The Kevin Sheehan Show - Fun With Czabe

Episode Date: September 26, 2018

Kevin opens today show by taking a deeper look into the NFC East off of yesterday's "2-team race" comment. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Redskins, Eagles, Cowboys and Giants, and who could surprise? He's then joined by The Czabe, Steve Czaban, to talk the Redskins, the roughing the passer penalties, Tiger's big win and more. After Czabe, Mark Zuckerman calls in before what could be Bryce Harper's last game in DC as a member of the Washington Nationals. What does he think the odds are of Bryce leaving, and will Max Scherzer win the Cy Young after notching his 300th strikeout of the year on Tuesday? Kevin then wraps up with NFL Buy or Sell. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. We're chatter and Friendship Heights, corner of Wisconsin and Jennifer Streets Northwest. Aaron is here, this show, the Kevin Sheehan Show, presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call now. Call before Sunday, and you'll save big 86690 Nation or windownation.com and tell them I told you to call more on how much you'll save in a few minutes. Zabin will be my guest on the podcast in a little bit. Mark Zuckerman, who covers the Nats for Mass and Sports, will join me as well to talk about what could be Bryce Harper's final home game in Washington this afternoon. A quick note, Tommy and I talked yesterday about the roughing the passer penalty. I predicted that there would be a pullback from this rule and perhaps a different interpretation

of the rule and that we would not see the same kind of penalties called the rest of the year like we saw on Clay Matthews on his sack on Alex Smith. On Sunday, Tom thought it would be the same and that this was the future. This from Mark Maskey in the Washington Post yesterday, NFL's roughing the passer rule isn't changing, but it may be applied differently. And he writes, multiple people familiar with the inner workings of the NFL competition committee, said the language of the rule, which makes it a penalty for defensive players to land with all or most of their body weight on the quarterback

would not be altered this season, but the way it is enforced would change. More from Maskey's column. A person close to the rules process said no formal instructions to the on-field officials are likely to be made, but it is expected that the roughing the passer rule will be called differently,

with the shift in emphasis becoming clear through officiating videos distributed by the league. One person on the condition of Anan, I believe said, quote, I think you'll see a change going forward. Closed quote. Someone else said, I'm not sure we can do anything with the rule this year, but again, it's going to be applied differently. What I said yesterday and what I believe to be the case here is that part of the language that spoke to body weight all or most of the body weight, not falling on the quarterback, also in that same new rule wrinkle for 2018, the words unnecessary. necessarily and violently were used to describe the fall of body weight on the quarterback.

And I think they will use those two descriptions, those two adverbs, if you will, to get themselves out of certain flags on sacking quarterbacks. That's my guess. I think this 34 in three weeks, a record roughing the passer penalty number of calls. I think that's going to change. I really do. And I thought so yesterday, and it sounds like the NFL recognizes this to be different than a hit on a defenseless receiver by a DB leading with the helmet.

Those hits are very difficult to see coming and are violent almost all the time. Sacking of the quarterback is different. I think it's apples and oranges, and I think the league is starting to recognize that. Yeah, it wouldn't shock me if they also tell them to say, hey, ease up when it's a sack. want to flag him after he's thrown the ball, flag him. But when it's an actual sack, don't throw the flag. I think you're right about that. I think an actual sack is different than a hit after the

ball has been let loose. I want to read this DM, a direct message on Twitter from a football coach in town. I'm not sure if he wants to be mentioned by name, so I won't. Kevin, the NFC East, a two-team race, which is what we discussed yesterday at the end of the show. If you missed it, just go back to yesterday's podcast. At the end of the show, Tommy and I. I talked about the NFC East, is it a two-team race between the Eagles and the Redskins? This particular direct message from a football coach in town says, Are you serious? You've been telling us for years that we learn very little from the first quarter of the season. The Redskins have played three games, one against the worst-looking team in the league, the Cardinals,

one against what appears to be an average team, and they got beat badly. It's too early to talk about the skins as a better team than the Giants or Cowboys. and a team capable of pushing the Eagles way too early. You're right. You're right, Coach. I do believe that these early season September games are usually not an indication of what we'll see in December. Remember last year when the Saints dropped the first two games looking terrible and losing those first two games to the Vikings and Patriots, but they couldn't move the ball,

they couldn't score, all right? Then all of a sudden, they get on a roll. they win the division. And by the way, we're a Minneapolis miracle away from advancing to the NFC championship game. That was early last year. I do believe that very often because of many reasons, missing players that come back or losing players, that sometimes much of the first half of a team's NFL season is often not an indication of anything that will happen in December. Much of the first half, all right? So I'm talking about the first six to eight games. Eight games would be half, but somewhere in that six to eight game range.

Nobody saw Jacksonville being a potential Super Bowl team six games into last year. They were three and three, looked like a defensive team that was very capable, but nobody even had them as a playoff team last year six games into the season, and they were close to beating the Patriots to get to the Super Bowl. Through 10 games last year, the bills were five and five, and it just lost to the Chargers 54 to 24 with Nathan Peterman throwing five picks, if you remember that game.

The bills looked like a terrible team. They put it together over the final six games of the season and went to the playoffs and nearly beat Jacksonville in that first round game. We see these examples every year. Look at how good the Chiefs were last year through the first five weeks of the season, undefeated, lethal offensively, and then all of the sudden, for really no real explained reason, all right, the Chiefs couldn't score, and they couldn't move the football for an entire month before putting it together late, getting to the postseason,

and bowing out to Tennessee at home in the first game of the playoffs last year. The NFL is the most unpredictable league in sports. It's not even close. Look at last week. Last week was crazy, but on the other hand, sort of typical. Now, Buffalo wasn't typical as a 17-point underdog, winning a game outright at Minnesota. That was the first time that had happened in 23 years.

The one before that was the Redskins with Heath Shuler over the Cowboys in 1995 as a 17-5-point underdog. But Jacksonville, off of beating the Patriots, they're hosting Tennessee's Sunday at home, and Tennessee's decided they're not starting Marcus Marriota because of injury. And Blaine Gabbart's going to get the start. Jacksonville goes off as a nine, nine and a half point favorite, and they lose the game nine to six. Now, Gabbard came out early and Marietta was forced to play, but it's that kind of result that you see every week in the NFL. That just makes it so impossible to predict.

The Cardinals scored six total points in the first two games of the season, and they had a 14 to 3 lead over the Bears in the second half. They lost the game, but they were damn close to winning it. Look at the league right now through three weeks. Miami is 3-0. Nobody saw that coming. Now, their opponents have been the Titans, the Jets, and the Raiders. So hardly murderers Roe at this point for Miami. Kansas City's 3-0.

You can talk about Mahomes' performance, and nobody. really saw that coming unless you were a Chiefs fan. Tampa's 2-1 could easily be 3-0. Meantime, the Patriots, you know, they've done this before, they're 1-2, the Falcons are 1-2, the Vikings and Steelers look right now through three weeks less than advertised. It just never makes sense. Never. The league last year saw all four NFC division winners be teams that were thought to be non-playoff teams before the season started last year. Philly, Minnesota, New Orleans, and the Rams. The Cowboys were the favorites in the NFC East last year.

The Eagles won the division. The Packers were favored to win the NFC North. The Vikings won the division. The Falcons and Panthers and even the Bucks last year were favored to be contenders to win the NFC South. The Saints won the division. And the biggest surprise last year, nobody saw the Rams coming. And the Rams won the division.

Remember, in week two, the Rams lost to the Redskins at home. So even through mid-September, they didn't see it coming. All four divisions went to a team not picked to win it. The AFC last year, Jacksonville, all right? Jacksonville, who had them, who had Buffalo as a playoff team, who had the Chiefs as a playoff team before the season started? Most people had Oakland winning that division. You know, with Derek Carr the year before, getting injured as they were,

heading into the postseason. Of the 12 playoff teams last year, of the 12 playoff teams, eight of them last year were teams that most thought wouldn't be there. Eight of the 12. So this year is it too early to say the NFC East could be a two-team race? Of course it is. It is. I threw the question out there. I actually said yesterday on the show I thought it was too early and I didn't necessarily think it was a two-team race. I would not discount the Giants. I wouldn't. In fact, think they're one of those teams that could be one of those teams from where they are now, an unimpressive one-and-two start, that we look back and say, there's an example. Look at how bad the Giants looked in the first three weeks of the season. And I think they could be a huge

surprise when we get to December. I do. Here's what I would say about the Redskins as a comparison to the rest of the division. They're not Philadelphia on paper. Nobody is right now. The Eagles have the best quarterback in the division. You could argue the best defensive player in the division in Fletcher Cox, if not the best overall defense in the division with all of those guys, Barnett, Graham, Jenkins, Cox, all of them. And I think right now perhaps the best coach in the division in Peterson, all right, I don't consider Peterson to be an elite coach. I don't, but he's solid. He's solid. He's creative. He's aggressive. And maybe the best defensive coordinator in the division right now is Jim Schwartz. The Eagles are the favorite, clearly.

to that, the skins, giants, cowboys through three weeks, you know, the three weeks that usually don't tell you much about anything. But the redskins and giants, to me, on paper, are more versatile talent-wise than the cowboys are. The skins are really an on-the-come team defensively with young talented players in Allen, Payne, Ionitis. I like Brown and Foster a lot. I think Brown is once again starting to really shine. Nicholson is a potential star in the making. They've got something that they haven't had on defense in years, and that is team defensive speed. They still don't have that menacing pass rusher, a guy that must be game planned for. But guess what? Jonathan Allen has to be game plan for. Perhaps pain as well. Offensively,

they're a work in progress, but Reed is as much a threat in the division as a pass catcher as anybody not named Beckham Jr. Seriously, all right? After Beckham Jr., where are past catching stars in the division. Aguilar? I guess you could say Jeffrey when he comes back in Ertz, maybe. I wrote down Ertz. Dallas has nobody. Nope. Okay. Reed Healthy is a player that must be game planned for. The O-line to me isn't elite. I have felt that way for a while. Cooley always had it in the top three, top five. I don't think it is, but I think it's a top 10 offensive line when healthy. The injury to Trent Williams is a concern to me, as tough as he is, I'd rather have them at 90 to 100 rather than 80%.

Hopefully this little bursar sac surgery, whatever they call that during the buy week helps. The Redskins are a roster on the rise. I don't know if that will translate to a team that is on the rise, a team on the rise, but it's a good start to have a roster on the rise. They haven't always had that. Why won't a roster on the rise translate to a team on the rise?

You know why. We all know why. The organization in spots is solid, but to ignore history would be unwise with this group. They more often than not have gotten in their own way with dysfunction. Add to that, I'm not a huge fan of the staff right now. Gruden is average. Minusky's average. They haven't been very good or very well coached on special teams for a while now.

The owner is hands off these days. He really is. Most don't believe it, but I believe it to be true. they've got a new C-O. They've got Kyle Smith, who is apparently a budding star and player personnel. I've always liked Eric Schaefer. Always liked Eric Schaefer. Through three games, it's crazy to be definitive with a prediction.

I will grant you that. I think the Rams at this point look like a really good team as far as the rest of the league is concerned. Outside of that, I would not make a definitive NFL prediction right now. There are teams that I think I'm going to like, and some I've already had a hunch about and still have a hunch about, like the Ravens, I've mentioned them, but as far as the division goes, the NFC East, if I was forced to bet it, and I wouldn't, it's Philadelphia if they stay healthy, they're the best on paper, combination of roster talent,

quarterback, game changer on defense and coaching staff. After that, the Giants have talent. The quarterback has done it before, but he's aging, and it shows a lot of the time, I have no idea yet about the staff with Shermer and Shula and James Betcher. Betcher is the Giants' new defensive coordinator. The Cowboys are good on defense, but not if the defense has to be on the field for the entire game. They're the second worst third down conversion team in the league right now through three weeks on offense. Only the Cardinals have been worse.

They have issues on offense that Cowboys do. They've also got the best running back in the division in Zeke Elliott. through three weeks it's too early to say it's a two-team race. I totally agree with that. Way too early. Can't predict injuries, which always makes it hard to begin with. Right now, per sportsbook.com, the Eagles are prohibitive favorites to win the division. Okay, they are minus 225 on the money line to win the division. The Redskins right now are the second pick to win the division at 5 to 1. The Cowboys are 8 to 1 and the Giants are 10 to 1. Interestingly, the and I looked at this just to see if it matched up with the division odds,

the Giants are ahead of the Redskins in the odds category to win the NFC championship. And I think what they see there with the Giants is like, you know, if the Giants were to get in... They have a bigger ceiling. Yeah, they have a bigger ceiling. That's exactly what it is, Aaron. That's exactly what it is. I would call it this way right now through three weeks. It's insane to do this.

The Eagles go 11 and 5. The Giants go 9 and 7. The Redskins go 9 and 7. I don't know who wins the tiebreaker. I'm not going to give you that right now. I don't think it matters who wins the tiebreaker there because I don't think 9 to 7 makes the playoffs. I don't either. I don't either. Dallas is a 6 and 10 team. That's the way I see it right now. Let's get to Wind Donation right now. Give me a moment to say thank you to Windonation. They were the first to reach out to support this new podcast venture. Harley and Aaron from Windonation. Harley and I have been friends for a while now. He and Windonation were with me on 980 for over a decade, I can't thank them enough for having my back right now. If you like this show and you're thinking about buying new windows, I promise you that you will be pleased if you call window nation. They're going to take care of you, especially if you say you're calling because you heard

about window nation on the Kevin Sheehan Show podcast. All right, Halloween's next month. Thanksgiving's two months away. Christmas, three months away as of yesterday, the 25th. What does that mean? Winter is coming. Now is the time you need to start acting. when it comes to winterizing your home with brand new window nation windows. If you wait, you may be too late to replace your old drafty windows before the nasty winter hits. Call Window Nation today and say 50% off all styles of windows. That's 50% off any style, any size, any color window. Half off. It's like paying for the front of the house and getting the back for free.

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86690 Nation or windownation.com, and please tell them that I told you to call. Zabe is with me now. All of you know Steve Zabin, and Zab's a long-time friend, and I appreciate you wanting to be on my podcast, as you podcasted with me on yours a few weeks ago at Channel 4. Tell everybody, by the way, how they get your podcast. Everybody knows to listen to Zab 4 to 7 on 980, but how do they get your podcast where you've got like better,

content, premium content, that they can even pay for it? I don't know if it's better, but I did. I took one day off the table because I was giving away everything for free. I'm like, Jesus, you know, we're all podcasting. We're trying to make a buck here, but no, you can just look for Zabcast, very creative, see what I did there. I took my nickname and put Cast on the end. It's so brilliant.

It took me a long time to come up with that. It is trademarked. Look for Zabcast, wherever you get your podcasts, whether it's iTunes, or Google Play, blah, blah, blah. And you can download the app. I have an app that is specific to my content, which is the ZAidcast app. So go to your app store, whether it's iTunes or Google Play, and just search Zabcast.

You'll see it there. And then you can sign up for the Premium Football Five Ways Friday Podcast by going to my website, Zave.com slash premium, and you support the cause, and I appreciate each and every one of you. So how's that working out? Charging for it for one day a week. Oh, I mean, I'm about to retire, actually. It's crazy.

I didn't think I'd be a millionaire so quick, but here I am. So, yeah. No, it's cool. I've got a nice space to support people who have listened to me for a long time. And it's good. You know, the whole thing, Kevin, about they once said on the Internet, content wants to be free. And people have come accustomed to getting content for free.

but there is no free lunch in life, and there is no free lunch in terms of content. So you're going to pay for it one way or the other, and I think that there is a healthy trend these days towards outlets trying to figure out a way to say, hey, look, this stuff is good, it requires some amount of money to produce, and you should happily pay a little bit for it.

I want to be part of that, and I do want to support it. I mean, I subscribe to the athletic, I subscribe to the sports capitol with the guys that are doing that. And it's a couple bucks a month. And so I'm kind of supporting the cause there, too. All right. You miss me? Derely.

I miss you. The station misses you. All right. That's enough of that. I was not begging for a compliment. But I do, you know this, because fortunately, I get to see you every couple of weeks. I do miss all of the camaraderie, you know, that really wasn't necessarily the case the last few years, but for a long time, it really was fraternity-like, you know, the station was.

It was like being a part of the club. And I remember you saying this a long time ago that the listeners to the station felt like they were part of the club, too, which was always fun. Well, yeah, and if you would just let me finish my compliment, I miss you, the station misses you, and the market misses you. They miss your tedious time and clock management breakdowns. Your haranguing of certain issues on the Redskins, your deep knowledge historically of the Redskins, your passion for the Redskins, your banter with Coolly. The market misses Coley's overly lengthy and detailed film breakdowns.

Of course, we all miss it. And yes, the camaraderie is the best part about it. you know, even when we were all scattered to the wind in different places, doing it from Redskins Park and Rockville and whatever, yeah, that's the best part of being a part of a radio station. But the wheel turns, and as they say, sometimes in literature, we shall be reunited again someday. Someday.

Well, you know, Tommy and I are back together again, which you know I always loved that show that I did with him. And he comes on with me two days a week, and it's tons of fun, and I'm glad you're on. today as well, and hopefully we can do it in the future. Let's get to some sports. What do you think of the Redskins through three weeks? By the way, is this a blue podcast? Can I drop a bomb or two? Of course. Well, you know, only a few. Apparently we have an over,

apparently we have a limit of how blue we can go with the way we signed up for it, which wasn't necessarily my choice. I may change that. But go ahead. I've dropped a couple of bombs already. That's okay. You know, I'm split of that. Some people say it's gratuitous and unnecessary. Other people say, no. Talk like you normally would with your buddies.

Well, let's do that. All right. Well, I'll do somewhere in the middle. Two and one is fantastic. I mean, I am super happy. As I always say, let's go have a season. We have a chance now with a quarterback to have a season. We have a chance of two and one to go have a season.

There is a little bit of a fear that what this season may, look like, at least early on, is a fake Hollywood set front that is propped up by two-by-fours and could collapse later down the road. I mean, God forbid, Adrian Peterson gets heard. What then? I mean, we have no running back comparable to Peterson. We haven't had a back that can execute a run like he did against, you know, the Packers since what? Portis, yeah, I mean, do you, but do you think that's sustainable? I actually think they would be at a much bigger loss if somehow the quarterback went down. And I'm a fan of the quarterback, not like the last quarterback, but I think they'd be in a much, in much bigger trouble if he went down.

They've been without a running back the last few years and been competitive. Yeah, I guess so. I mean, well, there's a couple things. I mean, yes, of course, a quarterback, you know, Smith going down to be bigger. But I see, I don't really worry about that because he hasn't had a history. of it, and he is a quick release, quick decision-making, sometimes Charlie checked down quarterback. So I'm just, I'm putting that to the side because it's not a concern. A 33-year-old running back who didn't make it through the season last year because of an injury, that's what I'm

worried about. And so, yes, the lack of a running game, we've lived with that the last couple of years, and they've been okay, it's still a huge detriment to the overall offense, especially when Kevin, we've got no. outside wide receiver production, and I don't foresee any of that the rest of the year. Do you foresee outside wide out production for the rest of the year between Doxon and Richardson? No. Outside of the things you can't control, the two biggest concerns for me right now through three weeks are what you were just talking about, the wide receiver position. And I'm just not overly sold on the coaching staff, you know, as a whole, including the head coach.

I don't think it's terrible. I think it's right in the middle of the pack, but I think, you know, it's got to be more of an asset over the course of 16 games than it is and has at times been a liability. But again, you know, the last few years, no running game, last year, no wide receivers, no defense. To me, the reason for optimism, Zabe, is that this defense, if it stays healthy and it didn't last year, has a chance to be a really good defense that keeps getting better here over the next few years because it's so young?

It's already top five in a lot of categories. I think it's a little early to start. Yeah, early considering the Cardinals were one of the opponents, yes. Exactly. I generally don't start looking at stats until four weeks in, so we're about a week away from that. No, the defense is very promising because of the two studs up front. otherwise, though, I were, I still think the secondary is disorganized and not as good as maybe it looks. I think this defense is gashable against the run.

The Packers did it, but because they were behind, they didn't run it as much. I mean, hell, they average like six and a half yards of carry, basically. And so I just worry that not only if there's an injury on that front, either pain or Allen, things change dramatically. And I also don't know about the back end of the defense. So there are concerns there, but look, you start 2-1 instead of 1-2. Every game is supposedly equal. I don't believe that early wins I think are worth 1-5 because things happen to other teams later in the year. They get depleted.

They have injuries. So you've got to stay viable long enough in the season to get to November and December with a chance. So I'm thrilled at 2-1-1. Well, 2-1 gives us a chance to go have ourselves a season, as you like to say every season. year. It's certainly, you know, if they had had, and I had this conversation last week with Tommy and others, if they had, if they had laid an egg Sunday like they did the previous Sunday, would have been an, I think it would have been an interesting buy week, but we don't have to deal with that. What do you make, what's been your sort of take on the 34 roughing the passer

penalties through the first three weeks? I mean, it's disgusting. I've never been angry or at the league and I've never felt more helpless. I mean, I just feel abused as a fan. And it's severing a lot of my emotional feel-good ties to the NFL

product. Of course I'm still watching it. Of course I still pay for the Sunday ticket. Of course, you know, I'm not going to say, I'm not watching because of this. It's just easier though to walk away from certain parts of it because

you feel so disgusted. I went to dinner with my family out at a restaurant on Sunday night, in part because I looked at the games, I go, eh, Cowboy Seahawks, eh, Cardinals, Bears, yeah, Rams, Chargers, eh. And I was kind of disgusted at the league. I felt like, I spend every Sunday like you do and others do all day in front of a TV, and I feel like a bit of a mark, a bit of a sucker given what they're doing to the game. It's a joke. Tommy and I had this argument yesterday. I said to him, this is the one that they're going to walk back from, because this is not the hit on a defenseless receiver.

Because the quarterback getting sacked, usually it's not necessary, more times than not, it's not defenseless. It's a part of the game. And in reading the wrinkle that they put to the rule this year for 2018, where they talked about all or most of the, the body weight, not falling on the quarterback. Part of that description includes the words unnecessarily and violently landing on a quarterback with all or most of your weight.

And that, to me, gives them an out. And actually, yesterday afternoon, you know, Mark Maskey and others wrote about how the league may look at this or this rule may be applied differently moving forward. I'm with you. It's the most angry I have been about sort of, you know, know, legislating the physical part of the game, out of the game. I don't like the defensive back situation. I think they're really put between a rock and a hard place almost every single Sunday,

and them getting fine for some of these hits is ridiculous. But when you can't sack a quarterback, that is really a material adverse impact to the game. And I think they're going to walk back from this. Did you feel the same way or how do you feel now? I agree on A, I disagree on B. I don't think they're going to walk back. This is a league of arrogance. This is a league of oligarchs.

As I said on Twitter, this is 32 oligarchs that employ an army of bureaucrats like Alberto Riveron. Yes. To just march forward unquestioningly with their agenda. And unfortunately, because the NFL is now a TV league more than ever, they, they, just want to protect their TV stars and those TV stars of the quarterbacks. Go, they will move heaven and earth to do so they're doing. And so I have a very dim view of them walking back this rule.

But you're right. Sacking the quarterback is one of the most viscerally satisfying things about watching NFL football, period. You sit there as a fan, the other team's pretty boy, it's carving you up. pass here, pass there, pass, and you get madder and matter, right? Sheehan, saying, hit that guy, hit that guy. And then finally,

finally someone breaks through and wham! And you kill that guy! And you jump out of your chair and you scream a string of expletives about that MF and kill him, and I hope he's dead. And it surges the adrenaline in your body. That's the product,

the very essence of the National Football League. and they are now taking that away from us. And that's why it is so enraging. And there's no way to protect these guys. All these injuries so far, I mean, there's been three quarterbacks that have been severely injured on plays that were not flagged at the time. Marriota's got nerve damage in his elbow. They now say that hit should have been illegal, but it wasn't at the time.

Rogers just curled up in the fetal position and tore at MCL. And Garoppolo trying to be a tough guy and cut in bounds at the last. last minute, stupid, and blew out his entire knee. You know, and just like, you know, the Carson Wentz injury last year, that's not a flag. He's trying to sell out to make a play diving for the end zone. He gets Malachi crunched. It's football. And then you got guys like Josh Allen hurdling dudes 10 yards downfield.

It's, they're trying to protect quarterbacks in ways where they're not going to be protected. So either you put a red shirt on them, I'm not kidding, or you make it so that they can't run past the line of scrimmage. I'm not kidding. Or you continue to erode the core essence of what makes football great, killing the other team's quarterback. You know, it's so funny because I think yesterday twice, I said, no, I'm not kidding. Seriously, they're going to have to figure out a way

if they don't want the quarterback hit to create a grab whistleblows or a yellow jersey or a flag or something. You know, the way you put it, it is true. There are these visceral moments that have created the, that have really resulted in the league being super popular, these emotional moments as you're watching as a consumer. And if they start eliminating those moments from the game, and you're right, sacking the quarterback is one of them. I keep watching and I keep saying people aren't going to watch when they legislate the physical part of the game out of it

and I keep watching but eventually I think it's impactful and the Blandino versus Riveron during that particular moment on Sunday Matthews against Smith was so ironic there's Blandino the former guy saying nope not a flag and there's Riveron all right like he's got nothing else better to do then coming within two minutes all in on the call.

Oligarchy. Oligarchy with bureaucracy. I love it. It's oligarchs with an army of bureaucrats. It's crazy. And you know what? Riveron is the league's new stooge. You had Glendino is the league's old stooge.

And once Riveron is done with this position, there's a line of stooge is just waiting to take the Shield's money. And that's what's unfortunate. By the way, maybe the greatest play. in RFK history. Externally breaking free and knocking Danny White. Danny White out of the game would have been flagged and

doesn't exist in the NFL's new world. The greatest player, in my opinion, of our lifetime is Lawrence Taylor. They just debuted the football life Lawrence Taylor show. My boys are watching it and they're like, Dad, that's a flag, that's a flag, that's a flag. I'm like, you're right. and he's the greatest player of my lifetime.

Football player, not defensive pass rusher or outside linebacker, the best football player. You said Sunday night you went out to dinner. Did you not stay for the end of Tiger? It was right after Tiger. Okay. How great was that? It's incredible. He is the Pied Piper of golf.

People say, well, why did they let all the fans come up the fairway? And I said, let, let. Who is going to stop? Who's going to stop 8,000 fans at say, I'm here. And nowadays, they let cell phones on the course, which they didn't use to, and everyone's got to film it. But, yeah, he is a dynamic athlete in ways that transcends the sport. And it was incredible. It's one of the most incredible comebacks ever, considering that 17 months ago, he was lucky he didn't drive himself into a lagoon and drown.

100% it's the best sports story of the year the most improbable in many years um i got to get to a break actually i don't i'm just kidding i don't have to do that in the podcast world um but i do have somebody else i got to bring on and i got to get him on now before he goes into the ballpark and that is our old friend good friend mark zuckerman i want to talk about Bryce harper with him but i appreciate you doing this you know i do um and i will talk to him i love it yeah it's it Continued success, and I'll come on anytime. All right. Steve Zaven, everybody. The Kevin Sheehan Show is presented by Windonation.

Tell people about it. If you're listening on iTunes, rate it, subscribe. If you know people that want to listen and they don't know how to do a podcast, just tell them to go to the Kevin Sheehan Show.com. Time to bring in Mark Zuckerman. Mark covers the team for Mass and Sports. He's an old friend, came on with us for years on 980, and I love his insight and analysis.

and I'll start with this, because this could be a momentous day in this city for the baseball team, because Bryce Harper, the star of this baseball team, may be playing his final home game. Do you think that's true? I think, boy, I don't think anybody, including Bryce himself, honestly knows the answer to that question, but I've felt all along, and I think deep down he probably feels like there's a better chance that this is his last home game. game than not. And it's obviously different circumstances, and I think he or anybody expected it to take place. And I think we all figured his last game would be undetermined because it would be in a

playoff game, and maybe they're facing elimination, or maybe they win and they advance, you know, and it would be a primetime game against the Cubs or the Dodgers and sellout crowd and national TV audience. And instead, it's a four o'clock game against the Marlins on a Wednesday afternoon. with some brain in the forecast. I don't know what the team is going to be like exactly. And it's unfortunate if this is it, but it's probably not going to be the send-off that he deserves or that everyone would hope people get.

Mark, when thinking about what might happen next from the learner's perspective, it's a big investment. They've got the money. We know that. Will it come down to whether or not they think he makes the team better, gives them a chance to win a world series, or will it come down to some sort of business analysis that says Bryce Harper in a Natch uniform means, you know, revenue plus this amount, and it makes sense to do it?

Yeah, I think that's a fascinating dilemma there from a standpoint. You're right that there is a business element to it. That's what Scott Bores has been saying for years. you can scoff at what the numbers are and say, well, is he really worth it? Well, this goes so much beyond that. This is about sales and merchandise and TV rights and identity of a franchise for a long, long time. If he were to resign with them, he will forever be known as the guy for the national. On a team that's had plenty of star power and plenty of others who could take claim to that mantle.

So there is a business element to it. I do think, given where they are right now as a franchise, I do think that the baseball side of it maybe takes precedence right now because we've seen what this franchise is with Bryce Harper. It's been really successful, far better than it has been at any other point in its history, and yet they haven't gotten to where they ultimately want to get. And that's not Bryce's fault by any stretch of imagination. But if you're looking at this and saying our ultimate goal, and really the best business for us in the long run is to win a championship, what's our best avenue towards that? Is it investing all this money in one player, maybe at the expense of other positions that we need to fill? Or do you say, you know what, we have some other young talent, especially in the outfield to fill that spot? We have other pressing needs that need to be filled.

and ultimately that's our better path towards a championship. I think that's really the dilemma that they're facing right now. And that sort of leads to the follow-up question. In your view, are they so much better with him than without him, or has that sort of narrative of he's their star player, he gives him a chance to win a World Series in combination with the others, has it shrunk? Are you and others now believers that they'd actually on the field be okay without him?

Well, yes, I think they can be okay without him, but that's not because I think he drags it down or anything like that. He is a fantastic player, and as we've seen in the second half of this season, he has carried them after what looked like it was going to be a disaster of a season. Now, you can say, hey, it was too late, didn't make a difference. That's fine. That's fair. But in the end, they're not making the playoffs this year.

I'm not putting that on Bryce Harper. I think what it really boils down to is this. And I think the learner, I think Mike Rizzo would agree, that with an unlimited budget, of course you're resigning Bryce Harper because he is an iconic player who makes a difference both on and off the field, and you're still able to do everything else you need to do to field a winning team. But they don't have an unlimited budget. We can say they have all the money in the world of the richest owners of baseball.

That's fine. You're talking about them having to go so far beyond the luxury tax if they want to re-sign Rendon, if they want to go sign a top-line pitcher like Dallas Keikle or Patrick Corbyn, if they need to fix the bullpen. They need a catcher. They need a second basement. There's just not an unlimited budget there. There are restraints they have to have.

And I think Mike Rizzo knows this and the Senate himself. You never want to have too high of a percentage of your payroll devoted to one player. That usually does not work in any sport. You have to understand that it has to be diversified around many players. And so if they think, hey, Juan Soto, Victor Robles, Adam Eaton, that can still be successful for us. It's not as good as Bryce Harper with those guys, but it still can be successful, and we can go do those other things we have to do. But I think that's the consideration that they have to make. At one point early in this season, and it wasn't really that early, I mean, in July,

when he was hitting 208, you know, somewhere around there, even though he had, he was pacing pretty, pretty well on some of the power numbers, home runs, RBIs, etc. Now he's at 100 RBIs, 100 runs, and 100 walks on the season. What kind of year did Bryce Harper have? Yeah, that's going to be the thing that I think when we look back on it, and people are going to say, oh, hey, remember when Hartford was terrible in his walk year, and you said, no, it wasn't. Look at those numbers.

It's really just going to be batting average. It's the only thing that's going to stand out as being below what we've expected from him. Now, by his obviously lost the MVP caliber standards that he had set, yeah, this is a disappointing season. But to his credit, he has completely turned it around with his second half. And he would even say that in that first half, while everyone was focused so much on the batting average down to 210 that he was still drawn his walks, his on base percentage was high and all that,

and that's fine, that's fair. But the biggest difference to me is in the first half of the year, he was giving away at back, flailing away. Right. He should not have been swinging at trying to do too much. And what he has done in the second half is completely changed that. He is taking all of his walks, trusting the guys behind him. He is hitting the ball the other way.

He's just showing he had so much more of a complete hitter than he was. And so while the first half maybe wasn't quite as bad as we thought it was, the second half, I think, has been much better and shown just how good of a hitter he can be. And again, credit to him that he sort of pressed through all that and turned this season into something that in the end is going to get him paid what he probably all along was going to get paid. Ultimately, when it ends at the end of this weekend, What will people say about this disappointing season?

Why did it happen? I think there's a lot more than just one answer to that. And it required all these different things happening in the same season for them to end up where they are. Yes, injuries were a big part of it, but that's not the only excuse every team has injuries. The timing of the injuries, I think, was critical. When these different things happened,

They really, except for maybe here down at the stretch at the end, didn't have that whole team together to go on a run for like six weeks where they really take off and make up so much ground in that department. The rotation was just not what it was supposed to be besides Max Scherzer, Steven Strasbourg, both because of the injury and just the way he's performed when he's been out there. A huge letdown. Tanner Roe, and Joe Gonzalez were not as good.

Some roster construction issues with the bullpen, the catcher spot, the back end of the rotation and the lack of depth that they had when guys did go down. All those things play into it. And yes, the manager and the coaching staff, being new, learning on the fly along the way, making some decisions along the way that probably hurt them more than helped them. Again, any one of those things, if that only happened by itself, I don't think it affected the season. But you put all those things together, and this is where they're at. And I think the shame is that not that the Braves weren't a good team because they are, they deserve a position title, but they have their flaws.

And there were plenty of opportunities this summer where the nationals just went on one little run where they won like eight out of ten, something like that. This was going to be a race. And we've kept waiting for that run to happen, and they just didn't have it in them. I don't know why. Maybe this was just a 500 team all along with that many flaws. but it felt like there was an opportunity and they absolutely missed it. All right. Last thing, and I'll let you run.

The postseason award, Scherzer got his 300th strikeout last night. Is he going to win the Siong? I don't know. Right now, I think DeGrom is ahead of him and it's based strictly on the ERA. Look, you can't ignore a 177 ERA. That is historic in this day and age. 23 consecutive quality starts. Where's Schurzer right now? Like 2.5, 2.5, something like that?

5, 3, something like that. Now, Max's got all the other categories. Strikeouts, innings, whip. I mean, so many things that he has done. And that 300 strikeouts is a big, big number. The only guys to do it in recent years are Randy Johnson, Kurt Schilling, Peter Martinez, Clayton, Kirschau, Chris. That's an elite list. The Grom faces the Braves tonight.

maybe there's a chance that's a good lineup. Maybe he gives up a few runs that ERA goes up a couple notches. Maybe that helps Max's case. But I think that if you had to pick one right now, I think the Grom edges him out, unfortunately. What about Juan Soto and his chances for rookie of the year? It's a fascinating debate between him and Ronald Ocuna. For the most part, Soto has the offensive numbers.

He's tailed off just a little bit here at the end. if he could get his average up to 300 and go 300 average 400 on base 500 slugging, that really stands out and that might get him over the top. Acuna's got a few more homers. Really the case for Acuna is the more complete player in the field on the bases and the fact they did it for a division winner. That really shouldn't matter. I think an MVP, that's fair to debate.

In a rookie of the year, it really is just about individual performance, not keen. But Acuna has gotten a lot of attention because of it, and that could ultimately maybe sway voters. But that one, I think, is almost a dead heat now as we go into the final weekend. Thanks for doing this. I always love our conversations. Appreciate it. I hope you'll continue to do it on the podcast.

Absolutely. Thanks a lot, Kevin. Let's get to some NFL buyer's sell. Are you buying or are you selling? NFL buyer sell. All right. I got a lot of buys and a lot of sales this week, Aaron. So bear with me here.

only three weeks, and I said at the top of this show today that you can't really determine anything definitively after three weeks in the NFL. But it doesn't stop us from doing this segment. And really what it is at this point in the season, they're hunches. They are hunches that can easily be derailed by lots of things out of your control and other things that are within your control that you just didn't see. I'll start with what I'm buying because I was buying this guy last year in college. I was buying this guy leading up to April's NFL draft.

He was the number one running back target for me as far as the Redskins were concerned in the second round. Carry on Johnson from Auburn ran for over 100 yards on Sunday night in their win over the

Patriots. The Lions had not had a 100-yard rusher since the merger. I'm kidding. But it had been a long time. since the Lions had a 100-yard rusher. And this gives them a legitimate top-tier back. Now, when I say top-tier, I believe Carry-on Johnson's going to become a top-five type of back in the league. He is versatile, too.

He can catch the ball. He can run the ball. He's not getting all the carries right now. That's the question. Blunt needs to go away. But that's okay in this first year to split the carries with Blunt, to split some of those third down opportunities with Theo Riddick. The Lions as a team I am buying.

I like this team. I think they have weapons offensively. I think they have playmakers on defense. The defense has not really stepped up at this point, especially against the run. But Carry on Johnson and the Lions I'm buying. I'm telling you, Carrie on Johnson, the reason that I liked him, the reason that I liked Corey Clement the year before,

The reason that I liked Alex Collins the year before that, guys that were more after first, you know, mid-round type of guys is their vision. The NFL is not a league of just plain speed. It's vision, it's versatility. Carry on Johnson has incredible running back vision. He feels it. He knows he's patient. I called him Levion Bell Light as we led up to the draft. He's got a lot of similarities to Bell.

He may be as powerful, sort of a guy with power that you don't see coming because of his size necessarily. I really like Kerry-on Johnson a lot. I've liked him for a year now. I think he's going to be a tremendous NFL back, and it was a great pick by the Lions who had a need for the position in the second round. And I'll remind everybody again that Adam Schefter reported right after that pick that the Reds skins were going to pick Carri-on Johnson with the next pick in the second round. When the Lions picked him, the skins traded back and ended up getting Geis. I liked Johnson more than Geis. I liked Barclay more than all of them, but Johnson was my number

two. Kooley and I debated that back and forth for so long. I'm buying Baker Mayfield's arm strength. This was a big question mark about Baker Mayfield. The size is one thing. The arm strength was questioned. If you watch that first game of his the other night against the Jets when he came in at the end of the first half and played the second half, he has the arm strength. You know, he now he'll have to throw because of his size at times with different angles. He'll have to move around and create lanes to throw, but he's got the arm strength. I'm buying Baker Mayfield's arm strength. I am buying the Ravens as I have every week so far. far this year. I really like the Baltimore Ravens this year. I like Flacco. I think Flacco's,

he's already off to a really good start in terms of his numbers. That win Sunday over Denver was a really good bounce back win for them after their ugly loss on a Thursday night in Cincinnati. It's also one of those wins that may be very helpful at the end of the year. They're in a division right now that, you know, Pittsburgh's weak defensively. I'm not buying the Bengals. I just think the Ravens overall are the best team in the division this year. Now, Pittsburgh's probably more capable offensively than anybody in the division. But I like the Ravens again. I'm going to stick with this until it's no longer possible. I like them to win 11 plus games and win the NFC North and be in the playoffs. They've got to get their running game going a little bit. They haven't run it

very well in the first few weeks of the season. They have some old stars and new stars defensively. I'm buying the Ravens. I'm buying the Dolphins chances on Sunday to beat the Patriots in Foxborough. But I'm selling the Dolphins overall as a legitimate playoff contender in the AFC. Does it make sense? okay, the Patriots don't have it right now. They're floundering a little bit.

I like the dolphins plus the points Sunday. I'm really going to like that pick, I think, when we get to tomorrow, when we get to Friday's smell test. I just think that they are good enough right now to keep it close and potentially upset the Patriots. Can you imagine if the dolphins are 4-0 late Sunday and the Patriots are 1 and 3?

Three games is a lot to make up, even if you think the Patriots are way better. The Patriots are better. I just don't know if we're going to see it this Sunday. Do you know that the dolphins right now have among the lowest time of possession numbers in the league? They ran in their win over Oakland on Sunday just 39 offensive snaps in the game. And they scored 27 points and they won. They've actually got some playmakers, including their quarterback, who can make plays. I'm buying the dolphins chances of pulling the upset Sunday,

but I'm selling the dolphins as a playoff team this year, and if they were to win on Sunday, they'd be 4-0. So next week, I'd be really selling and shorting the dolphins at 4-0 and getting a great price to do it. All right, some of the things I'm selling. I am selling, and this is going to surprise many of you, I'm selling the Minnesota Vikings right now, all right, as a Super Bowl contender.

The Vikings are in trouble a little bit right now. A couple of reasons why they are in trouble right now. First of all, Everson Griffin is off the team right now. Not available. You could argue that he is their best defensive interior player. Dalvin Cook coming off ACL injury, ACL surgery, and looking pretty good in the first two games, was rested on Sunday against Buffalo.

didn't play. If you didn't know that, Dalvin Cook, one of their true offensive weapons didn't play Sunday. They wanted to rest him. They thought they'd beat Buffalo and they'd rest him. So wondering what the issue is there with Cook, defensively overall, the Vikings have given up a lot so far on defense. They are struggling defensively. They, you know, without Griffin, they've got issues. They got moved on consistently last. Sunday by a rookie quarterback Josh Allen. Yes, Kirk played terrible football, gave up the, had two fumbles in the first half on sacks. But the defense let Buffalo go up and down the field against that defense that was so stout a year ago. They're missing Griffin for sure. And then the Vikings

have an offensive line issue right now. If they're not running the football, they're going to have major issues in protection, which we've seen already through the first three games of the year. And one thing is 100% sure. You've got to have the pieces around cousins for him to excel. Now, the Redskins didn't have the pieces around him and he threw for 4,000 plus yards and kept him competitive, but he didn't keep him playoff or Super Bowl competitive because he's not that type of quarterback. So I'm selling the Vikings right now as a Super Bowl team. What else am I selling? I am selling the Redskins defense as the top defense in football. Right now, statistically, the Redskins in Yards Aloud are the number one defense in football.

That's right. Right now the Redskins, and that's the number, it's yards allowed that gives you the overall team ranking defensively. I think it's a very flawed number to rank the overall, the entirety of a defense. But the Redskins are not the best defense in the NFL. Now let me put a caveat on that. I think the Redskins are a much improved defense. I think they are a defense that's going to continue to get better not only this year, but next year and the year after because they are very young on defense.

All right, Allen, Ionitis, pain, Nicholson, all right, they've got a veteran corner in Norman. They've got another corner in Dunbar. How about the decision to pay Dunbar? How about the decision to pay Dunbar at this point? Looks pretty good. by the front office. I think it's a defense that is much improved.

I think statistically it could end up potentially in the top 10 in the league, which would be a massive improvement from 31st last year. I think it's a defense that will be better on third down as we go through the year, not been great on third down yet. I think it's a defense that will show stronger against the run. Forget statistics right now. They have been run on at times when teams. have wanted to run the football the last two weeks in particular.

But it's not the best defense in football. So that's what I'm selling. I'm not selling the Redskins as a defense that's much improved and can be a good defense this year. I'm just selling them as they're not the best defense in the NFL. I don't think there are top five defense in the NFL. I think there's a chance by the end of the year that we look at their defense and say that was a top 10 to 12 defensive football team this year.

In the division, right now, the Eagles have a better defense. The Giants and Cowboys potentially have defenses just as good or better. But it's also a division with four good defensive teams. It really is. Four good defensive teams. The other sell, I had one other thing that I wanted to sell. And it's a team that I really like. Okay, the Chargers right now, there's just something that's not right with.

the Chargers. I'm not saying they're not going to get it together. This is a team that every year I buy, all season long. The Chargers are underrated. The Chargers in September every single year. Yeah, they weren't really competitive in the All-L-A Showdown, the All Los Angeles Showdown. I know the score wasn't, you know, a blowout score, and they were always within two scores. And they move the football against the Rams. There's something wrong, though. And they've missed Joey Bosa. They've got to Bosa out under the field healthy. He is a big key to that team defensively. They're giving up way too much in terms of pass yardage. Look, they've got one win, and that one win was over the bills at this point. I don't know, they played two good football teams in the Rams and the

Chiefs, and they really haven't had chances to win either game. But those could be two of the best teams in the league. They could be, but their one win was against what could be one of the worst teams in the league. And they're facing potentially one of the worst teams, depending on how Betherd plays this weekend. Yes, depending on how Betherd plays this weekend. What is that line? Seven. The Chargers are seven. Chargers are seven over the 49ers. They should be able to win that game. They should. In fact, I was looking at this earlier. Excuse me, it's moved. It's up to 10. Okay, well. It's a 10 points now.

They have a chance, schedule-wise, the Chargers, to really make a run here. They have the 49ers at home. They have the Raiders at home. They're at Cleveland, all right, not a lock anymore. I don't think it is, not with that defense. Then they've got Tennessee at home. So they got a chance here by the end of October over the next four games to win three of them, which would put them in that four-and-three range and put them in the hunt.

But, you know, right now, you know, you know, the Chiefs in that particular division, now they started 5 and 0 last year, all right? But the Chiefs have a Monday night game against Denver, right? That game's Monday night this week. Chiefs at Denver. I think that's the Monday night game. Yes.

That's a big, another big spot for ESPN. Monday. Hurtain, for whatever reason, is getting... They're on a roll. Yep. At Denver, Monday night is a big spot. You get to see Mahomes on national TV. Then they've got Jacksonville and then at New England and then Cincinnati.

So the Chiefs have quite a stretch coming up. So the Chargers, with their schedule, can get right back into this thing. There's just something missing, though. I don't know what it is. I want them to be good because I've always thought they were good, and I'm a Philip Rivers fan.

But right now, I would sell the Chargers as sort of an AFC West contender. That could change. Maybe I'm doing it just to put the reverse curse on them. Anyway, that finishes up the show today. Thanks to Aaron, thanks to Win Donation, thanks to all of you, thanks to Zabe, who came on today and Mark Zuckerman as well. Back tomorrow, Tommy, you'll be with me, lots of NFL talk, and we'll get his thoughts on Bryce Harper and potentially what is Bryce Harper's final home game today at Nats Park. Have a great day, everybody.