The Kevin Sheehan Show - Redskins/Giants: Trap Game Or Not?

Episode Date: October 26, 2018

Kevin takes a look at the Redskins/Giants game and asks the question everyone seems to be asking: is this a trap game for the Redskins? He breaks everything down with what the Redskins need to do to win. Chris Russell then calls in to help preview of Sunday's game. Kevin goes through all of NFL Week 8 and the college football games you need to pay attention to (including everything that's going on at Maryland) in his Friday Football Quick Picks, before giving his bets in the Smell Test. He wraps up the show with Andy Pollin giving his historical takes on Redskins/Giants, and then Kevin, Andy and Bram Weinstein all give their predictions. <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. The show's presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, new Windows, call 86690 Nation, please, or go to WindowNation.com. They will take good care of you. Tell them that I told you to call. The Redskins beat Giants if is coming up. Chris Russell, my old pregame show partner at 980, is going to join me on. the show today. Andy Poland a little later on, smell test, Friday football quick picks, all of that we are going to get to. Josh Norman went off yesterday on Eric Reed's criticism of Malcolm Jenkins. Remember, they got into it a little bit in the Carolina Eagle game last weekend. I guess I can get into this a little bit later on, but to be honest with you, I don't really feel like I've got a dog in the fight. Not a lot of emotion on this particular top topic. Look, with respect, to the anthem issue, from the beginning, I always thought that the message would be masked by the means for many. That turned out to be true, but I also have acknowledged from my perspective

that both sides, every side in this debate, everybody makes great points. Everybody makes great points. And clearly the message that Colin Kaepernick and players were trying to get across about the treatment by police of young African-American men, that is a serious issue. And anybody that has really lived the last 15 years with respect to some of these cases that have become so public and a part of our consciousness, understand that.

But maybe later in the show, I'll get into the Josh Norman stuff and what he said. But you know what, it's Friday. We got games to talk about. We got games to talk about And I want to start with this I gave out Georgia Tech yesterday Plus the three Aaron as sort of a lean

I told you I wanted to smell test it I liked it I played it personally They crushed Virginia Tech 49 to 28 but that's not why I bring up the game I bring up the game because probably most of you didn't see it you were watching the NFL game I was one of them The Yellow Jackets last night in Blacksburg

ran the ball 78 times for 465 yards. They threw it one time. It was incomplete. They were zero for one throwing the football for zero yards and won the game 49 to 28. They ran it 78 times. They threw it one time. They won the game without a completed pass. I'm sure we've seen this before.

looking for it in the game story didn't see it. And I probably could have looked harder. In triple option football over the years, there have been these kinds of games with Navy or Georgia Tech or Air Force or Army where, you know, they've run it so much more. But I don't think I remember zero completed passes in a game. And only one attempt to throw the football. The time of possession difference was 42 minutes, 18 seconds for Georgia Tech, 17 minutes, 42, seconds for Virginia Tech. Anyway, they won that game big. I always, as I'm watching these things unfold, I'm always like, damn, I should

have just given it out. And the reason I didn't give it out as a smell test play, but just as a lean last night, is that there wasn't an overwhelming public sort of on Virginia Tech play. There was a little bit of sharp money on Georgia Tech, which is why I like tech more than the public thing. And I just, I felt like Virginia Tech was a little bit overrated defensively this year, but I didn't give it out. And the other thing that I leaned towards, and I've mentioned this a couple of times here in the last few weeks about how Houston, certainly in the last week, I know there have been the NFL buyer sell segment and then yesterday in the power pole,

I didn't put Houston in the top five, but I said they are the team to keep an eye on. They're dangerous. They're going to be a tough out in January because I think they're going to get there. But I leaned them minus seven last night, and they probably had their most impressive win of the year. 42 to 23 over Miami. Deshawn Watson last night, five touchdown passes, and he was 16 of 20. And there were some Houdini Axe from Watson last night. That one touchdown where it was falling to his left? Yeah.

I mean, he really, look, I love their defense, and I love the fact that Lamar Miller and Dianre and Deshawn Watson that they've got playmakers. They are the best team in the AFC South. They've won five in a row after losing their first three. They're a fun team to watch. They will be here three weeks from this Sunday to face the Redskins. And in my view, they are going to be a January playoff team as an AFC South champion. And they're going to be a tough team to deal with because defense travels. Now, we'll find out this year if this big offensive year trumps great defense when we get to December and January. But Houston's got right now a dynamic offense with playmakers, and they've got a really

good defense. So you were thinking that Tom Wilson's 20-game suspension would get reduced upon appeal. Well, that's not going to happen. Commissioner Gary Bettman rejected the NHLPA's appeal of the 20-game ban. And remember this, Aaron. We had multiple people on, after the Tom Wilson's suspension was announced, 20 games, and every single person to a man said, this will get reduced upon appeal because they put it at such a severe 20 game suspension number because they wanted, they were leaving room for the appeal and a reduction to something like 10 games or 12 games. Uh-uh. And here's what Gary Bettman said. Quote, Mr. Wilson's involvement in yet another illegal and dangerous head check so soon,

after his August meeting with player safety head, George Peros, strongly suggests to me that Mr. Wilson is not getting the message, and it reinforced my firm conviction that the lengthy suspension issued by the league, in this case, was necessary and appropriate. And he finished off that quote by saying, I reject the PA's suggestion that an eight-game suspension is sufficient under these circumstances. That was adamant, definitive, Betman, because of the repeat offending,

was not going to let Tom Wilson walk with any message other than, you better not do this again or you're going to be done for the year. So I thought that was interesting, especially given that all these people had really suggested to us that they were expecting a reduction in the suspension. Caps lost last night in Edmonton, if you were wondering, 4 to 1. and the young star Connor McDavid, he scored last night.

He's really good. Two things about that real quick. One, there is a chance if he wants to. He can appeal the appeal? He can appeal the appeal? To a neutral arbitrator. That is possible. The other thing is one thing that seemed really that was quoted a lot.

Apparently they interviewed Brian McClell and the GM about it, and he even said, yeah, he probably could have adjusted his hit. So that's one of the reasons they rejected that, thought that there was nothing he could do, is because the Caps GM himself said, you can't. Thanks for that. Yeah. Thanks for that, Mr. GM. One quick NBA note, the Houston Rockets reportedly offered four first round picks to Minnesota for Jimmy Butler.

In most sports, that would seem to be an obscene amount of compensation to offer for one player. Not in the NBA. You take the sure thing, which is Jimmy Butler, over prospects, especially prospects that may be in the bottom quarter of the drafts. And remember, you can't give away back-to-back years of first-round picks. So it's really four picks in the next eight years or seven as it would turn out because they'd get the first one the first year. So those of you that tweeted me last night, my answer is I would absolutely consider giving up four first-round picks for Jimmy Butler to go for it right now. The NBA's prospects, late first-rounders are more miss than hit, and Jimmy Butler is a big hit. All right, let's get to Redskins beat Giants if.

All right, the Redskins are going to beat the Giants if. They don't fall into the trap that most NFL teams fall into, which is a big win, an emotionally draining win over an arch rival one week, and then the next week you don't play well. It's the cliched letdown spot. This is clearly what Vegas believes, right? Because right now you've got a one-and-six football team that's trading off some of its parts, but they believe the Giants are a live dog this week, not literally live dog,

because the game is now a pick-em game. I have no idea what to expect from the Giants, but I know that they are capable of playing better than their record would indicate. The Redskins beat the Giants if they come ready and don't fall into that trap of letdown after an emotionally draining win. The Redskins will beat the Giants if they get off to a quick start, grab a lead. This plays well for them on three fronts. First, it's always good to score first in an NFL game. Scoring first always increases your win probability. But for the Redskins this year, they appear to be a team, at least right now, that needs to win the way they've won the last two weeks, the formula that I've described after they beat Carolina. Run the ball, stop the run,

win the turnover battle, win the field position battle, play good special teams, don't commit killer penalties. More games in the NFL are lost, not one. And they've gone out and not lost the last two weeks. If they get behind by too much, they'll be out of their comfort zone. The other part of that, too, is the skins start fast this week against the Giants. Let's say they get out to a 10-0-0 lead or a 13-0-0-lead or a 14-0-lead. It could be turn, tails, and bail time for the Giants at 1-6. I think they will come motivated, but if you jump on them early, maybe that's it. The Redskins will beat the Giants if they take advantage of a bad offensive line in New York, and they disrupt everything that the Giants will try to do offensively.

Stop the run, quick pressure on Eli. The Falcons got pressure quickly and stop the run. The Redskins have a better defensive front than Atlanta. Be disruptive up front against really one of the worst. offensive lines I've seen in recent NFL history. The Redskins last year when they had all the injured players out, that was a sieve for a three or four game stretch. The Giants are worse. Skins will beat the Giants if they tackle well. Saquan Barkley, O'Dell Beckham Jr. can take a little something and turn it into a big something if you don't tackle well. And a couple of

those little somethings turning into big somethings could be the difference between two to three scores and two to three forced punts. Tackle will on Sunday. Lastly, the Redskins will beat the Giants if they do what they've done the last two weeks. Run the ball, stop the run, get turnovers without giving one back. They don't need to be plus two or plus three this week. Plus one would be great. Make the Giants win and score with that offensive line by going to 80 yards, or at least 50 yards to attempt a field goal. I said last week, and I said it's not sexy, but pun it. Take the checkdown on third and long and pun it.

Field position has been so big for them the last two weeks. Last week, their average starting field position was the 33-yard line, and Dallas's was their own 21. You have a 12-yard difference in field position start. You're going to be in really good shape and a lot of NFL games. All right, let's bring in Chris Russell, my friend of many years at 980. We did the pregame show together there for a few years. And of course, Chris has been over the past few years at 106-7, The Fan.

And I'm glad to catch up with you. You know, I always enjoyed our conversations. Absolutely. And so it'll be fun to do it today. I want to start with this, and that is, you know, some of the players that have been injured. And some of those players, we weren't sure we're, were injured as seriously as they may be. What is the deal with Quentin Dunbar, this nerve thing? Is this a potential serious, long-lasting injury?

Yeah, first of all, Kevin, it's great to be on with you after all these years. You know, we used to do a lot of radio together, and we've been denied that over the last couple of years because of logistics and all that stuff. So, first of all, thanks for having me. It's great to be on with you. But, yeah, as far as Dunbar, you know, I get nervous. any time we hear about nerve and nerve regeneration. You know, these things sometimes take a couple of weeks. I mean, I don't think it'll be a long-term debilitating thing, but I don't know if he goes this Sunday against the Giants.

And, you know, that could be problematic, and certainly it will be problematic if he can't go next Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons at FedEx when you bring in Julio Jones and Calvin Redley. And, you know, I don't want to go too far here, and I'm not a doctor, but whenever you talk about contusion turning into nerve damage, You always worry about that because we've seen, you know, and it's a different injury. But you've seen guys like Kishon Jarrett, you know, the promising once promising rookie safety, you know, special teams ace who never was able to get feeling back because of nerve damage.

Again, that's an extreme. But it is concerning for a guy who obviously has to use his wheels to do his job. Look, with him or without him, I just have had this gut feeling that, they may make some sort of move prior to the trade deadline when it comes to a corner. You know, if they were to beat the Giants down this weekend, maybe Janoris Jenkins is available. You know, Patrick Peterson is going to be pricey, and it sounds like, you know, they've worked things out there. But do you think there's a chance they make a move for a corner or any other player at any other position before the trade deadline? Yes. Janaris Jenkins was the guy, not that I love him, Kevin, I'm so glad you mentioned it, and that's why we always thought alike. That's the guy that I think can be most easily had at a need position that you know, yet he's susceptible to biting on double moves. So are many corners. But that guy is physical, he's feisty, he's experienced, and he's got some ball hawking tendencies. And I think they can add him a guy like him. Now, whether the Giants would trade him in the division, I don't know.

But I think they could add a guy like that relatively cheap. Whereas Patrick Peterson, I had a long time NFL evaluator tell me the other day, you know, when I asked him specifically, hey, who would you rather have in this scenario that I cooked up, Demarius Thomas from the Broncos, the wide receiver, or Patrick Peterson from the Cardinals. And this was before Peterson came out with his statement. He said, oh, he easily Patrick Peterson. And I said, well, what would you be willing to pay for him?

He goes a first-round pick. Now, mind you, this is somebody that thought, the Cowboys were just insane for paying a first-round pick. I think they were too. And I do too, but, you know, but again, he would pay a first-round pick in his opinion for Patrick Peterson. So would I. So would I. Yeah.

Would you? I wouldn't. Honestly, as much as I love the player, and I know what you could be getting, I do worry a little bit about, you know, I do worry a little bit about guys, you know, starting to head towards the age of 30. I know he's not there yet. I know he's a really good player, Kevin, but, you know, to me, first round picks, and I know there are no guarantees with Kyle Smith running the draft and more, to me, are much more valuable than even they used to be,

especially because, as we always used to talk about, when you don't have to pay these guys first round picks a whole bunch of money, regardless of where they are in terms of slotting in terms of the pick, you can get a really good player at a really low cost. Peterson's a really good player. You don't know how he transitions over to this system, this scheme, this town, this everything. But to give up a first-round pick and I have to pay him $12, $13 million a year, I'm a little hesitant to do that.

Yeah, I would never have given Oakland a first for Amari Cooper. There are a lot of reasons for that. One of the big reasons is I just don't. know what that position does in terms of, you know, over a 16-game schedule to help you win more games. But I feel differently about the cornerback position. And I think they need one. But if you told me that it was a pass rusher in their spot in this draft, a legitimate outside-edge pass-rusher, that could really make an impact, and I would not give up that pick for Peterson. Let me just get to a couple of other things real quickly before we get to Alex Smith.

Is Crowder going to play Sunday or not? I don't think so. But Thompson will, right? I think so based on everything. I've heard that he's certainly going to give it a try barring some sort of setback in pregame warm-ups. I'd be shocked if he's ruled out today or Saturday morning. It might be just a pain tolerance type thing where they've given them a couple of weeks. Remember, you know, the first week was a short week, kind of what the job.

are doing this week, Kev, you know, going late Monday night, road trip back from New Orleans early Sunday game. That's exactly what the Giants are doing. So I wasn't surprised at all by that. I was a little surprised by last week. I expect Tom to play. I don't expect Crowder to play. I think Crowder should be back, should be back for Atlanta, but I don't think he'll play this week. All right. Is Jay Gruden frustrated with Alex Smith? I think he is. I mean, I think you can see the body language, and he damn well should be. I'm sure you've talked about this a million times. I've been on this since week two. I don't think this is an issue, and you correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think this is an issue of Alex Smith can't throw deep, doesn't look deep, doesn't try.

I think he's wildly inaccurate, short, intermediate, and deep, and that's driving me insane. And if it's driving me insane, it's got to be driving Jay Gruden insane. And I think he sometimes too quick trigger to leave the pocket and to escape and to try and make something out of nothing, which I get. I understand that's part of what you brought him in, but the inaccuracy and the ball location, high, behind, wide, over the top of guys running free, deep, missing guys that are seemingly wide open is mystifying to me. I've never seen this Alex Smith, quite honestly.

I can only hope, Kevin, maybe I'm missing something here. that this is just simply not being on the same page rhythm with everyone, including his receivers and the guy that's calling the plays. Yeah, I think he's giving up too early on plays. I also think that he doesn't look as quick as a scrambler as he did, which concerns me a little bit. But I also think that it'll get better as the season goes on, or at least I'm hopeful.

I'm with you on that. I'm with you on that. Move to two other things, real quickly and then I'll let your run. Is anyone making a big deal anymore about Josh Norman and his rivalry with Odell Beckham Jr.? This was supposed to be a year-in, year-out, two-game war, and I don't think anybody cares about it anymore. No, you know, that's a great point. I didn't even think about it once, to be honest with you, right? Which tells you where it is. Maybe we're all wrong and maybe we're missing something and maybe something will happen on Sunday.

I hope it doesn't because you've got two incredible hotheads. I think Josh Norman, and I can just more speak of him, I mean, Odell is a lunatic. We all know that, but he's such a talented player that you just live with it, and that's what the Giants are doing. And again, that's proven almost every week, and I know they have other issues. But Odell, whereas Josh, you know, like the last thing I want him doing is whooping at anybody getting involved in any of this nonsense talking about Eric Reed, talking about Players Coalition, O'Dell, this, that.

Kepp, he's got enough problems to deal with. I mean, you know this. You reported on the headset thing. This was before the headset thing, Monday night, New Orleans, but really afterwards, that week, I'm not sure what exactly you heard, but I was told that there were people, high-ranking people in that organization

that were like, let's move on from this guy right now. And maybe not like that week, but like if this didn't get really, you know, better really quick, like before the end of the season, not just after the season when I think that decision's already practically been made. Oh, yeah, it's done. This is it for him. And he stayed off elimination by that performance against Carolina and now the two wins

in a row. So Josh Norman's got to get his head in the right place, which it has been the last two weeks. Forget about Odell Beckham. Don't do anything stupid. I don't care what you need to get yourself going. Here's what you need, pal. You need a turnover. That's what you need.

All right, last thing. Do you think the team's taking Jay Gruden at his word that a one and six opponent in the Meadowlands is a live dog, so to speak, and that they are very capable of winning this game the Giants are? Do you think his, look, he's got a young team in spots on defense in particular. You know, I heard him in his press conference the other day, you know, put the caution, put the warning out there. I think he gets it. Do you think the team gets it? I think finally because of Indianapolis and because of how bad they were in New Orleans off the 15 days, yes, I think, I hope, I pray. I don't know how you can not watch tape of O'Dell Beck and Saquan Barclay and go, oh, my God, if we don't come with our lunch pail and that mentality that we came with the last two weeks and against Green Bay and against Arizona, we are going to get our ass kick. I don't know how you, I don't know how you co. any other mentality than that. And I'm thankful, I'll just say this, and I'll wrap it up

quickly with this, I'm thankful for Jonathan Allen and DJ Sweringer. I don't love everything Sweringer does, but I'm thankful for guys like that that are vocal leaders, that are doing it by example, that are taking a kick-ass mentality, because for far too long, this team has had too many nice guys, too many, you know, like, you know, everything will be okay, guys. This team needs more fire and brimstone guys, and I think those two guys, clearly, have that and have installed a little bit of a different mentality, I think, going into this game. Thank you for doing this. I really appreciate it. It's good to catch up. Yeah, Cap, great to be on with you and appreciate the invite. Let's do it again.

We'll do it again soon. Thanks. Chris Russell, everybody. Haven't talked to him in this setting for, I don't know, four years. Andy just walked into the studio. When did Russell leave 980? You got to get on the mic here. Got to turn on the mic. That's the way it works here. Okay. Let's see. He was not renewed in the summer of 15 by a program director who lasted another 15 minutes or so. Or so. All right. Thanks to Chris. Window Nation is my favorite window company, and I want it to be yours, too. Harley and Aaron from Window Nation are fans and believers in this podcast and me. I want you to trust in them if you're looking for new windows. Temperatures are falling fast. It's a great reminder that your window, pun intended, for getting windows installed before the holidays and snow hits is closing. While most window companies are experiencing 12-week lead times, Window Nation can do it in less than half the time and save you

half the money. Call today, get two free windows for every two you buy, buy four, get four free, by six, get six free. There is no limit. And there's only one thing better than free windows, free financing. And for the next two weeks, Windonation is offering no interest for five full years. New windows now, no interest for 60 months. Call the window company that over 80,000 homeowners, including me, have already trusted and take advantage of this amazing offer now, getting two windows for every two windows you buy, and zero percent interest for five full years. Go to windonation.com, save this winter, and forever on your energy bills, eliminate those nasty drafts, and start enjoying all the benefits of new windows today. That's windonation.com or call 866 90 Nation. All right, let's get to

some Friday Football QuickPix. Everything you need to know for your football weekend. It's Friday Football QuickPix. All right, smell test is coming up plus eight units, 55% on the year. Eight of the last 12 years winning with no predictive analytics like it's the stock market or like you're playing cards, a big difference. Trust me. I was on with Jeff Ma earlier this morning on Tony's show. Good guy, and he apparently has a winning record too, but I think even he knows there's no predictive analytical modeling for sports betting. It's different than counting cards, or investing in the stock market, much different. My friends who live in warm tropical locales in the Caribbean, they would line up to take his action.

line up to take his action. We'll get to the smell test. It's coming up shortly. Games of the weekend, Florida, Georgia tomorrow. This is it in the SEC East. Now, Kentucky actually has a loss, but they've beaten Florida. So technically, they could run the table beating Georgia. They play Missouri tomorrow and win the SEC East. I think tomorrow's Florida-Georgia game basically will decide it.

You are talking about the fastest defense in the country. in Florida's. All three levels, NFL talent on all three levels. Up front, linebackers, secondary, the fastest defense in the country. They are fun to watch. They are limited offensively. But if they can win this game tomorrow, I think Florida, you're going to end up with a Florida Bama more likely than not, unless LSU can beat Alabama next week in Death Valley, a Florida Bama SEC title game unless Georgia wins tomorrow. In Georgia, they've got a badass defense. well. And the difference could be Georgia's running game. And if you have not seen Evander Holyfield's son Elijah play yet, oh my God, is he tough? He's as physical a runner as there is in

college football. He is a pro running back. And coming into this season, after the season of Nick Chubb and Sony Michelle last year, they had DeAndre Swift. If you recall, they played Swift in the playoff win over Oklahoma and even in the national championship game. And you were like, my God, he's gifted, he's talented. Well, Holyfield has taken a lot of his carries. This game tomorrow could easily be 1310, 17, 14. I think Florida's been building towards this one. They beat LSU to sort of announce themselves as an SEC East contender. This would put them in the driver's seat. Georgia embarrassed the Gators last year, 42 to 7. I like Florida's chances tomorrow. I like them plus the seven. Stay tuned to find out if it's a smell test pick, but this would not only put them

in legitimate contention for the SEC East title, but if they were to play Bama and beat them, and I don't think they would, all right, I'm not suggesting that in the SEC title game in Atlanta in early December, they could potentially be the surprise long shot final four team right now. The bottom line is this is an elimination game. If Georgia loses, they're out no matter what happens. That's really it on the college slate tomorrow. It's not a great college board. Clemson's a 17-point favorite in Tallahassee against Florida State. The Knowles have been better recently, winning three of their last four, with that one loss being Aaron, that big blown lead at Miami. So they could be on a four-game win streak. Clemson's just better. If you forced me to play this game,

I'd probably play the underdog and take the points. You know, Clemson was a smell test pick last week laying all those points to NC State, and the number went from 17 to 18 and a half. And I said last Friday, get it at 17. It's going higher. There's a ton of sharp action from some of the offshore people that I had talked to on Clemson, and they housed NC State. And now people will look at Clemson and think, well, they'll do the same to Florida State because Florida State's worse than NC State. I don't know that Florida State's that much worse than NC State. They can't win this game, but they can keep it close. Let's go to Sunday. The first game of the day, like, last week is actually an important game. It's Philadelphia and Jacksonville. And remember,

some people had this as the Super Bowl matchup before the season started. Now both teams are sort of playing with their season on the line to a certain extent, both of them at three and four. The Jags have lost three in a row, and none of those games were close. The Eagles blew a 17-0-0 lead and lost to the Panthers last week, and now they've lost three of their last four. I don't think the Eagles are done with a loss at 3 and 5. But to get to the first half mark at 3 and 5 for them would be a major surprise based on what we thought they were before the season started. I think something's wrong with Philadelphia, and I'm not sure they're going to get out of it anytime soon. I felt differently. Aaron, remember last week I said, I expect Philly to bounce back

and get on a run here and be a really solid team in December. But something about that lost last week. They gave up three drives of 75 yards plus in the fourth quarter. They buckled. They gave it away. And then that final drive, I mean, Carson Wentz airmailed that pass to Ertz, which got picked off by Eric Reed and somehow overturned by replay. Here's an interesting game on Sunday.

Seattle at Detroit, you know how much I think the Lions are underrated and that they could make a playoff kind of run this year. A lot of people feel the same way about Seattle, especially after they took the Rams. They're the only team to really push the Rams this year. I think this is one of those games you may look back on in December and say the team that won this game is the wild card team and the team that didn't is out. Because I think both teams are capable. I like the Lions. I think they're very underrated.

They traded for Damon Harrison, Snacks Harrison this week, to really upgrade their defensive interior. For whatever reason, I think this is the year, but then again, I thought last year was going to be the year for the Lions too, and I was dead wrong. Carry on Johnson, though, is I loved him coming out of the draft. He's not Seguan Barclay, but I always felt like he was the second best back in last year's draft,

and he's proving it right now. Now, he had 158 yards last week on 19 carries. They're going to start getting them more and more touches, and he's going to be a guy that's going to be in consideration when we get to the end of the season for NFC rookie of the year. Baltimore is minus two at Carolina on Sunday. After that painful loss to New Orleans where Justin Tucker missed the extra point, the Ravens are still my pick to go deep into the AFC playoffs.

And, you know, the price is getting longer in terms of the probability. I think I saw them the other day at like 25 to 1 to win the AFC title. And if they lose this weekend and they're four and four, they're going to be way back there. I just think defensively they're the best team that I've seen in the NFL this year. And they held New Orleans to seven points through three quarters of that game. Norlands is really good on offense in particular. Ballmore's schedule, I don't think I've mentioned this. And you know what I think about schedules, like predicting what it will be at the end of the year versus now.

But right now, the way it stacks up, they're at Carolina, after New Orleans last week, at Carolina. They still have games at Arrowhead in L.A. against the Chargers, at Atlanta. And Atlanta's very capable, offensively in particular. They still have games with Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. Both of those are home games. But it is a brutal schedule, at least on paper now, the rest of the way.

Sunday and Charlotte for them is a big game. It's a big game for both of the team. teams in the game. Two physical teams, I just think Baltimore is so tough if they make you one-dimensional, and I think they're going to do that to Carolina. I like Baltimore on the road laying the two. Again, this isn't the smell test. Smell test coming up with the official picks. They may be in it, though. The two best games of the day are back-to-back, 425 on Fox, and then the Sunday night game. Green Bay at the Rams, the Rams are minus nine and a half. Aaron Rogers has never been a bigger underdog than he is Sunday in L.A. against the Rams. The Packers are off a bye week. The Rams

back home after winning three in a row on the road. They won at Seattle in that tight game, at Denver, then they blew out the 49ers last week. The Packers always have a chance with Rogers, but I think in this one, they're going to need to run the football a ton. I mean, their best defense is going to be their offense, and it's not typically what they do. They're going to have to keep pace. They're going to have to score 30 plus. They're probably going to have to have a six-minute time of possession advantage. They're probably going to have to be plus two or better because I just don't think they can stop the Rams. I don't think they can stop them. And the Rams being back home as a 7-0 team. And I know it's not a great home field advantage. In fact,

there'll be a ton of Packer fans in L.A. for this game. But I like the Rams. And I think the Rams are going to win this one big. And then Sunday night, New Orleans in Minnesota. It's the NBC Sunday night game. It's a rematch of the Miracle in Minneapolis playoff game from a year ago. The Saints want this one badly. Minnesota's got a different quarterback you may have heard than the one they had last year, and he's been great. And his receivers are even better. The Vikings have had offensive line issues. They've had major problems running the football. They're 28th in Russia the football in the league. New Orleans is going to seem a bit easier, though, defensively than the jet defense they faced last week, which gave them problems, because the jets defensively

are very good. The Saints, the Saints are going to have the same issue. It's going to be easier for them against Minnesota than it was in Baltimore last week. This has shootout written all over it and should be a great game. I sort of like the Vikings to win at home. A couple of the other things that I'm interested in watching over the weekend. Maryland, I'm interested. I haven't mentioned this yet, but that two-month investigation into the allegations of abuse and whether or not, you know, there was a toxic culture came out yesterday. They found that there isn't a toxic culture during the Durkan era. However, they also said that a lot of troubling incidents have occurred during Durkan's leadership. The one thing that struck me immediately, and I have not read

the 200-page report, and I'm not going to. I definitely skimmed over a lot of it. Well, here's, so you can tell me if my initial thought and instinct was right. I think on some level, they took Durkan off the hook with respect to a firing with cause. And now they'll fire him, I believe that. Yes. But it's going to be without cause, and they're going to be on the hook for his remaining salary. It definitely seems like a lot of the, obviously court, you know,

Strength and conditioning coach. Exactly. It takes a lot of the blame and fired with cause. Absolutely. A lot of it, Kevin Anderson was brutalized in this. Just basically made it seem like he couldn't run anything properly from the moment he stepped into the job. And that's one of the things that said he wasn't given proper support from the athletic department and he didn't get proper oversight as well. So that's a big thing. And that's going to be a big thing going forward. But yes, I agree with you. I don't think he'll be fired with cause. But he will be fired. and it wouldn't surprise me. My guess is Sunday.

Well, that would certainly be an expedited process because everything else has taken months and months, and I was starting to think after last night, we may still be a month or two away from finding out what happens to Durkin, to Damon Evans, the AD, and also to Wallace Lowe. There is another meeting today. But here's the good news. Basketball season starts in two weeks,

which is what most Maryland sports fans care about anyway. Now, football-wise, they are playing a game tomorrow and they are a 17 and a half point favorite over Illinois. Illinois's terrible. But Maryland has to get two more for bowl eligibility if you care about that. I do. I'd like to you know what I like? I like bowl season, holidays sitting around watching football. And if on December 26th they're playing in the Belk Bowl in Charlotte or the pinstripe bowl. I think it's the pinstripe bowl if they get to six and six. It'd be like against Syracuse or somebody like that. I'd be fine with that. But they've got to win two more.

games, and here's the problem with that. They'll win tomorrow. I think they'll beat Illinois. Who are they going to beat Michigan State at home? Are they going to beat Indiana on the road? Indiana is not bad. They're not bad. And they're not beating Ohio State or Penn State. No. It's either Michigan State or Indiana. Both are winnable, but not likely. Winnable all the time is going to Ferris Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Fairfax. Ferris should be on your list if you're considering something new. Go to ferrishcars.com right now. Kevin Ferris and Ralph Perkins have been friends of mine for over a decade. They supported every single show I was involved in on radio,

and they're really smart. They get what their customers want, and they make it easy for you. And I've pointed this out recently. Their website, when you go to ferrishcars.com, there are three big bars on the homepage. New inventory, used inventory, schedule service. Like, you don't have to spend 15 minutes navigating the site to find what you want.

What do you want when you think about a car dealership? New car, a used car, or scheduled service. Ralph and Kevin get their customers. They know what they want. They make it easy for you, and I promise you that if you give them a chance, they won't disappoint. Plenty of inventory right now on their lot. Whatever you're looking for, you'll likely find it in the make, model, and color, and you'll be able to drive it off the lot. Lots of jeeps right now, the compass sport, the compass latitude, Jeep renegades, deals right now on just about anything Jeep.

Cherokees, Grand Cherokees, Wranglers. If you're thinking about a minivan because you've got a big family, a growing family, right now great deals on the Chrysler Pacifica. If you like this show and you're thinking about buying something new, I give you my word that you'll be taken care of if you head out to Farish and Fairfax. Ask for Ralph Perkins when you get there.

He is in the store six days a week, sometimes seven. They're located right there in Fairfax Circle. Ask for him when you get there. Tell him I sent you. You can also find out everything Ferris has right now, including live inventory and live pricing at ferrishcars.com. Kevin looks where the John Q Public is putting their cash and does the opposite. It's time for the smell test. All right, five and seven last week, first losing week in about a month.

45, 37 and 3 on the year, 55%. So you're winning, even with the Vig. And by the way, I've mentioned this before. You can shop around. You don't have to pay minus one. 110 on every straight bed. Haggle with your guy. Tell him you want to pay minus 107, 106.

You can haggle those deals. Trust me. They want your business. What sucks about last week is there were games I really liked. I played personally, and I leaned towards on the show, but they weren't official picks. And look, I hate it when people will tell you about the games they won but failed to mention that before the games actually start.

I mentioned him on the show last week, gave him out his liens. I told you that Ohio State was on upset alert. I loved Purdue plus the number. It just didn't fit all of the smell test criteria. I love Temple, but that had some late Cincinnati sharp action, which kept me off that in terms of the smell test. Duke would have lost, Auburn would have won, but whatever. One of those weeks where it's like it could have been much better, it wasn't.

And I've had some of those weeks that were really good that should have been much worse. Last night I started out with the Virginia Tech lean and the Houston lean, but they don't count either. Let me get to the games that count. Saturday tomorrow. Unranked Northwestern is getting four and a half at home against 19th ranked Wisconsin. Northwestern last week had to rally to beat Rutgers. Rutgers is awful. They are one of the three or four worst Division I teams in America, and Northwestern was down two

scores in the second half to Rutgers. They were a 20-point favorite in that game, nearly lost the game, won 18 to 15. Meantime, Wisconsin bounced back nicely off their loss to Michigan with a route of Illinois last week in the snow in Madison. I don't know if you caught that, but it was snowing in the first half. The public money is loaded up on Wisconsin, and there is sharp money on Northwestern. This one fits. Give me the Evanston, Illinois crew, plus the four and a half. And half. That number's down from six and a half. I've told you this a million times. It's sharp money that moves a number, not public money. So I'm taking Northwestern plus the four and a half. How about Missouri? They are playing 14th ranked Kentucky and Missouri is favored by seven in this game. Now, I did

mention the Florida Georgia game to me will decide the SEC East that Kentucky's going to lose at least once or twice more. They're going to lose tomorrow. They're six and one. They're ranked four. 14th in the land, and they're playing unranked Missouri, and they're a seven-point dog. The average better out there looks at that line and thinks Vegas made a mistake. No, they don't make mistakes. Take Missouri, lay the points. This one has like 41-17 written all over it. Four more games real quickly tomorrow.

Western Kentucky's 1 and 6, and they're playing 5 and 2 Florida International. I can't name one player. I don't know who coaches these teams. I can just tell you that a 1-6 team should never get just 3.5 against a team that's 5 and 2. Public is all over Florida International, thinking the game's already been played and that it's easy money. Take Western Kentucky plus the 3 and a half. How about 0 and 7 U-TEP getting just 16? Yeah, just 16 against 6 and 1 UAB.

This line should be 21. It's 16. they are begging you to lay the points and take UAB. I'll take the points and take winless U-TEP getting 16. I like SMU plus eight and a half hosting Cincinnati. Cincinnati isn't as good as their undefeated record a week ago would have indicated they lost a temple. They had the lead late in that game,

went to overtime Temple 1 at 2417. Temple's actually a decent team. SMU can throw the football. I think they can score enough to hang in there with Cincinnati. SMU plus the 8 and a half. The public is playing Cincinnati. There is sharp money on SMU. That line opened to 10.

It's down to 8.5. And then one more, and this was a tough one for me. Because Mississippi State, I watched that game against LSU last week. Their defense is so nasty. But they have a quarterback, Nick Fitzgerald, and their whole offense is to run the quarterback, 85% of the plays. They snap it to him in shotgun, and it's straight quarterback. counter, quarterback sweep, quarterback runs.

And he got this snot kicked out of him at LSU last week, because LSU's defense is great. And the game was tighter than the score really indicated. They lost 19 to 3. They're laying points this week against Texas A&M. I like Mississippi State. The public's on A&M. There is some mixed sharp action on this game.

Talk to my offshore guy last night, and he said that there was sharp action. action on A&M, but then this morning texted me and said a lot of recent sharp action on Mississippi State. So I'm going to throw them into the smell test this week for a second straight week, take Mississippi State and lay the point in a half. Let's go to Sunday. The public loves Philadelphia, despite what recent impressions seem to indicate that they are not a great football team right now. Three and four blew the 17-0-0 lead. The public really believes Jacksonville's much worse, and they look at the number in London Sunday, and they think

it's too short. Philly's a three-point favorite. Take Jacksonville plus the three. Wouldn't that be great to get to one o'clock for Redskins' Giants and the Eagles are three and five? It's possible. The Ravens are laying two at Carolina. I don't think people believe in Baltimore, but I'll tell you who does believe in Baltimore, Vegas, because understand this. If they were playing this game in Baltimore, they'd be an eight-point favorite. I'll explain that to you. They're minus two Carolina. If it were in neutral field, they'd be minus five. You get three points for home. And if it were in Baltimore, they'd be minus eight against the Panthers. That's big. That's a big number against a Panther team that has played well here recently, could have beaten the Redskins,

and then came back to beat Philadelphia last week. I like the Ravens to bounce back. Lay the two there. Bucks are plus four at Cincinnati. Give me them. I've been close with the Bucks. Last week I had Cleveland against him, and the week before that, I had him against Atlanta. Public loves Cincinnati to bounce back. I like the Bucks Plus 4. If you haven't watched them with James Winston since he got back, they can really move the football. He's actually looked very good. I like the Rams laying the big number against the Packers. The public loves Aaron Rogers this week. They don't always love underdogs. This week, they think nine and a half is too many points against Aaron Rogers. I think this has blowout written all over it. I like the Rams.

minus nine and a half. And Monday night, just take Buffalo plus the 14. No one's giving them a chance to cover any number against New England. So I'll take Buffalo. Their defense is good. I'll take them plus the 14. Here's the one game that you have all tweeted me about at Kevin Shee in D.C. And you're just expecting me to have in the smell test

because it is the biggest one-sided public play of the weekend. end. It involves the game that we care about the most. The public is lined up on the Redskins at a pick as if the result was printed already and they're taking advantage of Vegas and they're going to kill Vegas on this game. And more times than not, this is a go-to-the-bank smell test pick. It is. The Giants would be the pick any, 99% of the time. But here's the but. And it has nothing to do with the fact that I want the Redskins to win the game because those of you that have listened to the smell test over the years know that I have gone against the Redskins many times in the smell test. This one seems so telegraphed, so obvious. The dopes are even saying this is a

trap game. Like the real dummies, the average betters are saying, oh, the Redskins, this is a trap game. Everybody's calling it a trap game. So it's almost like, yes, the line seems wrong, right? The Redskins you would think should be a favorite over a one in six giant team. Again, I'll say this. I think the Giants are capable. And I think they're going to, I think they're going to play well Sunday. But it's so obvious, I'm just backing off this one. This would be a guaranteed 99.9% of the time smell test pick because it's anti-public. The sharp money's on New York two. The line open, Redskins minus one and a half. It's down to a pick. but all of my dopey friends who are usually the more information comes from my dope friends

than anywhere else. It's like when they are absolutely convinced that one side is right, I just go the other way and it works out more often than it doesn't. But even they're saying, man, this is a trap game. The Redskins better be careful. They could lose this game. I'm off it.

I'm not including the Giants in the Smell Test Pick. Let's review the picks for this weekend. Northwestern plus four and a half at home against Wisconsin. Missouri laying seven to Kentucky. Western Kentucky plus three and a half against Florida International. U-TEP getting 16 against UAB. SMU plus eight and a half hosting Cincinnati and Mississippi State minus one and a half against A&M.

Sunday, the Jags plus three, the Ravens minus two, the bucks plus four, the Rams minus nine and a half. And then on Monday night, the bills, plus the 14. Let me just ask all of you. If you haven't rated the podcast on iTunes or any other platform, rate it. It really helps us when you've done it. It's really helped us.

Review it too if you have time. Also, for all of those people that say to you, I want to listen, but I don't know how to do a podcast. Just tell them it's really easy if they know how to use the internet. Just go to the Kevin Sheehan Show.com. and there's a big blue button with an arrow, and all you got to do is click that button and turn your volume up, and you can listen to it. Bram Weinstein's in the studio laughing at that.

Let's bring in Andy Pollen for his weekly Friday segment, looking at sort of the three best and the three worst against their upcoming opponent at FedEx Field. No. No, you changed it on me? Because they're playing in New York. Oh, okay. So it's only games in the New Meadowlands?

Or the Old Metal Lands or even Yankee Stadium. Oh, boy. And I've seen all of these games. Sunny is it tornikillies? Well, that's in there, but that's not in the bad. Here are the three bad. And it's post-merger, barely. November 15th, 1970, Yankee Stadium.

I saw this on John O'Shinski's 19-inch black and white TV. This was the year that the Redskins... Hold on. You've got to speak loudly because the people that remember this game can't hear you right now. I understand. This was the year that they went to those hard. horrible yellow helmets, okay? And they're playing at Yankee Stadium.

And this game pointed out more than ever why they needed George Allen to come in the next year. Skins were up 33 to 14 in the fourth quarter. That's four Kurt Knight field goals. Charlie Taylor touchdown, two Charlie Harroway runs. Basically, they scored it in every drive. In the fourth quarter, Ron Johnson scores. Then Tucker Fredrickson scores on a 57-yard pass. Then Johnson scores again with a minute left.

Sonny had a chance, and he threw a pass to Charlie Taylor, which would have set up a chance to win the game on a field goal, but he stepped over the line. So it was called back, and the Redskins lost this game, 35 to 33. Were you eating like a TV dinner while you were watching this game? No, it's in the afternoon. Oh, okay.

They always played like 1 o'clock. Right. So, yeah, it wasn't dinner time yet. I think we went to Lidos, though, after the game. Really? Yeah, and there was only one. The original on University and College Park? There was only one.

So we had a schlep from Chevy Chase all the way over there. You know, the original one is no longer there. It's now off of Route 1 right behind Route 1. In those days, it was there. All right. Number 2, this is more recent. October 30, 2005 Giant Stadium. Oh, is this the Wellington Mara game?

Yeah. Now, this is a week after the Redskins beat San Francisco. 50-something to something. 52-17, sacking a rookie quarterback by the name of Alex Smith five times. It was also the 14-topping pizza game where you got free topping for each touchdown and double if you win. So, yeah, so that was that. They go to the Giants Stadium.

On the first play from scrimmage, Tiki Barber runs 57 yards. By the end of the first half, Barber had 202 yards. Redskins lost yardage on six of 16 possessions. They lost the game 36-0. It was the first time that Joe Gibbs was ever shut out as a head coach. Number one, January 11, 1987. This would be number one on anybody's list. This was the playoff game at the Meadowlands, Giants winning 17.

Rather windy. Yeah. The MVP of this game, which, Sean Lendetta. He had six punts, 42.3 yard average. Pinned them back, pinned him back, pin to back. Jay Schrader, 20 of 50 for 195 yards, one interception,

sacked four times. Redskins had only 40 yards rushing. They lost the game, 17. I would have replaced your first one, which I have no recollection of. Because you're too young. With Raul Allegre's 53-yard walk-off field goal in the opening Monday night game of the year

in 1980. I have to look that up. But I think that was at FedEx. It was at RFK. It was at RFK. I think it was a... You don't listen to me when I say these are only New York games. God darn it. Because they're playing at New York.

Okay. Now, here are the good. Totally uncoachable for the second straight week. Obviously. October 29th, 1972. This was at Yankee Stadium. Redskins won this game 2317 to get to 6 and 1. But it's good and bad because Sunny on his first completion went down with the torn Achilles.

There's a famous picture of Sunny walking off the field. Kilmer 1. walking on. Dick Darcy took that photo. It's iconic in D.C. history. Anyway, third quarter, Chris Hanberger takes the ball out of Ron Johnson's hands at the 38-yard line. Larry Brown scores on the next play 38 yards out. Fans showered him with beer. They gave him a beer shower as he went in the end zone. Jerry Smith caught the clinching touchdown. Larry Brown on the cover of Sports Illustrated next week. Set a Redskin record, 29 carries 191 yards. This was October 29, 1972. Number two, on the good list, at New York, or in this case, New Jersey, December 16th, 2007.

Giants were down in this game early. And this was during the post-Shawn Taylor death and the run to the playoffs that year. Right. So this is 10 days after they had beaten the Bears, like three days after Sean Taylor's funeral. Todd Collins first start in 10 years. He replaced Jason Campbell got hurt in the Bears game. Skins went up 13-0-0-2 Sean Sweeism. Field goals, a 14-yard touchdown for Liddell Betts. Third quarter, Clinton Portis, five-yard touchdown run. Collins for the game, stats weren't great. Eight for 25, 166 yards, but good enough to get it done.

They beat Minnesota and Dallas the following two weeks to get to the playoffs. And the best one, October 27th, 1991. This was the same day as Jack Morris beating the Atlanta Braves. Yeah, Game 7. And the Redskins won this game, 17-13 to get to 8-0. In the first half, Gary Clark dropped the short touchdown pass. Giants led 13-0-0 at the half.

Third quarter, Giants, the Clark caught a touchdown pass from seven yards out. And then in the fourth quarter, a 54-yard to beat Everson Walls, make it 14-13. Chip Lohmiller kicked a field goal with less than a minute left. So that game was just mentioned on this podcast for the second consecutive day. And the reason is that Scott yesterday, when he was on, in that, in that, particular game, the Redskins were 7 and O going into that game. The Giants were the defending champions, but under Ray Handley were struggling at four and three. It's a big Sunday night game, and the Redskins were like two-point favorites in the game. And we thought this was sort of

the beginning of sort of our contrarian handicapping philosophy, and we thought the line looked short. We bet the Giants. And we had the perfect, you know, happiness hedge. The Redskins were up 14 to 13, so they were going to win the game but not cover. Right. Until Chip Lohmiller added that late field goal to make it 1713, which was a killer. But that was a massively hyped game that year because the Redskins looked like the real deal. The Giants were defending champions at that point. And the Redskins, you know, would, and remember too, Andy, correct me if I'm wrong,

but I believe the Redskins had lost at that point. four or five straight games in a row to the Giants. I think there was a streak there that the Giants in Parcells, they owned Gibbs in that late 80s stretch. Well, remember this. The other game, the bad game that I talked about, the 87 game, that was the game where the Redskins said, our offensive line is too small.

They bench Jeff Bostic. They moved Russ Grimm to center, and they tried to make all kinds of changes. And ultimately, Grim got hurt. Bostick went back to center, and the skins won the Super Bowl the next year. Right. 90, the Redskins lost both of their games to the Giants.

I think there was like a four or five game losing streak to Parcells. And that year, they beat him in the Meadowlands to end that streak. And yeah, it was a five-game losing streak to the Giants going into that game. Yeah, that's the game really where Gary Clark had had some big catches. But that's the game, I think, that really cemented his legacy as just a big-time clutch. Agreed. Yeah. And was also, you know, not the first.

time that year, but we were then starting to understand that Ripin was throwing the deep ball in that particular season, as well as anybody was throwing the deep ball because they took shots deep that year. And the other thing about that, too, Andy, and a lot of people that didn't sort of, you know, follow the Redskins or weren't around for it during that era, I'm not talking about the 70s. We're talking about the 90s now. But the Giants had become, for that four or five year window, their primary rival, much more than the Cowboys. The Redskins, the Giants played the biggest games in the division from really about 86 through, you know, 92, you know, in that stretch. And the Cowboys had those awful years as they went to Jimmy early on.

And then by 92, the Cowboys had turned it around with the Herschel Walker trade, with all the picks. And, you know, they won the Super Bowl in 92-93 season. Then the Giants went to the fate like the Cowboys had, the Dave Brown era. You know, Hamley lasted only two years, you know. And that's how that ended. All right, let's finish up the show with Redskins score and more. Time to settle the score is score and more. All right.

Are you falling into that same thing that everybody believes this is a trap game and that they're in danger of losing Sunday or what? I mean, it all points to what should be a trap game. The Giants are trading people away. There's all kinds of chaos there. But the Redskins have lost these kind of games before. and I could see them losing this again, but I just think that they're too healthy on defense.

I think that's the key to their whole thing. I mean, now, they're going to be without Dunbar this week, and that's going to really hurt them. But to have reached almost the middle of the season, to have this kind of health on defense, I think that really helps them a lot. And I think the problem is they don't score enough. That's the real problem.

That's what makes you afraid of this. But I could see them winning like a 17-10 kind of game. I think this is one of those games that the Redskins either, just completely manhandle the Giants, get out quickly, get a lead. The Giants bail not only on the game, but officially for the season as they're heading towards 1 and 7 at that point. Or they lose the game. Yeah. I mean, you don't know what's going on. Here's my prediction, though, because, you know, it's a pick-um line, and I really, you know, I believe in sort of this whole contrarian thing.

And I think Vegas is going to need, they're going to need the Giants on Sunday. They will have a need on Sunday. and it'll be the Giants. 20 to 20 overtime tie. That's my prediction. That's possible. That's 20 to 20 overtime tie. And 4-2-1 is still going to be fine, and they'll come home against an Atlanta team

that is really good offensively, but not that great defensively, although they're getting healthier on defense. And all of a sudden, that Houston game in a few weeks looks like, you know, it's pretty daunting at home. But I think it's, this game more than any other, I've had a difficult time trying to figure out. TIE feels like a loss, though, to the Giants.

Look, with this 10-minute overtime rule in the NFL, the tie is now more prevalent and more possible. Terrible. I mean, the Browns have played four overtime games, and two of them, one did tie, and the other two came down to, you know, last second, last-play field goals. Bad idea. It would be really telling if they go into the Meadowlands Sunday

and they blow the John. out. I think that would be a great sign to follow up an emotionally draining win over the Cowboys with a place that they haven't played well, that they've always sort of fallen flat after a big win, to get off to a 2-0 division start for just the second time in 22 seasons. Can you believe that? They've only won their first two division games one time in the last 22 seasons. That was 2010 with Shanahan. I think you've probably mentioned this, but this is the first time they've gone into week eight in first place since 2000.

And they're guaranteed to be in first place regardless of what happens on Sunday. In fact, no, they're not guaranteed to be in first place after next week as well. But they are guaranteed to go in to week nine of the NFL season, their eighth game of the year in first place. All right, thanks. Thank you very much. Bram, you want to get under the mic for a moment

so I can say hello to you. Bram's just been sitting in here hanging out, wanted to check out the studio to see, just came to visit, he lives near here. What do you think's going to happen Sunday? I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think the Redson's going to blow him out.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, this is the three-week stretch where we figure out if they're the same old, I can't curse here, right? Yes, you can. If they're the same old bullshit or if they're actually going to really be different

this time around They got a team that they ought to beat who's fire sailing their team away and trying to run their quarterback out of town. And nobody gets under the skin of that crazy receiver like our cornerback. So it's just going to take a couple of plays in a 14-0 lead for that thing to go completely sideways on them. And so I think if the Reds can start fast than they have this year, they'll beat them. Then they get Atlanta here. Lana's beat up. You know, guys on IR.

You know, Freeman's not playing. I mean, I know they're good. But then they get Tampa. I mean, they got a shot here to be seven and two, six, and three. They got a real shot at them. Just as the schedule sets up, they have a real shot at 7 and 2, 6 and 3. So let's find out if they're bullshit or not. This is the 3 weeks stretch to be that.

What's your confidence level in 7 and 2? Not. I think 6 and 3 is a very realistic number for them over the next three weeks. I think they're going to win handily this weekend. I think their defense is considerably better than it's been in years, specifically up front. Did you see that go look up the numbers of carries and yards totals of Ezekiel Elliott, Alvin Camara and Christian McCaffrey and tell me you can't believe your eyes

when you look at the numbers that those three running backs put up combined over the last three weeks. Barclay's not going to shred them. They have a terrible offensive line. This is going to get away from them. The Redskins are going to win handily this weekend. It's one of the reasons I backed off the Giants is that the Redskins strength is clearly their defensive front. It is

a strength of the team for the first time in forever. And the Giants' offensive line may be the worst I've seen in the NFL in a long time. And if they can get off to that quick start, you know, you've got a lot of things working for you. First of all, it's the way the Redskins, I think, need to play. They're not, my sense of it is, it could change. They're not a team that's going to get down and come back throwing the football, number one. Number two, to what you said, and I said

it earlier, the Giants at one and seven or staring one and seven in the face, at that point, may just say, oh, it's over. We're done. Yeah. So a quick start could be crucial Sunday to burying sort of the Giants and getting out of their five and two. It would be great. I know you, you You love to point out, like, don't look at the schedule early and say, like, did you think, I looked at it early and thought it was too hard. And I thought that really that it was going to, it doesn't look that way right now. I mean, all of a sudden, those games against Jacksonville and Tennessee late, don't look as formidable as they did at the beginning of the season. But you'll see, you know, when we get there. And Houston looked horrible beginning of the year last night are showing you they're going to be a problem when they come in here.

So you don't know. But what's really shaping up really well here is if they beat, if they win games that are winnable, like this weekend and potentially the next couple. and they build a sizable lead, all they got to do is split with Philadelphia. Just split with them and you're going to end up winning the division. They're four and two. They've got ten games left. If they can play the way they've played the last two,

which is this old formula of running the ball, stopping the run, winning the turnover battle, all of those things, they can win five of those games. And nine wins probably gets you the division this year. It looks like it. It certainly could. The bet of the year before the season was

Philadelphia's over under total was like 11. I mean, and them winning 10 off a Super Bowl hangover with their quarterback not healthy. And Alshan Jeffrey not starting the season, it was the best bet of the year that they were not. No, because, you know, I got to go to Vegas. Unlike you, I feel like a necessity to go to Vegas until Larry Hogan gets off his butt and legalizes gambling in the state. So I go down to the MGM grants. Not on the ballot the next week. Which means we're three years away.

I know. Not next week the week after. Exactly. It's ridiculous that it's not on the ballot this quickly. I mean, they're just letting revenue leave the state for. neighboring states. Stupid. Thank you.

Thanks for having me on. Thanks for showing me for the digs. I was just coming by to see the digs. Stop by whenever you want. Buy your lunch. It's safe way downstairs. You're not doing that. But thanks.

Appreciate it. Thanks to Aaron. Thanks to launch workplaces. This is an awesome place. If you live in the Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Upper Northwest D.C. area. You don't want a long commute.

It's too hard to get work done from home. Check out launch workplaces in Bethesda. It is launchworkplaces. phone number 240, 86714 for a free two-day trial. They've got fully furnished offices, conference rooms, co-working desks, high-speed internet, free parking, 24-7 access. Again, it's 240, 8608714 for a free two-day trial, or just go to launchworkplaces.com.

Thanks to Chris Russell, thanks to Andy, thanks to Bram, thanks to all of you. Aaron, of course, producing the show. Have a great weekend. We will have the podcast out very early Monday like we did last Monday. We're going to really try on Mondays after games to have it out for you early in the morning by 6 a.m. at the latest to get you the sort of recap of the game much sooner. Have a great weekend, everybody.