The Kevin Sheehan Show - Revised Record Predictions

Episode Date: October 31, 2024

Kevin and Thom opened with the World Series and then the boys took a look at their preseason Commanders' predictions and revised them at the halfway mark. An early Thursday Night NFL "Smell Test" pick from Kevin along with some Halloween, Wizards, and Thom's Skins-Giants prediction to finish up the show.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Chean Show. Here's Kevin. The Dodgers are a strike away from a championship, from a proper celebration. Not the cleanest game last night, but a memorable game for sure. Tommy's here.

I'm here. The show's presenting sponsor is Windonation. Give them a call at 86690 Nation, or Windon. nation.com. They'll come out and give you a free in-home estimate if you mention my name. Tommy, that was unbelievable last night. It was a memorable game, hardly a clean game. Dodgers win it in five. I think Tim Kerchon said it best. He was on with Scott last night. I watched it. Yeah. And Timmy said it was the worst sitting maybe in the history of the World Series. He also said it's one of the most memorable games in the history.

history of the World Series. But only for what went wrong. Yes, although it was a great game around it. Yeah, it was, but you can't ignore. It's like saying, you know, other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like to show? I understand that. I get the way you just described it, but it was an electrifying start with Judge hitting a two-run shot.

The Yankees building a 5-0 lead. crowd was incredible. Garrett Cole had a no-hitter going into the fifth. I know. He was incredible. And then, yeah, the fifth inning, I mean, so I have something for you. For those that didn't see it, I'll recap it real quickly. The Yankees built a 5-0 lead and the series is headed back to L.A. for game six.

If you're watching the game, you're like, wow, this series is turned. It's going back to L.A. Friday night. That'll be fun to watch. and then the fifth inning came. And Aaron Judge, who hit his first home run of the World Series in the first inning, a two-run shot, he literally drops a routine fly ball to center field. He's not going back and dropped it. He's not sprinting forward.

He just took his eyes off the ball and dropped a fly ball. If you or I were playing, let's say, a pickup game, a pickup game. a pickup game. And one of us dropped it, everyone would have screamed at us. We're laughed at us. And then the next play, all right, the next play, Volpe throws the ball to third to try to get the runner at third in a force, by the way. It's a bad throw at hops. It gets away error number two. Now the bases are loaded, nobody out, five to nothing, and get a Garrett Cole strikes out the next two batters, including Otani. And then came, I think, the critical moment of the game. If the dropped fly ball and the throwing error wasn't enough,

Mookie Betts hits a ground ball to first base, which is going to end the inning and the Yankees are going to survive two errors in the inning and move on to the bottom of the fifth with a five-to-nothing lead. And by the way, Garrett Cole, it would have been like, wow, he is unbelievable tonight. But he doesn't run to cover first, and Rizzo has to move a little bit towards second, because the balls hit slowly, it's kind of moving, and Betts is safe, a run scores, the inning stays alive, and then the rest of the inning was a disaster.

Freeman single, knocked in two runs, Hernandez, doubled, knocked in two more, and the score was tied at 5-5. Now, which of the three was the worst? Oh, the Garrett-Call, not cover in the first face, you know, it's something called Pitchers infield practice. Yeah. And they practice it in spring training, and players hate it, pitchers hate it because it's boring, okay?

But good teams practice it and practice it and practice it. And then they kind of forget about it for the rest of it. year. You know, I can't tell you how many times, I wish I could tell you, but I can't. But just you have to trust my anecdotal memory that it's been a lot. How many times I've seen that triangle that between home plate, the mound, and first base cost the team a game in postseason? You know, I've seen it so many times where there was a breakdown and who was covered.

over in the base or the pitcher, you know, got over too late. It happened. And postseason baseball. And everyone remembers, oh, my God, this is what we did in spring training. We practiced this until we were blue in the face. Right. And then we forgot about it for the rest of the season. And now it costs us.

So that's what happened. So here's my question to you, because I, it sounds like you did the same thing. I was into this game and I watched all the post game. Scott and Kirchen, I turned it to MLB Network, watch Pedro, Harold Reynolds, that whole gang. And I didn't hear one person say the following, and maybe I missed it. If Garrett Cole does what he's supposed to do, get over to first to cover first so that Rizzo can flip it to him, does he beat bets to the base? Well, normally, a normal pitcher, as soon as that ball is hit, has to be making his way to, for

first base. I think he does in that case. I think Cole comes off on that side of the mound when he pitches. So he's already closer to first base than he normally would be. So I think you have to assume he does because most pitchers do. Yeah, he's not fleet of foot. Betts is. And you might be right. I'm just saying I'm surprised that it wasn't brought up that it would have been a very close play anyway. Look, we see. pitchers cover first base all the time on a ground ball to first base. And a lot of times they don't beat out the runner. And sometimes it's because the balls hit deeper into the hole or whatever.

But the ball was slowly hit. It was moving a little bit towards second when Rizzo finally picked it up, which is why he had no shot of picking it up and getting to first base to beat bets. I just think it would have been a very, very close play, worst case. Well, here's, you know, it's interesting. on one of the all-time world series plays, the ball that went through that Buker Wilson hit in 86. Yeah, Buckner.

That went through Bukter's legs. Yep. You know, people forget, Mookie, even if Bukner had caught it, Mookie probably would have beat it out. You know, Mookie was a lot faster. He was pretty far from the bag when the ball went through his legs. And there was a good chance,

but no, that's a secondary argument. Nobody talks about that. Right. You know, look, you make the case that it's a very possible, that Mookie Betts would have beat him, would it be cold to the bag? But that's not what anyone's going to remember. No. That's not what I...

No, but it's just, it's interesting because if he had done the right thing, the fundamentally right thing, it still may have turned out the way it turned out. But here's the thing that's so interesting about Garrett Cole. He had pitched so well. He had, once the first two errors happened, He struck out the nine hitter, Lux, and then he struck out Otani in like three pitches, maybe four. And then, to me, I'm like, he looks gassed, he looks spent, he looks devastated after he gave up the second hit, and it's five to five. And I was shocked that Aaron Boone didn't take him from the, pull him from the game.

And then I was also even more shocked that he didn't just come out and put him. pitch the sixth and retire the side in order. He pitched the seventh and retired the side, I think, in order. Actually, I think he walked. That's right. Freeman was the last batter he faced because he walked Freeman and then they brought in the guy Holmes. But still, he went another five outs, two and two thirds, another inning in two thirds, after he looked devastated.

And I thought he pitched great. And he'll be remembered for not making this simple, you know, fundamental play that you see, you know, you see little leaguers, you know, get taught to make. Amazing, because he was outstanding. Now, and he was pitching on short rest. Yeah. He was pitching on short rest.

And, you know, the funny Aaron was got criticized for taking him out too early. in his last start. That's right. You know, I took him out after like 86 pitches or something like that in his last start. And I think Derek Jeter had criticized him

for doing that. He did. Yeah. Now, now the other thing is that Tom Verducci brought this up on the broadcast. He's surprised that that whole sequence of events

we described took almost 20 minutes. You know? not at one time did the catcher or anyone from the dugout come out to talk to call and kind of slow things down. Not once. Kind of bring things to a halt. Just like slow.

Yes. Verduci said that. I'm like, yeah, that the amount of trust that Boone had in Garrett Cole even after, you know, that all hell went broke loose in the fifth inning. By the way, if you don't know, it was five unearned runs. Five unearned runs. Two errors. and then not, you know, a major error, even though it's not called an error, and Garrett Cole not covering first base.

They were going back to L.A. for game six. That's the way it was all lining up. No doubt. And to not even go out to the mound, it's really a lack of presence from the dugout, from the catcher. You've got to try to like stop the momentum. gone out? After the bets play? After the not covering first base? No, I would have gone out before that. I would have gone out. It went, it went, it went judge and then Volpey, right? Yeah. Yeah. Well, once the Volpe, once the Volpe error. But he struck out the next two batters. He struck out Luxonotani. Well, I still would have gone out then. I definitely would have gone out after the

Cole and mishap. But at that point, you're basically pointing a finger at him. Exactly. That's what I was just going to say. So I don't see any reason to come out after Aaron Judge has made an error and after Volpe's made an error and you've struck out two batters. And then to what you just said, I don't see the point of coming out and basically, you know, not showing them up, that would be the wrong way to describe it. But how did you just describe it? to slow get things down. It's like to stop the momentum. No, but I mean, if he had come out after not covering first,

it would have just highlighted that a little bit more. Yes. Yeah. But it didn't stop the catcher. Look, the cat didn't stop the catcher from coming out to talk to him. That would have been a normal situation. I think when Freeman, by the way, one and two count, you know, he had Freeman in a big spot,

I think when Freeman singled to make it five to three, he did look rattled. He looked rattled. He wasn't rattled, but he looked rattled at that point. Because even, and I'm just going through the pitch count right now, just looking at it, because when Hernandez came up next, first two pitches, he got ahead of him, O and two, and gave up the double on a one-two pitch. Then he walked Muncie.

This is when he looked exhausted, and I was actually surprised. I'm like, really? But he got out of that inning and then came back. incredible trust in him after all that happened. By the way, it didn't end there. I mean, the Yankees take the lead. Stanton, by the way, he's been as clutch as anybody for New York in this postseason. He hit another home run last night.

Then he hits the sack fly to center to score, I think Soto scored. And they got a six to five lead. And then in the eighth inning, you get catcher interference and a balk. And they lose the lead. Yeah. It was a breakdown. It was an absolute breakdown of the stuff that you practiced back in February. Yeah.

I know. It was a breakdown. And I've always said for Yankee fans, the only day they are happy is the day they clinch a World Series. It's the only day Yankee. Like a lot of fans for other teams, you know, they make the World Series. they lose. You know, they won the American League pennant. You know, they're happy with that, not Yankee fans. Well, can you imagine...

27 World Series, that's it. That's the goal. Yeah. Can you imagine Sports Talk Radio in New York today? Oh, gold. Gold. Yeah. You know, they had, in the bottom of the eighth, they had Soto, Judge, Chisholm, and Stanton. They had the heart of their order in the bottom of the eighth. down a run. And Judge doubled and everybody else got out. And then, yeah, pretty wild. So the aftermath of the game after discussing all of the blunders was, you know, Juan Soto and is pending free agency.

And then I was listening to a lot of the discussion just about how there are a lot of people that believe that the Dodgers are in the midst of sort of a dynastic run. Like 2020, let's take that and throw it to the side because nobody really, and all of those players, by the way, you know, mentioned 2020. Well, you can't talk about 2020 anymore because we just won this World Series. Yeah, because they know no one took it seriously. It was a COVID. Yeah.

The COVID champion. Right. But they won this World Series with Otani injured and not hitting a list. and with multiple starting pitchers not being available to them. Yes. So. Yes, they did. Yeah.

They didn't. Look, the Dodgers have underachieved. They should, they, they, they've been a dynasty that has not lived up to expectations. I mean, they, there, there's, when it comes to spending money, and also they're very good of player development. Okay. They, they develop a lot of young players. So they've underachieved up. this point. The difference you could argue this year was Otani.

Okay, he wasn't the difference in the World Series. Right. But getting to the World Series was even a problem for the Dodgers at some point. And Otani's got nine years left on his contract. That's just stunning. What will they do with him next year? Will they let him pitch? Yes.

How will that impact him? Won't they? As a hitter? As I would, yeah, I mean, how would that impact? them. You know, that's real interesting, but yeah, the Dodgers are going to be a force to be reckoned with. And, you know, I don't know the whole dynamics of their payroll next year. I've read they're about to shed about $70 million. I don't know how that happens. You know, I didn't break it down. But that's why people think they're in the running for Soto.

I don't think they are. Well, there was something just mentioned about the amount of, Japanese, you know, the amount of Japanese money that is coming into that organization. Honestly, you'd have to explain to me what that really means. In terms of sponsorship, you know, it's the money that Ted thought he was going to make when they drafted. Hachemura. Yeah.

That's that kind of money. By the way, one of the things we haven't talked about is just Walker Bueller coming in to save the game. And two nights, you know, after he pitched game three is the starter, his first career save. And, you know, Dave Roberts, who by the way, is a very likable guy. I remember when the Nats beat them, you know, with Howie Kendrick's Grand Slam in the 10th, you know, in game five back in 2019, him getting questioned. And it just seems like he's been questioned every year as a manager. But everything he decided on in this particular series worked, including, you know, Bueller just, he talked about it afterwards.

He said something to the effect of, yeah, I texted him earlier and said, I'm here and available. I'm not sure if I really believed it or not, but I wanted him to know that I was ready to go. And he did not even throw a pitch in the bullpen. And so he came out and, you know, there were three long at bats, but he retired the final three batters and he gets the save. Blake Trinan was incredible in relief. Yes,

he was. You know, Blake Trinan, when he was with Washington, everyone knew he had a great arm. Yeah. He really a live arm.

But, you know, he just couldn't control it. And I know this sounds a little nuts, but at some point, I think people just stop,

just don't want to see your face anymore. You know, they've been waiting, and they've been waiting. Yeah. And, you know, you're just, you're just, your presence is annoying. I mean, because I think people always thought that Blake tried it once he gets it, it's going to be really dynamic, and that's what's happened with the Dodgers.

You know, Dave Roberts is the first-class guy. Really? Yes, I can sense it. But there's a lot of criticism that comes his way, not unfairly. It's not fair to anybody, but it's not necessarily unfair either, because the Dodgers are perceived, rightfully so, as a front office managed team. That the manager takes his order during the game from the front office. Yeah. Okay, that's the MO on the Dodgers.

You know, whereas the Nationals, you know, Rizzo will let his manager manage. I don't know how many teams still do that or not. I mean, I'm not familiar with every team, but I definitely know the Dodgers are a front office managed team. when it comes to in-game decisions and strategy. Juan Soto. How much and where? Well, I mean, if you believe everything you read, the Phillies supposedly are interested,

I don't really think so. Oh, and by the way, how ironic is it that Juan Soto could wind up living the dream that everyone thought Bryce Harper was going to live? okay everyone figured bright harper would spend the rest of his career as a yankee from the minute he came up right with the nationals everyone had him pent because he was a huge Yankee fan a devoted mackie manel fan you know and how ironic would it be if soda winds up doing that uh instead of harper uh you know total came out and said everybody's going to have an equal shot you know the yankees aren't getting any kind of hometown discount but i think we knew that

because the nationals didn't get any hometown discount when they tried to sign Soto a couple years ago. Scott Bors is determined to bring this guy to free agency and have a bidding war form. So I think the Yankees will be heavily involved in that. I think the Mets will be heavily involved in that. And the other spenders are the Phillies and the Dodgers, but I think it's a New York battle. it'll be a back-page tabloid battle every day. This is who gets Soto, the Yankees that are met. I mean, I heard Carl Ravich and somebody else last night say it's going to be 700 million plus.

I think we tend to exaggerate that. Okay. I don't know. I mean, I guess it will be over 600 million, but 700 million, no. I don't think so. The money. Unless the two teams just get into a pissing match with each other,

and, you know, there's no price is too high to beat the other team out for this guy. Magic won another title last night. Yes. Everything he touches turns to gold. Let's hope the football team is another magic moment. Dan Kasten won a championship. Yeah, he did.

Former Nats owner and team president. You know, we talked on Tuesday's show about the 50-year anniversary of Ali Foreman, the Rumble in the Jungle. Yesterday was the five-year anniversary of the Nets winning the World Series game seven in Houston. I was wondering, like Daniel Hudson got lit up in game four. And he was out there for the Dodgers pitching. And I was thinking, I wonder if there's any scenario in which Daniel Hudson comes out and closes the game for the Dodgers tonight five years after he closed it for the Nats.

Can you believe it's been five years? That was fun. That was a lot of fun. That was a lot of fun. That was a gift for me because, you know, I used to cover the World Series back in the mid-90s and the early 2000s pretty regularly, no matter who was in it. Right. You know, I was covered

the whole postseason. And then we decided to stop doing that, you know, just like every newspaper, money got tight. And so I didn't think I'd ever cover another world series again. You know, so the whole postseason in 2019 with the Nats was something I never expected to happen while I was working. So I am really grateful for that.

And the scene in Houston, when they clinched, you know, being in the clubhouse, being on the field, you know, when they're on the stage and all that, you know, speaking. It was an amazing thing. Something that didn't happen since 1924 in this town. Right. It's the whole thing. I mean, it's just sports are so interesting because they were down three to one and facing the best closer in baseball in the wild card game, you know, against the Brewers.

And somehow they rallied to beat them. And then, you know, they were down in, in game five against the Dodgers. They were down in game seven against the Astros, when Granky got pulled after the Homer and the walk. But, yeah, it was, there were a lot of... Yeah, go ahead. You mentioned Daniel Hudson.

He announced his retirement from baseball. Oh, he did? To the game last. Oh, wow. Yes, he did. I still think that the moment of 2019. I mean, obviously, there were

several of them. Kendrick's, you know, Grand Slam to win game 5 in L.A. was amazing. You know, especially after the Dodgers really thought they had that game one. Kershaw came in, remember relief. But anyway, it's still the Strasbourg pitching performance

in game 6. It was just mesmerizing what he did that night. Well, that's over the course of a game. In terms of a moment, I still think it's the Soto hit in the wildcard game. That's... That's...

And that was a wild-ass crowd, you know, in that game, more so than even the World Series crowds. That was a great moment. I would say that it was the Kendrick moment. I would say a grand slam in the top of the 10th, the Dodger Stadium, to win a fifth in deciding game. That was a pretty damn good moment. But there were a lot of them.

That's when Kendrick, Kendrick had two moments. Yeah. The home run in Houston. Yeah, in Game 7. That's point off of the foul pole. You know, against Will Harris. Against Will Harris, I know. Yeah.

Yeah. You could hear it in the stadium when it hit that foul pole, boink. Yep. I mean, Howie Kendrick, that was the big difference between 2019 and 2018. In 2018, Davy's first year's manager, Howie Kendrick was sidelined almost the entire year with an Achilles issue. And he was a best. valuable player, beloved by one Soto, by the way.

All right. How many games will Washington win? We are right at the halfway mark almost. Half time of Sunday's game against New York will be Washington's halfway mark. That'll be eight and a half games. They play 17 now. How many are they going to win? We will revisit our preseason prediction on final record and

revise it if necessary. We'll get to that and more right after these words from a few of our sponsors. So guys, if you're like me and you've basically been buying and wearing this same type of underwear for years, in my case, boxer briefs, same brand, same type for a long time, well, not anymore for me. I want to tell you about skims for men, something I've discovered recently, the softest underwear I've ever worn. I got a few pairs of the five-inch boxer briefs so comfortable, no matter what you're doing from sitting in a chair in your office to working out, they are so comfortable. They don't bunch up. They were made to recover from every stretch. The fabric is cool to the touch, and it just seems to mold to your body and never loses its shape.

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your windows in a day or less. Call Windonation now, 50% off all window styles with zero percent interest for five full years. 86690 Nation, windownation.com. So Tommy, Washington sits as we approach the halfway mark at six and two. Obviously, nobody saw this coming. Not even those of us that were out there, you know, just, you know, kind of throwing tongue-in-cheek predictions like 10 and 7 into the wind to see if they would fly, thought 6-2, with a chance as the favorite Sunday in the Meadowlands to get to 7-2. They have the second best record in the NFC among the division leaders, Detroit's 6-1.

They play Green Bay this weekend. Washington at 6 and 2. I've already mentioned to you the possibility that, you know, they could win a division, win 11 or more games, and be a top 2 seat. You know, and if the NFC North beats the hell out of each other, they could be a one seat. They could literally be a one seed. Because right now the NFC West has three teams at 4 and 4.

That division winner is probably going to be a 10-win team. Maybe the 49ers get hot. The NFC South, the Falcons are 5 and 3. They're like a 10-win team. team and maybe a division winner. Washington at six and two, and I put it this way to Denton this morning, my producer on radio, for them to win just 11 games, they'd have to lose four. Can you find four games that they're going to lose the rest of the way? You know what? I'm going through, I've been going through the schedule.

and I'm figuring one of the Eagles games, just one of them, probably the game on the road, maybe the Saints game if Derek Carr's back, that's on the road, maybe the Falcons. Okay. You know?

Yeah. Let me just tell you right now, based on health, assuming health, obviously, that could be a big deal. Right now, in their final nine games, they will be favored. As of today, they will be favored in eight of them. The only, I say eight as if I'm 100% sure, they likely will be an underdog at Philly, and it's possible they could be an underdog at home against Philadelphia later in the year. But those are the games right now, based on the way they're playing, and based on the way the opponents are playing. And this is a

a very dangerous game. They're going to be favored over Pittsburgh next week. Very slight favorite, but they're going to be favored over Pittsburgh next week. So prior to the season, that Labor Day week when we do all of our predictions for the NFL season, it seems like a long time ago now, doesn't it? I mean, it really does. The football season is really a season that flies by. So we each gave our season prediction record, and we gave a bold prediction on the podcast, one bold prediction. Your final record, do you remember what it was? Prediction? 7 and 10?

6 and 11. You predicted 6 and 11. You did. And do you remember what your one bold prediction was? No, I don't. Jaden Daniels only starts 12 games. Well, he's... The logic behind both those predictions were,

it's going to take some time for all these new parts to mesh, and I had no faith in the offensive line to protect Dayton. Right. And they proved me wrong on both accounts. My record prediction, as you recall, was 10 and 7. I went out there for the first time. But it was all because of Jaden and my belief that he would be good sooner rather than later. But look, in all honesty, I was just trying to create a headline.

I'm kidding. I'm kidding about the headline part. But I was just trying to be a little bit bold. And I thought this was a chance to be a little bit bold. Because I have been kind of, it's not that I've been straddling, but I think I gave eight, eight, and one out for three straight. years or two straight years. They actually hit it one year. But my number one bold prediction was that Brian Robinson Jr. would rush for 1,200 plus rushing yards and make his first Pro Bowl.

The 1,200 yards is probably not going to happen. And there's some good backs. He's having a very good season, though. And he's a very significant part of what they're doing. But here's our chance to revise. And we just went through, like, I'm thinking about the games. They have nine games left. They're going to be favored right now and eight of them. I guess it's possible that it's seven. This all assumes Jaden Daniels and everybody stays healthy,

but Daniels most importantly and plays, you know, in all 17 games or the other nine games. But like if they only lost three of them, that would be a 12-win team. They've got to lose four to win 11 for the first time since 91. They'd have to lose five of their final nine for my prediction to be right of 10 and 7. Let's remember.

I know everything is different. Everything is different. Absolutely 100% everything. But we've seen this team go 6 and 2 before and wound up 8-8. Yeah, do you remember who the coach and quarterback were? Yeah, I know. Jim Thorne and who was it, Jason Campbell? And Jason Campbell.

Okay, we've seen this team go 7 and 1. Yes. And they wind up being, what, nine and seven. That was in 1996. It was also a different owner. Gus Ferrat, Gus played well, and Norff Turner was the head coach. That was their final season in Norfolk. So we've seen the ridiculous happen before. They were five and two. They were five and two in 2018 with Alex Smith. Yeah.

You do, though, recognize the difference in what we're talking about. talking about now. Yes. Okay. I'm talking about possibilities. I'm not talking about what I... Well, everything's possible. Everything's possible because it's the NFL.

And the NFL is just so wildly unpredictable. But the reason that I'm going to give you something pretty outlandish here is because, number one, we don't have to suspend reality to have these conversations anymore because the owner's long gone. And number two, they have the fourth. best quarterback right now in the NFL. He's an elite quarterback, and he plays for this team. And so my revised prediction from 10 and 7, I'm going to go with 12 and 5. They will lose three more football games this year. They will be a 12 and 5 division winner, and they'll either be the

one seed or the two seed in the NFC playoffs. But I just want to add this before you get to yours. They will not be the favorite to go to the Super Bowl. They won't even be the second favorite to go to the Super Bowl because San Francisco, Detroit, and Green Bay are teams that are better than they are, at least as of now. And even if they hosted a game against Green Bay, San Francisco, or Detroit. I could see them being a home underdog in a playoff game. But 12 and 5, they lose three more games. I'll say a split with the Eagles. I'll say another division loss. By the way, it could come this Sunday. The Giants, this game concerns me a bit, and we'll get into that more tomorrow. But they'll split with the Cowboys, although really a split with the Cowboys, because they play the

first game against Dallas at home, the second game may be meaningless. And by the way, it may be meaningless to both teams. Washington might... That's why I think, yes, and it's a home game. So I figured the commanders would probably wind up winning because the Cowboys... No, the finale is at Dallas. Oh, it's at Dallas. Yes. Okay. Well, then that could go the other way. But Dallas may be done and have nothing to play for, but it's also possible Washington will have wrapped up the division in seating.

Yes. All right. Twelve and five, NFC East Champs and either a one or a two seed in the NFC playoffs. Your revision from six and eleven is to what? Okay. Just because I don't want to give the same thing that you did, I'm going to say 11, 5, and 1. That's a good one. I like that. 11, 5, and 1 does add up to 17, which is for, First of all, good news. Do they win the division at 11-5-1? Yes, they do. All right.

11-5-1. Do we want to make our playoff predictions at this point? What they'll do in the postseason? Yeah, we should. How far do they go as a division? Will we get arrested? No. No, I don't think so.

Okay. Yeah. And why not? Let's do it. This is where... We go first. Okay. So, obviously,

this whole game, the schedule game is a dangerous game, but I really believe in this quarterback. To me, the whole season comes down to whether or not they can become a better defensive football team. I'm still not convinced. Sorry, I've seen, you know, a lot of the advance numbers, you know, really improve. I also have seen the opponents. And the good offensive opponents this year, including the Ravens a few weeks ago, had their way. with this defense. I think Johnny Newton's a bit of a wild card right now, and watching him very closely, he was a dominant player in the game on Sunday. But I still want to see what happens. And the interesting part of this is that I don't know if we're going to get the best of reads on the defense, because there aren't many matchups the rest of the way against offensive teams that will be as good as Detroit,

Francisco healthy or even Green Bay healthy. You're right. So it could be interesting in that the Eagles are certainly a, they're very talented. And A.J. Brown and Devante Smith and Sequin Barclay, those will be two big time measuring stick games for them defensively. Atlanta will be a bit of a measuring stick game because Atlanta's really good on offense. And we'll see what these teams look like by the time they get to these games. But none of these teams they're playing are as good as Detroit offensively. None of these teams that they're playing are as good as San Francisco, even if, you know,

the 49ers are completely healthy minus Brandon Ayuk because Ricky Pearsall was in the lineup and he's starting to look like he was worthy of the first, of a first round pick. So it worries me to, it's not worrisome. It's just, it's hard to make a prediction, because I don't know if I'll have even at the end of the season a great sense of what they are defensively. But I'm going to say that they'll win one playoff game and then they will, as a two-seed, probably behind Detroit, they'll end up losing a divisional round game at home against somebody like San Francisco or Green Bay. So you can't bring yourself to take that extra step. You know, the thing about the NFL, it's not like the NFL.

NBA playoffs where you have to graduate to contention. You know, you've got to take your lumps. You know, this is one and done. We see crazy things happen in the postseason all the time. I would feel good about any game going in against anybody because of who they have a quarterback and what they have offensively. But if you're telling me today, what are they going to do in the postseason? They don't play Detroit. They don't play Green Bay. They don't play San Francisco. The best offensive team they played this year was Baltimore, and literally the Ravens put up 30 points and nearly 500 yards against them. And that wasn't that long ago. And so they were in, they were still in the game.

They were still in the game. You know, they won the turnover battle, but their defense just couldn't get off the field enough. And that's what would worry me in a playoff game against the Lions. the Packers or the Lions and 49ers in particular. So 12 and 5, a two-seed, I'll go two-seed, a playoff win over whomever the seven-seed is, you know, somebody like, see, that's the problem. And the NFC, the seven-seed could end up being Green Bay or could be Philadelphia, or it could be, you know, Minnesota.

But I'll say a win and then a loss in the divisional round. and then about 18 primetime games next year when the schedule comes out next April or May. All right. Go ahead. Your turn. Well, I'm going to have to agree with you on this. I mean, I'm trying to talk myself into getting them, you know, with two playoff wins. But I think you're right.

I think that that's too much of an expectation. And I think you're right about that group of teams that they would face. that are far more dangerous than anyone else they would have faced throughout almost their entire regular season. Except for Baltimore. So I got to agree with you. One win at home and then they're done. All right. Look, there's one other just possibility here,

and that is that between now and Tuesday at 4 p.m., the trade deadline, they add a couple of pieces that, you know, that could change my money. mind. And I think they should be active. I think they should be looking to try to upgrade their team between now and Tuesday, specifically on defense. And if it ended up being another receiver, if it ended up being another receiver, I don't know. I'm fine with what they have offensively right now. I mean, who has stopped them? I mean, seriously, the points weren't great Sunday. I understand that. But they still ended up with 484 yards of offense or 481 or whatever it was.

All right. A few things to finish up the show with, including Halloween and Tommy's prediction on the game Sunday at the Meadowlands. We'll get to that and a lot more right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Is there anything better when you're a football fan than this time of year? It seems like there are games on around the clock. It's a changing time of year. The weather gets chillier. The leaves start to change color.

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That's a free inspection and up to 30% off at LEA.com. A-F-Filter.com slash Kevin. See representative for warranty details. All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelly's. Well, if it's Thursday, it's time for me to give you the Shelly's menu special. Their food menu, they have three terrific menus. You can find online at Shelly's Backroom.com.

They have a food menu. They have their drink menu. very extensive selection on both counts. And then they have their world-class cigar menu. You can find all that on their website, all first class. The special this week, one of them is a Tex-Mex burger, starts out with, what if I say, they've got that half-pound of Shelley's custom blend, you know, not the meat that you buy it Safeway, but specially made for Shelly's with pepper jack cheese, salsa, and salad.

Southwestern Ranch on a buttered roll with lettuce, tomato fries, and a kosher dill pickle. A Tex-Mex burger. You like Tex-Mets? Of course. Sign me up for that right now for lunch. Starving. This would be more my preference. Their other special is a buffalo chicken tender sandwich.

Deep-fried fresh chicken tenders dipped in buffalo sauce served on a Kaiser roll with blue cheese dressing. rice and a kosher pickle. I'll have that. You know, you have the Tex-Mex, and I'll have that, and we'll have a special night eating specials at Shelley's backroom at 1331 F Street, Northwest, in the district. Great spot. All right, tonight, Halloween, Tommy.

Did you know that tonight is the number one pizza night of the year? I would have thought it would have been the Super Bowl. Super Bowl's number two, all right? And then number three is the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. Oh, yeah. Those are the top three pizza nights of the year. And I think we did pizza every single year on Halloween when the kids were young. I don't remember doing it.

I don't remember us ever doing it. And I remember that the one issue is you had to literally order early because, you know, the weight was like an hour. plus. We would always get Lidos for Halloween when the kids were young. So, I don't, I don't even remember us feeding out kids very much. So I don't think we can. Yeah, well, that doesn't surprise me at all. Terrible parents. So those are the big pizza nights of the year. Tonight is number one. It's also obviously a huge candy night. You are not a big candy person. So typically we don't do a lot of candy talk on Halloween on this podcast.

No, but, you know, if I could just briefly tell my annual Halloween story, okay? Yep. Walking down the streets of Brooklyn, about eight years old, and I had been out with my friends, and, you know, but I separated with them to walk home. You know, they went their way. I went my way. I'm turning the corner. It's dark.

I'm turning a corner on Sterling Place to head up Washington Avenue and three big teenagers, big they seemed enormous, like Wolf Chamberlain size, come around the corner, knock me down, grab my bag, which I've explained in New York, you got money as much as you got candy. Right. So I'll bet I probably had about $15 worth of change in that bag, in addition to candy, and took off and took my Halloween money and my candy. I was so heartbroken. Oh, my God.

I've got to start for life. That's terrible. You tell that story every year. It's a terrible story. It would be awful to do that to a kid. Yes. But it gives you an idea of where I lived. You know, it was pretty dicey at times.

But again, here I am eight years old, out on the, streets in New York on my own on Halloween night. Yeah. Yeah, that doesn't happen. Different time. In the 21st century. All right, real quickly, before we get to your skins, Giants pick, and also maybe a little wizards talk, giving everybody fair warning on that. A quick Thursday night smell test pick, early smell test pick. The Jets minus two against Houston. The Jets are just the third, 2 and 16 that's been favored over a 6 and 2 team in 50 years. Obviously, that fits my kind of contrarian handicapping, betting style. Everybody thinks it's the wrong point spread and they're

betting Houston. Houston's injured, I understand that, but the Jets have become now an anti-public side, which means they'll probably start winning. I'll take the Jets tonight later to against Houston. In mybooky.ag, if you want to bet it, if you're new to MyBooky, they'll give you a 100% deposit bonus when you use my promo code, Kevin D.C. By the way, the skins are up to a four-point favorite over the Giants now at My Booky. All right. I was going to say... Speaking of betting. I'm sorry?

Speaking of betting. Yeah. I just want to drop this on you. My favorite horse in Maryland in the dance, won on Sunday. third ticket I've cashed, third straight ticket I've cashed on this horse at Laurel. It's called In the Dance. It's a great horse. Blue away the field came in first on Sunday.

I think it was in the seventh race at Laurel. And I'm just giving you a heads up. Keep an eye on this horse. If you want to make some money, look when in the dance is running and put something down. How are you putting it down online? You're not going to Laurel. No, there's an OTPB Poller in Frederick. A huge OTPol.

Yeah, it's been there forever. So I stopped there on Sunday before I went down to the game. And how did you know anything about this horse? Well, I know the owners. I got my picture with the owners in the winter circle for his win a couple weeks ago. Okay. They invited me down, you know, and I got my picture taken in the winter circle. So in the dance, keep your eye off.

him. Great horse. Last thing that I just wanted to mention real quickly, and yesterday on the show, yesterday or two days ago now, I think it was two days ago on, it was on Tuesday. Brian Keefe was on the show, the Wizards Head Coach on the radio show. He was really good, but we talked about Balal Kulabali a little bit and sort of the potential of this player. He was great last night. Now, I was watching mostly baseball, but I was flipping it back and forth, and I mentioned him the other day that, you know, he's now, you know, a year older. He's starting to physically look different. He is a very good defender. Do I think Bilal Kulalbali is going to be Kauai Leonard or Shea Gilgis Alexander, you know, in terms of, you know, star players that weren't picked, you know,

in the top two or three. Wilbon was on with me yesterday. We had a big conversation about, you know, where, you know, where drafting happens and where the stars come from. But anyway, Wilbonne was great on football too yesterday. But anyway, what was I saying? Kula Bali was outstanding last night. He was really, really good. He's a good piece. He's a good piece. He's an all-star potentially down the road. I know that, but still a Nazi guy. Not a top five elite player. But I'm not going to, I don't want to put any limit on him because of sort of the body type and the way he competes and the way if you project that he can get a lot better offensively. I think he's got a good stroke.

I think he's got a good handle. He has a chance to be a really high-level two-way player. Kauai and Che Gilgis Alexander in sort of that body type. I mean, these are all-time greats we're talking about, and SGA's on his way to being that. And Oklahoma City might be in the NBA finals this year. But he's certainly a big-time piece. Jake time piece.

Yeah. Yes, he is. Kulabali has a very good handle. Yeah. And like they look good, the Wissers look good last night. I mean, Bob Carrington looked good, right? Carrington looked good. Sar's looked good.

George. Yeah. You know, that stroke looks pretty good even when he misses. It looks good. How good do you want him to look, though? I know. That's a really good question. I don't, I mean, you know, Mike yesterday said, you know, Cooper Flagg and, you know,

what about Yokic second round? What about Kauai? What about, you know, Janus? I understand all that. But when there is this projected transcendent player, you know, like somebody who's really supposed to be like pretty much can't miss, a lot of times in the NBA draft, that player does hit. I would rather have a chance to get Cooper flag in next year's draft. But yes, who knows?

Maybe they already found their elite superstar in the true drafts they've had. Kulibali looks like a guy they really got right. He's 20 years old. And it's a long, we're three years away from seeing him start to kind of approach that point where it's like, oh, wow, they got it. They got it right. Yeah. But there are signs that they got it right for sure.

Yeah, there are. I agree with you. All right. Let's get to your prediction. Washington Giants Sunday. Who do you got? I've got a commander's victory. Yep. Nothing earth-shattering, a 27 to 20 win.

Two touchdown passes between Daniels and Terry McLaren. Okay. 27-20 commanders to get to 7-2 on their way to 11, 5, and 1. Or 12-and-5. All right. Happy Halloween, everybody. Tommy. I'll talk to you next week. Okay, boss. Back tomorrow. Jay Gruden will be on with me.