The Kevin Sheehan Show - NFL Prediction Day

Episode Date: September 7, 2023

Kevin and Thom with all of their 2023 NFL season predictions on the show today. Division winners, Wild Card teams, MVP, Super Bowl matchups and winners along with several bold calls. Thom also had his Washington Commanders' season record prediction along with a team QB/Sam Howell prediction. Thom's Wash-Arizona pick and some weird Nats' happenings on the show too.  Go to https://www.mybookie.ag/sportsbook/ for your sports betting needs. Use code KEVINDC 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. Winchester, the pick. The hold by Townsend. The kick is away.

And God! To take the lead with eight seconds remaining in Super Bowl, 57, 38, 35. The Chiefs won the Super Bowl for the second time during the Patrick Mahomes era, 3835. and a thriller in Super Bowl 57. Tonight, the NFL season is back. Chiefs and Lions from Arrowhead, Tommy. The show today, as it is now every day, is presented by Window Nation.

Call Window Nation at 86690 Nation or go to WindowNation.com. Mention my name. You get a free estimate. You've got nothing to lose. If you've been thinking about new windows, call Windonation. donation now at 86690 Nation or go or go to windonation.com. You're not feeling great, are you? You're still not feeling well. In fact, you sound worse when I was talking to you before we started the show today than you did the other day. You okay? Yeah, I'm doing okay. I'm actually

getting better, but you know, it's three days of coughing. It takes its toll on your throat, but I'm coughing less than I was, let's say, on Monday. How are you going to deal with your class tonight? You've got to teach a class tonight at Georgetown. Well, I teach a class with somebody else, and you know the Laverro style of teaching. Yeah. Right? Let somebody else do it.

Let somebody else handle all the nuts and bolts. Yes. Yes, that's pretty much my rule for everything. So I'll have to say a few words here and there, but otherwise I think hand gestures will do. Hand gestures. By the way, what time does that class start? 520. Okay.

Because I do remember when I made my guest appearance in your class via Zoom, because it was during the pandemic, right? I'm pretty sure it was. Or maybe, yeah. And there were a couple of guys back there. You had me on because we were doing or you guys were doing something on sports gambling. And if I recall, it was either during a night of the NCAA tournament or maybe there were just a lot of college basketball games. But I noticed that two of the guys in the back of your class were pretty much on their laptops. talking back and forth and not so much paying attention to what I was saying,

to which I think I called them out for, all right, who are you betting on? And they both smiled. One of them definitely was getting a wager in before the game tipped. I think that's what happened. Something to that effect. Yeah, we had a couple hustlers in that class. Absolutely. Takes one to no one, I guess.

I guess so. All right. You know, by the way, I might as well do it right now. We'd love to ask you to come back for a Zoom session this year if you're up for it. I'll see. I'm not so sure. I'm not as easy as I used to be. I'm kidding.

Of course. Of course I'll do it. Of course. Can you imagine me asking you to do something? You would certainly think about it and get back to me. Did you see? last night, this Mitch Rails, Josh Harris, David Rubinstein, Economic Club interview. Did you see any of the tweets that came out of the gathering of like 700 down?

I think it was at somewhere down near the convention center. Did you see any of what came out of that? Well, it was the Economic Club and David Rubenstein, a high roller, itself, host these things at the economic club. And they had to move it out of the hotel ballroom where they usually do it into the convention center because there were such demand to be there. I think there were 1,300 people there. It says in Nikki's column in the post, it says 700 were there. But so you knew about this. I did not know about this. I didn't know about it that it was happening. But I have

since learned about it and read about it. Okay, so first of all, I don't know if we've talked about David Rubenstein before. He's an excellent interviewer. Excellent. Have you watched some of his interviews with various people of note, whether it's in politics

or entertainment or sports? Have you seen him and his interviewing style? Yes, I have. He's a very, he's a very, you know, he puts people at ease, but he's very smart and doesn't waste time with stupid questions. He's good. Yeah, he's excellent. So what came out

of that last night with Josh Harris and Mitchell Rails, who were down there, there were a couple of, I guess, headlines. The headline of note dealt with the name. Sorry for those of you, for the few of you that don't want us to talk about it.

We're going to do it briefly here. But Mitchell Rails was and Josh Harris were asked about the team's previous name, the Redskins, and Mitchell Rails took the lead on the answer, and he said, quote, this, he said, quote, excuse me, that ship has sailed. We're not going to relitigate the past, we're about the future. We're about building the future and not having a divisive culture that we're engaged in. We're going to look at everything come the end of the year and think about a lot of

different things and do a lot of testing and see what people think and will learn. The beauty is we have time to look at it, to look at all this stuff intelligently and make fan-based decisions, closed quote. So, you know, we were not doing the show last week. I did the show and I, you know, weighed in on Jason Wright and his comments on J.P. Finley and Brian Mitchell's radio show that the old name would not be considered, period. And Mitchell Rails, you know, essentially, and emphatically killed it last night from ownership. This is something we've been talking about for a while, and I've used the same expression that that ship has sailed.

They're not going back to Redskins people. That's over. But what Mitchell Rails made very clear, and what Jason Wright, I think, made pretty clear in his interview last week on 1067, The Fan, is that they are going to consider a rebrand. That's something they are going to do. and they have time to do that, as Mitchell Rails spelled out. Now, you know, making fan-based decisions,

I would guess they are certainly going to incorporate fan feeling on this, as they should. But last night, for any of you stragglers that were still holding on to the possibility of the old name, that is over. They're just not going to do that. And I understand why, and I've explained many times, and I don't need to go into it again.

But I do think what we learned from Mitchell Rails last night, Tommy, and from Jason Wright last week, is that they do understand they've got an issue with the current name and the current branding. And they are going to address that and see if it's feasible to do something about it. Yes. All intelligent decisions that I can see that they've made here about the name, not going back, but not, but still, not standing, you know, still with something that still is a festering wound. For some commander's fan, for some Washington fan.

A lot. A lot of fans, yeah. In this case, yes. So I think that's smart, you know, as far as going back, I'm going to venture to say that Edward Bennett Williams and Jack Kent Cook and even Dan Snyder, if you put truth serum in them and they had a chance to have changed the name and get past this thing while they own the team and the damage is already done and now they've moved on to go back none of them would have done that none of them it was always a thorn in their sides every one of them Snyder he maybe he didn't pay much attention to it. But if you said to all of them, okay, the name has been changed, we've moved on, you know,

the band-aid has been pulled off, but you have a chance to go back and rename it again. None of them are going to do that. I agree with you. It's just, it's been a headache for everybody along the way. And, you know, at the same time, it would have been bad business for a long period of time to ditch the name. But if it were ditched as it was ditched in 2020 for a lot of reasons, you're 100% right. It would have been really difficult to go back. Look, I talked about this yesterday because I had a friend of mine mentioned to me something that I had not used in my

reasoning for the ship has sailed on this thing. And the reason is, is that, you know, we are living in a world that's constantly changing and is becoming much, more, you know, more sensitive than less sensitive to a lot of different issues. And so if for whatever reason you were able to make the case in the spring of 2024 that it made sense and you got enough people on board to go back to the old name, you're just putting at risk another change down the road as the world becomes, you know, a different world and a more sensitive world. So I had on the show back in July, I had Len Shapiro on the show.

It was when the sale went down and was finalized, and I had the longtime Washington Post columnist and reporter Len Shapiro on the show. And remember I told you this, this was before you took off for your month and a half long trip to Spain, that Shapiro told me something that I never knew before. and I think you told me you had never heard before either. Len Shapiro said that Jack Kent Cook, you know, in his last days, you know, in his last year or last months of being on this earth, considered changing the name. I'd never heard that.

Never heard that. I had never heard that either. But anyway. It doesn't surprise me. I mean, Cook was a learned man that had his own way of doing things and would not do it to kowtow to pressure, but would do it if deep down he felt the need for the change. Right. So, and I think he would have been capable of that, given my limited experience with the Squire.

So I could see that definitely have happening. but have talked about it and then done it would be two different things. I also wanted to read this quote about the stadium. Rubenstein pressed owners on the location of the team's next stadium. And Josh Harris said, quote, we're looking, we're very excited to be welcomed by all three jurisdictions, and we're looking forward to engaging in the process. We have the beginnings of a real estate team to help us with all of this. We're very serious.

We're going to engage quickly because we appreciate that the sooner we get this started, the sooner we're going to be in a new home closed quote. No, for those of you that tweeted me, we didn't learn anything about D.C. And I would also say, no, there's just not a guarantee that it's going to end up in D.C., even with, you know, the real. recent news from three or four weeks ago that, you know, this city will end up taking over the, you know, an amended lease that will allow for a new stadium and development around that.

But they're going to, they're going to let these three jurisdictions give them their best shot, which is exactly what they should do. Now, with that said, I do believe that, you know, certainly Harris and Rails and Mark Ine, all of whom are from here, understand that RFK would be the best move. But you've got a better sense as to what's going on with all of this than I do. But even though I would favor RFK, it's far from a done deal. Where are you on this? Are you still on Landover?

Well, I still am, although I would say that RFK, because of the development over the past year and the change of ownership, RFK has a much better chance that it did a year ago. You know, I think in order for a one thing, in order to even consider RFK, you have to acquire the rights to the land and acquire the rights to be able to build a stadium. Right.

If you want to. Right. So that's what the legislation is. Exactly. That's currently going through Congress is to negotiate a new lease with the department. of the Interior that would allow for development and a new football stadium there. So they can't even broach the idea of paying for it or the neighborhood issues until they

have the actual right even put a stadium there. And right now they could, they could want it all they want, but they can't do it. Right. So that's a step that I think is going to happen. I think that's going to wind up since there's bipartisan legislation it was introduced by James Comer, the Republican

chairman of the Oversight Committee. So I think that will happen at some point. I think they'll get that through and then they'll have a new lease that will give them the ability if they can figure out a way to put a stadium on the RFK site.

So I think it's closer than it's been but again, you know, that X field is the path of least resistance. Building the stadium on the side of next to FedEx Field, but closer to the Morgan Station metro stop, making that more attractive. Last night, Josh Harrison, Mitchell Rails,

out there engaging with the community, which was one of the kind of the three priorities, right? Giving Ron and Marty and Martin everything they could give them to give them the best chance of winning, updating and investing in the current stadium because they're going to be there for a while. And then lastly, they've talked all about reengaging with the community, and that's something that they did last night.

And I know that they've got future dates this month planned with various groups around town to get out there and say hello and answer questions and build the customer base back, which would, you know, it would certainly help if they beat the cardinals on Sunday to keep the current momentum going down the tracks. You are absolutely right about that. Sunday is shaping up to be a glorious day for this franchise that will be a nightmare if somehow they find a way to lose to the most hapless team in the league right now. Well, what level of nightmare? Because you and I have not talked about this.

I've talked a lot about it. Tell me what level of nightmare you believe it would be. If, by the way, they lost an NFL game to an NFL team, which is possible people, it does happen all the time. So what level of nightmare would it be? Okay. Mr. Negative. Given the fact that, you know, it's not measurable. to the nightmares that I've hounded this franchise under the Dan Snyder era. But if you're one of the owners and you've been basking in the glow of people saying,

wow, this is great, you're not Dan Snyder, we love you. And the first week, you're having to answer football questions as the owner, which is what will happen then. Then the questions will be, what the hell you're going to do about this coach, new owner. They don't want to do that. I mean, they've got no answers for that at this point. So that's a small nightmare. And it's a bit derailing of the momentum. Okay, nothing that can't be recovered from. But, I mean, like, I think like the next week, where they, what do they play? Next week they play in Philly.

At Denver. At Denver. If they don't win that game, I think most reasonable people could understand that. You know, but I think most people are not going to expect them to lose that home opener with a stadium filled probably with real Washington fans. Okay? So I think to think it's setting up with, you know, Magic Johnson on board, the new owners there, it would be a major disappointment to have all that fall on its face.

Yes, but I agree with you. It would certainly be, you know, a short-term punch to the gut for a lot of people, including me and you and everybody else, because it would be nice for business purposes if they actually win that game, win it handily. And oh, by the way, Sam Hal throws for 300 yards and three touchdowns. That would be the perfect. result. But I think most people, I mean, I'm just going to put myself into this category, and I think a lot of

people would agree with this, maybe not as many as I think. This is, you know, there's a long-term outlook now that you can have, you're allowed to have about the team. You know, you couldn't have any sort of outlook, you know, on this team, especially a long-term outlook as long as Dan own the team. but you can have that now. And these guys acquired the team so late in the game, they couldn't do anything about this first year. Right. So if they were to lose to the Cardinals,

it certainly would be a short-term blow. By the way, they would feel it as well. Because last night, by the way, Josh Harris said the Buffalo game is nearly sold out. That's the next home game in week three. And so there would be an exhale of, you got to be kidding me. But I think everybody would understand, okay, well, look, next off season is when, you know, the real long-term plan begins.

Look, if they win the game, it means nothing, just so everybody understands. It just means they get to avoid the short-term gut punch. But beating the Cardinals doesn't mean a lot. I had Howard Baltzer on the radio show, you know, longtime NFL writer, NFL Hall of Fame voter. I actually asked him about Jacoby. You can go listen to that interview on the Odyssey app or at the Team 980.com. But I said, you know, the perception is the Cardinals are kind of throwing in the towel.

And he gave me these numbers. He said, well, you know, and by the way, you were away for this. He goes, they have 11 rookies in 25 first or second year players. He said 28 of the players on the roster weren't here. And as you probably know, if you didn't know this from Spain, they released Colt McCoy. You know, and Howard agreed Colt McCoy gave them their best chance to win this game on Sunday. They're going to start Josh Dobbs, who just got here to, who just got to Arizona two weeks ago. Now, he's familiar with the system because the,

new OC for Jonathan Gannon was in Cleveland with Dobbs, but still, there is a perception that Arizona is not only the worst team in the league, but that they don't really care if they win games because at the end of this is perhaps their future starting franchise quarterback in Caleb Williams, even though Kyler Murray is still on the team and is going to come back and play. And he made that very clear Howard did to me this morning. look, if they were really going to tank, they wouldn't bring or have plans to play Kyler Murray when he comes off injured reserve. But then again, if they're planning to get rid of Kyler Murray, teams probably need to see that he's healthy in playing before they trade for him. So anyway, yeah, this would be a bad loss. The loss would mean that the ownership has to answer football questions after week one. They really don't want to have to do that. So they have no answers.

I hope they don't answer football questions. I mean, they're going to be out in the community and they're going to be asked these questions, but they were asked about Ron Rivera. Harris was asked about Ron Rivera, and he said, hold on, I had it here a second ago. He said very nice things about Ron Rivera. He also said, don't expect me in the draft war room. I don't pick players. I hire people to pick players.

He said about Rivera. Ron Rivera is, quote, the right person as a head coach. I've really enjoyed getting to know Coach Rivera. He is a good man. He's done a great job in terms of where the team is relative to where it was when he got here. And relative to all the distractions, excuse me, that we're going on. He's got a very capable front office. What I've said is that we're going, we're just getting up to speed.

and I want to hear you think we I want to he said I want to hear how you think how you learn how you make decisions etc and he said I don't like putting tremendous pressure on someone everyone who coaches an NFL team or an NBA team and us as owners we all realize that ultimately we've got to deliver wins on the field so you don't really need to say anything it's just out there closed quote trust me, I don't believe that that means that Ron Rivera is coming back as head coach next year, but I believe that Josh Harris's first impression of Ron Rivera is what many people's first impressions are of Ron Rivera, and that is he's a good person, he's a good man.

A good neighbor. We'll see. A great neighbor, as Jim Zorn once was. No, he's not in Jim Zorn's category. That would be very unfair. You didn't comment on Colt McCoy, your son. Well, you know what? I don't feel that bad for him because I think he would have been pummeled. I think, you know, I think that Redskins defensive line would have just destroyed him and he'd be broken in two by the end of the first half.

Okay, then. So he saved himself a beating. If you want to bet on Sunday's game, bet through my bookie. Arizona right now is a seven-point underdog to the Washington team. as I've mentioned before, lowest total in the league by far in week one, 37 and a half at MyBooky. As a better you demand perfection in My Booky delivers. First of all, they've got the fairest points spreads, money lines, totals, et cetera. You get paid if you win.

The pricing is real. It's not inflated as many of the new places now really charge you too much on a loss. But they've got NFL college football and a brand new cash out system giving you options to bet and win all season long. First two legs of your parley hit cash out early and place another bet or let it ride for a chance at a bigger payday. Join the MyBooky family for an entire season filled with daily odds boosts, same game parles and super contests. This season, MyBooky has a no-strings-attached cash bonus that lets you. you deposit and withdraw quickly. Use my promo code after you go to my bookie.ag. Use my promo code Kevin D.C. And on a deposit of $50 or more, you'll receive up to $200

in cash instantly into your MyBooky account. Bet your deposit amount one time. You're ready to withdraw at any time. Again, use my promo code Kevin D.C. to claim that cash deposit bonus. Bet anything, anytime, anywhere, only with My Booky. As I mentioned, tonight's game right now at My Booky, Kansas City minus five. The totals drop to 52. If Kelsey plays, and he's probably not going to play, that line will go back up. But as I mentioned on yesterday's show, Tommy, Travis Kelsey just proved to bettors

that he is the biggest point spread mover that is not a quarterback in the league. The line dropped a point and a half to two points on the news that he likely would not play. That is very rare when that happens. Tonight's game should be a good one. I think the Lions are really good on offense. I still question whether or not they've improved enough on defense. They were dreadful on defense a year ago,

but they won five out of their last six games, and they were sitting there at the end of the year as a high score, team very close to making the playoffs. And if they had made it, they would have been a difficult out in the NFC. Everybody likes Dan Campbell. The Lions are in their highest profile spot, Tommy, in week one, in forever. By the way, I looked this up. They haven't won the division since it was the NFC Central in 1992. Most people that cover the Lions believe this is the the best roster they've had since the 91 Lions, which was a team that made it to the NFC championship game and faced the 91 Redskins, one of the greatest Super Bowl champions

of all time. Washington won that game, 41 to 10. Patrick Mahomes, by the way, 5 and 0 in openers as a starter, 18 touchdown passes, zero interceptions. Zero interceptions. That's stunning. I like... This is why... This is why I... You know, me, Mr. Old School,

you know, hung on Johnny United's for years. Patrick Holmonds is the best quarterback I've ever seen. He placed a position like nobody I've ever seen. Zero interceptions? Even if they're... You know, that I mean, that means he... I mean, it's just the errorless factor there. it's just stunning, considering how reckless he seems to play at times.

You mentioned Unitas. Robert Nannapolis, you know, long-time caller to our show, to the station, called in because we did a segment at the end of today's show, your boldest prediction for the NFL season, your boldest NFL prediction. And he said the two Baltimore teams win championships in the same year, for the first time since 1970, the Orioles and the Ravens. And I remember the Orioles beating the Reds. I remember Super Bowl 5. It's the first Super Bowl I remember.

And he said something about that game, and I went back and looked it up. He said, it was called the blooper bowl. And he said, the Colts had seven turnovers in the game and won the game. And I'm like, that's not true. And I looked it up. And he was right. The Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl 5 had seven turnovers and won 16 to 13. The Cowboys had four turnovers.

The only touchdown they had was a 75-yard touchdown pass from United to John Mackey. To your favorite tight end of all time. Yes. And I think that's the Super Bowl where the losing team, Chuck Howley, a linebacker for the Cowboys, was named MVP. 100% right. That's been a Super Bowl trivia contest question in previous years. Chuck Cowley was the only defensive player to ever, only losing player to ever win the MVP. Now, by the way, they wait until after the game to actually vote on it.

But in that game, the Colts had seven turnovers in one, 16 to 13 on a Jim O'Brien field goal. and the Cowboys had four turnovers. I said to Robert Nannapolis, and I know I've mentioned this to you before, when you go back and you look at box scores as a pro football reference from games in the 70s, it was not unusual for a team to have seven or eight turnovers in a game. It was not unusual for a game to have 12, 13 turnovers in total. And, you know, there wasn't the emphasis for whatever reason back then, on protecting the football.

But Robert Nannapolis made a good point. He said there also weren't rules about hitting anybody in any way you wanted to hit them. Late early, you know, forearms to the head. And you had DBs, ripping receivers in half going after the ball. So that was a big factor too. It was more difficult to hold on to the ball then. doubt.

And you didn't have... Even with players now targeting the ball, they didn't do that that much back then. And you... They targeted the player, not the ball. They just figured if we hit this guy hard enough, he'll cough up the ball. And you didn't have replay. You didn't have replay to overturn all of those interceptions that hit the ground and all of those fumbles where a knee was down.

Yes. You know, where the elbow was down before the ball came loose. It's just basically any... the ball was in the air and caught by a defender, it was ruled an interception, and almost every fumble was a fumble. Anyway, I like the Chiefs tonight, 28, 27, and what should be, I think, a high-scoring game. Are you going to watch the game? You'll watch it from Shelly's tonight. Yeah, I'll watch it. All right. I like the Chiefs. I like them by a wider margin than you, 3521.

There you go. We got a lot of predictions coming up. This is our pre-NFL week one prediction time of the year. We're going to make all of our AFC, NFC, Super Bowl picks. Everything comes up next right after these words from a few of our sponsors.

All right, before we get to our predictions for the NFL season, Tommy, tell us about Shelley's back room, 1331. 1F Street Northwest. Well, you know, what's interesting is, I mean, I've told you this before, but it's worth repeating, the menus at Shelley's, both food and drink menus are spectacular. And you can find them on their website at shelley's backroom.com.

And I don't know if I said this before, but when I was in Spain, we were the guests of a neighbor who had us over for a big dinner and all that. And this was the day before we went to the bullfights. So he actually brought in a bullfighting expert to tell us what we could expect. And he had Cuban cigars. And for the first time, I'm drinking Johnny Walker Black. Okay. Now, I'm not a big whiskey drink.

I drink beer. But that Johnny Walker Black was some pretty good stuff. Pretty expensive stuff, too. Yeah, I know. Yes, I know. And I drank it pretty, you know, not thinking about how expensive it was because it wasn't my money. And I really enjoyed it. So I thought to myself, I have to try it when I go to Shelly's again because Shelly's has a tremendous, tremendous selection of drinks and whiskeys.

Now, let me ask you a question, but you're a man in the world. you're more well-versed in these things than I am. Why is Johnny Walker Blue considered so much better? I don't know. I've told you this before. It's not an area of real expertise. It's probably older. It's probably smoother. I don't know what the answer to that is. The McAllen is the super, super expensive whiskey.

I'm pretty sure that's really expensive. The other one that I... Oh, shit. I'm blanking on the name of the bottle that somebody gave me recently that I really liked. But I don't have an answer for you. I'm not an expert. Well, Johnny Walker Blue is more than four times as expensive as Johnny Walker Black. No, I know that Johnny Walker Blue is a premium brand and very expensive, but I'm pretty sure Johnny Walker Black is a cut above Johnny Walker Red. I think Johnny Walker Red is kind of their entry-level, you know, whiskey.

Pick up just stick to Johnny Walker Black for my next trip to Shelly's, which will probably be tonight after I teach. Whistle-pig. Get something to eat off their great food menu as well. Whistle-pig, I've got a bottle of that I really, really like. I was given a bottle of that as a gift a couple of years ago, and that is excellent. But anyway,

Shelly's has it all. I mean, you can spend a lot, you can spend a little bit, but you can definitely get a good meal for sure. Yes. Shelly's back room, my home away from home. So let's get to some predictions here for the upcoming season. You've prepared for this segment, which I'm really, really excited about. So I think I gave this out the other day, and I didn't ask you to do this.

I didn't ask you to do prop bets, season win totals, right? Just pick, you know, division winners, wildcards, et cetera, correct? But I picked win totals for each team. Okay, but we'll get to that in a moment. I didn't, well, that's interesting. I didn't even do that. But if I didn't give this out the other day, Titans over seven and a half, giants over seven and a half,

commanders over six and a half, Vikings over eight and a half, Patriots over seven and Broncos under eight and a half. Those are my six prop bets on season win totals that I have already made. I really like the Titans and the Giants over their seven and a half. I like Washington over six and a half, Minnesota over eight and a half wins, Patriots over seven wins, and the Broncos under eight and a half wins. Those were the six that I made. Let's get to our division. winners and wild cards. Seven playoff teams in each conference. We'll start in the AFC, Tommy.

I don't need records. I'm glad you put them together, but I just need the division winners. I'll start so you get the format of what we're doing here. In the AFC, the division winners, I've got the Jets winning the AFC East, I've got the Bengals winning the AFC North. my surprise division winner, the Titans winning the AFC South,

and I've got the Chiefs winning the AFC West. The wild cards in the AFC, the Chargers, the Bills, and the Cleveland Browns. You'll note that the AFC is loaded top to bottom, so there are some key teams that I left out of the AFC. playoffs. Not every good team's going to make it, and I didn't have the Ravens making it. But the Jets, Bengals, Titans, and Chiefs are your division winners, your wild cards are the Chargers, Bills, and Browns. So Tommy, give me your AFC East winner. You know, one of the reasons I like doing this so much, because this really gives us a chance to show everybody how smart we are. You know, we get to use all our expertise.

and all the knowledge that we built up, you know, which none of you have out there. Okay, we have a special knowledge that gives us the opportunity to pick these winners. Well, this is your passion. This is your passion. So why wouldn't we go to you for these picks? Yes. So who do you? I love doing this because I get to show off, baby.

So give me your AFC East winner. I got the jet. You got the Jets as well. Are you excited as someone who grew up as a big fan of the Jets, but you're really not anymore? Do you have any excitement over the Jets? Perhaps being as good as they've been in a long time? No, not particularly. I think they're going to be a hell of a story.

Yeah. I think they're going to be the biggest story in the league all year. They're going to be one of them for sure. Monday Night Football Jets and Bills. That's going to do a massive number. All right. What about the AFC North, which is maybe, along with the AFC East, could be one of the top two or three divisions in football. Yes, I have the Ravens winning the AFC North. Okay, you've got the Ravens in the AFC North. What about the AFC South?

Like you, I've got the Titans. Wow, okay. Jacksonville is a pretty big favorite to win that division. AFC West? I've got the Chiefs. What am I? I've got the Chief. And then what about your wild card teams?

Your three wild card teams. My wild cards for the AFC are the Bills, the Bengals, and the Jaguars. Okay. All right. Next up is who do we have in the AFC championship game and who wins the AFC championship game? So I'll let you go first on that one. What's your AFC title game matchup and who advances to Super Bowl 58?

AFC Championship game. Jets versus Chiefs. Very old school ASL. Guess what? These sharp, great minds think exactly alike. I've got the Chiefs and the Jets in the AFC Championship game. Who do you have advancing to Super Bowl 58? I've got the Jets.

I've got the Chiefs. I've got the Chiefs. the Chiefs going back to the Super Bowl and Aaron Rogers losing yet another championship game, conference championship game. Who is your AFC MVP? Aaron Rogers. Aaron Rogers is your AFC MVP. Mine is Patrick Mobs. I'm going chalk there. Give me a bold prediction about the AFC this year. Just anything that you think is bold. Did I ask you to do this? Well, this is an area of expertise. You should be able to come up with something.

This is what you do, you know? The piece of pie that you ask for isn't good enough. You always want an extra slice. I forgot what I asked you to come up with. I'm sorry. I'll give you my bold prediction. It's a Jets-related prediction, but it is not a Jets-related prediction dealing with Aaron Rogers. Look, that roster is great. It is a great roster. And defensively, they are going to be really, really, really good. They drafted Will McDonald the 4th, number 15, first round. He has, by all reports and accounts, had a an absolute dominant training camp. Now, a lot of people think Will Anderson from Alabama,

who was picked very early by the Houston Texans, will end up being the defensive rookie of the year. He's got a chance to be a great player. Will McDonald the 4th ends up winning defensive rookie of the year. That's my bold AFC prediction. Damn, Tom, the Jets. if Aaron Rogers is Aaron Rogers. Their defense is so good.

Their playmakers are excellent. Garrett Wilson will be a star. Breese Hall will be a star. The biggest question with them is offensive line. Mackay Beckton's back. We'll see. That could be a big deal. But I'm all in on the Jets.

And I don't know that they'll start off that quickly. They open up with the big. Bills, Cowboys, Patriots, and Chiefs. Then they go to Denver, and then they face the Eagles, Giants, and Chargers. It could be, you know, a 500 first half of the season as they're figuring it out. But I see them getting to 11 wins, and that being good enough to win the division, and them playing their best football at the end of the year. By the way, you know who they play on Christmas Eve?

Washington in the Meadowlands. All right. So our AFC predictions are in the books or they're on the books, and we will keep track of them, as we always do. We never forget about what we do on September 7th. We will have these, though, at our disposal when we need them. Tommy's got the Jets in the Super Bowl beating the Chiefs in the AFC title game. I've got the Chiefs in the Super Bowl beating the Jets in the AFC title games.

So let's go to the NFC. Division winners in the NFC, Tommy. I'll let you start. Who do you have in the NFC East? I've got the Eagles win in the NFC East. I also have the – oh, I'm sorry, you're going to go through the rest of your division winners before I get to mine. All right.

What about the NFC North? I've got the Vikings when in the NFC north. Okay. What about the NFC South? I've got the Falcons when in the NFC South. Okay. And what about the NFC West? The 49ers and Kyle Shadahan.

Who are your three NFC wild card teams? The Cowboys, the Giants, and the Seahawks. Okay. All right. All right. So in the NFC, I have Philadelphia winning the NFC East, but I think it's going to be much tougher this year. I think the giants are really going to push Philly. You're going to hear a lot of Giants discussion here for me because I am high on the New York football giants this year. I think Minnesota wins the NFC North. Detroit is the pick to win the NFC North.

I don't trust Detroit's defense. I don't trust Minnesota's defense. I don't trust Minnesota's defense. I They did get Brian Flores to come in as the coordinator. I just think with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison and Hawkinson and Osborne, and yes, you know who at quarterback. They may not win 13 games this year, but I think they're going to win 10 and have a chance to repeat as NFC North champs. Detroit should be good. Look, I think Chicago and Green Bay are intriguing as well. It would not surprise me if Chicago has a best.

better than expected season. I'm a big Justin Fields fan, and they added DJ more to that team. After remember getting Chase Claypool, and they've got Mooney there. I think the Bears are an interesting team this year. And Detroit, look, I think they apparently are well coached, and they've got offensive weapons, and Amon Ross St. Brown, I think, is one of the top 10 receivers in the game. But I don't trust them on defense. I don't trust Minnesota either, but I think Minnesota is more explosive offensively. I've got the Saints winning the NFC South. They were a team that I really loved last year and they did not get it done. I've got Seattle winning the NFC West. I'm a little bit, it's not so much about Seattle, although I think they've got a very good roster. And I don't see

Gino Smith taking like this major step back. But them adding, you know, Smith and the Jigba to the wide receiver cord that already includes Metcalf and Lockett. Kenneth Walker, the third from Michigan State, their rookie running back last year, is a star in the making. Zach Charbonnet, they drafted from UCLA as his backup. They've got weapons everywhere on offense. And defensively, that's where they went, you know, also in the first round, drafting Witherspoon from Illinois.

I like this team, but I think picking Seattle for me was more about, I'm not sure about Brock Purdy. I know that he played well at the end of last year, and Kyle believes in him. Kyle, they traded Trey Lance to the Cowboys for a fourth round pick. My God, I mean, what a disaster that was, the move up to draft Trey Lance. I actually think Sam Darnold's going to end up starting at quarterback at some point along the way for the 49ers. So I've got Seattle winning the NFC West. And then my wild cards are the Giants, the 49ers, and I think it'll be a big time race for that seventh spot. I'm going to give it to Dallas.

But I think Detroit will be in it. Dallas and Detroit, by the way, play in the next to last week of the season. in Dallas on a Saturday night before a full Sunday of New Year's Eve football, I think that game could be for the seventh spot. And then, by the way, Dallas finishes at Washington. And I think Washington's going to be in the hunt for that seventh spot. The NFC's the only team in the NFC that would shock me that they're actually contending for a playoff spot is Arizona, because it's just so wide open.

Arizona's awful. I could see anybody winning the NFC South. Anybody. I'm picking New Orleans, but I could see Tommy's pick in Atlanta. I think Tampa's really good on defense. I have no idea what Baker Mayfield's going to be like. Carolina with Bryce Young, they actually have a good roster. The Rams are a little bit iffy. I guess I'd be surprised if they contended for a wild card spot, just because it looks like they're kind of planning for the future as well. but anybody else would not be a shocker. All right, so we've got our NFC division winners and wild cards.

Give me your NFC championship game, Tommy, and your NFC champion. The NFC title game? Well, I got more faith in Kyle Shadhan than you do. 49ers versus the Eagles. And who wins and goes back to the Super Bowl? Or goes to the Super Bowl? 49ers. So you got to you got the.

49ers in the Super Bowl. You got a 49ers Jet Super Bowl. That would be a matchup between Kyle and his defensive coordinator from San Francisco, Robert Sala. So for me, I've got the NFC championship game being a matchup of NFC East teams, the Eagles and the Giants. I'm high on the Giants this year.

By the way, that also tells you that I don't think the Eagles are going to be the one seed. I think the NFC East is going to be a knock-down, drag-out battle. I think Philly and the Giants will both end up with like 11 wins. But somebody, whether it's Minnesota, New Orleans, or Seattle will end up with that 12th win. I think it might be the Saints, actually. And I have – so the Eagles would play the Giants in the divisional round, because I got the Giants is the best wildcard team. But somehow I think the Eagles end up as the two-seed.

The Giants is the five. and the two of them face off in the NFC title game in Philly, and the Giants remember in that playoff game last year got run out of the building. This year they lose. It's closer, but the Eagles go back to the Super Bowl, and they play the Kansas City Chiefs in a rematch. You have the 49ers and the Jets. I have a rematch of Eagles and Chiefs,

and I have the Eagles winning the Super Bowl. Who do you have winning the Super Bowl? Who do you think? The New York Jets. Yes. All right. The Jets win the Super Bowl.

Led by the League's MVP again, Aaron Rogers. Didn't you, last year, didn't you have a surprise? Didn't you pick the Titans to get to the Super Bowl? Super Bowl, and they were like seven and three at one point. I was like, wow, you were on it.

And then they didn't make the playoffs because they had a bunch of injuries. Was it last year that you picked the Titans to make the Super Bowl? Last year, he's asking me. I know, exactly. Who's your NFC MVP? I didn't ask you that. Mine is Jalen Hertz. My NFC MVP.

Well, maybe. I just picked a league MVP. Okay. Give me your league MVP. Okay, it's Aaron Roger. Okay. That was your agency. too. That's fine. My NFC MVP is Jalen Hertz and I have Patrick Mahomes ultimately winning another MVP.

That's a lot of chalk there. I understand that. And I don't always go chalk. Look, I've got two division winners that aren't favored to win the division. And I've got the Giants as really a big time storyline. And my bold prediction out of the NFC is that Daniel Jones in his second year, Brian Dable combines for 35 plus touchdowns passing and rushing. And Jones is legitimately in the conversation for NFL MVP throughout this season. You know, I think it'll be, you know, a Mahomes, Burrow, Hertz, but I think Daniel Jones is a surprise in the conversation MVP candidate all year long. I'm very high on the Giants and I'm really high on the Giants staff.

I think I'm a big believer in Brian Dable and the connection and the relationship and what they're building together. Don't forget, they added Darren Waller. You know, Sequin Barclay's back, and they were good on defense last year. They may be even better this year. All right, so we've got our NFL predictions locked and loaded. You've got the Jets beating the 49ers. in the Super Bowl, and I have the Eagles beating the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. Up next, we get to Tommy's Washington season prediction,

and then his prediction on Sunday's game against Arizona. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. He's working hard to be ready to go. So, you know, he came back as healthy as I've seen him, and it's probably since his rookie year. And so great to see that. And, you know, we're waiting on the blessing from the doctors to give them the green light. And when we get that, then he'll go.

That was Jack Del Rio today. Today was coordinator day out at the park. Jack Del Rio and Eric Bianamy spoke. He was talking about Chase Young. Still needs, I guess, one more doctors okay. But you heard Del Rio say he came back as healthy as he's seen him since probably his rookie year. A lot of the stuff that I talked about last week that Chase Young's conditioning prior to getting injured in that first preseason game against Cleveland, and his overall

demeanor was a massive improvement from where it was, and everybody out there has been excited. I think Chase Young has a chance to have a big year. I'm hoping he does. Tommy's predictions on Washington season coming up will also get a prediction. from Tommy on Sunday's game. This segment of the show is brought to you by our good friends at Window Nation. Window Nation always gives you more, but now they're giving you even more, more. The more windows you buy, the more you save, up to 50% off right now, plus pay nothing for two full years.

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Bow, Bay, double-hung, any style. You'll save thousands on your new windows. You'll save thousands on energy bills. And your home's going to look better. 86690 Nation or windownation.com. All right, Tommy. So, by the way, something else Jack Del Rio said today. He was asked about the primary emphasis on his defense this year, and he said, quote, start fast and create

turnovers. That's one and two, not necessarily in that order, closed quote. The defense hasn't started fast in previous years, including last year when the defense was excellent, you know, on the season as a whole. And they've finished 24th and 26th, the last. two years in takeaways. They averaged 18.9 points per game last year. Most of it was due to a bad offensive football team.

They were not good on offense. They were not good at quarterback at all last year. But another part of that is that the defense, while it was great, it didn't force turnovers. It didn't score, although Kendall Fuller had, I think, two pick-sixes, right? One against Houston and one against Dallas. But they've got to take the ball away this year. They've got to shorten up the field for Sam Howell in this offense.

They've got to score. Special teams needs to do that as well. They haven't gotten enough from their special teams return units in recent years. I'm going to be interested to see if James and Crowder ends up being the punt returner on Sunday. That will be something to watch here with Dax Mill and the rest of the week. I don't have today's injury update as we're recording this podcast. and I would guess that Antonio Gibson's the primary kickoff returner. I thought he was pretty good at that last year. But takeaways, big part of the NFL always,

and I think one of the reasons this team over the last two years didn't ultimately get over the hump. A few more points per game because they had shorter fields, courtesy of turnovers from the defense, probably would have been the difference. certainly last year with one more win that would have got him into the postseason. So Del Rio, start fast, create turnovers, and that's one of the reasons they drafted Emmanuel Forbes.

All right, we are at the moment where Tommy gives us his Washington season prediction. Mine will come on tomorrow's show. And then a bold prediction about the season. 17 games, just reminding you, in case you were going to give me, you know, something like 7 and 9. It's 17 games now. What is your Washington Commander's season prediction? Well, I wouldn't be as pessimistic as giving you a 7 and 9 record, Kevin. Oh, you're really a... Oh, yeah, you've never done that before. Okay, what do you got? 7 and 10. How's that?

All right. Give me your bold prediction. 7 and 10 bold prediction. the quarterback who finishes the season for the Washington commanders isn't on the roster. You gave us that one last year, too, didn't you? Yeah. I gave that a couple years ago. Oh, a couple years. Last year was Carson Wentz gets benched by week 10. I think that was it.

And you were certainly well on your way to probably having that happen. Of course, he ended up getting benched because he got injured. but I think you may have turned out to be right about that one. So do you know who that quarterback might be? Do you have a couple of quarterbacks in mind, or is it just a quarterback, you know, TBD? Yeah, I think Josh Johnson could be on the mark special between Baltimore and Washington this year.

Okay. Didn't we see Josh Johnson in the preseason? We saw him play for Baltimore, right? Yeah. With the Ravens. Yeah, for the Ravens. Very good. seven and ten. Any thoughts about the seven and ten season? Is it a seven, do we get to

Thanksgiving, Tommy, with at least playoff's possibilities? Yeah, I think so. I think so. But offensively, they're just going to wear down over the course of the season. Do you have any thoughts about Sam Howe? Yeah, do you have any, I mean, why is, why is that? the quarterback at the end of the year that's playing not on the roster. Because Sam How's going to get hurt. Because this offensive line remains a problem. And I think most teams that are going to play against Washington,

particularly ones with good defenses, are going to have one goal in mind, and that's to destroy the quarterback. Now, every team has that goal, I guess, over the course of the season, in every game. But I think with Washington, it'll be the game plan. Okay, fair enough. I just wanted to get you on record as to why Sam Hal wasn't the starting quarterback at the end of the year. You blame it on the offensive line.

Fair enough. All right, ready for your prediction for Sunday, since you won't be on the show tomorrow? What do you got for the opener? A game that we both think is must win. Sunday is sunshine and lollipops, baby. A 27 to 10 win by the commanders over the Cardinals. That means you should take that under if it remains 37 and a half. 27 to 10 would be a nice opening day.

Yeah. That would be... 27 and 10, Sam Howe with two touchdown passes and two turnovers. That would be nice. You know, since Ron Rivera, you know, he enters year four. He's had every single season opener at home. The first year was against Philadelphia at home during the pandemic year.

And remember they had like, they sacked Carson Wentz, I think nine times and won that game with Dwayne Haskins, a quarterback, 27 to 17. Then in 2021, they were home against the Chargers. That was a, you know, that was a close game. Gibson had that big fumble. Although the Chargers, if I recall, like made something like 15 out of 70. third down conversions. It was a disappointing start for the defense.

And it turned out to be a disappointing year for the defense. And then last year, also at home against Jacksonville, and they were in deep trouble. And this came going into the fourth quarter or early in the fourth quarter. They were down eight. It was like 22 to 14. And then, you know, they struck gold. Carson Wentz went deep to McLaren and had that touchdown pass. and they ended up winning the game 28-22, I think it was.

So, you know, pretty interesting that all four of Ron Rivera's openers have been at home. And this is the one, though, that they are a big-time favorite, and they're expected to win. Tommy's got 7 and 10, which would mean no playoffs, and he's got 27 to 10 over the Cardinals in the opener as a win. All right, you said you had something else before we go for the day, and it has to do with the Nats, I think you said. Well, there's some strange things going on with the Washington National. Tell me. First of all, their international scouting director, who's been with the team for years, resigned about five days ago. I saw that. Okay, with no explanation. It was reported. I forget who reporter. I apologize if I'm not giving them credit that five scouts have been told on the staff

that they're not coming back. They won't be welcome back. So they're firing five other scouts. Are these Mike Rizzo calls or learner calls? Well, that's interesting. They should, I mean, you know, the firing of the scouts, that would seem to be a Rizzo call. So there's some weird stuff going on because Mike Rizzo doesn't have a contract yet. Mike Rizzo is three weeks away from basically not being the general manager of the Washington Nationals anymore. Yeah, but the reports were that he was going to sign an extension to stay here. Davy already did and that Rizzo was going to as well.

That was right before. Yeah, but Davies was two months ago. No, no, no, no, it's not two months ago. No. Before I left for Spain. I don't think it was. I think it was when you were away. Yes, it was. Are you sure? The distance between Davey's extension and what's going on right now. August 22nd, 2020, 23, National's manager Dave Martinez, agrees to contract extension.

Maybe you knew it before you left and you didn't say it, but the reporting on Martinez's contract extension, was on August 22nd. And in that same report, Mike Rizzo, according to the Athletic, was close to an extension as well. Well, that hasn't happened yet. And the most bizarre part is the athletic is reporting, you know, they were supposed to have a press conference Saturday to announce Stephen Strasbourg's retirement.

Right. And, you know, they were going to retire his number. and it was supposed to be a big deal. The retirement press conference has been canceled, according to multiple sources. The plan was to honor him and retire his number, but the nationals have changed course. Why? That's what the athletic is reporting. I don't know why.

Is it just that they're going to change the date of it, or are they reconsidering retiring his jersey and having him announce officially his retirement? I don't get it. I think if you read this, the plan was to honor him and retire his number. Right. But the nationals have changed course. Why? Do you think why?

I don't know, Kevin. Is it because he's having second thoughts about retiring? I don't know, Kevin. I'm just reporting what the athletic has reported. I'll tell you what, it wouldn't have been the best day to do something like that. You can't. Well, no, I agree with you. I mean, the day before the commander's opener, it would have been buried.

And, you know, it's just football weekends now when you've got a bad baseball team and a town that really is more of a bandwagon baseball town, you want that park to be packed for Strasbourg to be honored. I mean, that to me is almost, you know. But that's not going to happen. Yeah. Well, they stopped their losing streak last night. You know, when you were away, they were playing some really good baseball until right when you got back. and then they started to play poorly and they got swept by the marlins.

They were really, at one point, Tommy, they were seven games out of the wild card hunt. I know. I know. Those scrappy Washington Nationals, that's what you want your team to be known for, the scrappy Washington National. Well, you know, that's not what I want them to be known for, but I do give Davey Martinez a lot of credit for this team playing scrappy during the course of the year. Because the expectations for this team were a lot worse. Right. And we got this.

Legitimately. Expectation. Oh, yeah. I mean, 58 and a half was there over under on wins. They're already at 63. Yeah. You know, and they still have 22 games left. By the way, you know, overall, we have some really exciting September and then October

baseball. But coming down, I mean, the whole American League West thing with Houston, Seattle, and Texas, You know, I think Texas lost again last night, so they are falling a little bit further back. But that's exciting. The NL Central with Milwaukee and Chicago is exciting. All these wild card races are exciting. The Orioles will have that series against Tampa coming up. Is it next weekend when they play Tampa?

Yeah, it's next weekend. They have four against Tampa next weekend in Baltimore. And that will really be Tampa's shot to get back into this thing in the American League East. But some really good baseball. By the way, I wanted to remind everybody that we're now down to two days in counting for the Circa Million and Circus Survivor Contests presented by the Circus Sportsbook and Casino out in Vegas. I entered both of these things. My first entries will come tomorrow, and I will talk about what the entries are. But $6 million in guaranteed prizes with the Circa million, $8 million with the Circa Survivor Pool.

Survivor pool, you pick one team straight up every week, no spread. If that team loses, you're out. If that team wins, you advance. And if you get to the end of the year and you're still standing, and you picked a winner for 17 or 18 consecutive weeks, or however long it takes to eliminate the rest of the field, $8 million could be yours. The circa million is all about point spread bets, five of them a week.

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Why don't you make a call to one of the people that you know to find out what the hell's going on? I want Mike Rizzo to be my general manager moving forward. So if this Strasbourg thing, if the fact that his contract extension hasn't been done, if these scouts are being laid off in a cost-cutting thing and he doesn't like it and he's leaving, I'm going to be pissed because he's the best general manager of any team in town by far. Yes. I mean, this could be any number of things, but I also heard from somebody who's usually pretty plugged in that Mark Lerner wants to hang on to the team now.

You know what? I'd rather Mark Lerner hang on to the team than Ted get his hands on. that team and own three of the four sports teams in town. That's not unreasonable. Thank you. Good luck with your class tonight. Feel better. We'll talk on Tuesday.

Are you going to the game Sunday? I forgot to ask you that. Yes, I am. I'll be there in the press box, baby. Okay. What time? We need to coordinate because I would like you to, well, you're working. I'm not going to be working.

I'm going to be there with friends. but I was going to say, why don't we perhaps at 1215, 1230-ish, grab a beer somewhere together at the stadium? I could do that. Okay, very good. The beer lines are going to be awfully long, though. That's going to be a big crowd. Well, then maybe you'll want to meet me in the parking lot,

and we won't have to wait in any line. And I'll pour you something. I'll pour you a Johnny Walker Black on, you want Johnny Walker black or blue? I'm not going to bring the blue. That's too expensive. I'll have a bottle of Johnny Walker Black and we'll do it on the rocks for you. Is that how you like it? Or do you like it neat? Look, I will get, no, I like it neat. Okay. But I'll probably get to the stadium around 10 in the morning.

Oh my God. Why? Why would you get there 10 in the morning? The game comes up to one. I know that. I don't want to sit in traffic. Oh, God. Well, you know what? There will be traffic on Sunday for the first time. We'll see how the traffic gets handled. All right. I'm back tomorrow. Smell test tomorrow. No smell test picks on the pick tonight, on the game tonight, or the college game tonight. I like a lot of games coming up this weekend. That scares me. I'll have my season prediction. I'll have my Sunday pick. And Jay Gruden will be on the podcast with me tomorrow.

Have a great day. Take care, boss.