The Kevin Sheehan Show - Not Really A Rivalry Anymore

Episode Date: September 17, 2026

Kevin and Thom today opened with their thoughts on what it would be like to live in Buffalo. That led to a conversation about Bob McAdoo and then Elvin Hayes. Kevin reacted to some of what Commanders' OC David Blough said today including what he said about the "spacing" problem against the Eagles. The boys talked about the state of the Dallas-Washington rivalry which has dwindled in importance in recent years. They shared their thoughts on the Alex Ovechkin-Putin ad controversy, the Arch Manning-Holly Rowe viral video storm, and Thom had his Skins-Cowboys prediction.  Exclusive High Roller bonus designed for bettors who want more firepower for this season. Double your money all the way up to $5000. Minimum deposit $1500. Use my promo code “DCVIP” at https://www.mybookie.ag/signup/?affid=3910. Download the app today and use code SHEEHAN to get $150 instantly in Lineups if you win your first $5 Lineup! “PrizePicks. Run Your Game.” Join Thrive Market today during their 25% off Healthy Reset Sale now through September 19th! PLUSget $30 off your first 2 orders when you use my link ThriveMarket.com/sheehan. Join the millions who are already banking fee free with America’s #1 Choice forBanking. Head to Chime.com/sheehan. If you want to try Momentous Signature Spec Creatine, head to livemomentous.com and use codeSHEEHAN for up to 35% off your entire first order. 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 Cheehan Show. He is Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. The show's presenting sponsor is always,

Window Nation, 86690 Nation, windownation.com if you need new windows. Tommy will have his Washington, Dallas prediction on today's show. And let me just say up front, no smell test picks tonight. no pick on the college game and no pick on what should be a really entertaining NFL Thursday night game for week two. Detroit at Buffalo, Buffalo's first regular season game in its new stadium, which Tommy, by the way, when it's snowy in December, November, maybe even, who knows, maybe even October,

apparently the field will get the snow, but those sitting in the crowd will be covered from the snow. There you go. So no more pictures of people being asked to come volunteer to shovel out the stadium so they can play a game. Let me just tell you something that would never happen. Well, certainly not at this age for me. But even if I were 25, I can't imagine even RFK Stadium in the heyday, hey, we need some fans to come down to the stadium with shovels

and dig the stadium out before the game tomorrow against Philadelphia. Yeah, that's somebody else can do that. How miserable would that be? My God, that'd be terrible. Although I bet it would be a lot of fun. That just speaks to I think something that we should take a moment to realize since we're talking about Buffalo

and I don't think we probably think about how lucky we are to be living in Washington along those lines. The opposite of that is how lucky we are not to be living in Buffalo. Oh, that's mean. That's mean. But it's true.

Look, I've been the problem. Buffalo. I love Buffalo, but come on. I mean, you know, would you want to live there? What if somebody said, we're going to move your show to Buffalo? Well, so two things in that answer. Number one is no. Number two is, you know how much I love snow. and I have always had a major fascination with lake effect snow, which is exactly what upstate western New York gets. They get these incredible snows off the lakes and just south of Lake Erie that, you know, Buffalo and Rochester and all of those areas,

they just get dumped on some of the most epic snowfalls in U.S. history. are Lake Effect Snowfalls. Now, I've been to Buffalo, top supermarkets, way back in the day. Wegmans, by the way, was an upstate New York supermarket chain to start with. And they were always considered to be even way back then in the 90s, one of the most innovative and advanced supermarket chains in America. And they were in upstate New York supermarket chain. I've been to Buffalo.

Yeah, I don't think I'd want to live in Buffalo. it's just the people are great. The people are outstanding. It's just gray and cloudy and depressing too much of the year. Yeah. Yeah. It's work. It's hard work to live in Buffalo.

No doubt. It is hard work to live in those areas in the country. You know? Yeah. I mean, if you live in an area that basically averages 70 inches of snow, you know, and maybe the average in Buffalo is even more than that. They've had years where they've had 200 plus inches of snow. Let me look that up.

Buffalo record snowfall. It probably takes you 15 minutes to put on everything you need to to go outside to start your car. Oh, my God. Just to start the car is an entire ordeal. Although I'm sure I'd have a remote starter if I was stuck living in Buffalo. in 1976, 1977, Buffalo had a hundred and ninety-nine inches of snow. Oh, my God. Oh, my gosh. A hundred and ninety-nine inches.

It just kept snowing. 31 inches in November, 60 in December, 68 in January, 22 in February, 13 March, and another two inches in April, and a half an inch in May. Oh, boy. As I've mentioned before, let me remind everybody. At one time, Buffalo in one year,

in particular, I think it was just one year, 72. Buffalo had three professional sports teams. Washington had one. I know. True. Buffalo Sabres,

Buffalo Braves NBA, and the Buffalo Bills. Yeah. Yes. And the Buffalo Braves had Bob McAdoo playing for them. And Ernie D. Gregorio. Do you remember the name Ernie D. Gregorio?

Of course. He was often referred to, correct me if I'm wrong, as Ernie No D. Grigoryo. Yeah. He didn't play much defense. He was a hell of a point card. Yeah. He was a great point. He played with Marvin Barnes, the Providence.

Right. Then he went to Buffalo and was rookie at a year, I think. I mean, he was a tremendous point card. Marilyn played Marvin Barnes and Ernie D. Gregorio in left year. first tournament in college park in the Elite 8 played him in the Elite 8 in oh God

I forget that that was a team with McMillan and Elmore on it and Jim O'Brien on it but no Lucas Lucas came the next year it was the 73 season Maryland played that Providence team and lost in the Elite 8 because

Lefty obviously never made a final four and the Buffalo Braves in 19 75 played the bullets in a conference semi-final series that went seven games, Tommy. And this is the first, you know, I remember the year before the, the year before was the first year the bullets were in Washington in 74. Right. Okay. And in 75, they went to the NBA finals and lost to Golden State in the NBA finals in what was the biggest upset in NBA finals.

They got swept by Rick Barry and the Warriors. But in the playoffs that year, in the first round, they played, in the first round for them was the conference semifinals. They played the Braves, and I'm going to pull it up seven-game series. And I'm telling you, Elvin Hayes and Bob McAdoo had some outrageous games. Macadoo, Game one, Macadoo 35, Elvin had 20. All right. Game two. Elvin had 34. Macadoo had 36.

Game three. Macadu 34, Elvin Hayes 30. I mean, but they're bigger games coming. Game four, Elvin only had 16. Macadu had 50 in game four. The Braves wanted to even up the series. Game five was in Washington in Landover. Macadu had 34. Elvin Hayes had 46. 46 in game five.

Then game six, McAdoe had 37. Elvin Hayes had 29. Game six. Game seven, Macadu 36. Elvin Hayes had 24. Phil Schneer had 39 in a seventh in deciding game win at the Capitol Center against the Buffalo Braves on April 25th, 1975. How about that? I did not remember that. I just remembered Macadoo and, and by the way, it was Randy Smith who was on those teams with Bob McAdoo, the point guard. Super fast point guard. Randy Smith, I was going to mention him. I saw him playing college. He went to Buffalo State. So he lived in Buffalo a long time. Yes.

Poor guy. Yeah, but then they moved to San Diego after that. Yeah. So that was a big transition for them. But I saw Randy Smith, he was a terrific athlete. They played East Trousburg State College once when East Trousburg was really good in basketball. That was a hell of a game. But, yeah, I saw Randy Smith playing college.

He was tremendous athlete. McAdue was, Macadoo and Elvin Hayes. I've always said this about Elvin Hayes, and I'll believe this forever. Elvin Hayes is incredibly underrated in the conversations of the greatest players in the history of the game, especially the greatest power forwards in the history of the game. I know that he was on the top 50 list and he's on the top 75 list. He's included in all that. He's never excluded.

But his name doesn't get mentioned a lot when we're talking about, you know, great power forwards. He was an Iron Man. He didn't miss games and he rarely came out of game. And he, I got to look this up, I've done this before, but on the list of like all-time, all-time scores and all-time rebounders, I think he's still in the top 10 of all-time. I'm going to find it real quickly, points career. So on the points list, in the combined ABA, NBA, he's 15th all-time in points. On the NBA list, he's 13th. And then let's find rebounds.

Total rebounds career. He's sixth on the all-time rebound list still. All-time, and that's the combined NBA-A-BA list. He's fourth on just the NBA list. On the rebound list, it's Will 1, Russell 2, Moses Malone 3, Kareem 4, Artis Gilmore 5, and then Elvin Hayes. you know, then Tim Duncan, then Carl Malone, then Parrish, then Garnett, then Dwight Howard, Unsell's 14th on that list.

The Biggie was really, really spectacular. Yes. McAdoo was the league MVP in 1975. That year. Yeah, the year that they lost to the bullets. Yes. Yeah, he was. And after the 76th season, I remember being so elated because he wound up.

getting traded to the Knicks. And he was a disaster for the Knicks. Just nothing went right. You know? I remember when the Knicks, this is the post-Wallis-Reed-Fraser era. They got Spencer Haywood, and he was going to be the Savior,

and that was a disaster. And they got Bob McAdoo, and he was going to be the Savior, and that was a disaster. So, but he could shoot, boy. He could shoot for a big man, like that. I mean, he could really

she could really shoot with a seven-footer. Yeah, well, he wasn't a seven-footer. No, no, no, he wasn't a seven-footer, no. He was not, he and Elvin Hayes were basically the same size. They were both six-nine, I think. But of course, Macadoo had, you know, that second act with the Lakers, with the Showtime Lakers, and was an incredible sixth man off the bench where, you know, he averaged, you know, he averaged double figures in one,

two titles? Let me look that up. He was definitely on the team that beat the Celtics after they lost. 82 and 85. Yep, 82 and 85. He led the NBA in score in three years in a row, 74 to 76. He was a lethal score. The year that he won the MVP, Elvin Hayes finished third in the voting. I wonder what Elvin Hayes is best, because he did not win an MVP, but he had to have been close a couple of times.

So he was close. So third in 75, Cowens finished second, Dave Cowens did. And in 7879, which was the year they were the defending champs, he finished third that year. Moses Malone won it when Malone was in Houston and George Gervyn was the runner up. But he was... Go ahead. As great as those Buffalo Brave teams,

were to watch, I still wouldn't want it to have been in Buffalo the watch. No, no. You would have preferred to have been in Washington watching the Braves play your bullets. Here's something interesting about I mean, this is so foreign to many people listening that in the 1970s, the bullets were literally one of the best franchises in the NBA. They were a consistent NBA championship contender. And they came from Baltimore. They went to, they

went to four finals. They went to, well, if you count the Baltimore, if you count Baltimore. If you count Baltimore. In D.C., they went to three finals, one-one. And they had two legitimate Hall of Fame superstar players in Elvin Hayes and West Unseld. And in Phil Schneer, they really had another guy that if he doesn't end up having the back issues that he had when he got into his late 20s, early 30s, he may have had a Hall of Fame

career and Bobby Dandrich, who joined them for their 78 title, is in the Hall of Fame. But in 75, when you mentioned it, I pulled it up. Macadoo won the MVP. The Bullets had three players in the top nine of votes. Hayes, Sheenier, and Unselled. No other team even close. You mentioned Bobby Dandridge. And in my office here, where I have my shrine everywhere. I was just looking at earlier this morning, the photo of you and me and Kevin Grevy and Bobby Dan.

Oh, that was so much fun. Those two for lunch for a legend. So much fun, that show. I would bet that for a lot of listeners, it was an enjoyable listen, but because it wasn't football team related, they're like, huh? But Bobby D. was the reason they won the 78. It's the reason they have the one title they have. If they don't add him to that roster, they don't win the title in 78. 79, they came back.

78, 79 they came back as the defending champs got to the finals and lost in the finals. But yeah. He had that smooth baseline move, man. He was so clutch. So clutch. You could argue that I think the greatest game ever, played by a Washington bullet or Washington wizard in the postseason was Elvin Hayes that year, 78, 79 is the defending champs. They played Atlanta in the conference semifinals, a seventh game

at Capitol Center. And Jimmy Carter, the president, was in attendance because he was a Hawks fan. And Elvin Hayes in game seven, this was his all-time. clutch performance. In game seven, it was 39 points, I think 18 rebounds and six blocked shots in the game. I'll go get the exact box score right now.

But that's, it's it was definitely 39 points. I know that. Here it is on basketball reference. 79 game 7. He played all 48 minutes, Tommy. He never

sat down. 39 points, 15 rebounds, and three blocked shots in a seventh in deciding game. 17 of 34 from the field in that game. And the Bullets won to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they faced George Gervin and the San Antonio Spurs, who back then were in the Eastern Conference Finals. And then we get to maybe the second greatest, we don't have a lot to choose from as Bullets fans,

as Wizards fans. Yeah. But perhaps the second or John Wall's game six when they closed out the Hawks the year in 2017 was an incredible closeout game for Wall. But in game seven against the Spurs, the bullets were down three, one in that series, came back. They had a seventh and deciding game at Capitol Center. Bobby Dandrich, 37 points, nine rebounds, five assists,

including the game. winner in overtime in a 107 to 105 win over the Spurs. It's, it's, any Spurs fan, any lifelong Spurs fan will tell you that until they started to win titles with Tim Duncan, David Robinson, and then obviously, you know, one of the great franchises of the 90s and the 21st century, but until then they were always runners up. You know, Gervin never got to the NBA finals, as great as he was, even with artist Gilmore. But the game that they always pointed to was this game seven where they say they were completely robbed in the game.

They were up 10, Tommy, with about four minutes to go in the game, and there was a power outage. Doug Moe was the coach. And there's all kinds of stories around this particular game. Like did, was it an intentional power outage? Did they, but whatever it was, the momentum that the Spurs had was halted. And then every call down the stretch, Spurs fans, Doug Moe, all of them say, well, you weren't there. This wasn't with you. It was with Cooley that I got to interview George Gervin at Jack Nicholas's event out at Creighton Farms probably 10 years ago.

That was probably one of the biggest thrills I've ever had in my life. And I asked him about that game and he said, we was robbed. We got robbed. And so it really sat with Spurs fans for a while because the bullets came from 10 back after the power outage. They forced overtime. And then in overtime with a tie score, the audio's there. It's one of those, Dan Patrick used to do this thing, greatest NBA games of all time. And this was one of those half hour specials.

And it was Gervyn and Bobby Dandrich sitting in studio with Dan Patrick. And they had like the audio from the sideline, the video and audio. And they call time out and Dick Mata, the coach doesn't say anything for the entire time out. Bernie Bickerstaff, Dick Mata, nobody's saying anything. And right when the horn goes off for them to go out, he just says, throw it into Bobby, Bobby go win us the game. and that was the play. And they threw it into Bobby and he got to his baseline

15-foot jumper, knocked it down, and then Elvin Hayes blocked a shot at the buzzer, and they won the game, and they went off to the NBA finals where they lost. I'm looking at, yeah, Bobby D had 37 in that game.

Elvin Hayes had 25 and 15. Gervyn had 42 in the loss. He averaged in the series, Gervin did 38. his average in that particular series was 38 points a game. Man, the NBA used to be great. It was great. When I had a team to really root for,

maybe I've got to. It used to be great. It's still great. The playoffs this year were incredible, incredible. Only because of the Knicks made them interesting. Nixon Spurs. No, the NBA playoffs are special every year, I think. And look, look, next year, this, you know, we might have a playoff team.

Let's go Anthony Davis. You know, for 20 minutes, you were doing really good. Well, I will say, without any, any embarrassment, I am legitimately excited about this upcoming Wizard's season. I acknowledge they are going to be very interesting to watch. We're about a month away from the open. opener. They open, I think, with Milwaukee at home, let me, it's probably like October 15th or something. Okay, that's enough Wizards talk. October 21st, at home, Milwaukee to open up the system. Is it going to be there? Do you know, I didn't, last year, I think, or maybe the last two years, I haven't gone to one game. And I've always gone to three or four games a year.

It's Maryland basketball games, Wizards games, I've actually gone to those games in recent years, not the last two, years, though, for the Wizards. No. I was supporting from afar, the, you know, the tanking. You were the guy. I was the guy. I mean, you're the guy supporting them. Anthony Davis is over under it, my bookie for games played is four and a half this year. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. But I would bet out of 82 if you were to post a number, it'd be about half the games. And you need a half point there to make sure nobody pushes. So, I'll, 40 and a half would be the number, probably. Everybody listening to this podcast right now,

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From Jerry, Kevin, Jaden's 0 and 3 against Dallas. Everybody just wanted to remind me for some reason that he hasn't beaten the Cowboys. I knew that. You know, this game stopped being Ohio State versus Michigan a long time ago. Ooh. It did. It really did. Come on.

I was trying to, I was tempted to write about it, you know, and it would have been so lame to write about Dallas Week. Dallas Week. Get off of it. There's no more Dallas Week. I mean, none of the pack. These were fighting words for me 10 years ago, but I can. cannot, you know, conjure up enough energy to do it because you're not, you're not wrong. I had Mickey Spagnola on yesterday, the longtime Dallas Cowboys.com columnist,

and an annual visitor to this show, he's such a good guy, and Cowboys fans love him and swear by him. And I think I probably ask him every year, do you feel it or not? He goes, nah, I haven't, it sucks. and some of you get upset when I say this because for whatever reason you feel differently, but I think I am just as an observer giving you what I am observing, which is this doesn't have any juice for the mass majority of skins and cowboys fans anymore. It definitely isn't a snoozer for Dallas fans. They couldn't give a crap unless you're like at this point, 50 or older,

and even for those people, Philadelphia is totally replaced any sort of rivalry, hate-filled, you know, true passion for a division opponent. And Washington's probably third on the list after the Eagles and the Giants. That's what happens. I talked about this through all of these years. You and I talked about it both. part of the result of Dan Snyder's ownership was losing our place in the division and losing these incredible rivalries that we had because we were the team that sucked more often than anybody else did. So we weren't playing in the big games on a regular basis.

And so they lost interest. We gained too much weight. We just, we didn't brush our hair. We didn't, we didn't do a good job of taking care of our body, Tommy. And they just decided they were going to shack up with somebody else. And they did. Yes. Yes, they did.

You know, I don't like it. You know, I mean, Dallas, Washington was always wanted a great stories every year in the NFL. it's part of the great history of the league. But now, you know, come on. So what? He hasn't beaten Dallas. I just want to pull up like any sort of recent list of the best. See, they're still on it.

It's amazing. I just pulled up the big league. That's a TV production. They want, they're trying to, they're trying to get them. No, these are just websites that are ranking the rivalries. The first one I pulled up, the big. lead.com. Packers, Bears won Cowboys, Washington

2. Cowboys Giants 3. That's old school. This was written May 11, 2026. The Ravens and the Steelers are number one, I think. Yeah, I would probably say the same thing. Let me find something

more. This was in May of 2026. Do you care what AI says? AI says, Packers, Bears, Steelers, Ravens, Dallas, Washington, followed by KC. Raiders,

Rams 49ers. I don't care with. AI says. You're getting it from the rebel AI who's going to be taken over here. Yeah. Okay. The one that's, you know, plotting against us.

That rebel AI. Yeah. I, yeah, three weeks ago, ranking. You know what I just about AI? Oh, I've been following all of this recently. It's, you know. I don't know anything about it, so I don't know if it's the, you know, the technology people that are being hyperbolic, if it's for competitive reasons, or if it's actually real, we're all going to die in the next 10 years.

Hold on, I did find this. Are you following all this? I mean, you don't understand it, do you? I follow my son of it. My oldest son is heavily involved in it right now, and he's. swears by it. He thinks it's going to save the world. Well, change the world, how?

For good or for bad? For good. Yeah. Well, there's always the good aspect of it, which is why you want to see it continue to be developed. But the fearmongers out there, and they're coming from those ranks. They're coming from those top companies. Yeah. Leaders of the industry.

I get that. That's a little bit unnerving. It is. You know, aren't you surprised? The anthropic guy, the, yeah, all of them. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Musk has been saying it for years.

Yeah. Talking about AI. You know, I don't know if you want to put him in that category, but he's, he's been talking about the dangers of it for years. But aren't you surprised that maybe it is, and we just don't know, that it's not more involved in the NFL? I mean, couldn't AI coach better than anybody on the sidelines? I don't think so, but I guess it's possible. You're reminding me of a story that I actually read from on radio today, and I had it on my list to do with you today.

Our friend Mark Schlebeau wrote a really interesting story about the whole LSU thing, and Lane Kiffin in particular, and I'm just going to read to you since it's a perfect segue into this. And we can come back to the AI discussion. But as LSU and the SEC found themselves locked in an unprecedented game of legal chicken over coach Lane Kiffin's plan to roster two former NFL players this season, Kiffin routinely reached out to his friend, attorney Tom Mars, for legal advice. When Mars urged Kiffin to back down, the LSU coach texted him screenshots of legal opinions from an unlikely source. the source was chat GPT. And Mars said, usually when I would express an opinion about what LSU was doing, Lane would reply with a screenshot of chat GPT that supported LSU's position,

which was almost always wrong. Lane ignored most of my unsolicited advice, but I don't think he'll be using chat GPT anymore for legal advice. There's another funny quote in here. He said, I think his IQ, talking about Lane Kiffin, I think his IQ is probably off the charts, and head coaches have told me that Lane is a savant on game day with the ability to see things during games that no one else sees. That said, I think most people would agree that Sunday through Friday is what makes Lane both interesting and newsworthy. and he said that Lane takes risk to the next level,

borrowing a line from Star Trek, you might say Lane is willing to go where no man has gone before. Yeah. Well, we don't have to talk about AI. Let's get back to Dallas, Washington. Well, I mean, I am interested in this, and I was saying to my wife the other night, like, once football season begins, it's like,

I don't, I'm not as in tune with what's going on in the world as I am when football season isn't going on. I think a lot of people that are like me that are so into football season are sort of the same way. It's like on the weekends, I don't pay attention to anything except for football. But this AI thing with, you know, the dire, you know, predictions of doom within a day. decade are, you know, they're interesting. I just don't know what to make of it. I'm an idiot. Right.

Okay. Dallas, Washington, not really important anymore. I think everybody, I'd like it to be again. It could be again. Just play two to three massive high stakes games every year. Yes. And then it would be back. I got, I have two other emails.

that I want to read. This from Rex L. Rex L writes, what will you say, Kevin, if this offense struggles against the Cowboys? Will you still clutch close to your chest the running quarterback who can't win from the pocket?

And then I got this one from MacDog, which I think MacDog, you were definitely trying to get this particular email read on the air, because I don't really believe that you believe this.

But MacDog writes, Kevin, I think we are reaching a boiling point here with our quarterback. We are entering almost code red territory. If he can't do better than Jackson Dart did against this defense, meaning the Dallas defense on Sunday, and we lose on the road to two divisional opponents

to start our season, I think it's time we start to talk about when we bench him. He just doesn't look like an elite quarter. I think he's a great backup, but I would like to start to watch more college football and maybe even take this season to get a top pick to get Arch Manning or somebody. Love the show. That was not real, right? He was just trying to get this red.

That's not even artificial intelligence. No, that's not. He didn't get that from chat. That's a level of intelligence that I'm not familiar. you're with. I will just say, as I said, I think on Monday or Tuesday, several of you were disappointed and thought that Jaden had a bad, bad game. I can't convince you probably otherwise.

And I'm not going to sit here and cite all of the advanced, you know, grades, which were all above average for the game. I gave him a B. I would have given him a C without that fourth quarter. quarter. But if you didn't appreciate the fourth quarter and that looking like an elite level quarterback against a really good defense, I don't know if I can help you with that. I will say this that I just listened to, and I told you right before the show that I wanted to listen and watch the David Blow. Today's coordinator day out in Ashburn. So Durante

Jones and David Blow both spoke. And I don't have the transcript yet. It hasn't been sent. but Blow talked a lot about Sunday and what happened on Sunday. And he certainly, with respect to the two-point play, you could tell he had some reservations in hindsight about calling the play that he did. But he mentioned something specifically that I think was really important from the game that I haven't mentioned. I've mentioned the fact that there weren't a lot of people open for Jaden over those. first to three quarters. And in many ways, I respect the fact that they, both the coordinator and the quarterback,

stayed patient. You know, you couldn't go out and force stuff and then essentially, you know, turn your way over to being out of the game with too much trying to push it to places against a good defense that didn't exist. He was asked, and I forget who asked him this question, but it was a good question. They asked him about the spacing, if he was okay with. receiver spacing. And he looked at whoever asked the question and said, yeah, I mean, I'm paraphrasing now.

No, was not, you know, not thrilled. Not happy with that. And the reason I bring it up is if you watch the All-22, you could see that people weren't open. And now, after the way he answered that question, it is probably because the routes weren't being run precisely enough. Spacing, Tommy, truly is one of those things that in basketball, it's a big deal. You know, in football, it's a big deal. Spacing, when you hear people refer to spacing, it's like, if you're too close together on a football field as receivers or on a basketball court as teammates, you make it much easier for the defender. You can have one defender

guarding two people if those two people are really close together. You want to space the defense out. You want to make them cover as much of the field or as much of the court as possible. That makes it easier to run offense. Now, in basketball, you do have, you know, on ball picks, but off of a pick, you immediately try to get spacing between you and your teammate. But last year, there were issues. Steve Souter pointed out multiple weeks with receiver spacing.

David Blow was a part of the offensive staff last year. Now, they had receivers on the field that they didn't anticipate having on the field when the season began. So that played, I thought, a large part in it. But to hear with Terry McLaurin, Stefan Diggs, Antonio Williams, that in the first game, he had some issues with spacing. This is why somebody's going to make the move in the summer and say, I don't care if you're playing your twos, threes, and fours. I'm putting my starters out there so we don't have spacing issues in the first game of the year.

Or we don't have tackling issues in the first game of the year. Because you do have four chances to play football in a football game. and yes, you'd be going more times than not against the other teams, twos, threes, and fours, and there may not be a lot of value in that, but things like wide receiver spacing in your playbook,

like how you want Antonio Williams to run this route, and it's got to be this far away from where Diggs is. I don't, why do we have to get to week? It's the whole league. It's not just Washington every year. It's the whole league. It's the fear of injury.

Yeah. Greater than what you think you can learn. Right. It's not worth the risk. That is it. That is it. Yeah. But the benefit to it might be that you're more ready for week one than the opponent.

Yes. But I guarantee you, I think it was Mike McCarthy was asked before the opener. I think it was McCarthy. Some name coach. and I'm forgetting who it was, but I think it was McCarthy, was asked about the not playing in preseason, and he said, you guys don't get it. There's no value in playing my ones

against the other teams, twos, threes, and fours. And I understand that concept, but why even worry about who the other team's playing? You're just going to go out and you're going to hone what you do. You're going to practice what you do in a real, game environment against another team. And you get four chances to do that. But I thought that was one of the more interesting answers

because you could tell watching it that he looked and he said, he was essentially saying, yeah, that was part of the problem. We need to fix that. Yeah. We, you know, you can't give a picture to the quarterback that has two receivers right next to each other being covered by maybe one guy. You don't want that. You want those.

And clearly they got better in the second half and in the fourth quarter because Diggs and Antonio Williams at that point were open a lot. But new scheme, two new players in Williams and Diggs. You know, you think a declining Terry McClorn. And there you go. All right. Oh, I had one other thing about the team that I wanted to get to. I talked yesterday about some of the under center stuff. Bill Barnwell actually wrote about it today.

And the numbers comparatively to the rest of the league were even less than I thought they were, or even worse than I thought they were. That's next after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey, guys, creatine is one of the most researched and effective supplements available, but as the category has exploded, most brands have focused on things like flavors, formats, and marketing instead of actually making the creatine itself better. That's why Momentus created Signature Spec Creatine, their most advanced creatine ever, setting a new standard for creatine quality. Momentus's Signature Spec creatine is one of the only creatines to be manufactured in a pharmaceutical facility using reverse osmosis water. purification and verified through an expanded six-stage testing process with four independent

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If you're in that neighborhood tonight and you're looking for a comfortable, friendly place to watch Thursday night football, Shelly's is your stop right there. I mean, it's the only place where you can watch football. They have eight high-definition TV spread out everywhere on these comfortable couches and comfortable chairs. not only with food and drink, but unlike every other bar you're going to go into your choice of cigars. If you've got cigars, you can bring your own in.

You don't have to buy what Shelley sells. You can bring your own cigars with you. But if you want to, they have one of the great selections in D.C. of cigars available. And it's a great place to watch football. You know, a lot of... Shelly gets a lot of visitors, so it's a interesting mixture.

of local fans and out of town fans. So who's playing tonight, Detroit and Buffalo? That's right. In Buffalo, your favorite city. So I'll bet you there'll be some bills or Lions fans in there as well, maybe coming through town or something like that. You can find out more at shelley's backroom.com. Buffalo's not a great place to live,

but the people who live in Buffalo are great to hang out with. You know what? I've heard they're hearty. Very hearty folk. Chris, our good friend from cigars and curveballs and your annual event. Chris sent both you and I on group text. Tommy talking about wine is like me talking about nuclear physics. You know, I read that and he's absolutely right.

I really butchered that, didn't? No, you didn't. I don't, I'm not a wine person either. I mean, I drink it, but I, look, there is a certain level of pretension that I assign to those people that just know so much about wine. And I shouldn't because it's a genuine interest. It's a genuine hobby for those people. I do think that several, many of them tend to be snobby with what they know and what you don't know. I don't care that I don't know a lot about wine.

I like to drink wine. I can occasionally tell a better wine from a terrible wine, but I thought you did a decent job the other day. I don't think it was... I mean, look, I was trying to explain out there that Shelley's has a variety of drinking options available for people that's all. That's all kinds of interests. Right.

You know? But I really sound... did like an idiot. No, you didn't. I don't think you did. No. I don't think... And I can only tell you to go to Shelly's and drink some Sierra Nevada pale ale. Well, I was going to... Once in a while. I can't do that every week. Yeah, I was going to say, if you're going to ask Tommy, you know, to break down the differences between Guinness and Sierra Nevada, he's got a shot at doing that. Um, right. All right. But, okay, well, Chris was right, I think. Okay. Um,

So on the show yesterday, Tommy, I talked about how the under-center off-season conversation. You know, David Blow, Jaden Daniels is going to be under center a lot more, you know, at a high level, you know, compared to the rest of the league. And, you know, and also they were going to huddle more, which they did. There was some no huddle. And by the way, it happened in that final drive a few times where they scored a touchdown, where Jaden looked very comfortable, by the way. He looked very comfortable in shotgun. He looked very comfortable in kind of a higher pace, no huddle offense.

But that's also where we've seen him at his best over the last two years. But I pointed out yesterday that for all of the talk about how much under center action there would be, they were just barely over 25% of their snaps. The league average last year, which was at, you know, an all-time recent high, not all-time, but at a recent high was at 35%. So the average last year was 35% under center. And the top teams were in the high 40s, low 50s. And Jaden made this comment when he was asked about it.

He said, well, we were never going to be under center 80% or 90% of the time. Nobody does that. And it's true. Like even the Rams and the Seahawks and the teams that are under center a lot, the lions, it's like in the high 40s, low 50s in terms of the percent of time that they're under center. Although week one saw an incredible spike in under center snaps. But anyway, I also pointed out that Jaden was in shotgun much more, not much more, but more than in the final two drives he was in the previous nine drives and those final two drives.

and those final two drives resulted in what, two touchdowns? Well, Bill Barnwell, ESPN.com, wrote about the undercenter trend today. And he pointed to Washington in week one, the exact percentage was 26.9% of the offensive snaps. I had 18 out of, yeah, so 18 out of 70 he had. I counted the two-point conversion snap, which is why mine was just barely over 25%. It was at 25.3%. But he didn't count the two-point conversion snaps. So 26.9% of the snaps were under center snaps for Washington.

And there was an expectation for most that it would be, you know, not just at the average, but higher than the average. That number was the sixth lowest in week one. And in the second half, their rate dropped to 21% after halftime. Now, is there significance to this? I don't know. Jaden said this was the expectation, but I would guess, and I watched Blow today, and he sort of implied this,

that it was opponent driven as much as anything else. So there are going to be some weeks where he's under center even more. And I would imagine that down and distance has a lot to do with how much you're under center. Obviously, in third and long, you're not going to be under center most times. So in third and short, you'll be under center. center occasionally. The opponent

had something to do with it. The opponent also had something to do with the fact that they didn't, you know, they weren't a big time play action team on Sunday. And I thought the number one given in a blow offense would be a lot more play action

passing. They didn't do it as much against Philly. Phillies, Philly. I mean, and Dallas by the way, Tommy, their defensive scheme, Christian Parker just came from, Vic Fangio's scheme. So they're going to play a lot of two safety high.

You're going to have to run the ball. You're going to have to be patient. And one other thing, I went back and watched a lot of the Cowboys' Giants game, the condensed version yesterday. And we talked a little bit about the Cowboys Giants game with Mickey Spagnoli yesterday. But one thing I didn't know until I watched the game, Dallas forced four fumbles in the game, but they only recovered one. that's a lot of fumbles to force in a football game.

There were four balls on the ground for them to recover, and they only recovered one. So the Giants got a bit lucky. What I'm saying is I don't think that you can, like, who was the emailer that I just read? Rex writes, what will you say if this offense struggles against the Cowboys? Will you still clutch close to your chest,

the running back who can't win from the pocket? And then MacDog, you know, talks about their defense. Look, week one is always a big lie most of the time. Certainly a lot of the games are. Dallas has some players on that defense. Just remember, Quinn and Williams, Kenny Clark, that's as good a defensive tackle pairing as you have in the league. I mean, it's top five in terms of a detackle pairing.

Right. And they're going to play similarly to the way Philly played. So don't expect like bombs away. You got to run the football, you got to throw short, you got to maintain it, and you're going to have to go 10, 11, 12 plays and not make mistakes and score. And the Giants did that. But they made mistakes. They just didn't pay for their mistakes.

They put the ball on the ground four times, and three of those were legitimately forced by Dallas's defense. All right. your prediction coming up about running the ball you talked about running the ball we'll get to that in my prediction because that is a big part of my prediction

well that's going to be coming up in the final segment I know that you wrote about this Alex Ovechkin story about him appearing in a video for Putin's for Putin in Russia so tell everybody what happened and what you wrote and what you think Well, the report surfaced that Alex O'Feskin appeared in a pro-Putin video.

Not with Putin, but it was, they're having their legislative elections, sort of like we are this time, not presidential elections. Right. Mid-term, the equivalent of midterms. Yeah, not that any of the matter over there. Right. But they go through the motions, okay? And he appeared in an ad for Putin's party, United Russia, with some other pro-Putin figures, some of very questionable repute. And given the tension, not just from the Ukrainian war, okay, but the fact that the Russians have been implicated in supplying Iran with weapons that are being.

against us American. Yes. You know, this, this, I've been writing about Putin and Ovechkin for years now. And it's just, it's like a tree in the forest,

you know. I mean, nobody really cares. I mean, Haps fans, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

blah, don't tell me, don't tell me, don't tell me, I just want to watch the hockey, you know? And nobody outside really seemed to care that much. This one seemed to touch a nerve. The,

the appearance in this, had seemed to really set people off. And maybe it is because of the Iranian war and Russia's role in it. But people had become numb, I think, to the whole Ukrainian thing. And this seems to reignite. And this is by far, I mean, you know, Well, Vechan's been doing this since 2017 when he first appeared in a teen Putin video for the Russian dictator. And I've always had an issue with it.

Okay. I've always felt uncomfortable with it. And I'm not a Caps fan, but if I was a Caps fan, I'd like to think that my conscience would make me feel uncomfortable enough, not to basically support the team on this. This would be a deal breaker to me. We're talking about one of the most ruthless dictators of his time. We're talking about Ovechkin, who likes to make himself as a champion of children supporting a regime that has led to at least 35,000 missing Ukrainian children, forcing, I mean, so much so that the United States in December passed the law to basically to investigate these disappearances by Ukrainian children, who were basically the allegation.

is they're being kidnapped and taken to Russia. So there's so many components of this that are so distasteful and so ugly. And, you know, the, and what I wrote is, you know, if we are to believe that the supporters of Alex Cofeschkin, this was pretty much a hostage, like a hostage video. Right. Because that's what I was going to ask. Does he have a choice? He has no choice.

Does he? You know? According to, look, I have. no idea. I find it difficult to believe that one of the highest profile probably the most popular athlete in Russia

and one of probably the most popular people in Russia and an athlete with worldwide profile, okay, would have to fear for the safety of himself and his family. Not if he spoke out against

Putin, but just simply said, no, I'm not going to participate. That's a difference from speaking out. Okay. And I find it difficult to believe that him and his family would be at risk. Now, I point out this is the same day. This news broke the same day the United States handed out, and the Justice Department issued an indictment against five Russians who are supposedly part of the network, assassination network, that's going around the world killing people. You know, so it's a complicated issue, but this is more heat than he's ever got.

There are federal, there are government officials now, people in Congress who are demanding, you know, and investing, demanding the NHL do something about Ovechkin's support of Putin. Do I think it's going to go anywhere? No, I don't think it's going to go anywhere. but it's like and the one thing I pointed out in the column is Jose

chef Jose Andres everyone knows the humanitarian chef a very close friend of Ted Leonez came out on social media and said that basically critic really criticize Ovesc and the team

he ended it with a sad day for my team that had to hurt that had to hurt Ted and I think that that did some damage. I mean, because he has, I don't know, millions of supporters on social media. So it's, and I wasn't there.

Ovechkin met with the media today. He basically did the, all I want is peace of love. I'm not a politician act. You know, that whole thing. And that's not good enough. That's just not good enough. I'm reading the Caps statement, by the way, put out by Sergey Koccheroff. a capital spokesperson.

This summer, while in Russia, he was asked by his country to participate in a video campaign. And then that's, yeah, that's basically the statement. So I think, why bother? Why bother even issuing that? So, okay. Two things.

One, because I was going to ask you, do you think that he has a choice? He does live in Moscow in the offseason, right? I believe he does with his family. He obviously is going to end up living in Russia when he is done with his NHL career. Does he have a choice? Is he legitimately a hostage in this kind of a situation? Would he be at risk if he didn't do it?

Would his family be at risk if he didn't do it? And then number two, what do you think the true risk to the Caps essentially doing nothing about it? What are those risks? I can't speak to that about the risk. What's your hunch? My hunch is probably nothing. Yeah, I agree with that. I mean, I don't think, I mean, there'll be some people who would be offended enough,

not, you know, to disassociate themselves with the team who might have rooted for them otherwise. There'll be some public outcry, as there is right now. but I just don't think there'll be any fall. I think there's some personal fall out for Ted. Ted's a sensitive guy. And to be associated with this right now, with his organization,

I think he probably... Do you think he'll do anything about it? No, I don't. I don't think he'll do anything. I mean, I think in the world we live in today, this will be a new story. that is no longer in just a few days. And sports fans generally,

and maybe even more so hockey fans, because they really, the hardcore hockey fans are truly, truly passionate and into hockey. I just don't see this impacting the caps that much. And I don't know that Ted, you know, whomever is advising him, if they'd want him to even do anything about this to keep this story alive,

because I think it'll go away in time. Now, as it relates to Ovechkin, I mean, I say this with the best of intentions. Is he just not bright enough to kind of understand? Is he, and maybe bright enough isn't the right way to describe it? Sophisticated enough. He's not sophisticated enough. He's not going to be, you know, Tommy Smith and John Carlos at the 68 Olympics,

like activism isn't his thing and maybe the risk isn't as great as some of the Ovechkin fans think, but maybe he's just unsophisticated enough to believe that it is and that he can't do anything. I don't know. He doesn't strike me as obviously an activist and a guy that would really put a big, you know, make a big commitment to something that he believes in. I don't think he's, I don't think he's pro war. I don't think he's pro, you know, finishing off every Ukrainian, killing, killing every Ukrainian.

I don't know what he's in favor of it. But I just think he's not involved. But by appearing in the video, he is. I understand that. But I don't really think he is. I think you're right. I don't think he makes the connection between, this is just one issue I brought up, like the missing Ukraine.

children and his support for youth in this country. Okay. He's held numerous events for kids' events in the Washington, D.C. area, while at the same time supporting a regime that, according to the United States officials, are basically kidnapping Ukrainian children from their families. I don't think he sees that connection. You know, I don't think he says, how could I possibly, say I'm a champion of children and then support a regime that does this.

I don't think he sees that. Yeah. I don't, I don't either. Haven't we had athletes in the past that were in similar situations from countries where they just didn't have much of a choice? You know, for whatever reason, I'm... I think I think that's over. I think that's overblown.

What's overblown? Again, I think, again, I think he's not speaking out. He's just being asked to participate. I think saying no, I don't think would cause him the kind of grief that people believe. I know, but is he sophisticated enough to know that it wouldn't cause, and by the way, I don't know if it would or wouldn't. But let's just say it is an exaggeration that if he didn't do that ad, that, you know, one of his kids was going to lose a finger over.

it. I mean, if he may not, he may feel that that stuff is a possibility. He may be easy to manipulate. Yes, he may be. And if he feels that way, if he thinks that's a real danger, why do you want to stay there? Well, because he's, because he's got a lot of, because he's got he's got a lot of family there, but maybe the family doesn't want to leave there. Well, then that, that's, I just don't understand, like, if you, if you would choose to live in a country where you have to live in fear, and that's what we're saying. He lives in fear of what he, what he can do, what he can't do. And you have the financial wherewithal to live anywhere in the world. Why would you? And bring the rest of their family with you. Yeah. Basically, his supporters say he's a political prisoner.

That's what they're saying. I mean, I'm just trying to think. of like, you know, back, like, did, I mean, athletes, this is, this is not apples to apples. I'm just coming up with examples in my head of athletes that were fearful of the countries that they came from, you know, that, did I tell you a couple months ago, this documentary about Martina and Avertilove and Chris Everett was really good? And just Martina in that era of, you know, defecting to the U.S. from Czechoslovakia and leaving behind her family and the fears that she had of what would happen to her family. You know, just thinking about Russia, like Olga Corbett, that was the gymnast, right, in 72 in Munich? Yes.

Yes. I mean, they couldn't stay in Germany. They couldn't come to the United States. There was a real fear. I mean, they were. Nobody could. I mean, it was basically. I mean, that would have been defying the Soviet law.

Yeah. That's not what he's being. I know. I didn't say it was apples to apples. I'm just, I think they're... And what makes this more interesting and wild is he's one of the biggest stars the capital of the United States has ever seen in court. It's crazy. It's just nuts.

You know, it speaks to just. You know, people can compartmentalize, you know, with their own diversions. And sports is a diversion from their daily lives. It's the old, and I've said this to you before when we've gotten in arguments. I don't let the art. I don't let the artist get in the way of the art. Like if I don't, if I love music or if I love an actor, I just don't give a shit about his or her politics. I'm not going to let it sort of deprive me of what they do great and what they, in the entertainment, they provide me.

And I think with sports, there's a lot of that. There's a lot of that. And there is. But it's kind of hard to compartmentalize the part where the person you're supporting is hurting your countrymen. Yeah. And I don't think he views it that way. No, I'm sure he does it. And I bet right now, Ted and everybody out there just want the story to go away.

And the season starts in just a couple of weeks, right? I mean, they sign this Ryan Leonard, the training camps underway. I think it starts in like two and a half weeks. You had a scouting report on the caps the other day on the show. You did. You did. You said they're a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. You broke it down.

Well, you know, before the O-Ber, opener, we'll do our normal, you know, preseason preview show of the caps. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. And you'll give me, you know, you'll give me the whole roster and how you think Ryan Leonard and Justin, Justine Sourdif, and, and, um, I'm just going through the, going through the roster. Old Charlie Lindgren, Logan Thompson, and in, in goal. I'm looking at their roster. There are a lot of names that, quite honestly, I don't know. I don't know who John Carlson. John Carlson's not on the team anymore. Dylan Strom. No T.J. O'Shee.

Dylan Strom, obviously. Pierre Luke Dubois, yes. Alex Ovechkin. Protas, yes. Leonard. Cairo, yes. Sordif, yes. Tom Wilson, of course. Tom Wilson. Yeah. Yeah. They've got a lot of new players, I think, on the team. A lot of new players. We'll have that hockey show for you before their opener against Carolina on October. second. That'll be our artificial intelligence show. I will be doing, and sorry, you're going to be doing as well. Before the wizards open up their season, we will be doing some wizard's talk. I mean, if we don't, I'm up for that.

If we don't take advantage of it in October, it could be over by December. I'm up for that. Yeah, because Anthony Davis could be out at that point. All right. We'll finish up with Tom's Dallas-Washington prediction after these words from a few of our sponsors. This segment of the show is brought to you by MyBooky. My Booky is offering listeners of this podcast, especially those that wager, really only those that bet on sports, two incredible promotional offers. The first is a $500 bet back bonus, which means if your first wager is $500 and it loses,

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MyBooky.com, my booky.ag, one of the absolute best sites, totally fair on numbers, pricing, etc. right now the game tonight has Buffalo up to five and a half. The total up to 55 now at MyBooky. That is a big early season total for a game. The second largest total of the weekend is Washington, Dallas at 50 and a half. Dallas right now is a four-point favorite over Washington, I think up from three and a half yesterday. I think it was.

And by the way, Maryland and Maryland. Virginia Tech, big game Saturday night in College Park. I will be there for that one, Tommy. Right now, Virginia Tech at my bookie minus two and a half over the Terps. So the Terps getting two and a half at home Saturday night against Virginia Tech. A game that, you know, we haven't had many games like this recently in the area. So, yeah, you can get two and a half. probably want to wait to see if it'll climb up to three.

If you want to bet the Terps, if you want to bet the Hokies, right now is the time to do it at minus two and a half. The total in the Maryland-Virginia Tech game, 53 and a half. Mybooky.com, mybooky.orgie.ag. Did you have, before you get to your Dallas-Washington pick, did you have any sort of a reaction to that viral video of Texas coach Steve Sarkesian smacking Holly Row, the AI

generated video or however you generate those videos was not real. And Arch Manning, the quarterback of Texas, being sort of caught off guard and asked about whether or not, you know, he'd seen the video and he said, yeah, it was funny. He had to

issue a long apology. Holly Roe accepted the apology publicly. Steve Sarkeesian now has apologized as well. Neither one of those were responsible. for the video itself. What did you think of that?

Well, I mean, it wasn't a smart video to put out. I mean, but all these schools now have social media departments, and I don't think these are often very highly paid people. I think they're usually students or interns, you know, probably the same age as Arch Manning who are producing these things and maybe not as mature enough to see the implications down the line. And Arch Manning, I don't come down on him too much

because he's a kid who basically was asked in the spur of the moment. You know, I think it takes a little bit more maturity to basically say publicly, no, I don't think that's funny. I think that, you know, that basically puts, you know, creates the support the image of violence against women. I mean, I don't know how many athletes who, in the heat of the moment, would have had to wear with all to say that. Yeah, 100% agree with that. I mean, I know, or I've been more recently close to and associated with 20-year-olds.

And my estimation is that about 90% of them would have laughed at seeing the video. But I want to clear something up. The school itself didn't put out that video, did they? It was just... I don't know. No, no, I don't think it was just a random video that went viral. I don't think the school put it out. And, you know, I watched that game.

Did not talk much about the college football from over the weekend this week. That was, first of all, an incredible comeback. I mean, an incredible football game. I'm assuming you did not watch it on Saturday night, right? No. No. it was one of those games that literally there was no clue. And if somebody had said, yeah, they're down 23 to 3,

but you know they're going to score three straight touchdowns and win, you would have taken any amount in a wager, given any sort of odds, because there was just no chance of it happening. And Arch Manning was big time clutch. And we hadn't seen that really. And there was a calmness and a poise to the way he played. They picked up multiple fourth downs where he just didn't seem that, you know, pressed.

It was actually really, really impressive. But Holly Roe, after the game, Sarkesian was, you know, a bit gruff with her after the game and sort of sprinted off. That's why I think they ended up making somebody made the videos because it didn't seem like the cleanest of post-game interviews. But, yeah, I mean, I don't know. people who are eviscerating 20 year old or however old he is Arch Manning for an in the moment not prepared

for reaction to something like that I just don't know like you said I don't know many people his age that would have immediately on the spot if they had seen the video said this isn't this isn't right this is portraying something that I don't agree with

no 90% would laugh first and that And maybe. Yeah, I'm sorry. Have that initial reaction. Yeah, of course. I don't know if there's people older who would have that initial reaction publicly in front of a group of people. All right.

Let's get to your Dallas-Washington pick. I think you'll like it. Uh-oh. I'm surprised already. I got the commanders winning. You got Washington winning? 34 to 28. this time, the second time in a row, I'm going to predict a three touchdown passing day for

Jaden Daniels. He was one-off against Philadelphia. He's going to complete that this time, and you're going to see a lot of the fat man, Ketron Allen. The way they're going to control the game is he's going to be running the ball. He's going to get over 80 yards rushing for the day. 34 to 28. Ketron Allen is the big rusher. I'll tell you this, they're going to need to have a running game Sunday. I really think that's going to be important.

You can control the ball. While Bill may be more explosive in good ways and bad, Ketron Allen will grind out the ball for you. You know, you emphasize sometimes in your predictions, touchdown passes. I'm not saying that I don't and most people don't. I was watching this video, a YouTube interview with Matt Hasselbeck the other day,

and I'm forgetting who actually did the interview with him. But it was one of those things where they asked, like, once your immediate reaction to, you know, the following questions, or what pops into your mind when I mentioned this name? And one of the questions was, what's the most overrated quarterback stat? And he said,

passing touchdowns. And I could not agree more. Passing touchdowns is so overrated. And it's heavily weighted in the passer rating thing. And QBR takes it into consideration. And by the way, I should

have probably looked up to see where Matt Hasselbeck was on the list of touchdown passes. But it's really an absurd, overly weighted quarterback stat. Now, he didn't go into why he thinks that is. He just said it. It was one of those quick, you know, I got 10 questions, give us the quick answer. But you can have a dominant game as a quarterback and throw no touchdowns. You can throw for 400 yards and throw for no touchdowns. Receivers just

keep getting out of bounds at the two-yard line and running backs run it in. I mean, I've never understood the fascination or the importance placed on passing touchdown. Now, most great quarterbacks have a lot of passing touchdowns understood, but it's not the end-all, be-all. It's really an overrated stat. Look, passing yards is an overrated stat to a certain degree. I think WINS is an overrated stat because they're only out there half the time. So what are we left with? We're left with things like more advanced numbers, you know, completion percentage over-expected,

maybe just completion percentage in terms of basic stats, interception percentage, sack percentage. Those are, I know, but those are really the things that lead to winning. You know, interception percentage, massive in determining winner loser. What happens is the quarterback throws for 400, you know, but the running backs aren't making it into the end zone. And you're kicking a lot of field goals? Well, then you hang it on the play caller for not throwing the ball first and goal at the one. But, you know, interception percentage, sack percentage,

those are the things that truly are impactful to winning. I get my blood going. You know, you got my blood going. 34 to 28. Tommy's got Washington beating Dallas on Sunday. day. I'll talk to you on Tuesday. Thanks. Okay, boss. I'll be back tomorrow. Jay Gruden, smell test picks, my keys to a win over the Cowboys and my prediction as well. See ya.