that is the big issue here in the first two weeks. And I would ask you, if you think that this really harms the game,

that it turns people off to the point where they won't watch or they'll watch less? No, I don't think it does. I think whether it will work or not, I think their concern here is basically protecting their stars, and their stars are their quarterbacks. And we've seen quarterbacks go down sometimes in record numbers in the season. And I think that's worse for the game than going over the top to protect them. So I don't have as big a problem with going out of your way to call roughing the passer calls to protect your most precious commodity.

A former referee, Terry McCauley, who's now an NBC rules analyst on Sunday night football, tweeted out, he'll say, I'll just say this now. If the two hits on the quarterback in Minnesota Green Bay are indeed fouls for roughing the pass. He said, if the two hits on the quarterback in Minnesota Green Bay are indeed fouls for roughing the passer, I'm glad that I am no longer on the field and have to make those calls. And the one important one that he's referring to is the Clay Matthews hit on Kirk Cousins when Kirk threw an interception that would have ended the game and given Green Bay the win and instead gave them a first down and he went down and tied the game. Yes, I'll grant you that. Under football, as we know it, that was a ridiculous call. But that's gone. That's gone. That's not here anymore.

And it's not coming back. They're not taking a step back. They're moving forward. However, right or wrong, you may think it is, they're moving forward to protect players and what they see as protect the game from housewives, sitting at home who won't let their kids sign permission slips to go play football. Have you noticed the marketing campaigns for DirecTV and Domino's

when it comes to football? No. Every commercial is a family watching football, and there's always the mother involved. In fact, DirecTV does a big thing where it's just the mother with her kids. Well, I get that. They love the NFL.

I get that. That's a big audience. But I'm saying part of what's going on here this reaction is this perception that football is too violent a sport for their children. I think that's part of the reaction of what we're seeing here.

They're fighting a perception problem. Not necessarily a reality problem. I know what you're saying. I think the issues are exclusive of one another. I think a mom, and I think a lot of people, including dads, love to sit down and watch football on TV, but they're not going to let their kids play it. We're seeing that, Tommy.

I've seen it for 10 years, having kids who have been, you know, in youth sports in the area, just the dwindling numbers of kids that are participating in football. There was a story, and I think I may have read it in the post. I can't remember now. it was recent about, you know, that they believe that a couple of the inner high public school teams won't exist in a few years, that they're having such a difficult time getting enough players together to play that we're saying, and by the way, that's not unique. In the last five,

10 years, it's been a slow build on high schools that can't field teams and then don't have football programs. But I don't think that that changes your viewing habit of the NFL. And by the way, what you may want to see in the NFL, I don't want my kid to play in affluent, you know, suburban Montgomery County or Fairfax County. That's one thing. But I love watching the game and I love the physicality of the game. But you don't want the narrative of your product to be that it's too dangerous. You just don't want that. That's a bad narrative.

But that's not what you want. It's too dangerous. How are they ever going to change that? Boxing never could. Yeah, about boxing and football? Come on, we're talking about a little corner of the market compared to the whole city block. Fair enough. Big difference.

Fair enough. But I don't think they're ever going to, no matter, unless they put flags. Dangerous and too dangerous are two different things. Okay. I mean, they are. They are different things. But once you have the word dangerous in there, then that's the narrative, whether it's too dangerous or dangerous enough.

I'm just going to say this because I just want to answer the question. is not all you're going to say. You're going to say more than this. Much more than this. But I have for a few years just felt like these plays that have been flagged, and I understand the safety part of it, and nobody wants anybody to get hurt. But it really has been a turnoff. But then I think to myself, have I watched less football? I haven't. Like, that penalty on Sunday is awful for a longtime football fan. I know that. It's terrible to watch. And it's an indication and it's reflective of how they want to move the game. let me just make one quick point.

I don't think we're going to see those calls. I think that's the last time we see that call this year. Oh, I don't think so. Oh, I do. You really think they're going to step back? No, no, no. They're going to step back from that kind of a play. You can't flag that play.

They're going to use it in their teaching tape for next year. No, no, not that play. That's what they said. But they said they're going to use the Clay Matthews play as part of their teaching video moving forward. The NFL. Well, that's a good hit on a quarterback that still had the ball in his hands. I get that. You're right.

which is why, by the way, the ball was underthrown. But they are not taking a step back. You know, you mentioned that you've seen... I don't think we're going to see that anymore. You've seen something like this happening with participation in youth sport. Do you still coach? Last year, really, was my last year coaching basketball for the time being. Really?

Yes, I have a couple of opportunities that I'm thinking about for this upcoming season. How long have you coach basketball? On and off for... On and off, Tommy, approaching 30... 30 years. Really? Yeah, there have been years that I haven't coached. But when I was younger, I coached a lot.

And then when the kids were super young, like when we were just having kids, I wasn't coaching. Right. And then when they got to the age of playing, then I started to get back into coaching again. How many championships have you won? I have no idea. You have no idea. How many games have won some? I'm sure you have.

How many games have you won? You should figure out how many games you've won as a youth coach. Come up with a game. number for me next time. Oh my gosh. Tell me the next time we're on what your estimate is of how many games you think you've won as a coach and how many championships

you think you want. It would be much easier to do if you were a football coach. But basketball, Tommy, is year-round in areas like ours where you are competing in the spring, summer, fall, and winter. Now, the school seasons are the normal

basketball seasons during the winter. And that's when usually I would take a step back and not coach because the kids I had were playing on their school teams. But once the spring, summer, and fall, you're on an AAU schedule, you're on a travel schedule, you're in local, you know. So come up with a number. You can come up with a number. I mean, I would have to, the only thing I will say, I've won more than I've lost.

There you go. You see? Let's come up with a number, baby. But I've had some bad teams. I've had a couple of real bad teams. All right. I did want to mention this that annoyed you the other day for some reason. This podcast is presented by Window Nation.

That part didn't annoy you, but you said I badgered people too much about the following. Those of you that are listening to this podcast, we thank you very much. You're listening via iTunes or Stitcher or tune in or one of those downloadable podcast platforms. Yes. But a lot of you don't do that. And Tommy's always been sort of an early adopter of technology. You have, for somebody who's so old and talks about so many old things, it's always fascinated me about your interest in technology and your early adoption of technology.

So this does not apply to Tommy, but you know people and I know people who have said to us, how do I listen? I don't know how to do a podcast. So those of you that are out there listening, when you hear somebody, say that to you that they don't know how to do a podcast, the answer is easy. Just tell them to go to the website, Kevin Sheehan Show.com, all right? And it's right there. There's a big play button with an arrow, and they can listen to it right there on their computer, because I think everybody has internet access at this point. Except us. Except us right now in this studio,

in this studio. And for those of you that are listening on iTunes, and if you haven't rated it, rate it for us. That helps us as well to insubscribe. And again, the other thing to do, and I can't tell you how many times I've been with somebody where I've had to do this. I'd say, let me, show me your phone. I'd say, now look at this icon here. It says podcasts here. I mean, most people, a lot of old people don't even know they have that icon on their phone. I say you click on that and you see down here there's like this circle for search, just punch in the Kevin Sheehan show.

And it will come up. So you can do it right in your phone if you just go to the podcast icon. It's so easy. And those of you that are listening, many of you know how easy it is. But it's the people that don't know. And they're like, what do you mean? Those guys are back on the air together. The ones on oxygen tanks and hospital beds.

Those are the ones we want. I've actually, it's not totally true. They're just a lot of people that don't listen to podcasts. That's changing rapidly. I know it's changing rapidly, but they don't realize the podcast is basically the same content, but just a different distribution. Better content. Better content.

All right. This is the next thing we want to get to. ESPN.com is putting out their top 100 NBA players list, and they're giving it to you. They gave it to you like 51 through 100, and then you got 50 through 31, and now you've got 30 through 21 out. Okay. Now, I waited to do this with you because I knew you had the interest in doing this. Bradley Beal is the highest ranked wizard on this list.

How can that be when John Wall is the man? He's 29th on the list. 29th. So for all of the people, and most of you don't feel this way, but we know who does feel this way. Bradley Beale feels this way and John Wall feels this way. For all of you that think that they are like top 10 players, top 15 players, they're not.

Wall healthy, to me, it approaches that general area, Beal has never been in my mind's eye a top 15 player. Do you remember the tweet he sent out? It was some social media. It could have been Instagram. When the all NBA top three teams were mentioned in Beal sent something out like, are you kidding me? Like I'm not on it?

No, you're not. They're the Twin Towers of disrespect. They really are. They think they're being disrespected all the time. All the time. But what's interesting about this is Beale is ranked ahead of wall. I know. I want to get to that in a second.

The most surprising thing about this list, however. And I hate always doing this because he's such a nice young man. You would like to coach him, wouldn't you? He's a sweet young guy. Yes. Otto Porter is number 38 on the list. Let me tell you who he's one spot ahead of. Demard de Rosen.

Are you kidding me? Seriously. DeRosen is so much better and so much more valuable than Otto Porter is. Now, Otto Porter provides value. I don't want to diminish what he is. I've always liked Otto Porter as a glue guy, as a corner, you know, as a spot-up three-point shooter, as a solid defender and rebounder. But Otto Porter is not the 30. He's not a top 50 NBA player. Let's think about this for a minute.

That means what you're telling me is. telling me is the Wizards have three of the top 40 players in the league. Yeah, according to ESPN's list they do. Well, shouldn't they be a lot better? I'll tell you what, the general manager, according to this list, has certainly done his job. Yes, three of the top 40 players in the league, they should be a lot better than that. So you're admitting that Ernie Grunfeld's doing a great job. I'm just thinking, I just think the league that like you're saying, the list is delusional.

Like the general manager. Well, here, okay, let me back up because when, when, when, when Kauai Leonard was available, you know, recently, I was still doing radio and I was screaming, please go get Kauai Leonard. I don't care if you had. You wanted them to draft them. I did one. I remember that. Boy, you never remembered when I'm right. No, I remember that one.

Rarely do you remember when I'm right. Well, they're not that, that's not that often. That draft, I was screaming for Kauai Leonard. Anyway, they didn't make a move for Kwai Leonard. Their interest level was lukewarm at best, and maybe they didn't have what was needed to pull it off with San Antonio. But I advocated Tommy in the moment. I would have given up basically the whole roster except for Wall to get Kwai Leonard.

I would have given up Beale. I would have given up Porter. I would have given up picks. Whatever it took, I would have given it up to get Kauai Leonard, because here's my general theory on the NBA. If you don't have a top five player, you can't win the championship. This is the sport where you have to have a top five player. And if you don't, you're not going to win the title.

And I went back through a list of players. You could have argued that the Celtics, when they won it with Garnett and Pierce and Rondo, that none of the three were actually top five guys. Dirk was probably not a top five guy, more like six through ten when Dallas won it. but you've got to have a top five guy. The Wizards, so you're talking about three top 40 guys. I bet if I go through the list, I can find four or five teams that can't win the title that have three top 40 guys. Probably can.

The Wizards aren't going to win a title with this group. Now, I still think they can win 50 games if they stay healthy through a whole season. You realize they haven't won 50 games. Since 1979. And it will be 50 years next year. It will be. Yes. 50 games and 50 years.

No, no, no, no. It'll be 40 years. 40 years. That's right. 40 years. God. You forgot how good I am in math, aren't you? 40 years it'll be this coming playoff, NBA playoff season since the Bullets won the title,

lost the title in 79. Yeah. I mean, since they won 50 games. That year they won 57, I believe, in 1979. In fact, they had a much better record in 7. Oh, they were much. After they won the championship, than the year they won the championship. 78, they actually had to play in what they called the mini-series in the first round.

They were the three-seat or the four-seat in the Eastern Conference. They were 44 and 38. Exactly. And then they were dominant team in 79, regular season-wise, and went through two torturous seven-game series with the Hawks and Spurs, who were in the Eastern Conference back then, the George Gervyn Spurs, and then they lost to Seattle and five in the finals. But to your point, 40 years since they've won 50, so why I'm? am I saying they can win 50. I think if they actually are healthy,

and John Wall missed how many games last year? 41 games, right? Didn't he miss half the games last year? If they stay healthy, if they've got all their pieces together, they are good enough to win 50 games. I mean, and I don't know about Dwight Howard. When you add a player like Dwight Howard,

you should be able to walk the 50 wins. We haven't talked about him. What was your opinion? I didn't hear your take on the show that you do on WJFK with Andy on Saturday mornings. And I'm on with Chad Duke Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday afternoon. On 106, 7, the fan.

And that's right, you're on with him Wednesday. And I heard that you guys promoted the podcast. So thank you very much for doing that. But I haven't heard your thoughts on Dwight Howard. Well, he falls under the loser category. He's a loser. He's a loser. He's a total loser.

He's a documented loser. He is. I mean, there's no argument about that. And Ted Leones says, Transparent Ted, which is what I call him. Now, Transparent Ted said that was a media creation. That was a media issue. Oh, it was. Yeah.

You know, all his losing. Like, teams were knocking down the door. What a bad teammate he was. Yeah. Knocking on the door trying to get Dwight Howard to play for him. Nobody wanted him. Now, he is immensely talented. Maybe not so much anymore, but he was immensely talented at one time.

But I guarantee you, he is going to be a nightmare for this team. An absolute nightmare. That's what I've predicted, but let me just give you glasses half full on him. The one thing that they've missed, that they never had with Gortot. They had a lot of things with Gortat Gortot that were positive that a lot of people never really wanted

to give him credit for. But whatever. He's gone, Howard's in. They've never had a defensive stopper. No, they haven't. A guy who could protect the rim. Now, Gortat was a volume rebounder. Okay, let's not act like he wasn't.

But he wasn't a defensive stopper. No. He was almost the opposite of that. Dwight Howard's will give them an opportunity if he's engaged and he's into it, And he's not ruining the locker room. But he has to get the ball on the other end in order to do that. Well, he said, and he said, I am more go along to get along now at this point in my career.

Of course he is. But Tommy, where they've been great in recent years is when they have the ability to get out on the break. They are a really good up-tempo team. You know who they miss, Kevin. Well, they've always missed him. Trevor Areza. Yes, you're right. You're right about that, too.

I mean, they missed him dearly. In fact, there was somebody in the organization or a player that said it recently over the summer when I was out. You were 100% right about that. See, that's twice. That's twice. It's amazing that you remembered it. Well, again, you know, I should be able to remember them because I can probably put him on one hand. It's maybe two.

Maybe two hands. So there you go, Bradley Beale. Is he a better player than John Wall? he's not a more valuable player than John Wall. And I understand I don't have John Wall in my top three point guards in the game either. And I know what John Wall's flaws are. John Wall's a more valuable player to this team

when he's healthy than Bradley Beale. He is a very good point guard, John Wall. And a good point guard is going to be more valuable than most of your number two guards unless your number two is, I don't know, Earl Monroe or somebody like that. There are players, though, that are going to be ahead of John Wall on this list.

Please. Devin Booker's not better than John Wall. Okay, where's the rest of this list? C.J. McCollum is a great score. He's not better than John Wall. Lamarcus Aldridge. You talk about a loser. He's a loser. Kemble Walker's ahead of John Wall in this list.

Drew Holliday's ahead of John Wall in this list. Boy, that's a lot of disrespect going on there. I mean, I'm sure they've tweeted something out about this list. I'm sure Beal has. The thing about Beal, Tommy, he's a great score. He is. also been for them at times. They're better big game player in the postseason. But he and John drive me nuts and it's never going to change. There's a lack of on-the-court maturity with them.

There always has been. They sleepwalk. They're casual. They're nonchalant. And it's this feeling that I've always had about them that bothers me more than any other feeling about them. And it's that they believe they've arrived at a level that they haven't arrived at yet. And that's the way they play. They're looking for calls. They're bitching at calls and complaining to referees about not getting the right calls. And it's just, you know, I wonder if they'll ever get that maturity. The NBA really is an old person's league. It's an experienced league. It's always been that way. You don't win when you're super young. And they are now, walls in his prime. Absolutely. Beal age-wise is actually now just approaching what should be his prime. Anyway.

Anyway, actually, Kevin, the basketball team, I'm interested in this town, are the Go-Go. The Capitol City Go-Go. They're a D-League team. Isn't that the D-E? Is it D-League or E-League? I don't know what you're talking about. Tell me, are you being serious? No, the G-League team that is going to start playing this year in D.C., the Go-Go.

Are they playing in the new arena where the mystics are? Yeah, they're playing the new arena. Actually, the new arena opens on Saturday. The crime stopper Achille Carr tried out this weekend. Oh, really? Yes. The go-go. That's the team I'm interested in.

Akeel Carr, the kid from Baltimore, Tommy, who they said, they called him the crime stopper because every time he was playing, crime went to zero because everybody was paying attention. Did he ever play college basketball? Because he signed with Seton Hall. Remember that, Aaron? I don't know if he did. I don't think he played. I don't think he did or not. But look at that.

I love playground legends, though. Like the stories of playground legends that never made it for whatever reason. Like you? You're a playground legend. Yeah, he ended up going overseas. He went over to, I want to say, Greece somewhere, but he didn't end up going to college. Okay. So, look, I'm excited about the new arena because, again, it illustrates the way the sports business landscape has changed in this town

that you opened up a soccer stadium and a new sports arena in the same year. It's pretty remarkable. It is. I wonder if they really needed it, though. I'm happy for it. I think, well, I think as a, it's also a performance venue, too. Remember, it's a concert venue. No, I know. I think Mary J. Blige is opening it up. And concert venues in this town have gone through the roof. Through the roof. Have you been to the anthem yet? No, I haven't. It's phenomenal. I mean, live music in this town has taken off. Is it this weekend or not? I thought I read that. I thought they're having the ribbon cutting on Saturday of it. And I think it's very-

You cut the ribbon? You should. No, it's in the middle of my show with Andy. Okay. But you were asked to do it. Yeah, because Ted called me. Yeah. Transparent Ted said, Tom, we'd love to have you down here to cut the ribbon and then cut your own neck. Mary Jay Blige is October 6th.

October 6th. So I'm going to go see the go-go. For one thing, I'm going to go see the go-go because I'm assuming they have a different PR guy than the guy who works for the Wizards. So I'm operating under the premise that they have a different PR guy, so I don't have to choke him when I visibly see him. Okay? So I'm a big go-go guy.

You know I love you. You know I love you, Scott Hall. I think Scott Hall's the, I honestly believe he's one of the, if not the best PR person. I've never heard that name before. Let me just say this, and you know this. No, you're not going to say just this. You're going to say more than this. Okay.

Is that going to be your thing now? Well, I think it should be. How about the next time you say look it? I see, am I only going to look at it once? Or am I going to keep looking at it all? all show. The Wizards were more helpful over the years to the station that the football team, the football team's owner owned than the football team's PR people.

Much more, much more helpful. All I know is that I'm a big go-go fan, and I'm assuming that they have their own staff. They have their own general manager. What's it? Pops. Yeah, Pops. Pops. Mentsabonson.

Yes. He's their GM. What, the kid that played at GW? GW, really? Yes. The head coach is Jamie and Christian's brother, Dorel. Wow. So this is pretty cool.

Cool venue. We should go to a go-go game together, you and me. Let's go to a go-go concert. Let's go see Reds and the boys. Yeah, let's go see some trouble funk. By the way, talk about entertainment. I am very excited about the news, and I want to take you with me. There's a movie coming out about Laurel and Hardy.

Oh, God. Have you ever seen a Laurel and Hardy movie in your life? life? Not really. I mean, I can picture what they look like. There's a skinny guy. There's a fat guy. Sort of like you and me.

Sort of. Sort of. I'm not as skinny as I used to be. I'll go. I don't want to go, though. That doesn't even sound interesting. Warren and Hardy are the greatest comedy team in the history of entertainment. And I guarantee you'll like it.

I mean, because not only were to a great comedy team, but there. More than the three stooges? I thought you were a bigger stooges. No, no, no. The stooges are great. But Lauren Hardy had. depth and they had warmth. I mean, when you saw Laurel and Hardy,

you felt good. Which one was the fat one? That was Ollie, Oliver Hardy. Okay, Hardy. And Stan Laurel was the skinny one. He was the skinny one that always had... And John C. Riley, you know John C. Ralee? The actor, terrific actor. He's playing Oliver Hardy. I'm very excited about this. You know what? After we

go to the Go-Go concert, we're going to see the Lauren Hardy movie. All right, just let me know when it is. I'll just make... Hopefully I won't have anything else that night. Yes. Let's do some NFL power pole for the week. Rangham, one to five. It's time for our weekly NFL PowerPole. All right, we're going to do a top five and talk some NFL simultaneously,

and we'll give you a team or two to keep an eye on. Tommy's not ready per usual, so I'll give you my list. My number five team, I've moved the Kansas City Chiefs into my top five with Patrick Mahomes doing what he did, has done in the first two weeks, 10 touchdown passes. He is right now the MVP odds-on favorite two weeks into the season. Tommy, it makes Andy Reid look pretty good. This is one of those things.

There were a lot of question, league questioning of Andy Reid when it came to trading Alex Smith off his career year and going with Patrick Mahomes instead with a team that's built to win. But in Kansas City, and I don't know if you knew this or you felt this or you talk to people after the Alex Smith trade, the chief fan base and the media, they were ready to see Patrick Mahomes.

It's not that they didn't think Alex Smith was good. They just didn't think Alex Smith could get him over the top. And they also like the idea that they got a good young quarterback from the Redskins and a high draft pick in that trade. I think that excited them as much as anything. Mahomes looks like the real deal. I'm not going to give him the MVP award

or put him in the Hall of Fame, two weeks into the season. You already did that with Kirk. But the Chiefs are in the top five this week. The fourth best team in the league are the Minnesota Vikings. Their kicker missed three field goals for crying out loud. I mean, one of them from 35 yards at the end of overtime. Did you hear what Mike Zimmer said in this press conference?

Somebody asked them, I guess basically the question was, why did you cut their kicker? Did you see the game yesterday? Yeah, it was his answer. That was cold. I did see that. I know. Minnesota's got it all. The only thing that's missing right now, I'm not sure Dalvin Cook's an elite back.

I think he's a good back. Their offensive line is banged up, and Kirk's been under siege in the first two games, despite the numbers, which would sort of belie the fact that he's been under siege. But he has been, I think he's been sacked already six times, five or six times in two games. But they've got weapons, man, Thielen and Diggs and Rudolph, and then Cook out of the backfield. And they've got a defense that really couldn't stop Rogers. enough on Sunday. But Green Bay is a good team too. Green Bay feels like they got robbed because of the Matthews roughing the passer penalty. And then Minnesota feels like we should have won the game.

Our kicker missed two field goals in overtime. One of them, a chip shot. My number three team, I'm leaving the Patriots in my top five. I think it's still a good football team. And here's the thing, Tommy, haven't we been through this before early in the season with New England where it's like, maybe this is the year? And then they figure it out. Well, what we've read, is when there's been all this debate about the value of preseason, we've read that the Patriots more than any other team view the first four games that a regular season as their preseason. And in part, because they don't have to struggle much to win their division,

to win the AFC East. Yeah, I mean, right now Miami's 2 and O and Buffalo's terrible. Switching quarterbacks was not a good idea for them. If they had tie Taylor back, I think they'd still have a decent team because they were decent defensively. But I've got the Patriots at three, and I've got the team that just beat them, not just beat them,

but really manhandled them on Sunday. I've got Jacksonville as the number two team. Now, we would have been having this debate together had we been doing a show last year. I don't think Blake Bortles stinks. I know I'm in the minority with that view. But during the postseason last year, Cooley and I got in this argument every day,

I'm like, I don't think he sucks. I think he's decent. I don't think he's, you know, top. half of the league, but I think he's a starting NFL quarterback. And he had a great game on Sunday. I was one of the ones who thought they should have traded or signed somebody and done better. You know what? They felt like they had good enough anyway.

And I think he is good enough with that defense. And with Fournette, and they didn't have him Sunday, Jacksonville's a real threat to win 12, 13 games this year. And then the number one team right now, I guess are the Rams. I mean, they seem to have it all. They're great defensively. And Sean McVeigh is a genius. He's one of these, you know, he's one of these prodigies of football that, you know,

a few people saw coming and then he gets an opportunity at a ridiculously young age. Think about the Rams a year ago before the season started. They were thought to be one of the worst teams in the NFL. The only thing that was said about the Rams is they got some talent on defense. and Gurley is really good. But they didn't have a quarterback. Jared Goff was considered a disaster. Well, after one year, you weren't sure.

But look at the narrative, and this is the NFL, how quickly it can change with a good coach and a couple of key players in health. The Rams have gone in one year from being a team thought to be one of the worst teams in the NFL to now being the favorite to win the Super Bowl and a prohibitive favorite to win their division and a pretty solid favorite. favorite to win the NFC championship. They in Minnesota are real tight right now. Yeah. That's my top five. What's yours? Okay. My top five is my number five team is the Minnesota Vikings. Again, I think you're right. I think they have tremendous weapons. I think Kirk Cousins is going to remain an MVP candidate as long as he's healthy throughout the rest of the year. And their offensive line, if they get any kind of health, they'll be tough for anyone to beat. I like the Eagles as my number four team. I can't believe I didn't have the Eagles in my top five.

I just realize that. They're tremendous defensively, and they're getting Carson Wentz back, and I'm going to operate under the assumption that he's at least close to the MVP candidate that he was, if not exactly the same guy. I'm going to say my number three team, I'm going to say, are the Kansas City Chiefs. Okay. You can't ignore the offense that the Chiefs have put up in the 10 touchdowns that Pat Mahomes is. And Andy Reid is the king of the regular season.

So since we're talking about regular season, I would put the Chiefs at number three. Let me ask you a question. Super Bowl's tomorrow between the Rams and the Jaguars. Who wins? I don't know. I haven't seen enough of the two teams this year. I would, the easy answer I would give you is I would take defense, but if you're taking defense, it's close. I take the Rams.

The Rams are more explosive offensively. I take the Jaguars. This is why the Rams are my number two team in NFL power rankings. I was more, I was not a big Blake Bortles fan. I slowly am becoming one now. And I just think the defense for the Jaguars is, I mean, something. we haven't seen since the Ravens in terms of dominance. I just think there, here's what it is.

The Jaguars are the last team you'd want to play next week. You mean just thinking in general? Like who's on the schedule next week? Anybody but Jacksonville? Yes, pretty much so. So I'm putting Jacksonville as my number one team. You know what's interesting about the NFL this year? There are some really good defensive football teams.

In the NFC East alone, Philly, Dallas, and the Johnson. are all really good defensive football teams. What about the team here? Well, the Redskins have good young defensive talent, and I am optimistic that this is going to be something that really is significantly improved from a year ago. Didn't look like that last Sunday against the Colts, but there are really good defenses in the NFL.

Baltimore's defense is good. Cleveland's defense is good. Cincinnati's defense, I think, is going to be a defense that's pretty good, even though I'm not a big fan of the notion that everybody seems to have now, that the Bengals are going to go ahead and win the NFC North, because the Steelers have started off 0-1-1. I still like the Ravens, as you know. I think it'll show over 16 games.

But there's some really good defense this year, Minnesota's defense. In the NFC alone, Philly, in the NFC East, Philly, Dallas, and the Giants all have good defenses. In the NFC South, Carolina has a good defense, even though it's banged up right now. I don't know about Tampa's. I don't know about Atlanta's. And New Orleans's defense right now isn't that great.

In the north, Minnesota's defense is good. Chicago's defense is good. And then in the west, you've got the Rams defense, which is good, and that's probably it for right now. I don't know about Seattle's. I've got to see more. It's not the same Seattle team in general. The 49ers, they're going to give up yards.

they're not there yet defensively, but really good defensive teams in the NFC. I wanted to give a couple of teams just to keep an eye on here early in the season. Last week, if you recall, I gave the Redskins out. Yes. How'd that work out for me? I'm taking them off that list right now. I don't know what we have in the Redskins right now. I don't.

I think the Falcons are good. And I think that's going to prove out over the year. I like Matt Ryan. I like their weapons. They've now added Calvin Ridley to the mix. Julio Jones is playing well. They don't even have Devante Freeman right now, but Kevin Coleman's good. I think the Falcons are a really good team that aren't in my top five. Obviously, I think the Eagles are a good team, really good team defensively, and they get Carson Wentz back this week. And Baltimore is still a team. I picked Cincinnati last week as a smell test pick in that Thursday night game. But I like the Ravens, and I think the Ravens are going to. going to end up winning 11 games this year. I'm not sure that's going to happen.

My one team on the outside looking in that I watch are the Bengals. I think they are going to wind up winning that division. I think that they're better than we anticipated. I think that Andy Dalton, who could win a Super Bowl with the Patriots if he played for Bill Belichick, we'll have a very solid year enough to leave the Bengals. Would he go to eight and win five? No. Would he go to eight Super Bowls and win five?

win five of them, Andy Dalton with Belichick. No, he wouldn't. He wouldn't have to. They'd have five different quarterbacks like Coach Joe did here. Okay. It can be done. All right. Who else to keep an eye on? That's it. Anyway, look it. I mean, I'm dealing with cataract surgery right now, so I don't have much vision. Is that going to be the last time I look at it? What? You said, look it again. Is this the last time for the day? No, I guarantee it's not. You know, I'm just, I'm going through the standings right now. There's some interesting stories. There always aren't through two weeks, but, you know, Miami's 2-0. Cincinnati's 2-0, nobody really saw that coming. Denver, you know, was thought to be a good

team if they had a quarterback. Case Keenom's thrown a bunch of interceptions, I think, in the first two weeks. And then you've got a team like Chicago, who I think, you know, I just want to see them a couple more times. They're pretty good defensively, and Trubisky's pretty good, and they've got a running back in Jordan Howard. I still think Detroit can beat people. There's some good. You games this weekend. I'm going to get into all of them tomorrow. I do not have a smell test pick for tonight. I will tell you that the

public is backing Cleveland, but I kind of like Cleveland to win tonight. I think this is the night they get on national TV. They get their first win of since what, 2016. You know, that may be, but the Browns

have the same aura of self-destruction that the Redskins have. And it usually shows up big time on national TV. I like the Jets. All right. We do not have Van Pelt today. It's our fault. We did not have internet and phone here in the

studio today, but we love the studio and we're so appreciative of having the ability to use the studio. But I'll have Scott on more likely than not tomorrow. Tommy, you'll be back with me on Tuesday. Are we going to leave our, a picture of us behind here in the studio? Yeah, well,

we can get one. I think we should do that. Let's do a big blow-up picture of the two of us. I mean, there's pictures everywhere, and we should be up here somewhere. I don't know if he would want us to put our pictures up there. Oh, I think that's all the more reason to do it. All right. Thanks to Aaron. Wait a minute. What? I want to give my Redskins pick.

Okay. Did you do that last week? For Sunday. No, but I decided to do it this week. I'm so glad. I'm glad you thought of it. Okay. They're going to get pummeled by the package. Absolutely pummeled. By the time the fourth quarter rolls around, there'll be 25,000 packs. Packer fans in the stands all by themselves. What's your guess on the crowd?

Again, I think it'll be over 60,000, only because Packer fans will be there. Yeah, there are going to be a lot of Packer fans. Although I was shocked at the amount of Colt fans there were in the stands. I had no idea they had that kind of fan base. There are a lot of Packer fans that will be in the crowd. Tommy has given out the Packers. I'm going to just give you a little bit of a tease here because you won't be on with me, and I want you to be able to play this legally when you go up to West Virginia on Sunday.

I like the Redskins as a smell test pick. The public loves Green Bay, and it's just sitting there at three, and it just seems like this is that kind of spot, where the Redskins end up playing a really good game and end up winning the game outright. I like them plus the three, though. I almost can guarantee that they will be in the smell test tomorrow. You know what they need to do?

What? They need to find a sense of urgency. They do. Look it. They absolutely have to find a sense of urgency. see. All right. Great to see you again. Same here, boss. I'll see you on Tuesday. I'll talk to you before then. Thanks to Aaron. Thanks to all of you. Scott will be on with me tomorrow if we've got

internet connection. Hopefully we will. Enjoy the day.