The Kevin Sheehan Show - Maye vs Daniels

Episode Date: November 14, 2025

Kevin opened with a reaction to an emailer that echoed others who believe Drake Maye might be the best quarterback from the 2024 class. Kevin had his keys to a win over Miami in Madrid along with his prediction. ESPN's John Keim joined Kevin from Madrid to discuss the Joe Whitt Jr. demotion, Jayden's current possibilities for a return, along with his thoughts on Sunday's game. Jay Gruden jumped on with his Commanders-Dolphins preview and pick. Jay also had his "NFL Lock of the Week....he's hit on 4 of his last 5 on this show. Kevin finished up with 8 "Smell Test" picks. Kevin's "Smell Test" is 76-45-8 ATS this year. For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match Want to spruce up your lawn? FastGrowingTrees.com 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 Sheehan Show, here's Kevin. John Kyn from Madrid in this opening segment, Jay Gruden will follow John, and then I'll finish up the show with eight smell test picks, including one for a college game tonight. The show's presenting sponsor is always, Wind Donation, 86690 Nation or Windonation, dot com if you need new windows. I'll have my keys to a win over the dolphins in Madrid coming up here in a minute or two along with my prediction for Sunday's game. This email to open up the show, it comes from Dan. Dan writes, Kevin, I love that Jaden Daniels is the Washington QB today and for the

next decade. I also love everything about him as a player and a person. Let's also be honest here. At the moment, Drake May is currently a legit MVP candidate and is playing the best ball of any quarterback from the 2024 class. I won't say I wish we had taken May over Jaden, but what Drake May is doing this year without a top 15 wide receiver or a top 10 tight end is more impressive than Jaden's rookie year, and he seems equally as impressive as a leader and a winner. I think both quarterbacks will win championships if they have the talent around them and they stay healthy. But would you agree that as of today at this moment, there is a legit argument that May has the brighter future? FYI, I'd still take Jaden Daniels. Thank you for that, Dan. That's a reasonable

way to approach the conversation about the 2024 quarterbacks, especially the conversation about Drake May and Jaden Daniels. I will answer that specifically, that email specifically here in a moment. I did want to mention if you missed last night's game, the Patriots, I mean, they are rolling. They beat the Jets, who, by the way, may have the worst pass offense in this passing era of NFL football. Justin Fields can't do it. I mean, of course, we've said that about so many quarterbacks. and if he gets with Sean McVeigh in two years or whatever, who knows.

But the Patriots last night, 27 to 14 to go to 9 and 2 on the season. They've won seven games in a row, eight games in a row, excuse me, eight games in a row. Last night, Drake May and the New England offense, you know, functional, not spectacular like they were at times against Tampa. I mean, that Tampa game, and there were a couple of rough moments, I was really impressed with May against Todd Bowles' defense. Drake May 25 of 34 last night, 281, a touchdown, and then Trayvion Henderson.

How about him as a rookie, a guy we talked a lot about heading into the draft, 19 carries 62 yards, two touchdowns rushing, and then five catches, 31 yards, one touchdown pass reception, three touchdowns on the night for Trayvion Henderson, who, by the way, in the last two football games now has five touchdowns, five touchdowns in the last four days, or five days or whatever it is. All right, back to Dan's email. So a couple of things. Number one, if we're going to do the comparison of Drake May this year and Jaden Daniels last year, let's just get a couple of things squared away. Number one, May does have a top 15 wide receiver this year, at least statistically.

Stefan Diggs is eighth in the league in receptions. He is 12th in reception yards. As a comparison, Terry McClorn, Jaden's number one last year, was 19th in receptions and 15th in reception yards. Not to mention that the overall New England team, now it's been done against a very weak schedule. I think everybody understands that, and Washington had the benefit of that kind of of his schedule last year. Now, New England's schedule is going to ultimately be a much

easier schedule than Washington faced last year in pure numbers. But Washington, as we know, got really good fortune facing some teams that didn't have their starting quarterbacks, etc., including a game late in the year in which Jalen Hertz went out and Kenny Pickett came in early in the game. But there's a massive difference between the Patriots this year and Washington last year. The Patriots have the number one rush defense in the NFL, and it's not even close. Now, again, the teams they're playing matter, but Washington couldn't stop the run at all last year. They were a terrible run-stopping team last year, and defensively right now, New England is allowing, listen to this, 84.7 yards per game on the ground, that is six

yards better than Houston, who's number two against the run. In the traditional, you know, yards allowed number, the Patriots defense right now, third, sixth, seventh, eighth. So, yeah, not to mention, you know, they are from a points per game standpoint, they are allowing the fifth fewest points per game. Part of it is the schedule. There's no doubt. But when you can shut down the opponent's run, and by the way, you can run the football yourself, and with Trayvion Henderson, they are really starting to do that at a pretty high level. You know, they lost Stevenson and Antonio Gibson. Gibson's a big part of their rush attack as well.

But I would disagree with you and say that actually this Patriot team around Drake, May. And I don't know that we knew that to start the year, that's for sure. But every year's a new year, and now they have played 11 games so far. And I would suggest and even debate using some of the information I just gave you, especially the rush defense number. And look, Diggs is a much better separation guy than Terry is. Diggs has been a receiver. I know he's older and maybe Terry is right there with him and has been, but Diggs is having an exceptional year. By the way, I read something last night before the game. Did you know that the Patriots didn't, they didn't want Diggs as much as they wanted Chris Godwin in free agency?

And Godwin took less money to stay in Tampa. And so they went after Diggs next. Diggs is having, you know, a really good year. Again, eighth in receptions, 12th in reception. yards. So they do have a top 15 wide receivers statistically. Hunter Henry, by the way, I don't even know what his numbers. I didn't even look at that. But, you know, great, great offense with Josh McDaniel, great scheme. You know, it really does matter for these young quarterbacks. Jaden getting with Cliff last year, I think was a huge blessing for him. But look, in terms of the larger, you know, argument here, you know, you go back last year. not one person would have said anything other than the skin's got it right.

Jaden's the best of the class. And his season was so otherworldly for a rookie quarterback that he certainly appeared to be as he was in every preseason list, you know, discussed among the top quarterbacks in the game. I love Drake May watching him. He is not only can he do. everything. Well, he is super smooth. Like there is a calmness and a poise to him in watching him. And I've watched a lot of him recently. Look, he was not my guy coming out of the draft. You guys know that.

Jaden Daniels was. And I actually liked Michael Pennix Jr. third, you know, with Caleb Williams. I liked Drake May. I certainly thought he should be a high draft pick, but he was fourth for me among all of the quarterbacks. And, you know, one of the things we talked a lot about, you know, when it came to Drake May and emphasized this was not a Sam Howl clone. He's just much bigger than Sam Howl. And by the way, you can really see that with the tiny receivers he has. I don't know if you guys have noticed that.

You know, Drake May's 6.4, 6.4 and a half, something like that. And the receivers he has in the huddle, you know, Diggs is the tallest receiver. Well, Mack Hollins is actually the tallest. receiver. But DeMario Douglas is what, 5-6, 5-7? I mean, legitimately, I'll pull up his height. I know he's like 5-7, I think. And then you've got the guy that I loved coming out in the draft last year, Kyle Williams from Washington State. He's probably, all right, Williams is 5-11, okay? That's stretching it. And DeMario Douglas is 5-8. When you see him in the huddle with Diggs and Douglas and Kyle Williams, he just towers.

over those guys. I really like Drake May. I like him so much more than I thought I would like them. You know, this is the quarterback thing. These are the hardest ones to get. Actually, they're all hard, but this is really hard because most of them don't work out. But I like the way, Dan, you approached it

because it's like, I think I said this with Tommy yesterday or maybe earlier in the week. Hey, you know, this isn't like a choice. Nobody's asking you to choose right now. And the truth is that it's very possible that they're both great quarterbacks in the future. And maybe someone else from the class will be, too. Look at the football that Caleb Williams is playing right now. You know, in carrying, not carrying, I shouldn't say that.

But in certainly playing well enough to be a part of a team that's won six out of its last seven to get to six and three in Chicago. You know, Bo Nix has taken a step back this year, but there was a lot of positivity towards him. J.J. McCarthy out of the class is the one that no one really at this point has seen enough to say, okay, Minnesota may have gotten it right. But again, it's way too early, and he's played so few games. And Pennix Jr., he's played some good games, he's played some bad games, for sure. And that's a little bit disappointing for me, because I actually, think the system and the talent around him in Atlanta that he could be having a really, really good season, but he's been just way too inconsistent. And surprisingly for me, he's been

inaccurate. That's not really what the issue was in college. But Drake May is so impressive. So impressive. But I can't, I'm not, I'm going to tell you right now, absolutely he's a legit MVP candidate. Absolutely it's legitimate to have the conversation between May and Daniels. It's also a bit early to come to any conclusion. But for both of those guys, Daniels and May out of that class, they have certainly shown the upside that you hoped you were getting when you picked him, where the others at this point really haven't displayed that quite yet. Yeah, by the way, May takes a lot of sacks, and he takes some sacks in which he really takes some big hits, but so far, so good on the durability, so far so good with the supporting cast

and with Josh Daniels and Vrable. It's a great situation, no doubt. And like Jaden benefited last year from kind of that weaker schedule. The Patriots are benefiting from that too. But I'll tell you what, like I felt last year about Jaden, even with this schedule, I'm like, my eyes are not deceiving me. I know what I'm watching. And I feel that way about May. You know, last night wasn't like a spectacular, you know, game.

Like they were, you know, scheming up short, easy throws. He went, I think, 11 for the first 11, maybe 12 of the first 12. And they were easy throws, but still he throws a great ball. a smooth ball and he works the pocket he's got great feel he is and he's got the mobility so yeah i'm very very very high on may now not as high as you know i was not as high on him coming out but in watching him this year i think the patriots have one for sure uh let's see what happens when they get into some big games against buffalo later in the year and look they're going to be in the postseason. There's no doubt about that. Let's see how he performs in the playoffs. Because,

you know, that's like the box checking. We did at the end of last year. It's like, all right, Jaden mobility check. We knew that. Deep ball check. Intermediate ball check. Short ball with touch check. Pre-snap, post-snap, check, check, check. Leadership check. Clutch factor check. And then it became about, okay, well, how does he, A, deal with adversity? And he dealt with that three-game losing skid. Now, I think the adversity he's kind of going through now is the first legitimate adversity for him. But then how will he perform in games that are massive? The Philadelphia game obviously was unbelievable for him to bring them back against that defense,

throwing five touchdown passes. The, you know, strapped to his back game against Atlanta to clinch the playoff berth. And then, of course, the two spectacular playoff games against Tampa and Detroit on the road and a pretty good NFC title game. They just were terrible on defense. But, yeah, look, it's, I wouldn't say as of this point that Drake May looks like the guy that's going to emerge as the the quarterback from the 2024 class with a brighter future. I would not say that.

I would still say Jaden. Why? Well, because as great as Mays has been this year, we haven't really seen Jaden this year. Five and a half games and none of them really with a full supporting cast. And the truth is, a terrible team on defense in support of him. And May's got, you know, again, number one rush defense, some good receivers. You know, for a guy like him, you know, and I feel this way about Jaden, they got drafted into good situations, New England with Vrable and Josh McDaniel, a great situation.

But they still would be showing a lot in other situations, even if they weren't as advantageous from a coaching or scheme standpoint. And I know a lot of you believe that the scheme for Jaden now, after last year's elite-level offensive play is not the right system. I disagree. I know, you know, I had a call today about, you know, Jaden should be under center. Look, it's, I prefer the Shanahan-style offenses. I do.

I prefer, you know, what Mike and then Kyle and Sean and Kevin O'Connell and Kyle and, you know, everybody runs. And I think Jaden would be great in that offense. But I went back and pulled some numbers from last year. Like the best play action, you know, under center quarterbacks were Goff and Darnold last year. Stafford is in the pistol a lot, but he was under center a lot as well with Sean. But the top RPO quarterbacks, Jaden, Mahomes, Hertz, Borough, and Jackson last year. So, you know, you can do it a lot of different ways.

There isn't just one way that's right for a quarterback like Jaden Daniels. or for, you know, a lot of these quarterbacks. If you've got that kind of ability, yes, there are perhaps systems that are better than others, but those that feel like Kingsbury is the issue right now, I just can't agree with you. I don't know how you can evaluate anything as far as this team goes this year with all of the injuries. I'll end the injury talk with that. All right.

Sunday morning. in Madrid. So let me just mention, I'm not going to come in here like I did the last two weeks and tell you how great the opponent is. Seattle and Detroit were bad matchups. The Seattle matchup in particular was a terrible matchup for Washington. And the Detroit matchup was, look, the defense is going to be in a terrible matchup situation the rest of the year, I think, even with Quinn calling the plays. Miami is not Detroit or something. Seattle, I think we know that. They're a three and seven football team. They have won two out of their last three games, and they beat Buffalo last week, 30 to 13 a week after Buffalo knocked

off Kansas City. So they are playing better. Here's what Miami does have. They have speed on offense. Waddle, Devon A-chain, I don't know how they're going to keep him under a buck 50. Seriously. That's a bit of an exaggeration. He had 174 last week against Buffalo. And as an edge rusher, it's another Shanahan-style offense, right? Quinn has struggled with that. Already this year, they face several of those and they have struggled. And I can just see Devon A-chain on the edge just untouched. I can see him, you know, in an inside zone, on an inside zone run to the second level before being touched. He is breathtakingly fast. Jalen Waddle is open from the moment the ball is snapped. The separation, the speed, the respect you have to have

for it. And look, Tua, he is, he's streaky. But in that offense, Tua can be good. He can be good enough. Tua is a, you know, kind of a shorter quarterback. I think, you know, that's one of the things you've kind of learned about Tua at the NFL level. Balls get tipped, you know, he didn't see it all the time as quickly. They turn it over more than anybody in the league, 17 turnovers on this season. He's got 13 interceptions right now through 10 games. He had three a few weeks ago against Cleveland.

Now that's Cleveland's defense, okay, not Washington's defense. But, you know, when you have the scheme that they have, and you have the speed that they have, they're capable on offense, very capable on offense. Now, I don't think they're a very good defensive team at all. And when I say that, especially compared to what Washington has faced the last three weeks with the Chiefs, the Seahawks, and the Lions, especially the Chiefs and the Seahawks, really especially the Seahawks. So I think offensively there's a real opportunity this week to get it done. And I feel good about Marioada.

Mario da Gives our team a chance. He is an excellent backup. And in this system, a really solid, you know, starter when they need him. And I thought he played well last week, gave him a B plus A minus. Souter said he was an A, highest graded player in the game. So against, you know, a lesser defense than the one he faced against Detroit and the one he faced against Kansas City, I think offensively they can have a big day. So here are my keys. The keys to beating the Dolphins Sunday are, number one, offense, offense, offense.

The rest of the season, I think it's been for the last several weeks. The way you're going to win games is by keeping the football and keeping the defense on the sideline. You have to do that. You have to be able to keep and possess the football, and you've got to treat each drive as if it's a game-winning drive with the game on the line. You're a four-down team now with the defense you have. Not fourth and ten from your own 15-yard line,

but fourth and one from your own 29, like they did a few weeks ago against Seattle when Zachert's had the fall start? Sure, absolutely. You've got to do it offensively. How can they do it offensively against Miami? I think they can push Miami's front around a little bit and run the football this week. They tried to do it with heavy personnel early in the game against Detroit. They had some success, but not really.

I think they can run the football again with Marioada as a part of it. Whether it's Rodriguez, Bill McNichols, I don't really care, but you've got to run the football. And then you've got to, and this is key number two, you've got to convert on third down this week. They were two for 10 on third down last week. That's just not good enough. And there were reasons for it. You know, there was a third and 15 checkdown. You know, against Seattle, they were six of 13 on third down.

You know, they had close to 300 yards of offense against Seattle. I hate to even count the last two games offensively. Really, the Kansas City was the last game that didn't get sideways score-wise because the defense was so horrifically. bad. It's hard to really evaluate these games when every single time you put the defense on the field, the other team's going to score. They're almost guaranteed to score. I'm worried that could be the case Sunday morning, although, you know, Tua can make mistakes and they turn the ball over. But third down conversions, you got to have third down

conversions, you know, on Sunday 2 for 10 like they had last week against Detroit is not going to cut it. They need what they had against Kansas City. Remember the Mario to start in which the game was competitive. Seven, seven and a half. Look, they didn't score a lot of points. Seven points didn't enough, but they were seven for 12 on third down. And in that game, before the second half, they had a time of possession advantage in the first half. Have to have that. Next up, I don't think this is a possibility, but somehow you have got to set the edge. The outside zone, you know, I thought Seattle would take advantage of it as a team that hadn't run the ball that well. They did.

Detroit obviously did with Gibbs. And, you know, Achein can do the same thing. I mean, this could be a buck 50 minimum. And if it is, I think it's going to be a long day. Like, they got to keep him to five yards or less. per carry. I know that's insane, but they gave up nine and a half yards per carry to Gibbs last week. And he had seven and a half yards or seven point nine yards per carry against Buffalo. Keep them to something less than five yards per carry and you got a shot. You got to tackle

well. You got to set the edge well. I don't know who they'll do that with. They don't have anybody to do that with. And then I think you got to go get toa. I don't care that you're taking a chance with Waddle against man coverage or against even zone coverage. But the thing about Tua is he will make bad throws under pressure. He'll also, because he's a shorter quarterback, he'll get some balls batted down, he'll get some balls tipped. I think you've got to go after him and die on that if you don't get there. And I don't know that they will get there.

I'm very concerned, as you can tell, as all of you are, you know, hardly a big reveal, that defensively they just can't stop anybody right now. And Miami's good enough offensively to light them up, no doubt, which is why the offense has to be on the football field for the majority of it. And then lastly, yeah, the dolphins are prone to a dolphins game, even though they've played better here recently. Like I said, they lead the league in turnovers with 17. You got to get plus one plus two on Sunday.

You know, you can't be. even or minus, not with this defense. And look, it may not be defensive forced in terms of the turnover that you get or the two that you get. It might be two of just making a terrible decision and a terrible throw. That happens. Or a ball gets tipped at the line of scrimmage. And, you know, Jordan McGee picks it off. And with his speed, runs it back. You're going to need some of that stuff, you know. And that, you know, all kind of is involved in, you know, You can't be the team making mistakes. We've talked about this for a while.

To possess the football, you've got to be like last week, penalty free on offense for the most part, drop free, turnover free. But to me, it's all about can they against this lesser defense for the first time in several weeks? Can they possess the football? Can they run the football? Can they move the football? I think they can. I think they can. And that would be the way to keep this game close.

Because I think when Miami takes the field, unless they, you know, soil themselves, which they do, you're not going to stop them with the players that you put on the field on Sunday. Final score prediction. Close game. Washington loses 29 to 28 on a Riley Patterson 50-some-odd-yard field goal at the gun. Riley Patterson, remember, was the pre-season kicker last year. for Washington. All right, let's bring on John from Madrid. John Kime is with me.

At John underscore Kime on X on Twitter. Everybody knows John. John's covered the team longer than basically anybody in the market has for many years now at ESPN and ESPN.com. So we'll talk some football here in a moment, but give everybody a sense of what the vibes like in Madrid. Are they excited about football for the first? time in Spain? What's the Washington fan presence look like? What have you experienced this

week over there? Well, so it sounds like there's a big turnout here. And, you know, it's funny because I was hoping to go to one of their fan fest today, but they've been at the same time their practices were. But I've seen the crowds. I've heard about the crowds. And I was talking to there's a guy, Tony Wade, who came in from Dublin, and he happened to be at the practice. and he was telling me, like, his flight from Dublin was packed with Washington fans. So, and I've seen pictures from the rallies and stuff, and there are a lot of fans here. Like, I would bet if you said, okay, how many people came, you know, Washington versus Miami fans? I'm going to guess it's like four to one, and that might be conservative.

I've seen Dolphins fans. They're at a hotel, but so I think there's a pretty strong presence. And you keep in mind that people were booking. these things way back when we all thought like the record would be, might be reversed right now. But good showing, good showing, I would say that. So this

stadium, you know, whenever these international games happen, things like field conditions end up being a big topic. So have you had a chance to, you know, be inside the stadium, check out field conditions? Is anybody

concerned, will tell us what you've seen or heard? No, it's an It's a really, really cool stadium because, first of all, it's a retractable roof. And this is a stadium that these guys had toured, too, when looking for what they won in the stadium, along with obviously a lot of others. But you almost have to tour this one because, I mean, it's a state of the art as you get for a stadium that was built in 1947, but they have the, they have real grass. It's retractable roof, but they take care of the grass is like six stories,

No, six or four stories underground. And they can store the grass underground, and they do what these, like, there's like six different sections of it that you, with these. People need to Google it. I don't know if I'm smart enough to convey what it looks like, but it's pretty cool.

And you get these little levers in the field shifts and it drops it down and the other one shifts, and they can take care of it underground via AI-controlled things. They can tell if it needs water, can develop, it needs sunlight, the temperature is too much for it, all of that stuff. So it is, it's real grass, and it looks pretty good. The one thing they had to do, Kevin, though, is they had to lengthen the field.

So you had to lengthen the home of Real Madrid for those that don't know. Correct. Right, I'm sorry. That's important. And it's right in the middle of the city, too. Yep. So it's really, it's kind of cool. So, but they had to lengthen the field by 5, well, 1.5 meters.

that's, you know, I guess that's about five feet I was told. Yeah. I'd either end. The width was fine, but the length they had to get that. So they had to crack into the concrete, you know, to move it. You know, they've done a lot of work for this thing. But you think that the playing conditions, the field conditions, will be okay, because we see that with all the London games.

Okay. And retractable roof means weather won't be a factor. Correct. But, you know, I was on the edge of. the field, right? Like, I wasn't out on the field, so, and they haven't practiced on it. So I don't, you know, we'll see what it looks like. When I was there, they were painting, they were applying to paint on the numbers and the sideline. So, yeah, so I, but I think it'll be okay. I mean, it's worked for Real Madrid, so I don't know. But I know, like, they've talked about, like, different, there's

some different surfaces here, but anyway, we'll find out. And it sounds like it will be, you know, in terms of the traveling U.S. fans, it'll be more Washington fans, but there will obviously be a lot of just NFL fans and Spanish fans in the crowd as well. Because doesn't the stadium hold like 80,000? It's 80,000, almost 84,000. When they did the London game, you know, back in 2016, you basically saw, like, fans from every team show up. Because they just want to see American football. So if you're an American, I will say, like, I was talking to some local reporters, and for local sports fans, there's not a whole lot of buzz. Like, you see stuff set up.

I think it's really, it's a very targeted audience right now. And it's the first game here, obviously. And, like, one guy was like, you know, the only reason they knew Tom Brady here is because he was married to Giselle. So, you know, it's not, so it's not like getting this huge buzz, but it is for, you know, if you're an American football fan, but that's a otherwise, I don't know that you're, I don't know how much you're going to capture the average person.

because I wonder, too, like, does Jay and Daniels' absence hurt that? They don't know a lot of the players here unless you're really a devout American football fan, and that's who the ones. And if you're a Washington fan, it kind of matters that Jay's not playing. Yeah. All right, let's talk some football. All right.

Did Dan Quinn have a choice, do you think, on Joe Whit Jr., or had it just gotten to the point after the Detroit game he had to do something? I think it got to the point you had to do something. I think we all know that. And they tried to do a lot of little changes throughout, like, the way certain things, how they practice, changing up this schedule, changing up that. You know, Joe went down to the field. Nothing was working. So, yeah, I don't think you had much of a choice.

And I didn't think they would make the change at D.C. Although if he had made this move and then they had a really bad game Sunday, then you wonder what would have happened. I think because of the way you do this move, like, Witt is, you know, we talked to him today and he's like, nobody can like this. I think he's put a good face on it. And I think he, you know, because he has a good relationship with Quinn

and they've worked together before, I think it's easy to slip back into that role. But, yeah, I don't think you had much of choice. The problem, Kevin, I think everybody knows, like, what can really, how can it really be affected or impacted? by this. You know, I just, I think that's going to be tough. And, um, you know, that's the tough part is can, can this move? There's so many guys out and they weren't playing well even with all those guys in. Yeah. Uh, you know, it's not too early now in this season that is three and seven

and going the wrong direction, just to think about with respect to a position we now know will be available. Have you given it any thought as to defensive coordinator possibilities? No. You haven't. Not yet. Not yet. This week, it's been just surviving here and just getting through this. But, you know, there are going to be some guys that could be very interesting. I think we know that, but not, not yet. I think next week I'll have a better chance to do that. It's just, it's really, it's really kind of weird, not weird, but it's, when you're not on the East Coast, you realize how much everything revolves around the East Coast. So it eats up a lot of time doing other stuff And so I haven't focused it on that All right

We're going to keep John on a bit longer Because I want to get into some Jaden Daniels talk And also get John's thoughts about the game on Sunday We'll do that right after these words From a few of our sponsors This episode is brought you by prize picks Football season guys is so much better with prize picks My favorite daily fantasy sports app

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It would be much appreciated. Following the podcast is a big deal for us as well. Just hit the plus button or the follow button. We continue with John Kime from Madrid. Do you have a hunch at this point when Jaden Daniels will be cleared to play again? No, no. And we knew that it wasn't bad, right? It was certainly not as bad as it looked. I don't know. The last week, what I know is he's safely going to the facility still and going there early and getting his work in.

That's what I know. And so, you know, last time we saw him, he had the brace on at the game. And so I don't know. If I, this always kind of felt like a three to six week thing. So when that happened, we'll see. And as you know, they're kind of guarded with the injury stuff. Well, do you think there's a chance? Do you think there's a chance he could play against Denver Thanksgiving weekend?

I think that would be difficult. And, you know, I think the other part is, do they win Sunday? I think that plays into it at some point where here's the other thing, Kevin. And I would have my doubts on that only because I think I'd want to, that's a really good defense. I think I'd want to get them another way. Yeah, the Denver defense might be the best they face all year. Yeah, exactly, exactly.

But I think the other part, the other, here's the other question. if, let's say he was healthy for Denver, that's what, six games left. And I know there are going to be a lot of people who say, just shut him down. That's a lot of games that shut someone down. I'm not saying that. Are you saying that? No, no, I don't. No, I have it.

I think people will say that. I agree with you. I think people will say that. But I think that would be absurd if he was healthy to shut him down. I think that's a lot of games to shut him down for that. And I think the other problem is that you're going to see a lot of guys in the locker going like, you know, hey, I'm out there doing this. That's always the, and I'll tell you, the number one guy who wouldn't want that is

Jake Daniel. But the thing I always wonder is, like, if there's three games last thing, you're completely out of it, well, that's a different story. But, you know, if there's that much time left and he's ready, then, yeah, I mean, you could certainly see that, but I just don't know at this point that he'll be ready that fast. Was Terry McClorn at the game Sunday against the line? Yeah, he's been at the game. Okay.

That's been a full controversy. He has been at the game. Got it. Okay. Sticking with Jaden, you know, you and I have talked about this a little bit, not on the air, but off it. But I just want you to let everybody know, what I've let everybody know. Has anybody, John Kime, who's covered this team longer than anybody has, has anybody out there in Ashburn, lost any confidence in Jaden Daniels? No. No. No. No.

Yeah. No. That's the end. No. Yeah. But you know that there have been people that have said, well, I mean, look at Drake May. Look at Marcus Marriota. I mean, there are people that have really kind of fallen into this while last year was just a total aberration. I mean, I've chalked it up to sort of the, you know, post-traumatic Snyder syndrome issues that we, that we, that we, that we, that we, that we, that, that many have, but there isn't anybody people in Ashburn. They know why the offense has struggled. Yes. Let me say, I'm going to be very clear on this.

It's not because he's always in pistol or shotgun. Right. It's not because he's had this major sophomore slumped. It's because what's hurt them the most is not having guys to throw to. And there's no explosiveness on this offense right now. and there are times that he could have been better that you can't, you know, I'm not going to deny that. And I think he would say that too, for sure.

But it's like, this summer was not a good one for the offense. And you can point to two reasons. And there's two players. It was Terry and Noah Brown. Neither one was there. So they never had a rhythm. And it's, you know, I know, like, well, they had all these reps banked last year. And as Cliff Kingsbury frustratingly said, late in the summer,

you need time on the field together. They've barely had that. So, like, that's a, it's a huge reason for it. And, again, like, you know, I always thought, like, if there was a regression, because they're playing a hard of schedule. Not even aggression, but if the numbers went, were different, right? But the numbers aren't dramatically different from where he was at if he'd say on the field. So I think the injuries are the number one thing you come out of this year.

You know, I'd say worry but concern, like, you know, can he do a better job protecting himself as far as the scrambles go? And can you do that a little bit less? Like, I know that that's something they want to talk to him about and will and have. But, you know, you could get hurt on your seventh scramble. You could get hurt on your first one. You know, at some point he's going to run because it's what he does. And it's part of why what makes him dynamic. So you don't want him to stop.

But there are times where they're going to go over this hard with him and just like, here are times where it looks really good. And here are times like, just throw it away. and the play he got hurt, throw it away, or really hand it off. But, you know, he's the ultra competitor and he's trying to score in a game where they're down by that much. And, like, who doesn't want, like, can you be more careful?

Yes. But who doesn't want that kind of a mindset? You know what I mean? So anyways, the answer to the whole thing is a concern, no. So how about this one? Do you think that there's any concern about Cliff Kingsbury is the offensive coordinator. I think you'd have to go back to what we just talked about

and just say that. They never, they didn't have a single snap all year where they had all the 11 projected starters on the field. That includes Sam Cosby, of course, because we have it. So, like, that makes it difficult. Now, if it's not Cosmy and you have the others there, well, then it looks different. But, you know, I don't know that I can look at this offense

and say, because for a while, You know, through the Chargers game, even the Bears game, it looked all right, despite the ins and outs. Yeah. And since then, it's been like, look what's happened since then. Like, we haven't seen Terry it in weeks, you know, one game in how many weeks. Debo, Debo got banged up. We, yeah.

And then, banged up, hurt them, too. And then, and then also, because then there was a distinct time where defenses started playing them different, and it was right when the bear is the Bears game on. They played them differently. And so, like, that's benefactor. Now, I think you can look at that and say, are there things that they could do better with this offense in this situation? Yes.

Like, they're not good against man coverage, and part of that is you need guys who can win against man coverage, and they don't have a lot of them. Look, like, the roster for the receivers on Sunday is going to be Devo, Jalen Lane, Chris Moore, Jacoby Jones, and, oh, Robbie Chosen. Like, I mean, what do you? you're going to do? And so, but are there, can you incorporate more motion and rubrout

into that offense to create better situations against that coverage? Can you do, like, can you do more? Like, they are absurdly low with the under center snaps. Can you do a little bit more of that? Well, yeah, you could. So there are definitely things that he could probably do, that he can do better or do more of and maybe tweak it a little bit. But I think it's hard to act, I think it's hard to adequately judge when they were doing pretty well through the Bears game and then all this stuff is hit and it's like, okay, well, who's the guy on this offense where you say like, this is who the defense is worried about. Yeah, not to mention they played one person right now.

Yeah, they played three excellent defensive teams and the scores got sideways quickly because of the defense. So all of those things. And I'll tell you what, like, that's the one, that's the one fun thing lately, Kevin is just watching those defense, how disciplined and good they are in multiple ways. And, like, that's a thing that should jump out for these guys is, like, how can you get guys to play like that? Yeah.

We've seen, actually, in many ways, the return of some really good defensive teams in the league this year, and they are winning games. Yeah. So, man, I love watching them. So, yeah, for sure. So let me ask you a question I asked callers today, because I had an email. Mailer basically say, this season's lost, move on. And I said, that may be true. And I think it probably is. But what positives can we take out of the season? So I'll ask you, John, what positives,

at least through 10 games, and we've got seven games left? This isn't the end of the season yet. We still have seven games left. But what positives do you think we're going to be able to take out of this season? You found a left tackle. You have a left tackle in Miami-Tum, so he's been really good. I think then the other positive will be, how does Josh Connolly finish? Does he progress more? I thought he had a really good game last week against Hutchinson when he was

mass against. It was only about nine or ten times or so, but he did a nice job against him. So how does he finish? He's a, like, I like his makeup, and I think I can see him being a good right tackle. some point, but when? And so I think that's something, because then if he does that, then you can look at the lines and say, okay, you got the line for Jay and Daniels. You have the quarterback.

You still have the quarterback. So that really, it's not, if he had gone out there and, first of all, if he had a worse injury, but if he had, you know, looked really bad, then you'd have to say like, oh, geez, well, that wasn't the case, right? So I think you can look at the line and say, you know, while they certainly need some improving in some areas in the office, you can look at this line, say that should be the group next year as well, if they re-sign Chris Paul. Trey Amos is a good corner.

I think that's a positive. I think, you know, I think Kim Laude has done a nice job. Payne has had a nice year. I don't think, you know, neither one of them have had Pro Bowl years. They need a guy. They don't have that kind of guy up there. I think Doran's Armstrong, even though he got hurt, looks good. But there are things that you can point to individually and say, you know,

you got this. You know, but, I mean, it's just really hard, you know, I think if they, depending on how they finish, you can you, what, you've been building, you're not going to build off a strong finish because it's going to change, right? We know it's going to change. But can you find some more guys? Like, you need to see Johnny Newton have a good finish. You know, we need to see him flash more.

You know, George McGee, does he do? a little bit right. So I think, you know, Jayland Lane, you know, he should be getting more time as a receiver with all these injuries. So, you know, we'll see. But I think, oh, you know, the other one, too, and this is the other one that I'm intrigued by down the stretch, is Traylin Burke. And I don't, like, he had a nice game last week.

I'm not going to sit there and say, oh, my God, but if he could he develop into a 35-catch guy for you next year? Right. You know, like, that, like, he could be the kind of guy that's a lot. How many games is he going to miss? That I don't know. You know, it's not long. Yeah, but he had the best wide receiver performance of anybody in weeks last week.

Yeah, and what I liked is, like, you know, there were, it wasn't like he was getting like these, you know, just killing guys at the line and getting open like that. But he uses his body well, and they think his focus was pretty good on contested catches. So he gave you something, like, okay, let's see more. Because you know that there's some talent there, let's see more. And so, like, if he finished his strong, like, okay, you got a guy that can fill out that, you know, you have Terry back, you know, you get Lane and McCaffrey, this guy, and, you know, but you still need that. You keep Devo Samuel, you know, but I still think you need another guy there, a high-end

guy at that spot. Well, you nailed almost all of mine. The offensive line to me, I think we, Tunsel was a 10 out of 10 in terms of the acquisition. Now, you're going to have to pay them in this offseason. You're not going to go into 27. into 26 with him being on the last year of his deal. And to your point, you've got to pay Chris Paul, too. And there may be a little bit of a market for Chris Paul.

Who knows? But I think then it depends on what you think of Coleman. Yeah. But I think they're going to, I think, you know, I think the durability is, I think a little bit of a concern. Yeah. All right. What happens Sunday? It's just, it's so hard to see because, it's, you know, Miami is actually like, with Achen and then Waddle, that's, they have some speed.

And that's a difference, like, which team has playmakers right now? They do. Like, these guys, there's nobody on this team right now that, now, I think the one, there's a couple of things you have to look for it. Miami turns it over a lot. So, like, that's something. Can you get some turnover, get some points? Their defense has played better, but it's not great. So can you do something with that?

Like, if they can at least move the ball and get going, it's okay. And the funny thing is, when I was at the stadium the other day, Kevin, they have, like, you know, they put up the stats, doing the test around the stats and score, and they have the score at 34-34. And they have, like, Washington with, like, almost 300 passing yards, but they also have the dolphins averaging 6.2 yards per carry. I'm like, yeah, I can see that. But that's the thing.

And the thing I'm curious about with Quinn is how does he impact coverage? Like, are you, I know they've paired it down, but I think they're going to limit how much they actually put in the game plan. And, you know, to the point where like, if this isn't working, don't put it in. So does that help them? But I'm watching Waddle when I'm preparing for this, you're just running by. dude. Like, it's not about, you know, miscommunication. He runs by you. So you can do all these things. But I would say this, like, I'd rather see that than more busted coverages and more guys

wide open because, like, what the hell is? Well, not to mention it'll happen quickly, and you can give the ball back to the offense. There you go. But you like on a fourth, you know, you don't want to see a fourth and one where somebody's open by 10 yards. Like, you know what I mean? Like, you mean, yeah, you mean, yeah, like last week with, um, with, with Ram's. On these guys' offense, I do think they can move it. The dolphins have put more pressure on, you know, they put a lot of pressure on Josh Allen last week. But if you can kind of contain that, they don't have this great pass rush. But if you can contain that, you have a chance to move the ball a little bit.

And if you can do that, you have a chance. But I just don't like, I just don't have trust in this deep. defense that with they have six starters out like yeah i just don't i don't know how they stopped yeah in miami's i don't know how they stop anybody i mean if they if they like i said in the open i i think achain he went for 175 against buffalo um you know gibbs last week was at nine and a half yards per carry if if they keep him around five yards per carry that would be a big win um it is Yeah. The hard part with him is that, like, I was watching that game,

and, like, there's three yards, four yards, four yards, four yards, three yards, 59, 35. So, like, that's the problem with him is you think you're doing a good job, and it's like, boom. Yeah, and it happens on the edge a lot. Yeah. All right. Yeah, that seems to be a problem for this team. All right, great job. Appreciate you doing this.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend. I'll talk to you when you get back. Thanks, Kevin. John Kime, everybody, from Madrid. We'll get to Jay Gruden right after these words from a few of our sponsors. The holiday season is approaching, and guys, I've got a good gift idea for you. It's called Storyworth Memoirs. It might sound a little intimidating, but it's really easy, and the people you give it to will love it.

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football season, the former head coach of the Washington Redskins, Jay Gruden, who is on fire with his NFL lock of the week. He's hit on four of his last five on this show. You were reluctant last week to give the Lions out. You said, I really want to give out Detroit. And I said, we'll go ahead and do it. And you were almost asking for permission to give out the team that was playing Washington, which I granted you the permission. You took them, and that wasn't very difficult, was it? It was not. You know, Detroit coming off that loss, you know, Dan Campbell taking over, play calling. The writing was on the wall. So, yeah, it was a, and Detroit's a very talented team. I mean, we know how good they are with the skill they have on offense, and I know

they're a little bit beat up on defense, but it's hard to keep up with that offense. If you're the offensive coordinator, Morton, and Campbell says, I'm going to take over play calling, right in time for the Washington game. I mean, whatever Morton would have called last Sunday would have worked, right? Yeah, it's not like they were inept on offense with Johnny. I mean, he had pretty good games early as these. I think they put a 50 spot out somebody and a 40 spot out somebody else. They struggled the last two or three weeks with them, especially in past protection.

I don't know why that's Morton's fault. But yeah, I think we'll see how Dan does here later to season. The schedule gets tough, especially with the people of the teams are getting ready to play. Have you ever seen a team more inept defensively right now than Washington is? Yeah, Cincinnati. Yeah. Yeah, Cincinnati's pretty inept. So there's a couple of teams like that that are really struggling on defense,

and unfortunately for Washington, they're one of them. But Cincinnati's not very good. Pittsburgh had their games, or they were pretty terrible for a couple of games, but it's just hard to explain it. Unfortunately, I don't do really anything very good. They don't rush a pass are very good, and they don't tackle very good. that's the biggest issue. If you don't tackle, you don't rush a pastor. You're going to have major problems.

What did you make of Quinn finally pulling the trigger and demoting Joe Witt, Jr.? Not a whole lot. You know, it's probably Coach Quinn's defense anyway. Joe Witt probably just called it. So I think, you know, it's tough for coaches to do that. A lot of heat coming down from the fans and all that stuff. I think it had to be done, but I don't know if there's going to be a lot of change because, hell, it's his defense, right? He's a defense a coordinator by trade. I'm sure he just didn't turn over the defense to

the coach's stuff over there and have nothing to do with that. I'm sure he had a lot to do with it still. I don't think there'll be a lot of difference. Unfortunately, they just don't have a lot of people that can rush a passer tackle. So you don't think that there's going to be much of a difference with Quinn calling the defensive place?

I don't know how. I don't know where they're going to manufacture a pass rush. Jacob Martin and Bond Miller on the edge guys, you know, last year they did it, you know, they had Armstrong and a couple other guys, a fowler, and then Louvo was able to blitz a lot and be effective, and Wagner were able to blitz a lot, and they had decent cover people, so they can't hold up when they did blitz right now.

They can't really hold up. The secondary can't hold up if they blitz, and they can't get home with a four-man rush. So I don't know what they're going to do. I know Coach Quinn would like to play a lot of cover two and stuff and stump the defense line with a lot of movement. Hopefully that'll, you know, give them a little spark, so to speak, but eventually they're going to have to cover and tackle this Devon,

eight-shan guy. Yeah, he's getting the ball early and often. Yeah, he's rather quick. Quick question about Duran Payne. You were the head coach when you guys picked Duran. Duran's had some good seasons. He's had some seasons that haven't been so good. It's been a bit of an up-and-down career.

His best looks great. His worst doesn't look good at all. Last week he got tossed from the game. I'm assuming you saw sort of the aftermath of, you know, Amon Ross St. Brown actually was the one that instigated at punching Duran first. But what has been your overall opinion of Duran as a NFL defensive tackle? I think he's a hell of a player. I really do. I think he's solid. I just think he is underachie from what I thought he would be when we drafted him. I thought he'd be a dominant player because he could

play all over the defensive line. You know, he could play in any kind of system you want a 3-4-over-under- whatever he wanted to do. He could gap penetrate. Not a great pass rusher, but he's powerful and can get a lot of push. So I thought he was an effective run, very good run player. I don't know if it's stamina lately if he's gained weight or he's not quite as effective long-term throughout the game. But I always liked the Ron. I thought he's a damn good defense alignment and the one that is one of the top guys in the league. I don't know what's happened to him as a plate. Good locker room guy or just average?

How would you describe that part of it? quiet guy. He's a quiet guy. Good guy. I've never had any issues with Dron. Yeah, I like Duran as a person and as a player. Was that a draft? I think you've told me this before, that there was pretty much universal agreement in the organization that Payne was going to be the guy at 13 in the first round of 2018. It was Vita Vaya or Payne, and Vita went right before us. So we were going to take Vita drop to us, but he went right to Tampa Bay right before us, so Payne was the obvious choice. I mean, you're watching in college. He's pretty damn good. We talked to Saban about him. He had good things to say about him, obviously, and he watched

his bowl game. He wrecked the Georgia game himself. So yeah, we liked him a lot. Yeah, and it was back-to-back years of taking, you know, defensive tackles, you know, in the trench defensive players because the team was not very good defensively, and it was older. What are the challenges of playing abroad? You did it in London in 2016? You know, just to travel and time change and all that stuff and getting your schedule and you still have some important days of practice uh Fridays are a big big day of practice I don't know when did they leave did they leave Thursday I think they know they left earlier this week they left earlier but yeah just getting filming and you know there's a lot of preparation involved as you well know for coaches and to get

your office set up and the video guys are in a crunch they're trying to get everything set up in the meeting room it's just different it's not as comfortable in your own setting and And then you've got the time change. Coach's schedule is already screwed up. It really gives like five hours, four hours of sleep anyway. Now you go with this time change. It's a nightmare, especially for coaches. For players, it's probably not that bad.

But coaches, I hated it. That 2017, the 2016 game, you know, that's your team's playing pretty well. And it was one of those games. We've talked about this season a lot. But a few kicks by Dustin Hopkins in the season's completely different. And that was one where he shanked one from about 30 yards out in overtime. What do you remember other than that from that game against Cincinnati? I remember late in the game. They called an awful PI offensive PI. He's running an under route and he caught it for

gig of 25 up in the Cincinnati territory. He caught off at the PI. Pac-Man Jones was playing cover too, and he jammed him and bailed. So the referee thought he pushed off. But Pac-Man just bailed. It was the worst call ever. So instead of first down at the 30 going in, We had like second in 30 or second in 25, and I think we ended up putting that drive. So, yeah, we had a pretty good offensive plan. I was excited to go against Cincinnati because I was there, and I had a good familiar with the concert, Mike Zimmer scheme, and we put up some pretty good numbers against them.

We had a good plan for him, and unfortunately, that game was one. We should have won that damn thing, but got a tie, got a tie. Yeah, it was a tie. It was a 27-27 tie. I remember the next day saying it felt very much, like a loss because it felt like it was such a winnable game in so many spots you just mentioned to play. In that game, by the way, both teams combined for nearly a thousand yards in the game. You guys had 546 total yards of offense, 458 through the air. You guys were unstoppable throwing the

football that day. All right, let's talk about Sunday. You know, three and seven, five game losing skid. The last four, all by 21 or more points. That hasn't happened in 23 NFL seasons. They've been absolutely, you know, ravaged by the injury bug this year. And they get the dolphins. Before you, you kind of give me your thoughts on the game. I know that this was not a draft that you were in preparation for, but I'm curious, did you do any work on Tua heading into that 2020 draft? Did you have an opinion on Tua heading into that draft or not? Yeah, I did.

I like to go to college. I would not have drafted them. I didn't like him that much to draft him for a second or third round. I just thought he was a little bit undersized, and his arm is not going to overwhelm you, and he doesn't have a great athletic ability, and I just didn't think he had a trait that was exceptional. That makes sense. I thought he was pretty good at everything, but not great at anything.

And, you know, if you're looking for a quarterback, high, you better have great arm talent, pocket presence. You've got to be able to move a little bit, for God's sake. See, I like him. He's an ineffective guy, but I would rather have somebody else draft them than me. Yeah, well, you guys, yeah, you guys, obviously the year before, and we've gone down this path many times, you know, took Twain Haskins, or Dan did in the first round. And then the next year was the borough to a Justin Herbert.

And, you know, it turned out Jordan Love was picked in the first round. Jalen Hertz went in the second round, so it was not a bad quarterback draft when you look back on it now five seasons later. So tell me about Miami and whether or not Washington can pull it off and how they pull it off in a game in which they are a two and a half point underdog on Sunday morning. Well, Miami lost a couple weeks ago to Baltimore pretty annually, but in between there, they beat the hell out of Atlanta. And then last week, obviously, had a great win. So against Buffalo. So I think Miami's a good football team.

I thought early in the season they were soft. Couldn't stop the run, couldn't run the ball, couldn't do anything. But as I've watched them, like against Atlanta and against Buffalo, they've toughened up front. I don't know what the hell it is. And their offense is pretty damn good. This A. Chan and the Waddle guy are tough to deal with. So I'm really concerned about this game for Washington,

how they're going to stop. The one thing about Washington is they have trouble defending backs out of the backfield because of, you know, Bobby can't run as good anymore. And Lou Who's not exactly actually a guy that can cover people in space either. Their great aid or B-Gap players and tacklers and all that stuff, but they're going to run a bucket load of screens of these guys and make these guys cover every blade of grass. And Kwan Martin is going to have to come out of the safety hole, makes him tackle, and he struggled doing that. So it's going to be really, really a tough day for Washington. and I think defensively. What are your thoughts about Mike McDaniel?

I don't know if I've ever asked you about that. Obviously, he was here for the few years before you got here. And then I think after you took the job here, he went with Kyle, right? Where did Kyle go after that? Yeah. I think Atlanta, probably. Cleveland, Cleveland. He went to Cleveland for you. Cleveland, yeah, in Atlanta.

Yeah. So what are your thoughts about Mike McDaniel? Have your paths crossed? No, I don't really know him that well. He's a little eccentric for me. you know, his shoes and his pants up to his ankles or whatever it is. A little weird, but, you know, he's the football

coach. He does a lot of good things with the perimeter screen game. That's what he's really known for. Everybody, you know, thinks he's some offensive genius, but what he does is, you know, he does a good job to protect him, too, or he doesn't have to take a lot of deep drops and throw the ball down the field. He will get, he'll probably give 8-N, probably four or five passes

behind, behind the line of scrimmage. He'll probably give a lot of one or two. You know, he'll get two of eight or nine easy completions, and those eight or nine completion can turn end to either 150 yards or if Washington's on their P's and Q's and dot in their eyes, maybe it'll be only 45 yards. That's what the key of the game is.

He's been a pretty good play caller. You know, he's a lot better when he has Tyreek and Waddle and H.S.N. all together, but he's had some injuries and had some struggles when those guys have got down. And protecting, too, has been the biggest issue for him. Their past protection schemes aren't very good, and two has taken a lot of hits when they have to throw.

When you got hired the coaching staff that was here, I mean, look, we've talked about the Gruden tree before. Obviously, the Shanahan tree was pretty big as well. McVeigh stuck around, but who else was on that staff that you considered? In terms of guys that ended up becoming, you know, the Lafleur's. From the Shanahan staff? Yes.

Really nobody had offense other than Sean, and the rest of them we're going to leave with Kyle. A lot of those guys are really close to Kyle. But we kept Coach First or the line coach, too, where I really liked. Then he got some trouble. he's doing great job at San Francisco in the run game. Those are the two guys I kept, and then I kept obviously Hazlitt and Rahim Morris from the defense side. So, yeah, they had a good staff, but a lot of them wanted us to stay with Kyle, and they

don't want to get away, they wanted to get away from Snyder. Right. What do you think is the issue with Rahim as a head coach? Because every one of you guys over the years have always sworn that Rahim's one of the best dudes ever was absolutely going to be, you know, a solid head coach. Why is he struggling as a head coach? I don't know. You know, he struggled mightily at Tampa. They were terrible at Tampa. And then he's got another opportunity. He's got a pretty good offense. He's got a pretty good group offensively. Yeah. But I don't know. I just think that, you know, I don't know,

calling player, you know, making those game day decisions and game time decisions, real time, are a little bit more difficult for, you know, defensive back coaches. You know, that's what he's really as forte as a defensive back coach. I know he's offensive coordinator for Atlanta for a year, which I couldn't believe, but he did a pre-re receiver coach, but he did some good things. But, you know, he's an all-around good coach. He's really

good. The player, he's a good motivator. You know, he can talk his way out of a jam? He's, you know, he's good. He's just a matter of, you know, can he make those game time decisions? The Pennix, draught in Pennicks, I don't know if that's going to come back to bite him or not. You know, if maybe they should have stuck with Kirk. You know, Kirk look

not very good after his torn Achilles. So I don't know, they've made some decisions and game time decisions that haven't been very good, but he's a great guy, good coach. All right, Sunday, what's your prediction, Washington, Miami? I don't think it's going to be pretty again. I hate to say it. You know, I'm pulling for Washington in a big way.

Hopefully they bounce back. They've had really nightmarish games here as of late, and I think Miami's on the upswing for somehow. You know, they got rid of Phillips, their defensive end, but they're still playing pretty good. I just don't know how they stop them. I think Miami's going to put it out of them, you know, like 35 to 20. Oh, boy.

I hate to say it. How are they going to stop them? No, no. Everybody wants to hear how you really feel. You had Detroit last week. I actually gave out Washington. I was on the other side of you last week thinking that somehow everybody thinks Detroit is going to win and win easily. Why not go the other way?

All right. Let's get to some other NFL games and get your lock of the week. we'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. You shouldn't have to go out of your way to feel like yourself, and Hymns brings expert care straight to you to ensure that happens, with 100% online access to personalize treatment plans that put your goals first. No hidden fees, no surprise costs, just real personalized care on your schedule. For simple online access to personalize

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which the FDA does not approve or verify for safety, effectiveness or quality. Prescription required. See website for full details, restrictions, and important safety information. All right, we continue with Jay Gruden. We'll get his lock of the week here momentarily. He's four out of his last five on this show. But let's just start with last night. Drake May, you say what about him? Wow. He's, you know, you're a real real. really want to see players in their rookie year to their second year player really grow. And that's what he has done more so than any quarterback or any player, probably in the NFL.

That steps that he's made, Josh McDaniel has done a great job, obviously, for able, and they've put some people around him with the rookie running back and Diggs and some other good players on Henry. They've done a really good job to surround him, but Drake has really found a home in New England and really gotten better and better. His poise in the pocket, his ability to run, his ability to throw accurately on the move, he's been awesome. He's probably top two or three guys in the NFL for MVP right now. He's great player.

If I told you that either the matchup between the Eagles and the Packers on Monday night was a preview of the NFC championship game or the game on Sunday between Seattle and the Rams is a preview of the championship game or the game between the Lions and the Eagles is a preview of the NFC championship game. Which of the three is the preview? That's a good one. That's a really good one. I would probably say the lions and the Eagles.

I just think the Eagles right now, they can win a lot of different ways. They can win on a low-scoring game, and I think if they had to throw it, they had the team to stop them, Sequin pretty effectively, they could air it out and throw it if need be. And defensively right now, the Eagles,

they're damn good. I mean, they don't have any weaknesses. They're deep at long. linebacker. They're deep on a defensive line. Their secondary is playing a lot of confidence, so I've got to go Eagles and Lions. What do you make of the A.J. Brown distraction, at least from the outside

looking in. Do you think it matters or not with this championship team? Not at all. I don't think it does. I think that the Eagles just don't blink. They don't care. I mean, AJ's speaking what he speaks, and some of us factual, man, they've got to do better throwing the football. There's no doubt about it for them to have a chance

because eventually they're going to play a defense of line. that's going to stop the run and force them to throw it, and all of a sudden, okay, let's throw it. But I do think they have the ability to do it. I think AJ's got some good points, but I think it's been going on for so long. Everybody kind of looked at, what's a AJ's saying now, and they probably laugh about it. You know, so I think they'll be fine and they can handle it. Jaylor is a stud, and Devante's an ex-hizement trophy winner,

and then Seekwana's a stud, and Lane Johnson and the rest of the guys on the offense base, they're fine. Seahawks Rams This is certainly a matchup of two of the hottest teams in the league Matt Stafford, like you said, right there with Drake May In an MVP race it would appear right now And Sam, Sam, Dan, Darnold too And Darnold as well By the way, just on Stafford real quickly

I mean, at his age playing the way he's playing Yeah, he's a stud I mean, he can make every throw As Sean does a good job of calling plays for him He's got some weapons now. I mean, she's pretty good, and Devante Adams isn't bad himself. They got a good running game, too. Sean's always been a very good, balanced type guy.

They do two tight ends, three tight ends sets. They can run the ball at you. Then they have really good play actions off of it that keeps Stafford from getting hit a lot. You know what I mean? So he gets Stafford out of the pocket just enough to where he feels comfortable, get the easy completions on the low cross, Devonte, the down flat to the tight end, or the high corner to the Ruehs or Puka. then he'll get him some screens and a very quarterback friendly offense

Sean's always called it we've always tried to do that here too so yeah staffer can he can operate it at full tilt man he's got great command of it and the run game and on the past game you know I'm curious like Stafford's one of those guys over the years that has generated a lot of debate among fans you know you've either been a Stafford guy or you're like well you know he doesn't win when he was in Detroit obviously he's now a Super Bowl winner and he's been phenomenal with Sean Is there a quarterback that you can think of during your time in the league that you always loved a lot more than maybe other people in the league

or fans if you were paying attention to sort of the narrative about that quarterback? Was there a guy that you always felt like people don't get it? This guy's really good. Oh, my God. Back in, I don't know, that's a good one. I can't really think one off the top of my head. Most guys are, you know, pretty good. They win a lot of games, isn't they?

Right. It's fine. I thought, yeah. I thought maybe. Yeah. So Stafford's one. I mean, Stafford tells a good story. I'm coaching the Jaguars, and we're in pre-game warm-up,

and I'm, you know, we have one with Mike Glennon and Jake Luton. Yeah. And out of midfield, all I can hear this ball whistling behind. I go, who that? hell is throwing that. I'm watching Stafford. I ended up watching them throw more than our guys. He's so impressive in person to watch him

throw the ball. There's been other guys like that, but he can rip it, man. I'm telling you. Right. Well, like, you know, in recent quarterback conversations, you know, everybody wrote off Baker Mayfield, they wrote off Daniel Jones, they wrote off years ago, Gino Smith. There have been all these guys that have been written off. You know, then there have been

other guys, you know, guys like you've had, Andy Dalton, Kirk Cousins, you know, over the years where there's just typically a lot of debate among fans. Like, is this guy any good or not? And I didn't know if there was like a guy that kind of stood out as, no, no, no. Inside the league, everybody knows this guy is legit good. He's just got to get in the right circumstance. Which, by the way, maybe that's an easier question.

Like watching, you know, Drake May with Josh McDaniel, he's terrific. I'm not saying he wouldn't be doing this in another system. Just how important is it to land with the right coaching staff and the right system? And the right players around you. Yeah, I think it's more so about that. You know, the protection has been great. They drafted Will Campbell. There's a left tackle to give him more protection.

I think Morgan Moses are right tackle, isn't he? Yeah, he is. Yeah, Big Moes are right tackle. So they got the edges secured pretty nicely, and he's able to step up into some throws and having a veteran guy like Spahn Biggs helps out a lot. They got speed with Kyle Williams. They got a great mixture of guys at the back. I know Stevenson's out, but the back is the rookie's pretty damn good.

Yeah, Henderson. Yeah, they've surrounded them pretty good. They play good defense. They don't have to score every time. Josh does a good job of, you know, getting them easy completions in the game. They start out 11 for 11 last night. I mean, that's by design. You know, that's a lot of simple completions that get the quarterback into a rhythm.

And then when Drake has had to make plays in critical situations, he's done it. So I think you've got to give a lot of credit to Josh and a lot of credit to the GM out there. And obviously, Coach Rable for getting the players around them. You have Rable fan? Yeah, I've always liked Coach Brayble. We've always had a good time on combines and stuff, hanging out, talking a little trash. But yeah, he's a good dude, good coach.

The other big game, I mean, I haven't asked you to really analyze any of these games necessarily, and that's fine. We'll get to your lock of the week here shortly. But the Chiefs at Broncos is a massive game in the AFC West. Kansas City is actually a three-and-a-half-point favorite. in Denver on Sunday afternoon. Who do you like in that one? And do you think it's kind of must win for the Chiefs?

I think it is kind of a must win. They'll fall away behind the eight ball. They're going to be struggling to get in the playoffs of the wild card if they don't win this game because, you know, Broncos will have a nice lead on them, and the Chargers have a nice lead on them. So, yeah, I think it is a big win for a big must win for them. I think the Chief will do fine.

I think the struggles of Bo Nix is real. And I think Patrick versus Bo Nix, I'm going to take Patrick probably 99 out of 100. All right. Time for your lock of the week you've been on fire. Four out of the last five on this show. Who do you got? Miami.

Sorry. Louisiana or Minnesota. I like Minnesota at home against the Bears, but I've got to go with Miami on an overseas trip. I think the speed of the perimeter people at Miami is too much for the crew at Washington to chase. I just don't know they have any speed on defense to keep up. with these guys, you know. So I don't know how they're going to stop them.

And I think the key for Washington, though, if they do win, they've got to rush for over 150, 200 yards. They've got to control the clock and pound Miami into submission. If they can do that, they have a chance to win. But, you know, if they have a couple three now, it's enforced Washington's defense to play on the field a lot, and there's no chance. So hopefully they can run the ball. Hopefully I'm wrong.

And Marriott has a big game with his legs and his arm. I don't know he's going to throw to, but he has a big game with his legs and they can rush for 150, 200 yards. Miami minus two and a half is the pick. I can't believe it's two and a half. I'm sorry? I can't believe it's two and a half. I thought it'd be like eight.

Well, it's just two and a half. You know, your formula has to be pretty much the formula for the rest of the year. Like, their offense has to be their defense. If it's not, they have no chance. No question about it. No question about it. It's not like we can't go no huddle and go three and out. I mean, my God. Yeah.

We've just got to be like four-minute drill, you know, every series. I mean, you've got to wait until the play clock goes down to like 10-9 and snap the ball. I know every once in a while I'll go a little up tempo. You know, you've got on third down or something. But I'm telling you, you got to, that clock's got a tick. You know what I mean? You're playing against the Dolphiband. You're playing against the clock.

They took two snaps when they didn't have to at the end of the first quarter against Detroit. And I was thinking, why would you do that? Isn't a shorter game less plays better for you guys? more plays um there's no question yeah all right uh enjoy it this weekend we'll talk next week all right see jruden everybody going against washington for the second consecutive week uh will i go against j gruden for the second consecutive week eight smell test picks right after these words from a few of our sponsors the opposite. It's time for the smell test. My Booky is the presenting sponsor of the

smell test. As always, I am looking right now at the NFL MVP odds at my bookie. Drake May, a slight favorite at plus 242 over Matt Stafford, who is plus 255. So it's a bit of a two-horse race right now for the NFL MVP. Pat Mahomes is back at plus 610. Jonathan Taylor at plus 630 and Josh Allen at plus 770. So those are the legitimate contenders right now. But really, there is separation between May Stafford and then next after those two, Patrick Mahomes. I actually think Matt Stafford has the better opportunity to win the MVP if he continues to play at this level. And the reason being they have high pro.

file games left. The Rams do. The Seahawks this Sunday. The Seahawks again later in the year, by the way, going into the weekend before Christmas, how about the Thursday night game? Rams in Seattle against the Seahawks. I mean, the two games against the Seahawks could determine the number one seed in the NFC. But in addition to the two games they play against Seattle, they have a home game against Tampa. They have a home game. against the Lions. So the Rams are going to be involved in some high-profile games down the stretch. And New England is, you know, in the midst of playing one of the easiest schedules in the history of the league.

We've talked about this at various times during the year. The rest of their schedule, you know, they played the Jets last night. Bengals, next game, then the Giants, then they do have that big matchup with the bills. The bills are going to have to win some games here to make sure. that that game means something. They also play in Baltimore on December 21st, but then they close the season with the Jets and the Dolphins. So Stafford's going to have bigger opportunities.

And if he plays at that same level that he's been playing at, I think he could end up being the MVP. But if the Rams stumble and Stafford doesn't have the same kind of finish to the season that he's had here through the first half of the season, then it could go to Drake May. Still a lot of season left. The Patriots have played 11 games. 11 games the Patriots have played.

But you still have a lot of teams that have played just nine games heading into this weekend, including Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. So they still have eight games left. And look, the Chiefs, if they make a big run, You know, they've got two games left with the Broncos, you know, which will more than likely, I would guess, determine the AFC West. They still play the Chargers at Arrowhead as well. But, you know, don't count Mahomes out either in this thing.

I would guess that Jonathan Taylor is going to win offensive player of the year. It's typically the way it goes because the MVP is a quarterback award almost. And Jonathan Taylor is the heavy favorite. at my bookie to win offensive player of the year. By the way, defensive player of the year, Miles Garrett's a pretty hefty favorite to win the defensive player of the year. Let me just check to see rookie of the year odds. Wow, Igbuka is the current favorite to win offensive rookie of the year.

I would have thought it was Tyler Warren, the tight end with the Colts. Jackson Tart. So Bucca's minus 180, Jackson Darts plus 224, and Tyler Warren's plus 470. Those are the top three, and really the only three in contention right now for offensive rookie of the year. And then defensive rookie of the year, the incredible linebacker in Cleveland, Carson Swessinger, who played at UCLA, is plus 150, and right now a pretty sizable favorite over Abdul Carter and Nick Amani. worry from Seattle. They're both at plus 400. If you want to bet on football, if you want to bet on basketball, if you want to bet on hockey, whatever you want to bet on, my bookies got it all. And they are offering all of my listeners a 50% cash bonus when you either sign up for the first time or you make a new deposit as an existing customer. That is unusual. Existing

customers usually don't get mid-season, you know, cash bonus. offers, but my bookie is making that offer to my listeners. You have to use my promo code, DC Reload, DCR-E-L-A-D, and you'll get a 50% cash bonus at MyBooky. If you're a new customer, go to the kevin-sheanshow.com slash my bookie, and when you're signing up, again, in that promo code section, type in DC Reload. If there's something already, in the promo code section, erase it and type in DC reload. All right, smell test time. Six, four, and two last week.

Got a little bit unlucky with Auburn. Vanderbilt, the game went to overtime. It finished on the number. That was right the whole way. I mean, you know, who's to say it was right the whole way? A lot of games look wrong the whole way and end up winning. but Auburn was right there the whole way. I know some of you let me know that you actually got that number at seven and a half and one.

And then Colorado was painful, man. Colorado lost to West Virginia by seven. I gave it out at six and a half and refused to buy the half point last week with Colorado because there were mostly sixes out there. There were a few six and a halves. When I buy that half point, there are a couple of sevens. and a lot of six and a halves. And there were no sevens to be found,

and there were mostly sixes. So I gave it out at six and a half. They lost 29 to 22. By the way, as it relates to that game, Dion Sanders is honestly clueless when it comes to clock management. They were down 10 late in the game and had all three timeouts left. And they had a fourth down and eight in, you know, very easy field goal range with not a lot of time left.

It's one of those situations where you're down 10. What do you need? Touchdown, field goal, right? You're not going to get a touchdown two-point conversion and a safety to tie the game. You're going to need a field goal. So everybody knows that, you know, on fourth and eight, you got to kick the field goal. Well, he didn't know it, and he left the offense out there. And then somebody from behind him, I'm watching this game very carefully, because

I'm thinking, you know, Dion's so bad at this, he might leave the offense off on the field and let him throw one into the end zone. And then I can get a little backdoor cover. But somebody said something to him. He turns around and then he panics and he calls timeout. So instead of just saying, field goal, feel goal, get out there, kick the field goal, he calls a timeout. So he burns one of his remaining three timeouts that you have to have. so you don't have to kick Dionne's sidekick, and instead he burned it, they kicked the onside kick. They didn't get it.

They lost 29 to 22. I've watched this with Dion going back now a couple of years here at Colorado. He just doesn't understand that portion of the game, and apparently there's nobody there that's handling it for him. This has happened a few times during his coaching stint at Colorado. All right, so it was six. four and two last week, and on the season now, it is 76, 45, and eight. Another winning week, not the nine and one from the week before, but you'll take 60% every week the rest of the way.

And through 11 weeks of the smell test, I have not had one week through 11 weeks where I've had a losing record. Two 500 records and everything else has been above 500. Yes, like I say, every week about those 500 weeks. I know you didn't win money if you just bet my smell test picks and went 500. Understood. But pretty good year so far. And we still have, you know, a lot of year left. Even though the college football season is down, believe it or not, to the final three regular season weeks.

Scary how quickly it goes by. All right, I've got to pick for tonight. I like Clemson plus the three at Louisville. Clemson is coming off a win over Florida State. Louisville lost for the second time this year. Both of their losses by three points to Virginia and Cal. They're still in the ACC race. I love Jeff Brom.

I like Miller Moss in that system. But Clemson is a short underdog, and believe it or not, the public's playing the favorite. Clemson's terrible this year. They're four and five. They have played better recently. They beat Florida State, as mentioned last week. They lost that ridiculous game to Duke, 46, 45 the week before. They're just not a good football team this year, and they should be getting a few more points. I mean, Louisville last week was an 18 and a half point favorite at home against Cal. This week, three point favorites over Clemson. You know, they were 27 points. favorite, you know, a month ago or so against BC at home. I'm not saying that BC's better than Clemson, but is there a 24 point difference? No. The public likes the favorite. I'll take Clemson at home tonight plus the three. Let's go to tomorrow. I like Oklahoma in the biggest game of the day. There are two massive games tomorrow. Oklahoma at Bama and then Texas and Georgia on Saturday night tomorrow night. Oklahoma is a very good defensive team. Alabama,

Bama has a difficult time running the football. I gave Oklahoma out in their last game against Tennessee, and they won outright in that game. Bama right now is, I like Ty Simpson a lot. I think that they can win this game, but it's not going to shock me if Oklahoma wins it outright. And the bottom line is all of the public money in this game is on Bama. And the sharp money leans Oklahoma.

The Sooners can really play some defense. Meteer isn't what he was earlier in the season. Look, he is a smaller quarterback. He's a gamer. He's not really an NFL quarterback, but a good college quarterback. But I like him tomorrow in Tuscaloosa. I think they could win that game outright. Oklahoma plus six is the play.

Texas State. Who? Texas State. I remember a couple of years. years ago right after they became a D1 program. I gave them out a bunch. They looked right a bunch and they just kept losing for me. I think I've been off Texas State for a while. I don't think I've given them out this year. They're getting three as a three and six team on the road against a seven and two southern miss team. Texas State has lost five games in a row and they

haven't covered in their last seven games. They're catching three on the road at Southern Miss, a team that's won five in a row. That number is way too short. There aren't any significant injuries that I could find that should matter that much in this game. So take Texas State plus the three. This was a game, this next one, that right when I saw the number, I knew that it was going to be a heavily bet game by the public on the favorite. BYU opened actually at like minus four and a half, minus five, minus six, something like that. And it's now down to four. There's some three and a half, so you may want to get it quickly. They're playing TCU. BYU lost last week. They got, you know, they got thumped by Texas Tech. TCU lost last week to

Iowa State. TCU's good this year. are underrated. They are six and three. They're three losses. A three-point loss at Arizona State. A three-point loss last week at home in a game in which they led by 11 late. And then there was a punt return for a touchdown for Iowa State. They also lost at K-State. I'm pretty sure I had K-State that week. I think I laid the three with K-State that week. TCU, pretty good. People expecting BYU, who was an undefeated team last week, to bounce back off the loss, especially at home. I'll take TCU plus the four is a major anti-public side. That's it for college, four games, one tonight, three tomorrow. Let's go to the NFL on Sunday and we'll start early

in Madrid. So Miami's a big, big public favorite, and there is sharp money in Washington. The line initially was lower than this. It bounced up. Now it's coming back down. I'm playing Washington at plus three because there are some threes out there. But I now see a lot of two and a halves. And it wouldn't surprise me if it comes down a little bit further before game time. Why, you know, is Miami a major public play?

Well, because Washington is so bad and has been blown out so severely for four weeks. weeks in a row, it doesn't matter who's playing Washington. The public thinks Washington's going to get smoked again, and they see a two and a half, a three-point line, and they're like, it's not enough. I promise you, Vegas didn't make a mistake with this line. I can't tell you how Washington wins this game, like, other than what I described in the opening segment. I don't think they're going to win the game, and I picked Washington to lose, but, as you heard in the open, by a point. 29 to 28 and that would get Washington home as a plus three dog just this is a system play I know I was on them last week and they lost and trust me if they get thumped again Sunday like

if it's a one-sided blowout no matter what the number is against Denver I don't think I'll be able to play them but Washington plus three I'm still you know lifetime on games involving Washington against them or with them, you know, above 60% over the many years that I've been doing this. I've always had a better read on our team than I have the rest of the card, although last week not a very good read at all. All right, three other NFL plays. Jacksonville at home getting three against the Chargers, one of the biggest anti-public plays of the weekend. This makes sense to me. The Chargers, you know, west to east. The Chargers have had a very difficult time protecting Justin Herbert.

He gets sacked. He turns it over. The pressure rate is high. The Chargers are excellent, though, on defense right now. Really good. I could see this game coming down to a field goal either way. Give me Jacksonville at home plus the three. The game that I saw right when the lines came, when I first looked at the lines late Sunday night,

I was like, I'm definitely going to be on the Cardinals. They're plus three at home against the 49ers. The Cardinals were down 35-0 nothing early in the second quarter in their blowout, 44 to 22 loss against Seattle. The 49ers, you know, they have played some tough teams here recently, two of the last three weeks with the Rams and then that Houston game on the road. I think the 49ers are in a bit of trouble. And they need this game desperately, which is why the public's all. over San Francisco laying a short number against the Cardinals on the road. I just think that the injuries are going to catch up with the 49ers, not like they did last year because they were more

severe last year when they went 6 and 11. This year they're 6 and 4. They've lost 2 of the last 3, 3 of the last 5. They're just hurting a little bit in spots. They've got two superstars that aren't playing for them in Warner and Bosa. They've gotten a bit healthier on offense. We'll see about Purdy. Give me the Cardinals plus the three. And then the last game, the Browns are a big anti-public play as well. That lines bouncing around a little bit, but short money at various times here late in the week on Cleveland. I'll take the Browns plus right now, the eight. It's mostly eights everywhere. So eight plays. Clemson plus three tonight, Oklahoma plus six, tomorrow along with Texas State plus three, and TCU plus four.

And then on Sunday, the skins plus three, the Jags plus three, the cards plus three, and the Browns plus eight. Eight plays this weekend. Almost gave out Old Dominion last night. Sorry to tell you that. I did end up playing them minus the 10. They won 33-0. I wait on that all Wednesday night.

I waited for information, and I was told that there isn't really a lot of action one way or the other for many sharps. But it was kind of an anti-public favorite last night against Troy. Some of you probably were wondering if I was going to give out a game last night. Almost did. Look, I tell you when I am about to give out or almost gave out something that ended up losing. I feel better when I don't give something out and it loses. I prefer that. Now, last night I didn't feel that way because I personally

Behold Dominion. All right, that's it. Back on Sunday after the game in Madrid. Good luck.