The Kevin Sheehan Show - Seeking A Signature Win In Seattle

Episode Date: November 10, 2023

Kevin opened with his Washington-Seattle preview and upset prediction. Jay Gruden jumped on with his thoughts on Sam Howell, the Commanders-Seahawks matchup, his NFL "lock of the week", and more. Kevin finished up with some thoughts on Maryland-Nebraska and 11 "Smell Test" picks.  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. Washington with a trek out to Seattle, Sunday 425 kickoff in one of the toughest venues in the NFL, Seattle's Lumen Field, where rain is in the forecast for the entire day with temperatures in the low 50s. Of course, rain is in the forecast for the Pacific Northwest. This show's presenting sponsor is Window Nation.

If you've got older windows, 10 years of age or older, you should get new windows. Call them at 86690 Nation or go to windownation.com. Mention my name. Tell them. I told you to call them. They'll take good care of you. You'll get a free estimate so you've got nothing to lose. 86690 Nation or Window Nation.com. Sunday's game in Seattle is a game.

that if Washington wins it, we'll change the conversation about our team around the league. That's not exaggeration. That's not hype. If they beat the Seahawks Sunday on the road to get to five and five, especially if victory comes with another big day for Sam Hal and the offense, if that happens, Washington's going to be on everybody's radar. Everybody's going to be talking about them come Monday as a team that can make a run to the NFC playoffs. my preview and pick of this game coming up in this opening segment. Jay Gruden will join me after that for his weekly hit on this Friday podcast,

and then 11 picks for the smell test in the final segment of the show. More NFL picks than college picks this week. For those of you that are convinced, I do much better on pro football than I do college football. I will talk some Maryland Nebraska in the final segment as well. A huge game for both teams as Mike Loxley is looking for a third straight bowl eligibility year. And Matt Rule in his first year in Lincoln trying to get his first Husker team to a bowl game as well. This could be the last legitimate chance for a win for both teams this year. Maryland's got Michigan next week and then they close at Rutgers.

And Rutgers is good under Greg Shiano this year. year. Or let me just say much improved. Locksley, on the ropes a little bit, no job security conversations with Mike Locksley, please. But the Terps need a win tomorrow and Lincoln. Good college football Saturday. Highlighted by Michigan at Penn State as the recording of this podcast is taking place. No news on whether or not Michigan's going to be punished for the sign stealing drama. that's been going on. Washington and Seattle on Sunday. I am looking forward.

I am to the game on Sunday. And I'm also looking forward to the changes that'll be coming at the end of the year. All right, I am. I think Josh Harris is already well on his way to putting together a list of general manager candidates that he wants to interview, perhaps even a short list of potential new head coaches

that he wants or is hoping that his new GM will want to interview. So the offseason coming up is going to be an interesting one. We all understand that. It'll be fun to know that the next group is not going to be Dan Snyder picking, you know, coaches, et cetera. I am looking forward to that. But that's a few months away.

And we're still in the midst of a regular season that still has eight games left, nearly half the season for Washington. And their last two games have, for me right now, subject change, of course, but for me right now, the last two games have given me reason to be optimistic about what we're going to see the rest of the year. Now, this is Washington. It never seems to go well, especially once you think it might. But for now, anyway, I think they are an up.

upset win on Sunday in Seattle away from changing the whole vibe of this season. If they are to pull it off with another strong performance by Sam Hal and the offense, at 5 and 5 with the Giants on deck, the outlook on this season will be different. I think it will be different for a lot of you who don't think they have any chance of beating Seattle and might admit, hey, okay, if they beat Seattle, we can have a conversation about the rest of the season on Monday. Sunday. I think they have a chance to be at Seattle. And maybe that's why I'm having this conversation right now. But I do know that if they do pull it off, the outlook on this season will be completely different, even though some of you will say that it's just delaying

the inevitable, that even if they play well on Sunday win and win some more games and get on a little bit of a mini roll, you're convinced they'll blow the one or two that matter the most at the end of the year. I'm not going to disagree with that. I understand that lack of expectation or that expectation that they would that they would blow it even if they put themselves in position to do something. I'm just telling you that if they went on Sunday and Sam plays well, he and the team are going to become a trendy pick to go to the playoffs. And while I'm not going to be the guy, I promise, talking about getting to the playoffs and then having a chance to do something when they get there, I will be talking about a team that is going to play some important playoff

stakes games down the stretch. And that will be a good thing for Sam Howell to play in those kinds of games down the stretch versus, you know, the kinds of games that we thought they would be playing when they lost to the Giants a few weeks ago. If they lose, there's still going to be some opportunities, you know, coming up, assuming that they beat the Giants next week. That could be the closest to a should-win game they've had in years. The Giants right now at my bookie are 17-point underdogs to Dallas. I think that's the biggest point spread of this season so far. They don't have a quarterback. They don't have a quarterback capable of playing well enough to keep a game close against anybody. You know, Washington win or lose Sunday

against Seattle will be at least a touchdown favorite. Maybe if they win Sunday as high as a double-digit favorite against the team that just beat them a few weeks ago, 14 to 7. It's because of the quarterback. No Daniel Jones, no Tyrod Taylor. They'll have this guy DeVito. I looked this up because I was curious about this. Again, I don't think there'll be a double-digit favorite if they lose to Seattle

if they don't play well against Seattle. But if they were to beat Seattle, don't be surprised if Washington's a 9, 9-5-10-point favorite next week. Dallas is a 17-point favorite, and it seems to be climbing. But I looked this up before I started to record the podcast today. It's been over six years since Washington was favored by double digits. Six years. That's a long run without just,

one flukish game where they're playing kind of well and they're playing a terrible opponent. They were a 12-point favorite on October 15th, 2017 against the San Francisco 49ers in Kyle Shanahan's first year as head coach of the Niners. By the way, the Skins won that game 26-24. They were up 17-0 and then nearly blew the big lead. They won the game, but they they didn't come close to covering. But that was the last time they were a double-digit favorite over anybody. That's an amazingly long run of not being in a game where you were expected to win the game easily for almost any NFL team.

As someone who bets, I can tell you why they haven't been a big favorite over anybody for a long period of time. It's not just because they've been a bad team or a mediocre. team for much of the time over the last six seasons. It's because they've been so mediocre to awful on offense. Teams that can score will at least have a game or two over a few year period where they're playing an awful opponent and odds makers will make them a significant favorite, you know, a 10 or more point favorite. But Washington hasn't been able to score. consistently since the 2017 season. This year is the best year scoring-wise.

They're averaging 21.2 points per game. And they are 18th currently in points per game in the league. Last year they were 24th in the league. The year before that, they were 24th in the league. They averaged 18.9 points per game last year, 19.7 in 2021. They were 25th in the league in 2020. They were dead last 37. in the league in scoring in 2019, and in 2018, they were 29th in the league in scoring.

That's why they haven't been a double-digit favorite since 2017, because they've played some teams that have been pretty bad, and in those games, they've only been, you know, six and a half, seven, seven and a half, eight-point favorites. In 2017, they were the 16th highest scoring team in the league. In 2016, they were 12th, and in 2015, they were 10th. So during that stretch, they were a double-digit favorite every once in a while. But if they were to play well offensively in Seattle Sunday and then win the game, I think they could be a nine, 10-point favorite, at least against the Giants. If they don't play well offensively, and it's like a regress. game back to what we saw at times during the first seven.

There's still going to be a seven-point favorite over the Giants. The Giants are awful right now. Anyway, that's next week. Seattle first. I think they can win the game. I really do. I am optimistic. I've been off this year for the most part.

I guess last week I got it right. I think the Philadelphia game maybe final score-wise. I was close. I think I was in terms of thinking that it would be a close game. But I remember the last time this year that I was somewhat intrigued or excited about a game. It was the Buffalo game, and I predicted them to win, and they did not. They lost 37 to 3. I am excited about this game.

I think that Seattle is a beatable team. It would also be the best team that they've beaten. As I've mentioned a couple of times this week, they're 10 and 25. the teams that they've beaten, excuse me, are 10 and 25. They haven't beaten a good team yet. But I think that the last two weeks have kind of changed my view for now. Subject to change, of course, as always. But I think they've got a chance to pull off an upset Sunday in Seattle against 5 and 3.

A 5 and 3 team coming off a horrendous loss to Baltimore last week, 37 to 3. All right, here are my keys to a win over Seattle on Sunday. Washington beats the Seahawks if. All right, number one, do the same thing offensively you've done for the last two weeks. That's the way this team needs to play offensive football if they are going to be a heavy pass-over-run ratio team. And I don't think that that's going to change. I don't think all of the sudden they're going to become a run-first team or a balanced team. But if you're intent on throwing the ball a lot more than running it, and I don't have a problem with that,

you can't revert to what wasn't working for the first seven games at times, which was the pure dropback stuff. You've got to stick with what's worked. Quick game, three-step drops, screens, traditional and bubble, dashes, sprint outs, moving the pocket, getting Sam into rhythm, getting them confident, getting the ball quickly into the hands of your playmakers and keeping a defense. offense off balance. They've done a great job the last two weeks. Seattle's a little bit different than New England and a little bit different than Philadelphia, so it won't be exactly the same. Seattle's strength is in their back end, but this is the kind of offense. If they're going to be heavy pass overrun, this is the way they need to throw the football for now. It doesn't exclude

dropbacks. They had plenty of those last week, but it came after the established quick game and getting it out in a hurry. You're going to minimize the number of times he gets hit. You're going to minimize the number of times he gets sacked, and you're going to maximize the number of times a ball leaves his right hand and lands in the arms of one of your playmakers. I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing a third consecutive week of that. There's been a lot of discussion about how bad Seattle's run defenses,

and will this be the week that they really? really lean on the run a little bit more. Look, last week they got 24 rushes out of Gibson and Robinson, Jr. But it's because they move the chains. You know, they move the chains by using their quick game to gain yards, to stay on the field, to convert on third down, to make first downs on first and second down as well. But 55% on third down gives you a lot of opportunities, you know, each week. They've run 21 more offensive plays than their opponents the last two weeks. I think this is a big part of it. As far as, you know, whether or not they'll run it more this week, because Seattle's rush defense has been weak here recently. I'm not buying that Seattle's rush defense is as bad as it's been made out to be.

They added Leonard Williams, you know, at the trade deadline. So we'll see him for the second time. and in a month. He was with the Giants when the Giants beat Washington 14 to 7. Baltimore runs it on everybody. They had 300 yards against Seattle last week. They faced Arizona. Arizona's average yards per carry was okay. They faced the Browns the week before Baltimore.

The Cleveland rushed it for 155 yards, but it was 3.8 yards per carry. They had a great rush defense against Cincinnati. I'm not buying that their rush defense is so awful that Washington should be able to go on the road and take the crowd out of it by running and being more balanced this week than they have been at any time this year. I don't think that's in Eric B. Enemy's mindset. I like the run extension plays. I think that's essentially what he's been able to say to Ron, who I do think has been pushing since the Buffalo game to decrease the number of pure dropbacks so that the sack number. numbers would come down. I think Eric was stubborn there for a few weeks, but ultimately,

we've gotten two really good game plans, two well-called games, given his talent, given the teams that he's faced. And I think Ron's okay with, you know, the past or run ratio as long as some of those throws or quick ones and act kind of as run extension plays. So number one, Washington beat Seattle. If they continue to do what they've been doing offensive, in the past game. Number two, they've got to eliminate big plays on defense. It's been the explosive plays all year long that have killed this defense and made it a very disappointing year through, you know, through nine games. The chunk plays last week, another one. Now, they did a pretty good job defensively last week with the exception of the 64-yard run by Stevenson. But those are the

plays that have hurt. Big runs, big throws. Even the giant game where the defense held the giants to 14 points and did a pretty good job for most of the day, it was the chunk plays. It was the long one to the rookie wide receiver from Tennessee. It was a couple of decent sized Barclay runs. You've got to minimize the explosives, the big offensive plays. And this week, this is a team that lives off of the big play with D.K. Metcalfe with Lockett, with Smith Najigba, with Kenneth Walker the 3rd, with Zach Charbonnet out of the backfield. They rely on the big play. Gino can make the big play. He's also hurt them, you know, by turning it over a little bit. He's got, you know, nine touchdowns, seven picks. He's had a lot of turnover worthy plays. I think one of the keys

to a win over Seattle is force Gino Smith and the Seattle offense to go 12, 13, 14 plays without making a mistake. You know, don't play as much man coverage as they have. Washington's played more man coverage this year than they did last year. Where's the zone matching? Where's more of the zone? Forbes was more of a zone eyes on quarterback corner to begin with. So, I'd like to see a defensive game plan that is more Ben don't break. You know, don't give up the big play. Can Gino Smith consistently go 13, 14 plays and not make a mistake? I don't think so.

Next up and lastly on the list of Washington beat Seattle if Keys is the cliched, don't self-destruct. But it's more important this week. When you play in a venue like the one they're playing in on Sunday, it is easy to self-destruct. You know, when you play in Seattle, when you play in Kansas City at Arrowhead, you play in Buffalo, you play in New Orleans,

it is really hard to play a clean game. You've got to be buttoned up, especially on offense. You can't have third and threes turn into third and eights because of false starts. So whatever the signals are, the silent counts are, you've got to be buttoned up offensively. And then you can't obviously,

turn the ball over. They got away last week with losing the turnover battle, but winning the game, but that's because that was New England. You can't hand the game to them. And, you know, self-destruction in these venues, just you see it all the time with road teams. And so they've got to be ready to play a clean football game. And I'll just add one thing to this last key. The crew calling the game Sunday, the referee crew, is the Alex Kemp crew. They are number one in average flags thrown per game and number one in average flags thrown against the road team per game. You got to be sharp.

The flags are going to be flying if they are consistent with what they've been over the first nine weeks of the season. the Alex Kemp crew number one in flags thrown per game, average flags thrown per game, number one in average flags thrown against the road team per game. Washington's going to have to play a pretty clean game Sunday to have a chance. With that said, I like them Sunday. I know I've been wrong in the upset picks this year. Buffalo being the one where I thought they'd win and they lost by 34. I just think this is a winnable game Sunday, and I'm definitely influenced by the last two weeks and the last two weeks offensively. I've got Washington winning a high-scoring 30 to 24 game in overtime. They win the toss, they take the ball, they drive it down the field, and Sam Howe is once again viewed as a guy

that can do it with his third consecutive outstanding game and his second outstanding game in a win. 30 to 24 in overtime. Kiss of death, I know. All right. A couple of quick things, and then we'll get to Jay Gruden, including something I want to play for you that I found. The first thing is this, Montez Sweat last night, eight pressures for the bears, the most in a game for a Chicago bear pass rusher. since Robert Quinn in 2020.

He did not have a sack, but eight pressures the most for a Chicago bear pass rusher in three years. Good for Montez. I'm rooting for him. Looked odd in that Chicago uniform, especially given that it was the orange alternate uniforms that the bears were winning last night in what was a hideous Thursday night game. Chicago won at 16 to 13. It actually helps them because they have Carolina's number one pick in the draft.

next year. Sunday, Chase Young makes his debut for the 49ers in, I think, the biggest game of the day. It feels like a huge spot for the Niners with three losses in a row. Feels like almost not a must win, obviously, but if they

lose that game to Jacksonville, who is rolling at 6 and 2, and Seattle wins, Seattle's in first place in the NFC West. Looking forward to watching football all day long before Washington kicks off at 425. Cleveland, Baltimore, another really good game. In the 4 o'clock window, in addition to Washington,

Seattle, which is a good game, Detroit San Diego, Detroit, L.A. Chargers, that's a big game for the Chargers to kind of get above 500 and be legitimately in the wild card race. Like, man, they should be. That team, I think, is better than the results. You know, I don't know what it is, but, but maybe they got something going against the Jets, although they certainly didn't get anything going offensively against the Jets on Monday night. All right, before we get to Jay, I wanted to mention this and I want to play something for you.

So Washington and Seattle, despite Seattle being in the AFC for half of its existence, roughly, they have quite the history. You know, they've played 22 times. Washington 13 and 6 in the regular season, they've played three times in the postseason. Washington's most common opponent in the playoffs since the merger in 1970, they've played the 49ers four times, the Vikings four times.

And then there are four teams they've played three times, Detroit, Chicago, Tampa, and Seattle. Of course, the last time they played Seattle in the playoffs was following the 2012 season. That is one of the more infamous games in Washington history. Robert Griffin III going down in a heap on a rough turf, to say the least, in a 24 to 14 loss. They were up 14 to nothing in that game. In 2007, or following the 2007 season, they played in the wild card round as well at Seattle.

They took a 14 to 13 lead in the fourth quarter, and then gave up 22 consecutive unemployment. answered and they lost 35 to 14. Of course, that was the season following the Sean Taylor tragic death, where they got on a roll. They ended up in the postseason against Seattle. But the first time they played the Seahawks in the postseason was following the 2005 season. And that was, you could argue, as close to an NFC championship game as they were during the Snyder era. I hate to call the Tampa divisional playoff loss 14 to 13 following the 99 season as a Snyder-era playoff loss. Because he took over the team before he could ruin it that season.

But when they went to Seattle following a playoff win over Tampa in the wild card round, they were up three to nothing with a chance to take a 10 to nothing. lead. And this play which many fans, including yours truly, have referenced, it was an opportunity to go up 10 to nothing on a Carlos Rogers ball that was right in his hands for a pick six, and he dropped it. Here's Dick Stockton and Moose Johnston on the call for Fox on that day in January 2006. Hasselbeck looking for a receiver. It is tip the way and almost pick. Off by Carlos Rogers, Maurice Morris,

claring from the backfield, and very nearly a pick and a score by the rookie Carlos Rogers. What a great play right there. Matt Hasselbeck holds this a little bit too long. The speed of the secondary players in the NFL, too good to make a throw like that. You'd waited on it too long. Very fortunate that he didn't have that one going back to the house. Carlos Rogers. He had some vision issues, remember, got better when he got to the first.

49ers and they corrected his vision and all of a sudden he started making interceptions, but that ball was right in his hands for a 10-0 second quarter lead. And Washington was playing great on defense. And Sean Alexander had already been knocked out of the game by LeVar Arrington. They had a chance with that play to go up 10-0 and potentially get to what would have been an NFC championship game in Carolina. Washington against the Panthers. No, that was not the Ron Rivera Panthers.

Last time Washington was in Seattle, it was that game in which none of the offensive line was available to play. And Jay Gruden basically had to introduce the players in the locker room to one another because there were so many new players in the locker room for that game, especially on the offensive line. and they had, you know, that incredible ending down 14 to 10 where they went 90-some yards in a few plays or 80-some yards in a few plays and won the game. You'll hear that at the very end of the show.

All right, Jay Gruden next right after these words from a few of our sponsors. This segment of the show with Jay Gruden is brought to you by my friends at Surfside. Guys, if you're hunkering down to watch football this weekend and you're looking for a food answer, for Penn State, Michigan at noon tomorrow, or all of the games Sunday. We get a one o'clock window where we're not solely focused on Washington, so we get to watch Baltimore, Cleveland, San Francisco at Jacksonville before Washington kicks off at Seattle at 425. I've got the food answer for you.

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SurfsideDC.com's got your food answer for this time of year and certainly for a football weekend with their fajita boxes. Again, learn more at surfsidec.com. Jay Gruden is with me every Friday during football season, and he jumps on right now. We'll talk about Washington and Sam Hal and their math. match up with Seattle here in a moment. I wanted to start by going back to Sunday and a coach who coached for you, Kevin O'Connell,

who's the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, and what he was able to pull off on Sunday with Joshua Dobbs, who came in, you know, after the trade deadline midway through the week and apparently knew nothing of the playbook, had to come in after the first drive of the game when their quarterback who would replace Kirk Cousins was concussed. And the word is that he essentially walked through with Josh Dobbs over the final, you know, 54 minutes of that game, each play, as he called it. Like he basically instructed him what to do on every play, and somehow they pulled off, you know, an incredible win at Atlanta.

He coached for you. Tell me what you think happened Sunday in Atlanta. Atlanta. Well, Josh Dobbs had about three days and learned some plays. So Josh is one of the smartest human beings on Earth.

So he can handle. He's been in seven different systems already. It's just a matter of the terminology is what's different for Josh. Some people call Aggie, all-go, whatever it might be, but the plays are pretty similar

just about the terminology. And if anybody can handle it, Josh can handle it. In the course of a game, you give your backup quarterback like we had to do a Sanchez, and you had to do it, Josh Johnson, when he got here in a short time notice, you have to give them like a package

of about 20, 25 plays. They've got to learn in situationally, third down and short, short, down long, short-yardish goal line, whatever it might be, red zone. And they have to learn a package of plays. And then you might have to talk them through a couple of them just to remind them what this is and who's going where in the motion and calling the play. So, yeah, it's difficult. But Josh is, like I said, a very intelligent guy and can handle it.

You know, you mentioned Mark Sanchez. So there was a story told this week. I'm going to ask you if it's true. The night that you guys played Philadelphia in 2018, which was two weeks after Alex got hurt, and that night remember, Colt McCoy got hurt, you put Mark Sanchez into the game on a very limited playbook. The story that was told this week, I heard it on XM Serious, was that you turned over the headset or you got Kevin O'Connell involved because O'Connell, explain the plays to Sanchez as if they were the plays that were sort of similar to the playbook they had both shared together in 2009 with the Jets. Is that true?

Yes, as soon as Colt McCoy got hurt, I took the headphones off and gave him to Kevin. For a couple of reasons, one, because he had been working with him on an individual basis, trying to get him caught up to a level of functionality where he could go into a game of. play. So they were communicating closely, so I let him call the plays. The first play he called was a duo. I went 90 yards for touchdown. I said, damn, Kevin, you're pretty good at you. Yeah, Adrian Peterson. Right. Yeah. The rest of the night did not go so well. It didn't go as well as it did for Dobbs on Sunday. But it was a better opponent. Oh, yeah, you're exactly right. But, you know, the big thing is when you have a quarterback like

that, athletic ability is really important because Josh Dobbs made the plays with his leg. that, you know, I mean, you just can't coach, which is critical in third-down situations. And for some reason, Atlanta Falcons decided to play two-man on fourth and seven. I guess Josh Dodgers who could run, which I just still can't understand that one. But anyway, because Atlanta was my survivor pick. That's why I'm so still. Oh, really? Yeah.

Call it two-man. Yeah. Well, you won your lock of the week on this show. You had Cincinnati on Sunday night. So you are now, I think, five, I think you're five and two so far with your locks on the weekend. What do you want for me? I know. It's really good. You mentioned Josh Dobbs. Josh Johnson was incredibly bright, too, right? I mean, that was one of the reasons you signed him. Yes, Josh Johnson was, it is, not was, he is very bright. I had him at Cincinnati,

which was a good thing, so he kind of, some of the plays kind of carried over, and he had a little bit, he remembered a little bit of those plays, so it was easy for him to come in and function, too. Andy could run. I've always wondered about some of these quarterbacks that hang around forever. You know, Chase Daniel, Josh Johnson, Josh Dobbs, you know, Jacoby Brissette, you know, guys that have never been regular starters, but everybody seems to want them in their quarterback room, in their locker room, as a backup in case of, you know, break glass emergency. What is it about these kinds of guys that allows them to stick around for?

for a long career, never be a regular starter. Make a lot of money, by the way. I mean, Chase Daniels is an all-timer. I think he made $50 million or something like that in the NFL and played in like three or four games total. But what is it about those guys that gives them a chance to stick forever? Well, first thing you want your backup to do is he's got to be able to function if something happens.

That's number one. He's got to be good. And those guys are all pretty good quarterbacks. Number two, they have to support the starter. And they've got to make sure that, you know, there's no drama. there's no controversy that this is a starter, we're going to support him, but I'm going to get myself ready to play if need be, and if need be, I'm going to be able to function, and all those guys can do that.

Certain teams want certain types of backups, backups that are similar to the skill set that they have at the starter. Some people want skill set that is totally different because it gives a defense a different look. So it's a matter of who you want and what you want, but the most important thing is, can they function when they get in there? And number two, will they support the starter and make him better? How quickly did you feel that Kevin O'Connell, Sean McVeigh, if ever, were going to be future head coaches? That's a good question.

Being a head coach from a staff, number one, your staff, you have to have a pretty successful team yourself. So you have to do well on one-sided ball. We were pretty good on offense, so it got them some interviews. And then once you get the interviews, do they have the personalities? do they have the ability to win over an owner and GM in an interview? And the answer is easily yes. So getting their foot in the door is the most important thing. So you have to have success on your staff first.

And then once they get the foot the door and they get in front of people, will they perform? And easily, yes, for both those two guys. They're both very bright, obviously. They know football. They have great personalities. They can motivate people. So that comes off once they get in front of people, but you have to get in front of people first. I mean, but did you know as they were coaching for you?

Did you know they were going to eventually get the opportunity and impress somebody? Well, yeah, like I said, you have to have the success. There's a lot of good coaches like that out there that haven't had the success or the opportunities to get interviewed because they just haven't been on good teams. But yes, for sure. You can tell that they have something more than other assistants. the coaches on your staff, if that makes sense. And Sean...

There are some assistance on your staff that you know that'll never be head coach, but there are some... Hey, if this guy gets an opportunity to get an interview, hell yeah, he's going to be head coach easy. Were there guys that you coached with or who coached for you, who you were convinced would have and should have gotten that opportunity that didn't? Yeah, like I had Rahim Morris. I do Rahim Morris, and he was head coach for a while.

But other than that, the personality of these guys, I think the guys that are head coaches probably pretty much deserve them, and the ones that aren't right now probably shouldn't have got one. I don't know. That's hard to explain. Yeah, yeah, that's fine. I mean, Sean had the success of, you know, the offense in 2016. Kevin went to L.A.

And they won a Super Bowl, you know, in that first year. So they both, as you described, were coming off seasons in which there was this feeling that they had really, you know, had productive offenses. Yep So You know And the kid at Detroit's going to have the same opportunity Ben Johnson

He's going to have the same opportunity Teams that have good offenses Those are the ones that will get the interviews And if they can perform in front of the GM and the owner Then they'll get the jobs Yeah Another thing before we get to this team real quickly What goes into

Putting a game plan together Like just give me the timeline From the moment your game on Sunday ends and you've got another game the following Sunday. What's the timeline in putting an offensive game plan together? Oh, yikes. So Sunday, or Monday morning, you have to grade your own game that you just played, and you've got to get all the injury reports and have your meetings and all that stuff

and watch the film and make your corrections. That takes a little bit of time. And you get started on the next opponent probably around 1 or 2 o'clock in the afternoon. on Monday, and you just start watching base for a second down. Then you start your run meetings on Tuesday afternoon with the flying coach, and hear the runs that we want to put in. And get those in Tuesday probably around 3 o'clock, and then that's when you get to play actions and the bootlegs and all that stuff

for a second down play passes at Tuesday night. That's probably get those in Tuesday night around 10 or 11 o'clock at night. And Wednesday morning, you start finalizing those and make sure those are all good, and you start working on third down, Wednesday, afternoon, third down. You have practice, all that stuff. Then you do the red zone and short yardage and third down. I sorry, you said third down. They do red zone, short yardage, goal line.

So you do start to work on your situational type things, Wednesday, after Wednesday, Thursday morning. And Thursday morning. So it's all coming from a large playbook that you have, right? You're not creating new plays. These are all plays. from a master playbook? Is that how it works?

It plays that you worked out since training camp in OTAs, yes, and then you also get your ideas from other teams that have played and had success against, you know, like we're playing the Carolina Panthers, we're watching the last four or five games that they played, and you might come up

with a player or a scheme or something that somebody else did to them that gave them problems. You might do it similar, maybe change in formation or something like that. But we'll add some new plays. probably half a dozen or so, depending on the defenses that you're playing. How big is the playbook, the master playbook, the one that you take to training camp?

It's never-ending. It's big. It's big. I started to shorten it down a little bit. I just wanted the core concepts of our plays, the running game and the passage game. You've got your inside zone, your outside zone, your gap plays, your pole plays, your, whatever perimeter running. plays and then you do your quick game, your drop back, your four verticals, whatever it might be, you try to just narrow them down. Then you do them by specific areas of the field, red zone, 20-yard line, 15, 10, 5, maybe third down and five, maybe band beaters, whatever it is.

But it's pretty big. Now I think about it, yeah, it's pretty big. Do you know what the number of plays is that are in there, like your last playbook? I'd say at least at least 40 runs and then at least 120 passes at least.

So like 160 plays. Like Al Saunders famously had a 700 page playbook when he was here for Gibbs in 2005, 2006, 2007. That sounds like... You can make it as long as... You can make... I could make a 700 play

playbook. great. Now, I could make one play, about 20 plays. You could take four verticals, for instance, and I could draw it up 35 different ways with motions, formations, and all that stuff. So, yeah, you could easily make a 700-play type playbook. Do you still do that? Do you still doodle around and create a play that comes to your mind? Yeah, yeah. I like, you know, it's good. I'm with the 33rd team, and I do some stuff, so I have film access. I love going on and watching all these games and seeing who's having success, and what's Mike McDaniel doing. I know he has great players, but they're having success on offense

and trying to see if there's any new schemes out there that you have to be aware of, stay current, just in case. What is new? I mean, you watch Miami. You've seen a lot of this motion. I think Miami's probably, they started the new flat motion. You know, a lot of people were doing them, you know, motions across the field, but they're starting to do just give Tyree Kill a running start on some of these.

Kind of like arena football, but he's got to be lateral. That's the only really thing that's crazy new. Other than that, everything is pretty much just saying more RPO's. Bills are running more RPO's now. But everybody's been running RPO's. There's different ways to run them now. I want to ask you about RPO's in a moment. But that motion, that getting, you know, it seems like everybody's copying Miami.

And you're talking about where you've got a receiver on the right side of the field and he's going to go in motion to the right rather than coming across the line of scrimmage. I've seen a lot of copying of that. On RPO, I've noticed, and it could be that there's just more running off of RPO, but the true RPO where the quarterback is going to make the decision to either throw it or give it to the runner. We're not talking about read option where the quarterback can keep it as a runner. The one where you are at risk with linemen being downfield because they're blocking run. It seems to me that I've seen less of this this year, and I would attribute it to,

they called a lot of ineligible linemen downfield last year. You're right. Yeah, they're doing it again this year, too. Yeah. I can remember when really Chip Kelly started it that I can remember, and I can remember we're playing Philadelphia. I'd stand by the referees and wait for those damn linemen to be downfield, and I'd be playing linemen.

Limeon downfield, and I actually got a call because, you know, the quarterback pulls out, they're reading the linebacker. If the linebacker flows with the run, then they pull it out and they throw it slant and try to replace where the linebacker should be. in the past. So that's where it started. But yeah, they're calling it more so you're seeing less of it. But there's still a lot of teams that are running quicker versions of it with maybe a tight end in and a flat or bubble screen, something like that.

All right. Let's talk about Washington because it's a weekly conversation about Sam Howe and the NFL changes dramatically week to week. But the last two weeks have been pretty good for him and pretty good for the offense. So what is your this week version of Sam Howell? is a starting quarterback back here in Washington? I think it looks bright, right? I mean, he's thrown for, you know, 600 yards plus the last two games against two pretty good opponents. And he's done it a lot of different ways.

It's not a lucky 600 yards where he's thrown a screen and he's running for 80 yards. This is a legitimate pushing the ball down the field, reading defenses, out of the pocket, in the pocket, off schedule, on schedule, with anticipation type of 600 yards. very quality. So yes, I think the future's bright for Sam. I think he's going to continue to get better and better the more he sees and the more he plays. So yes, I think he's a guy that you can build your team around. Plus he's got a young contract. So you have some money to spend. 722 yards, in fact, the last two weeks, 70%, just over 70%, five touchdowns. And he went from being sacked on average six times a game to just two times a game.

the last two weeks. How much of that production, how much of the limitation now of Sacks the last two weeks, how much of that credit do you give to Eric Bienemy? A lot. He's changed. Early in games, he's given him some completion plays, easy things to get him started, some release screens, some quick screen, some bubble screens, flat routes, whatever it might be, get the ball out of his hands, helps the line and helps the quarterback get into groove. And then as a game goes on, then they start to air it out a little bit and challenge them. And they've done a better job with the protection schemes that I've noticed as well. They didn't really have a good plan for the Giants.

Let's just call it what it was. They were not prepared for the Giants' fronts and blitzes. But now they're prepared the last couple weeks. They haven't got challenged with as many blitz. I thought there were going to blitz them a lot more, but they didn't. Much better job protect them. That goes to the coordinator. And then getting the quarterback in groove, get them some confidence, get the ball.

get the ball out, let him set his feet and throw it. That goes to the coordinator as well. What did the first game without Montez Sweat and Chase Young look like to you? You know, it didn't look like a lot of different. It didn't look that much different to me. Did it to you? Well, I mean, everybody's saying, you know, no pressures, no sacks, but to me it looked like New England was in quick game most of the day.

And Mack Jones gets it out pretty quickly. Yeah. Yeah. New England was getting the ball out of their hands quick. We always have the max not can hold it. ball a lot. They've got the one fact that they called the personal foul on, which is one of the worst calls in NFL history. But I didn't really, you know, I thought they'd keep one of the past rushers, but I didn't really think that those two guys were like dominating the game when

they were here. So it wasn't that much different to me. All right. So what is the challenge Sunday in Seattle? The last time Washington was in Seattle, I think, was that 2017 game where you guys went in with about four new linemen and had no chance before the game started and somehow pulled off a miracle win. It's a tough place to play. Talk about that first. Yeah, it is a tough place to play, and that's something you have to handle. Snap count, silent counts. You have to get your tight ends and make sure they're aware of what's going on, and whether you're holding hands or how you're handling a snap count, that's number

one because in critical situations, it's going to be very, very loud and Seattle's going to be ready to go. That's the most important thing. And then you just have to handle situation on football and play your normal game. It's no different going on the road. The biggest difference is the snap count. Tell me about the snap count. The silent snap count, I think all of us recognize a silent snap count when we see it. Sometimes it's the guard that, you know, taps the center or whatever. But walk us through how a silent count works? Yes, so we would have the guard looked back at the quarterback, and whatever the

quarterback's signal was, whether it's a hand clap or a lift the leg up, that's when the quarterback's ready for the guard to tap the center. Then you have your, you have to do your dummy snap count. You have to have a fake one. Okay, I'm going to lift my leg up, and the guard's going to tap the center and fake like they were going and then try to get them off sides. So you have two or three different versions of the silent count, which is very simple.

But the big thing is for tight ends and receivers and tackled. Sometimes they're far away, and they can't see the ball move as easily. So they have to kind of work in unison with the tackles and the guards. It's hard for the outside guys. And it's a big advantage for home teams. I think that's why the biggest advantage in pro sports is home games for football teams. Do tackles moving outside, do they go by watching the ball? that's what they're going on. It's a silent count, so they're watching the ball.

Sometimes they hold hands with the guard, and the guard triggers him to move based on his movement. Because, you know, as a tackle, you're trying to get as deep as you can for the past rush, and you can't be looking inside at the ball, so you kind of have to go by feel more so than watching the ball. All right. You mentioned the crowd. You mentioned the challenge with Seattle, but specifically how do they attack Seattle offensively, and then what's the concern defensively? Well, Seattle's had trouble, has had trouble stopping the run all year long. That's why they went out and got Leonard Williams, which will help.

But still they had trouble last week against Baltimore, Baltimore ran for like $2.50 on them, but Baltimore is a pretty special team right now. So you have to be able to run the ball, keep their offense off the field. And then obviously defensively, I know they played much better in a secondary last week, but this is going to be a whole new challenge with DK.K. Metcalfe and obviously the rest of the receivers there in Jigba.

So we'll see how they do there. But you have to be able to run the ball against these guys on the road. Yeah, but you're not expecting Eric B. Enemy to all of a sudden become a run-first team, are you? No, no, I don't think so, no. Which, you know, Seattle really, they have their strength of their team, in my opinion, is their secondary. Right. They've got to be careful. You've got a really good nickel at when the rookies.

really good nickel or corners are playing pretty good. Their back end is their strength. So they just haven't had a whole lot of pressure. They went outside Frank Clark and obviously went to William, so that'll help them. So maybe, yeah, go after them. What the hell? What do you remember about that Seattle game, that week, that season, that part of the season? Yeah, that was rough.

We had some guards playing that I didn't know, even know their names. They had to put a name tag on their helmet. You know, these guys stepped up and played good. Those, I think, one of Kirk's best games, actually, because he got hit a lot. I remember him throwing a double move to Brian Crick, and then fade to Josh Doxon, and then we handed up with Robert Keller, Kelly, for the touchdown on the win. That was all the win, but that was Kirk's, I think, one of his best performances. Obviously, not statistically, but physical toughness-wise, that was one of his best performances.

That season was frustrating for me because I felt like, had you remained healthy, you had added some pieces defensively, and you weren't nearly as bad on defense as you were in 15 and 16. And that game actually got you back into it, and you had a game the next week or a couple of weeks later at New Orleans. We've talked about this game before that you're up 15, you had a chance to basically win it, and you end up losing that game,

and you lost Chris Thompson in that game, and then it kind of went south after that. But I thought that that season was, a chance, you know, off of back-to-back seasons in which you, you know, the last time, you know you coached the only back-to-back winning seasons for this franchise in like a 25-year period in 15 and 16, and I thought 17 had a chance to be maybe your best team had it stayed healthy. Yes, I agree, 100%. Unfortunately, we did not stay healthy. We got beat up. It just came in droves, too, and they're all different injuries. It was really,

we're, you start to look at how we practice it and why are we getting injured? Is it, you know, the data centers over there? Is it something coming in the air? I about, we just lost so many lines in that year. We had, I think, 30 different line combinations that year. Yeah. Yeah, and that New Orleans game was devastating because that was, you know, basically, I think you had a chance to go above 500 and Chris Thompson was important to that team.

I thought that year. Chris was huge. Chris was huge. His role was critical for our football team. You know, his third down role, known passing situation roles. He's our best pass protector in third down, picking up the blitzes. And we get a matched up on the linebackers. His win rate was like 90%.

I mean, so, yeah, he was a critical piece to our success. You know, speaking of that team in the running back position, you know who's had a decent career after leaving here? Samajai P-Rine. Yeah, he has. Get old Samajay. He's a great kid. He's in Denver now.

He's still doing pretty good, yeah. Yeah, he had a couple of decent games, I think, here for you. All right, who do you like? I'm about Craig Reynolds. I found Craig Reynolds on YouTube. Yeah, Craig Reynolds. He was... Division three guys or Division two guys, and I just...

YouTube to like their top, the top, you know, 10 or 15 players and watched their highlight film, and we end up signing Craig because of that. Yeah, but did Craig play in any reg? I don't remember him. I remember him playing well in the preseason. He dressed a game. He dressed a game, and then when I got let go, Callahan cut him, because I don't know, he knew that Craig was my guy, so I think he was trying to send me a message. He said all worked.

By the way, I just can't. That guy, I know that he's an excellent offensive line coach, but, you know, he really took some shots at you after you got fired. and he took over. You know that, right? They were not super direct, but they were, they were directly subtle, I should say. So I'm assuming the relationship wasn't super tight with old Callahan, old coach Cal. No, not really, not really. Really the only coach I really didn't hire. I was Bruce Allen hired Bill. Right. Anyway, I'm neither here nor there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll tell you one thing. He gave you, he gave answers in press conferences

that were like dissertations. I mean, they were five minutes long. And not as much sense of humor came with his answers as they did with yours. All right. So who do you like Sunday? Washington, Seattle. You know what? I think it's going to be a good game,

but I think Seattle takes it. I just think they're going to get Kenneth Walker going a little bit more and give Chino a chance. I really hated their game planning against Baltimore, but I think they're going to do better at home. and I just think right now at this time they're going to have time to throw for Gino and Seattle is better but it's going to be close

so you like Washington plus the number six and a half no I'm going to take Seattle's you're going to lay the six and a half all right let's talk about a couple 2417 how's that 2417 there you go final there you go so if you take Washington you buy the half point to seven you push on that one there are a couple of other really good games this week and it starts at 1 o'clock with San Francisco coming off their by week.

Jacksonville as well, one team playing great in Jacksonville, the 49ers, having lost three in a row after they looked like easily the best team in the league. So tell me what you think about this matchup. You know what? I think Jacksonville's coming off a by, too, which helps out a lot. They're getting healthy, and they are healthy. They don't have any injuries of note to their football team, but at least San Francisco's coming off their buy, and they're getting Debo back,

and I think Trent's coming back. So they'll be at full strength. And I think losing three games in a row, having a buy week, I think will help San Francisco. I think they come in and take care of Jacksonville. What about Cleveland's defense against Baltimore this week? Cleveland, the first time they played the Ravens, they had Dorian Thompson, Robinson, a quarterback. They got Deshawn back. You know, they held the Cardinals last week.

I understand they were playing this guy Clayton, too, and a rookie. They held them in total. to 58 yards of offense. I mean, it was domination. The Cleveland defense is one of the best we've seen in recent years, although there's some really good defenses this year. The jet defense is great. But do you give Cleveland any chance against the Raven Sunday?

When you play great defense, you always have a chance. You create turnovers. You give your offense great field position. So yes, they have a chance for sure. And Deshawn needs to continue to play well. You had some good throws last week. couple bombs, Marie Cooper, which helped them win that game. But I just think Baltimore is too good.

I think they can, Baltimore is a weird team because they are, you think of them as like, oh, my gosh, they're so fast and athletic. But really, they can punish you on both sides of the ball up front. They've got a hell of a tight end and Ricard. He comes in and they malls people. They have big guards. They have great center in Lyndonbaum. He's unbelievable.

They can mall you with Gus Edwards and they have Justice Hill. and they just add this other Mitchell guy, they can all hit you with the runs, and then Mark Andrews in the passing game is the dominant force, so I just think Baltimore is a better team. In the late window, Lions at Chargers,

I think kind of a big game for the Chargers, in particular, if they're going to get back to the postseason this year, do you give them a chance? They're actually a three-point dog at home, although it's really not home. So far, you don't get home field in the odds, from the odds makers, because it's actually a road game for the Chargers most weeks when they are at home,

even for the Rams to a certain degree. How do you size up that one? Yes, I like Detroit a lot. I think San Diego, or the Chargers, sorry, are they don't really have an identity right now. They can't run the ball. Austin Eckler is a hell of the back. They've got to get them outside on the perimeter somehow. And then pass the game, he'll be a ball.

Keenan Allen, those two guys are really the only two they have on offense. Justin's a good player, but losing Palmer, losing Williams hurts them a lot. They don't have anybody else. Their tight ends aren't getting a lot. Everett and Parham aren't playing that well. So it's a two-man show over there, and I think Detroit will stop them and continue their ability to run the football against the Chargers this week. Last week I think they had 200 yards plus rushing against the Raiders for the Lions.

So I'm thinking the Lions are going to come out with that mentality again and open up some play passes for Jared golf, and they whip the Chargers butt. Two more. What do the Jets do with this great defense, with some playmakers, and with clearly horrible quarterbacking? Yeah, they've got to figure it out.

They don't have any choices. You can't just go out and find a quarterback right now. I know the Rams find Carson Wentz. Maybe they should have tried to upgrade the quarterback at some time in the offseason knowing you had a 40-year-old quarterback, and I don't know. You just have to coach him up and get him some plays that he knows and likes and can run.

When you have to punt, just don't turn a ball over and hopefully to win game 17 to 14 or whatever. Is Colt McCoy done? No, he's still getting paid by the Cardinals. After him to go back and play, he's got four youngans. I think it'd have to be a pretty attractive offer. So he's not done done, but he can be done if he wants to be done, if that makes sense. Yeah, it just seems like that. Like I was thinking about why Sean didn't sign Colt McCoy instead of Carson Wentz.

Although I did read, Carson was working with your brother, right? Yeah, he goes down there. A lot of quarterbacks go down there. John's got an office in Tampa and they go watch film and whatever and have some fun and talk ball. All right. Give me your lock of the week. Lock of the week is Detroit. Detroit Lang three at the Chargers.

Chargers play against the jet. I know it's a jet. Jets are really good defense, but right now, the Chargers really, I mean, they had a punt return for touchdown. They had an interception to set them up at a two-yard line. That's how they got two of their touchdowns. I just don't see them moving the ball consistently against Detroit. Not to mention that Detroit is coming off a buy, and the Chargers are on a short week because they played the Monday night game. scheduling doesn't always work out fairly. That may be a big reason. And there's that.

Yeah, why the lions are three-point favorites. All right, thanks for doing this, as always. Have a good weekend. I'll talk to you next week. Right, I'll see it. Up next, my smell test for the weekend, if you want it, right after these words from a few of our sponsors. This segment of the show brought to you by Window Nation.

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I have trusted them into my home. You can trust them into yours. I've been endorsing Window Nation for 14 years. It always works out for everybody that you, uses them. Call them now at 86690 Nation or go to windownation.com. So before we get to the smell test, Maryland is not in the smell test. Man, they've got a big game tomorrow. Against Nebraska. Why is it an important game for Maryland? Well, it's not just an important game for them. It's an important game for Nebraska as well in Matt Ruhle's first year. But this is really the best opportunity for both teams to get a sixth win and become bowl eligible. For the Terps, it would be a third straight bowl season, even though this one feels disappointing right now,

more on that in a moment. But any college football coach will tell you that these bowl games, no matter how insignificant they are to a lot of people that follow the sport, especially now that we have a playoff in next year, a much bigger playoff more likely than not, they provide an extra month of practice. College football coaches treat these bowl games as another month of practice, almost like the first spring practice. And it's very important, they'll tell you, to the development of next year's team. So for Maryland, look, they started 5 and 0.

They didn't beat anybody during that 5 and 0 start. Mike Loxley did say before the year, he expected his team to be now in a position to compete for a Big Ten championship. He did not predict a Big Ten championship. Some of you have reached out to me recently and said, stop defending locks. He predicted a Big Ten championship. No, he didn't. He said that the standard now at Maryland should be competing for Big Ten championships. He felt like the program was in that position.

and through five and a half games, it looked like it. They were 5 and O'O, and they were up on Ohio State, 17 to 10 in the third quarter in Columbus. But since then, it's gone downhill. As a double-digit favorite against Illinois at home, they lost, as a double-digit favorite on the road against Northwestern, they lost, and those are two really hurtful losses. Now, Mike's done a great job. He's recruited well. He's coached well.

There are moments, certainly during some of these games, where I'm as frustrated as some of you. You know, the penalties have been a problem for sure during his run here in College Park. But look at what it was before he got here. This pro trim was a mess. And he is coaching in the toughest other than the SEC West, the second toughest anyway, division in college football, which will change next year. But, you know, competing in the Big Ten East has been. been very difficult. Two bowl wins in a row, and it looked like a season that could produce eight or nine wins that won't now. But he needs this one tomorrow at Nebraska. Not for his

job. He's safe. I mean, Lox has done, I think, considering where this program was an outstanding job. But they need to go to another bowl game. They need to have that extra time. They need to be in one of those holiday spotlight bowl games where everybody's betting and maybe win a third in a row. Not overly significant to a national picture, I understand that. But they have Michigan next week and at Rutgers to close the season. They'll be an underdog, big underdog next week, and they'll probably be an underdog at Rutgers. Rutgers is six and three. They played well.

Hell, they were in the same kind of position Maryland was against Ohio State. They were up at halftime. They had a chance to go up nine. early in the third quarter and they threw a pick six and it was all downhill from there, kind of almost a similar game to the one that Maryland played. Tomorrow's big for the Terps. Hope they can go to Lincoln and get a win. All right, let's get to the smell test.

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, as always, presented by MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.com or MyBooky.ag. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C., and they'll hook you up with a cash bonus on your initial deposit. MyBooky, by the way, has the lowest total they've ever had on a game. I know that because it's the lowest total ever on a game. Iowa and Rutgers tomorrow, 28 is the over-under number at My Booky.

Now, if you've been following Iowa, you know they have very low totals in their games. but 28 is an all-time low in college football history, or at least since they started to track this kind of thing. Pretty amazing that a college football game has a total of 28. But if you've been watching Iowa recently, all of their games go under pretty much. The last three weeks, the totals have been 34, 30 and a half, and 32, and every single game has not only gone under the total, it's been way under the total.

last week, 32 against Northwestern, 10 to 7 final. The week before that, it was 30 and a half against Minnesota, 12 to 10 the final. And the week before that, it was 34 against Wisconsin, and the final score was 15 to 6. It has been an under Fiesta this year in Iowa games. 7 and 2 the under is so far with Iowa Hawkeye Games. against Rector's 28 is the total. That is not included in the smell test this week. What is?

Well, let's get to it. First of all, last week I mentioned that a lot of you don't like when I give out more college games than pro games. Well, I was 0 for two in the pros, and 4-7-1 in college. 4-7-1. This week, though, more NFL games than college games. But let's start in college. How the hell is Virginia Tech favored at

Boston College. I had Virginia Tech last week. They got crunched by Louisville 34 to 3. They are favored by a point in a half at Boston College, a team that's won five games in a row. Plus, Boston College, closest against Florida State of anybody this year. They lost by two to Florida State. I'll take the Hokies, minus the one and a half. Liberty's laying 13 and a half at home against ODU. Liberty's undefeated. The public loves liberty. I'll buy the half point and take ODIU plus the 14. O'DU's Old Dominion, for those of you that don't know. Oak State coming off that bedlam win, the last bedlam game with Oklahoma last week, is laying two and a half against UCF. That's perceived to be way too short, an Oklahoma state team that's really played well recently, not just last week

and they're win against Oklahoma, but Gundy's got that team playing very well. And still in the for a big 12 championship. I'll take UCF by the half point and take them plus three. Houston, I've been kind of good with Houston for some reason. I had them against West Virginia. They won outright on a Hail Mary. Then I had K-State against Houston and K-State won big. And then last week I had Houston plus a short number against Baylor and they went out right 25 to 24 in overtime. This week, they are a public choice against Cincinnati. Cincinnati catching two and a half. I'll take the Bearcats.

They've had a tough season in their first season without fickle. I'll take Sinci by the half point plus three. And then San Jose State is laying a point in a half against eight and one Fresno. Four and five San Jose State laying a point in a half against Fresno. No big injuries in that game to quarterbacks anyway. I'll take San Jose State lay the point in a half. Let's go to Sunday. early game in Frankfurt. I like the Patriots plus one and a half. The Patriots, you know,

they're a team right now that nobody believes in, and they're only getting a point in a half against a cult team that, you know, has had some moments. So I'll take the Patriots plus one and a half early Sunday morning. I'll take the Packers plus three at Pittsburgh. The public likes the Steelers against a Green Bay team that has struggled to score, but is pretty good defensively. The Texans on Sunday are getting six and a half at Cincinnati. The Bengals on a roll right now, less than a touchdown, sort of begging you to take Cincinnati. Cincinnati right now, the number one bet public team of the weekend. I'll take the Texans and C.J. Stroud plus the seven buying the half point. I like Washington. The public's on Seattle. I said this on radio

early this morning. I would play this game sooner rather than later. I think there's going to be some sharp money on Washington. I think that line's going to come down. It's six and a half right now. By the half point, I am taking Washington plus the seven. But you better do that now if you want to go with this pick or if you like Washington as well, because it would not surprise me to see this line at six or less by game time. How the Jets are favored against anybody after what we saw from Zach Wilson on Monday night football, I have no idea, but they're favored by a point against Vegas. I'll take the Jets laying a point. And then I like Denver and Monday night football plus seven at Buffalo. Buffalo is another heavily bet public team this week. So there you go. That's the

smell test. Virginia Tech minus one and a half at BC. O'DU plus 14 against Liberty. UCF plus three against Oak State. Cincinnati plus three against Houston. San Jose State minus one and a half against Fresno, then the Patriots plus one and a half, the Packers plus three, the Texans plus seven, Washington plus seven, and the Jets minus one on Sunday, and the Broncos plus seven on Monday night football. All right, back on Monday, enjoy the football weekend. Again, I like Washington in an upset at Seattle, 30 to 24 in overtime. Second down, freeing coming again. Cousins gets rid of it, A man, Quicks got it! In Seattle Territory!

What a throw by Cousins under Dress! Cousins! Back again, firing deep for Doction! Diving! Anderson comes in at fullback, Kelly the bat, Rob Kelly, going forward, Rob Kelly, tough. Washington leads. Wilson.

One man rush, but here comes Kerrigan. He gets away, he sets, he throws a Hail Merritt to the end, To the end zone and incomplete. And the Redskins win it. What a game in Seattle.