The Kevin Sheehan Show - Could Alex Smith Get Benched?

Episode Date: October 11, 2018

It's a Sports Fix Thursday with Thom Loverro. After starting with the Capitals win over Las Vegas, they discuss the Alex Smith situation and if Colt McCoy is even mildly an option for the Redskins. Was Monday night an aberration and what's the outlook for Sunday against the Panthers? Brian McNally joins to talk about the fallout from the loss against the Saints. Scott Van Pelt calls in to give his take on the GOAT quarterback discussion and the state of college football right now. Plus, NFL Power Polls. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. You're listening to The SportsFix. Yeah, Tommy's here. Aaron's here. The show's presented by Window Nation.

If you're in the market for Windows, please do Tom and me a favor and call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them we told you to call. Scott Van Pelt will be with us on the show today. Can I tease what's on the show today? No. Okay, go ahead. interrupt.

Because I'm going to try to help. you here. If you call one donation, you're not only doing Kevin and I a favor, you're doing yourself a favor. Big favor. Big favor. That's a good point. Especially with this winner coming. You can interrupt with that kind of insight. Okay. My work is done here.

Scott Van Peltz on the show today, as he always is on Thursday. Brian McNally from the Sports Capitol will join the show today. What Alex Smith said to the media about moving on from Monday night coming up as well. We'll do the NFL power poll for the week. And I promise you this, Tommy. In my

poll, there won't be an NFCE team. That I guarantee you. Even the teams to keep an eye on, like, hey, be aware of this team, they could start playing well. Nobody in the NFC East. But maybe yours, but you haven't put yours together yet. You'll get to that shortly, I'm sure. It requires so much thought because it's such a creative segment. Yes, it is. It really is. Because nobody does it. No. I will begin today with an acknowledgement that Tom did not mention the Gruden Black Cloud line on the show yesterday. We had an argument about that. I thought he had mentioned it.

We bet we did a double or nothing bet on, I don't know, I think I... We bet a steak dinner at the palm on whether or not the red... I said the Redskins would have their name change within two years. And that was in 2014. It wasn't, so I won that bet. There were like four or five others I won, too, but we'll just count it as one. And so yesterday was a double or nothing. Like you remember the dark cloud.

So, you know, I got a bunch of tweets on it after we put the podcast out yesterday. And they said that Tony said it. And I was on Tony's show yesterday. So that's where I was remembering. You know what? I think, Kevin, I've made an observation after doing the show for a couple weeks. Yeah. You're not as sharp as he used to be.

You know what? I am. Your brain, something's happened. Do you really think that's true? Yeah. You're just not as sharp as he used to be. Seriously. I mean, I think I'm actually getting sharper as I get older.

Of course you do. And you seem to like. If you're not sure, just let's ask you. And you seem to be regressing. There have been some moments here. I'll grant you that. You know, maybe you should get one of those apps where you have to remember colors and stuff like that, like for a brain exercise. Well, let me just tell you that.

It's very interesting that you bring that up because typically if you are searching for, something that you can't exactly remember. And if you go through it on your own and you come up with it, that is a signal that there's nothing really wrong systemically, that it's more probably a lack of sleep or lack of fish oil tablets or whatever it is, super food groups. But if you can't come up with it, then there could be, and more likely than not, no reason. I don't want to alarm anybody. But there could be a reason to be concerned. And I will tell you that whenever I have those stretches and you get them as you get a little bit older and when you're tired in particular

and I'm like, God, what was that, what was the name of that person if you hang in there and you go through the alphabet or whatever it is that will spark it and you come up with it, you're fine. And I always come up with it. Always. So anyway, I don't want to talk about this anymore.

I'm sorry, what did you say? Exactly. What did you say? I don't even know what you said. I did watch the Caps game last night, the third period. I watched the third period of the game. Well, you know what they say about hockey. It's the last two minutes.

The last two minutes are great in hockey. In the NBA as well. The Caps beat Vegas five to two last night. Their power play is just lethal and fun. Like, they get so many opportunities on their power play. And I'm going to ask you, the hockey expert, among the two of us. Do you now believe that Cousnetsoff is their best play? hands down because I the crew last night and we did have doc emrick calling the game it was an NBC

national network game they they discussed that right now kuznetsoff is their best player and perhaps even a top three player in the entire sport well if if you had read my column in the washington times that I had written after last Wednesday's home opener and I suggested that when people were talking about a Stanley Cup hangover, I suggested that this team may be even better than the one that won the Stanley Cup last year. Really? Yes. In your column? Yes. And the reason why, I mean, there's a number of reasons why abstract reasons. They know how to win now, all that stuff. But on paper, the reason that you can point to is Kuznetsov. I mean, he has emerged as one of the best players in the league. And now he plays on a team with Alex Kovetskin. And yes,

you could make the case. He is the most talented and best player on that team right now. So when you have Ovechkin and Kuznetsov, you're a nightmare matchup for defenses around the league. He, by all rights, he should have won the MVP for the finals, for the Stanley Cup playoffs last year. Oveskine won, and he was deserving of it. But Kuznetsov had 32 points in the postseason.

He was the best play. player in the postseason. And to add him to a team that's already talented offensively, I think they really could be a better team than last year. Doesn't mean that when the Stanley Cup again, because we know how random that is in postseason hockey. It's like a tournament sport, like baseball now. But I think...

But a president's trophy could be in the works this year for this team. Yeah, but we don't count president's trophies anymore. I mean, you got the Stanley Cup. You know what? I don't even think, you know, I don't even know if Ted still hangs the President Cups banners, doesn't it? In that column that I was trying to get through online, but it kept refreshing and restarting on the Washington Times website, which is just, I don't know why they haven't fixed that. Because your columns are so worth reading, but they're so difficult to read online. I know I'm not the only person that has said that. You are not the only one. Oh, my God. I mean, get an IT guy there. Get a web guy down there.

can fix that. But your column, if you were suggesting that this team was even better, as you pointed out, that really doesn't mean anything with respect to the postseason. No. It just doesn't. Although in a sport that you and I have always said is so random when it comes to a best of seven postseason series, this sport has also had dynasties. Yes, it has.

Yes, and I. Although recently the penguins. Yes. The penguins, the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks, the Penguins with Lemieux, the Oilers with Gretzky. You're right. You're right. And they have. The Islanders with Bossie and that whole crew. Even though, well, you're going way back there.

Even though it is random, we can pretty much agree that if you have a great goalie and a great goal score, you've got a chance in any postseason series. Now they have two great goals scores. I'll be curious about the Tom Wilson factor moving forward. People have forgotten about him. Didn't seem to make a difference. Because they have been terrific in their start. Yes, last night.

But he was a big part of their success last year. And I think he's going to have a very rough year. Very rough year. I want to just give kudos out to Coach Reards. Coach Reards challenged, you weren't watching it, but at 4-2, the game, Vegas got on a roll there and they were dominating. They had tilted the ice on me.

It's a term you're not necessarily familiar with, but they had tilted the ice and they were getting, they were peppering, peppering, Holtby. And there were multiple chances. And then they got on a power play and had multiple chances, didn't score, but then they got a goal at 4-2 to cut it to 4-3. But there was a challenge from old coach Reards. And he said, check it.

They were offside before the goal. and certainly they were. And so it got overturned. Good job out of Coach Reards for, or whomever it was that told him was watching the film. Maybe Bruce Allen was handling replay in that game. You know, tilting the ice, peppering. You know, another sign of some brain issues

is when you repeat the last thing you've ever heard. I do that all the time. I want to read you this tweet from Sandy. I think you got it too. Are you guys serious about Colt McCoy? They traded a fortune for Alex Smith. Smith gets plenty of rope, two years worth of rope minimum. You both are crazy.

Okay, so... Well, I am crazy about Colt McCoy. We know that. First of all, it was brought up because Doc had suggested it during the call of the game, the radio call of the game. And there were two things that I listened to and heard after the fact that Doc had suggested during the game, hey, relief pitcher, because the starter doesn't have it.

Alex Smith doesn't have it. And Cooley suggested that Alex Smith had the yips. So that's why it was brought up. I was not suggesting that they were going to go to Colt McCoy. Let me just say this, Tommy. Alex Smith is going to start every game this year unless he gets hurt. Unless he gets hurt, there's zero chance. Colt McCoy starts a football game.

In part, because can you imagine if the admission of incompetence, several games into the season if they were to bench him, because that's what they would be admitting, that it would be completely ridiculous for the organization that went beyond what was needed to elevate themselves, to self-congratulate themselves, to elevate the quarterback, to talk about the trade that made them better,

to talk about the trade that brought great leadership to a position that hasn't had it in recent years, a trade and a contract extension that locked up their franchise quarterback for five years to come. A trade Tommy that brought a breath of fresh air. According to the owner, how about this one? A trade that Bruce Allen said, hey, there's three quarterbacks who have 50 wins in the last five years. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that might be the type of guy you want on your football team talking about Alex Smith.

And then he went on in an interview with J.P. Finley. wins and losses are the most important statistic when it comes to an equipment manager, team president, quarterback, running back, a guard or a coach. You remember that one? I love going back and finding old quotes. It's something I love to do. Yeah, absolutely. And that team president, of all people, his one loss record is pathetic.

5478 and won since coming to Washington. You talk about a statement that really exposed him. It was also a statement that for any intelligent football fan is a statement that's naive or ignorant, one or the two, because football is the most dependent sport. Alex Smith was on good to very good teams. That's why his record has been very good. His teams in San Francisco and Kansas City were good. They were good teams. They were well-coached teams for the most part. It's also, you know, when I read this, as I often do, I go back and find these old quotes to sort of support these things that I want to do.

I learned that from somebody. But it bothers me when I read that. It bothered me then when I read it and I did a whole lot on it. It bothers me even today because if Bruce Allen and Jay Gruden didn't realize what Alex Smith was before they traded for him, then it really is sort of time to give up. I would not connect Bruce Allen and Jay Gruden automatically. You would just connect Bruce Allen. Yeah.

Because he didn't tell Doug Williams. You don't think he told Jay Gruden? No, I think he told Jake Gruden. But again, look, we've seen what happens with Bruce Allen and trading for quarterbacks. We didn't know Mike Shanahan didn't want Donovan McNabb for a long time. He told us. That was the first time we heard it. Right.

So we don't know how much Jake Gruden loved Alex Smith. He may have been going along with the program. You know, and the other thing is, as far as you saying that he will never start, that Colt McCoy will never start, no matter how poorly Alex Smith plays because of what an admission it would be. What about a guy who has nothing to lose? What if Jay Gruden at some point in the season has a sense that he's gone? Because it's...

And that he's out. Because it's... He's enough of a maverick and an outlaw mentality to give the owner and his buddy Bruce the middle finger and say, I'm starting Colt McCoy, setting off a whole firestorm. He's capable of that. No, he's not. He's not.

And by the way, don't compare it to him going in with McLuhan to Dan Snyder and Bruce Allen and saying, can't start RG3 because we can't win. We can't even be a competitive football team. We have to start Kirk Cousins as a reason to think that he would do it again. No, that was a guy saving his job. This is a guy when he realized his job is gone. That's true. That's why it's apples and oranges.

I don't think he would. would do that. Okay. I don't. I, anything's possible. I just, anyone that's watched this league, all right? And this is what sometimes they out there don't do as much as the other teams do. You had to know that when you traded for Alex Smith, you weren't getting a guy that you could

strap the team to. You're getting a guy that was absolutely one of these guys that was very careful. capable of being a top half of the league starter, if everything around him was good, you had to have a running game. It's the only time this guy's really succeeded. I hope Bruce and Jay, in their due diligence prior to this trade, said, we got to have a running game, Jake. Jay, can you produce a running game? They drafted Geis. They drafted Darius Geis, and that presumably was the step in the right direction. I agree with that. But they had no plan B if Geis didn't work out. I mean, their plan B didn't arrive. here until the third week in August. I know. Well, you know, it's hard to get plan A and then a plan B that is a really good plan B in one-off season. You know, they drafted Samaji P. Ryan last year in the fourth round. They thought he might eventually be a plan A. Right. And they don't even give him a uniform now. Not now. But, you know, I know that they thought he was better than the last guy. I know that they thought he won more than the last guy and that that was somehow really important to them. I just hope they know why. he won a lot more than the last guy.

He won because everything around him was great. And if they don't realize or didn't realize that, it's a truly limited view. And that's not what team executives in the NFL need to have when it comes to this position. Their view has to be a little bit more about, okay, he's a winning quarterback. Let's get him.

That's not what happens. Quarterbacks just don't win without the rest of the team. If they didn't know that that quarterback, that position was dependent on others, shame on them. I'm just going to say this. There's no chance they're going to bench him. And I'm also going to say this now.

I don't think they're going to have a reason to bench him. I think what we saw the other night was a true aberration performance from Alex Smith. I know what he is and has been. I do believe that Alex Smith is a guy that you can win with. and I think the Redskins are a better team around him, and I think they'll produce. I think they'll produce enough to keep him, you know,

looking, even if it's inconsistent, looking like, all right, they're making progress. I do believe that. Where is the protection going to come for Alex Smith? It's going to have to come from a running game that is more consistent with Adrian Peterson. That's big time protection. The guy with the shoulder under injury?

Yep, the guy or a 33-year-old guy with the shoulder-in-old? Another guy that they put in there. I'm not, you can generate a running game without a great running back. Now, this coach hasn't done it. And this offensive line coach who has also been in charge of the running game, Callahan, hasn't done it. But I'm going to believe in Adrian Peterson for right now. But the other thing, too, Tommy, is that Jay Gruden, without an offensive line and without a running game, has schemed up an offense that's been able to move the football.

And I don't think Alex Smith has a sense of what, how Jay Gruden, did it for, you know, the three years previous. How they had... He didn't do it for the three years previous. Let's remember Sean McVeigh did it for a couple of years. Sean McVeigh did it, but it was Jay and Sean and the quarterback. And I think Alex Smith is capable of, you know, doing a lot of this stuff that they've done here over the last, you know, few years. You know, quick throws, quick game is going to be important.

I want to see that as a big part of the game plan on Sunday. Look, at the one of the things. they talked about Monday night on the broadcast. One of the things that was worth listening to on that terrible broadcast team was... I actually thought Jason Whitten was much better. His analysis is pretty good. So is McFarland's. The lack of a sense of urgency when they were down.

I mean, they don't... And we've heard that for years. I mean, we heard that, I mean, you know, there's no hurry. I hate when you use urgency. Everybody uses that term. But I know that. I wrote a whole calm about it. Really?

Yes, I did. That was one I was able to roll. read. It took me a little while, but I was able to read it. But, I mean, so they don't have that quick strike offense, because they don't even have a sense of urgency when it comes to... No, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about true West Coast quick game, which is when they've had no running game,

when they've had some issues along the offensive line, that's how they've moved the football. But they have to move the football that way. They have to be in control to do that. Alex Smith is capable of doing that, all right, in Jay Gruden's scheme. Not when they're not when they fall behind. Maybe not as well as the last guy did it, but he's capable of doing that. Look, look it, he's not getting bench this year. There is no chance.

Okay, wait, wait, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm going to give you another scenario. What? In addition to the Jay Gruden Maverick scenario. Jay Gruden gets fired? No, no, no, no, no. What happens if the locker room looks around and says, hey, we'd rather have Kirk? The locker room has been telling you for a couple months about how, I mean, did you

read DJ Swaranger's a little comment before the game the other night? You're going to take him seriously. He complains about everything. Well, I mean, you know, everybody's been pointing. Everybody's been tweeting me. Look at what the players are saying. They didn't. They never said that about Kirk. Although Trent Williams did. What happens if the locker room looks around. Not going to happen. Tom. No chance. What do you mean? No chance. No chance that Alex Smith, other than for injury, gets benched this year. Okay. It would be a massive admission of failure at the highest levels and they might as well just turn in their resignation when they do it.

Because there's no way that the owner of this team is going to look at Bruce and Jay when they come in and say, hey, you know, the locker room really feels better about Colt right now. So we're going to move the Colt. Really? Go ahead and do that. I'll also accept your resignations. Or this is a slip. It's pink. If you didn't notice, you're out. Because the owner is so easily embarrassed. Oh, come on. You're not. there's no chance Alex Smith gets bench this year. Now, next year, no chance. When Bruce and Jay are gone, if the season doesn't go well, that's a totally different story and they're locked into a four-year contract extension. I also just want to say this,

though, after all of that, I think they're going to win Sunday. I really think they will win Sunday. There's something about this particular spot that they've been in in recent years, including this year. After the Colt game, back home against Packers, they beat the Packers. After Monday, night home, sort of home against a Carolina team that has not lived up to expectations defensively. I know New Orleans wasn't very good defensively. Carolina right now is not very good defensively. They're giving up like 4.6 yards per carry. They're giving up, you know, yards to the giant scored 31 against Carolina last week. I think this is a game that they win on Sunday. And I think what we'll see for the next several weeks are these inconsistencies, a good

game, a bad game, and then hopefully, you know, the quarterback and the coach get on the same page and defensively, they've got to fix some things defensively in the secondary. But I give them a good chance of winning Sunday. I think it's going to be a smell test pick tomorrow. I mean, I don't give them a good chance. I wouldn't be surprised if they won, but I don't give them a good chance. You know, they're favored. Are they really? They're a one-point favor. Are they really? Well, then somebody's not paying attention to what's going on. Go ahead. Try to beat Vegas. I guess that smart guy. Someone's not paying attention

of what's going on at Redskins Park this week. You mean Josh Norman? Yeah. Did you see what Ron Rivera said? Did you see that quote from Ron Rivera about Josh Norman? No.

Rivera said, quote, we played a little different style of defense compared to what they're playing, and that's all I'll say about that. Josh has always been a terrific player in my eyes. For us, he did a great job, closed quote. The head coach of the team that they're playing on Sunday They basically just took a shot at Greg Minuski.

Yes, he did. A defensive guy, by the way, Ron Rivera, a defensive coach. And they played Norman in a lot of zone. They played a ton of zone coverage. And Norman facing the quarterback and not having to run consistently with number one wide receivers performed well in Carolina. I think he's lost a step too. He wasn't fast to begin with.

I think he's lost a step. You can see it. And here's where you can see it. You can see it when you see it when you see Marquis. row running with a receiver. He can run, and then you see Josh Norman running with a receiver. And we asked Charlie Casserly about that yesterday,

and he said he's never been fast, and maybe he's, you know, half-step slower too. This was a guy who was never got where he was based on his raw talent. He had to walk on to Coastal Carolina to play football for them. He's had an edge,

a competitive edge. And then he was a fifth round pick by the Panthers. So he's always had to. He's always had to have I mean and you know Charlie Cassley talked about

is competitiveness I mean that's what's driven him so far but if you're not the fastest guy if you're not the strongest

guy if you're not the combine guy at some point when age catches up with you that's going to show well not only that

Tommy it's been his IQ football IQ and that competitive edge that has made him

previously the player that he was which was a good corner. Not the best corner in the league, probably not even a top three to five corner, but a really good NFL corner. And maybe Ron Rivera's got a point. There's certain ways to play Josh to get the most out of him. And then in other ways, it's taking a chance. But the other night, Josh Norman was lost out there from an IQ perspective. On that touchdown pass, on that record breaker, he didn't know what defense they were in. And so one of the reasons he got benched coming out in the

second half is because he wasn't playing smart football. He got wrapped up into the emotion and the whole football IQ thing that everybody has always said Josh Norman has. He didn't have. I will say this. I don't know how you feel, but all of the criticism that's come his way. First of all, Bougar McFarland on the broadcast, and you missed what I sort of slid that into the conversation five minutes ago and you didn't respond to it. I actually thought that the Monday, I think the Monday night crew, I can't stand Tess ator, but I will. say this about Jason Whitten and McFarland, even though I don't consider to them to be personalities or, you know, great broadcasters, they, Witten, his analysis is good during this game.

He's pretty good in terms of his analysis. But what I was going to say is, I didn't want to get sidetracked, and I just did. You just wanted to stop to pat yourself on your back. No, I wanted, I was curious why you didn't say, oh, you're now, now you like the Monday night football booth. And it's not that I like it. I just recognize that Witten does know what he's talking about. I can't stop the car every five minutes for everything that you say that's wrong. I'm hungry and I got to go to the bathroom.

I can't keep doing that. I got to let you hang yourself once in a while. Oh, you do it all the time. So McFarland said Norman's not the best cornerback on the team. He's the third best cornerback on the team, I think is what he said. And then the DeAngelo Hall comments, you saw those, right? Which is what Charlie Castle said a week ago that he's the third best cornerback on. So DeAngelo Hall sort of criticized him, said he was too Hollywood.

he was too focused on other things. Josh Norman's response, I think to the Twitter thing that he got into with Michael Williams, where he essentially said, I can't do that. I'm paraphrasing. And then to Dee Hall, where he said, D. Hall, I've always looked up to. He's going through the whole thing. And yeah, I am a little bit of Hollywood. It's who I am.

When you push that button, you're going to get a response. I think he's actually handled this week well. I don't, there's something about Josh Norman. How many times have you sat with Josh Norman? and interview just once. Because we had him on the show the last two and a half years, probably four or five times in studio with us. I think the dude's pretty smart.

I think that he's pretty savvy. He may not physically be able to, that time may have passed. But I think I'd be surprised if we don't get a little bit of a bounce back from Josh Norman here and much better play, much better leadership. This is going to be his last year in Washington more likely than not. But I guess with all the things we were saying about Colt McCoy and Alan and Gruden and hot seats,

this and that, I still am not throwing in the towel on this season and on some of the people that the fans are throwing the towel in on, like Josh Norman. I think we'll see better play from him. I think we'll see better play from the quarterback. I think the Redskins are going to be a competitive team most weeks. where does that land? It may land on 8 and 8 again, and it's not going to be good enough.

But what we saw Monday night, I bet you is the aberration for the year. See, I don't think so. And again, I don't know how many times I have to say this. Who's going to run the ball? You keep, well, right now, Adrian Peterson's going to run the ball. With the shoulder injury.

He's fine, apparently. Well, really, what happens when he gets hit the first time? Well, you know what? He came back in the game after getting hit the other night. And how many yards did he have? Well, they got behind. You know, they couldn't, Drew Brees, I don't know if you noticed, had a pretty good night. Look it.

They don't have anyone besides Adrian Peterson to run the ball. So that the offense is going to be, is in a nightmare. On the verge of being run the ball for three years. On the verge of, but they had a quarterback who didn't need it. Now they have a quarterback who needs it. He needs a semblance of a running game. I will grant you that. One last thing before we get to Brian McNally.

on ESPN.com this morning, excuse me, that was a belch, this morning they put out. That was you. That wasn't me. I know. For the first time, it was me, not you. They put out suggested trades that would work. And one of the trades was Levyon Bell to Washington for a 2019 third round pick. Sign me up for that right now. Oh, absolutely. There's no way that that would happen. No. Why do the Steelers take that one when they can get the third round pick from letting him walk?

They wouldn't do that. The Redskins are one of those teams that you could potentially look at if you're lay beyond bell and say, you know, if they add me, you know, they might, they got a chance here to be competitive in a division that is easily winnable. And here's the other part. And they've got. I won't have to work as hard playing for this coach. You know, they get days off.

They get walkabout days. I mean, everybody around the league talks about Camp Jay and how much fun it is. I mean, it's great. We get to stay up as late as we want. by the campfire. Yeah, I don't have to listen to Tom and yelling at me all the time. We don't do any work ever. In fact, after getting our ass kicked on Monday night football, we have a walkthrough on Wednesday.

Was it a walkthrough or a walkabout? It was a walkabout. I think it was a walkabout. Let me tell you about Window Nation. Window Nation right now, if you've been thinking about Windows, is the only place to call. It is a no-risk call. I beg you to call Window Nation if you've been thinking about Windows and at least get them to come out and give you a free estimate. There's no risk in doing it. Harley and Aaron have been running

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Todd Dybis, Ben Standing, and Brian started this venture, I don't know, six months ago, seven months ago, something like that. It's a great site. You get a lot of information on all the local teams. Brian covers everything. He was at the Caps game last night. We'll ask him a little bit about that here. But I want to start with the Redskins, Brian. You know, after a loss like that, everything's in play. I mean, not the switch of the quarterback, which Tommy and I were just talking about. There's no chance you're going to see Coln McCoy this year. But everything's in play with respect to, you know, locker room issues, infighting, the season's starting to spiral out of control.

You cover this team. Do you have any sense that that kind of loss could really derail a season that just a couple of weeks ago after beating the Packers held so much promise? I don't know about derail, Kevin. I would say what it does is kind of put a cap on the ceiling of where this team can go. I mean, if you go on the road against what was a playoff team last year, what if we can all say absolutely should have been a team that was at the very least in the NFC title game, if not for a fluke play in the loss of the Vikings.

You know, if you can't even be competitive on that ground, there has to be a bigger picture question of where are we here? What are you literally just have you run into that classic NFL trap of just a seven and nine, eight, and eight team, and you're not going to be able to break through. with this group of players. I mean, look at your star players. Look at your best guys. Carrigan, Jordan Reed, Trent Williams,

Josh Norman should be in that group, although he's not playing like it. If you put all those guys together, you're getting a lot of guys in the 29, 30, 31 range, and then you start to wonder, how viable is this? Are you ever going to have your breakthrough? So I don't necessarily look at a loss on the road to the Saints on its own as season-old.

over, it's going to be a four and 12 season, but it certainly has to bring up bigger questions about where you're going as a franchise, regardless of whether you're in first place and what's been a pretty mediocre division so far this year. How much of what happened Monday night, and even to the Colts for, to a certain degree, is on coaching. There was confusion once again in the secondary that led to big plays, and you've got some talent defensively. You had an offense that couldn't move. the football and couldn't score points against one of the worst defenses in the league going into the game. And there was a lot of discussion as to why they didn't target Jordan Reed more,

you know, why the quarterback was so awful and so off the other night. How much of that gets put into the poor coaching category? I mean, I think a lot of it. Jay Gruden took a lot of the brunt of that and put coaching as, you know, that he admitted me and my staff have to be better. He was pretty blunt about it. Now, maybe that's the, you can be cynical about that and just say that's the natural self-flogging that any coach in the NFL does after an embarrassing loss. But, I mean, in this case, the communication issues have to be, the coaches have to take

some of that on themselves. I mean, the way Jay phrased it was very strong. Look, he benched Josh Norman, right, and he phrased it after the game. about essentially talking about the touchdown pass against Green Bay, which went for 60-plus yards and the same thing that happened in the New Orleans game, both appeared to be Josh Norman mess-ups. You can maybe argue about the Green Bay one as just a miscommunication. Either way, the secondary is not on the same page.

Doesn't that have to, by definition, fall at the feet of Greg Minoski, if guys are not doing what they're doing, if there's another example in the Saints game of Fabian Moreau, apparently not realizing what defense they're in because he's the only guy who doesn't do what everybody else does. You know what? That stuff to me does fall on coaching. And the organization, too, I mean, you're the one that went in and relied on, it's a little complicated because if Josh Norman is the one not playing well, okay, that's a bigger problem. But they went into the end of the year with young players, really young players at a position that is kind of getting exposed right now.

that's having trouble staying on the same page. A lot of rookies and second year guys out there, that's on the organization, right? That's on the people who put this thing together. They're not getting much help from the coaching staff when you're making mistakes like that. And the players take some blame, too. Obviously, they're the ones out of the field making mistakes.

But to me, the coaching staff has to be a big part of this and kind of a huge red flag coming out of that game. You know, Jay Gruden talked about. about this thing about a cloud hanging over at them right now this week. And I'm just curious, not just coaching, but big picture totally. Do you think that Jay Gruden possibly believes that they have deeper problems in this organization, problems that he didn't think that they would have? And he's sort of caught by surprise as to how bad things really might be?

You know, he's generally, and you know him, Tommy, you talk to him enough, where he's generally a positive guy about that kind of stuff. He's usually not going to, he's blunt, but, you know, he's never got, he's never gotten to that kind of dark place where he's kind of questioning everything they do and, at least publicly. You know, again, he'll be blunt about guys who aren't playing well. He called the touchdown pass an embarrassment. so he will be critical and harsh when he needs to. I'm not sure I've heard him go that far yet. You know, and he's done it before. I remember that he kind of offhandedly made fun of the, you know,

the Brandon, I think it was the Brandon Sheriff's draft where, you know, he said something about, you know, they got me a guard or something like that. It was a Pro Bowl guard. It's a really good player. But he has taken shots when he's when he's deemed it necessary? That was a shot at McLuhan. Right? That was definitely a shot at McLuhan. No

question. Now, and he's gone, obviously, so maybe things are in a different place for Jay, and Jay is the one that essentially won, I don't know if you'd call that a battle for power, but if it was, Jay certainly is the one who won because he's the one that got left Indianapolis that year with the contract extension, and

Scott McLuhan was gone from the organization within days. So in that sense, he's not afraid to call things out when he thinks that's the case. And I don't think he's gotten to that place yet. It doesn't mean if they lose the Carolina in embarrassing fashion that that won't start to creep in. Because I think at that point, even at two and three, you know, normal NFL teams don't panic. If you see overarching panic or a sense that things aren't going well and an overreaction, I think that will tell you more than anything about what the coaching staff thinks about the kind of internal stuff going on.

You know, Kevin, Brian is the one who broke the whole McLuhan thing by reporting. He was the only one of the first report that he was not at the combine, which set off the whole wave. Well, he was at the grandmother's funeral. Yeah, that passed away six months earlier. But Brian was the one who broke that. And initially from the organization, they pushed back. but Brian was the one who was on top of that. I mean, I still, I still find it unbelievable that Bruce Allen thinks that we wouldn't have looked up on the internet when the grandmother passed away.

Like, I mean, you talk about a dude, seriously. Yeah, you talk about a guy, and this is going to sound overly critical, but it's actually just who he is, that when it comes to media, is stuck in 1975 with his father, 75 with his father coaching. seriously. I mean, he had no clue that that would be found out in less than 10 minutes. But anyway, I, you know, in listening to you speak, I just think about Sunday as first of all, a game that will have no juice to it for the fans after Monday night. I mean, if we thought that the indie game had no juice and then, you know, the Packer game was, what, 50% Packer fans at FedEx Field. And thank God for that, because the

stadium would have been half empty without the Packers as an opponent. And then you get the Panthers in here on Sunday, a team, by the way, that they have struggled with. They haven't beaten Carolina with Cam Newton. No. I think they're over four. And one of them was a horrendous beatdown in Charlotte a couple of years ago. Yes.

One of the worst losses of the Gruden era, I think. That was in Carolina was a 15-in-one team that year, right? That was their 15-1 season. And I think Andre Roberts had one of the touchdowns on a. kickoff return. But, you know, and it also featured that Monday night game, you know, in 2016, when they sort of needed it at home. Cam is played well against them. But there's going to be no juice for this game, which means it is vitally important to get a win because the Cowboys at home are the following week. You can't, a two and three record with Dallas coming to town.

I'm telling you, they're going to win this game. They're favored, which makes no sense. all. They will figure out a way to win the game and keep everybody, you know, at least interested going into that Dallas game. You see, my instincts tell me that Jay Gruden has looked around and said, oh my God, where did we, how did we get this bad? How did things happen this quickly? I think there's a sense of panic setting in. Well, there will be on Monday or late Sunday if they don't beat Carolina. Last thing, Brian, and we'll let you go. Actually, two more things, because I want to ask you about the caps real quickly since you were there last night. The Alex Smith performance was stunningly horrible.

It was not from Alex Smith anything we've seen from him recently because he's been on good teams. He's had really good teams around him in Kansas City and even before that in San Francisco. Do you have any sense that this was a head scratcher to Jay Gruden, to Matt Kavanaugh, to teammates, to Bruce and everybody? any sense as to what the reaction was to what really was, maybe one of the worst quarterback performances we've seen in the NFL this year? Yeah, I think exactly what you said, Kevin, head scratcher.

Because you haven't seen, look, if this is 2011 and Alex Smith has kind of come through the fire in San Francisco, okay, I'm sure you can find plenty of performances like this, right? But not really since even his last years in San Francisco, where they were a good team, and Colin Kaepernick just kind of swiped his job. It wasn't like he was playing, you know, terribly at that time. And then in Kansas City, we really haven't, maybe you can point to individual games, but overall the body of work has been there the last couple of years. He's not necessarily a guy.

Look, they can't fall behind in these games. You can't fall, you know, 13 and 3. He's not going to use his arm and pass you back into the game. And I think there is some frustration. And, you know, why isn't Jordan Reed being targeted more? Our defense is taking him away? Is there some quarterback with the tight end thing going on that Alex isn't trusting him enough or putting the ball in place where Jordan can get it?

Those are all fair, legitimate questions. I don't know the answer to them. But I think head scratcher is the perfect way to describe that because really the whole game. I mean, it's not just like the Mori Harris play that everybody saw. He was wide open. and just Alex inexplicably didn't see him. And then when he did see him, it was way, way too late. And you had that killer interception in a game that had already gotten away from them.

But I think the hope is that of itself was an anomaly. And they'll be able to figure it out against Carolina. They'll go to – you know, they scored 31 against Green Bay. There's enough here. The hope is that was just a one-off thing in the dome against a hyped up team and crowd against a really good team. But if it happens again, and you start getting the hurricane flags ready, right? And you start getting the red flags and start hoisted. Code red, baby. Code red again. You know what? Sunday, Sunday should be a Jay Gruden code right game. Well, maybe

code orange. Code orange. Real quickly, Tommy says the caps are better this year than they were at the end of last year. Do you agree with that? I think they, T.J. O'S he said, this preseason that he said in the playoffs we found a level to our game and sustained it. And he didn't see that changing this year. He thought they could not necessarily keep up that intensity, but keep up that standard, if you want to call it that, when a championship team kind of finds its equilibrium. And I think they're absolutely there. Not perfect.

I think defensively they still maybe got some rust to shake off. But offensively, how can you argue with this? seven goals, six goals, five goals. The stars are all playing well. They're playing with that same kind of, you know, smother the other team, not necessarily the Pittsburgh game, but certainly these last two, or the two other games they've played. So, yeah, I think they are.

And if Cousnessoff, if Cousness off really does have another level to his game, as kind of everybody across the board has asserted, If he is a 90 to 100-point player, you know, first of all, you're talking about one of the top five players in the league, for sure. And if you get those kind of performances, even semi-consistently, you know, his team absolutely is in play to not only be a contender, but to repeat again, because that was what he did last night was just a clinic. It was absolutely amazing to watch. How often does Alex Ovitskin get overshadowed in a two-gold game, almost not. never. I don't think I've ever seen it. The lead was Kuznets off last night because that was as good a

performance as I can remember from from him. And that's a guy that had a four-point game in the Cup final in game four last year. So that's just amazing. The level they can get to if he takes his game up even another notch at age 26 off the charts, guys. It was amazing to watch. He's the game changer. He is. Absolutely. He is. Brian, thanks so much. The SportsCAPital.com for all of Brian's work, along with Todd and Ben Standing, and also Brian writes for NHL.com. So follow him there as well.

Thanks, as always. Really good to catch up. Thank you, Brian. Kevin, Tom, anytime. Thanks for having me, guys. Appreciate it. Brian McNally from the Sports Capital. Those guys are doing a great job. Ferrisch Chrysler Dodge Jeep does a great job every single time they sell a car or service a car.

I've been friends with Ralph Perkins for over a decade. Kevin Farish as well. They advertised on 980 with us as the title sponsor for when we did Redskins at 1. On the sports fix, Redskins at 8 with Cooley and Kevin. They have followed us here and are supporting this podcast venture. I ask you to support them as well if you're thinking about something new. If you're thinking about something new, give Ferris, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Fairfax a shot. If you like this show, I give you my... word, you will be happy if you call Ralph, Ralph Perkins, and head out to Farish in Fairfax.

Right now, they've got plenty of inventory with everything they're selling. You're going to get every make model and color on the lot. You'll be able to drive at home. They're really good deals right now. Any Jeep right now, you will save big. They're located right there in Fairfax Circle. Ask for Ralph when you get there. Tell them that I sent you. You can also find out everything Farish has right now in stock, including live inventory and pricing at Farish Cars.com. That's Ferrisch, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, in Fairfax, right there in Fairfax Circle, or Farish Cars.com. Time to bring in Scott Van Pelt, who joins us every Thursday on this podcast. You watched the Monday night game. You followed the Monday night broadcast. What did you make of the Redskins performance? I'm going to ask you a crazy question.

the penalty after the Carrigan sack. If they don't get that penalty, are you willing to believe it could have been a different game? I'm not. And I said as much. They were so bad defensively, confused, poorly coached, and the quarterback had, honestly, one of the worst quarterbacking performances of the season. So I don't think it would have made one bit of difference. Okay, fair enough.

You did, it sounds like. No, I'm, I, I don't. the question just because I was curious what you thought. I don't believe it would have necessarily. I just felt like that's where the game totally got away, even though, yeah, they got a TD before the half and whatever else. They just, they were, seem like they were just there to be on the field for the breeze party, which by the way, why the NFL gave them that laminated piece of paper,

I'll never understand. That was one of the strangest things I've ever seen. It was very odd. Like they handed to them by the head official. Yeah, like it was something somebody's kid made in class and they eliminated it. I think kind of just threw for the most yards in history. It's like, oh, yeah, here you go. Here's the thing that we made for you.

You know what it was like? It was like when you check your coat and you get a ticket. Right. Put it this way. It was like many things, none of which were you just became the all-time leading fashion of the history of NFL. But, no, I mean, look, the Redskins. All the things you said, they looked lost. Smith was constantly under duress,

and even when he wasn't, the throws were all off. It was Drew, Drew Breeze and that team in that window of Monday night games has been spectacular over the years. The residents have been awful, and it's just, I don't know, it was one of those nights where I think a lot of people in D.C. were excited. I mean, look, the NFC. East is a bit of a mess, and you're thinking, man, get this one? Look, cooking with gas here.

Oh, no, no, no. So we just got our ass kicked. Yeah, badly. Real quickly on Drew Breeze night. A lot of Redskin fans thought it was just over the top throughout the broadcast. You know, here's a full-screen Kairon comparing him to all the other all-time grades. Here's another discussion about all of his numbers. Here, we're going to go back and show you the record breaker.

We're in the third quarter. And I actually said, look, you didn't have a competitive game. What else were you going to do, you know, on a broadcast? but talk about the reason that actually a lot of people even tuned in that night. Yeah, yeah. And that's true. I mean, in any broadcasts, and whether it's us or NBC or Fox, an NFL network, whomever, if you have a blowout in a game, the broadcasters are doing, it's called Phil.

You're just looking to fill the time with some conversation because you have very little in front of you that is compelling. But in this instance, not only were you in a film mode, but you were in a film mode on a night of where history was made. And because of his history, which is interesting, given, you know, the fact that he had the major surgery and given him being in Miami and, you know, all the different intersections of, you know, Sabin could have, like, I don't know if, even though if they got into those things of what might have been if. But I think he's stories interesting being the undersized guy, not being from central

casting, the big six-ball guy with the bazooka. all of those things are compelling. And in the absence of a game to talk about, I don't know what Redskins fans would have preferred they did, talk about how horrible the Redskins look. No, no, that's true. Another quick thing on Breeze, because I haven't talked to Tommy about this either.

So this is for both of you. On the podcast on Monday, I did this thing where I said, look, Drew Breeze is a first ballot cinch Hall of Famer. He's one of the great quarterbacks of all time. He's certainly one of the great quarterbacks of this era. but a lot of the conversation that day, you know, and even, you know, afterwards is that somehow, you know, where does he rank? Is he the greatest of all time? I find that conversation to be ludicrous.

He's not anywhere near the greatest of all time. Tommy, you agree with that, right? Yeah, I do. Well, one of the things when they posted the list of the top, you know, yardage of the most yards passing, the fact to me that Dan Marino, who hasn't played in 18 years is still in the top five is really. all you need to know about who should really be at the top of that list. You and I feel the same way about Marino, right? I consider him to be one of the four or five greatest I ever watched. The whole Super Bowl thing to me is a limited conversation.

He is still on that list. Yes. You know, he had to drive at 55 miles an hour when everybody else today is driving on the Audubon. I mean, yeah, that's well put. But here's the thing. I think we can all be smart enough to know that Breeze accomplishes something during an era. And I made these points on the show the other night.

And I kept – and I said at one point, these sound like I'm being disparaging, and I am not. I'm just trying to provide context. He's played half his games indoors for 13 years in New Orleans. He's playing in an era where passing is easier than it's ever been. his average his past per his yards poor pass is like 20th and it's tied with guys like Matt Shawb and Dante Culpepper and I think you can understand that he has been a great quarterback by any reasonable measure a quarterback who's given a franchise an identity and a chance but that doesn't you don't have to say because he's on top of a list that he's the best

quarterback of all time because both things can be true at the same time well and in using sort of the era and the auto bond versus no auto bond have to drive 55 miles per hour, is that you do have in most people's opinions in this era of

auto bond driving, you do have two of the greatest four or five that's ever played. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. But Drew Breeze, as we've all watched as football fans, we consider him to be an all-time great, but not at that level. He's not

Brady. He's not Manning. For Tommy and I, he's not Marino. He's not Elway. You could make the same case about Manning. Manning played half of his game indoors as well and in the same era. So you could make the same case argument. Manning played the position differently than Drew Breeze, though. It was different. Peyton, nobody's ever... He was the he was the conductor. I mean, nobody... Of all time. I know that. I know. Well, you got to remember, they were all conductors when Unitas and Sunny played. The quarterback was the conductor, period.

I agree. But while we're on this greatest of all time discussion, to me, nobody, and I watched Sunny, I watched United States, I was more of a kid, but watching the way Manning played at the line of scrimmage, to me, I don't believe I've ever seen a quarterback who literally was in charge of the entire unit the way he was. So he's different in that way. Again, I just, I feel like you don't have to disparage Breeze by saying he's been great.

Look, if we're going to use that as the arbiter, I mean, Matthew Stafford is going to probably break that record at some point if he plays long. That's a row from more yards than anybody. And then what we say? Exactly. Well, I'm actually a Stafford fan, but I wouldn't put him in the brief category. You know, who's not going to break that record? Who? Alex Smith.

He's probably not going to break that record. Oh, God. He was terrible the other night, Scott. He was so bad. And, you know, I get a lot, I take a lot of heat for, you know, being a cousins fan from what I believe to be a very loud minority in this town. But, you know, Tommy, I don't know if you told me this because I don't want to give you credit for something you didn't say. But I probably did say it. Maybe Tony said this.

And I'm just getting you and Tony. I'm just getting you and Tony confused. But, you know, most quarterback controversies are quarterback, quarterback controversies between. two quarterbacks on the same team, that's not what's going on here. And anybody that tries to poo-poo this in any way because they don't like Kirk Cousins is out of their mind. People are going to compare in this town Alex Smith to Kurt Cousins every single weekend of this year. Tommy, am I right?

Absolutely. I mean, that's the quarterback. The referendum continues. The referendum continues. And old number eight is killing it in Minnesota with the worst run game in the league. League. I wanted to also mention before we move to another discussion, perhaps about college football, that the Redskins are favored on Sunday over Carolina. You saw that, right? Of course.

Yeah. So tell everybody what that means. Act accordingly. It means that the Redskins would appear to be a side that would be worth backing. Yeah, I've already backed them. I'm on them to win the game. All right, let's talk some college football. LSU Georgia this week. I mean, for them, it's Florida, it's Georgia, Mississippi State, and then Alabama right in a row. We both know what it's like in Baton Rouge. It's not a night game. It's a 3.30 game on Saturday, but still, do you give LSU after they lost to Florida? And you know how much I've loved Florida all year long? I think they've got the best defense in college football. I think it might be even better than Alabama's defense, but how much of a chance do you give to LSU to upend Georgia? And part two of that real quickly is why is Georgia in sort of their own quarterback controversy situation? I haven't followed that, and I'd like you to update me on that.

Well, first part is LSU's, if it were at night, it'd be better for them, just because that place is really hard to even capture in words and describe it. It's really, it's just different, man. It really is. I think LSU's got a shot for sure. I think it's clearly the biggest test for Georgia this year, and it will be interesting. And it will be the only test for Alabama prior to the SEC title game, which is its own sort of, you didn't ask me about it.

But I don't even watch Alabama. Like, I don't watch them play. They're so good that it's too good. They don't play football. They don't have to play games. The second half, it's two plays a half, and that's it. Part of it, too, is they haven't... Isn't part of it, though, on Alabama, is that we just haven't seen them tested or even perceived that they could be tested and will feel differently when they go to Baton Rouge in early November?

Sure, but that's so that means that the number one team in the country has one game to play before the SEC title game. I mean, all the thing is, even in years when they've been excellent, when they went on the road to Ole Miss, then it was like, oh, this is a game. Mississippi beat him two years in a row. Almost scored the first play of the game this year and then gave up 62 straight points. Sixty-two to Alabama. Again, they were a 35-point favorite against Arkansas

is part of that that Arkansas is down. Yes, but I think that this is by far the best bandit team that they've had. So that when they go to LSU, if Georgia's seven-point favorite, what's Alabama? 10? They're going to be a double-disc favorite in Bat Rouge. They are going to be, you're right, you're right. They're going to be, you know what, they're going to be a 14-favorian.

point favorite in Baton Rouge minimum. That's what I was thinking. I was thinking it would probably be 14 points, but just given the way Alabama's played this year. But, I mean, as for this Saturday, and as for Georgia, like, it'll be the best tested. Georgia's at, and they, they had this situation, and this, I don't know people in D.C.

They're listening to this, although you are global. I don't even know people interested. But the backstory from the quarterbacks of Georgia is they had this five-star kid named Ethan, who was from Washington. And he got hurt last year, and then the kid Jake Fromm or placed him. He said, he realized I'm never going to get on the field again. He transferred back to Washington to help me at University Washington next year.

Then they get this kid Justin Fields, another five-star quarterback, who was like the coveted prize of the recruiting class. He's there too. And I think Kirby Smart's got a challenge slash problem, just like Davo had at Clemson, which is, what do you do with the kid that is the five-star guy that's clearly got talent? But if you've got a guy and Jake Fromm who got you to the title game, and played well. Of course he had, and he has this year. But there's, you know, there's the little bit with, like, the fan base, like,

and, you know, you like the new, shiny new car. There's a little bit about, you know, what you, who knows what you had to promise the five-star. And I'm not talking about, like, they cheated. I'm talking about who knows what you said in terms of, like, you're going to start or you're going to get a chance to start. The kids start the, like, make, man, I want to go somewhere around the guy. I mean, I don't know any of that. I just don't know how you manage it.

So it's actually, it isn't a problem. I mean, it's just a wealth of options. But it is, excuse me, it is interesting to kind of keep an eye on that dynamic. It is like, is Kirby looking for a window where Fromm has a couple three and out? And you just put Fields out there and go, I don't know, we're just going to have to ride this guy. I don't know any of that. These are all the background stories with them. Kevin, tell me if I'm wrong on this.

Can't you trade him for some draft picks? You could potentially do that. Was Josh Fields a higher round? ranked quarterback. Scott is a true recruiting nerd. I mean, he knows all this. Was Josh Fields a higher? Was Justin Fields? I'm sorry about that. Was Justin Fields a higher ranked prospect than Trevor Lawrence? They were one and one A. They were both top five players in the class, both five-star guys. Depends on which recruiting class. I have one guy that's, it's a recruit. They can tell me that Lawrence is the best quarterback I've scouted in the last 25 years. And then there

others that prefer fields. The thing about fields that that's wild is how big he is. He's got a lot of, I guess, I guess Cam Newton is the comparison. You could make, you could make Ti-Bo, too.

I just hate one to compare players, and if you're a white guy and you're a shooter, you're Larry Bird, you know, I just, I don't like, you don't have to, they don't have to be along racial lines,

but he's big and he's fast, and he has a big arm. I mean, there's white quarterbacks are like that, too, but fields is bigger than I, that I knew he was. and so, I mean, his talent's obvious, but again, Fromm's been really good also.

So, you know, they were both considered to be great. And how about this, Kevin? The three teams in the playoff that didn't lose their quarterback, oh, you lost theirs to the number one pick in the NFL draft. They replaced it with this guy Murray, who's been great. Clemson had the incumbent return. He got replaced by a freshman. Alabama had the incumbent return.

and he got replaced by Tua, who replaced him in the title game. And George's got a guy who's back as well, and they've got not a controversy, but he's got another guy right there that people are like, oh, maybe this guy should do it. It's incredible that that's the level we're talking about in terms of recruiting. Well, it's just an embarrassment of riches for these top schools that get all of the top prospects. I mean, we've gotten into that, you know, almost 80-20 rule where, you know, 20% of the schools get 80% of the top.

top prospects or perhaps it's even more. We might have, we might be headed towards, if it's not a problem, it'll definitely be a topic. It'll be a topic for you. It'll be a topic for us, which is this. If it's only Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State in Georgia that are in the playoff discussion every year, do people just get bored? Yes, that's why they're going to have to go to eight. We're going to have to see an eight.

I agree with that, 100%. I mean, I'm already, you've got to have a Cinderella. I'm already, I'm already dreading if it's out. Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State. It'll seem, now, we both know because we've played this game every year of looking at all the potential unbeatens, and then things just happen. They do every year. You know, Notre Dame can easily go to the Coliseum on Thanksgiving weekend and lose to SC, who will probably be a better team at that point than they've been so far.

And you know what? I'm not, I'll be honest with you, I'm not blown away by Haskins. I watched him up close at that Penn State game that night. I thought he looked rattled at times. They just have great playmakers, and they've got a great coach that just figures out how to get the ball into the hands of those playmakers. But, you know, J.T. Barrett struggled throwing the ball. I don't think Haskins looks like a guaranteed lock first round NFL quarterback. I don't think that at this point. So them losing to Michigan to me is not off the table.

Things will happen. It would be nice to get somebody that we're not even thinking of right now. I mean, everybody's thinking about Notre Dame. Who else could potentially make a run into that playoff that we're not even counting on? I mean, you know I love Florida, but they're not beating Alabama in an SEC championship game. So that completely discounts them as a possibility. But there still could be two SEC teams. And the second would more likely than not be Georgia.

I guess, but Notre Dame is interesting just because they would come at the expense of, I assume, an SEC team. I mean, you never know. That's the way it looks now. It's right now the group of people is obviously Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Ohio State, Notre Dame, those are the obvious ones. And then, you know, LSU's laws Hurtson, but they get Georgia, they get Alabama, they could certainly get back in the mix. I'm trying to figure out, does OU's loss mean that the Big 12th just bleep out of luck again? Yes. What about 12?

The perception of the Pac-12 is so bad, and Washington lost early in the year to Auburn. And now, if it turns out Auburn is not that good, then people are going to hold that loss against him even more. I don't know what the route is for the Pac-12 to get a team into the discussion. So it's like, are we talking about two conferences that right now are going to have a hard, time even getting a seat at the table. It seems like it. But I mean, obviously things could change. It's just, it's just that it's the same teams,

and it's the same teams that have such a monstrous and obvious advantage over the people that they're playing on a weekly basis, that that's becoming, I think, a challenge slash problem for the sport. I mean, you really do have to get some of these teams to lose games, to even think about a West Virginia. Like, what if West Virginia runs the table? You know what?

no, there you go. That's the and I'm forgetting that. And Greer is an excellent quarterback. He is a good quarterback. Absolutely. Absolutely. They're the team. And I was wrong to just forget them because they haven't lost yet. And they could certainly do it.

They could certainly do it. Look, there are one-loss teams that you haven't even mentioned yet. I mean, what if Michigan ran the table, beat Ohio State, and, you know, they're sitting there as a one-loss team if other teams lose? Sure, but I've watched them play. I know, I agree. I agree on them. I just, like, I don't think they're that good.

They're pretty limited offensively. Their own lines, not good. Their defense is ridiculous. I mean, it's as good as anybody in the country. You know who is good? And we beat them. Texas is good right now. Yeah.

I mean, they, in one of the reasons, they play defense. I mean, I know that it was a shootout with Oklahoma, but they actually have defensive speed and defensive talent. That's why I keep coming back to him, but that's why I love Florida. There's not a team I've watched in the country that is faster on defense than Florida is. They just can't score. They're so limited offensively. They are.

You just, that's the thing. That's the thing with Alabama that I don't even know if people get it because we're not seeing them play the whole game. This is the best offensively they've been under Saban ever. No doubt. By a mile, they're better. And they're still gross on defense. But they've still got a bunch of first round dudes on defense. I mean, hell, the only guys that don't play for the Redskins still play for Alabama.

And they're nuts. And then two is out there just throwing, like, to wide open dudes. If he played full games, he'd score 80 points. But he doesn't. It's scary how much better offensively Alabama is right now than they've ever been under Sabin. With that said, they gave up a bunch of points to a horrible Arkansas team. And the number on Saturday is 29, which actually, now for Alabama seems light against Missouri.

Yeah, and that quarterback for them, Drew Locke. Yeah, Locke is, I've watched him play a bunch of NFL. Yeah, without question. Like the game they had against Georgia, they should have won that game. But I coulda. Did you say shoulda? I'll buy coulda. Well, there was the turnovers in the block punt, and they just, they, they, they,

it was self-inflicted most of it. It was. There's no doubt, but those things like that, that discount the, fact that Georgia was actually the ones doing them. You know what I mean? Like, they got the strip fumble, they got the block. What I'm saying is, in that game, they were competitive against Georgia. And I think that Locke's the kind of guy

that gives them a chance to score some points and hang around. But Bama tends to, like, press off stinks. So, like, that's the kind of game where maybe human nature said. And human, like, saving will let human nature

said in a week after they gave up 35 to Arkansas against a good player. You know, that that will be the scary thing. It would be a It'd be a painful side to be on on Saturday. But real quickly, because you release winners tonight, just give me a couple of the games that you're looking at. I would assume that Virginia might interest you. Yeah, Virginia at home against Miami feels like one of those spots.

Memphis at home against Central Florida, it definitely feels like a spot worth keeping. I mean, that's a really good offense. And UCF is good, and they're good again. Remember his first start was against Maryland, to get Milton from out of Hawaii. And he's really, really good. But that league is, that that score will be in the mid-40s.

And Memphis is capable of hanging around in that one. So a couple of home dogs there. It's not a week where I love 100 games, which is, which is odd. Because normally I'm having a hard time pairing it down. This week, it doesn't feel like there's quite as many. Yeah, I know you don't even look at favorites, but I can't figure out how Southern Cal should be a seven-point favorite over unbeaten Colorado.

I agree. No, there's a couple favorites this week that are on the possibility, and certainly U.S. one of them because you're right. Colorado is unbeaten, and U.S. U.S.

you're like, wait, what's that? Yeah, that's got 3817 written all over it. I see what I think the same. Well, we've done that for a while together. All right. Thank you. I was going to ask you about Jimmy Butler and what he did yesterday,

but we'll save that for another time. appreciate it. All right. Thank you, Scott. Good. Good to talk to. Have a good day, Tommy. Scott Van Pelt, everybody.

Let's get to our weekly NFL Power Poll. Oh, boy. Rinkum, one to five. It's time for our weekly NFL Power Poll. All right, Tommy. We'll do a top five and a couple of teams to keep an eye on. My number one. I'll go five to one this week.

Is that what we've been doing? I think that's what we've been doing. Yes, we have. My number five team are the Baltimore Ravens. I'm going to keep them in the top five. I know they lost at Cleveland. Cleveland's very good on defense. God, they're a good defensive team.

Yet, yeah, they did. They gave up 45 to the Raiders the week before. But there were a lot of turnovers in that game. Baker Mayfield is a bit of a turnover machine here early. I like Baltimore to bounce back on Sunday against Tennessee. That game is on the road. as well. They're a three-point favorite. I think they bounce back, win that game. I still see the Ravens as a complete football team, a complete football team that will win 11 games and win the

NFC North. They're my number five team in the NFL. My number four team in the NFL, Tommy, the New Orleans Saints are the number four team. I think I had them in my top five last week, and you didn't. I believe that's the way it went. The Saints right now are just so good offensively with so many weapons at every turn. With Ingram back, now they've got a powerback to go with Alvin Kamara, to go with Michael Thomas. We didn't even see Ted Ginn Jr. the other night. I don't know when we'll see him.

And I don't know if I even put him into that class. But they've got the best quarterback right now in the NFC. Right now, Drew Breeze is the best quarterback in the NFC. And I think the Saints are the team right now. now in the NFC you would look at as maybe the team that will face the Rams in the NFC championship game. Right now, if you were to project, hey, let's guess on the NFC championship game, I might say Rams Saints. My number three team are the Kansas City Chiefs. I will tell you this, and Charlie Casserly told us this yesterday, I do not believe in them defensively at all.

And Jacksonville, I'm glad Charlie brought this up because when we went around the NFL on Monday, I said the final score was not indicative of Jacksonville's defensive performance against Kansas City. It was Bortles turning the ball over five times that lost the game. Jacksonville did some good things against Mahomes and Kansas City. Mahomes had two interceptions in that game, no touchdowns. I do, I'm going to put Kansas City there because they're undefeated at 5 and 0, but I actually think that in the AFC, they're the third best team, maybe the fourth. best team in the AFC.

I like New England better. I like Baltimore better. And to a certain degree, I like Jacksonville better, but I can't really, in good conscience, say that I like Jacksonville better after Bortles turned it over five times at Arrowhead. So I've got Kansas City at three. Number two is New England and the Patriots. I'm with Charlie Casserly on this. I'm guaranteeing a Patriots win Sunday night over Kansas City. This is one of the more intriguing, compelling, fascinating,

NFL matchups we've seen in the first five or six weeks of a season in a long, long time. You get the new great quarterback, Hall of Fame quarterback. Everybody's already inducted Patrick Mahomes against the Patriots in Foxborough and Brady. And remember when they played on a Monday night at Arrowhead a few years ago, and Brady looked awful early in that season, that was like the first of three straight years where everybody said, oh, the Patriots are done. Well, they weren't. They went to the Super Bowl that year.

My number one team, it's easy. It's the Rams. They came through a tough spot at Seattle. I had Seattle as a smell test pick last week. I even suggested that they could win the game outright and they had a chance to. But the Rams came through at the end and there's Sean McVeigh, fourth down in their own territory, make or break play. We're going to go for it to end the game. And if they didn't get it, they would have lost the game because they were already in Janikowski range at that point.

The Rams are the best team. They play in Denver Sunday, Tommy, and the forecast, 29 degrees and snow at mile high on Sunday. So I want to see the Rams outdoors in bad weather. You're going to get that apparently Sunday in Denver. That's my top five. What's yours? My number five team and my power rankings are the Carolina Panthers. I think they're going to get better defensively under Ron Rivera as the season goes on.

I think Cam Newton is a quarterback that most teams can't really handle at this point because he gives them so much versatility. And I think they're going to have a huge win Sunday at FedEx Field. Well, I mean, it would be a huge win. Well, no, I think they'll win like saying, oh, my gosh. Oh, they're going to win big. Yeah. Oh, my gosh.

Tom, if the Redskins get blown out Sunday, Yes. All that stuff that I said about them figuring it out and getting it back to being a competitive team. The season will end on Sunday if they lose 43 to 19. Okay. Okay. You're predicting it. You better wrap.

Is that what you're predicting a blowout like that? Listen, I've got a you heard it here verse coming up before we're done. We don't do that anymore. Well, I've got one for you. Okay. Well, number four are the New England Patriots, a three and two record. I have no doubt by the end of the season, they'll be like maybe number two or number three,

but they're always in the top five in any given week. Number three, I'm going to go the New England, I mean New England, the New Orleans Saints. New Orleans Saints is number three based on how good they've looked against the Washington Redskins. I think the Redskins are a team where other teams get healthy against. and I think the Panthers are going to look real healthy against the Redskins, just like the Saints did this past week.

Number two of the Chiefs, I think you're right. I think they lose Sunday night to New England, but they're undefeated now, so you've got to rank them. I'm going to short them. And the only way to do it in sort of betting terms is you can't really short them not to make the Super Bowl. You just have to play other teams in the AFC. Right.

I just don't think Kansas City is a Super Bowl team. probably not. Number one, easy. Los Angeles Rams. And is there any doubt how much the players in Los Angeles love Sean McVeigh after going for that fourth and one? I mean, that's the kind of play, not that he needed to, but that's the kind of play that solidifies a coach's place in a locker room as a legend, that kind of play. Let me give you one team, just one to keep an eye on. Houston, they're really good on defense. And Deshawn Watson, man, he is definitely a star in the making, Tommy. He is such a playmaker.

He's got big stones. He takes big hits. He's got to stay healthy. He's actually got to be a little bit smarter on some of the hits. He's got to learn the lesson that Russell Wilson learned that, you know, if you're going to make plays with your legs over and over again, you don't have to take the big shot at the end of the play. You can slide and avoid some of the contact.

But I think the Texans are going to be a threat in that AFC South. Even with Jacksonville, even with Tennessee, I think the Texans, they started 0 and 3. They got that win over the Giants, and then they beat the Cowboys, and I know they haven't beaten anybody yet. But they're really good on defense, and I think they are really capable offensively with Watson. I think the Texans are a team to keep an eye on the rest of the year. As a team that could be a playoff team in the AFC. I've said it before. I've said it before. I'm going to say it again, the Bears. Chicago Bears at 3 and 1. I think given, despite how great Kirk Cousins has played, and he's played great. The Vikings are struggling. The Bears could wind up winning that division when all said and done. Yeah, boy, that's a division that's hard to even think about right now because you've got three, all four teams are capable of playing well. We saw that with Detroit last week. We saw it with Minnesota last week. And you get Chicago this week off their,

by week in Miami, which is actually an interesting game. Could be a smell test pick tomorrow because the dolphins are a massive anti-public team this weekend. Finish up with a few things real quickly. Number one, I actually give the Giants a chance tonight against the Eagles. They're only a three-point underdog. It's not a smell test pick because I'm actually surprised that the public's not loading up on Philadelphia. The game is according, and I checked right before we did the show today with a couple of people in warm locales offshore. And the action is fairly split on this game. I'm really surprised at that.

I would have thought Philadelphia laying three against a giant team that looks completely dead that the public would have lined up on the Eagles. I personally think the Giants are still good enough and capable enough to win games. And I think we saw that last week, even though the 63-yard field goal beat him, Graham Ginnows' field goal beat him.

I like the Giants a little bit. I may play the Giants tonight plus the three personally, but I'm not giving it out as a smell test. I also was very close to giving out TCU tonight, laying seven against Texas Tech. The public is definitely playing Texas Tech enough to have made me think about it. But I've watched TCU a few times, and the short money's off this game,

so I'm not releasing that as a pick either. I'll have plenty tomorrow for the weekend on the smell test. but I like TCU a little bit tonight, just not enough to make it a smelt aspec, and I like the Giants a little bit tonight. Okay, the MLB playoffs start this weekend, the National, actually National League Championship Series, American League Championship Series,

start this weekend. Like we discussed the other day, I still like the Dodgers and the Red Sox in the World Series, but I mean, you know, the Red Sox make me nervous because of David Price in their rotation. The reason I like the Red Sox is because of their race, rotation with David Price looks like a headcase when it comes to postseason baseball. And the Washington Nationals made a trade, you know.

I didn't know that. They traded for a relief pitcher from the Marlins who just give away talent. Kyle Barracaw. Okay. Is his name. He's a good relief pitcher. What did they give up for him? Well, all they gave up was international slot money.

Teams are allotted so much money that they can spend on international players. And you can trade that money to other teams to use for their international, you know, players. Now, the Marlins are supposedly going to go after this hot Cuban prospect named Victor, Vesa. The guy's so good, they say his name twice. But, and I suggested on Twitter, while I think it's a good trade, why aren't the nationals ever in on a player like this guy, Mesa? everyone explained to me, which I already knew, that the nationals have already spent a big chunk of their allocation on the international players. But my bigger question was, they have not been in on a Cuban player since they signed UNESCO Maya maybe six years ago now.

Backfired. More than that now. More than six years ago? Maybe it's seven. Yeah, it probably is. I think it is. Maybe seven or eight years ago. and I think that's foolish. It seems like the learners have made Cuban players persona non grata in terms of pursuing them for talent based on the Maya deal that didn't work for him. And I think, you know, that that's misguided. I think that the nationals should be in the Cuban baseball market. Eight years ago, by the way, from Maya. Eight years ago.

Yeah, I thought it was longer. Yeah, a long time ago. All right, one, two more quick things before we leave. First of all, the Jimmy Butler thing that I wanted to get into with Scott, and we just went a little bit along for it. he had to go do something, I think. But, you know, there was something fishy there. And I'm going to just bounce this off you real quickly. I don't want to spend a lot of time on it.

But there was this sit-down interview with Rachel Nichols. Shortly after, at practice yesterday, he told General Manager Scott Layden, you effing need me, you can't win without me. Caused a scene, grabbed third-string players, and beat up on the first string. And then all of a sudden he's in this long sit-down interview with Rachel Nichols. I found that to be a little bit fishy, that this was all sort of concocted

to drive attention to this interview. But as a total aside, I'm a huge Jimmy Butler fan. And of course the Wizards are not going to be involved for trading for Jimmy Butler, even though I would give up Otto Porter, a pick, and a couple of other things. Kelly Ubray to get Jimmy Butler.

He's a winner. He is a tough guy winner. And I like Jimmy Butler. But the whole thing yesterday with him acting up like this in practice and telling, you know, yelling at the GM uncontrollably and creating this scene that got leaked out of practice. And then all of a sudden he's in this 20-minute sit-down interview with Rachel Nichols. I thought that was a bit strange. The other thing I just wanted to say to you is last night the Lakers played the Warriors in a pre-season game. Sports Center led with it.

That was like the number one, one of the top stories. It's the NBA, Tommy has become this, it really is. It's now a 12-month league, just like the NFL is. And the fact that there was this must, I know it was in Vegas, there was this much interest in seeing LeBron, you know, against the Warriors in the preseason, the NBA preseason a few years ago, you didn't even know what the scores were of the team that you were rooting for.

Jay Glassies, the only person I ever, I've ever known in my entire life. Classy J. Glassie, who watched NBA preseason games. But really, it was like one of the lead stories on SportsCenter. I can't wait for the NBA season to start, and I will tell you this right now, the Lakers are going to be in the playoffs. The Lakers will be in the playoffs.

They're a playoff team. Yeah, look, I mean, we'll get into the NBA when the NBA season starts. I want to throw out a you heard it here first. Okay. This is in response to your foolish, you know, I'm going to consider this part of your brain issues that you're suffering with. I don't have any brain issues that I know of. Your foolish declaration that Alex Smith will not be benched this year.

I'm telling you that at halftime during the game this year, at some point, Alex Smith is going to be benched and Colt McCoy is going to come in in the second half. All right. Injuries aside. Injuries aside. A healthy Alex Smith you think will be benched at some point during the seat. It doesn't matter. And we're not talking about they're down 35 in the fourth quarter

and Colt McCoy comes in for slop duty or up to 35. Performance. Performance related. I will bet you, well, we're all even on the Palm Dinner. So we'll just bet another Palm Dinner. Okay, there we go. All right. Thanks to Brian McNally.

Thanks to Scott Van Pelt. Thanks to Aaron Oster. Thanks to Win Donation. Thanks to Ferris Chrysler Dodge Jeep. And thanks to launch workplaces. we are back. I'm back tomorrow with a full-fledged Friday football day with smell test picks and lots of other Redskins Carolina Panthers discussion. Can I mention something? Yes. You can catch me and Andy Paul on Saturday morning,

9 to noon. 106.7 of fan. I'm also on with Shag Dukes every Wednesday afternoon for the most part from 4 to 6. And you can read me. You guys are great together too on Wednesdays. And if you can certainly muddle through the online version of the Times, Tommy's column is the best. He's the flamethrower in town. The bomb thrower is the only one.