The Kevin Sheehan Show - Saying There's A Chance

Episode Date: November 22, 2023

Kevin and Thom today with Thanksgiving wishes, tales, and lots on the Washington-Dallas matchup. Kevin thinks the Commanders have a chance. Thom thinks Kevin is nuts. Kevin's keys to an upset and the guys have their predictions on the game as well. Kevin has a Thanksgiving Day "Smell Test" with two picks. The boys talked about Tom Brady's criticism of today's NFL to finish up. 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 Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. The game's on the line, fourth and three. Romo's back. He's in trouble.

Trying to escape. He's got to throw it. He does. It's incomplete. And Washington wins. Unbelievable win for the Washington Redskins behind. The third straight quarterback, Colt McCoy, who comes back to Texas. victorious.

Tommy, do you remember that? Do you remember when your son pulled off the upset on Monday night football in Dallas? Yes, I do. I remember that was one of those. It wasn't quite a shock and all the moment, but it was pretty close because that was after the Tennessee game where he came in halfway through the Tennessee game the week before. Exactly. And led them to a win.

and he was so emotional at the post-game press conference that that was it. It was Robert's first time. That was the moment? Yeah, I remember that. I forgot. That was the moment. Do you know what I forgot in watching this highlight is Colt McCoy was number 16 that night? He would later wear number 12.

But for some reason, he was number 16 on that particular night. I think what happened was Kirk was a, was a, initially 12 and then went to 8. And so McCoy went back to 12. I think that's what happened. Whatever. That game was one of the biggest upsets in the history of the rivalry. Washington was a 10-point underdog.

They are 10-and-a-half-point underdog tomorrow. It's not the biggest upset in the history of the rivalry. I'll get to that in a moment. but Washington won the game 20 to 17 in overtime, and it was another one of those where, you know, skins and Cowboys fans just scratch their heads and said, can never figure this thing out, you know? It's just whenever you least expect it.

So maybe, maybe tomorrow Washington can pull off something big, although most of you don't even want it. The show, as always, presented by Window Nation, call them at 86690 Nation or go to windonation.com for a great deal on new windows before winter arrives. One of the reasons I picked that highlight to come in on is Washington has been a big underdog at Dallas many, many times over the years. But there are two memorable wins. That was one of them as a 10-point underdog. But did you know, Tommy, that the single biggest point spread upset in the history of the NFL's regular season was Washington led by Heath Schuller in 1995 going down to Texas Stadium as a 17 and a half point underdog and winning the game outright 24 to 17? That is the single biggest point spread upset in the history of the NFL.

I don't know if you knew that or maybe the listeners knew that. The biggest upset ever in the history of the NFL is Super Bowl 3, points spread-wise. The Jets were 18-point underdogs. 18-point underdogs. To the dolphins. I didn't know that about the Heath Shuler game. That's a good story. Yeah.

That might be a good story for the next time these two play. Yeah. Well, maybe. That's a column. Maybe Sam, yeah, the next time who plays? He's Shuler against the Cowboys? No, the Cowboys. The Cowboys and Washington, but that's pretty good. That's a good get. I didn't know that. Yeah, there have been several 17-point dogs to win, but Washington is a 17-and-a-half-point dog that day. The biggest point spread, regular season upset. And Heath Shuler was not a good NFL quarterback. The weird thing about that particular season is that was a, Barry Switzer, Dallas Cowboy Super Bowl season in 1995. That was the last time the Cowboys

won the Super Bowl was the 95 season, you know, the 96 Super Bowl that year. Washington swept them. Washington swept the Cowboys that year, beating them at home 27 to 23 with Gus Ferotic quarterback as a 13-point underdog early in the season and then beating the Cowboys as a 17 and a half point underdog. Boy, that must have been so sweet for Norv. Oh, my God. It's huge for Norr. That must have been so satisfying for him.

So satisfying. Yeah, in fact, at the very end of the show, I'll tag a highlight from that game. At the very end of the show, you'll hear a Heath Shuler touchdown pass and maybe some Summerall in Madden from that game back in late 1995. I mean, the skins were going nowhere. I mean, Norve was in his second year that year. They went six and ten in his second season. And that was the year, really, that was it for Heath Schuller.

Schuller just wasn't going to be the guy. And the guy they took in the same draft in the seventh round, Gus Ferrat, became the guy for them moving forward. And Schuller just was not a very good quarterback in the NFL. never. I mean, I think it's the single biggest bust draft pick in the history of the franchise. I don't think there's a close second, even though we've talked a lot about bust picks in recent years. But that was... You're right. That's number one. And meanwhile, Gus went on to have, I take, a 14-year NFL career. With a lot of different teams. A lot of different teams. Yeah, Gus Ferat had... Good one, Tommy.

He had a 15-year NFL career. 15 years. 15 years in the NFL. Played for Washington, played for Detroit. Actually, was the quarterback for Detroit in a playoff game in Washington against Brad Johnson and the skins. He played in Denver. He played in Cincinnati. He played in Minnesota.

He played in Miami. He played in St. Louis. And then he finished back up in Minnesota. So Gus Verrett had... That's pretty good for a seventh round draft pick from Tulsa. Made one Pro Bowl for Washington in 1996, that following year. He went to the Pro Bowl. That was the year they started 7 and 1, the final year at RFK,

and then missed the playoffs by losing a game late in the season at Arizona against the Cardinals, which was a crushing defeat. Because it was all setting up that year in 96 for Washington and Dallas to play in the season finale and the final game at RFK for the division, which would give Washington another chance to play a game at RFK, but they lost the week before that at Arizona on a Kevin Butler field goal after a penalty. I think it was a Romeo Bandeson penalty, extended a drive when the game looked over, and they ended up losing to the Cardinals.

Look at you. You're really flexing your muscles this morning. Well, you know what? That season was the season, it looked like we're back. You know, it had been, you know, that was Norv's third season. We had the Richie season. We had 94, 95 with Norv. And then all of the sudden, in 96, they're 7 and 1, you know, at the halfway mark. And they did not have a good defense that year.

Their defense was not very good. But they lost twice that year to the Cardinals who were quarterbacked by Boomer Assyerson, at least the first game. was Boomer Seism. I think somebody else. Was Buegel the coach in the Cardinals then? Good question. I don't think so, Tommy.

I don't think so. I'm going to look that up right now. Because Buegel didn't last long, remember? No, he didn't. Vince Tobin was the head coach. Vince Tobin was the head coach. Yeah. And in the, yeah, Boomer Seisen, quarterback,

the first game against Washington and threw for over 500 yards at RFK Stadium in a win. And there was a holding penalty on a field goal that was made, and then a field goal got missed. And they had a chance to beat the Cardinals twice, but penalties killed them in both of those games. And that ended up being the decider in a season that ended without the postseason and ended in that game, final game at RFK against the Cowboys. rush the Cowboys. The Cowboys had nothing to play for. But that would have been special. I was there, too. That would have been a special, special day.

It was already a special day, the last day at RFK. It was a very memorable day. It was bittersweet, though, because it really could have been for high stakes. It could have been for the division, and it was not. Anyway, Heath Shuler getting us down the path of Washington Cowboy history. and even a little bit of Washington and Arizona Cardinal history. How about that? You didn't expect that when you tuned in to the podcast today.

You know, it's not Christmas. It's Thanksgiving. It seems like Christmas with all these gifts you're giving everybody. Well, you know why, Tommy? I'm thankful today. I'm thankful to everybody out there that listens to this podcast, and we give gifts all season long. I mean, we're not particular to just a couple of holidays,

but given that tomorrow is Thanksgiving, thank you. Thank you, Tommy, for all you do for this podcast. Thank you, Kevin. I appreciate, I always appreciate the time with you. This review via Apple Podcasts from Mr. Earthman. Mr. Earthman writes, A Great Podcast, gives us five stars,

and this is what he writes. You'll like this one. The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast offers insightful sports commentary, and engaging discussions providing a well-rounded analysis of current events. Tom Leverro's contributions add depth, offering a unique perspective that enhances the overall listening experience. And then Mr. Erfman writes, asked chat GTP for a two-sentence review of the podcast to include Tom in it as well.

He writes in all seriousness. This podcast is always worth a little bit of. and really enjoy the unrelated sports talk as much as I enjoy the WFT talk. That sounded like a, you know, it sounded like an AI response. It did, but a little bit better than Magic's AI responses. It had a little bit more depth to it.

Washington lost today because they threw three interceptions and fumbled twice. Good luck next game. I like Washington tomorrow. I'm going to tell you why coming up. It's not that I like them to win the game. I like them to cover. Come on. You've listened long enough to know when I say, I like Washington tomorrow. It doesn't necessarily mean I like them to win the game, but I do like them to bounce back. Keys to a win over Washington,

over Dallas coming up. Tommy's prediction, my prediction for the game. I've got an early smell test for Thanksgiving Day games, and we will get to that as well. I do want to to mention window nation one more time call them at 86690 nation or go to windonation.com. Right now, their offer includes two free windows for every two you purchase plus zero percent interest for five years if you want to finance the purchase of new windows. Window nation's the best listening to this podcast will benefit you. You'll get a free estimate so there's no risk. They're not going to pressure you. They'll give you as much time as you want. You can shop the deal. Their windows.

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Call them at 86690 Nation or go to window nation. So you head to Philly tomorrow morning? Yes, I do. Actually, Westchester, suburb of Philly. At my sister-in-law's house, there'll be about 31 people there, including some new Spanish cousins making the trip. over from Madrid. Amazing.

This is a whole new get-together with a lot of family that I don't think you've talked about a lot previously until you went to Spain this summer. Well, we went to Spain among my wife's brothers and sisters, your seven brothers and sisters. We were the first ones to go to Spain to visit their family in 1996. We spent three weeks there with the kids. And that started like an exchange program of young kids. Like they sent a couple of their kids over for summer here or even longer to stay with relatives. I sent my son over first summer over to Spain or I think before his senior year in high school.

So we connected like that for a long time. But there was really a lull in the number of visits that we made over there. and this was a big one when the whole family went over there, and we went over for a month in August. So, yeah, I enjoy their company. They're a fun group. That's awesome. That's awesome.

It'll be a fun time there. I've got a large group coming over to our home for Thanksgiving. We host every single year. And, you know, everybody's so calm in my house in preparation for this. There's no anxiety. There's nobody yelling at each other. It's just always so smooth. Are you being facie or are you being serious? No, it's, I mean, you know, it just, it seems like we're handling the pressure like we do every year of having a large group at her home for a holiday with just such ease.

And the treatment of one another has been outstanding over the last 24 hours. Oh, my God. You know what I got this morning? This is what I got this morning. Where are you going to work? Really? I thought you said you took today off. It's Wednesday. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. They're playing tomorrow.

I didn't. You told me you took the day off. And I said I never said I took this day off. I never said I took this day off. And so. I know you would not say that. I would never say that. I think, and I said, I think you got confused because when we were talking

about Christmas weekend. I told you that I had taken the Friday going into that weekend off and then the day after Christmas off as well because Christmas is on a Monday this year. I said maybe that is what confused you and

she was convinced that the only person confused was me. And I said to her, I'm going to back you. I'm going to back you because I know you would not say the day before Thanksgiving game that you were taking the day off? No, I mean, look, I may have said it accidentally.

I mean, I could have said it, and I meant Christmas, and I said Thanksgiving, you know, the day heading into Christmas weekend. Maybe I said Thanksgiving, and so it's possible. So what I said was, look, I'm doing the podcast, and then I'm doing the radio show, and then why don't you give me, you know, just text me the list of everything you need me to do, and it'll be done by 3 p.m. And I'll be home by 3.30 today. And we can sit back, relax, have a couple of cocktails.

Everybody's back in town. All three boys are in town now. And we can do whatever you want to do. That didn't go over really well either. She said, Hey, what do you say we go out drinking tonight, Aldo? Let's go out drinking. Actually, I did say.

Like we used to on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. That's funny because I said to her, I said, did I because before I said send me the list I did say to her well did I tell you that everybody's in town and I'm going out drinking tonight with a bunch of people and she she just looked at me and she said you are kidding aren't you on that I said well I mean there are a bunch of people getting together which is true a lot of friends are getting together and I said no I told them that I couldn't do it we're hosting and there's a lot of work to be done to get ready for tomorrow So there you go.

The other thing, I may have mentioned this to you already, is when Washington plays on Thanksgiving, it just sucks for, you know, for people that don't really care about the game, but they're celebrating with a lot of people that do care about the game. Thanksgiving for us has always been, it's not a buffet where people grab and sit wherever they want. It is a sit-down dinner. and it is, you know, and I enjoy it. Everybody enjoys it. But with the game starting at 4.30, and this is like what, the fourth or fifth time this has happened over the last 10 or 11 years,

it's just a pain in the ass for everybody. If you're, now, the problem is a lot of the people in my home are going to want to watch the game. and she couldn't care less about the game. I've told you, Kara doesn't, she couldn't care less about sports. I mean, it's probably why it's worked so well for so long. The next time she listens to this podcast will be the first time. She listens to the podcast. Well, you better hope it's not tomorrow.

But it's just, it's not. So I said, you know, what do you want? Why don't we do it either before the game or we'll eat? After the game, no. She wants it pretty much at the same time we have it every year, which is right around, you know, between 530 and 6. She wants everybody to sit and, you know, and she said, you'll just hit pause and we'll have a nice dinner. And then everybody can go back and watch the game and you can fast forward to the commercials, which is what we're going to do. You know what I said this year? I just said, great, done. Because what's good for me is I don't have to do the pregame. I haven't done the pregame show now for four, four. years, whatever it's been, four or five years. That, although one year, 2016, when they played down in Dallas on Thanksgiving, Rigo and I did a pregame show together at a place down in Logan, and I'm forgetting the place. It may have been Adams Morgan. May have been the blackguard. I forget where it was. We did it. And we were hammered. I mean, it was a 430 game.

The pregame show started at one. We were down there, you know, 12.30, ready to go. And he's like, I'm going to have a couple of beers. And I said, well, I'm going to join you on this Thanksgiving. We had a great time doing the show. And then afterwards had to drive back home. But you know what? It was the most peaceful.

When you were out at like 4.30 on Thanksgiving Day and this was downtown, there wasn't a car on the road, especially given that the Redskins and Cowboys were kicking off. in that particular moment. I mean, I don't think I've ever been downtown with less traffic. Although one of my favorite things to do, Tommy, occasionally, is if I'm up early on a Sunday morning, is just to get in my car and drive around D.C. Because it's so peaceful and it's so beautiful.

Because it really is a beautiful city. Not when there's a lot of traffic. That's always a pain in the ass. But that was a... So not having to do the pregame show is making... it easier. So we'll just, you know, we're going to pause. And I think by the time we catch up, it'll be, you know, probably synced up live with the game in the late fourth quarter, something like that. Well, you know, your situation pales in comparison to mine over the years. I mean,

I go to a house where football doesn't exist. It just doesn't exist. None of my in-laws, the whole family. I told you they make the Walton's look like a motorcycle gang. They don't care about football. Right. You know, and nobody would watch it.

It just wasn't watched. There was no TV available in the immediate vicinity to even watch it. And I've dealt with this for years. Now, the Thanksgiving move from my mother and father-in-law's house

to my sister-law after they passed away. And she had a basement with a TV for a couple years that was available, but now they don't have cable. Oh, my God. Okay? Yeah.

They don't have cable. They cut the court. And I'm assuming they don't have YouTube TV either. No. So I've taken matters in my own hands, and I've downloaded a device to watch the game on my phone. All right. That's not bad.

And I guarantee you during dinner, people are going to be, there are going to be people trying to watch their game on the phone and they're going to be saying what's going on. And I don't even care about that. I would care if this were a big game about knowing what happened before I watched it, but I don't care this year. But with your group, that is, I mean, I think sometimes in the world that we live in, we forget that most people don't care.

You know, the numbers for the game tomorrow will be, you know, whatever it'll be. 40 million people will watch the game tomorrow. There are 340 million people in this country, right? Isn't that the current population? Is that the current U.S. population somewhere around there? I think so. So most people actually don't care about the games tomorrow, even though football and Thanksgiving sort of go together.

don't they? Yes. Yeah. Yes. Okay. Thank you for the review. Please rate us and review us if you haven't done it. It's real simple.

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that was a Spotify issue. If that was us, I would tell you it was us. But many of you listen on Spotify, and Spotify had major issues with podcasts over the last couple of days. Just remember, you can always listen at the Kevin Sheehan Show.com. That's why that website is there for those people that don't want to listen on Apple or Spotify. or anywhere else, or if there are issues with Apple or Spotify, you can always go to the website,

and the show is right there. All right. What else on Thanksgiving? Anything else? I love Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday. Much less... Well, it used to be...

When I lived in a poker house, when I went to high school, it was called Turkey Day, because the big football game between Strasbourg and East Roussburg took place on Thanksgiving, a morning like a 10 o'clock. And it was like Woodstock, you know, for the two towns. I mean, everybody came. And, you know, they played for the little brown jug, this little trophy. And it was a really intense rivalry. And like if, let's say if Stroudsburg, if East Stroudsburg beat Strasbourg and

Strasbourg, the whole team would walk, or would march from Strasbourg High School three miles after the game to East Strasbourg High School. with thousands of people following them. What about Rudy's? Would Rudy's be packed after the game? Oh, oh, be packed. I wish I was at Rudy's tonight. Oh, my God.

You know what? I wish I were at Rudy's with you tonight. That would be a lot more fun. Yeah, that would be great. Rudy's Tavern, don't forget about it. East Strasbourg, Tommy's favorite. All right. The high school football game and rivalry, those things have always been kind of cool on Thanksgiving as well.

A lot of people have their own traditions. They don't play it anymore because it complicated high school playoffs as they grew. So they play Stroudsburg and East Trousburg does not play on Thanksgiving anymore. And there's a lot of people that are still very disappointed about that. I think I told you that for many years, my high school friends, we had a softball game the day after Thanksgiving. The Friday after Thanksgiving, there was an annual softball game that lasted for 10 years after we got out of high school. And then it extended even longer than that with a lot of people that actually didn't even go to high school with us. But it became kind of a popular game for people that just heard about it to jump in.

but it was a keg at home plate and you had to chug a beer every single time you got up. So let's just say that by the third or fourth inning, the game started to deteriorate, but it became a lot of fun. And then we would all hang out all Friday, Friday night. And the thing would typically, you know, roll into early Saturday morning many years too. But it wasn't a football tradition. It was a softball game tradition, which was so much fun. In fact, a bunch of friends are getting together this weekend, and I texted to the group.

I said, well, if we're going to get together Friday night, are we going to do it? We got to do it later because the game starts at one. Our softball game starts at one. And then the memories started about the softball game. Man, there were several of those day after Thanksgiving that I don't remember how I got home. It was fun, though. It was worth it. All right.

Washington beats Dallas if I'll give you my keys to an upset win on Thanksgiving Day when we come back right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Tommy, tell us about Shelley's. Well, on Thanksgiving Day, day before Thanksgiving, I want to extend a hearty thank you to Shelley's back room for being basically the oasis. that it is. It's the only place in Washington, D.C., where you can enjoy a drink, some good food, and a cigar. Now, that's something to be thankful for. I want to thank Bob Matarazzi, the owner, for providing such an oasis for everybody. It's almost like, it's almost not a business. It's almost a public service what he does. Okay? I want to thank Tony, the bartender, for all the Sierra Nevada's he serves me.

I want to thank the cook for those great chicken tenders I get when I get there. You know, I want to thank my buddies at Shelly's, you know, Keith and Justin and Jonathan and the rest of the guys. When you walk into Shelly's, you leave feeling very thankful, thankful for the experience, thankful for the camaraderie, thankful for the camaraderie, thankful for the time you just had, because you can't do it any place else in Washington. So happy Thanksgiving and thank you to Shelley's Backroom. Shelley's Backroom.com for more information. Happy Thanksgiving, Bob, and everybody down in Shelly's. And thanks, Bob, for all of your support of this podcast.

All right. So tomorrow, Washington at Dallas, I know a lot of people are now in the mode of, look, let's try to get a top five pick. As of today, Tommy, they would have the seventh pick in the draft. They've got a really good chance to have a top three pick. They're only a game out of that. And look at their schedule. I mean, you know, we're now at that point, unless there are massive injuries,

they're going to be a big underdog as they are to Dallas tomorrow. They'll probably be a massive underdog to the 49ers. And the dolphins, you know, in Washington will be every bit of a seven to eight point favorite. They probably will be an underdog against the Rams on the road. And who knows about the jet? on Christmas Eve, especially if Aaron Rogers is back in playing, which I don't anticipate because I think the Jets will probably be out of it at that point. But we're still going to do our thing here, and that is make predictions on the game and talk about, you know, how they'd be

able to pull it off. I didn't realize something about tomorrow's game. Dallas has won 12 straight games at home. It's tied for their longest win streak at home in franchise history. Really? Yeah, didn't realize that. Not to mention that most of the games that they've played at home have been lopsided. I mean, this year, they beat the Jets at home 30 to 10. They beat the Patriots at home 38 to 3. They beat the Rams at home, 43 to 20. They beat the Giants at home 49 to 17. Yeah, that's the same giant team that Washington just lost to. Last year, they beat the Eagles and scored 40 points in a home game. They scored 54 in a home win over Indianapolis last year.

They've been rolling at home. Now, you know, I just mentioned some teams that weren't necessarily great that they've beaten. The Philadelphia team that they beat last year and scored 40 against had Gardner Minchew at quarterback, not Jalen Hertz. But whatever. Dallas has been rolling at home. They're comfortable at home right now.

They're playing pretty good football, albeit, you know, they have seven wins, and their wins are over the Giants twice, the Jets, the Patriots, the Rams, Carolina. And the Chargers is the one game that they won against a decent team, but that team's got a losing record. The Chargers do. You know, the games that they've lost are to the 49ers and the Eagles, and they lost that game early in the year. to Arizona.

Well, fortunately for them, they're playing a team just like those teams. All right. So how does Washington beat Dallas tomorrow? I actually just want to start with. I expect them, and I know you made fun of me the other day, I expect them to bounce back and play well. There's no reason to believe that after what we've seen or what we saw on Sunday, other than they've done it multiple times this year.

And so off of the Chicago game, they played well at Atlanta. Off of the first giant game, they played well at Philadelphia. So I think short week, both teams, holiday week, Cowboys feeling maybe a little bit overconfident, Washington being a super hungry team at this point. I think Washington's got a chance to play well. The matchup's not a great matchup for Washington. It isn't.

The Philadelphia matchup seems to be better for Washington, in part because I think Philadelphia is secondary, even though Patrick Mahomes didn't rip into it the other night, although he did have multiple drop passes. Washington just seems to be able to throw the football against Philadelphia. I'll start with this, and it starts on offense this week, because Dallas is so disruptive defensively. They have the ability to not only turn you over, but score and score a lot.

Doran Bland has four pick sixes on the season. That's tied for the most in NFL history. Tommy, do you know who he's tied with for four pick sixes in one season? The Ansela Hall? No, that's a good guess, though. Ken Houston. Ken Houston. Oh, one of my guys.

He had four pick sixes as a Houston oiler in 1971. That was two years before he arrived in Washington. Dallas will turn you over. They will score. Their pass rush is fierce. So the first thing that has to happen is that Washington has to do everything possible to protect disastrous plays on off-office. offense. I'm not advocating some sort of conservative run first mentality and don't be afraid to punt. No, because you've got to score in this game. But everything they've done over the last four weeks, including against the Giants, has to be their mode of operation tomorrow. It's got to be a lot of quick game. It's got to be a lot of bubble screens, traditional screens. I do think they've got to try to run the football against Dallas. Dallas is mid-pack.

in the NFL as a rush defense. In fact, you pointed this out, I believe. You pointed out that, you know, in the game against the Giants that they won 49 to 17, Sequin Barclay averaged over five yards per carry and you were like, why didn't they run the football more? I don't know why. The game got sideways, which meant they had to throw the football. That's part of it.

But even Carolina last week, and they got demolished by Dallas, they averaged 4.8 yards per carry. Miles Sanders was 11 for 50. and Chuba Hubbard was 10 for 57. You know, it was Bryce Young's two carries for three yards that brought the average down from, you know, right around 5.2 yards per carry. So I'm not, you're not going to get, I don't think, you know, Eric B. End to me to say, oh, we're going to line it up. You know, we're going to go, we're going to go with, you know, 13 personnel, one back, three tight ends, and we're going to ram it down their throat. You're not going to get that from them, but you got more running last week.

I think you'll get more attempts to run this week, and you have to go with the short game. You start, or the quick game, you start dropping this quarterback back against Dallas's defense. There are going to be multiple house calls, multiple. I'm not saying pick sixes, but there will be a backside hit by Parsons, and that ball be loose, and somebody will be picking it up and high-stepping it into the end zone. This cannot be some sort of, you know, Arizona game plan or giant game plan from that first game or any of the drop back ain't going to work. Third and 13, throw a bubble screen. Third and 13, run a draw.

But it's quick game. It's run, including the run this week, because Dallas does have some vulnerability to the run and protect your quarterback from getting here. hit six, seven times, and sacks six or seven times, or throwing a couple of dead ducks up in the air after his arm gets hit by number 11. So that's number one. Number two is, and this is a theme also from the last several weeks, you have got to not give up the big play. And to me, this is the ultimate Ben Don't Break game. You can give Dallas whatever they want between the 20s, and then inside the try to hold them to a field goal. But they will hit you with the big play.

Prescott has really made a jump here over the last several weeks, and C.D. Lamb is having the best year of his career. I've said over the last couple of years, I think C.D. Lam is the one that's overrated in terms of the receivers that are ranked in front of Terry on a lot of lists. I was wrong on that. C.D. Lamb is a really lethal receiver, so good at creating space and then with the ball in his hands.

He already has through 10 games, 74 catches, and he's already over 1,000 yards in 10 games. So this has to be, for the defense that's given up 88 explosives this year. All right, passes of 16 yards or longer, runs of 12 yards are longer, 65 passes of 16 yards or longer, and those pass plays that they've given up 26.9 yards per play. This has to be the ultimate bend don't break. If you want to win the game, look, Jack may say, look, this is my last game anyway. I'm going for it.

We're sending everybody. Cody Barton is back. He's going to play. We're sending him and Jamin on every play. We're sending Cam Curl. Let's see if Dak can handle it. You know, because Dak will give you a chance a couple of times per game. He threw a bad ball against a Giants two weeks ago.

But really, if this were a game of significance like you had to have, this is the we're sitting back, we're playing coverage, we're playing everything underneath. And then after the, you know, Ben don't break, don't give up the explosive, the next thing on the list is you have to tackle well. you've got to tackle well in space when you play that way because we've seen the cowboys break a lot of tackles against this team in recent years and get too many yards after first contact. So quick game offensively, work some run into it. It's the only way to attack Dallas. A dropback game is a disaster.

Defensively, you can't give up the explosives. So play not to give up the explosives. And then lastly, you know, Dallas leads the league in takeaways with 21. This is, you know, how they've made, you know, a lot of these games get completely out of hand. Going back to the opener, you know, where they had a defensive touchdown and they had a block field goal against the Giants. And before you knew it, it was like 27 to nothing and the route was on. If Washington's going to hang in there and have a chance, they can't self-destruct. This is not a team capable, as we saw last week, against bad teams of self-destructing and having a chance to win.

Six turnovers in a game, if there's a minus three in this game, it's 38 to 7. A minus two is probably 31 to 10. So this has to be a game in which you don't give anything, and you're going to have to take some of it back. You're going to have to get some breaks. I think Washington loses this game, Tommy, but I think it's closer than people think. 27 to 19 Dallas.

So Washington covers plus the 10 and a half. 2719 Cowboys. What do you have? Well, you know, what's interesting, in the last time that Dallas beat Washington has only beaten Dallas on Thanksgiving two times. Correct. In the 10 times that they played. Right, including one under Ron Rivera. Right. And that may be Alex Smith's greatest gift, even though he didn't have a great game. He was the quarterback when they won 41 to 6th.

in 2020. And I went back and read something about that game. And, you know, Antonio Gibson had 115 yards rushing on 20 carry. Yeah, it was great. And three touchdown. Yep. What happened to that Antonio Gibson? Well, that was the stretch. Right that guy. Yeah, there were two straight years of that stretch where they got, you know, they got run first, you know, heavy run, heavy time of possession, and a lot of Antonio Gibson. He had some really good games. I think both of the games they played against the Cowboys that year, he went for 100 plus.

Yeah, and they got a ball in Brian Robinson, Jr. The guy's a bull. He hasn't shown that he can be stopped for less than four yards of carrying a game, basically. So, I mean, I know they're not going to go run, run, run, but you're absolutely right. They have to run the ball for no other reason to keep Dallas from having the ball

to be able to score. That's one way to stop a good offense is they don't get the ball. But I don't know if that's in the DNA of the coaches on the sideline. I mean, you know, the running has increased. Like, you're right, they ran more last week

and the week before. And you would think that they would this week, okay, because the chances of, Like Bear Bryant once said, when you throw the ball, three things can happen and two of them are bad. I thought that was George Allen who said that. Well, I think it was Bear Bryant. But I tell you what, I said it. How's that?

That's even better. I said it. Less believable. I'm glad you were the one that said it back in 68. Yes. And so I think there's something too merit to bat in a game like this. Because you're right, this is setting up to be a turnover. disaster for this team.

You know, I mean, if they drop him, everything you said is right, if they drop him back, there's a very good chance that there's at least one fumble, one interception, or more out of that scenario, from a very good Dallas pass rush, and one of the great pass rushers in the league in Michael Parsons. On the other side of the ball, I think C.D. Lamb goes for 150 yards.

receptions. I mean, they couldn't, they couldn't cover the Giants receivers, you know? I mean, there would have to be, for you to even make this a competitive game like you think it would be, there would have to be a transformation of this team. I know. Literally. You know, they weren't supposed to be, the Giants weren't supposed to be competitive against Washington last week. I know.

Look, look what happened. But we think the Giants have good coaches. okay we think wink martindale is a great defensive coordinator and I think that brian stable

is a pretty good head coach so we don't think that on the on the Washington sideline right yep so if I'm going to give a score

yeah I'm going to say 36 20 down 36 to 20 cowboys All right. You know, this is also, and I talked to Sam Fortier about this on the show yesterday, this is a big spot for Sam Howe.

And the whole conversation of Sam Howe and the entire evaluation of Sam Howe, you know, there's going to be, if Washington, you know, goes one in five down the stretch, something like that, and they end up with the top five-ish kind of a pick, you know, the conversation about what to do with that top five pick is going to be based on what happens in these last six games. And this is the best defense that Washington has faced all year long. It's really not close.

Dallas is the number three DVOA defense in the league. I mean, to give you an idea, the defensive teams rankings of the teams Washington's played, Denver's 32nd, Arizona's 31st, the judge. Giants are 27th. Atlanta's now 26th in defensive DOA. They played Seattle, who's 19th. They played Philadelphia twice, who's 17th. They played Buffalo, who's, now this isn't fair because Buffalo was healthier when they played Washington, but they're now 15th, New England's 14th.

Dallas is third, okay, third, per the DVOA metric on defense. So short week, bad overall game for the team, not Sam's best effort by a long shot on Sunday against the Giants. This is a big spot for him. I don't know if there's a major downside for him, Tommy. Like if he doesn't play well, it's sort of expected against Dallas. But if he plays well like he did against Philadelphia twice and they score, let's just say 28 plus points, They scored 31 twice against Philadelphia, against that defense on the road, and they put up 400 plus yards, and he throws for 340 in a game that's competitive. That's a big feather in his cap.

You know, that'll be a game that will remember, especially if they have a chance to win it. I think this is a real big spot for him in the conversation about Sam Howell. But only if he does well, like he just pointed out, if he does it. If he does poorly, people will say, well, what chance did he have? I think that's true. So maybe it's not a big spot as in there's a downside. It's a big opportunity for him. This is a chance for him to really kind of cement, you know, well, a lot of mines have already

been cemented on Sam Hal. But for those that are sort of leaning a little bit towards Sam Hal, if he goes into Dallas tomorrow and puts up a 300-yard game and he's 30. you know, 33 of 44 for 337 and three touchdowns, and they lose 31 to 28 or 34 to 31 like they did in Philadelphia. That will be a memorable day for him. I mean, usually it's based on what Colt McCoy did, you know, because Colt McCoy that night was 25 of 30 against the Cowboys that night, and they won the game.

Like if he pulls off a win tomorrow, it would be huge for him. You're not expecting him to play well, are you? No, and through no fault of his own. I just don't think he has what he needs around him in order to play well. Hey, Eric B. Enemy, give Charles Leno some help. Give your tackle some help with Micah Parsons tomorrow, please. All right, we'll finish up with a smell test. And a couple of other things that happened in sports, including what Tom Brady said about today's NFL.

We'll get to all of those things right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Kevin looks where the John Q public is putting their cash and does the opposite. It's time for the smell test. The smell test brought you by my bookie. Thanksgiving is one of our favorite holidays here on the podcast. Good food boosted bets and turkey. day parles. This year you can celebrate by stuffing your pockets with MyBook's biggest sports book bonus ever, a 110% deposit match on your first deposit. This is the identical offer that

they put out for us for about three or four weeks after Washington started the season two and oh. Remember that? Remember when that happened? They're doing it again. So you deposit $1,000. They're going to put $1,100 of additional cash into your account. You'll have $2,100 to gamble with. If you deposit $100, you'll have another $110, so you'll have $210 in your account to bet with. More than double your money before you even make your first bet with MyBooky. This is a very generous offer. It's being made only, only to my listeners.

You've got to go to MyBooky.ag, and you've got to use my promo code. Kevin DC, not Kevin S-980, which apparently several of you have used, not Kevin S-D-C, Kevin DC is the promo code and you will get access to that offer. It's not an offer you're going to find on MyBooky's site. It's only for my listeners. MyBooky.a.g promo code Kevin DC for a more than doubling of your money on your initial deposit. MyBooky, right now has Washington at plus 10 and a half. I do see some plus 11s out there. But for the smell test for just tomorrow, and I'll have a much bigger smell test on Friday. Believe it or not, Tommy, this is the last regular season week in college football. Amazing. Washington and Dallas,

that is going to be a pick. But I'm going to lead off with Green Bay plus seven and a half at Detroit. The Lions are 8 and 2. They had to come back against Chicago on Sunday. That game was at home as well. They were down two scores. Jared Goff threw three interceptions in that game. This is as pumped up a Detroit Thanksgiving Day game as we've seen in a long time.

You know, all the people that wanted Tommy Detroit not to have that first game because they've always been so bad. well, they're eight and two this year. You're going to watch one of the best teams in the NFL. But they are giving seven and a half and the public loves Detroit in this game. It would not shock me to see this line come down to seven. So if you're going to play the Packers, play it now. That's my sense of it. I think there will be some sharp money on Green Bay.

I could be wrong. Just a gut. Haven't learned that from anybody that I talked to. but Green Bay plus the seven and a half tomorrow in the early game. I've already mentioned that Washington was going to be in the smell test all week. I'm four and O on games involving Washington this year in the smell test. Arizona in week one, the two giant games, and then Washington against Seattle. So I've had Washington once, and I've had their opponent three times,

and I'm four and O in those games in the smell test. I've got Washington plus the 10 and a half. Search for some plus 11s out there because that's a big number. You don't want to lose 2817 and you're getting 10.5. But 10 and a half, Washington with the points is a smell test pick. Those are the two Thanksgiving Day smell test selections. I do not like Mississippi State. several of you said Mississippi State's going to be in your smell test in the egg bowl tomorrow night.

I don't like Mississippi State. There is public action on Ole Miss, but there's also sharp action on Ole Miss as well. So there you go. Green Bay plus seven and a half, Washington plus 10 and a half. Isn't it nice, Tommy, to have a couple of dogs on Turkey Day? Absolutely. Much better taking dogs. It's a lot more fun to root for underdogs when you're getting points.

It is a much better feeling to know that you're starting up 10 and a half when the game begins. I want to Tommy get to what Tom Brady said to Stephen A. Smith to finish up the show here in a moment. But there was a tweet that I meant to read earlier in the show that I wanted to read. And it also gives me an opportunity to kind of ask you the same thing. But Anthony tweeted me and said, Kevin, Sam Howell's interception and sack totals would have never influenced my decision on Sam Howell. It's wins and losses with a starting quarterback in this franchise, and he is four and seven as a starter. These final six games will determine for me whether or not it makes sense to bring Sam back. Thank you, Anthony, for that.

So, Tommy, I mentioned yesterday that if I had told all of you before the Arizona game, the opener in September, that through 11 games, Sam Howe was going to lead the league in interceptions and lead the league in sacks taken. Would you have thought that he would have still been the starting quarterback? Oh, no. No, but that speaks to one of the things to like about Sam Howe is he has, he's tremendously tough. I mean, usually people in quarterbacks in those situations usually fall under the pressure. You know, I mean, most do. I mean, if they're constantly under duress, if they're constantly throwing interceptions,

it begates four mistakes. It leads to more mistakes. That doesn't happen with him. That's one of the really good things about him. It says, I'm impressed with his mentality and outlook all the way down the line. When he does interviews, they're pretty bland, but you don't get one nugget of frustration or anger or obnoxious. You don't get anything out of him.

I mean, he says all the right things at all the right times. And he doesn't, he doesn't, you know, he's not flustered when he does. He's got tremendous composure. Yeah, I totally agree with that. He seems to be unbothered by almost anything, certainly professionally. So I wanted to finish up the show with this, and that is Tom Brady. was on the Stephen A. Smith show yesterday, and he was talking about the current level of play in the NFL, which includes right now for the fourth consecutive season a decline in scoring. Teams are averaging just 43.3 points per game. That's down from 43.8 last season,

from 45.9 in 2021. 2020 to COVID year was the highest scoring season we've seen in a long time. and the reasons were obvious. There was no home field advantage, no threat to the traveling team, the road team with crowd noise, et cetera. But anyway, the league's on pace for its lowest scoring season on average since 2009. And so Brady said the following, quote, I think there's a lot of mediocrity in today's NFL. I don't see the excellence that I saw in the past. I think the coaching isn't as good as it was.

I don't think the development of young players is as good as it was. I don't think the schemes are as good as they were. The rules have allowed a lot of bad habits to get into the actual performance of the game. So I just think the product, in my opinion, is less than what it's been. Do you agree with him? I think there's some validity to what he says. And I would take it much step further. I think it's that way across the board.

I don't think the NBA game is as good as it used to be. I certainly don't think the Major League Baseball game is as good as it used to be. We have athletes that are bigger, stronger, and faster, but the style of the games, the aesthetics of the actual games, are not as good. I agree with them like that. I mean, basketball and the aesthetics of the game are not as good as they used to be. baseball certainly with all the strikeouts. And they had to institute changes to create more offense in the game.

And the NFL, with so many rules benefiting the offensive players, should not be experiencing a scoring drop. So I think that while athletes themselves have improved, the games they play have declined. And I don't know what the answer is. You mean you didn't enjoy Indiana's 157-152 win over Atlanta last night in the NBA? One of the highest scoring games in NBA history. Who's that guy who plays for Indiana? Halliburton's really good.

He's pretty good, isn't he? Yeah, he's pretty good. So where do I start? Let's keep it to the NFL because I don't want to get into an NBA and basketball conversation with you today the day before Thanksgiving. when we should just be thankful for each other and the company that we have in one another. Look, this year, there have been a lot of injuries to quarterbacks. That's one of the headlines of this season. You know, it started with the first Monday night game of the year with Aaron Rogers.

You know, Joe Burroughs gone. Kirk Cousins is gone. In Cleveland, a good team. And I'm not saying Deshawn Watson was playing at a high level, but Deshawn Watson's gone. You know, we've had a lot of, you know, teams that potentially would have been scoring at a higher level, not scoring at a higher level because of injuries to key players. We have that, you know, in most seasons it seems to be a little bit more this year. I also have seen, and I actually had Sam Monson from Pro Football Focus,

who actually is an excellent guest on the radio show yesterday, and we talked about the subject of scoring in particular. And he said, look, defenses have a judge. adjusted to some of the offensive schemes. But he pointed out the quarterbacks too in the injuries, which is, I think, a major factor in the actual scoring. And even the look of some of these games being less aesthetically pleasing than what we've seen. But, you know, he mentioned something that I think makes a lot of sense. You know where play has really declined?

Offensive line play has declined. Offensive line play is declined, I think, for a few reasons. Number one is we've had a lot of injuries to offensive linemen in particular. You know, the more throws, the more that you have a quarterback dropping back, the more offensive linemen are in that pass pro mode. There's more activity around the quarterback. There's more people rolling into knees and rolling into legs. It's so rare for a team to start a season with five offensive linemen

and finish the season with those same five offensive linemen. But it's more than that. I mean, it's the one unit that it's because it's the largest unit, right? Five players, offensive line, no other unit on the team has five, you know, starting players in the unit. But you just end up with an incredible injury rate to offensive linemen. And then the other part of it, and I think is a really good point that Sam made. the offensive linemen in college, you know, are just playing, they play differently than they do in the pros.

Now, we've seen more of the college game come to the NFL in terms of offensive scheme, but the offensive line, especially in true spread offenses, is much different than in the NFL. Even the RPO game in the college is different than it is in the NFL because they allow three yards downfield before ineligible men downfield versus the one in the NFL. But what that has resulted in is a very difficult time evaluating offensive line players coming out in the draft. It's much harder in today's game to evaluate in today's football to evaluate offensive linemen. It's really hard to evaluate quarterbacks, as we know, but it's very difficult to evaluate offensive line play. And I think the offensive line play because of injuries and the fact that it's hard to evaluate these players has

declined as well. It may be part of the reason that quarterbacks are getting injured more often, although we've had some non-contact injuries as well with some of the injuries. You know, see you know whose Achilles injury was non-contact in Minnesota. But I don't know. The games are still exciting to me. I don't mind hard-hitting defensive games I never have. The one thing I totally agree with Brady on is I do think, and I think we've talked about this for years now, I do think that the rules are, you know, creating an environment where the game is much different, but we've seen that coming for years. They have legislated the big hit out of the NFL for the most part. They've made it much harder for defensive secondary players to cover and to tackle.

it is much harder for defensive pass rushers to sack a quarterback without being penalized. And I hate that part of the NFL. And every time I see it every Sunday, it's the same reaction many of you have. It's like, are you serious? That's a good football play. That's not a penalty. Stop. You're ruining the game.

We say that every weekend, at least a couple of times watching football. yet people keep watching, the numbers keep going higher. People love it as much as they ever have. But from a rule standpoint, I agree with it. The scheme thing I think was interesting from Brady. I think the schemes offensively are much more creative than they've ever been, much more creative with guys like Kyle Shanahan and Mike McDaniel and others in the league. But I still love watching football.

It's not turned me off from watching it if it is a lesser game. Okay. You know, one thing, though, I don't think the NFL is crazy about one of their potential owners saying their product sucks. Yeah, I mean, for all intents and purposes, he kind of said that. Yeah, I mean, calling it a lot of mediocrity and not as good as it's been. I don't know. He's, you know what? He's not a player that retired at 35.

He's a player that retired at 45. So it is a little bit of old man, get off my lawn talk, too, because he is an older gentleman at this point, for being an athlete, a professional athlete. All right, you got anything else? Which means he has much more of a wealth of knowledge and experience to pick from than the bozos who just say,

get off my lawn. Well, that's one way to look at it. at it. And the other way is to say things are never going to be as good as they once were for a lot of people who are older. I want it's the adult way. One is the child way. Well, no. I think they both have merit.

I'm usually with you on a lot of this as far as the game used to be better because of A, B, and C. But I still think the game's pretty good. I think it's still a pretty good game. I think actually college football in many ways.

has gotten even better over the last 10, 15 years. It's probably more than that. I mean, this has been a hell of a college football season. And I will have a lot of college football plays, including more likely than not, a smell test pick on the biggest game of the year, Ohio State and Michigan, on Saturday. All right, you got anything else?

Nothing else for you, boss. Happy Thanksgiving, buddy. Happy Thanksgiving to you, too. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you out there. I will not be here tomorrow. I can promise you I didn't tell my wife I was working on Thursday on Thanksgiving Day, but I'll be back Friday with a recap of tomorrow's game. Happy Thanksgiving.

Alan is the deep back and Schuler back to throw. Has a man wild over on a Henry Allen touchdown. The Redskins hand the league. This is what makes it a great game is when you go out there and you kick it on, you have no idea what's going to happen because Both sides have to go out and play the game. And today, the Redskins played better than the Cowboy. Nor Turner comes out of Dallas victorious.

Twice this year, his Redskins have beaten the Dallas Cowboys. A dejected Emmett Smith.