The Kevin Sheehan Show - Football Is Back; So are Cooley & Kevin

Episode Date: September 11, 2020

Cooley and Kevin are back together on the podcast. Starting today, Cooley will be a regular co-host with Kevin. The plan is to do Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays together while Kevin continues to do his old Sports Fix Show with Thom on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Today, the boys talked real estate, fishing, Chiefs/Texans, and made lots of NFL season predictions. They did Washington "beats Philly if..." while simultaneously predicting the Skins' season record. Kevin had seven "Smell Test" picks and Cooley had an "NFL Lock of the Week" as well. 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.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. It's just a foot race. No moves, nothing. Just a sprint right from the stance. I'm faster than you are. I'm going to beat you across the field. Perfect throw. Yep, the NFL season last night opened up in the defending champions in front of 15,895 people. 22% of air. Arrowhead's capacity. We're there to see the Chiefs roll the Texans 34 to 20 behind Patrick Mahomes and rookie running back Clyde Edwards-Helair, who I loved at LSU last year. Guess who's with us on this Friday for the whole show and then for many shows to come and we'll see how it goes.

But Chris Cooley is with me. And, you know, before we get started on last night's game, I can't remember the last time you were on the podcast. It was probably like a month ago, but there have been changes in your life geographically. Would you like to share with everybody? Sure, Kevin. Good morning. I hope you well, buddy. I am well. I'm well now. I'm well now, too, as well. Also, I'm out in Wyoming.

We have moved to the great state of Wyoming. This is... No, it's amazing out here. There were a lot of reasons that went into it. One being that that was the plan next year anyway. Right. So it was rushed a little bit in this year because school started here full-time. And we wanted to get our kindergarten daughter into school and going,

and we wanted our kids to end up going to school here. So that's what we are doing. You know, that was always the plan. I remember, you know, a lot of, first of all, let me just tell everybody. You know, Kooley's going to become a regular on the podcast. He and I are going to rekindle Kooley and Kevin three days a week. That's the plan for now. We'll see, you know, he's two hours difference out in Wyoming,

and he's got a lot of farming, you know, every day in fishing that you're involved in. But you know how much I loved working with you. And look, it's not like this is the first time we're together, but we are planning something a little bit more formal in terms of regular appearances on the podcast for Cooley. Monday, Wednesday, Friday is the plan. It'll include, yes, it will, Cooley's film breakdown of the Washington team's football game,

previous football game. And we'll have more information on that next week. week, but I'm excited about that. But, you know, I was thinking, I was listening to a lot of, for multiple reasons. I was listening to some old podcasts with you on it, especially the ones where you were either in studio out in Ashburn or the day or two that you came in here and did it with me. And one of the podcasts that I was listening to was me talking to you as you were driving through South Dakota, very early in the morning South Dakota time, having not slept for at that point, I forget, I think it was like 19 hours or something like that. And I was trying to convince you

to pull over and get some rest. But you said, no, the sun's up and it's in, and you were ready to roll once the sun came up. You were tired with the sun down, but with the sun up, you were good to go. And you kept going. I mean, this was your, you know, annual summer trip anyway to a property. that you have out there. But now you're out there and you're out there living in your home state again, once again. Is it nice? It's amazing right now. We've talked over the weekend. It's snowed over the weekend. But it's snowed in Denver. It's not everywhere over the weekend. But it's beautiful. Today, it'll be beautiful this weekend. Right now it's probably 50 degrees. It'll be a high of 78. There's no humidity. It's amazing.

It's going to get cold. I've been reading a lot of Farmers' Almanac and stuff, trying to predict the winter. It's going to get cold. It's colder winter than normal. Is that what you use for winter predictions, the Farmers Almanage? What else do my pet is for February? I don't know. You're going to get some big snowfalls in February as well.

How do you know? Farmers Almanac, they just know. Yeah, they just... But it's good to be here. It's good to be... This has always been home. It always felt like home. I've always had something that's kept me in D.C.,

and I've been appreciative of everything that I've done there, one of my favorite things of anything I had done was doing the radio show with you, which at some point, well, I guess we could explain fully why that didn't continue to work, but that was one of the things that I don't want to do anything else. This was something that never seemed like working. I entertained coaching.

I did not get an NFL coaching job over two years. I would have done that. I am not disappointed that I'm, I'm not coaching now in the NFL, looking back at it, and then being around my family, and being out here with my family, I feel like that was the best thing that could have happened for that to not happen,

because I just start thinking about moving to Cleveland to intern and then moving to Jacksonville, the QC, and then moving to wherever, to be whatever position coach. And you're like, I don't think I can do that. I don't think my family can handle that. And it was a pride thing, and it was an arrogant thing. And I would do it.

If I was a single dude, I would do it. I would love to do it. But at this rate, you know, I was going to coach football in Virginia in high school, and football was canceled, and that was another thing that led to an earlier move, was, shoot, what am I going to do there, and where do I want to be? And I want to be out here. And you and I can still do what we do. Yeah, I mean, I'm being reminded as you're talking, you were on the podcast a few weeks ago,

and it was right after the new booth was announced, and you came on the podcast. and you said some of those things about, you know, pursuing a coaching job, which was always something that you wanted to do. Personally, I think you would have been a phenomenal coach. I think you would have been a phenomenal front office person as a talent evaluator. I think either one of those paths would have worked out for you, but you were very honest in saying that with respect to coaching, that the, you know, the many-year slog that most coaches, you know, endure before they get a significant position wasn't something you were interested in, but it wasn't that you were trying to take a shortcut either. You were hoping that this particular organization here would have, you know,

an opportunity for you to start that path without having to move your family, et cetera, and that just didn't materialize with the changes in the coaching staff and the ideas that obviously Ron Rivera came in with, which was, you know, he's working with the people that he's worked with previously, which I think everybody can understand. Yeah, for multiple reasons over a three to four years span, I would have probably wanted to be involved with the organization. And, you know, again, if it wasn't because of proximity in my family, it would have been any organization, although there was that nearness and dearness to the Washington football team

organization. It would have been the best thing for me to stay at home and have my family at home while I. started this completely new career. So, I don't want to, at this point, I do not want to work for anybody else. I guess I work for you now. No, you don't. But I always felt like I work for you.

Yeah, hardly. That's not true. But no, this is good. It's just so funny, Kev, because this happened when I stopped playing. And it happened for a couple years after I stopped playing. Now it's the new thing that's happening again. It's the sympathetic. Oh, so what are you going to do now, buddy?

Like, are you okay? Are you? I mean, I've gotten called our houses. We're selling our house in Virginia. I had two houses there. I sold another one a month ago, and we're selling our house, and it's on everywhere. It was on Reddit.

I saw the day, and what do you want me to do? I'm not going to live there. I'm going to build a new house. Well, we're building a new house. We have a house here now. We're going to build a new house and sell the house we have now. We're changing what we're doing in our life. But I got calls from people in the organization say, are you okay?

I see you're still in your house. Yes, I am. I'm doing very well. I'm very pleased with the decisions I've made and where our family is, and I'm not going to just continue to keep a house for no reason, as anyone would understand. That's so funny. You know, I think everybody's had those moments in their lives unless they've really had, you know, incredible consistency and stability where you're in between something and you start to get people who know you and they're like, are you okay? Everything all right? I mean, what are you going to do? And I can tell you that when the radio thing, when when Red Zebras sold the station to Urban One and it didn't work out for me there and both of us,

And we had that conversation. You said, you know, we can talk about it. We did that. We did talk about it, you know, two years ago. That was the first time, Cooley, the first time, really, that, like, I was, I shouldn't say the first time. Starting companies and being involved in a lot of entrepreneurial endeavors, there was certainly, you know, multiple times of uncertainty.

But I was always busy and always had a place to hang my hat, so to speak. you know what I mean, where people thought, oh, yeah, he's involved in that company or whatever. And I remember that period two years ago, and the number of people that reached out to me is everything okay. What are you going to do? And there is, it's a weird thing. And I was never concerned. I was upset, as you know. I didn't want to leave radio. I wanted it to work out. And I'm glad that I'm back in radio. And I don't know how long that'll last. I've learned so much about the podcast business, and I know it has a significant future.

And probably in many ways, depending on the content, it has a better future than radio does in many ways. But that's that it's sort of, it's like, dude, you know, I'm cool. Everything's fine. I mean, you know. But it's odd. you've gotten a lot of that just because people noticed that your house was for sale and that you moved. Well, and I think also the news that I wasn't going to participate in the Redskins radio

broadcast. Right, of course. Was a part of it. That was news that I'd known about for six months. Right. So that was not, that did not. Oh, and another thing, none of that happened with anything that had to do with the Washington Post thing. I had known about it for six months.

It was just not something that I chose to talk about. Yeah, I mentioned that too. Or the team, by the way. Or the team. The team didn't want to say anything about it either for six months. Right. You know what? There were only a few people that knew, and I was one of them.

You're not a leak, clearly. I'm not a leak. I'll say, broke news. So you're not a leak. That's clear and evident. John time is not a leak. Al Galdi is not a leak. And other than that, I don't think anybody else in our medium market knew. Yeah. No, it was, it was, that was something that you shared with me way back when. And what's funny about that, and I don't care if we talk about this any further, that's up to you. But I, with all as dysfunctional as that place is, and it is highly dysfunctional. I kept thinking, that they're just going to forget that in January they told you you weren't going to be back in the booth.

Just show up for the first game. Remember I told you that? I said, I bet if you just show up for the first game, they'll just, you know, of course, that was before everything happened with Larry and everything else, and Julie got hired. But I was like, you know what, they're so disorganized. I bet you if you show up for the first preseason game when there was still time when we thought there was going to be a preseason, And I bet you they'll just say, hey, Cooley, what's up? And your seat will be there and your mic will be there and your headphones will be there.

And you'll just continue to move on. I think without the post story and all that came, and again, just to be clear, Cooley would not even associated with any of the stuff that you've been reading. And that's not why he's not in the organization. That happened in January. But I think it would have been funny had you just shown up for, like, if it was a normal off season and you know, you were told in January that they're going to do some things with the booth and you were going to be back if you had just shown up.

I would have made it all the way into the booth, I think. Well, the COVID stuff might change. The protocol is getting into the building, but for the most part, I don't think I would have needed a credential to get into the building. I would have made it through quite easily. And it would have been funny. The best part about it was you were not the only person that said that. And I'm not talking about my slap, I don't want to call my friend slapies,

but in the respect of they're not, they don't know what's going on in the business, the sloppy side of my friend, people that were highly involved in the business and formerly highly involved with the former Washington Redskine team, the current Washington football team, told me to do the exact same thing.

I know. And almost in as much to say, you better make sure you're there so they try, they don't try to not pay you. Right. Well, that was my concern because it was very, I'm not, I don't want to speak out of school here. And if I do, you can tell me I am.

And if it's really bad, we can go back and edit it out. Okay. But I, it was very informal. And it was very, the way you described it to me last January was very sort of informal. And it stayed informal. There was nothing ever provided to you that said, formally, you're not doing this next year, which is why I suggested to you, you better show up or they may have forgotten about what they told you in January and wondering where the hell you are.

Let's put it this way. I was not fired for cause. No, not at all. Not at all. Anybody that knows what that means, I think would understand what that means. Yeah. It was formal verbally. It just was informal at any rate past that. And so we are where we are, and I'm happy to be where I am. And, you know, it's one of those things where I really enjoyed doing the games, and I really enjoyed working with everybody traveling with the team.

But I have gotten to a point where, I mean, a couple years ago, I started to consider doing Fox broadcast, the national broadcasts and some of the things. And I've come to this realization that I'm not going to miss every weekend of my family's life, much like the coaching side of it, is I don't, the Redskids, excuse me, The Washington football team games, a lot of games are just Sundays, but a lot of games are Saturdays and some you leave on Fridays. And for me, 20 weekends a year, those are valuable moments where young kids are going to be playing sports. And, you know, for me, it's just something that I didn't think moving forward was going to be the best choice for me to do. Nobody can ever criticize choosing family first over career.

Nobody, like, what's the saying that nobody, you know, from their dying, you know, a hospital bed ever says, you know, I didn't, I didn't spend enough time at work. You know, it's typically I didn't spend enough time with my family. And look, you know, you're, here's one thing I know about you, and I think this is a fair description. You're not one of those athletes that made a lot of money that doesn't have any of it left. You are, I would describe you as, I think frugal is a fair description. Yes or no? I just explain it in terms of I think you'll understand from our former show. I'm more of a Vanguard 6040 kind of guy. Yeah. But you are. And not only that, you're somebody that is a do-it-yourselfer.

and so that's the thing I actually haven't decided though if that saves you money or not I think that can end up costing me more money in the long run You know what? I think I told you that once I did put up some sheet I did put up some sheet rock

this week. They're pretty darn good job man, my mud skills are I was convinced when you were you know when you had your electrician hat on that that was a mistake of of danger and two that it would end up costing you more

that you should just call an electrician. I don't know if I was right about that or not. Average temperature in Cody, Wyoming in January is not nearly what I thought it was. It's 37.4 is the average high and 16.4 is the average low. That's not a super cold climate. I was thinking that it was much colder than that. Your average... No, your average snowfall...

which you already had some snow the other day, which was crazy. You average 4.1 inches of snow in October, 5.9 in November, 7.3 in December, 6.7 in January, 6.1 in February, 6.4 in March, 5.1 in April. So it's not like a massive average snow total either. I mean, that's what, that's 12, 18, 23, 30, 39, about 41 and a half inches a year in average snowfall. I thought it would have been a lot more than that. Well, the difference is from being here in winters and growing up in Utah and Wyoming is that when your average high in January 37 and your low, 16, it pretty much stays in that range, which means the snow stays. The snow stays, right? You don't get like these massive warmups like we do here.

You can, but it's more often than not a white winter for a couple months. And the winter is just a little bit longer here is what it seems like. But we'll find some good things to do. I plan on starting my kids skiing and having some winter activities. Cooley sent me a picture of the snow that was falling the other day, but you also sent me, are you Skyped with me or whatever with me while you were fishing the other morning very early? as you were catching trout on that river in your backyard. That actually is something, well, you know what?

I'm going to save it. Let's get to a what do you got. What do you got? This is the segment that, by the way, I've continued on radio without you, but this was always the beginning of Cooley and Kevin, where we did, What Do You Got? And Cooley said whatever he was thinking about that was on his mind, it could be anything, and me too.

I actually have three things written down, but I wanted to start real quickly with that, and that is I'm definitely going to come out there, not just to see you at some point, but, and Maddie and the kids, but to fish that river because I grew up trout fishing, and I haven't done it in 20 years, but my father still, you know,

is a big trout, you know, fly fisherman, and I'm going to show up one of these days, and I'm going to head out there. You caught like a 14-inch rainbow, and you said, you know, that they weren't very big. That's a pretty hefty-sized fish for the East Coast. Yeah, I think for the East Coast, unless you're on a lot of private land. I did a lot of research-wise out there, especially over the last year.

And you get some great big brown trout and great big rainbows and stuff. You know, I'm catching everywhere. Like, there's a different place as the fish, but I'm talking about, like, my backyard kind of deal. I would guess the river is about a quarter mile away. I threw my property. Right. which is a three-minute ride down there on my side-by-side. And I'm catching anywhere from 12 to I've caught an 18-inch rainbow.

I've seen bigger pictures. But I've been going down at like 5, well, 6 o'clock in the morning now. It's getting dark or staying dark earlier. And the other day when I talked on the phone with you, after I dropped my phone in the water because I was catching a fish, ruined the phone. Trying to talk. Hold the phone against my phone.

shoulder dropped it in there. I probably caught 30 trout in a span of one hour after that. It was so much fun. It was, I mean it was peaceful. There's nobody around. I'm out in the middle of the river three minutes away from my house and I'm catching trout left at night. It was awesome. That seems like a lot of fun, a lot of fun. And you were doing that from a boat, right? No, no. I was standing. Oh, you're standing. You had big old hip waist on and you were in the middle? No? No.

I don't wear witt. No, I know waiters. What did you have on? Shoes and pants. Was the water cold? Had some Lulu lemons. Water's not that cold right now. When you said side by side, is that like an ATV with a little side car?

Yeah, you can look that up when we're sitting here. It's called, mine's a four seat, it's how the razor, RZR. RZR 1000. We have a couple of them. They're amazing. They go anywhere. They're expensive now, but they are awesome. Oh, wow.

Yeah, they're pretty nice. What do you got? Okay, so I was watching, I have a couple what do you got? Before we get to the game, my favorite, what do you got was from the little Reddit thing that I was talking about with my house and reading some of the Reddit comments. Like one of the Reddit comments was talking about how dated it was and how the furniture doesn't fit all the room Some of the things on the photos from my house And I started to feel bad about myself, but the commenter was named like poo poo doo-doo Right

It's so funny When people look at photos of your house and they criticize it's like Dude all my stuffed out of there, it's half stage for what it is It's like, it just made me laugh I went through all the comments about what people said about the house. It was like, yeah, yeah, there's some things I'd do differently, but at this point, it's like, pretty empty.

Yeah, I just got to take out of that. Here's my what he got from the day, though. What was that game last night? Was there any, were there compliments? Yeah, there were some compliments. Okay. You didn't go look it out. It's just like Kooley House Reddit.

I did see somebody sent me. Somebody sent it to me. You know, and they were promoting, correct me if I'm wrong, because I looked at it very briefly, they were promoting the fact that some of your art was up in the house and that that would actually convey. Is that right or wrong? I mean, we're selling our house for $2.5 million.

So I think there's anything that's negotiable at that point. Right. No, I think one of the best comments, I mean, there were some pretty good ones, but one of the best comments I read, just because I do a lot of research and I know what the real estate market is a little bit, and it's not, I mean, obviously I'm a realtor, but John Leahy was that you could get a much better deal and much more updated house if you went to Creighton Farm. Right. Like, no. My house in Creighton Farms would sell for $5 million.

Right. It's sad that location is so important in real estate because I'm 12 minutes from Creighting Farms. Right. But I like all the smart insight. It reminds me of when football fans talk offensive. Yeah, that's always great. Which leads me to my next what do you got.

If Chris Collinsworth blows a player, throughout the entire game, as an owner of PFS, do they have to grade that player like a 92? I don't know. I don't know if you know who I'm talking about, but Camichi Oscemii is that good?

Their left guard, he wears number 70, and Collinsworth was jockeing him throughout the entire game. Now, I watched the entire game on film, at least the chief side of it this morning. He played pretty well. He's going to get a good grade on PFS. But I'm just wondering,

is Collinsworth is a boss of the company. If he's doing a game, he owns a majority of it. He bought a majority of the company. The boss of the company. Yeah. If boss calls the game and says, man, this guy's playing great.

And then PFF comes out and grade the dude, like, 76. Makes him look dumb. Get out of here. You're not braiding anymore. don't know football. The PFS is so funny. You know, I had one of the first employees of PFF, and I can't remember his name, and I'm going to find it. It's probably in my phone. He was so good. He was Irish. He literally grew up in Ireland, and he just became a huge NFL football fan, and he was one of the first employees.

Here it is. It's Sam Monson, pro football. focus is lead analyst. Really good guy. It was funny because I had no idea that he was Irish and at some point during the interview and it was on the podcast, I'm pretty sure. I said, are you Irish or Scottish? He said, no, I'm Irish. And I said, how long have you been in the States? And he said, well, I lived in Minneapolis for a while and then moved back, but I was just a huge NFL fan in Ireland. He became one of the first employees, one of the first analysts. And you know, I told him during that interview. I remember specifically saying to him, you know, I worked with Chris Cooley for several years and he did a film breakdown that became a very popular segment in D.C. where he would grade

every single player that played in the Redskin game. And, you know, he was very critical to some of the pro football focus grades early on. But he has said in the last year or two that they've gotten tighter and better. And he was very honest about it. He said, look, the first several years, we were way off. We didn't know what we were doing. There was a lot of what was going on in a play, a responsibility that a player had that we weren't privy to. Now we understand things like zone-run scheme responsibilities and, you know, inside, I know, inside zone, outside zone and what an offensive lineman should be doing. And we think we're better there. But you did think that they improved, right? I think that they've improved. I do. I think that they've improved quite a bit. Now, I see quite a few grades, specifically for me, from Washington over the last couple years, in that I think a player played really, really well, and they don't. That's more common the case.

It's not as much that I think a player played really poorly, and they think he played great. If I think he played well, then they're grades like a 69. Right. I'm going, there's just no way. I mean, a couple years ago, I thought, Matt, and I didn't. was perfect. I was an A against the giants up in the Meadowlands. He had a couple sacks.

He had to get impactful plays. He was in the back to the run game. And their grade was what would equate to a D. There was just no way. So there's some things that I think that they could do a little better, but I do think they've improved quite a bit. The one thing I dislike is now players and agents try to use that to negotiate contracts. Right.

And the NFL. And GMs look at it. Every team pays them. Almost, I think every team pays them now. What they do is they combine stats and they break down every aspect of every play. Pass, pass, pass left, distance of pass, catchable ball, non-catchable ball, all of the above. Separation. I mean, you go through their list of statistics on every single play, and it just saves teams boatloads of time.

Whether or not you care about the grade, every aspect of that play is broken down. I mean, I'm talking about 50 categories of play. It's crazy. I referenced one of their stories and rankings from the other day because they ranked all 32 defenses in the NFL heading into 2020, and Washington's defense was ranked 29th overall out of 32 teams heading into 2020, and I think all of us believe that the defense has a chance to be decent. But one of the things that they emphasize before they start listing the team, teams 1 through 32 is that their belief is that past coverage is more important to win probability or influences win probability more than pass rush. And you could read through all of their

reasons for why in recent years past coverage they believe has become more important than pass rush. But a lot of it has to do with much quicker pass offenses, RPO, et cetera, et cetera, which negates the significance of a pass rush in some cases. This guy that I had on, Sam Monson, actually I remember, and I could be exaggerating this, but I remember him saying that Jeff Okuda was actually, in his mind's eye, the better selection than Chase Young because of pass coverage over pass rush, which, by the way, is precisely why Washington's defense is heading into 2020, ranked 29th of the 32 teams because they acknowledge that their front four is strong,

but that their secondary, their back seven is very questionable and their secondary super questionable, which is why they had them rated so low. Do you agree with that that past coverage in today's game is more important than pass rush? I think they go hand in hand because if pass rush is really dynamic, then past coverage is going to be vastly improved. And it also makes a difference with what you can do in past coverage. It allows you to bring pressures from different areas, take more risks in coverage, play more man-to-man coverage, be more aggressive at the ball. If you know that 3.4 seconds, somebody's going to alter the quarterback in any given play.

So I think they go hand in hand. And even where Washington last year was, I think, in the top 15 in total sacks, they were pretty high up there for the bad of defense as they've been. They were always impactful rushes. It was like you'd get a sack on second and seven, and then you'd give up a third and 14. So I do think that they go hand in hand. Pass coverage is incredibly important, though,

because I think past coverage a lot of times is where you start to get real turnovers. And that's one thing that I think has been lacking in D.C. is, a lot of real turnovers. But to say that they don't go hand in hand, I think it's hard. I think you marry them in its scheme that starts to be incorporated with how you're marrying them. And that's what I thought last year was probably Greg Minnowski's weakest suit, was he did not know how to marry the back end with his rush.

I think that an interior pass rush in this day and age is significantly more important than an edge pass rush, even though I'm really bullish on Chase Young, and I can't wait to see him, but I'm also excited about Alan Ioannitis and Duran Payne, especially if there's some focus on the outside guys. But interior pass rush in today's game against teams that throw quickly and teams that run a lot of RPO can be much more disruptive than great pass coverage in my view. Well, I think it played out really well last night with what Kansas City was doing. JJ Watt was playing more on the edge than he was inside.

Houston did not have any interior pressure, and some of the nuisance plays and the RPO plays and the ballout quick plays were not impacted in any way by rush, and it allowed Kansas City to continue to get three, four, five plus yards on every first and second down. And if you don't put them behind the chains a little bit, and make, I don't even know if they had any second and ten pluses in that game. they were always ahead of the sticks.

And so without interior pressure, I think you saw that last night from Houston, they just didn't have it other than why. They had nothing. I want to get to that game in more detail here, and then we're going to get into our team here momentarily. But quick word about My Buckey, and Cooley, last night my Buckey was offering a promotion

where you got the Chiefs plus 54 points in recognition of their Super Bowl 54. win. They were nine point favorites, but at My Booky last night, they were basically handing you 50 bucks. Now, they max the bet size at $50, but you got the Chiefs plus 54. If you missed out on that opportunity, that's your loss, but there are still great opportunities at MyBooky, and right now, they're going to double your first deposit if you use my promo code, Kevin D.C. MyBooky.ag is open for business. What you really want to know about, using an online book is you want to know that they're reliable, that they're going to give you

fair point spreads, fair pricing, and you're going to get paid if you win. And I promise you that that is the case at my bookie. They've got every kind of bet you can imagine, straight bets, parlayers, teasers, you know, you can bet as many futures as you want. I've got the clippers right now to win the NBA title plus 250. That's going to be a phenomenal Western Conference final Lakers Clippers coming up here. But right now, if you use my promo code, Kevin D.C., my bookie will double your first deposit. It's a no-brainer.

Your winning season begins today only at my bookie. I'll have a smell test coming up a little bit later on in the show. So I just want to get to the actual what do you got? Because you said last night, have a what do you got ready to go, but don't have it be sports. So I said, okay, I actually had one ready to go, but I've changed my mind on it because you were talking about real estate in the selling of your house. So I'm going to share with you something real quickly, and I just want your opinion on it. And I don't know that others are necessarily going through this right now or not, but let me just state up front that if you don't know this, the real estate market has been red. Hot nationwide, but definitely in this area. And it's crazy to think that during a pandemic,

with, you know, everything that's going on socially in this country, that the real estate market has done very well. Now, there are a lot of reasons for it. And my wife is a real estate agent, but so obviously I have firsthand experience through her as to why in this particular market, you know, People are looking for more room because they're working from home. And the expectation is that they're going to continue to work from home so that they need more room. With families that are a little bit older, with older kids, some of those kids are coming back home because they've lost jobs during this pandemic. There is the feeling that if you're in super densely populated areas, you want to get to a situation that's less densely populated because, the spread of infection during this pandemic has really hit areas that are densely populated much

harder than areas that, you know, there's more open space. But to me, it's a shock that the real estate market really has thrived during this very uncertain time. Now let me cut to the chase. My wife wants to move. She wants to move. She's found a house. I'm not going to share with you where it is or anything like that.

but she's found a house and she's always been good. We've been in a lot of houses since we got married and she's a designer in addition to being a real estate agent. She loves sort of the project of doing something with a house and she's found something and she wants to do something with it. But I am less certain about it. And Cooley, here's the reason why. I think just because the real estate market's been red hot doesn't mean that all of these people that have been selling and buying are going to be right about that. this. And by the way, prices. I mean, you're getting multiples on a lot of homes. I don't know how your home's doing. I think, I mean, I live in a more densely populated area than you do being out in

Leesburg. But anyway, I mean, a lot of the homes that have gone up, I mean, multiple contracts, etc. And she's saying this is the right time to sell our house. And I'm saying, yeah, but does that mean it's the right time to buy a house? Well, she thinks she's identified one that's the right to buy. To make a long story short, I typically am not. the conservative one. I think as I've gotten older, financially, I've become more conservative. But you know me well enough to know that I financially have taken risks in my life. I mean, look at the damn smell test every week.

But beside that, I've gotten more conservative. And I really, I don't know what world we're going to be living in six months from now. And I've told her, I'm like, I just don't know if I want to come out of pocket. get that much cash and then invest in a project, which would include a significant renovation. I don't know what kind of world we're going to be living in six months from now. Just because the market's hot doesn't mean that everybody's right about it. And I am pushing back a little bit, and it's caused some angst right now and some confrontation and some disagreement.

And, you know, ultimately, I do believe in her real estate evaluation ability. She's the expert in this area. But my whole feeling is we're in a pretty decent house right now and a nice neighborhood. And we don't have a lot of risk, you know, necessarily, which we would be embarking on with, you know, a major renovation. What do you think? Do you want to move? Does she want to move? She wants to move.

I could, I'm open to moving, but I want it to be the right thing where there is less risk on the renovation cost, if you will. You know, she, go ahead. Yeah. I think that the interest rate has driven the sell of home. That's been a big part of it, no doubt. because if you can get two and a quarter on an interest rate on a house, you were going to buy a house or you were thinking about buying a house for a million dollars a year ago,

and now all of a sudden you're able to afford with your mortgage and interest at $1.4 million house. I mean, the percentage of what you can afford is crazy. I think that's driven. I also think the inventory, especially early with COVID, with no one wanting people in their house and some of the uncertainty with no houses for sale, and people wanted to get out of cities and out of places,

the inventory was so high. I mean, the market's been incredibly hot in Wyoming. People are moving out of everywhere from Wyoming. Kev, when I moved, I ordered a U-Haul, and they called me a week before, and they said, we can't give you your U-Haul. We haven't gotten any back in anywhere in the DMB area. Yeah.

Because everybody was leaving the DMB area to go out of, a busy area. But then so many people are moving into Loudoun County from Arlington and Alexandria and D.C. It's been a while, but I think you get a good interest rate on a house you like. And you talk about risk. I just, I mean, as long as you know you can afford the house for 10 years with that rate, is there that much risk? So, you know, whether it's two and a quarter or, you know, depending on the size of the loan,

you know, somewhere just under three. the bottom line is it's it's it's almost free money right now and and that's a big part of this as well you know cash flow and you know mortgage size um and what the payment on it would be is not the concern it's the outlay of cash to do the project to do the renovation right because ultimately you know the only way you realize the upside is to sell it and that's not that's not really the goal here. The goal is to live in it. But what my concern is, is I'm like, what if this world that we're in, in six months, we're into a recession or a depression, and the economy tanks and the market tanks, and, you know, all of a sudden, whether there are low interest rates or not, people

are really deciding to hunker down. And by the way, you know, my line of work, her line of work, a lot of people are probably thinking the same thing. There have been a lot of industries impacted. There's a lot of uncertainty, you know, in what we're doing right now. Even a podcast. I know what the ad rates have done on podcasts here during this pandemic. They've gone down significantly. You know, I'm running ads. I'm reading ads, and most of you recognize that, but what I would have gotten for that ad six months ago, I'm not getting anywhere near that much for the ad right now. But anyway,

I just think sometimes it's, I don't know. I'm not, I'm not in risk-taking mode right now because I don't know, I don't have a clear, well, no one has a clear vision anyway, but we've never lived in a more

uncertain time in our lifetime. I mean, there's nothing even that remotely comes close to it. 19 years ago today, 9-11, 19 years ago today. That pales in comparison in terms of uncertainty, future uncertainty with what we've been through here in the last six months. And who knows what's coming up? We're going to have a tumultuous fall with an unbelievable election. And to predict what the results of the world will be based on the results of the election, I think is even foolhardy. Because you can make the case that it'll be

bad in either scenario. But anyway, that's my what do you go. No, I'm with you. I understand it. I mean, it's one of those things that you depends on how much you're putting in a renovation and what you're doing with the renovation. But yeah, you're sitting here saying, okay, well, let's buy a X house and put 20% more money in to fix that house.

And then now, just for purposes of whatever, an easy number where we live, a million dollars, you're in it a million dollars. And two years later, it's $648. $640,000 house. You know what I just realized, though? We haven't even talked about football yet. We haven't did this forever. I know.

I promise all of you that each show is not going to be two and a half hours. One of the shows I found, it was the show right before the draft in 2019. No, it was two hours and 47 minutes. nobody does a two-hour 47-minute podcast. Do you know what the podcast experts say? It should be an hour. How could you and I during football season ever do just an hour? Sort of impossible.

I guess we could figure it out. Tell me what you thought about the game last night. First of all, I thought it was amazing to have football back. I just did. I thought it was awesome. I was excited to watch the game. I think Kansas City is so good. I think Patrick Mahomes is so unbelievably special.

I mean, you just go through and watch him, his accuracy with the ball, his ability to make throws, how quick he gets it out. He's decisive. He's just, he's amazing. And I look at a few plays that he made that game, and I think the first throw,

across the body moving left side arm on a boot that was called a touchdown and then overturned was just an ultimate highlight if that ball gets caught. It was just in a wow factor with how he gets rid of that thing. And it's not just that.

It's watching how good he is in the run game and how much he holds the backside for some of those zone-type runs with either the threat of RPO, the threat of speed option the other way. His patience and his ability to deliver in the run game is unbelievable. I thought Sammy Watkins is a problem. I understand the weapons. He was great last night.

But in watching that game and then watching it on film, Sammy Watkins ran exceptional routes. He was on time. He was hard to press. He got off of coverage. and if you're going to try to double or worry about tree kill, and you're going to worry about Travis Kelsey, and then now all of a sudden the run game, which we'll get through,

you've got to worry about that. How are you going to cover Sammy Lockett? Because I thought Houston did a really good job playing conservative defense and trying to make plays and come up and tackle. A lot of it, they played soft, and they played deep safety over some of the man coverage, and they basically said you're not going to burn us deep throughout the game. but Kansas City just kept getting in the yard.

They just kept making plays. They were head of the sticks. It was unbelievable to watch. Andy Reed is magnificent. I thought it's face masks and all the memes were hysterical. Crazy. He's all fogged up. Like, what did you get to draw plays in his face mask?

I mean, some of those memes were hysterical. I'm going to draw this backwards on my face mask. Someone said, this is why everybody, he needs to be wearing a face mask. This whole thing was covered in fog. Somebody put out a meme of Andy Reid watching the game last night. It was just a totally blurred field of players running around. It was hysterical.

It looked like a fog game. But how good is he? He was so good. Yeah. He's so good. Beami, I thought, if Beenemy was the play caller, I thought the play calling was outstanding. I mean, I call it.

It's back to like what Al Saunders described, which is funny because what they do with motions and shift is like today's Kansas City when Al Saunders was in Kansas City with all the different things they do and the backfield and shift and stuff. And a lot of it's just to get to little edge plays and screen plays and nuisance plays. I got a kick out of that, man. They go for it on fourth and one was brilliant. They knew they were going for it. Did you hear, did you hear Collinsworth? Before, I mean, talk about, you know, Mr. Pro Football Focus. He's Mr. Analytics now.

Oh, yeah, I'll say this is the right call. He's starting to... But it is the right call. It is. He's starting to drive me nuts, though, because, you know, I just think that there's a lot of context and a lot of, you know, of information that's beyond the mathematical information in some of these analytic decisions. And that's not what he thinks. He is straight, you know, mathematical analytics dude.

The numbers say it's fourth and one, you have to go for it. No matter where you are in the field, no matter who you're playing, no matter what the weather is, no matter what you're off, you know, whatever. So I, he's on a blackjack. He's definitely, you know, he's playing blackjack rules. I mean, yeah, go ahead. Oh, sorry, I was about done here. Any Washington fan would like this.

They had a screen pass to Watkins down on the goal line. That was the exact same play as the two-point conversion that Miami botched last year when we were in the hunt for the first pick. If you remember that, that was the Callahan game against Miami. Oh, yeah. They botched the two-point screen. Yeah. It's so funny when one works.

And it's just like the fourth down, it's called. One works, and now on NFL.com, it's defined it. hashtag sleek screen. What is it? What is it? Sleak? I think it said like Sleak Screen was the title or something on their

highlight package. Oh. But, man, it was, watching Kansas City, watching Edward Toulare run the ball and some of the zone stuff. He was awesome.

Awesome. I mean, he was so good. Some of those cuts he made, the patience he had and the one cut in the zone scheme was outstanding. Kansas City's diversity with underneath plays,

screens, RPO's, and then some of their get the ball down the field type of plays. They go like four on one side and one on the other, four by one, and they run vertical routes out of it and utilize the back. And they just put

so much pressure on a defense with speed and consistency. And I just, I think they're so hard to beat. I just, if they're healthy, they're amazing. and it's like you have to make plays. And Houston didn't have very many chances.

They didn't have great pressure. They did have an interception on a Mahomes throw that he missed maybe on a second drive or third drive where they could have had a pick, but you're like, if you don't maximize possessions against Kansas City and you don't capitalize the score points and then you don't turn them over when you have chances, you're going to lose to them. They're just going to score too many points. They are awesome. And I, in watching them last night, and I was a big Edwards hilarious guy coming out,

he had his best games in some of the biggest moments last year, including when they were trying to ice the game against Alabama in Tuscaloosa in that game. He was outstanding, you know, running for one first down after another. I mean, Burrow was great in that game, but he was so good. There's something about that, you know, super strong, low, you know, to the ground gravity guy. and Portis was on radio with me this morning, and what he said was, he's like, look, you know, because he was a big Edwards-Lair fan too, and he said, you just against Kansas City, you're not going to face loaded boxes ever.

You're going to be facing, you know, six-man boxes, tops, and this guy's going to eat that alive. They're just unstoppable now, you know, and... And that's what they have. They got diamond-nickel packages, even to two tight endsets. They were getting nickel. You can't play him with three backers. Yeah. So he's going to have a big year.

Massive year. Well, if you did fantasy football draft, he was like the fourth player taken in any fantasy draft. I know. I have the homes on my fantasy team. Three touchdowns was good. I would have liked to have seen him throw for more yards, but a three touchdown effort in the first game was good for me.

All right. We'll get, we're going to sort of summarize our NFL picks here coming up shortly. Let me first quickly tell you about Roman. Talking about erectile dysfunction, guys, isn't easy. Usually we just brush it off or blame ourselves saying things like I lost my mojo or we avoid it all together with excuses like I had a long day at work or sorry, honey, I'm just not feeling it. Or sorry, honey, Cooley's on the phone. We're trying to prepare for tomorrow's show. I don't know if I've had to apologize for that particular thing recently, but that's another subject altogether. With Roman, it's easy to talk about it. With a real healthcare professional who can prescribe real medication, it's simple, safe, totally discreet. With Roman, you can get a free online evaluation and ongoing care for ED, all from the comfort and privacy of your home.

A health care professional will work with you to find the best treatment plan. If medication is appropriate, Roman will ship it to you with free two-day shipping. The whole process is straightforward, simple, and discreet. Getting started is simple as well. Just go to getRoman.com slash Kevin D.C. That's getRoman.com slash Kevin D.C. And complete an online visit. A rectile dysfunction used to be a tough to tackle subject, but now there's Roman.

Complete an online visit today. connect with a health care professional and take care of it. Go to get roman.com slash Kevin D.C. today. If approved, you'll get $15 off your first order of ED treatment. That's get roman.com slash Kevin D.C. Get roman.com slash Kevin, D.C. We'll get to Washington Beats the Eagles here in a moment. I just wanted to get your reaction, and I've got a reaction to,

I don't know if you saw this or not. We didn't talk about it before the show. But all of the pregame activity last night, all of the social justice bringing awareness to racial injustice, the Texans not being on the field for the anthem. And then the two teams, when they joined hands at midfield in a show of unity, to hear booing from what was a crowd of roughly 16,000. people last night.

Did you have a reaction to that? Did you catch that part of it? I talked to you. I was driving to get some food, and so I had the game on, but I couldn't hear the booing. I saw some of the comments from some of the coaches. First of all, I thought the showing of unity

between both teams was really, really cool. I thought that was outstanding. I think Bill O'Brien said afterwards, and he said he didn't hear the booing, and maybe they were just booing us because we were the visiting team. I don't know what you're going to boo about a showing of unity. Maybe they were booing the fact that Tennessee, that Houston didn't come out for the anthems. I think that this is, I'm going to support anybody in whatever they're doing,

and I'm especially supporting them when they choose to do it completely as a team. You know, you saw the Dolphins video come out right before the game. It's like over two minutes of how they need to kind of change and what they're going to do and that there's too much fluff and too many empty gestures. And the NFL said that they are going to play, lift every voice and sing, as well as the national anthem. but I do think that some of the players' ideas, especially in this political time bomb that we're in right now,

allows people to criticize anything a player does when they're out on the field. And all they want to do is go out and play. So I think if you want to make a statement or if you want to take a meeting, I'm completely good with that. You and I've had this conversation a lot of times over the past, couple years. Where we are today is if you want to do that, I would support that wholeheartedly. But I also support the idea that teams don't want to be judged and they don't want to distraction, not only pregame but postgame and then into the next week with how are you going to

handle something. So staying in to me isn't the worst case scenario. I am slightly surprised that the NFL didn't vet this a little bit more with the players union and say, what do we all collectively want. Yeah, this is not totally organized. In fact, I thought a lot of last night pregame was a bit clunky and disorganized. But I agree with you on that, but every team's going to handle it the way they want to handle it, which would include lots of conversation you would assume and then, you know, a direction. I'll tell you what, I had an immediate reaction to the booing last night. And I'm just going to share with you right now what that reaction was. I did read afterwards that there were big Black Lives Matter slogans rolling across the Jumbotrons in the stadium while the players were out there in that pregame moment of unity.

But this is what I thought, because I don't know that it was directed towards the Jumbotron. I think it was directed towards the players. I just think it's really simple. I think after six months of an exhausting pandemic and after three to four months of just, 24 hours a day, seven days a week of news and politics, and this is what you should be thinking, and this is what you shouldn't be thinking. I think people just wanted football. I think that this, and you may not like that reaction, and you may say, well, that is short-sighted or even worse. I'm not saying that I agree with it because what Cooley just said is what I agree with,

which is I never let, and I didn't let the Kaepernick stuff, deprive me from enjoying sports. I'm just never going to let the artist get in the way of the art. You know, I'm just not. I enjoy football. I'm never going to be the person that says, oh, that political stance, I'm not watching the games. I'll never be that person. You may not like the booing, but, and some of you probably feel that way, But, you know, the right to do what the players did last night is exactly the same right that those fans that were there last night have.

And that is to express the way they feel however they want to express it. You know, whether you like that or not, they are the consumers of this sport. They are paying the freight in many ways. Now, in television networks are really paying the freight in the NFL. The league has the right to bring attention to all of these social and racial issues of the day in any way they want. And the people that are going to be allowed in some of these stadiums are going to be allowed to express their opinion as well. In the same way that someone might say after last night, I'm not watching any more NFL football. That's their right.

So my immediate reaction was these aren't people that are against. against the message. These aren't people who are anti-B-LM. These are people that just want football. After six months of an exhausting, uncertain world, they're so thrilled that football's back and they just want football. That's my opinion. I could be wrong. It could be deeper-seated than that. But I think a lot of it has always been about whether it's sports or entertainment. Look, I'm here to watch you sing. I'm here to watch you play. I'm paying a price to do that because it's a diversion for me.

I don't want to be lectured on anything else. I get that enough on CNN, Fox, and MSNBC. That's how I – that was my feeling when I heard the booze. I was a bit surprised. And by the way, one other quick point on this. I do think that the reaction to a lot of this is going to be geographical. I think when you're in the heartland of this country, like last night's game was, the reaction might be different than it would be in some of the big cities.

Ironically, it's the big cities where there aren't going to be any fans, I think. I could be wrong on that. But, you know, no fans in New York, Philadelphia, D.C., no fans in L.A. I don't think any fans are allowed in Santa Clara or sure. Chicago. But anyway, those were my thoughts on that. Yeah, I would love that to be the case. I would assume, though, it's because Houston didn't come out for the anthem. It's why they got booed. I think that's part of it, too. But again, you have the freedom to make the choice to do whatever you want to do.

If you want to protest, then I'm going to support whatever you're going to do out there. But you also have the freedom to not be judged for something that you're not getting paid to do. you're getting paid to play professional football, you're getting judged and scrutinized as a football player for what you're doing on the field, and for a team to make the decision that they don't want to be judged for essentially what they're doing off the field or their opinion. I'm completely behind that.

I just think the NFL has got to find a better way to handle it. All right, let's get to Washington. It's no longer Redskins beat Eagles if, or Skins beat Eagles if. It's Washington beats Philadelphia if. All right, the way we used to do this with Skinspeed Eagles if is you give one of your keys and then I give one and then you give one and then if anybody else has another, we go from there. So I'll let you start. I think the biggest thing for Washington is for Duane to move the chain in third down situations.

and I think for the most part, third and seven plus is going to be a prominent situation for them. The Eagles are so stout with run defense. They have been for a long time. And so I think you're going to see some longer down in distances on third down. And so for me, is it Antonio Gibson making plays? Because I think they're going to use him as a receiver and out of the back, though, quite a bit. Is it Stevenson Jr.? Is it Antonio, or, yeah, Antonio Gandy Golden.

I'm going to get that down this year. AGG. AGG. AGO. AGO. Who is it that's going to make plays for them in third down situation? They are not deep at the receiver position. I would assume that Terry McLaurin will see coverage throughout most of the game by Darius Slay,

the guy they traded from Detroit, who's an unbelievable cornerback, which is going to make it hard to win in those situations. I don't know exactly what Philly will do, but, man, if you can't move the chains and you have a lot of short possessions, that'll wear your defense out, and that will let Philly stay completely two-dimensional, and I think it'll make it really, really tough on you.

It's going to have to be like a 21st down game, and they're going to have to be over 50% in their down situation. Maybe not 20. It could change, basically. on my next aspect, but I do think that they're going to have to miss this. Well, do you think he'll be able to? I think it's daunting to think that in third down situations that they're going to have the playmakers and the quarterback to make a lot of plays.

But they'll have to if they want to win. All right. Washington beats Philadelphia if the defense shows up. This is what we want. This is what we've been expecting. The offensive team that they're facing is pretty good, although maybe a little bit banged up and Miles Sanders is a huge key to that. I'll address that at a few minutes. The Eagles have won six in a row against Washington. Cooley, they've scored 30 plus four times.

It's time for defensively this team to become an NFL team defensively. They haven't been for a long, long time. And without it, they don't have a chance to win the game. I think the new coaching staff is a game changer defensively with Rivera and Jack Del Rio. But I don't think it's a bigger game changer than Chase Young. I'm more excited to see him on Sunday than anybody else in Burgundy and Gold. He was the highest evaluated player in the draft on defense in seven or eight years. He's probably the highest evaluated player this team has taken in the draft since I don't know. Heath Shuler, I can't even think about a player. Maybe Lovar Arrington. I think LeVar.

I think LeVar is probably the guy that was that highly evaluated. It's also coolly, in my opinion, a position that reveals greatness early if the talent and the work ethic and the competitiveness are legitimately there. And this is why I say that. Hey, it's third and nine. Go get the quarterback. If he's got that speed, that edge, and that talent, I think we're going to see. it earlier in his career, like in these first few games. We may see it on the first third and nine Sunday. But it's not just him, although he's a big part of it, because if he's as

good as advertised and say he's Nick Bosa or better, then he's going to elevate the rest of the team defensively. But I'm interested to see Ryan Carrigan, what he looks like with his hand in the dirt, is a four-three defensive end. I'm very interested to see Montez Sweat. I've heard very good things coming out about sweats training camps so far and how much more comfortable he looks. Interior, Alan and Ionitis are obviously very good, and I think you believe that ionitis is the best, and Alan's close. To me, pains the guy that can be a major game changer. If he's up to it, he's in his third year, I think it's time for him to live up to the talent. I thought Collins was better than most people thought he was last year, but I don't know what to

expect from the rest of their secondary. But what I do know is if they're not really good defensively this year, they're not going to be a real competitive team. And Sunday, to beat Philadelphia, they're going to have to be really good on defense because I'm not so sure they can score a lot of points. So Washington beats Philly if the defense shows up and is what we're expecting it to be. What's your number two? Washington beats Philadelphia if, and I'm going to bandwagon here, your defensive aspect, but my adjustment to that is if they can stop the run, I think that this defensive line will be able to get after the passer.

I think in a four-down system with being able to rotate Ryan Carrigan in there, I think we'll be good in a four-down. I think he'll remind you of what Chris Long was in Philly a couple years ago, where it's just hard coming off the edgeards. Right. But I think they have to stop the run. And Doug Peterson's done a really good job with some of those nuisance plays

that we talked about with Kansas City earlier and creating with a lot of misdirection in the run game with plays that don't always make exact sense. And so it's not just the D-line. You're taking the D-line out of the equation a little bit, and you're putting a lot of pressure on linebackers. And so to me, are you going to stop the run? Is Bostic, Dionne Hamilton, Col Holcomb, Thomas,

whoever it is that's going to play linebacker? This has been so up in the air. Are they on? Do they understand the keys that they need to see? Do they understand where to fill, where to fit? Because if you let Philly get out and have some big runs, and I think that Miles Sanders is a good player, I think it's a good back.

And I think that's a really good offensive line right now, while they're healthy, you have to stop the run. That's just a big thing for this defense. I believe they will get after the passer. I hope that we see the excitement from Chase Young and Montez-Swatt and their ability to get carcumints on the ground in their down situation, but they've got to stop the run first. My second Washington beats Philadelphia furthers what I said about the defense.

And I hear you, I think you have to stop the run against anybody. You know, I made this point yesterday to Tommy Cooley that, you know, one of the real challenges for this defense this year are the three backs they have to face equaling six games. Sanders twice, Barkley twice, and Zeke Elliott twice. I don't know that in any division you've got that, you know, potential at running back that you've got to face defensively, you know, six times in the season. Now, Sanders has a hamstring issue and he's been limited in practice. It would be a huge benefit. That's actually a point I will make here in a moment. But I'm wondering who defensively

covers what Wentz is going to want to do, I think, all season long, and that is feature Zach Ertz and Dallas Goddard. Those are the two guys. Right now, Deshaun Jackson is really the only guy absolutely healthy enough to play in terms of their big wide receiver names. Alshon Jeffrey may be out. Jalen Rager, their first round pick from TCU, is hampered. You know, Greg Ward, remember he beat, you know, Josh Norman in that game badly last year at FedEx Field. You know, he's going to throw to Jackson, but like, who do they have to cover both Ertz and Goddard? By the way, they picked up Richard Rogers after he was released by Washington last week. And I'm assuming Cooley that, you know, a guy like KPL, who they've been talking about

since, you know, May, Kevin Pierre-L-Lewis, they love him. He's obviously going to be a starter or he's going to play significant minutes, and apparently he can really run. I wonder if that's one of the reasons that they love him, is that he can cover Earths, or whether or not it's APK, a guy who can really run at safety. I don't know what the answer is, and maybe you've got a better idea on what it is. But over the years, the tight ends for Philadelphia have really hurt this team. Last year, I think in that final game, Ertz and Goddard combined for 10 catches and 116 yards and two touchdowns. So they've got to have an answer defensively to Wence to either one of those two tight ends. I love, I like Goddard a lot. I don't know if you do. I forget if we've had this

conversation before. Obviously, Ertz is elite, but I think Goddard's really good too. I think Goddard is underrated even at this point because of how good Zach Earth is. If you remember, I was at the Combine a couple years ago with the tight ends, and Goddard was one of those tight ends. He's an awesome player, D2 school, or F, what is it, FCS school? South Dakota, South Dakota State. I think so. But he's awesome, man.

And so when you come to stop in those tight ends, I mean, the reason, And this wasn't part of this staff, but the reason they signed and paid Landon Collins so much money was so you could shut down tight ends in the NFC. East. And you could shut down some of the movement tight ends across the league. And guys like Erds and Goddard are two of those types of players that Landon Collins is going to have to be able to cover and play man-to-man coverage. I don't think it'll be Troy Acky. I think Troy Acky is going to be one of those high over-the-top free safety. Right. Yeah.

But I think it's going to be a Landon Collins and KPL situation. And Cole Holcomb is also a guy that you can implement, because I think Cole Holcomb can play some man-to-man coverage in some situations depending on how they end up playing him. He can run. I mean, Holcomb can really run. And apparently Kevin Pierre-Lewis can really run as well. All right, what's your next and last Washington beats Philly if?

Washington beats Philadelphia if, and I started with Stop the Run on defense, but I'm going to say you just can't give up the big play. You can't let Went get one over the top. And to me, that's a concern. I like Kendall Fuller as a corner. I like Ronald Darby. Not as much. I think you can get Darby on double moves, so he's going to know how to get him.

And it's going to be a lot of pressure on some of the run-action pass on Troy Askey. So I think He's one of my favorite dudes in that locker room Oh, really? I've never heard you say that before. Yeah, Troy App. He's a really, really good guy, a hard worker. He has every athletic ability,

but I think struggles dramatically with angles. And so even if you're playing him high and deep over the top, I think that his angles the things over last year and some of the stuff I've seen, it's almost like a center field, with depth perception problems. So I don't know if that's something that he can improve on. That's a problem if you're in center field and you've got depth perception issues.

Hold on. I think it's coming right to me. Oh, wait, and then, oh, it's behind me. You got to have. Oh, I had it. I felt like I had it. I saw it. Where did it go?

I mean, you got to have a sense of space, you know, and we're, the things coming. That's a problem. But I'm glad he's a great guy. I'm glad he's a terrific locker room guy. But that said, yeah, that said, in that aspect, you just can't have any of those. You're sitting at home watching the same. You're saying to yourself, what the fuck? And there goes to Sean. What the fuck? How do you get over the top? Well, I, you know, I took this angle because it looked like he was only, it looked like he was 25 yards away from me. Yeah, but he wasn't. He was seven yards away from you. Oh.

There's been a few, man. There was one against Buffalo a year ago. You should add a clear pick and you're just watching going, I know it's not what you're, you're in the right place. You know what you're doing. Once the ball was in the air, it's lighted out. Oh, gone. Well, that's not, I mean, that's interesting information. It's also a little bit concerning. Deshawn Jackson said yesterday, did you see Deshawn's quote? This is this is a beauty from Deshawn. Quote, my whole career I've always been against the odds, so I look forward to this year. But I ain't going to speak too much. I'm just going to show it. I'm going to show it to you on Sunday. I know what I'm capable of doing. I've got a lot of juice left in me. So for everybody

sitting at home, get your popcorn ready and get ready for Sunday. I love that he said He's not going to speak too much because of his anti-Semitic post from earlier in the year. I forgot about that. Listen, Kevin, I'm not going to say too much about

what I'm going to do. I'm just going to show it, but I'm awesome. Okay, I'm super awesome. Get your popcorn ready. My third and final reason Washington beats Philadelphia is I think that there's a chance they could get a break here Sunday, catching Philadelphia at the right time. And I think it would be huge

if Miles Sanders, as an example, is out, if Alshon Jeffrey is out. They are already, you know, starting Jason Peters at left tackle when they brought him back to play guard. They lost Brandon Brooks. They lost the kid Dillard, the first rounder from last year. Lane Johnson, they're starting right tackle. Their outstanding starting left tackle is banged up a little bit. Von Hargrave defensively is injured, but the offensive injuries, not having to face Miles Sanders, who is actually, to me, very much a star in the making, means you get Boston Scott, or you get my guy, Corey Clement, who I like a lot. Yeah, he's a third now back, though.

But, exactly. But I just, I think there's an opportunity here. If they come in, banged up a little bit, missing some key pieces to really take advantage of it. If that happens, I like their chances a lot. Hey, before we get to some of our NFL season predictions and our skin season prediction, I just looked this up when you were talking about the Philadelphia tight ends and you were talking about Dallas Goddard and having spent time with him. Do you know who made San Francisco's roster?

Yeah, Charlie Warner. Charlie Warner. Your guy. Sixth round. Charlie Warner should be on the Washington football game. Well, but they didn't listen to you. As late as he went with, yeah, well, they should have listened to me on that one because he's a true, he's going to be a good player. He made the team.

Charlie Warner, before the draft, Cooley said, this is my guy at tight end. I think you said you would take him as early as the fourth round. Correct me if I'm wrong, that he's probably going to go later than the. Actually, I think what you said is. I think third. Yeah, you said third and you said, and if we don't take him in a third, somebody's going to take him as high as the fourth or fifth. Because some people were projecting that he wouldn't be drafted. He was drafted.

He was taken in the sixth round by the 49ers, a team that, oh, by the way, has George Kittle. Also signed Jordan Reed, right? Jordan Reed. Right. They have four tight ends. And Ross Dwellie is a very good player as well. Yeah, here it is. Charlie Warner made the team as the fourth tight end.

Dewelly and Reed, Kittle, and Charlie Warren. or made the team. So there you go. Okay. I want to take a quick break for a sponsor. Guys, Manscaped has been one of our bigger sponsors here recently, and you really need to pay attention if you're not taking care of yourself, all right? Manscape's got you covered to keep the hair looking nice and trimmed and feeling fully supported. Manscape offers precision engineered tools for your family jewels. The premium lawnmower 3.0 is waterproof.

an LED light and it's made with advanced skin safe technology which reduces nix and cuts on your delicates all right you be careful doing this on your own without the right technology you can get this trimmer inside their perfect package 3.0 which also includes the manscaped crop preserver uh as well now the manscape boxer briefs a favorite among customers of manscape they've got optimal temperature control with their crop cooling technology, which keeps your pride and joy supported. You can get 20% off right now and free shipping if you use the code, The Athletic 20 at Manscaped.com. That's 20% off with free shipping at Manscape.com. Use the code, The Athletic 20. That's The Athletic 20. from the moose to the caboose, always use the right tools for the job.

All right, smell test is coming up here in a moment. I do want us to go through sort of what we think is going to happen in the NFL this season. But before we get to that, off of Washington beats Philadelphia, just give me your overall thoughts on the kind of record you think they can have, on the kind of team they're going to have this year. And then I'll give my season prediction right after yours. I think it's a team that's going to have to be led by its defense and consistently throughout the year. I just don't see them offensively having enough firepower.

And that could change if guys like Antonio Gibson and AGG end up having big roles. I do love Steven Sims Jr. I'm not sure about Dantra Linman, and we do know about Jerry McCorn. There are no tight ends to speak of that I think are any better than average. I think Antonio Gibson will play some of that utility role, though. Dwayne Haskins is still so raw. He's still got so much work to do in terms of his accuracy, which I think is and was a problem last year.

I hope it's fixed to some extent. His footwork and mechanics can continue to improve, especially as he throws the ball. The mechanics are really a fundamental basis of a quarter. back, and I think he's got to get better at that. His arm strength allows him to get away with things that I think he should approve on. So Dwayne with a group of young players and, you know, maybe some questions on offensive line, especially at left tackle and tied end.

They got some work to do on offense. It allowed to be led by their defense. I have a hard time seeing Washington winning more than six games this year. I do. I just I think that they could benefit from no preseason training camp and somehow if they could find a way

the geek went out against Philly, which I don't expect. And then you play Arizona and Cleveland and you could get off to a decent start. Things could change. But outside of that, I wouldn't be surprised to see anywhere from two to six wins. All right, but are you in at six and ten?

Is that your prediction? Yeah, I'll give you five and eleven. All right. Five and 11 from Cooley. I'm more optimistic than that. It's crazy because I think the state of the organization is in flux. The ownership situation is ugly. What's going on around this football operation, I don't know that we've ever seen so much turmoil. And that's saying a lot, considering how much turmoil there's been over the years. And I guess a lot of that could be. bleed in to the football part and it could be another disaster. Everybody's predicting that. I mean, nobody's giving this team a chance to be competitive. I'm going to say that they're going to be a seven and nine football team.

I haven't placed the bet yet, but I am definitely going to wager over five and a half on this team. I, you know I love Ron Rivera. Like I think they completely, you know, stole a guy that I didn't think they were capable of attracting. I think Ron Rivera can coach. I always loved Carolina's teams. I always felt watching those teams as a fan that they were smart, that they were disciplined, that they were physical. And, you know, just from a defensive mind and combination of Rivera and Del Rio defensively, I feel like this will be the first time since Greg Williams was here.

You know, I was okay with Haslett, but really the first time since Greg Williams was here, that you've got really a first-rate defensive staff. Certainly the head coach being a defensive head coach, which you haven't had since Marty Schottenheimer, and having a first-rate defensive coordinator, even if they didn't draft Chase Young, I would have expected them to be much improved defensively. If I'm wrong on that, I'm going to be shocked if they're not a better team defensively. It would be hard for them to be any worse. They were 32nd on third down last year.

But I think their defense is going to keep them competitive. I am, as most of you know, I've been more bullish and optimistic about Dwayne than a lot of people have been. I don't know whether or not Scott Turner is going to be the right fit, and I'm not expecting lights out, you know, an offense that's going to light up the scoreboard. That's not what I'm saying. but I think seven wins is in play for this team. And, you know, I'd love to see it come as follows, five and five going into Thanksgiving Day at Dallas.

Like to have a real season, which last year wasn't, and I know 2018, they were six and three and whatever, but when we got to December, even though mathematically they were live, it was pretty much over. But it would be really nice to have, you know, a season where you get to Thanksgiving Day and they play the Cowboys on Thanksgiving and have them be five and five. Like in, you know, Cooley, they expanded the playoff format, seven teams now from each

conference, so an extra playoff team. They're not going to make the playoffs this year. I'm not suggesting that. But I think an improvement of four wins is very aggressive. I don't think anybody would debate that going seven and nine is pretty damn aggressive. It's not negative. It's aggressive, considering where they were last year. But I feel good about, no, I hope he's healthy.

He's got cancer. It's a treatable form of cancer. He took the day off the other day. You know, his health is more important than any of this other stuff. But I liked his teams watching them over the years. And if he brings that to this team and Del Rios is good of a coordinator, certainly a massive improvement over what they've had, I think they're going to be in a lot of games with a chance to win, you know, a chance to win half of them.

And I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt that they get seven of those. I mean, if it's six and ten, five and eleven, whatever, I think it's just going to be a much more competitive team this year, much more than we saw last year. That's not saying it's not a big leap. But I'm talking about like a team that's legitimately competitive, that teams are even good teams are like, we just can't roll it out today and win 37. attend. I think defensively they'll be out, you know, have a chance to be very good. So there you go. If you want to play the game that you hate will we do that. The Cardinals, the Giants twice with the new head coach, the Browns, the Browns with the new head coach, Caroline with the new head coach, Detroit, and then Pittsburgh late, if Ben's not healthy, would be your winnable games as

this season progresses. So that's seven winnable games with the nonsense schedule game. Outside of that, if you were to win five of those, can you sneak out two? Maybe. I mean, you know, I... I wouldn't be surprised. It wouldn't blow me away to see them win seven. It would blow me away to see them win nine. Me too.

Me too. But then again, if I'm predicting seven, I mean... I'm sorry? I think seven's your upside. I think eight is the upside. I think eight is the upside. and the downside, really, like, best case, worst case, best case would be eight. Worst case, I really think, is another rock bottom because you don't, first of all, by the way,

the assumption is that, you know, they're not, you know, that they don't lead the league in infections and lost players because of it. That's another big part of it is the infection rate if the NFL. Yeah. What if you end up playing the Cowboys without Dak Prescott and Amari Cooper and maybe a couple guys on deal? Yeah, yeah, are you healthier because of the infection stuff? That could change everything. It could change everything. I just, I, I, um, I, um, I think the downside is really low. I mean, when I say really low, I, I think that the, the organizational bullshit and shenanigans that are

going on right now, um, in the past, they've bled in and, and they've impacted the, the entire organization. And I can't discount the possibility that it happens again, I'd be crazy. I'd be naive to say that it can't happen, that somehow, you know, Ron's going to make everything right on the football side, even if they're completely dysfunctional, you know, elsewhere. You know, but I think that the upsides eight, the downside's probably three or four. I think the defense, you know, even if they've got, you know, major turmoil in the organization, it could be, you know, I don't know that it's going to be three again. Anyway, you've got six and ten. I've got, no, you have five and eleven. You have five and eleven. I've got seven and nine. And really, I'm telling you right now, Cooley, what I'm really

hoping for, because it would be much better for me and for anybody in sports media in this town. But also, it just, it would be a nice change. I'd just like to see them, you know, through the first 10 games, you know, you get to into mid-November, and you're like, you know what, this team's not that bad. You know, they're four and five. They're playing the Bengals at home to get to five and five, and then, you know, we can get excited about a Thanksgiving Day game against the Cowboys.

I'd like at least that. If it completely comes apart in December, that's fine. What I don't want is I don't want lost Sunday, loss of Arizona, loss at Cleveland, loss to the Ravens, lost to the Rams, and they're 0 and 5, and everybody's checked out. You know, okay, we go to the Meadowlands, a win. They're one in five. Now I've got the Cowboys coming home and you go into the buy one and six. And then somehow, like you said, you get the Giants in Cincinnati and Carolina and maybe another

one and you add another four wins over the final, you know, nine games or whatever. And you end up five and eleven on an upswing. I don't want it to happen that way. I want them to be competitive from the jumps so, you know, everybody doesn't bail, which we know what happened. Oh, you're five and eleven. your 5 and 11 upswing is your worst case scenario. I love the worst case. Yeah, because it's got to, for this team right now, I mean, there's no attendance issues, but for this team to give people a reason to pay attention

and there's so many people that aren't going to right now, they got to start three and three, two and four, but competitive in the four losses. And have something to feel like they're performing, professional, like they're a professional outfit again. Anyway, there you go. They should be on the phone. Okay.

Let me get to a 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, I love it when Cooley's a part of the smell test. And one of my favorite things many years ago that was my favorite because it was the most irritated I've ever been with Cooley is when he decided that, he would do a mock schedule and that he would do his own version of the smell test. No, no, no, no.

That's not how this works. The smell test is mine. I do the smell test. You can do a lock or two of the week if you want following this. But I'm doing the smell test. Do you remember that? It was the mock schedule, actually. You know, it's like, I do this thing, coolly, the mock schedule.

I remember you did it last year. And I'm going to do it too. This is going to be fun because you'll do yours and then I'll do mine. and we can compare. I'm like, no. Well, if you want to know, I think I've told you this, but if you want to know, when I started doing radio with Zabe and Galby,

Zabe does a segment called You Are Looking Live, which is what I'm Dave's best segment, and it's terrific. And I didn't understand much about Zabe and radio, and I wanted to participate more than I was participating. And so I basically sabotaged it, and then I said, we're never doing this again. I remember that.

Oh, my God, I remember that. I was looking at me, like, what the hell is he? What are you talking about? So I can't remember who told me, but someone said, sabotage Kevin's smell test when you do it. So I was messing with you a little bit of first time. You know. I think I did it like five weeks into the season.

I'm going to do my whole. I'm going to do it myself. Do you remember, though, seriously, that Zabe thing? I'll never forget it because I was listening on one of those Fridays when he did the You're Looking Live with the Musper, burger open and you were just shredding it. And I could tell that Zabe was not happy. I don't know how. It was the first one? I don't know how that got resolved between the two of you. I don't think I've ever asked you about that. But was there some sort of meeting or discussion?

No. I don't remember that there was. I just think I learned that it was a really cool segment. That is funny. I did say on air, though, we're never doing this. This is dumb. I do think I remember you saying that, and I could hear in his voice, he was not happy. Well, here is the best part of the whole thing.

As a player, I didn't really understand the gambling side of it. Dave's picking line. Well, Zabe doesn't understand the gambling part of it either, just as an FYI. Well, he does. He might not be right or wrong, but he understands it. So, Zay's picking lines. and I'm sitting there saying, could we decide who's going to win or lose the game?

Who cares what the line is? The best part of all of it was that they've made this whole deal and said, nobody's ever picked every line and won. I'll buy a steak dinner if anybody ever does that. About week 10, I picked every single line right in the NFL. No, you didn't. I swear, yeah, no, I did. Galdi was on the show with me.

Two weeks later, Galdi did it. And David's never done it. David's done the show for all 16 games with the point spread or just picking the winner? Point spread. I don't believe you. You didn't hit a 16 team. I swear on my kids. I swear on my kids.

Call Dave as soon as we get off the fall. He never bought me dinner. Of course he did. Kevin. Galdi did it. Yeah. And it wasn't all 16 because I think there were a couple of biweeks, but it was 13 or 14. No, I did it.

Within that year, after I told him we'd never do it again, I picked every game with the point spread. Man, you should go down to Gambit, D.C. and stand in line and play a parlay card. I mean, that's, look, do you know how hard it is to pick just all winners with no point spreads? That's nearly impossible. I understand it completely. But I'm just telling you, I mocked his thing, and then he told me I'd never be able to do something, and I did it 10 weeks later. That's funny. All right, let's get to my smell test.

For those of you unfamiliar, it's simply put a contrarian handicapping philosophy. I look for the games where every one of you are convinced you're right and that Vegas has aired in some way. And I just go the other way. Now, I have information, as Cooley knows, I get access to some information offshore, typically, from some people that I'm familiar with. I you know coolly I went down I went and did the homework on this last night this is my 15th year of doing the smell test on radio and or the podcast for the one year that I wasn't on radio 15th year 10 winning seasons for losing seasons overall so 10 winning seasons for losing seasons now look I'll admit that some of those winning seasons were

barely winning seasons like 50.8 percent and if you're really really looking for what a winning season is in gambling. You got to hit on about 52.6%, you know, to cover what you, you know, what you pay when you lose in the, you know, in the Vig or the fee. But 10 winning seasons in terms of record for losing seasons. The wildest season, though, ever was last year. Because at one point in early to mid-October, I was like 24 or 25 games. above 500. I had never been on a hot streak like I was from mid-September to like mid to late

October. I had a couple of like seven and oh, eight and one, nine in two weeks. It was crazy. There was a week. There was a week you did it with Stanford Steve, which was maybe my favorite segment of your podcast since it began. And I had told three or four people about the segment. told them to listen to the segment. And that week between the two of you, you were like 20 and two. Exactly. It was unbelievable. It was amazing.

It was so funny because, you know, he's living down here now with Scott. They moved down here. They're doing their Sports Center show. And Steve and I went and got lunch two weeks ago, I guess. And we're sitting there. And he goes, do you remember that day when I came on your podcast? Do you know what we were? Like, people were tweeting me and I was getting messages.

we were like 21 and two together. And I'm like, yeah. And that was during that hot streak. But it turned. And what happened from late October through the Super Bowl was the worst run of the smell test ever. Look, I get into cold streaks with the smell test. And you've got to just weather through those storms. And no, like I've said, I've had 10 winning seasons, four losing seasons in 14 years of doing this.

But that was a bad run like I've. never had before. I ended up after being well, I mean, 25, 26 above 500 for the year, I was 90, 98, and 4. And that's the worst year I have ever had eight games below 500 because even the three losing seasons prior to that were usually like, you know, two, three, four, you know, games under 500. Last year, eight games under 500. I started last week. Oh, and one. Cooley, I gave out Middle Tennessee State against Army plus three and a half. Middle Tennessee State didn't even score. They got beat 42-0. So I'm 0-1 on the year. Glad you didn't give out Navy. Right. That would have been just as bad. I actually liked Navy, too.

So I'm able to admit that. So let me just tell you what's odd about this particular week. I'm not giving a college game out. I'm not giving a college game out. I'm not giving a college. college game out because college football is weird right now. You don't know who's playing and these games that you've got this week, they're 19 games, but, you know, there's a couple of the big-name teams are just massive favorites. You know, Notre Dame's a 20-point favorite. Oklahoma is like a 40-something point favorite, I think. In Clemson's a 33-point favorite over Wake. Texas is like a 44-point favorite over U-TEP. I'm not touching. any college game. If you really want a college game tomorrow that I almost put into the

smell test, this is really awful. Coastal Carolina is getting six and a half seven points at Kansas. It seems a little light and it seems like the public's playing Kansas, but that is not an official release. All of my plays this week are NFL plays. And I'm going to start with Washington. Yes, the Washington football team is a major anti-public side this week. The public loves Philly-Lang 5.5. Very little public money on Washington. It's the biggest public side of the week Philadelphia is in the NFL. I'm going to take Washington in week one plus the five and a half.

The dolphins are in Foxborough to face the Patriots. You know, I'm saying these venues like there's a home field. advantage and there isn't anymore or not for the time being. Remember last year, Cooley, the final game of the year when the Dolphins went in there with Ryan Fitzpatrick and they beat the Patriots and they knocked them out of the two-seed spot, which elevated Kansas City to the two-seed spot. And then New England had to play wildcard weekend and they got beat by Tennessee and that was the end of the Brady era in New England. I think the dolphins are going to go in there and play New England well again in Cam Newton's debut. I like the Dolphins plus the seven. A lot of public money

on New England, some sharp, sharp money on the Dolphins plus seven. There's some real sharp money on the Jets, and this doesn't surprise me. I think the Jets are going to be better than people think, in part because I think Sam Darnold's got a chance to be a really good quarterback. I like Darnold. You know, does he have great weapons? Not necessarily. The Denzel Mims kid from Baylor, they took in the second round.

He was projected by some to be a first round pick. you know, they do have some defensive talent. You know, Quinn and Williams here in his second year. And so I, and Greg Williams is a coordinator. I like, I think the Jets plus six and a half. You should buy it to seven. The lines I'm using are from Covers.com, everybody, which is what I always do during the season on Friday.

So sometimes they're going to work to your advantage. Sometimes they're not, or to my advantage, excuse me, with the smell test. But I like the Jets plus six and a half against a team that I think is going to be very good this year, Buffalo. The Lions are laying three against the Bears. There's public money on Chicago, but there is super sharp money on the Lions. That line went from minus one to minus three. I think the Lions are going to be a decent team this year.

Take the Lions minus the three in that game. The Bengals are not getting any love from the public. The public's all over the Chargers laying three against the Bengals. give me Cincinnati plus three in that one. And then two Monday nighters. I like the Giants plus six at home against Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh's a big betting favorite, and a lot of people like them with Ben Back.

And Denver, after losing Von Miller for the year, they're plus two at home in the late game Monday night against the Titans. Most of the John Q public betters, they love Tennessee, they love Pittsburgh in the two Monday night games. take both of the dogs in those games, Denver plus two. So recapping week two, but really the first full-fledged week of the smell test. Washington plus five and a half, the dolphins plus seven, the Jets plus six and a half, the Lions

minus three, the Bengals plus three on Sunday, and then the Giants plus six and the Broncos plus three. All right, did you look at the lines? Do you have a lock of the week or not? Kevin, I have a lock of the week. I actually liked a lot of your picks. There was not one pick in your smell test that I think you would be wrong on, even though I love you and I'm Homer.

That worries me. I do like, well, I spent a lot of time over the last two days preparing for this lock of the week and I looked at all these games closely. Yeah, right. And you think I'm joking, but I'm not joking. Okay. So my lack of the week is the Cincinnati Bengals. I think that Cincinnati actually has a chance to surprise some people throughout the year with Joe Burrow.

I mean, when you look at Cincinnati, you're looking at a quarterback that's in a system that I absolutely love that I think will fit a lot of what he did at LSU the year before. A.J. Green is back. I'm sure A.J. Green is excited to be back with Joe Burrow. Tyler Boyd is great player. John Ross is awesome. They drafted T. Higgins. They have a tight-end named C.J. Azuma, who I actually like.

I think that Bengals could end up scoring some points this year. Joe Mixon's excellent. Joe Mixon had a heck of a year quietly last year with a bad offensive line and a terrible team that was down in a lot of games and couldn't run the ball. So I think that the Bengals have a chance to be a good football team. Wow. The Chargers, on the other hand, I've said this a million times, I just don't see Tyrod Taylor as an explosive player at quarterback.

I think at best he's a guy that protects the ball. I don't necessarily see him as a game manager, but I just think he's way too conservative, and it might just be because as soon as he doesn't truly see his one read, he's just not quick enough to process. And as I say that, there's a reason why Tyrod Taylor's played for 100 teams since he's been in the league. Clearly he can operate.

Clearly he's good in the huddle. good at the line of scrimmage. He's a good teammate. I know that Anthony Lynn knew him from Buffalo, where I think he had his best year. But I'm not high enough on Tyrod Taylor. I don't know if Austin Echler is a true one-back. After they lost Melvin Gordon, Tina Allen's always hurt. Look, they have a very good defense, but they lost – Durwin James. Yeah, he lost Darwin James, yeah.

Chris Harris was one of the guys they found out at Denver, who's like 42 years old. It's always been a good player, but I don't see it in the secondary. And I think Cincinnati's not going to cover. I think Cincinnati's going to win outright in this game by maybe even a touchdown. I just, I don't know why I like the Bengals, but I just have a good feeling. That's interesting because, you know, this will,

move us into our final topic for the day, which is just making, you know, some predictions on the NFL season, some teams, playoff teams, Super Bowl picks, et cetera. And, you know, you always, I always look for that, you know, team or two that sucked a year, last year, that ends up becoming a playoff team this year. And it sounds like you like Cincinnati to be a decent team, not just cover and win against the Chargers on Sunday, but you like their team. I'm not fully sold on their defense. I just don't know exactly. It absolutely did when Marvin Lewis was there.

It's just, I don't know. They're D.C.'s, I think his name's Alu Anarumo, Lou Anarumo. I've never even heard of Lou Aniromo. I don't know what they'll be on defense. I don't know what to think of Zach Taylor at this point, but I think offensively they have some real talent. I've got to believe that Zach Taylor is at least offensively creative enough to utilize talent.

They didn't have it last year. I will tell you one other thing from this. The one guy I feel bad for is Ryan Finley. The kid they drafted at N.C. He can play. He can actually play. That is a solution for someone in the next year as a starting quarterback. I agree.

Totally agree. I like Ryan Finley. I think he's a good player. Do you know I just pulled up? Yeah, Cincinnati would be interesting. I don't know if they're a playoff team, but they're going to win a game. I just pulled up their roster. You know who's on it. Samaji P. Ryan is in their backfield, made the team. All right. Before we get to our NFL picks, I just wanted to mention to you, and I don't know if you saw this.

Did you know that Dwayne Haskins is a pretty sizable favorite to be the first starting quarterback benched this year? He's plus 150. Up next was Ryan Fitzpatrick at plus 225. I think that's crucial. crazy. I just, I don't think that, I think Dwayne Haskins, barring an injury, is going to start 16 games this year. I don't see Kyle Allen playing, and I certainly don't see Alex Smith playing, but the better point here is, as you were talking about the Chargers, this is what reminded me about it, is that, you know, they've got Justin Herbert. Like, if the Chargers stink, Tyrod Taylor is going to the bench. They're going to play the rookie quarterback. In Miami, me, if the dolphins aren't better, and I think they might be better, actually, then Ryan Fitzpatrick's

going to the bench. You're going to play Tua. Like, Dwayne doesn't have anybody behind him that they got to go to. No, they're not, they're not, they don't have to go to Kyle Allen, and let's not pretend that they're really going to go to Alex Smith. They need to see what Dwayne is. It's not getting benched. Right. I think, I thought that was stupid. Go to Chicago. Like, his poles are sitting behind Tribisky. Tabisky was awful last year. Awful. That's amazing, right?

They trade for Foles, traded for him, and then gave him a new contract. And Trabisky beat him out. You know what? I don't hate Trabisky. I actually think there's something to him. I think he lacked confidence last year because he had that confidence in 2018 when they were a pretty good team. And he should, and I don't know.

We're not going to sit here in debate Trabisky today. We can save that for another day. Let's finish up the show with our NFL predictions because yesterday I gave out my AFC predictions. I had Kansas City. I really actually watching last night, I don't know how they're going to lose the Super Bowl unless Mahomes gets hurt or they have a bunch of injuries. But Kansas City is the one seed.

Baltimore is the two seed. Buffalo, I like to win the AFC East Cooley. I think they're really good in part because you always like Josh Allen. and I fell in love with him last year. I think Philip Rivers, if he's healthy and he hasn't lost arm strength, which I thought it looked like he did last year, but I'm hearing good things about him in Indianapolis. I think they're good enough to win that division.

And then I had Pittsburgh, Tennessee, and New England in the AFC. My AFC title game is Kansas City over Baltimore. I'm just going to go straight chalk there and go Casey over Baltimore. And I don't really have one surprise team, because a lot of people like Buffalo and Indianapolis, and Buffalo was a playoff team last year. And so those are my teams. I excluded Houston before last night's game.

I just think they're going to miss DeAndre Hopkins too much. But in the AFC, how do you see it? Give me some thoughts and give me an AFC title game. Well, let's just start with that. I see it as chalk as well. I think Kansas City and Baltimore are dynamically better than anybody else. Now, for both of them, it would be injury.

If Lamar Jackson were hurt in Baltimore, I don't know if Robert Griffin is anywhere near what Lamar is, or Trace McSorley, for that matter, if they wanted to go in that direction. But Baltimore is loaded with talent offensively in a lot of ways. Good tight ends, good receivers. Ingram's a heck of a back. They got a couple backs.

I mean, even if they had to go somewhat more conventional, I still think Baltimore is really good, and they are awesome on defense. Awesome on defense. So I would see it as shock across the board. I like Buffalo, but I still think New England finds a way to win that division. I know that sounds crazy, but I think they get the most out of Cam Newton this year. A lot of players seem to make that change to less selfish and more team-oriented. Some don't.

But I like Cam Newton. Everyone forget how good New England was on defense last year. They were so good. So good. I mean, they were unbelievable, New England. And they added to kill Harry, who's a big-time receiver for them. And they have the back out of Georgia that I think is really good back. Sony Michelle. Sony-Michel. And they have some players in New England, but defensively, they're just outstanding. I do think Buffalo is a playoff team. I like what they've done, adding Stefan Diggs was huge. John Brown and Cole Beasley are really good receivers and adding

Stefan Diggs gives Josh Allen some real talent. I mean, they I saw a thing that he was the most inaccurate quarterback last year. But so many times because we played them, I watched, he was just throwing balls away.

Guys were covered. And I don't know, that the back that you love that's in Buffalo. Devon Singletary Star. Devon Singletary can play. Buffalo is going to be a good football team. I think Indy wins their division, but that's a terrible division.

I mean, maybe Tennessee steps up. I'm just not sure they have the same success with Ryan Tanna Hill. For me, a surprise team would be potentially the Las Vegas Raiders. You know, seriously, after KC and Baltimore, I mean, I don't know that we've ever gone into a season where there have been fewer contenders to the top two teams in a conference like we're seeing in the AFC this year. I mean, I think any, I mean, if you give me any team, I mean, I would have said other than Cincinnati 15 minutes ago. But, yeah, the Raiders have talent. And they added speed and size at wide receiver with rugs and Edwards. I mean, Ruggs, Edwards,

Nelson Aguilar also went. Aguilar also went. He's a good player. You like Derek Carr. Dave Jones is a speedster. I've always liked Derek Carr. I think, and Josh Jacobs is one heck of a back. And I think they've consistently gotten better over the last couple years on defense.

I know everyone hated Cleveland Farrell, and he didn't have the type of year that you wanted as one of their first jump picks. but Paul Gunther gets the most out of defenses. Greg Olson's a great O.C. I think that Las Vegas, which is weird to say, actually has a chance to be a good team. Oh, and you forgot to mention Darren Waller, the surprise out of nowhere guy,

they had addiction problems that all of a sudden is one of the top five tight ends in the NFL. Is Darren a top five tight end, really? Well, last year, I think fantasy-wise he was. He made so many plays last year. De Waller was huge for them. So we'll see. be surprised to see them not be great.

Yeah, I do think that, you know, I think that Cynthia could be a big surprise. A lot of people can tend. I see Pittsburgh is potentially a bus team this year, but that's going to depend on what Rostosberger does.

They got some weapons. They could get some things done, but I'm not in love with Pittsburgh for the SEC. But for me, Kev, I just don't see he competes. I just don't see he competes in Kansas City and Baltimore. I've got Casey advancing to the Super Bowl. You do too, right?

I do as well. So you can't bet against what they do. All right, NFC, Seattle's the team that I think has a chance to really be good. Let's not forget that they nearly won the division on the final Sunday night game of the year, which would have relegated San Francisco to being a five-seed and playing on the road in the postseason. I think this is a Seattle kind of a year in the NFC West. D.K. Metcalfe turned out to be a lot better than I thought. He really did. Well, I was way wrong on that one.

Yeah, and this just seems like it's a Seattle kind of year. I'm going to go especially more so than typical with some veteran teams, with veteran quarterbacks in this season, considering the offseason, and that's what they have. I mean, you've got consistency, you know, in that organization, and Wilson's top three, top four in the game. So Seattle, I think, will win the NFC West and be the one seed. You can call me whatever you want to call me when I give you this next pick. I don't really care, but I do like the Vikings this year to win the NFC North and to be the two seed in the NFC playoffs.

Don't worry. I don't have them winning the Super Bowl. But look out for Justin Jefferson, their first round pick, because I know they let Diggs go, but it could be, it could be, addition by subtraction because Jefferson could be a star. He's got rookie of the year potential to go side by side with Thielen. Their tight end situation is great with Rudolph and Irv Smith. And I hope Dalvin Cook's happy and healthy because that's a huge key for them.

I love their backup, Alexander Madison. He's really good. And obviously, Cousins had an outstanding year last year and certainly an outstanding playoff game in New Orleans. Here's where you've got to be concerned. Deniel Hunter is starting the season on injured reserve. They added Ingaque, and all I kept thinking about is Ingoukwe on one end and DeNeal Hunter on the other.

My God, they've got the two best pass rushing bookends in the league. I've always loved Barr and Kendrix at linebacker. Their safeties are great Smith and Harris. They've got young guys at Corner, though. They drafted Jeff Gladney from TCU and Cameron Danzler in the third round. Hughes was not a starter last year. And I think that's the area that they could be very vulnerable because they lost guys.

And the guys they lost have actually gotten hurt recently with other teams. But I like the Vikings to be the two-seed in the NFC North Winter. And then I like Tampa Bay to win the NFC South. And I'll share more about Tampa Bay in a moment. I like Philly to win the NFC East and be the four-seat and my three wild cards in the NFC or San Francisco. The Saints, and Detroit's the team that I think's got a really good chance to have a much better than what season than most people think. I've mentioned this a couple of times.

If you go back to last year, Detroit was a pretty damn good football team, and Stafford was in the midst of his best season when he got hurt. They were 3-3-1, but the losses were by, they had a tie to Arizona. They lost to the Chiefs at home 34-30. They lost by a point at Lambow. Minnesota beat them pretty handily. But they were playing well. I think the Lions and Stafford and some of the weapons, Goliday and Lewis and the backs, you know I love Kerryon Johnson.

I just don't know if he can stay healthy because that's really been the issue with him. They added Adrian Peterson to the mix. I think the Lions come in as the seven seed. My final two in the NFC are Tampa. Seattle. And I've got Tampa Bay starting slowly, but by the end of the year, becoming the best team. They'll be the three seed because they're going to lose some games early. I've got Tampa Bay over Seattle, and then my Super Bowl is Kansas City over Tampa Bay. Do you have Tampa Bay in the Super Bowl?

I do. Remember a couple of years ago when you loved you? I don't want to dismiss that. I don't want to dismiss it. I mean, when you look at Tampa Bay, top to bottom offense and defense I mean if Tom Brady is any semblance of what he can be

you're talking about Chris Godwin Mike Evans Gronk Cameron Brate OJ Howard I love Ronald Jones Adam Sean McCoy

and Leonard Fournette defensively Vidaevae I was not my favorite but he fell the middle Adomacan do William Goldson's good player. Pierre Paul's always been good. Jack Barrett.

Jack Barrett. It was a guy they drafted. Jack Barrett is there. I mean, like... And they're well-coached. And they're secondary. I like Antoine Winfield Jr. Antonin Winfield, Jr. That's the corner that I played against.

Oh, you never told me that. Out of Minnesota, he was so good. Such an athlete, man. He was so good. I mean, Tampa's top-to-bottom awesome. Yes. I don't know why.

And they're well-coached. Come on, it's Tampa. Ariens and Bowles, man. Ariens Leftwich and Bowls. Come on, this is a team with now a quarterback. Tom Brady is more than what Sean McVeigh would call an extension of the coaching staff as a quarterback. Ariens, Brady, and then Bowles on defense. I think the Bucks are going to be really difficult by the end of the year.

I think the Bucs could have some games where they're scoring 40. I don't know who you're... I mean, they are, they are, this is their year. This would be the year to do it if you're Tampa. Agreed. So give me, give me your playoff teams real quick. Give me your final two in the NFC. And any surprises?

My final two in the NFC, to me, San Francisco is still really good. And their formula for winning down the stretch with running the football. I think they ran the football 49% of the time last year. It's not even close. Everyone else is in the 30, besides Baltimore and maybe Tennessee. But San Francisco and the NFC,

no one runs it like they do. So I see San Francisco in the NFC championship. And honestly, it's like a throw-up for grabs. Could be New Orleans, could be Tampa, could be Dallas, if Dallas is good this year with Mike McCarthy. Dallas is loaded. I'm going to give you, you're going to love this, though. I'm going to give you Minnesota.

You like Minnesota also? I'm going to give you San Francisco, and I'm going to give you Minnesota in the NFC championship game. How many picks does Kurt throw? Well, he's a quarterback that could get you to a Super Bowl, says one head coach that we both like. Yes. I think the way Minnesota handled New Orleans.

last year of the playoffs, it was like, okay. Okay. There's, I mean, I just think that it, I just think that it looks like those two teams. I don't believe in anybody else's consistent as possible, but Tampa would be the one that would be hard to bet against. For me, division winners, I think the Cowboys win the NFC. I think the 49ers win the NFC West,

although I think Seattle's very good. I just think the 49ers win the NFC West. I like the Packers to win the NFC North for whatever reason, but I don't see the floor coming through in the playoffs. I think they end up winning a lot of games like they did last year. And then I like the Saints to win the NFC South. I think your playoff teams are also includes. This is it, yep.

I think your playoff teams include Tampa, Minnesota, and Seattle. and Philly as your wild cards. Gotcha. Your potential surprises for me, quickly. I think the Bears are a really good football team, and I like McNay. And if there's anything they could find with Mitchell Tribusky, then I think they have a real chance.

Chicago's just so tough on defense. And they have, when you look at them on offense, Alan Robinson and Anthony Miller is a, really good player. I don't love Ted Ginn Jr. as a receiver, but you got Jimmy Graham and he's got some dudes, man. David Montgomery is one of my favorite backs. Tariq Cohen is an exceptional do-everything type of player. I don't have to go through their defense because it's just absolutely loaded. Chicago got a shot, man. They were so good two years ago. You just always look so slow on Soldier Field. Why is that grass always so high?

That's so dumb. The whole field is the worst NFL stadium right now. Well, I wouldn't say it's the worst. I think you've called some games in the worst here over the last years. Yeah, no, I know. I know. All right, so I've got Kansas City over Tampa. Your Super Bowl game is Kansas City versus San Francisco? Minnesota. Oh, Minnesota. Wow. That would be a rematch of Super Bowl four. And you've got the Chiefs winning it, or do you have Kirk Cousins winning the Super Bowl? No one's no. He's good enough to get you to a Super Bowl. Okay, very good. I'll be surprised to see anything have. This is going to be a fun year. This is going to be a...

I'm excited about football Sunday. I'd love to see Washington in the mix. I'd love to see a run of December where there are six teams in the mix for wild cards. There's seven teams in the mix in both divisions. And every week in December, there's five truly meaningful games. I think it's going to be that kind of year. Enjoy the weekend of football. Cooley will be back with me next week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

That's the plan. And we will be here doing the Monday show together. It'll be awesome to talk about the game and break down the game and then all the other games. I'm so happy like football seasons here because there was a chance there a month or so, two months ago, that this was not going to happen or not going to happen on time. I hope everybody stays healthy in the league. is able to pull this off because there's like a sense of normalcy.

Like even watching the game last night with only 15,000 fans, it looked like football on TV. It looked like football on TV. It was TV. All right, go fishing and sell that 13,000 square foot house. All right, see you. And I'll get ready for a film breakdown next week.

I'm excited for that. Can't wait.