The Kevin Sheehan Show - Cooley's Call

Episode Date: December 21, 2018

Chris Cooley joins Kevin to preview the Redskins-Titans game. Cooley had a crazy vision of a Skins' game-winning touchdown which is must-listen. They preview the entire NFL weekend too with Cooley talking a ton about the Ravens and Lamar Jackson. Kevin has 10 picks on his Smell Test and Andy Pollin joins him for "Skins Score and More". <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. All right. I'm here. Aaron's here. This show's presented by Window Nation. 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. Coolie's going to be on the show today. Andy's going to be on the show today. We'll get to some skins beat Titans if coming up here shortly. We've only got two more of those. You know what? I love the... Are you sure there's only two more? Oh, that's true. See, I didn't even mean to do that. I'm considering the playoffs not at all.

I'm not. I don't think they really have a chance tomorrow. I mean, it's not, if they were going up against the Chiefs or the Saints or teams that could really score, then there would be no chance. I guess there is a chance tomorrow. I just don't think there's a good one. but I was going to say before you reminded me that there could be more than two of these that I love the rhythm of the football season. I hate when it ends, even when, you know, the team that I talk about more than any other,

my favorite team doesn't have a great season, and that is, you know, obviously been more the case than not over the years. But I just love the rhythm of the football season. I love doing these shows during football season. And I like doing them during basketball season a lot, too. You know, June and July, you know, before camp starts, are always, as anyone will say, unless you really have a true love of the day to day of the Major League Baseball season. And a lot of people do. It's not me.

I follow it. I watch the Nats. I go to games. But, you know, even Tommy, who is a Hall of Fame baseball voter, he's not into every single day. and what, you know, how the Nats did last night with runners on first and third and the bottom of the eighth down three, two, and whether or not they made the right decisions. Dave Martinez made the right, he's not into it from that standpoint. You know, New York, Boston, some of these other cities, they live and breathe day-to-day baseball season. You know, you can listen to WFAN in New York on a Tuesday in July, and you'll get five hours of one at bat from the Yankee game.

the night before and people love it. This is really a football city when it comes to consuming sports. Participating in sports is probably more of a basketball city. But anyway, to make a long story short, I hate when football season ends. And it doesn't end until the Super Bowl and we'll have playoff games to talk about. And who knows, maybe a Redskins game, a playoff game to talk about. But I love the rhythm of it, the Fridays and the Mondays. during football season and I hate when it comes to an end. So I was just pointing out that we've only got two regular season weeks left. Smell test coming up later on in the show as well, Aaron.

Three and O last weekend and a ridiculously hot streak that I'm on that'll probably come to an end this weekend. But I've got 10 plays this weekend and I'll share more about the streak that I've been on and what I think may be on the verge of happening when we get to the smell test. But I want to start the show with this. It's a tweet from Steve. Can the Redskins make the playoffs, Kevin, if they lose to Tennessee on Saturday? Yeah, they can.

I mean, if that's what you want, do you really want that? Do you want an 8-and-8 playoff team that gets run over in Chicago or Los Angeles in a wildcard weekend game where the franchise, trust me this would happen, would celebrate, and Bruce Allen and Jay Gruden would have their arms up in a V? they'd be breaking each other's arms patting each other on the back over making the playoffs with all those injuries. I don't want that. I don't want that. That right now, to me, is the most undesirable of all results over these final two weeks for the Redskins.

And that is a total change for me from the past. I would have taken the playoffs any way I could get them in the past. But this team right now is among the worst in the NFL. Not totally of their doing. I get it. the injuries have been a major factor. Now, if they won tomorrow and one next week and all of a sudden it looked like they found an answer

with Josh Johnson, the Christmas miracle guy, defensively they looked like they found what they had back in October and they became a lockdown defense, I think I would feel differently in that situation. I would. Nine and seven, three-game win street, the defense all of a sudden looks great again. Josh Johnson making plays, who knows?

But I'm still unchanged, and even in that situation would be unchanged in my long-term view of the organization with Bruce and Jay leading it. A three-game win streak heading into the postseason would be different than 8-N-8. That's an undesirable situation for me. So it would be different, but I still don't know that my long-term view of the organization as currently constructed would change at all. I mean, you'd have to, you know, you'd have to win a game and have a close loss in the Superdome for me to, you know, think, whoa, I completely misjudged where they were as an organization. That was some resilience. That was some great coaching.

That was some great, you know, talent evaluation that they added some players that made some big plays here late in the year. But I don't see that coming. So, Steve, I didn't answer your question. Can they make it? If they lose tomorrow, they can. They can't win the division if they lose tomorrow. You know that if they win the final two and Dallas loses the final two. And Dallas has Tampa and the Giants. I would expect Dallas to win one of those two, if not both of them. But Tampa's more than capable of winning Sunday in Dallas. And the Giants may look at the Dallas game, especially if it's a game that Dallas has to win as their playoff game for the year. The Giants, you know, last week was the aberration over the last month for them. They've played well until getting shot.

shut out last week at home by the Titans. But the Redskins could still make the wild card if they lose tomorrow. They could. I mean, as a seven and eight team going into the final week against the Eagles, they could still be alive. Now, they would be eliminated if Minnesota and Seattle both win and they lose to Tennessee. They would be eliminated. I think that's the only way they can be eliminated this weekend. Is Seattle and Minnesota both winning Minnesota has Detroit? Seattle has Kansas City in the Sunday night game. If both of those teams win and the Redskins lose to Tennessee, they are eliminated. But if one of those teams loses, I think they're still live at 7 and 8 going into the final week. The team that you'd want to lose, and you're going to need to lose anyway,

because the Redskins are also not in a position of controlling their own destiny. They don't, they can't, if they win both of their games, they're not in. They need Minnesota to lose one. They need Minnesota in Seattle to lose at least one. So anyway, you're rooting for those teams, Detroit and Kansas City on Sunday. If you, if the Redskins lose to Tennessee, you're rooting for them anyway, but if the Redskins lose to Tennessee, that's what you need to stay in the race. Before we get to Redskins beat Titans, if.

another quick subject that I wanted to touch on because last night I was turning the channels around and I landed on Duke, Texas Tech. It was played Madison Square Garden last night. Duke is the number two team in the country with the heralded freshman class and Texas Tech was undefeated coming in and ranked 12th in the nation. And the game was a sloppy game. There were 43 turnovers in the game. 43, in a 40-minute game, there were 43 turnovers. But I found, Aaron, that for me, and this is what I wanted to bring up, is that I would have known about that game in the past. I would have actually been excited about watching that game in the past. College hoops just isn't what it used to be. It isn't.

You know, I'm watching the game last night. I had it on. Dickie V's calling the game with Shulman. And like Dicky V because of the sport losing popularity is not the figure he once was. And I know he's not their number one guy either anymore. But I just wonder how many of you that used to watch every big college basketball game, no matter what time of the year, I'm wondering how many of you watched the game last night. You know, I barely even knew it was on.

I'll admit I knew Texas Tech was undefeated in ranked 12th, but I didn't know anything about their team. Nothing. college basketball's popularity is there's no debate on this it has declined significantly over the last 10 years just google college basketball popularity and you'll see article after article detailing the declining television ratings the shrinking attendance the sport has become an event sport one month matters march march madness is what people care about and really what they care about is their pool that they're in. They don't know the teams. They haven't watched during the regular season. They know the names. They know the branded names and the branded

coaches. You know, they know Shoshchewski. They know Roy Williams. They know Calipari. They know Kentucky. But, you know, you had second ranked Duke last night with the most heralded freshman class in years against an undefeated team. And I don't think it drew flies last night, is my my guess. I haven't seen the numbers. The reasons for it are as follows. Number one, the quality of the game isn't very good much of the time. That game last night I mentioned 40 minutes, 43 turnovers. So you've got more than one turnover per every minute of the game. It was ugly, it was sloppy, it was intense. You know, there was an intensity to the game, but it was bad basketball for much of the night. And the reason for that is there are too many young players that

never have time to really develop as a team over the course of a few years. Now, Texas Tech is a veteran team, but Duke, you know, Duke's got that talented class, and these players aren't staying two, three, you know, years together so you can see cleaner, better basketball. Now, the college game, we know is much inferior to the NBA games, so, and that hasn't changed over the years. But what has changed is that people are watching much more. NBA now than they ever have. So part of the reason that the popularity of the game

college basketball has diminished, has decreased in years, the game has always been inferior in terms of the actual quality of play to the NBA. But people weren't watching the NBA in December, January, and February 10, 12, 15 years ago, 20 years ago. Now they are. I mean, the NBA, the exponential year-round growth of the NBA has been a major, major factor. It's overshadowed college basketball's regular season. The NBA is a show. It's not the NFL. And that's the other thing. The NFL always overshadows everything while it's still going on. But the NBA is, in terms of popularity, it's number two behind the NFL, unless you just want to say the college football is number two. And I guess, you know, from an attendance and from television ratings, college football

probably is the second most popular sport in this country behind the NFL. But the NBA is pretty close, I think, to college football. But the NBA is a big reason for college basketballs. It's like people have finally noticed, you know what? God, the NBA game, much better players, much better game. And because they're paying attention to it, it's just easier to watch. It's also all the other things that we've talked about in recent years. All the other choices people have, Netflix, HBO, On Demand, Amazon, all that stuff. You know, live sports are basically the only thing that still works on network TV. But a December 20th college basketball game, not so much, even with Duke involved.

But anyway, I still like college hoops. I don't consume it the way I used to. I don't miss a Maryland game. that's still the same, you know, viewing habit I've always had. Yo, that's it tomorrow, though. Tomorrow, what I'm going to do, because it's on at the same time that the Redskins game is on, Maryland plays Seton Hall tomorrow. I got to talk to Turgent.

And I mentioned this to Zach a couple of years ago. I'm like, when you guys put this schedule together, don't schedule a game on a weekend when the Redskins and or Ravens are playing. It's going to hurt your attendance. Now, I know that people aren't going to Redskine games anymore, and fewer are watching them, but they've done that multiple times over the years. Like that game, it should have been a noon start in College Park. Right. You know, and I'm sure it's television driven, but you just got to tell the Big Ten network, we got to play at noon that day, because Ravens fans and Redskins fans make up a significant portion of our attendance, especially when the students are on break, which they are now on break. we can't play it opposite a Redskin game or a Raven game.

And it starts at 5.30 tomorrow against Seton Hall, a good team. It starts at 530 at Xfinity Center. And that's going to be the first half of the Redskins game, and the Ravens game starts at 8. It's just they got to figure that out. I don't know why from a scheduling standpoint they can't figure that out. The only other piece of news from yesterday was the Nat signing Annabelle Sanchez. you know, boy, they are, they're, it's always pitching with them, which is smart,

but they don't rest when it comes to pitching in starting pitching. Has Sanchez been any good in recent years? Yeah, he actually was, I think he was ninth in ERA in the NL last year. He was actually a very, he's been a very up and down player. He's had some good seasons, had some bad seasons. But when they traded Tanner Roark, you knew that they were going to go out and sign somebody. The question was, what would they try to make a move for a really big pitcher? Or would it be this?

And, you know, he's thinking. Shurzer, Strasberg, Corbyn, and now Sanchez. And the fifth starter will be the other Tanner that they traded Tanner Roark for. He's a reliever. Well, then is Joe Ross? Could be Joe Ross, Eric Fetty. You know, one of those guys that we've seen over the past few years right now is probably Slodden as the number five.

All right. Let's get to Redskins beat Titan Ziff. All right. My Redskins beat Titan Zip almost mirrors my list from last week. Last week, I said, Jacksonville's defense can't post because if it does, the Redskins aren't going to score more than 10 in the game. They scored 16. And Jacksonville's defense, you know, was sort of there. Last week, I said they got to pun it well.

Tressways the team's MVP. He punted it pretty well. The problem is they gave up a big return. And I said they had to finish plus two or better in the turnover category. They finished plus two last week. This week, it's a lot of the same. It's a lot of the same. I would add this, though.

They have to be plus two, maybe plus three. I'll say plus three or better in the turnover category. They can't beat Tennessee tomorrow without some short fields and some easy field goal attempts without having to move the football. You know, if you can get a touchdown from your offense tomorrow, one touchdown, and you can get three turnovers that set up three field goals and you're at 16, maybe you can win 16 to 14. Maybe.

Plus three in the turnover margin. Special teams are a must tomorrow. You can't give up a big return tomorrow. And then lastly, I would say this. I think they've got to run the football somehow tomorrow. I don't know how they do it against that Tennessee defense. But do you know that Davis and Doxon and Mo Harris are now likely out for this game? Who are they going to have catching the ball other than James and Crowder?

This is the week where if Chris Thompson's back and healthy a little bit, they really should use Chris Thompson as a receiver. Who else do they have? They've got that number 16, dude, whatever his name was. They just signed someone off the practice squad or whatever. So I don't know how you throw the football at Tennessee. Tennessee's got a good pass rush. They've got a good defense.

They're well-coached on defense, too. Dean P.'s left Baltimore last year, and he's doing a good job at Tennessee. Can you run the football? Can you run the football the way the Ravens are running the football with Josh Johnson? Josh Johnson's not Lamar Jackson, but he is a pretty good runner. Can you really put some dual threat run attack into your offense tomorrow and move the football? I don't give him much of a chance tomorrow.

I really don't. We'll talk to Cooley about it here in a moment. I want to tell you about Window Nation. Harley, Aaron, Eric, talked to Eric last night, actually. He's going to the Philadelphia game Sunday because his wife is from Philadelphia, but he's a big Redskin fan, and I think he's giving them half a chance to win the game. But I want you to give Windonation half a chance because I have in the past, and it worked out for me. And that's my personal experience.

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interest for 12 months, $200 off each window, no minimum purchase required, plus window nation will pay your heating bill until the new windows are installed. Save today, save tomorrow, save forever. You have to call them at 86690 Nation, or you can go to windonation.com, 86699.9,000. nation or wind donation.com and tell them I told you to call. Let's bring in Chris Cooley for a Friday football visit. We'll do some Friday football quick picks with them in a few minutes. But you're at the park every day and I'm just curious as to whether or not you have any sense, and you may not, any sense of what everybody's thinking out there.

Is there an excitement about being, you know, in the playoff race after the wind last? week and having a chance to salvage something from this season, or are all the injuries just draining that level of energy out of it? Well, I think there is an excitement. I hope this defense fills an excitement because they have a chance to do something pretty special over the next two weeks after all of the drama of the last month or whatever, five out of six losses where they did not perform up to their level. They're a healthy defense, and there's enough good players there to make some plays and to hold

some teams to points and to a few points. But, you know, offensively, you look at all these guys on the offense that have not been a part of this offense this year in so many different ways. And I think that they're absolutely excited, but I think you're looking at, you know, more than 50% of your offense that's pretty stoked to be out there on the field playing football games. Right, because they wouldn't have gotten a chance without all these injuries. Just real quickly, though, on the defense. Last week was impressive, statistically. but I think any reasonable person would say they were playing an atrociously bad offensive football team and quarterback.

Would you chalk most of the performance up to a Jacksonville offense that was high schoolish? Yeah, you can say that, but when I watched the defense, they played without a ton of errors, they played without very many lapses, they played more simplified coverages. So then when I look at them in some of the zones that they played, they played great levels their zone coverage. They gave up a couple scrambles that they probably shouldn't have given up, but for the most part, they were very consistent as a defense. They looked whole as a defense, and it wasn't just that Jacksonville didn't make plays. You like to see our guys in the right place and flying around and doing the right things. Now, obviously, Jacksonville was also

very simplistic because of what their offense was, and so it makes it easier as a defense without as many distractions and misdirection plays and things going on to be in the right place. But I think they can build on something from last week. There's no doubt about it. You're in some ways facing a slightly similar type of offense in Tennessee as far as what their strengths are. The Titans don't throw the ball very well. Mariotta's really struggling right now. And so if you can find a way to stop the run, which is much better.

Trust me, it's much better when it comes to Tennessee. And it's not just Derek Henry. It's everything involved, the way they block it, and the way they run it and execute. But it is similar in terms of the things you have to do. So I would expect them to be fairly simplistic in some of their calls. And as long as they execute, I think they're talented enough to have a shot. You mentioned Simplify and Simplistic. Did Greg Minoski make it more simple last week?

Was that part of the issue and perhaps part of the frustration defensively is that it should have been simpler over that stretch of? football where they weren't playing well? You can say that. I think that they've been giving this defense a lot of leeways and a lot of calls and checks at the line of scrimmage. And so certain calls would come in and they have the ability based on formation and look to check it.

And you can simplify by just saying, let's play straight three. Let's play man and let's come with some blitz type of stuff, which is what they did a little more times than not. But I just, it's funny because I'm sitting here watching Tennessee defense over the last week. and you want to talk about simplified. Tennessee plays man coverage on every play. Like, that to me, that's cracking skulls, man. That's as simple as it gets.

You line up and play straight man coverage. But we had much fewer variation of coverage calls and checks last week. They do crack skulls. That's a good defense that the Redskins are going to face tomorrow, right? Yeah, it's one of the best defenses in the league. In terms of points allowed, it's the second best defense in the league. and, you know, they're tough. It's going to be a massive challenge for our offense,

and they're going to have to be able to separate at the receiver position. I don't in any way envision Josh scrambling the way he scrambled. We could go against Jacksonville. I think that that's much less realistic based on the way Tennessee plays. Also, you know, given the fact that Tennessee looked at that film last week and said, okay, the one thing we're not going to do is get beat third down after third down by this quarterback scrambling. And so they'll spy him and they'll play a lot of looks where, you know, they blitz him and try to fool him. I'd expect a ton of pressure.

I'd expect him show pressure from one side and bring it from the other. They're going to challenge him in terms of sliding his line and making the right checks and stuff. But it's a very good defense, Kevin. They really are. I mean, you have in the secondary, they can play that coverage because you've got guys like, you know, Adory Jackson and Malcolm Butler and Kevin Byard can cover anybody at the safety position. And their linebackers are stout. and they can run and move, so it's tough.

You know, Dean Pease left Baltimore last year, and at first there was the thought he was retiring, and then he ended up taking that job with Rabel in Tennessee to lead their defense, and Matt Lafleur leads the offense as the O.C. In Tennessee, we're familiar with him. You know him very well. I said earlier in the week that this is a very well-coached team. Every single time I've watched them,

I think they've been very disciplined, very well coached for being the first year of this coaching staff together. Do you agree? I do agree. I think it's smart defensively, and it wasn't what Dean Peas necessarily did in the past as far as what he's doing defensively. I think it's a lot of what Brable does in terms of man-covered. It's pretty easy to be disciplined when you play man-to-man defense every snap of every down or of every game. Offensively, yeah, I think that they do. play with some discipline. I think the quarterback

struggles some, but they look like the mini-rams. They really do. They are a pure combination of Mike Shanahan's own run and the Rams mixture of formations and pass game. And to no surprise, I mean, that's LaFleur's background. And that's what they're asking them to do. But that's, to me, they look like the mini-rams with a little bit

more Shanahan's zone run element added in with some of the RG3 distractions. And I don't mean in a RG-3 distractions way. I mean in a challenger. discipline. Right. You said Marriota's struggling. I still think he's a capable quarterback at times,

especially when he's dual threat, which he is really in their run scheme some of the time anyway. What do you see when you've been watching Marriota this week? He has a lot of balls fly on him. He doesn't throw well on the move and he doesn't stay in the pocket efficiently. And so when you can't stay in the pocket efficiently, you've got to be excellent in terms of throwing on the move and he hasn't been. He's had a lot of air and balls to receivers that he should. have had completions to. If he's, you know, 25% more accurate on the year, they're impossible to stop offensively, but he just makes so many mistakes as far as where he's throwing the ball and having a sail on him and some of the things he does giving it away.

Do you give them any chance tomorrow as a 10-point underdog? Yeah, I give them a chance because, you know, I think that this defense can come up and be outstanding and they can stop Derek Henry, and if they can force a couple turnovers, You never know what happens. I told you last week that, you told me that I told you, that I said the Redskins can win about 16 to 13. You did. I think you said that it feels like a 16th,

that if they're going to win the game, it's like 16 to 10 or 16, 13 or something like that, I think you said. I don't know if you got it exactly right. So here's my crazy they can possibly win the game. Seriously, you like the Redskins score and more. Yeah. This game's tied somehow 9 to 9 in the fourth quarter Marriota throws a pick on about the, I don't know, 35-yard line, and the Redskins on a third and one where everyone thinks they're going to run it. With Flanagan to the right.

Flanagan to the right, J.P. Holtz is in the backfield at fullback. Chris Thompson's going across the field in motion as a wide receiver. You got Malcolm Floyd or Michael Floyd on the other side and you go this hard play action fake. Byer Marshall and AP in the backfield, and all of a sudden, Flanagan's coming wide open to the corner, and we're celebrating. J.P. Holtz is hugging Flanagan and Josh Johnson, the quarterback's jumping up and down fist pumping. Hold on Flanagan, J.P. Holtz, and Josh Johnson. Meanwhile, you know, Chase Rueh, Zach Kieran, and L. Woubomico did a heck of a job passing off some stunts inside, and they got like some kind of little line celebration going on.

and Trent Williams is shaking his head saying, I don't believe this. Well, look at Zach Karen over there with Bwanko celebrating and so excited about being in the playoff race. And seriously, I mean, Bergstrom, you know, he's been, he's the veteran on the offensive line. He's trying to calm Bwanco and Zach Karen down saying, hey, it's just one game, guys, just one game. Just one game, man. You got to control yourself. It's amazing right now that we're hoping that Todd Bergstrom comes back in place.

Exactly. Oh, is it Tony or is it, Todd? I'm not sure. It's Tony. We should know now because he's one of our best three offensive line. I know. You know, Byron Marshall, they ran that quick bubble to him last week, and everybody wondered why Capri Bibbs got cut.

And I remember I had this conversation maybe with you earlier in the year that once he's available to play, Jay's going to call him up because he loves that dude. He thinks Byron Marshall, I'm not making fun of it. He's probably right. is one of the most explosive players he's had on the roster the last two years. He just can't get him on the field, but he's excited to get him on the field. Well, you can get him on the field. I mean, it just depends.

You just got to play your best players. And this week might be a week where he's on the field a lot because right now, running back's about the only healthy position that we have. So I wouldn't be surprised that is he, Byron Marshall, Chris Thompson, and shoot, let's put AP on the field at the same time. Let's let them both play receiver. They're okay, route runners. What number was Matt Flan?

Was he the guy playing fullback last week? Yeah, he's 88. 88, yeah. Matt Flanagan. I like Flanagan. You do? We can mock that he's where he is right now after not playing, but I actually think Flanagan's got something to him.

You didn't mention Chesson or Darwin Kitsy making a big play. Oh, you know what? I should have taken Floyd out. Something happened, and now all of a sudden, Kidsie's in there on the backside running the corner out. He didn't get the ball, though. You know, that's basically the way they won last week without the theatrical description of the touchdown that wins it.

I mean, they got the interception late. You know, it was one of those games, and I said this earlier in the week, it was a game that they won 1613, that they very could have easily lost 1613. You can say that about a lot of NFL games, but if you tell me right now that in the fourth quarter it's 9 to 9 or it's, you know, 13 to 10, I'd take that right now. Well, there's no doubt. And I mean, the thing is, is it's 9 to 9 with, like, one team making,

a scoring a touchdown, missing an extra point, kicking a field goal. The other team getting a safety and somehow getting a touchdown, or one of them kicking three field goals. It's like two different ways of getting to 9 to 9 to 9 when they get to 9 to 9. That's how the Redskins win. This game is just a weird, crazy game where we actually end up playing good defense again and find a couple ways offensively that doesn't necessarily look like. great offense. Some of the good defensive teams that Tennessee has faced this year, the teams that

they've really, really struggled with. They, you know, they got shut out by the Ravens earlier in the year. The Jags, when they were playing healthy, you know, better early in the season, held them to, I think, seven. The Texans, the Cowboys, the Cowboys beat them up a little bit. So that is the hope over the final two would be that the defense steps up and really plays well. What else do you have on this game? Because I want to do some Friday football quick picks. I mean, you're not predicting a win, are you? No, but I don't know if I see this as a 10-point game.

Okay. I think that the Redskins can battle in this game. Listen, there are some massive hurdles offensively that this team has to overcome. No two ways about it. There is eight guys that are going to be playing in this game. that didn't start the season for you, or didn't start on the roster, for the most part, the season for you. So it's a big challenge for this team.

You know, in your little fun and games there, it really would be an all-timer. If they went and won this football game, when you think about it, with what they're putting out on the field, I mentioned earlier in the show, you know, Doxon and Mo Harris and Vernon and Davis are all now, you know, potentially out for this game. So you really will end up having James and Crowder, Michael Floyd, and number 16, the guy they ran the fly sweep to a couple of weeks ago that didn't do very well. Jayhue Chesson. Yeah, Chesson.

And they signed some guy named Darwin, or Kidsey, Darvin. I don't know. Darwin Kiddzy. He's been on the practice squad all you. Okay, there you go. And then you got Flanagan at tight end and fullback. JP Holt is going to come in and play fullback.

I like J.P. Holtz. lot in the preseason as a fullback. Where did he, where did they get him from? Well, he was on the, he's been on the practice squad all year. All year? J.P. Holtz? Oh, yeah. Okay.

So, you know, they got, they got Holtz. I mean, this would really now, you know what this is? You've actually really gotten me thinking, if they pull this off, this is like the strike season. This is like the replacements. This is seriously like the replacements, but if they pull this off, Jay's keeping his job I mean if they pull this off

I mean I actually didn't want to go there I figured we'd save that for next week no it's not going anywhere I'm just going into a certain place if you pull this off with this group offensively you're keeping your job if you go in well it depends like if you win a six to three game

and the offense is dreadfully and J.P. holds Yeah but if you win a six to three game you probably didn't turn it over at all, you probably manage the game as much as possible as a quarterback and a play caller. They just threw a little short, you know, button hooks to Flanagan and Holtz? Oh, short button hooks aren't going to be available in this game, just so we're clear on that. Tennessee will cover up some short button hooks. You got to be a little bit more diverse than some short button hooks. Oh, God. What else? I had one other thing for you that I had written down

and now I can't find it. But I'll come back to it. Let's do some Friday football quick picks. Everything you need to know for your football weekend. It's Friday Football Quick Picks. All right, you know, the Redskins Titans game has significant meaning on Saturday, Chris, and you'll be down in Nashville. Nashville's a great town. It's a Saturday game. You're heading down today, I would assume, right?

Yeah, I'm leaving today. Okay, but the game tomorrow night, Ravens at Chargers, along with the Saints and the Steelers on Sunday, those are the two best games of the weekend, unless you've got one that's better. Yeah, I think those are, I mean, those are massive games. For us, the Vikings games is critically important, and I think the Texans Eagles games are a pretty good game as well.

Yeah, the playoff I went through the whole thing earlier. Basically, the Redskins can still lose and actually be very much alive going into the final week, but the real key would be to have between Philly, Houston, and Minnesota, two of those three lose. And really, you want Minnesota to be the team that loses because they've got Chicago next week. Seattle's got Arizona next week. On this Ravens Chargers game, I want to give you some credit, not just for almost predicting the score right last week. You said, and we had callers that would call in, and they had a problem with you describing Lamar Jackson as a running back

last year before the draft. You said, Lamar Jackson's not a quarterback right now. He may develop into an NFL quarterback, but what he would be incredible as right from the get-go is a running back in the NFL. And basically, that's what Baltimore is using him as. He's throwing the football. To say that he's not throwing the football would be a major exaggeration. He's still, I think, averaging 19 attempts a game, but he's also averaging, you know, 17 rush attempts a game. What do you make of what Baltimore is doing right now with Lamar Jackson? And do you think it's sustainable, you know, tomorrow night and if they were to get into the postseason, you know, in a couple of road games, whether it would be, you know, in Foxborough or at Arrowhead

or in Los Angeles against the Chargers, because their defense is good enough to win a title with. I sat and watched two games, two games on film last night, just interested in what Baltimore was doing because I hadn't watched them on television. They are, I mean, I've heard a couple people joke that the Redskins played what looked like high school football. last Sunday against the Jags. The Ravens are legitimately playing high school football. It is a high school type of offense, and Lamar Jackson is struggling big time.

I mean big time in terms of a passer. I'm not saying that he can't spin it or that he can't throw a good ball at times, but he has seen nothing out there. Now that said, when he takes off and runs, man, he's electric. The guy can absolutely run. But he is steps behind where Robert Griffin was.

I mean, leaps and bounds behind where Robert Griffin was in 2012 as a passer for the Washington Redskins. So is it sustainable? Certainly is the way Baltimore plays defense, but if you get down a couple scores in the fourth quarter, no chance, man. You're not coming back from anything in the fourth quarter. I guess you could say he could scramble and run around like crazy,

but that guy throws more 50-50 balls and more balls into hands of defenders and gets more pressures up the middle where he should have things protected than I've seen in a long time. It's hard. It's hard to watch. Do you think, so the games in which he's quarterback, they faced very, you know, average to subpar defenses, Cincinnati, Oakland, Atlanta, Kansas City, and Tampa. They get a really good defense this week or tomorrow night in the Chargers. If they got behind, do you think John Harbaugh would go back to Flacco?

Without a question. I think he has no chance if he doesn't go back to Flacco. And look, I'm going to play quarterback in the league. I know that quarterback is an incredibly challenging. position and NFL defenses are very complex and I don't want to sit here and say Lamar Jackson can't continue to develop into a passer right now they're not even attempting to make him really a throwing quarterback they're they've put him in but he's essentially another running back in there who throws the football at this point and a lot of that is the way they operate so I think the realistic probability would be that they would put Joe Flacco back in they'll they'll survive and they're actually okay on third downs and within third

and five, it's hard because they can run the ball and get first down. So they do have a pretty good third down conversion rate, even with Lamar Jackson in. But when you get in longer down in distances, or if you get in situations where you've got to drop back and throw it on first and 10, I just don't think it's realistic to expect him to lead a team down the field. I mean, again, I don't want to say, I don't want to be overcritical because he's a young quarterback, and he's But you're saying he's major steps behind where Griffin was in 2000. I personally think he steps behind, yeah, where Robert Griffin was. It's really incredible to look at what they've done statistically in these wins in running the football.

Last week, they ran 74 plays and Tampa ran 45. When they beat Atlanta, they ran 77 plays, and Atlanta ran like 46. They had a near 40-minute time of possession, 40 to 20 time of possession against against Atlanta. It's like a style of football that we've not seen. It's not anything close to what we saw in 2012 with the Niners or with the Redskins. I mean, they make first downs by running the football on third and five. It's not a throwing down for them. Oh, I mean, they're, they're, they are a attempt, they're almost like a triple option high school. They should install triple option.

They do get five, six yards on first down. They do end up getting some play action looks. And for whatever it's worth, you know, they have to spy him on third down. And so he's had some opportunities to have some wide open receivers. It was really funny. I was watching, so I have, well, the film has the actual game cut on it as the third copy on the film. Right.

And I don't know who was calling the game, but I laughed out loud as I was watching that tape last night. they run a pretty simple crossing route with a quick post behind it type of route, and Tampa Bay gets out of position, and the guy calling the game starts to say, that's just unacceptable on defense. You're allowing a massive gap in the secondary. That's a big hole on a basic concept.

Then he pauses, and he says, but those are the types of throws that Lamar Jackson can make. Oh, man. I'm just thinking, oh, my gosh. And I don't even think he meant to do it. I just, I'm excited. I like, you know what I do like, though? I like all the ways that you can win playing football.

And what I appreciate about Lamar Jackson is he's playing his guts out. He's doing everything he can possibly do to try to help that team win and help the team move the ball offensively. I mean, selfless player, dynamic runner. If he can just develop into a little bit better passer, you know, you got something if you're playing with the lead or playing in a close game. is no way that John Harbaugh could have benched him before this Chargers game and gone back to Flacco. But if the style of play doesn't work in Los Angeles Saturday night and their season ends, which it could potentially if Pitts, you know, there's a pretty good chance that if they lose this game to the Chargers, they're not going to go to the playoffs. And it would be for me, in watching

this team a little bit more here in recent years, it would be the second consecutive year that a Super Bowl defense didn't even make the playoffs. And I wonder how much of that will be in the back of Harbaugh's mind in that game if they get down 7-0 or 10-0-0 and to say, this is our chance. If we get into the postseason, we could win the whole thing and we're not coming back with this quarterback down 7-0-0-0-10-0. But at the same time, the style of football offensively has made the defense even better because it hasn't played that much. It's really interesting to watch them. All right. Steelers got the win last week in New England and they go to New Orleans. What have you seen with New Orleans here in recent weeks where all of a sudden that offense

that couldn't be stopped and was averaging close to 36, 37 points a game, has now, you know, couldn't score against Dallas, couldn't score until late against Tampa and only, you know, hung 12 points on Carolina on Monday night. I see an offense that people are really starting to figure out. And when you say that, it's because they just don't have the necessary amount of weapons to stay as dynamic as they are. And I see an offense that teams are essentially saying, you know, let's play seven, eight guys in the box,

and let's make sure that they don't get to the edge with any of their jet sweep stuff, and let's crash inside hard. And we'll bracket or double Michael Thomas the entire game. And we dare you to beat us anywhere else. And right now New Orleans is having them. hard time beating anybody anywhere else on the field besides Michael Thomas, Kamara, or Ingram. And when you only have a couple guys, it makes it really tough. You know, I still like New Orleans.

I think that they are finding a way offensively weak in and week out to adapt and develop. I think they'll get better. Where I'm really impressed with the Saints and where I think they're a tough team is that all a sudden they are very good on defense. Yeah, they are. And, you know, very good on defense and allow Drew Brees to operate at any level. And you're probably going to win games. And so that, to me, has been the absolute key for the New Orleans Saints.

They're a pretty big favorite against the Pittsburgh Steelers, which I think is interesting based on their last couple games. So, to me, that one kind of stinks a little bit. Six points? Yeah, I think that New Orleans is just a different team at home. You know, they're just considered... That's true, and both of their last two games where they haven't scored have been on the road. Well, no, they just played their last three games on the road. Yeah, you're right.

They did have three straight road games. How about that for the end of the season schedule? I saw that. Right, so three straight on the road, and those were the three games. I mean, Dallas really took it out of them. And Tampa, you know, Tampa had a lead going into the fourth quarter in that game. And actually, I really enjoyed the Monday night game. I like that kind of game, you know,

It was chippy, it was physical, it was hard-hitting. I mean, poor Cam couldn't throw the football. I mean, I don't know how they even put him out there on Monday night. They finally benched him. Did you see, though, what Cam Jordan said about Ben Rothesberger? That he's not a Hall of Fame quarterback. That he's not a Hall of Fame quarterback. Why do you want to stir it up?

Why do you want to stir the pot? For those that missed it, Norland Saints' Defense of N, Cam Jordan, who's got quite a personality, and is a really good play. player too, was asked about Ben Rathesberger and told that he's, you know, a top five kind of quarterback of his generation. And the quote was, is that true? Really? And he said, in this area, you'd put him at like a top three or five. You'd put him with Breeze and Brady and Rogers. He says, you're saying he's better than Philip Rivers career-wise. And he says, you're giving him the Super Bowl nod, you're putting him at number five. He said, I'd honestly put Eli before I'd put Ben, two Super Bowls

if we're going by those numbers. Well, Ben's got two Super Bowls also. You know, Jalen Ramsey said the same thing about Ben early in this season. So there's something players seeing Ben that they don't necessarily believe in. But the thing about Ben is he's so good in the pocket and he's so good at making those plays that look off script, but keeping his eyes down the field and making those big-time throws. And you just can't take that away from him. You know, you just made me think of something. So you're right.

Jalen Ramsey, you know, downplayed Rathlisberger is a great quarterback, and now you've got somebody else doing it. And sometimes more times and not, players know, coaches know. And I said yesterday about John Gruden signing Nathan Peterman. Like, what, as fans, you're like, are you serious? that guy's the worst starting quarterback we've seen in years, but clearly he's got something to him that real football people recognize. He must be the best practice player in the history of quarterbacks.

I mean, he must operate on a practice level so quick, and he must be smart. You know, you must be able to sit down and talk to him, and he's going to walk you through your offense, like an offensive coordinator. But there's something about Peterman that when he gets out there, he struggles. Struggles, I mean. Well, he's also played for Buffalo. So there's that.

But I like Allen a lot, and you see him taking over a little bit. You were right about him. Not yet. No, no, he looks the part. Every opportunity he's had. The thing that I don't think anybody saw, if you even watched Wyoming play football, is I don't think people saw the competitiveness that he has. He plays with an edge, you know.

That dude stayed after he had five guys go to the league. after his junior season. And he stayed at Wyoming, and when you watched them last year, watching some of the stuff that Wyoming did on tape, their best receiver was like a 5-10, 4-6 white dude. He had nobody to throw the ball to. And to go with that, he had a couple offensive linemen, including Rue, leave, and he was under duress every play. That dude made a lot of plays in the ways you don't necessarily expect quarterbacks to have to make plays. I actually think with the good offense, he's capable of sitting in the pocket and seeing some things. Well, the other thing, too, that I don't think, you know, remember there was a game late in the year,

Wyoming played in the snow, and I was like, man, he's just statuesque. Like, he doesn't have any mobility. He's had two 100-yard rushing games in his last three. He's got phenomenal mobility. Yeah, he's good. What other games you're looking at this weekend? I mean, Kansas City, Seattle is the Sunday night game, and that could potentially be a huge game for the Redskins as well.

That's a huge game for the Chiefs. That's an absolute huge game for the Chiefs. I mean, the Chargers could end up winning this division. But, yeah, I mean, if the Seahawks were to lose their last two, that's beneficial for the Redskins as well. So it's amazing. It would be amazing to me if there was still a chance to get into the playoffs after this weekend, even with a loss.

Yeah, I think more likely than not, they're not going to be eliminated with a loss. I think it's more likely than not. not. Both Minnesota and Seattle would have to win for them to be eliminated, and I bet one of those two loses. I think Minnesota could be in trouble this week. That line is a bit short, not super short. They're favored by six. Did you see anything speaking of them that was different with Stefansky as the offensive coordinator versus Di Felipe? What, you mean that they ran the ball 42 times as opposed to 16? And the other part of that was apparently he was under center like 60% more than he had been in any other game over the last month.

Kirk's a great under center quarterback. I don't see a reason to have to put him in gun the entire time. I didn't quite understand. You know what I didn't understand? I didn't understand that when Zimmer gave DiFilippo a warning shot and said, we're going to run the ball. And DiFilippo looked it around at the Minnesota Vikings defense and what they're capable of doing. If you put them in a spot where the game's tight and you're running and they don't have the ball as much, that Vikings defense is awesome.

It is now. And all of them or need is for you to control the ball a little bit, run the ball a little bit. And granted, you might not be the next offensive genius because you're not scoring 30 points a game. But let's score 21 or let's score 24 and let's run the ball effectively. And they'll win a lot of games 24 to 10. So I'm surprised that Flip, that's his nickname, you know, I call him by his nickname. I'm surprised that Flip didn't. pay heed to that warning shot.

Maybe he thought, you know, it's a new contract. I've got a long time. I'm going to do things the way I want to do them. Well, and last week, taking the different approach, 400 plus yards of offense and 41 points. They had a couple of big special teams plays, and they had a turnover that helped a lot. But, you know, that defense right now,

you know, you look at the NFL right now, and Tommy and I went through this the other day, and I think defense is still alive and well, and I think some of these defensive football teams are going to have a chance in the postseason whether it be a Tennessee or the Chargers, I'm sorry, Houston or the Chargers, but even at Tennessee, they won a game last year

playing great defense in the second half and running the football. Chicago, obviously, in the NFC and even Dallas with their defense. But Minnesota did not have a good defense early in the year when Griffin was out. When Griffin came back, it looks like a championship defense. I think you have to have balance to really win a Super Bowl,

to really win a couple games in the playoffs in a Super Bowl. A lot like the Eagles had last year. You know, they had a great defense with balance. A lot like the Chargers and the Bears have this year. I think that you do have to have offense that's a good counterpart that balances things out this year. I think it's tough to try to win games, you know, 30 to 28 every week, and I think it's near impossible to try to win games 10-9 every week.

You can win one. You maybe are going to win two. I think it's almost impossible to win three without having balance on both sides of the ball at this point in the NFL. What's happened to the Rams recently? Now, they've had a couple games where they've struggled offensively, really more so the Bears game, and then golf in the second half last, was it Monday night or no, it was the Sunday night game? Last Sunday night struggled in the second half.

Now, look, it's a team that's been built on play action, and Sean has been probably, I would bet you call it, I bet he's called more play action passes than anybody else in the league, and if you're going to play action pass, you still have to have a dynamic run game, and that's second half of that Sunday night or Todd Gurley wasn't playing. And so your play action, not nearly as believable without Todd Gurley in the backfield. So you might want to just go straight dropback, go some of your fly sweep, jet motion stuff. I think Sean got away from that and some of the runs that he probably would have liked to call in the second half of that game. Against the Bears, I don't know what he was doing.

I don't know what the Rams were doing. And then lastly, I don't know why the Rams defense isn't one of the better defenses in the link. I don't wise, they should be as good as anybody. I mean, you have the defensive MVP in Aaron Donald. You have Indyamacan Su next to him. You have two lockdown corners in Talib and Peters. You have this rookie Johnson, who's a lot of people foul as a Pro Bowl throughout the year.

The safety, the joiners, the other safety, they franchise tagged, who was going to get a big contract. How are the Rams not better defensively? I don't know. They should be a defense that doesn't give up more than 24 points a game or 20 points a game. They should never give up more than 20. They should get torched by Nick Foles. Yeah, they're like 20th.

I looked at it earlier this week. They're like 20th in yards allowed. I mean, I know that's not what we typically want to look at. But, you know, as I don't, to me, it's a massive disconnect. We're especially run defense-wise. I don't even think they're in the top 15 as a rush defense. All of that talk about Wade Phillips, man. All of that talk here about Wade Phillips.

Well, you know what? I'm not blaming it on Wade Phillips. I haven't watched their defense enough to get. Yeah, add up his defenses over the years. He's been a pretty good coordinator. All right, back to the Redskins one more time. You remembered what you wanted to ask. I did.

Ryan Carrigan made his fourth Pro Bowl, and I know that the Pro Bowl is a popularity kind of contest. But you just said earlier, you know, players, you know, the Rathlisberger situation with Cam Jordan and Jalen Ramsey, that players, you know, see something sometimes that others don't. I've always felt like he's a really good player. I don't feel like he's an elite player. But he gets recognized as being a really good to great player.

You're feeling on the season he's had this year, Ryan Carrigan. You've been critical of him in previous years. What kind of year did he have this year? He's had an interesting year because I think he's had five or six games where you've looked at him and said, he's a gamer. He's not wrecking games, but he's making a lot of big plays in games. And then I think he's had five or six games where I've said, I'm really missing something from Ryan.

I need a lot more for my best player. But essentially, he's a guy that gets a bunch of, he plays almost every snap, and he gets 10 plus sacks every single year, and you can't take that from him. I did think it was interesting as I looked at the Pro Bowl rosters, though. You know, they have four defensive ends that make it, and then they have a couple outside line, three outside linebackers that make it, or three defensive ends and three outside linebackers. Ryan Carrigan and Khalil Mack made it at outside linebacker.

You know what those guys are? They're defensive ends. They're in a defensive end hand down in the dirt. 70% of the time in nickel. And as a 3-4 outside linebacker, you're really not an outside linebacker. You're a defensive end. So I think it's interesting as you get all these defensive ends and

linebackers making it. And then someone like Leighton Vandrish isn't going to make it because he's off the ball and there's only two inside linebackers that make it. I mean, that has nothing to, none of that has anything to do with Ryan. Me saying he should or shouldn't make it. It's just an interesting thought. You know, another interesting thought is

a fullback makes it every year. Only half the teams in the league even play with a fullback. I don't even think it's half. And only half the plays that teams with fullbacks have are called fullbacks in the game. So you get Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Camara getting snubbed, and you get Jews check-in. Yeah, I know. Come on. Let's be realistic.

Let's consider full-backs running backs at this point. Or tight-end if you really wanted to go in that fashion. But don't eliminate a guy like McCaffrey who's been amazing this year. for a fullback, not to take away from fullbacks, but I think it's hard to eliminate that. I can't believe Andrew Luck didn't make a probable. Holy cow. He'll be there, though. Someone will drop out. Well, I mean, were you going to put him ahead of Brady? Because you couldn't put him ahead of Mahomes or Rivers. Well, in a lot of ways you say that, but in a lot of ways you could because look at what Mahomes has in terms of weapons to throw the ball to and then run through the Indianapolis Colts roster.

We had like... I understand that... ...three hundred-yard game. But Mahomes wasn't... Mahomes wasn't going to miss the Pro Bowl with the greatest, you know, one of the greatest seasons for a quarterback in NFL history.

I got you. I know that, but Andrew liked the Pro Bowler. You know what I just noticed? And, Aaron, I didn't notice this from earlier in the week. I have bought on our NFL buy-and-sell segment multiple times during the course of the year, Philip Lindsay from Denver. he made the Pro Bowl.

Yep. Yes, he did. As an undrafted free agent, he made the Pro Bowl. I did not see that until when we just started talking about I pulled up the AFC list when you started talking about the quarterbacks.

That's amazing. Has an undrafted running back or an undrafted player ever made the Pro Bowl in his rookie season? I doubt it. I don't know. It's the NFL probably once. He is.

is an incredible back. How did people miss on him? He's the first undrafted offensive rookie to make the Pro Bowl. There you go. Wow. And Eric Ebron made it. I always liked Ebron in Detroit and thought he was not utilized well because I thought he was really good coming out of North Carolina. And he has had a great year, but part of that is luck too. You know, and that offense? I mean, they... Well, yeah, but I mean, he had Stafford, so... You know who's a great... Well, you know what a big part of that is? A big part of that is Frank Wright. I was just going to say, I was going to say, you know who are really good coaches is Frank Reich. I think Frank Reich should be up for coach of the year.

He has, if you look at their roster, top the bottom, when we played them, they were no name after no name after no name. And they are playing excellent football right now. They are. They are. Remember he was their second choice. Justin McDaniels dropped out, turned him down. Said he was coming and then said he wasn't. In terms of the coach of the year, at this point. I don't know how it's not Matt Nagy and or Andy Reid. I'm...

Right? Who am I missing? I mean, Anthony Lynn's doing a hell of a job with the charges. I think those are the four in terms of coach of the year. I mean, you'd hate to see Bill O'Brien be considered, but he... I think Bill O'Brien should be considered for Coach of the Year. He's done a good job. With what he's done in Tennessee this year. They've been excellent. They started 0 and3 and bounced

back, so they've been excellent. But, you know, you look at what they have to do over the next couple weeks. I think they can go to the Super Bowl. I don't. I do. Okay. Let's have that conversation right now real I don't think they can meet the Chargers. Take out the, you know, I don't even know if they're the perceived favorites. New Orleans is clearly a favorite. The Rams, take out the Bears, Saints, and Rams in the NFC for right now. Can anybody else make the Super Bowl? You know, oddly enough, if the Eagles start playing with Nick Foles and start getting some of that magic, I didn't think Carson Wentz was playing poorly, but their defense is coming together a little bit. They were so banged up in

the secondary, and then all of a sudden, they're playing much better in the secondary, and if they can be a little bit more consistent, they're simplified. I think the Eagles, weapon-wise on offensive, Nick Bowles can play. They're a good, great offensive line. You got Ertz, you got Alshon-Jeffrey, you had a Golden Tate. I think that there's something still there in Philadelphia. Dallas, to me, is a team that has balance on both sides of the ball. I don't think they're good enough offensively, but it wouldn't blow me away if they were to win a couple games. This is a good playoff coming up. I think it's going to be really exciting. What about Minnesota?

I don't think Minnesota. Well, I mean, give me two more weeks on Minnesota. I don't think they can. Your cousins can't win the big game is the problem. Well, exactly, and he'll throw the big pick. So, I mean, look, he has actually this year, I think, been more of a, you know, back-breaking turnover guy than, even the perception of what he was in Washington. When are you going to learn to put two hands on the football? He really does not protect the football very well in the pocket.

But we also know that he could get super hot, and they've got weapons. But the reason I'd give Minnesota a chance to get in and win a game is because defensively I think they could shut down Chicago or shut down Dallas in a playoff game. In the AFC, if you took Kansas City and the Chargers, whichever team wins the AFC Weston will be the number one. seed and you just say, other than that team that wins the AFC West, is there anybody else you could see being in the Super Bowl? New England? Yes, right? Or not? Yeah, I think that New

England's really struggling right now. I think that Grunk's not Gronk and that's hurting them. They just have the Josh Gordon suspension, so now they're lacking in terms of weapons. You say it every year, their defense isn't good, but they find a way somehow when they get into the playoffs to play much better defense. But I don't know if I believe. believe that New England's a Super Bowl team this year. Pittsburgh? If you're going to say New England, Pittsburgh just play a great game against New England. And you don't, I think...

Jayland Samuels is going to be the new Levy on Bell. I think if Houston has that first round by and plays a home game in the divisional round, it has to win one game on the road at Kansas City or against the Chargers as an example, or maybe even in Foxborough, who knows, or, you know, what wouldn't be in Foxborough. The two-seated would be either the Chargers or the Chiefs on the road,

but they could have the Patriots at home or the Steelers at home, or I think they can go to the Super Bowl. I think they are really balanced. You talked about balance. They've got stars on both sides of the ball. Star players, legitimate star players, in Hopkins and Watson, and I think Miller, when he's healthy, is really good,

and then obviously the stars they have defensively. Yeah, we can just list their star's defense. offensively. Yeah. That's my phone. That was my phone. All right, man. Well, I don't know if Houston can do it.

Okay. Anything else you want to talk about? Oh, here's the last thing I wanted to say on the Redskins. You can't lose on special teams. I meant to say that to you earlier. They're not going to win on offense. They're just, it's not happening. They might score enough to win a game, but they're not going to win the game on offense.

So their special teams can't be what it was last week. They have to make a play. I think they actually have to be the opposite of what they were last week. you have to add one big play and can't give up anything negative. That's the last thing that gives you. I mentioned that in Redskins beat Titans if. But the thing about last week is they gave up the one play, but Hopkins made all three field goals,

and Tressway actually punted it well. Sure, sure. He should have been the Pro Bowl punter, but I don't really care about that. 72 puns and no touchbacks, and he had six inside the five-yard line. And he had, I mean, how many countless puns inside the 20-yard line? He's amazing.

You know what else he is? If he sticks around in this town for another five, six, seven years and Mark Mosley as a punter and has some Pro Bowl seasons as a punter, he's going to have an after-career, an after-football career, professional career in Washington if he wants one. No doubt. He's got a ton of personality, smart, but he's got to make a couple more Pro Bowls. All right, have a good trip down to Nashville. Enjoy it. I'll talk to you next week. Thanks for the time.

Merry Christmas to you and Matt. Maddie and the kids. You as well. Have a good one, buddy. All right, see you. Give me a moment to tell you about Ferris, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep in Fairfax. They should be on your list if you're considering something new, especially over these final days of December. Ralph Perkins is the general manager over at Farish. He's in the store virtually every day,

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and the Jeep Rangler, along with the Ram pickup. He said that they've got so many of those vehicles on the lot, and you will get the best deal of the year on any of those vehicles if you travel out to Fairfax at Ferris Chrysler Dodge Jeep. Ask for Ralph when you get there. He'll put you in touch with one of their best, salespeople. The thing about Farish is they've essentially had the same employees for a long period of time. Ralph and Kevin are great to work for. Some of their salespeople have been there

15, 20 years. They know what they're doing. Their service department is the best. If you've got a scheduled service, you're in and out quickly. You can find out all you need to know right now. Just go to Farishcars.com, live inventory, live pricing, best deals right there on their website. But if you head out to Fairfax, they're located right there in Fairfax Circle and ask for Ralph when you get there. All right, let's get to the smell test. Kevin looks where the John Q public is putting their cash and does the opposite. It's time for the smell test. Okay, I had somebody tweet me this week because I was throwing out some numbers, willy-nilly.

They weren't exactly right. They weren't very wrong either. They were pretty close to right. But I mentioned when we were doing the gambling segment the other day that I was on a 47-17 in one stretch over the last month or so. That's what I thought it was. It's not that far off, actually. I went back and added it up. I'm 40, 13, and 1 over the last 54 picks.

That stretches back about a month and a half, about five and a half weeks. It's 75% over that stretch. Aaron, I think that's pretty good, isn't it? It's decent. Yeah, it's pretty good. Last week, 3-0, I had the 49ers, the Steelers, and then Carolina plus the number on Monday night. Sort of got lucky with that Carolina game. You know what's interesting is I was going back and looking at the stretch that I've been on.

It's one of the hottest streaks I think the smell test has ever had. The smell test, for those of you that don't know, most of you do, is just a contrarian handicapping philosophy. I look for the games that have heavy public bias. And some sharp views the other way. And those are the games that usually I just go against the public. And I've been doing it for 13 years on radio and now on this podcast. And the previous 12 years, eight winning seasons, four losing seasons. But the four losing seasons were barely losing seasons.

They were like 49%, 48% somewhere in that neighborhood. I think the best season I ever had was 64% for the year. Right now I'm at 57.5% I think for the year. But the stretch that I'm on is, it also followed up, Aaron, if you recall, a week in which Vegas put out a press release, basically, some of the sports books saying that it was the worst NFL Sunday they had ever had. And I on that particular Sunday, and this was in early November, I think. Late October, early November somewhere in that right, yeah. I went 0 in 5 on that NFL Sunday. And it was like, I guess it's going to turn.

I didn't realize it would turn this way. And I bring this up not to break my arm patting myself on the back for this run that I'm on, but to give fair warning to everybody. I've been doing this for a long time, not on this show. That's been a relatively short period of time. I've been betting on football for a long time. And I've had some hot streaks over the years. And you know what they are usually followed up with?

Cold streaks, losing streaks. And this is why I said the other day in talking about all of the, you know, Ted Leonis and all the geniuses at AOL and Monumental that are going to bring down the house now that sports betting is legal, that there is a big difference between those who, you know, deal in theory and those who actually have real life practical experience. I've got real life practical experience. I do not think there's any chance in hell over the final two weeks of the regular season, all of the bowl games and all of the NFL playoff games

that I'm going to go 75% the rest of the way. But we're going to try anyway. We're going to try to do it anyway. Last week, as I mentioned, just three picks. Those were the only three games on the board. And there wasn't any college games last week either. But there are a ton of bowl games this weekend. I've only got one college game, but I've got nine, I think nine.

Yeah, nine NFL games. That's a lot of NFL games. We'll start with tomorrow. The one bowl game that fits the smell test criteria is that BYU is laying 12 and a half in the Idaho potato bowl against Western Michigan. First of all, if you look at these two teams, BYU shouldn't be a 12.5 point favorite over anybody. Western Michigan's not that good, but they've got a better record than BYU. WI.U. You finished 500. The public loves Western Michigan. By the way, the public bets these bowl games.

You may not watch these bowl games. You know, like the makers wanted Bahamas Bowl, which is tonight, uh, in Florida, I think. I think it's this afternoon, isn't it? Should be in the Bahamas, I would think. It's, I'm sorry, it's Florida international. It's this afternoon. Yeah, it's a 1230

start. It's a 1230 start and it's, uh, there's supposed to be like 30, 35 mile an hour wins. In the Bahamas? Yeah. Where do they have a stadium in the Bahamas? Atlanta. To play this game. Yeah. God, I'd like to go to Atlanta next month or so.

Podcast for a trip. But the best part about all these meaningless bowl games is that they're on television, which means during the holiday time, which means people are going to bet these games. A lot of people are betting these games. Give me BYU laying the 12 and a half in the famous Idaho potato bowl. Let's go to Sunday where I've got a lot of games, a lot of games. the smell test criteria this week. Not last week? This week, yes. I will start with the Titans. That is a big number. I think most people that really understand and have watched the Redskins know that

they are hurting and that they're not very good. But the general public sees the Redskins in a must-win situation and a team that won last week. And they're like, well, why are they getting 10? Like seven would seem right, but 10 seems like an awful lot. The public's on the Redskins. Big time tomorrow. Big time tomorrow. They are on the Redskins. I'll take Tennessee and lay the 10.

I think, you know, 27 to 7, 24 to 10, that definitely seems right, doesn't it? In terms of the way you envision the game playing out? I don't envision it playing out the way Cooley thought it would. play out with all of, you know, Flanagan and Holtz and number 16 making plays to win a game 16 to 9. But Tennessee is an anti-public play tomorrow. I'll take the Titans laying 10. Tomorrow night, the public loves the chargers in this game.

Lang 4. It's a perceived short number to Lamar Jackson tomorrow night. I'll take the Ravens plus the 4 tomorrow night. I also know that there is, there's some sharp money on Baltimore tomorrow night. some very sharp money on Baltimore tomorrow night, according to some of the people that I speak to and communicate with down in warm tropical lands. I like the Ravens plus the four.

Let's go to Sunday. You know who nobody's giving a chance to after Philadelphia beat the Rams? Nobody seems to think Houston's got a chance to go into Philadelphia and win. They're a one and a half point underdog at Philadelphia. I'll take Houston to win that game outright, plus the one and a half. They lose by one. I win, but I'm surprised at the public reaction to Philadelphia beating the Rams. It's like, oh, Nick Foles is going to do the same thing again.

We've seen this. They're all over the Eagles on Sunday. Give me the Texans plus the one. This one you're going to have to hold your nose on. But Jacksonville is the right play at Miami on Sunday. They're getting three and a half. Is it three and a half? It's four.

Actually, it's four right now. They're getting four at Miami. And we saw what Jacksonville was last week with Cody Kessler. So I'm sure you're thinking to yourself, well, why in God's name would you actually place hard-earned money on Jacksonville? Well, because no one else is. No one else is going to have Jacksonville except for your bookmaker. He'll need Jacksonville on Sunday.

So give me Jacksonville plus the four. Buffalo is playing at New England. New England lost that game last week. There is definitely a perception right now that New England isn't New England, but at the same time, I think a lot of general public, you know, average public betters are like, oh, the Patriots will get it together now and they're playing Buffalo. They're going to win this game easily. They're laying 13 and a half.

I'm going to take Buffalo here plus the 13 and a half. I've told you this before, but on key numbers and 13 and a half would be a key number by the half point and get it to 14. I think something's wrong with New England right now. That's not why I'm playing Buffalo, really. I'm playing Buffalo on the anti-public philosophy. But I can see Buffalo with their defense hanging in there. I can see that being a 2717 final. The Lions at the Vikings, yeah, I want Minnesota to win.

If the Redskins aren't going to make the playoffs, I want Minnesota to win. I'd like to see Kirk in the postseason. they've got a really good defense right now, but this line is six, and the public loves the Vikings. I think the lions are capable. I like the lions last week, gave them out as a lean, not as a pick, and they covered at Buffalo. I like them plus the six. The public is all over Minnesota. Very late in seasons when you get into these games where one team has to win and the other team has nothing to play for, I'm telling you, more times than not, that team that doesn't have anything to play for covers. Give me Detroit plus the six. Same goes for the Niners plus the four. The Bears have a chance right now to get the two seed.

If L.A. falters in one of these final two games and they can win their final two. The 49ers are playing well. The public loves the Bears to go into San Francisco and crush the 49ers this week, laying a short number. It's four. I'll take the Niners plus the four. The public likes New Orleans. Cooley said the lines high.

He thinks the line's kind of high, given how New Orleans is played. I think the public likes New Orleans at home in general, laying anything less than a touchdown. I'll take Pittsburgh plus the six Sunday afternoon. Looking forward to seeing that game. And then Seattle is an anti-public play Sunday night at home against the Chiefs. They're getting two and a half, buy it to three. I'll take Seattle plus the two and a half. All right, let me repeat these picks here.

tomorrow in the potato bowl, BYU minus 12.5. I like the Titans and the Ravens on Sunday. The Titans laying 10. The Ravens getting four on Sunday. I like the Texans plus one and a half. Jacksonville plus four. The bills plus 13 and a half.

The Lions plus six. The 49ers plus four. The Steelers plus six and the Seahawks plus two and a half. I just use the Friday lines from scores and odds. Many of you have said to me and you've tweeted me, you're like, Sheehan, you had a bad number there. The game went off at whatever. I'm like, yeah, I stick with the Friday lines. Sometimes it benefits me and sometimes it doesn't. And right now, would it surprise me if New England goes off at 14? It's not going to surprise me, but I'm going to take Buffalo right

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That's 240, 800, 6714, or launchworkplaces.com. Tell them, I told you to call. You'll get a free two-day trial if you want one. All right, let's finish up the show by bringing in Andy Poland for his weekly Friday visit. We've only got two more of these that we think, unless there's a playoff game, and we'll make our picks for the game tomorrow. What do you got on this week's opponent, the Titans? I can't think of, other than the Vince,

young game. Yeah. Any real meaningful game against the Titans? Patrick Ramsey? Yeah, I'll give you one more. This was 2000 when the six and two began to unravel. Yep. And there was an interception thrown before the-

Into the half. Yeah, by Brad Johnson and Samari Roll. All he had to do was push him out of bounds, and the half would be over. And he took it all the way down the field, and they wound up losing, I think, relatively close game in there. And when you look back, when you have black box, that season, that's one of the things that you point to.

There's a lot of information on that flight data recorder from that season. Exactly. So yeah, and then, you know, you can go back to the days of the Houston Oilers, which is, you know, which their franchise started as, but I don't really remember anything memorable about that. There were a couple of memorable Euler games. The Euler game in 91 were there were Halfield, I think. Ian Helfield. Ian Helfield missed a field goal at the year in regulation to derail the Redskins seven. and O start at that point, something like that they were. It was Brian Mitchell had fumbled on a punt.

Right. And it set up something like a 30-yarder. Easy kick. And he missed it. Game went to overtime. Redskins won. And he gave this heart-wrenching news conference the next day after the Oilers released him.

And it still sticks with me. He was crying. And I don't think he ever got another shot after that. Well, and the Oilers were a good team. Yeah. With Warren Moon? Yeah. That was probably a Jack Pardee team, I'm thinking.

Probably so. In 91. Yeah, you know, the 2000 season, just real quickly, I mean, that is a season that you could write a book about because of all that happened early in the season with Jeff George, et cetera. The 2001, you know, Jeff George being signed and ended up having a chance to play. But my favorite moment of the 2000 season or the most memorable moment is Eddie Murray being trotted out for a field goal attempt that he took. told Norv Turner he could not make. Yeah, well, the holder, the holder said he can't make it.

Yeah, Norve said kick it anyway. Yeah, Norff said kick it anyway against the Giants late in the year in the year. In a game, they lost nine to seven. Yeah, it was a 44-year-old kicker trying to kick a 49-yard. It was like a 47-yard or what even 49, I don't think. And they basically said to Norv, no, you got to run an offensive play. You know what sticks with me about that season? I was working with Mel Kuiper at that time. And Brian Billick had just been hired as coach of the Ravens. And we had them in the studio. We were doing the show out of the ESPN zone in Baltimore. And Zabe and I had been doing shows at Redskins Park during the week

because it was all this hoopla. It wasn't even, they weren't even owned at that time by the Redskins, but there was just, you know, this is a happening. And Billick is talking about it off the air and he goes, you watch, it's going to be a cluster F. And he was right. He was right. I don't know how you had that kind of insight.

But he was absolutely right. Here's the comparison I want to do old school here regarding, Josh Johnson. And I'm going to make a comparison to a guy. I know you have to be old to remember this name, but if you're old enough to have seen it, it's an incredible moment in Redskins history. Bill Malincheck, who was a wide receiver by trade, but a punt blocker extraordinaire. And the Redskins opened the 1972 season. That's the season they went to the Super Bowl under George Allen playing at Old Metropolitan Stadium against Minnesota. And Bill Malencheck, very early in the game, blocked the punt and took it in for a touchdown.

And that sort of ignited the whole season. A couple games later, he blocked a punt against New England when the Redskins were trying to mount a comeback. And this was the days before instant replay, but the ball was clearly recovered in bounds. They called it a safety on the block punt, and that would have changed the game. And then he got hurt. He got hurt six games into that season. He had played six games, had already blocked two punts. and they put him on injured reserve.

Alan tried to put him through waivers to bring them back for the Super Bowl, and San Diego claimed him. Like, you know, screw you, Alan, you're not going to do this. I don't remember that part of it. And San Diego claimed him. And so in the offseason, Alan traded a 15th round draft pick to get him back. To get him back. And sure enough, 1973 season, he blocks a punt.

And 74 season, he's still good on special. teams. He's got Marv Levy as a special teams coach, and he loves Malincheck because he's the classic redskin, you know, wide receiver, I don't bother catching passes. We just play special teams. And then this is, when you look these things up, this is a

really cool thing you come across. This is the control that the owners had over the players in those days. The season doesn't go to 16 games until 78. But prior to the 1975 season, the owners say to the

players, yeah, we're cutting rosters from 47 to 43. And one of the damn thing they could do about it. And so that left Allen with four less players to put on his roster. And it was like giving up a son when he had to cut Malincheck. And 1975 season, early in the year, they get a block punt. But now it's late in 1976. Oh, yeah. And they haven't had a cowboy game.

Well, it's actually a few weeks before that. But they have not had a block punt in a season and a half. and Alan says to himself, you know, I think Malencheck's got one more in him. Well, by this time, Malincheck is working on Wall Street. He's working as a stockbroker. And Alan calls him up and he says, are you in shape? He goes, yeah, coach, I'm always in shape. I'm running up and down the East River.

I'm playing pickup basketball. I'm ready to go. He says, okay, I want to see if I can bring you back. Malinchex says, well, you know, I'm doing really well here, but since it's George, I'll come back. So the deal is George has to talk to Malencheck's boss And they put George on the phone at his house And Alan has to talk to all of the guy's kids too This is famous George Allen football coach

So Malencheck's boss at the Wall Street firm that he worked for Is a stockbroker puts Alan on the phone with all of his kids there? Yeah I mean this is part of the deal Hey George Allen's calling me So he said Malachette goes back to his boss and his boss says Well I'll let you go on like sabbatte because it could be seven weeks if they'd made the Super Bowl. But I need George Allen to talk to me at home and talk to my kids.

So Alan does it. And he says to the media, this is a Paul Atner story from 76, I had to promise Bill's boss an autographed football as part of the bargain. Then he asked me if I would talk to one of his kids. I wound up talking to his whole family, but it was worth it. And so. I mean, in 1976, you didn't even have, you didn't even have conference call ability. You didn't even have a speaker phone.

No, you just had a hand-the-receiver. You had to hand the receiver one of the time. Jimmy, come on over. Jimmy, your turn to talk to the coach. Talk to George Allen. Hello, Sean. Good to talk to you. So he comes back and he gets ready,

plays against the Eagles. And then, like, the final game of the season is in Dallas. Yeah. Got to win this game to get in the playoffs. And sure enough, early in the game, he blocks a Danny White punt. And the Redskins go on to, I don't think they scored a touchdown,

but they went on to kick a field goal. and that gave them the ability to get it. Calvin Hill had a big game that day. Yeah, they got into the playoffs. For the Redskins. Yeah, the Redskins won the game. They got into the playoffs with the help of the Malincheck punt. And the irony is the playoff game that they make is in Minnesota,

and that's where his career ends when he came into national conscience. I played four years with the Lions, but coming to Washington in 1970, that's really what his career was all about. Yeah, I remember that season because that George Allen, I mean, you and I remember this and remember it in detail, and a lot of people don't remember, that that was really for the Redskins popularity in this town. That was really the beginning. Sunny was popular in the 60s, and Vince Lombardi had the one year, but when George Allen arrived in 1971, that started a legitimate, you know, 20-something year

tradition of winning and being a contender. And Alan went to the playoffs in his first year, 71, to The Super Bowl in 72, the playoffs in 73, the playoffs in 74, and in 75, they lost three overtime games, including one of the more controversial losses in franchise history in St. Louis on the Mel Gray catch, which wasn't. And that was the difference between them not going to the postseason and going to the postseason. So in 76, they came back. And George Allen went to the playoffs. I think 75 may have been the only playoffs, the only year as a head coach. coach he wasn't in the postseason. That could be. And so he came back in 76. They had to win that final game in Dallas to get there. Dallas had nothing to play for in that finale that year. They had already clinched the division. But the Redskins went in there and won, and then they got blown out in Minnesota as a wild card team in the playoffs. Yeah, that was John Riggins' first year

with the Redskins. First playoff game, yeah. And Kilmer was the quarterback. And yeah, they, but the Bill Malincheck's story, I think, is similar to Josh Johnson in that. you know, here's a guy. But Josh Johnson's going to take a few more snaps. Understood. Understood. But here's a guy out of football for almost two years. They bring him back and he plays a key role in getting to the playoffs. So we're going to find out here now if you think that Josh Johnson's create the same kind of magic that old Bill Malencheck created. Let's finish up with skin, score, and more. Time to sell the score is score and more. All right. We were both wrong last week. Yeah. You know, can Josh Johnson do it?

Yes, if he can block a punt for a touchdown like Bill Mallon. Yeah. I mean, the line is 10 and a half. 10, yeah. 10? Do you see the Redskins scoring 10 offensively? Pretty hard. Yeah. I mean, I just don't see it.

I don't, I predicted 31 to 3 last week. Okay, well, that was a little overreaction, and I didn't realize how bad. I think my prediction was 27 to 6. Yeah, I mean. So it wasn't much different. Yeah. Look, if they can run the ball fine, can they stop Derek Henry? I don't think so.

Henry has, you know, he hasn't had a great career up to this point, but last two weeks he's had over 400 yards combined, right? So I just don't see it. So I'm going to stick with, I think they'll be respectable on defense. I'm going to say the Redskins are going to lose this game 20 to 7. I've got, I've almost got an identical feeling from last week. I mean, the big difference is they've got, you know, they've got a better quarterback.

I mean, Marriott is better than Cody Kessler. They've got a more dynamic offense. And they're a good team. They've got to win the game. They're playing for, you know, if Tennessee wins, we haven't talked about this the entire show. If Tennessee wins the game next week, very likely they will be playing for a wild card berth

unless Baltimore wins their final too. But it's a must win for them on Saturday. So I like, I like them 27 to 7. I think that's what it feels like to me. Maybe they won't score 27, but I just don't see the Redskins being able to score 10 points. I felt the same way last week, and they got 16, and they got, look, they actually moved the football against Jacksonville in the second half. But anyway, I know you've covered playoff scenarios. But not as excitingly as I have in the past.

And that was actually going to lead me to one more question for you. But go ahead and ask you. I would ask you, if the Redskins win, is it conceivable? they're playing and Dallas loses, of course, that they're playing Philadelphia for the division title in the final game? Well, yeah, and not only that, Andy, that if the Redskins win and Philadelphia wins, and Dallas loses. Yeah, it'd have to lose, I understand.

Okay, it would be very interesting because at the very least, although it's not a lock, Philadelphia and Washington might be playing for a wild card berth. But Dallas plays the Giants, and the Redskins Eagles game would probably be the game that got flexed. into the Sunday night spot if it comes down to that. Might as well play it in Philadelphia, make it more convenient for all the fans who we're going to show up. Watch the Eagles play.

Well, that would be another interesting thing. If the Redskins were to win tomorrow, what kind of crowd would they have for a game that could potentially get them into the playoffs? Be a Philadelphia crowd. I think it would still be a Philadelphia crowd, but if they don't win tomorrow and they can't make the playoffs, you know, nobody's showing up.

Or maybe the Philly fans show up because they'd have something to play for. What I was going to ask you is, you know, I mean, we've known each other for a while now, and I've always been the king of the playoff scenarios. Yes, you are. Right? That's why I ask you questions about it. So I don't really have a lot of, it's hard for me this year to muster up the excitement

for it. And it's the first time I've ever felt this way, because even when, you know, they weren't great in the past, a run at the end of the season with a couple of teams losing, and I would explain it to you and Zabe and Doc and everybody, and I'd say, they could still get in. There was this feeling like, okay, well, we're going to. Gibbs was coaching or, you know, they had this, or at RG3, or they had, for me, this year, there is no, there's nothing exciting about them advancing to the postseason for me. And the quandary is that if it happens, everybody's coming back. And I don't want to see that.

Well, I think jobs were saved last week. I think that went a long way. I hope not. I hope you're wrong. I hope so. I hope I'm wrong too, but I've played a high school offensive team. Understood. But that took the pressure off Jay. It took the focus off Bruce for a week. So I don't know. But, you know, the only year that I felt your playoff scenarios were really great and important and exciting were the RG3 year. Because you thought it with a healthy RG3 maybe it's possible to make a run. So.

But other than that, like when Gibbs retired the second time after the 2007 season and they said, you know, how long you've been thinking about it? oh, I wasn't really thinking about it a long time. I was thinking about winning the Super Bowl. That team wasn't going to win the Super Bowl. No, no, but Andy, that year, first of all, 2005, when they got into the postseason with the six-game, five-game win streak at the end of the year, we were really excited. It was Joe Gibbs.

And there wasn't a dominant team in the NFC. That's true. And so we thought there was a chance. And they went to Tampa in one. And after that, it was like, we can beat Seattle. Went to Tampa with Brunel throwing for like 104 yards. And then in 2007, obviously, there was a chance. was this this run at the end of the season after the Sean Taylor tragedy. And they win these

four games in a row with Todd Collins and they're playing pretty good defense. And again, you went into a postseason where, you know, Dallas was the number one seed. And, you know, you're, and then Kirk, and they got hot. I mean, people can be revisionist history. You know, give me a revisionist history about this right now. But at the end of 2015, most reasonable Redskin fans said, all right, we got our quarterback, finally. And they got a Green Bay team that had not been running the ball. And then with Fat-Aid Lacey, they ran all over them.

This year is the first times, you know, of the... They've only been to the playoffs five times since 91, okay? So this is the first year where it's like, I'm rooting for the reboot and people to move on more than I am getting blown out at Chicago. You don't want fools gold. what would happen. Yeah, you don't want fools' goal. And we both know they will self-congratulate for months if somehow they pull off a playoff. It'll be a banner. Banner. They might hang a banner. Yeah, that's what they do.

The Wild Card Manor. Nobody celebrates relative success like this team. Oh, my God. Nobody celebrates mediocrity. It talks more about how great mediocrity is than this team. Except Doc Walker. I want winners. All right. What do you got going on over the next week? Well, I'm going to do a lot of fill-in radio, and you're going to be a guest with me and Earl Forsey on Sunday morning. Oh, I thought it was you and Tommy. Tommy's taken off. His wife's coming home from Florida for a few days.

I guess he has to clean up the house. I know. That's true. Liz's in Florida, and she's coming home for the holiday. I can only imagine Tommy home alone here the last few weeks. All right, I'll talk to you Sunday morning. Okay, great. All right.

Thanks to Cooley for joining the show. Aaron did a great job producing it. We'll be back with the next show, no later than you. early, early Sunday morning. It might even be available late Saturday night. Have a great weekend.