The Kevin Sheehan Show - Eagles Stink!

Episode Date: December 1, 2020

Kevin with 980 friend/teammate Al Galdi today discussing the demise of Carson Wentz and the Philadelphia Eagles along with plenty of Washington Football and NFL talk too. Oh, they also had a 5-10 minute Kirk Cousins lovefest discussion.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today's podcast is brought to you by MyBooky.ag. If you're looking for a place to bet football this weekend or even tomorrow at 3.40 in the afternoon, when the Ravens are scheduled to take on the Steelers, go to MyBooky.orgie.org and use my promo code, Kevin, D.C. They will match your deposit halfway all the way up to $1,000. Simply put, if you deposit $800, they're going to give you $400 additional dollars to play with. MyBooky.ag is fair, fair lines, fair pricing, and you'll get paid if you win. Trust me, if you've never bet before, you've got to find a reputable shop, and MyBooky is one of them to ensure you get paid. They've got a sports book, they've got a live betting casino, and a

horse book as well. In-game bets, always, every prop bet you can think of, mybooky.orgie.ag And use my promo code, Kevin, D.C., and they'll match your deposit. it halfway up to $1,000. 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. Deep ball in the end zone, and it is caught.

Caught. For the touchdown, Richard Rogers, had it all the way. Touchdown catch. The Eagles attempt of the most two-point conversions in the NFL. And Elaine opens up nicely from Miles Sanders, and strolls in for two. So what are the odds in Vegas of not one but two Hail Mary's being converted in succession? Oh my God, if you were up late last night till the bitter end of the Monday night game and you had action on it,

that was either a gift from God or one of the worst beats of all time. I am here today, no Cooley today, but a very good friend of mine and one of my favorite people, Al Galdi from 980, is joining us and joining me on the show today. And we'll sit in here for a while. It's not going to be a super long show today. Cooley promised me he would be back tomorrow with some semblance of a film breakdown from the Dallas game. By the way, real quickly for him in his defense, because some of you are like, oh, great job, Cooley on the film breakdown, really reliable. way, Galdi's worked with Cooley as much as I have over the years. Cooley's always reliable, but he sold his house in Virginia. He's been back.

Things got a little bit messy, and he's been trying to deal with that. So he's had real life issues versus this, you know, fantasy podcast stuff. Galdi, you would attest, right, to Cooley being one of the easiest people you've ever had to work with. Yes. Now, it wasn't always 100% that he would be there, but when he was there, he was always, always a pleasure to work with. So good to hear that he's back in town for a while and hope he's doing well. See, you just ruined it because one of the things that I always, and I was concerned about it,

and I think I probably talked to you and Zabe about it, you know, when they moved the two of us in the mornings on 980. But I'm telling you during that entire two-plus years or whatever it was, I don't think he ever, I think he may have arrived late to the show one day. I don't think he was ever not available to prep for the show. And by the way, for him, he was always prepared for the show. And we've worked with a lot of ex-athletes. And most of the experiences have been great. I mean, they really have been. But we've worked with enough of them to know that some of them just kind of like to show up and flip the mic on. And, oh, what are we doing today?

And what time am I done? Yeah, there's a lot of that. Yeah, that was never, that was never Cooley. Yeah, no, no, Chris is a great guy. I think what happened was, so our initial show of him, me, and Zabe, it was like this arranged marriage that was thrown together. Cooley was new to radio. A lot of this was probably not even his fault.

But, you know, there would be days like, so is he on today? Is he not here today? Is he on vacation? Is he in Wyoming? When is he back from Wyoming? There's a lot of little confusing things like that. So I think you got Cooley once he became used to the business, once it was like, okay, it's him and you.

I think he believed in that show a lot more. So I think, you know, that definitely worked in you guys' favor. But Cooley is one of the all-time great dudes. Always love talking to him and I listen to you and him all the time on the podcast. He's great. You know, one of the things, too, Al, and you just mentioned it when, and it was sort of a shock, if we recall, because it was Andy and Zabe, first of all, coming to an end. And it was coming to an end because the, you know, Red Zebra, who Dan Snyder was the majority

owner of, which owned the station, which was affiliated with the team. We were the flagship of the team as well. Cooley had retired, and they wanted Cooley to do the games, and they were going to give them a contract, but as part of the contract, they wanted Cooley to do more. and for whatever reason they decided, you know what, you go do a show on 980. And, you know, I don't even know that Cooley really wanted to do a radio show. He just wanted to do the games. And he really was sort of thrown into that thing.

And as it turned out, you know, it was a good thing because I think he was very good and continues to be very good at it. Anyway, I wanted to just mention about the game last night because, first of all, and I've got to go back and look at this. I don't know why I haven't looked at this. I gave Philadelphia out as a smell test pick on Friday. And I don't, at the time, the line was either five and a half or six. So I either pushed it or lost it. I think I probably lost that wager. I can't even find it right now. Anyway, but when I bet it last night, and I did like Philadelphia all day, the number grew to six and a half, and I bought the half point, got it to plus seven. First of all, Philly sucks. I mean, they really are a pathetic offensive team, which Galdi and I are going to talk about here in a moment.

But if you didn't stay up late and you didn't witness what happened at the very end of the game, Philly barely could move the football, could barely score. They're down 23 to 9 with a minute to go. They get the ball near midfield. With 12 seconds to go, Carson Wentz throws a Hail Mary into the end zone, which is deflected in. into the hands of Richard Rogers, who was a Washington football team player in training camp, whose father is part of the coaching staff for Washington,

and was famous for catching one of Aaron Rogers' Hail Mary throws against the Lions at Ford Field several years ago on either a Thursday night or a Sunday night game, I forget. But it gets deflected. Richard Rogers, one hand grabs it in the end zone. So now it's 23 to 15. And I've got them plus seven, so I'm like, make the extra point. I'll take the push. What a gift. But no, old Doug Peterson, which we got to get to in a moment,

because good God, this dude's insufferable. And I think if I'm an Eagle fan, I don't care what Super Bowl he won. I don't want him as my coach anymore. Peterson goes with the analytics down 14-go-for-2. For those unfamiliar, a lot of the analytics people think, down 14, if you score, you should go for two

to try to make it a six-point deficit, therefore the next touchdown and an extra point wins the game. And if you miss the two-pointer, you'll have another opportunity for a two-pointer to tie. And the two-pointer probability is somewhere around 50-50. I think it's this year at 48-something, but whatever. And, you know, the theory is you play to win analytically. You don't play for overtime in that spot. So Peterson is obviously a worshipper of everything football.

analytics. And he goes for two. And I'm like, oh my God. I forgot. It's Peterson. He's going to go for two here. So now I got a chance to win or lose. No push. The push is no longer in play. And for those that had Philly plus six or plus six and a half, or had Seattle minus six and a half, now you're like, oh, Jesus. I either have a chance to win or I actually have a chance to lose. And he went for two. And he went for two and they got it and they lost by six. Winner. Winner for Sheehan. Yay analytics. Oh, yay analytics. Galdi is a disciple. We have to talk about Philadelphia though for a moment because obviously they are in this division. Al, they're a terrible offensive football team and what the hell happened to Carson Wentz? It is to me, maybe the single most shocking thing in the NFL,

what has happened with him. He was, you know, the year they won the Super Bowl, he was an MVP candidate until he got hurt. And if you'd have asked me at any point up until, I guess what, the first month of this season, would you take Carson Wentz over whatever our team has a quarterback? 100% I would have said yes. And I keep waiting for this to turn around with him.

I keep waiting for, okay, he's not really this bad. This is an aberration. This isn't who he is. And it's like, no, he's having a terrible year. every indication is he's healthy enough to where this isn't like, well, he's dealing with a shoulder thing or a rib thing and that's why he's playing like this. He sucks. He's terrible. His decline is one of the more inexplicable declines we've seen of like an MVP caliber quarterback. I can remember in recent history. It's really shocking what's happened with him. He has the yips. He's got the golf, you know, the NFL version, the quarterback version of golf.

Yips. You know, for those of you not familiar, it's where you, as a putter in particular, you get very nervous and fidgety and you can't make a put. You can't put a smooth stroke because of the nerves. He has that as a thrower. You can see it. He's playing very skittishly, in part, in his defense, they've been decimated along their offensive line. And I'm not so sure that right now Washington's skill position players aren't a lot better than Philadelphia's. Philadelphia stinks. No Zach Ertz. You know, they did get Jeffrey back last night. No Deshawn Jackson. They have Dallas Gottert. They've got the rookie Jalen Rager. They have the guy, the big guy, Travis Fulgum, who was playing when everybody was out. I do like a lot Miles Sanders,

but they just don't have enough around him. He is the most sacked quarterback in the league. He's the number one turnover quarterback in the league. this was last night if you weren't paying attention to this game. It's remarkable how this game started. Seattle's defense has struggled at times. Now, I think the addition of Carlos Dunlop's really helped them from a pass-rusher standpoint, but they've been lit up in recent weeks. I mean, Buffalo lit them up.

The Cardinals lit them up a few weeks back. Philadelphia's first six drives of the game. I think it's six or five. I'm going to go look it up. Three and out punt. Three and out punt. Three and out punt. Three and out punt, three and out punt.

All right. So what did I just give you? Did I just give you five straight drives? But let me give you the yardage. First drive, three plays, five yards. By the way, you know how they gain those five yards with a penalty? The second drive, three plays one yard. Third drive, three plays minus 11 yards.

Fourth drive, three plays minus four yards. Fifth and final drive, three plays eight yards. they had, with very little time left in the first half, four yards of total offense against a very average defensive football team. And then they did score on a long drive before the half, and it was 14 to 6. But it's really, he doesn't have a lot around him out, and he's got the yips right now. I mean, the issue is like we always think about it in this way. If he were available via trade for not a lot next year, would you take him?

I still think I would if I had a quarterback need. I think because you'd be buying so low, it's a great upside play that you get him here, presumably for not a lot, and he could maybe find himself again. But it is alarming. I mean, I'm trying to think of like a comp, like guys get hurt and they decline. This seems to be he has just like lost it. And, you know, you brought up the sacks. That's the other thing with him.

Their offensive line isn't very good. That is true. But he holds the ball forever. That was one of the things after Washington sacked him eight times in week one that came out. He was holding the ball routinely for like four, four and a half seconds. It's like if you're going to do that, like Russell Wilson does that, but he makes plays. So you kind of live with that because Wilson does take some sacks. You can't take the sacks.

He's been sacked 46 times. You can't take the sacks and not make the plays. Like then it's kind of like there's no trade off there. You're just doing something bad and making things even worse. He gets pummeled. It's a mess. And of course, Peterson is an offensive mind and coach. This is supposed to be his thing.

It doesn't reflect well on him that they can't fix this. You know, it's funny. The year that he, you know, 2017 when they won the Super Bowl and he got hurt in the Coliseum late in the year against the Rams and he was, you know, on his way to a potential MVP. I mean, he was 33 touchdown, seven interceptions in 2017. No one in that moment thought that Philadelphia had done anything other than hit a home run in the drafting of this guy from North Dakota State. And then, you know, he's continued to get hurt on and off.

You know, last year, he had a good season. You know, last year he threw for over 4,000 yards, 27 touchdowns, seven interceptions. The Eagles got to the playoffs. They played Seattle in a game in Philadelphia at the last. link, a game in which he got hurt in, but he got hurt in that game. And you could tell early in the game that they were going to have a chance to win that playoff game. But he got hurt, and Josh McCown at 40 years old or whatever it was came in. And it was still ended up being a relatively close game. I don't remember the final score, similar to last night's game

in many ways. But anyway, this year, like you mentioned the sacks, and he's been a guy that's taken sacks in the past, but to me it looks like he's expecting to get sacked every time he drops back. And so now, you know, Cooley's taught us this over the years. You've got a scheme around a bad offensive line, you know, and at the same time, it's hard if you don't have skilled position players that it can actually get separation and get open. But this is where I would bring in Doug Peterson and say what Philadelphia fans are saying this morning, and that is they miss Frank Reich, that Frank Reich was the brains behind this operation when they won the Super Bowl.

Frank Reich's responsible for them winning a Super Bowl. He's the guy that knew how to work with quarterbacks and knew how to get it done. You know, Doug Peterson has had very little success with the... Now, they've gone to the playoffs. They've won divisions. They've gone to the playoffs. They've been a good December team.

But they've also had a really good defense in recent years. Yeah. Yeah. No, they have. The thing too with Wence, you brought the skill position, guys. It's funny, I got a tweet from a listener this morning that on WIP this morning, I guess is it Cotaldi who does their mornings, whoever it is, he was raving, he was ranting about how the Eagles should have drafted Terry McLaurin

in 2019 and how they screwed it up by not doing that. I can just only imagine how they're just eviscerating the Eagles right now. That is so true, though. They don't have a great cast of skill position, guys, which I don't know. I feel like that kind of snuck up on us because it felt like for a while they did. They've not done a great job surrounding him with pieces,

but he still to me, I always feel like the quarterback can overcome that. If you're really good, it doesn't matter nearly as much as people make it out to be what you are surrounded by. Your scheme matters, your offensive line matters, and you matter as a quarterback.

And they're, like you said, they're not scheming around it nearly enough. He, I mean, there are throws he can't, there are a place to be made that he's not making. I mean, some of these throws last night, you're like, what are you doing? I mean, it's like he was throwing the game. I mean, it was like a fixed game or something.

And they're in a rough way because they signed him to a big money contract extension. You know, they did this Jalen Hurts thing. And all those reports on Sunday was really odd that Hertz was going to play a lot last night. And then he barely plays last night. I thought that was strange too. You could tell they are as miffed by this as we are. They don't have an answer to this. No, they don't.

And, you know, their fan base, one of the, they wanted more. weapons. They wanted more, you know, and they drafted Jalen Hertz in the second round. You know, they passed on Justin Jefferson. I think Jalen Rager was the pick right before Justin Jefferson, who may end up being, you know, a candidate along with Justin Herbert for offensive rookie of a year. So they don't like the way they've drafted. There's one more thing on, on Philadelphia, and this is, you know, this is perfect that you're on with me to talk about this, because, you know, And by the way, I've presented your position very fairly over the years that Galdi's very much into analytics and, you know, advanced statistical, you know, information as a tool. Not as, you know, not as a definitive, this is what you do when you only go by the numbers.

I think baseball is more of a sport than football is for that. But last night there were two different instances in the second half in the fourth quarter, actually, where our boy went for two fourth downs. that to me didn't make very much sense in context. First of all, the first of all, the first one was with the score 17 to 9. So it's 17 to 9. By the way, one of the things I've always mentioned about an eight-point game in the NFL is everybody always refers to it as a one-score game. I'm sure I've done it before as well.

But the truth of the matter is you don't know if it's a one-score game. And the odds are that more likely than not, it's a two-score game because the two-point conversion numbers, you know, depending on the team, you know, are going to be probably just slightly less than 50-50. Anyway, at 17 to 9, fourth and two at midfield with 14 minutes to go in the game, and it's a long two, he goes for it. And I was in the moment, you know, and I had Philadelphia getting points. I'm like, nope, your defense is playing really well, punt the football right now.

You're not going to get a fourth and two right now the way you're playing offense, and your defense has been excellent, pun it right here. Well, he went for it. They missed. Now they're down 20 to 9 because of the 5. field position they gave up. Then the one that I think Philadelphia fans and anybody that was watching the game last night is really upset about their next drive. They get it all the way down to the Seattle 15-yard line, almost flukishly they're moving the football. And they've got a fourth and four

at the Seattle 15, eight and a half to go, nine to go, something like that, 17 to nine. Kick the goddamn field goal. Kick the field goal. This isn't fourth and one. It's not fourth and and two. I don't even know Galdi if Fourth and Four analytics even exist. But I said this morning, I go to Seth guy, I forget his name from ESPN. Yeah, Welder, I think. Seth Welder. I'm sure he's probably out there talking about how it's the right thing to do to go for fourth and four based on the numbers. Kick the field goal at 1712. Your defense is playing well. You're going to get the ball back. By the way, 17 to 9. It may not.

be more likely than not the way you're playing offense. It's a two-score game anyway. You're going to need a field goal anyway because you're not going to make the two-point conversion. Anyway, he goes for it on fourth and four, they miss, and that was really effectively the end of the game. And I think Peterson is just one of these guys that thinks he's so much smarter than the room, you know, and if you're not sure, just ask him. And he's going by the book, regardless of what the context is. It was a terrible decision, I thought, in the moment last night, especially the second one at fourth and four.

The play was hysterical, too, because Wentz throws a pick in the end zone right to quandre digs. There's like literally no ego around digs. I mean, again, it was like he was shaving points last night. Yeah, you're right. Fourth and four is not the same as fourth and one, fourth and two. In a vacuum, the general thing with analytics and fourth downs is this. In a vacuum, teams have been way too.

conservative over the years going forward, especially on fourth and one, fourth and two. But in football, very clearly, context matters. So where you are in the game, what the score is, how your offense is doing, how the defense is doing, all of that matters. So you can't just say, like, whenever it's fourth and two from the 40 and beyond, you go forward. You can't say that. The context is always imperative. I think the fourth and fourth of 15, like you said, that's the one that you really say, okay, it's not fourth and one. It is fourth and four. It's not like, you're down by 30. You know, you're down by, what was it? It was eight at that point. Yeah.

Kick the field goal. It's eight and a half minutes left. It's not like there's three minutes left. You definitely could have done that. Peterson is, there are like three teams in the NFL. And it's interesting, NFL teams are very hush, hush about their analytics. There are believed to be three teams that are super into analytics. Baltimore, Philly, and who's the third? New England. And Belichick has been into it for years and he has purposely downplated and he never talks about it. But everyone believes that Belichick is into it. because he's done things for years.

There was that famous game against the Colts, if you remember, years ago, where he went forward on deep in his own territory. Exactly. And people killed him for it. And the truth was he was like years ahead of his time and doing something like that. But the Eagles are, they are like what the raise or the A's are in baseball. That's what the Eagles are with Peterson, with Howie Roseman. Their former team president, Joe Banner, was a big analytics guy years ago.

And so they do stuff like this. and they're not going to apologize for it, but I do think, to your point, fourth and fourth to 15, down by eight, eight and a half minutes left. Like, yeah, you can kick the field goal there. It's okay.

You know, first of all, the funny thing about Belichick, Harbaugh, to me, Harbaugh and Peterson, Baltimore and Philadelphia are very similar. Like on the score-based analytics decisions, you know, they're very much teams that are going to go for two, down 14,

Belichick's not going to do that. He's going to kick the extra point. I'm almost positive. Maybe somebody would point out an example where he didn't. But one of the things I was looking for is I was looking for the box score from the playoff game that Seattle played Philadelphia in last year because I remember it at the end of the game. There was a similar situation that I got very frustrated at that with Peterson. And here it is. In the playoff game, which by the way, that was Josh McCown. By the way, last night, too, fourth and four, a condensed field, all right, in the red zone, where your receivers haven't been able to get separation all night on a field that was much longer. So, again, context, are you really going to pick that up?

More likely than not? No. In the playoff game last year, and I had Philadelphia 2 plus the points against Seattle in the playoff game. I remember this. It was 17 to 9, the exact same score. Late in the game, not nine minutes. six and a half minutes to go, fourth and four at the Seattle 24,

with Josh McCown at quarterback. And I remember screaming, kicked the field goal, kicked the field goal, your defense is playing well, you're going to get a chance to get the ball back. And he went for it. Same situation, fourth and four, and it wasn't intercepted. It was incomplete. Isn't that strange that they had identical,

with three minutes difference on the clock, situations with the exact same score against the exact same team. Actually, the fourth and two was 17 to 9. Fourth and four last night, it was 20 to 9 at that point. But still, anyway, I thought that was interesting. You know what's interesting, too, by the way, while we're talking about this? So you brought up going forward on two. So obviously, you've been able to go for two for a while in the NFL,

and it's been understood that, like, analytically, team should go for. two more than they do for a while. It's interesting to me that teams have not gotten appreciably better at two-point conversions. Like it's been about a 50% proposition for years now. And like in the way, you know, the NFL, like kicking field goals has become much more efficient over time. And it used to be like making a 40-yard it was a big deal and now it's not. And like kickers percentages have shot up over the last 20, 30 years. I know it's not been that long for having two-point conversions, but you should go for it more on two when you're more certain of being successful and going forward on two. And I think it's worth noting teams aren't really getting

that much better at it. Like the percentage has been pretty consistent for the time that we've had that. And until it improves, I think that has to be looked at. If it's like a 48, 49 percent deal, well, that matters. Like it's one thing if you're, if you as a team are like, okay, this is a 60 percent probability we're going to convert on this because we have a group of plays that we really like in going forward on too. You don't have that. It's kind of a coin flip for a lot of these teams. And I think that's something to look at.

Teams, they're not getting better at this. And I don't really get that. Well, first of all, it's become more of a thing, too, in recent years when they pushed the PAT, the kicked extra point back. Because that percentage fell a little bit, not a lot. It's still in the 94-95% range versus maybe it used to be at 97, 98, whatever. was. It's still a near certainty on the kicked extra point in terms of percentage. The two point, and I just pulled up the two point conversion rate, the numbers

for 2018 and 2019 were 40, basically averaged right around 49%. So a little bit less than 50-50, which by the way would automatically, right, you know, the fact that it is less than 50-50, on the going for two down 14, you know, it's not the probability play. But beyond, but beyond that. The issue here is that against some teams with some plays in some situations, you might be a 60% two-point conversion team, but against other teams in different situations, you know, a better defensive team, you know, a worse matchup for you in a short-yardage situation, you might be a 40% team, you know, as a two-point. So that's where all of that stuff and your coach has to know. Peterson does not care about any of that.

I actually think he's in a bit of trouble. I know it's crazy to say that. Do you really? To me, if I'm the owner, if I'm Jeffrey Lurie, and I don't know what Lurie is in terms of how big a football fan, I would be so frustrated watching Peterson coach my team, and I would have to know more about what Frank Reich really meant. I think Frank Reich is an excellent head coach.

I think that's a very good staff, too, in Indianapolis. By the way, Philadelphia is very good defensively. They have good talent. Derek Barnett's turning into a monster, and Schwartz has done a good job as a de-coordinator almost everywhere he's been. That's the strength of their football team. It's not Doug Peterson's offense at all, not even close. And really-

Although last night, Darius Slay got abused by D.K. Metcalfe, but Slay was exposed big time. You know, it's funny because in watching the game, first of all, D.K. Metcalf is an impossible matchup, and I don't know why Philadelphia was in as much man coverage as they were in. But it was funny because there were a lot of plays where Slay was really close. Like he was closer than a lot of corners may have been and just couldn't make the play because Metcalf's so good.

He's a freak. He's a freak. I wanted to just mention this real quickly. So the updated odds, my bookie, all right? I'm on my bookie.orgie. at age right now. Here are the updated NFC East odds as of December 1st at December 1 p.m. And that's when we're recording this right now. The favorite, according to my bookie, the Giants are plus 200. Washington is plus 210. So there's a very small difference between

New York and Washington. The Eagles are now plus 260 and the Cowboys are plus 475. So So for those again that need the explanation, the Giants are a slight favorite over Washington and then a bigger favorite over Philadelphia and that Cowboys now are the long shot. Still, Galdi, I'll tell you, man, to be this late in season and you're in December, to see three teams that are basically really close together on the division race is odd. You know, not odd to see two teams that way, but to see three that way. I'm actually surprised after the injury to Daniel Jones, and I guess there is a chance he might play, but he needs to be mobile to be effective. I'm actually surprised that Washington's not the favorite right now, which leads me to this.

I'm going to ask you the question that I asked Tommy yesterday on the podcast and asked callers on the radio show. And I'll just simplify it for you. Do you think they're going to win the division yes or no, and why? I do think they're going to win the division. And I think the reason they're going to win the division is because their quarterback situation, incredibly, is the best in the division in terms of where we're at right now, rest of this regular season, which I would have never thought we would say. Yet you tell me, if you can pick one of the four quarterback situations in this division for this stretch run, which one are you picking? Like, which one do you feel the best about? Dallas has got Andy Dalton

Philadelphia has got a mess with Carson Wentz the Giants have uncertainty now with Daniel Jones I know Jordan Ronan who I know you've talked to in the past ESPN Giants Insider says it's significant enough to where Jones

is expected to miss some time what that means we don't know but it doesn't sound like it'll be just a one week thing you know who knows and then you have our situation where we've got Alex Smith and you know dynamic no but

He has shown an ability to be so. We saw that in the Giants game and the Detroit game. Running the offense efficiently, high completion percentage. You know, this stuff about his leadership and the intangibles seems very legit. I mean, they talk about him in like, you know, a godlike way. I mean, it really is remarkable sometimes the way he gets spoken about. I mean, Chase Young after Thanksgiving, putting out a tweet, I love me some 11. Like, it wasn't even that big of a game for Alex.

And yet Chase Young saw fit to put something like. that out there. Like it tells you the impact he has. I think they feel really good about their quarterback situation. It's not a great offense, but I think it is an improving offense. It's not an elite defense, but I think it is a good defense and it's an improving defense. I think they're going to do it. And I tell you, the other thing, too, is it kind of feels like one of those years where they've got things working in their favor, things like, you know, some of these quarterback injuries in the division. Things like Eagles getting worse as the season goes on, not better.

Something like this Rivera cancer thing, which, you know, I know it's kind of cliche, but it's kind of a rallying thing maybe for them, you know, and they sort of gravitate towards Ron. Like it never feels like Ron, for all the confusion of this year, he's never lost the team. Like I feel pretty confident in saying that. We would have heard rumblings and stuff like that. We've heard nothing in that regard. They seem to have a lot of little things like.

that kind of falling into place for them. And so I think they're going to do it. I'm not sure what it means, but I do think they're going to do it. Yeah, I do too. I mean, I do too. I mean, I shared with Tommy and on the radio show yesterday my reasons for it. It's funny because this will be a segue into something that Ron Rivera said during his presser yesterday that I spent some time on earlier this morning on the show.

But I think there are a couple of things. I think the Daniel Jones injury is huge. I actually, you know, before Jones got injured on Sunday, I think the Giants were the best team in playing the best. It was close, but it would be hard to say that Washington was the best team in playing the best when they had recently lost two games to the Giants. So I really felt, and I could see it coming with them. By the way, there is a no-nonsense approach with Joe Judge that we're starting to learn about as well. you know, Golden Tate, the way he handled that situation, left him at home when he got a little bit too self-absorbed. But I would have said the Giants, but I think the Jones injury is big.

But beyond that, there is something about this team right now over the last couple of games. And we may be totally fooled, and I reserve the right to change my mind after watching them play good teams, which are coming up. Pittsburgh. We're going to get to the changes in the schedule here in a moment. Pittsburgh and San Francisco, who is very good defensively, they're getting healthy to, and then Seattle, and maybe it'll all fall apart, et cetera. But Ron Rivera's teams from afar have always been this way. There's like a toughness about them. There is a discipline about them. And, you know, caller called in yesterday and said, yeah, well, what about the 15-yard penalty on Chase Young at the end of the Detroit game? And you can point out examples, but they're very, very good as a tackling team right now. They have this stuff

that travels, not that traveling means much in this year's NFL, but they have this stuff that has staying power in December. They're tough, they're physical, they tackle well defensively, they're disciplined. And then, as you mentioned, they have a veteran quarterback who, shockingly, is playing at a high level, which nobody saw coming. If some of you did out there, God bless you, because most of us thought he was done. And then on top of that, Galdi, you know, something that I think we've talked about off the air together maybe, their weapons, which were a big question mark in August, are pretty good.

Good. Gibson's really good and versatile. McKissick is really good and versatile. Logan Thomas is coming on. Like, they're not void of skill, make. skill position talent offensively, and the offensive line has held up and performed pretty well. And then I would add to this, I think Scott Turner's doing a hell of a job, actually. And then, you know, the schedules for all these teams, I mean, Philly, I think, after last night is

done. I mean, they play the Packers and the Saints the next two weeks. You know, they're going to be three nine and one. Could they win then their final three games, which includes, you know, a game against the Cardinals, and then they get the Cowboys in Washington? I don't think so. I think they are imploding, actually. Of course, it's a week-to-week league that could change next to week. But I think there's something about this group, and I think that the credit goes to Ron Rivera, and that leads me into this. So I pulled out this quote and played it this morning on the air,

and I'm just going to read it to everybody. In his Monday presser yesterday, which wasn't the typical post-game presser because that came on Friday, He was asked about all of the schedule changes. And for those that don't know, Washington, Pittsburgh is now a Monday 5 p.m. game. It's because Baltimore and Pittsburgh, that game's not going to happen tonight. Too bad because it would have been a good snow game. It's going to happen tomorrow afternoon at 3.40 p.m. I had John Oran from the Sports Business Journal on the show this morning.

The reason it's 3.40 p.m. tomorrow is because the NFL could have played it in prime time, but because they've asked their network partners for so much flexibility during this COVID-19 season, they did not, NBC wanted to keep the tree lighting at Rockefeller Center. That show they need to keep in that time spot. It drew 7 million viewers last year, even though the NFL game would crush it. But that's why it starts at 340. So anyway, Pittsburgh, Washington is now Monday. Even before he was asked yesterday, or even before the schedule change came,

He was asked about how you're dealing with the possibility of schedule changes and, you know, the league, you know, keeping you out of the facility for two days. And he said the following. He said, quote, you've got to talk about it. That's really the only thing we've done is talk about the situation we're in and try to make sure guys understand how important it is to be adaptable. That's the biggest thing. I've told the coach is this and I've told the players this. We can't make a big deal if something changes. When you start worrying about that, what was interesting becomes important.

That's not what we want to happen. It's not important. It's interesting. It's different. Okay, we deal with it and we move on. That's the thing. It's like having been in Carolina and having been in certain places that didn't have indoor facilities, you still have to go out and practice in the elements.

If you make a big deal about practicing in the elements, you're not going to have a good practice. that's what we've got to be able to do. We've got to focus and handle the situation, closed quote. And I talked about this this morning on my show for 30 minutes because I loved that quote. And, you know, I think you and I were on the same page when they hired Rivera. I was in favor of it. I liked it. I thought they out kicked their coverage.

I thought it was a guy that was going to bring a toughness and a discipline and an accountability and a maturity to the organization, or at least to the football side of the organization. that didn't exist. And it's been a crazy year because, you know, there were times early this season, whether it was bailing at the end of the games, not calling timeouts or all the mixed messaging during his press conferences, you know, as he's fighting cancer and probably isn't totally with it, where I had some concerns. But the last five weeks, the decision to bench Dwayne, the way they're playing, saying things like this leads me and confirms in my mind that they got the right guy because we've all been around people that, you know, and you'll, you'll, you'll witness

this when your kids get older. Although in the Galdi household, there is a firm hand in the Galdi household. Trust me, I am a feckless leader. I'm like Jake Rudin. They don't listen to me. Well, it's like, you know, I can just, you know, one of my three boys. How'd you do on that test? Well, you know, on the practice test, they didn't give out, like the problems that were on the test. And when I went to the, you know, and took the practice test the day before, the review, she didn't go over the things that some of the problems that they had, you know, it's just always, you know, there was always excuses. This is not an excuse guy. And the people they're looking for in this organization, players-wise, aren't excuse makers. And by the way, it's one of the reasons we

haven't heard a lot of, you know, yapping about Jack Del Rio on Twitter or some of the things that were going on earlier in the year. We're not hearing from any players this year. There are no leaks, except for the Dwayne leaks from the team and probably from some in the coaching staff. And he's been a little bit sensitive to some of the media criticism, which bothers me a little bit. But I think they got the right guy. What do you think? Yeah, I do. And just to kind of piggyback on something you just talked about when it comes to guys with the right approach. So I think this is such a big part of why Dwayne Haskins got benched. I know I may be in the minority on this. I don't think that Ron from the get-go was like, I don't really think Dwayne's a guy.

I think he gave him a good faith chance at being the guy. And I think the reason he got bench so quickly wasn't just that the performance was, you know, mediocre at best. And you go by like the numbers, it was terrible. But, you know, I didn't think he was actually that bad. But it was because Dwayne did not reward the faith that Ron showed in him. and did not mirror it, did not reflect it with the work ethic, with the preparation. Like there was a reciprocity that Ron was looking for that Dwayne did not show. And when Dwayne did not display that, that's when Ron said, all right, the heck with this guy. I think Ron is furious at Dwayne, or at least was furious at Dwayne.

I stood by you. I supported you. You know, we didn't even necessarily make you compete in training camp. And then this is what you do. You don't spend the time at the facility. we want you to spend. You don't prepare. You have a guy right in front of your face, Alex Smith, who's showing you how to do this and you're not just mimicking what he's doing. And so I think that stuff matters to him a ton and to have that right mindset and that right attitude and that right approach and you're not an excuse maker. You know, you just shut up and do the work. Like,

I think that matters to him so much. And like hearing those quotes, because I'm with you, and I played some of that on my show today. And it is telling and it is what you want to hear. And I think that matters a lot. You know, I think back to like the offseason where guys like Trent Williams and Quentin Dunbar wanted contract extensions. And it's not just that Ron didn't even give it to those guys. It's that he didn't even negotiate with those guys. He said the hell with you.

And he got rid of him. He traded them. And, you know, you could argue he shouldn't have been so quick to trade some of them. And, you know, especially with Dunbar, you're like, well, why didn't they get more for him? Although what ended up happening with him legally, maybe you understand. But you get the idea of like, Ron, he's not interested in him. playing little games with you, you know? And if you're not going to reward him with, you know, being the kind of player and the kind of like, you know, teammate, locker room citizen, whatever you want to

say, then he's kind of done with you and you don't really have a lot of use for you. And I think that's kind of what those quotes that you just read were speaking toward. And when we talk about the culture, which, you know, comes up all the time and justifiably so, I think that is such a big part of it. I will never forget two years ago. when Jay was here late in the 18 season, and he reveals after a practice that players were complaining about the practice. They were complaining about how it was too hard

and why do we have to wear pads on back-to-back days? And he says this. And, you know, I don't know, he got asked about why he was speaking to his team. I remember Taurik asked him, we saw you speak into your players after practice. What was that about? And Jay admitted to what it was about.

And it's like, it's not just that they were complaining about it, which is so revealing about the kind of people that were on the team. it's also that they felt comfortable complaining to Jay about it. Like what does that say about the environment Jay's presiding over that players felt comfortable voicing displeasure with how hard practices are when Washington, by the way, was still in the midst of a playoff push and was incorporating a number of new players and a team. And it was like, hey, maybe you could use the extra practice. And so it's like you got to get away from that stuff.

And I think this is all a part of that. And so, yeah, like the bigger picture thing of the culture and creating an environment of accountability. attention to detail and those things. I think this speaks to that. And it's what this team has needed. You know, that incident, you know, in that season, it was DJ Sweringer who spoke out about it and said, we need to be practicing. And remember what happened to him.

He ends up getting cut on Christmas Eve. But I think one of the things that you and I both probably obsessed too much about for our listeners' tastes, but whatever, is old man Bill Callahan and all of his, you know, incredibly lengthy press conferences. And one of my favorites was his very first, which honestly was like an hour, 15-minute lecture at Taus, at Maryland. And you're like, when is this going to end?

But he needed to tell everybody just how dreadful it was under Jay, with all of his slight digs. And then basically two months later, they scored their first touch. down on offense. You know, so it was pretty funny the whole thing. But I, I really, I, you know, somebody, I was looking at Twitter earlier and said, man, when it comes to Rivera, you're wishy-washy. I'm not wishy-washy, okay? I liked the hire. I thought it was the right hire. I thought it was the best that they could do. I was surprised they did as well as they did. But if you're not, you know, taking in new information and listening, especially as that person gets closer,

because that person was in Charlotte, and that wasn't our team, and we're not following the day-to-day granular detail of everything that's going on. But there were moments certainly during the course of this year that were concerning to me, and should have been concerning to me in my view. But I think what we are seeing is we're seeing the team that had a one-and-five record continue to get better, continue to get better while never complaining, getting better in spots that really do for, you know, at least figuratively travel in December. And fortunately for them, because the division's so bad, it's not going to be a typical, you know, first year of a coach where they start off poorly and then they start playing better and you can see the light at the end of the tunnel for the next year.

They can actually take advantage of it in this first year by getting to the postseason. First of all, playing games that matter in December. Back to Dwayne for one moment. I don't know what he thought when he took it over, but I can't imagine with the way it ended, in the way he threw, or somebody in that organization, threw Dwayne under the bus publicly with the leaks, which obviously has been, you know, a constant during the Dan Snyder era.

I can't imagine that he thought deep down with all of what he knows goes into making the kind of player that can play for him, I can't imagine that he thought there was a very good chance it was going to work out. You know, he may have been, well, let's give it a try. Dan wants me to give it a try, and we don't really, you know, we're going to trade for Kyle in case it really gets bad, and we can play him. But, you know, this is a developmental year, and I'm going to give him a shot. He was the first round choice.

but I think deep, deep down, he knew that this was not going to work. And that's what bothers me, Al, is, you know, sometimes really, you can say the same thing about businesses that some of you all are in, you know, if you're hiring people or somebody works for you. If it's, if you know deep in your gut, it's not the right fit, cut bait, man. It's better for you and your organization, and it's better for that person as well. And I don't, look, he cut bait pretty quickly. You know, he didn't cut bait as quickly as Marty cut it with Jeff George, which was after one game.

It took four games. So I do give him credit for moving on after four games and not having it be a whole season once he became totally clear that it wasn't going to work. But I think at some point, you know, in a conversation, you, the maturity is the issue. There's no way that Dwayne's matured. in a conversation in a Zoom call at some point in June, July, or August, didn't make Ron think, eh, I don't think so. I just think that it's only natural to believe that if the maturity was the issue, then it was probably recognized much earlier. Anyway. Yeah, it's very possible. I guess, I don't know, maybe I'm too naive, but when Ron, you know, his, the way he talked about Dwayne in the offseason changed, it changed significantly.

And he went from like constantly lecturing Dwayne, you need to be more of a leader, you need to put in more time to then saying Dwayne was doing those things. And I remember during the George Floyd, you know, social justice time, he started talking about how Dwayne had transformed as a person. And it was so great to see him out there protesting in D.C. and like he was gushing about Duane. It was like he didn't have to say those things. And yet he said those things. And then they go to camp and they don't even have a competition. They give him every first team rep.

And I guess I'm like, if they really had doubts, they had a funny way of showing it. I mean, they didn't bring in any other veteran quarterback. They made the trade for Kyle Allen, but that was it. And we had no idea about Alex Smith. They could have signed Cam Newton. They could have tried to bring in somebody else. They didn't try at all.

I guess I just, I'm more open to this thing of he thought Dwayne might be it. and Dwayne just really thoroughly disappointed him. But we'll find that at some point. We'll find that at some point. I don't know that we know yet. Yeah, I think it's over. I mean, you believe that too. Yeah, I agree.

Yeah. And I wonder, and I hope for Dwayne's, in Dwayne's case, I hope he gets a chance where the organization is totally supportive and somebody's there to champion his cause. And I hope also he's grown from this experience because it's not always a lock that that'll happen. know, because there's talent there. I don't think there's any doubt that there's some talent there.

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All right. Give me, I did want to talk briefly with you about Kirk Cousins since we are of like minds. It's actually interesting. The Athletic wrote a story yesterday, I think late yesterday, about cousins. about the eternal sort of seesaw back and forth between, is he good or is he great? And with the Kirk haters, it's, is he good or is he just terrible or mediocre? The truth of the matter is, Cousins is having a spectacular last month. I mentioned yesterday and angered a bunch of people, Galdi, but I said he actually has had the kind of month

where I'm sure he's under consideration for NFC offensive player of the month, which would drive people nuts. But he's been lights out over the last during the month of November. During the month of November, he's completing like 73% of his passes, 12 touchdowns, one interception. They're four and one. The game they lost to Dallas was not on him. You know, the people that watched that game know what happened.

He had two drop balls on the final drive when they were down three, and their defense couldn't get Dallas off the field. But isn't it an interesting thing about Cousins and how polarizing a figure he's become? And the reasons for it, which to me are all money-based more than anything else. I think they're money-based. I think they're also based for a lot of people on who he replaced and who he ended up being better than.

That's true. A lot of people, yeah, a lot of Washington fans feel really duped that they bought into all the RG3 stuff and they defended Robert when, you know, he was feuding with the Shanahan's and they got proven wrong. And like there are a lot of people, I think, who are bitter about that. And so I think that's where a lot of this Kirk stuff comes from. The other thing with Kirk is this. And I don't know why this is. He does this. He always starts off slow, it feels like. And then in the second halves of season, surges.

He did it here in 2015. He did it again in 2016. It's seemingly happening again this year with the Vikings where they got off to the bad start and he wasn't playing particularly well. And yet here he is now statistically creeping up the leaderboards. You know, he's had three touchdown passes in each of his last five home games. He's among the league leaders in yards per pass attempt. Like he is leading the way.

Dalvin Cook has kind of calmed down a little bit. bit. You know, people say, oh, well, it's just because Dalvin Cook is so great. That definitely helps. But Cook has actually slowed down a little bit these last few games. Kirk is not. And, you know, to your thing of, is he good or great or is he good or awful or however you want to frame it, I think with Kirk, like, you have to stop focusing on what he isn't, which is he isn't elite, and just focus on what he is, which is like we always said he's a top 12, maybe top 10, depending on the season quarterback. And he's not the best of the best. the bunch, but he's better than a lot of people. He's better truthfully than most starting

quarterbacks, and you can win with him. And I just think, like, it's time to just acknowledge this. You don't have to beat top five to be really good. And to me, he's a guy who right now is certainly playing at a high level. And can you do better? Sure. You can also do a lot worse. And I would love to know this. You ask the Vikings, do they regret signing Kirk? Do they regret having him as their starter, you know, and I know with our team, for all of the criticism, we have not come close to him since he left you. Not even remotely close to him. And, you know, I think we both know this. And I think many people listening know this. If they had just kept Kyle and Kirk, we would have the last seven, six, seven years would have been much better than they turned out to be.

No, you know, it's funny, Al, because I pay attention a little bit to what's going on. And the Vikings fan base is very similar to the Washington fan base when it comes to him. There are the devout Kirkers that are absolutely convinced that you can't do better and that he's much better than Case Keenham was, even though Keenham took him to the NFC championship game. They'll, you know, they'll compare the defenses and the offensive line that Keenham had versus cousins, et cetera, et cetera. so he's in that same, you know, environment there where there are mass believers and there are mass naysayers. I did read this. I just wanted to share this with everybody.

Kurt Cousins after Sunday is now the sixth highest, has the sixth highest career passer rating in NFL history. And he trails only Patrick Mahomes to Sean Watson, Aaron Rogers, Russell Wilson, and Drew Breeze. Anyway, I digress. I think one of the more interesting things about what you said about starting early, starting poorly early, and it hasn't always been that way necessarily. Like his first year in Minnesota, he was lights out early, and then they faded late. This year, they had a lot of changes. You know, no Stefan Diggs, changes along the offensive line, and major changes on defense.

I think one of the more interesting things, and I haven't said this before, but I was listening to, because on a lot of Mondays I'll listen to various coaches that I like. And it's really odd that I like Mike Zimmer because a lot of Vikings fans don't. And by the way, I think he's way too conservative. But I think he's one of these no-nonsense guys who is a very, very good, an exceptional defensive mind and defensive coach. I really think he is. Anyway, Gary Kubiak is the offensive coordinator there. One of the things he said in a very subtle way is that sometimes the narrative on cousins

is that you have to have everything around him be great for him to succeed. And the truth is that it's when they haven't had a lot around him. Like he didn't have Adam Thielen on Sunday. He didn't have Irv Smith. He didn't have one of his best offensive linemen. They were thin offensively. Dalvin Cook got hurt during the game. that it's been in those cases in Minnesota where he has actually elevated the team.

And he's actually, they were last year in a game in which they were losing players. They were down 23-0 to Denver, a good defensive team. And he strapped him to their back and they scored 27 unanswered. They're down 11 in the fourth quarter the other day. They don't have a lot going on. And he strapped him to his back and led him to a comeback win. You know, it's like his 16th, fourth quarter comeback of his career. It's not like he's got two or three.

But I think that that's an interesting thing that often people will say, well, you know, Shanahan always said it. If you put a good team around him, you can win a Super Bowl with Kirk Cousins. You know, that was his famous line here when he was here. And I think one of the things that people have found out at times in Minnesota, and we even found it out, you know, a couple of times here, where sometimes when you don't have a lot around him, and you say, just go back there and sling it, he can actually do it.

Here's what he has, and one of the reasons he's been successful, he is an incredibly accurate quarterback and an accurate thrower of the football. And that is something that a lot of people will tell you. And this guy, you know, Shanahan's told me that before, the guy that I love from Pro Football Focus, even though I don't believe in a lot of the pro football focus numbers, the guy Sam Monson, the Irish guy. It has said it a number of times.

Other people have said it. Accuracy, if you don't have it, it's really hard to coach it up better. And Kirk is tremendously accurate as a passer. It's probably that in his mind are his two greatest strengths. And he's got a fairly quick release, but man, is he accurate? And Minnesota's dangerous. So that leads me to this. And we'll finish up this show.

And I appreciate you spending so much time. give me something about the NFL, you know, not Washington related that you really believe in right now that you're going to be right and be proven right at the end of the year about. All right. So, well, okay, this is more long term than the end of the year. So I guess I'll give you something else if this doesn't fit. Okay. Toa Tonga Viloa. Yeah. Toa Tonga Vailoa, not starting this past Sunday due to injury, five games and four starts into his career.

I think the exact reasons that I didn't want Washington to draft him, and I think you did too, that he cannot stay healthy. I think that to me, like, just validated it for me. And I know it's like it's one game. It's like, come on, calm down from that. But first of all, they benched him for performance reasons the previous game, which I didn't think got nearly enough attention. But that this guy already has to miss a game.

It was just a thumb injury. It's like it's not a big deal. But he's always nicked up. And I know for our team, like any debate that was there, even knowing now what we know about this Haskins thing, that they took Chase Young and not to a tongue of Iloa. Like if you had any doubts or you had concerns about that, that this guy four starts into his career already has to be inactive due to some injury like that.

I don't know. I just, I felt like that was so telling. And it kind of felt like to be assurance from the football gods that yeah, Tua might be all right when he's healthy. But it's that when he's healthy card that is really going to be a challenge for him in his career. Well, and that's a perfect segue back to the continuation of the love fest that we had for Kirk Cousins. He's never missed games. He never misses games.

Anyway, no, that totally fits. Anything you were going to say he was going to fit. So I said something to Tommy in passing, I think on the show yesterday that I was thinking about and somebody questioned me about, I think it was a friend of mine. So I was listening to the podcast. And he said, I would still take defense and running the football over what you said. I said was this, and I don't even know if I articulated it well enough based on what I believe. And it sort of became clear to me on Sunday. I'm watching the Chiefs in the 4 o'clock window against the Bucks, and I watched part of the Packers game before it got out of hand Sunday night.

I, when I watch Kansas City and Green Bay, these two teams, it's like a fluke when they have to punt. And I just don't see how they're going to lose a playoff game. And I never used to feel this way. I used to always feel if you can run the football and you can play really good defense, you can win the Super Bowl, and that's a better model. And I still believe in that model to a certain degree. And could they run into Tennessee, Kansas City in the AFC title game or the AFC divisional round?

And they can't get Derek Henry off the field and the clock's moving and the game shortened. and then there's a fluke at the end and Tennessee wins on a 60-yard field. Of course, these things could happen. But right now, I think the NFL has evolved into if you've got an Aaron Rogers or you've got a Patrick Mahomes and more importantly for Mahomes, if you have a guy like Tyreek Hill who is truly uncoverable,

like this is one of the guys in the league. You know, you can cover some receivers. You can't cover Tyree Kill. Like it's almost impossible to stop Tyree Kill. And then you have the all-time, one of the all-time great already quarterbacks and play extenders in Mahomes. And I just don't see how anybody's going to beat the Chiefs in the postseason. And for that matter, Green Bay is a little bit different because they don't have the same level of weaponry, I guess, that Mahomes has. And Mahomes is almost even compared to Rogers, you know, at this point, like almost a step above.

and Rogers is fabulous. But there are teams now, and those are the two that stick out, and Baltimore when they're really running the football. But in terms of being able to throw the football, it's like a fluke to get them off the field. And so that's how I feel when I'm watching the game. I know they punt occasionally. They do, and it's usually a penalty or a series of penalties,

or a bad snap that derails them. It's never like, oh, you stop them. It's like they stop themselves. I just find it hard to believe that those, that Kansas City is not going to be in the Super Bowl. And that in the NFC, I sort of feel the same way about Green Bay now. And they're not nearly the team that Kansas City is. And they are also vulnerable defensively.

Like they have trouble stopping people. But ultimately, like Aaron Rogers and Patrick Mahomes, I don't, it's like if you can't get them off the field, if you can't force them to punt, how can you possibly win that? game over 60 minutes without it being a fluke. That's what I sort of feel like watching those two players and those two teams. So they're my super bowl pick. It was frightening what Mahomes and Hill were doing to the Bucks in that first quarter. And, you know, in this NFL, I mean, here you have

right, Todd Bowles, who everybody thinks is good and this Bucs defense, which we thought was good. And they get just shellac like that. It's remarkable that you see that. But that's kind of what the NFL is now where even the best defenses get got. Like, you know, the Colts have a good defense. And yet Derek Henry ran over them on Sunday. Like, that's just kind of how it is now. We don't have this every year, but this Chiefs, Steelers potential AFC title game. It's one of the great heavyweight battles that I think we've had in a while where they

are clearly the two best teams in that conference, probably the two best teams in the league. And I hope it does come down to those two teams in the AFC title game because that would be such a great matchup, and I'm not saying the Steelers could match the Chief's firepower, but, you know, Ben with Claypool and Deontay Johnson and Juju Smith's Shoester, like, that could be a ton of fun if, in fact, we get that game. See, I think, look, I think that would be a massive appeal, heavyweight matchup build as, you know, potentially an undefeated team against the defending Super Bowl champions with one loss, right? I mean, that's what it could end up being.

I just don't see I see Pittsburgh potentially losing a game before they even get to that game I could see Tennessee beating Pittsburgh I could see Indy beating Pittsburgh I could see Buffalo maybe beating Pittsburgh

I can't see any of those teams beating Kansas City and I just there's like something the Mahomes Tyree Kill Kelsey you know all of their weapons and now you know Edwards Allaire, et cetera.

I just think Kansas City, to me, in Green Bay, in the NFC, because of what they can do offensively, I'd be shocked if one of them isn't in the Super Bowl. And more importantly, and I would lean Kansas City, I'd be very, very surprised if Kansas City's not in the Super Bowl. And I think it would take like an all-time inside straight to beat them. And last year, keep in mind, right, Tennessee had the inside straight. against Baltimore. They ran it down their throat. They kept the ball away from them. They forced Lamar Jackson to play from behind. But they couldn't do that to Kansas City. They got ahead in the first quarter with Derek Henry continuing to rumble in the first, you know, in the first quarter of that

AFC title game. And the Chiefs were down 10-0. And before you knew it, they were up 28 to 10 or whatever it was and pulled away and won that game. So I don't know. I'm a big fit. fan of defense and running the football. I love that. I just don't think the greatest of defense is going to force Kansas City to punt that much. I didn't even look at the stats, you know, on numbers of punts for teams. But I would bet, and I'm pulling it up right now, that Kansas City's got to be near the bottom in total number of punts in the NFL, if not the bottom. Where are the chiefs here? The chiefs have punted 33. Now, you know, by the way, they made be blowing teams out and taking their foot off the pedal in the second half and punting some

in the second half. They've got 33 punts on the year. Here are the teams that have less. Dallas has less, but that's because of turnovers. Indies got less. New England's got less. Interesting. Carolina's got less. Carolina's only punted 29 times. They've got the fewest number of punts of any team in the league. Anyway. That's a surprise. Thank you for doing this. Yeah, I enjoyed it. Thank you. Galdi, of course, is on 980 right after my show from 9 to noon.

He is solo now. And as Tommy and I talked about last week, Al and I, we've been together at the same place for a long time now with a lot of other people that got laid off a couple of weeks ago. And it's sad for both of us. And it's sad that Al's not working with Doc anymore. but you can tune in and listen to Al 9 to 12 right after my show on 980. All right, I'll talk to you soon. Thanks for doing this. All right, no problem.