The Kevin Sheehan Show - Kyle Allen Now; Alex Smith Next?

Episode Date: October 9, 2020

Cooley and Kevin with a ton on Washington Football. First, is Kyle Allen just a bridge to Alex Smith? Next, more Haskins reaction. After that, a Cooley "Film Breakdown" on Kyle Allen. The guys had their keys to an upset win over the Rams. Kevin had 8 "Smell Test" picks. Cooley had a "Lock of 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 Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. All right, it's Cooley and Kevin Friday. Football Friday. Lots to get to.

From last night's game to Dwayne Haskin's social media, to Washington beats L.A. If to Cooley's breakdown of Kyle Allen. We got a lot to get to. But I want to start with the way we used to start our show, which is with a quick, what do you got that I thought you would enjoy? You may not have one for me.

That's fine, but I want to share this with you because I think you'll find it to be pretty funny. So you know my wife, and you know that she's not a sports fan at all. Maddie is much, Matt, Maddie was an athlete, but is she a sports fan? No. Yeah. So Kara could not care less about sports. And never has, never will.

You know, she's well past the point of sort of rolling her eyes at, you know, the the excess in which I and my boys are involved in following and watching sports. She gets that this is important to all of us, but it's never really been important to her at all, which is fine. But last night I had the Bears Buccaneers game on. I was about to say Bears Patriots because of Tom Brady, Bears Buccaneers game on, which was a very good football game last night, very intense, hard hitting. I think the Bears' defense is really good, and I think the Bucs defense is really,

really good. But in the first quarter, it was 10 to nothing Buccaneers. Fox has the new, you know how the networks, you don't follow this stuff as much as maybe I do in guys like Zabe and Scott Lynn. They have new kairons with the score and the clock and the timeouts and everything else. Every network seems to think that every other year it's time for a change, even when they have something that works. Anyway, Fox has a new. chiron graphic of the score and the time and they show who's got possession of the football by putting a little tiny football next to the score. So my wife walks by in the kitchen last night where the game was on and she looks up at the TV and she says to me, how did the Buccaneers get

negative 10? And I go, excuse me? She says, She goes, am I crazy? Can you get negative points and a negative score in football? And I just said, what are you talking about? And she goes, look. And sure enough, like if you were just glancing at it, that little football icon that showed that the Buccaneers had possession of the football is right next to the 10, and it looks a little bit like a negative 10.

It looks a little bit like a minus sign. And I just looked at her and I go, oh my God. No, sweetheart, no. You can't get negative points in football. That's just showing that they have possession of the ball. And then she gets closer and she goes, oh, okay, got it. I didn't think you could. You know, CJ pointed out this morning that a lot of people who aren't sports fans

with golf scores, when they see the minus, you know, minus 8, 8 under par, they think it means negative 8. Like, what does that mean? Like, golf is very confusing, score-wise to non-sports fans, would you say? They said, it's good to be negative there.

It's very good to be negative. That's right. Right. So you're saying under-par's better than being over-par. So the lower your score, the better, that is confusing to a lot of non-sports fans. But anyway, That was my quick story for you.

Maddie would not have fallen for the negative 10. Would she have? Oh, is it all Fox games? Yeah, Fox has the Thursday Night games, yeah. But all Fox games would have this, correct? Yeah, they've got the little, yeah, they've got the little football icon next to the score showing that that team's got possession of the ball.

Okay. I will test this theory out. my wife's actually out of town for the weekend she went to a wedding oh that's nice so you've got is it just you and and bodie and sloan yeah the kids and i no for the weekend so i would i will test this theory out if i remember this because she will fall for it no she won't she will definitely fall for i don't i don't know that she will and she listens to the podcast so officially now she's not going to Well, my wife doesn't listen to the podcast. The next time my wife listens to the podcast or the radio show will be pretty much one of the first times.

She has zero interest in any of this. The only thing Kara's ever really, actually a couple things. She actually, for whatever reason, got into the Caps run a couple of years ago to the Stanley Cup. When I say got into it, she would turn the game on. She thought it was exciting. And with us, given that we've had no real football joys to, to, to celebrate. You know, the Maryland basketball thing, as you know in my household is very important. To my boys, to me, and she, over the years, if Marilyn's got a big game in the NCAA tournament,

she'll sit down. I think she does it just to sort of marvel at how intense we are, you know, in watching it. She's never really understood that. Her family, my brother-in-law, one of my two brother-in-law's is a big sports fan. My father-in-law is not a big sports fan. And one of one of my brother-in-laws couldn't care less about sports. And I think she just grew up in that house where it just, you know, on Sunday, you weren't watching football, you were working your land. You know what I'm saying? You were cutting the lawn.

You were, you know, planting tomatoes, whatever. You were doing something other. They're on the field. Milting the cows? Yeah, well, they weren't milking cows, but they were doing something other than watching, you know, the NFL on Sunday. So anyway, I'll never forget when my wife and I first got married. It was, you know, we were, you know, first year of marriage, and we're at our house, and it's a Sunday fall afternoon, and it's beautiful.

And I'm at the house with a couple of friends. We're drinking beer. We're watching games. We're gambling. And my father-in-law came over, and he's one of my favorite people in the world, by the way. You would love him. And he just looked at me. And he's like, what are you doing?

And I said, what do you mean? He goes, it's a beautiful day outside. I mean, you're great. Somebody needs to cut your grass. And I just looked at him and I said, well, do you want to do it? And he said, do you even have a lawnmower? And I go, no, I don't. I actually have a landscaping company. They just didn't make it buy this week.

And I said, but I'll go out and get you, I'll get you a lawnmower if you want to cut it. And he just like, he didn't, I mean, he didn't understand it. My wife didn't understand it early on. But anyway, she's come to. understand it over the years. I just thought the negative 10 was funny, and it's true, too. She may hear about this and try to deny it. I told her right when she said it. I said, you just gave me a bit of an open to the show in the podcast tomorrow. Negative 10 to zero. Yeah, I'll tell you what, man, that buccaneers, they went backwards into the end zone once,

and then they kicked a field goal backwards, and they got negative 10. It was the weirdest thing. It's the strangest thing the way that. Turned around and ran the wrong way. And instead of giving the other team the score, they just gave them negative seven. Negative six, but they had to line up and kick the extra point backwards or maybe left-footed. Oh, that's how that works. Oh, anyway.

One other quick thing. Off the news the other day that Dwayne was benched, all of the, you know, mock drafts for 2021. they're all changing because they've got Washington now definitely taking a quarterback. Have you heard about this guy, Trey Lance, from North Dakota State? No. So he is, let's just say, flying up boards. CBSports.com updated theirs after the benching of Dwayne the other day. And they have Washington taking Trey Lance quarterback from,

North Dakota State at number three overall one pick ahead of Justin Fields. The presumption was Trevor Lawrence won. He's the biggest lock to be the number one pick that we've seen in a long, long time. There's no doubt. Trevor Lawrence is the number one pick. Then they've got Micah Parsons, the linebacker from Penn State. Cooley, I'm telling you, he's going to be a badass. then Trey Lance going three to Washington and Justin Fields going four to Jacksonville. I've seen a couple of other Trey Lances to Washington and I've seen some Justin Fields to Washington. They're not going to have a chance at Trevor Lawrence. They're not going to end up with the worst record in the league.

And they may not have a chance at Fields or Lance either. But the point is that now almost every mock draft is going to change if they had them taking, you know, an offensive lineman or, you know, left tackle or something else, they're going to have Washington in the business of finding a quarterback. So I'm reading this trail-lan stuff. I actually do know who it is because I watched a couple games. I watched them play JMU in the championship last year, which was a great game. Yeah, people are going nuts over him. I have not seen him play. I've not seen him play. Yeah, I mean, North Dakota State is a division one school. Yeah, I know it's not, but they operate that way. No, I know. They're one double A.

They're, you know, FCS, but they, but they operate like a big time program. That's right. And they have the facilities and they have all the things. And then, yeah, they operate like a big time program. There's no doubt about that. Yeah. I don't know what he got this morning. Okay.

Go ahead. Paul's right in line with that. And it's something that I really left out in our conversation from Wednesday about the Kyle Allen in Duane-Haskin situation. And that is, there's something about Kyle Allen that Ron or Scott Turner likes. Now, they benched him for Will Greer late last year, so you've got to keep that in mind. Yes, they did. But in deciding if they want to draft a quarterback, they do need to evaluate Kyle Allen again.

I think they're done evaluating Duane. I've thought about it again for a couple more days. everybody in the world is going to sit here and say full season, full season. And even you and I said big part of a season, which I don't hate, especially if it's an R&D season. There are points that I would make that don't have to do with winning. That is understanding what your offense is going to be, teaching it to the rest of the guys, gaining confidence, going in the right direction, using the way. process. But, you know, when you watch a quarterback on film, I don't need more than four or

five games to know quite a bit about that quarterback. And that's just watching it on film. And when you watch a quarterback on film the way you've watched the last four games, I've said to you that this operates like a high school offense, there's not, that's not the play caller that's doing that. It's not hard to have a more complex offense. There's a reason they're doing that. Now, we could make excuses, but the point is, they're done evaluating Duane. They've seen plenty. It's over. Totally. It's totally. Completely entirely over. It's funny that mock drafts would change. Like, anybody watching it would still think, unless this is a massive turnaround in the second half of the season by Duane, they're still

drafting the quarterback. Like, Duane didn't give you any reason to not draft a quarterback through the first four games. Understood. But they may say, okay, here's where you're sitting. Kyle Allen could win us six ball games this year in their mind. Let's see if we can get to seven wins, maybe that wins the division. But Kyle Allen could win a six ballgames. I don't think that's necessarily the case, but if he could, and they're saying that, or seven ball games through the rest of the way, hey, we're pretty good on defense. And look at this guy Gibson's better than most people thought. And McClearns really come on. And Scott's doing a heck of a job. met like we win games.

They should be saying that to themselves, which would put them right in that anywhere in that 10 to 20 range. Well, it's not going to be 20. It could put them in that 10 range, 10 to 12 range. If they were to actually win seven games, which they're not going to do. Right.

They could put them in the 15, 16 range at seven wins. Okay. It could. I need to go back and look at where seven and nine or, you know. Well, there's four right. now in the NFC East that might not get to seven. Right. You know what I mean?

Yeah. Seven and nine, I think, can put you in anywhere from 10 to 16, 17. That'd be deep. But my point is this, you're not going to get the first two, maybe three quarterbacks on the board, depending on what kind of year it is for quarterbacks. Obviously, Lawrence is going to be one. You're not in the Lawrence business. Nope.

And you're not, if Trey Lance is the next guy that's going to go number three, you're probably not going to get Lance in your, in your world, in their thought process. So they're in this evaluation process of who's going to be available at 12, 10, 13, anywhere in there. And is Kyle Allen the guy next year if we don't like anybody in that mid-range deal? Now, I'm not suggesting they can't draft someone the second or later in the draft and there can be competition. But they want to know if they need to trade up, if they really should take someone there, and they know that they would have to if it were doing. I think you do need to evaluate Kyle Allenian if you believe in it. Yeah, I just, I think that the conversation here of the last 24 to 36 hours gives you the

indication that really what they want to do is they want to play Alex Smith. You know, that's essentially what we're leading towards here. I mean, even Ron said, it's a game-to-game situation with, with Kyle Allen. The next four games are important. I mean, this guy, I got to be honest with you. I mean, I'm to the point where his press conferences are just, not that they aren't well spoken, but in terms of the mixed messaging or the confusing messaging, you almost need like a roadmap to where he is. I don't, anyway, well, you don't need to evaluate Alex Smith, right? Alex is done If you were in a draft quarterback, wherever with Alex, you're going to draft the quarterback. They want to play out.

I think they want to play Alex Smith. I think it's insane. They can sell T-shirts. They can do the six and three T-shirt thing. Dan will be happy. They'll get so much positive love and publicity. I mean, this is the organization that they are. I mean, it's about, you know, sort of the marketing of something.

And I think that that's one of the reasons. I think Ron probably thinks Alex is a better leader. He basically said that yesterday. But just tell me. Let me propose this to you. Just before you get any further into this, let me propose this to you. And you're sitting here talking about mixed messaging.

You and I both know if you're going to bench Dwayne Haskins, who the owner wants you to play. And what makes that completely okay through four weeks? Right. Just to be clear, so people aren't, you know, trying to figure it out. Yeah, the owner wants Alex Smith to play if Dwayne doesn't play. And that was the plan anyway.

Alex will be here. We'll let Dwayne sit behind Alex Smith for two years. And then Dwayne will come in. That's hard when you dress quarterback 15 over all. And do you have the hint? I mean, that's just, it's all silly. It's mixed messaging. At the point they drafted, Dwayne, they love Dwayne.

It had nothing to do with Alex or his return. But it makes it okay. completely and entirely for the owner. And look, I'm not getting a doubt that Ron has authority, but at the same time, this is a big thing. This was the owner's thing, and this is still a big thing. So you might be sitting there in your building saying, we can't play Alex Smith.

We just can't put him out there. Like, we could. I don't want to. It doesn't feel good to me. And someone's sitting there in the meeting like, just start talking like you're so excited about him, and maybe you do. And, you know, let's just.

say like he's almost there and he'll be the backup it could be next week could be any week he's just right on the fringe and let's give Kyle a chance to really show out and Kyle will Kyle get it done we'll give Kyle two or three games and everyone will say Kyle's the guy well mention Alex for a little bit Kyle's going to get the first shot at this he could he could make the whole discussion about Alex Moot by playing really well will he actually will he probably not but will Alex? I don't, I mean, he didn't when he was healthy two years ago. Here's the craziest thing of all of it. What Kyle goes in and plays two or three games and doesn't play well. And then Alex goes in and can't play well. And then we go back to 2015 and

Duane was back in the season, just like Robert and Cole and Kirk. Look, I think they should trade Duane right now. I think it'd be the best thing for him. I'm not going to get one to four probably. I said a conditional third, but I don't even, I don't even know what that means. That's the same. Yeah, whatever. You don't know what that means? No, I do know what it means. What I'm saying is I don't really even know how to evaluate it because they, they diminished him so much over the last couple of days by demoting him to third string, by leaking the story to Les Carpenter in the post yesterday about his work ethic and his practice habits, which if you guys haven't seen this story yet, Les Carpenter broke the news as to why Dwayne got benched.

He got benched for poor, he had fallen into poor study and practice habits. The preparation was hurting him in games and leading to overthrown passes and missed opportunities. One person said familiar with the situation said his work habits deteriorated. Another person said at practice, Haskins has been sloppy during pregame warmups while Allen worked diligently. meantime, Alex Smith was arriving at the facility before Dwayne was. You know, they do what they always do, right? They smear somebody after it doesn't work out. It's amazing how much you want things to change, but they never do.

This is an organization that can't get out of its own way. There's like this vortex of indecency that even decent people when they show up get caught up into. And so, you know, we had the leaking to Carpenter. And Les is a good reporter. I believe Les's sources on this. But this is what they do. They sour on somebody. The leaks lead to the stories about how it was his fault, not theirs.

And by the way, Coley, I'm not saying it wasn't his fault, you know? But my point is, whenever there is a high road to travel, this organization has been consistent over 21 years, maybe with the exception of a couple of of years with Joe here, where it always takes the lowest road possible. You know, the smearing of Scott McLuhan, even though a lot of that stuff was probably true, it doesn't matter. They never let an opportunity to kick a man that's down go to waste. You know, it's just who they are. And so, anyway, I mean, it is what we said the other day, right? It wasn't about everything we were seeing on Sunday. It was about something else that was, going on during the week that they were getting frustrated with.

So Dwayne's done. I mean, there's no chance that Dwayne's going to be the quarterback of the future here. Your little scenario there, I could see that playing out. Two guys play, get hurt, God forbid it's Alex again. And the only guy they have is Dwayne to come in with Stephen Montez to back him up. But I would personally, I would move on from him prior to the trade deadline. and just hope you can get two teams that are interested, maybe a Mike Tomlin to back up Rothelisberger, to grow a year or two under Rathlisberger to see if he's got anything there.

He needs a real mentor and an advocate. He hasn't had one in this organization. I'm not taking him off the hook for that, by the way. I'm just saying that's true. No one that coached the team or was on the coaching staff had like a vested interest. in him developing. He needs to go somewhere where somebody likes him and thinks they can develop him into something.

But anyway. Yeah, no, no, I mean, sure. You also are not going to get a happy camper in your building every day. Did you hear about the social media thing? Huh? I mean, June it will be unfollowing Alex Smith. Now, let me just, look, let me just tell.

This is a phone head. move. I'm sorry. I agree. I don't like judging character and people a lot of times, but in part, this is not just that. It's just a simple move as it is. You just don't do this. This is a bad look to any other team. This is a bad look to your teammates. It's a bad look for yourself. I get you're mad, but you don't have to go and look at Ron Rivera's Twitter or Instagram. Well, let me just tell everybody what we're talking about because not everybody's going to understand. Now, I don't know this for sure, a lot of people seem to believe that Dwayne Haskins on social media on both

Twitter and Instagram unfollowed the Washington Redskins and unfollowed Ron Rivera. Okay, so now I went through his Twitter and he does not follow Washington football and he does not follow Ron Rivera. It is possible,

I guess, that he didn't follow them before but not likely because he follows a lot of players. He follows Jack Del Rio. He follows Jason Wright, the new team president. So I'm going to guess that he was probably following the head coach and the football team. To your point, if he did this, and it would appear more likely than not that he did, it is immaturity. You know, I don't care how many young people

are listening to this saying, oh, Sheehan, come on, you don't understand. These young people, they live on social media, unfollowing, following, it's not a big deal. No, it is a big deal. just like retweeting all the compliments last year was, you know, to me, an indication of some insecurity and immaturity. And I was hoping to see less of it, which actually, I think I did see less of it, you know, this year. He's been very inactive on Twitter anyway for the majority of this year. But it's time for him. It's time for them to move on from him. This is Ron Rivera's show, okay, I think. and he doesn't, they don't believe in him. Take a conditional third or fourth and move on.

Yeah, I'm with you. Yeah, the work habit thing too. Like one, that never needed to come out. No. Just so weak. Two, if he would have just taken the Chris Cooley false work habit class, he'd been fine with all of the work habit thing. Explain to everybody what that is, please.

It's so easy to, there's so many ways to pretend like your work. working hard. You just got to show up at the right times where you know people will be to show them that you're actually working. So if you spend a week understanding when Ron's walking around the building, and man, Ron really gets up and gets coffee at nine o'clock or he, Ron shows up at 6 a.m. You know, the George Costanza theory just leave the car parked in the parking lot all night. Like Ron shows up at 6 a.m. Just get up early a couple days and 6 a.m. And then, say hi to Ron with your iPad while you're watching

film. Ron's like, oh, good, good, good. He's watching film, good, good, good. They go get breakfast. You don't want to do it. I don't... Tell everybody what you did that was the one time where you walked into the meeting room, you opened up your notebook, and you had notes, and you just left it there, and then you just left the building.

Well, this actually started, I will tell you, this actually started from Joe Gibbs. The idea. Joe always said, you know, You could definitely tell a player and how hard he's working and studying by just looking at his notebooks. We used to love trying to find old notebooks. So I took the best notes of all time. I always took good notes anyway.

I was interested. So it really didn't matter. But I was proud of my notes. So I would leave them very purposefully right where someone would pick them up and find them and read them. Like not under my seat in the medium room, like out on the table in the front of the meeting room. on the way to Joe's office. In big letters, I would put a title sheet on my notebook that said, Chris Cooley's notes.

And show up on Monday or Tuesday, the day off at 9 when I knew Joe was sitting in his office and I'd go run. Just jogged down. Oh, man, Coley's out there working out. Yeah, that was the other one that I remember you're telling me that you would get up. It'd be early and you'd be out jogging on the practice field when you knew Joe was like looking out the window and then, oh, look at Kooley. He's out here early working out, and then you'd get in your car and head home. There was a couple days. There was a day, I think Brian Kozlowski and I,

a couple days, went and grabbed dinner after. What is that noise in the background? He texted me that she made it under the airplane. Sorry, I turned the volume off. All right. So there was a couple days where we went and got dinner after practice and went back in the building and just walked a loop around the coach's offices and saw everyone, oh, hey, what are you guys doing here? Watching film. Oh, great, great, great. Walked the loop and walked back out the front door.

Never turned on a second of film. We're all too busy to actually go in and see if you're watching film. Of course. It's brilliant. You're probably hammered too. No. No. I wasn't.

A couple of beers after you're during dinner. Not a lot during the season. I didn't really drink beer in a week that often. Steven Sims, Breaking News, Jr., un-injured reserve with the toe injury. Well, all I had to do is take the coolly false work habit class. Yeah. But anyway, I did have a thought on this because I did see some of this stuff. It's like when you, what was the other thing that you and I used to talk about?

I do want to get to your thoughts. It's just the, you know, hold on, are you using the fax machine? I got to get something out quickly. I really got, and then you just stick a couple things. through there and, you know, whatever, and it's through. All right, thanks. Or you get to the printer and you're like, I just got to get something done here quickly. Can I just use the printer real quickly? Just looking busy, the looking busy, you know, lesson that you could have given him. Sit at the second, sit at Barb's desk right by the head coach's office and the OC and put your

phone by your ear and be like, no, Dan, I see that it looks like cover two, but it's not covered two. It's actually a version of quarters, but the corners could actually contract up under it. It's really strange. I don't know. I was going to talk to the coaches about it, but I've been watching this for like seven hours. What, Dan? What? Oh, you're, it doesn't, a fake phone call. For God's sakes. By the way, you're up at night. Like, you're up at nine, drive over the building. Fake phone call. Talk about coverage for two minutes. Yel it out. Like, getting a fight about cover two or cover four. Coaches are all walking around like, seriously? This dude cares about cover two. Just just the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, complete and utter hijinks that you guys were involved in.

By the way, most of us who are listening, and I've heard you talk about this before, we now know why you basically won one playoff game. Oh, that's crap. As an aside, ask any, well, this was funny. Joe Gibbs thought I was like the smartest player in the history of players. But I gave him everything to think that. As an aside.

if you are doing some of these things, you actually are working a little bit. A little bit. Yeah. And you're showing initiative to work. My point to this was, and I think I made this point with Dwayne pre-draft and throughout last year, I don't know if his work habits diminished.

And I don't believe that Dwayne had poor work habits to what he believed. I think that his work habits needed to improve all along, but he was doing what he knew how to do. Right. I remember you saying that. And the other side of this is Brian Kozlowski taught me a lot about how to work, where to work, when to work. We had a lot of fun doing that.

He was a 10-year veteran in the league at that time, and I was a rookie. And I went everywhere with him. And I started, and he didn't play. But he wanted me to succeed. In part, Kyle Allen and Alex Smith could make sure And maybe they have. I'm not going to say they haven't. But there are people that could get Duane and bring him and say,

look, this is how we do this. This is the things you need to show this staff if you want to play here. Right. There are other veteran players that really start to show young players how to work. Because in college, it's like an hour and a half meeting, two hours. Maybe the quarterback's going to watch some film late at night. In college, it's a lot of school. and work out in the morning, and you're so limited in time that it takes a while to adjust the NFL life where, and you got into, if you're a quarterback, you better be in about six in the morning pretty much every day and you better be leaving about nine if you want to succeed. There's a lot to see. And it just takes that time. And to do that job, you got to spend the time. And a lot of quarterbacks have enough talent that they get away with things for a while, that they don't actually spend that time.

But the best ones do. Yeah, I remember you making that point last year, and that I think sort of goes hand in hand with, if you have a group of players and coaches, coaches in particular, who are invested in the best interest in the development and the growth of the number 15 pick in your first round, that person's going to learn more.

He's going to be exposed more to the right way of doing it as a professional versus the right way of doing it or the best way he knew how to do it in college. But he came into an organization where essentially only one person, you know, liked him. I heard Zabe last night making the comparison to, you know, basically, you know, Dwayne Haskins was John Snow. You know, he came into this family as a bastard child and nobody wanted him. The problem is, and I texted Zave. I'm like, the truth, though, was that Ned and all the siblings loved John.

It was Caitlin who couldn't stand him. So it wasn't the perfect analogy, but more the analogy to a bastard child, right? And nobody... John Snow didn't have the pedigree either. No, they certainly didn't know. Yeah, they certainly didn't know. They knew as a young boy, as a growing young man, the pedigree, the fight that he had. But I just think that that's...

it tough break for Dwayne. Again, I'm not taking them off the hook. The great ones, you know, maybe start immature, but they figured out fast. And if he hasn't figured it out by now that there's a different way to do this, that's a problem and that's on him. But he has not been in an organization in year one or year two where one person, not one person had his best interest in mind. Not one person, you know, invested in him and felt confident that he was. He was not that if he were developed that they would have themselves a franchise quarterback other than the owner. You know, and the owner... That's cool.

He would have. All he had to do was just be there a couple extra times. They would have been like, this guy wants to be here. So we want him to be here. All right. You've got to show him. That's the other thing is you got to show them why they need... It's a short life for all these coaches and they are depending on you week and week out.

You've got to show them why they can depend on you. It's a lot of jokes, but there's a lot of truth to it because trust is a huge thing. And if they don't trust you, and I'm not saying, I'm talking about trust that the work's getting done kind of deal. If they don't trust you in that world, then it's a very, very short world. You know what? On the work ethic thing, though, I think that there is a way to work more effectively. But I think that your work ethic, your level of commitment and sort of the people that get it versus those that don't. I think I really believe, I don't know, maybe I'm way too aggressive on this, but I think

by 21, 22, 23 years old, you have that or don't. You know, you either understand and you get what kind of commitment level and the kind of, and by the way, you've said this and every other person I've talked to that he's, he's bright. Like he's certainly smart enough and he's certainly talented enough. But I mean, I don't want to totally take them off the hook for the work ethic thing either if it is indeed true. Because I just think that, you know, even by a young age, relatively young age, there are people that have figured it out, whether it's by exposure or by the way they're taught or by the way they're wired, that, you know, you either get it and and you're a do whatever it takes person for the team, for yourself,

and you're going to be relentlessly committed to it, or you know, you're looking for the easy way out. One more thing, and then I'll let you move on. And you're absolutely right. You're absolutely right. What if they just heard Mike Shanahan or read what Mike Shanahan said on your show, who really said it first, is it probably wasn't what happened in the games.

it's what happened in the week. And everyone there was like, that's a really great excuse. Let's say that. I wouldn't put anything past them. This was predictable. Like, this was very predictable that once it started to get telegraphed, the, you know, there's a cutoff point, you know,

the other players deserve better. And then the benching and then Ryan talking about, you know, the other 52 guys and the sidelines were first. frustrated and, you know, he was already throwing him under the bus. It was not surprising at all that, you know, the Post had or somebody had the story yesterday about what was going on behind the scenes and that it was going to make Dwayne look bad. And again, I'm not suggesting that it's not true. But I am suggesting that this is the move of this franchise, that they, when there's a low road to travel, it's the one they choose. They sour on somebody.

they have to make sure that you as a public and you as a media understand that it was their fault, not it was his fault, not theirs. And again, I'm not saying that they're wrong, but come on, man. Like, we could read between the lines. We were watching the games. You didn't have to leak that this guy had poor study habits and practice habits. And by the way, in the process, per usual with them, they've diminished his values. you. So if you wanted to move them and, you know, that could be overstated to a certain degree,

but it doesn't help. It doesn't help. But this is what they do. You know, they just... It's because it's the easy way. It's the, well, it's the low road way in their low road people. Okay. You're protecting yourself. Look, they're low, you and I've had this conversation for years now. They are low road people. And this is what they do. It stems from... the top. This fish rots head down. It always does. And if you had a culture in an organization that understood how indecent that is, it wouldn't happen more than once. It happens over and over again because it's allowed to happen. And even the most decent of people like Ron Rivera, they get caught up in this vortex of just indecency and hell. It's very frustrating as a

a fan. And it's why I said yesterday on the podcast with Tommy Cooley, look, we have these conversations all the time. You and I have done it together, you know, for several years now. Tommy and I have done it for more than a

decade. You know, the listeners, the people that listen to us that we have conversations with, we engage in the debate and the arguments and the wallowing in misery and the rejoicing together in the few wins that they get. But at the end of the day, it's like we're focused,

we all understand that as long as Dan Snyder owns the football team, there are going to be more losses than wins and more turmoil than less turmoil. That's just the truth. It's a 21-year track record, and nothing says it anymore, and I think Tommy said this to me yesterday, then with that last post story, two separate statements, one from the team and one from the owner. Like they still can't get their act together. But it's a happy Thanksgiving, Ron Rivera, coach-centric. Culture change. Culture change.

All right. Let's get to Washington wins if. Let's get to your overall thoughts on Kyle Allen and what he can bring or what he can't bring. I've got a smell test. You've got a lock of the week. We'll do that right after this. word from one of our sponsors. All right, we'll get to Washington beats L.A. if, but Coolly did a film breakdown, if you

will, of Kyle Allen's games last year. He's going to get the start Sunday. Go ahead. What should we expect from Kyle Allen on Sunday? You know, the funniest thing in watching a few games is he likes to run right. Well, he's a right-hander. That seems more natural. It's much more natural. He does not like. to flush left. He's a guy that definitely likes to run to the right. The thing that they're going to like about Kyle Allen is throw the ball down the field and he completes the ball down the field. Like he's over 60 percent, 10 yards or more down the football field. And he's got accuracy

throwing it down and he's got a timing and he can read the coverage high to low. I mean, I'm watching Tennessee, I think, and pretty early into the game, he hits It's a 20-yard shot on the sideline versus cover two, so it's in between the low corner and the high safety. And I'm like, well, Joe Gibbs used to always call it the honeyhole. When was the last time I saw a honeyhole shot? Seriously. I can't even recall when I saw that shot completed.

You see that all the time. Like an outside seam against cover two where the safety doesn't get enough width. I don't know if Duane's completed one of us, ever for us. Oh, come on. Couple. No? You think? Not one honeyhole shot?

Maybe. Jerry Jones had another term for it. It's also a sexual term. I'm trying to come up with a dog. Glory hole. Glory hole. Yeah, it's not the glory hole. That's a bad term for that.

Yeah. Tight window throw, though. You've got to get it through a little spot. So I get the term. I mean, a lot of times the receiver can see the quarterback's eyes when you throw it into the glory hole. So that completely changes everything. Well, I mean, sometimes it's just one eye. Okay.

Okay. Yeah, let's stop. Just tell us about Kyle Allen. You did it. You said that. So that's something that you're going to like about. Kyle Allen is you're going to see the ball thrown down the field. And to me, he's a guy that can recoverage and see things as he, as he progresses down the field.

It's more deep to low than it is just shallow, shallow, shallow, shallow, shallow, shallow. On the positives, he's pretty quick, man. He's got some agility. He can get out of the pocket. He can move. He can outrun guys on the edge. I'll bet you end up having some more boot stuff because I think he's a guy that can get out and throw the ball on the move.

Now, some of the negatives to Kyle Allen, watching some of the, this stuff. One, he took 46 sacks, which is like an 8.6% sack per dropback. It's astronomically high. Only Robert, I've seen much higher than that was like 11. He does take some sacks. He is flustered with pressure. He wants to move with pressure, and he doesn't always know where to move with pressure. And I went back to notes from last year watching all the Carolina games and a lot of the offense. And I had wrote last year and I saw the same thing again, watching it now is he hates to step up and climb into the A gap in the pocket. He's not an A gap guy.

Not a big tall guy does not want to step up and hang in the pocket. He's not short, right, Cooley? He's 6-3. I think he looks shorter on the field than his actual height. I've seen 6-1 to 6-3 looking him up over the last day. Okay. There's 16 picks last year, Kev, in however many starts, 17 touchdowns, 16 picks. there were three or four that were tip picks or him hit as he was throwing at picks. You always look at that stuff.

You do it with Kurt Cousins just to take him off the hook every week because you love it. Yeah. Two tip picks and one hell merry pick. He threw three, but it was not. He was great. Fair enough. You know, I'm joking. But he had a couple tip picks.

But he had some bad picks. Out of the 16, there were at least eight that were like, Don't throw that ball pick. Don't do it. I mean, there's one against New Orleans where he's booting out to the right. He's got pressure off his edge. And he just lets one go out into the flat right into the arms of the Saints defender. He does not even see his guy.

He knows someone's coming out into the flat, but he just dumped one out about four yards out into the right flat. And the corner sitting right there. Like, oh, here, thank you. Thank you, Kyle Allen. I appreciate that pick. He threw some bad ones. Yeah. So he made some big mistakes.

The funny thing is, is what I've suggested all along with DeWen, and I wish everyone could truly understand this is in your rookie year, throw the bad pick. Get out, flush to the right, think you see something down the field, let one fly. Safety undercuts it and it's picked. And you go, okay, I see the speed that a safety can get to that ball. Okay, I see how people are reacting on a professional level to when I flush out of the pocket. I'm not going to alleviate that those are bad picks. I'm not taking that off of docket.

They're bad picks. But that's how young players grow from making those mistakes. Duane was not making those mistakes. My favorite game was when he threw three picks. They were bad picks too. So Kyle Allen would let the ball get down the field. He'll throw the ball with accuracy down the field, but he'll drive you freaking bonkers

because there's going to be once or twice that he's running out of pocket, and he just throws one up from grabs. there was also this weird and it was rare inaccuracy to throw a couple underneath picks oh boy where you're like

like no touch no he's got touch it was just like he couldn't quite see it maybe almost like he knows where his guy's supposed to be so he's letting it go there but he doesn't see it just right

so he threw some bad picks and that's I think what it ended up getting benched I mean he was terrible I thought one of his worst games was against us last year. Right. Took a lot of sacks, right? He threw a lot of sacks, like nine sacks in that game. He threw a pick backed up to Land Collins that maybe Duran Paine got a hand on.

I can't remember if we decided that was or wasn't. I didn't look too close on that one. But he played very poorly in that game. Remember the start to that game, though? Washington was down 14-0. Two really long drives, right? With him hitting on everything. And then it went from every.

everything to nothing. Yeah. How did that happen in that game? You know what it was? We ran the ball. Yeah. That was Darius Geis's big game. Both Darius and Adrian Peterson had over 100 yards

and the defense really stepped up after those first couple drives. Right. We just gashed them. And then Darius tweeted Ron after the game like, sorry I cost you your job. Did he? I forget, I forgot that he did that. Something of those sorts.

Like, sorry that you got fired because of me. something like that they they made him take it down so i think you'll see i think you'll see a different offense with kyle allen there's not going to be enough as much quick stuff like right dink and dunk underneath stuff you're going to see them throwing the ball down the field and so to me it'll be how kyle operates getting the ball down the field and does he throw two picks in this game that are the unforgivable, like, what are you doing, picks? Does he complete three or four with those balls that we haven't seen? He's got the capability of doing either.

Right. Unless he's really grown from his first year of getting a lot of starts. The one thing that I remember, and I think I mentioned this to you the other day, I know I mentioned it to Tommy. The game that I remember more than any other, except for the game against us, was their game at Lambo in the snow. And that game was really a very good football game. I mean, tough, hard-nosed Caroline, I thought was well-coached in that game.

I remember watching that game start to finish because I had the Panthers plus the points in that game. And I thought Kyle Allen balled out. I mean, made some mistakes, but he was really competitive. And they got down to a goal-to-go situation late in the first half and went for it. They didn't get it in, but I thought, I remember watching that game saying, you know what, I like this guy. And remember, he had won like four of his first five starts at that point or maybe five of his first six. You know, it was when they were rolling with him. Yeah, I'm looking at it right now.

They had won five of the first six starts for him last year. And they lost the next seven. Yeah, they were five and three going into that game at Lambo. They lost that game. And then they had a couple of chances like the game at New Orleans, their kicker, Mr. 28-yarder late. But they got blown out a bunch, too, and he didn't play great. He had a bunch of turnovers.

Yeah. No, there was some games. You watched the San Francisco game. Ooh, best defense. Yeah. He threw three picks, completed 51% of his passes. And it was awful. And so that's, but that's a team that created real pressure.

Right. So I think Allen, if they, if he's protected, he's okay, he sees the field. If he's not, he doesn't. And he's not reliable on the move. You'll see him get out of the pocket and run. He's got some speed. He'll make a throw or two. It's just that's where it becomes, I think, more unreliable. So to me, if Kyle Allen was going to take a step up this year, it's when you get out of the pocket and you're running right, two-yard scramble might be better than throw the ball down the field. Right. Don't force it at that point. Do you know something that I read just after my radio show this morning. Somebody sent me the link to this. I didn't know that, no.

That before Washington traded a fifth rounder to Carolina for him, that Albert Breer basically had reported that Belichick was interested, that the Patriots were interested in Kyle Allen. I wouldn't be surprised by that. Why? Why wouldn't you be surprised by that? Because he can make plays. And Belichick would sit there and say, I can get the bad, I can take the bad out of this, or at least some of the bad out of this. I see a guy that can make plays. That's what I, I see a guy that can make throws. See a guy that can make plays.

I just see a guy that can make a lot of mistakes as well. And we're talking about a rookie, basically. It was, he was a second year player, but, you know, he played one game in 2018. He was the number one quarterback recruit at a high school playing in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was recruited by Kevin Sumlin at Texas A&M. and Sumlin ended up getting fired, so he transferred to Houston. But he was the number one dropback pro-style quarterback in his, in the 2014 class or 2013 class, whatever it was. 2013 class, I think it was.

I mean, Bama, you know, everybody, Bama, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wisconsin, A&M, they were all in on him. He was one of those true high school stars that everybody came after. And he signed with someone who was a phenomenal recruiter. Anyway, I don't know if people knew that or not. What else on Kyle Allen before we get to Washington wins if? I think that's it, man. I do think you're going to see a little bit a different offense. All right.

It was funny. I read something that DC and. Los Angeles. Who do they hire as their DC who'd shown hire? I can't remember offhand. I should. Well, they fired Phillips, Wade. They hired Kevin O'Connell as the O.C. I don't know who the defensive coordinator is. I was thinking of Kevin O'Connell.

I have no idea who the defensive coordinator is. Here, I'll look it up. Yeah, so they. Brandon Staley, Brandon Staley. Who basically said, our defense isn't going to change. We're not going to change because of the switch. which I think is completely untrue. They'll play definitely, in my opinion. But, you know, if I were playing Kyle Allen versus Dwayne,

is I'd bring more pressures. I'd bring more pressures. I think you can keep doing in the pocket and you can fluster him with some format pressures. But we'll see what they do. Kyle Allen, it could be, you know, could be good, it could be bad. I, I, one game in zero for over 300 yards last year. Yeah.

But there were plays that he made. down the field. There were some good throws down the field, really good throws. There were good balls down the field not complete. All right. we'll get to Washington beats L.A. right after this word from one of our sponsors. All right, let's get to Washington beats L.A.

if Kuhleel give a reason or a key to the game and then I'll go. We'll go back and forth. You start. You have to disrupt the timing of Jared Gough. They're going to go up-tempo offense. They're going to manipulate the timing of what they're doing pre-snap. They'll be of the line fast, they'll have all the motions.

We can sit here and talk about, well, you got to have eye discipline on defense. I'm not going to say that. Everybody understands that you got to be aware of a lot of different movements and motions. The key to all of it is disrupting the timing of Jared Gough. I think Jared Gough, when he has a minute to throw in the pocket, when he can sit back there, is

just as good as anyone. But as soon as he gets pressured, he's not very good. I don't think he's incredibly mobile. I think he gets pressure in the pocket and he's in big trouble. I think he can make mistakes. I think he becomes very inaccurate. I don't think he throws a ton of picks per se pressure. Like he's not just throwing it up for grabs, but his accuracy goes down a ton. So when you look at this defense, that's what they should

be able to do. I don't Chase Young went back to practice this week. That would be massive. But getting pressure on golf would be huge. And when you look at the Rams, if you can do it with four guys or five guys at times, God, that would be so big because of all the things they do in the back end. So pressure on goff disrupt the timing of goff keep him out of rhythm he's a rhythm passer timing and rhythm passer and when he gets out of that he's not a playmaker that is my biggest thing for stopping the rams offense um that makes so much sense just thinking about watching the rams and thinking about when they've struggled offensively it's because goff has been uncomfortable because of pressure and i think the key to that is to get him into

those situations where you can disrupt him, it means that you're going to have to really figure out a way to stop the run. They've been playing Daryl Henderson, Jr., who was a teammate of Antonio Gibson's at Memphis. I picked Daryl Henderson, Jr. in my fantasy draft coolly before the season started, and then he didn't get the start in the opener. They started Cam Acres, so I cut him to pick up another receiver. I forget who I picked up. But he has been outstanding since Cam Acres got hurt. Now, Acres is apparently back and healthy this week, but Henderson's been averaging 5.2 yards per carry. And we can all picture what happens when Sean's teams start running the football. Now you get, you know, the stretch and the boot coming back

the other way. You get the play action. And now it's hard to disrupt him, as you said. They also, it's amazing. I was looking at this last night, Cooley, just how they are a run first team. But even in the game in which they fell behind 28 to 3 at Buffalo a few weeks ago. They came back in that game, remember, and took the lead, and then they lost on a final Josh Allen drive, 35 to 32. When you fall behind 28 to 3, that is almost an absolute lock, right, that you are going to bail on the run and you're going to end up statistically with like 40 plus throws and like 18 runs. they ended up in that game miraculously, down 28 to 3 in that game. They ended up with 32 runs and 32 pass attempts.

How the hell does that happen in a game like that? Well, it speaks to, without having watched the game, an incredible patience and an incredible understanding that your quarterback isn't going to be very good throwing the football unless you're running the football too. So they've got to figure out a way to stop the team that is seventh in the league in rushing yards and third in the league in rushing attempts. Because if they don't, then they're going to get golf into that rhythm, into that comfort zone, and you're going to get shredded.

So that's first and foremost, you've got to figure out a way. And by the way, I have confidence in, especially if Chase Young's back, but I have confidence in Washington defensively to stop the run. No, I'm totally with you. I think their team that's incredibly capable of stopping the run, and that does take golf out of rhythm. They're 50% and third down conversions on the league. It's because they've ran the ball so well in first and second down

that they're in third and shorts. And Sean is as good as anybody at moving the change. You think back to, I think one of the years here with Kirk or two of the years, We never punted. I know. I know. And we went punting. I've got some numbers on that, actually.

They've punted the fourth fewest times in the league, 10 punts. Washington's punted 21 times the most in the league. But you're right. When you think back to 2016, when everybody was healthy, and they just never punted. They moved the ball on every possession. Now, that year, remember, they had some red zone issues offensively, but they were second in the league in yards per drive. They were second in the league behind Atlanta that year.

remember in the fewest number of punts. And it's just what they do. Don't you think that that 28 to 3 down, the fact that they ended up with the same number of runs and throws is an amazing statistic? It's incredible. No, it's incredible. And it's Sean's a guy that's going to remain resilient to the run. He's going to stick with the run game plan because that keeps their balance.

Their offense, a large part of it's predicated on run action pass. there's a high run action pass on first and ten situations as anybody over the last couple years and it means you do have to run the ball. All right. What's your next one? Washington beats L.A. if I think the next biggest one is that Kyle Allen plays well. Ultimately, they got to score points on offense. The Rams are going to be able to score.

Now, the Giants held them to 17 points. And I wouldn't be surprised if we could do that, but it's probably more like 24. It just seems to be the way. That said, if Kyle Allen can get the ball down the field and change what the Rams are doing defensively and really ultimately in your first start and you're taking over as a quarterback and everybody's seen this offense now to operate, it will become contagious. You get the ball down the field a couple times and this offense will all of a sudden be in another confidence level. The courage over the middle will be different. And it's going to be predicated on Kyle, I think, especially early in this ball game. They got to get out.

They got to get a couple drives going. He's got to make some throws down the field. And he's got to build confidence back into this offense that I think, larger in part believes if they don't run after the catch, that they're not going to be able to move the chains. Kyle Allen is my other huge key to Washington winning. All right. My next one, it seems, you know, sort of obvious.

But they need to stay close. Like, think about the first four games. They've been behind by double digits in the first half in all four of their games. were down 17-0 and then 17-7 at the half-against Philadelphia. At halftime, it was 20 to nothing against Arizona. They were down 17 to 7 against Cleveland at half-time, and they were down 21 to 10 against Baltimore. Here's a number that actually I didn't even know existed until I found it last night. Washington is second worst in the league in score differential at the start of an offensive drive. What does that mean? It means that there is a statistic kept that says

every time you take the ball on offense, what is the score, and then it's average together? So it gives you sort of an idea of the position your offense is in when they get the ball. Washington's average position score-wise on an offensive drive is being behind by 9.3 points, all right? Only the Jets are worse. I actually love that number because it is a reflection of just the uphill battle that you're facing every week. They've got to stay close in these games. And maybe offensively there will be a difference and we'll see it. But you can't get behind 21-7 and then ask the defense to stay on the field where they've gotten worn down. How about just staying close? Did you like that number? I didn't even know that number existed, did you?

Every number exists. The average score differential at the start of an offensive drive? Did you know that one existed? I have never looked up to that number, but look at some of these stat sites. I love football, and there's some of these stat sites that I look at, like, okay, how do I figure out what they're even talking about? what they're even talking about. Exactly.

Anyway. It takes so much to figure out some of these stat sites. So it's interesting. All right. You're next to Washington beats L.A. You know what? Stay close would actually be really good. At some point, they're actually going to have to do more than that to win.

They're going to have to take a lead. Right. So that would be also a key point. Well, they did in two of their games. they did against Cleveland, and they obviously came back and beat Philadelphia. At some point, you know, closer to the end of the game, like with less than a minute, they're going to have to be probably within the last 10 seconds, they've got to take a lead, for sure. Yeah, well, the best thing to do would be at some point before the actual game ends that you have the lead.

Yeah. Maybe right as the game's ending, have the lead. That should have been the first key. That should have been the first key. Have the lead when the game ends. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That's a big one.

You're going to have to control Aaron Donald. Yeah. You are. You have Wes Martin, Chase Ruea, and West Switzer. Schweitzer's hurt. He's mispracticed the last couple of days. Which is going to make it huge when it comes to controlling him. Bodey.

thinks that West Schweitzer being out is a problem because I don't even know who his backup is. I'm looking at our lads and the depth chart. They have Keith Ishmael, their fifth round pick as a backup center, but you've got no Brandon Sheriff and you may not have Schweitzer this week. I don't know who they'll play. I'm sure they've got somebody on the practice squad. They're not going to just maybe John Allen goes both ways this week. Yeah, that would be cool. He should know. He's watched a lot of Aaron Donald film, I'm sure. He should know as well as anybody what Donald's going to do.

Right. I bet just Switzer plays. You liked Schweitzer last week. You thought he was good. I thought Switzer was really good. But controlling Aaron Donald's going to be big. And in doing that, it's not just in the past game. They're going to have to find ways to run the ball.

And so in Aaron Donald's seen every single thing up front. He's been trapped. He's had pulling guards. He's had every double team you can possibly see. He's disruptive. and in looking at Aaron Donald, you can't let him wreck the game. You can understand, you can find ways to manipulate it, but he can't let him wreck the game. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing.

Like, you know, a lot of football fans understand, a lot of our fans understand who Aaron Donald is, but let's just emphasize. He is the biggest game wrecker in the NFL defensively, although, man, was Khalil Max something else last night? You have... Well, Max, incredible. Aaron Donald's incredible. But if he wrecks the game and then you start putting on Kyle Allen with anybody else in the middle,

it's like the one thing Kyle Allen is not great with is stepping up in the A gap or moving inside the pocket. And so you got interior pressure. So if I'm playing Kyle Allen, I'm going to put great interior pressure with Aaron Donald. And then I'm going to have somebody coming off his right side knowing he's going to flush right. and all of a sudden we're in a game plan that we're struggling with. I hope I don't have to sit here and say to you, we need 142 yards on screen passes this week.

Well, it's really funny that you just said that, because I heard what you said about Kyle Allen and what your expectations are for this week. And I personally was thinking about the Rams, the fact that they have pressured the quarterback really well. They've got nine sacks in their last two games. By the way, number 69, Sebastian Joseph Day, watch him, because I watched some of the giant game,

He's really, really good. Really good. They're not going to have more likely than not Micah Kaiser, their linebacker. That'd be a big loss for them. But I really was thinking, Cooley, that I think we're going to see a lot of get the ball out quickly using the pass, the swing pass as sort of an extension

to the run game, bubble screens. I think we are going to see a lot of that, even with Kyle Allen this week, because of the opponent. I think in part you might see some of it because it's what you've been doing and it's how you've been operating on offense. But I think at the same time, this is my hunch. If I'm Scott Turner and I believe that I can't get the ball down the field with Dwayne, I want to get the ball down the field.

I understand that. But you also want to win the game. No, no. Don't get me wrong on this. There's going to be a game plan to get the ball down the field. It's just going to be, can we handle that rush and Aaron Donald? to be able to get the ball down the field. And if we can, we're going to get some plays down the field.

You know, the thing, the other thing with the Rams that you got to remember is they're pretty good in the secondary. Yeah. Jalen Ramsey, hello. And the guy Jordan Fuller's good. Yeah, they have some corners that can absolutely play. The safety they drafted a couple years ago, what is his name? Reynolds, I think. Yeah.

Yeah. He's good. So they can make plays in the secondary as well. What is that? No, it's Josh Johnson. We're 43. His name's Josh Johnson. I like Josh Johnson.

I think he's a pretty good player as a safety. And Jordan Fuller is the other safety, and I think he's all right. I think Fuller's pretty good. He's made that team, and he has started. You know, he got drafted. What round was he drafted in? He was a later round pick, I think, from Ohio State. He is a rookie and he's played a lot so far, and I think they like him.

I was reading some of the transcripts from McVeigh's press conference. Press conferences this week. By the way, offensively, you know, we know Cooper Cup is a problem. We know that they've got the tight ends with Everett and Higbee, etc. They've got running backs in Henderson and Cam Acres. If he's back, they can catch the ball and run. Don't forget they also have one of the best left-tax. and football and Andrew Whitworth.

And then you've got, you know, Woods and the kid from Florida. I don't know what he's done this year, but I remember Van Jefferson is a guy that I would have loved that Washington to have taken at some point, the big receiver from Florida. I don't know what he's done for them. He's got like five or six receptions, I think. So he hasn't done a whole lot.

You mentioned tight ends Higby and Ebrit. That was kind of one of my last keys to stopping the rounds. It was rhythm of Jared Goff. And you mentioned the run game. Higby is a guy that only has 13 receptions so far this year. But I've watched Higby grow because I've watched the Rams so much over the last few years. And I think Higby's a really versatile tight end. And we've struggled with matchups against good tight ends.

Right. So Higby to me would be another big key. Like the Cooper Cup Higby dynamic, that to me is kind of the key if you want to shut on the passing game. They're going to run woods on the fly sweep stuff. They'll have the run action pass where they hit them in the middle of the field. It's not so much it get deep over the top offense right now, but they operate really well. And they'll just undress you down the field between eight and 20 yards. If you get, that's the rhythm. That's the golf rhythm. Like he gets into that mid-range rhythm and you're like 12-yard play, 14-yard play. 16-yard throw, run after the catch for

27. You're just watching this game like, come on. I'm just going to gut it. You know, it's funny. I've got in thinking about golf and the rhythm that he gets into, I didn't have this as one of my skins beat Rams if, but if Ryan Carrigan doesn't fall for every bootleg, like how many times over the years have you said, hello, Ryan, the quarterback's got the ball off that zone stretch fake bootleg. You just ran right by the quarterback, right? Don't call for bootlegs. I got two more things real quickly.

Number one, this is another, I'm heavy on the numbers today, and I don't know why, but Was there easy? Well, I just started, I got, I went into a deep dark hole last night. Third down, you've already mentioned that the Rams are fourth in the league on third down conversions hitting on 51.9% and Washington's dead last on third downs offensively, converting just 33.3%. I mentioned the fact that the Rams just don't punn it and Washington punts it too much. Hopefully that'll change this week. The other thing too, and I mentioned this to you last week, that Washington is next to last in yards per drive. The jets are the worst in the league.

you've got to use your offense at some point here soon, and this will help keep the games close. And the truth is that last week's game was nearly close at halftime, if not for the big plays, the fumble, the miss field goal, the one Jackson run and the fake punt. You've just got to move the chains and to keep them off the field, because as good as I think they are defensively, and I think they will force the Rams to punt more than they have been used to punting. But there's just, you can't have a game be a long game where they are dominating time of possession and they're putting up 40 to 50 yards per drive. And even if they're not scoring seven, they're getting a field goal or they're flipping field position.

And you're going an average of like 18 yards and then punning. You can't do that. Third downs obviously are huge. By the way, defensively, I think Washington's eighth in the league now in third down defense, There's one other thing I wanted to mention, and I promise this will be it for the numbers. Do you know that Washington's the worst in the league in starting field position after a kickoff? Their punt and kickoff returns have been non-existent, but their kickoff returns are the worst in the league. They have the worst starting average field position after a kickoff.

Let's just hope that the Rams kick every single ball out of the end zone and we can start at the 25. because when somebody, whether it's Isaiah Wright and it won't be Sims Jr., tries to return it, they get it to like the 12-yard line on average. Why would you even think they're going to, if you're playing somebody and they were dead last in yards per return, would you kick it out of the back or would you high hang one to the two-yard? I try to high-hang one to about the one. Yeah, of course I would. Exactly what you'd do.

Let's stop them at their 14-yard line. Last week, they averaged 15 yards per kickoff return. That's really hard to do. By the way, last night, Cooley, total change of subject. We don't need to talk about kickoff returns anymore. You know who one of my favorite players in the league is and has been Cordell Patterson. He's such a great football player. He just does everything.

Like he's in the backfield, he's a receiver, and then there has been no better kickoff for Turner in modern NFL history, recent history, than Cordell Patterson. average 39.7 yards per return last night and almost each one of them taking it five yards deep and bringing it out. He's he is a football player. Yep. Patterson. Anyway, it's nice to have, it's funny. It's like there's two or three guys every year. He's one of them almost every year. There's more than that. There's five or six that change games. It's funny. It just takes a good return man most of the time. It takes a fearlessness too. He comes out and he really reads blocks and finds the seams, but then he is not concerned about getting hit hard.

Like, he's flying there. Kickoff returners, it's funny. How many guys you see start tiptoeing, like, they don't want to get blown up. So you can't have guys like that returning it just because they're not going to fumble. Exactly. It's, I don't know. All right, let's finish up. It's got to be scary.

It's got to be scary to do it. Let's finish up this show with a smell test and a lock of the week. Right after I tell you about MyBooky.ag, if you're looking for a place to wager this weekend on any of the baseball or the NBA finals tonight, by the way, I like the heat plus the seven a little bit. Not a smell test selection. I just think they're going to keep it close. I think they'll fight till the end tonight. And then obviously a big college football day tomorrow and a big NFL day. Go to MyBooky.org.

please, if you don't have a site, you should absolutely set up an account at mybooky.orgie. Using my promo code, Kevin DC, if you do that, you're going to get 100% deposit match all the way up to $1,000. So if you open up the account with, say, $300, they'll give you another $300 to play with. You can do that all the way up to $1,000. If you've already got a place you're playing, know that MyBooky's lines or as sharp as anywhere else. Their pricing's fair. You're going to get paid. They're reliable.

They also have a bunch of contests going on. They've got a $100,000 super contest for only a $10 entry, and they're giving away $5,000 in cash prizes every month. MyBooky.ag, use my promo code, Kevin, D.C. Kevin looks where the John Q Public is putting their cash and does the opposite. It's time for the smell test. Cooley, Cooley just basically,

before we hit the record button again, just said, I know you're going to take it your smell test. You're going to take this team, that team, that team. And he basically nailed it. But we won't spoil it. But he's figured me out, which is good. You know what it means? It means I've taught you well, young fella.

I've taught you well. I have learned your ways, and I know what you're doing. And I like what you're doing. So, well, last week it worked. And I wasn't going to do it on the air. But last week it worked, seven and five, first winning week of the year. It's been a rough week, year so far, 13, 19, and two overall. Long way to go.

I gave you guys the bears last night plus the three and a half as a strong lean. Of course, I wish I'd give out as a smell test pick. I played it personally. But whatever, it was a strong lean. Hopefully you played it. It does not go down as an official smell test pick. Let's start with tonight. Georgia Tech is plus five at home against Louisville.

It is one of the two biggest public plays Louisville is of the college football weekend. Just take Georgia Tech on general principal plus the five. The line's gone down a little bit. There's some sharp money on tech tonight. Louisville's not as explosive as they've been in recent years. Tech's had some bad outings. this year, which means that the public's off of them. That's why you've got to wonder why the line is so short.

Take Georgia Tech plus the five. I mean, they lost at Syracuse two weeks ago in their last game, and Syracuse stinks. Take Georgia Tech plus the five tonight to get your weekend started. Next up is tomorrow, and this is a real tough one for me, because it goes against actually what I think in terms of evaluating a specific player. but Texas A&M is home against Florida. I love Florida's team offensively.

They're not as good defensively as they have been. I love Dan Mullen as a coach. Those of you that have listened for the last couple of years know that I've been very high on him and the Florida program getting back to national championship contention under him. And they are. They're number three in the country right now. They're undefeated. Kyle Trask, to me, is an NFL quarterback.

And yet they're only laying six and a half at college station against Texas. A&M tomorrow in an early start game. The reason... You've got to buy the half point with A&M to get it to plus seven. A&M's the pick on general contrarian principle. The world is on Florida, and nobody's on A&M. So I'm going to take A&M, but I'm going to tell you right now, Kellyn Monde, who has been there, it seems like a long time now,

Kellyn Monde is one of my least favorite quarterbacks that apparently the scouts love as a potential NFL quarterback. I do not see it at all. Every time I've needed him to do anything in any game the last couple of years, he stinks. Like, I don't get it, Cooley, at some point before the draft, you'll do a breakdown of the quarterbacks. And Kellyn Mons, one of these guys that's got like, you know,

a second to third round grade. I've seen some people project them end of the first round. I don't see it at all. And yet tomorrow I will be rooting for Kell and Mon to prove me wrong and to at least keep it close enough against Florida and Kyle Trask. A&M plus six and a half tomorrow. Tomorrow night, Miami is catching 14 at Clemson. The public likes Clemson. Why?

Because you rarely, rarely get Clemson laying less than like 28. All right. It just is so unusual that you get Clemson. Clemson laying 14 or less. And so they're pounding Clemson. Miami's good. Manny Diaz is doing a great job. King, the quarterback transfer from Houston is the real deal.

Miami's good. They are good. And here's an example. The games they've played so far this year, Clemson, they were 27 and a half last week against UVA. They were a 50-point favorite against Citadel. They were a 34-point favorite against Wake Forest. You know, going back to the non-playoff games, 29 over UVA last year, 27 and a half, 35, 34, 48 and a half.

Like, you just don't see a regular season game. You don't see a game in which Clemson isn't playing LSU or Bama in the final four where they're less than like 28. So people are all over Clemson. I'll take Miami plus the 14 as a go-against public selection. Let's go to Sunday, and Cooley pretty much predicted most of them for me. But he missed on one. Oh, because I wanted to leave it for my lock of the week, and I know what it's going to be, and I know who's going to be a part of it.

Washington is a smell test pick plus the seven Sunday at one o'clock. I've given Washington out many times over the years, either as a smell test pick or in a game where I'm giving the other side. And I don't have the exact numbers. I did like two years ago, but I couldn't find it. But I think I'm like 65, 70% on games involving Washington. I know that sounds outrageous and it probably is a bit high. But I have a clear cut winning percentage, like in the low to mid-60s minimum on games involving Washington in the smell test,

for or against. I had them in the opener against Philadelphia. They won the game outright. I like them Sunday plus the seven. I don't know how they're going to do it. I mean, look at the Rams. Like they've beaten three NFC East teams, and that's it. Those are their three wins.

They struggled to beat the Giants last week. There is a lot of sharp money on Washington. It started even before the benching of Haskins, and then it came down even further. Seven is a number that's perceived short by the public. I'll take Washington plus the seven. Next up is a game in which, which I'm very surprised at this point spread,

but it really, I think, is an indication of how good this team is. Indianapolis is minus one at Cleveland. Now, you know, the at, by the way, doesn't mean anything, obviously, in COVID-19, 2020, where you don't have any fans. By the way, I think it's 50-50 home versus road wins this year in the NFL are pretty close to 50-50. But the Browns have won three in a row.

They rolled up 49 points last week against Dallas, and the Colts are just sort of, you know, plucking. They're chugging along here with old Philip Rivers, a quarterback, one of my favorites. They've got Taylor from Wisconsin in the backfield. Jonathan Taylor is playing well. They got some new tight end that I've never heard of, Cooley, that's getting numbers this year. You still have Hilton, but what you do have apparently in Indianapolis is an outstanding defense. They are the scoring defense leader so far through four games.

Now, part of that is the opponents that they've played, but they've really shut down people. I mean, they're laying points against Cleveland. They're the favorite team in this game. I'll take Indianapolis minus one. The public likes the Browns. You remember who one of my favorite head coaching candidates was last year, right? Frank Reich. Oh, no, no, Eberfluse.

Matt Everflus, the defensive coordinator for the Colts. I've watched a lot of the Colts on defense, and I think he does a tremendous job, and I think he's done a tremendous job with lack of talent. And I thought Everflus was good. He'll probably get a shot this year. By the way, you know, all the grades on, from multiple places, that Quentin Nelson is essentially the best offensive lineman in the league.

Quentin Nelson's incredible. Yeah. And the center is also, yeah, the guy that we wanted to draft, and then he went one pick before us and panicked and took Josh Josh. It was not one pick, but it was like three or four picks before, but yeah. It was not, it was two, I think two. I think it was very close. Whatever.

By the way, their defensive star is Darius Leonard, who had his breakout game, if you recall, against Washington's rookie year in the home opener when Indianapolis came in here and kicked her ass. And DeForest Buckner is a monster right now. Imagine if he were still in San Francisco this year. Yeah, they're good. So I like the Colts laying a point. Here's one you're going to have to hold your nose on. And I understand this won't be easy. And a lot of you laugh at my fondness for the quarterback that's going to get the start on Sunday because Sam Darnold is out.

But the Jets are getting a short number against the Cardinals at home with my boy Joe Flacco getting the start for the Jets. The Jets are absolutely horrendous. And that's why you have to wonder, how is the line only seven in this game? And the public loves the Cardinals. So I'll take the Jets plus the seven. The 49ers are laying a big number this weekend to the dolphins. The dolphins have been really interesting. They have had chances.

They had a chance last week against Seattle. They had a chance against Buffalo. They had a chance against the Patriots in the opener. And then they blew out Jacksonville. Like they've actually been decent. I'm surprised the numbers as big as it is. And so is the public. Believe it or not, they're taking a big dog in this game.

I'll take the 49ers laying the nine. And then the last one is the same. Sunday night game. The Vikings have been good to me on the smell test. Forget about the cousins thing. The Vikings have been a major anti-public play two weeks in a row against Tennessee two weeks ago and against Houston last week. I gave them out two weeks in a row both times winners. And they're a seven-point dog and the public thinks it's too short against the team that may be, if not the best team in the NFC, one of the two best, if Green Bay is the best. And nobody thinks Minnesota can compete Sunday night at Seattle. The Vikings are my last play plus the seven

against Seattle on Sunday night. I think Seattle's defense is hurting. Minnesota offensively is better than most of you guys think that don't really like cousins. They've actually put up ridiculous numbers. They throw the ball down the field big time. Now, maybe under the lights at Seattle, no crowd. Maybe he'll soil himself as he's done on occasion. against that team in particular. But I like them plus the seven. So recapping, I like Georgia Tech plus five tonight, A&M plus six and a half by the half point to plus seven tomorrow. Miami plus 14 tomorrow night.

And then Washington, the Colts, the Jets, the 49ers, and the Vikings. All right, let's finish it up with your lock of the week. And then just a couple of guesses on what happens with the Washington Rams game. What's your lock of the week? So I feel as good about this game as any game that I've looked at this season. I think Minnesota plus seven is a crazy line based on what Seattle's done and all the points that Minnesota's given up. But it was really funny. I was texting with one of the Vikings coaches this week.

And it was an offensive coach, obviously. And the conversation was ultimately like, this is a really good place. This is a great staff. this is a group that believes in himself. We have the number one rusher in the league in Dauvin Cook, who is exceptional. You look at Seattle defensively, they give up more yards than anybody in the NFL,

believe it or not. And they've been banged up on defense. And Minnesota can move the ball. Kirk will take shots down the field. He's really good against teams that want to play a little bit more zone coverage. They can run the football. I think Minnesota has a chance to just win this thing outright.

And actually get back into contention to be that last wild card spot, at least what it looks like right now. I love Minnesota in this game. I think they surprise a lot of people because I know they've been horrible on defense, but so is Seattle. So I think Minnesota plus seven is a great look. You know,

it also fits your world. Who on that staff are you talking to? I mean, it was not, it wasn't, the conversation went as such. How is your family doing? How's life going?

Right. It wasn't like, hey, what's happening to Minnesota? It's a friend. Yeah, I'm looking through their thing, and I can't identify it. But that's fine. I just will point out that the last time you had Minnesota was against Indy in their worst offensive game of the year. And you said, Kirk loves zone coverage, and they played a ton of zone coverage.

And that was the only game that he really struggled in. They also were, you know, they got possession to death. in that game, but he was not good in that game against Colts. Now, they had a lot of drop balls. Remember, we talked about that? They had a ton of drop balls in that game, but still, that was his worst game, maybe, as a Viking. Yeah, no.

There's one other game that I really like. Okay. And this takes all vagus odds, contrarian belief, out of the equation, and it goes into what Zave would call it Zav metric or just what I've watched. forever forever. When a team fires a head coach at some point in the season, they tend to play really well the next week or two weeks. They do?

So you like Houston? So I love Houston minus five at home against Jacksonville, who I really don't think is a great football team. And I think Houston ends up scoring some points. Like I'm playing Will Fuller this week on my fantasy team. Yeah, you're right. I should Bodie take Houston. I'm going to go with Minnesota.

But Houston, I just, this was a game. This is a game I'd look at. Just because go back and look, you could go back and look this up. Coach is fired in season, see what the percentages that they covered the spread of the next week. I'll bet it's high. I'll bet it's high. I'll bet it's high. Not just that, just outright wins.

I'll bet it's high. Well, think about this. And by the way, Bodie, if your dad bets on Houston, it's possible that Christmas won't be what it usually is this year. When Jay got fired last year after the New England game, the next game was the Miami game. The worst team in the league at the point. But Miami covered in that game, right? Washington, I think, was a slight favorite.

Weren't we like a three-point favorite in that game? I don't know if we were a favorite in that game or not. Well, I can look it up right now, and I'll be able to tell you. We were both defeated at that point, but they were playing. If they had played Fitzpatrick that week, Miami would have been a favorite. If Fitzpatrick had played one more series, they wouldn't have won the game. If they would have started it that week,

they would have been a favor. But no, it's just a weird thing. I'll bet you Houston blows Jacksonville out. Never know. It's not my luck of the week. My log of the week is one and two and one right now. So I got to get back to even. Minnesota's going to be the team that does it.

Right. All right. Real quickly, your prediction on Sunday. I think that it's closer than people think. And I think it's probably more low, low scoring than people think. I think this Washington defense ends up getting after Jared Gough.

I think that they stopped the run. I think even late in the game where they've struggled in some possessions, that there's more balance on offense for the Redskins. So defensively, they're more consistent later in the game. I wouldn't be surprised to see Washington have a chance in the last possession to win or lose this ballgame. To me, it would look something like 24, 21. Oh, my God.

Other. Were you listening to the show this morning? No. It's exactly my final score prediction. Seriously? Yeah, I swear to God. Swear to God. My final score prediction this morning on radio was Rams 24 to 21.

All I have to vouch for me is Bodie as we drove to school, but we watched, what do we watch, Bodie? The Monster Machines, right? What show did we watch in the car? Yeah. Blaze. Yeah, we watch Blaze and the monster machines. Awesome. All right. Um, I, I'm, you've got an interesting weekend there by yourself all weekend with the kids. Uh, what are you going to do? We are going to go to the pumpkin patch today. That sounds like, my daughter's in school till 1230, which is actually great here. School here on Friday gets out at

1230. It does. People like, yeah, and that's not because of the COVID stuff. It's just people like to do things on the weekends here. they let everyone get an early start. There's also, I think, for a lot of sports, more travel here. It wouldn't be uncommon to have a three-hour drive to play a division game in all sports. So they have more travel. And, yeah, and if you wanted to head out on Friday, I mean, the other thing is, like, if you want someone to work for you or do a job, don't call them for any time on Friday,

because they're in the mountains. Oh, Bill's up hunting this weekend. They'll be back Monday morning now. You can call my Monday. Right. You can't reach Bill either because Bill, you know, might have his cell phone, but he's not reachable because he's up in the mountains. It doesn't work.

Yeah, it does not work in the mountain. So we'll get some stuff done around here. Well, enjoy the pumpkin patch. That sounds like a fun day. Thanks. I'll talk to you on Monday. Cooley and I'll be here Monday recapping. Kyle Allen's first game as Washington's quarterback.