The Kevin Sheehan Show - Sunday Night Desperation + Nats New Mgr.

Episode Date: October 31, 2025

Kevin and Thom opened with Commanders talk including how desperate the team should be come Sunday night against Seattle. Thom had his Skins-Seahawks prediction and had thoughts on the Nationals' new manager hire, Blake Butera. The boys talked more about the impact of injuries in the NFL, the World Series, and more. For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match Want to spruce up your lawn? FastGrowingTrees.com 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 Cheen Show. He is Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. The show's presenting sponsor, Window Nation. You've got a day and a half left to take advantage of their buy-to-get-to-free sale and pay nothing for two years.

Call them at 86690 Nation. Go to Windonation.com. Let them know that I told you to reach out. They'll take very good care of you. Tommy, we got this from... Tim Goff. You ready for this? Yes, I am.

Just heard your comments regarding Kurt Signetti complimenting Maryland's short and long snapper. Just so happens Signetti's niece was captain of the Terps cheerleading squad

and dates our short slash long snapper Demath a kid four-year Terp starter that has a chance for a free agent tryout next year. Yes, so the other day I read all of Kurt Signetti's comments about facing Maryland on

Saturday. Indiana is the number two team in the country. They're undefeated. They're a 21 and a half point favorite in college park. I think I'll be at the game, by the way. And I mentioned that Kurt Signetti's comments were so complimentary about this four and three Maryland team. It sounded very much like Joe Gibbs.

back in the day when they were three touchdown favorites over the Cardinals, and he would get everybody fired up as if they were in deep, deep, dire, dire jeopardy of losing the game. And he even mentioned how good the short and long snapper was. Well, it turns out, Signetti's niece, captain of the Terps cheerleading squad, dating the short and long snapper, and Tim, I looked it up, Tim, Tim Goff, and I would imagine that Ethan Goff, the Terps short snapper and long snapper, might be Tim's son or somehow related to Tim. He's doing a great job. The Terps have great special teams and hoping they can pull off the upset Saturday. Thank you for that, Tim. Appreciate it.

By the way, short and long snapping means short snapping for field goal attempts, PAT's, long snapping for the punter. I've never really referred to it as short and long snapper. It's always the long snapper, but that's what's meant by short and long snapper. So, Tim, your son's doing a great job. He's a good terp. And I hope, you know, I hope the dating piece is going well. This is such good inside information.

It really is. I mean, this guy would be a great source. Yeah. This is amazing stuff. Oh, yeah. I don't know if it's amazing stuff. Oh, it gets me excited. It does?

Yeah, it does. To know that, you know, the coach there is kind of personal interest. Yeah. In the comments he's making about the opposition team. It seemed a bit odd that he, it seemed a bit odd that he complimented the short and long snapper as part of his overall evaluation. But we now know no way. Good job, Tim. Tim, thank you for that.

This from Joel, Joel writes, Kevin, hearing you and Steve go over the game, Steve Souter, yesterday, another incredible film breakdown, you're referencing plays designated by game time. I'd love to be able to follow along. Can you please tell your listeners how they can subscribe to whatever game film service. The two of you are using. It'd be great if we could also get a Kevin D.C. promotional code discount. Yeah, you're not going to get that. Look, the NFL's All-22, it's available to everybody. You just have to pay for it. You go to the NFL.com and they make it available. The NFL All-22's there.

You get, you know, you literally get the sideline view and you get the end zone view, which is what the teams use to evaluate their games. And you get, you know, the sideline view is the overview. So you see all of the players. You see the entire field. So you can see what it looks like from that direction. And then you can see it from the end zone view. And that's either behind the quarterback or depending if the quarterback's coming in your direction, it would be behind the middle linebacker. And that's what, you know, everybody and their brother uses on the internet to be, a film expert and a film breakdown expert and have been doing it. It's, you know, it's $99 a year is what it is.

I mean, I think that's what it was when I signed up for a few years ago. Yes. Let me ask you a question. Does that, you get that from the NFL? Yeah, the NFL.com. It's the shot that all the teams use. It's the overview. They call it sideline on the film breakdown,

but it's actually the overview where you see every single player on the field so you know exactly what, you know, defense they're aligned in, offensively what they're doing, and then you'll get the end zone view behind the quarterback or behind the middle linebacker. Right. And you get that for every play. And so go ahead.

Sorry. We have come a long way from game films, haven't we? Yeah. And look. A long way from from, from projector game films. And I wonder when it occurred to the NFL that they could actually sell this product. I think it's been, that's a really good question.

I want to say that it's been available for five years, ten years, maybe. I think I purchased it like five years ago. When Kooley was doing... It's amazing the revenue streams that they come up with. It really is. Oh, yeah, there's no doubt. I mean, this is a significant revenue stream. And as much as they probably laugh out loud at some of the film breakdowns that are done by people with this access, they love it.

They absolutely love it because they're paying for this. And don't discourage, you know, they're probably like, don't discourage them, no matter how wrong most of these people are, don't discourage them. This is great for us. but just to answer to answer what was his name hold on let me look at the email I'm sorry Joel to answer your question when like I'm looking at the Kansas City game

right now the you know the all 22 and at the top of the screen when you get to play you get to play twice you get the play from the overview what they call sideline and then you get to play from the end zone view you can go back and watch it as many times as you want you get exactly who's on the field jersey number position name and at the top you get the score, you get the quarter, the time,

and you get the down-and-distance situation. So you know everything. And then you've got all of the plays in the game. So if you want to go find a specific play, you can search that play out. So when Steve says to me, go to the first quarter, the 9-12 mark, I can scroll down on the first quarter on the play chart and see quarter-first time stamp nine minutes and 12 seconds, and I can go right to that play. Now, what's so interesting about this, and trust me, I think about this all the time.

You know, this all started with Cooley doing it, and Cooley didn't have the All-22 from NFL.com. It wasn't available then. So that's why I'm saying, you know, five to 10 years ago, it became available to everybody. He had it from the team. He also had access to what the team, you know, had called on that specific. play. So he would know specifically what the players, you know, jobs were. That's why when people would call up and question him and say, well, you know, I think you're wrong. And he'd say, no, I'm not wrong. I know exactly what the play call was and what the player's responsibility was.

Like, don't, you know, don't debate me on this. I'm telling you what happened. Just, you know, deal with this is what happened because I know what was supposed to happen. Now, when Steve's doing it and every internet guy's doing it, and including, by the way, pro football focus, when they grade out players, the thing that everybody, you know, that does this doesn't know is they don't know specifically what the play call was, what the responsibility of the player was. But when you get to a certain level of expertise like Steve has, and by the way, a lot of guys at PFF and some of the real, you know, advanced,

They understand that, you know, this was the play. They understand what, you know, the left guard's responsibility is in an outside zone run. So, you know, you get to a point where you understand that in this particular run or in this particular route or in this particular coverage, typically more times than not, you know, in a particular coverage, you know, this is what this safety is supposed to do. This is what this corner is supposed to do. You still don't know for sure on that. But what I was going to say, though, what's interesting is that, you know, most people that do this do this not in audio form only. And they'll do it, you know, on the internet. They'll use YouTube for it.

And I think there's still some magic in listening to Steve describe it or back in the day listening to Cooley. describe it. And Steve does a great job of describing, you know, it. And I think, you know, it's part theater of the imagination, which is what radio or an audio podcast is. But it works. People absolutely love Steve. I got this. Well, I'm going to share it with him next week. But from our guy, Kevin, who's been a longtime listener and caller, he's like, you know, Steve is just, he's, you know, he calls him the Terp film guru, because Steve is a turp, he said he's just awesome. Kev, I would never have guessed that it was the tight ends as a group that let down the running game. Wow, that's alarming. Yeah, I think one of the big takeaways from his film breakdown yesterday

was that John Bates, one of the best run-blocking tight ends in the league, really had an off game. And Steve went through multiple plays. He's like, he just kept whiffing. You know, the tight-end Ertz and even Sinit, they were the problem in the run game. And the play calling wasn't the problem. He actually thought Kingsbury did a good job. The execution, specifically to tight ends, had a rough night blocking Kansas City. Cooley used to say all the time, it's really hard to be a good run blocking team without your tight end being a good run blocker. And that's why he would always say about Jordan Reed, you can't run the ball well with Jordan Reed in the game.

Jordan Reed is uncheckable as a receiver, but has no interest in blocking, let alone no ability to block. And if you recall, those teams always struggled in the run game because Jordan Reed couldn't block. Jay has said that many times. It's like it's really hard. You've got to have everybody involved in blocking

to be a good run team, including receivers, but definitely tight ends. And Steve, Steve just emphasized, he said, this was a terrible night for the tight ends in the run game, and that's why they weren't consistent running the football. They had big opportunities had they just gotten, you know, a bit more blocking. But, yeah. What else?

Oh, I have one other email. This from Denny. Denny writes longtime listener, Denny, I think I know who you are. I love you guys. I think this season is going to be a playoff. and then in capital letters. Scenario season for you, Kevin. I can't wait to hear all of your playoff permutations

when they are five and eight and facing Dallas on Christmas Day, but still mathematically alive. Yet it feels like it's been a while since last year they were pretty much guaranteed to be a playoff. I mean, it wasn't hard to come up with how they were going to make the playoffs. my specialty for many years was, you know, post Thanksgiving, they might be five and eight, but, you know, if a couple of things happen and these teams lose, they can get right back into it. We might have to be doing that in a few weeks.

Hopefully they go on a little bit of a run here starting Sunday night against Seattle. Tommy, I had somebody on from Seattle today. Seattle's a good football team. And then I went before the show and I just, I looked at, you know, now we can really use kind of the DVOA metric. You know, everybody's played nearly half their games. Right now, per the DVOA metric, Seattle's the second best team in the league. The Detroit Lions are the third best team in the league. And the Denver Broncos are the eighth best team in the league.

Those are three of their next four opponents. Defensively, Detroit's number one in the league defensively, Seattle's number three, and Denver's number five. Wonderful. This is what they are up against here as they are in now borderline code red territory, for sure. We'll see what happens. You're going to have your prediction coming up before the end of the show today. Do you view the game as must win, Code Red? If you think that they have a chance to make the playoffs,

and I'm still going to hang on to that, yes, I do. I mean, because it only gets harder, I think, with Detroit and about the same level of difficulty against Denver. Yeah. Yeah, I think this is the one they got to get. I think that Sunday night is one of those nights. There's a lot working for them. I hope this is the best crowd of the year.

They're going to be wearing their championship uniforms minus, you know, the logo, you know, helmet. This is something that, you know, a lot of us were excited. It's a, you know, it's a runner-up prize, you know, to the main prize, which I don't think we're ever going to. get, which is a change of the name back to the old name. But, you know, this is something that I told you guys about a year ago, basically, and that is they were going to break these, you know, the old uniforms back, they were going to bring them back in the form of an alt jersey this year, three times they'll wear them, Sunday night, and then they'll wear them against Denver on Sunday night football, Thanksgiving weekend, and then they'll wear them on Christmas

day against Dallas. I am very hopeful. Many of you continue to asked me about this. I am very hopeful that this is the first step to bringing these uniforms back as the permanent uniform. It's, you know, I've, I've had conversations with people about this a lot over the last year. It's not the easiest thing working with the league, but the ownership knows that this is, this is big for a lot of people. It'll make it feel like you're watching your team again. You know, the logo is not going to be on the helmet, but the uniforms are going to look familiar. You know, February 2nd, 2022 was a day that just, you know, it made it feel like the team was officially gone and that an expansion team had arrived. And it's felt that way to a lot of fans

since then. So Sunday night's not only that night, but Art Monk, you know, Jersey will be retired on Sunday night, deservedly so. And this, this. is a massive game. This is the game that if they go out there, Jaden plays well, the offense shows some life with Jaden back in the lineup. The defense can put together at least the kind of effort performance they had on Monday night. You know, this is, and they get a win, man, it'll change everything, the tone at four and five with Detroit coming in. Because you're then actually in a position where it's like, Detroit's really good. They might be. the best team in the NFC, you know, you want to get it. And if you get it great, if you don't,

though, then it's Miami and Madrid to get to five and six. And then that Denver game becomes the game to get to 500 heading into December. I think that's got to be the goal. If they're five and seven heading into December, yes, I'll have Denny all of the, you know, playoff scenario. Yeah, I'll have them all figured out. But, get to six and six, realistically, going into the month of December, you've got to get Sunday night against Seattle. It's not Patrick Mahomes. It's Sam Darnold. You know, it's not the Chiefs. It's the Seahawks. They're very good this year. They're very well coached. They are nasty on defense. They're going to be missing a starting safety who was supposed to be back this week.

And they, you know, Darnold's prone to, you know, a couple of mistakes. So we'll see. He has to be pressured. He has to be pressured. You know what? That's true. That is true.

He's got to be pressured. And when he gets pressured, we've seen Darnold, you know, in recent year, you know, last year and even this year, when he's played at a high level, he'll make some bad plays or take some bad sacks. But you got to get the pressure. And that's been a bit of a problem. But I'm looking forward to it. Sunday night. That's for sure. I feel like I hope that this feels desperate to them. You know,

desperate is often very dangerous. They played that way on Monday night. They just played a much better team and they didn't have their best player. So we'll see if they can come out with that kind of energy level on Sunday night. We'll get to Tommy's prediction on Sunday night's game in the next segment. I wanted to finish up, though, Tommy, this opening segment with the breaking news of the day, and that is that the Nats are hiring their new manager. Their new manager is Blake Boutera. Blake Boutera is 33 years old, and he'll be the youngest manager in the big leagues in 50 years. So what can you tell us about the Nats new skipper, Blake Boutera? Well, he's a Piszan, just like the guy who hired him.

Yeah. We got Toboni and we got Butera. That's right. Yeah. So we're getting the mafia together. Oh, great. This will get some emails coming our way. Well, I could say that because I'm a member as well.

Yes. Yes, you are. But you're a member of the tribe. You're only half. Yes. Yeah. But I know what everybody else knows. He comes from the Tampa Bay Organization.

where he had been previously a minor league manager, and then went to the front office involved in player development. Tampa Bay is considered one of the gold standards in baseball for player development. As a minor league manager, he had a lot of success. And I'm sure he fits the learner's parameters when it comes to their pocketbook. Because I don't think it's going to cost much

to hire Blake Butera at the major. What do you think he'll earn? I doubt if he'll make a million. Really? Come on. Yeah. A manager? No, I doubt.

Hold on for a second. That doesn't even seem right. What are manager salaries? Aren't they, like, in the millions per year? Yeah, they are generally. Established managers. Uh-huh. You think he's going to make less than a million bucks a year?

That's great. Close to a million. All right, I've got the top 20 list right in front of me. Okay. Uh-huh. Well, you're right. Number 16 on this list, and we're, you know, just slightly over half of the managers, this according to front office sports,

A.J. Hinch makes $1.2 million a year as the Tiger Skipper. So sure. And he won a world share with Houston. He was persona non grata because of the cheating scandal that happened in Houston. Right. So he came at a reduced price for the tigers. But yeah, this guy's got no managing spirit. I just found out something, and it may have been, other people may have known this.

Six managers earn less than a million dollars a year. Wow. Yeah, I had no idea. I mean, you're much better off being a cop. college football or a college basketball coach than a major league baseball manager. But go ahead. Yeah. I found, I discovered recently that when the learners fired Frank Robinson and they were looking for a manager,

Bowden, Jim Bowden was the general manager. He wanted to hire Lou Panella. Okay. Yeah. Lou Panella and Bowden worked together in Cincinnati. No, they didn't work together in Cincinnati. Did they work together? I think they did for a little bit in Cincinnati.

They did work together. They knew each other, and Bowden loved Pinella, and Lou tolerated Bowden. He liked Bowden. I talked to Lou a couple of times about him. My question to Lou, when I was talking about Bowden, when I had him on my podcast,

and said, why do you like Jim Bowden so much? Yeah. I don't see it myself, Lou. But anyway, he came in and interviewed for a managing job. He probably had at that point maybe close to 2000 or more career managing wins. He's probably going to be a Hall fame manager at some point. But the learners didn't want to pay him. They looked at Bowen and they say, managers make that much money?

You didn't they? We're not paying a manager that much. money. How did, uh, really, really. So they had a chance to hire

Lou Panella and they didn't. Uh, remember they, they priced Bud, but, but black right out of the building. Yeah. By offer him a one year.

Now eventually they have come around. They paid Dave Martinez some money. They did. You know, he's, yeah, I think over three million years.

Oh, you're right. He was number, he was number 12 on this list, three and a half million bucks, heading into 2025. Yeah. So eventually they came around.

you know but this guy I mean I wouldn't pay this guy a lot of money he's got no experience but do you think I mean do you think the new guy to to Bonys is this his hire yes

okay it's his higher and I think it's an awful indication of how far away the team is from you know reaping the rewards of whatever success has come down the line. Why, you think this is like a Brian Keefe situation with the Wizards? Yes. In a way,

I think there's a good chance that if and when the nationals are in the playoffs again, this guy won't be the manager. I mean, that's typically the route you have. You have the young manager or the manager with only minor league experience who takes the young kids, you know, up through a few years to a certain level, and then you usually have the guy with experience come in and take over. Right. Okay, now that doesn't always have to be the case, but it's traditionally how it's happened in a lot of situations,

but he, this guy may be different. You know, he sounds like an impressive young man. He's 33 years old. Sounds like he'll be taking direction from Paul Toboni in-game with a smile on his face. Well, you know something? What? That's what fans want.

Not every fan. We've seen... Well, not every fan. But the hardcore fans, they want their manager to basically follow the formula that the front office sets down for them. And don't do any thinking.

Heaven forbid you do any thinking on your own. But he looks like he has an impressive resume as a young manager in the minor leagues. Right. and he comes from a great player development organization. So there's no reason to believe that he's not the right choice for them at this point.

How far away? How many years? I mean, is this a wizard situation from being, you know, a potential contender? I think so. God, we have two terrible teams among our four professional sports teams. I mean... Now, it depends. It depends if the learners actually spend money. Well, do you expect them to? On complimenting the young players with some free agents to make them more competitive,

to maybe make them a 500 team. You can do that, okay? But there's no track history to suggest they'll do that. If they were going to do that, they would have done it for Rizzo. So I don't think they're going to do that again. But I think the manager is probably the right hire for this team at this point. Okay. Yeah, it's, it's, I mean, this town right now, it is all, all about the football team. I mean, not that it hasn't always been, but wow, like it's not even close. Like we had some years there where, you know, the wizards and the caps and the Nats were all really good when football wasn't good.

And it felt like, okay, we can talk about these other things and not lose three quarters of the audience, you know, at certain times of the year. But, man, the disparity in terms of the, you know, mass interest, there's only one team with mass interest in this town. And with all due respect, the capitals are not in the Wizards and National territory. I mean, they are as a franchise. You know, no, no, no, as a team, no doubt. And I didn't put them into that category, yes. Right. They have a limited audience.

We both know. Yeah, but at least with them, there's a superstar all-time, you know, gold-chasing. And then when they get to the postseason, they're exciting, you know, days, hopefully weeks in April. You know, because those hockey playoff games are truly exciting. And that's when the bandwagon takes on some weight. They have a good young core of players. I think they're going to be even better this year than they have been and maybe progress farther.

I saw that they lost to Dallas the other night, one to nothing. They've lost like back-to-back games. But it's funny, you know, I just don't watch hockey this time of year. I'm not going to, you know, everybody understands that. I don't think many of you watch hockey this time of year, maybe the caps. but like, you know, I look at what the projections are for how teams will do. And then early in the season, like last year, nobody saw Winnipeg and nobody saw Washington being the two best teams. Like they were both major surprises.

Well, the Utah mammoth, I don't know if you knew that that's what they changed, that that's the new name. I think they were the Utah hockey club. And now they're the Utah mammoth. They've got the best record right now in the Western. conference. And I think it's Montreal who wasn't supposed to be very good at all has the best record in the Eastern Conference. But that all will change. They've only played, you know, eight, nine, ten games, whatever it is. Right. I'm pulling up the standings right now. The wizards and the Nats are so, are such bottom feeders right now. And the football team,

okay, the football team is the big thing. And like you said, even in bad years, it's still the prevalent thing, if not necessarily the big thing. But they have the, you know, they have the big dog. They have the guy, the one guy that, that, you know, besides a Vetchkin, that only generates any interest in this town. Well, I mean, and that sun is surrounded by a damaged solar system right now. It really is. They are very damaged.

How much damage? Let's talk about that. We can do that when we come back on the other side. I want to get your prediction too, but to get into the damage of the solar systems surrounding Jaden Daniels, the Sun, I'm going to use a direct message on Twitter from one of your favorites, Ian. We'll get to that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Guys, everybody understands that from time to time, we have personal finance issues, banking relationship issues that include things like overdraft fees, missed payments, wishing you had ways to save more on what you earn. Well, Chime understands this.

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but I just basically pointed out to those that like to be real rough and tumble, you know, tough guys when it comes to injuries in the NFL, like, no excuses, you know, next man up. Well, that's how the team has to handle it, but we're not part of the team. And unless this is your first season watching football, and if that's the case, that's fine. We're here to help you understand the game more. Injuries aren't excuses.

They are a reality of the league. They're the most important thing other than the starting quarterback of your team. Starting quarterback has the most impact on a season or on a game. And after that, it's the health of teams. If you are an unhealthy, ravaged by injury team, there's a 95% chance you're going to end up with a losing record. If you stay completely healthy, there's a really good chance you're going to end up with a winning record. It just happens to be what the league is. It's a league of attrition.

And teams that are healthy end up winning more than they lose. teams that are decimated by injuries end up losing more than they win. And Washington's injuries this year, Tommy, haven't just been, you know, numerous. They've been to their best players. You know, Jaden Daniels has missed three games. Terry McCorn's about to miss his fifth. Their best defensive player this year, Dornster Armstrong's done for the year. They had another player that they were counting on for significant help on defense that

lost for the year, Dietrich Wise. one, Will Harris lost for the year. Tunsel may miss a game. Debo's already missed a game. Sam Cosmy missed the first six games. It's not that they've gotten, you know, the injury bug with a bunch of backups or maybe one or two starters. It's 11 to 12 starters that have either missed games or will miss the season. This just isn't that hard. The number one reason why this team is is three and five after eight games is because they have been hit hard by the injury bug. And not just to ordinary players, but to their best players. That's why they're three and five more than anything else.

Now, not everybody agrees. Our friend Ian was listening, and he wrote me the following. He wrote, Blaming injuries when the overrated GM signed old and injury-prone players is the height of foolishness. Everyone knew this was a bad idea. Echler, Debo, Noah Brown, Von Miller, etc. The most idiotic of plans this season by GM and head coach. They got organizationally arrogant from 2024.

The funny thing is when I read this, all I could think about is all summer long, I am begging them, begging them. them to pay Terry whatever he needed to get him in. And that meant overpaying a receiver from age 30 until age 34. Talk about a bad idea. That was a terrible idea. And they didn't do it, fortunately. Now, Ion would be pissed if I didn't also say he, when he realized the team wasn't going to give him what he wanted and wasn't going to overpay him, which is what he preferred. He wanted them to trade Terry or play hardball and make Terry play out the final year of his deal. If they played hardball, Terry was still going to ask for a contract extension,

and more likely than not if he didn't get it, he would have held out, I think. That could have led to, sorry, we're not doing it, and then Terry would have been forced to come in and play on the final year of his deal. That would actually look brilliant at this point. I don't disagree with that. And as far as trading him goes, I said this to you guys over the summer many times. he was not, first of all, they didn't want to trade him because they wanted him to play for them. Secondly, is he wasn't tradable because of what he was asking for.

No team in the league, even if they were interested in Terry as a player. And teams would have been interested in Terry as a player, but no one was interested in trading for him and then dealing with the same thing Washington was dealing with, which was a holdout, because he was asking for way too much money. But anyway, look, Echler, yeah, I get it. There were the concussions, but they had Brian Robinson, Jr. They drafted a running back. They had Rodriguez coming back.

By the way, they didn't sign Echler in this offseason. He was already under contract. Remember, he had a two-year deal last year. So he was already under contract. And by the way, when they signed him last year, yes, he missed games because of the concussions. But Echler was a significant contributor. They weren't really better without him than they were with him. Their best offense at times was with him in the lineup.

So a major contributor to their 12-and-5 season that ended with two playoff wins and an NFC championship game. But they didn't re-sign Eccler. So he was under contract. Debo to me is a no-brainer. Fifth rounder, are you kidding me, for the upside of Debo? He's already provided a lot of upside. Now maybe he gets injured and he's out.

bunch of games the rest of the year, and it looks like, you know, they missed and they took a risk that, you know, didn't pay off on the upside. But there was no downside to Debo. Noah Brown, again, I mean, what are we talking about? Hardly any money. Von Miller late in camp because, you know, they couldn't pull off a trade for Hendrickson, couldn't find, you know, the pass rusher, and didn't draft one, okay. But the other part of this, you know, signed old, you know, players, blaming injuries when they've signed old players, that's not the problem. Older players haven't been the issue for them. Their oldest players have stayed healthy.

I mean, Von Miller, who is their oldest player in terms of position player, because Josh Johnson is their oldest player at 39 years old, Von Miller hasn't missed a snap that he was supposed to be in on. Nick Ballore, 36 years old, hasn't missed a snap, I don't think, on special teams. he's a great special teams player. Bobby Wagner, 35, hasn't missed a snap, I don't think, period. Any defensive snap this year. I mean, we can talk about his play in coverage.

You know, then you go to Zach Ertz, you know, offensively. They're oldest, you know, player that plays. He hasn't missed a snap that he was supposed to play. And George Fants, 33. I mean, he was signed late in camp. Chris Moore, 32, Marcus Mario de 302. Andrew Wiley, Wiley, 31. They haven't missed snaps. 31's not even old. I don't even know why I mentioned.

You know, we don't even really need to mention 31-year-olds. Dietrich Wise was 31. That's the back half of your prime years as a defensive end in this league. Look, the old roster, oldest roster in the league is because of, you know, Josh Johnson and Tressway and their long snapper. And, yeah, Von Miller, Nick Ballore, Bobby Wagner, Zach, Er. but those guys haven't missed time. Like so it's the players that have missed time are their younger players, players that are in their prime. You know, Jaden's not in his prime, but a young player like Jaden, Doran's 28 years old. Will Harris is 29.

You know, Noah Brown, by the way, is 29 years old. Yes, he had a bit of an injury history, but that's not been the issue. The issue isn't that they signed a bunch or re-signed a bunch of old players and they're getting hurt. That's not what happened. And Echler, yeah, that's the one I would say, okay, taking a chance, but they didn't resign him. He was already under contract. No, the reason they are three and five, and maybe it'll turn around, although with some players it can't turn around because they're done for the year. but the reason they're three and five, number one reason, injuries, period, that's it.

Will it, you know, mess the entire season up? Time will tell. The odds seem to be pointed in that direction because, you know, you've lost some major key players on defense, and the defense wasn't great to begin with. They definitely need Jaden, Terry, and Debo on the field, and Tunsell on the field, and Kinlaw on the field. If they're going to make us kind of look back on this eight-game stretch and say, man, remember early in the season, just the injuries just crushed them,

but they were able to turn it around and they got healthier as the season went on. We'll see. We'll see. You know, you're absolutely right about the injuries. I mean, it's not an excuse. I mean, everything you pointed out is true. They had, look, in their second year, of, of, you know, rebuild, retool, reconstruction, whatever you want to call it,

under Adam Peters and Dan Quinn, they had a very little margin for error in terms of their ability as they tried to stock this team full of talent. Right. You know, while they're doing it at the same time, they're competing for a Super Bowl based on last year. So they just had a thin margin And the margin became a lot thicker With all the number of injuries that they've had

And those are legitimate reasons For where they are Absolutely We'll see how this season goes See how it plays out It's just for me The whole idea that the GM and the head coach And I is not the only one

That's come after them We talked about this You know on Tuesday or last week. It's just absurd to me. Well, they got juiced up, Kevin. You know, they got juiced up for the year. Yeah, they did. They're angry and disappointed. I mean, people, people had high expectations.

You and I included. We did. We picked them to go to the Super Bowl. Yeah. Yeah, we did. We picked them to go to the Super Bowl. I kind of understand the passion of anger in this situation. what you expected is not happening. I know. For years, for years, except for the, for the hardcore lunatics, any relative success was a surprise.

You know, based on last year, and, you know, it became an expectation. Yeah, I understand frustration. I don't understand after eight games and the season they had last. last year and hopefully some understanding of what this group inherited, how you can go after the general manager and head coach. I don't get that either. That to me is just... I don't understand that at all.

And I think that that's just a recency bias thing. I think that there's a lot of fans and a lot of sports fans in general that just live with what happened last week. And they go a lot off of how they felt coming. out of Monday night losing by three touchdowns. And by the way, in the midst of a three-game losing skid. Bottom line is, they really need to stop the losing skid at three and beat a really good Seattle team.

It would really change the way a lot of people feel about the team, especially if it's Jaden Daniels led. And by the way, I don't think there's any chance that they could win the game Sunday night without him playing at a high level. All right, so your prediction for Sunday night is... I hate to do this. I really do. But they're going to lose.

It'll be close. They're going to lose 22 to 19. 22 to 19? In a hard-fought game, and Jaden's going to be sacked four times, and hopefully he'll finish the game. You know, if they hold Seattle to 22 points, that's a good effort by this defense if they can do that.

If they hold Seattle to 22 points, I predict a win. All right, let's finish up with the World Series and a couple of other things. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. So with holiday season approaching, it's usually about fit, feel, and price. And the guys at True Classic, they understand this. They started with a simple mission to bring premium comfortable clothing to the masses

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Guys, personal experience with a product that I want to tell you about, it's Zbiotics and their product called pre-alcohol. Let's face it, after a nighted drinks, most at our age anyway, don't bounce back the next day like we used to. You either have that choice the night before of, do I have a drink or two, or do I pass? Because I don't want to feel badly the next day. Well, there's a surefire way to wake up feeling fresh after drinks with friends. It's with pre-alcohol. Zbiotics, pre-alcohol was invented by PhD scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking. I've noticed a difference the next day after using pre-alcohol. You drink pre-alcohol before your favorite drink for me, Tito's soda, lime, or a beer.

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I would recommend before you get to the stadium, stopping at Shelly's, having a nice, you know, something to eat off the menu, having a nice cigar, and relaxing and enjoying yourself and getting the proper frame of mind before you head to the stadium and put your game face on. You can watch the late games too, the late afternoon games when you're there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, on the way down to the day. On the way out to Landover. That they have there.

and if it's Thursday, I'm going to give you their menu specials for this week. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. A shelley's cordon blue burger. Mm. One-hmm. One-half pound of, guess what? Shelly's custom blend.

Yes. Top with honey ham and blue cheese on a butter toasted broshe roll served with fancy rioche. Bres. Yeah. Fries and a kosher dill pickle. Oh. I don't like pickles, but everything else sounds great. Yes.

That's one of the specials. I could give you the other words, but I'm going to switch it up a little bit. I'm going to tell you what their desserts are for this week. Remember the A. Poland? Where's the cake? Yep. Famous thing where they brought out a birthday cake. I don't even remember what the circumstances were behind.

I think it wasn't a celebration of some sort of anniversary of the championship team? It may have been. Okay. But we played that where's the cake all the years on the station. Well, the cake this week is at Shelley's back room. Chocolate moose cake, chocolate lava fudge cake, and key lime cake. Key lime cake, pie, same thing, pretty much. Okay, key lime cake.

I love it. I like all three of those options. By the way, the answer would be yes. Okay, okay. What about you? What about you with those? desserts because you're not a dessert guy. No, not another

those desserts, do it. I'm not a dessert guy. I know. That's crazy. I make up for it in other ways. Yeah, you drink your dessert. That's fine. Yes. And you can find out more. I go on their website, shelley's backroom.com. All right. World Series, boy, the last time we did this was Tuesday after the epic 18 inning game

that the Dodgers won on Freddie Freeman's walkoff. beyond 3 a.m. in the morning. They've played 18 innings since that 18 inning game, and it has been all Toronto. And what a pitching performance last night by the rookie

is Savage. Unbelievable. It was fun to watch. I really didn't think that they could win two straight games. You thought they might be done after Monday night. That team appears to have been done. It wasn't a team.

thought. No. Tell me about you savage, this rookie, who last night 12 strikeouts in a game in which he pitched seven complete and allowed just one earned run and three hits. I mean, it was just it was amazing to watch.

This kid was pitching in college last year. He's pitching an A ball at the beginning of this year. Yes. Beginning in A ball. What he's doing now is the equivalent of me writing for my college paper last year, starting out working at the Podunk Times this year, and now within a few months, I'm winning Pulitzer Prizes for the New York Times.

That's basically what this kid has done here. Yeah. I mean, if it wasn't for, as of now, if it wasn't for Guerrero's remarkable postseason and World Series, which makes him a prohibitive favorite as of this point for the MVP, he'd have to give it to this kid. You know? He would have to be the MVP

based on his performance. Yeah. It's going to be Guerrero, and it should be Guerrero if the Blue Jays win. But this kid... He made his big league debut just so everybody understands this on September 15th.

Yes. He's been in the big league. he's been in the show for basically 45 days. Wow. Yeah. I mean, you know, he's striking out Freddie Freeman. He's getting Otney out. I mean, he has no fear when he's on that mound out there.

You don't see him. There's no expression of him being under stress or upset. He has ultimate confidence in his abilities out there on the mound. this, what he could throw. And he's not thinking that he's facing a lineup with three future hall famers in it. And he's just some kid who, you know, this came out of minor league ball. He thinks he's a major league pitcher, and he certainly is. I can't wait for tomorrow night to watch Yamamoto pitch because he's been so awesome his in this postseason. And he has gone complete game, complete game in his last two starts.

which, as you know, is pretty rare for these times. And it's actually kind of cool to watch him pitch. His precision, his location, everything about it. Look, they're a favorite tomorrow night to take this to seven games because he's on the bump. Right, and they should be. Yeah. But I don't see Toronto losing.

I don't see the Blue Jays losing two straight games at home. Yeah. Joe Carter 1993 Wow that's how long it's been Yeah game 6th Yeah that was the 6 game of 90s I remember exactly where I was when I watched it For those of you that are from around here

Tommy and I have talked about neighborhood bars over the years T-bones T-bones Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda I was in that bar that night watching Joe Carter's walk off in game 6 as I was for a lot of different sporting events, but I remember being right there, which was a dramatic moment for sure.

Yeah, good for Toronto if they win it, but this should be exciting to watch certainly tomorrow night, and maybe we'll get a game seven. Yes, and everyone loves game seven in any sport. Sure. One other thing before we leave. Okay, first of all, the Wizards play. the defending champs tonight.

They are 16-point underdogs at my bookie. But I'm sure most of you aren't following the NBA this early in the season, and I'm not really following it or watching it that closely. But Austin Reeves has gone on a three-game tear for the Los Angeles Lakers that is just like out of nowhere. Now, if you've been watching Austin Reeves for the Lakers the last couple of years, you know he's a very good player. You know, kind of came out of nowhere, wasn't drafted, played at Oklahoma.

This is year five, I believe, with the Lakers. And he's become an important part of the team. And he averaged 20.2 points per game last year and had a 45-point game during the season. But with no Luca and no LeBron, his last three games, 51 against Sacramento, along with 11 rebounds and nine assists in a win. Against Portland the other night in a loss, he went for 41 points. And then last night, he hit a shot at the buzzer on the road to beat Minnesota, 116, 115, had 28 points in a career high, 16 assists. He's averaging 34.2 points per game, 10 assists, and 5.6 rebounds to go along with nearly two steep.

heels per game. He's been so much fun to watch in the early portion of his career here. He was a good college player. Nobody saw this as an NBA player. Just, you know, 51, followed by 41, followed by 28 and 16. And they've won three of the four games without LeBron and Donchich. Pretty impressive from Austin Reeves. I'm assuming you don't have much to say about that. But you'd enjoy watching him play. You know who he is, right? I know who he is.

I've seen him play before. Yeah. I could think of was this guy would be coming off the bench when I used to give a shit about basketball. No, no, he wouldn't. He's truly an old school player. He'd fit in perfectly with one of your, you know, 1970s Knicks teams where you, you know,

we're in and out of the starting lineup because you were injured a lot. You know, you got injured a lot. Yes, I was. And that really impacted some of those next seasons. All right. Anything else from you? Nothing else for you, boss. All right.

Back tomorrow with a football Friday, Jake, yes. One last thing. Happy Halloween. Happy Halloween. Yeah. Want to be careful out there. What are you going to do? I'm not going to do anything.

Did you get candy to hand out? No, we live in a condo with a, with a, a lot to get into the building. We don't get any kids. Okay. My wife tells me that there are more kids in the neighborhood this year than there have been the last couple years. So she made me go out and get candy last night on the way home.

I said, can I get it tomorrow night or on Friday? No, I want it in the house. So I went and got it last night. And she was very upset with something that I purchased. This is so stupid. I got, you know, I got a bunch of Snickers. Snickers are very popular, right? I got Kit Katz, which are very popular.

But then I also got a bag of three musketeers. And she said, why did you get those? Nobody wants three musketeers. And I said, exactly. but I like them when they are frozen. Snickers and three musketeers when they are frozen, they're really good. I cannot eat a three musketeers,

you know, unfrozen. Can't eat them. I don't even like them. But frozen, they're awesome. Snickers frozen. Do you freeze candy? Well, you don't eat candy. I don't eat candy.

Yeah. But, But the Kit Kat should do fine, I think, tomorrow night. They should, if we have trick-or-treaters. I hope we do. I'm planning on being home. All right. Good luck out there.

Good luck to everybody out there. I can wish them luck tomorrow. You have to wish them luck. Now, tomorrow I'll be back with Jay Gruden, and we'll certainly have a lot in how Washington can beat Seattle on Sunday night. All right, Tommy, see you. See you, boss.