The Kevin Sheehan Show - Denver Is Good But....

Episode Date: November 28, 2025

Kevin opened with thoughts on yesterday's Thanksgiving Day NFL triple-header and then got to his keys to an upset over the Broncos Sunday night in Landover. He thinks Washington has a shot to pull it off. Jay Gruden jumped on for a ton of NFL talk, his preview of Commanders-Broncos, plus his "NFL Lock of the Week".  He's hit on 7 of his last 8 on the show. Kevin has another 8 "Smell Test" picks for Saturday and Sunday. He's 88-50-10 ATS on the season. For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match Want to spruce up your lawn? FastGrowingTrees.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it, you don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Sheehan Show, here's Kevin. Window Nation is the presenting sponsor of this podcast. If you need new windows, I highly recommend. Windonation. Call them at 86690 Nation, or head to windownation.com. Mention my name, and I promise you, they'll take really good care of you. I hope everybody had a great holiday.

I'll be honest with you, I really didn't watch live a lot of the first two games yesterday. I saw some of both Green Bay, Detroit, and Kansas City, Dallas, and actually caught up on the Kansas City Dallas game early this morning, kind of watching that condensed version. Two really good games, obviously. I did get a chance to watch Baltimore Cincinnati pretty much start to fit, finish. I think Baltimore, honestly, is a lucky football team right now to be in the AFC North. I don't

think they're a very good team right now. They're not good defensively. Lamar doesn't look right physically, although he looked a little bit better last night physically, but way too many mistakes, picks, fumbles. Baltimore turned the ball over five times against that defense, Cincinnati's defense, and lost 32 to 14. I'll tell you what, Cincinnati has gone from 3 and 8 to 4 and 8, and they are just two games back of the Ravens, and they are two and a half games back of the Steelers. The Steelers play the Bills on Sunday afternoon.

That division could be won by somebody going 8 and 9 or 9 and 8. I don't think you're going to need 10 to win the AFC North this year. Joe Burrow was back and he looked pretty sharp. Love watching him play quarterback. The Cowboys, wow, I mean, are they better on defense since the trades? And what about George Pickens? I actually think he's the better receiver of the two with C.D. Lam, but they are explosive offensively. And that was a hell of a football game.

Again, I didn't really see a lot of it live, the fourth quarter live. But, man, that was a hell of a lot of. of a football game. Green Bay was a smell test winner for me. That was the only game I gave out yesterday. I think they're the best team in that NFC North right now. I think Detroit's in a bit of trouble. Man, they don't look anything like the team we saw here a few weeks back. Of course, they weren't playing our defense either. They faced the Philadelphia and the Green Bay defenses in two of their last three games since blowing us out. The fourth down, decisions and the fourth down results were really the difference in that game. The Packers were

three for three on fourth down, including the last one to ice the game on fourth and three. The Lions O for two, including going for a fourth and three, down ten in the fourth quarter. I know what the analytics say. Go for it. If I'm down 10, I'm changing the context of the game by kicking a field goal and making it a one-score game. I think the psychology of 31 to 24 with 12 minutes or 11 minutes to go is different than 31 to 21. Anyway, the playoff race is going to be thrilling here down the stretch in both conferences. More big games on Sunday. Houston at Indy. We've got Pittsburgh and Buffalo late in the day. Too bad our team isn't a part. of it this year like they were last year.

The opportunity, though, to play spoiler, I think is going to exist with those three games, two against Philly, one against Dallas. And who knows? Maybe if they pull the upset on Sunday night and go beat Minnesota and the Giants. Yeah, we're not going there. Jay Gruden coming up shortly, his lock of the week, six of the last seven he is hit on. He is on a roll. Smell test, of course, has been on a role all season long.

Already gave out Green Bay yesterday. I've given out Texas for tonight, plus the points I'll have in the final segment of the show today, another eight picks for tomorrow and Sunday. Just as an FYI, I'm recording this show a bit earlier than usual. I was off radio today. If there's any big news that comes out of. Ashburn, and I'm not expecting it with Dan Quinn talking and with one more practice. I won't necessarily have that on today's show. I'm not expecting any big news. Mariotta is going to start.

I'm not expecting a bombshell of Jaden returning to the starting lineup. Will Harris looks like he will be back and ready to go on Sunday. Terry and Noah Brown were full participants in practice yesterday. The team did release Robbie Chosen again this morning, which makes me think that Noah Brown is going to be called up off that 21-day window. And, you know, who knows? Will Harris, Terry McCorn, Noah Brown, all back. Can't hurt, that's for sure. As far as the game Sunday night against Denver goes,

let me talk about the Broncos for a bit. If you're not following that team or that division or their season or where they stand right now in the league, it's a pretty good standing they've won eight games in a row there are nine and two football team only new england at ten and two has a better record um they are led without question uh by the defense uh this is a defensive football team you could argue that they're the best defense in football i personally think houston right now is the best defense but denver's right there um number one and several defensive categories, third down defense, yards per place,

sacks, 49 total on the season so far. A hellacious number, seven more than second place Cleveland with 42. Nick Benito has become a star in this league. Last year was his breakout year. Number 15 is near the top man in pressures, sacks. He is just an absolute problem to deal with off. edge. You know, they've got speed everywhere on defense. With Benito in particular, again, Jersey number 15, if you haven't watched Denver. He's like that recent build body-wise that

teams seem to be looking for a little bit more here and there, the taller, angular kind of type. And he's just a guy that can wreck football games. Washington has to stop him from ruining the game on Sunday. Number zero, Jonathan Cooper, 99, Zach Allen, or problems as pass rushers as well. I mean, they just can get after the quarterback. They don't do it with just four. They'll blitz. They'll scheme it up. Vance Joseph, the defensive coordinator. And then on the back end, returning to the lineup, it would appear, is Pat Sartan, who some believe is the best cover corner in the league. He certainly can, you can make the case. for that. They play a lot of man coverage. We have not been a team that's been very good in dealing

with man coverage. Hopefully the return of Terry McClure and Noah Brown can change that some. Number 21, Riley Moss is an interesting corner because he's been a bit of a storyline all year and been kind of a meme on social media because he leads the league in defensive PIs. He's got seven total. a hefty lead in that category. He's not bad, though. When you watch him, and I've watched Denver several times this year, I think he's a competitor and a fighter. I think some of the calls have been horrendous against him. You know, the Dallas game was a game in which it was kind of a high-profile game. And I remember thinking, yeah, I don't think that's a good call. He's all, he's kind of gotten a rep for being a guy that's going to, you know, be physical and

and grab a lot, but anyway, Hufanga's back there at safety, although he'll play in the box a lot, remember him from San Francisco. And then here's a really interesting story, all right? Alex Singleton is a really good player for the Broncos, linebacker. So he missed one football game for them. But listen to this. So in early November, or maybe late October, he was randomly you know the league random drug tests its players and the league

randomly drug tested Alex Singleton he's number 49 by the way and he'll be back on Sunday night they noticed that he had a high what's the hormone a high HCG hormone level in his system and they recommended the league did that he go see a urologist. He did, and he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. He underwent surgery on November 7th the day after they played a game against the Raiders on November 6th, and he had nine tackles in the game. He missed one game, their last game, and is expected to play Sunday night. It will be an emotional thing.

This dude is a total badass. Last year he played basically a game on an ACL and then came back faster than normal off an ACL. They're really good on defense. Vance Joseph does a great job coaching them defensively. It is hard to move the football against Denver. You know, I kind of put the scare in our. Friday shows a couple of times, especially before the Seattle game and the Detroit games. And I said to you before that Seattle game, this team is just without a flaw.

I mean, this is a great football team. This is a total mismatch. Detroit, kind of the same thing. I think Denver's defense is legit, scary good. However, they're not a very good team offensively. You know, you know Sean Payton's the head coach and play caller. You know Bowdox. You know Cortland Sutton. They lost J.K. Dobbins a couple of games back. They have missed J.K. Dobbins a ton. This is a team, or they missed him in the last game, and I think they're going to miss him a ton.

He was at 770 yards. He was a guy that, you know, along with Nick Chubb, I said over the summer offseason, you can get him for like $3 million. Why not? And he got hurt again, but he had a really good first nine, ten games. They scored in a Thursday night game a few weeks back, 10 points against the Raiders, Denver did. Now, to be fair to them, it was a Thursday night game, a short turnaround after an absolute bloodbath, physical, physical football game against Houston. all right so it was like they were barely recovered they won the game 10 to 7

they were lucky to win the game against a terrible Raiders team in which they only scored 10 points but they have struggled to score for a lot of even this winning street that they've been on they've been winning with defense now uh bow nicks he is he's going to have some good throws he's going to have some terrible throws but man he has delivered in the fourth quarter for them. He really, he can be really good, and obviously he's got the perfect, you know, coach. They will, they'll get him out on the edge. He can really run. But God, does he make some throws that are head scratching? So that's something to keep in mind. I love Cortland Sutton. I've liked him ever since he came into the league from SMU. He's been, you know, he's a taller receiver.

He's been hurt a lot. I kind of, and I know I've said this, and people have like, rolled their eyes and said, good God, you hate Terry. It's not that I hate Terry at all. I just have never been in love with them the way many of you have. I think Terry and Cortland Sutton have always been in kind of the same category, you know, not top 10-ish, not top 5ish, more like top 15ish, top 20-ish. But Sutton is, you know, a big target. Mims is a playmaker, not only on offense at times, but he is a lethal threat as a returner, both on punts and kickoffs. But this Denver offense is the least threatening offensive football team that Washington has played since probably the Chicago game on Monday night way back in October,

early October. Now, could the Denver offense get healthy against our defense? A hundred percent. They lit up Dallas, scored 44 against Dallas when Dallas was really bad on defense before some of the you know personnel changes through trades that they made um but i do kind of feel like maybe defensively against denver's offense it could be another kind of non-embarrassing game like miami's you know offense didn't embarrass us um all right let me get to my keys to what would be an upset for sure although denver is only a six-point favorite as we speak, five and a half in some spots. All right, keys to an upset over the Broncos.

Number one, like this is a given with this team. They've got to play a clean football game. You know, it just has to be a better football game than a lot of the ones they've played. Even the last one that they lost by three, the San Ristill muffed punt, the stumble by Zach Ertz on the fourth and goal, the fourth, the missed field goals. Now, we got a new kicker in this game, Jake Moody, replacing Matt Gay. But you just have to play a clean football game. Turnovers none, drops none, stumbles on fourth down, none, penalties very few, missed field goals, none.

To pull off a win like this against this team, you can't beat yourself. You got to hope they do. Number two, this is one of those critical games offensively. where you have to stay ahead of the chains on offense. You've got to be in second and fives and third and twos to have any chance. Really, this is obvious stuff against Denver. Because any obvious passing situation isn't likely to end well. I think they've got to try to run the football again.

I think there's got to be a ton of quick stuff. You can't hold up in the dropback game against Denver's pass rush. You just can't. And Washington's offensive line is a good one. It is. You've got to stay ahead of the chains on offense to have any chance of staying on the field. And by the way, keeping the field position, you know, fair and not imbalanced. Like you don't want to get sacked for a nine-yard loss on third and nine, and it's third and 18,

because now where you're punting from isn't where you'd be punting from on third and five or third and four. That's going to be big because punting may be. something you've got to do a lot of on Sunday night. Number three, if you do get into drop back mode, there are two things here. Number one, you can't let Benito ruin the game. Double him, chip him, the whole thing. But I think there's another part of this, because when you think back to last year with a lesser offensive line, when they played really good defenses like Philadelphia's,

and they got into third and longs, their quarterback is not. names Jaden Daniels. He created. He went off schedule. He extended. This is going to be one of those games that if you do get into dropback mode, and even on downs in which you're not in pure dropback, obvious drop bag mode, maybe a second and four where you decide to go play action, if they get pass rush, Marcus Marriota is going to have to be great in this game. He's going to have to be great at extending plays, you know, getting away from that quick pass rush. Benito's quick in getting to the quarterback, ducking, getting out of harm's way, and creating a play with his legs as a runner or creating a play with his legs to throw the football.

You're not going to get what you want on schedule against the Bronco defense. So you better figure out a way to get out of harm's way and extend plays off schedule. I think this is going to be huge because. Because, you know, I, this, this key, if you do get back into drop back mode, you got to, you know, keep Benito from ruining the game and you can't just let him go one-on-one with Connerley or anybody else. But you've got to hope that Marcus Mariotta can really pull out, you know, some extensions of plays and pull a magic act or two. because that's the only way you beat great defenses. You don't do it on schedule, you do it off schedule, and you don't do it in dropback mode.

You do it on schedule in terms of down and distance. All right, let's flip it to defense against offense for key number four. You got to win in the red zone like they did against Miami. You know, Miami was one for five in the red zone. That was the biggest, you know, takeaway from that game. It was why Washington was in it. Miami got to the red zone five times. You don't want that to happen.

And by the way, I'm not discounting the possibility Denver moves the football, even though they haven't done it consistently throughout the season. But against our defense, they're probably going to have more success than they've had recently against other teams. But you've got to get really big and get some stops in the red zone. And remember, Sean Payton, like Mike McDaniel, he'll go for a lot of those fourth and goals, you know, from the four, you know, basically from inside the five-yard line. If you can get out of those things and hold them, again, five red zone trips, I think it would spell trouble.

But let's just say, you know, O for three, one for three, something like that. That would be big. You know, Washington defensively in the red zone is not great, even after that last game. But offensively, did you know that they still rank second in the league in red zone scoring percentage, touchdown scoring percentage? Crazy, because they didn't get one. I think they were 0 for three against the dolphins. But anyway, look, Miami against the dolphins, they got some huge fourth down stops. That ended up being a big difference in them hanging around and having a chance. They need those again. They've got to win in the red zone defensively. And then lastly,

I'm going to throw this in. How about a few tricks? Let's go for it Sunday night. You know, a flea-flicker, a throwback lateral on a punt return, a fake punt. Remember Tressway in the championship game against Philly? Go all out in this one. Whatever you got in a bag, use it.

This is basically it. A ninth loss in the season is truly over. Maybe not even mathematically at that point, but you get the point. I'm not sitting here telling you that a win is going to turn around my outlook on the rest of the season.

I just don't think they're good enough defensively against better offensive teams that they're going to face. Maybe not Minnesota and the Giants, although Jamis will probably light them up, but certainly against Dallas. Yeah, go all out. Go for it. Whatever trick plays you have in the book,

let's see them. Let's see them against this Denver defense because I think it's going to be hard to move the ball. without really good off-schedule play by Marcus Marriota. I actually think Washington's got a shot Sunday night. Now, why do I think that the line tells me that? The public money on Denver tells me that. Yeah, more likely than not when we get to the final segment,

you're going to hear me put Washington into the smell test again. Denver wins it, but a final score of like 23 to 20. Jay Gruden next after these words from a few of our sponsors. Guys, everybody understands that from time to time, we have personal finance issues, banking relationship issues that include things like overdraft fees, missed payments, wishing you had ways to save more on what you earn. Well, Chime understands this. They understand that every dollar counts, and that's why when you set up direct deposit

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is Jay Gruden, the former head coach. Washington Redskins. How was your Thanksgiving? Thanks, it was excellent. Got to see the year old granddaughter, the only girl Gruden in America. That's a good turkey and stuffing and everything. It was good. So the only girl Gruden in America, now, do you have her, like, working on her offhand with a basketball? Do you have her with a golf club in her hand

already? What's going on with all of that male? Yeah, go ahead. I was teacher in a golf swing yesterday. She doesn't want to have anything to do with it right now, though, because she doesn't do her own thing, like Patty Cake and things like that. But I'll get her going on golf, that's for sure. But I think she's going to be a pretty good athlete. The mother is short, fast, fast as well, she played soccer. And, of course, Joey was a walk-out-out-at-the-ball player.

So there's going to be some athleticism in that they're always got to figure out what she likes. You know what? It's so interesting, right? when both mother and father are athletes, it's almost a lock for the kids, right? He would think that, but I don't think it always is. It isn't always that way, but I'll tell you, and you've had all these experiences too,

because we're basically the same age with kids the same age. It just seems like, you know, when I look around and I see an exceptional athlete, usually both husband and wife were athletes. It's rare when I see no athleticism in husband and wife. That's rare. But it seems to always be a bit of an advantage when both of them were athletic at some point. I agree.

Yep. There's nothing. Although I met AJ Green's parents. And I was like, there's no way they made this guy. Oh, really? What were they? They just did look very athletic. You know what I mean?

I figured that dad would be six with five and the mother would be, you know, five foot ten and a half, you know. But that wasn't the case. It was really crazy. But, yes, it's really weird when the athlete comes out of the parents that aren't athletes, you know what I mean? Yeah. Was your wife an athlete?

She plays, she's like in the real stuff. She plays tennis. She's a good golfer. She's like a seven or eight handicapped. Right. Yeah, she's not bad. Yeah, seven or eight handicapped. Not bad at all.

All right. We are going to get to. Jay's lock of the week, which is highly anticipated right now. He's won six out of his last seven on this podcast. I did go back and add up the entire year. I'll share that with you when we get to it. But were you able to watch football all day or, you know, and focus on it? I was kind of in and out of the games most of the day, you know, caught up on them last night a little bit. Actually watched a lot of the Cincinnati Baltimore game. What about you? Yeah, I watched the entire first game, the line game,

then the first half of the Chief game and Cowboys and drove back to Daytona to Atlantic Beach, which was about two hours, so I missed the ending of the cowboy game and then watched the entire Baltimore game, which was, man, just that a different team of that quarterback. I don't know what's going on with some of these teams. I think Dallas, I've made a mention.

I think Dallas is the best team of football right now. I really do with the addition of those two defensive tackles and overshon playing, the way he's playing on defense and back and CD and Pickens. I mean, this is a bona fide good football team now. I mean, they don't really have a weakness. It used to be their defense is so bad that the offense had no chance to really score by score with the other team. But now with the addition of these new players on defense, dang, man, cowboys are good.

The best, did you just say you think the Cowboys are the best team in football right now? They might be the best team. I mean, I don't know, in the way the Eagles are struggling. They might not even get in the playoffs, but I think with the additions that they've made, the guys they got back from injury, I think that they might be the best offensively. I mean, these two wide receivers are unbelievable, aren't they?

Unbelievable. And I'm now, I think Pickens is actually the better of the two. And this guy, and then you get a solid tight end, and Javante is running the ball hard, and it's new running back. He is. He's plowing through people. Number 43, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I hate that. you know, do that, but they came back last week from 21 down to Philadelphia and beat them. So then just beat Kansas City. I know his home game is still about two pretty big wins in the middle of the year. Yeah, they play. I mean, I still, I still in the NFC, look at the Rams and even Seattle as totally complete football teams. I mean, the Rams are awesome right now.

Yeah, and they have a similar type. They'll have a good defense now. They have two very, very good receivers in Fook and Devante and, of course, the quarterback Hall of Fame. So, yeah, the Rams are right there. But to have the quarterback playing the way their quarterbacks are playing in Dallas and in L.A., and then they have two really unbelievable receivers, which both Dallas and L.A. have. I mean, it's a huge advantage. In Philadelphia, it can get there, too, with J.L.

And, obviously, A.J. Brown and DeMonte. So those are the three teams, I think, that are going to duke it out at the end if Dallas gets in. Yeah, I mean, it's interesting because. I think we had the conversation last week, and I said to you, I said, I think if Houston gets in, they could actually, they could win it all, like, if they get in. Now, I'm just looking ahead to next Thursday night. Detroit is a three and a half point favorite at home next Thursday night against the Cowboys. I mean, two weeks ago, they would have been a seven point favorite at the very least. So that's increasing respect for the Cowboys. Yeah, the, you know, I guess,

we have to give Jerry Jones some credit. I mean, the Quinn and Williams trade to me in the moment looked like, what are you doing? Like, this season is shot. Why would you give up all of that for Quinn and Williams right now? But he's made a massive difference. And the return of overshone, that guy can fly. Yeah, I mean, he's a sideline to sideline player.

And then, of course, the two line, defense line, a clerk and Quinn. I mean, these guys are, those guys, these two guys are, pro bowl players. They're two of the best of the business. You take those out of the lineup and you had the Mazzis-Smith guy they drafted who obviously didn't pan out and some other slappy from North Dakota.

They were getting gutted up the middle. They're getting gutted. They couldn't stop anybody. Now all of a sudden you can't run up the middle. So it's a big difference. And he's trying to run wide and here comes over, Sean, just running you down. And the coverage, past coverage is better because of it. I think, you know, Fowler's still getting some heat. And then

Davian Clowny, I don't know where he came from, but he's starting to play better. Geez, I don't know. Maybe I'm crazy, but the last two weeks has impressed me a lot watching the Cowboys. Yeah, I mean, for sure. You know, you look at what they have coming up. They have Detroit.

Then they go, then they go Minnesota and the Chargers both at home. And then Washington might be in a good spot to play spoiler on Christmas Day. And we'll see, yeah, we'll see if they have, you know, a healthy football team on offense at that point. You know, in talking about Pickens, lamb. You know, the way fans sometimes talk about receivers, I think that it's just totally different

than the way obviously you guys look at receivers. But to oversimplify it, and I want you to help me with this, you know, there are receivers that, you know, get great separation. Then there are receivers who are great contested catch guys. And then, by the way, you know, every once in a while, you get the combination of both in one particular player. But if a receiver only had a receiver only had one of those traits. Great contested catch guy, great, you know, 50-50 guy versus the guy that wins consistently with separation. Which of those two is your preference? Probably the, if you're saying the 50-50 guy is a big guy that's a physical type player, that I'd probably take the 50-50 guy. You would. But Pickens really isn't that big of a physical guy like his running game or so.

So I don't know, it just depends on the guy and what else they can do. I would probably err on the side of the guy that can get separation consistently. So that would probably be a little guy like Tyreek or, you know, Sean was like that kind of. Yeah. Don't you think Lamb just gets a lot of separation almost immediately? Yeah, I would like, if you were talking to CD with the physicality he has also, I'd probably take him. Yeah, I would probably take him. Devante gets pretty good separation as well.

And he's good at the 50-50 ball, so I don't know. There's a lot of guys that are pretty good at both of them. Pickens is probably the best 50-50 ball guy in the league right now. Good God, yeah. So, you know, he's just so long. My God, his arms. Yeah, so, I don't know, that's a tough call.

I think I'd like to have both of them, you know, to be greedy. The position over the last 5, 6, 7, maybe a little bit more than that years, has just blown up. Like, there are so many great receivers in the NFL, and they just keep coming out, you know, draft after draft. I mean, look at the development of J.S.N. in Seattle. I mean, people believe now he's there with Jefferson and Chase, you know, in that truly elite category.

Who's your favorite? Do you have one in the league? Yeah, my favorite probably, you know, J.S.N. has been very, very impressive, obviously, because he has emerged as, golly, how good is he? I love Jemar Chase because he's a visible guy after the catch. I probably go Chase number one and Jefferson number two, and I could flip forward. hop on that on any given day, and then JSN, probably right up there. Devante's a little bit older, but he's a steady, good receiver. Puka's tough. I mean, there's so many good ones. But I would say that the cream of the crop is probably Jamar and Justin, and then Smith

and Jigba close behind him. If Christian McCaffrey were just a wide receiver, would he be a great one or just a good one? Probably just a good one. He's, you know, he doesn't have that long speed. I mean, he's fast. I don't know. That's a good. Yeah, I just don't see him getting off the line consistently and bump and running all that stuff. Yeah. Yeah, he's too good running back. It is, it's an interesting league right now. I mean, Kansas City at 6 and 6.

You know, some of the teams that are playing the best football in the league right now aren't guaranteed to make the playoffs. Teams like Dallas, teams like Houston, you know, in the AFC. What's wrong with Baltimore right now? I mean, Lamar's been hurt, and that kind of can. came out. I think we talked about this last week as it related to them that they are, you know, they don't look right. You know, Lamar hasn't looked right. And apparently he has been banged up. I mean, they got, they turned the ball over five times last night. They're six and six. By the way, your Bengals, which you certainly were a part of multiple playoff

teams under Marvin Lewis as the offensive coordinator, they're not out of it in the AFC North. This AFC North might be won by a team with an eight and nine record. this year? Yeah, there's no doubt about it. And none of the teams are very good right now in all three phases. They all show flashes here and there. Baltimore's, I don't know what's wrong at Baltimore. We mentioned it before.

I think Lamar's still hurt, but they can't catch a ball right now. And guys are open Lamar can't deliver. They're very inconsistent on every phase of the game in the running game and a passing game. I don't think they just look awful. But they've won five in a row or five or last six, right? defense is getting better Cincinnati, of course, with Joe Burrow, they're a whole different team.

And in Pittsburgh, they don't really do anything great either that excites me. So there's no doubt about the people who said that Joe Burrough should sit out the rest of the year and they should save them for next year. You got to be kidding me. They're still in the playoff hunt. I mean, good Lord. Yeah. I don't really like any one of the three teams.

I wouldn't stand on a table right now for any one of the three teams. I can make a case for all three of them, and I can make a case for all three of them to fail. So I don't know. Burroughs really is something else, man. He really is. The offense hasn't really been their issue. Even with Flacco, they were putting up points. The issue's been the worst defense in the history of the NFL that all of a sudden is turning teams over. They got five takeaways last night, which is crazy. By the way, speaking of Lamar and missing people, have you had a chance to watch J.J. McCarthy at all and wait in on his struggle? in Minnesota? I have watched him, and he is struggling quite a bit, and there's really not a lot of positive things you can say about his performance at all. There's nothing that really shows me that, hey, he's going to turn the corner next week.

There's nothing to me that shows that. So he has got a long, long way to go from his footwork to his accuracy, his arm angles, his decision-making. There's nothing that would stand on the table and say, hey, this is our guy for the next five, ten years. So hopefully they see supplement them, but from a, Innocent bystander, just watching the tape, man, it's bad. It's really bad. Yeah.

You know, speaking of bad, and I wrote this down for you, and I put it into my phone when I was watching it on Monday night, when a guy like Brock Purdy has the first half he had the other night against the Panthers, where he literally throws three picks and a half. You know, there just aren't there aren't three-pick games. There aren't three picks in two games a lot anymore. You know, compared to football way back in the day, there just aren't a lot of interceptions compared to what football used to be. When a guy throws three picks that quickly, do you just come right back to him and say,

we got to get him an easy completion? Or are you thinking about Mack Jones? Like, it looked like, I think people were on pins and needles on his next dropback. Like, what the hell's going to happen here? Right? Because it was so odd to see it. Yeah, Horn made some good plays, though. But, yeah, that's tough.

Horn did make some good plays. Fortunately, the 49th defense kept them alive, and they were able to stay on track with their game plan and didn't have to panic or pull anybody and then it won in a game. But, by the way, how about the call-in-person goal at the one-foot line? A clash and pass Bryce Young throws it right to the 49ers. Can you imagine that? Good Lord.

But anyway, yeah, it's tough sometimes. You've got to, you know, like you got like Brock Purdy, who's had a pretty good start to his career, I think you give him a little bit more of the benefit of the doubt. You know what I mean? We're not going to pull him. He's fine. We'll get him out of it. You know, Trevor Lawrence has done it, and some of these guys

had these horrible first half to start. Bo Nix has had a couple of them. They stuck with him and he's played well. So you've got to bear with the tough time sometimes when the quarterback's struggling. Hopefully you get them some easy completions, get them in the groove, and then they come back and pull it out at the end, which they've done. It certainly didn't hurt that J.C. Horn left the game.

after a couple of picks in the first half with a concussion, I think it was. You know, specific to the 49ers and their head coach, Kyle Shanahan. We've had lots of conversations about Shanahan's and Grudens and the whole thing, but I don't know if I've ever been specific with you when it comes to Kyle. You know, how well do you know Kyle? And what do you think of him as a head coach? Because I think many around the league believe he is very much an upper team. coach and has

been for a while. What are your thoughts on Kyle? And how well do you know him? Yeah, I work with Kyle for one year. He's caught in control for the Bucks, and I was quality control for the Bucks with my brother, but that's it. You know, so I've always liked Kyle's guy, and when we see him at the

Combine, all this stuff, we're friendly, obviously. But as a coach, I think he's a very good offensive, coach, a very good run play action type guy. I just, I don't know, I get a little jealous or envious, I should say, of the fact that he's got a lot of passes, that he's made a couple of the worst coaching decisions in all-time football history

in the Super Bowl with the coin toss and being up 28 to 3. And then, you know, he has a couple bad years, and everybody's told him he had so many injuries. Well, I had a lot of injuries, nobody gave a shit. So, you know, I mean, nobody said, one thing, I lost two quarterbacks, eight different linemen and running back in tight end. Right. But anyway, so I do get a little upset about that. He's a good football coach.

There's no doubt about it. Had a great run. Is there a little bit of like a rivalry between the Gruden tree and the Shanahan tree for you and your brother? I don't think our rivalry ended. John's out of football and I'm out of football. There's nothing we can do about it. We're coaching against each other in the Oolable. That's the only rivalry.

I know. But sometimes when you hear, because you've said it to me before, when you hear, you know, Kevin O'Connell and Sean McVeyer, all part of the Shanahan tree, you're like, wait a minute here. They're part of the Gruden tree, too. That pisses me off. Yeah, that bothers me. Yeah. But, you know, what the hell?

Yeah, but, you know, they give so much credit. I don't know, he's part of the Shannon. I look Shanahan runs things. It's outside zone for God's thing. Well, I mean, well, it's not Kyle's. It's his father's, obviously. And his father with, with, I'm blanking on the offensive line coach at the time, you'll come up with it, I'm sure.

But they really did create, you know, that it was, it was innovative because they went with smaller, more athletic offensive linemen and a different sort of style of run scheme, right? Yeah, well, yeah, what's what we had when I got here? We had Corey Lickhamstiger at right guard, and I love Corey. We moved him to center, but he's 280 pounds. Yeah. You know what I mean?

So we ended up drafting Spencer Long. We ended up Morgan Moses. We had Tyler Palumbus at right tackle. He was 6'5, about 310. Yeah. That's not big, you know what I mean? So we had to get bigger. but yeah that's their that's their lot of the problem is when you have those guys on the field

and you're effective on first and second down eventually you're going to get to third long eventually you're going to be behind you have to throw and they can't hold up in the past protection that's what's happened a lot of times to Kyle's offensive their third down their come from behind offenses have not been very good by the way I thought today we were going to talk about a lot of these fourth down decisions again I mean you already hit on the first and goal on Monday night um throwed by Bryce Young but Dan Campbell, man, I mean, he's lived with it and died by it, but, man, in the last few weeks, he seems to be dying by it.

They're down 10 on 4th and 3. Believe it or not, the analytics favored slightly going for it, down 3121 on a 4th and 3 instead of kicking a field goal. I mean, I knew he was going to go for it. That's the thing. I'm like, I said to my son, I'm like, he's going to go for it. He's like, they're down 10. He's got to kick the field goal.

I'm like, watch. and they were 0 for 2 and that ended up being the difference in the game. Yeah, I don't understand it. I think last night or yesterday, I think Matt LaFourg did it. And there were three and a defensive battle in a defensive football game

and they choose not to take the point. So it worked out for them. I just don't understand it. If you're down 10 and you're down two possessions, you've got to get one of them. You know, you don't want to leave it up to a fourth down and three call. There's a lot of things can happen on a fourth or three call, drop ball, tip ball,

know, miss block, something. You know, there's not a lot of great guaranteed fourth and three calls in the NFL that you can just say, hey, let's call this on four-three guaranteed touchdown. They're hard. So I would err on the side of keeping my team in it, one possession game, and play from there. But, you know, like I said, the floor did it and Campbell's had a great career at it. I just don't understand it. Yeah, I think context is everything in these things.

and there is something, right, when you're coaching a game, being within one score is a different feel to the game than being down two scores. It puts more pressure on the team that has the one score lead versus having a two score lead. Yes, but the way people are kicking field goals now, where the kickoff rule is, if they kick the field goal, and they cut it to seven, then they kick off the Green Bay. They get one or two first down. I know. That's part of the field goal rate.

Yeah, that's part of it. Yeah. And if you go for it and don't get it, now they've got first intent at their own three-yard line and they may get the ball right back in a, you know, at midfield. So I don't know, there's a lot of thought that has to go into it. But I think the one thing has to be, how's your defense plan? That's got to be one. How's your offense plan?

Are you going to get a chance to move the ball and get back down there again or not? So there's a lot of issues you have to think about. So I saw John Kime put this out yesterday, Dorrance Armstrong, who is not. played since week seven still leads the team in sacks with five and a half and in pressures with 18 according to true media that's how bad this defense has been the guy that's played half the season uh is still the leader and it's not like they were super impressive numbers although i think dorrance armstrong you could make the case was playing as well as anybody was on the entire team uh when he got hurt um but uh

Look, that's not where they're getting healthy. There's still a mess defensively. On offense, though, it looks like they're getting healthy here. Although Will Harris is back. I don't know if you saw that. The safety is back for Sunday night against Denver. But it looks like, you know, whether it's this weekend or next, Terry's going to be back.

Noah Brown's eventually going to be back. They're getting healthier in other spots. And then the issue comes down to quarterback. And I know we've talked about this, but it is still the biggest debate raging in this miserable lost three and eight season and that is should they or shouldn't they play jaden Daniels when he's healthy and ready to go you just said what you said about burrow now they're two games back um in the win column uh in that division Washington's you know much further back

from Philadelphia but uh your view on playing him or not playing him if he's 100% healthy is play him no doubt about it this is a guy that needs to play. And he needs to show people that he's not a china doll. He can go out there and take some hits and lead his team to victory. There's a lot of players that are going to be dependent on it. I want him to play. I mean, Bobby Wagner's

a hall of favor. You're going to sit him down because you don't want him to get hurt next year. So I think he owes it to everybody his teammates, himself, to play. And that's just me. If I was at his position with his ability, I would want to go out there and play and play the last four or five

games and try to spoil Philadelphia. to try to spoil Dallas. I mean, two big rivalry games right there. Try to get our team on a positive feeling going into next year. That's just me. All right. Do you have a thought about how they beat Denver on Sunday night? Yeah, I think the remedy is for recipes still got to be run the ball,

eat up to some clock, and then try to win a close one at the end. He's got to try to make sure you rally around defense, rally to the football, force some turnovers. because Bo could throw you the ball a couple times and you've got to take advantage of it. Catch the ball when they throw it to you a defense, for God's sake. You'll have a good chance. I think Denver relies on their defense,

so offensively we just got to protect the football punt when we have to punt and try to get in what we can. Seriously, and win a low-scoring game. I love when you say that. I love when you say we got to punt when we got a punt and we just got to win a low-scoring game. You know, without J.K. Dobbins, I mean, the running game's not quite as good.

So, you know, Bo Nex will hurt you with his legs a little bit. But, you know, the passing game with Mims and Cortland Sutton, it's okay. And, you know, just eliminate the big play. You know, Denver, Sean Payton is going to dial up a couple shot plays. And if we can defend those and force them to move the ball, Denver's not very good on offense, in my opinion. So we've got a chance. Yeah, I think they have a chance, too, weirdly.

I don't know how they'll do it, but, I think they got a shot. I think what you said, you know, they got to figure out a way to run the football against that great defense. We'll see.

All right, let's take a quick break and when we come back, we'll get Jay's thoughts on a couple of the big games on Sunday and his lock of the week. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Have you ever fallen for a scam

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and the Texans haven't played since a week ago yesterday on Thursday night when they beat Buffalo. What do you think? Do you give the Texans a shot to go on the road and beat the Colts Sunday? I do give the Texas a chance. I think Indianapolis is starting to start looking around, looking behind their shoulder right now, saying what the hell is who's catching us, what's going on? Offensively, they're not quite playing the way they played early. they're struggling. Daniel's struggling a little bit more.

They need to get their confidence back, but this is a tough Texas team to get your confidence back out of offense, man. Their defense is sick. So I definitely give, any time a team plays as good a team defense is like the Houston, Texans, they've got a chance in every game. And CJ coming back, and yeah, I for sure give the Texas a chance. Yeah, and there's a lot coming out about Daniel Jones and his health right now. I don't know if you've been following it,

but there's some issues that they think he may not be and hasn't been completely healthy here. the last few weeks. Later in the day, the big double-header game, and this is like for both of these teams, I mean, the bills of the Steelers, the bills obviously, you know, they got a long way to try to catch a New England team that basically plays the Little Sisters of the Poor has all year long and has pretty much that left, I think. I think Aaron Rogers is back as of now.

They're expecting him to play. Who do you like in this game? That's a tough one. I think the Steelers are going to plan on Jalen Warren getting about $150. I think if they can do that, then the Steelers have a chance. The bill's defense right now is still struggling, losing that Oliver, and a couple of their big guys for the year has hurt them considerably. But I just, I can't, I used to say I could never bet on Aaron Rogers.

Now I can say I'd say I'd never bet on Josh Allen. I bet against Josh Allen. So I'd still take a Buffalo in that one. But Buffalo has got to figure out a way to stop the run. All right. Are the Patriots for real? Yeah, Drake is a hell of a player. You know, I like what they did in Free Agency.

They added a bunch of good players on defense. And obviously, Stefan Diggs, a great ad. So, yeah, they play very good complimentary football. They're good at all three phases. They're not great. They're not the number one top five offense, top five defense. Or they might be. But I think they're right around top ten on each of them.

And, yeah, they complement each other well. They play the Giants on Monday night. Man, and watching James, first of all, what was your opinion about James Winston when he came out? And then during the course of his career, did you like him or not? I've always liked, I've always liked James. He'd be a, he'd be hell to a coach. I'll tell you that. He'd drive you crazy.

He'd drive you crazy. He'd like, great throw. What are you doing? Great throw. What are you doing? Right. The roller coaster would be unbelievable. But he'd be a fun guy to coach.

I can remember when I was in, I was actually in Jacksonville. We had Minchew, Mike Lennon, and Jake Luton. And the GM comes to me and says, hey, we had a chance to get James Winston as a backup. I go, backup, hey, that's a good chance ain't going to be the backup. He's going to be the starter if we get Javis. I've always liked it. I mean, he's very, I think he's great with the players. The players all like him.

He's got a great talented arm. He's got good mobility. He just makes some crazy decisions from time to time. It really makes me wonder what the hell Dable was doing early in the year. Like if the kid wasn't ready, why didn't you play James instead of Russell Wilson? I don't understand that either. That just drives me berserk, seriously. James has a live arm.

He can move. I don't know. He must have a terrible training camp. That's the only thing I can think of. All right. So I added up everything from the course of the year. You are seven and five on the season. You actually started off one and four.

I'm going to give you credit for something, though. your week one pick was Carolina at Jacksonville, and you said, this Carolina team is a team that I'm going to keep an eye on all year because I think they're going to be a much better team than most people think. And it turns out you were right. They did not cover, and that week one lost to Jacksonville. But you started off one and four. You've now won six of your last seven, including the Cowboys last week, against the Eagles. I didn't give you a chance for, you know, the Thursday games. I don't know if that's where you're lost. Do you want to, I think you felt pretty good about Green Bay, didn't you?

Is that what you want the lock of the week to be? Yeah, I feel good about Green Bay, but no, my lock of the week is Sunday for Sunday. All right. Let's do it. Let's make it seven out of the last state. You're seven and five on the season. This team has to win, and they're playing against a team of the quarterback who's played one and a half full games in his life. So who do you think that might be?

one and a half full games his entire life I don't know the Cleveland Browns and the 49ers yeah yeah yeah I'm thinking San Fran they're gonna they're gonna I think it's gonna be ugly game like 23 to 10 or 20 to 3 or 20 17 3 whatever it might be but the 49ers

I think even though they have some injuries on defense they play pretty good defense against Carolina they're opportunistic they have a good defensive coordinator, and they're going to give Shadour a few different looks he hasn't seen, and he's going to struggle, I think. And I think Purdy gets back on track, and they win. They win ugly, and they cover the three-and-a-half. Easy. The total in that game, do you know what the over-under in that game is? I would guess like 35 and a half.

Hold on. I'm looking. Yeah, it's 36.5. 36 and a half. I thought it was actually lower than that. All right, so the 49ers laying, it looks like I'm looking for some good numbers for you. I'm only seeing four and a halves out there. You've got to lay the hook, four in the hook. Okay, four and a half is fine. San Francisco laying four and a half to make it seven out of his last eight. Enjoy the holiday weekend, and I will talk to you next week. Appreciate it as always.

All right, thanks, Kevin. Jay Gruden, everybody. When we come back, I'll have my smell test picks. for the rest of the weekend. We'll do that after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey guys, Goldbelly is fast becoming one of my favorite websites. I've told you about it previously. We've ordered through Goldbelly now many times. It's a site where you can get the most iconic, famous foods from restaurants, legendary restaurants across the country. They'll ship it to you anywhere you live in the United States. Have you ever had pizza from Johns of Bleakers?

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under on touchdowns in the Black Friday game between Chicago and Philadelphia is point five, a half of a touchdown. So if you play over and they score one touchdown in today's Philadelphia Chicago game, you win. So it's an absolute lock bet. Sure, I guess there's a chance. It could end up being 6 to 3 with a bunch of field goals. More likely than not, somebody's going to score a touchdown, and you're being handed an absolute winner up front. Go to the Kevin Sheeonshow.com slash my bookie. If you're a new customer to my bookie, use my promo code, DC reload, and play the lock of the season, the over in the Chicago-Philadelphia game.

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All right. Most of you know how well I've done with this smell test this year, 87, 50, and 10 heading into this weekend, but I gave out the Packers yesterday, which was an outright winner, so I'm up to 88, 50, and 10. I gave out on the Wednesday show, Texas, plus two and a half tonight against Texas A&M, and that is my only Friday selection as well. So let's move to Saturday, where Syracuse lost last week, 70 to 7. They got beat by Notre Dame. Syracuse is actually legit terrible. BC meantime, they nearly knocked off Georgia Tech in their last game. They've played better football as of late.

And for some unknown reason, BC in this season finale game at Syracuse is laying a mere field. goal. The public thinks it's far too short. They think Syracuse is terrible. And by the way, Syracuse is bad. Like, they can't score. They haven't scored more than 18 points in a game since September 20th when they went on the road and beat Clemson. And again, last week 70 to 7, recent impressions, people, always matter. BC's last game, they nearly knocked off Georgia Tech. losing at the gun on a field goal, 36 to 34. Give me Syracuse at home plus the three. Arkansas last week got beat by LSU.

You would say, well, so what? LSU is LSU. No, they're not. They're not very good at all. Arkansas is not that good either. And LSU beat them 23, 22, pretty much in a walk-off win. Arkansas is really struggled. if you're not following the whole situation, they fired a coach.

They're in the midst right now of an eight-game losing skid. They are three and five against the number during that skid. They've had some close games, though. They had a shot against Mississippi State, had a shot against LSU, had a shot against Auburn, had a shot against Texas A&M in a shootout, had a shot against Tennessee. Missouri comes into this game off that 17 to 6 loss. And they got beat up a bit in that loss to Oklahoma.

Missouri is still a much better football team at 7 and 3 to Arkansas's 2 and 8. And yet, Missouri laying just a field goal. They are a huge public play. Give me Arkansas in a bit of a rivalry game at home against Missouri, catching the three. Then we go to the Iron Bowl, Auburn, getting six. There are now some five and a halves. This number has been dropping. but there are still some sixes out there.

I was hoping earlier in the week to maybe grab a six and a half or a seven. That's not going to happen. Look, Auburn is right now one of the better defensive teams in the country. They really have been throughout the season. They've had some heartbreaking losses this year. If you haven't followed Auburn, they've made a coaching change. DJ Durkin, by the way, the former Terp coach is now their interim coach. They're a four and six team playing Alabama.

We know that Alabama's last outing was a loss to Oklahoma before their gimmee, you know, non-conference game last week. But Auburn has just had some excruciating losses. They lost to Vanderbilt and overtime a game that they seemingly had won. They were right there against Missou, right there against A&M earlier in the season. Oklahoma, the same thing. The Georgia game, they were ready to go up two touchdowns on what was a terrible officiated and even repeat. played a call. They've been, you know, fighting all season long. Really, the team that scored against them and pretty much the only team that scored against them was Vanderbilt and Diego

Pavia. And Bama's been struggling here a little bit. Auburn always plays Alabama tough. This could be a devastating loss for the Crimson Tide. Give me Auburn plus the six. By the way, just keep in mind all weekend long, weather is going to be a factor. college games and even the NFL games on Sunday, the game in Pittsburgh could be impacted by whether we're going to see weather and snow in particular in the Midwest be a real problem in some of these college games. Maryland finishes up against Michigan State in East Lansing. They're expecting six inches of snow during the actual game. There were a couple of others. I'm sure you're wondering why I'm not giving out teams.

teams like Washington, even a team like Michigan. I kind of like Michigan. I kind of like Washington, but there's a lot of mixed sharp action, even though the public actions on Ohio State and on Oregon in those games. There are the plays. Syracuse plus three, Arkansas, plus three, and Auburn plus six on Saturday. Let's go to Sunday where it's a little bit busier. Man, there are a lot of games that nearly fit like the more than half the games on the card nearly fit, but I've narrowed it down to five games on Sunday to go with the Packers game in terms of NFL plays. Let's start in Tennessee where the Titans are getting less than a touchdown at six right now against Jacksonville. You know, there have been opportunities

to give Tennessee out a few times this year, and I haven't done it. They've covered now in three straight games. They covered last week backdoor style against Seattle. They got to cover against Houston the week before. They actually lost on a walk-off field goal. They were close against the Chargers. Tennessee's not very good. I don't think Jacksonville is either. You know, I've gone against Jacksonville here a couple of times recently, but also had them against the Chargers. But they hung on for Deer Life against Arizona. That was the push last week. They barely beat a Raiders team a few weeks ago. They lost at Houston with Davis Mills at quarterback. This is a heavily bet public side, Jacksonville, and there's sharp money on Tennessee.

I'll take the Titans plus the six. What is my fascination with the Arizona Cardinals? I don't have a fascination with the Arizona Cardinals. They just, every week, seem to be a major anti-public side with major sharp money on them. I gave them out last week, plus the three they pushed, had them the week before against San Francisco. they weren't even close. I did have them. Didn't I give them out against the Cowboys on Monday Night Football when they won out right?

I forget. They're catching three at Tampa Bay. And Tampa Bay is a first place six and five team in the NFC South. And the Cardinals are a terrible football team record-wise at three and eight. And they've lost their last three games. And they haven't covered in their last three games. Tampa's banged up. And this is going to be a Baker Mayfield.

that we're not sure he's going to or not. I don't know that the line's going to change a ton based on his health. I think they're expecting him to play. They got blown out on Sunday night football by the Rams. They were close against Buffalo, close against New England. They're banged up, injured. You know, no Mike Evans. Godwin came back last week.

No Bucky Irving. That's kind of a mystery thing going on there, even though they've gotten great play from Sean Tucker. The Cardinals, again, fit the smell test formula. Give me Arizona on the road plus the three. Another bad football team, sorry about this, but I'm going to give out New Orleans against Miami. The Dolphins, you know, obviously off their by week as well,

coming off their Madrid win against Washington. And they are home laying less than a touchdown against a New Orleans team that got beat pretty badly by Atlanta last week, although it was a bit misleading. They had a lot of red zone opportunities and goal to go opportunities that they did not cash in on. Remember, New Orleans beat Carolina a few weeks ago on the road. Miami's got speed, man, everywhere.

New Orleans is a good defensive team. That's the one thing they can hang their hat on. I think they keep it close, and this ends up being, you know, 20 to 16 or something like that. the Saints plus the six. Let's go to the late afternoon window. Public is all over Buffalo laying three and a half at Pittsburgh. Nobody believes in Pittsburgh. After the Baltimore lost last night,

the Steelers have a chance to go up a full game on Baltimore before their first of two meetings next week. That game, by the way, next week in Baltimore. And the Ravens right now are early six-point favorites in that game against the Steelers next week. So Pittsburgh really needs this game on Sunday. Buffalo can't stop anybody. I think Pittsburgh can run the football against Buffalo. Aaron Rogers, Mason Rudolph, obviously a big difference there, but Buffalo defensively is reeling right now. Just not a good football team defensively. Pittsburgh's been turning people

over. They certainly had a shot with Mason Rudolph at Chicago last week. Give me the Steelers plus three and a half. And then Sunday night, Washington totally fits the smell test criteria. So much public action on Denver. And as you've probably noticed, the line keeps coming down. Why? Because there's a lot of sharp money on Washington. Why?

I have no idea. I think this is not the greatest of opportunities for Washington's offense. Denver is, I mean, look, they face some really good defensive teams during that stretch when they were also facing some really good offensive teams. But Denver, you know, is probably the best defensive team they have faced this year. I mean, maybe the Packers in week two. The Seahawks, maybe. But man, is Denver good? They are on the verge of a borderline historic season in terms of sacks. They get after. to the quarterback. Washington's going to have to stay balanced, man. They're going to have to stay

out of down and distance issues, as I discussed in the open. But there are some sixes out there. There are a ton of five and a halves, but I'll take Washington plus the six against Denver on Sunday night. So there you go. Texas gave that out on Wednesday's show tonight against Texas A&M plus the two and a half. Then tomorrow, Syracuse plus three, Arkansas plus three and Auburn plus six and then Sunday the Titans plus six the Cardinals plus three the Saints plus six the Steelers plus three and a half and Washington plus the six let's keep it going I'm not going to annoy all of you with the market correction talk even though it will happen but maybe it'll start happening next year let's try to have another

winning weekend. I actually somebody had sent me a note saying why don't you star your picks like, you know, tout services do? You know, this is my five star, this is my four, this is my three. Yeah, no, they're all the same. Sometimes I have a really strong feeling about a team and a game that I feel really good about, but it all fits

the general formula of anti-public, pro-sharp, and then sometimes I get some other information and other. And some of it's gut, man, after just doing this for so many years, you just kind of have, like I'll tell you, like the Syracuse thing, when you lose 70 to 7 and then the next week you're only catching three against a team that nearly upset a team that was trying to make the playoff, that one just always sticks out like a sore thumb to me. and I can pretty much predict from the beginning of the week

that the public's going to be against that terrible team that got blown out. I mean, Notre Dame's really good, really good, but Syracuse has gotten pummeled for weeks now. How can they only catch three against anybody? That one reeks in a major way, so we'll see. But no, I don't star the picks, and I'm not a tout service. Don't ever pay for those tout services.

I'll do respect to those that do it. They don't know much more than you know or I know or anybody else knows. All right, good luck. Enjoy this holiday football weekend. I'll be back with a post game following Denver and Washington on Sunday night.