The Kevin Sheehan Show - There's A Game On Sunday

Episode Date: October 15, 2021

Kevin and Thom today with plenty of Washington-Kansas City preview and predictions. Kevin had an additional 13 "Smell Test" picks after winning last night with the Eagles +7. Lots more on the Sean Taylor debacle too. 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 Cheyenne Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here with me on this Friday. Cooley did yesterday. And if you missed Cooley yesterday,

really good stuff, not only on Sean Taylor, but really more analysis than he's given on the football team because he actually watched the game last week. And he watched the game film of it. And I know it's a little bit late because the St. game was last week, but really it's sort of evolved into some evaluation of players, including Taylor Heineke. So if you missed the show yesterday, go back and listen to it.

Cooley was on with us yesterday. Tommy moves to today because he's so flexible and so accommodating. And you know what? Thank God you got moved to today. Because we would have missed out doing yesterday's show on a lot of shit that went down starting late morning yesterday. God only knows what we're missing as we speak. You know what?

You said this 30 seconds ago before we started. It's exhausting trying to keep up with all of it. Just in the last week, right? DEA, last two weeks, DEA, which is the one that now everybody's forgotten about, but they had the DEA raid their building two weeks ago today. You know, head trainer suspended, assistant trainer suspended. assistant trainer suspended. John Gruden gets fired because of a leaked email

that has all these ties back to Bruce Allen and the organization. Here come the emails. Here come the investigation and why Beth Wilkinson hasn't unveiled anything. Then comes the hush money. Then comes the Sean Taylor stuff. And now, and you're more up to date on this particular story, the general counsel of the NFL and old Brucey boy were chummy. and there's some emails there to talk about.

All the while, they do have a football game on Sunday. And I'm going to start with this before we get to all this other stuff, Tommy, because you will remember this being a Washington football team historian and having written many, many books over the years, bestsellers over the years on the Washington football team and me fancying myself to be a bit of a Washington football team historian. 50 years ago, Tommy, 50 years ago, same portion of the calendar mid-October, the George Allen Washington Redskins in his first year were 5-0 and they were headed to Arrowhead,

the old Arrowhead Stadium, or maybe it was called Municipal Stadium. It may not have been Arrowhead to face Hank Stram and the 4-1 Kansas City Chiefs who were a powerhouse back then. It was the marquee matchup of the NFL weekend. It was a 4 o'clock game, and it was a classic. Do you remember the game I'm referring to? Do you know the significance of it? No, I don't.

Go ahead and educate me. Oh, my God. I mean, this wasn't covered in any of the 17 books you've written about the team? Listen, like I told you a long time ago, I write them. I don't read them. Okay. 50 years ago, for those of you old enough to go down memory lane, and for those of you not old enough, just listen carefully and you might learn something. It was the first year, 1971, of really what became the super popular Washington Redskins organization in this town, because it was the first winner that they had had in 30-some years.

George Allen had brought his L.A. Rams coaching resume to Washington. He proclaimed the future is now. He traded for a bunch of veteran players. And in the very first year, they start off his very first season, 5 and O. They're in first place, and they've got a heavyweight matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs who were coached by Hank Stram, had Len Dawson, had Otis Taylor, had all of these stars who had won the Super Bowl just a couple of years earlier. And they were going to one of these stadiums that was sort of, you know, an iconic AFL venue. and it was a matchup between the Chiefs and the Redskins,

and Charlie Taylor, in the first half of the game, the great Charlie Taylor, number 42, a jersey that should be retired, if they're going to go start retiring jerseys, had in a half of football seven catches, 125 yards, and two touchdowns. And then at halftime was rushed to the hospital with a barrens, broken ankle that would cost him basically the rest of the season. They were up 17 to 6. They lost the game 27 to 20. Len Dawson threw touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to Elmo Wright. And Otis Taylor, do you remember Elmo Wright, Tommy?

Yes, I do. What do you remember about Elmo Wright? I remember that that's the guy who the character on Sesame Street was patterned after. No. Yes. No. Yes, it is. That's not true. Yes, it is.

If that's true, then I'm blown away. But that's not what Elmo Wright's remembered for from a football fan perspective. Do you remember what football fans, this is the first season, by the way, that's in my memory, the very first one. Do you remember that Elmo Wright was the first to do a. choreographed end zone dance. He would put his arms up in the air and start moving his knees up high and do this dance where he'd be chopping each knee one at a time with the ball, and then he would spike the ball really hard after he scored.

I don't remember that. Okay. I'm surprised you don't remember that. Anyway, that was 50 years ago today. They would go on to a 9-4-1 season. Losing Charlie Taylor was a big, big blow to them. They ended up going 9-4-1. They made the playoffs.

They didn't win the division. And they lost to the 49ers in that first year as a wild card team out at Candlestick Park. And then the next year they went to the Super Bowl. What I do remember is after they came back from winning their fifth game, after they won their fifth game, we're 5-0, the mayor of Washington, Walter Washington, went out to Redskins Park and met with the team and gave them a. speech as to how important what they were doing was to the city when the city was reeling, like Walter Washington gave this speech that we can't pay out payroll, you know, we've got all kinds of drug problems in the city, and he talked about how the football team had been a welcome distraction and had united the city, which was, you know, still reeling from the

the riots after the Martin Luther King assassination. And this was like three weeks after the senators played their last baseball game and then left town. Exactly. So that was an important five and oh at the time for the city. Now, I think I'm not disputing Walter Washington's trip to Redskins Park to say the things that he said. What I remember vaguely is after they beat the Cowboys, in a rainstorm in the Cotton Bowl to get to either 3-0 or 4-0.

I think it was 3-0. They came back to thousands and thousands of people waiting for them at the airport when they landed. And that was the first time, the first time that you had this sense. I mean, when I say you, it wasn't me. I was a child, but, you know, my father and various people telling me that was,

they all loved Sonny and they loved, of the 60s and the whole thing, but they weren't a winning team. And the Lombardi season wasn't a playoff season. It was a hopeful season of what was to come. But the George Allen year was the beginning of, wow, the Washington Redskins are a real power in the NFL. And they became that for the next it would be for the next 20-something years until Gibbs left. And that was the, you know, that was the moment where it was like, wow, this is really catching on. They beat the Cowboys. They beat them on the road, they came back, they were undefeated, and thousands of people were mobbing them at the airport when they arrived back from Dallas. I do remember that. I don't remember the Walter

Washington thing, but I know I'm not disputing it again. Okay, we've done enough of that, excuse me. They do play the chiefs on Sunday, which is what reminded me of it. And they play the chiefs on Sunday. and like I'm sitting here wrestling with, do we just start with all the bad stuff or the Sean Taylor stuff or do we get the football stuff out of the way? Because maybe we can give you a break from the exhaustion of talking about this. And even myself, I've just done it for three hours on radio. And we can in this first segment talk a little football,

talk a little bit about the game on Sunday, and then spend the rest of the show talking primarily about the Sean Taylor stuff in the latest news with the League General. council. Which would you prefer? I'm going to let you make the call on this. Let's do the football. I think that's a good idea. Yeah. Because you know what? People that just want us to talk about football, they'll be able to get it right here in the first segment. And those that want to hear the other stuff, but they also want to hear about the football. So they'll get both. Okay, let's do the

football first. I want to start. Is this some kind of one of those bizarre moments where a team has all kinds of shit raining down on it. I mean, the end is near. You know, they're about to be executed and somehow they manage to win a game. They get a stay? Is this one of those scenarios? They get a stay from the governor? I mean, you've seen this happen. I mean, I don't know if it's mess or reality, but I have the feeling that there have been situations where, you know, teams had every reason to lose a game. I mean, everything was going wrong for them, including the opponent that they were going to play.

And somehow they managed to win a football game. I think that happens with a lot of NFL franchises. I can't remember it happening with this one. But then again, I'm exhausted with all of the other stuff. No, yes, the answer to that is sometimes yes. But more often than not, let's be honest, when things start to unravel here, it ends up almost, you know, being worse on the field, if you can imagine. I mean, some of the absolute, you know, blowout losses, like remember at the end of the,

you know, the Zorn year, the Giants game and the Cowboys game, when literally they were shut out and blown out like 45 to 12, the Chiefs game at the end of the Shanahan year in the snow. Remember, when no one was in the stadium. And it was like 38 to nothing at halftime or something like that. We've had a lot of... Those are end of the year. Okay, true. I think that has a different tone than a game in the middle of October.

You know, it's funny, but one of the games I often cite as the first moment, and I can't believe I'm just remembering this now, we will get to the football thing here, I think. One of the first moments I remember thinking to myself, you know, I'm starting to lose a little bit of faith in this program, in this franchise. And it was a game in 2009. It was at FedEx Field. It was in mid-October.

And it was against the Kansas City Chiefs. And I was at the game, and I was still back then, this was 2009 going to a lot of lot of games. And there was a real malaise. There was a real, it was the first time that I used with you, it would have been with you on the air. I used the description, it's not angry. It's starting to become apathetic towards this team. And what I remember specifically about that day and being in that stadium was a loss to a team that was not very good. The chiefs were really bad that particular year. And, you know, Clinton Portis got run down and didn't score on a play.

And they didn't, it was like three to nothing into the third quarter. And the stadium in the second half of that game was like half empty. A one o'clock beautiful day. And I remember looking around, oh, my God, these people have left. They're done with it. And I felt the same way. And I came in that next day and we did the show. and I remember saying, Tommy, there's anger is an emotion that's okay.

Apathy, you have a real hard time recovering from. And that was the game against the Chiefs back in 2009. I'm pulling up the box score right now to see they lost the game. I don't remember. 14 to 6 to the Chiefs. Matt Castle was their quarterback. They were 1 and 4 going into the game. Washington was 2 and 3.

Jason Campbell was the quarterback. Here's Clinton Portis, a 78-yard run that he didn't score on. I remember he got caught, and they didn't score. It was three to nothing at halftime. Chiefs, three to nothing. And nobody came back for the second half. They just left. Anyway.

Six points. That's bad. So to your earlier point about is this one of those games that they rise up? Well, I mean, look, this isn't a football team in disarray. they are a little bit in disarray, but comparatively to what's going on organizationally, they actually look good right now. But at two and three, it feels closer to O and five. We've talked about that than it does, you know, like three and two or four and one. And it's the chiefs this week, and it's Aaron Rogers next week, and then it's a trip to Denver, and then it's Tom Brady.

Like they've got this incredible stretch coming up. But this is the game, Tommy, of the next four that I actually give them a fighting chance in. And I shouldn't because the Chiefs lost last week in embarrassing fashion on Sunday night to the bills, 38 to 20. They are two and three. What if I told you, Tommy? What if I told you four weeks ago?

Hey, when we get to that Chiefs game, it's going to be a matchup of two teams with the exact same record. I never would have thought that. Would I have thought that? If I told you that, you would have said, oh my God, Ryan Fitzpatrick's can play well. They're going to be like four and one.

Wow. Because you would have never expected the Chiefs to be two and three. Right. The Chiefs are terrible on defense. They are horrendous on defense. They're so terrible to the point where you think they're going to do something drastic this week. They are so bad. I had Steve Inspector.

I had Steve Inspector on the show this morning. Our old friend, from 980 who has been running the sports talk station 610 Sports KC in Kansas City for years. He's also a voice on that station. And that was the first question. I said, what's wrong with the defense? And he said, where do you want me to start? It's a mess all the way around.

And there's really a sense of resignation about what this can be. And they're very concerned. Like, it's not that much different than the defense's personnel-wise that they've gotten to Super Bowls with. But it just seems to be a major start. step back. And he said he'd be surprised if Washington doesn't score 31 or more. So I actually believe that offensively there's a chance for a pretty big day for Taylor Heineke and for the offense. And because of it, and you'll hear my smell test coming up here, because we're going to get

all the football done here in the opening segment, I actually like Washington a little bit to cover. But I shouldn't feel that way analytically, because the chiefs. Chiefs need this so badly. It's like they're catching them at totally the wrong time coming off that loss. They've got to win this game. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, you've got to think that, I mean, look, Washington can score 31 and still get beat by 15 points. Yeah, of course.

So. I've got a couple of, you know, Washington wins if to give you real quickly, all right? a few keys to a victory over the Chiefs. And if you have some, you can follow up with yours when I'm done. I'm going to rip through them real quickly. Number one, they'll beat the Chiefs if they score 28 plus. They're going to have to score 28 plus, and maybe more than that to win the game. As Tommy just said, they could score 31 and lose by 15.

They've got to take advantage of the worst defense and worst scoring defense that they'll face all year. The Chiefs are allowing 32.6 points per game. worst in the league. You know who's 31st? Washington is allowing 31 a game. To score 28 plus, I think one of the keys in this game is going to be Taylor Heineke playing really well

as all quarterbacks have played against Kansas City. But what's interesting about looking at Kansas City's games, they have faced among the teams they face, they have faced quarterbacks Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Jalen Hertz, three of the best running quarterbacks, not that that's the only thing they can do, but three of the most mobile quarterbacks in the game. Taylor Heineke is a super mobile quarterback. Yes, he is.

Those three quarterbacks have averaged six yards per carry, 12 carries a game. So essentially, they're averaging 72 yards a game, those three quarterbacks rushing against Kansas City's defense. So to score 28 plus, number two on my list of Washington beats the Chiefs, this is going to be a Taylor Heinekees scramble playmaking, hopefully some design runs, maybe some read options they'll throw in there, where he ends up having 10, 11, 12 rushes for 60 or 70 yards that moves the chains, keeps the ball, and ends in a score. I think he's going to be, and he's absolutely crucial in this game as a playmaker. Three. I absolutely agree with that in particular. He can. He's very mobile, very difficult to, very elusive back there. He is. He's a playmaker. He is great off schedule. Three, they'll beat the chiefs if they pressure Mahomes, but pressure him and contain him. We've all seen Patrick Mahomes now for several years. First of all, if he's able to just sit back there in the pocket, there's no chance. this team can cover behind it.

But when he gets pressured and you don't contain him, then he gets out on the edges and he's, you know, slinging its sidearm, you know, 70 yards in the air to recill for a touchdown. So they've got to keep them in the pocket contained, but they got to pressure him. You know, Cooley talked yesterday a lot about what the five-man front purposes for Washington. And one of the purposes is you basically force a team to pass on runs, and they're going to throw against you.

But when you do that, you've got to create pressure. You've got to get home. I don't care where these players line up or where they line up Chase Young or Montez Sweeter or any of them. They've got to win big and pressure Mahomes, but contain them simultaneously. This has to be one of those games where the front four or the front five really does their part

when Mahomes drops back to throw. Four, they've got to tackle well. They're going to play soft behind that front four or five. That's my guess. Almost every team does. They don't play press hard and press man coverage unless they've got the talent to do it. And even then, they get burned on it. You're going to have to tackle well because these balls will get completed at six yards.

You can't let a six-yarder to Travis Kelsey turn into 26. Next, Washington's going to have opportunities, mark my words in this game, to catch an interception or two, whether it's a deflected pass or whether Mahomes is just sort of throwing it up there. Tommy, and watching this team this year, they look bored to me, the Chiefs do. And I'm talking about an offense. They've done so much damage to the league the last couple of years in terms of the numbers and the points and the prolific, you know, production. They almost look like it's October. They're kind of bored.

The other night, they had passes bouncing off Tariq Hill's hands into the, you know, you know, awaiting hands of Micah Hyde, the safety for Buffalo, which he took back to the house. There were a couple of those. Mahomes threw up a couple willy-nilly. If they're continuing to be bored, he's going to give you a chance to pick one or two of them off, and you've got to catch them. Have to. Next, Washington beats the Chiefs if they get some of those phantom penalties against the Chiefs on offense in particular. We all know that sometimes you see the replay, the announcers are like, yeah, I don't see there's much there on that holding call. Washington needs like one, two, three of those to go their way, where they hit a big one to

Tareke Hill, and instead of being, you know, first and goal at the six after a 60-yard gain, it's second and 20 from their own 18 or whatever. And they show the replay, and it's like, no, there wasn't a hold there. Duran Payne wasn't held, but we're like, yeah, we'll take that. You know, or a questionable offensive pass interference pick. That wasn't much of a pick to get that big play called back. They need some luck. They need some help in this game.

Red zone defense, which Washington's had a good red zone defense so far this year, has to be exceptional. It always has to be against Kansas City. They're going to be in the red zone. You've got to hold them to some field goals. And then lastly, this is going to be one of those games where at times it's going to seem like an avalanche. It always does against the Chiefs. And defensively, you've just got to hang in there with some poise. This sounds like coach speak.

You got to be poised. You can't lose it. It's going to seem insurmountable at times. But your offense has a chance to keep you in the game. And if it does, all you're going to need is a big play or two. Remember Ron said, if not for just two plays last week, you know, you got to come up with two big plays defensively. And it may come late when you have a chance because your offense has kept you in a shootout kind of game.

Anyway, that's how they beat the Chiefs Sunday. What do you got? Well, you know, if you're a Washington football fan, you have to feel a lot worse about their chances to beat the Chiefs after listening to that breakdown. I mean, because I haven't heard too many lists of ways to beat another team that include boredom and phantom penalties. Right.

But it's true. It's true. If the other team is bored, then we got it chad. Well, they have looked bored this year. I mean, I don't know what it is. It's sloppy for sure. Yeah, but on the one hand, you say that. On the other hand, I think if they were bored, they're probably woken up right now, don't you think?

Yeah, I mean, I think that this is a bad time to catch this team at two and three. I mean, when's the last time they had a losing record with Pat Mahomes? I don't know. Maybe not since Andy Reid has been there. Yeah, I mean. Probably. So. So, I mean, boredom and phantom penalties, that's what we call it in our business.

That's a technical term for a reach. I hear you. But the phantom penalty thing is one of those things that happens every week. And sometimes you're on the good end of some of those, and they are significant in the game. So I'm just saying that would be a big help. Yeah, but, like, I mean, you know, most Washington football fans think the league is out to get them still. So they're not going to get the penalty, phantom penalties probably. Look, I think you're right about this is a bad time to get the Chief, that there's a,

sense of pride that's got to be at play for a team that's been to the Super Bowl and won the Super Bowl, you know, this week. And I think Washington's only hope is to do something they have not been good at this year so far, is to create turnovers. Yeah, I mean, they got two last week early and it was big. You know, I mean, it was big to keep, it should have paid off in a bigger way, but you're right. It should have. it didn't. Yeah. I mean, that's what they've got to do.

They've got, they've, that's the edge. That's, that's, that's, that's the luck, is getting the ball, making the turnovers, getting the good field position, you know, and, and when they bury the chief down at their own territory, this is what they have not been good at, is to keep them there, to keep winning the flip-the-field position, uh, battle. But, uh, I think, I mean, I think Washington's only hope is to get, at least two defensive turnovers that turn in the scores.

You know, the Chiefs lead the league in giveaways. So that's a really good observation. They lead the league in giveaways. They've committed 11 turnovers in five games. They're tied with Jacksonville for the most turnovers so far. The problem is that Washington's near the bottom with just four takeaways. And two of them came last week. So, but I think, by the way, just to hammer home the point of boredom,

I think the 11 giveaways, the 11 turnovers are partly because it's like, yeah, I'm just going to chuck it up there. What the hell? You could argue that. Might as well go all in on boredom. Yeah. All right. Well, do you think they have a chance?

Yeah, I do. The way the Chiefs have played defensively and Taylor Heineke's ability to move around back there, yeah, I think they do have a chance. I actually think they have a chance, too. I mean, but again, I mean, what I think is more likely is the Chiefs are going to put up more points than the Washington football team. That's what it's going to simply come down to that. if it's a back and forth scoring fest

Washington cannot keep up with the chiefs if they're not bored I thought that they were going to win last week so I was dead wrong I thought that they had a chance at Buffalo and I was dead wrong and those are the two best teams they've faced and obviously this team this week isn't as good as those teams

defensively they're the worst defensively of any team that they faced. But, you know, they're facing, you know, Buffalo, you know, better than Buffalo offensively. And they gave up 43 to the bills. I don't, God, I'm sitting here and I'm like mixed because the line also tells me that Washington has a chance to keep this close. I mean, it's sitting there at six and a half, seven.

You know, the public's all over Kansas City right now. And I think Washington, even though They've made mistakes, and, you know, they haven't been as effective against the better defensive teams, which they're not facing this week. Offensively, they've pretty much moved the football against everybody at times. So they should be able to move it against the Chiefs. You know, it's funny because, like, Spector said, this has got 38, 35, 37, 31 written all over it. Okay. Well, everybody's thinking that, too, and I think everybody will play the over.

So I'm going to walk a tight rope there when we get to the prediction. But I think that this could be a competitive game for them. But really defensively, you've got to start seeing the front four. Look, they're not the problem. The problem is the back seven. I understand that. Or the back six when they've got five up front. But because they are the strength of this football team and they haven't played up to their

capability, they've got to play up to their capability. It can't be just easy for, Mahomes, or we will see him bored in the second half, but he'll be bored with a 28-point lead. And we don't want that. Okay, let me get to my smell test here in the opening segment, and then we'll get to all of the other stuff. Kevin looks where the John Q public is putting their cash and does the opposite. It's time for the smell test.

I know we usually save the smell test for the end of the show, and predictions on the score of the game for the end of the show, but we're going to do it all here in the first segment, and then we'll spend the second and third segments talking about all of the other stuff going on in the organization. We've got a lot to talk about there. And I do want to get to last night's games, the football game, and the baseball game as well. So we will perhaps get to that. All right, the smell test, Tommy, rough start. You've been with me through the years with the smell test. You know there have been some rough patches along the way, but usually it turns out pretty well by the end of the year, like 11 times in the last 15 years. It's turned out to be winning.

I'm not panicked. None of you should be. I gave out Philadelphia last night, winner plus the seven. That was a lucky winner. We'll get to that a little bit later on. But here are the picks. It was a 4-4-2 week last week, 2532, and 4 overall. The smell test is sponsored by my good friends at my bookie. Go to my bookie.ag. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C., if something, things already filled out in the promo code, please, please erase it and write Kevin D.C. in there. That way you'll get your deposit doubled when you make it. So if you put in 200 bucks, you'll end up with 400 in your account, put in 500, you'll end up with 1,000, put in 1,000, you'll end up with 2,000 bucks. If you already have a place to bet, that's okay. Take the free

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All right. I gave out the Eagles last night plus seven winner. Good start to the weekend. I've got a game tonight. Cal is at Oregon. They're getting 13 and a half, 14. depending on where you're looking, I'll take the plus 14. Thank you very much. Oregon's had time off. Cal's had some time off. The last time Oregon played, they lost to Stanford in overtime.

This line is really short for a team that was in the playoff hunt a couple of weeks ago, and they're playing a one and four team. The public pounding Oregon and there's short money, a lot of it on Cal. I can't name one player who plays for Cal, but I will be on them tonight plus the 14. Let's go to tomorrow's games. LSU's been terrible. I mean, I think Ed Orsoran is done. They're playing Florida, Tommy. Florida is super explosive tomorrow.

Last week, it wasn't very pleasant for LSU at Kentucky. It was ugly. They lost 42 to 21. They're 3 in 3. Florida's 4 and 2. They lost to Kentucky also. But the public really believes that Florida, is a much better team than LSU.

The line's 11 and a half. I will take, even though it's a day game, not a night game, I will take the Bayou Tigers plus the 11 and a half tomorrow against Florida. The one that makes the least sense this weekend is Michigan State ranked ninth in the country, undefeated. They're very good on offense. At Indiana, they're only laying four and a half. Give me Indiana plus the four and a half.

Don't ask questions. Just play this Miami of Ohio. I've been on them a couple times this year, I think, and they've won. They shouldn't be laying 20 to anybody. They're a two and four football team. They're favored by 20 at home over Akron. The one thing I know about Miami of Ohio is Blaine Gabbard's brother, is their quarterback, and they're pretty good offensively. I like Miami of Ohio to roll Akron late at 20.

Purdue is playing at Iowa. Iowa should have lost to Penn State last week had Clifford remained healthy, but that injury totally changed that game. Iowa, just a dramatic, heart-stopping, emotional win at home last week. They are right now very much in the playoff picture. They're ranked two in the country. Iowa ranked two in the country, and they are laying just 11.5 at home against the boilers. The public loves Iowa. Short money. Lots of it on Purdue. I'll take Purdue plus the 11 and a half. NC State and BC are two of the better teams in the ACC this year. NC State's favorite at BC, I would have thought this would have been the other way around. So does the public. I'll take NC State, the Wolfpack laying three in that one. So Bama lost last week, Tommy, to Texas A&M. Everybody knows that at this point.

And they're laying 17 at Mississippi State. They were laying 18 last week. lost against Texas A&M. Mississippi State had beaten Texas A&M the week before. Anyway, the bottom line is nobody in America thinks Alabama isn't going to bounce back with one of those 63 to 14 wins on the road to get back on track. I'll go the other way. I'll take Mississippi State in Starkville plus the 17 against Bama.

Some West Coast games. I like Utah plus one against Arizona State. That doesn't make any sense. Arizona State is on a roll right now. They are ranked, I think, 21st or 22nd in the country. Utah is getting a point at home. I'll take the Utes to beat Arizona State outright. I like Washington laying a point in a half at home against UCLA. That line doesn't make any sense. UCLA should be the favorite team. That's what the public thinks. I'll take the Huskies at home minus one and a half. And Air Force is playing against Boise. Boise last week, a big win over BYUu. But they're actually not that great. Air Force catching a short number plus four. I'll take Air Force plus the four. Sunday, there are only a couple of games that fit the smell test criteria.

Washington does. Yeah, Washington, you can find some sevens or you can buy the half point to get to seven. I'll take the skins plus seven against the chiefs on the anti-public theory. I'll take the Giants plus nine and a half at home against the Rams and I'll take the Patriots plus three at home against the Cowboys. That is the biggest public play of the weekend in the NFL are the Dallas Cowboys. So I will go with the Patriots. So there you go. Cal the night, LSU, Indiana, Miami of Ohio, Purdue, NC State, Mississippi State, Utah, Utah, Washington, and Air Force tomorrow. and then Washington, the Giants, and the Patriots on Sunday.

What is your prediction for the game on Sunday? Well, I think Kansas City is going to win because I think their pride will overtake their boredom, and I think they'll put at least 38 up on the board, and while they have a poor defense, I think they're going to do, I don't know what they're going to do, but I think, you know, If I was on that coaching staff, I would think we've got to do something drastic and shake up this quarterback who basically was on his sister's couch last year. I think it's 3827. Kansas City wins.

Mahomes scores four touchdowns, three passing and one running. I've got Kansas City 30, Washington 24. You'll note that I gave that score because I like the under in this game, even though we've been talking about two bad defenses and lots of points. But that is another thing, and I almost gave out the under in this game. There is a lot of action on the over in this game tomorrow because the two awful defenses. 54 points in the game is still a lot of points, but it's not over the total. 30 to 24 in the game.

And I'll just give you that I think Taylor Heineke, it's going to be one of those days on Monday where Sabah and some of these other people that are totally devoted to Heineke and are convinced he's the next, you know, Kurt Warner or Brett Fav are going to be really emboldened. I think he's going to have a good football game. And I think they hang in there.

They don't win the game, but they cover the number in 30 to 20. 24 is the final. All right. We get to all of the other stuff next, right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Well, Tommy, it's finally here. We're finally here.

I mean, we have been building up over the last few months, waiting for Sean Taylor retired Jersey weekend. I'm so excited to see this on Sunday. You know, when it was first announced and we did that special podcast, Remember I had you come in on a Sunday to do that special podcast over the announcement that Sean Taylor's jersey was going to be retired on October 17th against the Chiefs. Remember how giddy we were?

It was just so excited about it. I circled this date on my calendar months ago, and I said to my wife, I said, don't plan anything for this weekend because I got to be at Ghost Townsfield for this. You know, you said how exhausting it is. I said this morning on radio, you know, just when you thought it couldn't get any worse is essentially what everybody says when talking about this team. Like it should be, it should be like monogrammed into, you know, the team towels at the facility. Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse. We say this all the time.

You know, you know how many times the phrase rock bottoms been used for this franchise over the last 12 years? It could be the new name of the team. Yeah, that would be a good one. The Washington Rock Bottoms. You know what? Then you could keep the HTTR with the rock. Seriously, though, over the last 22 years, how many times do you think all of us or people around the league just, you know, when they're talking about this team, just say just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, these people? Like how many emails, you know, let's keep with the email theme of the week, how many emails yesterday from like a couple of league executives to other executives or owners to owners or coaches to coaches?

Jesus, God. Dan, just when you thought it couldn't get any worse. I mean, he really is, he really is the guy that, you know, has the kick me sticker on the back. you know he's just and they're not willing to get rid of him i just don't understand how they're not willing to get rid of them of course it's the because then they're coming from my skeletons in my closet i understand that but how about even if there isn't a smoking gun in the beth wilkinson report or in any of these emails and maybe there isn't how about using the best reason of them all he's tall totally incompetent.

This team is run by incompetence. I don't, I'm so, this is going to sound, and some of you are going to say, well, we've known this for a while, Sheen, I'm really so over it. I have, on a passion scale of one to ten, Tommy, for this team, in recent years it's dipped to like a five, which is really saying something, because I was for my whole life at a 10, or at a 12. I'm at a two. Wow.

I'm at a two. And so is most, most of the people listening are at a two or lower. It's just, it's a joke. And this Sean Taylor thing is just the latest. Yeah. So let's start there. Go ahead. Okay.

You know, Jason Wright, the team president, has rightfully issued an apology. on the president's message that they basically saying they screwed up. He may pay for this one where he basically said, we didn't think this many of you would show up to the game. You know? Not the wisest thing in the world to say, but he issued the apology, and he should have because this is on him.

This falls under his purview as team president. whether he had a hand in it or not, this is something he's responsible for. Well, certainly Dan will blame it on him. To Dan and time, you will. But this falls on him. You know, so he should have apologized for it. He can't do much more at this point than apologize. I'll give him a little credit for that.

But I tell you what, that guy, you know, I said it about Brian Lafamina early in his tenure because I thought he would make, you know, that basically he would be kneecapped by Bruce and then later Dan. I don't think Jason Wright is long for this place. I think it'll be his decision

as opposed to being forced out, but I think he's going to get tired of having to take five showers a day to have to work for this organization. Yeah, I completely agree. I mean, it's, it's, it's, if it exhaust us, imagine what it does to them.

Well, I... If you're a normal human being, and I think Jason Wright seems to be a normal human being. If it's Stan Snyder or a Bruce Allen type, you know, they just think, well, that's them. That's not us, you know? But for a normal human being to try to go to work every day and represent this organization, I think how exhausting that must be. Well, like you said, I mean, you know, especially, if you assume him to be, you know, a decent human being, which I think Jason is.

Yes. You just, at some point, you just say, I can't, you know, it's what, it's come to with a lot of people and a lot of different areas of the organization. How many times have I heard, I just couldn't work for those people anymore? I, um, uh, so, all right, what else? Go ahead. What else do you have on this? Well, I mean, I posted this on Twitter.

I got from a pretty good source that, you know, this is alumni weekend, where all the old players come back to the stadium. And I point out this is one of the things that Bruce Allen did right. Bruce Allen reconnected the team. Good point. With the old players, something that Dan Snyder had ignored before Bruce got there. So I gave him credit for that. But when I heard, there were some alumni that were pretty upset with the whole Sean Taylor thing for several reasons.

First, the whole embarrassment of it that has taken away from this weekend that they look forward to. Secondly, and this is a delicate line, but I think it's a fair line that they walk. Some people are unhappy that Sean Taylor is getting his number retired before at least a head. half a dozen other people who help build this organization. Yep, that's true. You know, it's no knock against Sean Taylor and his memory and his legacy. But, you know, I mean, so there's some alumni that say they're not going to come because of all this. Now, they may change your mind at the last minute, but, you know, but I mean, Jesus.

I mean, this should be, I mean, this should be the feel good, and all this team has to embrace his history right now, and they've managed to screw that up. Yeah. So, are you done? Yes. Okay. You're right, by the way, about the latter, too.

I've heard the same thing. And I, you know, I didn't get in any trouble for doing this, but a lot of people were very upset that I tweeted out and even talked about on the podcast with Cooley yesterday, the actual merits of Sean Taylor being having a jersey retired. But I'll get to that in a moment here. I wanted to just mention that I have Ron Rivera on the show every Friday morning at 8 a.m., but I record it the day before. You know, I wasn't thrilled about that.

I wanted to do it live. And I did, you know, the Sean Taylor stuff was just starting to break yesterday. and I was able to, you know, bring that up and tell him about the disastrous execution of it. And he was, you know, he was sort of apologetic about it. But at one point during the discussion about everything that's going on, I'm like, seriously, though, I said, do you and your wife, Stephanie just look at each other and just say, does this stuff ever end? And, you know, the answer is no, it doesn't. And he laughed about it and then got into, you know, what his job is, is the coach football team and build up the culture so eventually they can get back to where it was.

But anyway, so there's a lot that I've learned over the last, you know, I don't know, 18 hours about the Sean Taylor retirement jersey decision. And, you know, the bottom line is that statement. And this is where I think I would disagree with you. I do on the surface agree with you that this would fall under, I think. I think it would fall under the Jason Taylor, the Jason Wright, excuse me, per view. But to use one of your favorite lines, but this wouldn't be a video, this was a hostage statement. Okay, this was him standing in front of a firing squad with his boss behind him and taking every single bullet for him.

Because there wasn't a plan to retire Sean Taylor's jersey on Sunday, October 17th. I think most of you understand that intuitively. Like, how about, well, why would they do it that way? Well, because they wouldn't. They're stupid, okay? They're dumb. They miss out on a lot of things. But Jason Wright wasn't, I mean, I know him enough to know this wasn't his idea to roll it out this way.

but there's more to this. So yesterday, when this news came out, I'm like, oh, my God, you've got to be kidding me. Because I think everybody's first reaction was, they are doing this to cover up for all the other bullshit that's going on? Well, the answer is, yeah. Of course. Yeah, the answer is yes.

But then I played along and I said, well, what are the possibilities here? Well, possibility number one is that they're retiring his jersey on Sunday. That's actually been the plan all along. You know, it's been the plan all along, and to spring it on everybody three days before was part of some unique marketing, you know, attempt. But, you know, obviously, if that's true, boy, did it backfire on them. Because they look like morons for rolling it out this way. It's a totally botched exercise, you know, because of course they should have announced it months ago, had people looking forward to it so they could say. sell more tickets for the game, so they could sell a lot of jerseys, so they could actually

manufacture more than 10,000 towels. That's all they have for Sunday. And they would have honored Sean in the way that he deserves to be honored. You know, isn't it interesting that Bobby Mitchell's jersey retirement was communicated much differently? Hmm. So that leads me to possibility number two, which is actually what happened here. This wasn't actually the plan all along. The plan all along was for an alumni weekend to, yes, feature a tribute to Sean Taylor with the rededication of Sean Taylor Way, the street at FedEx Field, named after him, inviting his family, which they had done, inviting a lot of the players back.

that it played with him, and that that was the plan all along. But when all the other shit broke loose earlier this week, emails, hush money, investigation rekindled, women coming out. We didn't even get to the hush money story. Yeah. We didn't. We didn't do that the other day together. Yeah.

No, we haven't. Yeah, right. So all of that, you know, this is, I'm sure, you know, I don't know that it, we don't know that it went down this way, but I've heard stories in the past where he just gets incredibly incensed and impulsive. And he's got a bunch of people that just want to do whatever he tells them to do. He's certainly not going to listen to any sound advice. I mean, that's never happened in that organization.

And he's like, how do we change the subject? How do we get them from emails and investigations and hush money to something positive? Oh, let's do Sean's jersey this weekend. See, here's the problem. I've talked to several former players, some of whom will be there on Sunday, some of whom decided not to go. Why didn't they decide to go?

Well, Cooley told you on the podcast yesterday. Didn't know anything about anything for Sean Taylor. If Tim Hightower, who was making calls on this, had said to him when he called Cooley, hey, we're going to retire Sean's jersey, Chris would have come. Now other players got called and they were told we were going to be doing this thing for Sean on alumni weekend. Will you come? We're going to be rededicating this street to Sean. The family's going to be there.

We'll have like a video tribute or something. Would love for you to be there. That's what this was about. That was the plan. The plan was to have a Sean Taylor thing at halftime but not a retired jersey. Now, is it possible that these people weren't told and that there are other people out there that were told? Yeah. So then you're back to possibility one, they just botched the whole thing because they had this planned all along and they just completely botched it. That's not a good look either. But that's also not the logical answer here. You know, the logical answer is if they were planning to retire Sean's jersey on Sunday, October 17th, we would have known about this.

months ago. They would have taken advantage of the opportunity months ago to get a lot of positive stuff done, including, by the way, for an organization that needs it. Tickets sold, money generated, etc. But they didn't do it that way because it wasn't part of the plan. Now let me just read Jason Wright's hostage statement from last night. And I don't blame Jason for this. I guess, you know, be fair, Tommy, he could have told Dan to go fuck himself. He could have told Dan and Tanya, I'm not doing this. This is, this, sorry, this is, this is, no one's going to buy this. Nobody's going to believe it. And if they do believe it, we look like morons for having handled it this way. He could have said that. Just like by the way, Mike could have. Mike could have said at the

beginning of 2013, all in for week one, no, not happening. Yes. You want to fire me, fire me. So the letter starts off. The president's brief starts off last night from Jason. And I know Jason a little bit. You know, I've talked to Jason a couple of times. You may be wondering why he hasn't come on the podcast or the radio show. That's a question for their PR people. For some reason, Jason or their PR people haven't wanted him to come on because I've asked several times.

But he and I have had several conversations, couple of them anyway. And I do think he's smart and bright and capable. And, you know, like Tommy said, won't be long for this place because he's probably better than this place. He starts this off last night. Almost every mistake starts off with the best of intentions. What we wanted to do was make good on something we know was long overdue. Of all the football traditions, retiring numbers is especially symbolic and deeply reverential. So prior to the season, we put a plan in place to retire the jerseys of some of the great men who helped build this historic franchise.

Bobby Mitchell and Sean Taylor are the start of what we hope will become an honored tradition here as it is in many other places. By the way, that first paragraph, I don't think there's a lie in there. I think they probably have had, you know, conversations and plans to retire jerseys. Remember, Bobby Mitchell was the opening of the ball. Because for years it was just Sammy Ball in a bunch of protected jerseys. Remember, we had this conversation a few years ago when Dwayne Haskins took number seven from Joe Thysman and Snyder cowardly put it on Joe to make the decision, which was just bullshit. And what was Joe going to do? Say no publicly and look like an asshole.

Of course not. But that was a protected jersey. And that sparked the conversation of, what are these protected jerseys? Why don't we retire them? Or why don't we not do anything anymore and just let everybody wear them? And so we had many conversations about, you know, what jerseys should go in, what jerseys shouldn't. And by the way, to your earlier point, and I talked about this with Cooley, Sean Taylor was a very polarizing conversation in terms of whether or not his jersey should be retired if they went to retired jerseys. More on that coming up.

But I do believe that they've had conversations about, you know, a plan to start retiring jerseys. and that they're going to do it, you know, Mitchell was first, and Bobby Mitchell was first, because remember they named the concourse after him. And by the way, I'm not suggesting that Bobby Mitchell shouldn't have been the second Jersey retired in franchise history. They did that. And so that opened up the can of worms of, here we go, we're going to start retiring jerseys. Sean Taylor, I guarantee he was on the list of jerseys that they were going to retire. Because Dan, you know, he's the player of the Dan Snyder era that was most impactful.

and there was a special circumstance, obviously, with him with his tragic death. So anyway, we continue with the right letter. We knew Alumni Weekend was the right moment for us to retire 21 so that we could have several generations of legends there to honor their Burgundy and Gold Brother. The plan, including inviting a wide array of alumni, hosting Sean's family, including his daughter Jackie Taylor, his fiancé Jackie Garcia, his father, Pedro, and his siblings, a community service event at a local school during which our alumni will build an outdoor learning lab in Sean's honor.

And the rededication of Sean Taylor Road, we plan to do this right. All of those things he said, we knew alumni weekend was the right moment for us to retire number 21. Yeah, but was it alumni weekend this year? I don't think so. The plan, yeah, they invited a lot of people, Sean's family. And by the way, I mean, I can only imagine, like, his daughter. I think there was something recently, maybe the last few years. It's going to be jarring to see a grown-up person 14 years older.

And I sort of feel for the family in this case because this has become a very controversial thing. And, you know, it wasn't, you know, I don't want them feeling awkward. You know, they're going to go into a stadium that's not going to be very full to begin with and is going to be filled with Chiefs fans. It's going to be a little bit surprising to them. but I hope this is a positive weekend for them. But everything that Jason said in that segment is true probably. I don't think he lied there.

I think it was very – Well, no. I mean, he did lie there. Where? I mean, he did lie. Did the alumni weekend think to retire to church? You're splitting hairs. Yeah.

You're saying that – Well, I am splitting hairs because hairs need to be split on this. Because this was not the alumni weekend that they planned to retire number 21. But they're using alumni weekend to retire jerseys over the next several years. I do believe that that was part of the plan. Yeah, but I think that part of it is to see. I'm not trying to protect it. That's totally, totally agree with that.

But we screwed up the execution, and as a result, we realized that we hurt many of our fans deeply. And for that, I and we as an organization are sorry. Then comes the part that you referred to earlier, which really upsets a lot of people. We thought that saving the news for a game week reveal was the best way to focus the message on Sean and his legacy. Well, that's bullshit. We didn't realize it so many of you wanted to make a trip to FedEx Field to be present for this moment.

Really? And Jason, if you're listening to this, because I think he does occasionally listen to this, let me just tell you what you did. You raised a 10 alarm firebell about you being the guy that's leading the day, new brand effort. You have to in this organization realize that people would want to make a trip to FedEx Field to be present for the retirement of Sean Taylor's jersey. But you know what?

They don't have a lot of people in the organization. Have we seen anything on the 30-year anniversary of the Super Bowl team? Are they planning anything for that? I don't even know that anybody in the organization knows they won the Super Bowl 30 years ago. you're right you're right you're absolutely right a true lack of understanding he writes of what you the lifeblood of this franchise needed to mourn our collective loss of to celebrate Sean's legacy then it goes on and on and on the the towels thing um uh is interesting they they focus a lot on the Sean Taylor rededication road part of it uh was definitely true and then then they talk about the towels additionally because many of you have expressed interest in the rally towels we are

making these available for fans to purchase and are committing all proceeds to let to a legacy project in Sean's honor that will be led by his daughter Jackie Taylor. I love, you know, where the proceeds are going. They apparently produce 10,000 of these towels. Now, can anybody take a guess as to why only 10,000 were produced? I saw some jokes like, well, they're only going to be 10,000 people there. Okay, but that's not the reason, right? The reason would be, uh, hey, Charlie's towel logo maker. How many can you get for us in the next 24 hours? I can get you like 500.

No, no, no, we need a lot more. Well, you're going to have to pay me a lot. We're going to have to work overtime. Maybe I could get you $5,000. We need at least $10,000. All right, I think I can get you $10,000. And then after that, can you keep producing them because we're going to have people ordering them?

Come on, people. This is so obvious. So obvious. This was a slight. of hand move to make you not look over here at the emails and investigations and hush money and look over here at how happy we are to be retiring Sean's jersey. And what's so ironic is that even that happy, happy thing that they thought they were creating, they didn't realize that letting people know three days before was going to piss everybody

off. They can't win for losing because they're in. Because they're in common. competence. And I got to tell you, look, for one thing, what this, with the immediate reaction for everybody was that this was, you know, this was a misdirection. Whether they knew anything or not, that's what people chose to believe. Right. And people choose to believe the worst of this organization,

because that's what they've come to expect. this one's easy though Tommy there's just there's zero chance that this has been in the works I shouldn't say zero because they are they've done things this way so dumb in the past that to assume that they just completely botched it again and to take them on faith that this was part of the plan isn't crazy but the problem is the story really falls apart when people were told please show up we're going to be dedicated rededicating the road. And, you know, they're fortunate because, look, if the tailors weren't going to be there

and they didn't have this thing planned anyway, then they couldn't have pulled off the jersey thing. Having the tailor is already there for the rededication and inviting players and telling players, hey, we're going to do this Sean thing on the road, makes it a little bit plausible in their own mind for people to buy into, okay, they really were thinking they really just did botch up the new marketing angle of telling everybody three days in advance. No, this isn't the way they did Bobby Mitchell, and this wasn't the way that they wanted to do Sean Taylor.

It wouldn't surprise me if they had Sean Taylor planned for next year on alumni weekend or on some weekend to retire his jersey, and maybe, you know, Dan wanted Sean to be number two, which we can get to here in a moment. But it's just the whole thing is just, it's one of the biggest blunders or deceptions, dishonest moments for an organization that's been nothing but blunderous and dishonest. It's way up there on the list yesterday.

Way up there on the list. In part, because of how revered the subject matter is. Yeah. No doubt. That's a big part of it. I mean, this was the one thing that you didn't think they could put a stain on. Yes. Exactly.

because it's incredibly, it comes off as incredibly thoughtless and disrespectful to Sean's memory. You know, it's just, it's really, it's incredible. I'm going to read this tweet from Michael Phillips because I do like the way Michael tweets and writes, the Richmond Times dispatch, of course, covering the team. He tweeted out yesterday, if you had asked me yesterday, I would have put Sean Taylor Jersey, retirement, very high on the list of unbatchable events. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, but again, the Sean Taylor Jersey retirement event actually was never really an event until maybe a couple of days ago. But whatever. Now, I think I disagree with you a little bit about the impact on Jason Wright. I think this destroys his credibility. with the fan base and the organization outside. I think that statement helps contribute to it. And I think that since people go into dealing with this team,

expecting to believe that they're going to deal. Like I said, you know, when this first broke, I said, I don't know where to blame is because it's hard to choose between deceit and incompetence when it comes to this football team. Right. as to the reasons. So if you already have a fan base,

and beyond the fan base nationally, that will tend to believe the worst all the time, you've just contributed to that feeling. You've just added on to that. By the way, I don't think I'm disagreeing with you on the outrage or the feeling that the fans are going to have about Jason right now. I'm just telling you that I think that statement last night was essentially a statement.

where he was taking the bullets for, you know, the Snyders. And I'm going to say the Snyders now because she's the co-CEO. That's right. That's right. You're right. I totally get why people are incensed with him. And the statement made it worse. You know, this is, there's no doubt.

But again, like, I think this is another, like, Brian Lafamina situation. It's like, oh, my God. I heard it was bad. I just didn't know it was this bad. Oh, you made a point earlier, and I wrote it down. You said, unlike Brian Lafamina, Jason Wright, if he leaves, it'll be on his own volition. That's true.

You can't fire Jason Wright. This was a big deal to hire Jason Wright as the first black NFL team president. This was a big deal. And by the way, in many ways, I guarantee you compared to some of the other people in the organization, he is 10 times as bright and capable at doing this job than the people that have been there before. But I think this, you know, was, this was taking the bullets last night. You know, by the way, the president's brief, remember he sent out a tweet earlier in the day and said,

president's brief coming. This took a long time for him to put together and try to figure out, you know, are the best way. And it's still, it was never, ever going to be right. You know, I do, I do think that if, you know, they said, you've got to write this letter, it had to sound apologetic, which it did. I think really as bad, look, there's nothing good that's come out of yesterday. So the suggestion that I'm going to give to you seems crazy because it would have really made them look bad, but how much worse could they have looked? but I think they should have backed off doing it.

I think they should have said, you know what, we see the reaction, we really messed it up, we are going to hold off on this until next year. Because it's just, you can't pull it off in the way that it should be pulled off. They'll do their best here. And people do want the opportunity to be there for this particular player. And so I think yesterday had I been in a crisis management session with them, I first would have immediately turned off Dan's mic and said, I don't want to hear from him if there were microphones in the room. And I would have looked, I would have looked at Jason and I would have said, look, there is no easy way out of this. You know, this was a terrible idea earlier in the week to do this.

or, okay, let me just entertain the possibility that it wasn't just that. This was a terrible idea to have this idea months ago and not tell anybody until today. So you're fucked either way in this situation. Here's the thing. Ultimately, people do want to be at this event. People do want to honor him. People do want to pay their respects and be a part of what would be a joyous day of retiring his jersey. He meant that much to especially the younger portion of your fan base,

which, by the way, is the part of the fan base that you're going to grow this team with, or you're not growing it at all. Because the older people have pretty much, they've been done for a while. So as painful as it seems on the surface, I would apologize for botching this and say, we've changed our mind. His jersey is going to be retired, but we are going to schedule it either for a game later this year or for next year. Maybe a game later this year would be the way to do it. You know, the Tampa and the Dallas games are the games that they're probably going to actually

sell tickets to. But maybe you put it off until, you know, the Eagles game on January 2nd or something like that, or the Seahawks game on Monday night to 29th, whatever. But you don't do it this weekend. You apologize. I guess you can't admit at this point that this was not part of the plan because that's really, you know, admitting just how devious you guys were this week. But admit that you rolled it out poorly. The execution of this was completely mangled. And you've heard from everybody. and you're not going to do it this Sunday, you're going to do it later in the year. That would have been my advice.

And of course... Can I break in with some football news? Yes. I think it's worthy. Yeah. The Eagles just traded Zach Ertz. Oh, they did after last night? Yeah.

To the Cardinals. Interesting. Yeah, he had a touchdown catch last night. For a quarterback, take Allen, and a fifth round 22-fist round pick. Well, he's wanted to get traded, you know, for sure, and he got to play last night. I wanted to throw that in there.

Dallas Goddard was out with COVID. We're always on the news. Can I just add to the conversation here on Sean Taylor, and then we can move to something else in the final segment of the show. So you mentioned something earlier, and it's true, and not everybody likes to hear that a lot of people aren't really sure that Sean Taylor's jersey is worthy of being retired. But that's just the truth.

A lot of people feel that. Tommy's right. There are some former players that aren't really happy that Sean Taylor's jersey is the next in line after Bobby Mitchell and Sammy Ball. Now, we have had these conversations. I tweeted out yesterday about this and, you know, and about if it were just on merit, if it were just on merit alone, and we didn't have all of the other circumstances, of course his jersey wouldn't be retired, or if it was going to be retired, it would be retired well after several other jerseys were retired. And I've had this list for a while, Tommy, because we've had these conversations over the years.

And I've had, I keep a lot of notes of different subjects that have been, you know, real hot topic subjects over the years. And I keep notes on my daily rundown there at the bottom of the list. but I've had this list of, you know, the Washington retired Jersey conversation and the way I, you know, the way it's been handled on my shows previously. And what I've had is I've had a no debate category, a debatable category, and barely missed being debatable category. The no debates on the list are nine, Sunny Jurgensen, 28 Darrell Green, 30. 33 Sammy Ball, 42 Charlie Taylor, 44 John Riggins, 49 Bobby Mitchell, and 81 Art Monk. This is my list. Doesn't mean it's your list, Tom, or others.

To me, these are the seven jerseys that if you were going to start retiring jerseys, which they're now doing, that you wouldn't have any discussion. If you had some sort of committee to determine which jersey is going to get retired next, these would be the first seven. You know, with Bobby Mitchell and Sammy Ball, obviously already being retired. Right. You know, those would be... I like the list.

The debatable category, and here it is in my notes. Seven, Joe Thaisman, 21 Sean Taylor, 27 Ken Houston, 43 Larry Brown, 55 Chris Hamburger, 66 Joe Jacoby, 68 Russ Grimm, and 70 Sam Huff. Those would be in what I call the D. debatable category. We're going to meet and we're going to discuss the merits of each one of them. And what I've said about Sean as it relates to that part of the conversation is he's a very unique case, obviously. He was a great player, but the three and a half years, he doesn't earn it on merit. But the tragedy around his life and his career ending and the promise of what would have been

and the relationship he had with a fan base that was starving for somebody like Sean Taylor, and the relationship and the way the owner felt about him, I've always felt like if they put him in and they retire the jersey, I totally get it and I'm not against it at all. I'd be for it. To me, that's a franchise prerogative, owner prerogative decision. But if we were talking just on merit, you know, he's down the list, way down the list. but if we're talking about special unique circumstance, which I'm totally in favor of,

then he's in that debatable category. But he doesn't go in before Sonny Daryl Green, Charlie Taylor, John Riggins, or Art Monk after Sammy Baugh and Bobby Mitchell. He's not in front of those people. Right. The owner wants to do it, and his jersey, absolutely no problem with his jersey being retired. The impact, the memorable plays, this guy, he was one of my favorite players. But the barely missed debatable list, if you're wondering, Doug Williams 17, Brian Mitchell 30, Pat Fisher 37, Monty Coleman 51, Dave Butt 65,

Dexter Manly 72, Gary Clark 84, and Jerry Smith 87. Those were the, those were seven that I had in, or eight that I had, Yeah, probably not worthy of the committee's conversation. Because at that point, now you're getting to the point where you got too many jerseys retired. But they all are totally worthy of at least being remembered as great players in the organization. And their Ring of Fame locks, which I think they're all in the Ring of Fame anyway. I think they're all in the Ring of Fame. Yeah.

But a lot of people got upset about, oh, this is not. the right day to talk about this. This is tacky. Somebody said to me, tacky, what are he talking about? He didn't just die. He died 14 years ago. This is absolutely a conversation among fans and has been recently.

It's okay. You can multitask. Look, I mean, I think if you're a fan, you would want to know that the legends that you pretty much follow or read about if you didn't get a chance to see them, are kind of upset about the way this unfolded.

Yeah. I mean, that's a legitimate conversation. Of course. On both fronts, the way it was handled and the fact that he's the next one. And it's not some of the people that probably deserve to be the next one much more than he does. And again, let me be clear, because a lot of people didn't really get this, I am not against Sean Taylor's jersey being retired. I've said that for several years now when we've had this conversation.

It's a special case for Jersey retirement. Great player, memorable player, so important to so many people. Let me just tell you, my middle son yesterday texted me all day long about how upset he was over this. Sean Taylor's, you know, one of his favorite players of all time. For a younger generation, this was the guy. You know, it wasn't really Clinton or Cooley or, you know, or LeVar. It was Sean. And, you know, a lot of times we romanticize people in their deaths, you know, after their deaths.

No, no, no. He was great and he was ascending. He was going to be one of the great safeties in the history of the league. I truly believe that. What was really sad about it is that he was an immature player or a misunderstanding. player. Let me put it that way when he came into the league. And it wasn't easy for Joe Gibbs and others. But over that last 2006-2007 season, all of his former teammates have said it to me many times, Santana, Clinton, Cooley, all of them, that Sean had really, he was always a great person,

and he was misunderstood, but he had really become this mature leader, just a phenomenal father. and everything else. But if we're having a conversation about, you know, jerseys being retired, please understand people of any age out there. Sunny Daryl, Charlie, Rigo, and Art Monk should have been the next group that went in after Sammy Baugh and Bobby Mitchell. In whatever order you want to put them in. But that should have been the next five that were retired.

And again, that's what you get when you have an organization and an owner, by the way, that really don't understand the tradition and history of this team. The owner's a fake when it comes to, you know, I mean, he announced Jim Zorn and said that the colors were, remember, it was burgundy, gold, and he threw in and black. Maroon and black. No, Zorn said maroon, and Snyder, you hear from the front row say black. Huh? Yes. This was a guy that, you know, may have had the belt buckle. And I'm sure his father, who apparently was a wonderful man, took him to games.

But this was not a guy that followed the team and has an understanding of the team like all of you who are listening. And Tommy and I do. You've heard that over the years in various, you know, things that he has said or commented on. Not in several years. But if you go back to the day, you can tell. He wasn't like a hardcore fan. He wouldn't be able to tell you, you know, that Charlie Harroway was Larry Brown's blocking fullback. He would not be able to tell you that Dexter Manley was actually a special team's gunner before he became one of the best pass rushers in the league.

Come on. Whatever. You want to talk about the... I'm tired. You want to talk about the... about Pash and the hush money? No. I don't either. Can I just mention one thing about the hush money story?

It's another complete and utter incompetent move on their part in the midst of the Beth Wilkinson investigation to give any sort of possibility that people would perceive a payment to be a hush payment. It's all-time stupid. You know, top ten anyway for them. But, you know, I had Will Hobson on the show yesterday from the Post, and he did bring up, Tommy, that the possibility exists that they were initiating an actual settlement with the two women, you know, over what they endured when they were in the organization. Now, that settlement would have come with a non-disclosure. Now, I think that puts a different spin on it. it's still stupid to do it then. And if you're going to do it, get it done.

Like, make sure it gets done so that six months down the road or four months down the road, somebody can't say, yeah, they came to our attorneys and they offered us some silence, hush money. Because like you said, everybody's going to believe that to be true, the headline, even if it isn't completely true. That's all I wanted to say about that. Okay. You didn't have anything else to say about that? No, I don't have anything else to say about that.

I want to talk about the Dodgers and Giants game. I do too. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. No balls, two strikes. And Flores, did he go? He did, and the game ends. A swinging strike three. Gabe Morales rings him up.

The game is over, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are headed to the National League championship series. And that was the end of the first round NLDS series last night in San Francisco. Wilmer Flores not really striking out, Tommy, because that was not a swing and a miss. That is a disputed check swing for sure, but it was Max Scherzer delivering the pitch and the Dodgers move on with a two-to-one win. I mean, I'm sure for Nats fans, it was kind of bittersweet to watch Max Scherzer in that position and watch him celebrate. And nobody celebrates like Max Scher when it comes to, you know, the postgame parties and stuff. You know, but you're happy for him.

But it's just another reminder that he's gone, you know, and Trey Turner's gone. And, you know, they're all gone pretty much, you know, Bryce Harper, Anthony Rendell. own, you know. But you're right. It was not a swing. It's a shame that a game that great, a two-to-one game, which I enjoyed watching so much, had that kind of ending. But I tweeted, this is payback for 1951.

Now, for anyone who doesn't realize that. Is that Bobby Thompson? That's when the Giants beat the Dodgers in a, And not what was a playoff game. It was a three-game series playoff because they finished the season tied. So technically it was an extension of the regular season. Is that the shot heard around the world, Bobby Thompson or not? Yes, it is.

Okay. Yes, it is. It's the shot hurt around the world. However, since then, it's been learned that the Giants were stealing signals from the Dodgers with a camera that they had in center field in the polo grounds. So a little bit of payback for 1951. By the way, I also think that, let me drop this on you. I think Scherz would come back to play for the Nationals.

Okay. Like next year? Yeah. Really? I don't think that's added a question. By the way, just so everybody understands, if you didn't stay up and watch the game or if you haven't really checked out what happened in the game, Max Scherzer came in as a relief pitcher as a closer in the ninth of game five in a two-one game.

Kenley Jansen pitched the eighth, and Scherzer came in and pitched the ninth and was lights out. I mean, the pitch, by the way, that was very much disputed, and it was a checked swing. It should not have been a swing and a miss. Well, the count was 0-and-2. So it would have gone to 1-2, and there were two outs. There was one runner-on because there was one runner-on because there. There was a runner-on who reached base on an error, but Scherzer was dealing in that knife.

Yes. Yes, he was. And I like the Dodgers. Look, I picked the Dodgers to get to the World Series. I still like that pick, but I picked Tampa on the other side, so obviously I'm out on that. It's the Astros versus the Red Sox. And the whole world is probably rooting against the Astros.

But I guarantee you, every baseball rider who's ever come in contact with Dusty Baker is rooting for Dusty Baker in the Astros. Yeah, you've told me that before. That's... Everyone. Yeah. Yeah. I like Dusty, too. I would love Dusty to win in the postseason.

I just wish it were with anybody but Houston. I know. I know it is. I know that it makes it to hold your nose kind of situation. But, you know, I mean, you want Dusty to win because you want to shut up all the morons. We say he's not a good manager because he hasn't won a World Series. Right. You know, there are lots of people that feel that way. Yeah, like Bobby Cox went to the playoffs 14 times.

He won one World Series. Okay, if he didn't win that, would that make him a lousy manager? I don't think so. It's been the way, right, though, Tommy, more or less, the way he's been dispatched from the playoffs. A lot of people think as an in-game manager and strategy guy, that's not his strength. Right, and I think that that's basically misunderstood at best. Okay. So.

All right. But, I mean, I'm looking forward to the league championship series. And it should, you know, I think it'll be a great world series. If it's the Dodgers and the Astros, that's a blood feud, baby. I mean, because the Dodgers are still angry about what the Astros did a couple years ago. That would be awesome. That would be awesome. Yeah.

Yeah, to see Dodgers Astros. That's a blood feud. Yes. I, the game one tonight is the American League game, and then tomorrow you'll get two games tomorrow, game two of the American League and game one of the National League. But I was just, I'm curious, with Scherzer pitching the ninth, so he won't probably pitch game one.

I mean, when you come in. They're saying that he'd be able to do it. Okay. That's what they're saying. Man, he is beloved all of a sudden in L.A., isn't he? Yeah, he is. you know, there were two places where Scherzer are only two places where he wanted to be traded to. One with San Diego and the other was the Dodgers.

Right. And I'm sure the Dodgers will make a run to keep him somehow. You know, he's 37. He's not going to get, you know, a six-year contract. Probably more like three or four years or something like that, maybe three years, which is really all he should get. And the Dodgers will probably make a run on him to keep him there. but I think the nationals should try to get them back. I think the nationals should try to go for it next year.

All right. Well, because you think they're going to lose Soto. Yes, and I think they need to make the most of every year they've got them. All right. Did we cover everything? We didn't do the Jeff Pash stuff, but we're exhausted. You know, read for yourself. By the time we meet next week,

There'll be three other controversies. I know. Jeff Pash and Bruce Allen will be a memory. I know, but I know I will get something that will say, how did you guys not talk about the Jeff Pash, Bruce Allen emails? Because we just, you know what? Like with Patrick Mahomes in the Chiefs offense, we got bored. We got bored.

And we want to go do something else. We're ready to go do something else today. Honestly, this week has been exhausting. And let me tell you, I know what it's been. It's been good for the podcast. I know that. I've seen the numbers. And it's weird, Tommy, because I'm a great believer that, you know, like in Boston,

and we know, you know, what the Boston Sports Talk Radio guys have been able to do over the last, like, 15 to 20 years. And the unbelievable money and bonuses they've made because the ratings have been. through the roof because they've had, you know, incredible winning teams to talk about over and over again for so long. And ultimately, that is what would pay off more than anything for those of us that do what we do. But there is this, you know, rubbernecking phenomena when things every year really go south. And it is, oh, my God, like, let's all, you know, let's all share and wallow. in this misery together. And, you know, and there's probably some entertainment value to it.

You know, I get it. And I know what the numbers are. And I also occasionally will read from you, will you guys just stop bashing their team and get, well, no, actually, most people clearly have no problem when bashing is justified for us to take the hammer out and really bash them. They deserve it. Bottom line is, they deserve it. And the worst part about it, though, really big picture.

And I don't know how many times we've said this to each other over the years. It's just not going to change because he doesn't believe and she doesn't believe that they've got anything to do with this. It's just not their problem. They haven't created the problem. It's always been somebody else's fault. That's what we've had forever. Remember Tommy? It's funny. I was talking to Ben Standing on the show and then we talked briefly after the show. And we were talking a little bit about what I just mentioned. And remember when after the post stories came out in July of 2020, there was a statement from the team.

And then Dan Snyder made his own statement. Remember that? It was a bit, yeah, it wasn't that it was defiant, but it was really odd that the team put out a statement and then he put out a statement. And the statement read, the behavior described in yesterday's Washington Post article has no place in our franchise or society. This story has strengthened my commitment to setting a new culture and standard for our team, a process that began with the hiring of Coach Rivera earlier this year. You know, we will institute policies and procedures and strengthen our HR team, et cetera, and create a team culture that is respectful and inclusive of all. the setting a new culture was again his way of saying I am so sorry that I've been absent while this culture has gone really to hell in a handbucket. I'm going to make sure Ron and I

that we really fix things that Bruce screwed up and then before that Vinny and Zorn screwed up. And the Wall Street Journal certainly believes them. And they believe it. That's the point. They believe it. They're sitting out there in that house in Potomac, and they're like, oh my God,

when are we going to be able to find some competent people to run this organization? Help us run this organization. We're the only smart ones here. Too many people have come and gone, the one constant. You know who he is. Yeah. All right.

Enjoy your football. weekend and we will be back. I'll be out at the stadium on something. Oh, enjoy that. Well, you know, to be honest with you, I've had it written down October 17th for many months now to join you for the retirement jersey ceremony. Unfortunately, I had something come up and I'm not going to be able to make it, but enjoy it and let me know how it goes. Thank you, boss.