The Kevin Sheehan Show - Revised WFT Season Predictions

Episode Date: October 30, 2020

Cooley and Kevin with a ton of football preview and review today. Lots on Washington including revised season predictions during the bye week, a discussion on whether or not they'll be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline, what the team could get back for Ryan Kerrigan in a trade, and Kevin drew a parallel between this 2020 Ron Rivera season with the start of the 2001 Marty Schottenheimer season in DC. Kevin had 15 "Smell Test" picks. Cooley had two "Locks of the Week". They previewed the Ravens-Steelers game, talked about the rivalry between Tomlin and Harbaugh, and mentioned the dynasty that could be on the verge of coming to an end on Sunday.  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 Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. All right. It's a football Friday. Coolies here.

I'm here. No Washington game this weekend. And that's okay. Because there are some really good games on Sunday to watch. I mean, 1 o'clock, Baltimore, Pittsburgh. That's as good as it gets. In the 425 window, we've got San Francisco, Seattle, Coolly. This Sunday night.

and Monday night games are just horrible. When you combine the three national TV games of the weekend, last night, Atlanta, Carolina, Sunday night, Dallas, Philly, and Monday night, Tampa Bay Giants. It's probably the worst of the three national televised primetime games that we'll have all year. But Sunday, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Sunday afternoon, San Francisco, Seattle is a pretty good double header to tune in for. Real quickly, you had the snow that you see. sent me, you know, last week, all the snow. I don't know what the weather is like out there now.

It rained so much here yesterday and last night, and now it's turning for the first time this year, like legitimately cold. It's going to be in the 30s tonight and maybe a full freeze on Halloween night. So there you go. Oh, it's nice here. It's going to be in the 50. How nice? It'll be almost 60 for the next week or 10 days. You know, that's the way it typically works when you get into the winter. If it's cold and stormy in the east, it's milder and nice in the West. Do you know why that is? Jetstream pressure?

Well, it is the jet stream. When the east gets super cold and stormy is when there's a real big dip in the jet stream. And so it brings the Arctic air down into the Midwest and the East Coast. and on the other side of the jet, you get southerly flow, you get southerly warm air that comes into the western part of the United States. That's typically what happens. It's possible for all of the cold weather states in America take the middle of the country and go north to be cold at the same time. But when it gets stormy and cold in the east, it is typically very mild in the west and vice versa. when it's stormy and cold in the west,

it tends to be milder and less stormy in the east. So there you go. Little meteorology 101 here to start the show. We've got smell test picks. We've got locks of the week. I'm going to start with a question for you. Are you ready for this question? Yeah.

Because you're not really ready for the show today. You've been bouncing around. You've got dogs that are peeing all over the place. You've got cleanup mode. you weren't as we started this show you were a little bit busy and a little bit frazzled well the reason I was a little bit busy is because I told you last week that my knee has been real banged up and I got something going on in there and I went and got an MRI and I it's been a full week and I'm called yesterday and said what's going on my MRI I'd like to like to know the results I'd like to

make some progress here with what we're doing and they gave me a little fling inflame like well we your insurance we didn't know if they're going to cover the shot just yet the there's a lubrication shot that you can get that works really well anybody that has some arthritis or some knee pain look into some lubrication shots is that like cortisone it's not cortisone that's what everyone asks it's like in visk or it's a it acts as healthy knee fluid okay which some people it stays six months in their system some people three months for me the first time i did it at lasted six months. You can only do cortisone three times before you're not supposed to put more cortisone into a joint. Right. So for me, cortisone's really not an answer. It would probably

help for a few months, but in the long run, there's no answer. These joint lubrication shops could potentially be an answer for me to not have a new knee until I'm 50, maybe. Okay. This is a crazy tangent, but once you get a new knee, as it was described to me, is it's you're like 90% of everything you can do, but the hard strenuous stuff, they don't necessarily love that you do. So you don't want the new knee now? I don't.

Like I'm sitting here thinking if I want to coach football and my son's getting older and I want to go out and run some routes and show gut kid stuff, or I want to play softball or do, like I want to be able to run hard if I want to. Right. Before until I'm at least 50. Right. So I don't want the new knee.

So anyways, they called back yesterday and they're like, actually the orthopedic can see you tomorrow if you can, be there at 10 o'clock. Okay. So that changed my schedule today. I have to get some things done this morning. All right. Well, we're going to move through the show. Here's my question to start. All right. When you played, did you ever really consider the team's record, especially when it was a bad record, going into the game as, well, you know, we're playing the Giants. They're one in five. This will be an easy game. Did you ever as a player focus on record like,

fans and media do? No. Because you watched so much of that other team throughout the week in your meetings and on film and as you were moving progressing throughout and every week's such a new week. And it's you normally if someone was one in five, one and six, there's a reason. And it's because they weren't very good. So there were times that, yes, Kev, I'd go into games and go, this isn't going to be the hardest game today. and more so for me.

Yeah, but you just said... The other side of it is, I would have never watched or cared too much about what the other side of the ball was trying to address. Now, that said, you did see the other team's offense because you watched them play against other teams that you were going to play against, but I would never say, hey, we're playing the Giants this week. They're 1-5. It's, we're going to win.

It was mostly just looking at their linebackers, D.N. more of their defense type of stuff. And when their defense stunk, then it was me saying, this will be a good game. And do you remember times, and if it's not specific, that's okay, where you were playing a team that had a really bad record, but after preparing for them during the course of the week, you knew that they were much better than their record said they were,

or especially the side of the ball, the defense that you were facing? I think we lost to an 0-and-5 Tennessee team that I didn't think. was as bad as it seemed. I don't think I was good that year, but I remember Tennessee going in, they were 0 and 5, and I thought we would roll them on offense, and we ended up losing that ballgame.

Yeah, there were some, they were definitely, you know, Philly late in seasons you would look at with bad records and think about it a little bit. A couple times we played Philly when they weren't good late in the year. And you knew that they were better? Or was it that because there was familiarity, and I know you didn't talk big about rivalries in terms of the way the players felt, although for you in Clinton, I always found this to be interesting, that Philadelphia seemed to be a bigger game for the two of you than Dallas was. But was it more about familiarity?

And you thought, well, they know us really well. And if they, you know. Yeah, maybe because they had some good players over there that you knew. Yeah. But then there was a lot of times when you'd play teams that were banged up too, and you kind of understood that. I don't think I really focused too much on the record. Yeah.

But I will say this. We've talked about this before, but we always, it started with Kozlowski, my first few years, and went on through Todd Yoder and then Casey Robach, and I think Janssen did this with us a little bit. We all had percentage of win today in the locker before the game. Yeah, I remember you telling me that. It was the percentage we win today.

No one ever mentioned cover once. But it was always, I don't know, I got about a 48% chance we win this one. That's pretty funny. Did the coaches ever get wind of your percentages? I don't know. I doubt it. And all kinds of weird little games going on all the time.

And that is funny that, you know, players didn't, I mean, you weren't into gambling or anything like that. There had to be some players that knew what the point spread was. I guarantee you Clinton knew what the point spread was. I bet Clinton probably did know what the point spread was. I never even, I mean, you've known this from talking to me about gambling over the last five years. That clearly it took a lot for me to gain some understanding of how this actually works. Right.

What about when you, I mean, I didn't. What about when you played the Lions who hadn't won in over a year? Do you remember that game? It was a Zorn game. And you guys went to, you know, Ford Field, it would have been, and the Lions were the first loss for the Lions in like a year and a half. Did you think going into that game that it was a win? Like it was a 95%er?

I barely recall that game. Seriously? Yeah, seriously. It was in Detroit, right? Yeah, it was in Detroit. Detroit hadn't won for like a year and a half. They were Owen 16 the year before. They were Owen whatever that year, and you guys went in there and lost to them.

You were the first team to lose the Lions. I remember, oh my God, Doc. Doc was classic that week. I mean, just talking about how, you know, how completely messed up we were as a team to lose to the Lions. I'm pulling up the box score right now. The final score was 19 to 4. Oh, my God, I remember this now. I'm going to share a story with you.

here in a second. 1914 was the final score you lost to them. By the way, Detroit would have been on the smell test that week. The skins were only a six-point favorite. You guys were only a six-point favorite in that game against a team that hadn't won in two years. You really don't remember anything about that game? No.

That's crazy. Trying to go through. I'm literally looking at that box score right now, and I'm looking at their defense, which is full of a lot of big game. time names. I mean, in so much that Larry Foote is actually the only name I can really remember as a player in the NFL. Yeah, so you're being sarcastic. Brady Jackson was on that team. Julian Peterson was on that team. No, I have, I should remember that game. I remember being embarrassed.

How about that? I remember being, that was embarrassing. Was that the year that? that we started out, was that Zorn's second year? Yeah, Zorn's second year. Yeah, I think that was also the year through the first two games that we knew it had gotten worse in year two than it was in the first year. I'm going to share with you this story.

I think I've shared it with you before, but you played the Rams in week two, and the Rams were terrible that year, if I recall. The Rams that year were not a good football team at all. And Washington barely won the game. It was 9 to 7 was the final score of that game. And it was a weird thing because it was like a, God, there was a play with one of your offensive linemen. God, I'm going to blank on his name, where he recovered a fumble or picked up a fumble and advanced it. And it was like the big play of the game. Anyway.

Was it Pete Kendall? Yeah, exactly. Pete Kendall. Yeah. Yeah. So I was doing the Zorn show every week that year. For 2008, 2009, Tommy and I did the Jim Zorn show on radio. It would be every Tuesday, and we would go out and we would do this show from the studio at the park, and Zorn would come in. And I've told you how when he would come in, he would just then hang out and listen to the rest of the show. Like, He had nothing to do. But this particular visit, I remember I was going to have to ask him a question that was a big discussion at that point.

And that was, did he think that, you know, going into the Detroit game against a team that hadn't won in a while if that was going to be a danger game? Was he concerned that, you know, because there was a lot of swirling rumors already about how. you know, Zorn was in trouble. And as we know, that ended up being the bingo caller a year, the whole thing. So he looked at me, and when I asked him that question, and he stared me down. Cooley, I swear to God, Tommy, he'll tell you, he was so pissed. And he just said, he goes, do you know that we won the game yesterday? And I said, I'm very aware that you won the game yesterday.

But by the way, barely beat the Rams 9 to 7 and the Rams were horrible. I just looked it up. The Rams that year, I think went 1 and 15. They were a terrible team that year. The only team the Rams beat that year were the Lions. So you're talking about the worst of the worst. And I said, I am very aware, but I also am aware of what this franchise has been since Dan Snyder purchased the team 10 years ago. and that is that there are changes all the time.

That's the environment I'm operating in as not only a media member, but also a fan of the team, that when things look not great, the conversation immediately begins to swirl around the coach. So I'll ask you the question again. Do you think you need, and I said at that point I became more direct, and I said, how big do you think this Lions game is for you? and he just he really wouldn't even answer it he just was incredulous he was like

I just can't even believe you're asking that question he was very offended and the bottom line is we moved on and when it was over when it was over he was really angry and we went to a break and he said how can you ask that question and I said because it was a question that had to be asked and I said and I totally respect the position that you're coming from which is not being familiar with what this franchise has been for the last 10 years and how many coaches have come and gone and gone quickly. You know, borderline Hall of Fame coaches like Marty Schottenheimer only lasted a year here. Steve Spurrier was here for two years. Norve only lasted a year and a half. And I said, so you've been here for a year plus and you barely beat the Rams and you're one and

and you're going to play a team that hasn't won in a year and a half. And the conversation, whether you like this or not, it sounds like you don't even know it exists, but is about your future. And so it's a question that as an interviewer, people are going to want to know about, and I have to ask. And I totally respect the way you handled it. It's fine. It's what your answer was.

I think my perspective is from being a part of being a media member and following this franchise as a fan since Snyder bought it, and yours is of being very new to town. You know, you've been here for a year. And he didn't like it, man. He did not like it. And Tommy, to his credit, Tommy immediately came to my defense and he said, coach, I've been a columnist for, you know, 20 years or whatever. He said, that was, I'm sorry, but that was a question that had to be asked. Or we would have been viewed as not doing our job because that's what's going on. And Tommy was like, but you know, you handled it. The way you handled it was your honest opinion and that's fine.

And it, you know, but then it was really weird. The rest of the year, he would just hang out with us and listen to the show. Like it was like he'd be done. It was a 20 minute thing, 20 to 25 minute segment. And then he would just sit there in that studio. And then during breaks, he would say, hey, when you were talking about this, what did you mean? Like he was into the show. and I like a couple times I'm like don't you have work to do

and apparently he didn't apparently he didn't if you really think about it it's not the worst if you keep talking about football he's got his pulse on the media yeah I'm looking through the play by play of the Detroit game we're down 1914 16 seconds left on the Detroit 36 Jason Campbell has an incomplete pass intended for

Chris Coolewell yeah no idea what happened on that play. That's crazy. Oh, second 10, in complete, short middle for Chris Cooley. Not a slight recall. I know why I don't remember that now, though. Why?

Because that season, I blocked. I blocked out. But you thought he was a complete dope. So that year, two games later, we played Carolina. Mm-hmm. And it was the first game, I think, since my rookie. year that I didn't have a target or a catch. And I didn't think too much about it until after the game.

And then someone said, man, you had like an 80 game catch streak broke or whatever it was. I thought, that was just stupid. You have to know that as a coach. You get throw a screen to a dude, you know? And then I got hurt against Philadelphia on Monday night. And that was then the by week and Zorn came to my surgery. Oh my God, that's right. He talked about your surgery.

He talked about your surgery with Tommy and I. He talked about being, you know, he was a viewer of the surgery. He was so fascinated by, you know, surgeries. And he watched your surgery. You know that, right? Yeah, I do. I do know that. He was there when I went in.

So I remember thinking, him saying, man, we can get you back. in like four or five weeks or four or five games, you know, that would be awesome. And at the point where I was getting close, it was, we were like three and nine. I'd actually, I remember going, I went to the next game, the Atlanta game. And I went out with Brian Kozlowski, who was not playing anymore, he was living in Atlanta, and didn't come back for the team eating or curfew. I wasn't playing. I didn't see a need to be in for curfew.

And he called me in the next week and said, man, I'm going to have to find you for missing curfew. And I said, no one told me I needed to be at curfew. And he said, well, if you can't be a part of the team meeting and be in for curfew on these road games, then I don't want you to come. So I said, so you're saying I don't have to go? He said, nope. And so then after we were about three and nine, he was sitting there playing all these scenarios that we could still get into the playoffs that year. Well, if we could beat Oakland, New York, and it was like I started walking around on my broken foot. Oh, my God.

And then they send me back over to Baltimore, the foot doctor, and be like, it really isn't healing very fast. Yeah, he's not using his crutches. No, it's not. I'm not taking care of it at all. It was better by the last two weeks. I could have played in the last two games, but you're sitting there. at 4-11, 4-12, they didn't I-R-me until I think the last couple weeks. Well, look, that season...

Mind-side to all of that, that was a stupid decision on my part. To not play those last few games, there's not a good choice on my part. I regret it. I wish I hadn't had done that. It ended up being an off-season that wasn't my best off-season, and then I wasn't as good for the next year as I should have been. I wish that I would have changed the way I would have handled that. But that said, so much had to do with.

just I can't sit and deal with what we have going on right now. And that was the Clinton year with Zorn. Yeah. Right. I mean, there was just so much turmoil. Well, I would. And yeah, sitting at home watching Zorn coaches balls off against San Diego. It's like, you're already fired, dude.

And I remember other coaches on that staff, haven't been told by Jim, I think we can keep our jobs if we beat San Diego. Oh, my God. First of all, I think it was a bad decision on your part, not to. show up for the Atlanta meeting and be there for curfew. I think I made the meeting. I just don't think I went to the curfew. You should have asked whether or not you needed to make the curfew. I think that was immaturity on your part.

Probably. But there were a couple of games. The Kansas City game I've referenced many times over the years because to me that was one of the early rock bottom moments because the game was a terrible game. And the crowd left at halftime on an absolute, I was there, on an absolutely spectacular day in October against the Chiefs. And it was a close game. And the second half crowd had emptied. People just left.

It was so bad. And I remember saying the next day on the air, this has to change. Vinnie Serrato has to go. Dan Snyder, that was the beginning of either Snyder has to not be the owner anymore, or he's going to have to hire a legitimate football person to run this organization, because this is the beginning. People are becoming apathetic. I'll never forget that Kansas City game. And then, of course, the season deteriorated, as you mentioned.

But the game was the giant game where Zorn tried the swinging gate play, you know, two times in a row after the Giants got a touchdown. timeout to line up for it, and he ran it anyway. And the final score was 45 to 12 on a Monday night, and the next Sunday game was at home on a Sunday night against the Cowboys, and they hired Bruce Allen the week leading into that game. And so, and they fired Vinnie Serrato, and they hired Bruce Allen leading into that game. Bruce was there for the final two games of that year, and Vinny had finally been fired. Remember, they hired Shirm Smith. to be, Sherm Lewis, to be the play caller.

And he was running a bingo hall in Michigan. And because Vinny hated Zorn so much, and yet he was the guy that hired him. And Zorn started using words like, I am here to comply. Like contractual language that, you know, when asked about a play caller being bought, and my job right now, according to the people around me, is to comply. And so that was the word of like three weeks. You know, Zorn, Tommy. I remember, I remember he said, of course I want to call plays.

Calling plays is fun. Fun. Yeah. We got us. Even in the locker room, that was, oh, it's fun. Yeah. Okay. It was so, it got so bad.

And, you know, the bingo caller, Sherm Lewis coming into call plays. And Zorn basically there is a, as a non-head coach. Part of the reason at the end of the year, he was hanging out. out with Tommy and I and listening, you know, he was literally after his appearance, he would sit there for the rest of the show. It could be an hour. And he just wasn't busy. He was just counting down the days. And I think they wanted him to quit, but there was no way he was going to quit because he was getting paid more money than he had ever earned in his entire professional life. There was no way he was going to give that money back by quitting. I think he was still, I think they hired him. I

I think you got paid $2 million a year to head coach. Yeah. Yeah. And so, anyway, we got sidetracked there for a while. But I really, one of the reasons I asked you the original question is I just think, like right now, like last night, one in six Atlanta, there's no way you could watch the Falcons on tape leading into that game and think you were playing a team that's really one and six. Or isn't a team capable of beating anybody? Because they are.

they're totally capable of beating anybody. And, you know, in watching last night, you know what's really amazing about their receiving core is, first of all, how open those guys get. And just how big and strong and the catch radius for Julio Jones. But he really is such a special receiver in this league. And, you know, since the Super Bowl, he's been sort of stuck on a team that hasn't been very good. And Matt Ryan's a good quarterback. He's a good quarterback and always has been, don't you think?

Yeah, I don't think he's one of the top eight quarterbacks, but I think he's right there between nine and 15. I think he's a really competent quarterback, and they're talented. They're not a good defense. They give up a bunch of points and yards. But, God, just look at, I mean, you look at Atlanta, though, and you're like, should it be Dallas, should be Chicago,

had a chance against Carolina early, should be Detroit a week ago. I mean, they're a team right now that could be a four-win team easily in the hunt. They should be on a three-game win streak because of the girly, you know, scoring the touchdown instead of falling down on the one. And, you know, we know what happened against Dallas with the crazy onside kick, and they gave up a three-score lead against the Bears in the fourth quarter. It's been crazy the games they've lost.

But, you know, it's funny because I know we've talked about this a little bit, and Tommy and I talked about it, but there are two. teams out there, like Cincinnati's 1-5-1. You think anybody's watching the tape of Joe Burrow and the way they've played, especially offensively, like the Titans playing this week, thinking that's going to be an easy game? No chance. Do you think, you know, and you'll see when I get to the smell test, you think they're looking at Minnesota thinking that Minnesota's not capable of scoring and being in a game at 1 and 5? Do you think people are looking, I would say the same thing about the Giants. Do you think Tampa Bay is watching the giant film and saying this is, you know,

this is a 35 to 7 win? Yes. I don't. It might not be 35 to 7, but I think Tampa Bay is watching the giant film and saying there's nothing to truly worry about. They're a mediocre team. Okay. What about Houston? The Jets are terrible. All right. The Jets are truly terrible. Houston, Deshaun Watson's having a phenomenal year. And they've been close. They've been close a lot. They had a chance against Pittsburgh. They had a chance against Minnesota. They should have beaten Tennessee. And then last week, obviously, you know,

Aaron Rogers did a number on them. But it's just, I think it's interesting this year. And that's going to lead me into a conversation about Washington, where I want to get your updated season prediction, your season record prediction. I'm going to do mine as well. I asked Tommy for one yesterday. Tommy's was 3 and 13. He sees them winning one more game. Not a shocker. But we'll do that right after

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all the way up to a thousand bucks. All right, so I wanted to mention something to you that I talked to Tommy about a little bit yesterday. And that is, for me, sort of this recognition that Vegas is starting to respect the Washington football team. First of all, the odds to win the NFC East now, Washington is the second favorite. Dallas is now behind them. Phillies minus 200, for those of you that don't understand,

you have to wager 200 bucks to win 100. Washington's plus 400, you wager 100 bucks, you win 400. Dallas is plus 450, the Giants are plus 1,500. That's a blended. That's sportsbook.com. That's my bookie.com. That's several of them that are out there that I go to look at just to get a blended.

Is Washington a consensus second pitch? to win the NFC East, and the answer is yes. All right, they are. So they've moved up significantly in that conversation. They are a three and a half point favorite next week over the Giants in the look-ahead line. So, you know, typically on Wednesdays, Thursdays, you'll get the following week look-ahead line. And sometimes you can get it earlier, too. Washington's already favored by three and a half.

I'm telling you right now, Washington is going to be a first. favorite in three of their next four games. They're going to be a favorite next week against the Giants. They'll be an underdog against the Lions. And then I think there's a really good chance. There'll be a slight favorite against Cincinnati and a favorite more likely than not on Thanksgiving against the Cowboys who are really fading and could be the worst team in football unless they go out and trade for Ryan Fitzpatrick or somebody like that. So what I said to Tommy yesterday and what I may have alluded to you on Wednesday is I have this sense that Vegas recognizes them as a good defensive football team, that their defense is going to keep them competitive, that they're not

going to be easy to beat, that they are in a bad division where these games will actually be meaningful, where they've got a quarterback that is starting to at least run the offense and you know, they're able to play some level of complementary football. And my sense of it is that they are on the verge of playing some pretty decent football the rest of the way. Nine games left. I think that they will win no less than four of their final nine, and it would not surprise me if they won five of their final nine to finish seven and nine. I would say right now my season prediction, I think it was five and eleven. to begin with, it may have been six and ten, but my sense of it is is that they will be no worse

than six and ten, and I would not bet against seven and nine. I'll stick with six and ten as the prediction, but six and ten, if you get to six before the final week of the season against the Eagles, that final week of the season may be for a division title against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial. Vegas is starting to feel it. The numbers are starting to say it, certainly the advanced numbers. Do you know that the football outsiders, DVOA numbers, Washington moved up from 27th best team in the league to 21st after last week. That's a big jump.

Defensively, they're seventh in the league right now overall in DVOA. I think that there is respect from Vegas and the boys in the desert for this defense in particular. And maybe even Ron Rivera-Cooley, who believe it or not, has a very good record in December and late in the year on the teams that he coached to Carolina. They always played and finished strong. What do you think? The problem is to play and finish strong in December, you start with Pittsburgh. You're at Pittsburgh, at San Francisco.

You get Seattle at home. Yep, that's a problem. Those are three. Now, those are three games that you're not going to win. But you say that, and I remember 2017 when they went to Seattle with T.J. Clemmings and Tyler Catalina and Tony Bergstrom. There's no chance. Jordan Reed was hurt. Everyone was hurt, but Vernon Davis at Tide End. It was like, this is a no-chance game, and they controlled Russell Wilson. They won that game, like 1714. It's crazy game. It's insanity.

They have, I think beat the Giants. They can beat the lines, although I don't think they will. It'll be a good game against Cincinnati, and they should beat Dallas. And then, I don't know, man. I'm sitting here at six wins being your best case scenario. But if you bet that over under at five and a half beginning of the year, you're looking pretty good at six. Yeah. And I think you took the under and I took the over.

Right? Yeah, I did. I took the under. I'm not giving them more than six wins. Now, if they continue to get better on offense, then that's something different. But I still don't see them good enough on offense. And I know that they've been a competent offense against two bad teams two weeks in a row. But I don't know if they're consistent convert third and seven offense as they progress through this schedule.

I just, I don't truly see it. Now, I think they can get wins in the next four games because the Giants are real average on defense. especially in the secondary. Cincinnati's bad on defense. Dallas is horrific on defense. And let's see what happens when you get to the end of the year. If you can play a Carolina team that you thought was really good, that's really now after a couple losses,

sitting there at 3 and 5 probably out of playoffs in that division. Watching them, though, they're not terrible. They're a pretty good team. No, no, they're not terrible. And losing to Atlanta, as you brought up last night. Atlanta's a pretty good football team. and under her humor is going to win six or seven games to show betcha and they lost the saints by three you know in the Superdome last weekend right i hate even saying on the road are in the superdome i think carolina is a good ball club um the defense for washington through two games again doughton's anti dalton's terrible and jm u is not the best jm u he's starting this week that's a that's a mistake that's a mistake

No offense to him. And he and he might end up being the next Tony Romo. But if I'm Dallas, I'm trying to trade for Fitzpatrick. In this division with two wins, I'm sitting here saying we've got to have a quarterback. Let's figure this thing out on defense a little bit. Let's simplify. We've got to get a quarterback, though. The other thing I did this morning on radio,

and I think I touched on it yesterday on the podcast with Tommy, is that I don't know why I got this feeling about, One of my favorite Washington teams that didn't do anything. And it's still to this day, and I've mentioned this to you before, and many of you have heard me say it before, I think the biggest mistake that Dan Snyder ever made, and it's not even close, was firing Marty Schottenheimer after one year. I think if Marty Schottenheimer, if he had kept Marty Schottenheimer

as the head of the organization and the head coach, Washington would have won throughout that first decade of the 2000s. They would have won division titles. They would have played a lot of playoff game. and they would have been a really good organization. And I mentioned to Tommy yesterday briefly that there are some striking similarities of the 2001 Marty Schottenheimer Redskins and the 2020 Ron Rivera Washington football team. And you start with this.

You know, Marty's team started 0 and 5, and there was a lot of turmoil. There was a lot of, did they get the right guy? Did they hire the right guy? And he also had the issue of a minority of. owner and Fred Drasner who hated his guts. Marty took away his parking spot. He booted Vinny out of the building. But the veteran players didn't like him coolly. Daryl Green, Bruce Smith, he was making him do the Oklahoma drill. They couldn't stand him. I mean, Marty was a true dictator and an authoritarian, which is exactly what the organization needed in that moment, because

it had been taken over by this young owner who had no idea what he was doing, and he was already he's starting to ruin everything. Ron Rivera, one in five start, turmoil, people questioning whether or not he's the right coach. Marty inherited a quarterback in Jeff George that he couldn't stand, got rid of him after a game and a half, basically. Ron Rivera inherited a younger quarterback that he clearly didn't want in Dwayne Haskins. Here are the real similarities, though. Marty was a defensive head coach who had some really good young defensive talent. Lovar Champ Bailey, Antonio Pierce. The young defensive players were the players that stepped up and started to become the better players and the better leaders on the team. That's exactly what Ron Rivera is,

a defensive head coach, and his team right now is being led by young defensive players, like Young Pain and Sweat. That team in 2001 was nowhere near good enough on offense, especially with Tony Banks and Kent Graham at quarterback. This team is nowhere near good. enough on offense. They had Banks and Graham. They weren't the future quarterback. This team has Kyle Allen, not likely the long-term future quarterback. And then you go back and I, Cooley, I swear to God, I remember this season as much as I remember any of them because I knew, I knew as a fan. I wasn't even working in media then. I knew they had finally made the right choice. Norv was, you know, milk toast for seven years. He was a coordinator, not a head coach. I had no problem with them,

parting with Norv, and they hired the right guy. They hired a guy that was going to come in and wasn't going to let this owner fuck everything up. It was already apparent that the owner was going to be a problem because of what he had done in 2000 with free agency. And Marty boots Vinny out of the building, and he says, enough is enough. We're going to operate this thing like it's a professional football franchise, and they win eight of their final 11 games that year. And the arrows pointed up, and of course, the rest is history. Dan wasn't having any fun. He wanted Marty to give back the personnel responsibilities.

He wanted to bring Vinny back and have him and Vinny involved in personnel. And Marty rightly said, absolutely not. I will leave. And so the season started to turn around when they beat a couple of bad teams. They beat Carolina. They beat the Giants. This season may have started to turn around with a win over Dallas and maybe a win over the Giants next week.

Certainly a one point loss to the Giants. And here's the other big similarity. And I think it's true. We talked about this. That team never quit on Marty, especially the young players at 0 and 5, with an owner that was already starting to think about getting rid of them, with people thinking, by the way, the media couldn't stand Marty, couldn't stand, Cooley. He was such an asshole with the media, which as a fan at the time, I loved it.

I was like, this is the dude. And this team, this 2020 team hasn't quit on Rivera. I think the similarities are very striking. I think the biggest difference is that team had a really good team in the division, the Eagles, so they weren't going to win the division. They did. They got themselves back into the wild card hunt. They went from 0 and 5 to 5 and 5, and they were back in the wild card hunt,

and they were doing it with primarily defense. This year, this team has a chance in its division because it's so bad. But anyway, I wanted to get in depth on that because we saw, started the conversation yesterday and I thought about it and I went through all of the similarities. And there are striking similarities. A caller called in and said this, though. That team had Stephen Davis and this team doesn't have a bell cow at running back. And that's true. And Marty... Fair enough, but this is a different world that we're living in. True. True. Yeah. And frankly, Antonio Gibson's

turning into a guy that they can give the ball to 20 times a game. I don't know if he's a bell cow just yet per se. But I have a couple backs who are not a world where there's not one back anymore. Rare. Right. Anyway, I don't know what it is. I don't know what is.

I get where you're coming from. I just have a feeling. I don't think runs that dislike yet in the media. No. Well, but remember for the first month of this season, it's like, oh, my God, this guy, what's he saying? Well, he's been battling cancer. but and I've been I've been bewildered too.

I mean, I've been confused, completely confused by the first four or five games of the season. I don't know what it is and people have already responded to me after doing this on radio this morning with your delusional. What are you talking about this team stinks? I'm not saying this team's good. I'm saying that this team is going to get better. This team has a foundation. There's no doubt player-wise that this team has a foundation. I need less pieces than maybe ever before.

I think that's true. Let's get to the smell tests and the lock of the week. I just wanted to ask you one quick thing because the trade deadline is Tuesday. We can talk about it on Monday. But a lot of people think that if a trade's going to be made, it's going to be made over the weekend so that they have six days to clear the COVID protocols. Do you think they're going to trade anybody or not by Tuesday? I don't know if they trade.

anybody at the trade deadline. I think Dwayne would be someone that you would consider trying to trade, but I just don't think that they get anything for Dwayne. And so I think what's interesting is when they clear the trade deadline, if they just release Dwayne or what they do or if they say, look, Dwayne's on the practice squad, which means anybody could pick them up or do they try to clear a roster spot with that? I think that would be an interesting decision to make.

If you get another week where the NFC East has more losses, do they try to get a linebacker or a receiver? Well, that would start the conversation about whether or not they're a buyer. On the seller side, you didn't say anything about Kerrigan or Ryan Anderson or Fabian Moreau. Like, is Kerrigan now more marketable because he's got four and a half sacks and like 12 snaps? Or is he the same? He's the same. What could you get for him?

I personally would be surprised if they got anything for him. I think I disagree with you. I think if they tried to trade him, they would get something for him. I can't imagine that somebody isn't going to give you some sort of conditional late-round pick. I mean, we'll see what happens with that. I don't think you get anything for Fabian Moreau. I don't, maybe. I mean, I don't know if you have anyone with value right now, that you really.

really get something for. It'd be interesting if they tried to shop sheriff in a franchise tag year. Yeah, I was thinking about that. But can you really do that if you're trying to go for a division title right now? And by the way, you view him as a culture guy? You shouldn't if you view him as a culture guy. But if you think that you got a guy in West Switzer who can really play and you got the kid out of LSU who should be back who you think you believe in a little bit can play maybe i mean i go through this i go through this and i just don't see anybody else's trade that you want to trade or tradable bottom line is you have to feel comfortable you can resign brand and sheriff and that he's going to want to be here and by the way that might be an indication if he does want to be here

if john allen wants to be here you know they picked up the option on him but maybe they'll try a long term deal that maybe the organization is becoming more appealing to quality people and quality players, which it hasn't been for some time. If Brandon Sheriff all of a sudden becomes more interested, and maybe it'll be a money thing, and he might get a big deal still on the open market. And if, you know, Alan has offered something early, say the beginning of this offseason, rather than going into a fifth year option and then deciding sometime during his fifth year, because I think they believe he is a culture guy and they want him to be on that franchise for a long time to come.

Yeah, I'm with you. I just, I don't see, unless you're a buyer, I don't see him wanting to trade anybody of value and I don't see any value in anybody they'd want to trade. By the way, one last thing. I think if Haskins isn't dealt, I don't think they'll cut him. And then I would suggest the rest of the way

that he be the backup and that you don't have Alex Smith there sitting ready to back up. Because if Kyle Allen gets hurt, now look, if you think Alex Smith is going to be better than Dwayne Haskins and you're still competing for a division title, I guess okay. I don't know why you would think that. But if you are one and set, if you're two and seven or two and eight and Haskins is still on this roster, then Haskins should be active on game day. I can't imagine any reason to not activate them on game day, but Ron's doing the culture thing. I understand that. Clearly, Ron doesn't necessarily like Haskins.

So who knows what they're going to do with that. All right. Let's take a quick break. Word from our sponsor back with the smell test and the lock of the week. Kevin looks where the John Q public is putting their cash and does the opposite. It's time for the smell test. All right. Last week, Cooley, the smell test, 7 and 4.

That's the second winning week in the last three. I'm inching towards the 500 mark. Not quite there yet. But I've got a bunch of games, and it starts with tonight, actually. Maryland lost a Northwestern. We haven't talked about this, and you probably don't even know this. Maryland lost to Northwestern last week in their opener, 43 to 3. I mean, it was ugly.

I mean, the Mike Loxley coaching record and, you know, in terms of the way they've looked on the field, not a great start for last year and this year. Now, he's got top 20, back-to-back top 20 recruiting classes. And I think, you know, you really have to judge Loxley on 2021, 2022, 2023. I think that's going to have to be it. You're going to have to see if these recruiting classes that are, you know, the best recruiting classes that Maryland's ever had, if he's able to develop them into, you know, really good football players and a good team.

But there's something fishy about the game tonight. I didn't have them initially in the smell test. And I got a note late last night from just an offshore person who said, big, sharp money on your terps. And I'm like, really? So they were 12-point favorites. Actually went off at like 12 and a half last week against a team in Northwestern that was supposed to be awful. Minnesota's been picked to win the Big Ten West.

They got blown out by Michigan, but still that's Michigan, and they're still thought to be a really good team. And they are laying 19 and a half tonight at Maryland. The public's on Minnesota. They watched Maryland last week. They still think Minnesota's good. If the number was more reflective of like a really terrible Maryland team and a really good Minnesota team based on last week's Maryland result, I would have thought that the line would have been 21 plus. It's under three touchdowns.

I like Maryland plus the 19 and a half tonight. I don't feel good about the team right now, but you would think that if they, you know, that they'd have some compete in them tonight after being embarrassed last week. Let's go to tomorrow. And we'll start with Georgia State. Georgia State's playing 21st-ranked coastal character

Carolina. Coastal Carolina is 5-0. They are a team that opened up with a big win at Kansas, and everybody thought, whoa, that's a big upset. But it wasn't because Kansas is terrible. The public all over Coastal Carolina laying just two and a half to Georgia State. That totally fits the smell test theory. I'll take Georgia State plus the two and a half. Cincinnati's a really good college football team, very good defensively. I'm not in love with their quarterback. They're playing Memphis, and they're laying less than a touch. this week. Cincinnati's ranked seventh in the country for those that didn't know that. I liked SMU and gave out SMU last week, which did not work. Cincinnati pulled away late in 142.13.

I'm going to go against Cincinnati at least one more week. I'll take Memphis plus six and a half. Buy the half point, get it to plus seven, just like you should buy Georgia State's half point, get it to plus three. But I'll take Memphis plus the six and a half in that one. I mentioned Michigan and them blowing out Minnesota. Do you know Cooley, they play Michigan State, cross-state rival. Michigan State's new coach, Mel Tucker, off to a rough start. They lost to Rutgers last week. Michigan blew out Minnesota on the road. Do you know the look-ahead line two weeks ago on the Michigan- Minnesota game was 14, or even less than 14? Michigan's now 24 and a half-point favorites over Michigan State. I will take Michigan and lay the 24 and a half. The

public's giving the rival Spartans a shot in this one. I have a feeling this is going to be an absolute blowout. Take Michigan lay the 24 and a half. In the biggest doesn't make sense line of the college football slate on Saturday is West Virginia at home laying four against 16th ranked Kansas State. Now, I've had West Virginia a couple of times this year, and I had them, if you recall, in the smell test against Baylor a few weeks ago, and they won that. that game outright as an underdog at home and overtime. They're laying four against a K-State team

that's won four in a row and is ranked 16th in the country. It doesn't make much sense, does it? No, it doesn't. Take West Virginia and lay the four. I think there's a team that's going to start playing pretty good football here the rest of the way, and it's LSU. They're pretty explosive offensively, and Auburn just is off this year. First of all, I don't think Bo Nix is very good. LSU's laying two, and a half at Auburn. The public's on Auburn. I think LSU's going to win big. I really like LSU to hammer Auburn on Saturday. Take LSU late at two and a half. I've been right with Louisville, either against them or for them so far this year. Last week, if you recall, I had Louisville as a, as a, I had Louisville a couple weeks ago against Boston College. I'm sorry, it was two weeks

ago now against Boston College laying a big number and they won big 40 to 14. And that followed a game earlier where they played against Georgia Tech. Louisville did. I'm sorry, I had Louisville last week against Florida State. What am I talking about? I had Louisville last week laying five against Florida State and they won big. I had him two weeks ago against Georgia Tech. I had Georgia Tech against Louisville and Georgia Tech went outright. So I've been right about Louisville this year. I'm going to be right again. Take Virginia Tech and lay the three and a half. If that's confusing, just remember Virginia Tech minus three and a half. Oklahoma State is undefeated. A lot of people like them as a potential playoff team. I think they really struggle to score. Texas is getting a short number

plus three and a half against Oak State. I think Texas wins this game outright. I'll take Texas plus three and a half. I like Charlotte plus nine and a half against Duke. I think Penn State is right Saturday night against Ohio State. They're getting 12. The Buckeyes hammered Nebraska last week. Penn State lost to Indiana. Penn State lost a couple of running backs in the game. That number should be two touchdowns plus, even though it's in Happy Valley, but it doesn't matter. You know, few fans allowed. I was at that whiteout game two years ago when Haskins brought Ohio State into Happy Valley for that game was quite the scene. One of the great scenes in college football. I like Penn State plus the 12 on Saturday night at home.

And then Virginia getting only seven to North Carolina makes no sense at all. Carolina should be every bit of a double-digit favorite in that game. The public loves the heels. That's one of the biggest public plays of the weekend. I'll take Virginia plus the seven. Let's go to Sunday. There are four games. I'll start with this.

I've been right about Minnesota in every single game this year in the smell test. Okay, I had Atlanta a couple of three. of weeks ago when they were getting three and a half against the Vikings, and Atlanta won the game easily outright. I had the Vikings when they beat Houston as a slight underdog, I think it was, that week, and they beat, well, let me go chronologically or backwards. Atlanta, I had, then I had Minnesota against Seattle on that Sunday night game, they nearly went outright. I had Minnesota as an underdog at Houston, they won the game outright. I had Minnesota as a three-point dog. They barely lost Tennessee by a point, and I had Indy plus three and a half against Minnesota, where I leaned heavily

Indianapolis against Minnesota that week plus three and a half. I've been right about them all year. Cooley, they're only getting six at Lambo. That doesn't make any sense. No sense. Green Bay is the biggest public play of the entire football weekend. I'll take the Vikings plus six. I like the Bengals plus six against the Titans. That line under a touchdown. The public loves to see laying less than a touchdown. Explain to me why in Tua's first game against the Rams, the dolphins are only a three and a half point underdog against the Rams. That's short.

Because Miami has a pretty good defense. They've played really consistent football. And there's some belief in Tua. It's so short. The Rams are... It's so short. I think the bigger part is the Rams had a physical game Monday. against the Bears. They won easily. And I think that six-day thing going against a team that's off

their by week, I think it's a big benefit for that. I'll take the dolphins plus three and a half. And then Cooley, you know who I think really has it going right now? The 49ers. And I don't think Seattle is good enough defensively. I love Russell Wilson. I love Metcalf. I like San Francisco plus the three at Seattle. The public seems to think that Seattle will bounce back from the lost Sunday night against the Cardinals. I will take the 49ers. I think they're going to rush for 200 yards in this game. I'll take the 49ers plus the three. So recapping, Maryland tonight, Georgia State, Memphis, Michigan, West Virginia, LSU, Virginia Tech, Texas, Charlotte, Penn State, and UVA on Saturday. And then the Vikings, Bengals, Bengals, Dolphins, and 49ers on Sunday. All right. What's your life?

of the week. You'll love this because I was going to be so smart and go through some of these college games and you basically gave every college game like I was going to go through and play this whole smart thing. Like Michigan is going to destroy Michigan State. Like that's Michigan State's a bad football team. That's going to be an absolute blowout. I thought there's no way Kevin mentions Georgia State. Like my God, Coast of Carolina at 5 and I was going to give you Georgia State. I'm going to, I'm dead even on the year, three, three, and one. Okay.

I'm just going to play two hands on the lock of the week. Okay. BYU is six and oh. They're dominant. They're at home paying Western Kentucky. Yeah. They're favored by 29 and a half. Don't even bother buying the half point there.

Just take Western Kentucky to cover 29 and a half points. This game's going to look something like, 52 to 20 absolute blowout well oh 52 to 24 yeah I'm going to not be a winner that would not be a winner at 29 that but it's going to 52 to 24 somehow Western Kentucky is going to cover that one right um the NFL has a ton of big lines like nobody thinks the jets have any chance how I how often do you see a 19 and a half point favorite in a game it's it's they hope oh. Open to 21. Yeah, it's been a while.

I mean, it's been a while since we, I mean, late in the season, sometimes you can get, you know, 16, 17 point lines. It's been a while since we've seen a 19 and a half. I think I would lean New York in that just because the one thing that everyone's done to Patrick Mahomes is play a ton of cover two and force him to throw underneath. And that's what the Jets do best. I think this game probably looks like 23 to 3, 23 to 5, 23 to 7. Well, 23 to 3 doesn't do it if you've got the Jets.

Let's get the math right. I get it. I get it. I'm not going. I don't think the Jets score much in this game. I think they do end up covering. But the one I'm going to go with in the NFL, crazy as it is, is a team that is 0 and 7 against the spread so far this year. The Cowboys.

Dallas Cowboys. Oh, my God. Yeah, the Cowboys are 0 and 7. seven against the number this year. That's crazy. Oh, and seven. I mean, I have sat there and watched the roulette table go black, black, black, black. I'm just going to bet red. They got to cover a spread this week. It's nine and a half. It's nine and a half favorite. It's gone from... Nine and a half point favorite. Now, in my, I'm going to tell you right now, you buy the half point in this game. Sure, why not? Get it to 10. Go ahead and buy the half point,

but... Please don't tell me that the Eagles are going to win the game 23 to. Dallas. Don't tell me Philadelphia is going to win the game 2310 after you just gave out Dallas plus then. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. 2314? This game's going to be a lot closer than you think. This game's going to be less than a touchdown game. The reason I feel this way is because Dallas will get something going offensively. They just have, they have too many. With JMU?

With JMU. They get something going offensively. But the thing is, is Philly's not dynamic getting the ball down. I mean, Wence makes plays, but Dallas's back end in what struggles, they're going to find a way to cover Travis Fulgram. Is it Fulgum or Richard Rogers? And so they'll end up getting some pressure on Wence and they'll make some plays against Wence and it won't look as bad for them.

Philly will win this game 30 to 14. No, I'm just kidding, dude. Now Dallas going to cover this game. Somehow they're going to cover this ball game. What a stinker on Sunday night, though. Oh, terrible. terrible game. It's Travis full gum, by the way. I thought it was full grum, too, but it's full gum. There's no R in there. It doesn't make any difference to me. So Western Kentucky

plus 29 and a half and Dallas plus nine and a half. First of all, it's very funny because the jet thing, I gave the jets out two weeks in a row and they lost both and neither one of them was close. And then last week, they were right again, like plus the eight and a half, plus the nine against Buffalo. And I said on the, on the smell test last week, I'm like, yeah, I think the Jets are right, but I can't do that to you guys again. Can't do it to you again. And of course they covered. Of course they covered.

They were 0 and 6 against the spread going into last week, so you should have bet roulette red on the Jets last week. Vegas isn't going to mess up. Vegas doesn't get it wrong every single week. No one's 0.8 against the spread. It doesn't happen that often. That's true. It does not happen that often.

Dallas is 0 and 7 against the spread. I don't know what New York actually is against the spread. I can look it up real quickly. The Jets are one. They're one and six. They've covered the first time last week. Yeah, last week against the bills when I needed to have them and I didn't have them. In the game of the week, Pittsburgh versus Baltimore, I didn't give out the game.

You didn't give out the game. I actually like the Steelers in this game. I think they're the better team, Cooley. I can't wait to watch this game. I'm going to spend a couple of minutes just talking about the rivalry. Cooley's going to run here in a moment for the day. But Pittsburgh, Baltimore is the best rivalry in the NFL. There's actually not even another rivalry that's close to it right now in terms of current. I think Pittsburgh's the best team. I don't know, Kansas City or Pittsburgh,

I think they're better than Baltimore. And I think they're going to stop and slow down Jackson, and I think they're going to win this game. They're getting four. I will probably personally take Pittsburgh in this game. The action's very split for the most part in this game. Who do you like? I like Pittsburgh in this game. Pittsburgh's defense is outstanding. First and total yards given up. They're second and rush yards per game.

They only give up really just under 70 yards a game. They give up less than 20 points a week. They're not truly dynamic on offense, but Ben finds creative ways to get things done. And you can look at his stats from last week and see three picks, but really none of those I put on Ben. Right. I think he finds ways to convert, to move the sticks.

They got some weapons on offense. I think Pittsburgh wins this ballgame. I'm not completely sold on Baltimore just yet. I'm just, I'm not. I am sold on Pittsburgh's defense. I'm sold on Pittsburgh's defense. Yeah, I'm sold on Pittsburgh's defense. And I'm sold on Baltimore's defense.

They're a good defense. I don't think that they're the best defense in the league. And I think they're also aided by the number one rush offense in the league that ends up when a time of possession, but I think Baltimore is a beat up on bad teams kind of team, and this is one of those weeks where they don't get that opportunity. They also just added In Gokwe, and so he'll play his first game on Sunday as well as a part of this rivalry. All right, I know you've got to run. Take care of your knee, and I hope that goes well today with the shot you're going to get, and I will talk to you over the weekend,

and then Cooley will be back with me on Monday, where hopefully our locks of the week in smell test picks did well for you this weekend. And we'll talk about all the games from Sunday. All right. Take care, Cooley. All right. See you, Keff. All right. Take a break real quickly. And I want to talk about some things about Pittsburgh versus Baltimore that you may not know. I found to be a bit surprising.

That's next right after this word from one of our sponsors. And I wanted to finish up this show just by talking about something I read late last night about the Steelers and the Ravens, which to me is the rivalry in the NFL, and it has been the rivalry in the NFL for a long time now. I mean, we can kid ourselves about the NFC East rivalries and certainly anybody versus Washington in the NFC East. It's just not the same anymore. There's been a generation that's missed out on too much of it, and I still think there's a possibility. And if both teams were good, it would come back and it would be important. and we would start talking about all of the history between the two teams.

But Pittsburgh Baltimore has been the rivalry of this last decade, decade plus. And what I found very interesting that I didn't know before I read this story last night is that John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin will be facing off against each other as the head coaches of the Ravens and the Steelers for the 25th time in the regular season and that is the most between two head coaches face to face since the Super Bowl era, during the Super Bowl era. That's crazy to me. I just would have thought that there were, you know, in the NFC East alone, Gibbs Landry, you know, Gibbs Parcells, you know, whether it was Gibbs Parcells, you know,

when Parcells was with the Giants or Gibbs against Parcells when Parcells in Dallas, that it's 25 times Tomlin and Harbaugh, and that's the record. Remember, they've been, you know, along with Sean Payton and Bill Belichick, they're the four coaches that have coached for 12 years or longer with the same team in the NFL. But that really blew me away to consider Harbaugh versus Tomlin as the all-time matchup of the Super Bowl era. But when you really think about Harbaugh taking over in Baltimore, Baltimore in 2008, Tomlin taking over in Pittsburgh in 2007, and the games that they've played and the teams that they have had. I mean, the records of the two coaches, Tomlin took over in 2007.

His regular season win percentage is 652. He has a Super Bowl title and six AFC North titles. A year later, Harbaugh takes over, the Ravens. Harbaugh's got a 621, winning percentage in the regular season. He's got a Super Bowl title, and he's got four division crowns. So the two of them, over the last 13 seasons, have 10 of the 13 division titles in the AFC North. They've dominated that division. They've played some of the biggest games in the history of their respective franchises against each other, and the Steelers have a hell of a history. They have played some of the biggest games in the NFL over the last 12 years. Harbaugh actually holds a 13 to 11 edge over Tomlin in the regular season.

They've played three times in the playoffs. Pittsburgh's won two of them. Baltimore's won one of them. But listen to this. Two-thirds of their games, 16 of their 24 games head-to-head have been decided by four points or less, and they've had four overtime games between the two of them in the 13 to 11 edge that Harbaugh has over Tomlin in the regular season. So four out of the 24, one out of every six of their games goes to overtime.

It's really an incredible rivalry between two similar franchises too. Really smart, really loyal, always emphasizing continuity and really tough, hard-nobes. philosophies. I mean, both of these teams have been defensive physical stalwarts in the NFL for the time that they've both been coaching these teams. Now, I was interested to find out what the relationship was between the two, considering that they now have the number one amount of matchups head-to-head of any two coaches in the Super Bowl era. They're not friendly at all, apparently. close. They don't hang out. There's not a relationship there. But this story really reflected how much they respect each other, but really how much they respect the organizations that they're

facing. Tomlin said, quote, you know what it is about the Raven Games? They are a top-notch organization and football team. They have talent across the board. They're familiar with us. We're familiar with them. There's continuity with the schematics, both staff. staffs, the core players. I think that's what adds to the intrigue. We should anticipate it being physical and rough and tumble because that's what history tells us and how the two teams are playing this year also gives you that indication. Harbaugh saying about Tomlin and the organization, the thing about their organization is they stay true to themselves. That's what they're all about. Coach Tomlin is one of the best. We have great respect for everything they do. It's interesting to hear both of them in their comments about each other and each other's teams. It's really about the organizations. They both understand that winning starts at the top. It starts with great ownership. It starts with great general managing and personnel groups and that they are a part of two fantastic organizations.

They respect that about each other. It doesn't sound like there's a lot of love between the two. But in fact, Harbaugh joke that he and Tomlin were always destined to be sort of opposites because he was a DB in college and Tomlin was a wide receiver. And the story reads as follows, while they're not anywhere near close friends, they do share a mutual admiration and respect for one another. Anyway, this is right now, here we are, in week eight. This is the game of the year so far.

We saw Kansas City in Baltimore a few weeks ago, and that was supposed to be as early as it was week three, you know, one of the games of the year. But this is the rivalry, the rivalry in the NFL, and a 6-0 team, the last undefeated team, against their arch rivals. No fans, or very few fans, I guess, expected. at M&T Bank Stadium. And it's the first two meetings. The second one comes Thanksgiving night.

What a great Thanksgiving night game that'll be. It'll follow Washington and Dallas, which is the 430 game on Thanksgiving. I think that the early game is Detroit and Houston. I think it's Houston. It might be Tennessee. It would be better if it were Tennessee, but I think it's Houston and Detroit on Thanksgiving early, then Washington and Dallas again,

and then Ravens at Steelers Thanksgiving night. Would not surprise me at all if this is the first of three meetings this year. The AFC really, you know, when you think about the AFC and the playoff race, right now, five of their, well, four of their teams are locks, right? Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Tennessee, and Baltimore are all going to be playoff teams. of the two between Baltimore and Pittsburgh is going to be a division winner, and the other is going to be one of the three wild cards. In the AFC East, it's really starting to shape up more likely than not, even though I don't think they're a great team, but Buffalo more likely

than not, you know, is the front runner there. And then you get into Cleveland's 5 and 2, Indianapolis is 4 and 2, Miami's 3 and 3, the Raiders are 3 and 3 for that last wild card spot. Or actually, the last two wild card spots, what am I talking about? The NFC, much more bunched up, man, right? Green Bay, Seattle, Tampa, Philadelphia, right now the division leaders, and then the wild cards, I mean, Chicago, Arizona, L.A., New Orleans, San Francisco, and you can't even count out a team like Detroit. That's three and three. Keep in mind, the NFL playoff format this year is expanded. Seven teams each conference. Four division winners, the next best. three records and the number one record division winner will be the only team with a buy.

The other six teams in each conference will face off wild card weekend. There will be a triple header on Saturday, a triple header on Sunday, and then you move on to the divisional round with four teams in each conference left. One last thing before we leave for the day right after this word from one of our sponsors. Last thing for the day is this. The Patriots, have they ever had a must win during the regular season? It's been a long time since they've been in a must win situation in week eight in the regular season. But they are on Sunday when they play the Buffalo Bills in Buffalo. Buffalo's 5 and 2. The Patriots are 2 and 4. If they lose this game, they fall to 2 and 5 and Buffalo moves to 6 and 2. And that would be pretty much it for the Patriots playoff chances in 2020. It's really remarkable when you consider that the first two games of the year, it looked like, oh, Bill Belichick, he's the one it's not Brady. The Patriots are going to win with Cam Newton,

and the Buccaneers aren't going to be very good with Brady. Well, that tide has shifted significantly. Tampa Bay is a legitimate Super Bowl contender, and the Patriots really are right now a team that's in deep, deep trouble. During the Belichick era, they've never gone three games without scoring more than 12 points. That's what they've done in their last three. They lost to Kansas City 2610, Denver 18 to 12 and got blown out by the 49ers 33 to 6 last week. This Belichick era has never, ever had quarterback play like the quarterback play that Cam Newton has produced over the last couple of weeks.

it's been historically bad. Cam Newton's quarterback rating in Sunday's loss was 3.5. It was the worst single game QBR by a Patriot starting quarterback since the metric was introduced in 2006. Newton's got the lowest total QBR in the NFL since week three at 15.5. Remember the first two games of the year, he had some rushing touchdowns, had them on the verge of beating Seattle in week two at the end of the game, and he's been terrible ever since. And he missed a couple of those games with the coach. COVID test. Newton's the third former MVP in the past 30 years with three or more interceptions and fewer than 100 passing yards in a game that happened last week. The Patriots have 11 turnovers in their three-game losing streak. And overall, they've thrown three touchdown passes in this entire season and 11 interceptions, which are the most in the NFL this year. They've thrown the fewest amount of touchdown passes, and they've got the most interceptions this year. This is a real trouble for the Patriots. We may be seeing the end of the Patriots

dynasty, which we thought had a chance to continue after the first two weeks because of Bill Belichick and the brilliance of signing Cam Newton to basically nothing, having to give up nothing for Cam Newton. But without a win at Buffalo Sunday, their season is over. All right, have a safe, healthy weekend back on Monday with Cooley.