The Kevin Sheehan Show - Did Cowboys Just Win The East? Van Pelt And Svrluga Too

Episode Date: November 30, 2018

Kevin recaps Cowboys-Saints and discusses where the NFC East race stands after last night. Washington Post columnist Barry Svrluga joined the show to talk Redskins, Reuben Foster, Terps hoops, and more. Scott Van Pelt after that with his thoughts on Skins, Foster, Terps, and College Football Championship weekend. Kevin finishes up with the Smell Test....he's 24-6 against the number over the last two and a half weeks. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. All right, I'm here. Aaron's here. This show's presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them we told you to call. No Redskins game on Sunday. We'll start to preview the game a little bit in Philadelphia later on in the show. Coolie's going to be on the show a little bit later on. Scott Van Pelt also Barry's Verluga will join us in a bit. Barry's been busy the last month with big columns, good columns, very good columns. He's one of my favorite people in local media. Saw him at the Maryland-Virginia game the other night. He's a great guest, too. Always one of my favorite conversations. So we'll talk to Barry shortly.

Smell test later on as well. We'll start with last night, however. The Cowboys and the Saints, speaking of the smell test. Yeah, I gave out Dallas plus seven and suggested that they could win the game outright. to which Tommy was wide-eyed and mocked me, as he often does when he disagrees with me, and many times he's right he was not right yesterday. I didn't want them to win the game. I just wanted them to cover in the game.

But look, that was the single best defensive performance of this NFL season. It's not even close. I watched some of Baltimore's 21-0-0 shut out of Tennessee earlier this year, where Tennessee punted on every single possession in the game. That was impressive. What Buffalo did to Minnesota early in the season was pretty impressive. Nothing equals what we saw last night. A New Orleans team that came in averaging 37 points per game,

nearly 44 a game in their last four games coming into last night. They've scored 40 or more six times this year, and Dallas held them to 10 points. And even more impressive than that, they held the Saints to 179 total yards, 59 in the first half, the fewest for the Saints since 2002. What a performance by the Cowboys defense last night

against a team that looked historically, historically potent offensively, through their first 11 games of the season. Do you still think the Saints are the prohibited favorites in the NFC? I do, because I don't think that would have happened in the Superdome. And there's a chance now, you know, the biggest beneficiary of last night, potentially, were the Los Angeles Rams. Because if they can run the table, they'll host the NFC championship game.

Look, a couple of things from the game last night I wanted to go through. Number one, I loved that game last night. Not that the Cowboys won the game, the kind of game that it was. This is a subjective thing, I understand it, it's a matter of personal preference. I enjoyed last night much more. Okay, not much more, but I enjoyed it more than the 54 to 51 Chiefs Rams game from a week and a half ago. It was as fierce a hitting game as you will see this year. Not all of it legal, and we'll get to more on the officiating in a moment.

But both teams hit hard, but Dallas was special on defense last night. Fast at linebacker, fast up front. They stopped the run. They pressured Breeze, made him uncomfortable all night long. It was amazing to watch this Drew Breeze-led offense look the way they did last night, with Dallas relentlessly getting after him. The balls that were caught receivers were hit immediately and hit physically. Some of those hits, like the Jalen Smith helmet to helmet on Alvin Kamara,

on a huge third down in the fourth quarter, should have been flagged, just like the Jordan Reed play from Thanksgiving Day. It was clearly helmet to helmet. It's the exact play on a runner that was supposed to get flagged this year, leading with the crown of the helmet. But Dallas did it mostly legally last night. They flat out had the most impressive defensive performance of the season. Flat out, the most impressive performance.

of the season. Drew Brees threw for 39 yards in the first half. Thirty-nine in the first half, the fewest ever for him. He finished 18 of 28 for 127 yards. That's four and a half yards per completion. Doesn't seem right for the Saints. Dallas did try hard to give this one away. Or better put, Randy Gregory personally did his best to keep the Redskins in first place last night. The roughing the punter penalty, remember last week I said, do we ever get roughing the kicker penalties anymore? I was really talking more about the punter situation, but the field goal kicker situation from the game two weeks ago. But the same thing, that you never get a roughing the punter anymore. You get running into.

Last night they called roughing, and it was roughing. It was a stupid penalty by Randy Gregory. and it nearly became the game-changing play that could have easily led to Dallas losing that game because it was 13-3 at the time and they scored two plays later after the first down off the roughing the punter penalty and it was 13 to 10. He also lined up off-sides on a third-down sack strip fumble of Breeze, which was a questionable off-sides call, I thought. Offensively, the Cowboys were balanced. They ran it, they threw it. The reason they only scored 13 points is that New Orleans's defense was very good.

They sacked Prescott seven times in the game, but the Cowboys had two turnovers, one at the very end by Prescott, when they had a sure field goal for a six-point lead, and he fumbles in the red zone. He's had a lot of fumbles. He's got a fumbling problem, which could really come back to haunt them at some point this year. One of those fumbles was completely untouched. Untouched it. Yeah.

They had some key penalties we talked about. Prescott missed a wide open touchdown pass. to gallop with about six and a half minutes to go. But Prescott, for the most part, last night was really good, as he's been recently. 24 of 28, Prescott was, for 248 yards, and some big throws and big third-down scrambles. A couple of other things from the game last night.

The officiating was really bad, you know? I think we say this every year. I think we get to the point in the season where everybody says, has the officiating ever been worse? Yeah, it probably has been worse. It just seems in the moment to be the worst that we've ever seen. Last night you had the helmet to helmet not called. That was a big blow, missed right there.

You had an offensive pass interference on New Orleans that was clear, clear on their lone touchdown catch. They missed a face mask on DAC, clear ripping of his face mask. There were a lot of missed calls, bad calls in the game last night, similar to what the Redskins have experienced in their previous two games. But we've seen it all year long, but I think we see this every year. I don't know how much worse it is this year versus last year when we said the same thing. Sean Payton had a very interesting night. First of all, he used his two challenges in the first half,

lost on one of them, which meant he had one more, and he used it on a play in which they ruled a pass incomplete, and it wasn't going to be a punting situation, it wasn't going to be a field goal situation. They were in the red zone. and he used that last challenge to challenge that it was a catch and a recovered fumble by his offense to give him a first and goal at the seven instead of saving that challenge, which he would need later on in the game desperately. Because he lost that first challenge, he only had one left. And that second one he used gave him a first and goal, but they didn't score.

They got stopped on an incredible goal line stand by Dallas in the second quarter, holding a 10-0 lead. He also called a bad timeout. Now, many of you tweeted me about this. He called a timeout with 203 left, and I tweeted out, I said, look, he was using his timeouts before the two-minute warning, but then that last timeout before the two-minute warning is the one that you don't call. And when I was explaining this about Jay a few weeks ago, Jay had to call it at 213 against Houston. He missed that opportunity.

Sean Payton understands taking timeouts before the two-minute warning. But what he didn't understand, and I've talked about this before, is you cannot call that last time out before the two-minute warning with 204 or 205 max or less because you give free license to the offense to throw the football on the next play. There's no downside risk to throwing it. The clock's going to stop anyway if it's incomplete. It doesn't matter. So you take your timeouts before the two-minute warning,

but until you get to the 205 mark right around there or less, then you can't take it. You've got to let it roll and you've got to force them to have a consequence to throwing the football. The consequence being an incomplete pass clock stops without the defense using a timeout. And in that particular case, Dallas took advantage of it. I didn't think Jason Garrett would be smart enough to take advantage of it. They threw a pass into the end zone, pass interference, game over. Come back from the two-minute warning, New Orleans is out of timeouts, and it was three knees and the game ended.

It's very surprised. Sean Payton is good at this stuff. He's one of the coaches that's tended to be very good at understanding clock management. He made a big mistake. It cost us to his team a chance to get the ball back because if he doesn't call that time out with 203 left, Dallas likely doesn't throw the ball coming out of the two-minute warning. They likely run it and there is a final time out by New Orleans. And then there's a third down and then they kick the field goal and New Orleans gets the ball back. Breeze last night threw a pick late with the ball, down 1310. Wait, wait, wait a minute. Hold on. Drew Breeze throws picks at the end of the game. No, no, no, no. Only bad quarterbacks throw picks at the end of the game. Ben Rafflesberger doesn't throw picks at the very end of the game trying to go into the end zone to force overtime.

And Drew Breeze doesn't. Only certain quarterbacks that wear purple jerseys turn the point. turn the ball over late in games. Watch football people. Watch the league. Quarterbacks make mistakes all of the time, including the really good ones. It was a bad interception for Breeze,

a really bad interception on a play where he was under siege all night long. I have not seen Drew Breeze and that New Orleans offense made to look that uncomfortable all season long. It is really interesting to watch Dallas right now. They are seven and five. They are clearly the best team in the division right now.

They are. I mean, best defense by far, competent offense that can run it and throw it. Dax got a fumbling problem. He does. That could potentially hurt them somewhere down the line. But Dallas is good right now. Four wins in a row. The Tennessee game, remember, they had a chance for a 17-0 lead early in that game and blew it because Dack turned it over.

It was the best defensive performance of the season. No one's close to it. No one, given the context. It may be one of the biggest wins in recent years for the Cowboys. It was the game, by the way, Aaron just mentioned to me, had the highest overnight television rating in the history of Thursday night football in the NFL. So much for NFL ratings declining. They've got Philadelphia, the Cowboys do, at Indy, Tampa at home,

and at the Giants to finish up the season. 9 and 7 is a worst case right now. More likely they're going to end up with 10 wins, maybe 11. The Dallas win last night. made them not only the prohibitive favorite to win the division, but for all intents and purposes, it is over in the division. Now, I hate saying that because I know what the NFL is. The NFL is one week.

It looks this way, and then next week it looks a completely different way. But they are probably now going to win the division. They win tiebreakers with the Redskins unless they lose a game in the division the rest of the way. They've got Philly and the Giants, Philly at home, Giants on the road. The Redskins still have two games with Philly and one against the Giants. The tiebreakers right now really favor the Cowboys, but will the Redskins even get into a tiebreaker situation with the Cowboys? Not likely. It's not looking likely. If you're wondering, the tiebreakers, the Eagles actually have, if they were to run the table, which I don't think they will do,

they win tiebreakers against the Cowboys, including they've got a chance to control in a to head next week with them. The Eagles have the next two weeks could immediately change the narrative in the division right now as we speak by winning. I don't think they will. I think the Redskins have a chance to win Monday night. I don't think the Eagles turn their season around against the Giants in the second half. As for the Redskins, look, their division chances took a big blow last night. Their division chances don't end with a loss Monday night. They could still win their final four and be in it. But they are still very much alive for a wild card spot in the NFC. If they can win three of their final five, go nine and seven, there is a better chance than not that they would snag

that last wild card position. And guess what? They could end up going to Dallas in the first round of the playoffs if that happened. Now, if you even care anymore, given what's happened here over the last 10 days and you're even interested, then do you really think it's even possible? I don't know. We're going to find out Monday night. Monday night's huge for the Redskins. It would be great to win the game.

It's huge to see that they still have a chance to be a competitive team. And I think we're going to see that actually from them. Anyway, there you go. The Cowboys, as of now, not only the favorite, a big favorite to win the division, and they are the best team right now in the division. I don't think that can be debated. But, you know, some people are going to look at them, and I'll just say this. Last night may have legitimized them as a threat in the NFC.

I don't think they go to New Orleans and win. But they just beat the team that nobody thought would lose the rest of the way. And they did it in a way in which this season people said couldn't be done. They did it with unbelievable defensive football. I've said it all year about the Cowboys that they're a great. good defense. I mean, back in the early part of the season, I said, they've got a wicked pass rush. You know, they don't even have David Irving right now, you know, who's a really good pass rusher. They haven't had Sean Lee the last few games. My God, Vanderashe is something else. Jalen Smith,

something else. They're inside backers. You know, if you want to just flip this real quickly to a Redskins sort of fit, this is what they look at. They look at the Cowboys and that speed at inside linebacker, the lateral, you know, sideline to sideline speed with Vanders. with Jalen Smith and they say, we need that. And Ruben Foster is that. One quick thing on Ruben Foster, and we'll go to the Doug Williams stuff a little bit later, his interview with Doc yesterday on 980. I've heard people say that Ruben Foster isn't that good. If you watched college football, Ruben Foster was awesome at Alabama. He was a legitimate top half of the draft prospect. Now, that doesn't mean he's but-kiss, doesn't mean that he's Patrick Willis of recent vintage inside linebacker,

but he is an extraordinary talent. Don't let anybody tell you that if you're so dead set against this, and I think it was stupid to do, and I think the handling of it was even worse, including putting Doug on with Doc yesterday, and having him be the face of this. I mean, how cowardly on the Redskins part from a management perspective. But Ruben Foster can play. I mean, he's got some talent, and you saw what inside linebacker speed can do. Man, the Cowboys were impressive last night.

They were. And I will admit that not only did I have them plus seven, but I did a little happiness hedge money line bet. Yeah. I didn't care if I lost that one. I did not care if I lost that one. The plus seven is what I needed. As you said, it was the happiness hedge. It was the happiness hedge.

You were trying to buy a loss. Exactly. Trying to buy a loss. Get to the smell test later on. Let's bring in Barry's Verluga from the Washington Post, who has been incredibly busy here over the last month. Man, you've had, I mean, I would guess that this is sort of like the perfect thing for a columnist, right? Lots of controversial, you know, topics, situations that really inspire and really create passion within your writing.

and your creativity. I mean, the last month with the Maryland situation and now the Redskins situation, it's been a pretty good run for a columnist in this town, right? Yeah, I mean, I kind of feel like if you don't have to, like, sit there on a Monday morning, rubbing your chin with your index finger, wondering what you're going to write about, then that's a good thing, right? Like, I didn't go to any playoff baseball in October for the first time in a long time, and I felt like kind of lost.

And then I feel like November has rewarded us with a bunch of riches, at least from a columnist perspective, because I'm not saying that I wanted the Redskins to sign Ruben Foster. I wanted there to be dysfunction in the Maryland Athletic Department. But you're right, Kevin. I mean, you want compelling topics that stir something easily in you. And so, you know, that hopefully stirs something in readers, whether they agree or they disagree with you. So there's been plenty to go around lately.

You know, there are many differences between being a journalist, which you are, and a column writer, which you are, and being a sports talk radio host, as I've been for long. And now a podcast host. But one of the true similarities, and Tommy and I have talked about this many times over the years, is it's a very creative position. much more so than people would think that you are, you're always, you know, for us, I mean, doing a two, three, four hour radio show every day, you got to come up with ideas, you know, and you've got to, you got to come up with ideas that you're passionate about because those are the ones that you always end up doing better with. And a columnist is sort of in the same position. For, for sure. And, you know, I think you would think of it the same way. part of the job of a columnist,

and not having been a radio talk show host, but having listened to you for years and understanding what I like in radio is I think the best versions of both jobs take whatever the news story is of the day, you know, Ruben Foster, Maryland basketball, Maryland athletics, whatever it is. and trying to figure out, how can I advance this story?

How can I get people to think about it in a way that they wouldn't have on their own? What do I know because I've been around the Redskins or I've been around Maryland athletics or I know how college sports works from the inside almost that could help bring a different perspective to the way a reader or in your case a listener would think about it. That I think is when you're doing your job correctly, or at least I'm doing my job correctly, is when you're advancing the level of thinking of the reader, and the reader puts down the piece and says,

you know, I have thought about it that way, and now when I'm talking to my friends about this sports topic, I'm going to say, you know, I read something that made me think, X, Y, or Z. That's kind of the, doesn't work every time, but that would be the goal. All right. So let's play a game of which is worse, all right? And I'm going to start with the two stories that you've been significantly on here over the last month. Which is worse? The way Marilyn handled the DJ Durkin situation or the way the Redskins handled this Ruben Foster situation. Wow. Wow. Well, I mean, I'll just go baseline. The Durkan situation involved the

death of a college athlete. And that's something that I think everything around Maryland athletics needs to be grounded in that thought that a kid who was entrusted to the university and to the coaching staff and athletic training staff died. That's not to say that, you know, every subsequent decision has to do with that. But I do, I think you have to kind of base all your thinking. in that. That said, the redskin situation is staggering because, you know, the easy thing, the default thing to do, the thing that 31 other

franchises did was the right thing. The easy thing was the right thing. And they went out of their way to do what, and, you know, honestly, Kevin, I will say it's the wrong thing, even in the unlikely scenario that Ruben Foster, you know, suits up for the Redskins and is an upstanding citizen and performs well on the football field. In this moment, the moment that it was to put a waiver claim on a player with an open domestic violence charge, it would be astonishing if it wasn't the Redskins is the way,

I guess I would put it. So if we're playing which is worse, I'll go with Maryland. but that's a low, low bar in that situation. You just said something that's really important, and I got into an argument with a friend of mine the other night actually at the Maryland game about this, and I said, it doesn't matter if he's fully exonerated, if he suits up and is a great player and ends up being a terrific member of the community.

In the moment, using context, it was insane to sign a player off of waivers that had just been charged with this second domestic violence incident in less than a year. It's, you know, you don't have to care about what people think from a public relations standpoint, but in many ways, you know, you're part of this public trust. You have a public relations image, and in their particular cases, we know they've got so many issues with respect to their image. That's impacted ticket selling and television ratings and fan interest.

It was such a, I mean, tone deaf is one way to put it with respect to the kind of player in the charge, but it was just in context a horrible decision with respect to the organization's business. And then, of course, on top of that, the way they've handled it and not having a strategy to handle it. Barry, I've been asked this several times over the last couple of days as to whether or not they even had a clue as to what the backlash would be. I'm not sure that they did. I think that sometimes they miss the easiest of predicted outcomes. Well, and I think you're right, and there's a lot, I mean, there's a lot to unpack there, right?

I mean, one, I think it's clear that whoever made the ultimate decision that this was the right move, And I am not of the mind or the belief that this was a unified front that Jay Gruden and Doug Williams and Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder and Brian Lafamina and, you know, all the executives there were like, yes, this is the move. We want this. That's how they'll have to say it was a team to do. No, I'm with you on this. I totally agree this. There were dissenting views in the organization on this. For sure, for sure. But if you, if and when you make the decision to pull the trigger, you have, have to have a strategy, a strategy that is better than typing up a statement. And I don't think a very good statement and assigning it to Doug Williams. And as I wrote in a piece the other day, I mean, if I didn't know better, that's exactly, you know, they told Doug this is what we're having you say, not Doug standing up in the room and saying, okay, here's what I would like to say.

And let me just, you know, there's the PR strategy and there's the messaging and there's all that kind of corporate stuff that that does matter and that they've done poorly over the years. But there's also just the kind of right and wrong moral compass thing here where you're talking about domestic violence. You know, you should, if you're going to make this move, and I would not. endorse this move in any way, given the status of the case. I mean, the ink was not dry on the, on the report in Tampa before they're signing Foster. But if you're going to make a move like this with a controversial character that's been involved in a very, very serious issue, not just once, but twice now, and I understand the previous time that the woman recanted, I think there's a lot more to that story, too, that if Foster ever plays here, we'll get into.

But why not use this signing or waiver claim addition to the roster as an opportunity to discuss domestic violence and to say, we know that one in three women over the course of their life is going to have a case of physical abuse against them. And we know that 10 million women and men annual. are abused physically by an intimate partner. We take those issues extraordinarily seriously, and we believe that we can give Ruben Foster the tools to deal with whatever issues he has. I'm not saying that I would have said, well, good.

They sign the guy, and they're going to rehabilitate him, and that makes everything okay. But they didn't do the baseline kind of exploration of what's the issue we're dealing with? and can we help be part of a solution instead of feeding the problem a little bit? You know, your suggestion is perfect, but I would add to it. And in this way, I want to know what you think. I said to Tommy yesterday that I would have had all of that. I would have also mentioned all of the stuff that Tanya Snyder's led,

the different charities the Redskins have been involved in with respect to certain issues. But around that, I would have been brutally open and honest. by the way, with Bruce Allen or Dan Snyder as the person speaking on this question, saying, look, our head coach isn't going to address this. Our senior vice president, Doug Williams, is not going to address this. The buck stops with me, Bruce Allen on this. I push for this for one reason. He's talented and we're trying to win.

And if the charges stand, he'll never play for us. And if they don't, he still may not play for us, but we'll let the legal system in the league determine that. and then get into everything that you just said, you know, but be brutally honest and own it. Like, and even maybe with some self-deprecation mixed in about, look, did we know that there would be backlash? Of course we did. But how much lower from a public relations standpoint can we go? You know, we've got to win at this point. And so I think all of that put together. Of course, they would never come up with this on their own. They're too disorganized. And,

and not bright enough to figure out a strategy that wouldn't make it completely right, but as you said, might make people take a step slower in their direction. Well, I mean, one thing you're talking about there is accountability. And again, what sort of accountability do we have? It's not my belief that Doug Williams gathered everybody and said, hey, Ruben Foster is available. We could maybe put a claim on him. Let's do that.

I believe that Bruce Allen was heavily involved in this. And there isn't any accountability on his part. He does not speak publicly. He does not say, this is why I have taken this move. This is why we are moving in this direction. He's never really done that if you go back to, you know, if he's still scarred by the winning off the field thing, maybe that's it.

But your point is exactly right. you're making Jay Gruden, and Doug Williams, by proxy, he hasn't had to answer questions about it, but he's the one who the statement was assigned to. They're taking the bullets for a decision that I don't think that they drove, and that's bad leadership. I mean, this is a different scale, but I think this all the time about the nationals. Mike Rizzo takes a lot of bullets for ownership, because ownership, be it Mark Lerner or, or anybody with the learner family does not often own up to their decisions and the thinking behind their decisions. And they run Rizzo out there to be the one who has to answer things

for answer questions about decisions that he may not have believed in. So it's a much different problem because it's not, you know, with the NAPs dealing with something as serious as domestic violence. But it does show a lack of leadership and accountability. in both cases. Remember this. Doug Williams did take questions on 980 yesterday with Doc. I'm sorry. But to your point, that was wrong.

I mean, he's got a scheduled visit, but that's where Bruce should have said, you know what, I'm going to make your appearance on 980 with Doc this week to speak to this. Or have a separate one. Or have a separate one. Show up somewhere, answer a question. That's right. You made a tough decision that you think is for the. the best of your football franchise and in some ways,

then for the best of the fan base, explain it. And I'll tell you, Kevin, I was surprised. I mean, my column on this topic, Jerry Brewer is written on it as well, obviously. Mine involves, you know, Kaepernick and Foster and passing on Kaepernick for Sanchez and all that kind of thing. Bringing up Colin Kaepernick is pretty toxic, and I expected to get a lot of, you know, how could you side with this jerk who disrespects police

and all that kind of stuff? And the feedback has been overwhelmingly, this is the last straw for me and the Redskins fan, as a Redskins fan, or I won't give Dan Snyder a single dollar anymore, I can't strip myself of my fandom at its core, but I'm not spending any more money out there. I got a long voicemail from an 80-year-old woman

who said she had been a season ticket holder since 1963, and this one is the one that is pushing her over the edge. So this isn't just, you know, radio and podcast hosts and columnists screaming into the abyss. This is another one that is kind of, I think, think touched the core of the fan date. I, you know, Tommy made

this point to me, but I, you weren't the only person to use this situation to bring the Colin Kaepernick piece into it. And from my perspective, I, look, the Colin Kaepernick thing and the Rubin Foster thing are apples and oranges,

but as Tommy said to me, said, look, once you do something as stupid as they did, you open it up for all of these things to be brought into the conversation, which is true, and I understand that. But as it relates to Kaepernick, I guess I've just always looked at it from, he's a backup quarterback. He got benched for Blaine Gabbard the last time he was in the league. And if it were my business, I would have to really be incredibly influenced by the potential of him really helping my organization

to bring him in with CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and all that would come with that. It just wouldn't be worth the squeeze, I don't think. I understand that, and I really do understand the perspective of people who are put off by Kaepernick's protests, whether they think, I've heard a lot from people who think, well, you know, freedom of speech is a real thing, but he's on his employer's time and that limits his rights. One thing that always comes up is the pig socks that he wore one time depicting cops as pigs. That one sticks in a lot of people's cross. So I get all that.

My stance on this, and I'm sure it's been proven that it's a bridge too far for every organization, every NFL organization. My stance is that the team that brings him in, has an opportunity to lead and to say, you know what, the issues that this guy and others in the league, other players in the league have brought up through their protests are important issues. And what has kind of gone off the rails over the two years of this discussion is, you know, exactly what they were trying to talk about and it's become about the people and not about

the causes. I know, but don't you think just from a purely practical standpoint, because I felt this way in the moment, I always felt like the means, the message was going to get masked by the means. Like there was just a, and I understand the platform that they had. And look, nobody, nobody reasonable has an issue with somebody trying to bring light to a, very important and serious issue, which is young African-American men being brutalized by police in our country at various times and various places. No, I don't think anybody has a problem with that. I just always felt like, boy, you're taking something that people just are not going to get past the feeling that they have that it's anti-patriotic, that it's anti-nationalistic, that it's

It doesn't feel right, and the message was going to be hard to pull out of that. I understand that, and I think that's been the end result. I would just argue that it should be on the people who are really jumping to, this is not patriotic, and ending with that, and not taking the time or making the effort to think, well, maybe these guys don't want to be patriots right now because they don't believe in their country. It's hard for them to. believe in a system that they live in that shows that, you know, African-American men are so disproportionately incarcerated or police brutality so disproportionately affects black men.

So, I mean, this discussion is probably done. I know, I know. But no, there's so much to it. Yes. I would just say just really quickly that my point is, and I would put it on the Redskins specifically in this way, there are very few markets. or towns that could handle a Kaepernick thing. I'm not saying the Redskins with Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder at the helm could handle it,

but I think Washington, D.C. has the environment where it would be a really powerful place to discuss all of those issues, and I'll just leave it at that. Tommy, I'll just add one thing to it. Tommy brought this up, and he's brought it up many times with me. The problem with that is that there's a heavy military, a heavy government, you know, defense department revenue stream for this particular franchise more than maybe any other in the league. And there's the feeling that they put some of that at risk. But anyway, let's move on. Real quickly, as it relates to the Redskins, do you think they've got a late season run in them or not?

Man, I just, and this is not about Colt McCoy, and it's not about, you know, Sheriff or Richardson or any specific injury. It's the totality of them to me. I think it's a thin football team at this point. I don't think it was a terribly deep one to begin with, and now, you know, they have no real way to stretch the field. Chris Thompson hasn't played in forever. Crowder doesn't play for this team. You know, so many of the little bits and pieces that no one around the NFL is like, well, that guy's a game changer.

Well, I mean, he's on your roster for a reason. And they're just so thin. It feels like it's going to be hard. That said, I mean, I think we've probably said all along, the division stinks. Although, I don't know, maybe the Cowboys, did they get it together in one week last night? They've had a good defense all year. Yeah, so now the skis are done with the Cowboys. They've done their job there.

They split their. If they're going to get to the playoffs, they have to sweep the Giants, and then they have to split these games with the Eagles. It's hard for me to see a path, not because I think they're terrible. I just think they're too beat up. Do you think if it ends up eight and eight, no playoffs, that there's an overhaul. So here's the thing.

I mean, this is a topic for the next month. It might have been a topic for this week if they hadn't, you know, decide to make the roster move that they did. I think we're at a note very much like late last year. How do you judge Jay Gruden with this roster? You know, and I understand there were 10 or 11 weeks when things were more or less intact,

or, you know, at least you had your quarterback, and I think we can say if the results with the quarterback were not that impressive. But I don't know. I haven't decided how I would feel, and I guess the style of the games matter going forward. How do they end up eight and eight or seven and nine or whatever it becomes?

But I could see us having this discussion in a month saying, well, there's not a really good argument to bring Jake Rudin back for a sixth year, which is the standard number under the insider. But there's also not a really good argument that he's messed enough enough that he should be gone. And where do you go with the rebuild after this? It's a, you know, his roster is so depleted that it feels harsh to make a judgment on based on that. But the flip side is, you will have had five full seasons to make a judgment on them,

and it would have been, you know, if it plays out as we're talking about, it would be one playoff appearance. Yeah, I wouldn't take him off the hook for this year's injuries. I mean, he may have the quarterback that he preferred all along anyway over these final five games with a chance to make the postseason. Yeah, maybe. But to your point, you know, you got to have a solution that's clearly better. And when you're considering that solution, you've got to be,

You got to have self-awareness, which they've never had, about who would really come here. You know, because you may have a couple of guys in mind, but do they really want to come here? You know, we've seen that in recent years. It's not the most desirable landing spot. I've got two more quick things that I want to get through with you, and then I'll let you run, and I appreciate the time. The first is this. You were in college park the other night. You're a Duke guy.

do you as a Duke person, do you think the ACC misses Maryland or not? So that's complicated. I mean, I think my baseline answer is yes. And in part, maybe it has less to do with, you know, with Duke or North Carolina and more to do with the team that was in college park the other night, Virginia. Like it felt like, well, why aren't these two teams doing this? twice a year, every year, like they did since the beginning of time. Like, that is what fit in college basketball.

It felt like a big game, and maybe it felt like a big game because, you know, Virginia's fourth in the country and Tony Bennett has them as one of the outstanding programs in the whole sport, or maybe it felt like a big game because it doesn't happen twice a year. But I think, I would put it this way, Kevin. I think the ACC misses Maryland. I don't think it's close to as much as Maryland misses the ACC. And I'll say it this way.

And that doesn't mean I don't think they can do well in the Big Ten, or they can't have a future there. They have to have a future there. But Mark Turgeon mentioned after a pretty good performance by his team in which I think you legitimately could take some promise out of it, he said, you know, he thanked the crowd. He was glad that they showed up, and he said, we really need you to be here Saturday because that's the game of the week.

It's our conference opener against Penn State. My thought is it didn't used to be that way. You didn't have to ask the fans, Maryland basketball fans, to show up for the conference opener. If that game was against NC State or Wake Forest, not against Duke or North Carolina, the premier foes in the ACC, but a traditional ACC opponent and not Penn State,

I think that, you know, that would just, there would be 17,950 people at Xfinity Center, and that would be normal for Maryland basketball. That's what I think is lost, is, you know, Purdue, as good as Purdue is then, just doesn't stoke the kind of emotional fire that some of these old ACC schools. I agree with you. And people, you know, Maryland people that listen to this today will say, well, you know, Kevin and Barry, there were there were nights where Wake was in the building and there were a lot of empty seats. But it just, the opener, if it had been Wake or Tech or NC State or Virginia, yeah, it would have been packed.

You wouldn't have had. Gary wouldn't have had to beg anybody to show up for the ACC opener after playing a big 10 ACC game against Iowa. It wouldn't have happened. Also, I didn't ask that question thinking that the ACC truly misses Maryland, and I agree with you, Maryland misses the ACC much more. I do think from a business standpoint not having this market for the ACC network was probably a blow. And more than anything from a dollars and cents standpoint, they would have loved to have had DC and Baltimore for the ACC network with Maryland in the ACC. but then again we're not even talking about the ACC that you and I recognize anymore. So it's just, it's totally changed. And maybe if my team in my school as an alum were in the ACC,

I wouldn't even feel the same way about the ACC anymore, games against Louisville and Pitt and Syracuse, etc. Hey, the last, go ahead. No, no, no, I was just going to say if Pitt came in for the opener and they're an ACC team, that would be why. Exactly. All right. Last one. maybe I missed it. Why hasn't anybody reported on the

Dwight Howard stuff from over last weekend? You know, I was asked this journalism class that I spoke to before the Maryland game the other night. And I don't have, I haven't, the Wizards are my weak spot in town. I will admit that up front. TMZ is not a

source that we go with, just that, you know, if the Richmond Times Dispatch reported something, we would say according to the Richmond Times dispatch, because that's a news organization we have the same values as. TMZ is a news organization that pays for information, and that can lead to a lot of different things. That said, they're right, a ton at the time.

I mean, it's not like you can't believe anything you read there because you can leave almost everything. So I don't know. what we as a sports department are doing and pursuing that story, I'm just saying that the starting point, if we don't have that stuff fleshed out on our own, the starting point is not one that we're going to pin to. So that might sound like an excuse. No, I mean, you don't know. So that's fine. I was just curious as to whether or not

you had an opinion and maybe I had missed something. But, you know, when there's an accusation that he and or his representatives, his pastor, I guess, was the report, threatened somebody to stay silent. That even more than the relationship that he reportedly had, that's a story, I would think. But anyway, he's hurt. For those that missed it, this glute injury, I think ESPN reported that he's going to get, he's going to have surgery and probably miss the. season anyway.

There's such a mess. They're just such a mess. It feels like this is the time when they're maybe an irreparable mess. Maybe. I think they've got to blow it up now. But I just don't know what the solution is. I deal, Beal, and try to get something for him. I don't know who would give up a lot for Wall at this point with that contract and those

knees. Thank you. I always love doing this with you. I really, really appreciate it. Thanks, Kevin. I appreciate it too. Give me a moment real quickly to tell you about Wind Donation. Harley and Aaron and Eric listen to the podcast.

They've supported this podcast from the beginning. Harley and Aaron have been advertisers on the station that I was on for 14 years and the programs that I hosted or co-hosted. They've been supportive of me for so long, and I want you to give them a chance. I have purchased Windows from Wind Donation twice over the last decade, and it's always worked out for me. I promise you that if you give them a call, A, there's no risk because you'll get a free estimate, and B, it'll work out. Time's running out right now on their deal of the year. It's the final week of the buy two windows, get two free windows, and buy four, get four free, buy six, get six free, etc. There's no limit on that. Plus, zero percent financing right now for five full years.

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Plus, zero percent interest for five full years. Call 86690 Nation right now. you'll save thousands on your windows and your energy bills. 86690 Nation or windownation.com and tell them that I sent you. All right, let's do some Friday Football QuickPicks. Everything you need to know for your football weekend. It's Friday Football QuickPix. All right, let's start by picking the best games of the weekend.

Tomorrow, there are four games that matter with respect to the playoff race. There's the Big 10 title game, the Big 12 title game, SEC title game, and I guess the ACC title game, although really if Clemson loses, they're still in. Ohio State in the Big Ten title game against Northwestern comes into that one off their biggest win of the year. One of the biggest wins of the season in college football, beating Michigan the way they beat them, really in shocking fashion, 62 to 39. I mean, if you had watched Michigan's defense all year long, I was shocked. I was floored that Ohio State rolled up 60. points on that defense.

Northwestern's quarterback, Clayton Thorson, he's a bigin. I mean, he's a big boy, and he can make some plays. And Northwestern, they seem to figure it out on offense. They've won seven of their last eight games, and the only loss was to Notre Dame in Chicago. And maybe the Buckeyes come into this one in letdown mode a little bit after last week.

The number's 14, Ohio State's 14, 14 and a half. I give Northwestern a shot in this one. I was blown away impressed with Ohio State last week, and I wasn't impressed with them at most of the year. I talked about how I didn't, I didn't think they were very good. I mean, compared to what Ohio State usually is, they were a bad defensive team most of the year. They played the defensive game of the year against Michigan by miles for them last week. And Dwayne Haskins, I think, has talent, I believe, that he's going to become a really good quarterback and a pro prospect. I just didn't think he had been very consistent this year. God, was he good last week? I still think Northwestern keeps this one close. I may be nuts.

Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game can avenge their only loss of the year to Texas. That game was a 48-45 game. Texas nearly blew a 21-point lead in that game. Look, Oklahoma's not going to stop Texas because they haven't stopped anybody. In their last four games, the Sooners have given up 56, 40, 47, and 46 points. Excuse me, in the last four games. 56, 40, 47, and 46. And they've won all of them. Last week, 59, 56 over West Virginia.

Texas is almost guaranteed to score 40 or more in this game. They're not going to get stopped. The question is, can they hold? Oklahoma to less than 50. The total in this game is 78. I think that's a little bit low for this one. But I think it's low because Texas is actually capable defensively. I like the chances that Texas sweeps the Sooners and knocks them out of the

playoff picture tomorrow. I think they are a good football team. And, you know, Herman as an underdog has been exceptional at Texas. The SEC title game is the game of the football weekend, the entire football weekend. I don't know if Bama has a close game in them. Listen to this. I heard this yesterday. I don't know if you have heard this, Aaron.

Bama's the first team since 1888 in college football to win its first 12 games by 20 points or more. That's pretty impressive. Yale did it in 1888. Exactly what I would have expected. Will they do it again? I think most people think so. They're a 13, 13 and a half point favorite somewhere in that range. Here's what I, I'm always looking for a chance that the underdog can make it a game against BAM. And I look at their last two SEC games. Auburn lost the game last week, 51, 21, it was 1714 at half. And Auburn was legitimately in the game at halftime. If you were watching that game, they were not

overwhelmed by Alabama in the first half. They forced Alabama to punt every once in a while. They moved the ball on the ground at times. They blocked a punt in special teams. Auburn had gotten manhandled by Georgia a few weeks earlier. I also look at their game against Mississippi State, which I've referenced many times since Alabama played Mississippi State. That was a smell test loss by a half point because it was 23 and a half and they lost 24-0. But Mississippi State's the only team that really stopped Alabama's offense. It shut it down completely in the second half three weeks ago. I love Mississippi State's defense.

I think they're the best defensive team in America. And whoever they play in their bowl game, I will have Mississippi State, as I did last Thanksgiving night in their blowout win over Ole Miss. But Georgia, so Bama really struggled against Mississippi State with their offensively. They couldn't move the ball in the second half. against one of the most underrated defenses in the SEC and in the country, Kentucky's defense, which by the way has been a top five, top six, seven scoring defense all year long. Georgia shredded Kentucky.

So I'm looking at these things thinking, can Georgia move the ball against Bama? Or can Bama really do to Georgia? Or can Georgia do to Bama's offense, what Mississippi State did to it? look, I like Jake Fromm. He's playing great. Remember early in the season when the prized recruit, Justin Fields, was going to take over that position and play for Jake Fromm? Fromm's had his best stretch of football over the last month. And they have a running back in Elijah Holyfield. And I've mentioned him many times on the podcast this year. He's Evander Holyfield's son. He is an NFL back and he is a big-time yard.

after contact guy. And you know with Bama, you're going to get contacted relatively early. He's a guy that can get three when it should go for nothing. And then they have Swift with the speed. It's a great combination. I just have a gut feel in this game that Georgia is not outclassed. I don't know if it will mean that they win the game, but I think it's going to be apparent throughout that Georgia is not outclassed by Bama. Can't wait to watch it tomorrow afternoon. Sunday, the game of the day is Minnesota at New England. Kirk Cousins against Tom Brady.

He beat Aaron Rogers last week and now he gets a chance at Brady this week. I will tell you that more likely than not, I think the Vikings will be in the smell test later on because the public really likes the Patriots. I think Minnesota can move the football against New England and I think they can score. I think what you've seen from Minnesota here is that against the really good defensive teams they've faced, like Chicago, that if they're not balanced,

which they're not, they've relied way too much on Kirk Cousins, Diggs, and Thielen, because they have not had a running game at any point this year, and they've had a sieve of an offensive line. He's been pressured consistently, but he is the kind of quarterback that can read a defense and get the ball out quickly to playmakers and allow them to make plays, and I think that's going to happen against New England, a team that's not great defensively, certainly not Chicago defensively. I like Minnesota's chances. That is the game of Sunday, of the Sunday card. 425 Fox, National TV, spotlight game. And then the Monday night game is really for football fans. Redskins Eagles is a huge game.

I mean, a lot of people will view that game as a, you have to win it to stay in the race. You really don't if you're the Redskins. You know, if you lose that game, but you win the final four, and I'm not suggesting that that would happen. But if they did win the final four after losing Monday night, they'd have a really good chance to be in the postseason at 10 and 6. In fact, they might have a chance to win the division at 10 and 6, although that chance is starting to diminish after last night. There are a couple of other games I'm interested in watching. I'm interested in seeing if the Giants, after last week's disheartening loss, continue to play well because they have been playing well. And they play the Bears at home. and the Bears, you know, Trabisky, I think, is going to go, but they're not completely sure on that yet. I think the Giants are going to be a live dog the rest of the way. They beat the 49ers and Buccaneers.

They should have beaten the Eagles last week, but the head coach basically had a brain freeze in the second half. They're not going to be an easy out next week here. Just not going to be an easy out. They could easily come in to FedEx Field and beat the Redskins next week, but watching how they react to that loss, which in their own minds, they still had postseason aspirations in Philadelphia last Sunday to get to 4 and 7. Although that would have been shut down with the Dallas loss, with the Dallas win against the Saints last night.

I'm interested in watching the Giants. I'm interested to see what the Ravens do in Atlanta. If the Ravens are going to make the postseason, they've got to win one of the next two. They've got to win in Atlanta or at Arrowley. head. So I would say that this is the game they've got to win to really have a legitimate shot at the postseason. And Joe Flacco did return to practice yesterday, but I think we're going to see Lamar Jackson against the Falcons. And then there's one other game that is of note, and that's

the Sunday night game. You know, the Chargers at the Steelers. That's a hell of a football game in the Sunday night window. And we'll see if Pittsburgh can bounce back from two unimpressive of weeks in a row at Jacksonville where they were down 16 nothing in the fourth quarter and last week in Denver where they lost outright. And now we're going to see if the Chargers can beat somebody good because the only team on their schedule that was good that they beat this year was Seattle and they had to hang on for dear life at the end. Their wins, the Chargers, the Bills, the 49ers, the Raiders twice, the Browns, the Titans, decent ones. win and the Seahawks and the Cardinals. You talk about a bad resume of wins. Let me repeat that.

The Bills, the Niners, the Raiders twice, the Cardinals, the Browns, who are improving, and then the two decent teams they beat, the Titans and the Seahawks. I want them to be the real deal this year. I don't think that they are at Pittsburgh's level. We'll find out Sunday night at Heinz Field. All right, let's bring in Scott Van Pelt, and he was in town the other night. We went to the Maryland game. We'll get to that for you Turp fans. Talk about what the Terps prospects for this year are after an impressive performance, but not a win against Virginia. But I wanted to start just by getting your thoughts, if you had any, on the week that we've had here in D.C. with the Redskins claiming Ruben Foster off waivers.

It's obviously tricky, to say the least. And the thing, I've got to be so careful in how I say this so that I don't become some guy that ends up being the target of everyone's anger and outrage. Well, we'll just edit it out if you say something that I think will anger people. No, no, no, no, no. There's nothing to edit because it isn't like that. Here's the overarching thought that I have that Ruben Foster has had a horrific upbringing, which doesn't excuse anything he's done if he's done it, but he's a product of just a really unimaginable circumstance,

who when he was at Alabama, it gave him the one opportunity to have an ultra-uber-structured situation, to give him the best chance to be successful, and it worked out as best as it could. And he has a string of, what is this now, three allegations in a year. And it would appear that this woman that he's involved with, there's a volatile relationship.

There was an accusation, which she then recanted. And then now this, and so obviously this is a situation with a million red flags, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. It seems to me that what the Redskins did is they saw a guy and they thought, that's a good football player. That's a really good football player. And we're going to claim him.

And we're going to let this process, which he is entitled to, play out and see what happens. And the minute I saw that the Redskins claim, I thought, oh, this is going to get crushed because domestic violence, multiple allegations of domestic violence, a troubled guy, people are just going to do what they do, which is say, how could you do this? You value women more than people and you don't care about women. And I thought that the Redskins initial statement, I read it, and I thought that's as much

as they can say, we know that there are a lot of issues. we're going to see what happens with this investigation. There are many, many things that have to happen before he could ever play for this team and we'll see what happens. But that's not good enough because everyone wants to say to about Ruben Foster because of these very troubling allegations. You can't pick him up.

Well, they did. And I knew the reaction would be what it was. And then the Redskins magnified it a million times. more because then they kept talking. And as they kept talking, they only said things that made the situation worse like there are other people that do bad things. You can't say that.

You're talking about Jake Brun and Doug Williams. Right. What was said only made the situation worse. The only things that could have been said by anybody from the Redskins were, again, we understand how troubling these allegations are.

We share your concerns. We believe that this is a football player who could help us down the line. And so we took the chance to see what would happen if it turns out that he isn't found guilty of these charges. And if he's not, then we are willing to bring him into our environment where we have a bunch of people who knew him and vouched for him. And then that troubles people because they're going to say, well, you just asked his friends. Well, did you ask, did you ask any of the alleged victim? Did you check out the police report? And those concerns from people are entirely valid.

Because they always bungle the aftermath of something that could have been handled much better. Of course. Of course. And again, Kevin, like, I mean, I'm trying my best to be careful here to say, I'm not saying I think Ruben Foster's a good person. I don't know. And I'm not saying I think this is a great idea. But I think that he's entitled to a problem. process. And they took him to see if the process played out in his favor. And if it did, then they would try to make it work. If it doesn't, then he'll never play for them. So, but, but again, I knew the reaction would be what it was. It was, you know, given the climate and given the concerns, the very valid concerns people have about this, this topic, I understand people's reaction in a sense. But my question would be this. If it turns out that this, this,

these charges or allegations, I don't even have he's been charged. Yeah, no, he has, but he was charged on Saturday night. Right, right, right, right, right, right. I, from what happened to the team would tell. If it turns out they're not true, then is he allowed to pursue a football career? Of course.

Right? I don't think anybody... That's what I'm saying. But let me just say this, because I just had Barry's Verluga on the show, and we talked about this, and I think he's 100% right. if let's just say he's cleared legally and the league reviews the case and he's an eligible

player and the Redskins got the next best the next great inside linebacker for essentially nothing and it looks like it really paid off from a football standpoint it doesn't change the fact that it was the wrong thing to do in that moment in context you have to consider the franchise too Scott this is this is a franchise that does not get the benefit of the doubt, nor does it deserve it. It hasn't earned the benefit of the doubt. And there is a reason that 31 other teams that, and by the way, of the 31, probably more than half, do usually get the benefit of the doubt and have earned the benefit of the doubt. They didn't even sniff this player, because you can't in today's environment sign that player

72 hours after a second arrest within a year. Even if you have all the information, which they didn't. They clearly didn't even pursue the information. Philadelphia was the only team that called the Tampa police for the report. But it's just, it's everything. It's the state of the organization, the fact that they're the one organization in the league that really couldn't do this. It's the way they handled the aftermath of it. They were ill-prepared as they usually are for a public relations backlash. I know you do. I know you do. It's just, um... I agree with everything you're saying, all I'm saying, they could have waited, let the process play out and then find out.

The fact, all of these things are undoubtedly true. I just, I thought that the initial statement that they made, it was the best they could do in saying, we share your concerns, we're going to let this process play out and then see what happens. But you're right. It's the wrong organization. It sends the wrong message. And all I'm saying is that as soon as I saw it, I thought, oh, boy, this will play out in a certain way, which is exactly how it played out.

And then, again, they've only magnified the issue by how poorly they've handled everything since. And just, here's the thing. I don't assume that Ruben Foster will ever wear the Redskins uniform for a myriad of reasons. I just don't think he will, which makes the whole thing not worth it. and it just projects the image that, you know, you don't share everyone else's concerns. And the way they've said what they've said after the fact, again, makes everyone's initial reaction valid. So, you know, they just, they can't, they can't avoid these things. They just can't avoid stepping in it.

And then they spin around in a circle and keep stepping in it. And then they fall down in it. And by the time it's over, it's like, why you didn't need to step in that poop right there. But then by the time it's, they're covered in it, because they just don't, they can't do it. They can't avoid things. I mean, I'm going to mention two things. And for those that are listening, I know I'm being repetitive,

but I haven't had this conversation with Scott because when we were at the game the other night, the only thing we cared about was whether or not Bruno Fernando was going to be able to beat Virginia. That was of the most importance. But, you know, there are two things that I have found interesting about this. Number one is that the league

leaked the information or put out the information leaked maybe the wrong way to describe it, put out the information that they rarely put out, which is there was only one team to make a waiver claim on this player. I believe they did it because they were really very upset that the Redskins claimed this player. But because of feeling that way that the league's upset about it, I blame the league. The league should have put this exempt status on this player immediately and not allowed any of its teams to claim him off waivers. You know, the league's at fault on some level for this and for the backlash, because, you know, the league's taking a hit on this issue, too. I mean, I know when it comes to the Redskins and the Browns and the Raiders that everybody just says, okay, that's not reflective of most of the teams in our league.

But, you know, the league shouldn't have allowed the player to be claimed that quickly off waivers. I don't think so. They put the Redskins as a team that does a lot of dumb things a lot of the time in, position to do another done thing. And then they leaked that they were the only team, or I'm sorry, disclose that they were the only team. And then the second thing, Scott, and again, I'm repetitive for the people that have listened to this podcast, but they should have owned it more.

They've handled this so poorly pushing poor Doug Williams out there. Doug's the only positive connection to this fan base from their front office. And they've got him on with Doc yesterday. Bruce Allen and Dan Snyder needed to own this and say, we signed him because he's talented and he can help us win. And we are aware of these charges. And if they stand, he'll never play for us. And they could talk about all of the wonderful things that Tanya Snyder's done with various organizations and charities and how they've been very much involved in promoting, you know, anti-domestic violence issues, et cetera.

But they needed to own it. And, you know, Tom yesterday on the show said it was cowardly the way this was handled by the owner and the team president. just hiding in the shadows and pushing Jay Gruden and Doug Williams out there to take, you know, to take these questions. And we love Doug. And Doug, no one's ever going to blame Doug for the things that he said yesterday that people really took and ran with to a certain degree. Because we know his intention wasn't to say some of the things that he said yesterday. Like this is a small potatoes issue. It was in the context of comparing it to other bigger people in bigger positions.

that do and have gone down this same path before. But anyway, let's talk about other things. Can we talk about other things? Yeah, okay. Unless you want to respond to that. Go ahead. No, no, listen, again, I agree with much of the reaction. Again, I'm not saying, hey, you guys, you know, you don't know.

I'm not saying that group fostered to do this. I'm saying from a business standpoint, it seemed to me that what they did is they said this guy might be able to help us. We'll let the process play out and see where it lands. And if it works out for us, yippie. But you're right, again, wrong organization. The idea that you're saying Snyder and Allen should have voted, good luck with that. Like they were going to be front and center. It's not how this group functions.

and, you know, in the end, I guess all I'd say is in the end, you know, there are these concerns and they're justified. And in the end, if it turns out that, you know, the allegations don't end up being leading to a conviction or whatever else, then even then, I wonder, do they move forward, you know, with this player, given the reaction people have had. So anyway. All right.

Here we are. What do we think about Maryland's chances to have a really good season? The whole moral victory participation trophy, everybody gets a ribbon kind of idea about the way the world works now. I don't think that applies

to what we saw on Wednesday. I don't think the idea that Maryland walked away from that game optimistic and pleased. Has anything to do with, oh, you know, everybody gets an orange slice and a ribbon at the end. I don't think that's what happened. I think what happened was Maryland played one of the best coached and most difficult to prepare for and play against teams

because they don't make mistakes and they didn't on Wednesday. a team that doesn't let you score because of their vaunted pack line defense. And they played against the team that didn't turn the ball over once on offense. Yes, there were two turnovers, but they weren't like because they threw the ball away. They were two offensive fouls. They played against that team, and they became the first teams that were 60, let alone they got to the 71. And they took a 17-point deficit, which against Virginia might as well be 50,

and cut it to four. It's true. 17 is like a 50 against them. It's so hard. Again them, forget it. It's over. And if not for a really, really big shot by Ty Jerome from Virginia late, you got a chance. And even after that, I mean, there's, there are a number of just if moments that didn't quite happen.

But I felt like Eric Ayala, their freshman guard afterwards, his comments about what the group took from it that were positive. And it made me feel really, really optimistic. because I think collectively they looked around each other and thought, all right, we're basically all freshmen and sophomores. That's the top five team in the country. And we got it to four late. And if that's what we can do now in November, if we continue on this path and we continue working yada, yada, we could be some. Now, do a lot of teams improve from now to March? Of course they do.

But I think that what we saw was very, very promising. And when I walked over to my colleague and by buddy Jay Billis after the game to, you know, just say see ya. He just made these big eyes at me. They were talking to Tony Bennett. And he pointed at me like I represent Maryland. And he goes, you guys are good. And he texted me afterwards. He said, I really like that team.

And I defer to Billis because, A, he knows the game better than most. And he's seen more teams than I have. So this is a long-winded answer. But I just think that out of that performance, there were many, many things too like. Now, having said that, now you have to take, you have to take what you're optimistic about,

and you have to put it to work Saturday in a league game at home against the Penn State team that's going to make you have to earn, and you've got to get that win, so that you can then go to Purdue the following week, again, in league, on the road, your first real road game, and be ready to take what they're going to throw at you,

which are going to be some haymakers. So they get a lot of young talent, And I thought it was, I thought they showed a whole hell of a lot of fight. And it was, it was, you know, it was something that should give everyone optimism. All right. You hear that thought, right? Yeah, I just, I do. I want to see it because I think we have felt at different times in the last few years that we had a team that could go deep into March.

And it didn't work out that way. They had injuries last year that clearly hurt them. But I want to see them live up to what I think actually now, after seeing them, the other night. I think it's his most talented team that he's had. Yeah, and I think there are some guys, like Ricky Lindo, the freshman that they got late,

who reclassified, who's very, very young, if he got in there and was, it was too much, right? I mean, it was pretty obvious that, all right, the speed of this and what's required today, all right, we're not going to subject him to this at this moment, but he's going to help them.

And that's a, that's a piece that speaks to this, just the depth of what they've got. Maybe Wednesday I won the spot, but there'll be moments when he's definitely going to help them this year. And then, you know, Bruno and Stix, and then Ayala, the guard that really wasn't as coveted as some others. He's got the stuff, man. He's got those elements, those intrinsic qualities of competitiveness and a lack of fear for the moment. He's really going to help them. He's going to allow him to, Cowan,

to not have to be the guy with a ball in his hands a thousand percent of the time. Let him play two, let him, you know, get freed up a little bit. So, you know, yeah, you got to realize the promise, right? You've got to get better. You've got to have everything worked out between now and March. But as losses go, I think it was, it's one you can frame realistically as something that's really, really got some things about it that are worthwhile.

Every game's information, right? What's the information tell you? Well, that information told me, okay, they're not going to play many teams better than that. And they were good enough to stand out there and throw punches and stand toe to toe until the end. All right. Who do you like this weekend? Who did you give out last night? Every underdog, of course.

You and I had this conversation the other night, and I know the smell test has been red hot, so that makes me feel great that you and I were aligning here. But I just, I sincerely like the dogs this weekend. I didn't give out pit because it's just you go down to Miami and get crushed. I'm not too optimistic about your chances against Clemson. Other than that, I just think the dogs can all have around. You know, taking the Northwestern is a little scary on a fast track indoors. Ohio State offense is certainly capable of scoring a zillion.

I don't think Northwestern is capable of scoring like that. But which Ohio State team do you get? Beyond who I gave out, I'm curious about this. I don't see how Ohio State can possibly get in a football college, do you? Apparently not. Didn't we learn that the other night? I think we learned that the other night. Well, that's what I said to Reese.

I said, if Oklahoma is ahead of Ohio State today, and Ohio State and Oklahoma plays a better team in Texas, then there's no path for Ohio State. And Reese made a great point. He said, well, we don't know how, you know, was Oklahoma significantly ahead of Ohio State or just slightly, and if it's just slightly in Ohio State goes out and wins, you know, 4110, then Oklahoma wins, but barely is that enough?

Like, you know, the old beauty contest style point, points to everyone appoint it. But my thought is, I don't really care if you beat Northwestern by a lot, because if Oklahoma's only lost to Texas by three and they beat them, if you say they're ahead of them right now, you being the committee, then I don't know how you're going to explain it to me on Sunday that suddenly they're not as good if they both win. Look, if Oklahoma wins and Ohio State wins, Oklahoma's win this weekend is more impressive. It's avenging they're only lost, and it's beating a team that I think actually would beat Northwestern. Or, you know, might be, I mean, there may not be a whole lot of difference between Texas and Northwestern.

But, you know, Ohio State can't do what they did when they clobbered Wisconsin in the first playoff year because Northwestern isn't Wisconsin. So 63 to nothing against Northwestern is not going to do the same thing. So I'm with you. I think that we learned the other night that if Oklahoma wins this game, that they're in, if Bama beats Georgia. And I think that we've seen over the years that the offense that Oklahoma plays, that's the one thing you can do to Nick Saban and Alabama that stresses them. I know what you're saying. It's what Deshawn Watson did to him.

It's what Johnny Mansell did do him a few years ago. Having that dual-paced lots of place. Right. If you've got that dual threat quarterback and that speed offensively. But let's also say this, all Alabama will need in a game against Oklahoma. Oklahoma is one stop, one, because there's no chance that Oklahoma will stop Alabama. Agreed. I was just going to follow it. The problem all you has, is that they're going to have to score 90. Yeah, I mean, that's 63 to 35. There's no chance Oklahoma has of beating Alabama.

I totally agree. That defense is really, really, really poor. I do think George is going to play them tough tomorrow, though. I do. I agree. I actually like a favorite. I haven't done my smell test yet, but... Oh, okay. That's a good team.

Yeah. That's a good team for the segment. I know, but there is a favorite that I'm going to endorse. How about Dallas last night? That was easy. Yeah, that was one of the most. I have a buddy of mine from back of the old Elegant Hall days. he's the guy that actually introduced me to the old gambling world and he texted me yesterday

said Dallas is my play of the year and I said yep that's that certainly seems to be the way to go and then look take the gambling aspect out of it what they did to that saint's defense was an offense rather that was really eye-opening man like that's that's the kind of thing that you go oh I mean and with that Fander Bosh Fander-Eyeshae Fander-Eash Fander-Eyesh Vander Ash and Smith, those two linebackers they've got are the absolute truth, man. They're, you know, two of the best backers in the game. They get up the middle and breeze his face and cause him a ton of problems. And that was really, really impressive because I'm the guy that after they lost at the Titans on Monday Night Football

looked at the next five games they were playing. I'm like, Cowboys stink. And they got a shot. Look at this schedule. Well, they've won the first four of those fives. Their defense has been at this last. level all year long. It has, the thing that we were talking about on the podcast early in the season is that I

thought their pass rush was among the best pass rushes in the NFL. And then, you know, the development of Vanderech, because Sean Lee's never, never healthy. And I always thought, you know, well, they're never the same without Sean Lee. Well, now they're better, actually, with Vanderech. And the emergence of Smith, it's really, it's a very, very good defensive team. I mean, right now, what we saw last night was not an aberration. They've done this to almost everybody. Like, they really, like, you know, the game they played at Atlanta a couple of weeks ago.

I mean, Atlanta's got a great offensive football team, and they basically really bottled them up. Yes, they did. That was mostly field goals, bro. I also, I mean, also, as great as they were, I mean, how you miss Jail and Smith leaving his feet to hit Camara helmet to helmet. and don't flag them in that spot is beyond my comprehension. I mean, I thought that officiating crew had a horrendous night, which helped Dallas some, but that doesn't, I'm not saying that's why they won the game.

I'm just saying I felt like there's calls that were terrible, and I felt like Sean Payton made some really bad mistakes. Calling that timeout with 203, you know, that meant Dallas could throw the ball without any penalty. Exactly. And then they got the PI on that and ended the game. So they conspired in their own demise. but Dallas's defense was the real reason that the game was won by that.

That was, like I said, that was really, really eye-opening to me. All right, thanks. I'll talk to you over the weekend. Sounds great. All right, thanks to Scott Van Pelt. By the way, Cooley's going to join the show on Monday. We just texted back and forth, and it's going to be better for him to come on Monday,

which will be perfect because we will spend time together previewing Redskins Eagles and talking about the weekend, the football weekend, certainly off the NFL weekend on Sunday. Let me tell you quickly about Ferrisch Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Fairfax. Ferris should be on your list if you're considering a new vehicle. Go to Farish Cars.com right now to see their live inventory and best deals. It's right there easy to navigate website at ferrishcars.com. You'll find them right there.

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out to Farish in Fairfax. Ask for Ralph Perkins when you get there. They're located right in the heart of Fairfax and Fairfax Circle. He's in the store virtually every day. You can find out everything Farish has right now, including live inventory. in pricing at ferrish cars.com. All right, so coolly you'll be with us on Monday. We'll finish up the show with the smell test. Kevin looks where the John Q public is putting their cash and does the opposite. It's time for the smell test.

All right, let's get to the smell test. Last week, 13 and 5, 10 and 2 on Saturday. Last two and a half weeks, including last night, I gave out Dallas as an early smell test pick, the seven. I'm 24 and 6 over the last two and a half weeks. I think I can do that math, Aaron. 24 and 6 is 80%. I remember that because a 24 out of 30 on a test was a B. That's why you were going for. It was a B. 80% over the last two and a half weeks. For the season, I'm 80, 64, and 3 now. All right, so Dallas kicked the weekend off with a win. Let's go to tonight where there are two championship games tonight in college football.

You've got the MAC championship game tonight and also the PAC 12 championship game tonight. And both of them fit the smell test. Buffalo is playing Northern Illinois in the Mac championship game. Buffalo's 10 and 2. Northern Illinois is 7 and 5. Buffalo is just a 3 and 1 half. Actually, it's four now. All right, four.

We use the Friday lines, scores and odds, their app, which is now very difficult. If anybody knows anybody from scores and odds, they had the best website and the best app for years. And now it's very difficult the changes they made. But Buffalo's laying four, give me northern Illinois plus the four tonight in the Mac championship game. The public is all over Buffalo in this one. In the Pac-12 championship game last night, I got everybody off to a good start on Friday night by telling you that Washington would beat Washington State in the Apple Cup. And what a game that was in the snow, a blizzard in Pullman last Friday night.

I think Washington pretty much gave it all they had there, and they're in letdown mode this week. They're laying five, six and a half, excuse me. No, I'm sorry, six. Six is the current line. give me Utah plus the 6th, the public loves Washington. Utah's very capable. I will say this, I love Chris Peterson. I think he's such a good coach. And Washington really did have a disappointing season. They were picked at the beginning of the season by a lot of people to be a playoff team by winning the Pac-12. And remember, the season started with that loss in the Georgia Dome to Auburn. Great football game. As it turns out, Auburn didn't have the great year. But then the season, they lost at Oregon. Washington did in a crazy game that they had a chance to win in. They lost to Cal. You know, they salvaged their season last week by beating Washington State. They wanted that one even more than they want tonight. Give me Utah Plus the six. In the Sunbelt Championship game,

which is tomorrow early, Appalachian State laying 16 and a half to U.L. Lafayette. I have no idea why this is working, but for whatever reason, no one is betting U.L. L. Lafayette. I talked to very late last night after the Dallas game, a couple of my guys offshore, and they told me to look at that game, and I did, and I don't know anything about these two teams. I know Appalachian State's pretty good, and they can score. U.L. Lafayette is going to be a need for bookmakers around the world. Take them plus the 16 and a half. Also tomorrow, Fresno is laying, is getting two to Boise. I had Boise last week. That was the craziest ending for the smell test last week because Boise was pretty much done. Lange 3 up 26, 24, looked like a

loss, and then they broke off a long run and they got it down there with a goal to go situation. And with eight seconds to go, they had a decision to either kick a field goal or go for it. And they went forward if they'd gotten stopped, they would have won by two. And it would It didn't have been a cover, but they scored on fourth and goal from the one to win the game 33-24. This week, I like their opponent. I like Fresno plus the two in that championship game against Boise. There is very sharp money on Fresno, and that's a good defensive football team. Clemson's now laying 27 and a half.

This game opened up at 25, a ton of sharp money on this, and the public's actually betting pit. give me Clemson laying the 27 and a half in the ACC title game. Look, there's a lot that makes sense to this because South Carolina put up 35 points on Clemson and got the backdoor cover at the end of the game last week. 5635 was the final with Clemson laying 25 and a half. But South Carolina with Bentley, their quarterback, who is pretty good, they can throw the football. Pit cannot. Pitt cannot. Pit was on the wrong side of the smell test, or on the right side of the smell test

last week because I had Miami laying the four and a half, and they only scored three against Miami. This has 49 to 6 written all over it. I don't think they can stop Clemson, and I don't think they'll be able to move the ball against Clemson. Give me Clemson laying 27 and a half. And then in the Big Ten title game, I'll take Northwestern. Most public betters are on Ohio State, laying 4.5. 14, 14 and a half. Let me get the updated number because this would be a rather important number. I thought I had it before. I will update that here momentarily, but Ohio State is on scores and odds.

That's what we're using. God, this app is impossible to work. It used to be the best. Now it's the worst. Can't find the Ohio State line. Wait a minute. Here it comes. Ohio State is 14 and a half. So I'm getting 14 and a half with Northwestern. A good number for me. I'll take that 14 and a half. All right, let's go to Sunday. There are a few games that I really like personally that also fit the smell test.

Then there are a couple of games I love personally that didn't fit it. I'm going to mention all of them. I can't believe that the Giants aren't a smell test pick, but they're not. I like them. plus four at home against Chicago, but it's not an official release on Sunday. I also think that the Redskins are the right side on Monday night. I really do plus the six, but the action is pretty much split. In fact, in some shops I've talked to, they've got a slight lean, public lean on the Redskins in that game. So I'm staying off the Giants and the Redskins, even though I like both of them. and I would give them out as leans, not official releases.

Here are the official smell test releases. Tampa's getting three and a half at home against Carolina. The public loves the Panthers to bounce back against Tampa on the road. Gimme James Winston and the Bucks. I think they might win that game outright. I have no idea why Jacksonville is only a four-point dog, starting Cody Kessler with no Leonard Fournette. He's suspended against the Colts who have been on a roll.

But that line is super short, perceived short by the public. believes Vegas has made a mistake in this game with this short number. I'll take Jacksonville plus the four. The Vikings were a smell test pick Sunday night against the Packers. They came through. They are a smell test pick once again at New England. The public is shorting and fading Kirk Cousins and the Vikings right now, or they have at least against the Packers and the Patriots, and it's probably more about Aaron Rogers and Tom Brady, right, than it is about the Vikings. But the public's on New England, and that line has come down. There is, sharp money on Minnesota. I like the Vikings plus the five. I think they've got a really good chance

to win this game in Foxborough on Sunday afternoon. And then here's the last one, and I don't feel good about this one. Trust me, but no one, no one is betting Detroit, getting 10 at home against the Rams. I'll take the Lions plus the 10. I really wanted to take Georgia, but it didn't fit the smell test pick. And I mentioned the Giants in particular in the Redskins, Monday night, but they don't fit the smell test criteria this week. All right, here it is. I had Dallas last night, winter. Tonight, Northern Illinois, plus four, Utah plus six. Tomorrow, U.L. Lafayette plus 16 and a half. Fresno plus two. Clemson minus 27 and a half. Northwestern plus 14 and a half. And then on Sunday, the Buccaneers plus three and a half, the Jags

plus four, the Vikings plus five, and the Lions plus 10. Many of you will try. tweet me on this one. I know you will. As to why I don't have UAB in the smell test. Middle Tennessee last week, I gave them out, having no real knowledge about the team at all. Just narratives. I just like using narratives. I've heard that from various people. I don't use predictive analytics as a way of picking games. I just know that a lot of people offshore love the people that use predictive analytics and they will take all of that action any day of the week and discount their VIGs to do it. But anyway, I'm getting sidetracked.

Middle Tennessee was a smell test pick last week, and they crushed UAB. And now they're playing them this week in their championship game, and they're only a one-point favorite. So UAB was close to being a smell test selection. But for whatever reason, the action's pretty split on the game, so they're not. So again, Northern Illinois, Utah, U.L. Lafayette. Fresno, Clemson, Northwestern, and then the Bucks, Jags, Vikings, and Lions. Have a great weekend, everybody. Back on Monday to review the football weekend and preview with Cooley.

He'll come on the show Monday, the Redskins Eagles game on Monday night.