The Kevin Sheehan Show - Redskins In First Place!

Episode Date: October 1, 2018

It was a big weekend in football that, yes, left the Redskins on top of the NFC East. Kevin looks around the division before talking about his experience at Penn State this weekend, and where it ranked compared to other atmospheres at sporting events he has been at. He then goes Around the NFL where he talks about the Colts' loss and Frank Reich's decision to go for it on 4th down. He also thinks the Browns got screwed. The Ravens look like a potential Super Bowl contender And who exactly are the great teams in the NFL? All that and more in his 10 points from Sunday. Plus, he talks about the revelation that Doug Williams may have found himself in trouble for bringing in Adrian Peterson, and the rest of the sports slate, including college football, in Weekend DVR. <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. I'm here. Aaron's here. We're chatter still at chatter. We're going to be in this new studio that we are building out all 110 square feet of it. It doesn't have to be very big. Got to make sure it's perfect for you first. Well, we're just having a couple of issues and we'll get through those issues and hopefully be in there tomorrow or the next day. This show is presented by Window Nation on this Monday. If you're in the market for Windows call now. Call 86690 Nation or Windonation.com and tell them that I told you to call. No Redskin game to talk about on this Monday, but the other three teams in the division had games yesterday. And only one of those teams won Dallas. So hence, guess who's in first place in the NFC East, Aaron?

The Redskins are at 2 and 1. They are atop the division. I believe this is true. I haven't seen this written anywhere, but I just went back in my own memory. I believe it's the first time four weeks into the season that the Redskins have been in first place since 2011. And at that point, they were three and one. And I think the Giants were three and one, but the Redskins had beaten the Giants. The Redskins, that was a Rex Grossman, Mike Shanahan, year two.

And they got off to a pretty good start. They beat the Giants. They beat the Cardinals. They beat the Rams. They lost to the Cowboys, remember, in a Monday night week three game, 18 to 16, that was so winnable to get off to a 4-0 start. And then the season went completely to hell in a handbucket. I think they went 5 and 11 that year, 5 and 11, 6 and 10, something like that. No, not very good.

The Eagles lost in overtime yesterday to the Titans. Wow, some big decisions in overtime by Vrable, the Tennessee coach, going for fourth downs multiple times in a overtime. They end up beating the Eagles, 26, 23. The Giants, they were a smell test pick. They were the only loser on the NFL smell test yesterday. I had four games. I had the Texans, which won outright getting a point. I had the Ravens last night getting three more on that game coming up. They won outright. I had the Cardinals plus three. They lost by three that pushed. And then I had the Giants plus four. And man, the Giants are a mess offensively. And I put that a little bit on their coaching staff.

They've got to be a little bit more aggressive with the weapons they have. And I know they're struggling to block, but they shouldn't have struggled against the Saints yesterday. The Saints are a bad defensive team, or at least they have been to date. But that's a good loss for the Redskins. Obviously, the Philadelphia loss is a good loss for the Redskins. Skins at New Orleans, a week from tonight, the early point spread against the 3-1 Saints. The Saints are six and a half to seven point favorites. Probably right where it should be at this point.

The Redskins defensively, I think, are still in the top three statistically. I think I mentioned this on Friday. Look, they got a dead on arrival opponent for the opener in Arizona that couldn't do anything offensively. They got a wounded Aaron Rogers who had basically seven balls just flat out dropped on him at FedEx last week. and they gave up three, I think, 70-yard-plus drives against the Colts in week two. I'm very bullish on the big picture for the Redskins defense, that it's going to continue, that it's already significantly improved, and it'll continue to get better over the next few years.

I'm not sure it's a top three defense. I don't believe that, and I think, you know, we are going to learn a lot more about this defense a week from tonight because they will be facing one of the most explosive offensive teams in the league in Drew Breeze and the Saints. It was a crazy day in the NFL yesterday. The offense, the 400-yard passers, the points, the overtime games, the controversy, especially in that Cleveland, Oakland game.

So lots to get to on the NFL Sunday that was, and I will, but I want to start by telling you about where I was on Saturday night. And, Aaron, you're a massive college sports fan and a college football fan. I was at Penn State, Ohio State, in state college on Saturday night. It was, for me, right in that group of the top five sporting event scenes I've ever witnessed live. You know, I will tell you, and I'm going to go through this list here and tell you more about what Saturday night was, because it was a spectacle in state college. I've never seen anything quite like the 111,000 all dressed in white, except for the smattering

of Scarlet and Gray Ohio State fans that were there. And the few of them that were there got really loud at the end. But that was for me right there on my list of the top five, six, seven sporting events I've ever been to. For me, the list includes the following. Any big championship fight in Vegas, and I've been to several of them, it's a must-go-to if you're a sports fan that gets a rush out of a big championship fight in Vegas. big feel event, the energy, the electricity. I'm not sure anything really comes close to it, to tell you the truth. I've been to probably eight, nine, ten big fights in Vegas over the last

25 years right around there. I'm not sure anything approaches the adrenaline if you're a sports fan. Maybe not even if you're a sports fan, if you're just there, the adrenaline you get from being in that arena in Vegas for a big championship fight. I've been to, I started going to those things back in the late 80s with Leonard and Hearns, not the first one at Caesar's Palace, but the second one in 89. I went to the Leonard Duran fight three. Seen a bunch of big fights in recent years for work reasons, been out there. HBO used to pay all of us to go out there and cover these fights and spend the weekend in Vegas, which was always fun. anymore. Did you see that? HBO getting out of the boxing business. God, I'm saving that to talk

to Tommy about it tomorrow. But a big championship fight in Vegas is really special and unique. If you've been to one of those, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you, if you haven't, it's just hard to wrap your brain around that because you're like, yeah, it's just a fight. It's, no, there's something about the electricity and the energy in that building. when I've been there for big fights before. For me, a top five sporting scene and the loudest environment I have ever been in still to this day, and I don't know if I'll ever change this. And maybe, maybe, you know, it wasn't what I think it was,

and I'm just sort of yearning for yesteryear at RFK. But the January 1983 NFC championship game at RFK Stadium between the Cowboys and the Redskins is still for me, the loudest, most raucest, most insanely bloodthirsty crowd I have ever been a part of. I've told this story many times. Docs told it many times. Rigo, Jake, all of them. 45 minutes before kickoff, there wasn't one empty seat in the stadium, and the chant of We Want Dallas was so deafening that Tony Dorset years later told the story.

He said they were getting dressed in their locker room, ready to come out onto the field for warm-ups and they heard it and they said they knew they were in big trouble. It was the most intimidating environment for an opponent that I think I've ever felt as a fan. You've heard people my age go on and on about RFK and what it was and those that didn't get a chance to experience it just typically roll their eyes and say, come on, how loud, how intimidating could it have really been? There were only 50. $55,000, you know, in that building. But the way the stadium was constructed, it kept the sound in. They had these metal stands that were mobile, that were put in for football games. They were so loud when people started to stomp their feet on them.

And yes, for whatever reason, and I swear, this is not legend. This isn't, you know, this isn't some sort of myth or some sort of, you know, yesteryear year yearning for something. that's been exaggerated beyond description over the years. But I swear to you, that stadium, you could feel it shaking at certain decibel levels. You could feel that stadium shake. And for a big game and the championship game against the Cowboys in 83 was probably the biggest if the 72 championship game against the Cowboys wasn't. It was energy like you can't explain unless you were lucky enough to experience it firsthand. And this wasn't a parochial sort of.

This wasn't a local view. The NFL, you know, you go back and you watch some of those games on YouTube, and you hear Madden and Summerall calling some of these games, and they will tell you right from the get-go, the most hostile environment in the NFL. That's what RFK was for a long period of time. It was the most hostile, the loudest, the most difficult road venue in the league. Now, they had great teams.

That certainly helped. And I have no idea what RFK would have been like, had the teams that played in RFK not been good. But I didn't get to experience that for my age group because I remember the George Allen and Joe Gibbs years, and they were always pretty damn good. For me, and again, some of these experiences are local, but they are the ones that I've experienced more than the non-local.

But Cole Fieldhouse and Xfinity Center, Comcast Center, for a big, important Maryland basketball game, has been and still is at times, one of the best environments in all of college basketball. The Duke Maryland game for a decade plus was the toughest ticket in this city, the toughest ticket in this city, and one of the most incredible sporting environments you could attend live, the best live sporting event in this city really over the last decade. Caps playoff games have been great. Don't get me wrong. But there is something about that college park basketball crowd when you had Duke or Carolina in the building.

that was, well, Mike Shoshesvsky told me. I did an interview with him five years ago, Aaron, I think it was, on 980. And I had to record the interview, and I'll never forget it. I've told this story before, but the PR guy gets on the phone and says, you've got five minutes with Coach. And I said, five minutes. Okay, I'll try to go quickly. 35 minutes later, we were still talking. And a lot of it was after the interview was concluded, because after I finished up with him, after about a 15-minute interview, he stayed on the line, because it was right after Maryland had moved to the Big Ten,

had made the announcement to go to the Big Ten. And he said, I could hear the passion in your voice about how upset you are about Maryland going to the Big Ten. And he proceeded to tell me that it didn't have to happen, that if they had come to the League, if they had gone to John Swofford, if they had gone to the other school presidents,

if they had been more open in the process, that the league would have bailed them out of the financial position they were in, because the ACC didn't want to lose Maryland. Of course not. The ACC wanted Maryland. DC was the biggest TV market for the ACC network. They didn't want to lose them, but for other reasons,

they were a founding charter member of the ACC, but Shoshchevsky is part of that conversation, did admit he said that the Maryland road game was the toughest road game that they played year and year out. He said it wasn't close, and there was nothing better than when his team, he brought a team into college park and won. He said there was a feeling that was really hard to explain. And of course, the Maryland crowd was, you know, that bloodthirsty, angry, ugly at times crowd.

You know. Little bit. But it was still, you know, if you haven't been to, you know, and I don't know if they'll have any big games this year. Do they play Michigan State at home this year? For some reason I don't think they're at home. Do they play Indiana at home this year? They have a bad home. scheduled this year. I'll double check that one.

But, you know, it hasn't, I'll tell you what, it hasn't been really the same in the Big Ten. There have been moments. There was the moment against Wisconsin when it was number five against number 10 or whatever it was and a couple games against Michigan State as well. Let me just quickly list. I've been to Cameron Indoor before. It's great, but not for a Duke Carolina game. That's on the bucket list. I'd love to do Allen Fieldhouse. I've heard that's incredible at Kansas. I've been to West Virginia for a night game. That was unbelievably loud and dangerous at West Virginia in Morgantown for a night game. But for me, on my list, in terms of college atmospheres, I got a chance to go to Death Valley for

LSU, Alabama, about four years ago, I think it was. And that was a scene like none other. And people were tweeting me on Saturday night. They said, is this better than the stories you've told about being at LSU? Bam at night. It was close, and I'm going to get to it in a moment. But I think LSU Alabama is still number one on my list. SEC, just the culture around it is so different than anything else. You have to understand that there were 100,000 in the stadium that night and an estimated

150,000 outside of the stadium. You couldn't walk around, you know, within a two-mile square radius. There was no room to walk all day long. It was just one party after another one. I'll tell you one thing I'd like to do. I'd like to go to Virginia Tech. I'd like to go to Blacksburg for a night game, and I actually got offered tickets to the Notre Dame game Saturday night by our good friend Tim Murray, and I can't go. Anyway, so Saturday night in State College.

Wow. It was, first of all, probably their biggest home game in a decade plus when you consider all of the years and the controversy, everything that went on there for so long. It was two undefeated teams, number four against number eight, Ohio State in the building. state really for Penn State and the Big Ten is probably their biggest rival game. You know, Penn State for a long period of time in the 70s and even in the 80s, Pitt was a big

rival when they were an independent. Exactly. As a Big Ten team, they are, you know, the Ohio State game's always been a big game. This was a massive swing game as far as the college football season is concerned. The winner is a favor to get to the college football playoff. Exactly. It's a leg up in the Big Ten East and a leg up in the playoff race. This was a whiteout game.

You've probably seen some of these Penn State whiteout games before. It was a night game. It was a spectacle. I'm going to tell you this. It was one of the most eye-popping things I've ever seen in person when it comes to a large gathering outdoors. A hundred and eleven thousand record crowd. Not one empty seat. I'm looking around.

I'm looking for one empty. just one empty seat. You couldn't find one. The people that were sitting in the suites were decked out in white. You know, there was a smattering of scarlet and gray. Everybody, though, pretty much in white. And at night, the way that stadium lit up, it was truly a marvel to look around at. A few things real quickly about the Penn State football experience. For starters, everybody's nice. You know, I've had that experience as well. There were Ohio State fans that were there, but they were treated like courteously.

Like, I didn't see one fight, not one at a sporting event that's that big, that is that important. And you got Ohio State fans coming in there, I would say out of the 111,000 there may have been 2,000 Ohio State fans. That's it. Maybe. Wow. And, but they were treated well. Like a couple of them walked by me and people are giving a hard time, but not in a, in a, in a, in a threatening way.

I think the Penn State State College thing, first of all, there is, and people have said this about Penn State football, there is a cult-like feel to the whole Penn State thing. Without a question of it. But there's something about that place. It's in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of nowhere.

It has very much a Midwestern feel, even though there are a lot of students and alum from Philly. All right? You've got a lot of Philly in that crowd, but I guess they just leave their, thugged them back home for this weekend. You know, a lot of Pittsburgh, a lot of D.C. people go to Penn State and our Penn State alums. I think Penn State right now in D.C., it's Maryland, in terms of the alum bases, Maryland, George Mason, Virginia Tech, and I think Penn State's fourth

in the D.C. area in terms of the number of alum. I think that's right. I could be wrong. Somebody can correct me on that. I'm pretty sure the top three are right, Maryland, Mason, and Virginia Tech. The scene, this is a true college town, state college. All right? Nothing exists here. without the university. Everybody that lives there works for the university or a business that supports the university or caters to the university or services the university in some way. The scene downtown on Friday night and then on Saturday all day, lines everywhere. College game day was there. I actually walked by the thing and couldn't get near it. And one of my boys says, why don't you just call somebody?

Don't you know people? I'm like, I'm not going to call somebody on Saturday morning to say, hey, let me on to the college game day set. To be honest, I couldn't care less anyway. It's something I do want to experience once, though. I've been to two games in two years that had college game day there. TCU, West Virginia, which I was at last year in Fort Worth had college game day there. And then they were there as well. Did you get closer last year and kind of check out the same?

I didn't even go last year. Oh, right. It was just there. I didn't. It's only I want to just check out once in my life is that set, that area. Yeah, I mean, it was, there was a huge crowd there, lots of signs. Everybody, you know, in Penn State Gear, walking around that town. There are two main drags in State College. It's Beaver Avenue and College Avenue, I think, are the two. And it was really hard to even walk down the sidewalks. There were so many people. The tailgate situation, RVs, you know, setups with the mountains.

is a backdrop. It's, it's, you know, there were plenty of people over-served. I saw that. But again, not belligerent, not belligerent, at least where I was. The game was loud. It was ear-piercing loud at times. I still think LSU at night was a louder, more raucous experience, but not by much. The game, you know, itself, Trace McSorley is the entire team.

He looks awesome. He's the entire team. He had 175 yards rushing and I think 286 passing. Without Trace McSorley, two quarterbacks in the game, by the way, are both locals, right? McSorley from Ashburn and Dwayne Haskins played a Bullis and Potomac. The game itself, like Penn State's got two double-digit leads. They looked like the right side. They were a smell test pick and they did cover, plus the three and a half.

And I thought Haskins looked rattled. For a guy that is one of the front runners for the Heisman, I didn't think he looked good at all. He's got so many playmakers, but I thought he looked completely rattled, didn't see the field. He's, look, he's going to get better. You can see he's big, strong, makes all the throws. I mean, it was the first time in an environment like that for him. Well, didn't he play in the Michigan game last year at Michigan? Was it, did he?

I can't remember if he played in that game or not. I think he did. It was an unfortunate ending. They gave up two touchdowns late. And then Penn State on the move down 27, 26, fourth and five. And James Franklin, calls a running play. Yeah, that was weird. And not only a running play, but a bad running play. There were a couple weird play calls in that game. Earlier in the game, Urban Meyer had like a

third or fourth and a half yard and he calls this really slow developing, like he fakes it to one running back, gives it to the other and he gets stuffed completely. There was just some bad play calling in that game. The over-under for this game was 71. This was supposed to be a shootout. And it had, it laid into, going into the fourth quarter, it was 14-13. I thought in part because I didn't think Haskins played very well for Ohio State. Penn State's defense stepped up, and McSorley's a one-man band at this point. Ohio State, man, they've got some speed on defense. I mean, you just see the speed they have on defense.

But James Franklin not only called a bad play on fourth and five, but he called two timeouts leading up to that play, which meant after it missed and didn't convert, he had no chance of getting the ball back because he used his timeouts on offense stupidly. he went off after the game talking about how Penn State is a great program. Do you have that sound? Do you have that rant from him?

Yeah. I want you to play that rant from James Franklin. The reality is we've gone from an average football team to a good football team to a great football team. And we've worked really hard to do those things. But we're not an elite football team yet. And as hard as we have worked to go from average to good. from good to great, the work that it's going to take to get to an elite program is going to be just as hard as the ground and the distance that we've already traveled. It's going to be just as hard to get there. Scratch and claw and fight. And right now we're comfortable being great.

And I'm going to make sure that everybody in our program, including myself, is very uncomfortable. because you only grow in life when you're uncomfortable. So that was James Franklin after the game the other night. And let me just tell you that he's right. It's a great program right now. It's not at Ohio State's level. It certainly has the potential. Penn State's won national championships before.

They can get to that level. But I will say this. He is a good coach. And the coach he faced is a great coach. He's an elite coach in Urban Meyer. And the ending of that game, there have been many of these situations with Penn State here over the last couple of years, because I was talking to some, you know, longtime fans afterwards. And there's been some frustration with Franklin. And I think that that's where this rant stemmed from is he knew that people were thinking about that fourth and five call.

And he wanted everybody to know, hey, I took something that was average and I've made it great, but we're going to get it to the next level. It's a little bit defensive. Did you see what happened when he was coming off the field with the fan? Like he looked like he tried to go after a fan. And one of his assistants grabbed him and was pulling him towards the locker room. I did not see that. It's a tough loss, a painful loss for them. I mean, it was a, honestly, it was a morgue scene after the game with people walking out.

Here's the thing with Ohio State just finishing up this. Ohio State got a win that makes them a heavy favorite to get to the playoff. Now, they will be double-digit favorites the rest of the way. until that final game against Michigan, which is in Columbus. But my guess is right now, there'll be a double-digit favorite in that game too. That smells like a 10-point favorite to me. But overall, let me just say this in wrapping up the Penn State sports experience thing. It was an all-timer for me.

There are a couple of things that rank a little bit ahead of it, but if you can get to state college at night for a whiteout game, it should be on your bucket list. It was a great time. It was memorable. The game was really great, too, unless you're a Penn State fan, which, by the way, Aaron, just for one night, I was. Let's tell you about Window Nation.

Harley and Aaron have had my back for 10 years at Window Nation. They bought advertising on 980 forever. I love both of them. I talk to Harley all the time. He's hurting this morning after the Browns got absolutely screwed in the loss against the Raiders yesterday. but they've been great and they've had my back. And I want you, if you like this show, to give them a chance. I promise you, I promise you that if you're in the market for windows, you will not be disappointed.

Halloween is this month. Thanksgiving is coming fast and we're not too far from Christmas. What does that mean? It means winter is coming. Now's the time you need to start acting when it comes to winterizing your home with brand new window nation windows. If you wait, you may be too late to replace your old drafty windows. before the nasty winter hits. So you've got to call Windonation today.

And if you do, you'll save 50% off all styles of windows. That's 50% off any style, any size, and any color window. Half off. It's like paying for the front of the house and getting the back for free. There's no minimum, no maximum purchase. Start with the worst windows or replace them all. Just don't wait until it's too late. Window Nation is making it super easy.

For the balance of the month, you'll get 50% off all styles of windows, plus no down payment, no payments and no interest for over one full year. But there's more. If you purchase a house of windows this week, Windonation will pay your utility bills until your new windows are installed. Call 86690 Nation. Visit windonation.com by this Sunday. That's windonation.com or 86690 Nation and tell them that I told you to call.

All right, 10, I guess, takeaways from yesterday. Crazy day. It's just more 400-yard passers in the NFL through the first four weeks. The most offense we've seen in years in the NFL through four weeks. Didn't see a lot of roughing the passer penalties yesterday. I don't know what the final numbers on that were, but we'll find out soon. There was one in the Valcans-Bengals game I thought was bad, but overall it was much less controversial. All right, here's my number one takeaway from yesterday. I think the bears are for real.

I'm not 100% sure that they're a Super Bowl contender or an NFC championship contender, but they're a playoff contender. They're three and one. And if not for Aaron Rogers and that incredible comeback in that Sunday night opener at Lambo, they'd be four and oh. They've got one of the best pass rushers in the league and Khalil Mack. They've got some weapons on offense, including it would appear their quarterback. Mitch Trubisky threw six touchdown passes yesterday, six, including five in the first half of that game. Trubisky's numbers at halftime, all right, were 14 for 18 for 289, five touchdowns, plus he had rushed for 53 yards. He had accounted for in the first half, three hundred, three hundred and forty two yards of offense. Look, that's what they had four

yards in the first half. That's what the offense wants to do. That's what, you know, it's designed to do. If he's good, he's going to do that more often. The question just is, is he good, or is that just Tampa Bay Secondary being the worst in the league? Well, there's that, but, you know, maybe the more impressive thing is that Tampa Bay's offense, which has not been stopped by anybody, was completely shut down by the

Bears' defense. I do like Tark Cohen a lot. I think Jordan Howard and Alan Robinson, they've got some, you know, that Alan Robinson was a really good offseason pickup. There's some early sort of mojo with the bears right now. They're not in the Rams class at this point. And I don't know where they are in the division with respect to the Packers and the Vikings, but this is a playoff contender.

Like if you weren't buying it last week after they barely beat the Cardinals to get to two and one, and that was an ugly game, although the Cardinals nearly beat Seattle yesterday at home, the Bears look good. And to do that to Tampa defensively, no other defensively. has been able to do that was impressive. I think the bears look like right now, and through four weeks, you start to get a sense of these teams. It's far from, you know, conclusive, anything.

But I think the bears look pretty good. Takeaway number two from yesterday, and this is going to be against the grain for me, because many of you tweeted me saying, well, there's your big coaching blunder of the week what Frank Reich did in overtime for the Colts. So Frank Reich in overtime in a tie game against the Texans in overtime, fourth and four from his own 43, he decided to go for it. I didn't have a problem with it. I'm telling you, I was watching that game because CBS had switched to that game,

which meant you didn't get the giant Saints until about midway through the second quarter because of the length of this Texans Colts game. But I also had some interest in this game. The Texans were a smell test. pick, and I had them personally for the maximum allowed with my man. So I wanted Houston, the tie was fine for me. All right, the tie was, so actually, him punting and settling for a tie would have been the right thing for me in the moment, but I'm telling you when he decided to go for it, I, rooting for the Texans at that point, or for a tie, I thought they were going to get it. they had not been stopped on three previous possessions. They were down 18, rallied back from 18 in this game,

and Houston was dead. They were tired, they were shot, and the only reason they got into this fourth down situation was because of a penalty in a sack, but there was a first down penalty situation, and I thought Indy would get it. I thought that it was a better than 50-50 chance that they would convert the fourth and four.

They had some time out so that they could then shoot for fuel goal range. Here's the thing. And here's why I did like it. They didn't have timeouts because they took the time out before the play. Then with the five-yard pass, they would have had to use their last time out there. Still, their chances to win the game were to go for fourth and four. They had no chance to win the game if they don't go for it. And here's the, so in the, so let me just give you my sort of feeling in the moment. I'm rooting for Houston. I'm rooting for a tie because I've got Houston plus one in this game. Okay? they're getting a point. So a tie, I win. They had already blown an 18 point lead, and I watched a lot of the late regulation on Red Zone, and then CBS picked up the live coverage at the end of that and stayed with it until its conclusion. And I just felt like if Indy had gone for it before the decision to go for it, that they were going to get it. They were rolling offensively. Houston looked dead in the water defensively, even though J.J. Watt had a great

game yesterday. Clownie had a great game, but they looked tired at that point. And the other reason, you know, thinking about it in hindsight, is the Colts in that division. You can't lose to Houston at home if you're going to be a player in that division with Jacksonville off to the good start. Now, Tennessee off to a good start. And at that point, they probably knew Tennessee had already won against Philly. Maybe they didn't. But I don't think they took that. I'll tell you what, one in three versus one, two, and one. There's not that much of a difference. They needed to get to two and two. But more than that, it was the context. It was, I know the field position wasn't great. I thought, and I'm sure they felt, here's the one criticism of Reich. He wasn't decisive

enough. I would have just sent my offense out there, not burn the time out, not tried to draw them off sides and just gone and picked it up, because I think they would have done that. There was too much time that passed. They called time out. They tried to draw them off sides, and Houston called time out, and by the time they ran the play, you know, four minutes had passed. And that's the big thing. I don't hate the decision to go for it. I don't like the play call. I don't like only going five yards there because you still need 17 to 20 yards to get into field goal range.

And that's the big thing, is that even if they got it with that play call, you needed that 20 extra yards to get into field goal range. So for that reason, normally I always say go for it on fourth. I don't know about it at that time. I didn't have a massive problem with it. And it was certainly one of those where people were saying, oh, Frank Reich Bleu, look it. He's in his, look it, I sound like Tom. Look it, he's in his fourth game, and they're one and two,

and you got Jacksonville in the division, and now Tennessee in the division, and this is a home game against Houston, who's 0 and 3. And you got all the momentum in the game. I didn't have a massive problem with it. Takeaway number three from yesterday. Man, is Zeke Elliott a baller? I don't know what Dallas is. I've told you the last two weeks that I believe Dallas has a good defensive football team.

Zeke Elliott is their entire... We talked about Trace McSorley is Penn State's entire chance offensively. Zeke Elliott is everything. He had 152 yards rushing. He was their leading pass receiver. He caught the pass that put him in field goal range to kick the game winner.

Zeke Elliott, right now in the NFL, you could argue, is a top five player in the league. Yeah? Easily, a top five player in the league. takeaway number four. Man, did Vrable have some big stones in overtime? That was great. Big stones.

And I don't know if Philadelphia calling a timeout when he sent his field goal kicker out to kick a field goal to tie the game in overtime from 50 yards out, gave him second thought or that he was going to bring him back out anyway. But I'm sure Doug Peterson now feels like, shoot, if I hadn't called a time out, they would have lined up kicked a 50-yard field goal. And worst case is we got the ball in a top.

game 23-23 in overtime. Three-for-three on fourth down in overtime, including, you know, and then ultimately getting the game winner on a pass to Corey Davis, their first round pick from Western Michigan a year ago. Marriota threw a ball, you know, in a broken-down pocket, but he gave his receiver a chance in the end zone, and they beat Philadelphia 2623, and the Eagles are two and two. And Wentz now in two games has looked good at times. times and their pass protection has been a problem at times.

Tennessee looks like their decent football team. Look, I don't know what they've got. They were a playoff team remember last year, and they went into Arrowhead and fell behind 213 and came back in one. And a lot of those players are still there. The loss of Walker is a massive loss for them. But Tennessee's got something to them. They've now won three in a row after losing that opener.

Remember, they lost the opener to Miami in a game that took like six hours to play because of all the lightning and thunderstorm delays. Philly, two and two. I'm not, look, I'm not counting Philly out. I'm not counting Philly as anything but what they are, which is the favorite to win the division. But they've got now two losses on the road at Tampa and at Tennessee, and when you looked at that schedule,

you thought those were winnable games and they were favored in both of them to win both games. With the injuries to the running backs and everything, there's something that feels a little bit off about Philly right now. Takeaway number five. Atlanta's defense is horrible. Mike Smith coaches that defense, doesn't he? I think he, I'm pretty sure. No, no, Mike Smith's in Tampa right now. Mike Smith's in Tampa, that's right.

I knew that. Mike Smith was the head coach in Atlanta. Who is the defensive coordinator in Atlanta right now? Look that up because he's got to be on the hot seat at this point because Atlanta's offense is unstoppable. with Ridley and Jones and the whole gang. It's Marquand Manuel. Okay. Well, update that resume.

Atlanta's defense gave up 43 last week, 37 yesterday, both of those games at home. 24 to the Panthers in a win. And the other thing, just to circle back to the Philadelphia situation, remember Philadelphia could only score 18 points against Atlanta in the opener. I know it's the opener and it's early. Nobody. Philly's offense isn't quite what it was last year, and that was with Foles. But Atlanta's defense is a major problem.

And they're losing a player every game, too. I still think that they're a good enough football team to make a run and get back into, and they're not out of the race at one and three, but that's a tough start with the two home losses. Have you seen their next three games, too? What are their next three games? At Steelers, Tampa Giants. Wow. Well, they'll beat Tampa.

They'll beat the Giants. Yeah, but Temple could put up 45 on them, but that'll be over under a 80. If the Giants couldn't score and struggled to score against the Saints defense, you know, they're going to struggle against Atlanta. All right, takeaway number six. The Chargers need to replace Caleb Sturgis. This guy's a one, he's a potential wrecking crew for them in a bad way. He missed two more extra points yesterday.

He's missed three for the season. He missed a field goal. The Chargers won a game in which they were a 10 and a half point favorite over San Francisco with Beatherd. C.J. Bethard is the starter. He got banged up late. Played pretty well. The 49ers in that game had a 21-play drive.

You don't hear that very often. It ended in the field goal. Melvin Gordon is really good. I wanted to mention him. Had another 100-yard rushing day. He's so dangerous when they get him in open space. There's something missing from the Chargers right now. A team that I always seem to like and think things

will turn around for them. And they still don't have Joey Bosa out there. Ingram's a beast. They need Bosa back. They're giving up too many yards, too many points in situations where they shouldn't be. They held on to win that game, but man, that's Sturgis. Two Miss P.A.T's. Takeaway number seven.

Oakland, Oakland. So last night at 4234, I left. I actually went downtown, went to see some music. live music. My son plays in a band. Went downtown to the Petworth neighborhood. What was the name of the place? It was that? Slash.

Slash run, I think it is. Slash run, I think it was. Fun place, good place, good little music venue. And I didn't even check my phone. And I'll tell you why, because I recorded the Raven Steelers game and I didn't want to know the score. I wanted to watch it when I got home last night,

which I did. Get to that in a moment. And I didn't find out that the Raiders had won the game until I'm watching the Ravens Steelers game, and I see the score pop up on one of those full-screen kairons behind Collinsworth and Michaels. I'm like, what? 45-42, because when I

turned it off to leave, Cleveland had just made the first down, and they were three knees away from winning it. But apparently replay came in and said, uh-uh, that was one of the worst uses of replay you will ever see and it cost Cleveland the game. As did a quick whistle

on a Derrick Carr fumble, it should have been a touchdown return of a fumble in that game. Baker Mayfield was very good in his first start, really good, had some bad plays, but had many more good plays. You can see the potential there. But to see Hyde, get a first down. That was a first down. And if you don't think it was a first down, you should at least admit it was not conclusive via replay. There was no replay that showed that that ball should be moved a half-yard back and short of the sticks. That was insane. Cleveland got completely hosed,

badly. Raiders come down, score, get the two-point conversion, win the game in overtime. 45-42. Takeaway number eight. Oh, can I say one more thing about takeaway number eight? Here's the one thing. As bad as that was, it was a terrible overturn. Hugh Jackson made a mistake with just inches to go. No, you can't go for that there. You got to pun it.

If you can go for it on fourth and four, you're your own 29 yards line or whatever. And you're, what, 75% to convert? Yeah, you can't. That's a 75% you just to win the game. It doesn't matter. Your chances to win the game, even if you punt, are still 80-something percent. Because they've not only got to score, they've got to convert a two-point. You can't give them a short field in that situation.

I disagree with you on that one. I just think, I feel badly for Cleveland because they are one, two-in-one through four weeks. Could be four-and-o. Very easily could be a four-and-o football team. takeaway number eight, I think we're on. Pat Shermer, have you seen his demeanor on the sideline? There is zero emotion. I don't know.

I don't think I've seen one shot of him even speaking. The Giants take no risks offensively. They've got Beckham Jr. You've got to just keep throwing him the ball. They've got Barclay. They've got some weapons. They've got Evan Engram. And they are so.

conservative, offensively. Tough to watch them. I had them plus four. They were a smell test pick, and they got off to a 7-0 lead. And they actually, at 2618, after they went, hurry up, got the score, cut it to 8. They get the kickoff Aaron, and it gets fumbled by the kickoff returner, and the Saints are starting from their own two-yard line. They actually had a chance there at the end. But, man, they are really unimaginative and so good.

conservative offensively. I know they feel like they've got issues with that offensive line. But you've got to take some chances, man, with O'Dell Beckham Jr. Every single throw in the first half was like three yards. I mean, going down field for them is a seven-yard throw to the tight end. Takeaway number nine. The Patriots said to the dolphins yesterday, no, no. This is not, you're not going to be four and oh. going to be one and three. They beat the dolphins so badly in this game. The dolphins, Tannahill

threw for 100 yards on 11 for 20. The dolphins only took 43 offensive snaps in the game. That's a week after last week. They only had 39 offensive snaps. I would love to look at the dolphins' numbers right now on total numbers of snaps. Pro football focus will have it. It's got to be the lowest in the league and one of the lowest ever through four weeks. the Patriots outgained the dolphins in the game 449 to 172. They're 2 and 2, which is right where they were last year when they went to the Super Bowl. All right, the last takeaway, and I want to spend just a moment on this game, was last night's game.

I have said going back to before the season, and even in the off season when I was still at 980, I was like, something about the Ravens, I see it coming. They're getting weapons. Flacco's got a full off season for the first season. time. This is a top-rate organization. They're not getting left out of the playoffs this year. They're going to be a good football team. They've got young defensive talent. But more importantly, offensively, this is going to be a, this is going to be Flacco's best year. First podcast,

right before the opening up. You've been saying it. They are, to me, one of the three favorites now in the AFC to get to the Super Bowl. I would put Kansas City. in that class. I guess you've got to put New England in the class, but over the years, it's been Baltimore that's been sort of the one team that stood up to the Patriots. I really like this Ravens team. Let me just say this. They won the game 2614 last night over Pittsburgh. They made Pittsburgh look really, really average offensively. Average. They held the Steelers to 47 yards in the second half of that game. 47 total yards. in the second half of the game.

The game was very close to being a complete blowout. Alex Collins, I love Collins, fumbled going into the end zone for a 21-3 second quarter lead, and that really turned the game around in the first half, and the Steelers came down, and they were able to tie the game up at halftime. Joe Flacco was spectacular last night. Here's the thing with him.

He hasn't had any weapons. He hasn't had much of a running game, and he hasn't had much of an offensive line. here for the last few years. He is still one of the top three or four downfield throwers in the NFL. He is. You got to protect him. Got to have a running game. Got to be balanced. He threw some deep balls last night that were just beauties. Beauties. He's got John Brown who can really run. He's got Crabtree. He's got Willie Sneed who's making big catches. Those tight ends. His best, his number one pick, Hurst from Georgia.

From South Carolina, hadn't even played a game yet. Max Williams and Andrews. They both look good. This is a good football team, and it's a well-coached team per usual. 47 yards that defense held Pittsburgh, too. They were swarming defensively. I mean, Terrell Suggs looks like the Terrell Suggs of old. They're getting pressure from everywhere.

Weddle is a top-rate, high- IQ player. I'm telling you right now, this Baltimore team, unless they get ravaged by injuries, I think the Ravens are a Super Bowl team out of the AFC. Maybe the Chiefs are going to be a juggernaut out of the AFC. Reed always blows it in the playoffs, typically. It's hard to call any team with that defense, the juggernaut. Exactly. Jacksonville's got a lot that I like.

There's a lot that I like. New England, the Patriots you know, will be there. but the Ravens, and when do they play the Bengals for a second time, that's got to be, a lot of their division games, big division games, are wrapped up early this year. I think they play Pittsburgh for a second time in week nine. November 18th. And that'll be in Baltimore.

For those of you that are going to say, Jesus, She and enough with the Baltimore Ravens thing. I'm not a Ravens fan. I can't stand most things, Baltimore. But over the last five, six, seven, ten years, given the state of the organization that I love, it's just been hard not to take a step back and appreciate how well-run, how smart, how tough they are as an organization.

And there's been something about Flacco that I've always just said to all those people that say that he's not a good quarterback. He is a decent quarterback. You've got to put some stuff around him, and they've got the stuff around him this year. that was actually a dominant second half, and the score could have been worse in the first half. The Ravens are going to be very, very difficult to deal with this year. All right, I want to tell you about somebody else who has joined us on this show that I am absolutely thrilled with,

because after many, many years of being a support on 980, Ferris Chrysler Dodge Jeep is back with me. Ralph Perkins, my good friend, and he is a good friend, and I've talked to him a lot here in recent weeks, and we got together for lunch. But he's another guy, like the Window Nation people. They're excited about the podcast. They've listened to the podcast. They know the response we're getting to this podcast

has been overwhelming so far, and I thank all of you for that. But Ralph Perkins and Farish are back with me. Ralph and Kevin Farish have been friends for years. They've partnered with me on 9-8. for over a decade, and I can't thank them enough again for being behind this venture as well. As I've said with Wind Donation, if you like this show and you're thinking about buying something new, I give you my word that you will be happy if you call Ralph and you head out to Farish and Fairfax.

They've got plenty of inventory right now, great deals right now. Any Jeep right now you're going to save big. They're located right there in Fairfax Circle. Ask for Ralph Perkins when you get there. tell them that I sent you. Say Kevin Sheehan told me to ask for Ralph Perkins and they'll walk you right back to Ralph's officer. He'll come out and meet you if he's there.

He's in the store virtually every day, including weekends. But you can find out everything Farish has right now, live inventory, live pricing by going to Farish Cars.com. All right, a couple of other NFL notes before I get to weekend DVR. Through four weeks of this season, we've got one winless team in the Cardinals, and we've got two undefeated teams with the Chiefs and the Rams, and the Chiefs play tonight.

I actually kind of like Denver, and I think they've got a really good chance to win that. It's a good Monday night game. A great Monday night game. Everybody else in the league is basically within about a game of being in it. This is the NFL typically. I'm not saying that this is something really new. You typically have two or three teams. At the top, one or two teams at the bottom, and then like 25 to 28, right there in the middle,

that four weeks into the season, and trust me, by the time we get to eight weeks in the season, 25 teams are still going to be right there in the thick of it. But it is one of those seasons where really other than the Rams. I'm not even so sure the Cardinals are what they were in the first two weeks of the season, because Josh Rosen didn't look great in the first half, but led a big drive to tie the game late and had them in range for a go-head, field goal with under two minutes to go making some very big throws for them in his first start. But you have one team right now, one team that looks to be head and shoulders above everybody

else, and that's the Rams. Everybody else, what do you really know at this point? Like, who's really, really good other than the Rams? We'll find out something about the Chiefs tonight. I feel like every other team has a big glaring hole. I don't know if I'm, I know I'm on this, I know I'm beating this to death, but I'm telling you right now that the Ravens, I've seen this before with them. Because there is a culture there, a tough culture. I just think that they are, I told you this before the season started, 11 plus wins. I'm not so sure it won't be 12th when all said and done. But there's time to sort that one out.

I can certainly see why most people wouldn't be with me necessarily on that. I've also liked the Giants, and they're one and three. And I expected them to turn it around, and they look terrible on offense yesterday. But what do you know? Like, the Eagles, they don't look like the best team in a defending Super Bowl champ at this point. Minnesota's defense is so horrible. Who saw that coming? Nobody saw that coming.

Green Bay has got Aaron Rogers, you know, limping around. You know, in the NFC South, the Saints and the, and the, Falcons right now don't have defenses that make you believe that they can win the whole thing. Out West, it's going to be a joke in the NFC West. It's going to be a joke. It's over already. It's one of those typical NFL seasons where it's going to take a while to sort it out. But right now, the only thing I think you can really say that you know for sure, I think there are two things I can say. Rams are going to be a playoff team, and I believe the Ravens are going to be a playoff team. Those are the two things that through four weeks of the season I feel very confident about.

One other quick thing I want to get to before we get to just a couple of notes in weekend DVR. The story came out after the show on Friday, I think. It may have been before the show and we just missed it, that Doug Williams had been on with Doc Walker on 980. And Doug Williams had told him a story about how Dan Snyder had gotten upset. that Doug had essentially made a unilateral decision to bring Adrian Peterson in for a workout. The story that he told said Eric Schaefer and Doug Williams started talking about it with some of the running back issues in training camp, and they said, should we bounce it off, Bruce, and the other guys,

now let's just do it. Let's just bring it Adrian Peterson. And he said basically he was, you know, he was slapped by like he would be like by a parent. not literally, but figuratively, like, you know, dressed down a little bit for doing that without letting Bruce and Dan know. And so, of course, with that story, came on the heels of Tommy and I talking last week about how I said the owner's really not involved. He's just not involved like you think. If that story is true, yes, there's a troubling aspect to that story.

All right. Doug Williams, you know, keep in mind, Doug also made the comment about the Alex Smith trade that he didn't even know about it, that, you know, they called him the morning after to tell him. And he was, you know, he's great. Here he is essentially the EVP of football operations, the de facto GM. And he didn't even know about the biggest trade the team's made in a few years, several years, long time. And so admitting that made the organization look pretty bad. So admitting what he admitted the other day, makes the organization not very happy. And I'm hearing that behind the scenes, they don't want Doug really to talk like he's been talking in that interview with Doc. Doc did a good job of getting that story out of Doug. But it is a little bit revealing. And I've heard some things over the last couple of years about how the owner has not been very happy with Bruce, especially as it related to the Scott McLuhan thing.

You know, that Scott McLuhan story is not over yet. There is still that hearing, well, the arbitration findings that will get released at some point, you know, about whether or not he should have been fired with cause versus without cause. And if it's without cause, he's owed some money there. And who knows what will come out of that story? I just, it's, it's always something. Like, you know, we said Tommy and I were having the conversation last week, what could derail a positive, you know, feel to this season so far through three weeks?

Well, this kind of stuff. You know, this kind of stuff. And hopefully they'll just recognize that Doug is honest, and when he's interviewed, we'll tell stories, and they shouldn't get all that worked up over it. What they should let Doug do is bring in Adrian Peterson for a workout if he wants to bring Adrian Peterson in for a workout. He didn't sign him. he had to pass the workout.

He had to impress Jay Gruden and the coaches. But Doug's got a title that would suggest to me that he can bring in Adrian Peterson for a workout if he wants to. As far as the reaction, if true, from the owner, it's not one you want to hear if you want to hear that the organization is a little bit more stable than it used to be. I will grant you that. Let's get to Weekend DVR.

All right, a couple of things. The smell test. five, seven, and one over the weekend. So after a great week last year, a little bit of a step back. College games did not go well. Liberty won outright, Aaron, gave out Liberty Plus 7. A bunch of you tweeted me and said that you love it when I have these obscure teams and the smell test. And somebody tweeted me and said,

every time you throw in a school I've never heard of and didn't know play college football, didn't know that they actually played college football, that team usually actually covers. Liberty, yeah, was plus seven against New Mexico. They won the game outright, 52 to 43. But the Clemson game, the lane 25, they were lucky to win the game. And you had, you know, boy, what a situation at Clemson. I mean, Davos Sweeney went on and on after the game

about how this is one of the most memorable wins in his coaching career because it shows how unified the team is. And meantime, Trevor Lawrence got hurt, the quarterback that he went to with Kelly Bryant, then transferring, there's my phone. I didn't turn my ringer off. And they came in with this third stringer who throws a big, you know, pass on fourth down in a game that if he didn't convert that, they lose to Syracuse. Syracuse must be pretty good. They must be pretty good.

I guess they're at least okay. They're more than okay. Man, did that coach blow it? Well, yeah. He'll be in the coaching blunders tomorrow. I don't understand why coaches that are losing or potentially a bad guy. to start losing a game, don't understand that more time is better than less time. LSU, keep an eye on them.

God, the SEC West. The SEC East with Georgia and what, look out for Florida. I told you before the season, there were a couple of teams that I really liked that were sort of under the radar. Florida and Mississippi State, well, Florida beat Mississippi State the other night. Their defense is unbelievable, as is LSU's. and LSU's got a quarterback. The SEC all year long, Florida LSU this week.

Florida LSU this coming Saturday. What a game. And LSU is only a three-point favorite. I have a feeling the Gators are going to be in the smell test. The Nats finished up their season over the weekend, and now we wait on the Bryce Harper watch. And two wild-cart games or two division title games today. What a crazy setup for, for, for,

baseball this week. You've got the Dodgers and the Rockies for the National League West. You've got the Brewers and the Cubs for the National League Central. The two losers then play in the wild card game against each other. So a wild postseason week with this, with the two playoff games, if you will, to determine the division winners. And I don't know what the aggregate run count was yesterday for the teams that needed to win, which were the Dodgers and the Rockies and the Brewers and the Cubs, but it seemed at one point watching yesterday, it was like, you know, 63 to 3 in terms of runs. Like the teams they played had no chance yesterday. The Nationals lost 12-0 to Colorado. The Dodgers beat the Giants 15 to nothing. So the two teams that needed to win to force this

division playoff game, the Dodgers and the Rockies outscored their opponents 27 to nothing. The Brewers beat the Tigers. They had to win. 11 to nothing. All right. So that's what? What are we up to now? 38 nothing. And then what did the Cubs do at 10 to 5 over the Cardinals?

All right. So 48 to 5 was the aggregate run total for the four National League teams that needed to win yesterday. It's like week 17 in the NFL. I guess. The playoffs played the teams that are. But it's baseball. Like the other teams just didn't post for some reason. Last thing.

And then we'll finish up the show for today, the Ryder Cup from over the weekend. And because I was up at Penn State, I watched a lot of it, but not as much as I typically watch. But Tiger Woods, he must have just been shot. Like, for those that were convinced that he was going to wear down during the FedEx Cup run playing almost every week, and then he wins finally in the Tour Championship last week in Atlanta. He didn't play poorly in the Ryder Cup, but his 0-4 result in the Ryder Cup, I think is the first 0-and-4 result for an American player since 1979. You know, he was just on the wrong side of every matchup all weekend long.

Molinari became the first to go 5-0 and win a major in the same year. He was spectacular the whole weekend. Phil and Speath weren't very good. Apparently Patrick Reed is upset that he wasn't paired with Speeth. he was paired with Tiger instead. The Americans got completely blown out in France. But hey, two years from now, they get to play it back over here. Thanks, Aaron, for today.

Thanks to all of you. Thanks to Windon Nation. Thanks to Farish Chrysler Dodge Jeep. Thanks to launch workplaces in Bethesda. Back tomorrow with Tommy. Enjoy the day.