The Kevin Sheehan Show - Redskins At The Bye

Episode Date: September 28, 2018

Today's show starts with a quick look at the first three weeks of the season for the Redskins, and what we can glean from the information that we know. He then turns to Thursday Night Football, primarily around Kirk Cousins' game and how good the Rams look. Trevor Matich then comes on to talk about the college football slate, as well as his thoughts on what the Redskins have done so far. They talk about Ohio State/Penn State, the SEC, and more. After Kevin lets Matich go, Mike Jones joins to talk about the Rams/Vikings game, which he was at, as well as the rest of what he's seen in the first three weeks of the season in the NFL, including the Giants and more. Kevin wraps up by giving his picks around football this weekend, plus his smell test picks, which includes a whole heaping of college football picks. The show ends with Andy Pollin joining to give some historical background on the bye and big Redskins moments coming out of it. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. All right. The show's getting out a little late today. We apologize for that. Hopefully you're listening whenever it's convenient for you. We are at some point, Aaron, going to be in our new studio. We just love it here so much. So we haven't wanted to leave. Chatter is where we are. We are squatting is what we're doing right now. We are squatting. Chatter and Friendship Heights, Corner of Wisconsin and Jennifer Streets, Northwest. Tony's podcast studio. in a restaurant that has the best setup to watch football during fall weekends. Get in here all day tomorrow. The food's great. Lots of cold beer and big screens.

Great place for a college football Saturday, Saturday night, NFL Sunday, Sunday night, et cetera. Monday night football is great too. And how about that Thursday night game last night, which I'll get to here momentarily. The show, the Kevin Sheehan Show podcast is presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call now. Call before Sunday. save big 86690 Nation or windownation.com. Tell them I told you to call. I promise you won't regret it.

More on how much you'll save coming up in a few minutes. It's the buy week. It's an early buy week. No mid-season grades, no second half predictions. None of the buy week cliche sports talk radio stuff, not because we don't like to do that stuff, but it's just too early at this point. The Reds... Next week. Next week. Next week. Well, maybe. Next, next week. Next week. Next week. Next week. week at least the rest of the league is a full four weeks into the season. Look, the Redskins are two and one. You really, as a fan, couldn't ask for much more. They got a dead on arrival opening day opponent in Arizona. So far through three weeks, the worst team in football are the Cardinals, incapable of scoring with Sam Bradford at quarterback. As an aside, by the way, I was thinking about this, as I was thinking

about the Redskins' first three games and looking at what the Arizona game sort of really was. But Sam Bradford, You know, Josh Rosen's going to come in and take his spot this week and get the start. I think he's done. I think his chances have run out in terms of legitimate, you know, decent team starting quarterback opportunities. I think he's done as a starter. I do think he becomes, I don't think he's with Arizona next year, but I think he ends up as a backup somewhere. You know, you think about Bradford, he's just been a guy. Like he's been a very accurate thrower, but his health is.

always been an issue. He's not a creator. He's not a playmaker. I just have a feeling that his days are numbered as a starter, but you might be right. Somebody might take a shot on him. And I think as a backup, you could do worse. Anyway, the Redskins are two and one. The Cardinals were served up on a platter. The first half of the Packer game was spectacular. And enough, enough to get a win over a team that had a wounded starting quarterback in Aaron Rogers. And I think we're going to find that the Colts probably are better than we thought. You know, they had a chance to win in Philadelphia last week. They certainly had a chance to win their opener when their tight end fumbled as they were

going in for the game-winning score against Cincinnati. Perhaps the Colts were underrated on defense in particular with, you know, clearly a first-rate quarterback on offense. But if you were looking for an optimistic feeling going into the early by week, I think you should have it. There are concerns, but there are legitimate positives. The defense is better, much better, and it's going to continue to get better, not just this year, but next year also.

And now the New Orleans Monday night game, a week from Monday night, is a big early season game in the NFC. The skins will be 2 and 1. The Saints could be 3 in 1, no worse than 2 and 2 there in New York this week against the Giants. It's a rematch of one of what really turned out to be one of the games of the year in 2017. You know, the 15-point comeback by Drew Breed. and the Saints, you know, at home against a bumbling, stumbling, redskin team in that fourth quarter that had their MVP of the season to date Chris Thompson out and would be lost for the year in that game.

They had a defense ripe for the picking at that point because their only good players were lost to injury. And that happened all too often not only last year, but, you know, in the years preceding it, the defense just never held up. But it was a game, if you recall, to get to five. and five before a Thanksgiving night game four nights later against the Giants that would have put them right in the thick of the race. But instead, it turned into a backbreaking and for all intents and purposes, a season-ending loss. So next Monday night, the next chance we see the Redskins in a game, it's a chance at revenge, a chance for what would be a significant early season win in the NFC.

And I'll take that as a Redskinned fan. early October, Monday night football, a game that will feel big, and if they win it, could be a springboard to something bigger. So, you know, here we are. The bye week, two and one, early by week, and all is well. I think there's more to be optimistic about than to be pessimistic about. I'm not crowning them champions, but I am saying, as I said before the season started, I think this is a team that will have meaningful December football games, a chance to play in games that could mean a playoff birth

or, you know, if they lose them out of the playoffs. For this team right now, this organization, I don't know if you can ask for any more. It's probably not a bad time for a by week, even though there will be another time, I'm sure, in November, where they would have loved to have had a buy week. But the schedule is the schedule. And did you know, did you? did you know this?

I guarantee you, Aaron, you did not know this. And I bet most of you listening did not know the following. That in 1993, the NFL tried two by weeks. Two of them. Did you know that? I did not know that. Two by weeks in 1993. It was a one-year thing.

The one-by week had been in effect for, I think, three years at that point. I think it started 90, and then it was 91, 92. in 93, the league thought that, hey, we're going to play the 16 games over 18 weeks to generate more revenue. It would be another Sunday of regular season football. The teams pushed back on it after that season saying they felt like two buy weeks was too disruptive to sort of their weekly routines, and thus it reverted to one by the following season. 1993. It's true. Two buy weeks. The Redskins had one this weekend, prior to week four, and then they also had a second buy prior to week eight.

Two in the first half of the season. Two in the first half of the season. That was the year Richie Pettibone was the head coach, and they went four and 12. One and done for Richie that year, who was one of the greatest defensive coordinators in NFL history. I want to get to the Vikings Rams game last night. Speaking of defense, lack thereof. certainly on the Minnesota side. But I want to get to the thing that consumed many of you on Twitter as you responded to a tweet that I sent out last night after the game that read,

Minnesota's defense allowed 556 yards and 38 points. Kirk's fault. Most of this is tongue placed firmly in cheek. You have to understand that. Some of you take it so seriously. You get so angry at my fond. this for Kirk Cousins and my constant defense

of Kirk Cousins, but I actually enjoy when you engage me in the debate over Kirk Cousins. It's fun. I enjoy it. I hope most of you do and I hope most of you don't take it so seriously. I will say this, though. I am steadfast in my

belief that of what he was when he was here and what he will be there in Minnesota. And last night to me was a microcosm of what his career in Washington was like. And not for the reasons many of you think. Yes, he fumbled late in the game and ended any chance Minnesota had of going down the field, scoring a touchdown and forcing overtime. But that's not why last night, in my view,

is a microcosm of what his career in Washington was like. From my perspective, last night, his team was pathetically bad on defense, as it was here much of the time he was the starting quarterback. He had zero running game to slow down a fierce Rams defensive pass rush, which meant he had to think quickly, read the field quickly, throw quickly, throw accurately, or his team would be completely run out of the building. That's why I thought it was a microcosm It was a total replica of what his time in Washington was, because if he didn't play well during 2015 through 2018, more times than not, the Redskins had no chance of winning.

And last night, in the Coliseum against the best team in football, the Viking defense, which for whatever reason this year is non-existent. I have no idea what's happened to it. Everson Griffin is a big miss. He's a big miss. but their defense was bad last week against Buffalo. It was bad in week two against Lambo at Lambo against the Packers. It was a sieve defensively, a doormat for what is a high octane Sean McVeigh,

you know, golf, Cook's, girly cup, the whole group in Los Angeles. They got run over, start to finish. And the only chance the Vikings had was if its quarterback performed at a very high level. And he did, which is what happened many times here. The defense was terrible. There was no running game. And if he didn't put up those big stat stuffing numbers that many of you described them as, they would have been beaten badly.

And that's what would have happened last night. Yes, Diggs and Thielen are really good. He's got some weapons on offense, but no running game right now. None. Dalvin Cook, 10 carries 20 yards. You know who was the leading rusher from Minnesota last night? As Bruce would say, Kurt Cousins. was the leading rusher.

He wasn't throwing quick to Doxon and quick in Seattle like last year. He's throwing to Thielen and Diggs. It's a big help. But it was his ability primarily to read it, to react to it, to get it out quickly that gave Minnesota a chance to move the ball up and down the field for much of the night, 422 yards passing out of, and I think they had 35 or 40 yards rushing. all right. Yes, he fumbled at the end, but that's not Kirk's M.O. All right. Fumbling or a pick at the end is not the M.O. of Kirk.

It's part of it, but so is his 11 fourth quarter comebacks between 2015 and 2018, which was good for fourth in the league. And if he had played on a team that had a kicker, he would have been second in the league in fourth quarter comebacks. So to describe him as a stat stuffing choker is to ignore the facts. If he had a kicker, if he had a running game, if he had a defense, his record as a starter would have been much better here. And his record in Minnesota so far through four weeks based on his play would have been better. He didn't play well last week. All right, he didn't. He makes mistakes. He's not elite. Never said he was. Never. He's very good, though. And he gives the Vikings right now with

no running game and no defense, just like he gave the Redskins with no running game and no defense, a chance to win. The game was a terrific game. It was highly entertaining. Wow, does Gough look good? Gough looks good in those receivers. Why didn't the Redskins think about Cooks? What was the price for Cooks? It was the first rounder. Okay. I think. I'm pretty sure it was. I don't think it was a first runner. You might be right about that. The Rams look really good right now. Through four games, they look like the real deal. They really do. You know, usually three, four, five weeks into the season, you've got a couple of teams. And I know people will probably identify Kansas City. It was a first for Cook and a fourth. Wow. Yeah.

I think the Rams right now with their weapons, it's scary how good they can be. And look, they are very. very talented defensively. They were hurting a little bit last night in the secondary, but their front four, their front seven is outstanding. And the only way you can survive that really is to either run the football to keep them off balance with a balanced attack, which Minnesota couldn't do last night, or to have a quarterback that gets it out quickly, that reads it and gets it out quickly,

which is why Minnesota was able to score 31 points last night, move the ball on most of their drives, and convert third downs, 50% of them. I just was very, I've been very impressed with the Rams, and last night was really the first opportunity to see them start to finish. And Sean McVeigh is doing an incredible job. And, you know, I go with what Cooley, you know,

I love giving him credit for this because he made a lot of calls and has made a lot of calls over the years. But him saying in 2015, when Sean was just getting involved in play calling, saying that guy, none of you have ever heard of him, but he's going to be a head coach, and it's going to happen quickly. That was identifying talent, and Sean McVey is talented.

By the way, did you see the news that came out this week that he has a clock coordinator on his staff? And it showed at the end of the first half, it was used. Yeah, and Minnesota did not handle the end of the first half well. And yes, part of that is on the quarterback, but really in that particular situation that was on the coach. Let's bring in Trevor Madditch, who I love talking college football with and have, enjoyed that over the years on 980. But the good news is now doing a podcast, we can also talk a little bit about the Redskins because he's done such a great job on NBC Sports Washington's post game show with B. Mitch and the whole gang, you know, chicken in years past and Julie and

company now. We'll get to the Redskins in a moment. Let's talk some college football. Through this first quarter of the season, do you see Bama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State, as a clear cut above the rest of the field? I do. Although Clemson, really, it's work-in-progress a quarterback now, Kevin, because their veteran senior, Kelly Bryant, who just lost his starting job to the true freshman Trevor Lawrence. He left the team.

And so now you've got a true freshman with a big arm but limited experience that they're assuming will continue to grow and won't get hurt. So there's an asterisk by Clemson that Trevor Lawrence does continue to grow, and that he stays healthy, and they're not down to their third string option all of a sudden. But given that, yeah, those are the four teams to beat right now. Is Alabama a cut above the other three? Alabama, a slight cut above. Right now they look completely unstoppable.

But Kevin, when you look at what it requires to compete with Alabama, I think that Ohio State and Georgia have what it takes. First of all, you need to be big and powerful enough to be able to stand up to the physical pounding. Then you need a pass rush because you can't allow two to stand back in the pocket and just pick you apart. And then you've got to have a quarterback and big receivers that can go out and complete passes even when they're covered. And I think that both Ohio State and Georgia fit the bill with all of those things. And so those are two teams that can stand toe to toe with Alabama at least for a while and have a fair chance in a relatively fair fight. But what

really hurts with Alabama if you're an opponent, is it all of a sudden you have to completely change the way you approach the game. In the past, you had a powerful running game from the tide and a quarterback that didn't scare you down the field. So defensively, you could crowd the line of scrimmage and just take your lumps if they complete one over the top once and a while. Now, you've got to pick your poison because with Tua, if you come up and crowd the line, he'll torch you over the top, it will. If you drop back the safeties to limit the big plays, they'll grind you to a pulp at the line of scrimmage, and you better be ready to score 40 or 50 points in order to win. And that doesn't happen too often against this

Bama defense. You know, I was not, and I think we had this conversation last year. I thought Ohio State the last few years was really limited with J.T. Barrett, a quarterback, because I just didn't think that he was very good at throwing the ball and stretching the field. He was a terrific running quarterback and playmaker, but he couldn't throw the ball. Well, it looks like Haskins can really throw the ball. Yet, you know, TCU, I thought Ohio State was going to be great defensively, and TCU sort of move the ball up and down the field against them, is tomorrow night, and I'm going to be there in State College because I've got a freshman at Penn State,

and I'm heading up there to see the game tomorrow night. Is tomorrow night a potential loss for the Buckeyes? Well, first of all, is that why you sent your freshman to Penn State because you wanted to get tickets for this game? He couldn't get it. He could not get me tickets. I had to get him off. I had to get him off Stubhubb, trust me. Oh, he's going to be there, though, in the Whiteout?

Yeah, he's going to be there, and I'm going to be there, too. I'm going to be enjoying it. Are you going to dress all in white? Well, I think it's the only way you can attend, right? Yeah, they might not let you in the door. I tell you, I've been to a whiteout at Penn State against Ohio State, night game, 110,000-plus, and the energy there, Kevin, is, it's, it might be the best that I've ever seen in college football.

And it's not just the noise. It's the energy. You know how when you stand in front of a speaker at a rock concert? You can feel the sound waves pulsing through your body. It's a physical, palpable thing. Well, at Penn State in the Whiteout, you can feel that. But the energy beyond just the sound waves, you can feel pulsating in your body. It's an amazing experience.

I can't wait to hear what you say about it. Even more, and I got a chance to do this a few years back. In fact, I want to say that I think I saw you down there, I got a chance to go to an LSU night game against Bama a few years back. And I will tell you that that is a top five sporting event experience for me. We got there for a six o'clock kick at two o'clock and felt like we were eight hours too late for the party. I mean, that was a scene. Are you telling me that tomorrow night's even more energetic than that for a night game against Bama?

I like the Penn State atmosphere better. Although you are right, a night game at LSU has to be on the bucket list of every sports fan. The thing about it is that they start tailgating and partying early in the morning. Yeah. And then they just keep on a roll, and by the time everybody gets into the stadium for the night game, they're all pretty well lubricated. And what you don't want to do is walk onto the field and light of match. Because the air, I think, is combustible at that point from the exhaling.

But LSU is just that's another one that's on the Auburn is another one on the bucket list because of the War Eagle pregame tradition. Right. Where they take an actual eagle that's bigger than me. And this eagle, they turn it loose on the sideline. And it flies round and round around the stadium. And then they drop a little tasty morsel on the 50-yard line, and that eagle sees that morsel, and it dive-bombs it and just grabs it with his talons

and shreds it and eats it. And the crowd goes wild. I'll tell you to me, that's the most awesome pre-game pre-game. tradition in college football. There's a lot of great ones, but that's the best. Isn't college football, Trevor? I mean, you love it so much, and I love it so much. I've said many times even during the height of Redskins season,

being involved so much with everything Redskins, that sometimes, to me, Saturdays are better than Sundays. They're different than Sundays. NFL is king. Those are the best players in the world at the height of their capabilities, and I get all that. But college football still has a, I don't want to say a facade, but it has an aura of purity among the players,

if not the finances of the game when you really dig into it. It has the passion of the fans that compare to most NFL teams in a way that's favorable to college. I mean, if the Raiders lose to the Chiefs and you're a huge Raiders fan, it's going to ruin your week, right? But if Auburn loses to Alabama and you're an Auburn fan, it will wreck you for a year. For the entire year, Alabama fans will dog you in the grocery store and at church

and everywhere they see you because of that win. That when you go back a few years ago to Auburn beating Alabama with the kick sick, where they got a long field goal that Auburn fielded because it was short in the back of the end zone, took back for the game-winning touchdown at the end of the game. that Auburn fans will hold over Alabama fans for generations. And I think it's that passion of the fans that make college football what it is. That doesn't diminish the NFL in any way, but it just makes college football so much fun. It's so great.

So let's go before you and I both went down this path because we love it so much. My question to you is, do you think Trace McSorley and Penn State at home tomorrow night can win this game? They're certainly capable offensively, aren't they? Yeah, they can. have got a lot of playmaker, some young guys that have really stepped up. And you're right about TCU and Ohio State. TCU has some really fast guys, and if you could get them the ball in space, they cause some damage. And that happened against Ohio State.

Oregon State did that to him. In the opener, for good mistake, Oregon State had touchdown plays of 49 yards, 78 yards, and 80 yards. I forgot about that. You got to figure that they fix some of those problems with the safeties. But at the same time, it's not that the defensive secondary of Ohio State. Ohio State is impregnable at this time of the season. They've got an experienced quarterback. I mean, you've got to look at raw NFL talent, and Dwayne Haskins of Ohio State has the edge.

But in terms of experience in these kinds of games is Trace McSorley at Penn State. At running back, everybody thought that the running game would fall off because Sequaan Barclay went off to the New York Giants. But Miles Sanders is a really good back, and he's lighting people up. There's a lot of reasons why this offense certainly of Penn State should be able to score a lot of points. The question will be the defense, because teams have been able to run on Penn State, and Ohio State's

running game, I think is the best running game that they probably will face all year long. So to me, that's where the game will be won and lost. Can Penn State do something about that downhill pounding? Before we move to the Redskins, one other thing, college football related, LSU's been

missing a coordinator and a quarterback for so long. And watching them win and come back against Auburn, I thought, that their quarterback borough the transfer looked like an aggressive quarterback down the field thrower, not always accurate, not

always great, but that the whole mindset offensively has changed at LSU, and I think that will benefit them and that they could be a player this season. Do you agree or disagree? I totally agree, Kevin. I mean, I went to Baton Rouge as part of my off-season college tour

where I drive around the country, my own car, my own expense, I pay for the gas, I pay for the hotels. I just visit visit programs, and I'll put in 12, 14,000 miles some years doing this. And when I went to Baton Rouge, what I saw was what you just said, that this is a team that is capable of competing for a conference championship and maybe a national championship if that one missing piece of the puzzle is in place, and that is quality quarterback play. So in comes Joe Burrow, the transfer from Ohio State.

And what he has done has been nothing short of transformational. It's not his numbers. People look at the box scores and see that, like right now, he's completing 49% of his passes, therefore he's not very good. But that's not true because what he's done is elevated the quarterbacking of the quarterback position at LSU. In other words, all the little things that don't have anything to do with throwing the ball, getting into the right play at the line of scrimmage, getting out of a bad play at the line of scrimmage, throwing the ball away if it looks like there's risk at certain points where you don't,

need to take that risk and then throwing it into tight coverage if you do. And that's what you saw when you talked about the Auburn game. When they needed to come back late in the game, all of a sudden Joe Burrow uncorked it. And he started throwing the ball down the field and he made some terrific throws to bring them back to win that game. Well, that was when he had to do that. Other times, his completion percentage is lower because, you know, he didn't need to take those risks. And so he didn't. He just threw the ball away. And I think that the concept of the art of quarterbacking has returned to the LSU huddle. And I think his completion percentage will be just fine in the games that he needs it to be.

Yeah, they have some big games and some tough games coming up. All right, let's get to the Redskins. Early by week through three weeks, you would describe their season and their potential moving forward as what? Promising. Promising. Now, they had a real hiccup against the Colts. It was astonishing.

And we all had whiplash watching what was going on with that game after the opener against the Cardinals, where they look so good. But what's promising about this team more than any other single thing is that the newcomers on the defensive front are all that they were cracked up to be. I mean the rookies and the second year guys mostly. So you talk about the guys from Alabama. You've got rookie first round draft choice, Jerome Payne, defensive tackle. last year's first-round draft choice from Alabama. Jonathan Allen.

You've got a second-year guy in Matt Ionitis, who was also starting a defensive end, kid out of temple. You've got a rookie draft choice this year from Virginia Tech, Tim Settle. You've got all these young guys that have infused not only physical capability to stop the run like they couldn't do last year, but also a mentality that they refuse to get pushed around. They refuse to lose. They refuse to practice poorly.

That's that mentality that comes in from Nick Sabin coach players, from players from Virginia Tech, programs like that that know how to do it. That's not to say the Redsons didn't know before, just to say that when you add that attitude to go with the physical talent, you've got things that are going on that are really positive because the offense can't perform in a way that's anything less than their best in practice when they're facing defensive linemen like that,

or the delimement will wipe the field with them, the practice field. So the whole team gets elevated because of that, and the promising nature of this team, I think, is embodied in the attitude of those new, young, fierce, talented defensive linemen. God, I always agree with you. And I think that is the reason that the glass is half full is the young defensive talent. And you know what, Trevor, last year, there wasn't Duran Payne, if John Allen and Matt Ionitis and Mason Foster and if they had been healthy defensively, the results of the season would have been better.

Because if you recall that Arrowhead on that Monday night as a two-and-one team, they weren't a bad defense at that point. They were starting to look very much improved, but then the injuries came and they were the wretched defense that they had been for the previous three or four years. Last year could have been different had they stayed healthy on defense. And I think we're starting to see that this year. Yeah, I know you're right about that. Last year was an epic injury season for the Redskins. I mean epic for the number of starters and key backups that ended the season on injured reserve.

But part of the injury problem for the defense last year was the injury problem on the offensive line. Yes. At one point, they had three guys that were not supposed to be starters. Four of them. Yeah. Two of those guys are three. They signed off the street. You can't remember that before the Dallas game.

Right. It was just crazy. And the problem there is that you can't control the ball. You can't control the clock. You can't string together. Drives very well because the offensive line just isn't up to the task. And so what does that mean for the defense? If they do get a stop, they come off the field.

They drink half a glass of water on the bench. They've got to throw the rest away because they're sprinting back onto the field because the offense just got stopped. And so that was basically a perfect storm of horrible for the rest of defense with their own injuries and the injuries on the O line so they didn't get support on the other side. out of the ball. Hey, thanks for doing this. I really appreciate it. I've always enjoyed our conversations and hope we can do it again soon. Kevin, I hope so. Thanks for having me on. I want to thank

Window Nation. They were the first to reach out and support this new podcast venture. Harley and Aaron have been friends for a long time. They supported me on 980 for over a decade, and I can't thank them enough for having my back right now. If you like this podcast and you're thinking about buying new windows, I promise you that you'll be thrilled if you're you're you're you call Wind Donation. They will take care of you. Halloween's next month, Thanksgiving's two months away, and we're three months away from Christmas. What does this mean when it comes to windows? Well, winter is coming, and so now is the time you need to start acting when it comes to winterizing your home with brand new Windonation windows. If you wait, you may be too late to replace those old

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Call 86690 Nation or visit WindowNation.com by this Sunday. That's 86690 Nation or Window Nation.com. Please tell them that I told you to call. Spring and Mike Jones, who is a columnist for the USA today, has been doing that for about a year. Of course, all of us here, remember him as the, the Redskins beat reporter at the Washington Post. Mike's a good friend. Mike and I do the Channel 4 Redskins Showtime together, showtime show together a lot. And I, you know, I've always enjoyed your writing and your coverage of the NFL. I know it's different for you these days.

And now it's been about a year since you've gotten off a beat and onto the league. Do you like it more than just covering one team? I like being a game. I like being a able to bounce around and tell good stories. There are times that it was difficult with the Redskins when it was the same old thing over and over and over again. It was difficult to remain engaged. Obviously, there's always news to report, so that helps. But that could be kind of tiring and exasperating at times. I do miss the familiarity of like any time I need to know something, I knew exactly who I could go to in that locker room and that organization to find out what I needed to know, and now you kind of helicopter in and, you know, different places, and it's all

about you're starting building, trying to build relationships at 32 different places. So that, you know, takes some time. But I do, it's a freshness. It's a different kind of approach. There, you know, shoulder sprains of every player in the league don't matter, you know. Right. That can get tedious. Yeah. Is Trent Williams going to play this week or not based on his shoulder being sprained. Yeah, I can, yeah. You're in Los Angeles, so you were there to cover Vikings Rams last night, which really was a wildly entertaining game. You know, you know, that every single time, number eight throws a pass. He's going to be compared to, you know, Alex Smith here. I started the show today, and I don't want to spend a lot of time on this, because,

it ends up being sort of a little bit nauseating for some people, which I care about and then sometimes I don't care about. But I just always find it laughable that people will look at the last play and not realize that they would have had zero chance to even be close in that game if it hadn't been for the way he had played

the first three and three quarters quarters. No, exactly. And that game for much of it, it. I think because of the second quarter, the Rams second quarter, and the way that they were able to score so fast, it felt like a blowout at times. But then you would look at the score and you're like, oh, wow, here come the Rams again. And, you know, Cousie's just gunning it here and gunning it there and moving his team down the field. And it was still only a one possession game for as impressive as Jared Gough and the Rams offense was. And even the same, even the

Despite some of those really dominant defensive stops that the Rams got, Kirk Cousins and the Vikings were not going away, and they still had a chance there. Yeah, I mean, I know, like you said, everybody looks at the fumble, and, you know, I did not realize this stat until last night that Kirk Cousins has 32 fumbles since 2015, which is the second most behind Russell Wilson in the league. And that's, like, kind of surprising.

But at the same time, it's not all of his fault that Tom Compton gave up seven pressures and that another starting linemen gave up eight pressures. And then Riley Reef gave up four pressures. There's only so much quarterback can do, but he gave his team a chance to win. They were in the thick of things. They kept battling. And he threw for 400 yards. And, you know, these touchdowns and no interceptions, it still was.

an outstanding game, and there's nobody with the Vikings who's saying, why did we get this guy? What has happened to them defensively? Everson Griffin, I know, is having these issues, and he's a big, big-time defensive stopper for them, but they have been horrible here defensively through their first four games. Yeah, you know, it's really, really interesting. When you look at that in this defense, you know, even statistically,

they're still 10th in the league. So that's good. But then you see somebody's plays, and I think some of it is schematic. I don't know why in the world they continued to put Anthony Barr on a wide receiver. On cup. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, they put them on cup. They put them on Robert Wood. I mean, they were just like, this guy is not going to win past coverage battle with these speedy wide receivers. It's just not going to happen. And so that goes to coaching there. They were not finding a way to adjust what they were doing. I know Sean is masterful and he's very creative,

and they can give you all kinds of different looks and they're different rules. And so you got to switch out. Somebody's got to cover that guy. But, I mean, throw an extra safety in there and sometimes or something like that. And so, yeah, it's really remarkable that this defense, which was so good, has really struggled. They've given up. And some of these aren't even mismatch. like that yesterday, the 56-yard catch-and-run by Todd Gurley, a screen out of the backfield.

That was the third 50-plus catch-and-rung out of the backfield this season. And so each week, they've given up a big play like that when that's just, you know, linebackers covering running backs out the backfield. And not everybody is a Hall of Famer like future Hall of Famer looking like Guy like Gurley. They just have some breakdowns that they've really got to take care of if they want to continue to contend because Kirk cousins and the offense put up points. Without a running game, too. No running game either. You know, I talked about it at the beginning of this podcast. I said last night was a microcosm. It was a near replica of what he's dealt with

through the last three years. No running game, no defense. It's all on him. And of course, everybody wants to say, well, no, the actual replica is no defense, no running game, puts up big numbers and then blows it at the end, which by the way, isn't true either. I mean, he's fourth in the last three years in fourth quarter comeback. So I want to move away from Minnesota for a moment. Do you agree with basically every other NFL observer that right now the Rams are basically a cut above the rest of the league? They really are. And somebody said this to me, and I thought it was a great analogy. They said they're like the Golden State Warriors of the NFL right now. They can just score. And entertaining. And entertaining. And entertaining. And it doesn't matter

who it is, you can't take all of this away, you know, whether it's Cooper Cup, whether it's Brandon Cooks, whether it's Robert Woods, whether it's Todd Gurley. I mean, they have so many weapons and Jared Gough is so comfortable in this offense. And Sean McVeigh does a phenomenal job of, I mean, you can watch from play to play how he's setting up something for the next play. And there's a misdirection here. And then later on you see, oh, well, that's what they were

setting up the last, you know, they are just, like you said, a cut above. And I know that their defense gave up 30 points last night, but they just have such a nasty pass rush. And they were able to get off the field in some key situations

at times, even though that their top cornerback, Kib Talib is sidelined recovering from surgery right now, but their pass rush with Aaron Donald and Domenesu, and just they can come at you with so many things.

that it's hard to combat at all. And so, yes, they look like, you know, they look like the team that is the favorite to make it to the Super Bowl out of the NFC right now. What are your thoughts on the Redskins so far? Very interesting and very redskin-like at the same time. I mean, the way that they come out and play great in that first week, and then it was like they were feeling themselves

and looked so bad, against the Colts, although, you know, it wasn't until after that game that it made perfect sense that you have Frank Reich, who was the offensive coordinator of the Eagles, and his defensive coordinator was the linebacker's coach with the Cowboys, so they know the Redskins, what they do offensive and defensively very well. And so it made sense that they were able to give them, you know, problems, but you would have expected you wanted to see better effort. And then last week, they bounced right back and play very well and get a win against the Packers, even though, yes, I know Aaron Rogers is hobbled, but still, they were able to execute offensively and defensively like they needed to. So it's kind of the whole up and down that we've seen where Jay Gruden's teams really struggle to put quality games back to back. And so you're wondering, when are they going to get over the hump there? I think that their defense is obviously much improved.

Look at them. They're up there with some of the top teams statistically. They're not giving up a lot of points. They finally, that investment that they made in the front, the last two years, getting Jonathan Allen, Duran Payne is paying off and that's helping them on the back end. And so I think the potential is there. I just, again, it all comes. What happens when Jordan Reed gets hurt or if Adrian Peterson, you know, gets hurt?

who is I mean is Alex Smith going to go to where is Josh Doxon I mean what is that kid doing he didn't have a catch in the last game he was only targeted once or twice it's it's that whole thing

I you know there's always a chance but at this point I think we've seen enough to know that that really he is not you know going to play to the level of a first round draft choice. That's not what they got. I thought that's what they were getting when they picked them. I was really bullish on what Josh Doxon was in college and how it would translate to the

NFL. And there's just something missing there. Something's not been right. Yeah. No doubt. There's not, I mean, you, I mean, I'm in a lot of locker rooms now and I see and talk to a lot of wide receivers and there's the confidence there. There's, you know, even guys not saying like Terrell Owens flamboyant, but there's just a little bit of a swagger like you can tell these guys are gamers. I don't get that feeling from Josh Doxon. I don't even get the feeling that he really even loved to play that much. I know that he went back to TCU and he walked on.

He earned a scholarship there. You know, I know that he has, you know, worked through injuries and stuff, but he's healthy now and you just don't feel the energy, you don't feel the confidence that this is the guy who loves the game of football and wants to go out there and make a difference. I mean, he could love football. He could, but that hunger and that fire is not coming across. And so I think there are people within the organization that are frustrated now that this is, you know, another, this is a high draft pick that was supposed to be a building block and a key

weapon and they can't count on them. All right, let's look at some of the games this weekend, just a couple of them real quickly, because I want thoughts real quickly on the games, but the teams too. The Giants, basically, I think, for all intents and purposes, saved their season last week by winning in Houston. I think they're talented, Mike. I actually think the defense has talent, and if they can somehow keep Eli up right, they've got weapons offensively.

Do you see them having a chance against the Saints? having an impact as a potential playoff contender somewhere down the line this year? Yeah, I think that they're still figuring things out. I think that all of us looked at their roster and said, okay, look, you got Eli Manning, you've got Adele Beckham Jr., you've got some other nice pieces, and you pick up Saquan Barclay, they spend a lot of money on defense, now you've got a smart offensive guy, they should get back on track, boom, let's go. But it hasn't quite happened as quickly.

They're still adjusting to Pat Schumer, and it's evident that Pat Schumer is still trying to figure out the best way to use his personnel. They are not pounding the football with Saquan Barkley like he has built to be used. They have not used the run game to help protect Eli Manning when he's got a patchwork offenseal line that are still coming together. You know, there are a lot of things you kind of scratch your head at. but then you see flashes and you think, okay, the Giants have started slow with a lot of these players before, and then they figure things out. So I'm not counting the Giants out. I think this past week was crucial for them to get a victory.

Yeah, I know it was Houston who has struggled, but Houston's kind of been in games. They just can't steal the deal. And so I think that, yeah, the Giants still have quality pieces to work. work with. Eli Manning still has more or less than the tank, and he's better than some starters. I think that it's just a matter of them figuring things out. And so, I mean, we'll see. I think the Eagles are going to be, you know, continuing to ascend as Carson Wins gets more comfortable, and the Giants and the Redskins probably might be duke in that thing out there for second in the division. And the Cowboys look like they just don't have a clue. Yeah, they don't have

anything offensively. Last one, I'll let you run. Are either one of these two teams in trouble in your mind's eye from a playoff contention standpoint? The Patriots, Steelers? I don't think from a playoff standpoint, I think both of them are going to get figured out. The Patriots now are more desperate situation than what I anticipated. They really need this Josh Gordon thing to work out. they'll get some help when Julian Edelman gets back, but it's clear that they've got no talent on offense outside of Rob Grunkowski. We'll see what Sonny Michelle, now of the rookie running back, is he gets involved in the game plan now. The Rex Burkhead is out. But I think that Bill

Belichick and Tom Brady, they've done this so long. They're going to find a way. Now, are they going to have enough to be able to make a deep playoff run? Do they have enough to be able to match wits and match firepower with the chief? I don't know. I'd be worried there. The same thing with the Steelers. They've got dysfunction and things like that, but that win for them on Thursday, on Monday night was big. And they have, you know, James Connor is not Labion Bell, but he is a good back. He's serviceable enough. Yes.

Several scouts have told me he's an above average starter in the NFL, so they can work with that there. And so I think that I'd be a little bit. bit less worried about them making a playoff run than I would the Patriots. But again, we'll see what kind of firepower they have. We saw that, you know, they didn't have an answer. They, they, you know, had to try to rally to come back and sell short against the Chiefs. But I think, yeah, in the ASC, everybody's going to be trying to keep up with them because they just have so many weapons. And Patrick Mahomes is playing so phenomenally that, you know, that, you know, they're probably sweating it just a little bit there, the Steelers and the Patriots,

but I do think that they'll still make the postseason. I think Sunday night's game is a huge early season game in the AFC North because the Ravens could really make a statement by going in there and beating Pittsburgh. Real quickly, I lied. I've got one more for you. No roughing the passer penalties last night in the Thursday night game. Troy Vincent in the league essentially said, and this is a true paraphrase, but the way I read it is they're going to take a bit of a step back from all of these roughing the passer

penalties of the first three weeks. How do you think that the league's sort of announcing that this is going to be sort of applied differently? How will that manifest itself on Sundays and on game days? Well, I mean, I think that it's just like we saw the ridiculous leading with the head penalties throughout the preseason, and then they scaled things back and kind of like readjusted their approach. And then now, you know, they wanted to dig in and say, hey, we're not going to change anything with this roughing the passer call. But they definitely are backing off just a little bit.

So I think that the confusion and the frustrations will start to simmer a little bit. Yes, if a guy blatantly falls with his body weight on a quarterback, it'll still draw foul. But last night, Aaron Donald went in there for a sack. Yeah. threw him to the ground. Yeah, threw him to the ground. He pretty much had a lot of his body weight on there,

but he bounced up very quickly off of Cousin. And there wasn't a foul there. So I think that everybody is starting to make adjustments. The players will, and so will be officials, you know, because it's needed that they adjusted and tweaked this thing just a little bit for credibility's sake. And just for, you know, you're trying to protect the quarterback because they're the most important in high-state position on the field. but your second most important position are your pass rushers.

And so you've got to be fair to them too. And so I think that they're getting this right by just adjusting this a little bit. And that's what guys like Ryan Kerrigan, he said to me, I understand the letter of the law, but they need to make some kind of adjustment with how they're calling it. And so it sounds like that's what they're doing. And I think players will be more happy with that set up. At by Mike Jones on Twitter. He writes for USA Today.

He's always been great at what he does. and a friend of the shows I've been involved with, so I appreciate you coming on this show as well. I think I'll see you next week when you're in town. Yep, sounds good, Kevin. Thanks for having me, man. All right, Mike, thanks so much. Mike Jones, everybody.

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All right, the best games of the weekend, and there are some good ones. Tomorrow, Penn State, Ohio State, in-state college, I'm going to be there. I have heard, and if you have been listening to the whole show today, Trevor Madditch was on with us and said that the energy for a big game at Penn State at night is like none other. I've heard it's phenomenal. Now, I got a chance to go to Bama LSU in Death Valley in Baton Rouge. That was off the charts.

But I can't wait to see this tomorrow night. And this is a huge early season Big Ten matchup that will determine potentially the Big Ten East champion and potentially a playoff spot in January. I think Penn State's got a real good chance. More on that coming up in the smell test. Stanford off of that miracle win. at Oregon is at Notre Dame. Notre Dame's switched quarterbacks. They put up a lot of offense against a pretty good Wake Forest team last week. I really like Notre Dame's chances to stay

unbeaten with a win tomorrow night against Stanford. NFL Sunday, Bengals Falcons is a pretty good game. Pat's Dolphins is an important game. Imagine the dolphins go into Foxborough and win, and they're 4-0 in New England's 1 and 3. 3 games up. No matter. what the talent is, that's hard to overcome. And I would doubt that New England in the Brady Belichick era have ever been three games out in the AFC East. I don't think that they have been ever. Except for the year in 2002 when they didn't make the playoffs.

But I can't remember the difference in games that year. You know, the other year they didn't make the postseason with Matt Castle. They were 11 and 5. Right, they were right there all the time. The Raven Steelers on Sunday night is a renewal of what I think really is the best rivalry in the NFL of the last decade or so. It's a huge game because if you've been listening to this podcast since the start of the season, I'm a Ravens believer.

I believe in this team. I believe in their defensive talent. I believe in Joe Flacco having a healthy offseason with weapons this year. And this could give the Ravens a real jump on the Steelers in the AFC North. Now, Cincinnati's got a big game as well, you know, in Atlanta. But if Baltimore were to go into Pittsburgh Sunday night into Heinz Field and win that game, and they're 3-1 and Pittsburgh is 1-2-1, you know, you are now looking at, I think, the front-runner to win the AFC North. You know, Baltimore came from the back of the pack last year and made a run at a playoff berth

and had it right there on their racket, fourth and 17 against the Bengals in the final game of the year, and Dalton throws, you know, a prayer touchdown pass to knock Baltimore out. This is a real, this matchup to me is always one of the best matchups of the NFL season, the two games between Pittsburgh and Baltimore. I love how you can always count. The line is always going to be the home team by three, no matter what happens between these two teams. It's true. It seems to always be sort of that short line. Monday night game, which we'll have more on on Monday is a good one because you get to see Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in Denver against Von Miller in that defense against the Broncos. That is a good one. Let me give you a couple of teams that I'm very interested in watching this weekend. I'm going to start with a game tomorrow. How good is West Virginia?

The one game that may have told us something to this point was canceled due to Hurricane Florence. They had a game at NC State in Raleigh, but that game was canceled. I don't think it's been rescheduled either. Tomorrow they're in Lubbock to face Texas Tech. Texas Tech coming off a beatdown of Oklahoma State last, last, week in Stillwater. They can score. They can really score Texas Tech Ken. And Will Greer for West Virginia is already thrown for 1100 plus yards, 14 touchdowns, three in three games. I think two picks, 14 touchdowns and three games. They destroyed Kansas State last week in a game at K-State.

This is going to tell a lot on what West Virginia is. And if they were to win this game, they've got smooth sailing until November where they would enter November as a 7-0 type team and a true Big 12 contender and a playoff contender as well. I think we're going to learn a lot about West Virginia. We may learn a lot about Texas Tech. They've got a quarterback in Allen Bowman that in four games has thrown for 1,600 plus yards. Typical Big 12 stuff. West Virginia is a three and a half point favorite in this game.

The total is 73. Big game for the Mountaineers. They're ranked 12th. down there would be a really good win. I'm interested in seeing what they look like tomorrow. I'm interested in seeing the dolphins this week at New England, and I'm interested in seeing the Giants this week. The Saints are a great offensive team, not so much on defense right now. I think the Giants can win this game Sunday, late Sunday in the Meadowlands. Now, we don't want it to happen as Redskins fans, but I think they can. The Saints may be a bit in letdown mode

after that overtime win in Atlanta. The Giants saved their season last week. They're talented. I'm telling you the Giants have talent. And I think this could be one of those games that is an upset possibility on Sunday. And that brings me to who's on upset alert. I think Ohio State and New Orleans, those are the two right now that are on upset alert. All right, let's get to the smell test.

Kevin looks where the John Q Public is putting their cash and does the opposite. It's time of the smell test. That's a smell test. It's a total 100% contrarian handicapping philosophy. When my friends are all convinced that Vegas is aired with a point spread and they're going to win all this money, I just go against them. And I've been doing that for years. It's more than just that. It is public money and going against public money.

But it's also a public money game where sharp action is on the other side. I love those matchups. I've got offshore sources and have had them over the years. I'm not going to tell you why, but I have a lot of people who are close to me in my life that have been involved in offshore operations for now two decades plus. So I get a lot of information from them.

And I just basically have created this smell test over 12 years, eight winning seasons, four losing seasons. Last week it was 9, 3, and 1. I gave out 13 games. last week went 9, 3 and 1 and 4 and 0 on Sunday in the NFL, where I had a team that I told you was going to be painful to play. Even getting all those points, I said they've looked horrible, but play the bills. I guaranteed the Redskins last week as a winner as well as an outright winner. The smell test on the season is 18, 14, and 1 now. So maybe a little forward momentum after a

tough first week, which set us back a little bit. Let's start with tonight. UCLA is 0 and 3 under Chip Kelly, and they're at Colorado, who is 3 and O. Colorado's laying less than 10. They're laying 9 and a half and the number has just stayed there. And the public is pounding, pounding the buffaloes at home tonight against a UCLA team that's looked totally inept. Give me the Bruins plus the 9 and a half. Let's go to Saturday. me last week nearly beat Oklahoma in Norman. Outright as a 30-point dog. They had it on their racket in field goal range in the final minute of the game with the score tied at 21-21. They threw an interception. The game went to overtime. They lost the game, but the effort was

incredible. This weekend, they are at Buffalo. Buffalo is 4-0. Buffalo is a seven-point favorite in this game and the public loves what they saw from the cadets last week and they're playing Army at a 71 to 29% ratio right now offshore. Give me Buffalo laying the 7 they're going to smoke Army tomorrow. Let's get to the next one where Clemson is a 25 point favorite over Syracuse starting Trevor Lawrence for the first time. Trevor Lawrence, Lawrence is a six foot six inch freshman quarterback. Aaron, he was the number one prospect last year, right? Yep.

And he has been tabbed now as the starter over Kelly Bryant moving forward, and Bryant's going to transfer. Bryant's gone. That was wild. Syracuse has started off 4-0, all right? And Clemson's laying 25 against a 4-0 team. The public wants to take the dog here. They're taking the dog here, but they're sharp money on Clemson.

which has moved the line from like 19 or 20 all the way up to 25. Give me Clemson and lay the 25 points. Tomorrow night in State College where I will be, Penn State is getting three and a half at home against Ohio State. The public loves the Buckeyes. Give me Penn State. I don't know how they do it. They're going to have to score a lot of points, is my guess.

But give me Penn State plus the three and a half. Nebraska. Aaron, they haven't won a game yet, have they, with Scott Frost. frost already catching a lot of heat. Guess what? They're going to win tomorrow. They're catching three and a half at home against a Purdue team that upset Boston College last week. The public loves the boilers. Give me Nebraska plus the three and a half. I think they're going to win the game outright.

I can't explain this one. I can just only tell you that the public loves New Mexico laying seven against Liberty. Give me Liberty plus seven. And Ole Miss is just 10.5 at LSU. Keep in mind, they were a 22 point underdog at home against Bama and got crushed. Why are they only catching 10 and a half at LSU? Give me Ole Miss plus the 10 and a half at LSU. I like Notre Dame tomorrow night, laying 6 against Stanford,

and I like Utah laying 2 at Washington. Both of those sides are big anti-public plays. Sunday, I'm giving a lot of games out, all right? I feel it this week. Sunday, give me Houston, who is winless, and catching just one at Indianapolis. All right. Give me the Giants plus four at home against the Saints. Give me the Cardinals plus three against the Seahawks.

And give me the Ravens plus three against the Steelers. Those are the big anti-public NFL plays. Houston, the Giants, Arizona, and the Ravens. I just ripped through a lot of games. I'll recap them for you real quickly. Tonight, I like UCLA plus 9.5. By the half point, get it to 10. Saturday. I like Buffalo minus seven. Clemson minus 25.

I like Nebraska plus three and a half. Penn State plus three and a half. Liberty plus seven. Utah minus two. Ole Miss plus ten and a half. And Notre Dame minus six. On Sunday, I like the Texans, the Cardinals, the Giants, and the Ravens. That's a big smell test this week. I didn't even count it up. I have no idea how many games. That was quite a few.

Anytime you have liberty on that card, you know. It's a wild weekend. I just gave you the biggest anti-public plays with some sharp money backing up my opinion as well in these games. The house will need the sides that I gave you. That's always a good position to be in. Let's bring in Andy. Andy's going to join me every Friday during the football season, and he'll do some sort of historical thing.

Redskins related usually. It's a buy week. It's an early buy week, Andy, and then they've got a Monday night game following the buy week. How many times has that happened, and then what happened when it happened? Well, 1990 was the first year, you know, they had the buy. So we've only had buys since then. 1993 they experimented with two buys.

I talked about that earlier in the show. And I guarantee you that very few people remember the one-two-by season. Yeah, that was the Ritchie Pettibone year, and those were both followed by Monday night games, which they lost the Hall of Fame quarterback, Dan Marino, with the Dolphins and Jim Kelly and the Buffalo Bills. All right. Now I'm going to give you a good Monday night game after a buy and a bad one. Good goes back to November 20, 2000 when they won at St. Louis 33 to 20. Back story on that, just before the buy, they had lost to Arizona.

Chris Hepner missed an extra point and was cut. They signed their fourth and fifth kickers of the year that week. Eddie Murray and Scott Bentley. Bentley to kick off, 44-year-old Eddie Murray to kick field goals. He kicked four of them in this game, but the big story was Kurt Warner didn't play, and also Brad Johnson didn't play. So it was Jeff George against Trent Green. George threw for three, 269 yards and three touchdowns, and Green was sacked six times, three times by Bruce Smith. Redskins got the seven and four. Dan Snyder was over the moon. His quarterback, Jeff George, who he'd signed, had come through.

His free agent defensive end, Bruce Smith, had come through. And he was now seven and four. And I'm told by two players who are in the locker room that he went in and said, hey, that's a great win. Take the next two days off. And North Turner said, man, it's a Monday night game. We have to practice on Wednesday. We have a game next week.

Here's the bad one. Goes back to November 15, 2010. Again, the backstory. Two weeks before in Detroit, they're up, they're down, 31-25 with 150 left to go. Terminology and conditioning. Here comes. Yep. Donovan McNabb is bent with a winnable game. Rex Grossman comes in. Domican Sue, strips them, takes the ball into the end zone, game over.

Then there's a whole week of, you know, what you just said about whether or not McNab was in shape, is Shanahan a racist, yada, yada, yada, yada. So here's Donovan McNabb dangling out there. At hours before the Monday night game, they sign him to a long-term contract, which is agent Jimmy Sexton says $79 million, $40 million guaranteed. In fact, it was $3 million guaranteed. And they thought that with the new contract, the fans would get behind McNabb to be a wild atmosphere. They beat Philadelphia. 15 seconds into the game, Deshawn Jackson catches a touchdown pass of like 80 yards,

which looks like he's fielding a punt. That's how wide open he is. They go on to just absolutely crush the Redskins. It's 45, 14 at the half, 59, 20s. with still five minutes left in the third quarter. Final 59 to 28. They're four and five on the year. And people are saying, you signed Donovan McNabb to an extension for this.

The guy who really made out was Michael Vic, who had a big game. Listen to these numbers for Vic. 333 yards passing, four touchdowns on only 20 attempts. The Eagles had 260 yards rushing 592 total yards. I love both of those nights. That's the Monday Night Massacre game, which everybody, remembers. And the Jeff George game, you know, was the beginning, you're right, the owner who wanted Jeff George, and you wanted him in there in front of Brad Johnson, which was a massive

mistake. That was probably Jeff George's best game, that Monday night game, you know, in St. Louis against, you know, the greatest show on turf at that point. But remember that it was the next few weeks, maybe a week or two later, where Norse sent Eddie Murray into the game to kick a field goal that he told Norv he could not kick. He said, I can't kick at that far. And Norf said, get out there and try it. Try it anyway. And I think they lost to the Giants nine to seven. And that started the, you know, the complete falling apart. Norve got fired. And they get the seven and four when they beat the Rams. So they lose the following week. The game you're talking about is the week after that. There's still seven and six. And in the playoff, North gets fired. They think Terry Rubisky can

ride a home and you can't do it. Yeah, Rabinsky as Dion called him. Exactly. Yeah. Great times. Great memories. Nobody does it better than you and me together. Just going through all of the history. Sometimes it's good history, and Jeff George played great that night. He did, but they didn't have to face it. It looked like for Snyder in front of the nation that what he had done had worked, going forward in 2000, right?

I don't remember what Deion did in the game, but two of the three big free agents come through, Jeff George and Bruce Smith was the three facts. Yep, that was quite a season because really when you think about it, Andy, and since the last time they won the Super Bowl in the 1991 season, the 2000 season was the season with the most expectations for a Redskins team since the 91 season? I can't think of one where they were actually among the two or three favorites to win the Super Bowl, which they were before the 2000 season. Yeah, I would think so,

and I would even think off all the excitement of RG3 in 2012 that in 2013, while nobody could have seen, you know, how awful it was going to become, I still don't think people were thinking they were in the Super Bowl mix, as great as RG3 was as a rookie. Right, well, especially coming off the injury, the 2013 expectation, the 2000 team with everything they did in free agency, the fantasy football year, in free agency,

the Redskins were picked by many to win the Super Bowl in 2000. And that's the only time that's really happened since 91. Unless it was 92 as the defending champs. And they were certainly... Because 92 was an older team and they had injuries and, you know, all that. I'm just talking about what the expectation was before the season. But I remember doing shows would say that at Redskin Park and we would have these guys on like Bruce Smith and Jeff George. and we were talking about it like it was a Woodstock.

Hey, this is happening here. You've come to join in. And I was told by Brian Billick before the season, watch out. This has disaster written all over it. And it did. And it did. All right.

Well, we got a buy week. You'll be back with me next Friday. And we'll talk then. Have a great weekend. Thanks. We'll do the best game between the Saints and the Redskins. And that was the RG3 debut. Shock and awe.

Shock and awe, as somebody dubbed it. going into the game. Thanks, Andy. Appreciate it. Thanks to Aaron. Thanks to Andy. Thanks to Trevor Madditch. And thanks to Mike Jones, all of whom joined us today on the podcast. Thanks to Windon Nation, our presenting sponsor. No Redskin game this weekend, but some really good football all weekend long. I'll be back on Monday to recap it on Monday.

Hopefully a little bit earlier. Again, apologies for getting it out so late today.