The Kevin Sheehan Show - More on Urban Meyer and Redskins

Episode Date: December 20, 2019

Kevin and Thom opened with Maryland's ugly loss to Seton Hall. Then it was a discussion about Adam Schefter's comments yesterday that Urban Meyer WOULD BE interested in an NFL job. Kevin had a slight change of mind regarding the chances that Meyer and the Redskins could be a match. The boys talked a lot about "what's next" for the Skins with the regular season coming to a close next weekend. Kevin had 12 Smell Test picks for the weekend and finished up the show with a Skins-Giants prediction. <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. You're listening to The Sports Fix. Tommy's on the phone. Aaron's here. Sorry about yesterday. Had some stuff to do. There was a lot of things going on. And Tommy couldn't make it yesterday. So we got Tommy on today. And we're doing a big Friday football show, which I mentioned this this morning on the radio show. You know, there was no Thursday night football game last night. And that's the time. That's been in recent years, sort of the signal that the season is coming to an end. And you don't love it in the same way that I love it. I understand that. But I really do enjoy, Tommy, the rhythm of the football season, the scheduled nature of the football season. You know, Saturday, Sundays, Monday nights, Thursday nights in September, October, November, most of December. and when it ends, I don't know, it's sort of sad to me because I know we're going to spend eight months waiting to get it back. And that's what makes it so great and so valuable is that

it's so scheduled and it's become so much of a habit, you know, to people. And it's definitely a habit for me. I love this time of year, like from September through. Look, the playoffs are great in January. By the time you get to the Super Bowl, you know, it's like, one game and it's a two-week build-up. I just like football season. I'm a creature of habit when it comes to this. And these are the signs here that it's coming to an end. It's amazing how quickly it goes by. We're into our final two weeks. You don't feel the same way, although it gives you a lot of writing material. No, no, look, I'm a football fan. I enjoy it. I like football season. and one of the reasons why it's so popular is it comes at a time when as the season goes on,

people will stay indoors longer and longer because it gets colder and colder. So, I mean, it's kind of the perfect sport for the season. I don't get the same buzz out of it as you. After all, I'm looking at the calendar and thinking there's less than two months until spring training. That's what I'm thinking of. Right. Well, you know, the other part of it is just that people are back, you know, beginning in September after Labor Day, into a normal routine. There's probably no portion of the calendar where people are into this normal routine, you know, school, work, Monday

through Friday, Saturdays or weekends, it's, you know, whereas with a lot of other months during the course of the year, especially in the summer months, you know, sometimes weekdays, end into weekends. You know, you're taking vacation, you're out of your routine, so it sinks up perfectly with people getting back into their normal routine. You know, schools, work, et cetera. Kevin, what you just mentioned, that should be the good time. The better time should be when there's not a routine, when you can't figure out what day it is. No, that's true, but what makes the routine and the mundane of the routine bearable is football for a lot of people. Yes, it does. Yes, it does. Because it gives you something to look forward to during the course of the week.

And now with games, you know, during the week, you know, you don't have to wait until Saturday or Sunday for games. But anyway, last night there was no Thursday night. You're right. It does do that. You're right. There was no Thursday night football last night for the first night this year. For the first Thursday night, there was a basketball game. that people like me and Aaron were very interested in. And it was Maryland at Seton Hall last night. And Aaron, I don't know if you, were you on Twitter last night seeing the reaction? It's so typical of Maryland fans. They want everybody fired after a game last night.

They want Turgeon's head. I mean, on a platter served to him. You do too. I mean, I don't know about Turch's head, but that was a, you don't want to say an unacceptable loss, but that was a loss that Maryland can't take in that situation. Yeah, well, so, you know, Tommy, we've had a lot of conversations about this over the years, and I'm going to share this with people that aren't as hip to this as you are, as I am as Aaron is, and many others are. Maryland basketball fans are really, really passionate.

A lot of you know that. Some of you that don't, maybe you live in Virginia, maybe you're just not a college basketball fan or you're new to the area. Maryland basketball has a long-storied history. It's a very important thing among its fan base. It is one of the few schools in college sports that is a clear-cut basketball first school. It's much more important than football is at Maryland. It taps into two big markets, two cities, Baltimore and D.C.,

certainly more of the Maryland side of the DMV. but you have two cities that essentially root for this college basketball team. And over the years, for a long period of time, going back to really the 80s, 70s, college basketball is more popular in this city than pro basketball is. Because the pro team has stunk over a long period of time. And Maryland in Georgetown in particular, and Mason had a final four run, but Maryland and Georgetown over a 30 years, plus period, 40 years, have had in what they've won national championships and they've been big time programs and people are into it and it's a big basketball area in general. So people are really into it. But the Maryland fan base is on a game night. Very similar. I know this is a

personal experience, but in terms of the passion and the expectation, it's very similar to the Redskins fan base because people get really, really emotionally involved and super angry and frustrated when they lose a game that they think they should have won. And then they won everybody's head. And here's the thing. You know, Maryland basketball, Aaron, you've mentioned this to me a few times. It's not that I didn't know it.

But, you know, Mark Turgeon's been here for eight years. This is his ninth year. And just one time so far in eight years has he advanced to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament. Got one Sweet 16 appearance in his eight years here. But Gary's last seven years didn't produce one Sweet 16 appearance. So the Maryland basketball program has been to the Sweet 16 one time in 15 years. You know, at some point, the results become who you are. Now, I don't agree with that. I think a lot of people do, and I think it's worth considering, Tommy. But I understand what it should be. I understand what it has been in its much further back past.

And I don't disagree as to what it should be. It's got a great tradition. It's got a first-grade arena. It's in a top two conference. It's got one of the best recruiting areas in the nation. You know, the bottom line is they've already won a national championship. They've been to two final fours. Gary went to nine sweet 16s, Lefty went to seven or whatever, and Lefty had more teams been able to go to the NCAA tournament, probably would have a final four or two to his credit. So I understand why the expectations are high. They're super high, which is precisely why last night, when they put on a performance like they did, it lights up our little corner of the Maryland Twitterverse. And it gets ugly.

And they want blood. They want Turgeon's blood. They blame him solely for what happened last night. Oh, listen. You know, I understand the comparison to the Redskins because I saw in the post-game comment the coach used the word rock bottom. Mm-hmm. Okay?

Yeah, he did. I'm familiar with those words. I'm familiar with those words because one of the big debates among Redskins fans is this rock bottom. Right. I'm actually comparing rock bottom. So I understand the connection. For everything you said, though, is true about the stature of Maryland basketball and actually compared to the Redskins coaching job.

What a great job the Reds that Maryland coaching job is. If that's the case, why should you have to settle for a coach who can't do better? Well, at some point, they're not going to settle for a coach who can't do better. I mean, you cannot at a place like Maryland, Maryland's not Kansas, it's not Duke, it's not North Carolina, all right, it's not Kentucky. Maryland is in, you know, and it has been at times in that next group of programs. that's included, you know, places like Michigan State and Arizona and Michigan and other, you know, in Yukon and Syracuse and, you know, it's very often been in that next group of programs. And at some time, you know, some people would say during various stretches, yeah, it's actually not even in that group.

It's in the next group below. But regardless of where you put it, it's a top 15 job. Whether or not it's a top 15 program is different from whether or not it would be a very sought-after job. And it would be because of the things we went through, the potential that it has. And if it's not reaching its potential, then you've got a problem. You do. Last night, though, was particularly galling for Maryland fans because they were playing a Seton Hall team, who was ranked 12th in the nation about three weeks ago, but had lost their

top two players, their top two offensive players. Miles Powell in particular is one of the better players in the country. And with a healthy Seton Hall team was picked to be a second weekend of the tournament team. This was going to be a big challenge until they went up there and Seton Hall's two best players weren't there. They lost the game a couple of weeks ago at Rutgers by 20 So Marilyn was a seven-point favorite. I did say on the radio show yesterday, and I would have told you this Aaron on the podcast, that we'd done one. I thought the line was short, and it reeked a little bit, and it concerned me.

It was short, and it ended up rising about two points from the morning. It went up, and that made me feel better. Yeah. But whatever, it didn't turn out that well. So real quickly on the game itself, and then we can circle back to the Turgeon thing. First of all, I do not like and am not a fan of the scheduling. He did this last year, and I know putting together schedule, there is, you know, it's a challenge and there's a bit of an art to it. And you've got a lot of things to consider in the early portion of the schedule in December in particular with college athletes needing time to take final exams and to study for final exams.

And a lot of these teams take, you know, a week plus off around exam time. Maryland last year, I believe, had 11 days going into the Seton Hall game, which is a lot. long layoff and they lost that game, very rusty in that game. Last night there were nine days they had going into that game and they were rusty going into that game. They have now 10 days off before their next game. They're playing two games in 19 days. I don't get that at all. But that's not why they lost. That's just something I wanted to mention because going into that game last night, I said, this is another one of those games. They haven't played in a week and a half. Like, you know, thank God that their two best players aren't playing.

But anyway, they didn't start well, which they haven't. They've been down by double digits in the first half of half of their games this year. Half of their games, they've been down by double digits in the first half. They didn't play confidently at all on offense in particular. But that was because, and this is one of these things that, you know, Tommy, I think you understand and respect that I know the game to a certain degree. And a lot of the people that I was interacting with didn't. And I said to a lot of my friends, I'm like, they are getting punked. They are getting bullied by one of the better defensive teams that I've watched this year play Maryland.

And, you know, after the game, actually, Turgeon said they were excellent defensively. And in fact, they had their best defensive players on the floor. Their two best players who were out are their worst defensive players. As it turns out, I didn't know that going into the game. I'm just watching the game. I didn't know if their two best players offensively were good defensively or not. But they, whether they were in zone or man, they were physical, they were disruptive. They got Maryland out of a flow offensively.

They were getting back defensively. So Maryland really couldn't get much in transition even after they rebound. because Seton Hall didn't shoot the ball well either. The reason they lost that game last night, number one reason was Seton Hall's defense, which blocked 15 shots in the game. Maryland made 14 shots. I've never heard of a statistic like that in the game.

I'm sure it's happened. They blocked Seton Hall more shots than Marilyn made in the game. That sounds like a Wilts Chamberlain game. Yes. Tommy, they had 2-7-2. big guys, both seniors, who were absolute, you know, rim protectors. And Maryland kept driving it at the rim. They kept trying to score at the rim, and these guys kept rejecting it. At one point in the game, one of my boys, everybody's home, said, God damn, they've got like 10 block shots.

And I'm like, no, they don't have that many. And at the end of the game, I looked, they had 15 block shots. They also forced 17 turnovers. This was not one of those Maryland games where it was really casual and it was bad turnovers. A lot of those turnovers were really forced with really good defense. I'm not giving Seton Hall all the credit, Maryland, none of the blame. Trust me. Maryland wasn't good at all. They weren't confident offensively. It was one of those nights where they were scout very well. A lot of what they do offensively at times can be, you know, can be easy to scout, basic stuff. I mean, part of that too is I watch every single second of every game, and I sort of sometimes know what's coming. But, you know, teams that scout them, and scout them well know what's coming as well.

But they got bullied around by a better defensive, physically mature, a lot of seniors on that team. And that's the reason they lost more than anything else. They couldn't make shots when they got them. They didn't look confident. Wiggins in particular. He's got to take Aaron. Wiggins has to shoot more. He had 11 shot attempts.

He's got to shoot more, and he cannot pass on open threes. I don't care if he's missed seven in a row. I want him to keep firing it. The turnovers hurt them. God, I can't tell you how many of my friends say, why don't they press more? People, let me explain this to you, okay? If you don't make shots, it's really hard to set up a press. You know, you can pressure full court off of missed shots.

But when you're turning the ball over, you know, out on the perimeter, you can't press. When you're not making shots consistently, and they only made 14 for the night, it's really hard to set up a press. I like it when they press. I like it when they play faster too. Last night was a tough, tough foe to play fast against. They got slowed down, and to get it into more of an up-tempo game with full-court pressure, you've got to make some buckets. They didn't make any. Couple of other things.

They don't have any low post offense this year. We knew that Aaron going in. It's not a revelation. It's a different team because they ran their offense through Bruno when they really needed something last year. And it wasn't just always Bruno on the low block. Very often it was Bruno at the elbow, which they can do with sticks too. The other thing I would just make, it's only December 20th.

But Jalen Smith and Aaron Wiggins are not NBA ready. So all of you Maryland fans that are talking about these guys as being first round picks, they're not going in the first round of the draft next year. There's a lot of basketball to be played. I understand that. And they could make a huge leap between now and next June or now in the end of March. But they are not NBA-ready players now. They're second-rounders at best.

Finally, on the game last night, I hated the strategy, Aaron, with three and a half seconds to go to try to miss that free throw intentionally. I did not think that that was good strategy. For those of you that didn't watch it, Maryland's down four. Anthony Cowan gets fouled with 3.3 seconds left shooting a 3. It was a terrible call. And he makes the first two, so the leads down to 2. And Maryland's got two timeouts left.

And then Terge calls a timeout before his third free throw because he's going to intentionally try to miss the free throw and get a rebound and try to tie the game up that way. Not with three and a half seconds left. That's not the strategy in my view. I make that third free throw. I get a quick foul. I've still got two timeouts left.

So if they make both of them on the other end, I can set up a play where I get to throw the ball from out of bounds, in bounds with three seconds or 2.7 at that point after you get the foul. And I get a shot to tie the game. And if they miss one of those free throws and they had missed a ton of free throws, I get a shot to win the game potentially. That's the strategy there. If there's 0.9 seconds or 1.5, fine. But with three plus left, I would have had Cowan make that free throw. That's the way I would have played it. I thought it was bad strategy by the coach there at the end. One other quick thing for both of you. So Tommy, in the first half, Maryland scored seven points in the first 16 minutes of the second half of a major division one college basketball game. They were down 20 to 7 at the under 4 timeout.

And just as a quick aside, my youngest son got home from Penn State. We set him early in the game to Lidos to pick up some pizzas. When he left, they had seven points. When he got back after picking up the pizzas, they still had seven points. And he said to me, he goes, did you pause the game and wait for me to get back? and I said, nope, they just haven't scored in the last 10 minutes of the game. It was a brutal night. Now, on Turgeon, yeah, go ahead.

Ask me some questions. Okay, this is related to Turgeon. If you weren't aware that their two best offensive players who were out were also their biggest defensive liability, shouldn't the coach have been aware? Yes. Well, why weren't they prepared? to play a defensive team like that. I mean, did they make any kind of adjustment? Yeah. Or did they play Maryland's game? And they just said, you know, which is going to play

out game and, you know, Seton Hall can't stop us. So Seton Hall, after made buckets, most of the time they were dropping back into zone after missed buckets, they were sort of dropping back into man. They were switching their defenses all night. That's not part of the problem. They had some good defensive players on the floor. And two, I mean, how many teams trot out two-seven-two guys, you know, who each block six shots in the game. They had 12 of the 15 combined.

It was a very good defensive team they played last night. I had no idea. Just so you know, I had no idea. He should have, of course. And I would bet that he told his team, you know, and one of the adjustments that they should have made is stop driving the ball and trying to hit, you know, floaters,

and trying to get to the rim against these 7-2 guys, drive it at them and turn it. it around and kick it out to people sitting out there wide open. I would have done that more. There was an adjustment early in the second half against the zone in particular where he used Cowan in the middle of the zone offensively, and it worked, and I never saw it again. I love that strategy. A lot of coaches, you know, Tommy, picture like a two, three zone in the middle of a two three zone is where you, you know, the middle and then what you call the short corner is where you really have opportunities and ball's got to move and the ball's got to reverse against

the zone to get the zone moving. And a lot of people use guys in the middle of the zone that are bigger. I think sometimes I watch coaches and they'll put their playmaker in the middle of the zone. Sometimes that's their point guard. Doesn't make the biggest target. But when you get the ball there and he's in the lane as he turns around to face, now he can make a play. He can draw the defense. He can make the right pass. He can hit a shot there. And he did it on the first possession of the second half. And it worked and I never saw it again. I look, Mark, Mark Turgeon's not a bad basketball coach, Maryland fans. Just so you know, he's won a hell of a lot of games.

He can coach. Is he elite? No. Is he at times, you know, would we be overreacting to a loss on December 19th at Seton Hall after nine days off thinking that the season's over and that Maryland's no good? Yes, that will be an overreaction. Because I will bet you right now, a lot of money, that at some point this year, Aaron and I come in here to do the podcast after a big win, and we both look at each other and say,

we're pretty good. We've got a pretty good team. That will happen this year. It's a long season. They're going to be a tournament team. The thing that we don't want, as Maryland fans, is we don't want to be a four or a five seed, you know, with a second round game against a team that we're going to be an underdog against. We'd like a team like this one to end up being a two seed, or a one seed and having a path to the second weekend of the tournament that's a little bit easier. I think that's what, you know, it would be disappointing if they don't end up in that sort of position and they end up being a five-seed playing a really good team in the second round of a game of the tournament because I think we all believe the talent's different and better than that.

Big Tenz, it's not easy, though. It's not easy. No, it's not. Look, the question with Perjans is not whether he's a good coach. I don't usually like to play this game, but I think at this stage of his tenure, you have to ask this question. Mark Pershing may be a good coach, but can we do better? I think this is a big year because I think the can we do better is being asked. Can we do better?

The answer is already an emphatic yes by, I think, a lot of people in the fan base. I don't know if it's the majority or not, but it sort of feels like the majority on the night like last night. but, you know, they also have him under contract for many years left. I know. So, you know, you just, you have a football coach that isn't coaching your football team anymore that you're paying. You know, you've got, it's not a position. Yeah, but you got all that big Ted money rolling around there.

It shouldn't be a problem, you know? I mean, they're flushing money. They can pay guys, right? I like Mark personally a lot. I also know as someone who knows a little bit. bit about basketball, that he is a good college basketball coach. I understand that the results should be better than they are. And I think this is a big year for him. I think it's a really big year for him. I think they need to do some damage in March. Really need to do some damage in March. And you know

what? They need to contend for the Big Ten title in the regular season. They got to be in contention for the Big Ten regular season title. Because look at how things change. A week ago, two weeks ago, this team was going to be ranked number one within a few weeks, although the Penn State game was an absolute game, Aaron, and I basically sat here and predicted a loss the day that it happened. I did not think they'd lose last night, and they did. You got to wonder, Aaron, about Rutgers. Rutgers beat Seton Hall by 20. Yeah. Rutgers beat Wisconsin.

We looked at this a while back. They beat somebody else that was good, too, didn't they? Earlier in the year? I mean, the Big Ten's loaded, Top to bottom, loaded this year. It is going to be a grind over the next two months. And last night's game, Tommy, was a Big Ten-style game. That's the kind of game Maryland's going to be involved in. Good defensive teams, well-coached defensive teams, grind-it-out games. They're not going to be able to press and run every single game like people want them to.

Their pace of play is better this year than it was last year. I'd love it to be even more and better, but it's hard against these Big Ten teams. By the way, as far as Rutgers go, I just looked it up, and obviously, you know, these models are flawed, and anything can happen because Maryland doesn't play at Rutgers until March. But they're calling that a pick-um game right now. Rutgers actually has some talent. Yeah. That point guard, I think his name's Baker. He's the guy that, number zero.

He's really good. All right, that's enough college basketball, unless you've got something else, Tommy. No, that's it. Okay. Real quick word about, about Mama, Lucia, Mama Lucia brought us food. It is so good. Now I'm jealous. I wish I was there. I know. It's not too late to get your Italian food for the holidays. Give great Italian food for the holidays with gift cards from Mamma Lucia. Gift cards are available at all six Mama Lucia restaurants, or if you want to have gift cards sent, just call 1-8777-765. 8242. That's 8777.7.7. 665, 8242, have Mamma Lucha for the holidays, pizzas, pastas, so much more.

The food's great. We go to the restaurant in Bethesda on Elm Street. There are restaurants in Rockville and Alney and Silver Spring and Fairfax. You can find them on Mama Lucia's websites, but give a gift card of Mama Lucia's for the holidays. Again, 877-765, 8242. I wanted to play a soundbite from Adam Schaefter yesterday talking about Urban Meyer and then give you a thought on that. But this was yesterday, Adam Schaefter on ESPN. I think it was on the Get Up show with Greenberg and company.

This was him talking about Urban Meyer. Urban Meyer is interested in coaching the NFL. I think he has an interest. I think he'd be open to talking to people about it. I don't know how much people will or won't speak to him. Certainly it's an intriguing game that's out there. But I think he is definitely interested. interested in getting back or getting to the NFL if that were an option. He would sit down,

he would listen, and if the right opportunity were to come along, I think he would be interesting. So a couple things here, Tommy. Number one, we both know Adam really well. Adam came on our show for years. Adam came on the show with Cooley and I for two years. You know, I talked to, Adam comes on the show. He's been on the podcast. He's been on the radio show here recently. And I, and I, I, I, I, talk to him every once in a while. You know, Adam, you know, not everybody loves Adam. Adam's right more than any of these guys. From my standpoint, and I'm not objective because I like Adam, I don't think he ever gets anything super wrong. Am I, does anything come in? He's not, he's not reckless. Exactly. He goes with stuff that he's sure about. Yeah. You and I are reckless.

I'm about to get reckless here in a second. But when I heard Adam Scha, after say that yesterday on GetUp or somebody sent it to me. I wasn't watching GetUp while it was on. I just thought to myself, I'm like, you know, Adam wouldn't throw that out just for the sake of throwing it out. He knows that Urban Meyer wants the NFL and is thinking seriously about the NFL. And if somebody comes up with a really good offer, he's going to seriously consider it. And so I had a couple of conversations yesterday, late afternoon, and trust me, I want to make this very clear. This is not a report of any sort, okay?

When I've had something that I really had concrete, I've told you, this is what I'm actually going to do what I don't ever do. I'm going to report this. This is not a report, but I did have a couple of conversations that changed my mind about Urban Meyer to the Redskins being completely off the wall nuts. I don't, that was my reaction earlier in the week. I thought, no chance. Why would he ever come here?

Plenty of other options if he wants to coach him. the pros, you know, and then you had the report from standing about the relationship with Haskins not even being a warm one. I will just tell you that I'm not predicting that Urban Meyer's going to end up in Washington, but it wouldn't floor me if we heard reports over the next week or so that maybe Urban Meyer and the Redskins are talking, that maybe the Redskins are interested in Urban Meyer, and that maybe he's listening. It wouldn't floor me at all anymore. Would it be as a coach or something else? I think it would be. as a coach, but my guess is it would be with some real big-time decision-making power, which

means to me that means Bruce Allen's not in the mix. And I was also thinking Tommy just about the calendar. You know, we are 10 days away from a Monday, December 30th where the regular season is going to be over. And those that are in the market for something new, front office coaching staff, better get aggressive. It better start happening. It's, It should have already started to happen. Of course they should. But we could be 10 days away from, you know, news, real news. If it doesn't happen on December 30th or 31st, then we got to really be concerned that it's not going to happen.

But anyway. Are you a little concerned that it's not going to happen at this? That hasn't happened yet? No. I think it's going to happen. No? I think it's going to happen. Why hasn't it happened?

I can't answer that. for you. I can't. I'm sorry. I don't have an answer. I just don't think Bruce is going to be back. And I think that at the very least that's going to happen. And I think also, more likely than not, Dan's not moving forward with Bill Callahan. Bill Callahan is an absolute, you know, customer killer when it comes to trying to get people interested in the team that aren't interested in the team. Coaches don't put people in the stand. Come on. Hold on for a second. If they hired Urban Meyer and he was the head coach and the general manager, and they elevated Kyle Smith to assistant general manager, or maybe give Kyle general manager and Irvin Meyer is the head of football operations, head coach and head of football operations,

you don't think that generates some interest? Interest, yes. People showing up to watch the team to play? Absolutely not. I'm with you on that. I don't think anything. of this is going to equate to big increase of ticket sales. I'm with you on that, but I do think it results in big increase of intrigue. And, oh, I'm paying attention to this and seeing what happens now. You got Bruce out of here, and you went out and you got Urban Meyer. I'm not predicting Urban Meyer. In fact, I would still say, let me be clear on this, that I would think that it wouldn't happen more likely than it would.

but it's just earlier this week I was like no effing way. Urban Meyer is not going to work for Dan Snyder. It ain't going to happen. And I'm just telling you that here on Friday of this week, I feel like it could happen. Well, here. Urban would like you if you could, if you could send this podcast and send it to Jerry Jones.

So he could hear that. Okay? Yeah. Maybe it's all about leverage. Of course. That's definitely in play. That would be one of the reasons I would think more likely than that it won't happen, because he's going to have a better opportunity if he really wants back in the NFL. He's going to have a better opportunity. You would think. Well, listen, I mean, on 106-7 the fan yesterday,

and I've heard people mention this on social media who supposedly are in the know, this Redskins job could be pretty attractive. You know? I didn't. realize that. I had no idea that it could be a good job, but apparently this could be a good job. Well, I don't know what you're talking about on 1067 the fan. I can only tell you that in my view, it's, you know, of the eight or nine openings that we will likely have, it's near, if not at the bottom of the list for, you know, more of the coaches that will be out there looking than not. Of course it is.

Of course it is. Yeah, I don't know why someone would think that it's an attractive job. People are way overrating the roster. It's not a terrible roster. It's not the worst roster in the league. There's some really intriguing young players. But this fan base, and some in the media, do this all the time. It's like those that thought that the defense was going to be a top five defense,

and it's so talented. You know what? The defense is actually playing better recently, until last week when they couldn't get off the field for any third down. 11 of 16. They do just enough with these young players to sort of make you think, hey, they got some talent. And then they, you know, give up 11 for 16 and every big drive in the game to lose games. But it's not the worst roster. It's somewhere in the, you know, in the 14 to 18 range, 15 to 20 range. But quarterbacks are rather big position on the team. And nobody's

convinced yet, yet, convinced yet about Dwayne Haskins. I'm intrigued. I'm more encouraged than discouraged compared to where I was, but I'm far from convinced. And if he's not the right guy, well, it doesn't matter what you have everywhere else. Yeah. I just find it humorous that some people keep making their same mistakes over and over again. Anyone who thinks this Redskins job would be a good job should have to undergo a procedure by the Redskins method. medical check. Yeah. That should be their punishment.

Just don't call Trent Williams for a recommendation. So you must believe what Todd McShay believes. Todd McShay, ESPN, did his first mock draft the other day. We talked about that. He then was on the Dan Patrick show the other day. Many of you have heard this already. We didn't do a podcast. We would have played it yesterday for you.

you, but Tommy and I want to talk about it. This was Todd McShay with Dan Patrick. The conversation starts really about Dwayne Haskins and then listen to where McShay takes it. Is Washington sold on Dwayne Haskins? Who are you asking? The owner? Well, the owner I know is. But if I'm a coach, the coach you get has got to be sold on him as well or he's not

taking that job. So I've been holding back from calling Irvin this week, wondering what he was doing in the box. I, if the current structure, I can't, I couldn't allow a friend to take the job without saying something. Now, if you get a new general manager. Wait, wait, are you, are you the friend Urban to tell him not to take this job? I'm just saying hypothetically. Okay. If any friend out there who potentially could be taking the job, I would make a phone call and say,

make sure you get a football guy who's in between the owner and you. and you can completely run the football stuff. You can make the decisions. That's the issue. Right now, under the current construct, Washington can't succeed. They need Daniel Snyder to take a step back. They need to hire a general manager that knows football and can evaluate players, and then they need a coach who can take those players and develop them.

Would you rather coach Washington or Dallas? Dallas. Yeah, between those two. I'd rather coach Carolina, I think, than I would Dallas. I'd rather coach any team in, I'd rather coach 31 other teams than Washington. Than Washington right now. Yeah, I'm just, yeah. So that was Todd McShay.

That got a lot of attention for a couple of days. It's, it's interesting. You know, I guess this probably goes for every market, Tommy, when people start talking nationally about certain things and it's like, you know, tell me something I don't know. Like, this is hardly a revelation that it's not an attractive job. Now, I think what gets the... Yeah, go ahead. My point is, when you talk about that national perspective,

let's remember the opposite happened at the beginning of the year. Many national observers said the Redskins were going to be lucky to win four or five games this year, and a lot of the local media thought they were a nine or ten-win team. The opposite happened at the beginning of the year. Who locally thought they were a nine or ten-win team? Nine wins. Who? Nine wins.

Most people that have a brain thought that they were going to struggle this year. I would agree with you that some of the national pundits, like I saw some one in 15s and two and fourteens and three and 13s, and there were probably more six and tens, five and elevens, and seven and nines. But did anybody here locally actually predict them to go nine and seven and get to the playoffs? Seriously. I'm not sure about the playoffs, but I think there were some nine games. nine game of prediction.

I mean, I think anybody could have looked at this team before and seen it. I mean, the only, well, let me be fair here. If you looked at the team and you said, I think they could be super improved on defense. And that could carry them, you know, to six, seven wins and then maybe they get another one or number two with everything breaking right. Okay. I mean, the defense was the wild card this year going into the year because, you know, even I thought it was. going to be significantly improved, and ultimately it has not been, although there are areas here recently under Callahan, under his interim leadership, where it's improved. But anyway, back to the

McShay thing, Tommy. So the headline there is that there are 31 other better jobs. And then you can, you know, start to debate, you know, are there 31 better jobs? Like, is Jacksonville a much better job right now. Maybe with Coughlin gone it is because the NFLPA warned everybody to steer clear of Jacksonville. Jacksonville's had 25% of the player grievances filed against their team. So over the last couple of years, the players hate Jacksonville more than Washington. All right. So we have a sense of that. You know, is the Cleveland job better? It might be with their talent, could be, but their ownership isn't great. Look, there are jobs that are worse.

I don't know why this is a force of comfort for anybody. There are jobs that are worse than the Redskins job. Not many. You could argue the jet job. The jet job is worse. I mean, they're a disaster or an organization. The Browns, because of their owner, who, you know, some people think should be in jail. Yeah, and you had a coach who won one game over two years because the owner's wife

like the coach, that's a problem. That would be worse than the Redskins job. There's a couple of jobs around the league that are worse than the Redskins. But that should make anyone feel good. That's not something to, you know, pin your hopes on. Yeah, because didn't Thysman slap back at the report from that statement by McShed? Yes, he did. McShea didn't know what he was talking about, that it's a very attractive job. You know?

And again, you know, I mean, that's ridiculous. It's not. It's not a very attractive job. It's not the worst job in the NFL, but it's not a good job. And, I mean, look, McShea, I always go once further. It doesn't matter if they hire a general manager

who has total control over the football team. The key word is Dan Snyder needs to take a step back. That's not going to happen. It hasn't happened yet. Let's say that. Every time you think he's taken a step back, all of a sudden, there he is jumping forward. So, I mean, there's a fundamental problem here that's almost unsolvable. But I think if you did bring in a football guy who had signed up for total control,

at least for maybe a year or two or three, you might get away with it. Well, that's all Urban Meyer probably wants to coach four anyway. I mean, usually he doesn't last very long before he starts getting heart palpitations. You know, you're actually giving it maybe more credit than I would. I think it's very debatable as to what the worst available job in the NFL is right now, and the Redskins are definitely in that conversation. They're in that conversation strictly because of the owner. The owner is a proven loser.

He's a proven meddler, and even when he doesn't meddle as much, he meddles enough. Even when he, you know, is on his yacht in the south of France, for whatever reason, it's not well run behind him. Now, you know, if somehow he was able to pull off the miracle of hiring somebody truly competent and he turned it over to that person, you know, you have a market in which people would die for a winning football team again, you know, and a lot of those people that have checked out would be right back in with a winning football team again. But, you know, Jacksonville, Cleveland, Washington, the Jets, it's all basically the same conversation.

You know, so the Jet job might be available. The Jacksonville job is going to be available. The Cleveland job is going to be available. job is going to be available. So you've got four of the worst organizations in the league with availability. Ranking them at that point, you know, it depends on, you know,

what the guy. Here's the one thing you know Dan will do, he'll pay. You know, he will pay if it's the right guy. Will he give that person contractual authority and autonomy so that if he medals, the guy can look at him and say,

now you owe me three times as much, as you are going to pay me and I get to walk. If I'm taking this job and he really wants me, I am building into the contract, into my contract with the team, something that is a major poison penalty pill for him. If he gets in the way of what's best for the organization, then he's going to have to pay me an S-load more than he was planning to pay me.

And you could leave. And you could leave. And collect that money. And collect that money. I mean, these are the kinds of warnings that those people in the know, like, and let me just say this about Todd McShea. You know, there are beat reporters in the NFL that have really high-level relationships with owners, with team presidents, with general managers. And then there are guys like McShay who have those relationships, but also have different relationships with people in the organization. They have relationships where they talk.

ball with these guys all the time. They're talking about prospects. They are actually viewed as competent football people with high football acumen. There are people in the NFL that actually follow and can't wait to see Todd McShay's draft board and Mel Kuyper's draft board. Charlie Casserly said there are teams that will look at those boards and take them very seriously if they have, if they believe the developer of that list is credible. And for purposes of trying to predict what other teams will do, they definitely think these guys have a lot of contacts. But those relationships are different.

So when Todd McShay makes that comment, it's not that it's a revelation for me by any stretch. We know this. But what it means is this is what people in the league working for the team underneath the team, team president and owner are saying what others are saying. And again, it's not revealing in any way, shape, or form. But, you know, I would not, if you're sort of predisposed to blowing off these NFL reporters, just keep in mind, McShay's relationships with these guys is a talking ball relationship,

and it's one in where he's probably a little bit more respected with respect to his football acumen than maybe some of these beat reporters for various places. I would agree. But anyway, it's a bottom-feeding organization, and it's not an attractive job. And the only way you get an attractive person to take it is by truly, if you're the owner, giving that person incredible authority and autonomy. And what McShay was doing was essentially giving anybody that would consider it, warning and also the only way you could take it, which is you got to make sure that you got a good

football person in there with you, and that he sits between you and the owner, and that the owner doesn't get involved. And clearly the good football person was a shot at Bruce Allen as well. Right. And okay, the odds that Urban Meyer will be coached to Redskins. 25%. Okay, the odds that Bill Callahan will be coached. of the Redskins. 10%. The odds that Marvin Lewis will be coached for the Redskins.

I don't have a good answer in that one. I don't know. Let me lower my Urban Meyer to 20%. I had a 0% chance earlier in the week, and I'm raising it to 20%. A 1-5 thing. And the only reason is it would not shock me if there is a conversation or there maybe even has been a conversation. that there's a potential conversation to be had with NFL teams,

and the Redskins would be a team that he wouldn't hesitate having a conversation with. Right. Doesn't Marvin Lewis intrigue at all? Yeah, I mean, you know, of the guys, so that gets to the level of conversation of, so what's realistic? Like, a guy that's out of work that doesn't have a lot of opportunities that wants to coach, the Marvin Lewis's, the Greg Woolsey's, the Greg Woolen. Williams is, I'm talking about from a head coach standpoint, the Todd Bowleses, these are the guys

that come into play because they're not going to have people fighting over them. Does Marvin Lewis intrigue me as a head coach? He does in the same way that Todd Bowles does too. I think they're good defensive minds. I think they are, I know Cincinnati's team was wildly undisciplined at times because of a couple of players. But I've always liked Marvin Lewis, and I find that a guy like Marvin Lewis who could keep that team under that ownership in that market, competitive in the way he did for a long period of time, speaks to his ability to coach. Yes.

Yes, I agree with that. And you have a guy who has been under the Dan Snyder umbrella before and knows how weaky it is. Right. I mean, as crazy as we think it is now, it's no more crazy than it was under Spurrier when Marvin Lewis was the defensive coordinator here. So he knows how bad the storm can get. I mean, I don't think anything about Snyder would surprise him.

No, it wouldn't, but, you know, he was pretty off-put when he left here and then went to a real organization. You know, no, I'm sorry, came from a real organization in Baltimore, right? Because he was in Baltimore before, then came here to be Spurrier's, you know, didn't he get a pretty lofty title to go with defensive coordinator when they hired him away from Baltimore? he may have been an assistant head coach i don't know yeah i can't remember either um so you ask me questions if i give callahan a 10% and i give uh urban mire a 20% which may be aggressive um i just i thought it was a no-chancer and now i think it's you know at least a chance but if i if i stick with those numbers then the 70% so the clear-cut favorite is somebody from that

group that we talked about, and there are four or five other names from that group, which would include also guys that haven't been head coaches like Eric Bienemy, you know, if the Alex Smith relationship is strong. But I think Bianemy is going to have better opportunities potentially. You know, Byron Leftwich, you know, those kinds of names that would be more in play. And maybe some names that very few have even heard of, you know, like Gruden was not clearly a big name. I know he and Zimmer were Marvin Lewis's.

offensive and defensive coordinators, and they had been a playoff team multiple times. But the 70% comes from retread, and I hate to call Marvin Lewis or Greg Williams or retread, but you know what I mean? Like guys that aren't going to have a lot of other opportunities to be head coaches or some up-and-comer that maybe didn't have the best of opportunities elsewhere either. So that's the 70% chance. Yeah, I could see that. And as far as, you know, Eric Bianami in Kansas City, everyone thinks the Alice Smith connection, you know, and would be strong.

Obviously, you know, it would be. But Andy Reid knows Dan Snyder very well. He fleeced them a couple of times. Yeah. You know? I mean, don't you think he'd be in his guys here saying, you don't want to go to Washington? Maybe. I saw that.

I saw that close up. That's a train wreck. Yeah. perhaps yes i think that that could be in play a little bit um yeah yeah i mean i the um i mean if we're sitting here on 10 11 12 days from now 13 days for two weeks from now and it's still bruce and bill in the building i mean i i but it could be i put that honestly the combination of callahan and bruce i put that at last than 10%. But I fully recognize that we have an owner who is impulsive, who is, you know,

can be influenced at the drop of a hat in a completely different direction. And you go out and you house the Giants this weekend and then you blow out the Cowboys. And, you know, who knows? Which is why, and let me get to this right now. If you're a Redskin fan and you, you want them to win the game, please understand that those of us that don't, aren't any less of a Redskin fan than you are. It makes no sense in my mind's eye why you would want the Redskins to win other than habit, other than, oh, it's the holidays, they're playing the Giants, it's what I always do. I sit down at 1 o'clock and, you know, we're baking cookies with the Christmas music going and they're playing the Giants. Let's go beat the Giants. No.

Don't beat the Giants. Lose to the Giants. And I want to make this clear. If I were a player or a coach or I were involved, of course I'm not trying to lose. I want to win. But I'm not. I'm a fan of the team. And Chase Young is an absolute menacing game wrecker of a potential top two pick.

And number three is going to be much different than number two. And number four, five, or six is going to be much different than two. or three. If you're really interested in their future and not Sunday celebrating a win over the Giants, they've got to lose these final two games. I hope they do it. I hope they do it the way they did it last week. Young players playing well, lose a close game, but you're damn right. I want them to lose to the Giants. Go ahead. Well, they're going to beat the Giants. They're going to beat the Giants. They might. They might. They are. Yeah, they're going to go out and And then they're going to have to face Chase Young.

And, you know, we're going to hear, you know, if they're going to beat the Giants, beat the Cowboys, then we're going to Bill Callahan, you know, in nine months after a 27 to 10 loss in the Meadowlands of the Giants where rookie Chase Young had four sacks in his fifth game. And he's going to be talking about how great Chase Young is. And, man, he is quite a player. And we really struggled to block him. And it'll be a 17-minute answer about Chase Young. and I will vomit during it. Oh, my God.

I mean, this is the joy of being a Redskins fan. Arguing whether it's better to win or lose, arguing what rock bottom is compared to other rock bottom. That's what you're reduced to. Somebody, did we talk about this on the show the other day or not? Did I bring up the whole Joe Gibbs, Laverneous Coles, versus the way Trent Williams has been handled on the show the other day or not? I don't recall you.

Okay, so I was having a conversation with a friend of mine the other day, and somehow the whole conversation of Trent Williams came up, and he's like, it's just insane. Like, why, what is wrong? He goes, what's wrong with, how can adults get so petty and so small-minded about a situation where it's so obvious what the right answer is. And I'm like, it's who they are.

It's who they are. And then he said to me, can you imagine Joe Gibbs not having, you know, multiple picks in his back pocket at this point? If he ran into this situation with Trent Williams? And I said, well, first of all, he would have never run into this situation with Trent Williams. But secondly, if he did, of course, he would have traded him.

And my buddy brought up, he's like, Laverneous Coles, and his first, year back, Laverneus Coles caught 90 passes, but they were all for like five yards. And LaVernius Coles did not want to play in the offense, did not want to play for Joe Gibbs. And Joe Gibbs said, fine, you don't believe in what we're doing? I'm getting you the hell out of here. And he traded him for Santana Moss, somebody who did want to be here. And then, you know, the Champ Bailey situation, remember, before, you know, as Joe got here.

And there were a lot of, you know, circumstances involving the whole Champ Bailey situation. when he's in Washington. A lot of stories over the years, a lot of things. But bottom line is Champ needed to go. What did Gibbs do? He got him the hell out of here. Now, it was not a great trade, but he got him the hell out of here. Cooley told me the story about Gibbs coming in early on saying,

look, if you don't believe in what we're doing and you don't like the way you're going to fit into this, come into my office, tell me, and I will do my best to get you the hell out of here. But I need people on board. And if you're not going to be on board, I want to get something back. for you. I want to get you to some place and I want to get something back so we can use it on players that want to be here. And I just thought about that. And then it dovetails into this conversation. Like, you know, this weekend, the Redskins are playing the Giants, the Bengals are playing the Dolphins, the top four positions in the April draft right now.

So these two results are going to go a long way towards determining the draft order in April. and Miami's already got three first-round picks. This is a team that has some self-awareness. You may not think a lot about the Miami Dolphins as a franchise, but this is a franchise that understood who they were and went about it in a way in which they traded multiple players, Tunsell, and then Mick of Fitzpatrick, who didn't want to be there, said, really, you don't want to be here? Fine.

Got a first-round pick, and they are set up to do some damage potentially through the draft in the future. And what are the Redskins doing? They not only have one first rounder. They're threatening to move that first round back three or four spots here down the stretch. They don't have a second round pick at this point because they traded that for a guy in Montez-Swett that they insist on putting back in past coverage.

This is why it's really hard to be excited about anything that's going on there without a whole new group of people to come in with whole different approaches and attitudes toward the future. But anyway. That's the joy of being a Redskins fan. I might want to point out you said something about Redskins fans would die for something like this. Speaking of dying, I wrote a column about Redskins fan. I read your column.

It was very good. Tell everybody about it. Well, I wrote a column. Something I've always been intrigued with, and this goes back to 9-11. uh... when uh... you know you had the victims of the attack from the pentagon and i remember being struck reading the obituaries in the post later on about how many included of their accomplishments and things have brought them joy

the family members included that these people were redskins fans i mean the obituary is kind of like last thing anyone's going to say about you publicly right and and you know what was important to these people was being a Redskins fan. In their loved ones' eyes, it helped define them. So I wondered if that was still happening, and I checked online and found it still happens. A lot of family members still put in their loved ones' obituary

that they were a devout or avid Redskins fan. And I think that illustrates the passion of the fan base, the disappearing fashion. the dying fashion, passion, the lack of the better word, of the fan base, is that you had people who grew up and lived their lives where one of the most important things to them was rooting for the Washington Redskins. And so much so it would be included in their obituary. And I talked to some nice people and, you know, got a couple of really nice stories about the fandom.

They really were. They were very good stories. It's a great read. Yeah, and so I just thought, it's something I just always wanted to write, and I finally got around to writing it. You wrote something nice. You wrote something nice about the team. Yes, I did. I wrote something nice about the team.

You know, you know. But it's a contrast to what's going on today. Right. And I don't think, I doubt if they're 25-year-olds walking the earth that when they pass on, if they're still obitifference. when they're 100 years old, that they'll be included in the Washington Redskins in that obituary. Yeah, because, you know, if you've been watching any of these, the impeachment stuff this week, you know, the Representative Collins, who does a lot of talking for the Republicans, kept mentioning clock and calendar, you know, like it's a clock and calendar thing for these people.

The people that you have in your story all live during the glory years. You know, they were there for the glory years. So they had an opportunity to really become loyal and passionate about the football team because it was winning. And, you know, Tommy, it is interesting because I've been to funerals of, you know, parents, of friends of mine where in one in particular, like a year ago, as part of the post-funeral party, they played hail to the Redskins because the old man who was the greatest dude in the world, just loved the Redskins. And I think they buried him and in the casket like they put some sort of Redskins blanket over him. Like this was such a big deal. So I totally connect with what you wrote because I know that there are a lot of people like that.

But to your point, you know, people like people that have been following the team for the last 20, 25 years, in 20 to 25 years from now, more likely than not, they're not going to have the same feeling. about this team. This may be the last era of obituaries mentioning the Redskins as their favorite team. I hope it's not. Yeah. I hope it's not.

I know. I know. And the three families that I talked to, all of them said that the Redskins fan who had passed on, that they were ultimately loyal, win or lose, you were always a fan. Right. They all said that.

Yeah, exactly. One last thing before we take a break, and I'm going to get to the smell test, and I have 12 smell test picks this weekend. It's a make-or-break weekend for the smell test here late in the season. But, you know, in talking about, and it just reminded me, because I talked about this on the radio show today, just the sort of the mindset that this group out there is in. It's a conservative group.

It's a group with Bruce Allen for sure. that is stuck sort of in decades prior to this one. The coach himself is very old school. I do like what they've done here, and I've been complimentary of Callahan here over the last couple of weeks. I mean, you'd be an idiot if you watch this team not to understand that it's a better team than it was under Jay Gruden earlier in the year. And I give them a lot of credit that sometimes the best measure of a coach is,

does that team get better as the season goes on? and this one has. They've become a difficult out for teams. And I like the fact that they're playing young people. I mentioned today and yesterday, and I don't think we did this on the podcast the other day, you know, the Dwayne Haskins now getting ready for his seventh start, is a bit fortunate because if Case Keenham doesn't get hurt in that Minnesota game,

I don't know when Haskins gets that opportunity. Because they weren't mathematically eliminated until the game at LAMBO a couple of weeks. back. And my sense is if Keenham had not been hurt, they would have continued to play Keenan until they were mathematically eliminated. And that would have really been stupid. But it worked out the way

it worked out. Now he's getting ready for a seventh start. And they played a lot of other young guys. You saw West Martin last week. And they have signed like three DBs this week, two corners and a safety. If you want to see a team that's trying desperately not to have to play Josh Norman,

it is this team. And So I like that. But I was yesterday on the radio show, and we didn't do a podcast. I talked about Montez Sweat and Pro Football Focus having numbers on his performance last week. I thought he was awful last week, and he was on the list of things I didn't like from the game on Sunday. But he was in coverage 12 times during the game. Twelve times they dropped him back in coverage. 20% of his snaps.

And as Redskins fans, we've seen this over the years with Ryan Kerrigan. And it hasn't been exclusive to just Joe Barry. No, Joe Barry, to Greg Minusky. Joe Barry had a lot of the same shit in his defense, you know, where you see guys that are uncomfortable in space trying to cover. It's awkward. It's a bad idea. And one of the reasons you have that is you don't have them in a 4-3 base

where Montez Sweat should be. Montez Sweat is built to be a 4-3 defense event with his hand in the dirt where he's playing one gap football, not two-gap football, and he's actually trying to either stop the runner or get after the quarterback and that's it. All right, Montez, this is your gap, get through it, wreak havoc, stop the ball carrier, you're not going to swallow, you know, we're not going to have you back in coverage. And, you know, part of this season, it would have been a great opportunity, especially when Callahan took over, to say, we're not a 3-4 team. Our talent suits a 4-3 better. I would love to see pain and ionitis as inside tackles in a 4-3.

Alan and Sweat as defensive ends. A guy like Bostic in the middle on this team, Ryan Anderson is your strong side linebacker, a guy like Cole Holcomb who can really run as your weak side linebacker, you know, have Landon Collins playing up in the box a lot. That's where he, sometimes I'm just like, this is what, what these guys should have been doing all year. Trying things out that fit the talent and learning more during the course of the year, but they were too busy thinking that they were something

that they weren't. But anyway. Yeah, they were trying to win games. They were trying to win a division, Kevin. What's the matter with you? I know. I got issues for sure. You want to stick around? But I think you're right. I think you're right about the four three. That's very intriguing. Well, I would think I would think with the talent they have, any new coaches, he's going to recognize it, and he's going to hire a defensive coordinator that moves this team finally to a 4-3. Again, this isn't like a revealing fact or a new conversation. It's an old conversation among Redskin fans.

We've had it many, many times. But the Montez Sweat thing, dropping him into coverage, he's just plain stupid. And I know that some of that is off of defensive checks. I was talking to Cooley yesterday, and he's like, some of that happens with checks at the line a scrimmage, you know, from Bostic or whomever's calling the defensive signals. But still, no check should leave Montes sweat in coverage. It's awkward to look at, and it's ineffective for their defense. You want to stick around for the smell test or not?

You can go. Can I hang around or do you want to get rid of me? No, you can hang around if you want to hang around. I'd like to hang around because I want to know where my money's going this week. Okay, so let me first tell you about mybooky.org. if you don't have a place to wager, mybooky.orgie.ag is a good place. It's a safe place. It's a reliable place. You'll get quality lines. You'll get fast payouts. Any way you want to bet, straight bets, parlays, teasers, futures, in-game action. They've got it all at mybooky.orgie.orgie. And right now, if you join, MyBooky's going to match your deposit halfway, all the way up to $1,000.

That means if you deposit $2,000, you get an extra $1,000 in free money. money to play with. You deposit $200, you get an extra $100 to play with. All you got to do is use my promo code. Kevin, D.C., K-V-I-N-D-C to activate the offer. Again, lots of sports this time of year. We are starting today, Aaron, with the first of 40 bowl games today with the Bahamas Bowl at 2 o'clock. So if you want to bet bowl games and bet NFL games and bet playoff games and bet college basketball and the NBA. Tread lightly. It's not for everybody, but if you don't have a place to play, I promise you that mybooky.ag is reliable, it's safe. You can count on them. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C., and they will match your deposit halfway. All right, 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 for the smell test. All right. So last week, three and two, to get back to 500 on the year. 80, 80, and 3. 80. So I've had 169 wagers, Aaron, on the season. You know, the last few weeks, 3 and 2, 3 and 2, 169, and what has it been, 16 weeks so far, an average of 10 and a half plays per weekend.

I'm over that average this weekend. I've got 12 plays and a couple of leans because we do have bowl games starting. and typically just so everybody knows, I have not, early bowl season usually for me isn't very good with the smell test, but later in the bowl season historically it works out. But still, if I see a game where the public's lined up on one side and I got sharp money against the public money, I'm going to give it out to you as a smell test pick. Let's go with the college games to start here. I give a lean out today, two liens out to the two days.

dogs, not official plays, but I'd lean Charlotte in Kent State today in the games they're playing in, the Bahamas Bowl being one of them, the other being, what's the other game that Kent States in? They're in the smoothie cafe Frisco Bowl, which I think is in Texas. Yes, Frisco, Texas. Yes, Frisco, Texas. So there you go. I'd lean Charlotte plus seven, plus six and a half, and Kent plus six and a half seven,

wherever it is. I would not, they're not official plays, however. This weekend, though, I've got a couple. Liberty is a major anti-public play against Georgia Southern in the Cure Bowl. Where's that one, Aaron? Is that one in, is that New Mexico? Thought Louisiana, but I could be

whatever it is. It's in, it's in Orlando. Orlando. All right, good weather. Georgia Southern can score Liberty is making, they had a terrific regular season. were in a lot of games, even the games they lost. The public's on Georgia Southern. There is sharp money, according to one of my offshore sources.

Very sharp money on Liberty plus the four. I'll take them. Florida Atlantic lost Lane Kiffin, who's going to be the new coach at Ole Miss. A lot of times you look at that team that lost the coach and you're like, are they going to be into it? Have they been well prepared? All I can tell you is that Florida Atlantic's getting three against SMU and the publics all over SMU.

who's been a really good team. I'll take Florida Atlantic in the Bocca Raton Bowl tomorrow plus the three. And then in the Las Vegas Bowl, 12-1 Boise State is an underdog to Washington. A Washington team that's been capable at times this year, but they finish 7 and 5. Washington's laying three in this game. The public's on the dog. I'll take the favorite and lay the three. Those are the three bowl game picks for the weekend.

We're here on Monday doing a podcast just so you know. So we will give you if there is a play on the bad boy mowers Gasparilla Bowl on Monday between Marshall and UCF or the Christmas Eve, Hawaii Bowl. We will give you plays on that Monday if we have them. Let's get to the NFL where I'm telling you the board, Aaron, there are a lot of one-sided public bet games here. trying to sort them out, took some time, trying to get a lot of information this time of year, was a little bit challenging, but I think I've got it nailed down. I've got nine plays, including all three games from tomorrow. All three games fit the smell test philosophy criteria.

Tampa Bay Plus 3 is an anti-public side. Give me the Bucks plus three. You know what I like about them too? can score. And so I like the bucks tomorrow plus three to get your Saturday off to a decent start on a really good triple header tomorrow in the NFL. New England is the anti-public side tomorrow. Buffalo getting six and a half in Foxborough is who the public likes. They're in love with the bills. They clinched a playoff spot. Give me the Patriots minus the six. All right. I'm using the covers line. That's six tomorrow as a smell test pick. The four.

49ers coming off a loss. Everybody thinks they're going to bounce back and hammer the Rams who got throttled by the Cowboys. I actually like the Rams tomorrow, plus six and a half. Buy it to seven. Buy that half point, get it to seven. But the Rams are the anti-public side tomorrow. That's three play Saturday, right? It's like Thanksgiving Day.

You know where you got the triple header? I forget if I had a Thanksgiving Day play this year. I think I had Buffalo against the Cowboys. No, I had the Cowboys. It did not work out well. Tampa. New England and the Rams tomorrow. Let's go to Sunday where Jacksonville is coming off a win over a shocking win over the 49ers in Santa Clara. I've said Tommy going back a month, the Falcons

were going to be a difficult out and they're going to be a great play the rest of the way. But I don't like them Sunday laying seven. I like Jacksonville plus seven. Gardner Minshew engineered that comeback in Oakland in the final game that the Raiders had in the Bay Area. they now move to Vegas. I think Jacksonville keeps that one close, and Atlanta is in a little bit of a letdown mode after that very emotional and very good win over San Francisco last week.

The public likes the Falcons. I like Jacksonville plus seven. So the Cincinnati Miami game is very interesting. So Miami's played really well, Aaron, right? They've been playing well with Ryan Fitzpatrick. They're not starting Rosen Sunday, are they? No. So explain to me why the game is a pick.

Why is the Miami favorite at home over Cincinnati in this game? The public's wondering the same thing. Miami's been a pretty decent team in the last couple weeks. They're not winning all these games, but they're competitive in the games that they lose. Cincinnati steps up and wins in Miami. I think Miami you're going to have something's going on with this game. I think Miami may be trying to tank this game on Sunday. And we might see Josh Rosen by game plan.

I was going to say, why isn't Rosen starting? if they're trying to tank it. Well, we might see that. Who knows? I like Cincinnati pick. Tennessee's getting less than a field goal at home against the Saints after Drew Breez set all the records Monday night, and everybody's talking about them as the greatest of all time.

And Tennessee lost that game against Houston, and their playoff hopes are still alive. Wildcard hopes still very much alive. They're at home against the Saints. The Saints laying less than a field goal. The public loves that. You mean I got Drew Breeze, and all I got to do is kick a field goal?

to cover by the half point so you get the push out of it if it happens. But take Tennessee, I am on the Friday two and a half line plus two and a half. The Jets are getting three against the Steelers who have to win. This is a typical smell test theory. End of the year, take a team that's got nothing to play for, getting a short number over a team that has to win. The Jets are the anti-public side. I'll take the Jets plus the three against Devlin Duck Hodges and the Steelers.

You know, the Browns were the last team to beat the Ravens, and they beat them badly back in September, late September, 40 to 25 in Baltimore. Baltimore hasn't lost since. They're getting 10, and the public's convinced that the Ravens are going to exact some big-time revenge on a Browns team that's really struggling. I'll take the Browns plus the 10 to keep it somewhat close. And then I'm betting against a team this week that I've had so many times in the smell test this year successfully. Denver's laying 7 at home against the Lions. There's no reason to think that the Lions are going to play well, and Denver's defense is legit good.

It's top three good this year. The public's lined up on Denver, thinking that this is an easy win for them over the Lions. I'll take the Lions plus the 7. Matt Patricia's coming back next year. I don't know how his players feel about that, and I don't know if the Fords are going to sell the team to Jeff Bezos. Apparently they're not,

but I'll take the Lions. plus the seven. And that is it. That's 12 plays. Liberty plus four, Florida Atlantic plus three. Washington in the Las Vegas Bowl, laying three against Boise. And then in the NFL, tomorrow, Tampa plus three, New England minus six, the Rams plus six and a half. Again, buy that half point. For those of you that don't understand, you can buy a half point and get them plus seven so that if you'll lose by seven, it's a push. But if you lose it, you're just going to have to pay more. So instead of on a $100 bet, paying, losing 110, you might lose 120 by buying that half point. Sunday, Jacksonville plus seven, Cincinnati at a pick. Tennessee plus

two and a half. By that half point, also Jets plus three, Browns plus 10, and Lions plus seven. This is one of those, Tommy, make or break weekends for the smell test. Most of the, I think it's of the 14 years that I've been doing this. 12 years have been winning years and I've had two losing years. And the two losing years were like where I went 48%, 49%. So they were barely losing years. I am really going to be distraught if this weekend doesn't go well. Because at one point this year, I was 26 games above 500. 26 above 500.

Right now you're even, right? I'm dead even. But you know what dead even means. It means people are losing. with the juice, with the Vig, you've got to go 52.6% basically to start to win money. So I got to get it up. This is make or break. I got to go, I got to have an 8 and 4 kind of a weekend this weekend, 9 and 3 type of a weekend. And I still have next weekend and all of the remaining bowl games and then the NFL playoffs. I still have a lot of opportunities. But, you know, this is one of the last two weekends of high volume football.

You know, after next weekend. And next weekend, a lot of those games, that are meaningless are really hard to bet because you have no idea who's playing and who isn't, you know, on a Friday. It's almost like preseason football. It is, very much like preseason football. All right. By the way, on the key games that I didn't give out smell test picks on, you know, you get some really important games this weekend. The Bill's Patriots game, I do like the Patriots.

I think they're going to roll on tomorrow afternoon. Rams 49ers game, the Rams have to win it to. stay alive. I like them certainly to keep it close. And then the games on Sunday, obviously the big one of the day is the game in the 425 window on Fox for essentially the NFC East title. The Cowboys win it in Philadelphia. They are NFC East champs no matter what happens next week. If Philadelphia wins the game on Sunday against the Cowboys, then they have to beat the Giants in the final week to wrap up the NFC East. If they don't beat the Giants and the Cowboys, could still win the division by beating the Redskins with an Eagles loss.

I like the Cowboys Sunday, Tommy. I think they're just the better team. They are. I like them, too. I wasn't very impressed with what I saw from the Eagles last week, and particularly Carson Wentz. I like the Cowboys in that game, which means their game against the Redskins would be meaningless,

which means the Redskins could win these last two games. I know. I know it does. I do, that line is down to a point and a half in most spots. Cowboys favor by a point in a half. I do have a feeling that by the time we get to game time, Aaron, there's going to be much more action on the Cowboys than the Eagles, which will probably get me into a position where I'll consider playing the Eagles.

But on paper, just analyzing the game, the Eagles aren't very good. And the Cowboys' potential is very good. I just see the Cowboys winning this game and winning the division. And then, you know what, they may not be, you know, Dak Prescott's injury could have a lot to do with this. I mean, if he doesn't play, then obviously they're in deep trouble. If he plays and he's compromised, you know, they could be in deep trouble because he's going to have to throw the football against Philadelphia.

Philadelphia does not give up a lot on the ground, even though the Cowboys can run the football. The Monday night game is the other big game of the week. Packers, Vikings, we'll have time to talk about. that on Monday. I do like the Vikings in that game. I think Kirk Cousins is going to break this Monday night streak. They're up to a five and a half point favorite. Started the week as a four point favorite, Aaron. They're up to five and a half. And Dalvin Cook's out. Dalvin Cook's not playing in that game, and the line has gone up in the game. I think there's a lot. I think Vegas doesn't like Green Bay. I don't think it's that they love Minnesota. I think they're not in love with Green Bay.

Remember, you know, the Packers last week at home were only a four-point favorite over the Bears. That's right. That's right. So, Vegas, not a big fan of the Packers this season. All right, let's finish up the show with a Skins, Score, and Predictions. Score and More. Time to settle the score is Score and More. I feel like we haven't actually done this a lot in recent weeks because we've gotten bored of doing it. with games that don't really matter.

Before we get to it, I just wanted to see. Did you see the story about Coughlin, Tommy? You know how he sets the clocks to a level that makes people, you know, essentially get there earlier than when the meeting's supposed to start? So every clock in the building is set, you know, ahead of time. Do you know when they fired him the other day, they apparently went around the building and put all of the clocks back to the regular time? I mean...

What a lunatic. Yeah, he's a lunatic. I like him. He's a winner. bottom line is the dude is a winner but you couldn't touch him with a 10 foot pole right now. The NFL PA basically said

don't go play for that guy which is crazy how many times do that hey Tommy you know the other thing about that I don't think we've talked about this I brought it up the other day I think on the podcast without you or maybe I didn't maybe this was on the radio sorry when I do that people but

I'm getting to that point where I can't remember which show I do things on so I'll just do it therefore you get the content even if it's repeat. But I did sort of think for a moment when I read this story the other day about the NFL PA winning this grievance for the Dante Fowler being fined 25 times for like $700,000. And Fowler got all the money back. And that 25% of the player grievances were filed this year in the last two years, excuse me, against Jacksonville. You know, one team out of 32, 25% of the grievances filed by NFL players over the past two years were filed against Jacksonville.

I did think that that NFLPA statement was really unique. They warned their players not to play for that team. And I did think to myself, you know, on the Trent Williams thing, it's not like they really came to his defense in any way publicly. No, the whole thing about, remember initially, there was going to be an independent investigation. Yes, which the NFLPA was in favor of, as was the league and the team. It was going to be part of picking who the independent investigator was, and then the NFLPA had to back off saying that Trent didn't want it.

Yeah, Trent didn't want it. That was suspicious to me. It still is to this day. And the NFLPA came out and said that he didn't want to relive this horrible memory, you know, and I'm paraphrasing there. But, you know, given the situation and given how long the situation went on given the way they responded to Jacksonville. Basically on Dante Fowler's behalf is, you know,

you didn't get a whole lot on Trent Williams from the NFLPA. I'm just saying. No, you didn't. What's your prediction on the game Sunday? I like the Redskins to win. What's the over under? 41. Okay, I think I'd stick the under.

18 to 15, Redskins win. 18 to 15? Yes. 18 to 15. I had Redskins 17 to 14. You know, last week's game, last week's game went over the total, sailed over the total when most people thought it was going to be a very low scoring game. I actually predicted the Eagles 17 to 14 last week, and it ended up going, you know, 64 points in the game with that late touchdown. But it was way over the total even before that late touchdown at 31 to 27.

But it is funny how that works out. Like you're expecting a low scoring game, you get a high scoring game, Now this week, the Giants scored 36 last week. The Redskins scored 27. So the public's actually hammering the over in this game. I probably should have given out the under as a smell test selection. But anyway, I think it'll be a lower scoring game. I also think Dwayne Haskins needs to be careful this week because the Giants do a lot to confuse teams.

They're not great defensively. I think this could be a dicey week, and he's got to be careful this week. If he plays well, then that would be another step forward. It would. It would. It's not a great defensive team, but Betcher does a lot of things that make you not really sure what kind of defense he's playing. But I think the Redskins are going to go out and do the thing I don't want them to do, and that is win the game 17 to 14.

Just breaking news about this game, by the way, Daniel Jones is going to start. Yeah, I think we assumed that. Yeah, we weren't sure, but it's now official. So it's now official Daniel Jones is going to start. So there you go. I actually really liked Dwayne's comments the other day about Daniel Jones, about it's not a big deal, and he thinks Daniel Jones is a good quarterback and a good dude, got to know him, you know, during the Combine and other different things.

And I don't know, Tommy, I, the maturity thing, and it could ultimately be that it should have been red flags to everybody. There's a lot about this kid that I like, actually. I do. That's good. That's good. Hang on to that. Remember that. I know. I know. I'll probably be wrong. I'm not convinced he's going to be great. Trust me. That's not what I'm saying. I am convinced that the bust potential is much, much lower than I thought it was before the year started. Much lower. That's reasonable. That's reasonable. Absolutely.

All right. Thank you. Have a great holiday. Am I going to talk to you next week at all? No. Probably not. Probably not. So Merry Christmas to you. Happy New Year. We'll stay in touch. I'm sure throughout the break, but you won't be on the two shows. Just for everybody next week, we're going to do a show on Monday. We're going to do a show on Friday. We're off Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Now, if there's some big breaking news story regarding Bruce Allen or the Redskins, we'll obviously figure out a way to get in here unless it's Christmas Day, which I'm not going to be able to do that. But you know what? If there's breaking news on Christmas Eve late, we'll come in here on Christmas Day. and do something, or at least I will. I won't make Aaron come in and do that. I'll call Tommy. What the hell is he doing? He's not doing anything. You can call me, absolutely.

I just want to remind everybody that you could read my Redskins column about the obituaries at Washington Times.com. Click on sports. It makes great Christmas reading. I love the way you said that. You can read my column about obituaries at Washington Times.com, which itself has been dead for years. Ah, I'm kidding. And you can hear me on 1067th Saturday morning with Nick Ashes.

Right. You can hear me on 980, 7 to 10 a.m. every weekday morning. All right. Thanks. Merry Christmas to you. Merry Christmas to you guys. Aaron and I'll be back on Monday. Have a great weekend. We'll talk to you on Monday.