The Kevin Sheehan Show - Cowboys Finished; Redskins-Eagles Remain

Episode Date: November 6, 2018

Thom is in and the show starts with a recap of the Cowboys' loss to the Titans last night. The conversation turns to the significance of the Redskins' game in Tampa on Sunday. Despite the injuries, Kevin thinks this is the moment that many of the organization's off-season decisions must prove to be right. ESPN's John Keim joins the show to explain who will play on the O-line Sunday. Are any teams capable of supplanting the favorites in the NFC (Saints and Rams) and AFC (Chiefs and Pats)? That plus "are the Redskins doomed if they fall behind in a game". <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. Good morning, everybody. Election Day in our fine country. I'm here. Tom's here. Aaron's here. This show is presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to WindowNation.com and tell them we told you to call. I would assume Tom, Tom, that your commute on a holiday, even with the bad weather, was pleasant this morning. It wasn't pleasant. It was one hour and 25 minutes. An hour, 25 on a holiday. Yeah. Yeah.

And I would consider that a good commute. What do you think this holiday is? Is it just schools? Most people are at work today, right? Well, I think people who have to take care of their kids because it's a school, they're off, have to stay home. I mean, you have always that factor. Okay. So that reduces it a little bit.

You know, look, being an Italian, I think I, You're half Italian and half Irish. I can speak to this. I've seen the Irish side before. I'm ready to trade Columbus Day for Election Day as an official federal holiday. Look, I mean, Columbus Day is a little bit embarrassing these days. At this point. You mean we've learned a little bit?

Yeah. So if they want to just, you know, not add another federal holiday, but just change it to election day so, you know, most people are off so they can, you know, either vote or not vote, I'd be fine with that. We can just forget about Columbus. Tommy was very nice. He brought in some things this morning to spruce up our new studios. He brought in several bobbleheads, Bryce Harper bobblehead.

No, Bryce Harper. A Dynard Span bobblehead. A Bryce Harper, Chia pet. Oh, Chia pet, I'm sorry. You have to put seeds in it. That's Scherzerzer Bobelhead. Yeah, Scher Bobelhead. Oh, that's Scherzer.

I'm sorry. Yeah. And you brought in a Buck Showalter. Snow Glob. Snow Glob. Yes. I love Snow Globes, but I don't know if I need a Buck Showalter Snowblob. Well, you know what?

What was there before? Nothing. Nothing. What's in this studio? Nothing right now. Besides, I'm looking at a garbage can, toilet, paper towels. Do you remember my office? Yes.

There's nothing in that either. There's less in your office than what. Do you know why? You had an office that was basically a shrine to yourself. Am I right? Yes. It was the Lavera Museum. Yeah, you had the Lavera Museum at 980.

And I have always had an office that had very little because I, just always felt like, God, if I start to put too much in this office, it's just going to jinx it and I'll be gone. You know, you had the kind of office of a guy who's ready to leave town at a moment's notice. Just in case. Just in case. Meantime, when you walked into Tommy's shrine, the shrine to Tommy, I swear to God, the things that he had in there were very interesting.

I had a Geiger counter in my office. You did have a Geiger counter. You also had all of your old press passes. Yes. Like you, and you tweeted one out. Oh, me, uh, boxing, press passes. Oh, they were just boxing? Just boxing.

Um, the one that you tweeted out the other day about the Holyfield bow fight, uh, in 94. Was that the fan man fight or not? No, that was, I was at the fan man. No, that I, the fan man fight I was not at. I was at the first bow holo field. Oh, wow. Right over my head. And I was at the third bow holo field fight.

Okay. That was the third one. Got it. Where he knocked Holyfield out in the eighth round. And one of the, the things that you tweeted out. out this weekend. I know this is one of your all-time favorite fights, maybe sporting events, was George Foreman beating Davey Moore. Not Davey Moore, Michael Moore. Michael Moore, I meant. That's okay. I mean, that's the single greatest sport, the greatest sporting event I've ever

covered was Cal Ripkin breaking Luke Eric's record. The single most great, because the Foreman Moore was not a great fight. George Foreman was getting his butt kick for nine rounds. But in the 10th round, he comes up with this short right hand that puts more on the canvas, that was the single greatest sporting moment I've ever covered. I can remember it vividly like it happened yesterday. Everything I saw after that, I mean, basically, it was at the MGM Grand Garden and it felt like the place lifted off the ground when Moore went down. And everyone knew he wasn't getting up.

That is, that's, that's interesting. I know you've talked about that fight so many times. I remember watching the fight. I don't remember it is this incredible significant event, but it really was in so many ways. I mean, George Foreman, like, 21 years, 20 years after losing the title to Ali. To Ali, coming back at the age of 45, a long shot against Michael Moore, getting beat for nine rounds. He had no chance to win that fight. Exactly.

And it was, it was a great. And plus, he was such a likable guy at that point. I mean, America loved George Foreman. They were buying his grills left and right. one of the great business transactions of all time for George Foreman. All right, we'll get to the Redskins injuries here. John Kimes is going to join us on the show as well. The Redskins weren't even like Michael Moore on Sunday because they weren't winning the first nine rounds at that fight.

No, they weren't. And, you know, the problem with them, some columnist in town has written about this. If they don't win in the early rounds, they're in big trouble. They're not coming back. They're not built for the championship rounds. I want to talk about the Monday night game, though, for a moment. The Cowboys lost to the Titans last night, 28 to 14. They could be done at 3 and 5.

They've got the Eagles and the Falcons the next two weeks. Both of those games are on the road. Sunday night in Philly and then the following Sunday in Atlanta. So the Cowboys are staring 3 and 7 in the face. Yeah, I think you can stick a fork in them because they don't have, they don't have any recognizable, intangible to over. what they're facing. Certainly not coaching.

No, because they have similar issues over the years in Dallas, and we recognize what those are here. Jerry Jones did say emphatically no to an in-season coaching change. But he also said the following, quote, I don't like the way we played tonight. Had we played a lot better tonight and had the loss, then I would be more positive about that. We've got to play better, closed quote.

Now, I want to just mention a few things about this game because I thought there were a couple of interesting things. First of all, last night was one of those NFL games that when you look at the final result, you look at the numbers and the finish in particular, late third quarter, fourth quarter, you would say, well, Dallas never had a chance. Tennessee was the better team, and they were. They were the better team, and they deserved to win the game. But the early part of that game, if you were watching, and many of you were, was a chance for Dallas to basically grab the game by its neck and never let Tennessee up. And it just didn't happen. Tommy, they took the opening kickoff, the Cowboys did. They moved the ball down the field, best drive of their game the entire night, and they miss a short field goal, a short field goal. They get a turnover because DeMarcus Lawrence, who is one of the best pass rushers in the NFL, beats the –

beats the right tackle, swipes the ball out of Marriota's hands. Cowboys score three or four plays later, they're up seven nothing. It's still first quarter. Next drive, Tennessee fumbles, Dallas takes over, midfield, get a big play, first and goal from the four, about to go up 14 to nothing, and really should be on the verge of going up 17-0 against a team in Tennessee who is not built to come back. Yes. And so it's, and what happens, Dak, Scott throws a back-breaking interception. Now, in the moment, you're like, okay, they're still up 7-0. Tennessee goes on a 15-play, 9-minute drive, 80 yards, ties the game at 7-7, and it's like Dallas isn't the same after that. It's like the football is like this much more, I think,

than basketball, because there's so many possessions in basketball, there's so many sort of momentum shifts in a basketball game. But last night, if you watched, if you got up this morning, watch the highlights, listen to everybody comment about the game, Dallas sucked, Tennessee was great, Dallas's season is over, but there it was early in the game and a lot of NFL games are decided with these things. They've got a chance essentially to take a 17 to nothing first quarter lead. It would have been over against Tennessee more likely than not. They miss a short field goal and on a second goal from the five, Yard line, Dak just throws it into the end zone and it gets picked. Now, I will tell you this, they're limited in many ways. They're limited clearly organizationally. They're limited coaching staff wise. Scott Linahan has to go. Dallas is very lacking in imagination offensively, at least when I watch them, I see that. Dak Prescott is not a Hall of Famer, as all Cowboy fans had basically anointed him his rookie season. He's not. He's limited. And Tennessee is a very good defensive team.

will say that. They're a very good defensive team with a guy that just marked my words within three or four years will be a star in this league. Harold Landry, the outside linebacker from Boston College. I loved him coming out. He's going to get coached well in Tennessee with Vrable and Dean Pees who left Baltimore and is down in Tennessee now. He's going to be a star, but they've got a lot of good defensive players, period, and they're a good defensive team. But Dallas is, I think, because of this little shift in, you know, from a potential 17-0-0 first quarter lead to its 7-7. And yeah, they had chances after that, but they couldn't move the football in Tennessee last night. I don't know what you think about Marriota.

There are games when I watch Marriota and I'm like, you know what, he's a good quarterback. You know, last night they did it every possible way. But you have to convince yourself he's a good quarterback. to convince yourself. That's not good. That should tell you something. It does tell me something. When he's not good, his body language is all wrong to. You know, he looks, he's this very laid back dude who when things aren't going well, you just look at him and you just think, well, he didn't even care. But like last night, they're running read option. They're running RPO. He's dropping back and throwing it well. He's bootlegging it. He's play everything you can possibly do

with an offense last night with Matt Lafleur as the offensive coordinator. Yes. Just think about this. On that Shanahan staff, Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVeigh, Matt LaFleur. Matt LaFleur is going to be the next one. Yeah. I don't know if it'll happen this coming offseason, but it'll happen. He'll end up getting an opportunity to be a head coach in the league.

I think, I can tell you this. I don't think Cooley is as impressed with Matt LaFleur as he was with Sean McVeigh and Kyle. He thought Kyle was a genius like McVeigh. I don't think he ever felt that way about Matt LaFleurr. But you saw things last night and you just think, well, another guy falling off the Shanahan tree is going to get a shot at some point. Just not in Washington. Yeah, but back to Marietta. I don't know why he can't do some of the things he did last night in every game he plays.

Why he's so inconsistent? Why when they get down, you know, his body language? Well, I mean, it didn't last year at Arrowhead in the playoff game. I'll grant you that. You know, they're down 21-3 at half at Arrowhead in the playoffs, and he had a great second half. They ran the ball, too. And they've got backs.

Dion Lewis is a good back, and Derek Henry's a really good back. By the way, Amari Cooper last night, not bad in his debut. Looked like he was better than anything else that Dallas has. But anyway, that was the game last night. And I think that the Cowboys, you know. I think they're done. I think they're done too. I think they're done.

They also have New Orleans on the schedule. They have the Redskins coming in on Thanksgiving Day. Which means the only thing in the Redskins, the only obstacle in the Redskins path to the NFC East or the Eagles. Yeah, well, that's a big obstacle. Yes, since you have to play them twice. In December. Yes. I know I've said this to you before.

It's not that I was really rooting for the Cowboys. When they got down, I was glad to see him sort of, you know, the shots of Jerry up in the booth. And just they're a mess, honestly. It's a loser of an organization. And they're always going to be that way as long as he is calling the shots. But I was sort of hoping for a big time Thanksgiving Day matchup record-wise. I love it. And it could be a real, like.

It could be a turd. Well, the Redskins are going to have a better record than the Cowboys. But they could be why. They both could be five and five. Yes. They both could be five and five. Yeah. The Redskins right now, after the injuries yesterday, they were,

went from being a one-point dog to a three-point dog. They're a three-point underdog is a five-and-three team at Tampa playing a three-and-five team. All right, I wanted to get to that next. If you missed the injuries yesterday, Paul Richardson, Brandon Sheriff, Sean LaValle, all to the injured reserve. Adding to Trent Williams, who's already out for the next three weeks, probably. And what I'm hearing, and we'll check with John Kime in a little bit, is that Thompson is not going to be rushed back at this point. They may get Crowderback this week. That could be a positive. And it looks like Jordan Reed, thankfully, was not injured seriously in that game. So yesterday, I wanted to get your thoughts on this. You know, right when the injuries were announced, I think I retweeted Kime, who put it out, you know,

quickly that share. It was during, we learned of this, I think, maybe somebody else broke it. I don't care about that. But Jay Gruden's press conference basically announced these three players had gone to injured reserve. I think Ian Rappaport actually announced it first. And I tweeted out the following. I tweeted out, look, the defense is much improved from last year. The organization got the leadership they told us they were dearly missing at quarterback last year. They're playing at Tampa, Tommy, which is not like the situation a year ago where they went into Seattle with an even more injured team than they have right now at Seattle, not at Tampa,

at Seattle who was 5 and 2, and they won that game. And my last line to this tweet was, this is an organizational measuring stick game coming up in Tampa. This is to me, this is the game where, you know what, you better the effort and the desire and the urgency

and the leadership and the toughness it should all be on display because a year ago when they went in to Seattle all right they didn't have John Allen he was already on injured reserve

inactive that day Trent Williams Spencer Long Sean LaValle three starters were out along the offensive line Jordan Reed was still out James and Crowder was out Matt Ionitis was out

they had Brian Quick Terrell Prior and Ryan Grant and Josh Doxon at wide receiver. And by the way, Josh Doxon and Terrell Pryor weren't even healthy going into that game, but they had to play. They had Vernon Davis and Sprinkle as their tight ends. Niles Paul was out. Rob Kelly and Samaji P. Rhine were your backs.

There was no Adrian Peterson that day. Kelly and P. Ryan combined for 27 yards on 16 carries, which was pretty much what they were last year as a run offense. And they won. And let me just say this, to those of you, listening. This isn't about Kirk Couss solely. It's not. Even though on that particular day, he was under siege the entire game, yet managed to lead a late 70-yard drive with two huge throws to win the game 1714. But most of you don't remember that because you only remember

when he loses the games in the fourth quarter because he never won any. But in that game, Zach Brown stepped up, Brian Quick stepped up. They had Will Compton on the team. He played well. Kendall Fuller played well. So you're missing pieces from a year ago, but you got what you wanted. You got the leader you wanted. This is the guy that was supposed to be not only better than the guy last year, but when you were faced with adversity, Alex Smith, you could turn to. This was an organizational decision.

The guy they were convinced was not only better, but the guy that could lead, the guy who was a better leader who would get you through these roughs, spots. And clearly you're going into Tampa, a worse team than the team you faced a year ago in a similar spot, with a better defense, a much better defense, and a much better player at running back on offense in Adrian Peterson. Go win the game. Show us as an organization that you plan for this, the injuries, because they are a reality in the NFL. You have to deal with it. You're in first place in the NFC East, and you're going to Tampa, not Seattle, Tampa, where there will be Redskin fans, many of them, in the crowd.

It won't be a true road game on Sunday. You're short-handed, you've done it in tougher circumstances before. To me, this is an organizational measuring stick game, because you know what, Tommy, if they lose this game, the wheels could start to come off at 5 and 4, with Houston coming in off a by week, with two more against the Eagles. And I wanted to mention this earlier when I was talking about Tennessee. You know, the Redskins are facing on Sunday in Tampa, the last of the bad defensive teams they will face this year.

Every other team left on their schedule is capable defensively. Tennessee, Jacksonville, Philly twice, Dallas has talent. You know what? The Giants have talent on defense. This is the game that your offense, with even the injuries, your quarterback is going to have to make some goddamn plays on Sunday and win the game. Your defense, you've got a great defense. It's going to have to step up and win the game.

Your season is not over. I saw a lot of people talking yesterday on Twitter. Oh, they got blown out by Atlanta. Now all the injuries. Stop it. I know their reasons and they're legitimate reasons, and they were legitimate reasons last year. But you as an organization plan for this.

You got the leadership you wanted. You've improved your defense. You were fine with getting rid of Kendall Fuller. All right. Offensive linemen, you made your choices in the offseason not to add a guard through free agency. You didn't add a guard at the trade deadline. You didn't add any offensive lineman. Go win this game.

This team needs to win this game Sunday, Tommy, or I think the wheels could fall off. Well, here's the problem. I know we'll get to the column I wrote from Monday's paper following. the game Sunday. I ended my column a scenario where Jay Gruden is going to have to turn to Alex Smith at some point this season

and say, Alex, I need you to go out there and win the game for us. And I came up with this reply that Alex might say that would say, coach, I think you have me mistaken with somebody else. He's not going to say that. I know. He is capable of going out there Sunday with his legs and his mobility

with a banged up offensive line. and making enough plays with a good defensive effort and a running game potentially to win a game that right now, Tommy, on paper, it looks like they can't win. They're an underdog. Let me ask you a question. Have you seen any evidence of the 2018 Alex Smith is capable of that? No, no evidence to date. Okay. But I have more than just this year is evidence.

I get that. But he's 34 years old. Oh, you mean he's not young? I thought they got a 25 year after when they traded. No. He's 34 years old. I mean, look, track record counts for a lot. But sometimes people slow down a little quicker than others.

I mean, his famous legs that are supposed to be, I mean, actually, he did have a great running play at one point in the game on Sunday. That was the best drive he's had all year long. Yes, it was. So he's off of a game in which he had his best drive, something to build on. I'm not being sarcastic here. And I'm not being condescending. Alex Smith is a better quarterback than he's shown this year. He is.

He's apparently, according to the organization, a much better leader than the guy they had. This is a leadership spot. The organization picked this guy, Tommy, to get through some of these rough patches. Let me read a quote, which I like to do, from Jake Gruden. Short way after they got Alex Smith to ESPN, he's very, good at the intermediate ball. He's good with the quick game. He can run zone reads.

Very exciting. The ability to add lib, make plays that aren't there and keep plays alive. Coaching him for the first time will be exciting because I don't think there's a limit on what he can do. He has all the things you want a quarterback to be able to do. Okay. You know what though, Tommy? This is the proven game, though. This is a big spot for, I mean, look, we overdo things all the time.

That's what we do. But we do that to make a point. I'm really, yes, I guess that was what you told me about Sally's column. Yes. Where she ripped the entire university, not just the football program. Because some people need to be pounded over the head. Okay, well, I'm going to pound you and anybody listening over the head with their five and three. The season didn't end with the loss to Atlanta.

the three players that went to Injured Reserve. They, last year, in a much worse spot at three and four, needing to win. Remember last year was supposed to be, you know, a playoff contending year for the team. And they got back to four and four with a gutty win on the road in a place that's impossible to win. In fact, I think there were the first non-NFC West team to win there in like three years when they went in there with two-fifths of their offensive line, no Jordan Reed, no running, game and a bad defense. You know, Kirk played great that day at the end, obviously, but Zach Brown was phenomenal that day. Zach Brown made play after play after play on Russell Wilson.

Ryan Fitzpatrick is going to put the ball up for grabs this week, and the Redskins are going to have to turn them over. They're going to have to win one of these games that gets them back on track because you know what, Tommy, if they go down and beat Tampa and they're six and three in one of those wins where people aren't expecting it. You're going to come in on Monday and you're going to say there's something different about this team. Something different.

They may be able to overcome this stuff. They've got Houston back at home. That's a winnable game. As good as Houston is right now, on defense in particular, and their quarterback and their receivers, etc. Winnable game.

This division is still there for them, but organizationally, they've made a lot of decisions here over the last 12 months, last 24 to 3,000, 36 months. And you can't, you have to plan for injuries in the NFL. And part of their plan was leadership. So let's see it on Sunday. I think you're writing a check they can't cash. I think I think the way to win Sunday for them is what you mentioned is the defense, you know, creating

some turnovers, Ryan Fitzpatrick turnovers that either lead, that either result in actual scores on the play or give the Redskins short field position to be able to score. If that happens, I then shock it up to good organizational planning because they've got a defense that can get them through a spot like this. If they win, it's a valiant effort, but then they have seven more games after that. I understand that. You can't sustain what they need to do over the court. Again, it's like, let's say Sugar Ray Leonard Tommy Hurons, Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy Hurons.

Sugar Ray Leonard comes out for that 14th round, all bruised and battered, and manages to basically win the fight there. If you asked Ray Leonard to fight Tommy Hurons a week later, he would have got killed. Okay? My point is, you might be able to win this game,

but moving forward with their offensive line problems and their skill positions. They're going to eventually get Trent back. Yeah, I know. Three weeks from now. Okay. They're going to eventually get Trent Williams back. Chris Thompson's going to eventually be back.

Crowder may be back this week. They have a big-time leader at quarterback, we've been told. They have a big-time player at running back that they did not have a year ago, and they've got a much better defense. Are you telling me that at five and three, they can't figure out a way to go win four or five more games? Not without, not, look it, part of the game, what game? Part of the formula is the running game.

that running game took a beating with the mass exodus of injuries. Got to get the quarterback into the run game now. Much more. Okay. The quarterback's a playmaker. One of the reasons you brought him here is he can do things with his legs that you said the last guy couldn't do. This guy's going to get you out of trouble with his legs and his instinct. And I agree with that.

It's one of the things that I loved about Alex Smith. He was able to. Which he's shown very little of this year. again very little of this year and and i just don't think that they can sustain what you're asking them to do over the course of the next four weeks i'd love to see them going to tampa with john allen and matt ionitis and duran pain and foster and zach brown and sweringer and take this game over with their defense that would be a sign to me that the organization has picked the right players on defense we know they're

talented. We know it's much more improved. All right. And on offense, Alex Smith shines in this moment. This is the moment you told us he could lead through adversity because the last guy was a terrible leader. And this guy with three-fifths of his

offensive line out this Sunday, same as Seattle. You know what? It could be four-fifths, depending on Morgan Moses' his health, too. But that's a situation they were in last year for a couple of weeks, too. The Dallas game at home. You were coming off a terrible loss last year. You're coming off a terrible loss this year,

but this year you're five and three and in first place. You can't let a couple of injuries, all right, totally derail you. And my fear is if they go into Tampa and lose against another team that isn't very good defensively. That's a self-destructive team. That's a very self-destructive team, even with Fitzpatrick. Yes. Yes. That the wheels could start to come off in a big way.

This is a huge moment in this season for this team. I think the wheels have maybe one trip in them. It's one loss with a few injuries. So it's over? Is that what you're telling me? I think they've got one game in them, and then that you can't sustain what you're asking them to do. We'll find out.

They can't run the ball. They can't run the ball with this makeshift offensive line moving forward, and if they can't run the ball, they have no offensive weapons whatsoever. By the way, I mean, you know, the organization, I know you're half mocking the organization. No, no, no, let's see. They went into this season and they at this point

with Sean LaValle at guard knowing full well that he misses half the games he plays with injuries and felt no need to have an adequate backup for him. That's right. I agree with that. They went into the trading deadline, knowing full well apparently that Paul Richardson could be out for the year at some point and felt no need to get another wide receiver in case that happened.

And it happens a week later, a week after the trading deadline. All of that is what I'm saying. I'm not just focusing on the put in place leader that they didn't have last year. Everything you're describing, I'm pointing to too, too. I'm saying they didn't build depth in the interior of the offensive line. With one guy in particular at all. It wasn't hard to figure out you needed to have a plan B for Sean LaValle. Yeah, I mean, you know, some of the, yes, all of that's in play.

And you know what else is in play? On the flip side is we went out and added a lot of defensive talent here over the last couple of years to hopefully get us through some of these rough patches too. So we're going to find out Sunday's big, Tommy. I just feel as a fan, the wheels come off if they lose in Tampa Sunday at five and four, even though they'll still, worst case, well, yeah, worst case, they'll be tied for first with Philadelphia. If Philadelphia wins. If Philadelphia loses to the Cowboys, they're still in first place with a loss. But I just feel like, you know, what would be staring them in the face is Houston, Dallas on Thanksgiving, still two games with Philly.

Trust me, Tennessee in December, Jacksonville in December, none of those games are going to be easy against really good defensive teams. Now, this is a win that goes into that category of piling up some wins. You've got to be able to beat Tampa on the road as an underdog. Yeah, it is over if they don't beat Tampa, but I think it's over even if they do. Another big problem, you talk about, you know, they have a really good defense, and that defense got exposed a lot on Sunday against Atlanta. A really good offense, granted. Great offense.

I know that. But you may have a really good defense. with a guy who's incapable of coaching a really good defense. Greg Minnowski got out-coached on Sunday. He had, I mean, there was no answer. I mean, whether or not they were picked, you know, they were doing offensive pass interference on pick plays, they kept doing it, and Minnowski had no answer for it.

Yeah, I don't want to hear about the officiating on Sunday. They got destroyed. Yes. On Sunday. My point is they didn't adjust, I mean, I, I mean, the way the Falcons ran the ball on what was a top five run defense shows you that the coaching was exposed on that side of the ball. Well, I pointed this out on my Monday on yesterday's podcast that I thought Steve Sarkesian was outstanding in that game as a play caller. They just had the Redskins off balance, and their third down conversions were huge.

The Redskins got them into a lot of third down. What were they like nine out of nine at one point? They went eight for eight in the first half and then finished ten for three. 13. But, you know, the Redskins got them into third downs. You know, Atlanta's offense has been a really good first and second down offense over the years where they haven't necessarily faced lots and lots of third down, sometimes in their best games. It's been a chunk yardage team. But they faced all those third downs and they made all of those plays. And, you know, Sunday, they're going to get a team in Tampa that's very capable offensively. I mean, don't look at their

record and you know they they've struggled defensively it's almost it's not atlanta's offense it's not but you know dischaun jackson and mike evans and o j howard and they've got they've got weapons they've got weapons on offense and they've scored a lot of points this year yes they have on the other hand i think if there's uh i just think that they're going to turn the ball over and give the redskins offense opportunity to score in short fields which could result in a victory which is not going to happen when they face other opponents. They're not going to have offensive opportunities gift-wrapped week after week once Tampa is added away.

Tampa right now in yards per game, I think it's not a great number two reference, but in the conventional statistics, traditional statistics, are the number two offense in the league right now in terms of yards per game. They're also the seventh highest scoring offense in the league this year at 28.6 points per game. This is the last really good offensive football team the Redskins are going to face unless Philly really starts to put it together.

And Houston is very capable with some talent on offense. So Tampa's averaging 28 some points a game. That's when did the Redskins score 28 points in a game this year? season. I'm not familiar with that. Have they? They haven't scored many points at all. They're one of the lowest scoring teams in the league. But have they scored 28 points in any game this season? I don't think so. Yes, at Green Bay. Oh, that's right. That's right. 31. Yeah, 31 to 17. Yeah, okay. So they can do it. Look, if you really, the Arizona first half, the Green Bay first half, and that's it.

offensively in terms of being dynamic and being sort of in rhythm. They were in rhythm against Arizona, a terrible team in the first half. And they were really in rhythm against Green Bay in that first half at home when they put up, you know, it was like 28. Didn't they score 28 in the first half?

Against the Packers? I forget exactly what the number was. But the game seemed over after the first half. All right. Do you hear that noise, Tommy? It's your furnace kicking on again and again, over and over. Why? Because your windows are old and drafty. So is Tom. He's old and drafty too. Letting cold air in and hot air out, keeping you up at night. Every time you hear, are you aware of what's happening when you hear all that noise? Higher energy bills, wasted money. I think it's time for you to

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All right, let's bring in John Kime, who of course covers the team for ESPN and ESPN.com. All right, so we know what the injuries are. We know who's on injured reserve now. We know Trent Williams is out for at least another three weeks. I guess there's a possibility. Crowder's back this week, but probably not Chris Thompson at this point. Let's start with the offense. What is the plan offensive line for Tampa?

Who are going to be the five starters at this point? They signed a bunch of guys yesterday. How religious are you guys? Right now I was told it's a wait and see see who comes in and see who looks like they can come in and help. They also have Casey Dunn

who has been here but they want someone who has played in the game to start at the right side. So Tony Berksstrom right now looks like he'd be the left guard. Chase Ruey stayed at center so they have that whole right guard.

That's what they're still trying to figure out who it is, whether it's Luke Buoyango or Jonathan Cooper. So I think they're just going to wait and see who looks good and what direction they go. I don't know that they completely know just yet. I thought it was interesting to watch Jay Gruden's answer in his body language to a certain degree

when they talked about Jaron Christian, the rookie, because he looked completely overwhelmed, I thought, in his first opportunity. This is a third round pick, And we know it takes time for some of these guys, especially some of these guys. You're really drafting because you see a guy three years down the road, four years down the road that could be a starting left tackle or a starting right tackle. Like Josh Larivas, what are those guys? Not necessarily Larvice.

Is he still in the league or not? Yeah, he was down to New Orleans, I think. Really? Yeah, he was in, I mean, he played, he was in San Diego for a while, I think. Yeah, he was in New Orleans last year. I know this year. I don't know if he got hurt or not this year, but I know he was still there earlier. But did I read it right that Christian is not an option at either tackle spot?

No, and what Jay Gruden said was he prefers to keep Ty and Secki at left tackle. Well, yeah, I mean, after watching the other day, of course you do. But that's also, that's always where they have liked Ty and Secki. And the plan with Christian, I didn't plan, but the hope for him was that coming in, he would just serve as a fourth tackle this year and then segue into a swing tackle role with NSECII up after this year as an unrestricted free agent. Clearly, the hard part in the NFL is nothing ever goes that smoothly, you know, or that according to plan because injuries are always a factor.

So now he is your swing tackle, but I do think that that is part of the equation that you're not going to move Insecchi inside at this point because you need him at tackle because Kristen hasn't shown that he's ready to play it there. When Trent comes back, then if you want to, you can move in seckey inside if it's not going to. well. Is it fair to say, John, that they didn't plan well for a bunch of injuries across the

offensive line? Well, yeah, I think it is because, listen, the interior was an issue in the offseason, right? And, you know, part of what happened, the off season, Ariquanjo, you know, when you see Ariquanjo walking around the facility, he definitely reshaped his body. And the guy looks like he's in really good shape. He just got hurt in the off season. But that was still in the off-season. And I think there was a hope that some of the young guys like a Catalina or a Calus would have developed a little more that did not happen. So, but yeah, I mean, I think it is, it is fair to say that. They haven't, that to me going in the season, that was an area of weakness. The two areas that I worried about for them as far as weakness, or depth goes was

interior line, the corner depth, because you had a few rookies behind and inexperienced behind the top three guys, and that's coming to hurt them. I'm kind of confused about their decisions at the trading deadline when it came to wide receiver. I sort of understood the notion, and I've seen teams do this in all sports, of that, well, when we get certain guys healthy, it will be almost like adding at the trading deadline. So we want to take that route. And that seems to be the route they took.

But my impression is they didn't think Paul Richardson was going to be healthy all year. And as a result, a week after the trading deadline, now he's out for the season. That seems like a giant miscalculation on their part. I mean, you can say that. Yeah, I mean, by the way, it's great to hear you guys together again. I just got to say that. Well, thank you. But, you know, I mean, I think the hard part with the passing game is it really wasn't working anyway.

And so I don't, you know, I don't know, like my fear was for them is if you go out and make a deal with that, what's that going to do for them? And giving up a draft pick at a spot where, you know, Tom, I don't have a good answer. Okay. Well, no, you're right. No, there are two things. There are two things. I do think, yeah. So number one, that's part of the answer.

Because you know and I know and a lot of people know that there is frustration with the quarterback play right now. Yeah, and I think that that is a definite issue. But here's the other part too. You know, Jake Rudin's always just thought that doesn't matter who I have at receiver. I'll scheme him open. He's always felt that way. He wasn't that heartbroken when they lost Jackson and Garsohn. He has definitely had confidence in what he can do,

and I have always felt in the NFL, once you start feeling like your scheme overrides talent, then you're going to get into some trouble. I felt like when Tip Kelly started getting rid of some of their playmakers, that was clearly a sign that they were going to start going downhill because the scheme helps. But when you have talent running that scheme, it helps even more. And I will say, like, there's still definitely times you turn it on

and you're watching guys, you see you guys get open. And I think the hard part is you don't see guys getting open really fast all the time. So you're not seeing these quick, like, for example, you watch, I'm not comparing anybody here to Julio Jones, but the Falcons can play at a certain pace with their passing game because he's going, you can trust that he's going to win early. Some of those guys are going to win early. And so Matt Ryan doesn't have to hold the ball for a long time waiting for rocks to open up downfield. Is it Jordan Reed winning early?

Not early enough, apparently. but I'm talking about more so at the receiver. Yeah, I know. I think, and I think like with Jordan, too, sometimes when you're watching it depends on who they have on him, too. And if it's a linebacker or defensive back, because sometimes when you're watching some of the safetys on him, you know, he can use his size against them,

but his quickness is a little bit negated there. With the linebackers, he's still able to create that separation. I think getting a guy back like a Chris Thompson and even Crowder, they're a little bit quicker off the line than, some of the guys they have right now. So I think that that does not help. But I do think, like, with the receiver, I do think that that kind of goes back to that.

The way they're built, the question is, what is the value you're getting versus what you're giving up? Like Golden Tate, I'm a big fan of his. And, you know, he's better in the slot. So you do have an answer there coming back, a guy that they have always liked. So while Golden Tate, I mean, I like him better, but do you then, does that automatically mean you go get him because he's better than James and Crowder, a guy who should come back? And so I think it makes it all harder.

But, yeah, I mean, going back to Tom's point, Richardson has been dealing with this since training camp. It has been, I would say, for weeks now, it's been like this could be the week. This could be the week. This could be the week where he shuts it down. So, you know, they knew that this was the case. You know, and then I think, again, it depends on what's the value of what you're getting. And, like, Amari Cooper was not going to be an option for them. You know, Thomas, you know, maybe he could have been, but it didn't sound like it.

But, you know, it did sound like they made a – there's conflicting reports about whether or not they've made a play for, like, a guy like Josh Gordon. So, you know, I think they recognize that they needed some more help there. Well, they signed a guy with injury history. They brought back guys with injury history. So they hopefully will find out this weekend if they had a plan for all of these guys with injury history along the offensive line at wide receiver. Yeah, I mean, yeah, and I think it's going to be interesting because the hard part, the hard part too with the past game that I've had is that you don't see the trust overall. And that can be, you know, because you have receivers who aren't as familiar with the system or the quarterback. not as familiar with them.

You know, there have been games like you see guys running some crossers, some shallow crosses that are almost bumping into each other. I saw that three games in a row. That is about timing, depth, you know, rhythm. You know, do you have to be a little bit more patient running this route, let this guy clear, et cetera, learning all that. You'd see guys with the routes where the distance between the guys. I mean, you know, with basketball, like if you're in a zone

and you have two guys next to each other, you have one guy covering two. And you've seen that sometimes. So I think it all adds up where it's not as simple as we'll just get another receiver in here and everything's going to go swimmingly. I don't know that it's that way. I think if they have been able to get trade for another interior offensive lineman, maybe that would have been a way to go. But it's hard, too, in this game.

It's like, and I've heard people talk about this before, about how it has become harder. I'm switching gears here, but harder to find interior alignment. And I think I wonder if that's not how the game is going with the interior alignment. defensive line that it's getting harder to find quality help inside, I don't know. Okay. The formula for getting to five and two was a very good defense and a good running game and creating turnovers and good special teams too.

I don't want to trust way. Tress way, a big part of it because they've won the field position battle in a lot of these games. He was spectacular on Sunday. Yeah, so. Yeah, he's been like that all year. Yeah. So he's been a big part. of it, but those have been the components for victory.

Has that formula changed at all now moving forward with the offensive line injuries? That's a good question. You know, because here's the hard part. I think it's harder, I think it's hard to build some sort of cohesion in the run game, you know, because you do have to, you have to learn how to work double teams with the guy next to you and to know when is this guy have this double team. when do I have to let go and get to the second level and get that timing down. They have done that pretty well, and I thought Adrian Peterson has started to run very well behind this group. I mean, he had learned how they were doing things, where he, you know, the landmarks aren't

going to change. Some of that stuff isn't going to change, but knowing who you have to play off or knowing what's going to, anticipating what may happen with that block, I think, is a big deal and knowing how deep you can press things because you can trust what there's going to happen with the guy in front of you. So I don't think it's going to change. It can't change too much because I still think that, you know, that's a guy where you can create a strength with Peterson.

He has run well. And I also think you can create some situations with your formation. And I think they've done a pretty good job of that at times, you know, running him out of the gun, using, you know, certain actions to, you know, in creating a more favorable box at times. But I also wonder, and you watch like what Atlanta, they're not Atlanta, and they're not going to be. They don't have Matt Ryan, they don't have Julio Jones or Calvin Ridley.

But watching the Falcons, the way they handled the Redskins with the defensive front, a lot of play action. And they really got those defensive linemen moving and created, you know, and I think they used a lot of play action so you could see a lot of hesitation on the pass rush initially, but then also on some second and ten, where they were waiting for play action that didn't come, and they'd hit him with the run. So I think the guy... I think the first 11, first and tens were playouts.

action throws in the game. Yeah, I mean, the first 11, they didn't run the ball once on first and 10, the first 11th. I think that's one thing that, like, the Redskins do not, have not run a ton of play action with Alex Smith. And when they have run it, it hasn't been, as they haven't had it as a success they've had in the past. You know, you wonder, do you have to use a little bit more of that now?

You know, you would think, just to create some more favorable situations. But, you know, so I don't know that they're going to. change their strategy too much because I still think there's some strength there with again. See, then I say that. It's like then, you know, you need like, I'm watching Logan Paulson block the other day for Atlanta. He was really good. They don't have a tight end who blocks that consistently, I don't think.

And, you know, you're going to need that when you lose guys like sheriff. And, you know, I just, I don't, you know, but I still think that that's where, I don't, I don't think they can now become a pass happy team. but I do think they definitely have to get more from their passing game and maybe be a little bit more either creative or aggressive on some first down stuff. Well, that leads to my next question. And the one thing they got in favor of facing Tampa is that they have an offense that will give the defense the ball probably a couple of times too with Tampa. So I think that's going to help them against the bucks.

But the other part of my question, and you just pretty much answered, at the end is they don't have any other option for winning. There is no other formula. No, I think that's the hard part. And, you know, you're going to have to, you know, the strength right now, this offense has been Peterson. And again, I think it's Peterson plus what they were doing up front because they did do a good job for him.

And I thought, like, the Giants game, there were sometimes where I thought, okay, the line is really they're reestablishing the line of scrimmage, are doing a good job, allowing him to be patient, et cetera, et cetera. And it was working well. But, yeah, I mean, I just, I don't. know that you're going to switch to a, I think where they can help themselves in the past game is when they get a Chris Thompson back and not that Capri business than that. He hasn't. But Thompson, you lose a guy who can be explosive for you. When they had those, when he was

healthy last year, those first seven or eight games, he was really good. Yes, he was. Big time playmaker. They don't, they haven't had that this year. You know, you're going to need more from the Jordan Reed, I think, as well. And so, you know, you could get to a situation where the other option they have is they're really good out of those two tight-end sets. And maybe you just have to use more of that because that with, you know, getting Vernon Davis matched up more in one-on-ones and creating situations for those two guys and kind of adjust your past game a little bit. But I do think you need guys like Crowder and especially Thompson to get back.

And I might want to point out that the quarterback from last year was throwing the Chris Thompson since their scout team days. So they had a great relationship. Right. And I think that's a good point, too, overall because, like, when you, my, one of my fears going in the season was that, you know, this offense is going to take some time to get together for getting whoever's out there because of the in and out, in and out of the receivers. And it's been like that since camp open, whether, you know, Chris Thompson couldn't practice all the time because he's coming back from injury. Same with Jordan Reed didn't even start running until July. And then, you know, wasn't able to go full and throughout most of training camp and Crowder missed a few weeks and Docs missed a little bit of time.

Maurice Harris in this time and Michael Floyd comes in during the season. So it adds up to these aren't, we're not talking about great, great players too, where you can just overcome it with talent. I think that rhythm and trust has to be there. And I will say like the other day,

I felt like Alex Smith at times through with a little bit more of that now there's some man coverage, you know, backs to the quarterback, you're going to hit your receivers. I thought you did a good job on some of those throats. But I just think overall, the rhythm and the timing and some of that stuff has been off from the start. And I just, I wonder how much it goes back to all of that.

And kind of what you just said, like, you know, Chris Thompson and Kirk Cousins, they're going to have that. He's going to know what Chris Thompson is going to do because he's worked with him a ton. Look, I think Chris Thompson will help a lot, too. I also think they can use Adrian Peterson a little bit more in the same way, and that is using some of these checkdowns or some of these quick, you know, sort of swing passes as extensions of their first down run game. Yeah, go ahead.

I'm sorry, just to play off that too, because I've seen this in a couple games. Teams know they want to check down to Adrian Peterson now. And there was a play the other day where they played off of that. And I think they need that, you know, they can use that as a weapon. Like, in the Saints game, there was, you know, they check him down. Well, the receiver, Maurice Harris is open behind the checkdown, but he didn't hit him.

Sunday, you got Alex Smith. is he hits docks on an in-rout. And I think actually, you know what? It may have been the one he dropped. I can't remember, but it was a good throw, good play. Should have been caught, whatever. But he plays off of the possible checkdown because the corner comes up because he sees Peterson coming out to the flat and he draws him up and he hits him

inside. So you can, you know, teams know that that's what he's going to do. And what I talked to a defensive coach earlier this year is that their book on him was the more you keep him in the pocket, the more he's going to go to the checkdown. you can use that against teams as well. And I thought they did the other day. So that can help them at least to get a couple of big plays because that should have been, you know, a big play for them is just a drop.

I mean, Docson made some other good catches. He dropped that one. You move on. But that was more so what you're seeing off of that action that can help them down the road. Look, Sunday got away from them early because, you know, unlike the three previous games, they beat themselves early with drops and penalties. They fell behind? And they fell behind.

Yes, they fell behind. But they weren't going to win that game anyway. Atlanta's better. But I wanted to go back to something that you were talking about. And you said Logan Paulson was a good blocker on Sunday. And I've been thinking about this recently and I'm not said this yet. But I don't think outside of a couple of guys, I think Tom Sula is a hell of a coach. You know, look, Randy Jordan's a good coach.

K.O. is a good coach. I've not been, I think Tori and Gray is a good coach. I think there are areas on their coaching staff where they could improve. I mean, you just said that Logan Paulson was a good blocker on Sunday. The Redskins have not had a tight end that's blocked well here in a while now, in a while now. They have not had great wide receiver play in a while now. So I am sort of, you know, looking at those areas. And, you know, Jay is very much a delegator, as you know, John.

He's very much a delegator and he's very much a go-along to get along. And, you know, I don't know that they've got, you know, what I would call a high-quality staff. I don't think it's a terrible staff. I don't. But, you know, it could be better in spots. Well, I think any staff could be. I think, you know, I think that's been true for many years here. So, you know, when Gibbs was here, you felt that.

When Shannon was here, you felt that. So I think it stands to reason that you can always help yourself in that area. I also think with the tight ends, like you have Jordan Reed and Vernon Davis, whose primary job is going to be catching the ball. And, you know, and Jeremy Sprinkle has not – I think he's better than he was last year. I think he's still developing as a blocker, and that's what he's supposed to be doing well. That's why he's here. you know, but

so, I mean, I think you can always improve your staff. And I think, listen, if things don't go well this year, I think you have to look to do something. And I'm not putting West Phillips or Eichler, throwing them under the bus. You know, that'll be for them to decide. But if you don't do well and you're coming back, I think you can always look to improve.

I think you kind of have to. It's true with your roster. It should be true everywhere, right? I'm Killiard. Is this, is Ike now, this is the third. staff, right? Third staff or second? No, Shanahan, no, Shanahan brought him in. Right, Mike brought him in. Yeah, okay, so second staff. Here's what I don't understand about that. And, you know, it's my argument with the Nationals as well, is the one place you don't have a luxury tax, the one place

you don't have a salary cap is your coaching staff. You can spend as much as you want if you're the team. There's no limits on that. Well, they've got former head coaches on the staff. I mean, It's not, you know. I know. There are, yeah, it's, I think the hard part, coaching is such a, who do you know situation. It really is. I don't know that it's always, I don't think it's always like saying,

hey, we've got the absolute best staff here, and I'm going to get this guy no matter what. There have been guys where I think, you know, maybe guys have been passed on because they think, well, I'm not sure how we'll get a law. And, you know, I mean, there have been some staff, like, you know, not just this one, but in any staff, like, how was this guy here? How did you feel like he was the best for this role? I mean, I've seen that most. You know what I mean?

Yeah. There's been a lot of times that's been the case, and it hasn't just been with this one. John, thanks, as always. Really appreciate it. Good to catch up. We'll talk soon. Thanks, John. It's great having you on. Thanks, guys. It's great talking to you guys. Thanks. Quick moment to tell you about Ferris Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Fairfax. Tommy and I have known Ralph Perkins forever. Ferris owns it. These guys are smart. They know what their customers want. And they make it easy for you. And I promise you that if you give them a chance, they won't disappoint. Right now, go to ferrishcars.com. I mean, when you finish listening to the podcast or just put the podcast on hold for a moment and go to ferrishcars.com. And you'll see everything they've got right now. Their best deals, how much inventory. Right when you go to their website, it'll tell you how many used cars they have, how many new inventory vehicles they have.

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All right. I wanted to do a couple of things. Did you want to know that, but I wanted it. Your column? I wanted to break in with breaking news, Kevin, because I know that this will be important to you. Troy Eichman. No, no, no, no.

According to CNBC, Under Armour employees can no longer put strip club visits on expense accounts. You can't? No. Now, I know, you know, that since you are an underarm... You're an underarm employee, right? So I think that's going to affect... I'm not an underarm employee, but I'll tell you what,

if I were, this would cause me to leave the company. Okay. This is the breaking news for Under Armour, apparently. There's actually more news. Troy Aikman calling for major changes in the Cowboys organization. He says, go through the list in this team over a long period of time. It's been what it's been. and it hasn't always mattered who the head coach has been.

So to me, if you're asking me, I'd say there has to be a complete overhaul of the entire organization. And you know that's not going to happen. You know, again. Actually, I think this year, I think at the end of this year, it might be for Jason Garrett. But it will, I know that. But any change will last maybe a year or two, maybe three tops.

I mean, unless Jerry Jones manages to move on to greener pastures. Okay. I mean, basically the Cowboys have the same thing the Redskins have, the aura of self-destruction. They will find a way to screw things up, and it starts in the owner's office in the same way. So they may make a change, but it will be temporary because Jerry won't be able to sit on his hands.

No, he won't. It's a tough job to take, too, although it's a great job to have. Oh, yeah. But you've got to go in there. Dallas Cowboys. When you look at these organizations, like the Redskins and the Cowboys, and you have stature as a former head coach, you've got to go in there and get what you need to get, which is control. And you've got to use that control and threaten to walk away the minute it's threatened.

Which Mike didn't do when he was here. Yes. Right from the start. Yes. And Marty did. And Marty said really. And Marty lasted one year. And Marty said, really?

you're not going to give me the control that you promised me? Well, then I'm out. A couple of things NFL related. First of all, you know how everybody this time of the week does what they call an NFL power ranking or a power pole? It's something everybody does. Fortunately, we don't do it on this show. That's good.

Actually, we do on Thursday. I'm hoping we don't start doing it. But I was reading through ESPN's power rankings that come out on Tuesday morning very early. explain to me how the Redskins are ranked ahead of the Falcons. This is like when you get these power rankings, and the Redskins are holding there at the number 14 team in the league, all right, at five and three. And two spots lower is the team that just beat them by 24 points

on sort of their home field, because it wasn't exactly their home field advantage. Well, this is why I don't like to do these. things. Well, but we can do them better. Would you have this week in your power pole, do you think if we extended it to 32 teams, you would have the Redskins ranked ahead of the Falcons? Not unless I was getting paid. Yeah, right. So that was one thing that I wanted to talk about. The other thing, and I was looking through this last night, do you know how many good games there are the rest of the NFL schedule in prime time, like scheduled in prime time? I was looking

through this, like this week, this week on Thursday night, you get Carolina at Pittsburgh. Pretty good Thursday night game. Could be, I don't know if he'll play, but everyone expects Levyon Bell to be back. Well, he just tweeted that he was leaving the state of Florida. I don't know if that means.

He probably won't play. But yeah, look, Pittsburgh is, Pittsburgh, I think, is one of the threats to the two AFC teams you mentioned in terms of, We'll get to that in a moment. Next Thursday night, Green Bay at Seattle, not too bad. Not bad at all.

Next Sunday night. Well, Dallas, Philly this Sunday night, not looking as great, but it's an NFC East matchup at Philly. Next Sunday night, first place showdown between Minnesota and Chicago at Soldier Field. Then the Monday night game, November 19th. Have you guys seen this? Kansas City at the Rams on a Monday night game. Is that a, that's in Mexico City, too, right? Oh, my gosh. That's right. Yes, you're right, Aaron. It's not in Los Angeles. It's in Mexico City. Then the following week, which is week 12. First of all, on Thanksgiving night, it's Atlanta at New Orleans. That could be a really big game. Then Sunday, well, first of all, no, the other, well, you got Redskins Cowboys.

Cowboys that you do. It's just that right now, Cowboys are trending towards this not being a massive sort of record standings game. Sunday night Thanksgiving weekend, Green Bay at Minnesota. Then Monday night, and I guarantee you they looked at this a few weeks ago and said, oh God, we got a dog on Monday night November 26th, but this could be a first-place showdown in the AFC South, Tennessee at Houston. I know nobody's going to get super excited about that, but it could be a first-place game in prime time. Then Thursday, November 29th, the Saints at the Cowboys, not terrible.

and then you get into the flex opportunities, the flex opportunities, right? Sunday, December 2nd. The Minnesota-Chicago game was flexed just yesterday. That was going to be, and I mentioned this yesterday, was going to be Houston at Redskins. It was going to be flexed if the Redskins had beaten the Falcons. But Sunday, you have the possibility of Chargers Steelers being flexed into prime time.

You've got Minnesota at New England is the late afternoon. afternoon game. That won't get flexed on Fox because Fox is not going to give that game up. And then you got Redskins Eagles on Monday night. Monday night. All right. You got a Redskins Eagles game on Monday night. You know, I mean, basically Fox made a couple of smart decisions this year with their primetime programming. They overpaid to get the Thursday night package on Fox. And what they also did on Tuesday nights, they bought. the WWE Smackdown show.

So Tuesday night, Friday. They're moving it to Friday. They're moving it to Friday? Yes. Why? Is it not doing well Tuesday? Tuesday's one of their big nights. Okay.

So they're moving it to Friday? Yes. Really? Yes. I don't get that. Why Friday night? Nobody watches TV on Friday night. I know.

Friday night's a terrible TV. And I think that's why. WW has a built-in base. It doesn't have a huge base by any stretch, but they kind of view it as the live, kind of the live sports thing. They can charge advertising. And they feel they can do

that on Friday nights. Well, if you put it on Tuesday nights, you're dropping in the ratings considerably. Okay. Okay. I mean, I thought it was a great investment. I'm not so sure about Friday night, but they do have a built-in audience, as does Thursday night football, which I'm sure is doing great these days in terms of ratings. So Thursday night, December 13th, Chargers at Chiefs, Monday, December 17th, Saints at Panthers. And the night before that and Sunday night, Eagles at Rams. I mean, your national TV games, the rest of the way, are almost to a game compelling. Plus, you'll still have the flex opportunity. So this means Redskins fans will have something to do for the next two months of the season.

Well, they could be involved in some of those games. Some of those Eagles. I didn't know you mentioned any of them. The Redskins and Eagles. Yeah, I know. On a Monday night. It could be for first place. It's still possible that the Redskins Eagles coming in the final weekend of the season at FedEx Field could be the Sunday night.

season closer for the NFC East title. Yes, it could. Here's the question. Carson Wends versus Alex Smith. Stop it. He's going to, I think he's going to play better. I think we're going to see the Alex Smith performance of the year Sunday. Oh, you are so disingenuous.

No, I'm serious. I think because on Sunday he's going to have to make plays. He's going to have to make plays. But it also raises the possibility of giving the ball to the other team. You know what? I don't care. I want them to make plays too because if you're if you're going three and and punting it against a good offensive team in Tampa, it could get ugly.

Well, supposedly, this is what Jay Gruden loves. We heard from Jay Gruden last year that, that, you know, that Kirk Cousins doesn't take enough chances. Doesn't take, well, right, but apparently somebody fooled him into believing that the guy they traded for takes a lot of chances when they've got a checkdown stat named after him. All right. This is what I wanted to get to. Right now, your favorites are pretty clear cut.

it's New England or Kansas City in the AFC and what we saw Sunday afternoon, the Rams and the Saints in the NFC. Let's start with the NFC. Who other than those two teams would you give a legitimate chance of advancing to the Super Bowl? Or do you think those four right now

are those four and it's not going to change? In terms of the Super Bowl matchup is going to come out of that group of four teams? I'll give two teams and outside. shot. I'll give Green Bay an outside shot and I'll give Minnesota an outside shot. That's it in the NFC.

Boy, I'll tell you what, right now in the NFC, and the Saints are vulnerable a little bit defensively at times, but God, what we've seen from the Rams and the Saints offensively is just almost impossible to overcome,

especially if you've got to do it in the Superdome. Unless you have an offense that can compete the shootout. The Vikings and the Packers do. I think the Packers do. I think the Vikings do. The Vikings are getting healthier on defense, which is really going to help them because they started off very slowly on defense after having the top rated defense in the league last year. They lost the Buffalo. And they lost Everson Griffin. They had other players not playing well and out. Now they're starting to get healthier a little bit. That's going to help them a lot. But I still don't see them in

class of the Saints and the Rams. I'll tell you the team that I'm not sure about. They can score with them. The team that I'm not sure about, and I want to see Thursday night, we'll get to see him in Pittsburgh, is Carolina. And the Redskins beat Carolina, but remember, they were hanging on by a thread there at the end. I know. I want to see Carolina. They have a lot of interesting pieces. I don't get that. I don't know why you would be mesmerized by them. I'm not mesmerized, but remember, it's just two years. years ago or three years ago they were in the Super Bowl, three years ago now, right? Because it was Falcons, Patriots, and then last year Patriots Eagles. All right. So Christian McCaffrey has become a star.

What they haven't had is explosive offensive players in Carolina the last few years. And now you've got guys, well, first of all, Olson's back, which is the quarterback's best friend and and truly his security blanket. McCaffrey has become a star. Funches is really good. Look out out for DJ Moore, who is working his, the rookie from Maryland, is working his way much more into the lineup as not only a receiver, but they're running reverses to him. I think he had a 30-yard reverse, 32-yard reverse on Sunday in the win over Tampa. And defensively, Tommy, they've got players, you know, they've got Keekly, they've got Davis, with Davis now being back. They still have peppers on that team. They have Don Terry Poe. A lot of people think this

James Bradbury is turning into one of those true great corners. He's in his third year. He's really coming into his own. He's big. He's long. And I like Ron Rivera. I may be in the minority on this, but I have felt that Carolina's been a well-coached football team under Ron Rivera. I'm just saying that I didn't look that way against Redskins. A lot of mistakes. A lot of self-inflicted wounds. Yes, there were. But I want to see what Carolina does Thursday night in Pittsburgh on the short week. After nearly blowing a big lead, Well, they didn't blow it completely, but they were 35-7 against Tampa and Fitzpatrick's led him to three touchdown drives. I think you'll be disappointed.

I'll tell you who's not in anywhere near the category of the Rams or Saints, okay? The Redskins aren't. The Bears are not. Seattle isn't. I'm talking about teams that could potentially work their way into the postseason. I don't think the Eagles are. I don't think the Eagles are either. They don't have explosive enough offense.

I think I agree with you. Now, I'll tell you who could match them offensively is Atlanta, if Atlanta were to get into the postseason. But I don't know. I think there are more teams actually in the AFC that could turn things around and derail Kansas City or New England. I don't know. Although New England, who. One of them is not your favorite AFC team, by the way. Not at this point at four and five.

Not at this point. Not the Baltimore Ravens. But it could be my other favorite AFC team. It could be the Chargers. It could be the Chargers. I think last week was impressive to go into Seattle and win. It could be, and it could be the Steelers, too, I think. It could be the Steelers.

You know, I wouldn't. I'm not counting out Baltimore quite yet. Oh, come on. I just because I. They're the debate in Baltimore is whether or not they should start Lamar Jackson. Well, they're not going to do that. You heard what basically. Apparently he's nowhere near ready.

By the way, do you think? they'll go the whole season without Robert Griffin dressing one game? Yeah, unless they're completely out of it. If they're completely out of it, they'll go to Jackson and maybe they'll go to RG3 is the backup. But my point is, if that happens,

what do you think would be worse for RG3? Not playing at all, sitting at home, or being in an NFL locker room and never putting on a uniform. It depends on how he's handling himself. If he comes out of Baltimore with glowing reviews from a first-rate organization that says to other organizations, this guy has turned it

around in terms of his personality, in terms of his sort of locker room and good teammate thing. Because anybody that knows anything about the NFL over the last few years, that was the problem with Griffin. He was massively self-absorbed and nobody wanted him in their locker room. But if a good organization like Baltimore says, we gave him a chance and he's matured and he should be given another chance on a team that needs a quarterback, maybe. Maybe. But I think there's a more interesting question. If the Ravens season goes the way it's going here the last three weeks, I still think there's a chance they could turn it around. And John Harbaugh becomes available. I'm telling you right now if I've got an opening, he is at the top of my list.

Top of my list. You know, personally, I'm not a big fan of his because I think he's like insane. Not like his brother. Oh, I think he's got a whole, oh, no, no, no. I think he's got a whole different kind of insanity that I don't want to get into on the podcast. Okay. Wait, I want to get into it. I don't know what you're talking about.

He is the only one who repeatedly gets dinged for all those practice violations over and over and over again. I just think he's enthusiastic about certain things that I think could be dangerous at times. I'm not going into it. I'm not opening up. Is he a right wing nut? I'm not opening up this pan-door response. On election day, is he a right-wing nut? I don't know that he is.

I'm just saying that wouldn't stop me from hiring him. Okay? Here's what I love about him. He's tough. His teams are tough. I think he's a really good head coach. And I'm just saying that if this season here, doesn't go well, and it doesn't go well 35 miles to our north, and he's available,

he would be number one on my list. Now, to me, he's a guy that wouldn't come here. After being in the organization he's been in, he's going to have better opportunities, is my guess. Yeah, and remember, he came from Philadelphia, which was another good organization with another good owner. Yes. So, anyway, I think that's much more of an interesting thing. topic than whether or not

RG3. Kevin wants to hire John Harbaugh the coach of Redskins next year. Well, again, there's Headline. There are eight games left. I'm just saying if it continues to go the way it's going in Baltimore the last three weeks and somehow this season here gets away from Jay Gruden and company,

he would be number one on my list, but you'd have to convince him that organizationally you've changed a lot because as you just pointed out, it's not just Baltimore. He's his experiences with real competence. Yes. in the front office. And I don't think he wants to go somewhere where he senses that that doesn't exist. All right. What about the AFC?

Kansas City, New England. You want me to give you my list? The Chargers. The Steelers. The Steelers. I guess we did do this. Yeah, we did this. I would just tell you this. Don't say it. Well, I've already said that. I've already said that. I know that, but no one took you seriously.

Trust me. Jacksonville's defensive talent is still, still so ready to win in January on the road in a place like Arrowhead or a place like, well, I mean, they almost did win last year in Foxborough. Yes, they did. So, I mean, the way I, look, Kansas City, what we don't know is whether or not they have somebody that can win in the postseason because what they haven't had, sorry, but Alex Smith got you to the postseason with a lot of weapons around them and then, you know, had a second half like last year against Tennessee. Wasn't totally his fault. Travis Kelsey went out and that really derailed their effort in the second half against Tennessee,

but they lost to the Titans at home in the playoffs. Anyway, I guess I would say this, your money wouldn't be crazy to go on just these four teams, no matter what kind of, you know, money line you were looking at. Yeah. Because right now offensively, nobody in the NFC is at the level of the Saints or Rams. Nobody. No. Minnesota is not at that level. Green Bay is not at that level. Man, the more and more you watch

Green Bay like the other day, good God, they need an offensive coordinator. They need somebody to make it just a little bit easier on Aaron Rogers. He's got to do everything. I know. Like there's rarely something that you look at and say, well, that's a good scheme there that they've got going. No, it's just, Aaron, go out and do what you do. All right. What did we want to get to next? I'll tell you what I wanted to get to next. Did you see this? My smell test, Tommy, it was good on Saturday, five and three on Saturday. I'm winning for the year. I'm up, I think three units for the year, something like that.

So actually, you know, if you're paying minus one 10 on the Vig, you're not winning. You're basically breaking even or down a little bit. I knew that Sunday was a blood bath for the house because it was a blood bath for me. I went 0 and 5. It's the worst day ever for the smell test on an NFL Sunday. I think I've been 0 in 3 before. I've been 1 in 4 before, 1 and 2 and 6 before maybe. Never 0 in 5, never.

And so yesterday somebody sent this to me on Twitter that it was the big, loss for the sports books that they can ever remember. This is the story from ESPN. Before the late afternoon NFL games even kicked off, the writing was on the wall. Bookmakers from Nevada to New Jersey were taking a bath on Sunday that will go down as one of the betting public's best days ever. Nevada industry sources estimated the state sports books lost in the range of

7 to 10 million overall just on Sunday. In the early games, the books found themselves holding lopsided betting action on Minnesota, Detroit was a smell test pick, Pittsburgh, Baltimore was a smell test pick, two popular picks by the public that easily covered the spread. Their fate was sealed by Kansas City the most heavily bet favorite on the board Sunday. Cleveland was a smell test pick. Kansas City closed as an eight-point favorite over Cleveland and won 37-21, 88 percent of the money wagered on the point. Point spread at William Hill's sports books in Nevada and New Jersey were on Kansas City. This from Jay Rood, the MGM Vice President of Race and Sports.

He said, after one o'clock, quote, we were pretty much done at that point. Caesar's head of risk operations, Jeff Davis said, bad, really bad. We won one key decision today. Jason McCormick from Station Casino Sportsbook said maybe the dolphins, which had the least handle of the day, but it was the worst Sunday of the season. Where are some of these other quotes? Boyd Gaming Sportsbook director, Bob Scucci,

in an email said, the public just nailed it. They had the big favorites, bears, chiefs, panthers, and Vikings, as well as the short dogs, the Texans, the Broncos were another Smeltespec, and the Steelers, and a lot of overs. By the time we got to the two biggest games, Packers, Patriots,

Rams Saints. There were so many parleyes alive that we weren't going, that the public wasn't going to lose no matter what. Then there's this last line of this story. And it comes from Jake Cornegade, VP of Race in Sports for Westgate in Las Vegas. Good thing is, after all of the disaster on Sunday, good thing, quote, good thing, we'll be open on Tuesday. Close quote. to take your money. So I've had a lot of people over the years say to me, they'll say, I thought the goal was for sports books

to even up the action and collect the Vig, collect the 10%. And yeah, they love it when they can even up the action and create a point spread that creates even action and just collect 10% on a large handle. All right,

I've spent time, as you know, in places that do this and have an understanding of it because they're on the other side of this betting equation. And sure, they would love that. But it's not possible. And what happens is sometimes they will get the public loaded up on one side like they did on Sunday. And they are essentially betting. They're essentially now not in the bet-taking business, but they are in the wagering business. but they are in the wagering business.

They need a side because the 10% isn't going to overcome all of the action that the public has come in on. And it's the games in which you don't see them move that point spread significantly to sort of attract people to the other side to try to even up the book. Those are a lot of times for me, smell test plays. Like the Brown's Chief's line really never moved. Overwhelming action on Kansas City Sunday. and the line basically sat there at one point, to be honest with you, I think on Saturday afternoon it came down to seven and a half. So it was almost like they were incenting more people to bet on the chiefs.

But sometimes it doesn't work out. Look, if the betting public always lost, there would be no betting anymore. No, there wouldn't. There wouldn't be any customers. And Sunday was a bloodbath for the house. I talked to one of my guys, and he just said, He texted me and he just said, oh, what a painful day for us. Because he knew which side I was on and he knew which side I would be on Sunday because

there were a lot of these sort of public plays. And some of them with sharp money on the other sides too. And it happens. But they'll be open Tuesday. They'll be open on Saturday and Sunday to collect your bets. And what goes around in betting comes around in betting. Yes, it does. And that's not a regression to the mean thing either.

That's just practical experience. Here's another thing I wanted to talk to you about. Did you watch Bama on Saturday night? No. I was out dancing Saturday night. What were you doing? I was at Villeen & Saint watching King's Soul. In Bethesda?

Yes. God, you love that King's Soul. That's a good little live music venue, don't you think? Yes, it is. Right there on Wisconsin Avenue? A little bit too crowded sometimes. I've known a couple of the bartenders in there. over the years.

Yeah, it's, it's small, it's tight. Yeah. It's tight. Yeah. And, you know, I mean, you know, Laverro needs a little room the maneuver on the dance floor.

Yeah, you do. Yeah. The dance floor needs a little room when Laverro's on there. I was sitting there watching Saturday night, hoping, really hoping for a close game. Actually, I did watch from,

I watched from where I was sitting in the bar. I could see what was going on. I just wanted to see. It was like six. 16 nothing forever. It was 16 nothing forever. Yeah. Aaron, you were watching the game.

The beginning of that game, the noise in that stadium, you could just feel it watching the game. You've been there for games, right? I went there for a BAM LSU game. I did. But on television Saturday night, you could just feel on that opening drive because LSU started on defense. And Bama has scored a touchdown on every opening drive of every game this year. And basically at the end of first quarters of the Alabama game,

they've been over. Yeah. What was the, I think the average score at the end of the first quarter in Alabama games this year was 21 to 4. That was the average. Sounds right. It was something like the average first score for Alabama was like a minute 45 into the game or

something like that. Yeah. I mean, if you're not even watching Bama games this year and you're seeing the scores pop up, it's like if they've got a 330 start, it's like at 335, it's already 21-0. You know, that's what it's been like all year. So LSU got to stop. Now, they moved it down the field and then there were a couple penalties,

couple things went wrong and they got to stop. And I'm telling you, Tommy, like, if you're into that kind of thing as a sports fan where you're rooting for a big favorite and, you know, this supposed all-time team to fall in an environment like Death Valley at night,

for a quick moment, you're like, this could happen. But not only didn't it happen, that was the highlight of the night. They got run out of the building. I mean, they couldn't move the football at all. This is the toughest environment that Bama will play in, bar none. I mean, they're not going to have that in the Georgia Dome.

They're going to have home fields the rest of the way. They play Mississippi State and Auburn. Both of those games are in Tuscaloosa. Then they'll have the Georgia Dome. And then, Aaron, where are the two sites, Dallas and what's the other one for the playoffs? Is it the Orange Bowl? I think so. I think it's the Orange Bowl.

I think it's Dallas and Miami. So they will likely, I would guess, play in DHS, Dallas. Dallas is probably closer to Tuscaloosa than Miami. I don't know. You know what? I'll bet you Miami's probably, yeah, it might be. Miami's probably about 10 hours from Tuscaloosa. That's what I would think. Yeah. But they're going to have a home environment in one of those two venues, no matter what. So you saw the chance. Now, it's really interesting. Like they play Mississippi State. They still play Auburn. These are two teams that have talent, especially on defense. What? It is Miami? Yeah, it's Miami. Yeah, so it's Dallas and Miami. And then

the championship game is? San Francisco. Oh, that's right, in Santa Clara. So I was thinking after watching them just destroy LSU and what was billed as the game of the year. Like right now, are they the most dominant team in all of sports and team sports? Golden State would be the other team you would look at and say, maybe it's Golden State. But they are right now, like the NFL doesn't have as good as the Rams were as an undefeated team they lost. The Saints look awesome. New England looks awesome.

Kansas City looks awesome. You know, there's not a dominant, there's not a dominant hockey team right now, right? Nobody's dominant in hockey. Nobody was truly, I guess the Red Sox were really dominant. The Red Sox were, people were talking about them. Yeah, I know. Yeah. And they walk through the Dodgers.

So the Red Sox are up there. So of the three, Golden State, Bama, Boston Red Sox, who right now is the best team in team sports? I got to say Alabama. Yeah, Alabama. I mean, I don't see it. Although Golden State's awesome to watch. Yeah, I was going to say Golden State would be the only one that would even come close.

Golden State is not going to lose the... See, this is where I started thinking about this. Like right now, it doesn't really appear as if Alabama could lose the national title, although I would like to see Bama up against Clemson. You know what? I'll say this. The finals, if it's Bama Clemson, I give Clemson a better chance than anyone against Golden State in the NBA playoff this year.

Because it's a one and done versus a best of seven. Yes, it is. So I would say that's true. I agree with Aaron on that. Do you agree with him? Yeah, the notion of a one and done. David can always beat Goliath and one and done. And the David would be Clemson.

Yeah. So that's not much of a David. No. It's two true Goliaths. In fact, what we're watching right now could be, it could be Nick Savin's best team ever. Certainly it is offensively. And it could be Davosweeney's best team. It could be Clemson's best team.

This might be Clemson's best defensive team that we've seen. And the quarterback is great. Now, Deshawn Watson was great too when they won it. But, yeah, I think I would say Golden State. They won again last night. Tell you what, there's some interesting. I know you don't care about this in November, and no one else listening really cares about it.

But there are a couple of interesting things in the NBA right now. Let's not even mentioned those. Toronto and Denver. Let's not even mention those. What if you want to talk about the Wizards? I want to talk about my column. Okay, let's talk about your column. Were you listening to the post game for us conference on Sunday?

Of course I was. Did you hear my question? Of course I did. Do we have it? Can we play it? The five games that you won, you took the lead early. Three games that you lost, you fell behind. Is that enough of a pattern to be concerned or is that still random?

That's so condescending. You know, it's a great question. I thought of that. I mean, I think we've been in a bunch of close games, so certainly it hasn't. I know maybe we had the lead, but they're still back and forth. They're even games. They're one-scored games. So we've been in some tight situations.

We've been in big moments. I think those are learning experience for us as a football team. Okay. That's all we need to do. He didn't have an answer. Yeah, because, you know, when he was answering, and you're right, he didn't really have an answer. I was thinking to myself, what are the real tight situations they've been in?

You know, they were in a tight situation defensively against Carolina at the end. And Dallas. And Dallas at the end on defense. The Packers really, by the time you got to the last five minutes, it was already 3117. Or, you know, it was a one. Actually, you know what? No, they were never even, Green Bay never even got it to a one score game, did they? I don't think they did.

So they have not been in, really thinking about this, have they been in one game this year where they needed a fourth quarter drive to either ice the game or to win the game? No. No. Absolutely not. And, you know, it's funny,

because I asked the same question of him a couple weeks ago, and he looked at me like I had two heads. And he basically said, are you kidding me? What do you bother me with this kind of question for it? So this was your column idea. Did you know this was going to be your column when you arrived at when you sat down at your seat at the stadium? Yeah, I knew it was because I think after eight games where, I mean, it's clearly a pattern. And it clearly addresses the issue of whether the quarterback is capable of mounting a quick strike offense that you need sometimes in a comeback situation.

as compared to the guy who they used to have who was perfectly capable of doing it. The whole point of this, and I think is Jay's Gruden's issue as well, is the Redskins right or wrong, everything was about the quarterback last year. And the whole time Kirk Cousins was here, win or lose, it was on the quarterback.

That's not the case anymore. And that's a problem. That's a problem for them. I know, but I, I don't know why they didn't know this. Those of us that watched Alex Smith saw the good things in Alex Smith, right? He's an extend the play quarterback. He's able to really use his legs.

But, you know, he wasn't this potential top 10 kind of guy, not to mention the fact that he wasn't 25 years old either. Yes, 30, going on 34 years old. But I don't want to lose this one thought. They were in a position where because of, in my view, and a lot of people's views, not necessarily theirs, they messed up the situation they had with a franchise quarterback. Football front office malfeasance. It was that they had to come up with a solution because, you know, if just the players,

the 22 players coming off injured reserve last year, we're going to provide them with a decent football team, not a great football team, but a team that was going to be improved on defense, would have been improved defensively last year had those defensive players stayed healthy, that hopefully was going to be, you know, relatively healthy compared to a year ago, and now we're getting into a situation where they're not. But they had this sense that, you know, they had to make it happen, that they had to get to the playoffs this year. And no offense, but they came to the conclusion that it wasn't going to be Colt McCoy.

I think that was the right decision. And they clearly, I hope, came to the conclusion that they could, make a move for a young quarterback that would have an impact this year or in a big way down the road because Jake Rudin says he never even evaluated the college quarterbacks. Remember he said that. Which is so bizarre. Weird. I mean, very bizarre because I think that was an option for them.

Well, that should have been the other option. It's like we either say to ourselves, we're building for the future and we're going to draft our quarterback here. We might have to trade up to draft the quarterback and give up something. but if we really like the guy, we're going to go that route with a young defense and really build for two, three years down the road. Or the conclusion they came to, hopefully, was they didn't like any of the quarterbacks, although Jay Cruden never evaluated any of the quarterbacks. Or we're going to go get a solid veteran quarterback that has the, in their mind's eye, is as good or better than the guy that we just had. But even better than that, he's a leader.

And so they spent the money on him. It's driving you nuts, isn't it? But what drives me nuts is what they should have been thinking is we're getting a guy that's a leader, that's a good, legitimate starting quarterback that we can build, we can come back with our 22 players off injured reserve and have a good team that has a chance to go to the playoffs this year. That's what they should have been thinking. They shouldn't have been thinking we've got a guy that now with this team, but now we've got a much better quarterback,

and we've got a guy that can really take us to a much larger level. They shouldn't have been thinking that. They should have been thinking, we got a guy with all of these pieces around him that we can win with, and if we put in a rookie or if we put in Colt McCoy, we're going to be wasting that opportunity for this year. So I hope they were thinking about that, which I agreed with. I didn't have a problem with the trade.

I think about it. I think the trade, if they evaluate it, the young quarterbacks and came to the conclusion that there wasn't anybody they loved, then they should have gone the Alex Smith route. But you and I also both know that there was some urgency about this year. I'll grant that. Let's just point out one thing, though, with all that said, if they don't pick up Adrian Peterson, they're not five and three.

They're not five and three. Complete and utter mess offensively. They have no hope off. No. Their only hope offensively this year has been Adrian Peterson. Yeah. And what a difference Adrian Peterson has made in a running game that was non-existent for several years. Now, it's been non-existent in three losses because of them getting behind in games.

Imagine that. See what I get there? Imagine that. See, you got credit for that. I will say this. To his point that he made in his answer, which was much longer than what we played, when you're playing a team like Atlanta and you get down three scores, not many teams are coming back against Atlanta down three scores. It's not like Alex Smith is the only guy that can't come back against Atlanta.

There are a lot of teams that would have gotten down 21-7 at halftime and had a really difficult time coming back against Atlanta. You know, the team they're playing this Sunday wouldn't have had a hard time. No, Fitzpatrick seems to bring him back, you know. Does it all the time. He may wind up giving it to you, event. Eventually, but he's going to bring you back. He's going to make it a game.

It's almost like Ryan Fitzpatrick is sort of the guy that Gruden would really like to have. The guy that's because remember, he wanted Kirk to take more chances. And he thought he was getting a guy that was going to take more chances. I don't know why they thought that. I mean, but then again, there was, I think, one person making the trade. And I don't know how much Bruce really knew about Alex Smith, other than this will get me the hook for the other stuff and we'll have a chance to win. And I agree with that. And they still have a chance to win with Alex Smith. Alex Smith is a good quarterback. He's just not as good as the last

guy, but he's a good quarterback and you can win with him if everything around him is working. But they believed, I do believe they believed, that he was more than that. And that's why this Sunday, to me, is a big moment for the organization. It is. Because he's going to have to make some magic happen. Yes. And the defense is going to, the defense is totally capable of stepping up Sunday. Yes, they are. And picking off Ryan Fitzpatrick twice. Exactly.

I mean, the defense could wind up scoring once, maybe even twice in a game like this. Has it scored at all this year of the defense? Yeah, well, the Preston Smith. Oh, yeah, against Dallas. Yeah, against Dallas. Right. Yeah, so they're capable of that. Yeah.

The play of the game. They played a game. They won that game. The defense did. They're capable of doing it again. I agree. I agree. And Sunday would be one of those spots that they could do it.

They could do it. Here's the last word. If you want to read my column, you can read it in Washington Times, Washington Times.com. You can hear me on WJFK with Chad Dukes on Wednesdays tomorrow, 4 to 6, and Saturday mornings with Andy Paulin, 9 to noon. And, you know, those great call. And what I would do, too, is I would tune in, although NBC Sports, Washington, can you give us the whole press conference, please, after the game?

I don't know why somebody there over the years at times have felt like they should get out of the Jay Gruden postgame press conference. Well, actually, it only lasted three minutes this time. No, Sunday it did. It only lasted three minutes. It only lasted three minutes, 28 seconds, I think. But they have a couple of times this year bailed on it. Yeah, they have. Why?

I don't know. Like, what else are you? I mean, look, I love Trevor, Brian, the whole gang. Julie, love you. Great job that you guys are doing. You guys are going to have plenty of time. to get to the game. And we're going to have plenty of time for JP to be interviewing Morgan Moses.

Morgan Moses. But right now, I want to hear the coach start to finish. I want to make sure I've heard every single word he has said, and the quarterback has said after the game. Those are the two reasons, you know, post game. As a redskinned fan after game, you want to hear the coach and every question and every answer and the quarterback, every question and every answer. It's not that hard. How can people hear every? How can people hear every word of this podcast?

Well, they can do that by downloading it on iTunes, like many of you have. But we're talking to people who are already listening to the podcast. So we don't have to really promote to them how to listen to the podcast. What we would promote or ask of you is that, and many of you have done this, so thank you. And seriously, thank you because I know many of you have, have told people who have said, hey, want to listen to Sheehan, want to listen to Laverro, want to listen to Cooley every once in a while on this podcast. Yeah, it's really easy. Just go to the Kevin Sheehan Show.com, and it is easy to do that. Also, if you're listening on iTunes or Stitcher or Google Play or

tune in or any of those places, and they give you a chance to rate it more times than not. You have to subscribe, but subscribe does not mean you're paying. It's totally free. And it doesn't mean you're giving any valuable information away either. But rate it. That helps us as well. And many of you have answered that call, too, because I've seen the ratings go up since those first few weeks. Also, real quickly, if you live in the Bethesda Chevy Chase Upper Northwest D.C. area and you don't want a long commute, and it's too hard to get work done from home because of the dogs or kids or whatever, check out launch workplaces in Bethesda. It's launch work. Workplaces.com.

You can call today 24, 8,86714 for an exclusive free two-day trial. If you mentioned that you heard it from me, all right, launchworkplaces.com or 240-86714 for a free two-day trial. This is what Launch Workplaces provides in Bethesda. It's a very flexible, affordable, private office solution, beautiful new space, fully furnished offices, conference rooms, co-working desks, high-speed internet, a cafe,

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an exclusive free two-day trial at 240-86714 or launchworkplaces.com. Did we get to everything we wanted to get to? I wanted to talk a little bit about the Wizards with you, but I don't think anybody cares. Nobody cares.

I mean, you know, they're on the comeback trail. But did you see what Austin Rivers? You saw Austin Rivers basically said it runs a little bit deeper than just defense? Yes, it's day. Well, now that Dwight Howard's back, he's going to be their emotional center. He's actually played pretty well in the first two games. They played a night. Maryland basketball opens up their season tonight against Delaware.

I'm looking forward to that. And do you get into election night? I love election night. Yes. I mean, you know what? I used to work a lot of election nights when I was a newspaper reporter. And that's very fun and exciting. I don't like it as much as I used to because cable news has ruined everything, pretty much.

Well, why don't you just watch it on the networks when they come on at 10 o'clock with the beginning of the results like all the old people do? I'd rather watch the Rocker Files reruns. I think election nights are, you know what, it's the competition of it that's fun. It is sort of like watching a sporting event. Yes, it is. And if you have a rooting interest, it gets really heated. There's a group that has gotten together for a lot of election nights over the years that I'll be doing that tonight. And it's a lot of mixed views, which makes it quite an interesting night.

But I'll be watching the Terps somehow. The Wizards play tonight. So we've got a lot of sports to talk about tomorrow. Also, on the show tomorrow, Gary Williams will be on and Doc Walker will be on the show. Thanks to John Kime, thanks to Aaron. Have a great day, everybody. Take care.