The Kevin Sheehan Show - The RB Plan

Episode Date: September 1, 2022

Kevin back from vacation with Thom today. The guys shared thoughts from a busy week that included the Brian Robinson Jr. incident, plenty of Commanders' cuts and pick-ups, and Kevin thinks something Ron Rivera said yesterday was a tell on the running back depth chart for the opener. The boys talked Serena, some NFL, and more in the final few minutes of the show which included Kevin's first College Football "Smell Test" pick of the year.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. I am here. Tommy is here on this Thursday, September 1st. We are finally here.

Come on, guys. I took, in actuality, Tommy. I took three days off, but not really because I did a podcast on Saturday night that ended up being kind of like a Monday podcast. I took two days off from doing the podcast. Am I allowed to do that or not? You know, you've got to go to the Tom Laverro school time off. You really do.

You're an amateur when it comes to taking time off. You need to go to Laverro School of taking vacations, buddy. No pictures for many statues from me over the last couple of days. No pictures of me hanging. out, although I almost took a picture of me yesterday. It's Sullivan Island, which is in Charleston, right outside Charleston, sitting at one of those outdoor bars right next to the water, having a cold beer on what was a brutally hot day yesterday on my final day in South Carolina. I thought about taking one of those pictures, and I was thinking of you, but I needed to grab a cigar

and there was none nearby. But yeah, no, you're right. I'm a little bit of an amateur on that, although I'm telling you, I don't know what it is. It seems like the last couple of years, every single time I take off and decide I'm going to go away for a while. And we've taken, you know my wife and I, when we've taken family trips, we've done long trips where I've been out of touch. I mean, I'm not a totally amateur. You've got the country.

Yeah, when we've done trips out of the country, which we've done several of them over the last decade, I'm completely out of touch then. But I was in South Carolina. It seems like the last like three or four trips we've taken that have been kind of beachy golf trips. We've gotten rained on. And Tommy, it rained on Monday through most of the day on Tuesday

like you read about rain. I mean, it just never stopped. Just downpour. We were on, for those of you who are golf fans, and let me teach the amateur right now a little bit about golf. The ocean course at Kiowa, Tommy, is one of the real great golf courses in the world. It's where they played the PGA championship last year, the one that Mickelson won. They played the Ryder Cup in 1991 there.

They played the PGA there that Rory won back in 2012, was it? Whatever. It is a spectacular thing. The golf, it's a very hard golf course. So for people like me, mid-handicappers, mid-to-high handicappers, it can be really brutal. But so many of the holes are Oceanside. It's just visually beautiful. And there's a constant breeze.

And it's just, it's pleasant. We had a tea time on Monday morning at 9 a.m. It was raining. And then there was this window where the rain was going to stop from like 11 until about four. And so we decided to, instead of rescheduling, we decided to go out and play. This was my youngest son and me. And we got through six, we got through seven holes. And on number seven, and my son had hit it on in two on a par five and had like a 25-foot eagle putt.

and I had a birdie putt, which is not the typical for me. And we were walking up to the green and the skies opened and by the time we got to the green, there was standing water on the green. That's how hard it was raining. And we immediately, a guy comes out and with a cart because we were walking with a caddy. The caddy was great. And he said, you guys can continue if you want. I said, what do you do? Continue doing what? And he said, well, you know, some people, believe it or not,

will actually continue to play. And I said, no, please get us back to the clubhouse and in a hurry. We got back to the clubhouse. We were drenched head to toe, walked in, sat down outside in the covered area. They have a beautiful clubhouse that looks out to the ocean, looks out to the 18th Fairway, which is one of the real truly, you know, magnificent holes in golf. And we just sat there and we just drank beers for about, you know, two hours hoping it would clear. But what was crazy and the reason I'm telling this story is, A, we've had bad weather the last few times we've gone on these trips. People were coming up, the 18th Fairway, one group after another, playing through this. I mean, they're standing water on the green and on the fairway.

But, you know, people that would that, you know, and somebody explained it to me, they said, it's the ocean course. It may be the one time that they scheduled to play it and they've got a flight leaving this afternoon. They're not walking. They're not leaving the course. And I'm like, oh my God, people coming up and then you see them and they're just completely soaked. And the balls rolling through water on the green. That's not fun. But it was actually a great trip.

The weather got nice on, nicer on Tuesday afternoon. and so we played on Tuesday afternoon and on Wednesday. So we got two full rounds in, ultimately, and it was great. And it just rained for the first 50% and rained sideways most of the time. I don't like, when you're at a beach, you would prefer some. You play a lot of scrabble? You play a lot of scrabble? No, but, you know, Charleston is a great food town.

It's a fun. Have you spent time in Charleston? Not really. I know it's a great town. I've heard lots of people talk about, particularly the restaurant. I think you would love, I think you and Liz would love Charleston. I think you should plan a trip there because it's, you know, it's obviously a water town. And it is, by the way, Tommy, just so much civil war in particular history and museums, etc. and then Charleston as a restaurant town is top notch, top notch. Anybody familiar with Lewis Barbecue, by the way, that's an off-the-beaten path. That is one of the best barbecue joints ever.

We do that every single time we're down in Charleston. And then they're really good restaurants, fine dining, but then really good, mid-level restaurants and restaurants on the water, restaurants, you know, at Kiowa or are okay. Kiwa is like 45 minutes from downtown Charleston. That's the only issue when you're out there on that island where there's a lot of golf. There are like eight golf courses out there, five

that are public and then there two or three private courses as well. It's just pretty down there. And it's easy to get to. It's an hour and five minute flight. Nothing. That was my time. Did you fly down? Yeah. Flew down, flew back. It was easy. Okay.

We've done the drive. before. I don't know if I ever told you this story. My youngest, when you get to the third for those of you that are parents with already kids grown or those of you that are going through this right now and you've got like the college visit thing with your kids, like you really are so into it with your first one, second one you're kind of into it. And then by the time you get to your youngest, you're pretty much like you figure it out. This is the one that just finished. that just graduated from Penn State.

And it's like, you can figure it out. You'll be fine. And so his senior year in high school, my wife's like, seriously, you're not going to take him on any college trips. So I took him to Penn State for a day. We did a Penn State Villanova day. We went to Philly and visited Villanova in the morning and then drove to Penn State, did an late afternoon thing, stayed overnight and stayed there. He ended up going to Penn State. But one of the trips, she's like,

Why don't you take him down to see that college of Charleston and see Wake Forest and see Elon in North Carolina on your way down and hype, like all these schools that if you're a parent with kids that are looking at a bunch of schools, for whatever reason, it's the same group of schools. Unless your kids going to the Ivy League or Stanford or Duke, you know, pretty much all of the schools seem to be the same schools that everybody visits. So our trip, which was supposed to be like four, three college visits in three days, started on a Tuesday. This was in April, his senior year in high school. It started on a Tuesday where we did drive down to Charleston, South Carolina, and we visited the College of Charleston. Actually, we left on a Monday because remember, we watched the Monday night national championship game between. Michigan and Villanova. We got down there just in time to watch it in the hotel room.

Villanova blew Michigan out. For all it would be Villanova obnoxious people. Yes, that was Jay Wright's second title. And then the next day we visited the school. And then on Wednesday, Tommy, we played the ocean course at Kiowa when we were supposed to be visiting another school. Then on Thursday, our good friend Danny Frank hooked us up with master's tickets. So we went to the Masters on Thursday.

And then after going to the Masters on Thursday, on Friday on the way home, when we were supposed to be visiting, I think it was Wake Forest or some sort of North Carolina school, Tony hooked it up for us to play Pinehurst on the way home. That was the college trip. One college visit. Now my wife was saying, that's better than mine. It's much better than mine. Son, you're going to Maryland. Can I apply to other schools? Sure, you can, but you're going to Maryland. So the entire time my wife's like, well, how's it going? I'm like, you know, I think he really liked the college of Charleston. Well, what about the others? I just think he really likes Charleston. It's a really cool place, cool campus. And finally, when we got home, she's like, well, but what about the others? You know, the others were just okay.

Then we had to fess up and say, yeah, there were two rounds of golf and they, and a hook up at the Masters courtesy of Danny Frank. None of this, by the way, as you guys are thinking, some of you were thinking, oh, that's really rough life you're leading. Danny Frank hooked us up with the Masters. Tony hooked us up with Pinehurst. And the Ocean Course was basically a Sheean special. We called up and just said, look, we're getting ready to leave

unless you got some kind of a deal on a room and maybe one round at the Ocean Course. And they started off at a price and I got them down, you know, to like 60. percent of it. And so we went over and did that. What are we doing here? What are we doing? I'm trying to talk about your vacation. What have you been doing? I haven't been doing anything. Laying low pretty much. I'm heading to the Jersey Shore this weekend. Oh, good for you. Yeah, but go ahead. Actually, I was on Saturday night, I was going to go to the Ravens Commanders game, the final preseason game. But I woke up Saturday morning, terrible chills and really fatigued. And I thought, oh, this is it.

This is it. Somehow I've got it. So we ran a COVID test, and it came up negative. And within four hours, I was fine. I was fine the rest of the day, and I've been fine since. Which COVID test did you take? a quick test? Yeah.

Yeah, the results on that one are, you could have had it. Yeah, but within four hours, it was gone. It was nothing. Yeah, I mean. It was whatever it was. It was very strange. That is strange. I mean, I didn't have a fever.

I was really cold, and I felt like my arms felt fatigue. Like I could barely lift them. And I thought, well, this is it. And by noon, I was fine. Yeah. And nothing since. So that's the most eventual thing that's happened to me. Didn't I read something recently?

I hate talking about COVID with you. But didn't I read recently there was some sort of CDC thing that said, essentially most everybody's had it at this point? Yes. Yeah. Yeah, that's what they're saying. Because I've told you that on three, three different occasions now, two different occasions. Once was last year at Thanksgiving time frame,

everybody in my household had COVID, tested positive. I had the exact same symptoms as everybody. Fever, cold, fatigue, I kept testing negative. And then it happened again. I told you this, I don't know, a few months ago. Again, multiple people in my house, positive. I had the same symptoms, and I was negative. So I don't know what to think anymore. You know what I am excited about, though? Football season. Like real football season,

which tonight really gets into action with the first full-fledged college football season weekend of the year. I actually have a smell test pick for the final segment of the show. We have a lot of commander stuff to get to, which we're going to get to. I wanted to read this quick,

Apple review. And again, if you can rate us, wherever you can rate and review us, any podcast platform, it's so helpful if you do that. On Apple in particular, if you can give us five stars and write a short, you know, one, two, three-sentence review. That's really, really helpful as well for us. So if you haven't done it, you can do it.

That's great. From Flash Football 13, five stars, thank you, Flash Football 13. These guys are great. I still listen when Tom isn't on because I really like Kevin's takes on the commanders in Washington Sports. However, this show is gold when the not-so-dynamic duo are on together. Also, Squid Game isn't a reality show. It's a fake drama about a reality show where the contestants literally die.

That conversation was like listening to my grandparents. try to figure out what TikTok is. Love the show. Keep it up. I think you were the one that said that, right? A conversation about TikTok between us wouldn't be much better. No, that's true. But you were the one that said.

It's not like it would be much. Yeah, I was. I thought it was a reality show. Yeah. But I still have zero interest in watching it. Yeah, I don't have much interest in watching it, God, I didn't have much interest in watching stranger things, and I binged that in two and a half weeks and loved it. And multiple people have told me the same about the squid game.

This from Skinsfan 125, they are the new Siskel and Ebert. The new Siskel and Ebert, there have to have been since Siskel and Ebert were popular. Another 25 new Siskel in Ebert's. Can't we be a new something else? and TV talk and review is just as entertaining as sports, not to mention they resemble them. Squid game a must see. And also, all of us are dead. Is that a show?

End of all podcasts. I love when Tom calls Kevin boss. It's hilarious. Thank you for that. Are Cisco and Ebert still alive? No, no, I don't know if, I think Roger Ebert may be. Gene Siskel died young. He died quite a few years ago.

Maybe Roger Ebert isn't alive anymore. I'm looking at it up right now. Gene Siskel died in 1999. At 53 years old, Tommy, you're right. Yes. And Roger Ebert died in 2013. at age 70. Wow.

I like them both. I liked Roger Ebert's writing. I like Gene Ciskel more on the show. Yeah, I mean, I certainly remember them, you know. I don't remember having a strong opinion about it one way or the other. I'm looking at their pictures now, and now I'm remembering what they looked like. Yeah, no, I mean, I certainly remember them. Thumbs up or thumbs down was basically what they did with movies as movie reviewers.

We would both give, oh, also several of you have already reached out to me about House of the Dragon. I've not watched either episode, but I am going to, the reviews are over the top, positive. Lots of thumbs-ups on the first two episodes of House of the Dragon. Tommy's not going to watch it. We know that right now. All right, let's get to some football talk. I have a lot of thoughts about some of the things that have happened this week with our commanders. This typically, by the way, would have been the Thursday night of the last preseason game. You know, this was usually the Thursday night where you played the Ravens and then, you know, you made the final cuts on Saturday and then it was a week from Sunday, the opener.

A lot more time in between the last preseason game and the opener. and that means a lot more, many more transactions, including some breaking NFL news from this morning. We'll get to all of that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. This segment of the show is brought to you by My Bookie, by the way, the first smell test coming up in the final segment of the show.

I'll probably have one tomorrow as well, but I do have a Thursday night game as college football kicks off in earnest tonight. coming up at the end of the show. But as the bills and Rams prepare to kick off the NFL regular season one week from tonight, now is the time to prepare for your winning season at MyBooky. Whether you're a veteran better or a first-timer, my bookie gets you the most for your money with a double deposit bonus. It's quick and easy. A $250 deposit puts $500 in your account, and you can use your funds to bet instantly on as many games, contests, props, anything you want to bet on. To claim your bonus, register today and use my promo code, Kevin D.C., designed to add more excitement to the games in sports you love.

Bet on team win totals, predict the Super Bowl winner, or use the MyBookie prop builder and secure the bag. Your winning season begins today exclusively at MyBooky. Let me just tell you something. I was looking at something just before we started this segment. This from Joe, Joe said, I saw you down in South Carolina this week at the ocean course. Really? Looked like you and your son were having a great time.

You know, we met some guys from D.C. There were some guys that were in the clubhouse after the round, what's today, Thursday on Tuesday, day and they were from Loudoun County and a couple of the guys, one of the guys in particular was a listener to the show. A couple of the other guys have advertised on the station before with their businesses. But I don't, I don't know if this guy, because this guy said, I didn't approach you, it looked like you were, you know, you and your son were having a good time. So the other guys who had a conversation with, well, you can always, I mean, Tommy's the one that,

you know, it's hard to approach sometimes. He does, yeah, absolutely. has not like to be punched. Yeah, this is such a this is such a lie. It's unbelievable. Tommy's easy to approach. I stop people in the street and say, do you know me? I'd stop people in the street and say, don't you know who I am? Exactly. Don't you know me? So a lot's happened since Saturday, late Saturday night when I did a podcast after the after the Ravens preseason finale. And the big news was the next day when Brian Robbins.

Robinson, Jr. was shot after, you know, a carjacking attempt. You know, he's lucky. He's really lucky. And it was so thrilled about that. I mean, based on what I'm hearing, it wouldn't be a surprise if he's playing within four to six weeks. You know? So they placed him this morning just so everybody knows. He is on the reserve non-football injury list. Ben Standings reporting that. So he's going to miss at least the first four weeks of the season. But at least a lot of the reporting is that he's going to play this year. And how about this, Tommy? Because our good friend Tim Murray and Aaron Oster, who produces this podcast, Aaron had texted me this earlier. Brian Robinson, Jr. is now a prop bet at a lot of different spots for comeback player of the year.

I know, that's a bit, that's a bit much. Right. I mean, just what, because he, I mean, just if he makes it in uniform, does that count as comeback player of the year? I mean, you know, I mean, that's, that's some kind of novelty news. Yeah. I mean, I don't, you know, I mean, I don't, you know, I mean, I don't. just don't see that happening. Look, I mean, he is lucky. And you know, this is, this is the guy

who wasn't out at, like they say, nothing good happens at two in the morning. This was in the middle of the afternoon. Yeah. On a Saturday afternoon, in an area where people go to, to have a good time. Sunday afternoon. Sunday at 6 o'clock. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. So, So, I mean, and look, I'm glad he's much better, and he's going to be fine. But it's pretty, I mean, I'm sure. I mean, I would think if I was a Redskins fan, the nightmare of Sean Taylor would have jumped right in my mind. The first thing I hear, you know, Brian Robinson is shot. I mean, I thought, oh, my God, how can it happen again?

Now, the word came out pretty quick that it was non-life-threatening injuries. But, I mean, it was like, I'm sure for a lot of fans, they just thought, oh, not another horror show that everybody would have to go through. But he's already been at the facility. They showed pictures of them at the facility. He was on crutches, but he's already been out at the park. Yeah, I mean, obviously, it goes without saying how happy everybody is. and, you know, how lucky he was that, you know, the bullets didn't hit, you know, vital organs, you know, based on the reporting, obviously he wrestled, he wrestled a gun away from one of the two gunmen who apparently, you know, are very young, you know, between the ages of perhaps 15 and 17 years old. And, yeah, I mean, we can talk about this all day till we're blue in the face. It's just, you know, nice area, Sunday 6 o'clock, you know, visiting a part of the, city that's become, you know, a bustling part of the city. And, you know, it's, it's pathetic.

I'll tell you one thing, you know, regardless of whether or not you think it was stupid or whether or not you thought, you know, there's some, there's something to be lauded. He's a fight over flight guy. That's for sure because he wrestled a gun away from one of the dudes. His first, he's a The first instinct was to fight back, and it could have cost them, but you're right. Yeah. Absolutely. So part of me is like, you know, there's a badass part to this guy. You know, they're trying to take his car, and he's like, I don't think so.

I don't think so. And he got a gun away from one of the guys and couldn't with the other one. But, you know, thankfully it certainly sounds like Brian Robinson Jr. is okay. and he's more than likely going to play again. I mean, you know, during those first, and I was following everything on Twitter, during those first, you know, few hours. I'll tell you what, I mean, some of the poor taste and some of the tweets about fantasy football teams, et cetera, they're bad, but the lecturing from people about what you should be saying

is just as bad. Here's what you do in that situation. even if you are a big Twitter figure, I'm praying for him, wishing him the best. Boom. And let everything else play out. I couldn't believe. I was just sitting there with my son going,

we were reading some of the stuff going back and forth. And I'm not sure which was worse. The kind of off-handed remarks that were, you know, sort of in poor taste, or the people lecturing those people about their poor taste. Just pray for him. That's it. Let everything else play out. And it looks like it's playing out well for him. He is, I'm going to get to something here shortly. It's about the running back situation. And just the assumption that a lot of people have that, you know, okay, Antonio Gibson, that's what they're going to go with until Brian Robinson, Jr. is ready, you know, and physically ready to go.

I'm not so sure based on something Ron Rivera said yesterday. And I do want to talk about that. But what followed that were all of these cuts, you know. I'll just tell you right now, Danny Johnson was the one cut that I was surprised about. I don't obsess over this like some of you do. I know most of you don't. But, you know, there's certainly a contingent of people that really get into this time of year. I'd much rather focus on, you know, whether or not.

not Fuller William Jackson and Benjamin St. Juice can stay healthy and be the kind of players that I think they can be, can be. Because they're going to actually be on the field. A lot of the people that we're talking about might be on the field, but if they are on the field playing the positions that they play, well, that means that a lot of people either sucked or went down in front of them. And you don't want that. But I was surprised because Danny Johnson's a player they've liked and took a lot of snaps as their nickel corner. Not only last year, but in preseason. And maybe him taking as many snaps as he took in preseason should have been a heads-up

that he was in trouble. I was sort of surprised about David Mayo. Actually, I was very surprised about David Mayo being released. But they signed him again this morning. They signed him again. Well, they signed him first to the practice squad, then they brought him back to the roster. but initially exposing him kind of surprised me a little bit. By the way, by doing that, they were looking for other linebackers.

They got one in John Bostic, you know, a familiar name. Let me just, let me tell you. I've said this at least a dozen times about John Bostic over the last couple of years. They love John Bostic. Ron Rivera told me on the radio show last year, yeah, he's our coach. on the field. Like we just have so much confidence that he is going to get everybody in the right position. And then I'm like, well, okay, but what about his play? He's playing well. And I remember him saying that, even though it didn't seem like he was playing well. And I think a lot of people

would have looked at things like PFF numbers and said he wasn't playing well. But Tommy, this is true for any coach in any sport. When you have that guy who is like an extension, of you on the court or on the ice or on the field, it's so hard to not have that person, especially if you don't have an obvious replacement for that person. Rivera and I talked about Bostick at least three times on the radio show last year. I talked to him off the air about Bostick. He said he's just one of the smartest guys that we've had,

and he just knows exactly what we want to do, and all of the young players look up to him. Am I surprised that they signed him back? Yeah, because they let him go in the, first place. And they kind of acted like they knew he would be available, but the Saints signed him and then released him. But him being available and then picking him up with a need, it's not a shocker. I think John Kime mentioned to me, I want to give Kime credit for this, because I'm pretty sure he was the one that mentioned it to me in a conversation a month

and a half ago about linebackers. And he's like, you know, Bostick's on another roster, but just out of the blue he said if he were available right now it wouldn't surprise me if he were in camp and i'm like yeah they love bostic but it seems like they finally you know moved on from him but they've got him back um the uh the johnson thing surprised me yeah what else is there breaking news again uh no no if this is accurate and i think it is does it mean anything that not one team signed any of the Washington players who were cut? Of course it does. It's a second straight year.

Yeah. Is it really? Yeah, it's a second straight year. Everybody, all of their cutdowns to 53, nobody else got picked up. Remember, Jimmy Morland was the one last year. Everybody was just outraged. How can you cut Jimmy Morlin? This is what I'm talking about.

Those that are really into this training camp, off-season, getting really excited about players based on pre-season results, you got a roster that for the second straight year in your cut down to 53, nobody decided to pick up any of the players that were waived. So what does that mean? It means you're pretty thin. It means that you're not very deep as a football team, especially on defense.

And you didn't, you didn't, you didn't. really address that in the off-season. So I think one big takeaway, and I had this as a note, and I'm glad you use that as the segue because it's perfect. They are counting on a major bounceback year from their defense, their players, their true players that are going to play a lot on defense, and they're also rolling the dice that everybody's going to stay healthy. So this, you know, they're counting on Montefiars. Tess Sweat to have a big bounce back year. Duran Payne in a contract year to play big.

John Allen to keep growing as he's already been a really good player. Hopefully, you know, Chase Young comes back at some point. Jamin Davis to take a big step forward. Cole Holcomb to take a big step forward with more responsibility. You know, Fuller and McCain and Jackson and St. Juice in particular, Jackson and St. Juice to step up because they like those players talent-wise. By the way, Bobby McCain in some ways has become a

was a little bit of a John Bostic type. They totally trust him and his instincts and his understanding of what they do defensively. But they're putting a lot of faith into the players, their starters from last year, that they're going to play better and that they're going to remain healthy. And if I understand it,

the one difference is, This year they're going to communicate better. Right, because they had all those guys with all the off-season activity. So Jack Del Rio, a little bit on the spot there. They're going to communicate better this year. Yeah, because last year the problem was communication. Right. So this year, they'll communicate better, so they'll be better.

Because nothing they did in the off-season would indicate to you that they have improved themselves defensively. Other than communication. Yes, but if I told you last year, this time. Hey, you know, they're going to have the same front line starters next year in defense that they have this year. You'd be like, great. They're going to be really good on defense this year. But they don't have the same front line starters this year. Well, they're missing Chase Young. And they're missing Matt Ionitis. And Tim Settle. And they're missing

Tim Settle. Yeah, those guys were backups, yes, but provided solid depth, which is why they drafted Phil Mathis in the second round, you know, at a much lower cost. And I think Ionitis didn't want to be here. He hadn't wanted to have been here. I mean, that was a guy that, you know, I mean, Matt Ionitis may have been the strongest player on the team physically. I mean, Kerrigan was before Kerrigan left. But he wanted out. And now that's, you know, Sam Mills is gone. I mean, he might want to be back, but it's too late. No, I mean, they're just putting a lot. lot of faith into a group that they think underperformed because of the lack of communication, because nobody showed up for the off-season activities last year. That's sarcasm. And they're putting a lot of faith into the fact that they're going to be a lot of young players as depth players,

with the exception of Bostic. You know, I mean, they sign these two corners. I mean, they had four corners at one point yesterday. So they signed the local kid Castro Fields. They signed this guy, Wild Goose. I don't know anything about either one of the two players. But these are backup players, you know? Hopefully the players they drafted this year, guys like Butler and Holmes can really play. And Phil Mathis is going to be big for them. I'm glad they kept Shaka Tony. I've talked about him a lot during the preseason. I just see, I think every single time I watch that guy, I'm like, this guy is a pass rushing specialist in this league. He may be in terms of, of just explosiveness as a pass rusher and quickness.

I don't know that anybody matches it. They kept him, William Bradley King gone. They kept Jeremy Reeves. They seemed to be really thrilled with that. And, you know, a lot of the guys that they released are on the practice squad, because you can keep 11 guys on the practice squad or whatever it is. But, yeah, to your first statement, of course it means something. It means you're thin.

It means you were going out looking for other players to replace the players you had all throughout training camp because they weren't good enough and everybody else agreed. Yeah. Cam Curl was walking around in a sling yesterday. That should be concerning. I don't know what the injury is and Rivera's not going to reveal it as he shouldn't. He doesn't have to until next week before the opener. They were trying to pick out of.

him to get some more information about Curl, and he wasn't budging, good for him. And, you know, the questions were totally irrelevant as well. I wanted to mention something that he talked about as it relates to the running back situation. So with Brian Robinson, Jr., now officially out for the first four games of the season, and I think that was the expectation anyway, I read through the transcript. I didn't listen to this. I haven't heard the tone of this, but I read through what was a very long press conference,

clearly, Tommy yesterday with Martin Mayhew and Ron Rivera together. And to me, when the incident with Robinson Jr. happened, it was like, well, Antonio Gibson is going to get the shot now that they weren't going to give him. They drafted Robinson Jr. for a reason. They talked about Gibson in space, excelling in the process. preseason. They've got them back on kickoff returns. The biggest takeaway from preseason, if you can have any, is that Antonio Gibson was demoted. That was not predicted by anybody in the

preseason. People said Brian Robinson Jr. could end up emerging as a guy that gets a lot of carries and maybe splits time. And maybe that's the way it was headed. But what really happened was Antonio Gibson got demoted. And so with the incident last weekend, it seemed like, okay, Gibson's going to get his chance here to, you know, prove to them that he can be the 20-plus carry a guy running back that he was at times last year when they were winning, by the way. Their four-game winning streak was ball control and Gibson doing the heavy lifting. He did a hell of a job, too. Yeah, he was a thousand-yard rusher last year.

Right. So Rivera was asked yesterday on the run. running back position moving forward. I'm going to read his response. Quote, well, I think the one thing we missed last year early on until Antonio found his footing, which by the way he did, was we missed that inside guy. Peyton Barber was the guy for us that handled that.

We lost Peyton. He got plucked by the Raiders. They plucked him from us. Well, you guys released him. I mean, we heard so much early in the year about the missing. the short yardage guy in Peyton Barber and how much they liked him. Well, they released him. And he was exposed, brought back on the practice squad, I think is what happened.

And the Raiders plucked him off the practice squad. All right, I continue with Rivera's comment. We needed that guy. We started to see some of Antonio's ability as far as that was concerned. But he's really a guy that's off the edge. A little bit of a slasher in space. He could make things happen. And so we just felt we had to find a stout runner between.

the tackles. That's what we think we have found with Jonathan. That would be Jonathan Williams. Talked a lot about him as well, going back to the end of last year. He said, that's what we think we have found with Jonathan, who had an extremely good camp. We saw a little bit of that last year as the season wound down. He got to carry the ball between the tackles, and we all thought, man, that was pretty good. If he can just grow a little bit more, sure enough, this camp, He had a good camp. He really did. So we felt that he's going to give us what we were going to potentially lose by not having Brian on the field.

Jonathan Williams last year got a bunch of carries against the Cowboys and the home game against the Cowboys. And the next week that I had Rivera on, I asked him, I said, it seemed that you guys were really impressed with Jonathan Williams. He said, very impressed. He said he's a real good. inside runner, explosive, decisive. And coming into this camp, I mentioned that, you know, they've got some depth at running back, and Jonathan Williams is a guy that they've liked from the jump. Like, it's not going to surprise me if he makes the team, and he made the team.

I don't know what would have happened had Brian Robinson, Jr. not had the incident and gotten shot last weekend, but I think they were keeping Jonathan Williams all along. But this is where I'm going with this, Tommy. The assumption is Antonio Gibson is, going to be back into his role. But I think Rivera just told you right there that Jonathan Williams may be the starting running back against the Jags next Sunday. He may be the guy that gets the first down carries that Brian Robinson, Jr. was going to get. You're right.

It certainly sounds like it based on what Rivera said, what they were missing early last year. Yes. Like he told you, you know, in that answer, we just don't, Antonio got better. He found his footing, but they were looking for somebody. And by the way, Peyton Barber had some really good games with the Raiders last year. Had a couple of hundred-yard games, if I'm not mistaken. I know at least one.

But I'm curious as to what we're going to see against Jacksonville. Like if they, you know, if Antonio Gibson's back on the opening kickoff and returns it out to the 23-yard line. Is he coming out of the game and Jonathan Williams is coming in or is he staying in the game? I think that Rivera told you yesterday that Jonathan Williams could be the starting running back, you know, or be the replacement for Brian Robinson, Jr. Then he was asked, you know, about, he said, so after that question he was asked, so you're still putting an emphasis on getting Antonio Gibson out in space more, even though, Gibson will have to take some of the load of the running back duties because of the

Brian Robinson Jr. situation. And Rivera kind of said it again. He said, well, I think with the three guys that we have, which by the way would be Gibson, right now, Gibson, McKissick, and Williams. He said, I think with the three guys that we have, the thing is to quickly establish who's doing what and how they're doing it. And then get them the ball in the best situation that gives us a chance to succeed.

I mean, to sit there and just say, well, we're only going to take this one guy and do that. Jady McKissick's a heck of a football player. Jonathan Williams has shown that he can run the ball between the tackles. So you feel good about the trio that we have right now and we'll see what happens. I mean, McKissick last year when he got some first down carries looked really good too. McKissick is a hell of a football player. Like, he is a valuable player. I'm kind of surprised at this, but then again, I'm not so surprised because they've been telling us all along that they don't really believe in Gibson anymore as the first down powerback, even though he was largely the biggest influencer during their four-game winning streak.

They want more from the position. It's why they drafted Brian Robinson, Jr. That's why they kept Jonathan Williams on the final roster, and we're probably going to keep them anyway, and why you're hearing these comments about Williams right now and Gibson right now. It's because to me, it's a tell, if not an outright, you know, giveaway that Williams is going to be active. I mean, they're not going to activate two running back,

so they're going to have three active anyway. And that he may be in today's jargon, RB1, first string running back. With Gibson being used as he was used there in the preseason games there against Kansas City, Moore's a guy in space, and McKissick being on the field a lot. I just think it's going to be interesting to watch how they use these three running backs while Robinson Jr.'s out. It will be.

It absolutely will be. You bring a very good point about Williams. and I think the offense was going to benefit using Gibson in a different role. I think it would make them stronger offensively if they didn't have to rely on him as the number one back. Yes. I mean, I'm almost wondering, like, if Brian Robinson Jr., you know, if what happened last week didn't happen, I don't know where they were going to put Gibson on the field other than to relieve Robinson Jr. I mean, we talked about this last week, and I talked about this with Ben.

I talked about this with Kime and others last week. They do have, like the strength of this football team might not be the defensive line right now. It's been the default answer for, you know, a year, year and a half. It's probably the skill position players on offense. McClearn Dotson, Samuel, you know,

and then you bring in, you know, the tight ends with Logan Thomas and Cole Turner and Armani Rogers making the teams a great story

and it would not surprise me if we see him, you know, a bunch this year at some point. And then McKissick. And now you got Gibson is another gadget, you know,

kind of in space guy. Yeah. You got McKissick, Gibson, Dotson, and Samuel, guys that you want to get the ball to in space, you know? And by the way, Samuel's a guy that you want to do it with him out of the backfield, too.

I mean, they did that with him in Carolina out of the back field. He ran as a running back out of the back field on a lot of plays his last year in Carolina with Norv and with Scott and with Ron. Gibson's fallen from, you know, and I'm disappointed at that because I don't know how many players on this team can do what he did on that one play against Buffalo. Take a screen pass and basically run through and then run and then outrun every single person on the field. I just think he's got tremendous talent. But they, we're going to see number 41 Jonathan Williams on the field, I think, in the opener against Jacksonville.

I wouldn't be surprised at all. After listening to Rivera yesterday, if that is the... plan unless it's a head fake and they're just they're going to go with Gibson and they're trying to get Jacksonville to prepare for Williams. But I think that they want a tough inside between the tackles runner and they think Williams is much more like Brian Robinson Jr. than Gibson is. Period. Can I make one more comment about this football team and then you can mention a couple of things as well because you said this about nobody picking up any of their players. So CBSports.com this morning came out, or yesterday, came out with their

2022 preseason all NFL team. You know, and it was position by position. You know, they had three quarterbacks, three running backs, and then all of the others that received votes from their panel of NFL reporters and columnists at CBSports.com. And I was looking at this thing early this morning. There isn't one Washington player. anywhere among the starters or the others receiving votes.

And there were 127 players listed. So essentially, for this particular group, these are the best 127 players in the league. And actually, that's really not true because they were doing it by position. But in each position, they essentially mentioned every single player in the league that got to vote for any of the positions. and there's not one Washington player there. For the defensive lineman, okay, John Allen, not even close.

It's Aaron Donald. That's hard. That's hard to believe. It's Aaron Donald. I guess not. Go ahead. It's Donald. It's Jeffrey Simmons,

who I think is just turning into not Aaron Donald, but the second best inside player in the league. Hayward, Buckner, Jones. they were the five listed and then others receiving votes. Vita Vaya, Javan Hargrave, Eric Armstead, Kenny Clark. Kenny Clark was ahead of John Allen and the All-Pro voting. That's a joke.

John's better than Kenny Clark, in my opinion. So there you have one, two, three, four, five. You have nine inside defensive linemen and John didn't get a vote. Then you go to the out. That's surprising. The D-Ns and the outside linebacker. that are put together now in a lot of these lists, you know, as kind of edge players, edge pass

registers. Watt, T.J. Watt, Miles Garrett, Nick Bosa, Max Crosby, Cameron Jordan, Joey Bosa. And then others receiving votes. Von Miller, Trey Hendrickson, Roshan, Gary, Killeel, Mack, Brian Burns, Josh Sweat. No, uh, uh, no, uh, no, Jay Shung, excuse me. No Chase Young listed. There. Okay. So that's one, two, three, four, five, six. And then receiving votes. nine, 12 outside pass rushers defensive ends, Chase Young not listed. And then we would move towards a wide receiver to see why, you know,

Terry McLaren, Jefferson, Chase, Cup, Devante Adams, Stefan Diggs, Tarikill. Those are the six that made it and then others receiving votes. A.J. Brown, Mike Evans, C.D. Lamb, Debo Samuel, Deontay Johnson, Michael Pittman Jr. Pittman Jr. being a player who plays for the Indianapolis Colts. Remember him, you know, with Carson Wentz last year? And I've said before, I think Pittman Jr. is good.

I don't think he's Terry McCorn good, but I think he's much better and will thrive with Matt Ryan this year. So that is right there, 12 receivers. Now, Terry McClarn, you know, would have been probably the next receiver or one of the next two or three. But on this list, their preseason all pro. team. Not one Washington player on the list, not one Washington player on the others receiving votes list. So going in hand in hand with the fact that none of their players got picked up off waivers. And by the way, what I don't know on that comment, Tommy, that you made, which I do think is relevant, I'm sure that there were other teams that waived a lot of players that also didn't get picked up.

But I know that this is the second street. You know, the jets? What? The Jets waived, when the Jets waived their players, seven of the Jets players were picked up. The Jets have some talent on their team. They actually do. But the, I just, we've got to be realistic here. It doesn't mean shit because they're going to play the games,

and the NFL is such a dynamic league. Things change so quickly. And this list next year, based on Allen and McCorn and Johnson. Jehan Dodson and Logan Thomas and Sam Cosmy and Chase Young and Montez Sweat and Kendall Fuller's performances this year could have them on every single one of these lists. But Kevin, you say things change, but they never change here. Five years ago, you'd have the same thing. Ten years ago, the same thing. They don't change here.

They don't change a lot. They just don't. Brandon Sheriff and Trent Williams were consistent. Brandt's, yeah. Branden sheriff and Trent Williams were consistent on these lists. Right. Yes, they were. And they're not here.

John Allen should be consistent on these lists. In the top 100 players, I think, that NFL.com picked, Trent Williams is number 12. Yeah, I know. And they raved about his season last year. Oh, he's dominant. He was dominant. And John Allen was on that list. I think he was 88 on that list.

John Allen should be on these lists. I think he should be. I think that's a miss. You know, the McCorn thing's debatable. You know, that's part of the price you pay. That's part of the price you pay for playing for a franchise that people think so little of. If you're good, it brings you down. You know, and just kind of looking through this list,

there are a lot of Eagles players on this list. I read a story that they think this is the most talented Eagle roster in years. I think I've been saying that since the offseason, that there is the biggest diff in the division. We did this segment a few weeks ago. The biggest diff in the division is Jalen Hertz. If Jalen Hertz takes a step up in performance as a thrower, I think Philadelphia is a 12-win team, minimum. They are really, now, I mean, the NFL is a,

league of attrition, as Ken Biatrist used to say all the time. It really is. Ultimately, the healthy teams end up, you know, having better seasons than the unhealthy teams more times than not. And Philadelphia had a lot, it had some big time injuries last year. But they are loaded from a top line starter standpoint. And by the way, they just acquired Jalen Rager the other day. I mean, Jalen Rager was a big disappointment. I'm sorry, they traded Jalen Rager the other day to Minnesota. Jalen Rager was a big disappointment. And that means to me that the guy they picked up Zach Paskill from Indianapolis is clearly a guy, you know, that was better than Rager. Rager also probably needed a change of scenery because the Philadelphia situation, Tommy,

when you are a first round pick like Rager was, and by the way, the pick right before the Vikings selected Justin Jefferson and now their teammates, when you, You are in that situation of a first round perceived bust, and yeah, his first couple of seasons were bus seasons. Philadelphia is a tough town to be a first round bust in. Yep. You know, you need to change the scenery. It's tough to dig yourself out of that hole, yeah.

Right. It's not here where you're going to, you know, Jamie Davis will get another three or four years before people really start to turn. I'm being hyperbolic here because we can be tough too, but not Philly tough. I mean, Rager was probably having life issues, you know, walking into a supermarket or a restaurant with Philadelphia fans. So they probably did him a favor giving him a fresh start in a nice, kind market like Minneapolis. But, man, Philadelphia's got some players. That offensive line may be the best in the league.

You could argue that. Their receiver situation with Brown and Devante Smith has a chance to be outstanding. Goddard is the best tight end in the division. Sanders and Gainwell and Boston Scott, good backfield. Defense, I mean, the additions of Jordan Davis and Hassan Reddick and Bradbury. And then they drafted Dean. I have no idea what kind of preseason that Kobe Dean had. I mean, we all thought that, you know, he was a potential first rounder and then fell to the third.

round. They're getting Brandon Graham back. You know, Hargrave was on that list. Josh Sweat was on that list that I just read. I mean, they have a chance to be outstanding if Jalen Hertz is the right guy. If not, they could be kind of like what Denver's been just not in the same division. You know, Denver's had a great roster, terrible quarterback play, and that's going to change, obviously, with Russell Wilson. Philadelphia's got a great roster. Jalen Hertz, you know, because of his dual threat last year, they got to the playoffs. I know they didn't beat a lot of good teams to get there at the end, but they were a playoff team last year. And I don't know. I am one of, I'm in the minority. I know this, and I'll say it again, though. I'm a Jalen Hertz fan. I think he can take the next step.

he is really well-liked and well-respected by teammates. He's just going to have to become a more consistent thrower, period. He's going to have to make those big third-down throws from the pocket. He's going to have to be more accurate. He's going to have to be a better decision-maker. But remember, last year was his first year starting the year before that. Let's remember. Yeah.

Go ahead. Let's remember one thing about the Eagles that's different from the Broncos. is if Jalen Hertz is not the guy, and they figure that out during the season, they have a very good backup in Gardner Minshue. I agree. With the talent they have, Gardner Minshu can win. I agree with that. I think he's an excellent backup quarterback.

Yeah. An excellent backup quarterback. I did see their final preseason game. Now, Miami played some of their starters, I think. Oh, my God, yeah. They got beat 48 to 10. By the way, on that note, let me finish this segment off with reading this Bill Belichick quote that I just saved reading from the other day. So the Patriots were like using different offensive coordinators, calling plays, whatever.

Belichick was on W.E.E.I. Radio in Boston after the third preseason game. And he said the following about preseason. Quote, preseason is preseason. Preseason is about developing your team for the season and evaluating players. If you look at the playtime in our games and any other games, I don't know and don't think that Las Vegas even played 30 of their players. I don't think Carolina must have been 30 players that didn't play in their game against us. That's not really what preseason is about.

Preseason is about evaluating the players that you do play and taking the practice time in joint practices or whatever time you have. to prepare your team for the regular season. Where everybody is on that. He said, where everybody is on that, we'll see after five to six weeks of the regular season, that's when we'll know. And then he said, I don't think preseason games

are a real big indicator of what a team is or isn't one way or the other. And it's funny because I pulled this quote out because obviously this is something that I've been talking about for years as it relates to the preseason. But I've also said in many ways, you can't even figure out teams in the regular season until almost half the season is over. Then you have a pretty good sense of who's really good and who isn't. And he said, you know, we'll see after five to six weeks of the regular season. Then we'll know.

Well, you know, he's legendary for using the first month of the season, sort of like a preseason. for the Patriots in the past. But they don't have that luxury anymore. They're playing the division with a powerful Buffalo built. They're not in the Dormat Division anymore. They can't afford to slow start. No. Yeah, they're just not even close to Buffalo.

I don't know how close they are to Miami. But anyway. All right. Some odds and ends, including I do want to just, I know a lot of you don't care, but I want to talk about Serena briefly when we come back. I've got the first smell test of the year. And I want to react, too, to Jimmy Garoppolo ending up in San Francisco. Somebody had that a while back.

We'll get to that more. Also, there's some news about your favorite basketball player. We'll get to that right after these were. words from a few of our sponsors. I just wanted to say, Tommy in this last segment, before we get to a smell test and before we get to your news about one of my all-time favorite basketball players, I am rooting so hard for Serena Williams. I watched the match Monday night. I watched the match last night. I can't remember, this, trust me, this is not a sexist statement at all. I'm not intending it to be that way. I can't remember a sporting event with that kind of electricity,

raucousness, crowd noise for a women's sport or a women's player in an individual sport. Like you had last night in Flushing Meadow and Monday night in Flushing Meadow. That's been reserved over the years for guys like Andre Agassie. I'm talking about at the open. Connors back in the day. McEnroe back in the day. I mean, maybe Everett and Navratilovin, one of the finals. But in terms of one player being carried by a crowd,

I mean, I think McEnroe said last night, it's one of the loudest he has ever heard, Arthur Ash. And you know in New York for the U.S. Open, the way people have gotten into it over the years for certain players. You know, I think the last player that there was just massive, you know, electricity and anticipation was probably Agassi. Well, think about how long ago that is. I know. I mean, you've got a crowd.

You've got a crowd that, I mean, I didn't watch the event. I'm assuming you're right. But I'm going to take a leap of faith is that this is a crowd that's been waiting for decades. to embrace that kind of emotion again at that facility. I think that's part of it. You know, the U.S. Open night matches were legendary for some incredible moments in that sport. You know, and you'd have matches that, you know,

Agassiz, Mayotte going to, like, you know, 1.30 in the morning. I mean, Agassie and Sampress played in a quarterfinal on a Thursday night one year. I don't even know what year that was. was the buildup for that and the crowd was amazing. Nothing will ever match the Connors run in 1991 at the open. Nothing will match.

For those of you that have no idea what I'm talking about, go Google, Google, YouTube, Connors Crixteen or Connors Harhus from the 1990 Connors run. Connors was so beloved by New Yorkers. I mean, and they went nuts for that run to the semifinals when he was 39 years old. But last night and Monday night, my God, the buildup and then the crowd excitement. I started to think about it like for women's sports, when have we seen this? I may be missing something here, and I'll fully admit that. But I can't, was the women's soccer team, did it have this much electricity when they were going

for gold or World Cups? It probably did. Probably the 19, I think of the 94 World Cup, the women's, I think it was. Okay. Was that the one that was the big one? I don't know. Brandy, what's her name, took off her, you know, sports bra or whatever?

Or took off the top and was left with the sports bra? What was her name? Yeah. We're big women's, Brandy Chastain. Yeah, that was her. Did I get it that one? one right? I don't know. I'm just telling you, Serena, I've always been the biggest Serena fan. I saw people last night tweeting about, you know, the reaction to her is strange, considering how many

times she's been truly off-putting in her reaction to losses. Serena's had the same thing McEnroe had actually nowhere near the thing McEnroe had. Serena was a badass competitor from the jump. She was always different from Venus. She was the killer of the two. She was also the better player. And by the way, Venus Williams is one of the... She's a Hall of Fame tennis player. I mean, it's funny how people kind of forget Venus who's 42 years old.

Venus has won, I think it's seven grand slams. Hold on, one, two, three, four. Five Wimbledons and two U.S. opens. Seven. Venus has seven grand slam titles. just not what her sister became. I always love Serena from the jump because you could tell younger sister, usually the younger is the feistyer. She was a badass.

And what's going to be interesting to me is if she makes a big run here, let's just say she, because last night she knocked off the number two player in the world. And I know that that player was not at her best and she had some COVID issues, whatever it was. but Serena, if she makes a big run, is she actually going to hang it up? What if she wants to keep playing? Because she's still so, if she were to play regularly, even at 41, she would still be a top 10 player.

It's not like she's fallen. We didn't see some great tennis over the summer, but she said last night afterwards, she said, I've been playing so well in practice that the results so far this summer, she's 40, by the way, she's about to turn 41. Didn't really match how well I've been playing in practice. But with this kind of send-off,

be almost hard for her if she wins it to say I'm done. But I think she probably will be. But this is already a big sports story. If she keeps moving through the draw and we get into next week and she's still around, this is, you know, on the NFL's opening week, a big sports story. Not the NFL, understood.

But Serena making a deep run, I don't know, I think it'd be great for tennis, really great for American tennis fans in particular. My God, the stars have come out to see her in these first two nights. I mean, every cutaway is to another celebrity. So a tiger? Yeah, saw Tiger right there. Tiger? Yeah, if Tiger's there, A-Rod can't be far behind.

We'll see A-Rod show up at one of these things. Serena gave crap. I mean, it's the same routine, these guys. You know? I don't know if Arod's going to show up. What's her relationship with A-Rod? Oh, he'll show up. Huh?

What's her relationship with A-Rod? Well, it doesn't matter. I mean, this is the kind of event. Guys like that show up to. No, but she and Tiger have been close friends. A-Rod will be there. She gave Tiger some credit. She said something, essentially, he's the one that said,

you've got this last run in you. Anyway, she played well last night. It's funny, there are times when I'm watching her. She's different as an older player. It's strange. Like, as a younger player, I never once watched Serena and thought she lacks confidence. But in recent years, it's been because she hasn't played that much. You know, she's been more, you know, she's been at home with it.

with a child. I just, I've noticed at times I'm watching her where she gets down on herself and you can tell she's not as confident that she's going to overpower somebody and that she might lose. And that's got to be a strange feeling for somebody who's been so dominant. The other thing she said last night afterwards that I thought was interesting, she said, I'm in a no lose situation. I've never been in this situation before where the expectations essentially are for me not to get it done. I've always had the X on my back, and that's been hard to always... And it's so true. But at the same time, she said that, but I can see in watching her there are times when I do

feel like she's not playing without pressure. I think she's feeling some of the pressure of this, but she played well, and if she works her way into this second week, it's going to be great. I wanted to mention real quickly, Garoppolo ending up signing this. that contract and staying in San Francisco. I said, Brendan and I on radio got into this argument. I said, well, where do you think he's going to play? He's like maybe nowhere.

I said, you watch somehow, some way he's going to be back on that 49ers roster because they're not sure about Trey Lance. And Kyle and Kyle needs somebody that if it doesn't go with Trey Lance, you can't just basically bail on the season. And let's face it, Jimmy Garapolo has delivered for them when they've needed it the most more times than not. Yeah, he had. Yeah.

I, to me, I know what people were saying last week. You know, he took a lower base salary than Trey Lance. He's clearly the backup. You don't do this if you're confident in Trey Lance being the answer. You just don't. If you're confident that Trey Lance is the guy, you're fine without having Jimmy Garoppolo on the roster. Yeah. So you had something else you wanted to tell me before I get to my first month.

You wouldn't appreciate. The Houston Rockets have announced they're going to retire the number of Velvet Hays. You know, the Wizards Bullets did this about 40 years ago. Right. Retired his number. But he played seven seasons with the Rockets. And I forgot about this. I don't know how I forgot this.

The first three years, they were to San Diego Rockets. Well, yeah, I was going to say that they were in San Diego. Oh, but that's right. Then they moved to Houston, so it's part of the same franchise. Well, Tommy, and he was one of the game's great scores when he was in San Diego. Oh, and his rookie year, he led the league with 28.4 points per game and had 17.1 rebounds a game. And that was in San Diego. Interesting.

Well, what took that... When you first said it, I'm like, well, he didn't play in Houston for that long at the end of his career. And he was the end of his career. I mean, he played at the university of Houston. He played in Houston one season before you got traded to the bullets. And then he played in Baltimore. Yes. Yeah.

But he was in San Diego for the first three seasons. Then they moved to Houston. And then he finished. career in Houston with the final three seasons. So at seven seasons, he played for the Rockets franchise. Wow. So they're finally getting around to retiring his number. So Elvin Hayes is one of my all-time favorite players. He was my favorite bullet. I was a bigger fan of Elvin Hayes than I was of West Unsheld. I would be sitting there for hours doing that turnaround, you know, fade away jumper, which he used the backboard for a lot. That was his signature move, for those of you not of a

certain age. Elvin Hayes, you know, first ballot Hall of Fame are one of the greatest power forwards in the history of the game, one of the greatest ironmen of all time. I think he's still top, you know, five, top six in minutes played during the course of his career. He never got hurt. He played 45 minutes a night. And his signature move was they would, you know, he would post up, they'd lobbing the ball. The entire crowd at home would start chanting E. You know, it was like, e! And then he would turn around with that fadeaway jumper that was just money.

He was an incredible rebounder and shot blocker as well. I want to say, I'm looking this up right now, total rebounds career. He's still in the top 10, I think. Number six, still, Tommy. Still. On the ABA-N-B-A combined list, he's six all-time and career rebounds. On just the NBA list, he's fourth. Now, on the all-time list, he's behind Wilk, Russell, Moses Malone, Kareem, and Artist Gilmore.

On the all-time rebound list. He's ahead of guys like Duncan, Carl Malone, Garnett, Dwight Howard. On the all-NBA list for rebounds in a career, only Will Russell and Kareem have more career rebounds than the Big E. And let me point out for Kareem, that's because of longevity. Because Kareem only led the league in rebounding once in his entire career. Elvin Hayes led the league and rebounding twice. Two times? Wow.

How about this one? Yes. On points, still, all right, still, Elvin Hayes, the combined NBA ABA list, Hayes is still 13th all time in scoring. All right, on the NBA list, he's still 11th. He's ahead of guys like Elijah Juan and Oscar and Duncan and Dominique and Havlach. And, well, Durant's still playing. Jerry West, he's way ahead of.

Iverson, Barkley, way ahead of. I mean, on the NBA list, only Kareem, LeBron. Carl Malone, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dirk, Wilts, Shaq, Carmelo Anthony's ninth on the all-time list now in scoring. Wow. I would have never guessed that. And then Moses Malone's 10, Elvin Hayes is 11. And on the combined list, the two ABA players, Dan Isle and Dr. Jay are in front of him. I mean, here's a guy that I've said this so many times to you.

I think he is criminally underrated whenever people start talking about the greatest power forwards in the history of the game. And the reason why Elvin Hayes has never been considered like the greatest power forward or one of the two or three greatest power forwards in the history of the game is because, and it's true, Elvin Hayes didn't play great in the NBA finals when they were in them. when they got swept by Golden State in 75, he had a terrible series. When they won it in 78, they won it with him on the bench. He fouled out of game seven. In 79, when they lost it to Seattle, he didn't play great in the finals. He was not the star in the NBA finals for his team.

Bobby Dandrich was the star in 78 when they won it. And in many ways, even in 79, when they got back to it, Bobby D. was the star. Now, Elvin Hayes had some signature playoff games, all right? Signature playoff games. And the one that comes to mind in 79 when they were the defending champs against Atlanta in the semifinals, conference semifinals, in game seven, 39 points, 15 rebounds, six block shots in game seven.

That was a signature game for him. He also, Tommy, you may remember this. They played the Buffalo Braves with Bob McAdoo in a Best of Seven series the year that they went to the finals and lost to Golden State. And in a game against McAdoo, Hayes had 46. And in the same, no, it wasn't the same game, my fault. Not the same game. Macadoo had 50 in the next game. Can you imagine Macadoo at that time

and Elvin Hayes going back and forth and the bullets won the series in seven games. They blew out Buffalo in game seven, went on to beat the Celtics and six before losing to Golden State. But his, God, his NBA finals against Golden State, 13 of 29 from the field in game one in a loss. three of 15 in game two, nine of 20 in game three. And then in game four, when they got swept, he had just 15 points. And for him, that was not good. That's really, in game seven against Seattle, the year they won it, he played just 30 minutes.

He was in foul trouble the entire night and had 12 points. And he just, for whatever reason, in the biggest, games in franchise history, he was missing. And I think that's why more than anything else, maybe he doesn't, if he had had signature moments in the finals, I think more people would know the name Melvin Hayes, even in this day and age. Where do you think he is on the all-time power forward list? Well, he's top five.

I caught you off guard because you weren't thinking about it. No, he's top five. I'd have to think more about it, you know, with Malone, McHale, other guys like that. Kim Duncan, I always put as a center. Most people put him as a power forward. Yeah, I understand. So I have to think about it. I'm looking for the most recent list because ESPN did this list recently.

recently when they remember because we went back and looked at it when you said Havelchick was a top 15 player all right Carl Malone's always at the top Duncan for those that lists as a power forward is always there Garnett Dirk obviously is in the conversation McHale's in the conversation I mean Janus technically is in the conversation although I don't really consider him to be a power forward Barkley's in the conversation Petit's in the conversation. Elvin Hayes is in the conversation. But you typically will see McHale and you'll see Barkley and you'll see Dirk and you'll see Carl Malone,

who really is the comp for Elvin Hayes. Carl Malone and Elvin Hayes were very similar in the way they played. Okay. Well, good. Glad his jersey is being retired. Actually, now and looking at this, I'm kind of surprised it hadn't happened already. Well, that's all I got for you, both. You want to stick around for the smell test?

Of course you do. Let's get to it. Yes. Kevin looks where the John Q public is putting their cash and does the opposite. It's time for the smell test. All right, the smell test is back. After a rough year, last year, Tommy, ended up 90, 92, and 6 on the year. So two games below 500.

I went for it in the Super Bowl, gave out first half wagers to try to get above 500 and ended up going two one-in-one on my Super Bowl bets. But still finish the year, two games under 500. This is the 17th season of the Smell Test. It goes back to when I was doing shows with John Riggins. 17th year of the Smell Test. 11 winning seasons and last year the fifth losing seasons. So think how many families you've ruined over 17 seasons. Yeah.

Well, at least not mine yet. But that could happen at some point. Typically, the smell test is a Friday segment, but college football kicks off in earnest tonight. And it's some pretty good games. You get the resumption, by the way, of the backyard brawl tonight. West Virginia and Pitt have not played since 2011, since, you know, West Virginia went to the Big 12, and now they're scheduled to play.

I think it's eight of the next 11 years was one of those great, you know, college football rivalries that got ruined by conference reshuffling. Pitt coming off an ACC championship season, but no, Kenny Pickett. Kenny Pickett is in the NFL. and Mark Whipple, who was the offensive coordinator for Narduzi, the head coach at Pitt, moved on to Nebraska, actually, where Nebraska lost last weekend. Scott Frost, I mean, my God, this guy can't get a break. I don't know if you've noticed that, Tommy, if you know what's going on at Nebraska. They are one in their last 10 games, and the point differential, the aggregate point

differential in those 10 games for Nebraska is minus two points. Like every single game they've lost, they should have or could have won. But anyway, some college football tonight, Pitt, West Virginia. That's not the play tonight, by the way. I'll get to the play here momentarily. There is a big 10 matchup, Purdue coming back with a lot of the offensive talent that they had last year that won that incredible bowl game against Tennessee. It was like 48, 45 in the Liberty Bowl.

Purdue hosts Penn State tonight who's not ranked, even though Sean Clifford is back. Penn State's laying a short number. And there's a game that's a little bit off the radar a little bit, which I will get to here, which is the smell test. But typically the smell test is saved for Friday show. And on Thursday, if I've got a pick, I'll just throw it out. There is an early smell test pick. But I'm going to give you Thursday night, and then I'll come back tomorrow.

with a full weekend of smell test picks. And if not tomorrow, I'll have games for tomorrow night. I may even have a Saturday update for the smell test this weekend. So the smell test for those unfamiliar, as we've been talking about it now, for five minutes. Something again, this is the 17th year I've been doing it. It is essentially a contrarian handicapping philosophy. Whatever you and your friends are convinced of, I basically like the opposite side. That isn't all of it.

But when the public's lined up on one side and then my information, which comes typically from offshore resources, backs me up on it, then that becomes a smell test year. It's just a contrarian handicapping philosophy. When you're convinced that you've got it figured out, I just go the other way. So tonight, there's an interesting game between Central Michigan and Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State lost that unbelievable Big 12 championship game to Baylor last year. They're coming in is the 11th ranked team in the country this year. Big things expected from Oklahoma State, who was really badass last year on defense in particular.

Central Michigan's coached by Jim McElwain, who's really. really had this career. He was, you know, he's at Florida. He was Sabin's offensive coordinator. He's been all these different places. He's at Central Michigan, and they return their starting quarterback, and they're starting running back from one of the more explosive offensive teams in the country last year. Now, they got a lot of missing pieces on defense, a lot of missing pieces on their offensive line, and Oklahoma State, you know, comes back with their quarterback and their defense has some replacements, including the de-coordinator.

Oklahoma State is laying 22 tonight to Central Michigan. The public loves Oklahoma State. There is sharp money on Central Michigan. I was told last night. I'd play it now whenever you're listening to this, because I think it could go to 21, you know, by game time. So you want to get, you know, more than three touchdowns. But give me the Chippewas in the first.

smell test pick at a year. Central Michigan plus the 22 in the first smell test picket a year. I do like Purdue a little bit tonight, but I'm not giving it out as an official test. Purdue's loaded offensively this year, and they're getting three and a half at home. The public's backing Penn State. I actually think the line probably should have been pickum in this which is why I'm backing off it. If Purdue was like a, this is what's weird about me, Purdue's getting three and a half. If they were a three and a half point favorite tonight,

I'd probably love them and give them out. But the action's more split, really, than Penn State one-sided. But Purdue's really pretty good. It wouldn't surprise me if they win that game outright tonight against Penn State. This is what I, by the way, more than anything else, more than all these cuts and all this, you know, roster spots 46 through 53 talk. For a real football fan, overall football fan,

tonight marks the beginning of real football. I know we had a couple of games last weekend, but we get some big games highlighted by Notre Dame and Ohio State, even though Ohio State Tommy is an 18-point favorite over Notre Dame. One of the games I'm looking forward to this weekend is Utah, Florida, and the swamp Utah goes down there with all the expectations of a big year. to play in one of the toughest venues. I had Mike Loxley on the show on my last show.

He was great. This should be Maryland's best team. They were a 21-point favorite a week ago. They're now a 24-5-point favorite. A ton of sharp money right now in Maryland. More on that coming up tomorrow. But, yeah, Central Michigan tonight. Plus 22 in the first smell test pick of the year.

That's one of those where you're just hoping that Oklahoma State's a little bit Rusty in the opener and they win a game, you know, something like 28 to 17 or something like that. All right. You got anything else? I got nothing else for you, boss. That's hilarious what you just said, calling me boss. That's it. Good to be back.

We'll be back tomorrow.