The Kevin Sheehan Show - Could It Be Colt Time?

Episode Date: September 26, 2019

Kevin and Thom opened with the Nats and Bryce Harper's comments about being heckled last night. Thom has some new information on who the starter will be for Tuesday's wildcard game next week. Next up, does Colt McCoy have a chance to start the game Sunday against the Giants? Case Keenum has a foot injury and Jay couldn't help himself yesterday inserting McCoy's name into the mix if Keenum can't go. Josh Norman criticized media and fans and the guys talked about that. They did an NFL Power Poll and then Kevin and Aaron previewed the Eagles-Packers game tonight. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. You're listening to The Sports Fix. Oh boy, Tommy's son could be back in the mix for Sunday against the Giants and the Meadowlands. God, you're excited about it. How's he doing, by the way? Is he going to be healthy enough to practice today? Have you talked to him? Is he excited about the opportunity? Well, you know, Colt. He's a stand-up guy. So he's kind of like shut me down this week as he prepares to take the field against the Giants. You know, he wants total focus, you know, when he gets his reps today and Jay Gruden says, well, Colt looked good. Looks like he can run the offense. I can't wait to hear Jay today after practice. For those of you that missed it, we're going to go through all of it here on the show. Tommy's joining us by phone today. He was at the Nats game last night. We're going to start with that here in a minute. But Jay Gruden yesterday once again did what Jay Gruden does, and that is he allowed us a peek into his wildest desire.

His desire to play Colt McCoy, a guy that he has been tempted by and certainly, Tommy, this is one of the conversations we had over the summer. I just wish they had cut him so he wouldn't be a temptation. But Colt could be the start. or Sunday in the Meadowlands, and we'll get to how that would happen here very shortly. But I do want to start with the Nats. You were at the game last night. They are humiliating the Phillies right now. This was that five-game set that, you know, going back a month, two months, we thought could be really important to the playoff race.

It isn't for Philadelphia. They're done. The Nats have clinched the wild card berth. What's really interesting is on the other side, you know, Milwaukee being red-hot, they clinched a playoff berth. they could still win the division in St. Louis could be the wild card opponent for the Nats. And in fact, I'm going to get to something that could be really wild on Monday prior to the National League wild card game on Tuesday here in a few minutes.

But you were at the game last night. I'm assuming you also heard Bryce Harper's or read Bryce Harper's comments after the game. But you said you learned something about something last night being at the game. What was it? Well, you know, it's been reported that Max Scherzer will probably be the starter for the wildcar game. Everyone has speculated on that. It's lined up that way Mike Rizzo has said. But their primary concern there is having Kurt Suzuki ready to catch him.

I mean, this is not a Noah Cindergarde, Wilson-Ramos thing. Max Scherzer is not refusing to have Yon-Gaum. as his catcher. But he really is more comfortable with Kurt Suzuki, who's been coming back from an injury, and they really want to make sure that Suzuki is ready to catch Scher in that wild card game. So Suzuki will probably – he hasn't been on the field for a couple of weeks as a catcher.

He's probably going to get some game action on Friday, and they're hoping that so far so good, you know, in this slow way they've been bringing him back. He hasn't felt any discomfort. And they're counting on Suzuki to catch Scherzer. That's a big part of the component for them. Very interesting. So that is new news to me anyway.

And I'm assuming to a lot of people listening out there that Suzuki is the key for Max to start the wildcard game. There's obviously a lot of other things involved in this, Tommy. and I had Ray Knight on the radio show today, and he said he believes that home field is very important for the wild card game. Absolutely. Yeah, and that if Max has to pitch in that season finale against the Indians to clinch a home field game that he should pitch

and that Strasbourg should pitch the wild card game, he doesn't know that the Nats totally agree with the way he feels. What do you think they think? Do they think it's more important to get home field, or more important to have Scherzer and now, based on what you just said, Suzuki in the wild card game? I don't know internally if they've come to a decision on that yet. I know some people in the organization think it's very important to have that wild card game home.

If for no other reason than this, with this team, you want to last that bad. Right. You want to be up last. In case that bullpen implodes in the top of the ninth. Yes. Yes. So, I mean, I think they really want it to the point where they would, they would pull Scher to do it.

I don't know if that's been decided yet, but they do want that home game. And that part of the reason is, you know, I mean, the way their offense has played, and we've seen it the last couple of nights, they're convinced that sooner or later in a game, they're going to pound the other team, particularly later in the game. They seem to be very apt at that. So they want that offense coming up at the last at bat in a wild card game, particularly given the eighth inning woes that this team has had. But again, like the wild card game, I mean, you may not see a reliever who's not named Doolittle or Hudson.

That's true. that is true. I don't think you'll see any relievers who aren't those guys. I think you'll see Corbyn. I think you'll see Sanchez. I don't know who. I mean, it depends on who starts. It's all hands on deck in an elimination game.

And they figure Milwaukee are going to throw five or six pitchers. Milwaukee's going to treat it like, you know, like they have a DH and they'll just keep switching out pitchers maybe every other inning. So they're going to get a healthy dose of the Milwaukee bullpen throughout the game, the Nats will. Look, this is my view on this and tell me if I'm off on this. I would not care whether it was Max or Strasbourg or Corbyn. You've got three aces who are going to finish probably in the top five or six for the National League Cy Young in the National League Cy Young race. I mean, that's pretty rare to have three pitchers potentially finish in the top.

five, top six of your NLSI young voting. They're that good at that position. I would be wanting for the reason that you described to get home field. The other thing, too, is that Milwaukee home field environment is really raucous and loud and a difficult place to play if it is Milwaukee. So I would be all, if Scherzer's got a pitch on Sunday to lock in home field, it would not bother me at all if they were trotting Strasbourg out as the starter for the wildcard game. Wouldn't be concerned about that at all. In fact, what you just revealed, like you need to know that Suzuki's going to be healthy

and can catch the wild card game if Max really has that as a big issue because his ERA and his last three starts is 6.11. I'm assuming all three of those were without Suzuki, certainly the last two, you know, were without him. Yeah, they have. And again, I don't want to make it out to be a Wilson-Ramos Cinderguard thing. Max will,

Max is not demanding that he would prefer. He needs gomes. Yes, he's more comfortable with Suzuki is catcher. Now, what about Strasbourg? Is he more comfortable with Gomes or Suzuki? I don't know I don't know the answer to that. I don't know.

And look, Gomes has played well of late for these guys, and he's been hot at the plate so much so that if it wasn't, if you take the Scherther factor out of it. I think they would go with Goams and have Suzuki as one of their pinch hitters off the bench because he's so good at that. He's such a good pinch hitter, too. And the bench,

the bench is the key in the postseason to cover what's going to be a bet. If they get beyond the wild card game, you're going to have to see a Wanda Swero. You're going to have to see guys at some point in those playoff games. What they're hoping to do is to force the other team to use their bullpen the way the Nats want them to do with the matchups from the bench. Suzuki's been the guy that's caught Strasbourg, by the way, just going through it more than anybody else when he's been healthy. By the way, the thing about Suzuki, too, in the same way that I feel about Howie Kendrick, they're clutch hitters.

You know, even Cabrera. I mean, there's a feeling that I have when they're up in a big spot that they're going to deliver, much more so than I feel that way about Goams. Yeah, and there's one other thing. Although Gooms has hit. I know. has come proof of all and wait and there's one other thing i think you'll see i think you'll see michael taylor on on the roster okay i think you'll see michael a taylor because of his speed

i think i think you know i mean let's remember a stolen base changed the history of the boston red sox in new york yankees and mike i think you'll see michael taylor on the roster for the situation where if you know they have a pincher stolen base yeah um All right, did you, do you, let me just for everybody that missed it, talk about briefly what Bryce Harper said after the game last night. He ripped the Nats fans a little bit. He said, you know, they were fine all game, talking about myself, things like that. I get it everywhere I go. That's nothing new. But the last two innings, it's just not right. It's not right. So obviously things were said to him by the Nationals fans in the eighth and ninth innings that he didn't appreciate. He went on to say, I've got 60,000 fans up in Philly.

By the way, their park holds 43,000. I've got 60,000 fans in Philly that appreciate me as a player, appreciate me as an individual in my family. I owe a lot to those people up there in Philly because they show up for me every single night, and they're there to cheer us on and boo us and keep us going as a team and as individuals as well. First of all, do you have any idea what was said to him that he was upset about? Well, his wife, Kayla, has since tweeted that it was references to their child, some kind of reference to their child. She wasn't specific about it, but I'm sure it wasn't pretty.

And look, I am all in favor of fans booing. I mean, I have no problem with that and riding guys in a game. But, you know, I mean, don't get so personal that you have to. I mean, there's plenty of material. to roast Bryce Harper about without having to, you know, say something about his kid. And look, I was there, you know, it's funny because when the Nats clenched Tuesday night, while the celebration was winding down in the clubhouse, I went outside in the tunnel below the stadium, and there was Bryce Harper,

standing right outside the Nats Clubhouse. while they're celebrating inside, and he's saying hi to family members of players who were waiting outside, and he's got a baby stroller with him, with his wife, and he's holding his baby in his arms. Very important to him. So I'm sure whatever was said really hit a nerve,

and I don't see how you can condone it. on the other hand, and I don't want to do the, you know, what about. It's really rich that he would talk about the great Philly fans, one of which the legendary Philly fan of all time is the guy who had been so drunk and harassing some little girl in the stands, and the cops took him away, and as they were taking him away, he projectile vomited on that young girl. That is the ultimate Philly fan right there. So I find it rich that he praises the Philly fans, and we'll see how long that lasted.

But, look, Bryce Harper, I mean, he did some damage. He had, he outran the outfield coverage on two doubles last night, made them look bad doing that, and he had a big home run, not a big home run, but he had a home run. Yeah, off-strequence. So, I mean, he's done his damage. Here's what Kayla Harper, Bryce Harper's wife, tweeted out earlier this morning. When you bring his son or family into it, yes, you're crossing a line. Stick to your overused, overrated, and Harper sucks chance if you're really that loser that goes to a game to heckle someone.

Phillies fans might boo him, but they don't bring his four-week-old son into it, classless. These are people unfamiliar clearly with the history of Philadelphia fans who have crossed the line more than. any sports city's fan base for any of its teams than any other city in America. Philly fans cross the line on a regular basis on Sundays at Eagle Games, certainly back at the vet and the day, and they do it elsewhere. So they're not as familiar, I'm sure, with that history. Here's what I would say to it. First of all, there is a line that, you know, you can cross. There are degrees of inappropriate. There's a line. That line for me is when you're threatening somebody or somebody's family or it's something racially, you know, something that

you've said that's racially insensitive. But for the most part, everything else, you just have to deal with. They're going to be fans almost in any ballpark on any given night. There's a possibility that there's going to be a drunk, over-served, obnoxious fan that is going to say something inappropriate. Sorry, deal with it. If it's threatening in something. way, or if it's physically threatening for sure, or if it's racially insensitive, that's crossing the line. I don't know what was said about their young son or her or anybody in their family, but this is not unusual. This is not something that just pertains to the Nats crowd last night and Bryce Harper. It happens everywhere, and you've got to deal with it

when you're a player, unless it truly did cross the line. Now, if somebody was threatening his family, her or the son, you know, I could see why Bryce would be really upset. But more times than not, you know, it can be a, it could be obnoxious and attacking, but if it's not threatening, you just, you've got to keep your mouth shut. I mean, this is what this guy wanted. I know, I don't think, look, I mean, we're talking about a four-week-old kid. He's probably, he's probably, sensitive to anything. So I understand Bryce's reaction. I don't criticize

Bryce for his reaction to that. I mean, the Philly fan, that's interesting. We saw a couple weeks ago at the opener with the Redskins. Philly fans bought a casket with Sean Taylor's jersey draped over in the parking lot. Is that true? I didn't

see that. Oh, yeah, they did. That's why the guy who plays for the Sixers, Mike Scott. Yeah. Oh, is that why you got up that nearly got into a fight? I thought it was just because he had a redskin jersey on. No, no. I didn't know that.

Yeah, they bought a coffin with Sean Taylor's jersey draped over in the parking lot. So, I mean, come on. I mean, so, I mean, these are his Philly fans, which, again, I mean, I'm sympathetic. I'm sympathetic a little bit to what Bryce felt, given that we're talking about a newborn. And I watched him in the tunnel. And right now, the most important thing that Bryce Harper is his child. So I get it. Okay.

Four-week-old sons, sensitive to all that, that's fine. I still, if I'm advising him, tell him you don't respond to that. Did somebody threaten you? Did somebody really legitimately threaten you? We'll deal with that. We'll deal with Nat's officials. We'll try to find out who it was. You're not going to win by going public with that.

You know, you're just not. You know, Tommy, Bryce has, we know is a massive front-running sports fan, right? He likes the cowboys. He likes the Yankees. He likes to do basketball. You know, it's every front-running championship, you know, blue blood that he roots for, which by the way, to me, is always a reflection of people. Now, he grew up in Las Vegas. I know he grew up in Las Vegas, whatever, he didn't have his own team. Fine. He could have rooted for, you know, the Southern California teams or maybe the teams in Colorado, whatever. When you When you know somebody whose favorite teams are the Cowboys Yankees and Duke and the Lakers,

give me a break. Come on. Oh, no. It's a character issue. Absolutely. So I, you know, I know and you know, because you've been there, there is nothing in this town that comes close to the vulgarity, to the true at times threatening language. of a Maryland basketball home crowd against a heated rival.

We know that Duke would not let their own family members come to College Park for games. Roy Williams wouldn't let family members come to games for Carolina because it was so threatening. And by the way, a lot of that is because there was a lot of New York and Philadelphia in the crowd. Maryland's a huge destination school for high school kids on Long Island in Bergen County, New Jersey. and in Philadelphia. It's always been that way. So that's been one of the reasons it's been always such a heated, you know, environment. And those are college kids, but, you know, some of that stuff,

and I remember guys like JJ Reddick, nobody got it worse than JJ Reddick for those years that he was at Duke. And he loved it and embraced it and couldn't wait to quiet the crowd. I like dudes like that, that embrace it and understand you got people that are emotionally invested that in many cases are over-served. And again, threatening somebody or something that's racially insensitive is over the line. Everything else, to me, basically, goes. And you just got to deal with it when you're an athlete, personally. And you know what else is funny. The national crowd is the most docile crowd. Oh, yes. I've ever come across. I mean, it is,

I know there have been fights. I've never seen a fight. at a national scheme. Not one. Not one fight. Who's going to fight who? I mean, it's going to be, you know, some guy that works for some senator against some lobbyist. I mean, they're barely even paying attention to the game. They're in their phones the whole time. I've told you. Nothing pissed me off more. Nothing pissed me off more than being there for that fifth in deciding game against the Cardinals, that first year. And you've got a dramatic game, and you've got two strike counts in the fifth and sixth when they're coming back,

and people behind me are screaming for me to sit down. I mean, that's what you get. And by the way, and you and I had this as sort of an argument to a certain degree, I believe, and Zuckerman told me the same thing, that one of the reasons Bryce wanted to move on is he wanted a massively passionate or more passionate fan base. So last night he got some passion from the fan base, and then he criticizes it.

And by the way, just as an aside, they're going to have a wild card game potentially at home on Tuesday night. Let us coach you up. Those of you that are planning on going after work and you're going to be very much involved because you're so important on your phone in the seventh inning of a tie game

against the Brewers for the right to go to the NLDS and you're not standing up with two strikes and two outs in the bottom in the top of the seventh. Do us a favor. Don't tell us. somebody in front of you to sit down. Don't. That's the wrong thing to do. You're in the wrong. The person standing up in front of you is doing the right thing. So either stand up or shut up. It's one or the other because you get a lot of that. Tommy, when I complained about that and it

happened also in that San Francisco series and the Dodgers series, I can't tell you how many people tweeted me and said, had the same thing happen in my section. It's now, we're on our fifth playoff series as a franchise here. Fifth time in eight years, hopefully they will behave accordingly. They will show up and act accordingly and not act like, you know, they're on the hill for some, you know, for some post, you know, workday happy hour. This is different. They've got to start treating it differently. Anyway, back to Bryce. I guess we're done with Bryce. All right, we've got to get to all of this quarterback stuff. But before we do, let me quick read. and tell you about my bookie.ag.

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And we're going to play the sound, Tommy, because not everybody's heard it. But Jay Gruden, after practice yesterday, and practice was a walkthrough yesterday, revealed that Case Keenham did not participate in the walkthrough. He hurt his foot on Monday night. And for those of you that are conspiracy theorists, he did hurt his foot. There was, I remember the play. He got chased down from behind. He sort of got tackled on the back of his foot as he threw the ball, and he got up and he was hobbling in the moment. I remember the play in thinking, uh-oh, he's hurt, maybe we'll get Haskins, but he stayed in the game. By the way, just as an aside, I think he's going to play Sunday.

I've heard that it's not serious at all, that yesterday was really about precautionary, it was a walk-through, and that he's going to play on Sunday. However, it doesn't change the fact that Jay Gruden spoke yesterday, and I think revealed several things. So we're going to play the sound bites as they sort of went on chronologically. The first one, he's asked about whether Keenham's injury happened during the game. Did the injury happen during the game Monday? I sure hope so. Yes, it happened.

Are you able to elaborate on that? I don't know when. He got tangled up in a pile a couple times and just came out after the game was pretty sore. And then I got checked out, got an MRI. Everything's pretty stable. just got to rest it for a day. All right. First of all, the fact that he got an MRI,

typically you don't get an MRI unless you're actually concerned about something. But from what I've heard, more likely than not, they think he's going to be ready to play on Sunday. Here's where it gets really interesting with Jay. The follow-up question, you'll hear it, is about who the backup quarterback is. Who is the backup quarterback now? Right now is Dwayne.

Dwayne is backup. So depending on kids, case's foot, would Duane be the starter Sunday? Depending on Case's foot, that could be the case. Obviously, if Case can't play, then the backup usually does play. Sure, but depending on how Colt is tomorrow, we'll see how he is. I haven't seen him throw a ball in about a month and a half. So there it is, Tommy.

No one asks him about Colt, but depending on how Colt is tomorrow, we'll see how he is, even though I haven't seen him throw a ball in about a month and a half. He didn't have to mention Colt. He didn't. No. Nope. Nope, he didn't. But he couldn't help himself.

He couldn't help himself. I mean, look, Cole McCoy can throw, okay? He's been throwing. I mean, you know, he may not have been throwing in practice, official practice, but he's been throwing. It won't. If they don't damage Cole McCoy again this week somehow, you know, like break him one more time as he recovering, he could take the field and play.

I mean, we're talking about the guy who, next to Jay Gruden, knows Jay Gruden's offense better than anybody. How hard do you think it's going to be for him to be ready to take the field of play if he's healthy? Not hard. All right. So I want to continue with the sound here from yesterday because Jay gets in pretty deep here, and it's a revealing of several things which we'll get to.

You'll have your view. I'll have mine. But he's asked next about whether or not McCoy can miss so much time and yet still play. How likely would it be that he could miss that much time and be ready to play after what he's gone through? That I don't know. We'll have to see him an individual tomorrow and have him to throw some balls and see where he's at, see how he feels as far as pushing off his concern. He's been doing a lot on the side on his own.

So I don't think he'd be cleared to practice unless he felt pretty good. good about it, but still we want to see them take the snap with people coming out of them and making some throws. Sorry if I'm being dense here. Is there a chance that Cole could return and supplant Dwayne as the backup? There is a chance that could happen. I don't know yet. We just want to get through today to walk through tomorrow. We'll evaluate everything, see where case is. I assume case is going to be able to play. He's a tough guy. If, you know, and then we'll deal with the ifs tomorrow and Friday. So then the other question would be depending on who it is, how much does that change your game play and your prep? How early do you need to know? Well, if he can't go tomorrow,

then obviously the other guys will get the reps, which will be good. So that's a win-win. And if he's better Friday, and case feels like he can go, he'd go. But we'll just wait and see. You know, we'll get these other two guys some reps tomorrow. You know, we don't have a lot of time in practice to get everybody ample reps to get him ready for a game. But we will get, obviously, Dwayne, a lot of reps tomorrow, see where he's at. Does the setbacks that Colt had to end last year and then coming back in camp kind of influence how you may want to handle him in this scenario? I think the biggest thing in how to handle Colt is how he's feeling mentally and physically.

If he feels like he's ready to go, then I'll have to make that decision. And I'll see where Dwayne is as far as the game plan prep is concerned. If I feel great about Dwayne and case can't go, we'll go with Dwayne. We'll see how it goes. But like I said tomorrow or today, like I said already, we got a little ways to go before I make any crazy decisions. There you go. That was Jay Grun from yesterday. Again, he never had to insert Colt McCoy into the conversation.

Once he did, it became a lot about Colt McCoy. For obvious reasons, we all know that he is smitten with Colt McCoy, that he really does believe that if he had McCoy last year, probably for the whole year, that they would have been a playoff team. and that this year, McCoy had a legitimate chance to be the starter, had he been healthy, going into the season, even though they traded for Case Keenham. Remember, they barely traded anything for Keenham and barely owe him any money. Denver picked up half of his $7 million salary for this year. I got a couple of thoughts that I want to bounce off you really quickly. And they go as follows. First of all, I do think he revealed something that I've had a sense of anyway for the last couple of weeks, and that is, He does not have a lot of confidence right now that Dwayne Haskins is ready to play a regular season game, which, by the way, is not an indictment of Haskins. He played one season, as we know last year, and I'm not saying that Jay believes that Haskins will never be ready.

I just don't think he believes that he's ready now. And I actually believe that Bruce and Dan may be on the same page with Jay. But this also goes hand in hand with this. Jay Gruden needs to win the game Sunday. Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder still believe there's a season that can be had. I think they're delusional personally, but they still look at this as we opened up with a really difficult opponent in Philadelphia and in Dallas and in Chicago, three difficult opponents, one on Monday night that is an elite defensive team. We finally get a marshmallow defensively in the Giants on Sunday, and we can win that game. And you did the whole path to three and three last week.

And now it's a path to two and four. And being back in the season at two and four with a win Sunday and a win in two weeks against Miami, they're obviously not going to beat the Patriots. You know, more likely than not, things happen in the NFL. That one probably isn't going to happen. But there is this sense that they still have a season to go get. And that three games isn't really reflective of who they are and that they're going to have a big offensive day Sunday against the Giants,

but they can't have that day if they start Dwayne Haskins. They can have that day if they start McCoy or Keenham. I think everybody's on the same page with this. Here's the issue, Tommy, is that for now, it is all about playing the guy that gives him the best chance to win. And for Jay, he's desperate for a win here because he could get fired on Monday if he doesn't win this game. I'd be shocked, by the way, if Minusky is a lot.

fired on Monday if the defense has another bad day. That's another story. You're going to get to the point here, though, if they lose to the Giants, and probably happens after the Giant game, where you're 0 and 4, where it's not about giving your team the best chance to win. It's about developing the players that are going to be factors in 2020, 2020, 2021, and beyond. And until they get to that point, Haskins isn't going to play, unless he's the backup and somebody gets injured. that's the way I see this right now. I actually believe that Jay and Bruce are on the same page with this. I don't know about Dan, but I think Jay and Bruce both believe that they need to win this game Sunday

and get back into this season, and they both recognize that Dwayne's not ready to do that. You know, all that may be true, and it makes sense on a lot of levels. I know we make a big deal about how much. Jay loves Colt McCoy, but it was Bruce Allen that brought Colt McCoy here. Bruce Allen has always been a big Colt McCoy fan, not necessarily maybe to start here in certain situations like Jay wanted. But Bruce Allen is a big McCoy fan. So we've known that for a while.

Here's where that page, all on the same page, gets a little torn, gets a little frayed. if they make Dwayne Haskins inactive on Sunday for the Giants game facing Daniel Jones, that will not sit well with Haskins and Haskins or the owner. Sheesh. Yes. Just the opposite of sheesh. That would not because, I mean,

they're not going to carry three quarterbacks, right? No, no. One of those quarterbacks would be inactive. Yeah, right. Inactive. Of course. And, you know, I mean, look, given the, given the photo we saw of Dwayne Haskins on the bench while Case Keenham's going over plays with Kevin O'Connell last week, he might as well be inactive

because he hasn't seemed to be paying attention to what's going on in the game. I think that stuff gets blown out of proportion. I do know this. He's taking scout team snaps only. So he's, you know, when Jay said in those soundbites that we just played, the part about, you know, can Dwayne, you know, be ready. You know, I think he's questioning whether or not Dwayne. I said, I said Dwayne, right, whether or not Dwayne can be ready. He said, here's the quote. If he feels like he's ready to go, then I'll have to make that decision and I'll see where Dwayne is as far as the game plan prep is concerned. You know, that's... Okay, but the point out of proportion part, first of all, look, obviously there's context to a photograph that goes beyond that. But

There's no denying that it was a bad look. There's no blown out of proportion about that. And show me the images of quarterbacks on the sidelines going over plays with their offensive coordinator and that all the quarterbacks are not in the mix looking at it. Those images are few and far in between. I think what's a little bit overblown is the whole scout team thing. Look, if Case Keenham had gotten hurt any of these three games, Dwayne Haskins would have been in playing quarterback.

Yeah, by, at a necessity. Yeah, at a necessity. But, I mean, it's not that unusual for, I mean, to make that, to be forced into playing, even if you're not taking first team reps. No, but, oh, my God, what do I do? No, that's true. But if you have three quarterbacks on the roster, typically it's the third guy that's running the scout team

and your backup's getting ready for the opponent. He's getting ready like he's getting ready to start. So, you know, there's that. So I do, I don't know about the sideline thing. And the only reason I say that I think I would have a bigger reaction to it. If I hadn't been hearing that Dwayne's a good kid and he's coachable and that he's easy to coach. I've heard that multiple times now from.

multiple people. So that could be wrong because we heard the same thing about RG3 early in that rookie year. But remember, he was also playing and having some level of success. You know, and my point is, there was a game we referred to as shock and awe. Somebody came up with that, and that was his very first game. Go ahead. What were you going to say? I just don't know that that Dan Snyder and the Haskins group are necessarily on the same page as Jay improved. And that's the most important page to be on right now, the Dan Snyder page. Yeah, that's true. But, you know, Dan and the other H, the father H, may be saying, look, if Gruden's not going to be here, we shouldn't rush it.

I want my son, and you want your first-round pick to, you know, when he starts to be starting for good with the guy that's going to be his coach, you know, for years to come. I do think that part of the patience is that they realize, you know, Jay is basically done. He's dead man walking right now. But Jay and Bruce are still hopeful of turning this into a season. Look, Bruce has been the buffoon out there for the last two years talking about them being close. I mean, he looks terrible when it comes to this. And, you know, they sat there and they broke their arms patting each other on the back for the draft and the drafts in recent years. look at some of these drafts realistically.

You know, I mean, second round picks like Geiss and third round picks like Christian and, you know, and, I mean, second round picks, Geis, Anderson, Cravens in the last three, you've got to have second round picks in your organization starting for you and contributing at a high level. Their drafts have been average at best. And this close thing has been delusional. First of all, two years ago, they were four. four games out, not one game out. He tried to just slip that past everybody last January. Well,

you know me, I pay attention to the standings in the playoff scenarios. They were four games out in 2017 for missing the playoffs. They weren't anywhere near close. There's another aspect to this. So one of the quotes, and we didn't play this, and I'll just read it, Jay was asked about Daniel Jones. and he said he's very talented. I think the thing that you've got to understand is that, you know, we've played Wentz, we've played Prescott, we've played Trubisky, all of them can move around, and that's had an effect. And Jones can move around. And he was talking about Jones.

And then somebody said, you know, what about Eli Manning and, you know, your experience with him? And he's, and is that just a big advantage that the Giants now have with mobility? And he said the following. He said, Eli Manning attacked us pretty well. He attacked us pretty good last year. They were up 34 to nothing at the half. So I've always had a lot of respect for Eli. Tommy, that giant game last year in early December was a real game changer for Jay Gruden and Bruce Allen and the way they felt about Greg Minnowski in particular. And one of the real reasons they wanted to replace Minnowski in the season. If you recall, that was right after Colt McCoy had gotten hurt in the Monday night game against Philadelphia, the previous Monday night. They were a 500 team, and they were desperate to remain in that playoff chase. To get Colt back probably for the season finale, remember there was some thought that if it was a meaningful game, Colt could play in it, and Jay needed the

defense to step up. They were playing a bad team in New York at home. They were playing a bad team in Jacksonville on the road, and he needed Greg Minnusky in that defense to step up and really do something to save him for a couple of weeks until he could get an actual quarterback back. Because that game was the Sanchez game, and Josh Johnson comes in, and that defense laid an egg. They gave up 34. See, he did not forget the score, that halftime score against the Giants. Not only was it 34 to nothing at halftime, it was 40 to nothing early in the third quarter. They got their ass run over by the Giants in a lifeless performance defensively. They weren't good on offense.

Sanchez was terrible. Through a couple of picks, set up short fields. Sequan Barkley ran through them like a knife through warm butter. 14 carries a buck 70. He averaged 12.1 yards per carry, and the Giants came in and embarrassed them. And for all intents and purposes, if you didn't think the season was over before that game, it was over then. They tried to act like, hey, we can still beat Jacksonville in Tennessee and have a big game against Philadelphia. And they did play better the following week against Jacksonville when Blaine Gabbard, not Gabbard,

Cody Kessler was starting at quarterback and only threw like 15 passes for 57 yards. And they were able to eke out a win against a team that was just dreadful on offense. But that particular game sticks in Jay's mind. and that's why he didn't forget what the halftime score was or what Eli did do him. And that is one of the games where it's like, we got to get rid of this dude, Manusky. I still can't believe he's the defensive coordinator. It really is hard to believe. It's amazing.

I'm surprised, look, I was there Monday night when Snyder left his box with two minutes left and made the walk down to the locker room. and I mean, it's hard to read faces, but I'm thinking, this guy's not going to survive that walk. Minoski's not going to survive that walk down to the locker room, but he did. He did. I'm amazed that he survived after the game Monday night. Yeah, I will be shocked if he survives Monday if they give up another 30 against the Giants. You know, they've given up 30 straight and three straight games.

Right now, they're on pace for the worst third. down defense in NFL history or since, you know, the stats started being accounted for. It's been a dreadful start, and they've been poorly coached. A lot of stuff has come out here over the last couple of days about just how easy they are to figure out. The Bears had no problem figuring out. Landon Collins had a comment that essentially said, you know, they knew what we were in, you know. Here's a guy, by the way, who's got a big game on Sunday. The, the, the, the, the, the, the amazing obsession, off-season obsession with his former team, and all of the talking about how these next six years playing,

these are the games he's got circled as payback games, predicting Super Bowls, talking about how the Giants made a huge mistake, drafting Jones instead of Haskins. He's got something to live up to on Sunday. But anyway, I digress there. back to Gruden, this is a big game for him. I don't know that he survives a loss on Sunday. I also know that last year's loss really, really bothered him. It bothered Bruce too. Remember, this is the team that Bruce really hates because of what he feels John Mara did to them

to force the league into a $36 million salary cap penalty back in 2010, which they don't think, They don't think they deserved, and they blame John Mara for essentially being, and we'll use the term of the week, whistleblower on the Redskins for that. So the two of them, Jay and Bruce, they want this game Sunday. That's why I just can't imagine that Haskins is going to see the field. Not Sunday. It'll be case on one foot or it'll be Colt before it'll be Haskins. is my guess. I agree.

I agree with that. But let's say, I mean, if, let's say case plays, okay, who will be the backup? Well,

that's just as big. It is. And, you know, you bring, that's something that's interesting, too,

because Haskins has been the backup. If Case is healthy, and Colt all of a sudden is healthy, and he, and Colt ends up being the backup, I think that's much more of an indictment on Dwayne, then Dwayne not starting over Colt. Do you know what I mean?

That is essentially saying, we got two guys that are, if somehow Case can't go, I do not want Dwayne. I want Colt McCoy. Whereas if he goes with Colt as the starter because Case is hurt, well, Dwayne would be the backup in that instance. And he's just saying at that point, you know, Dwayne's coming along, he's getting the offense. But if he doesn't, if he supplants him as the backup,

and he's sitting there holding a clipboard in civvies because he can't dress for the game. He's inactive. That is also an optics situation. And by the way, I can't imagine that, you know, Dwayne is going to be thrilled about that in his first game against Daniel Jones. No, absolutely. Yes. I mean, this is what they're waiting for. This is the moment they've been waiting for.

He'll have other moments. Yeah, they're going to play the Giants twice a year forever. Right. You know, so he's going to have other opportunities. He'll have other opportunities. Are we done with the quarterback? Because I got something I want to get. Yeah, I've got a couple of other things Redskins-related.

Is what you're going to get to, Redskins-related? Okay, go ahead. Go ahead. Are we going to talk about the Matador? Oh, Josh Norman? Yes. Sure. And his comments about the Redskins fans?

Absolutely. You want me to read them to everybody? Yes, absolutely. Okay, let me read you what Josh Norman said yesterday. in open locker room. Quote, we're not really in talking about the criticism that's coming the way of the Redskins

for the O'N3 start. Quote, we're not really concerned about it. Those same people are those people who are going to be rooting for you when you're doing good and hate you when you're doing bad. That's just who they are. Fair weather as they may come. Fair weather as they may seem.

That's what we've got. But we're not concerned about that because guys in this locker room, we understand what we put in, understand what we built, the pedigree we have. We couldn't care less. The only thing we ask is that you keep that same energy, that same energy you've got,

because when things turn around, don't come back on that ship. Closed quote. You know, I mean, this, there's, look, there are moments that happen like within every couple of hours that illustrate on a regular basis. is what's wrong with this organization.

Yeah. This is one of them. Of course. This is one of them where if you're at the team president, I mean, this happened all last year when they were criticized the fans. You've got to drag this guy in your office, and you got to say, you need to shut up.

Why would you think that would happen? It's never happened. There's no accountability for running their mouth. Your customers. You're customers. We had Mason Foster. criticizing the fan base. We've had that multiple times. There's no... There's no consequence for that stuff.

We had Norman and Sweringer do it last year. There's no consequence for that stuff, Tommy. I've said this for five years running. There's no consequence for any of this stuff because the culture doesn't punish for this. This is something they have no problem with. It's a reflection of total lack of discipline and accountability in a franchise that's led by a guy that can't manage anybody and hired somebody that nobody likes. This is so damaging. It's not that damaging.

Nobody's paying attention to it. Oh, I think it is. I think it's damaging. I think among the Kool-A drinkers that are still showing up at Ghost Townfield, they're taking this person. Well, they don't think he's talking about them. Oh, really? Yeah.

They think he's talking about the media and the people who aren't showing up. I guess so. But, I mean, this is just unbelievable. And can we make the Matador stick as a nickname? Because I think it's perfect, given the fact that he went to fight the Bulls this summer, and he always has to play out there on the field for. Yeah, I mean, let me just say this. When I read this earlier this morning, it really irked me because you're not going to tell me as a fan that's been abused for 20 years when I can come back on that ship.

I can come back on that ship whenever I want. I don't need a ticket to get back on that ship. I don't need a pass saying that I already had a ticket and a room. I get to come and go as I please on that ship. You're not telling me with an 0-3 record after you told me your defense was all-time great potentially in the preseason when I can jump back on. If you start to play well, I'm going to jump back on and I'm going to root for the team. I've earned that right. You've abused me.

The people you work for have abused me. Don't tell me when I can jump back on the ship. And by the way, turn things around first before you start determining who's, got tickets to come back in and who doesn't? Yeah. I mean, this is just, and the funny thing is is like Josh Norman, I actually like the dude personally. I think he's interesting, and I think he'll probably have a very interesting life when he leaves football, but these guys are just, they're delusional, and the funny thing about it is a lot of them know how dysfunctional the organization is. They know how bad it is internally in Ashburn. They know they really don't have much of a

chance to win. And by the way, here's the other thing that I was going to mention to you, because it sort of dovetails on this. Do you know that Preston Smith was the defensive player the week last week in the NFC? And that Ha ha ha Clinton Dix was the runner up? And that the highest rated cornerback duo right now in the NFL, according to pro football focus, if you believe what they write and research, is Bashad Breeland and Kendall Fuller. I mean, I'm just waiting for DJ Sweringer to win defensive player of the week next week with Trent Murphy is the runner up. And Josh Norman right now, according to some of these, you know, mathematical, analytical, you know, things that are really reaches because they have no idea what responsibilities these players have on these plays.

But he's among the bottom 10% of corners right now on performance and production, which doesn't surprise anybody. You know, that interception that he had the other night, I went back in Washington. watched it. He's so lucky. That was such a bad throw. The guy was wide open behind him. If Trubisky makes a good throw, it's a touchdown. It was a terrible, terrible throw. And, you know, Norman stinks right now. He shouldn't be talking about anything. And I know you make a big deal out of the criticism of the fan thing, but it's been happening. And there's no consequence at all from the top. And there won't be, because they don't know. how to create that kind of accountability culture.

They don't know how to do it. Yeah, I agree. I agree, but I just, I guess, I guess I'm just still flabbergasted when, when, when it happens. I mean, I mean, to basically criticize your customers who you're begging, you're begging to show up for these games. All right, let's finish up our Redskins conversation with this, since I won't talk to you until Tuesday. First question, who starts a quarterback on Sunday?

I think Case Keenham starts. Who's the backup? I think Colt McCoy will be your backup. That will be a big story. I think it's Case Keenham as the starter, and I think Dwayne Haskins will be the backup. By the way, just a gut hunch, I don't think Colt wants to be the backup quarterback. I think Colt McCoy thinks he's the best quarterback on this team, and he should be starting when he's healthy. That aside, I go Case Keenham, Dwayne Haskins, the way it's been.

All right, give me a prediction on the game on Sunday, since we won't talk to you until Tuesday. I think it's a Redskins loss. I think they lose 27 to 10. Yeah, I'll have mine tomorrow. I don't feel good about it either. I do think that if they don't score on Sunday, that that would really be alarming, because I think they can score on Sunday. I think it will be alarming.

Yeah, well, 27 to 10 would. 27 to 10 would have the alarm bells going. It'd be a six alarm blaze, and no one would survive. I really believe that next week is the week leading into a Patriots game where you aren't going to win that game anyway, and I think it would be definitely over for a Minusky, and I think even Jay could get fired midweek. Even though I thought before the season he wouldn't get fired in season,

O and four, you know, staring O and 5 in the face is a completely different situation. Maybe it will happen after the New England game, So you give Kevin O'Connell as the new head coach a chance to win his first game as a head coach against the Dolphins. But I think Sunday is essentially for those people out there. I think the season's over personally, and nobody's been more about playoff scenarios than me over the years. You know, I've sat there with you over the years at 4 and 8 and 8 and tried to figure out a way to get him in at 8 and 8. But at 0 and 4, it's over. And I think it's over now, personally.

You know what, though? What? It's never over for us, buddy. You know why? Because we see them come, we see them go, and we're still here. We are. We are, and we appreciate all of those who are listening, who are still here with us, too. All right, let's get to our NFL PowerPole, your favorite segment of the week.

I'm not there. Do I have to do it? Yes, you do. Rangham, 1 to 5. It's time for our weekly NFL PowerPow. All right, a couple things before we get to our top five and a couple of teams to keep an eye on. It's an odd start to the NFL season. I mean, we sort of talked about this last week, and we had Scott on the radio show last week,

and he sort of pointed out the same thing. You know, you've got a team, you know, trying to tank in a way that we've never seen, although they were much more competitive against Dallas than they had been, the dolphins in their first two games. But you've got seven, three and oh, two. teams already. That's actually a lot through three games. And you've got some really bad teams, and you've got a division in the NFC North that right now is an aggregate 9-2-1. You've got a 3-0 team, a 2-0 team, and 2-2-1 team, and 2-2-1 teams. That division is going to produce, you know,

in the NFC, at least two playoff teams, if not three, potentially when all is said and done. I think personally the top three are locks. I don't know what it's. order you'd put them in. But for me, it's New England, Kansas City, and the Rams. What's your top three? That would be it. That would be it. And, you know, it's interesting. I watched the Chief Ravens game last week. And there's been a lot of discussion about how Lamar Jackson, who's played very well, is like a game-changing quarterback in the way the quarterback position is viewed in the NFL. And we've seen this before, obviously, very familiar with RT3, although I think Jackson's a different kind of cat and can sustain his career if he stays healthy. But to me,

Pat Mahomes is a quarterback that I don't know if we've ever seen before. Yeah. Well, I mean, the discussion about Brady Manning, the next Brady Manning is Mahomes and Lamar Jackson is very premature. Jackson's an intriguing point. Jackson's an intriguing player to watch. He is not in Patrick Mahomes' class. No, he's not. I don't know if I've ever seen, oh, I'm sure I have, Montana

probably. I don't know if I've ever seen the quarterback with the kind of touch that Mahomes has. Well, I mean, what he has that Montana doesn't have is he's got maybe the strongest arm in the history of the game. Montana did not have a strong arm. No, he

did not. But you couple that with his ability to put the ball in there on the run, like a floater that you would have on the playground with such accuracy. I mean, I'm just, I'm in awe of Patrick Mahomes. I'm in awe of Kansas City right now, and Andy Reid is so innovative. He's so, you know, willing to try things. Cooley told me yesterday on the podcast, and he said, look, I'm exaggerating on this, but trust me, they don't have many. and he said, Kansas City doesn't really have a running play in their playbook.

And he said, I'm exaggerating. They've got some, but almost all of their runs are off of RPO's. You know, they're all run-pass options. So those are, you know, running plays, but as part of a run-pass option. And, you know, this RPO thing that's become really, you know, such a significant part of college football, and now a part of pro football as well. And I always laugh at, you know, the people from a few years ago that didn't really know what the zone read was, the read option was. And, oh, the NFL is going to figure it out.

And it's going to be, you'll never see it again. I mean, they just weren't college football fans and didn't watch college football and didn't understand it. And they said the same thing about the RPO's. And the difference between college football and the NFL with RPO's is you have three yards to go down field as a lineman in college before you're ineligible. you've only got a yard in the NFL. Yet, we really aren't seeing ineligible men downfield called very much. I think they're going to have to start to enforce that a little bit more. I don't want more penalties, but it really is such a significant advantage.

I had Ralph Friedgen on the show Monday on the radio show, Tommy. He was so good, by the way, and so totally into football right now. And he just said the biggest change in the game is RPO's. He's like, if you've got a decent quarterback, and you've spread everybody out. You can't stop that. He's like, that's why these teams are scoring 60 and 70 every week. They're in the spread.

They're running these RPO. You've got linemen going down field three yards, so everybody's playing run, and then the quarterback pulls it and throws a slant to a wide-open guy. You can't stop it. And Kansas City runs that, and you really have a difficult time stopping it.

With Mahomes and how quickly he gets it out and how with velocity and accuracy. and, you know, even without Tyree Kill, I mean, Hardman looks like the real deal. DeMarcus Robinson looks like the real deal. Yeah, they're really, really interesting and fun to watch. I wonder how much they've improved on defense from last year. Remember the entire season, I told you Kansas City's not going to go to the Super Bowl. Ultimately, the defense will do them in, and it did against the Patriots in the title game.

They're better on defense with, you know, Matthew and with Thornhill, the guy they drafted from Virginia, who's really looking. really good at safety. But they're not one of the better defensive teams. They're not as good as Baltimore is defensively. No, they're not. But anyway, yeah, Kansas City and the homes, you're right. So you're right.

The first three, we're in lockstep on. What do you got for number four? By the way, just one other quick point about Jackson, he's so much fun to watch. He is not a natural thrower. He doesn't throw with anticipation. He is incredibly inaccurate. He should have had at least two balls picked last week.

He got very lucky without the interceptions. It's the same thing about Keenham, not the same kind of player, but Keenham got so lucky in those first three, two games not to be picked three times. I can't believe, I mean, I don't know how many picks Jackson has on the year, but in the game Sunday, he could have easily had two or three. He doesn't have an interception on the season. He's got seven touchdowns.

no interceptions. That's a lot of luck. By the way, he made the comment today after practice, or maybe it was yesterday. He doesn't want to run the ball. He wants to be a passer. But he's such a lethal runner that it's going to be hard with him scrant. Here's the thing about Jackson, you drop him back, and if somebody's open or he creates time and he finds somebody open, hopefully he's accurate in getting there. He's not an accurate thrower. He was 22 of 43 against the Chiefs. When he's throwing a lot of side, you know, behind the line of scrimmage throws he's accurate. Downfield, it's harder for him.

But when he's running around creating time and then he takes off, oh, my God, his speed and his vision, like he is just, I don't know, he's unique. He's very unique in the way that he plays. All right, my number four team is Dallas, is Dallas. What's your number four team? My number four team is Dallas. I agree. The Cowboys are very good.

They were actually unimpressive against the Dolphins. They were on the verge of being behind right before half, but they won that game 31 to 6. My number five team is going to surprise you, I believe, because it's not one of the other undefeated teams, one of the other three undefeated teams. I'm very impressed with Houston. I'm very impressed with the win that they just had in L.A.

against the Chargers. I continue to be blown away by Deshawn Watson, who is not only really good, but really competitive and tough, and he figures it out. That team was down 17-7. They abandoned the running game, and he threw him back to a victory, threw for 351 and three touchdowns. They should have beaten the Saints. Certainly could have beaten the Saints in the opener on Monday night.

J.J. Watt is healthy. He had two sacks against Rivers. Their defense is nasty, even without Clowny. I really like Houston, and I think I'm in the minority on this. I think O'Brien's a good coach. I think Coley always disagrees with me on that. I think O'Brien, anybody that could go into that Penn State situation and make them competitive in those years after all of those sanctions,

I think he can coach. It's not the NFL, though. That was Penn State. Yeah, no, I understand that. Yeah, that's what I meant, the Penn State situation. I get that. I don't know why you would bring that up as the reason you think he can coach him. the NFL.

Coach is a coach. The guy took nothing, had nothing in one football games at Penn State and made him competitive. That's absolutely one of the reasons that I've always been a fan of him and think of him as a good coach. And I think he's been a good NFL coach. I think they've had a lot of injuries over the years, and yet they're always right there on the verge of, you know, in how many playoff years have they had with O'Brien as a coach? Is it four out of five?

Something like that with Houston? I think it's something like that. Why would you think that him being a college coach wouldn't influence my opinion that he's a good football coach? Because he doesn't, because he coaches. We're talking about him as an NFL coach now. I don't think he's very good NFL coach. Okay. Well, just say that.

I mean, the fact that I think he's a good football coach, part of that would be what he did at Penn State. Well, what if he was a good high school football coach? Would you say the same thing? Yes, I would. I think a good coach is a good coach. Okay. How far down the food chain we're going to go? Probably not to my level.

Not to the youth level. Although I've coached high school basketball before, but probably not for me. So go ahead. Who's your number five team? Well, I agree with you. My number five team is not one of the three left undefeated teams. My number five team are the Ravens. I mean, I know their past defense has been really bad.

I thought the secondary would be much better than it has been. They're not getting the defensive pass rush that they want, but they're such a good organization. They're such a smart organization that do so many things well. And in the end, they're going to wind up winning that division and going to be a team that nobody wants to play in the playoffs. They certainly felt like that way to me last year. And I thought they were going to take a step back defensively

after they let a lot of those players go. No Suggs, no Wettle, no Zedary Smith. They basically got rid of three, four key defensive players, but they're still good defensively. I do think that the Ravens are good. And before the season started, I thought they'd take a step back because of the defense that it wouldn't be as good.

But I think, you know, the Ravens, the Texans, the, I still believe a little bit in the Eagles, even though they're one and two. I'm not going to put them into the number five spot. I think the 49ers are intriguing and a team to watch. I watched them for the first time last week, and they hadn't played anybody until last week. And maybe playing Pittsburgh is playing nobody now also with Mason Rudolph at quarterback. But God, can they run the football? It is amazing how the Shanahan's, wherever they go, they figure out how to. to run the football. And that team's got a really good team speed, too, which was impressive on both

sides of the ball. That would be the team that I would sort of keep an eye on are the 49ers. Okay. Do I have to give you a team I keep an eye on to? No, I mean, you can make one up because you're not prepared for the same. I can make one up. No, I'm not. I like the Colts too. I'm not prepared for the segment. I like Jacoby Brissette too. I like Jacoby Brissette too in the Colts. I think they're an interesting team to keep an eye on. You know what? Here's the team to keep an eye on. The New York Giants on Sunday. Yeah.

By the way, real quickly. So on the radio show today, Tommy, I mentioned... You have a radio show? I do. Yeah, for those that don't know, I'm back on 9.80, 7 to 10 a.m. And Tommy's on the radio, too, on the other station. He'll be on Saturday and Sunday morning with Nick Ashu, and you're on with Chad. What day of the week?

Are you on today with Chad? No, I was on yesterday. Wednesday afternoon. No more Sunday. No more Sunday morning because obviously, like every radio station, we do a pre-game football game show. So on the radio show this morning at the end of the show, Mark Zuckerman had written a story about basically the way the Nats could get home field advantage even if they tie with St. Louis and Milwaukee. If people don't know this, if they tie with St. Louis, they lose the tiebreaker because St. Louis won the regular season series four games to two. If they tie with Milwaukee, they will play a road game as well because Milwaukee also won the regular season series four games to two.

But Mark came up with this very interesting thing that I did not know about this morning and talked about it on radio. He said that if St. Louis and Milwaukee tie for the division and have to play a one game playoff on Monday to determine the National League Central champion, and those two teams have the same record as the Nats, that that game they would play on Monday would count as a regular season game, and the loser essentially would end up with, let's say at the end of Sunday, Milwaukee's 92 and 70, St. Louis is 92 and 70, and the Nats are 92 and 70. And then St. Louis and Milwaukee play a game on Monday to determine the NL Central champion.

Well, the loser, he said, would end up 90s. and 71. That game counted as a regular season game. And therefore, the Nats, even though they lost the season series with the loser of that game, would host the wild card game. So I went on and on about this because Zuckerman wrote about it. And Mark just tweeted out moments ago, my apologies, I got this wrong. Game 163 would not change home field advantage for the wild card game. The Nationals must have a better record than the Brewers or Cardinals after 162 games in order to host on Tuesday night. So there you go.

I went on and on the radio and see, that's why the podcast is valuable because I can come back and update the story and admit that Mark got it wrong. And by extension, I got it wrong as well. But now we have it right. All right. Anything else you got for me? I got nothing else, boss. Okay.

Enjoy the weekend. I'll talk to you on Tuesday. By the way, I think I mentioned this earlier, Aaron, in the show. I don't have a smell test pick tonight, although I would lean Memphis and I would lean Eagles. That Eagles Packers game is a big game. Really big game for the Eagles. You know, the Eagles have, after this Thursday night game, they get what should be a winnable game next Sunday against the Jets.

And then they go on the road at Vikings, at Cowboys, at Bills. and then they've got Bears, Patriots, Seahawks. The Eagles have to win some games here. I think people thought going into this season that the Eagles were an NFC championship kind of team or contender. They're one in two right now. If they lose tonight, they're one in three, and they have a daunting schedule over the next month

after they play the Jets next week. Big game for the Eagles. That's why I would lean Eagles a little bit. public is sort of split on this game, but I would lean Eagles. And I think the Eagles are going to win tonight. I think somehow they come up with the win. I think the Packers are still a work in progress offensively, even though it's a good defensive team.

Who do you like? This one's tough. As you said, the Packers really good defensively. I do wonder, though, I feel like, I'm starting to feel like this could be Miles Sanders breakout game. Packers have not handled running back while both running and just catching passes. I think this could be a big Miles Sanders game. If I'm betting tonight, I'm betting the under.

But something about it feels the Eagles to me. I think it's, look, the Thursday night road team has a big difficult, you know, has a difficult time. And really both Thursday night teams end up having a difficult time playing a smooth, clean game, you know, after playing on Sunday. And the Eagles had a knockdown, drag out affair with the lions that they lost at home. And the Packers actually was a one-score game, going into the fourth quarter with the Broncos.

I mean, typically, you know, the team at home probably has a slight advantage maybe. Last week, Jacksonville won as the home team. The week before that, it was Tampa winning on the road, right, at Carolina. I think the Eagles are going to be desperate tonight. They better win this game. One in three is a big hole maybe to climb out of in the NFC this year. You know, I mean, you're going to have your shot, obviously, in the division. You still have two games with the Cowboys.

but again, I mention what the schedule is upcoming for the Eagles. This is one that I would guess they're going to play with a major sense of need to have this one after losing it home to the Lions. All right. If you're listening to us on iTunes, Apple, rate us, review us, subscribe really helps us. Kevin Sheeonshow.com as well for those that haven't figured out how to do it on the podcast. and just to mention, as I just did moments ago, I'm back on 980 in the mornings from 7 to 10 a.m. I don't think we've forgotten anything, right, Aaron?

We're good. We're good. All right. Enjoy the day back tomorrow with a football Friday, and Aaron and I will really get into getting you ready for Maryland Penn State tomorrow, the biggest home game the Terps have had in a long, long time.