The Kevin Sheehan Show - Harper 'Does His Job'

Episode Date: October 12, 2023

Kevin and Thom opened talking about another clutch performance from Bryce Harper last night in Game 3 against the Braves. The guys also reacted to Ron Rivera's posted message in the team's locker room "Do Your Job" and his explanation of it. Thom had his Commanders-Falcons prediction, Kevin had two early Thursday night "Smell Test" picks, and the guys had their "You Heard It Here First" bold predictions for the week.   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 don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. And there's a high. Watches it fly. Harper, high fly ball, center field.

He's watching Harris turns. Harper with a ringmaker. Bryce Harper twice last night, Tommy, in game three against the Braves. at an absolute electric Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. The first one you heard, a three-run shot in the third gave the Phillies a four-to-one lead. And then the second one came in the fifth inning that gave them a seven-to-one lead. My God, is he a man that's built for the moment? More on him and a busy show today, including Tommy's prediction.

on Falcons, Washington on Sunday. The show is presented by Windonation. Call them at 86690 Nation or go to WindowNation.com. Mention my name. You'll get a free estimate and they will take good care of you. It is their best deal of the year. Buy two get too free with no limit, with no money down, no payments and no interest for two full years.

86690 Nation or Window Nation.com. Before we get to the baseball, a lot more. This review and five-star rating, thank you very much from Phil. Phil writes, I grew up in Northern Virginia. Actually, the headline to the

review is, I love the pod and have grown to love Tom. He writes, I grew up in Northern Virginia, and I've been a Skins Commanders fan my whole life, despite them not being good over this period of time. This is far and away

the best podcast for D.C. sports. After college, I moved out to Texas and later Raleigh, North Carolina, where I felt pretty isolated from D.C. sports fans, Shian's podcast kept me informed up to date, whether it be while walking my dog in the morning, while going for a run after work, or while cooking dinner, I find that Kevin's soothing voice makes me feel like I'm back home in the DMV. Seriously, though, he says, seriously, though, you can fall asleep to that voice. that's what my wife says, but I think it's more about what I say rather than the actual tone of the voice. One of my favorite parts about his show, the guests he brings on, Cooley, Doc, Jay Gruden, et cetera. And I never thought I'd say this, but I absolutely love when Tom Levero is on the pod. When I first started listening, I despised hearing his cranky New York accent, not really New York accent, spewing negative. about my team. Over the years, I have grown to accept and look forward to hearing his input. I'm not

sure how to explain it, but I just find him hilariously honest. This podcast has become a daily ritual for me, even if it means I'm listening to Sheehan ramble on about his personal stories. I love you, Kevin and Tom. Thank you, Phil. What a review. That's a hell of a review. That's great. That's a hell of a review. That's great. Yes, it is. Look, I'm like mold. I grow on people. Yeah, but hopefully you don't cause cancer. Right. So you don't have a New York accent.

You grew up in Brooklyn, but I don't, I think with, sorry, I think the tenor or the tone of your voice doesn't really allow for me anyway with, I think, a discerning ear. I think I have one for accents to really detect any sort of New York accent. It would be natural for you to have one, considering you grew up there. But do you consider yourself to have a Brooklyn or a New York accent? No. No, I don't. But I got a good story about that. Okay.

We moved from Brooklyn to the Poconos in Pennsylvania, a small town, East Trousburg, when I was 11 years old. And I was entering seventh grade. and after a couple weeks, they took me out of class and they said, we're going to sign you up for speech therapy classes. And they did that for a while until they realized there was nothing wrong with my speech, except I had a New York accent that they couldn't understand. Yeah. So that was when I did have a New York accent. No, I don't think I do anymore. I don't think you do either. So, but when do you think you grew out of it?

because New York accents, typically, unless you end up spending a lot of time in other places, and, you know, well, you've spent time in other places, but not necessarily, you know, internationally. You haven't lived abroad. You have, that they tend to be with you life for your life. Why don't you have one? You know, I mean, I spent, you know, eight years in the mountains in Pennsylvania. I spent a couple years in the south in Miami. I don't know. I don't know where it went. Maybe it's because you moved so young.

Maybe. Actually... I mean, my sister, my older sister had it throughout much all her life. But when we left New York, she was 18 then. Yeah, maybe it's because you were young. Like my, I have nieces and nephews that lived for several years in Australia. And they were super young. They had moved there when they were very young.

And there was a bit of an Australian accent when they moved back, but it was quickly, quickly gone. Wouldn't you love to have an Australian accent? I would love to have an Australian accent. That'd be fine with me. Yeah. So, Phil, I'm going to tell a personal story here. I hope this doesn't have you fast-forthing on the podcast. But recently, and I'm not going to share with you who this was,

because I don't think this is embarrassing at all, actually, but it was just interesting to me. There was a person in my life whose girlfriend, they lived out west, and they were in town, and they came over for drinks. And at some point during the conversation, I said, so where are you from to her? And she said, I'm actually from Ocean City, Maryland.

And I go, really? You don't sound like you're from Ocean City, Maryland. First of all, I don't really know anybody that's from Ocean City, Maryland. You know, it's not a place where a lot of people, you know, grew up and lived year round. I'll bet you there have been a few people conceived in Ocean City, Maryland. True. So she lived in Berlin, Maryland, which, you know, is just right. there off, you know, the Route 50 bridge. And I said, I'm just curious, why don't you have, you know, one of those, you know, Maryland, you know, eastern shore accents? And she said, I worked very hard to get rid of it. I had it, but it was not, she just spent a lot of time.

And she, by the way, had not lived there for a long time. And she had gone to school in a different area. and she just, she lost the accent. She made a conscious effort to try to get rid of that, you know, hello, Han, down here, no, see, Han, going to secrets, hon. And she just didn't, she just didn't have it at all. And it was, she actually talked about sort of her upbringing there, and it was so interesting. I mean, you know, that's the kind of place where, you know, the industry is crabbing for the

most part, and tourism, clearly, you know, the service industry, but that caters to, you know, a summer crowd primarily. Although, I don't know this to be true factually, but my my gut is that in the last 10 years, but more specifically post-pandemic, that beach towns, you know, especially the ones that are, you know, more D.C. and Baltimore Beach towns, Rehoboth, Bethany, Ocean City, that many, many more people than maybe 25 years ago live year-round down there. Now, that's always been the case in Rojobeth. There have always, there's always been, you know, a year-round population there. Bethany, much more of a year-round population now than there used to be. And I would guess that that's probably, you know, it's the same for, you know, Fenwick and Ocean City.

I would guess. I don't know. It's not, you know what? living near the water isn't that bad. And we've got great water in the state of Maryland. We've got the Atlantic Ocean and we've got the Chesapeake Bay. So, all right. Well, we're glad. I like, in two months of the year, I get to live near the water when I go to Florida. And the Gulf of Mexico, it's just a few steps away. I know. There's something about, you know, I'm not a big beach guy. I don't even go in the ocean, but I love being by the water.

I do too. I love it. I love being at the beach. I love being near the water. And I don't, we don't do it as much. I mean, I, you know, my summers, a lot of my summers were spent in Bethany, you know, growing up when I was much younger. And then, you know, as I got older and had to work and, you know, and I'm not even talking about, you know, professionally, I'm talking about when I was in school. I worked every summer.

Like I had the, you know, I had the parents, I had the father that said, you're 12, it's time that you get out and you get a job this summer. So I always, you know, had jobs. But I love the beach. It's so relaxing to me. So relaxing. I will often fall asleep. You know, I've got one of these, you know, sound apps that create lots of sounds. Just the sound of the ocean waves is very soothing.

even as a sound. But it's even better when you get the breeze and the smell of the ocean air with it. You know, it sounds like you should market your voice as a sleep back. Yeah. Right? I guess not. Anyway, thank you, Phil. By the way, you don't have to write nearly as long of a review as Phil did.

It's much appreciated, Phil. The five stars is huge for us. But as usual, I would love to just ask for those of you that haven't rated and reviewed the podcast to do so wherever you can. Apple allows you to give us five stars and write a review. It can be super quick. And also, you know, follow us. The follow button is in the upper right-hand corner on Apple, down the left side on Spotify. That really helps out.

And subscribing to the podcast helps as well. So, Tommy, I mean, we've talked about Bryce Harper and his sense of the moment and his clutch factor. I mean, I was trying to think this morning before I started the radio show off of the two home runs last night. Is there a more clutch team sport athlete right now that you can think of that's playing right now than Bryce Harper? Not off the top of my head. I'm trying to think of the NBA, you know, like a Jordan or a type like that. And I can't think of anybody. There's no, I'd say Mahomes.

It's probably the next one, next best one. I thought of Mahomes, but really the two players that I think, thought of were Steph Curry, but to a bigger degree, Jimmy Butler. And Jimmy Butler... Yeah, I thought of Jimmy Butler, too. Jimmy Butler is not the player or star that Harper is. You know, Harper is a top five player in baseball. You would agree with that, right?

Yes. And I think Jimmy Butler's more of like a top 15, top 20 player somewhere around there. But we have seen consistently over the years Jimmy Butler's. Jimmy Butler's game rises when the playoffs begin. And we've certainly seen that with Bryce Harper. Some people would say probably no to Steph Curry, but Steph Curry's come up pretty big in some big games in the postseason. I was reading, I read your column.

Tommy's got a really good column, and I'm going to let you talk about it here in a moment. But I also read Jason Stark's column in The Athletic. and there were lots of numbers in there and lots of quotes in there about Bryce Harper and that you had a really good quote in your column as well. But a couple of the numbers. First of all, Bryce Harper is on a list of two, two players that have had at least 100 plate appearances in the postseason

with 14 or more home runs and a 640 or higher slugging percentage. That list is Babe Ruth and Bryce. Harper. In the last two years against the Braves in this round, Harper's had 24 at bats. He's been on base in 17 of the 24 at bats. He's got 12 hits and five walks, three homers and nine RBIs as well. Jason Stark had a list of the all-time playoff OPS leaders on base, slugging percentage for those that don't know. Here's the list. Garrags 1, Ruth is 2, George Brett's 3, Carlos Beltran is 4, and Bryce Harper is 5. And then there were these quotes after last night that I just wanted to read. Philly's reliever Jeff Hoffman said,

every time, every time, it's just incredible. It's something that only happens with the greats. It's something he'll be known for when he's done playing. Bryce Harper was one of the best ever in the big moment. Philly's hitting coach, Kevin Long said, we're getting to see one of the greatest players of all time in his element. It's pretty cool. And then on that OPS list, Kevin Long, the hitting coach of the Phillies said, it just says how great he is. Really in essence, when we're talking about pressure situations, he doesn't feel it. He doesn't. He doesn't. He thought. He He's not feeling pressure. He's actually gaining steam. In those situations, it's almost like he's more relaxed and better than he would be if it was any other situation. Michael Jordan wanted

the ball. Bryce Harper wants the at-bat. And now we're getting to see one of the greatest players of all time on the biggest stage, and it's really special. I mean, the effusive praise, and it was there last year, too, during the postseason. Coming from the people that are watching this up close and personal is amazing. And then the numbers are backing all of it up. So I'd ask you, as a Hall of Fame baseball voter, and in my eyes, a Hall of Fame baseball writer, just how do you describe what Bryce Harper's been in the postseason? Well, again, I mean, you mentioned the names. I mean, for our, for us, Growing up, it's Reggie Jackson like.

Yes. You know, I mean, Mr. October like, and this is the new Mr. October here. I mean, that's the only guy who I can think of growing up who compares to that. You know, obviously. Yeah, Reggie for me too. Reggie for me too. I mean, he was Mr. October and, you know, the three home run game in the World Series against the Dodgers and just, yes.

But a different kind of player. You know, the clutch gene. Yes, that clutch gene. And, you know, it's sometimes I still say, when I'm watching him, it's hard to believe that he played here, and I don't think we ever really appreciated how good he was. And maybe, like I said, that's part of my column. Maybe we never would have.

But, I mean, then I think of not only did he play here, but Wonsoto play here. Yeah, well. It's basically right behind Harper. in terms of being a great major league ball player. They both played here. Yeah, well, remember, he went head-to-head with Soto in the National League Championship series last year and outdid Soto in a big way.

Yes, he did. Yes, he did. But Soto on a team that was dysfunctional and a big disappointment still had an outstanding career this year. Yeah. You know? Yeah. So I just, yeah, and, you know, like I said, he seems to have found the right place for himself in Philly. So I guess that's the next part of the conversation.

And we kind of had a little bit of this conversation the other day. You actually had a really good, you had a really good quote in there that I had not seen. It was from this guy, John Stoleness or something. He writes for somewhere in Philadelphia. and he said, has there ever been a more perfect fit of city and player than Philadelphia and Bryce Harper? From his on-field production, intensity level, and personality, I'm hard-pressed to think of anyone who would rise above him in this category. I mean, we did have a bit of this conversation the other day,

but we didn't talk about him in terms of all-time Philadelphia athlete. I mean, this is a town with, you know, a long-hand. history of great players coming out of this town. And it's a great sports town. And we talked more about that the other day. But I mean, last night, just if you were on Twitter after this game that he had, and by the way, he showed up to this game wearing, you know, Colorado coach Dion Sanders, Coach Prime Gear, as if, you know, to say it's personal. And if you don't know what that means, The shortstop for Atlanta, Orlando, R.C. made some comments about the base running blunder in game two by Harper.

And Harper and Nick Castiano's, who had that long shot that was caught, that then doubled up Harper with the first ever outfielder included in a double play to end a postseason game ever. But Harper just stared him down as he went by him. Both home runs. Yeah. He also gives that throat slash thing. I wish he didn't do that.

I could live without that. I could live without that as well. Yes, I agree with that. Yeah. But the staring him down didn't bother me at all. I mean, look, here's a guy that just always backs it up. He's brash, but he just never seems to not back it up. You know, if you're going to talk, you've got to be able to walk it.

And he walks it every single time. But is he, like people were talking about building a statue to Bryce Harper in Philadelphia. He has already become, in the few short years there, one of the most beloved Philadelphia athletes of all time. Well, I think there's a statue in Nick Folsom, Philly. Is there really? That's not true. I think there is. Really? Okay.

Let me see if there is. Somebody told me that once. Oh, come on. That can't be possible. That's not possible. That's not possible. Because he was the starting quarterback on their lone Super Bowl team. Yes, there's a statue.

To Nick Folls? The Philly Special statute. Yes. So if they built one for a quarterback who played a half a dozen games, or four games and won a Super Bowl with one of them, I don't see why they wouldn't bill one for Bryce Harper. I mean, I'm thinking, you know, Ron Jorski has always been one of the most beloved Eagles, Chuck Bednarik going way back, Mike Schmidt clearly, right?

I know that Brian Dawkins, the Forever Safety. Brian Dawkins, very beloved. Incredibly beloved athlete in the history of Philadelphia sports. I would think that Dr. J is a beloved athlete in the history of Philadelphia sports, maybe even Moses Malone. I'm sure there are some hockey players that I'm not... Bernie Parent, Bernie Paran, the goaltender from the Broad Street Boys. Right. Yeah.

Joe Frazier, I would imagine Tommy non-team sport athlete would be a guy. Barkley would be a guy maybe that was super beloved. I don't know about Barclay, but definitely Joe Fraser. and I think Iverson. Oh, A.I.A.I. Of course. Iverson. Of course. Was silly. I mean, he had that silly personality. No doubt.

You know? No, never back and down. They loved AI. Loved him. Yeah. Reggie White, they loved. But Reggie White, you know, that defensive front with Reggie White and Jerome Brown and Clyde Simmons, et cetera. Mike Golick, by the way, was a part of that as well. That was a fierce defensive team and a beloved team, even though they didn't do anything.

In fact, they lost to Washington in the postseason. They won one playoff game. I think it was over New Orleans. I think it was just one playoff game. With Randall Cunningham, it may be the most exciting offensive player I've ever seen at quarterback. Tell me if I'm wrong about this. I don't think Donovan is like on the short list of beloved Philadelphia athletes, right? Am I wrong about that?

Like, I just pulled something up here. Like the Mount Rushmore of Philadelphia team sport athletes, Mike Schmidt, Julius Irving, Alan Iverson, and Bobby Clark, the Philadelphia Fire. Okay, Bobby Clark. Yeah. Yeah. And this was done a few years ago.

Bryce Harper is entering that conversation. Yes, he is. I can't wait. Actually, look, the conversation's over if he leads him to a World Series. Yeah, and, you know, this is a sport that it's hard for one player to lead a team to a World Series. He doesn't take every at bat. He takes one out of every nine at bats. I mean, but yes, if he ends up, you know, leading them to a World Series win, he becomes all time.

But anyway, your column, you know, talked about the fit and talked about what we would have here in Washington and sort of feeling and how we would have felt about him. I did feel that way about him when he was here. I know that I wasn't necessarily in the majority. I didn't want him to leave. I wanted him to resign here. I always felt like he was just an absolute badass clutch performer. Remember the series that you and I argued about many, many times over the San Francisco

series in which you said they lost. because of pitching. And I said, well, they didn't generate any runs in the series either. But the one player that really had a good series offensively, and the one game they won, I think was because of him was Harper in that San Francisco series. Yes. Anyway. I mean, this is a guy. He's never, he was on the cover Sports Illustrated when he was 16 years old. Right. and he never shrunk from that.

You know, he's always welcome the attention, thinks the attention is worthy of him, and never shrinks from it. Now, he's got, I mean, and like I mentioned it in my column, I talked to a guy who's very familiar with the Phillies Clubhouse, and he says they like him and respect him. That wasn't always the case in Washington. Right.

But they recognize that he's also into the Bryce Brown. And, you know, they roll their eyes sometimes, but the plus is far outweigh to minuses. Yeah, I mean. And their nickname for him, their nickname for him in a Philly's clubhouse is showman. Right. You know, like the showman. You know, there are people that are just going to completely dismiss him because of that. And there are times when that stuff irritates me, too.

But it's usually because they're not as good. They lack self-awareness. and they never back it up. He's backed it up his entire career. Like I just pulled up the four games against the Giants in 2014. He had three homers in that series. He hit 294s. His on-base percentage was 378,

and he had three home runs in four games and four RBIs. He was the offense for that team in that series for the most part. And he had a really good series. I'm just looking through. he had a homer in, well, game five, the first year they were in the postseason when they blew the big lead against the Cardinals at home. He was two for five with a home run and two RBIs in a fifth in deciding game, the first one he ever played in against the Dodgers in a fifth in deciding game. One for three with two walks, so he was on base three times in that game. God, that was a painful loss. The game five against the Cubs at home.

He was two for four with an RBI and a walk in that game. He just, he has delivered in the biggest games of his career, period. Yes. Love him. Can't wait to watch the game tonight. I'm glad it's not on until a little bit later. I think initially they had it scheduled if there were other games to be played. Like if the Dodgers had a game tonight, it was going to start at like 5 o'clock.

but now it's been moved to 807, and they're going to face Strider again, Atlanta's best pitcher, who they beat in game 1-3-0, and Harper homered against him. That crowd is amazing. Some of the shots of that first home run from kind of field level,

I mean, you heard it in Baltimore, and I can only imagine what it was like in Philly last night, you know? Yeah. It's an explosion. When that ball leaves the bat, an explosion that comes through the TV. Yeah. So one last thing on the playoffs. I know we talked about this the other day too, but the Dodgers and the Orioles, both of the

number one seeds, or both teams with buys, okay? Atlanta was the number one seed in the National League. After, you know, a layoff while the wild card round was going on, both of them eliminated in three straight. Atlanta's on the verge of being, you know, knocked out. So it could be that Houston's the only one of the four teams with first round buys in this new, you know, third year or whatever of this six-team format that makes it through. I think they got to address this and look at this and come up with reasons why. And I don't know how you can, you wouldn't give back the buy to play in Wild Card Weekend with the possibility of being eliminated before you even get to a series, a real series.

But I do think they should go to best of seven in this round. I think that that... Well, that's not going to happen. Why? There's more money involved in it. They're not going to be playing until the middle of November. That's not going to happen. You're talking about two more games. It's two more days in November.

Not going to happen. You really don't think this will be addressed. Last year, the five and six seed made it to the National League Championship Series, Philadelphia and San Diego. year, it could potentially end up being, you know, the four and the six seed end up making it to the National League Championship Series. And who knows? The Dodgers clearly have a choking problem postseason. They do. Oh, man, I was rooting for them last night. I watched some of that game, and they had chances. They were down four-nothing, and they got it back, and they had chances.

but I just wanted to see what would have happened if Kershaw had pitched tonight in a game four. You know more than I when it comes to this, but I think there's a lot of conversation about this. It's the nature of baseball's playoffs to begin with. I understand that. But my God, I mean, to be a number one seed to win 101 games, to be off of a week and then to be over in four days is painful.

Painful. Let me ask you a question. If you're the Gazara baseball and the Phillies wind up winning a whole thing, what is better for baseball? You're right. The Phillies win in it all? You're right. Or the Braves or the Dodgers running it all.

Well, definitely better than the Braves winning it at all. But I don't know about the Dodgers. I don't know about the Dodgers. but the Phillies winner at all is not a bad thing. I don't think there's going to be a lot of conversation about it. There will be from the teams that didn't make it. You know, the Orioles, it's more experienced than anything else. And still, there's no logical explanation for how time off can hurt you.

There isn't? No. Okay. Except momentum. and what is that? When you see momentum, let me know. Well, let me just tell you, Mr. Momentum. The analytics people will tell you there's no such thing as momentum in sports.

Of course. Well, there's nothing that can be quantified as momentum. I don't know. I mean, I can tell you this. No football team would ever feel like they were at a disadvantage with a week off to rest physically, you know, for their next round. even though we've seen number one seeds that sat, you know, that first weekend get beat a lot. I mean, two years ago we saw, you know, both Tennessee and Green Bay is the number one seeds overall home field advantage throughout get beat in their first playoff game at home.

It happens. But whatever. It's, on the Philadelphia question, there's no doubt right now that Bryce Harper, that Fox and Major League Baseball in particular, want the Phillies to win this series and want him to be in the World Series again because he's the biggest draw and the biggest story in the sport. But, you know, having the Dodgers, I'm sure, in the World Series doesn't hurt them. Let me go back and say the Dodgers, yeah. The Dodgers and the Yankees and the Red Sox, those are the three marquee teams

that are always going to bring ice to the TV. Right. All right. Ron Rivera put a sign up in the Ashburn facility locker room yesterday. We'll get to that story. I have two early smell test picks, and Tommy has his Washington Atlanta prediction. We'll get to all of that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Tommy, I've got two early smell test picks for this Thursday night. Lots of football going to. on a couple of college games plus the NFL game which is Denver and Kansas City. The two early smell test picks are brought to you by My Bookie. They're continuing with this offer just for all of you listeners to this podcast. It's a 110% deposit match on your first deposit.

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And it's fair. There are a lot of places out there right now that are just charging. too much. The lines are fair, the pricing is fair, and this offer is unheard of. MyBooky.orgie. A.G promo code Kevin, D.C. to get a 110% deposit match on your first deposit. So my, there's a caveat to the first pick here, and that is tonight's NFL game is Kansas City in Denver. Kansas City is currently laying 10 and a half points. Travis Kelsey has been listed as questionable. It's possible that if he doesn't play, this line will change. He is the biggest point spread mover of any non-quarterback in the sport. So I'm telling you right now that if Travis Kelsey doesn't play and the line goes down to like

eight and a half or nine, don't wager on the game. If he does play and the line stays where it is at 10 and a half, Denver plus the 10 and a half. I know that seems ass backwards to a lot of you. It's like, wait a minute, you're telling me that if Travis Kelsey doesn't play, not to play Denver, but if he does play, you want me to play Denver. Yes, it's exactly what I'm saying. Kansas City is a 10 and a half point favorite, and the public is pounding Kansas City right now. There's some sharp money on Denver, but if Travis Kelsey doesn't play in the game, the line will change, first of all, and then there will be a lot more action on Denver. So the smell test for those of you who don't know is sort of a contrarian handicapping philosophy

going against public money, going with sharp money. And as of now, with Travis Kelsey questionable, Denver is the sharp side and is the anti-public side. plus 10 and a half Denver at Arrowhead tonight, unless that line drops to like 8.5 or 9 because Kelsey isn't playing. By the way, if Kelsey doesn't play and the line doesn't move that much, just stay on Denver. College football tonight has a game that totally fits the smell test. Two and three Houston is a three-point dog against West Virginia.

West Virginia's former coach, Danah, coaching against West Virginia. West Virginia is four and one. They're laying three on the road against Houston, take the coogs at home plus the three. So Denver plus 10 and a half with that one caveat that I mentioned. And then Houston in college football tonight plus three. By the way, if you're wondering what the baseball number is tonight at my bookie, with Spencer Strider on the line.

Atlanta is a minus 154 favorite tonight to even up the series at Philadelphia. If he does even it up, we'll have a game five Saturday night back in Atlanta in that series. I do not like a side tonight in that game. Strider lost game one. He's an excellent pitcher. And there is definite sharp money on Atlanta tonight. There's also public money on Atlanta as well. All right.

Tommy, give me your prediction for Sunday's game in Atlanta between Washington and the Falcons. You know, I refuse to believe that a team with as much talent as the commanders have. They're not overly stacked with talent, but they have talent to be competitive, are going to lay down two weeks in a row to an opponent that they should beat. I've got Washington winning 24 to 20 over to Falcons. I have Sam Hal with two teet touchdowns, one passing and one running. Hmm, okay. Would score again one more time the score, I'm sorry?

24 to 20. Okay, 24 to 20. That's exactly the score that John Michaels from Atlanta, he hosts a radio show in Atlanta, and 680 the fan. I had him on the radio show. and his prediction was 24 to 20 Atlanta. He had the same score as you did. I'll have my final score prediction on tomorrow's show.

Jay Gruden will be on the show as well. So a lot of discussion about do your job. Ron Rivera hung a sign in the locker room yesterday as the team was back for practice and preparation for the Falcons game. and he hung something there in the locker room that said, do your job. And he was asked about why he thought it was, you know, an important thing to put up. And he said, I think looking at the tapes, watching the games,

our previous five games, looking at some of that stuff that I read, the numbers, they're obvious to me. There's a sense in a field that we're not doing the things we need to do. We're not doing enough. We got to do everything that's involved. We've got to do everything that's involved. involved with your job, and that's kind of the emphasis. So go ahead.

I'll let you respond to Ron Rivera, do your job. Okay, first of all, you can kind of know you're on your way out when you're the constant source of ridicule by your fan base. And I think Ron Rivera has entered that territory. I think to do your job sign from what I'm a lot of. I saw on my limited scope of social media. What's met with a lot of derision, a lot of jokes. And I think that when you've reached that level, when somebody like Rivera is basically

now ridiculed by a portion of the fan base as the head coach, a significant portion, I think, then you're done. You're finished. How do you think the players? The other thing is, the other thing is, I'm glad to hear that after four or five weeks, it became obvious to him, aren't you? Well, I mean, you know, he eventually gets there. I read all the derision, the mocking of Ron. I listened to some of it as well.

I got a lot of it on Twitter. Are you going to crush him tomorrow for this? So you're going to really get after him. This is a joke. How cliche, how simple. It is cliche. It is simple. But Tommy will tell you this.

I think you'll agree with me on this. You'd be surprised at how much cliche, how much simple, actually works with players in sports. And, you know, slogans and things that they jump on. And it becomes almost a battle cry, you know. So I think. Great coaches. great coaches know how to crystallize their message and crystallize what they want into a short message. Yeah.

I think I don't really honestly have that big of an issue with Ron hanging a do-your-job sign-up in the locker room. This is what I have an issue with. I have an issue with him once again, you know, how he described why he's. he did it. You know, this is not his best thing as we've learned in, you know, the three and a half, four and a half years, three and a half years of him coaching here. He's just not, you know, a great communicator. He's not really quick on his feet. And I think the answer that he gave was somewhat implied that, you know, we've lost three games in a row and we got blown out by the bears the other night because the players aren't doing that.

their job. And, you know, looking at the tape, watching the games, looking at some of the stuff, the numbers, you know, there's a sense that I feel that we're not doing the things we need to do. We're not doing enough. We've got to just do your job. That's kind of the emphasis. And then there was a follow-up question on how coaches can help players do their job. Well, it's about the way we practice, you know, the way we prepare, about the way we prepare, about the way we go out and play. I just think that, you know, the answer to me came off as, we're fine.

You know, Jack and Eric and I, we know what we're doing. Players just aren't doing what we're telling him to do. It's been, by the way, a consistent theme with him when he's gotten into these losing situations. You know, he blamed the D-line play. remember back in 2021 on not adhering to the scheme, not being mature enough. You know, there's been too much of that. I don't have an issue with a coach, you know, going cliche, going slogan, going, you know, as you just said, crystallizing the message.

Because I actually think the audience needs a lot of the time for the message to be really simplified. I just get this sense from him that he's not taking accountability himself. And look, it's very possible in a lot of situations that when a coach answers this and takes the blame and says it starts with me, in many of those situations, it really doesn't start with them. It's actually the players. Sometimes it really is the players. But I would have loved to have heard him just say, look, do your job applies to me and my coaches and my staff as much as it applies to the players. Because we're just as responsible for this three-game losing skid and for what happened last Thursday night. Because Tommy, what happened last Thursday night?

You know, we don't know for sure, but we are as longtime observers of these games. of this sport. We kind of know when it is at least partially coaching. Thursday night was at least partially coaching. They were not ready for that football game. They got completely throttled from the jump, and they looked lethargic doing it. And I had talked about heading into that game.

These Thursday night games are really the coaching and the preparation for these things. It's big. This is one of those where you really do look at, you know, are they prepared? Are they physically ready? Did they recover in the way they needed to recover? You know, have they game planned enough for this game in advance rather than putting it together at the last second? All of those kinds of things.

Cooley talked about it last week. He actually said these short turnaround games definitely have to do, like coaches have a big impact on these short turnaround games. So I don't know. For Ron, I think he's personally, I think he realizes what's coming, and I think he's resigned to it. And I think he's just a completely different coach here in D.C. than he was in Carolina. He's a CEO coach. He's not a, you know, he's a delegator. He admitted that to me on the radio show in 2021.

And I think, you know, we're watching the last 12 games, you know, maybe the last 12 games. Maybe it's fewer than that of Ron Rivera as the head coach. But the do-your-job thing doesn't really bother me. Other than it's like, look, if you were really doing your job, why did you at halftime tell Kaylee Hartung on Thursday night? What'd you say to him? I didn't say anything.

I let the players handle the messaging. Maybe part of your job was to say something at halftime. Although they did play better in the second half-time. half. So maybe he didn't need to say anything. I don't know. Just... You know, what's interesting is, and this speaks to some of the things you just talked about there, and nobody really caught this except me, I think. I could be wrong. You know, in his post-game press conference Thursday night, he was very, you know, this is on me. What happened is on me. There was a lot of that in the post-game press conference.

Not a lot of that. But in a radio, there wasn't a lot of that. I did refer, and I played it in some of those. Yes. That's how he opened it. He did.

He did mention that at the beginning. Yeah. A few minutes earlier, when he was doing his post-game radio interview, he said, quote, it doesn't matter what I say. It's what you do.

That's what I told them. Right. Which basically is saying, look, I can say you guys, up the win, you got to listen to me. You know, that was his first thought right after the game. I tell them they just don't listen.

Back to the first thing you said, I personally don't think it's over when fans start to mock the head coach. It's much more about his players and his other coaches and people inside of that building. Because there's a week-to-week nature to this league, as we've discussed, ad nauseum for years where, you know, one week you're getting mocked and derided by your fan base, and the next week you're getting lauded by the same people. I mean, that happens. It's how those people, it's how Terry McCorn and John Allen and Duran Payne and Chase Young and Sam Cosmy and all of these, you know, players that are perceived leaders, you know, are they taking it seriously?

and, you know, are they going to use it as kind of a battle cry or whatever moving forward? Or are they rolling their eyes? Like if most of them are rolling their eyes going, Jesus, get a load of this guy. You know, get a load of this guy who wouldn't even go for two in Philadelphia. I mean, which I thought he made the right move. But, you know, whatever it is. If that's the case, and I don't know if it is or isn't, then, yeah, it's worthy of, mocking. Well, I think if you have an owner that seems to be more interested in ticket sales

than what's happening on the field, then I think he'd be very concerned about his fans making fun of his head coach. Right. That's funny. That is funny. All of a sudden now, we've got an owner that's only concerned about ticket sales because Josina Anderson had a source that said he was concerned about the response to the emotional loss to Chicago. and what it would mean to ticket sales. I think we're still in the mode, right, of just giving him a break. It's still honeymoon period, I think. Yes, it is.

Because it sounded like you, it sounded like you were ready to go scorched earth and go after Josh Harris. No, no, no, no. I was just looking for a way to defend my position there. I know. And that was convenient. Yeah, I get it. Yes. Okay. You heard it here first. Our bold predictions for the week when we come back right after these words from a few of our sponsors.

All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelley's great spot I would imagine tonight to watch some football and baseball. It's a great spot tonight. It's a great spot tomorrow night. Shelly's back room is a great place to host events. And tomorrow night, from 6 to 8 p.m, they're having a great spot. whiskey tasting experience at Shelley's backroom. You know, gentleman Jack, old forester, Jack Daniels, Woodford Reserve. Oh, Woodford's good whiskey. I'm pretty sure. I'm not an expert, but I know Woodford Reserve and it's good. Yeah, they're going to have a whiskey taste. And so if you're a whiskey aficionado or just walking down the street and you want to taste some great whiskey,

dropping the Shelly's tomorrow night from 6 to 8 o'clock. And you can find out more about the events that they have at Shelly's at Shelly's backroom.com. 1331 F Street, Northwest in the district. I'll be stopping there tonight after my class at Georgetown to watch at least the beginning, to watch some of the Phillies playoff game. Oh, so you'll be in there tonight. Not whiskey-tie. It's not a whiskey-tasting night tonight, but it's a Tommy-tasting night tonight.

Yes, it is. You get a taste of Tom tonight if you go to Shelly's. You're so clever. Yes, you are. By the way, Travis Kelsey expected to play tonight. That is breaking news. Taylor Swift, I would imagine, would be there tonight. Can't wait for that. Can't wait for the 30 shots of Taylor Swift up in the player suite with Travis, with Mrs. Kelsey. She seems like a lovely lady. She's very excited about both of her sons, who are very good NFL players. All right, Tommy, time for you heard it here first. All right, Tommy, what's your bold prediction for the week? My bold prediction is, and this will happen pretty soon, obviously, because the trading

deadline is when, do you know? October 31st. In the NFL, you're talking about, of course, yes. Yes. So this will happen before the end of the month. Kirk Cousins are going to get traded to the New York Jets. That's going to happen. I mean, you have not just a team, but an entire metro area, the biggest metro area in the country, that are ready to slash their wrist between their baseball teams and now their football teams. I don't even know if Daniel Jones is going to play, you know, this week for the Giants. I mean, that area is an emotional wreck, and Woody Johnson is going to be doing everything he can to get Kirk Couss.

in a Jets uniform to finish out the year. Okay, before I get to my bold prediction, I'm going to shoot down yours. I just, here's why I think that that, and I know it's been a big topic, you know, for the last, ever since Aaron Rogers went down. And now it's a bigger topic because Justin Jefferson is out and everybody's assuming the Viking season is really going to go south here and that the Vikings are going to want to trade cousins and get something back for him rather than watching them walk via free agency at the end of the year. But see, Kirk has a no trade clause. And Aaron Rogers is under

contract for next season. Kirk is only going to waive his no trade clause to get traded to a team that's going to give him his next, as the kids say, bag. All right? So the Jets thing makes no sense to me. It's not made any sense for a while because of the no trade clause and because he's not going to get paid in New York. Now, it's possible that he's like, well, I got a chance to go win big there and then, you know, even make my market outside of New York even bigger when I go to free agency because they're not going to want to sign me because they've got Aaron Rogers. They can't afford to sign me. It just doesn't make sense to me. The one that makes the most sense to me for Cousins is the team that Washington plays this weekend. Atlanta. They actually have a decent roster.

I'm not going to give the dire warning I gave last week about Chicago's offense being much better than most of you think, but I will tell you Atlanta's roster is better than most of you think. The issue is a quarterback. You know, the issue is Desmond Ritter, but he just had the game of his career last week, throwing for over 300 yards a couple of touchdowns, and leading a game-winning field goal drive. I say Atlanta because his wife is from Atlanta, they spend a lot of time in Atlanta, they don't have a quarterback under, you know, any sort of big contracts so that they'd be able to pay him the long-term big deal. It would be the last big deal he would get. He'd be a significant upgrade over what they have, and it's a pretty good team who right now is tied

for first in the division and we'll have a chance to win the AFC South this year. That would be the team that I would not discount as a possibility. The only other one I've thought about is if somehow Deshawn Watson's legitimately injured seriously, he played for Kevin Stefanski. Kevin Stefanski was the offensive coordinator in Minnesota, and it would be an offense that he'd know right from the jump, and that team has some real talent as well. I personally don't think he's going to get traded. I just think...

Okay. Okay. Are you done? Are you done? Yeah. I know it's bold. Okay. I know it's bold.

I just am telling you why I don't think it'll happen. It's called a bold prediction. Yeah, I know. I was just shooting back because I don't think it'll happen. No. The other part of this that we do every year, every week, is I didn't know shooting down the bowl prediction. prediction. It's part of this segment.

Well, now you do. Now you do. Oh, okay. Yeah. Because I would probably, well, I wouldn't probably. I would wager a lot of money that if I had the old, you heard it here for a segment from the sports fix 1.0 on the team 980 on Sports Talk 980, I'd be able to find a bold prediction or two or maybe four that you just rolled your office. eyes at and shot right back at. But, yes, you can shoot down somebody's bold prediction, if you'd like, and still recognize

it to be bold. Although, it's only bold because of what I said, most people think it's actually going to happen. Like, there's a lot of people that think he's getting traded to the Jets. And I guess that's why I wanted to step in and explain why I don't think it's possible. Are you ready for my bold? You make the rules here. You make the rules.

I just work here. All right. What can I say? I've got a bold prediction. Maybe I just made it, which was him to Atlanta, which would actually be bold. So the college football season right now, I think it's always this way, you know, through the halfway mark. It's like, wow, there's so many possibilities for the playoffs. But I'm going to give you a prediction about something that's going to become a big story.

line in college football in about a month, all right, as we get to, you know, the second iteration of the college football playoff standings. And that is something that I don't think anybody's thought of, which is really why I want to, why I think it's bold. The ACC at the top has Louisville, Florida State, and North Carolina. Florida State's ranked fourth, North Carolina is ranked 12th, Louisville is ranked 14th. The ACC, for those of you who don't know, they don't have those divisions anymore, the Atlantic and Coastal. It's just one big list of 15 or 16 teams, whatever number it is. I can't even recognize my old ACC when I look at the standings and see Pitt and see Louisville. I can't even, but here's the bold prediction. There's going to become a big

storyline as it relates to the college football playoff. and the ACC, and the storyline will be this. Those three teams will be favored in pretty much the rest of their games this year, and none of them are against each other. So Louisville, Florida, State, and North Carolina, all from the same league could end up undefeated, which would also mean they're undefeated in their conference, which would mean two of those three teams would advance to the conference championship game, and one wouldn't. The tie-breaking procedures are pretty convoluted because they start with head-to-head play, but there is no head-to-head play. Louisville doesn't play Florida State, and Louisville doesn't

play North Carolina, and North Carolina doesn't play Florida State this year. And yet, all three of these teams will be favored in the rest of their games. Now, I don't think they'll all go undefeated, because it's just the one. college football works. You think, oh, that team's going to, it'll lose to somebody along the way. But in the next three weeks, this is going to become a big story in college football about the impending issue with the ACD situation. It's kind of wild, isn't it, that, you know, in these leagues, the way they've expanded now, Tommy, you can't possibly play everybody because, you know, You'd have to have a 17, 18 game schedule.

But that the top three teams, all three are undefeated, none of the three play each other. That's kind of coincidental. That's kind of a fluke, I would imagine. But yeah, now, of those three teams, Florida State is clearly, I think clearly, the best team. But North Carolina is improved defensively. they've been a terrible defensive team. Going back to when Sam Hal was there, they had to outscore everybody,

but they're much better defensively than they've been. Louisville actually is a pretty good defensive team as well. They crushed Notre Dame last week, 33 to 20. You know, Duke is a bit of a wild card in there, but not without their quarterback who's banged up. And then the heels, I mean, their toughest game left on their schedule. They do play at Clemson.

but Clemson this year really not that good of a team. So we'll see. And I guess, by the way, I said they'll be favored in all of the rest of their games. That one, it's possible that North Carolina would go to Death Valley as a slight underdog. We'll see. All right. Do you have anything else? I got nothing else for you today, boss.

You hit me before the show. You said, did you see this? But it turned out to be fake, right? You said, did you see that Carson Wentz was signed? to the Giants to the Giants roster, but that's a fake story. Practice squad. And that seems to be a fake story. Well, I don't even think he's eligible for a practice squad.

Talk about ridicule. Talk about ridicule. That the guy that Ron Rivera traded a couple of draft picks for and spent $28 million down has now become the butt of jokes to even make a practice squad. Yeah. Yeah, I mean... That guy, he knows his quarterback, doesn't he? Yeah, but I'll tell you.

tell you what, Tommy, when he leaves here after an 8-8-1 season and he's left the new coach with 40 players, including a quarterback, send a Super Bowl ring to him because he will be vindicated. That's right. How ridiculous. That's right. He will be. How ridiculous of a statement was that? I mean, that deserves complete mockery.

You know, it just really does. Look, I'm not of the opinion that Ron Rivera, the general manager, has failed Ron Rivera, the coach. I actually think, you know, they've got, I still believe despite what everybody believes they know for sure, which is the defense is terrible and overrated. And oh, by the way, Sam Hal is an absolute lock. But I think that they have improved.

the culture of the locker room and the talent on the roster. I still believe I'm not bailing on five games into this season that this is one of the most complete rosters that they've had in a long, long time. Now, the last two weeks makes me look insane for saying that, especially as it relates to the defense. But, you know, it was just two games. We'll see what happens this week. I actually think I'm going to pick Washington to win this game tomorrow. I think I might be with you on this one. I wasn't necessarily with you last week. I can't feed them.

I can't see them going through this kind of garbage three weeks in a row. Well, they can lose this. They're an underdog in this game. You know that, right? I know. Okay. I know that, yeah. And they're an underdog for a reason.

Atlanta actually has some talent. The quarterback's been the issue. until last week when all of a sudden. Look, Ron Rivera, I was just thinking about this. If they lose and they're two and four, it's like, here we go again, right? Year one was one in five, I think, you know, before they bench Dwayne. They may have benched him before one and five, but I think it was one in five in 2020. In 2021, it was two and six before the buy week at Halloween.

Last year, it was, you know, one in five. Was it one in five after the Tennessee game? Did they go to Chicago one and five? One and four, I think it was, because they were two and four after the Chicago game last year. I mean, it's like you can't go one in five, two and six, one and four, two and four. And expect to have a fifth season. Like there's no chance of that. Now, the best football they've played have been after these poorest starts,

and they've gotten themselves, look, three straight years, they have been in playoff contention until the final few weeks of the season, making it in 2020, 2021 derailed by COVID, and making it to the pentultimate week last year, the next to last week when they lost to the Browns, and he had to be informed that there was a possibility he would be eliminated later on that day. All right. You did an excellent job.

I think you did a really good job with your you heard it here first. It was very bold. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. Now that I know the rules a little bit better, I'll be more prepared for more prepared. Yes.

All right. Back tomorrow, Football Friday. Jay Gruden will be a part of the show. Enjoy the baseball tonight. I am going to watch more of the baseball, even though I will have a vested interest in two of the football games going on. I will be busy tonight. Back tomorrow.

I'm not answering that. That's a clown question, bro.