The Kevin Sheehan Show - Mike Shanahan

Episode Date: September 14, 2018

Former Redskins coach Mike Shanahan joins Kevin to talk Redskins and more; Redskins/Colts preview; ESPN's Mike Wells talks Andrew Luck and the Colts; College football and NFL gambling previews with Tim Murray; Smell Test picks; John Harbaugh's big mistake in the Ravens/Bengals game on Thursday Night Football. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. Happy Friday to everybody. Thanks for listening to the Kevin Sheean Show podcast presented by Wind Donation. By the way, I really appreciate all of you that have not only downloaded and listened to the show, but have rated it highly as well. That's good. Keep it up. It helps. Mark isn't here today. Aaron is. He's a Terp. We've got some Terps talk today. Mike Shanahan coming up on the show, smell test later on, and we've got a lot of Friday football quick picks with my good friend Tim Murray, lots of gambling talk, and I'll get to the Skins Beat Colts if in about a minute. I wanted to start the show with last night in college football,

not Division I college football, but Davidson is an FCS program. That's the old Division 2. They hosted Guildford, a Division 3 program. in one of those games that got moved up because of Hurricane Florence. And the final score of the game, this was a football game. The final score of the game was Davidson 91, Guilford, 61. Are you sure Steph Curry wasn't playing that one? Exactly.

91, 61 Davidson over Guilford in a football game. Listen to some of these numbers from the game last night. Davidson set NCAA records for total yards and rushing yards in a game. They had 964 yards of total offense, 685 rushing yards in the game. They set program records for 57 points in the first half and 524 yards in the first half. The scored halftime was 57 to 26. They averaged 15 and a half yards per play. Eight of Davidson's program record 13 touchdowns in the game went.

for at least 50 yards. And then five Davidson rushers had at least 80 yards and a touchdown in the game. Their two top rushers went for 186 yards and 168 yards. Now, Guilford had a pretty good game offensively, too. 61 points and 698 total yards. The two teams combined for 1,662 yards of offense and 100. 52 points in the game. Davidson's football Twitter account posted video of the performance with the caption highlights. Yeah, we had some of those. I said on the show with Cooley about a year ago,

it was one of these bold prediction segments. My prediction was that within the next three years, someone in college football would score 100 points in a game. It has gotten completely out of control in college football with the offense. And it's all due to one thing in particular, and that is there are so many big plays in college football, big chunk plays, and every time you move the sticks, the clock stops. And if they just eliminated that rule and kept the flavor of the rule, because everybody knows college football at the end, if you get a first down, clock stops, they move the chains. Make it a final two minutes of the half or two minutes of the game rule. 91.61. The only thing I could not find on this game, Aaron, was how long it lasted. I was going to say, that had to be a serious pace of play if you were right there.

I mean, you had games in the first two weeks of college football that went longer than four hours. Oh, just look at the Maryland, Texas game week one. Well, that was because of the delay. Even without the delay, that was a, I mean, the first quarter was over an hour. This football game had to be four and a half hours plus. The Thursday night NFL game was actually a good football. game, except for some of the flags for contact. I mean, it's getting completely out of control. Andy Dalton got pushed after a throw, and Walt Coleman flagged the push as a late hit. Troy Aikman calling the game. Remember, Fox has the Thursday night package, so you get Akeman and Buck

this year on Thursday night games. Aikman, after that particular flag, said that Walt Coleman was a better protector of Dalton than Dalton's offensive line. It is getting out of control with the protection of the players. It's a fine line they are walking. And I understand, and I don't have a problem with safety and trying to keep these players protected. But they are walking a very fine line of impacting what we like about the NFL. And last night, I thought there were four or five flags that were completely unnecessary. Now, the Bengals won the game, 34 to 23.

It was a smell test win. I gave out the Bengals minus one yesterday at the end of the show. And by the way, yes, I do like the Ravens this year. And I've talked about the Ravens for the length of this podcast, which is now a week old. All right, we made it at least a week. And I like the Ravens to win 11 plus games this year. I think they're a Super Bowl, an AFC championship contender in the AFC.

But the smell test dictated last night that I give out the Bengals minus one, and it was right. Sure to go on the list of coaching blunders on Tuesday when I do that segment is what John Harbaugh and the Ravens didn't do at the end of that game. Down 3423 late in the game, they must not know that you can't score 11 points on one possession. It's a two-possession game at 34-23. A field goal is necessary, and they had two opportunities, one with 44 seconds and one with 28

seconds well in range for really the greatest kicker of this recent generation, Justin Tucker, to kick a field goal to get the game to 3426 and then give him a chance, give him a chance to line up to kick an onside kick. But they decided that they would concede the game at 3423, throwing underneath checkdown throws and letting the clock run out. That is stupid at the highest levels. And that will be number one, well, maybe not. We've got a whole weekend of football. to go, but they tapped out, and I don't understand it because John Harbaugh typically is very good at this stuff, very good at this stuff, but you got to kick a field goal with either 44 seconds left or the clock stopped at 28 seconds left. You got to trot Tucker out there, kick the field goal,

line up for an onside kick, and you're good to go. But they didn't do it. All right, let's get to Redskins beat Colts if. All right. This, you know, I loved doing this. Friday show with Cooley, and I'm still working on it for those that keep asking for it. I want him to at least join me one day a week to do film breakdown. I am trying to make that happen. Trust me. Cults, skins beat Colts if. I've got three keys to the skins beating the Colts. At what is now, as of now, a non-sellout crowd officially for the first time in 50-plus years. You can actually get tickets at Redskins.com for this game, and the weather is supposed to be fine. Skins beat Colts if. Number one, Alex Smith and the Redskins offense simply just takes

what Indy's defense gives them. The Colts couldn't stop Joe Mixon last week. He averaged 5.6 yards per carry on 17 carries, and the Redskins ran it all over Arizona with Peterson and Thompson. Indy may decide to stack the box, stop the run, but they're in trouble on the back end if they do that. Andy Dalton completed 21 of 28 last week. The Bengals scored 27 points on offense last week on just 50 offensive snaps. Alex Smith just needs to take what they give, if they stack the box, throw it, if they don't run it. It appears to me as if the skins might be able to do both this year pretty well. No good matchups for Indy's defense with a small upfront D-line and not that good on the back end at this point. This feels to

to me like a game where the Redskins offense could go for 28 plus. I don't see the Colts stopping the Redskins. The skins get stopped if they stop themselves with penalties, with turnovers, drop passes, that kind of thing. Other than that, they're going to score. Key number two, skins beat Colts if they win the Red Zone battle. I just mentioned that I believe the skins will be able to move the football. I think they're going to be in the Red Zone a ton. And they just have to finish, which is something they did in week one. They were three for four against the Cardinals. Indy's going to move the football too. Look, luck looked pretty good in his return, and he was emotional afterwards, and you're going to have him now more comfortable at ease, knowing that he's back

after, you know, has one game under his belt. They've got weapons in T.Y. Hilton. The NC state rookie running back, Heinz is fast. He's a playmaker. They like him a ton there. And, guess who's already a favorite of Andrew Luck? Remember the love Jay Gruden had for Ryan Grant, and most Redskins fans would always sort of scratch their heads and say, we don't see it? Well, Andrew Luck targeted Ryan Grant nine times in the opener last week. Grant caught eight balls for 59 yards,

and the Colts went one for three in the Red Zone. So, look, the Redskins would pay for that. They'll take one for three from Indy in the Red Zone. I do think the Skins defense is underrated. I do. However, I think Indy will have chances in this game offensively, and the team that finishes consistently, finishes consistently in the red zone on offense, will win the game.

Touchdowns versus field goals on this particular Sunday, to me in a game that feels like a 3428, 3431 kind of shootout. That's what it feels like to me right now on Friday. Last thing, skins beat Colts if they cover the Colt tight ends. This is very often over the years where Andrew Luck goes with the ball. Jack Doyle last week, Jack Doyle, they're tight end. Seven catches, 60 yards, even though he fumbled away the game on the potential game-winning drive against the Bengals. Eric Ebron is in Indy coming over from Detroit.

He never really got it going as a lion, but he had four catches for 51 yards. He's got talent. The Colts were 11 for 17 on third down last week, and Ebron and Doyle. were a big part of that. So Zach Brown, Ryan Carrigan, let's hope Greg Minusky learned enough last year to know that neither one of them should ever be in coverage

unless it's by accident. Hilton's going to be a big focus for the defense, but those tight ends should also be a focus. If they end up with 11 combined catches for over 100 yards, that means more likely than not, the Colts are making a ton of conversions on third down and moving the sticks.

So they've got to cover the tight ends in this. game. So overall, take with the defense, gives them win the red zone battle and cover their tight ends. Don't let Andrew Luck complete balls on third and five to Jack Doyle to move the sticks and keep the clock rolling. That's a big key to the game. When we come back, Mike Shanahan will be my guest. This is the Kevin Sheehan Show, and we are presented by Window Nation, and it's back to school time. And to help you get educated about Windonation, they're offering instruction on supply and demand. Beat the fall rush. Wind donation has extra capacity now, so lock in the lowest pricing before the demand goes up. With window nations back to school sale, you get one free window

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do a little homework today, get your windows installed before the cold arrives, and save big during Windonation's back to school sale. Call today, 86690 Nation or visitwindonation.com. That's 86690 Nation or Windonation.com. Tell them Kevin Sheehan sent you. Mike Shanahan joins the Kevin Sheehan Show podcast, and most of you know who have listened to me over the years. I really like Mike a lot. I never wanted him gone in 2000. 2013. That's another story. And by the way, you and I have covered all of that ground in the past. But how are you? I'm doing great, Kev. How about yourself?

I'm doing well. Are you playing a lot of golf? I am. You know what I did? In my last day on my vacation, I went out with about five couples. We went to Venice in the Croatia area. And the last day that I was leaving, I was water skiing, and I was getting up on one ski and try to pull up a little bit too quick and pull a hamstring off my hip bones. So I've been out of commission here golfing for about the last six weeks. Well, you know what? That's perfect timing because that means you can sit there and watch games and watch film all week. And in all seriousness, do you still do that? Do you watch film?

That's exactly what I've been doing. It's been obviously a blessing in disguise because my golf games are not very good anyhow. So I've got a chance to do some things I'm better at. Well, you know, John Gruden was away from the game a lot longer than you were, you know, and he got a hundred million. It's got to make you think about it. a little bit, right? You know, it's really fun is to have people that are involved in the game, like your son or different coaches that you've been with like Sean as well, that our head coaches are coordinators that are having a lot of success,

and you look at what they're doing, and you just enjoy following them and follow them on a week-by-week basis in some situations. It's a day-by-day timeframe. Are you going to Kyle's games or are you watching them on TV? You know, I normally watch them on TV. It all depends on who's going to the game. Anytime you're in a place like San Francisco,

the weather's great. You have a lot of people that visit. And so I don't like to put too much pressure on the family because after the games, you know, they've got a little time, but they're back the next day. They're ready to go back to work. So what I like to do is, you know, go out there as much as I can, but to understand, you know, the commitments that he has toward other people

after the game as well. Right. Well, we do go out there. it's a lot of fun. I try to go out there two or three or three or four times and watch some games, but most of the times I'll watch on TV. All right. I'll circle back to the 49ers and their opponent last week, the Vikings with Kirk at quarterback. But I wanted to start with the Redskins. They beat Arizona last week. It certainly looked like Arizona was ill-prepared for the season

opener. They've got the Colts at home on Sunday. Mike, some of us around here actually, and I'm one of those, I actually think the roster The Redskins roster is underrated better than many think. What do you think? I agree with you 100%. They've got an excellent football team. Right now they have depth at almost all the different positions. I think a team that's well put together,

I think I was really impressed with their game plan that they came out with against Arizona, different things they did on offense, things they haven't done in the past. I was very impressed. They still have the countertray. They still got the pound draw. was the outside zones, but they did the inside zones, but they did different thing with the RPO's, a zone read, the speed option.

The empty sets to give a guy like Smith the ability to key one side or the other or make some play with his legs. That was just a well-conceived game plan, and they played accordingly. Yeah, it was something that I think we all noticed, the wrinkles to the run game. You know they've struggled to run the football here since you left. And last year, you know, Kooley told me over, and over again. You watch the league and you and I have had this conversation.

The read option, I mean, the zone read is here to stay, as you and I both have talked about many times. It's still funny to hear people think and watch it and think it's something else. But the wrinkles they threw in with a lot of motion, with a lot of fly sweep action, is it was sort of new for Jay and for Callahan here on Sunday. And by the way, Mike, they've got talent at running back, including the guy, drafted Chris Thompson. Now, Chris looks great, and Pete Peterson had a great game. It looks like he was playing five, six years ago.

Very impressive. I thought the offensive line played excellent. I mean, even things they've done in the past, you know, the countertrays of Pondrawls, just like we talked about the outside zones, the inside zones. But to do the things they did with the RPO's his own rate of speed option, and a lot of people really don't know how to do, and they incorporated all that the game plan that really gave Arizona fits.

All right, here's the one question of the offseason around here. It's been debated since Kirk signed in Minnesota and the Redskins made the trade for Alex Smith. A lot of people around here really believe that Alex Smith was an upgrade over Kirk Cousins. Your thoughts on that? Well, first of all, it all depends what type of system you're going to run. If you're looking to run a pro-style offense, I don't think you can get a better quarterback than Kirk Cousins. Now, Kirk can run everything. He can run the RPO's his own read-speed option as well,

but he's not going to beat you with his legs. Kirk is going to beat you with his mind. He's got very, he makes very quick decisions. He knows exactly where everybody is on the field. He's a natural thrower, quick decision-maker, very accurate. And Smith, I haven't studied him, obviously, like I, but I've watched him through the year. and this guy's a smart guy.

This guy can make plays with his legs. And he might not be the most natural thrower, but he's a good thrower. And his intelligence you can see on a game-to-game basis is probably as good as anybody. But he's an athlete. He's going to make plays just like he did against Arizona. And when you give a person an offense like they gave Smith in the first game, he's going to do that to defense. And if they're not prepared, they have no chance.

You know, the three best players on offense right now when they're healthy are Trent Williams, Chris Thompson, and Jordan Reed. You drafted all three of them. We know what this team's been when they've been healthy. Just give me a few seconds on each of those players and what you thought you had when you drafted them and what they've become. When you talk about Trent, and all of a sudden you talk to the coaching staff, everybody, felt that Oklahoma that he was by far the best athlete on the team. I mean, here's a guy that's, you know, 320 pounds that can run 4-740. And the only reason why he didn't play defense all the time, he just didn't want to.

And he just dominated so much at his position against the players at Oklahoma that he was just really a freak athlete. And once he got to the next level, pro football, where he could compete against the best players every day, he was competitive. too, and we found that out very quickly. So to get a guy like Trent with that pick that early and having a few decisions to make at that time was a big blessing in disguise for us

to have the fourth pick of the draft with a guy like that. What did you see in Jordan? In Jordan was a guy that was at Florida. And he was a quarterback, an excellent quarterback. He's kind of a freak as a freshman and a sophomore in college. that he was just a natural athlete, but he was a guy that was not an overachiever in college, but you could see his athletic ability if he played any other position besides quarterback. And one of the reasons why he went in the third round,

but if you would have ever played him at a different position early, he would have been an easy first-round pick and had the option to play or the ability to play a number of different positions where he could line up inside or outside as a wide receiver tied in. And we thought he was very competitive, and he was a good kid. And especially after you got to know him,

I had a good friend of mine, which was Lee McGriff, who kind of did a play-by-play for the Gators for about 15 years. And he said, if they would have used them at a position that he could play, which is a wide receiver, he said, you get a guy that's really special. but doesn't know how to practice yet, doesn't know how to do things the right way. He's got to be able to stay healthy. Do all the things that he's been inconsistent with, but you can see the athletic ability out there.

I'm just going to ask you this to share this one story. You loved Jordan Reed in that draft. Who did your quarterback that particular year come in and tell you to draft? Do you remember that story that you told me that Robert really wanted the bailer receiver? I know, and players are like that because, you know, they're friends with these guys, and they don't look at them, you know, the way you do. And you take everybody's input and you don't try to go one way or the other. But that is not untypical of quarterbacks.

You know, they got a friend and they know them well. And you evaluate people differently. And then Robert was just really trying to help us at that time. But he wanted Terrence Williams, the receiver from Baylor. There's no question. No, no question. Terrence was the big guy. He was actually, he was politicking for him as soon as the day started.

So he was hoping that we wind up with him. Do you think Jordan Reed healthy is in that conversation with Grunk and Kelsey? I don't think there's any question about it. I think that's the thing that has kept him from just being an approval player every year. He hasn't been on the field. But if he's on the field, you can't cover him. And he has the ability to block as well when he wants to. He's got to be there practicing every day.

And if he is, you're not going to cover corners can't cover him. He knows how to get open. He knows how to set defenders up. And it doesn't matter if it's a lineback or a safety or a corner, he's going to beat him. Chris Thompson's development, it came around slowly. There were injuries there the first few years. But Mike, he's turned into one of the top three or four pass-catching backs in the league, right? You know, he was that way in college, too.

And, you know, he had a couple injuries. He was averaging well over 7 yards of carry him. And any time you do that as a running back and you're playing at Florida State, that's pretty impressive. But I was so impressed with what type of guy he was, you know, back in college, how he handled himself, how he worked, how he did the little things the right way. And to get him on our football team, I believe he was, what was that, fifth round? Yeah, fifth round back then.

and to get that guy then and knowing what type of guy he was, what type of football player he was. You're just hoping in time he's going to turn out to just what he's doing right now. And he's going to be your team captain just because the way he handles himself. And everybody's pulling for Chris because he's just a class one individual. All right. Let's go around the league a little bit. Give me some teams right now you really like.

You know, I always say this for the first. This is what I try to do for the first three or four games. I try not to really rank any, but I just try to study them. Because a lot of these teams, you don't know what they do during preseason. They don't play all their starters. They don't have game plans. They're not really sure on who their best players are. What I usually do is try to save that for after the third or fourth game.

I'm like everybody else. I think everybody knows the teams that were great last year. Teams they'd have, you know, excellent football players coming back, and who should be the team. but I like to wait after that third or fourth game and saying, okay, these teams will be there. And once they're there, they've got a chance if they do get to the playoffs to win a Super Bowl.

It's funny that you say that because I was going to ask you how much the first few weeks of the season from a fan perspective or really Fools Gold because it just seems like the league has always been a week-to-week league. But especially early in the year, it's just tough to figure out what you have and what teams have and what they don't have. And we know every year half the teams

that are in the postseason were teams that no one was expecting to be any good when the season began. So I'll ask you that. Is there a team that perhaps wasn't, that maybe flying under the radar a little bit, wasn't in the postseason last year? And I know it's early, but that you sort of liked coming into this year. Well, you know, it's funny because when I take a look at these teams, I'm kind of like even indie playing this week. You know, I watch them in pre-season. season and I watched their defense. They're a little bit better than people think they are. You know, you can see that they're not an experienced team yet,

and obviously you've got Andrew Luck and everybody knows what he can do. But when you take a football team and you're putting 11 guys together and you've got a new defensive coordinator or maybe the same defensive coordinator, but you've got different people. That's why it's so fun to watch this time of year to see which people or which people are running the system that they want. they can figure out if they're quarterback, if it's a Mayfield,

how good is Mayfield? I don't know how good he is. But I tell you one thing, he's been impressive sometimes. Given him a system that he's confident in, he can see what he did in college. If he can do some of those things at the pro level, but you have to give him the opportunity to run it.

And it's going to be interesting for me to see what Cleveland does with Mayfield over the next few games. They have a- First off, it gets an opportunity to play. They have a good defense, too, Mike. They've got a good young defense, and that Miles Garrett looks like, yeah. They got past rushers. They got speed, and they're very talented team. What about Sean?

Did you know, I know what you thought about your son, Kyle, and you always felt, you know, and it's hard to be objective when he's your son, but you always said, look, he's one of the best coaches, and he was the best hire I could have made, and I think you always knew he would be a head coach. Did you think Sean McVeigh when you first met Sean was a future head coach? When I brought, when Sean came in, and we had John Emery with her tight-end coach, and I was going to interview four people, and Sean was my first guy. And, of course, I knew his dad very well.

You know, he was the GM of our team and vice president, the 49ers at that time. And I thought the world of his grandfather, but I did not know Sean. but after my interview with him for a half hour, I went into guys, we don't have to look at any further. This guy's a slam dog. This guy not only has a good feel for the tight-end position, he's got a good feel for the running game, the passing game.

You can tell that he's a worker. I did not know exactly how detailed he was until after the first year when John went to Colorado was the head coach. And I talked to Sean, and I said, You're going to be the tight-end coach, and I know you do a great job, how much pride you would take both in the running game and the passing game. And that's what you have to have. You can find out very quickly, and as I told people,

and I told a number of people that those two guys would be head coaches very quickly. And Kyle and Sean, when they did get their opportunity, they're going to be in this league for a long time because the attention of detail that they had in the game, both on offense and defense. I mean, they took pride knowing every coverage. They took pride knowing every front, who had what responsibilities in the run, who had the hook zone, who had to curl flat.

You know, they knew those things, or at least they were working on it. And then when you give a guy like that the opportunity to call plays like Sean did after we got fired for those next three years. And then being with a different guy, a different head coach, learned a different system, different running game. a guy just grows and they have the background, Sean did with a guy like Gruden, with a guy like myself, or a guy like Jay. That just keeps on, add on to your expertise.

And when you've got the attention to detail that Sean has had, it didn't surprise me at all. And then he hired the right guy. You've got to hire a guy like White Phillips and understands defense that you're not afraid to hire a guy that you know knows a whole lot more than you do about defense, even though you've got a good feel. You know, he's been there for how many years. Wade has been there, and he's not afraid to hire a guy like that.

And so it's an, I mean, even hiring a guy like Matt LaFlor who had been with Kyle for how many years, you know, knowing that Sean's coming as a head coach, and he can't do everything, help him with the insulation schedule, and do all those type of things. And when you have the confidence in you're a smart guy like Sean is, good things are going to happen. What did you think of Kirk's,

game. I know you watched that game because they were playing the 49ers. What did you think of him in the Vikings' offense? Well, number one, you know, I think they're trying to feel everybody out. I'm not exactly sure what offense they're right. Because I could tell in the fourth quarter, they're probably a little bit more conservative than they normally would be in the first half. They went out there and kind of attacked a little bit. I did not see that in the second half. But like I said, you never really sure, you know, what a guy's doing or how he's calling plays because they actually had the game won. You know, the way they took control of it,

and San Francisco was lucky enough to get back into the game if they would have made a couple more plays. But Kirk is, I'm a big Kirk Cousins fan, as you guys have known for a long time. The reason why I am, I've seen it every day in practice. When you're around a guy, every day, and you're around them for years, and you see how he operates, how he handles people,

what type of leader he is, how he handles the scout team, how he handles his business both on and off, field. It doesn't take you long to understand that this guy is a quick decision maker. He understands the process. He understands the intangibles. He's got the arm strength and all the other things and the ability to get rid of the

ball quickly and do some things with his legs, even though that's not his strength. But he's a guy that can win you a Super Bowl, and if you've got a good defense around them, you're going to win games. And people say, oh, you know, Kirk never won a playoff game. Well, you don't win a playoff game if you're never in the upper half of the league of of defense. You've got to get your football team some players, some speed. And once you're doing like what, in my opinion, what Washington did last week

against Arizona, they just dominated the game. They ran the ball. They took the pressure off the defense when the defense got some of the pressure taken off of them. They played unbelievably well. So I'm very impressed with the football team. I thought that the Minnesota offense with DiFilippo, I was expecting to see some of the stuff I saw in Philadelphia last year,

but I thought it was pretty bland. And maybe it's because it's early and it was the opener. And you're right, Zimmer took his foot off the pedal in the second half. There was no doubt about that. But I just thought offensively it looked very basic. Well, you know what, Kevin, what teams are doing? Those RPO's aren't quite as open as they were a year. ago. People really don't

really understand the RPO game. What the RPO game is, basically, you're not going to block one of those lines. These linebacks are supposed to have gap responsibilities. And when they do play their gap, you know, you fake the ball to the running back, and all of a sudden you hit the zones behind them. And it's been very easy to throw some of these RPO's over the last year or two, especially the teams that emphasize that in their offense. But nowadays, a lot of teams aren't, you know, are playing that.

those linebackers aren't hitting those gaps like they used to. So those RPOs aren't quite there like they used to be. And that's why I thought Washington did such a great job with the zone rate and the speed option and some other things that actually they weren't ready for. And you could see it kept them all. It really kept their defense off balance. Yeah, I think it's interesting that you mentioned that because you, you, when we talked the other day, you said something about that, that especially with teams that aren't really, you know,

stacking the box, it's not going to be as easy to run. those RPO's, but it's an interesting trend. I'll tell you what wasn't a trend was the zone read, not to keep going back to that, but that thing is all over the league. Real quickly, before I let you run, have you stayed in touch just out of curiosity with Robert Griffin at all? I think, I don't know if you were surprised. I was surprised he got picked up and he's on a roster, and he's on a team that really, you know, was a quality organization in the Ravens. Do you think he's matured, maybe he's starting to figure it out a little bit? You know, just watching him from afar, I haven't talked with Robert, but I love the way he's

handled himself. I mean, yeah, he's matured. I can just see it from the outside looking in, and to watch the way he went into Baltimore how he handled himself. I thought he handled himself like a pros, pros, and that's what you've got to do, and that's part of the growing experience of these young guys that they do grow up. They do look back. They understand some of the things.

probably, wish they would have done differently, but at the end of the day, you know, they're at where they're at. And I think Robert looks at himself much differently right now than he did before. And he just wants an opportunity to prove himself. And hopefully he does get that opportunity. I love doing this with you. Thank you so much. Hopefully we can do it again soon.

Take care of yourself. Get that hip-healthy. Watch a lot of football. And I may call you more often than I did when I was on radio because I love doing this. and we don't have a time limit anymore, so it's perfect. You're not going to get in trouble talking to me now, are you? Not at all. I never, you know what?

I never did get in trouble for talking to you. Remember, we were concerned about that, but I'm one of those people. I don't ask for permission. I just beg for forgiveness, and I didn't even have to do it that time. Believe me, I know that. Well, take care, Kev. Great talking to you. Thanks, Mike so much. Okay, bye-bye.

Mike Shanahan, everybody. The Kevin Sheehan Show is presented by Wind Donation. Let's bring in Mike Wells. Mike covers the Colts for ESPN and ESPN. SPN.com. Mike, what was the overall take in Indianapolis on Andrew Luck's first start in a long time last week? I think everybody was pleased.

You look at the final stat sheet, 319 yards passing, but there was some nervousness at first. Colts forced to turn over, had the ball inside Cincinnati's 10-yard line, and Lux's first pass in 20 months was an interception. So they're like, oh, everybody would have a little anxiety. But I think he settled down as the game went on, and he shows some signs of, you know, potentially getting back to being the quarterback he was before, nobody was going to be perfect.

I mean, nobody can go 20 months without playing any game, and all of a sudden we revert to old form. So it was definitely a step in the right direction. And the biggest thing is he survived the game, survived several big hits without any setbacks with his right shoulder. He was pretty emotional after that first game back, wasn't he? And do you think that now that he's gotten that game under his belt, that he's going to be more comfortable and maybe dangerous starting this week?

Yeah, he was definitely emotional. I mean, and that's been like that since he reported the training camp because he admitted there were times where he wondered if he would ever play football again. You would not think that a guy like Andrew Luck who was essentially like Superman early in his career would get to the point where his body started breaking down and he questioned whether he can get back being the quarterback that he was. So it was understandable. Some people took it as he was too excited for a team that lost. Andrew Luck hates losing.

He despised losing with a passion. but he made it through a game, took another step in his return without any setback. So that's why he was excited about it. And you can't fault a guy who questioned whether he would play the game again at some point. Frank Reich is the new coach. We know Frank around here. He was a quarterback at Maryland when I was at Maryland and engineered the biggest comeback in college football history down in the Orange Bowl against Miami

and did the same in the NFL with Buffalo against Houston in a playoff game. What kind of coach do you think at this point he's going to turn out to be? Well, first of all, are you trying to say you're old? Yes, I just told you that, I think. Yeah, 1984. I wasn't in the Orange Bowl, but I was watching it on TV. You know, I think the thing about Frank Wright, people are wondering how he was going to be

because he was playing a second fiddle to Josh McDaniels. Josh McDaniels leaving the Colter at the altar in the 11th hour was the best thing to happen in Indianapolis because Frank Reich shares the same vision as general manager, Chris Ballard. He knows this is going to be a rebuilding process. process, and the best thing for Andrew Luck, he has a former NFL quarterback as his head coach and as his play caller. I have not seen one day in practice go by where I've stepped on the

practice field and not seeing Frank Reich and Andrew Luck talking all the time. Luck had to deal with a defensive coach in Chuck Begonne over the past, you know, six seasons. Now he has somebody who shares the same vision for him and he shares the same vision as Chris Ballard. This is a perfect match for the Indianapolis Colts. All right. Tell us what to expect as Redskins fans. Where are the Colts really strong? Where are they vulnerable? Their passing game.

Their passing game is going to be, it's going to be something to watch out for, especially if the field conditions are not very poor. I think they're going to be fine there. Their defense force, two turnovers last week, against the Bengals, to their creative. But where the Redskins had a clear advantage yet is in the running game. The Colts gave up over 100 yards rushing against Cincinnati and Joe Mixing. You guys know what Adrian Pee's.

used in the company did last week against Arizona with 182 yards on the ground. That's going to be the avenue for the Redskins to keep Andrew Luck off the football field and burn some clock by being able to run the ball against Indianapolis. Ryan Grant was here for four years. Looked like he had a pretty good game in the opener. How's he fitting in? You know what? Ryan Grant, as you guys know, Ryan Grant doesn't say too much.

Not at all. I think that kind of summed up his first game because you thought if you were to, you left a Spock's left the stadium Utica, T.Y. Hilton, or Jack Doyle would have led to Colts and receptions. Grant had a career high eight receptions on nine targets. I would have never thought that. I had to look at the stat sheet. Look at the stats. I would fit his personality perfect. I thought he would be the number three receiver behind Hilton and Chester Rogers, but he has put a strangle hold on that number two receivers spot. And Angela, clearly, it's going to be throwing him to football.

So you mentioned Hilton, and they've got some weapons. The guy that I really liked in the draft, and he went in the fourth round to Indianapolis. It was the NC State running back Heinz. He had so much speed and so much playmaking ability. Do they like him so far? Yeah. He struggled in the preseason. He had a – he's had a hard time holding on to the football, so we were wondering where he was going to fit into the scheme of things. But he came out there. If I'm not mistaken, he had like five or six receptions. Frank Wright kind of envisaged him like a Darren Sproles that he had in Philadelphia. You can line him up out wide. You can run him. out of the backfield and pass routes, and he can make that first offender miss.

He's a perfect prototypical player that fits Frank-like system, and I think he's going to continue to get better at the season goes off. Last question, 10 seconds. I know they're banged up along the offensive line. Is that an issue coming into FedEx Sunday? Yes. I mean, when you've got a carry-again who can get to the quarterback, it's definitely an issue.

It impacts what they can do offensive scheme-wise, and that's why I'm giving the Redskins to add and let them move to 1-0 come Sunday afternoon. Thanks so much for your time. I really appreciate it. Hey, no problem. Let's get to the smell test. Kevin looks where the John Q public is putting their cash and does the opposite.

It's time of the smell test. The young fella, Ralph Wesley bringing me in, explaining in that quick intro what the smell test is. It's a fade-the-public strategy. If a line looks so wrong and my friends are convinced that it's wrong and they're going to take Vegas for all they have, I just go against them. And usually it turns out well. It doesn't always turn out well.

Eight of the 12 years I've done this, I've won. But four of the 12 years I've done this. I haven't won. But I've never gotten pounded with the smell test. I've never been in, you know, take out a second mortgage situation with the smell test. Before, by the way, I get to the picks for this week. I got a tweet last week, and it prompted me to actually write a blog item, which you can find my blogs at the Kevin Sheeonshow.com.

The tweet, and I don't have it in front of me, but it was a question about what makes point spreads move and how that impacts my smell test picks. And it's a really good question because if you are betting sports, you're betting football, baseball, basketball, you should pay attention to point spread moves. They are significant. Now, I'll start with this. Other than a major injury to a very important player, the only thing that really moves a point, spread significantly, and that would be a point and a half in either direction or more, is sharp money. A sharp bet is a bet placed by a respected better, and there aren't many of them on the planet. And when I say not many of them, my offshore people tell me that basically

there are a couple of dozen betters, that everybody knows and everybody fears, and that's it. and when they make a sizable wager, and sometimes it doesn't even have to be sizable, that's the bet, all right? That's the bet that moves a point spread. Public money never moves a number unless there's a reason for it to move like an injury. Or as an example, late in the season, a team that's 13 and 1 is going to sit a bunch of starters and you don't find that out until, you know, very late before kickoff. it's often difficult to measure the sharp influenced moves early in the season because a lot of these point spreads, especially for week one, they come out in June.

So you may look at a line that came out in June and it's moved two or three points and that's not always necessarily super sharp money. That's just more informed money and you don't get a lot of action. Vegas doesn't take a lot of action on point spread bets in June and July for the regular season. But there are a couple of things, and I want to pull up a couple of examples last week in particular about some of these line movements. Cleveland was plus four and a half at home against Pittsburgh last week on Friday, even through some of the day on Saturday. It was about four plus four. On Sunday morning, there was significant sharp action on Cleveland, and it moved the line to three.

All right, that was not only sharp money, that was late sharp. money moving a point spread in the direction, by the way, where it was against public money. The public money was on Pittsburgh. The sharp money was on Cleveland. And when those two things conspire together, that usually creates a smell test pick for me. Sharp money moving the line in the opposite direction of where John Q. Public is laying down his or her money. that usually is a smell test pick. I'll give you another example of that.

Last week, Kansas, Kansas had lost in week one the Nichols State. And people were saying how embarrassing Kansas's football program was, how they should essentially do away with it. They weren't capable of competing in the Big 12, and they still might not be. And they were going to Central Michigan in week two. And Central Michigan started as a six and a half, seven-point favorite. Recent impressions on Kansas for the betting public was they stink and anybody laying anything less than a touchdown, you got to play against Kansas because Kansas isn't going to

beat anybody. So all of the public money was on central Michigan laying six and a half, seven, and all of a sudden the number started to come down. It went down to five by Friday or Friday afternoon last week. Sharp money on Kansas. Kansas, by the way, returns one of the most veteran lineups with more returning starters than almost any team in the country. And they had a terrible week one, but sharp betters thought they're not as terrible as we saw on week one. The public didn't know that. The line, the central Michigan was getting bet heavily by the public. The point spreads dropping and by kickoff on Saturday afternoon. Kansas was getting three points. The line had gone from seven to three with the public money all on

Central Michigan at almost a 75 to 25 percent ratio. And yet the point spread was going the opposite direction because sharp betters were betting Kansas. Kansas won the game outright, 31 to 7. It wasn't even close. The sharps won, the public lost. Kansas was one of my smell test winners a week ago. All right, let's get to this week. The smell test, by the way, last week, not great. Four, four and one. The Kansas game was my favorite pick of the week last week, and I talked about that last Friday. I gave out Cincinnati last night as a smell test pick. All the public money was on Baltimore. So my record for the season is six, eight, and one. Let's go to tomorrow. There are actually several games I like, but only a couple I'm going to give

out officially. And I'm going to start with Auburn. Auburn's laying a ton of points at home to LSU. They're laying 10 and a half currently. There's perceived value from the public getting more than 10 points in playing LSU who pummeled Miami, remember two weeks ago in the opener. I personally don't think at this point, it's my guess. I don't think the canes are very good. I think LSU is capable, but they're not Auburn good. All right. Jarrett Stidham is a good college quarterback. Auburn's defense is very good again. And the public in this big mid-September SEC game, CBS 330 tomorrow, the public loves LSU plus the number. The smell test rarely gives out big favorites, but I think Auburn rolls tomorrow. Lay the 10 and a half. And if you

know what you're doing, and it's sitting there at 10 and a half, buy the half point and lay the 10. The Pack 12, overwhelming favorite this year was Washington. The Huskies lost to Auburn in the opener in Atlanta. It was a very good football game. They actually had a chance to win it. They're on the road this week at Utah. The line opened up at six and a half. Washington laying six and a half.

It's down to five now. A ton of sharp money on Utah. Public loading up on Washington. Give me Utah plus the five. I think they win this game outright. I think they're very good. The other games I liked, and I didn't give out, I like TCU, I like Toledo, I like San Diego State, I like North Texas. They just didn't completely fit the smell test criteria, so I'm

passing on those games. The only two college games are Auburn minus 10 and a half and Utah plus five. Let's get to Sunday. The Buffalo Bills were a smell test pick last week. It didn't quite work out. They lost 47 to 3 with Nathan Peterman, again, starting a quarter of I don't know what Sean McDermott sees in Nathan Peterman, but I hope he doesn't see it again if you're a Bills fan. They're going to start Josh Allen on Sunday, the rookie from Wyoming. They're at home playing the Chargers who lost their opener too. This is one of the biggest public plays of the weekend. The Chargers laying seven and a half. Recent impressions, Buffalo getting pounded, even though the Chargers lost, the perception is they lost to a good team in Kansas City. and so the public loves the chargers on Sunday laying seven and a half in Buffalo.

I like Buffalo plus the seven and a half. This may be the biggest need for any bookmaker or any sports book legal or illegal on Sunday. They will all need Buffalo plus the points. Give me the bills, as painful as it might be, plus the seven and a half. Tampa. Tampa was the most impressive team of the weekend. Blowing out New Orleans, they were a smell test pick last week. I said last week I'm taking all the big dogs that Vegas needs.

Tampa was one of them. I gave you the example of whenever a team is minus 9 or minus 10, that fits in perfectly with the dope betters who like to bet teasers, three-team teasers, and all they had to have with New Orleans last week getting an additional nine points is they just needed New Orleans to win the game. I'm telling you, those minus nine and a halfs, minus tens are always dangerous when you want to play a favorite. That's why I had Tampa last week. Tampa this week is getting three against the Eagles, and nobody's buying Tampa's win last week with Ryan Fitzpatrick throwing for 400 plus yards and four or five touchdowns. I forget what the final total was.

And the Eagles got the win. Didn't look impressive, but people love the Eagles. The public loves Philadelphia this weekend, minus. three. They perceive the number at Tampa to be super short like it looks wrong. You know, this is one of those. Wait a minute. I know Tampa played well last week. But still, Philadelphia, they're the defending Super Bowl champions. They should be laying more than three points. Well, Vegas hasn't touched that line yet. It's just sticking at three. I've seen a few three and a halves out there. I like Tampa Bay plus the three in this particular game. A couple of other games real quickly.

like Jacksonville at home in the AFC Championship rematch. It's a pick-um. Public likes New England. Nobody likes Blake Bortles. I don't think he's terrible. I will say this. Their defense looked awesome again last week against

the Giants. Give me Jacksonville in a pick-um in that game. And then the Bears are favored by three at home against the Seahawks in the Monday night game this week. The public loves Seattle. I like the bears.

I actually thought they looked good against Green Bay. I thought Tribusky looked good. I thought defensively they looked good. Give me the Bears minus the three in that one. All right. So recapping on Saturday, Auburn minus 10 and a half, Utah plus five. On Sunday, I like in order, the bills, the bucks, the jags, and the bears. Did I miss one? The Bucks.

Bills, Bucks, Jags, and Bears are my Sunday smell test picks. Let's get to Friday Football QuickPix. Everything you need to know for your football weekend. It's Friday Football QuickPix. And I bring in one of my good friends for this segment this week, and maybe we'll do this often because I love Tim Murray. Tim, of course, worked at 980 for several years. hosted morning drive on Bleacher Report radio and is doing a podcast with Solly and with Scott Lynn. How do people get that podcast?

Patreon.com backslash Lynn Murray, Sali. There you go. There you go. And that is a paid podcast. Yeah. What are you laughing at? Some people have already told me I should be charging. You should be.

I'm not. But we'll figure that out down the road. But I love Tim. And Tim and I, Tim's, I would guess, at 980 over the years, you, me and Sally were the biggest degenerates, don't you think? Yeah. No one else sort of, you know, got into the gambling stuff as much of- Oh, we used to yell at Zabe all the time because he never knew. He'd be like, oh, this line stinks.

So I'm going, you go the other way. Zabe is one of the smartest people I have ever known. He's brilliant, and he is a masterful sports talk radio host. he is. He struggles with numbers. Math has never been his strong suit. It's not at all. All right, Friday Football Quick Picks. This is what we do typically. We first talk about the best games of the weekend. Give me a couple of games you've got your eye on this weekend. Well, I think a lot of people, a game you mentioned, your smell test, and I showed Aaron my pad over here of the games. You and I always have the same games. Yeah. I like Auburn minus the

10 and a half. You know, a game that I'm really excited about is Boise State going to Stillwater. I think this Boise State team is really good. You got Rippin is back. It feels like he's been there for about a decade. This is a really talented Boise State football team. And just think about what Oklahoma State lost. Now, I'm a huge Mike Gundy believer, and they're moron administration saying

that it doesn't recruit well enough is just idiotic to me because he figures out ways with two and three stars to be right there with Oklahoma every single year. That all being said, when you lose Mason Rudolph, off when you lose Washington out of your backfield. This isn't as talented of a team that we have seen in recent years. So I'm very curious to see Boise State and Oklahoma State.

And then the late night game. Love Pack 12 after dark. And Rice Eccles Stadium, home of Utah is going to be bumping. That place is very underrated as a home field environment. And you like Utah to plus the number. Yeah, that number has come down a little bit. I liked Washington coming into this season. wasn't thrilled about what I saw against Auburn. I was surprised at how they weren't able to

execute in the red zone like you would expect from a team that is led by Jake Browning and Miles Gaskin and Chris Peterson, who I think is a top five, if not top three coach in the game. But I think this is a spot where Utah under the lights can absolutely pull off an upset. So those are the two big games that I'm looking forward to this Saturday. I think a lot of people are maybe because of, you know, because of the 330 kickoff on CBS with LSU and Auburn, you know, Boise State, Oklahoma State is a little bit under the radar. I'm very curious. I think Boise State has got a great chance of being that group of five

participant in the New Year 6 this year. I'm looking forward to watching the Saturday night game. You know that I'm, I had his son graduate from TCU. I've been a Hornfrogs fan here since he started going to school there. I think Gary Patterson consistently is one of the top five coaches in America and one of the best defensive minds in America. And Dwayne Haskins from right here at Bullis, who had committed to Maryland initially

and is now the starting quarterback at Ohio State, and he's had two great games as a starter against Oregon State and against Rutgers. He's facing a real defense. Now, some people will look, this game's in Dallas, it's in Jerry World. That's not going to be a home field advantage for TCU. There will be more Ohio State fans, I think, in that stadium

than TCU fans, because the fan base, is so huge and they'll travel for this game. Well, and TCU's not really a big school, right? It's like 10, 12,000? It's 8,500, underbred. I mean, Ohio State's, what, the biggest university in the country? 60,000 or something insane like that. Yeah, they're going to travel.

This will be a, I think, a pro-Ohio state crowd. I like this game, though, and I think TCU's got a chance to give Ohio State a very difficult game. I thought that number, Tim, when I was looking for it on Sunday. afternoon. I thought it was going to be 17. And it came out at 10 and a half, 11. It's gone up a little bit. I think it's 12, 12 and a half somewhere around there, but I think TCU's got a chance to keep it close. I did want to ask you to Tim's a massive Notre Dame fan. And they opened up with that big win over Michigan and then struggled last week, maybe a letdown game against Ball State, 24 to 16, I think was the final. And they play Vandy. Vandy's won two games. Is Notre Dame

legit or not? I think the jury's still out on that. I think the offensive line when you lose two top 10 picks on your left side and Mike McGlinchie, who's now at the 49ers and then a guy will see this weekend, Quentin Nelson, who plays for the Colts, that it's difficult to replenish and just rebuild. They're not of the Alabama stature. But I think they're better than, they're absolutely better than what they showed last Saturday. Their defense is legit. They've got a very good defense. They've got good corners. They've actually got a deep defensive line, which they haven't had in years. And this line, to me, screams pick Vanderbilt. And I think a lot of people are, because of what you saw recently, and Vanderbilt

blowing out their two, you know, garbage opponents that they played in Nevada and Middle Tennessee State, I think a lot of people are going on Vanderbilt. Remember last year when Vanderbilt got chesty and started talking smack about Alabama and a game that was on CBS. CBS put them in the 330 time slot. I think it was the first time of like two decades. Vanderbilt had been on that prime 330 time slot. Alabama just mopped the floor with them in Nashville. Now, I don't think Notre Dame's going to do that necessarily on Saturday, but there's been a lot of people. Paul Feinbaum. I heard it was listening to another podcast. Andy Staples said, you know, watch out for Vanderbilt here. I think Notre Dame wins this game rather comfortably.

That's Tim Murray, my good friend joining me here for Friday Football Quick Picks. We'll get to the Sunday games that we think are the biggest games of the day in a moment. I do want to mention Maryland, who has Temple at home. Temple's bad. They're not very good this year. Maryland is surprisingly good to most. But I forget if you and I had this conversation before all of the controversy and the tragedy that took place here, starting last spring. Maryland's got talent that, you know, DJ Durkins recruited back-to-back

top 25 classes. They had a couple of key transfers, including Cowert from Auburn. They have speed on both sides of the ball. I'm not talking about Ohio State or Penn State or Michigan, you know, speed, you know, in their division in the Big Ten. But this is a team, Maryland, if they are healthy and they haven't been the last few years, they can win eight games this year. And I would be shocked if they don't win this game easily. I'm actually, that was one of the games I looked at. Maryland's about a 16, 17 point favorite. I thought it would have been three, I thought it would have been three touchdowns. Well, I think it's went up from like, it started 11 and a half. Yeah, I saw it at 14 as he opened. Temple was a team. I talked to Phil Steele before the year,

and he was bullish on Temple, maybe winning the AAC Eastern Division. And they have gotten off to as dreadful as a start, as you could imagine. They lost to cross-town FCS rival Villanova, who's a good program, but you still can't be losing that game. They lose the Buffalo last week, so this is not a very good football team. The road to eight wins is absolutely achievable. This team, you've talked about it, and I heard you talk about it yesterday, should be 4-0 come the Michigan game, and then you're looking at, you know, toss-up games like at Iowa. That's always a difficult place to play. It's a noon kick at Kinnick Stadium. I think the Michigan State game right now is a bit of a toss-up game, because that's at Maryland. Michigan State didn't look all that impressive last weekend against

Arizona State. So I really think the road to eight wins because Illinois got awful. Ruckers is terrible. Indiana doesn't look very good right now. So the road to eight wins is absolutely achievable for this team. It is. We'll see what happens in their first real test, which would come in Ann Arbor potentially as a four-and-o team. Minnesota's banged. up. They get them next week at home. The best game of the weekend is the rematch of the AFC championship game on Sunday. Jacksonville hosting New England. I really like Jacksonville again this year. I just think they are shut down defensively. Four net's a key. They need him healthy. I'm assuming he's going to play. You know, there was one of those fake Twitter accounts early in the

week that said he was out for the year and I bought into it for about three hours. And I'm like, damn, because I like watching Jacksonville play, and I'm not a Blake Bordle's hater. I think he's good enough with that defense and running game. This is the game of the weekend. And there are a couple of them on Sunday. Vikings Packers is huge. We'll see whether or not Rogers plays, but that's a big game in the NFC North. Chiefs at Steelers is a big game early for Pittsburgh and a measuring stick game for Patrick Mahomes.

But I can't wait to watch the 425 Jacksonville, New England game Sunday afternoon. Yeah, I think you hit on a bunch of the games that I was thinking, too. I just think at some point, the talent that Pittsburgh has, it's going to get eventually just overshadowed. Ben Rathesberger is getting up there in age and just everything that is happening with the unrest in the locker room with Levion Bell. I know James Connor looked good week one. It just feels like this is the year that the AFC North is really up for grabs

because Cincinnati looked great last night against Baltimore, I was a little bullish on Baltimore entering the year. I think Cleveland, from what we saw last Sunday, they don't suck anymore. No, they don't. So the AFC North, to me, even though every year you just kind of penciled in Pittsburgh, it feels like, for the past five or six years, I have no idea what to think about that. Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes look good in week one. So you start 0-1-1 if you're Pittsburgh.

You're in a bit of trouble. We give you a team, too, to keep an eye on this weekend. And this is a big game early in the season. in the NFC South. And that is Carolina at Atlanta. Atlanta lost the opener. Carolina completely shut down Dallas. Who knows what Dallas is?

They don't look very good offensively. I think Carolina is under the radar a little bit. They were a playoff team last year. Norv Turner's now the offensive coordinator. They've got talent defensively. Last night I was with Clinton Portis Tim doing the Redskins Showtime recording, which airs, by the way, Sunday at 1130, so an hour and a half before kickoff on Channel 4.

with Sherry Burris hosting. She does a great job. Mike Jones is in on the show this week with Clinton. And Clinton and I were sitting around before the show started, and I said, who do you like so far? And he's ripping through teams. I said, Carolina, he goes, yeah. He goes, Carolina is one of those teams because Cam's back running again.

And Norv is saying, this is what you do. They really went to more of that last year, if you recall. Cam said, I don't mind it. I think the Panthers are a dangerous team. and I think that is, you've got good matchups in week two. Important early season matchups. Carolina, Atlanta, Chiefs Steelers, Vikings Packers, Jags, Pats. These are all big games in week two.

Who's on upset alert this weekend? Well, we talked about, I think Washington, if we want to go to the college ranks, I think Washington is absolutely on upset alert. So that would be for me a big team on upset alert when it comes to the college ranks. I think the Eagles are on upset alert. I think the Bucks can do it two weeks in a row. Now, they are down at the corner position. Their secondary is ravaged.

And yet, as I mentioned in the smell test, boy, Vegas is just keeping that line right there at three. They're just suckering everybody into betting Philadelphia, laying the three points. I don't know what the deal is with Tampa. There's something about these veteran quarterbacks. They start to figure it out at 34, 35, if they've been a journeyman quarterback for their entire careers, like a guy like Ryan Fitzpatrick, he's got weapons.

You know, he's got legitimate weapons in Evans and Jackson and some of the others. I think the Philadelphia Eagles, if you call that an upset as a three-point favorite on the road, I think most people would think it's a bit of an upset. And I also like the Panthers at Atlanta. I think they've got a chance to go in and win that game as well. I'm with you. I like Utah a lot Saturday night again. Washington in college football.

Stick around. We're going to do Redskins, Score, and more to finish up the show. How much Skins talk are you doing on your podcast? Well, I do another podcast because that's what everyone does. It's all the rage. So I hooked up with the guys over at Sports Capital, Brian McNally, Ben Standing, and Todd Dibis. And I do a weekly pod there. So every Tuesday, I kind of recap the Redskins game, talk a little college football, Maryland and Navy, obviously, since I'm a part of that. So it would just kind of riff and have fun. So yeah, I do a little bit of Redskins stuff. So how do people get that podcast?

Just go to the Sports Capital, D.C., follow me on Twitter at one Tim Murray, and everything that I throw out there will be on there. All right. So the Redskins and the Colts, the home opener on Sunday, I want your prediction here in a moment. Here's mine. I think it's going to be a tight game. I think the Colts are going to move the football. I think the Redskins are going to move the football. The weather is apparently not going to be an issue Sunday. I'm very curious to see what kind of crowd shows up for this game. I don't think anybody's jumping in head first after a pounding of Arizona in week one. I think most Redskin fans, legitimate, reasonable Redskins fans are in wait and sea mode.

And they probably don't even view Indianapolis as like a real measuring stick game. either. But if they got to 2 and 0, next week would all of a sudden against Green Bay become big. But I think Andrew Luck is going to move the football. And I like the Redskins defense. It's, to me, Tim, the reason to be optimistic about the season, because it could be much improved. But I think Indy's going to move the football. I think the Redskins are going to move the football. I see a lot of points in this game. And I see Dustin Hopkins from 55 yards out, 55 yards out, at the gun to win this one. 3431 over the Colts. I think it's a shootout.

I think it's a highly entertaining game. I think Lux's going for 300 and three touchdowns in this game. I think the Redskins will show that they can move the football like they did last week with a really good Jay Gruden game plan. They have an advantage up front offensive line against Indies front seven. I would expect Indy to stack the box and make Alex Smith throw the football down the field, which he didn't do in week one. but I like the Redskins to win.

I just don't like them to cover. 34-31. It's pretty bullish to say that the Redskins are going to hit a 55-yard field goal after what the professional soccer game was played on that masterful field on Tuesday night. I forgot about that. And rain is going to fall over the next couple days. I don't know anything about the field conditions. It's going to be terrible.

Has anything been written about the field conditions? Yeah, people have mentioned it. No one's actually, I don't know if anyone's actually given a great story on what the field conditions look like, but certainly there were a lot of jokes made about Tuesday night. The fact that, you know, five days before a season opener, there's a soccer game. And then there's a hurricane coming to town as well. Well, there isn't, though. The hurricane's not going to be in town, which is the good news.

But I forgot about the soccer game. And there was a college football game. Two weeks ago there with Maryland, Texas, you would hope that it's... In the rain. So you like the over, big time. Yeah, I like the over. It's 48. 48.

I would say take the over. I'm from here. I'm in the generation, Kevin, where I didn't get to enjoy anything of the Redskins basically. You're young. I'm 30 years old, so I've never really, I was a wee lad last time this franchise was respectable every single year. So the fact that I'm looking at the public pounding the Redskins

makes me extremely cautious about this Sunday. And this is an important game. I don't think there's such things as trap games in the NFL. They're professionals. But you've got Green Bay coming up the following week. Then you got the buy. Then you got New Orleans. This is a big stretch here.

And this, when you look at the schedule, you talked about Tampa. That Tampa game doesn't look like the easiest one that it initially did when the schedule came out. So this is very important for the Redskins. As you mentioned a couple days ago, if you want them to be playing meaningful football in December, this is close to a must-win situation for the Redskins. think they get it done. I agree with you that Indianapolis defense isn't going to be that much of an issue for the Redskins to run the ball. I'll say 3127 Redskins get to win. Instead of a late field goal, I say a late touchdown gets it from down 2724. We'll see what Alex Smith has. He'll

lead him down. A late touchdown pass to Jordan Reed with about 56 seconds to go. We'll give the Redskins, a 31-27 lead, the lead and the win. So over and Colts cover. Yeah, you and I both like the Colts plus the points, and we like the over in the game. Thank you for doing this. I'd like to do it with you whenever you want to do it. And follow Tim on Twitter and listen to all of his podcast. Tim, seriously, when it comes to gambling discussion, is a sharp.

He's got a sharp view. Not off to a good start. But, hey, but Army minus six and a half. Public loves Hawaii. They love Hawaii. Noon kickoff. That's 6 a.m. Hawaii time. So that would be my parting gift to you. Army minus the six and a half against three and O Hawaii.

I saw that one and I thought about it. Thank you. I will talk to you soon. Monday, I'm back with all of the Redskins Colts recap. We'll have a guest on as well, somebody who was at the game. But I'm loving doing this right now. It's a lot of fun and I appreciate all the support. Aaron Oster was in producing today and he's going to continue hopefully to produce this show moving forward.

So thanks to all of you. Thanks, by the way, Mike Shanahan was awesome as always. And it sounds like, and I've had a chance to talk to Mike that he's going to come on with me, you know, every few weeks to sort of go around the league and tell us what he's seeing and what he's thinking. And he did say, you know, and it's true. It's really hard to figure the NFL out in the first few weeks. It really very rarely is an indicator of sort of what will come in December and January. But there are, in terms of the standings, potentially down the road, some big week two games. Back on Monday with Skins Colts recap, a lot of it.

Have a great weekend, everybody.