The Kevin Sheehan Show - More Maryland For Washington?

Episode Date: December 8, 2023

Kevin opened with a few thoughts on the Commanders' announcement today that they're moving business operations to the University of Maryland. Jay Gruden jumped on with thoughts on Washington's blow-out loss last week to Miami, the NFL games this weekend, and his "Lock of the Week". Kevin finished up with his "Smell Test" picks.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Imagine being the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday morning, being a 7-4 football team, facing two straight games in five days at home

against two teams that were 2 and 10. Look pretty good to get to 9 and 4, but they're not. They're 7 and 6. They got crushed by the Cardinals, and then last night they lost to the Patriots. I am so, so angry that I did not give the Patriots out as a smell test pick. I gave them out as a lien yesterday, but I said,

I'm not putting you through one more week of having the New England Patriots because I had lost on three consecutive New England games in the smell test. I did bet them. I also bet the over last night. So I actually had a good night. I feel badly, though, because I really did like the Patriots, and they kind of fit the overall formula. But it wasn't, you know, the perfect fit, but it wasn't square peg round hole either. But I just, for whatever reason, I was soft.

I did not stick to my guns and say, I don't care how many losses they've provided us over the last three weeks. They're the right side. Got a man up sometimes, and I did not. on the show yesterday. I did not see the game, to be honest with you. I had plans last night, but followed it on my phone and missed out apparently on a wonderful game for Bailey Zappy, three touchdown passes for the guy out of Western Kentucky who there was some hope for him when he came out. A lot of people liked him coming out of Western Kentucky. He is definitely, you know, one of these guys that kind of runs around a lot and has to play off schedule a lot.

Apparently not last night. He had a terrible game against the Chargers last week. He had a terrible game against the Giants when he came in for Mack Jones. They put him in that final drive of the game in Frankfurt, Germany a few weeks ago, against the Colts, and he couldn't get it done. He threw an interception at the end of the game. But last night, I mean, it's almost this trend of, man, when you think these backup quarterbacks are just horrendous,

just kind of hang in there for a little bit. And, you know, they'll end up doing what Jake Browning did the other night. They'll end up doing what Tommy DeVito did to the Redskins, to the commanders, excuse me. They'll end up doing what Josh Dobbs did early in the season for Arizona. And then a couple of times for Minnesota. So there you go. That's it on Thursday night football. Jay Gruden will be on the show, a show that is presented, as always, by Window Nation.

call them at 86690 Nation or go to windownation.com. No game this weekend. No Washington game. Late by again this year. Took a while. They're the final team along with Arizona. Those are the final two teams with their bye weeks this weekend. And then it is four games to the finish line against the Rams, Jets, 49ers, and Cowboys.

So earlier today, the Washington football franchise, known as the commanders, put out a press release announcing that they are moving their business operations to the University of Maryland from FedEx Field. I'll read from the press release. Beginning in early 2024, the Washington commanders will move business operations from FedEx Field to Riverdale Park located on the campus of the University of Maryland to meet greater demand for social. suites while expanding the franchise's footprint in the state of Maryland. The move comes on the heels of growing business and fan engagement successes, including 13 new sponsors, a 20% increase in the team's season ticket holder base, and sellouts of all 2023 home games to date. So a lot of people reacted to this.

I knew when I saw this, in fact, I didn't see it initially dent in my radio producer had it in one of his news updates. And he said, and he mentioned it, and I said, people are going to think that this means they're staying in Maryland, that the RFK thing isn't going to work out and that the next stadium's going to be in Landover on the FedEx Field site. And that's been a lot of the reaction to it. So, you know, the commanders, this was a statement from Governor Westmore. That PG County has been the proud home of the Washington commanders for the past 25 years, and we're glad to welcome the staff that supports this organization to their new home in college park.

The commanders have been clear that they are focused on winning on and off the field, as well as supporting the local community, and this partnership with the University of Maryland highlights that commitment. The Moore-Miller administration is thrilled to see the commanders commit to further collaboration with residents and area small businesses. Prince George's County. That was from Governor Westmore. Jason Wright said, quote, Commanders fans are eager to support their team and were dedicated to ensuring the best experience possible, possible both on and off the field. Moving our headquarters will provide exciting new spaces

to take in home games and will provide for greater collaboration for our business staff and partnership with the University of Maryland, closed quote. So I think most of you know this, but I'm not entirely sure that all of you know this, a lot of the business operations for the team are housed at FedEx Field. The football operations in Ashburn at Redskins Park, Commander's Park, and some of the business people are in Ashburn, but a lot of the, especially the ticket selling group, they work out of FedEx Field. They work out of some of these suites that they've been trying to lease. and so if there's increased interest in the leasing of suites and they end up getting to the point where they don't have enough room

to work out of some of these suites, they've got to move. I mean, you're not going to work Monday through Friday and then move all the computers and everything you've got in your office out of there for the people to come in and sit there during games and then move back in on Monday. So that is, that's why they're moving from FedEx Field to a new location. And the new location happens to be a little. location that's pretty close to FedEx Field where they're still going to be to present sweet

opportunities and sponsorship opportunities, et cetera, to potential clients and season ticket holders. So Maryland's pretty close. What is it? 15, 20 minutes from FedEx Field. So it's relatively close. I promise you, I do not believe, and I've talked to a few people today, I do not believe that this is any indication of Landover FedEx Field site being much more in the hunt for the next stadium. This is not a commitment to Maryland, the state of Maryland, because they're going to build the new stadium in Landover at the FedEx Field site. The number one priority for Josh Harris-Mitchell-Rail's ownership is DC for a stadium, the RFK site. Some of you reached out to say. say, well, is this Joe Maloney who just left the organization, and he's been working on the

stadium? Is this timed up with this announcement, kind of an indication that they didn't get it done in D.C. and it's going to be Maryland? No. And if they end up in D.C., by the way, Joe Maloney will deserve a lot of the credit for it. He's the one that's been working with all three jurisdictions, but has been really the guy making D.C. now a reality. D.C. is still number one, for ownership. It is still, in my opinion, the favorite after everything that's happened here over the last six months, especially with ownership change. And that's their priority. I do not read into any of this as a commitment to the state of Maryland because ultimately they're going to stay in Maryland. At least that's the way I feel today. One more quick thing before we get to

Jay Gruden and then the smell test to finish up the show. I didn't watch the in-season semi-finals of the NBA tournament last night, but my God is LeBron James having a season. Last night, LeBron James scored 30 points in 23 minutes in their blowout win over New Orleans. And the NBA, by the way, kind of got what they wanted, right? L.A. playing in the championship game Saturday night against Indiana. I mean, they just, the Lakers and LeBron being being in it is huge. Indiana is a bit of a surprise, but they've been playing great. I mean, they score more than any team in the league, and they give up more than any team in the league. So you're going to see a very high over-under for that final. But LeBron's scored 30 and 23 minutes.

He was 9 of 12 from the floor. He was 4-4 from behind the three-point line, 8 for 8 from the free-throw line. LeBron James right now, at 38 years old, soon to turn 39 years old at the end of this month. is having right now one of the best seasons he's ever had shooting the basketball. In fact, from behind the three-point line, he is 40.7%. The best year ever was in Miami in 2012, 2013 when he shot 40.6%. But most years, he's been in the low to mid-30s as a three-point shooter. 40.7%. He's shooting 55.3% from the field. Now, that would not be the best, but it would be the best since he was in Miami in 2013, 2014. Amazing season so far for LeBron. I don't like the Lakers to get to the championship this year and win a title. I'm talking about the real championship and the real

title, not the in-season trophy. I still like Denver out west. I like Phoenix, if they ever get healthy. I kind of like the Clippers to make a run. And I think Oklahoma City and Minnesota are very interesting as super young teams. The other semifinal last night featured a matchup between Indiana and Milwaukee. The Pacers beat the Bucks 128-19 behind another incredible performance by Tyrese Halliburton, who was just turning into a star before our very eyes. Here's the thing that's amazing about Halliburton. Last night, 27 points, 15 assists, seven rebounds. Zero turnovers in 37 minutes. In the last two games, Halliburton's got 28 assists and zero turnovers. That is unbelievable. That is a 14 to zero assist to turnover margin ratio. Just amazing. In the entire month,

of December so far, he's averaging 11.7 assists and two and a half turnovers per game. Not a bad assist to turnover ratio. He is really blowing up into a big time superstar. And Indiana's a fun team to watch. They're not going to be a title contender. When all is said and done in the east, it's going to be Boston and Milwaukee probably at the top. But man, the Pacers and Halliburton in particular are fun to watch. All right. Jay Gruden next, right after these words, from a few of our sponsors.

We'll get to Jay Gruden here momentarily, but first I want to tell you about Window Nation. Of course, Kevin wants to tell us about Window Nation. He does on every show. I do, because I do believe that if you're thinking about new windows, you should give Window Nation the first shot. This email, though, made me want to talk about Window Nation even more today. It came from Stephen.

Even wrote with the title, Windonation, thank you. He wrote, the best home improvement decision my wife and I have made in years was taking your recommendation about Window Nation. Thank you. Thank you, Stephen. You know, usually you hear only from dissatisfied customers, not satisfied customers. Retail people will tell you. They always hear from the people who are angry, never from those that were satisfied.

Well, everyone's always satisfied at Windonation. Nation. If you're thinking about new windows, if they're older windows, if they don't close or open properly, give them a call at 86690 Nation or go to windownation.com. Mention my name. The deal right now is a good one for every two windows you buy. You get two free plus zero percent financing interest for five years, if that's the way you decide to purchase the windows. I've endorsed window nation since 2009. I love the people. blow Wind Donation, and I think you will as well. Give them a call at 86690 Nation or go to windownation.com. All right, let's bring Jay Gruden onto the show. He's with us every Friday during football season. You know, both of us last week gave Washington in our final score predictions a chance to be somewhat competitive in the game. I think you had it right around a touchdown, I'm 34-27. I think I was at 35 to 23 or something like that. It was a total lopsided mismatch.

In watching the game, did you think that it was an indication that maybe the team is on the verge of kind of bailing on the season? Or was it just a matter of it being a significant mismatch? I think it's a much bigger mismatch. The secondary is really struggling right now, especially at the safety position. They're letting guys get over the top and single high, and they're cheating to the wrong side of the field, and they don't really have any positive matchups in their favor when they play man-to-man. So the safety doesn't know which side to cheat on. And then when they play zone, they're getting dissected,

and they're not getting any pass-rush. So they've got problems on defense, first and foremost, and an offensive line is just really not very good, to be honest with you, unfortunately. And it's very hard to get the ball to tarry down the field, and Samuel and all those guys down the field when they can't protect. and Sam is doing the best he can, bust his heart. He is really trying his tail off.

He's running around there trying to make plays. He's a great, great competitor. He just doesn't have a lot of help right now. Just curious about how you feel about Miami. Would it surprise you if they won the Super Bowl? I have flipped on Miami quite a bit. I think they're the favorites in the AFC right now. I think the way they're playing defense right now is what's set them apart.

I think they've improved so much on the defensive side of the football. Getting Jalen Ramsey is a huge help on that in the secondary. Obviously, the other corner is a heck of a play. player. They lost Phillips. It hurts their pass rush a little bit, but they're playing the run extremely well. And I've always liked Vic Fangio's style of defense the way he plays secondary. They're very sound in what they do. They can play zone. They can play man, obviously. Now offensively, they're going to score. They're going to score enough points to keep them in the game. But I just think the defense is what's improved from week one to now. I think they're a totally different

teams with that defense. I think they're like holding teams under 17 points the last five weeks. Yeah, I mean, they are. I mean, they are. played the Jets, Washington, and the Raiders in their last three games, which has been helpful. And they're going to miss Jalen Phillips. He's out for the year. They didn't even have Holland last week. They were missing some big pieces last week, and Washington couldn't really get anything done. I don't want to spend that much time really on Washington this week, but I am curious because you had a team in 2018 that was ravaged with injuries, and it looked like you. he was really about to end in an ugly way.

And you actually ended up having two really close games late in the season. You beat Jacksonville. You had a chance at Tennessee to stay in mathematical playoff contention with Josh Johnson at quarterback. How do you keep a team in it? How do you keep a team from bailing on the season? Well, if you do your work and you get the right players in your building, like they say they've done, and the culture's changed and all that stuff, then the players are going to want to compete.

that's the type of guys you brought in here. So you shouldn't have a problem getting guys to want to compete, whether they're 2 in 10 or 10 and 2 on a Sunday afternoon when you're playing against another football team, grown men versus grown men. So those are the type of guys you want on your football team are going to compete. They're going to play hard.

They have to because, you know, it's pro football. And they're also auditioning not only for themselves, but for other teams, possibly, in free agency. You're never going to want to put a bad product on the field if you're coaching a football team, whatever your record is, or if you're playing. So you're going to go out there, you're going to do your best to prepare and win the football game.

Was there any sarcasm at the beginning of that answer and talking about they've said that they've got a good culture out there? The C word is the most overused word in pro football. Everybody says, we're going to change that culture. Come on, just draft your team. Just go out and get the best biggest players and the fastest players you can find and then go out and compete and try to get them the best to prepare and play the best they can.

a bit. The C word overrated or not, two guys that have certainly added to at least the, you know, the competitiveness of the locker room are guys you brought in in Terry McClorn and John Allen.

That was their biggest draw. I know, I know that good football players are great people. You know, we got lucky as hell to get Terry in third. So yeah, you always want to draft guys that are not only good players, but you've got to find out the character of them. Sometimes you can get away with the guy that's maybe a little bit under the, you know, maybe not the top character guy in the world if you have them,

if you have players on your team that are very good that can kind of reel them in a little bit. But if he's really, really good, you can deal with it. But for the most part, you want guys that are going to be good, strong leaders for younger players coming into your building and show them the way as far as how to prepare, how to get ready for a game and be pro. That's what it's most important in this game. I think we can all say there's going to be a regime change at the end of this year pretty safely. I don't know that I've asked you this in the last couple of weeks, but do you have any

sort of hunch on the direction, the organization will go GM head coach or even have guys that you like? I had no idea. You know, there's so many young coaches that I think most owners are going the route of trying to find a young offensive mind. Obviously, Ben Johnson is probably the top of the list. But there's some guys on other teams that are doing pretty well as well. Indianapolis, whoever their coordinator is. Houston, I think that kid is doing a great job with that offense. I think it's Slulloch as his name. Yeah, Bobby Slovak.

There's some other younger guys that could get a chance. And if you want to go an older guy, maybe a veteran guy, maybe Belichick kicks free out of New England, who knows what's going to happen there. Maybe Brables free if they let him go at Tennessee. But, you know, there's going to be some interesting moves as far as coaches becoming available. I just don't know who's going to be fired at the end of the year.

Are you done coaching being a part of football? I wouldn't mind maybe getting into the personnel side of it maybe as a consultant type thing, but I think coaching is probably not on my radar. I don't think I'm on anybody's radar anyway, so it's kind of a moot point. My phone is not ringing off the hook, hey, are you available next year? Nobody's called. I don't think anybody will call, so I'm pretty much done, Kevin. Put a fork in me.

I know, but you said about the first. personnel thing, and we've talked about this before, you have not only an interest in personnel, people who have worked with you in the past have said you're very good at that. You're a very strong evaluator of talent. So why haven't you pushed in that direction to get to a spot where perhaps at some point you could be a general manager as an example? Well, I don't know. That's a good question. I think I'm trying to do some radio stuff and some other podcast thing, just to put my toe in that water, see if I have any interest in that, which I do. The general manager side, I just don't know if that's a possibility,

because like I said, I don't have any experience as far as the GM and all that stuff is concerned. I do like the evaluation. It takes a lot of work, a lot of time. I did put a lot of work in time, and that's why I was pretty good at it. I wouldn't say I was great, but I felt like I did the work necessary to be productive in that side of the time. the office. But if something came up, I'd listen to it, but I don't think it will.

Do you like being a part of the media? Do you like being a pundit? I do. Yeah, it's fun. It's fun. I can say whatever I want, and nobody's going to remember the next day, and there's no ramifications. It's beautiful.

Oh, yeah, you know, you really, it's true. In this day and age, you can almost say anything, and within 48 hours, people have completely forgotten. Like, I took the Jaguars last week, and, you know, all of my Cincinnati, I, I love Cincinnati. I love my time there. And all the Cincinnati bagel fans were pissed at me, and they end up winning. But at the end of the day, nobody really cares who I picked. Yeah. You did pick the Jags last week.

That was your lock of the week, and now you are, I think, seven and four with your lock of the week on this show. So we will get to your lock of the week here coming up. And actually, it's funny because we had talked about the Cincinnati situation. with Jake Browning, and he had looked so awful in his start against Pittsburgh and coming off the bench against Baltimore on that Thursday night when Joe Burrow got hurt. We've seen this now a couple of times this year, Jay, where you watch backup quarterbacks and you're like, oh, my God, this guy is horrible. And then a couple of games later, Jake Browning had one of the best games any quarterbacks

had this year. He was 32 and 37 for 354 yards. And then, you know, Josh Dobbs, if you had watched him at all at the end of last year, you're like, this guy can't play. Tommy DeVito, you know, went from can barely throw the forward pass to actually looking competent. Last night, you know, we had a guy in Bailey Zappy who had looked horrible every opportunity he got. And against a pretty good defensive team ended up having a pretty decent night. what is it about that position where as a fan you think you're seeing something but now we're starting to learn just wait a couple of weeks it could change dramatically well the offense gets catered to him

and it's a big difference because reps are king and they're getting a reps in practice they're getting talked to in the meetings the coordinator and the head coach whoever's called plays is getting to know that player what he's good at what he's not good at and the familiarity is critical for these guys when you come off the bench, you're working with the starting quarterback's game plan, which should be okay for you, but still it's not. And you haven't had any reps throughout the week, call and plays, doing the cadence, all that stuff. Now you've got a couple weeks in, and the coach knows you a little bit better. You're more comfortable behind center, and things are a little bit smoother.

You know, Jake Brown, I thought that was Zach Taylor's best game in the play caller. He's been to a Super Bowl, but this was an incredible game for him, calling plays, getting him comfortable early. He completed his first eight passes, but they're only for like 30 yards, but he got them in a rhythm, got him feeling good in the pocket, and then he pushed the ball down the field when he had two later in the game and they'd bates and plays. It's very important for these guys to get reps.

When they don't get reps and they just come off the bench, it's very hard to be productive. But when they get the reps for a couple weeks, three, four weeks, and you'll see them start to improve, you hope. And if they don't, then you've got to get another guy. It's funny about that night. I mean, Zach Taylor, early on, it looked like he was just trying to scheme up gadget plays because he didn't have a lot of confidence in Jake Browning.

They tried, you know, two double passes with the receipts. receivers. I mean, one of them got picked off. Tyler Boyd threw it right to Josh Allen. Yeah, I think that when you have a backup quarterback that might struggle a little bit in your mind as a play caller, let's try to get a big play. How are we going to get a big play? Let's try this gadget play. Let's try this gadget play. And hopefully, worst case scenario doesn't hit like Tyler Boyd throwing an interception to Josh Allen. You don't have that worst case scenario. Great. But, you know, sometimes you got to throw those in there to try to spark your offense if you think it's going to be hard to get a big play. You know, chunk yards are critical on

pro football and it's very hard to have, you know, 13, 14 play drives all the time. You have to try to get some chunk plays and gadget plays sometimes are your best result. Yeah, that Tyler Boyd, the shot of Zach Taylor when they tried a second, you know, wide receiver pass and it got picked, the shot of Zach Taylor was like, oh my God, what did I just do? Is there, is there any call you ever made that stands out as one, oh my God, how did I make that call? Like at any point, coordinator or head coach? I can remember we were playing Philadelphia, and we had a lead about a six-point lead,

and we had third down in seven or third down in six, and we called a speedout to Darius-Slayside. He's not going to back up. He's going to squat and he picked it. And I said, that might be the dumbest call in the history of our organization. You know, just little things like that. What a gadget play, but you've got to know your personnel, You got to know their personnel and make sure you go out the right people if you're going to call plays like that.

Sure enough, he picked it. Do you remember what year that was? Or did you guys? I don't remember what year that was. Did you win the game? I remember me and Sean, look. Sean called it. I remember Sean called it and I looked at Sean and I said, this might be, that might be the dumbest call in our franchise history.

And he looked at me and shook his head. It was pretty funny. We don't win in a game, you know. Yeah, because you beat Philly a bunch when you, you know, during those years. All right. Let's talk some NFL. Last night, by the way, it's Tomlin, it's Belichick, and both coaches, you know, there's a chance. Neither one of them will be back. I mean, and Belichick's out there, I mean, they won the game. I mean, they're losing draft positioning here. What did you think of that game last night?

Do you know what the total was of that game before it started? You do know. Yeah, 30. Yeah, it was 30. The thing was over, he went over in the first half. It was 21, 10, and half. What do you think of both of these guys? Are they done or are they going to coach? That's a great question.

Bill Belichick, I think they can do whatever he wants. I mean, if you win that many Super Bowls have that much success, I would imagine that Robert Kraft would give him a little bit of leeway and say, hey, Bill, what do you want to do? Do you want total control? Do you want to give up some of your control over personnel? Or do you still want to coach? I think that'll be up the bill.

That's the one side. Tomlin, you know, he's had a great run. They're still in the playoffs. They still can make the playoffs. They don't look good at all in offense. They had one good offensive showing that was against Cincinnati who was struggling on defense. But I think that he'll still be there. He just got to make changes on the offensive side of the football. I think they'll give another year or two and see what they can do offensively with

Kenny Pickett and a new offensive coordinator. If you're one of those teams that are going to be in the head coaching search mode in January, would you want Belichick to be your coach? I think so, yeah. I think it would be perfect for a team like Washington to get some stability at the head coaching spot and he'd be a great landing spot for any organization, really, because he brings his style of football,

which is do your job. That's his mentality. That's his motto. He's no nonsense whatsoever. If you want to go that route, that's the route to go. If you want to go younger, more players coached, then, you know, that's the owner's prerogative. But there's a couple different styles of coaches out there.

Bill Belichick, it's my way or the highway. then you got some other younger guys that's more player-oriented like Matt LaFleur and Sean McVeigh and Kyle probably and Mike McDaniel and guys like that. So it just depends on what kind of coach the organization wants. All right. We got some good games this weekend, especially late in the day on Sunday. Bills at Chiefs. How do you see that one? And what do you make of the Chiefs right now?

They seem to be struggling. Yeah, I like Buffalo in this game. I think they're coming in desperate. and I think Kansas City's coming with a little bit of doubt. I don't think, I think Kansas City is going to be there at the end, but I just think Buffalo is going to come in there and play extremely well. I think Josh Allen is going to have a big day. Kansas City's defense struggle a little bit last week.

And I just, they have to figure out something at the wide receiver position. You know, and Kelsey's not having a Kelsey-type year. Teams are starting to lock in on him and letting the receivers beat him, and the receivers aren't. So Patrick's a great player. It'll be a close game, but I think at the end of the day, I think Buffalo makes enough plays and win the game. Eagles Cowboys Sunday night. Both of these teams gave up 42 to the 49ers, who are the clear frontrunner now in the NFC.

But this is huge in the NFC East. Who do you like? I like Philly. Cowboys are undefeated at home. I get it. I just think Philly's going to play bully football. And I think that Dallas has a weakness that they're little. And I think Philadelphia can overpower the line of scrimmage, run the clock. keep Dallas's offense on the sideline. And Philly's really good on third down. They were 50% against them last time, and they can keep up the fat and have those 10, 12 play drives,

seven, six-minute drives that they did against Dallas the first time. I think they'll hold up and win the game. If the Eagles and or Cowboys get another shot at the 49ers in the postseason, and one of them likely will, what are the changes? I don't think there are much of a chance, really.

friends so strong. I mean, they don't have any weakness. The only hope they have is a couple key players get hurt. You know, they overpower you with the running game. They have great receivers. The receivers block their asses off. Capri's great. Defensively, they have two, the best edge rush combination, the best inside linebacker combination. Interior, if Armstead's back and Hargraves, they're great on the interior. They just don't have any weakness, maybe at corner, but Ward is playing a lot better. So I just, I don't know how you beat San Francisco right now. Defensively, I don't know what you do. You can't load up the boxes. Pertile'll hurt you with his arm. You can't play cover two and protect against the big play. Then McAfrio will get you, especially run on the left.

So it's just going to be tough. Turnovers will be key. Whoever plays them, they're going to have to rely on penalties and turnovers. What makes Trent Williams so good? Well, Trent is probably the strongest tackle in the league, and he's probably the most athletic tackle in the league, and he's probably the smartest tack on the league. So he's got a great feel for the game. His natural instincts for the position are off the charts. not to mention his athletic ability, a size and his toughness, and his leadership ability. He's, in my mind, the best tackle ever walk on a pro football field,

and he's the best player by far that I ever coached. He's just a hell of a guy, hell of a guy in a locker room, and there's not one weakness in a game. I mean, I never saw him get beaten any one-on-ones in practice. He just, he's incredible. All right, what's your lock of the week? I'm going to go out to Atlanta, and I'm going to take the Tampa Bay Bay,

buckingiers on the road against the falcons. I think Mike Evans is quietly having a big year. If Tampa has a weakness on defense, it's their secondary, but Atlanta does not really threat anybody with their passing games. So I think they'll do good enough against

B. John Robertson against the run, and I think Mike Evans make enough plays to win the game. What did you get accomplished during buy weeks? I think rest time away is important for everybody. You know, the four or five days off for coaches, maybe not coaches, but for players just to get them out of the building, regroup, get their minds and body right.

It just thinks that their by-week comes and they're pretty much out of the playoffs. You know, you wish you had the bi-week earlier where you're still able to make a run where they come back rejuvenated. But I think mainly the health of the players, both physically and mentally, they get out of the building. Now they come back and they have a four-game stretch where you're hoping that they come back and put their best foot forward and compete. Tampa Bay plus two and a half at Atlanta is the lock of the week. Thanks. I'll talk to you next week. Yeah, Kevin, thanks. We'll finish up with the smell test next right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Kevin looks where the John Q public is putting their cash and does the opposite.

It's time for the smell test. The smell test, as always, brought to you by MyBooky. Go to mybooky. Go to mybooky.orgie. promo code, Kevin DC, and you'll get a cash bonus on your initial deposit. You've got to use my promo code exactly, as I mentioned, Kevin DC. They've told me they've gotten some Kevin 980s and Team 980 Kevin and a couple of other things that they mentioned they've gotten. It's got to be exactly Kevin DC to get that cash bonus on your initial deposit. MyBooky.ag for the fairest pricing, fairest points spreads, money lines, totals, all the prop bet action you're looking for. MyBooky.orgie.org promo code Kevin, D.C. All right, let's go through it real quickly.

Four and four last week. Three straight weeks, 500 on the nose. I pulled the Cincinnati pick. So I'm not giving myself credit for that, even though it was a pick a week ago. But I pulled that on Monday. I wish I hadn't, but I did. And it was a 4-and-4 weekend exactly on the season 500. It's 71-715. We've got to do a lot better than that down the stretch so that you can leave this season maybe up a little bit, which is always, you know, if you break even or you're up a little bit, that's a win in gambling. For all the entertainment it provides, definitely.

Army Navy tomorrow. Navy plus three. Find the plus three's out there. There are some plus two and a halves. The public, for whatever reasons, all over Army. I think they finished the season with a three-game winning streak. Navy got demolished in their last outing against a very good SMU team. The total in this game is 27 and a half. I actually thought about, thought about giving out the under. I'd lean under like I leaned Patriots and over last night. But Navy's the play here. There's sharp money on Navy.

Most of the public action is on Army. So we'll kick it off with Navy plus three tomorrow in Foxborough, which is where the game is being played. Let's go to Sunday. Some bad teams here. Sorry about that, but I don't know why

the Bears are only getting three at home against the Lions. Part of it is they played really well a few weeks ago against the Lions. The public's lined up on Detroit in this one. I'll take Chicago plus the three. The Panthers I had last week as a winner, they're getting six at New Orleans. I'll take Carolina plus the six.

The Jets in what should be a bad weather game, lots of bad weather on Sunday on the East Coast. They are getting four at home against Houston, who's been on fire and is very much not only in the wild card race, but they are in the AFC South Chase as well. I'll take the Jets plus. the four. And then we go to Atlanta. The bucks are getting two and a half against the Falcons. It's six and six. The Falcons are in first place. I'll buy that up to three and take the bucks plus

the three at Atlanta. Afternoon, I love Buffalo at Arrowhead. That line keeps coming down. It was three and a half. It's down to one and a half. I've seen some ones out there. Odds-makers. losing some faith in Kansas City. Buffalo's desperate. They've got to win this game. They've got to win, you know, a bunch of these games to get to the postseason. Man, did they play well at Philadelphia in that loss? They had a buy week. Kansas City had a Sunday night game. Give me the bills plus the one and a half. Two Monday night picks. There are two Monday night games coming up. The Titans are 13 and a half. I'll buy that to 14 and take Tennessee plus 14 at Miami. And the Packers, as well as they've been playing, I mean the public now all over Green Bay,

laying six and a half in the Meadowlands against the Giants. I'll buy the half point there and take the Giants plus the sevens. So there's your smell test for week 15 in the NFL. Navy plus three on Saturday. The Jets, Panthers, Bears, Bucks, Bills on Sunday, and the Giants and Titans on Monday night. Those are always now subject to change, depending on, I'll try not to pull winners like I did on Monday night. But check back in, especially on Monday show, to see if there's any change to the Giants and the Titans selection, which means don't work them into a bunch of parlias and teasers.

Just wait until Monday, and you'll play them as straight bets Monday night when I gave you to go ahead on Monday. But right now, Giants plus seven, Titans plus 14 on Monday night. All right, that's it for the show. Enjoy your weekend back on Monday.