The Kevin Sheehan Show - WFT Week 2 Curiosity?

Episode Date: September 18, 2020

Kevin, Thom, and Cooley on the show today previewing Washington-Arizona and a lot more. After the season-opening win over Philly, curiosity about the team has increased. Kevin thinks this game might be the most anticipated early-season Skins' game since 2012. Kevin has 5 "Smell Test" picks. Cooley has his "Lock of the Week". Final score predictions on the Cards-Washington game as well. 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.

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Here's Kevin. That's right. It's a sports fix Friday today. A little bit jumbled this week with Coolie's film breakdown debut. The plan is Tommy to be on Tuesdays and Thursdays with me, which is what it's always been, although we've mixed it up a little bit at times. And Coolie's film breakdown will move to Tuesdays and Wednesdays. So on Tuesdays starting next week, you'll get Tommy and I and you'll get Coolie's film breakdown. So two separate shows on Tuesday. And other than that, you're going to be a week. You're going to get Tommy and I. You'll get Coley's film breakdown. So two separate shows on Tuesday. And other than that, you're going to be. You're going to be to get coolly at the end of this show, giving us his keys to the Cardinals Skins game. If you missed this film breakdown for either the offense or the defense, those shows are all available in the same spot that you are getting this one. Tommy's with me. We have several things to get to, but I wanted to start with this, because I was thinking about you last night, and this is the reason I was thinking about you.

Well, you think about me many nights. That's not unusual. It's not unusual, but I was thinking about you last night because I started to prepare for my Friday radio show, which includes a lot on the upcoming game on Sunday between the Cardinals and the Washington football team. And I was thinking to myself, man, I can't wait to see this game. I'm literally, genuinely excited about Sunday's game. Tommy, I wasn't that excited. about last week's game. I didn't, I mean, I was, I wanted to see what Chase Young looked like.

I wanted to see what this defense looked like, but I wasn't really excited. But after the performance on Sunday, I was, you know, wow, maybe this season could be different than any of us thought it could be. And as I was thinking about how genuinely excited and I am for Sunday's game, how much I am anticipating Sunday's game, I thought back to the last time early in a season that I was excited, and it followed shock and awe. That was the last time.

If you go through these seasons with this football franchise, there just hasn't, I don't think, been a more anticipated early season game. So I'm talking about week one, week two, week three, then 2012 Week 1, but really 2012 week 2, because we didn't know what we were going to get in week 1.

Well, somebody did, and that's why I was thinking about you. Somebody knew that what was coming. Tommy predicted before RG3's debut in the Superdome Against the Saints in September of 2012, shock and awe. That's what he predicted. He was so confident that Griffin was going to shock us,

and we were going to be left in awe of him in that opener. and when they went to St. Louis for week two, the buildup and the hype to see his second game was incredible. I'm not saying that Sunday is that because he was such a superstar from day one in that game. But Chase Young's performance and the defense, the domination from last Sunday, I think this might be the most excited I have been, the most sort of anticipation for an early season game for this franchise. since 2012.

Am I way overdoing it? I don't think you are. What I think is, I think a better description of it is curiosity. You're curious as to what this team really is.

You know, I mean, we've seen one game performances by this team. I remember a few years ago, they manhandled an Oakland and Raiders team that I think was three and one when they played them.

So I think there's more of a curiosity about what they really got, and particularly a curiosity about how they're going to do against a talent like Kyle and Murray. So, I mean, there's excitement. There's understandable excitement. I mean, I understand that. That was an impressive win. they're playing in a division where nobody stands out. You just beat the team that was the defending champ.

I understand the excitement, but I think it's much, much curiosity is anything. That may be true. I think it is curiosity. And I think I was curious last week, and I think I was also on edge a little bit because I was expecting the defense to be much improved, and I also suggested that, as it related to Chase Young, that that position greatness reveals itself very early. You don't wait. If that position is dominant or ends up being an elite player, you see it early on. I think you see that with a

running back early on. You may not see it with a lot of other positions, but go get the pass rusher, go get the quarterback for a pass rusher is pretty simple. You know, and if he were really as elite as people had talked about when he got drafted, we were going to see it early. And we did. So I was curious about what the defense would be. I was also a little bit anxious to make sure that Chey Chung lived up to what I thought he was.

And of course, we always want to be right. Why I suggested last, you know, December, please don't beat the Eagles of the Giants. please don't win the giant game, because if you do, you're going to have to face Chase Young for the next 10 years, and you're going to regret beating the Giants in a meaningless game. Do you remember some of the fans, Tommy? I mean, we've dealt with this a few years because they've been so bad.

But at the end of last year, do you know how many calls I took from people or tweets saying, losing is unacceptable when you're playing rivals? I don't care what Chase Young is. If you can beat the Eagles of the Giants or the Cowboys, you beat them. I mean, and I'm like, are you insane? They're 2 in 10 or whatever they were.

You're going to, first of all, what satisfaction during last year would have anybody gotten if they had beaten the Eagles, Giants, or Cowboys in those final three games? They did the right thing. They lost all three of them. And in two of them, they were competitive. So it was the best of both worlds. You know, Dwayne played well, showed progress, and you still lost the game. because that giant game would have been the difference between the giants getting Chase Young

and Washington getting Chase Young. Anyway, I think curiosity definitely is a part of it, but I'm also excited about it. You actually mentioned the other game, and I didn't think about this game. And it really wasn't the Oakland game in 2017. It was after they beat Oakland and they pummeled Oakland on a Sunday night. They dominated the Raiders, who had been a playoff team the year before with Derek Carr before Derek Carr got injured. And Kirk was 25 of 27 or something like that, and it was ridiculous for 370 yards and three

touchdowns. And that was like basically through two and a half quarters because they took the foot off the pedal in the fourth quarter. And the defense with John Allen in one of his first games as a rookie. and they had, you know, Josh Norman out there, and DJ Swaranger on that team was playing really well early. And the buildup for the following week against the Chiefs on Monday night football was actually a big game.

It felt like a big early season game. I do remember that, and then they started to get injured in that Kansas City game and the whole season unraveled after that. I sort of forgot about the early portion of 2017 when they destroyed Oakland. And Oakland turned out distinct that year. Yes, they did. It turned out they were very good. At that point, they were considered an overwhelming favorite, I think, going into that game.

Well, you know, for a home game for Washington. Yeah, and they dominate. You know, it's funny because I'm looking at the schedule from 2017. You know, 2016 ended with that thud against the Giants, where they would have been in the playoffs back-to-back years for the first time since 91-99. to. Now, the 2015 and 2016 season, seasons were the first back-to-back winning seasons record-wise since like the late 90s, I think it had been. But anyway, that year started, if you recall, with the typical Jay Gruden season opening, you know, thud, dumpster fire, lost to Philadelphia

at home. It was terrible. And then they went to the Coliseum and played the Rams. And they won that game. Nobody knew what the Rams were going to be that year in 2017, which was Sean McVeigh's first year there in 2017. As it turns out, they ended up being a really good team that won the division, went to the playoffs that year, and lost in the playoff game. But they started killing people after they lost to Washington in week two and became a really good team. Nobody saw that win being the big win of the year or the win that would make them look good, they saw the Oakland game being the game that said, oh, we beat a really good team and the Raiders. No, actually the win early that year that was the more impressive win, we just didn't know it, was over the Rams.

But then they lost the Chiefs in a game they could have won. Remember my guy, Josh Doxon, dropped the go-ahead touchdown pass. And then they gave up a big play at the end. And Then they gave up the point spread, killing fumble return on the final play of the game as they were tossing it around there in the backfield down 2320. But then all the injuries happened and that 2017 season got away from them. It's funny, Tommy, that 2017 team, I actually think had it stayed healthy, was better than the team that followed it in 2018. You know, cousins started off great in 2017,

and they actually were really much better defensively than a. they had been in 2016 early in the year. But then they, remember, they lost basically their entire offensive line that year. And then they lost Chris Thompson, who broke his leg in the Saints game that they blew, and then the season was over. Anyway, I'm excited about Sunday. And I guess I'm curious too. Yeah, I understand why.

Part of it is because they're playing Kyle and Murray. And he's such an exciting X factor. and totally different than Carson Went. I mean, Carson Went has been an elusive quarterback over his career, but didn't seem to want to try to be elusive against Washington. Kyle Murray will be elusive. He's really such an interesting player. I watched the 49ers Cardinals game last night, actually.

on the All-22 on the NFL game pass. And the thing about him is that there are designed runs, there are improvised runs. He is, you know, Russell Wilson, Randall Cunningham, Michael Vick, all wrapped up in just a much smaller body. Tommy, he's tiny. Like when you, when, I know we watched him last year a little bit. We didn't see a lot of Cardinal games. I didn't, anyway.

And watching him last week, and what was a very impressive win in many ways, I mean, that's the 49ers. They're the defending NFC champions. I mean, road game doesn't really matter because of the fans. But the key to the game on Sunday is containing Kyler Murray. And it's really hard to do. He's a magician, and he's got eyes in the back of his head. he's got a lot of Russell Wilson and Michael Vic in him. Yes, he does.

When he's running around, he sees everything. Remember Griffin's running. Griffin's straight-line track guy couldn't see anybody. Kyler Murray sees everybody. And it's amazing the Houdini Act, he pulls time and time again when it looks like he's in trouble. With that said, the Cardinals' attack is very much a sideline college, you know, throw the ball near the line of scrimmage. Now, Kyler Murray will take deep shots. Don't get me wrong.

But a lot of the balls that Hopkins caught and that, you know, Fitzgerald caught, these are close to the line of scrimmage plays getting yards after catch. And then Murray runs around a lot and he had 100 yards and then took nine yards in kneel down losses at the end of the game. Kenyon Drake is also really good. And he is a guy. that Washington wanted in the offseason, but the Cardinal signed him before he got to free agency. If you recall, we talked about this, I said before free agency started that they liked Cooper and they liked Drake. And they also liked Hooper if the price was right. They went after Cooper, as we know, with a massive offer and he stayed in Dallas. They would have gone after Kenyon Drake. I'm

convinced of it had he become available and he never did become available. It's an explosive team. Arizona. With a coach, who knows how to use those weapons? In a very college-style look, I mean, it is all-shotgun, a lot of quick throws at the line of scrimmage. Murray will take shots. Don't get me wrong. And DeAndre Hopkins, in his first game as a Cardinal, was a massive difference maker. He had 14 catches for 151 yards in his first game. That's crazy. I mean, you talk about a trade paying off almost day one. They beat the defending NFC champions. And in his first game, he's got 14 catches for 151 yards. That's all. He's great. I mean, he really is great. But I think the whole key to the game Sunday is tackling well. And, you know,

the old thing where Richie Pettibone would say about Randall Cunningham, we got to keep him in the pocket. You know, once he gets outside the pocket, it's impossible. And Pettibone seemed to always keep Randall Cunningham in the pocket. Murray's one of those guys. He's so tiny. If you're able to keep him in the pocket, it really does make it harder for him. But they don't really, they get it

out of his hands so quickly. There isn't necessarily the opportunity to contain him. It'll be a different matchup here Sunday for the defense. That's for sure. So is that Kyle or Murray? Is that Kyle or Murray? Is that Chase Young's job? It's everybody's job.

I know that. Yeah. I mean, I don't know whether Jack Del Rio last week didn't necessarily really have a spy. There were a couple of times where you saw Bostic and or KPL spying, I guess, once. You know, typically with guys like Murray, a defense employs a spy. Yeah, that's what I meant. Would it be his job? I don't think it would be his job.

I think it would be one of the linebackers' jobs. I think it would be a guy like Bostic or KPL. Both of those guys can run. One of the things that was really interesting in listening to Cooley break down the film and also just watching it, and we've discussed it this week already, is how many different looks they showed defensively? You know, they had blitz looks.

They had a lot of zone blitz. They had, I mentioned this to Cooley yesterday, and on the radio show this morning, you know, they're a base 4-3 defense now, Washington is, you know, for the first time since 2009. Well, a base-4-3 means four defensive linemen and three linebackers. Well, there were only two linebackers that really played in the game a lot.

John Bostic and KPL, Kevin Pierre-L-Lewis, played virtually every snap defensively. Sean Dionne Hamilton was the only other linebacker to play in the game, and he only played on 20-12. percent of the snaps, which if you take that literally, then you would come to the conclusion that they were in that base 4-3 defense just 22 percent of the time. But it wouldn't necessarily be accurate because they had players dropping into zone blitz linebacker positions like Chase Young. They had Chase Young dropping multiple times into a linebacker coverage role with a defensive

back blitzing, not a linebacker blitzing. So it's sort of hard to figure out exactly what Del Rio was doing, but he definitely was doing enough to confuse whence. I saw this statistic and maybe some of you saw this as well, that the impression that anybody would have had watching the game is that the Philadelphia Eagle offensive line was terrible and that it was worse than Washington's offensive line. Well, one of those. next-gen analytical, you know, stat numbers came out yesterday or the day before. Philadelphia's offensive line was actually one of the better offensive line performances in the league, according to this next-gen stat, because Carson Wentz, seven of his eight sacks

came when he held the ball for four seconds or longer. On the flip side, Dwayne Haskins had the third, excuse me, he had the least amount of time. to throw the football of any team in the league with the exception of two teams. And I did see that. I thought a lot of the reason that Dwayne Haskins was rusty and not effective early is there was an immediate pass rush against him. And I think that the offensive line did not play well. Cooley saw the same thing for the most part.

But the Eagle offensive line actually gave Carson some time. And you saw that when they rushed four early. But then it turned in the second half, and it was just that it was an avalanche, an avalanche. Yeah, you know, I mean, for those Eagles apologists who want to cry about, you know, they were weakened by injuries on their offensive line, a 17-point lead should cover that. Yeah. You know? Yes. I mean, once you're staked to a 17-point lead, then you've been given your handicap.

for your offensive line. No doubt. No doubt. So we'll get to our keys to the game in a more formal way here, and I want Tommy's as well. I wanted to mention this one quote from John Allen yesterday. And I, you know, the two of us, it's not just you or just me. We've both for years just been saying, shut up everybody, just do something.

You know, shut up Bruce Allen, shut up Jay Gruden, shut up, you know, players who, it was the, you know, the phrase that I've used over and over again, it's been the example of overpromising and under-delivering as a franchise. That's who they've been. And yet in this season so far, even going, you know, through training camp, there's been a very understated nature to it. Now, maybe it's just because nobody's been able to be there and there weren't fans at training camp. wasn't much of an off-season. But John Allen has been one of the guys, even through these last couple of years of buffoonish behavior by the organization, who has stayed steady with, we haven't proved anything yet.

You know, I just want to win. And John Allen, when asked yesterday about how dominant the defense was, asked by who? The media. I think it might have been Michael Phillips, specifically. Really? Okay. Why? Was it somebody else? I'm not sure. I have to look it up, but I think it was somebody else. I could be wrong.

If it was somebody else, I could be wrong. I read this quote on Michael Phillips's, he tweeted this out. And then I had him on the show this morning. I guess my assumption was he asked the question, but it could have been somebody else. That's fine. Okay. Are you suggesting that it's somebody like you? Did you ask the question? No. Why would I... I don't know. You may have jumped on a Zoom call. Why would I ask a football player, how come your team was so dominant? I... What the hell kind of brainstormer would I have to have to ask a question like that?

Usually, usually when you say, are you sure it was him? It meant that you were somehow involved and I wasn't giving you proper credit. That happened sometimes. No, no, no, no. Okay. Was it somebody from your station? I don't know who was he on your station? No.

Okay. No. Just say it. What do you want to say? No, I just continue. What am I missing here? You're not missing anything. I'll catch up with you in a minute.

Okay. You're still looking for it. That's fine. John Allen said, quote, we were just good for one game, and we weren't even good for one game. it was just two and a half quarters, closed quote. First of all, I love John Allen.

I love that quote. I love Ron Rivera in that, you know, three-minute post-game locker room video saying just one game, don't, you know, don't get too high. We got another one next week, the whole thing. Because it's not what this organization has been over the years. There would have been so much celebration and so much chest puffing out after the first win last week,

that it would have been an absolute lock that they would have gone to Arizona and lost 35 to 7. And I'm not saying that that isn't going to happen anyway. But it's not what this group so far appears to be to me. Now, I know what Dwayne is doing. People have sent me that Dwayne Haskins retweeting of compliments, Charlie Casserly complimented him and he retweeted it. He's in it. He and John Allen are not the same people.

Yeah. But anyway, what do you make of this? Could there be a shift here in organizational behavior, disposition, demeanor, however you want to describe it, could we be at the beginning of an era of shut up, you know, from a coaching staff and a leader in Ron Rivera, shut up and prove it on the field. And by the way, the guys we want, like John Allen, are the guys that think the same way we do.

I think it's certainly possible, given the intelligence and perception that Ron Rivera seems to have shown publicly, I think it's entirely possible that this is a rehearsed tone, not a rehearsed tone, but a purposeful tone, not an accidental tone. I think it's entirely possible. Do you think it's just who he is, or do you think it's a combination of who he is in understanding coming in what they've been? And sort of like the rest of the league is done over several years, just laughing at us and understand that. I think it's more like who he is.

is. I just think that generally would be his demeanor, no matter why. Yeah. You know what's interesting? You know what? Nobody, I don't think, has talked to Ron Rivera about, and if they have, I haven't seen it. No one sat down with him and talked to him about his time with Buddy playing for Buddy Ryan. Right. And what that was like. That's a good column. I mean, well, I mean, yeah, but I mean, you see those days. I mean, you have to do it being Zoom.

You don't get one-on-one interviews. You got to, and, I mean, that's the kind of thing where you need to sit down one-on-one with them and do that. And it has nothing to do with the Washington football team. But if you're a football fan that like stories, I mean, you play for Buddy Ryan for all those years. You've got to have some great stories. And, you know, how much. Here's the other thing. I think it's a question that you always ask coaches or managers.

Who are your influences? Like, who are the guys who coached you who you use things from? I don't think we've ever heard that from him either as well. You know, Dave Martinez has always made a point of talking about how Bobby Cox is one of his main influencers in terms of how he manages. So I'd be real curious about who influenced Ron Rivera along the way to be the coach he is now. He was just to a side. I think that's – I think it's his makeup is generally to prove something and not talk about it. But the funny thing is, is the two guys he played for are two guys that not only did it but talked about it in Dittka and Buddy Ryan.

I mean – But he talked about it. Yes, he did. But he also coached with Andy Reid in Philadelphia. You know, that was really, he started as a coach in Chicago, but the first position coach he got was with Andy Reed in Philadelphia. And he was there for four or five years. I had Merrill Reese on the show before the game last week on the radio show.

And one of the things that Merrill said to me off the air, because I had done something with him the night before, he said, please, the next time you talk to Ron Rivera, or whoever is out, you know, at practice from the station, please tell him that I said hello. When he was in Philadelphia as a coach, I got to know him really well, and everybody in Philadelphia, especially in the media,

loved him as a position coach when he was here in Philadelphia. Like, you know, this is all we hear about Rivera. Have you gotten wind of anybody saying no comment about Ron Rivera? Like, no. Actually, Steve Smith, Steve Smith, Steve Smith, Steve Smith, Sr. Was the only one. You don't hear him say. You rarely hear Ron Rivera say, no comment.

He's usually sharp enough to come up with an answer quickly that won't hurt him or the subject of the question. So, I mean, no, I mean, look, it's been all positive for Ron Rivera. of the human being. And after week one, it's pretty positive with Ron Rivera, the coach, as well. Again, you know, I don't think, I never thought the problem was going to be Ron Rivera. I didn't either, but there were a lot. And look, the story is just beginning here. I mean, so we're not declaring anything, but there were a lot of people that just looked at

his record and said, well, he's got six losing seasons and nine. Why are you overrating him so much? They didn't just hire Lombardi. Well, nobody said they hired Lombardi. But of the coaches that were legitimately available, he was the guy with the best resume and the guy that is known as having sort of a discipline to him and being at the same time being a coach's a player's coach.

You know, I'm looking through his resume, and I knew this, but I just sort of forgotten it because I knew there was a connection to Nourb. Well, he coached for Nourb. He was Nourv's defensive coordinator. in San Diego for the years that Norv was the head coach in San Diego. And that's a far different, the Norv Reed years are so much different than the Buddy Ryan and Mike Ditke years that he played for.

I think it is interesting to find out who is, like to me, demeanor-wise, he's much more, I don't want to say like Norv, like Andy Reed. Yes. Than he is buddy Ryan. with Andy Reed with much more personality. Yeah, I mean, Ron's got some personality, but he's not a quote machine here. Let's not make it out to be that it's gold every time he talks. I know.

Anyway, before we get to our keys to beating the Cardinals, I didn't have a chance to talk to you about this. Did you see the Joe Banner tweets from the other day? Yes, I did. Washington fans who are talking about how good their team is are going to look back and wish they had won quietly. What did you think of that? Well, I don't think it was unusual for him.

Do you follow him? I do. I've had him on the show a couple of times. Yeah, I think he's not afraid to speak his mind about you know, what he thinks in terms of how a team performed, particularly with the Eagle, since that's where he was. I didn't think it was that big of a deal. I mean, I thought it was kind of, like I said, you know,

the 17-the-nothing is the part of the story that you can't ignore and speaks to the team that he worked for as much as anything. But I didn't think it was that big of a deal. and it took a while for it to get legs. I mean, it had been out there for about 24 hours before people really started to notice it. He had also tweeted on Sunday or Monday following the game, the following tweets. By the end of the season, the Washington team will have proven that the Eagles yesterday lost to one of the worst teams in football. That was a game day or a Monday tweet.

He also said comment about Washington was to refute the praise. coming their way. You can't play football with a backup offensive line like the Eagles tried to do yesterday. Gives people a false sense of Washington being better than they are. Eagles injuries decimated their own line. That's the problem. Joe Banner, most of you know, was the former team president of the Philadelphia Eagles, and he is very outspoken on Twitter. And he does not like Washington. He does not like Dan Snyder. He thinks like many in the league. Longtime league execs think that it's been an embarrassment to the league and that they'll never win with Snyder. But what he was really, I think, very annoyed by was the reaction coming from the fan base

because that tweet was about the Washington fan base. You know, it wasn't about the Washington team or the, I mean, it's in part about the Washington team. But when he says Washington fans who are talking about how good their team is are going to look back and wish they had won quietly, my reaction to it, Tommy, was boy, I mean, for that to come from basically a Philadelphia Eagle is just so rich because there's no organization in the division for a long period of time whose fan base talked about how good their team was more often than the Philadelphia fan base without ever having accomplished anything. For being essentially the division's redheaded stepchild, which it was for decades, because why,

while Washington and Dallas and the Giants were winning Super Bowls, lots of them. Over, you know, three decades, the Philadelphia Eagles were always decent, but could never close the deal. But you'd never know that listening to their fan base. Their fan base has always been among the division teams the most obnoxious, the most delusional. And really, the fan base that got mocked more than any other in the, division. So I thought Joe Banner sort of forgot the fact that while he was there and Andy Reed was winning all of these division titles and then not winning in the postseason, somehow they

thought that was, you know, a huge banner to hang. Hey, look at how many division titles we've won. Yeah, except for that big thing, the Lombardi Trophy, you never won any of those until a couple of years ago when they did, thank God they did because all we ever heard about from their fan base was 1960, the last time they won a championship. And I mean, I think Joe Banner's a smart guy, and I think the Eagles have been a really solid organization for a long period of time. But they also, before 2017, never did anything in the postseason. They were the one team in the division that didn't have multiple Lombardi trophies. They didn't even have one. So I think Joe Banner, you know, being a representative of, I think, really Eagle Nation, if you will, could have

recognized that, but it speaks to the delusion that the Eagle fans and even the Eagle organization was for a long period of time. And now they've got a Super Bowl good for them and good for their fan base because they are passionate and they are into it. But my God, I mean, Washington wins in week one after an offseason in which we lost our name. We've got an owner who's an absolute fucking disaster of epic proportions. And we got a nice guy coach who's got cancer for crying out loud that we actually believe in a little bit might be a decent person, which, you know, for this organization is a good thing. And they win in impressive fashion beating down the Eagles and you can't celebrate a little bit. You can't like take a deep breath and say,

whoo, that was nice, and maybe we are good. Here's the one thing, Joe. In the past, it was the team that talked about how good they were after a win like this. That's not what this team did. This team is trying to stay under the radar as much as they can. It's hard to when you dominate in a game like they did on Sunday. But look, you know, the bottom line is Vegas isn't taking them seriously. Cardinals are seven-point favorites in this game. The public is betting Arizona. The betting public's

betting Arizona in this game, more than they're betting Washington. That may be a tease for a smell test pick. You'll find out in a little bit. But I hope that the coaching staff and the players, even if they win Sunday, continue to say, yeah, we got a long way to go. We did a lot of things that we got a correct. We got lucky. You know, that's what Joe would do the last time this organization was worth anything. Joe would beat somebody by 30 and tell you how lucky they were and how much they've got to improve. But anyway, Joe Bader. Anyway, I mean, if I was talking to Joe Banner about this, I would say what I said to you is that, yeah, you may be right, but a 17-0-0 lead sort of mitigates the argument that you were weakened on the offensive line.

Yeah, you were weakened on the offensive line, but you had a 17-0-0-lead against a team that you said wasn't very good. Right. Yeah, and not only that, Tommy, I think he missed the mark. I think a lot of the blame for the Eagles loss falls on the head coach, Doug Peterson. Doug Peterson couldn't protect his quarterback with that offensive line, you know, certainly when we got into the second half and refused to do anything about it. He didn't try to run the football. He abandoned the run.

42 throws 17 runs. He didn't get Carson Wentz out on the move a little bit. He kept dropping him back one time after another. He's lucky he didn't lose his quarterback in that game with the way he coached it. Because Carson Wentz has been injury prone, as we know. and he looked like he was out of gas and he was getting a shit kicked out of him. He really was.

Yeah, I know. I mean, I agree. Listen, let's rewind this and I found what I was looking for. Let's get back to the question of Donovan Allen. Right. And what was it he said again? The quote here that Michael Phillips had, hold on for a second. I will get it back here in a second.

quote, we were just good for one game and we weren't even good for one game. It was just two and a half quarters, closed quote. He bristled at the notion Michael Phillips wrote that Washington had accomplished anything after one game and then said that quote. Okay, well, the question was apparently Peter Haley, who writes for NBC Sports Washington. Right, he's J.P. Finley's guy, right? Right. Yeah. He tweeted this out.

Today, I tried to give Jonathan Allen some props for what the defensive line did in its debut. He didn't want any of my props, though. I love that. God. Oh, I know what you're saying now. Oh, my God. You know what I'm saying. No, I do.

Yeah, no, I know. So this is what you were digging for for the last 10 minutes. Is that you thought that there was a little bit of cheerleading going on? A little bit from the house organ, yeah. Well, a little bit. Okay, little inside baseball here. NBC Sports Washington is a partner of the football team. They are a partner.

Guess who else is a partner of the football team? The radio station, 980. There's a big difference in the way that two parties are treated, however. A major difference. I'm not going to get into the major differences, but there's also a major difference in the revenue generated from NBC Sports Washington that the football team generates from them and how much they pay them. But yeah, look, I mean, what's really funny about all this,

and we've had this conversation several times, especially when your radio station was basically on its knees in front of Brian Lafamina. Look, don't talk about anyone but me. Uh-uh. You know it. You said it. You agreed with me. But let me just mention this. When we were working together at the radio station owned by Red Zebra, which Dan Snyder was the, you know, the majority shareholder of, did we ever back off being critical of them? Were we cheerleaders for the team?

Not one bit did we back off. The aura of self-destruction came then. That's when I came up with the term. Yeah. Well, I can remember early on in the early days when I was calling for Vinnie Serrato to be fired and going through the list of incompetent move after incompetent move. I remember early on thinking, I wonder if anybody's going to say anything. Like, we're really getting after him.

Zabe and Andy were getting after him. You were getting after him. And nobody ever did. And other than... Other than that one time, well, there's two, two moments. I'm doing a postgame show with Joe Jacoby. It's the Sean Taylor Green Bay Packers game. I was doing pregame and post game back then for the Washington Redskins Radio Network.

And Jake was a big part of the post game. He was my co-host on the post game show. I loved doing those post-game shows with Jake. They were so much fun and we did them, I don't know, from all these different restaurants. And the first thing Jake would do walk in and just say, need a couple of cold beers. And so it would get started. And Jake, at the end of that Green Bay game, a game they lost where Sean played well, said at the end of that game,

as long as Dan Snyder owns the team, this team will never win anything. And that was the first time that we ever heard anything from the organization, and I remember what it was. Jake did not get a call from the owner or from Carl Swanson or anybody like that or whomever was handling PR. then it wasn't Tony Wiley then. He got a call from Joe, from Gibbs. And Joe said, you can't say that. That's not, you need to apologize to him. And that was the only time.

Only time. Other than this time, Tommy, which is you and I were still, you and I were doing the show together, I'm pretty sure. It may have been afterwards. Rick Carmeen, who was the CEO of the radio station, walked into my office one day after a show. And he closed the door and I said, uh-oh, what's up? And he said,

don't you think we could be a little bit more positive about the football team? I think this was, I'm going to say it was, do you remember me telling you this story? Were we doing the show together or was it afterwards? I don't think we were doing the show together. So it would have been the 2017 season as it was falling. apart. And I don't know, he just said, I'm listening to you and I'm listening to, you know, Zabe and, and Brian, well, Brian, you know, Brian would let loose, you know, it didn't matter.

Brian might let loose after a big win. He was a, he's a made member. Yes. I mean, right. You know, so. So Carmean says, Rick Carmean, who's the CEO of the radio station, said, don't you think it would be better if we were more positive? and I said, uh-oh, who got to you? What happened? And he said, no, no, no, no, I'm just thinking it myself. And I said, no, you're not. Who said something to you? And he wouldn't admit it, but the day before was a board meeting. So I found out the day before he was in a board meeting with all of the people from the team that were on the board of the radio station, etc. And so I just said to him in the moment, I remember being very honest with him. I said, Rick, if,

In this medium, we're not honest. We won't have any listeners. We cannot do what Larry does on Redskin Nation. That's not the medium. That's not what we do. This is five days a week, four hours a day, three, four hours a day. And if you're waving the pom-poms, when they just got their ass kicked, you're just, no one's going to, there's such a small, tiny percentage of the fan base that will

agree with it and listen to it and think it's legitimate. Everybody else will think, no, they're just the house radio station and it won't work. And I remember, to his credit, he said, okay, I think what you're saying is right. And I said, I'm 100% right. And you should talk to Zabe, you should talk to Doc, you should talk to Brian, you should talk to Andy, she should talk to Kooley, Tommy, anybody else and I think everybody would agree with that. And that was the only time, the only time that we ever got any pushback to being negative. Clearly somebody had said in the board meeting the day before, man, you guys are killing us, killing us. Sheehan's killing us. Zabin and Doc and Brian and Scott Jackson. Everybody's, everybody's killing us. Well, yeah, because you suck. That's why.

and that's the way we feel. But, you know, back to the business partnership. You know this. I've told you this many times because I've had this conversation with people, you know, in the organization. You guys treat us so poorly, but what you don't realize is we want you to win. First of all, I'm a lifelong fan. The guys that aren't former players that are at the station are lifelong fans. The guys at your station, for the most part, are lifelong fans.

Yes. Yes, they pretty much all are. And so the bottom line is that as a fan, I've wanted them to win. I don't want them to suck. And by the other – and by the way, the part of that that's even more important is that in our business, if they were a winning team, it would be so much better for us business-wise, personally. It would be much better if they want. If you don't think so, watch what happens if this team takes off.

Yeah. If this team takes off, watch what happens, even in this rough time of COVID, to the businesses that deal with the Washington football team, like the media businesses. Believe me, it will put money in everyone's pocket if this team suddenly takes off. Just out of curiosity, though, because I don't want to pick on Pete Haley if he's, is he a reporter? Or is he? Yes, he's a reporter. He is.

Listen, this is, what you said about, you have to be honest. Right. I think that used to be true. I don't think it is anymore. I don't think people can tell the difference. I don't think people can tell the difference between what's truth, what's true and what's not. For the most part, I don't think they care anymore. I mean, this goes way beyond sports.

I was just going to say, what are you talking about? Are you talking about watching CNN, Fox, and MSNBC every night trying to make heads out of tales? I'm talking about the whole spectrum of media right now. That's true. And what passes for media. I just don't think people, like I totally said, Bill Gates said content is king. And I say that's not true. Bad content is king.

But people can't tell the difference. So, I mean, this is why good people get replaced by bad people who are cheaper. This is how the industry works now, because the managers are saying people are watching anyway. What does it matter? So I don't think what you said is hold water anymore. I think that people can't tell the difference between cheerleading and. honest analysis. I don't know. I think people in recent years could tell the difference between Larry's Redskin Nation show and sports talk radio in this town. Come on. That was, look, and by the way,

he worked for the team. That was a team show. You know, it wasn't supposed to be objective. And so, but I think people recognize the difference between something like that and, you know, one of this, one of the sports talk radio shows or, or columnists. There wasn't much difference between a Larry broadcast and the broadcast from the station he was on. Well, you know, television was going to say, I know you're referring to television. You're going to tell me that the post-game show with B. Mitch and Trevor wasn't critical? That's different. What do you mean that's different? That was the NBC Sports Washington Post-Game show.

Right. Okay. I'll grant you that. There you go. Is that the only part? Yeah. I don't think I don't think I necessarily agree with you. I can pick out people that are objective and have been critical.

JP's been critical a lot. I don't want to get started because I know what you think about that. that network, but I don't think it's across the board. But I bet you, well, I have no idea if this is true. I know what, you know, I know how much that relationship means to the team. It means a lot more to the team than the radio station partnership, which they essentially just, you know, roll their eyes at. I mean, it's been the flagship for years. And it, it, but it does. doesn't matter to them. I mean, we...

Let me switch to another owner. Okay? Yeah. Ted Leoneses actually owns a piece of NBC Sports Washington. Right. Here's what you won't hear. Not one single critical comment about Ted Leones'ers in any way, shape, or form on that network.

And that is by design. That's not by accident. Right. I can't tell you that I've heard any criticism of Ted on that network. No, I know that. I know that, I know that, you know, I know this for a fact. Okay. So I'm just telling you that's the way they do business. But people eat it up.

They don't care. They really don't care. Look, I'm just going to tell you that JP on his podcast, JP in his writing, will be critical of the team. We've done it together on this very podcast. So I'm going to defend him. And I hear you, and Pete's a young guy, and I don't even know if a reporter's his actual title.

But I guess to your point, though, I've got to be honest with you, I think you're right. I think that it's all blended together, you know, reporting and opinion-making and cheerleading, all of it sort of blends together these days. I mean, when I just read that tweet, I actually didn't, you heard me.

It took me a half a second or a second to come up with why you were so, you know, upset about it. Because we see a lot of it, not just there. I mean, I don't know. I haven't been too, and too many, well, I don't want to keep going there. I don't want to keep going there. You know, it's, again, it really, It really doesn't matter. They're very successful. This is the way the business is going these days, and I'll just be a dinosaur piece in this facility. So it really doesn't matter. All right. We'll get to Washington Wins If here. Get Tommy's thoughts. I also have one other thing that I really want to discuss with Tommy, and that is that Joe Buck last night was presented by the Hall of Fame, the NFL Hall of Fame, with him as a future NFL Hall of Fame inductee. I want to talk about that as well. But first, I want to tell you about Ernest.

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I just wanted to ask you, I don't know if you were watching the game last night. By the way, Joe Burrow looked great. 37 of 61, 316 yards and three touchdowns in his second game. He became Tommy the first rookie quarterback since 1950 to throw 60 plus times without an interception in an NFL game. The Browns are the skins next opponent a week from Sunday. They've got a lot of talent. I'm not a Baker-Mayfield fan. I can tell you that right now.

But during the game, Joe Buck was told that he will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of that Pete Roselle Radio Television Award. I was shocked by that. I just don't consider Joe Buck to be a Hall of Fame NFL announcer. I think he's been very good. He's been the number one guy for Fox for 19 years or something like that, which actually is amazing to me that it's been that long. He's been working with Aikman as their number one team for a long time now. I think he's very good at calling baseball.

I think he's better as the baseball lead voice than he is as the NFL voice. I guess I've just never been a massive Joe Buck fan. I think he's really good. I just don't put him in the same class as like the Summeralls. You know, and the, you know, Al Michaels in his prime, because I don't think he's in his prime anymore. He's as good as Jim Nance, to be honest with you, or Dick Enberg. But he's good, but I started looking at the list of broadcasters that are in the Hall of Fame

through this Roselle Award that they've offered up. And I guess he's better than some of the people in it. Before I tell you who some of the people are, what are your impressions? Is that something that you even thought about when Joe Buck, when they announced that he was going to go into the Hall of Fame? I think he's a Hall of Famer. You really? I think he is. Yeah, I think he's been pretty good.

I mean, look, I think I'm thinking this Pete Roselle Award, they give it to somebody every year, okay? It's not like they can say, well, there's nobody worthy this year. We're going to pass. I think they give it to somebody every year. Right. And it's an award. You're not technically, I think, if it works like baseball and the Spinks Award for writers, you're not inducted in the Hall of Fame.

You're given an award by the Hall of Fame, and you have a plaque in that wing for that particular award of the Hall of Fame. Okay. Thank you for explaining that. This may be the same thing. You know, so, you know, it's, you know, and they give it out every year. You know, I mean, they've given it to Leslie Visser.

They've given it to Dan Deirdorf. So, I mean, it's something that they got to give to somebody. Who do you going to give it to? Bougar McSparallin. Do you know who's not on this list? Brent Musburger. Wow. I mean, are you kidding me?

Seriously? Dan Deirdorf, Irv Cross, Tom Jackson, Bob Trumpy. These are names that have been bestowed this award. I mean, give me a break. Brent Musburger was the king of pregame, in-game, halftime, post-game. He was the guy. It started with the NFL today in the 1970s with Brent and Phyllis and Irv and Jimmy the Greek.

And then Jane Kennedy for a couple of years. Brent Munsberger should be in. And I would think now, given the atmosphere of sports gambling, Any notion that the gambling aura around Brent would keep him out is ridiculous. He should be. I know he's running a gambling network now. Yeah. I mean, come on.

The NFL is going to be in the gambling business. He's the play-by-play voice for the Raiders right now. No, Brent Munsberger should be in the hall. It should be an awardee's award winners. Absolutely. Anyway. I mean, Irv Cross. Earp Cross was his partner.

I know. And Irv Cross, God bless him. He was the least significant of that group. I mean, Phyllis and Jimmy the Greek were much bigger personalities than Irv Cross. I don't know. When I think of play-by-play guys, I think of Pat Summerall, NFL play-by-play guys, I think of Pat Sumerall won and then as old coach Thompson would say, count five steps to get to Kurt Gowdy. Because that's like, that's the list.

But you're right. You've explained this much better than it was sort of presented to me last night or early this morning. I don't know if I'm 100%. No, you are. It's an award that's given out every year since 1989. And it is, you know, they are going to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Yes. But they're going to be a wing.

Right. But it won't be in the action. Like, in the baseball hall of fame, there is literally a hall of fame where the plaques hang. The baseball writers who get the Spinks Award are not in that hall. Right. They're in a different part of the building where the Spinks Award winners are honored. I'm assuming it's the same thing in football. Um, okay, whatever.

All right, let's get to what? What? How do I nominate? you for that award, buddy. I nominate you for, I nominate you for awards whenever I get the opportunity. I don't give you heads up. Whenever I have to vote, stop it. Stop. Stop doing this. National Sportscaster and SportsRiders Association.

They have, you know, the awards, and I'm a member. I always nominate you. That's great. Nominate me for whatever you want to nominate me for, but you'd usually do it in the comfort of your own home with nobody around. All right, let's get to our keys. to Washington beating the Cardinals on Sunday. I'm going to start with this, Tommy. They've got to contain Kyler Murray. Like, that's the key to this game defensively. This guy really is Russell Wilson, Michael Vick, Randall Cunningham,

you know, the guys that weren't just fast and scramblers, but they see everything. They see where everything's coming from. You think you have them, and then all of a sudden he's out. And when he's out, he is really, fast. And he's a guy that, you know, had 100 yards rushing last week before he took two knees for minus nine at the end of the game. This is a guy that can kill you with his legs. He's also a guy that will make some throws when he's on the run. I think he looks uncomfortable when he's

in the pocket. Now, they don't like to have him in the pocket a lot. He's not, but if you can force him into third and long, and now he's got to be a pocket guy from the shotgun, you got a better chance of containing him, but you've got to slow down Kyler Murray in this game if you think you can win it. If he gets out and has another 100 yards rushing and also throws for 250, you know, a bunch of that to DeAndre Hopkins, it's going to be a problem even for the defense that played so well last week. Okay. Can I go now? You can. You're up.

I think the key is to contain Kyler Murray. I mean, that seems pretty obvious. It's such the only glaring case. Yeah, Washington can't afford to turn the ball over. They need to play, like, the sort of mistake-free football, for the most part. They managed to play last week against Philadelphia. No interceptions, things like that. But, yeah, I mean, it's no trade secret.

You stop Kyle Murray. You stop the Cardinal's chance of winning this. And Washington seems capable of doing that, don't they? I think they seem capable of anything defensively, you know, after one game. But, you know, we'll see. I'm, that's why I think. You're trying to give them, you're trying to give them props, and they won't let you give them props. Well, I think what it is, and I'm glad I identified this as sort of the way to describe what I'm thinking about the game.

I'm very curious about Sunday's game. It's a curiosity. I'm very curious to see how they follow up on this performance against a very unique quarterback. They're going to get another one in two weeks when they face Lamar Jackson. So this is going to be some good practice for two weeks from now. But, yeah, I mean, Murray is really unique. I don't know how great he is yet. Now, he was really good on their final two drives, which ended up, you know,

being the decisive drives in the game against the 49ers. But he's pretty damn good. I wonder if he starts taking hits, if he can last, because he is tiny. Like he's like 5-8 or 5-9. He's smaller than me. Yeah. But last year and already this year, you know, just lethal with his legs, but also lethal throwing the football.

There were games last year. I know he had a game last year. threw for like 375 and three or four touchdowns when they beat Atlanta. I remember that game, which was an incredible performance by him. Yeah, it's going to be interesting to watch this dude. He's got something to him. We'll see. We'll see Sunday.

I'm very curious. Very curious. Here's what we haven't seen from Kyle Emery. We haven't seen any of the red flags that everyone would have expected from such a small quarterback. Right. And a guy that... That's what we happen.

And no red flags from a guy that had a couple of them with some weird, weird interviews, remember leading up to that draft? Very weird stuff before the draft. Right. And those were huge red flags that... Look, I haven't paid much attention to how Kyle Murray deals with the media in Arizona. But whatever, however he's been dealing with them, it has not been an issue nationally, that's for sure.

Right. Washington wins Sunday against the Cardinals if they tackle well. And I know this seems so basic, but Murray's so elusive. DeAndre Hopkins is going to get a lot of yards after the catch. Kenyon Drake is really difficult to get down on the ground. And there's going to be a lot of stuff at the line of scrimmage. There's a lot of Texas Tech, Cliff Kingsbury, college style, get it out quickly at the line of scrimmage. behind the line of scrimmage throws.

And you're going to have to tackle well in space. There's going to be a lot of those plays where, you know, Landing Collins or Troy Apkey or Darby or Morland or linebackers are going to have to, if you miss, it can be 25 yards going upfield. And they're going to have to really tackle well. I think it's one of the real big keys to the game because I think Arizona is going to have guys out in space that can make you miss and really hurt you. but I also think after one game, and I'm really curious to see if it continues Sunday,

I think this looks like it's going to be a very good tackling team. Now, Cooley pointed out that Collins missed a lot of tackles in the first half, but in the second half, they didn't miss any tackles against anybody. Now, Philadelphia was missing Miles Sanders. They were missing Jeffrey. And this is a different team. There's quickness, their speed, at quarterback, at running back with Drake, and obviously with Hopkins.

Now, they're tight-end Max Williams. Got hurt. He's their starting tight end. Big kid from the University of Minnesota. I think it's one of those games you can't miss. Like there might be a third and six, and they dump it out to Drake, and he's one-on-one with, you know, Landon Collins or Troy Apkey or a linebacker,

and he's one cut, makes somebody miss badly, and it's a move the sticks play. So I think tackling is a huge thing in this game. I think you're right. And first game, I didn't see any of the tackling problems for the most part that we've seen from this. Look, Jack Del Rio may be nuts, a little nuts, but I don't think anyone's ever questioned his ability to coach a defense. No. So, I mean, we already knew this team would be better coached on paper based on the quality of people that they brought in as terms of.

of football coaches and based on the quality of the people they got rid of as football coaches. I agree. Completely agree with that. I just, I am so confident that this football organization has just top-notch defensive minds out there and coaches out there. Like I, even if they didn't draft Chase Young. I think this defense was going to be so much improved. I actually, Tommy, the more and more I think about, you know, Ron Rivera and taking the job here and going back to the Silver Story, the Michael Silver Story in NFL.com, right after Rivera got fired and before he got hired. And then I had him on the show and he talked about some of the reasons that Rivera told him he took the Washington job.

And one of the things he said is he said, and he goes, and I was surprised, he goes, he really likes the roster. He really likes the defensive roster. I don't think that without John Allen, Duran Payne, Matt Ionitis, Montez-Swet, Ryan Carrigan, and the number two overall picking the chance to pick Chase Young, I don't know if he would have shown up here. I don't know if he would have taken this job. He may not have.

I never understood that. I mean, rosters can change so quickly. Why would a coach take a job based on the roster that he's inheriting? Let me give you a reason. I mean, they change so quickly. Let me give you this reason. He was not happy about being fired at Carolina. Not happy at all.

He thinks they made the wrong decision that David Tepper, you know, is in this new analytics age and wanted to go in a different direction and wanted to hire his own guy. Remember that press conference when he got fired how many times he mentioned how many division titles they had? We've won three division titles in a row. He was pissed and he wanted a quick opportunity to prove Carolina wrong. And I think he looked at the defensive roster and knew what he could do defensively as a coach and thought, I can take a three and 13 team and coach this defense. fence up and there's going to be a quick turnaround.

And there's going to be a big discussion about what a great job I did. Now, I don't think he saw what was coming with all the other stuff, you know, that he's had to deal with. But I think he did take this job in part because he saw the opportunity defensively to become competitive right away. That may be. You're probably right. All I know is that if they go 2 and 0, that he is on his way.

to establishing himself as the savior of this franchise. At 2-0. And at some point when Dan Snyder is not occupied with hiring private detectives and lawyers, decides he wants to screw around with the offensive line or whatever he wants to do, he can tell the owner, go fly a kite. Go take a ride on your boat. I'm the guy who runs this team. I don't know that.

Every win, he gets closer to doing that. I think it would be less, I think it would be something so much more subtle and less direct than you just described. Because I don't think he's done that in years. I think it would be, you know, the relationship with the quarterback. Like, you know, if the quarterback's not, you know, what everybody hopes he can become. And there's sort of a controversy. Should they bench him? I think that's where it becomes.

comes, that's where the owner has really hurt and undermined his coaching staff in the past. You know, the first 10 years, of course, he's got the stopwatch out at the combine. Or if it, you know, the draft next year, he steps in and says, uh-uh, I want this guy. We still haven't sold enough tickets off the seven and nine season. We need this guy, whoever that guy is. I think that's how it happens. I don't think he steps in and starts, you know, calling defensive snaps. I didn't mean the offer.

I didn't mean that. I know he didn't. Last thing on Washington wins if. You know, the 49ers played a pretty clean game last week and lost. They didn't have one turnover in the game. They didn't put the ball on the ground one time. They didn't have many penalties in the game. And they still lost the game.

Washington was plus three against the Eagles in the turnover category. and had to rally from 17-0-0-down to win. The Cardinals blocked a punt, set up a score, and really the offense didn't get into a real rhythm until it mattered in the fourth quarter when they put together two long drives. My point here is, no matter how improved the defense is, the defense is going to continue to have to turn people over

and create short fields, if not scores. And if they don't do that, they're going to be in trouble against anybody this year. But the fact that the 49ers played a perfect game in terms of mistakes and still lost tells you that Washington probably needs to avoid all mistakes and then get a couple of back the other way to win this game. And that's what you saw in the opener. The Fabian Morote turnover was a game saver. I mean, you go in 17, nothing at half, you know, at minimum. So they're going to need plays like that, and they're going to have to limit the mistakes offensively.

You know, a plus two or something like that may be required Sunday. You may be right. That may be. Well, thank you for agreeing with all of my points. Do you have anything original on your end? Yes, I do. What? That has nothing to do with Washington football.

Okay. Today's the 50th anniversary of Jimmy Hendricks who's dead. Oh, my God. At the age of 20th... I thought it was 1971. So it was September 18th, late 70. Died of accidental death from a barbiturate-related asphyxia on September 18th, 1970. So take time to play a little purple haze or some other Hendricks out there today.

Ironically, it's not purple haze outside these days, but there's a haze. There is a haze. Have you noticed? Have you noticed it? Well, more than that, I smelled it the other day. Has it affected your breathing at all? No. Has it affected yours? No, it hasn't. Okay.

It's funny because somebody mentioned it to me the other day when I was playing golf, and I said, really? I had not followed this story, that the fires out west have essentially gotten caught up into the jet stream, and they've made their way east. And so if you've smelled smoke recently, that's what it is. seen the hazy sun, that's what it is. It's the smoke from the Western fires. Smoke from a distant fire. I think one of the things I'm going to do this afternoon is I'm going to get into the car and I'm not going to listen to anything sports related. I'm just going

to get some Jimmy on because I've done this. I was not a Hendrix guy, Tommy, until maybe 20 years ago. Like I was not a big Jimmy Hendricks guy when I was in high school or college. But man, like 20 years ago, I just got into him and appreciate him. And I think, Hey, Joe, might be one of my all-time favorite songs by anybody all along the Watchtower, which actually was written by Dylan, is performed brilliantly by Hendricks. And, wow, 50 years ago, all the 27-year-olds, all the 27-year-olds. Just to show you what a warped boss I was when I was in charge of people at the Baltimore Sun. I was in charge of a bureau of reporters there.

And in the morning, before we started the day, I used to put on Purple Hays as loud as I could in the bureau and make people stand up for it. I love Purple Hays. I love Win Cries Mary, but Hey Joe, I could listen to over and over. over again, it never gets old. I'm looking at, in 1970, Janice Joplin died in 1970 also at 27 years old, and then Jim Morrison died a year later at 27 years old. So within basically a one-year period, Hendricks, Joplin, and Morrison, all dead. And then Kurt Cobain, 27 years old in 1994. All right. You got anything else for me? Jimmy Hendrix was in the military.

Yeah, I know that. Did he grow up in Seattle? Did he grow up in Seattle? I don't know, but according to Wikipedia, he had been caught twice riding and stolen cars, and you don't know if Wikipedia is true or not. Given a choice between prison and joining the Army, he joined the Army.

Wow. Yeah. to listen to some of the stories over the years essentially you know it was Keith Richards who really I think was the one that discovered him in in London when Hendricks was over there and it may have been somebody's girlfriend or wife what is that story about the person that really pushed Richards and Mick Jagger to to check out Hendricks. I want to say it was the girlfriend of Keith Richards

who really was the one that was like, oh my God, I just saw this guy and he's the greatest guitar player I've ever seen. Do you know that story or not? Or maybe am I thinking about something else? No, I don't. But I tell you what, Jimmy Hendricks once told

band members of Chicago that their guitar player, Terry Katz, was the greatest guitar player he's ever seen. That's interesting. I did not hear that. Here's the story I just found it. Here it is. May 1966, Hendricks was struggling to earn a living wage

playing the R&B circuit. He briefly rejoined Curtis Knight in the Squires for an engagement at one of New York City's most popular night spots, the Cheetah Club. During a performance, Linda Keith, the girlfriend of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, noticed Hendricks and was mesmerized by his playing. She invited him to join her for a drink and the two became friends. And that, you know, I could read the rest of it, but basically that's what led to Hendricks being introduced to the Stones,

to Keith Richards, to Mick Jagger, and they were blown away by him. and so that's essentially how he really got discovered. Anyway, all right. I mean, you know, it's funny, like all the guitar, the greatest guitarist stories that we've heard. Remember when Prince died, you know, the story about Eric Clapton being, you know, asked, you know, how the greatest guitarist in the world was doing.

And he said, I don't know, ask Prince. And then, you know, there are, like, there are others that had stories. about, I don't know, ask, you know, Eric Clapton. It's such a subjective thing, but Hendricks is in the conversation. Of course he is. Yeah. All right.

We'll play some Hendricks going out of the show today. I'll get Aaron to do that. All right. Have a good weekend. I'll talk to on Tuesday. All right, boss. From Tommy, we go to Chris Cooley next to get his keys to beating the Cardinals. We'll get his lock of the week.

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All right, let's bring in Cooley to the show. And as mentioned, next week's film breakdown will be Tuesday and Wednesday. Bakuli will be with me on Monday to recap the game. Before we get to this game in your keys to beating the Cardinals, and then we'll get to a smell test in your lock of the week. Did you watch Joe Burrow last night? I watched Joe Burrow, and I watched Baker Mayfield. And?

It was good. I like Joe Burrow. I do. I think that he looks like he knows what he's doing. His movement's good. He's got a good arm. I just think the timing's a little bit off in a new office. offense. The timing's off in that new offense. These were two teams that the skins are going to

play this year. I think the most important Cleveland's got a lot of talent. Like Chubb and Hunt as a backfield is really impressive. Really impressive. And with Stefanski and his ability to run the ball in that zone scheme, and as they start to adjust to how they block and run that zone team, because it is different. That's the Shanahan system. Right. And so really starting to understand that it doesn't have to be straight downhill. It's really stretch and move people. I think they're going to get better as far as running the football. They were good running the football last year.

We talked about this the other day. They're going to be a team that can really run the ball. And off of that, they should be a very explosive team with the run-action path. But the Brown should be a good team. Yeah, I mean, I think so. I'm just not a Mayfield fan. I think that he looks Look, the guy they're facing Sunday,

Kyler Murray, looks tiny. I mean, I watched the All-22 late last night and early this morning, and he looks as small as any quarterback I can remember. But so does Mayfield. He looks so tiny. I know he didn't play poorly last night, and a run game for him should be his best friend.

I just, I don't know. I haven't seen it yet in him. Well, I think because of the weapons that he's had, it's hard to say that you've seen it in him. The thing with Baker is you see it from game to game. Like here and there, you see it. I mean, he was awesome last night. He was a ton of throats. He was accurate.

He made some big-time plays. Big, they mixed it up. I thought last night he was very good. You know how you said the best player on the field Sunday was Chase Young, and it wasn't even close? Do you know who the best player on the field is for Cleveland every time they take the field? And to me, it's not even close. Yeah, he wears number 55. 95.

95. Miles Garrett is who I'm talking about. Yeah. I mean. We're watching Chandler Jones. Chandler Jones actually, yeah. I'll let you talk about him when we get to Arizona. But Miles Garrett's the best player on the field when they step onto it. And they've got some players, man.

They got Beckham. They got Jarvis Landry. they got the two backs. I mean, remember Kreme Hunt, you know, I mean, we get the video that comes out. The chiefs have to let him go in that Me Too environment. And Cleveland just gave him a contract extension. And the guy, you know, in two games this year, he's got 23 carries for 158 yards. He's averaging 6.9 yards per carry. Anyway, Burrow looks the part to me. It's so early, but the thing that struck me is how confident he plays. Yeah, he's got super poise. Yeah. By the way, I didn't ask you about this

because we didn't talk about the Monday night games at all. I thought Daniel Jones, even though he threw two bad interceptions, really bad interceptions. I actually thought that in watching Daniel Jones against arguably the best defensive team in football, they could be Pittsburgh. I actually think Daniel Jones looks pretty good. The second, the last pick, it was the end of like a 17-play drive. 19-play drive.

Yeah, I mean, I'm still not in love with Daniel Jones. I'm just, I'm not there yet. I didn't see him. I didn't see him as a first rounder in the draft. I evaluated all those players. I've spent so much time, and I thought Daniel Jones was a second to third-round player. I mean, obviously, because of the position, and I think also because of his relationship with Cutcliffe

in his understanding of NFL offense, whatever, the Mannings. I think all of that elevated him. But I do think there's something to him. He has more athleticism than people give him credit for. I thought the interesting thing out of that whole game was that Sequin Barclay won't block the Tiki Barber stuff. I didn't. The Tiki Barber came out and said,

Sequan Barclay can't block. He ducks his head, he can't block in the backfield, so he's not a three-down bat. And maybe that's just to spark Sequin, because I think Seekwon is one of those guys that wants to get better, that's a hard worker. But that's almost the vice. Yeah. Like our best player is can't play. And can't block in third down situations.

Interesting. All right. Let's get to your version of Washington wins if. I did it with Tommy, and we won't be doing it this way every week. let me just tell you real quickly. To me, it's about containing Kyler Murray, making them, and I don't know that it'll be easy to do it. I think tackling in space is going to be huge on Sunday.

And the last thing I said is, you know, the 49ers played a pretty flawless game. They didn't have a turnover. They had very few penalties and lost. I think that we need the same kind of formula from last Sunday. A couple of big plays and turnovers defensively and no mistakes offensively. I'll let you have at it now. All right, so I spent a large party yesterday in the morning watching on film the Arizona Cardinals. Because they just haven't been good over the last couple of years.

It's funny because last year and the year before, offensively, I didn't think that they had a ton of talent. You know, I thought not a ton of town, but defensively, I thought that they've been better than a lot of people have given them credit for. So you start running through. Sorry, I'll get to my point. But Kenyon Drake, DeAndre Hopkins, Christian Kirk, Larry Fitzgerald. Andy and Isabella's over there.

I don't even think he played last week. I don't know where is he hurt. He's the guy I like as a receiver coming out of the draft. Yeah, you did like him. I remember you liked him. He's the guy to play at UMass, right? That guy? Yeah.

Yeah. He wears number 17 for Arizona. He doesn't make a lot of plays last year. Right. And then you add Tyler Murray in the mix. They're really talented offensively. Defensively, their secondaries is one of the better secondaries, anyway, he's going to play.

Patrick Peterson is good a corner as there is in the league. Buda Baker is as good a safety as there is in the league. He's listed as a free safety, but he can play free or he can play down the clock and play strong safety. Byron Murphy, the corner they drafted, is really good. I think he's awesome on the outside. Chandler Jones is really good as an edge rusher. They drafted Isaiah Simmons.

They drafted Hassan Reddick two years ago. I mean, they're loaded up front. Across the board, there's a ton of talent on the Arizona. So I think that's a team if they can get some things together that, oddly enough, in the toughest division, has a chance to make the playoffs. I do think it's interesting how big a favorite they are in this game. Right. It is true.

I mean, there's no respect for what the skins did last week. No, there's not. So here's how I see Washington winning this ballgame. On offense, they've got to find a way to get four yards of carry running the football. Arizona gave up five yards to carry to San Francisco. They're a tough team to get to the outside on. They play a three, four defense and a base defense. And when you go nickel, they want to play.

five men on the line of scrimmage. So they're tough to get outside of. They want to play wide ends and keep everything inside of them. Maybe you've got to get some quick hitter stuff. I have a lot of the success San Francisco had running the ball was inside.

Some inside zone, some RPO, some trap. And so, and maybe that might be some sim stuff where you're stretching the edge or some quick hit, not your normal tendency run place, but you've got to find a way to scare them in terms of running the football. To me, that's going to be so huge because for Duane, if you want to create

balance, they just have to. I just think they have to. In the passing game, Duane's got to be able to create big plays in the middle of the field, and it's got to be in that five to 12-yard range. I don't think he's going to get a lot of throws to the outset. I mentioned their corners, Peterson, and Byron Murphy, and it's Drake or Patrick's in there. Dr. Patrick's a good player as well. I think it'll be tough to get bigger throws to the outside, and I think it'll be tough to get bigger plays deep down the field. If you look at San Francisco's two biggest plays, it was the

most-er-choice route out of the backfield against Isaiah Simmons. Right, beat him badly. Beat him badly. And then Simmons, who started the game, didn't really play after that. They got benched him almost after that. Remember some people, Clinton Portis, who comes to mind, thought that Simmons

should have been the picket too, not Chase Young? No, that wasn't, no. That's not, that wasn't the pick. And then Juice Check had a 41-yard wheeler out of the backfield on Hassan Redick. Right. And Kittle was all over the middle of the field early in the game. Matchups against their linebackers in the middle of the field are really good. I think their linebackers, Simmons and Chandler Jones, who really doesn't cover much,

and Hassan Redick, and even Devon. Andrew Campbell or Jordan Hicks, they're length players that are not great coverage players. And Arizona will run multiple defenses. And so if you get them and find them in man-to-man coverage against some of your backs and inside receivers, again, like Sims, those are the advantages that Duane Haskins is going to have to take care of. He's going to have to get those plays into the middle of the field and attack them and move the chains with five to 12-yard throws. to me consistently over the game, that's what you've got to be looking for, and that's what you've got to be finding ways to get. And that also will create more rhythm for Dway.

You don't have to put pressure on deep throats. I mean, Kevin, maybe you take a shot here and there just to take a shot and say, Duane, just throw your normal ball. Sell it over the head of the receiver here just so they know that you might. That is really condescending what you just did. That's awful. Dwayne, hey, Dwayne, do what you normally do. Just throw that ball without the touch that goes sailing by 20 yards over the receiver deep.

You know the ball that nobody can catch? It's the one that nobody can get. But that's unfair. He threw the deep ball pretty well last year. I'm kidding. I know. I'm kidding. You're not completely kidding.

No. No, but I am saying that if you get one-on-one matchups to throw a ball that only your receiver can get. Right. You might have to throw a couple down the field. It made you laugh. Hey, here's the play. First and 10, Dwayne, just drop back and throw it as far as you can. What if the receiver's not open?

No, just do your normal throw. You throw it, where you throw it 30 yards over his head. We just want to see how far you can throw it. I know it's a real game situation, but just throw one. That's terrible. Okay. Okay. Those are my two keys on offense.

You're going to have to move the change that way. Do you think they're going to be able to run? the ball with Gibson and Barber and McKissick? Yes. Okay. I think that if there's a weakness in Arizona's defense, it's inside. I just, I think the best strength is outside. Between Cory Peters, Zach Allen, you know,

Angela Blackson actually played good a guy. He had a sack. He had a quick sack. Yeah. With a good move. He was an average player from Houston over the last few years, but he had a pretty good game against San Francisco. That could be matchup.

It could be anything. I think he's a good player, but I just don't see them as truly strong inside. I see them as an edge team, and so they've got to find a way to run the ball in the middle of the field, in my opinion. Again, you've got to try to stretch it every once in a while. You can't just have that tendency that we're just going to run right down your throat, because I don't think that they're physical enough up front to do that. But creative ways to run the ball in the middle of the field to be big. defensively, they are going to have to be a great tackling defense this week in multiple ways.

Going back and watching the 49ers game, they tried to get everybody involved early in the game. I mean, Larry's got a touch. Drake's got touches. DeAndre Hopkins is getting two or three touches. They're thrown to Christian Kirk. The tight ends have different looks. And the ball's out, and it's quick. You're going to have to tackle.

these guys immediately. Those are huge, huge plays when you take a two-yard route and turn it into 20. And they're ballers. They have guys. It was a great system that they had against San Francisco because they have guys that can break tackles. And they have guys

that can make plays. And so you're going to have to tackle early. And then, I mean, obviously throughout the game, and then Kyler Murray is just a disaster when he gets down the field. You're going to have to be able to tackle. You're going to have to force him to the sideline.

You're going to have to contain Kyler Murray. A lot of their big plays where Kyler Murray runs. And a couple of them weren't even huge runs. It was just hitting him late and having 15-yard penalties because they're going to call those. I would just try to smoke Kyler Murray, though, every time he got out. Early in the game, I'd just try to wax him.

Oh, yeah. Coolly, he's tiny. I mean, I remember this from last year, obviously, but I watched the game last night. He's so tiny, yet he's got the same thing Vic has, Russell Wilson has. He's got that incredible peripheral vision. He sees where everybody's coming from.

It's hard to get a shot on him. I know. It is super hard. I was thinking about it as I was watching those couple penalties on the 49ers. Yeah. And I was like, if he scrambled for 14 and it's a first down and he's at the 40. Is it worth it to just take 15 more and just put a face mask in his back?

I mean, if you think about it, like, he's already got the first down. Plays where he's already way down the field, just whacks him. If he gets to the sideline, let's just put him into the water cooler. I mean. That's so ruthless. Well, Greg Williams would coach it that way. You've got to make him pay if you can make him.

can pay. Damn right. So tackling will be huge defensively. And then they got to make plays on Kyler Murray. When he gives you opportunities to make plays, you got to make them.

He'll throw picks. Yeah. He does. He doesn't like, he hates taking sacks. And so even at times where he's crambling around back there and he knows he's not going to run, you can't tame him and gets to the sideline, go make a play.

I think we were talking about Russell earlier this week, and I said, you got to plaster defensively. When he gets out of the pocket, They got to find ways to go make plays. Get on receivers and go attack the ball when he throws it up for grabs. Because he's going to throw two or three up for grabs. And then on the aside from that, that's creating turnover, you've got to get your hands up every single play.

He's so small. If he's going to throw the ball, get your hands up. The 49ers had a pick on a tip ball. There's an RPL play where the tight end's wide open and the backer comes up. He's going to play run, and he just gets his one hand up on them, and they tip it, and it's a pick. You just get your hands up. Now, that's also, you say that, and you're like, yeah, but if I jump once, the guy's going to run,

and he might, but, like, a couple turnovers in this game would be huge against that offense. God, I mean, the way you just describe that, you can see, right, you know, pain or ionitis or Allen, or they jump up and then, you know, it's a quick ball fake, and then, by the way, he'll run right up the A-gap. He'll run right by him. I mean. His change of direction is awesome. Yeah. It's absolutely awesome.

But I think they can pressure him. I think you can win. DJ Humphreys is not, in my opinion, a great left tackle. I'm not overly impressed with Calvin Beecham. I think that up front that they should get some push. And this could be a problem for Murray defensively, because if you start to get some edge pressure and your inside guys are pushing the pocket,

that's all they have to do. Push the pocket. You know, you don't create, lanes and gaps for Murray, just push the pocket. They should be all right in those situations. It's funny, though, because it's like, Tyler Murray's one of those guys you think about. Everyone would say, like, you've got to have a spy.

Well, you're just going to outrun your spy. I know. Tommy asked me about that. Because one of the things, like, there used to be this idea with Randall Cunningham, and Richie Pettibone was the defensive coordinator, and he was the only one that seemed to be able to do it. You had two outside rushers, you know,

devastating pass rushers and Manly and Charles Mann, and Pettabone would play contain. Like he wouldn't, he just wasn't going to let Randall Cunningham get out of the pocket. And he would contain him and make him throw from the pocket. Now, Randall Cunningham was big. And it always was good enough. And, you know, with ever like a mobile quarterback, got to keep them in the pocket, got to contain, got to contain. I think with Murray, it's so hard because he can run in any direction.

He can run up the middle. He can get outside you even if you're trying to contain. But if you can contain him, in watching him, he can't see. He's so tiny if he has to throw from the pocket. I don't know if you can contain him in the pocket, but if you can, there's no way he can beat you right now from the pocket. Do you agree with that or not? So I think the way that they beat you from the pocket is the ball's out of his hand so quick.

Understood. They have so many plays where you. going to beat you quick. It's not this intermediate passing game where he's high-loing defense. He's got one-rearing the balls out in a lot of situations. So I do think he can beat you from the pocket. I just don't know. As long as you tackle, you'll be all right.

He won't beat you from the pocket. But if you can pressure him, if you can make him bubble instead of going agap and make him get out on the edge, he'll make a player or two. but he's not going to kill you in that respect, as long as you can really make him bubble back. And then a sack here or there, and it's like, now we've got a second and 15. We can play our soft coverage.

We don't have to spy, and we'll just make sure we come up and tackle and rally to the ball if he breaks the pocket or breaks contained. And if you get four or five, we get four or five. But you've got to make a play. You've got to get a sack. You've got to bubble him. You've got to make a couple plays on a ball.

Oh, and one other thing I noted, just watching this game, second down, they do not want to run the ball. I don't know if they ran the ball in any second and four-plus situation against the 49ers. I think they threw it every single time. They went with a lot of play action, run action. But if it's second and seven, I am rushing the passer, at least early in this game until they proved that they're going to run it. That was a tendency. Maybe Kingsbury will understand it was. But in second and seven, second and six, I ain't fallen for any run fake.

I am attacking physically downfield to go get Kyler Mark. All right. Here's my last seat. This is a little one, but this is crazy. Arizona has been so good better than anybody else over the last 10 years at blocking kicks. I know they blocked a pun early. And they blocked one against San Francisco, and they got the ball down on the 10-yard line. You can't lose big time in the special teams game.

Normally, I don't like throwing special teams into any kind of Washington wins if. Yeah. But you can't lose the game on a blocked field goal or a blocked on. You have to be sound on teams this week. It's so crazy. Is it in the air? Is it something in that team? It doesn't matter who the head coach is.

It's just every year their special teams is good. And they block kicks and they block them. That's what they were down 10-0. That's what set up their first score, which got him into the game. Because they scored on one play after the block punt. Their kicker missed two kicks. Now, they were long kicks. They were 52 and 53, 49, something like that.

He missed two field goals. And the truth is, at the end of the first half, if you were watching, it was one of those, they're going to run the clock out, but they run the ball and they pick up 20 yards. And then they decide, let's go for the field goal. And the dude kicked a 56-yarder. to tie the game. Yeah, no, I get it.

You know, Christian Kirk is actually a decent punt returner, and their punter, Andy Lee's been, I think he's been a pro bowler a couple of times during the course of his career. I mentioned this one thing, and I forget if I mentioned this to you when I sort of recapped what I said, which is, you know, tackling, I think tackling's huge, especially in space,

especially around the line of scrimmage where a lot of throws go. But that, you know, San Francisco didn't make any mistakes, mistakes in the game. They didn't have one turnover. They didn't have a lot of penalties, and they lost the game. So that tells you something about Arizona. Just that alone is that they, I mean, the one mistake they made is the block punt. I get it. It was a big one, a big one, but they didn't turn the ball over at all. And they had very few penalties. I think they had three penalties in the game. But that sort of went with the trend of week one, with, you know, not a lot of flags. Yeah, not a lot of flags.

Yeah. All right. I want to get to a smell test. I want to get to Kooli's lock of the week and we'll give our predictions on the game right after this word from liquid IV. This is the Athletics Shield Capadia here to tell you about liquid IV. Nobody likes to feel dehydrated. Maybe you get a little bit of a headache, dry mouth. You just don't feel like yourself. But believe it or not, dehydration still occurs daily in three out of four people. With liquid IV, you have the fastest, most efficient way to stay hydrated. Each serving helps you get as much. hydration as two to three bottles of water. Maybe you use it after a really intense workout. Maybe you went out socially distanced with friends and had a couple extra beers the night before. That's where Liquid IV comes in. It is healthier than those sugary sports drinks, no artificial flavors or preservatives, and less sugar than an apple. Plus it contains five essential vitamins, more vitamin C than an orange, and as much potassium as a banana. And Liquid IV is on a mission to change the world. Liquid IV is donating 3.7 million servings in response to COVID-19. Products are being donated to

hospitals, first responders, food banks, veterans, and active military. Liquid IV is available nationwide at Costco and Target, or you can get 25% off when you go to Liquidiv.com and use code athletic at checkout. That's 25% off anything you order when you use promo code athletic at Liquidiv.com. Get better hydration today at Liquidiv.com promo code athletic. Kevin looks where the John Q public is putting their cash and does the opposite. It's time for the smell test. So coolly this morning on radio, I was recapping my smell test from a week ago and I said that I was two four and one last week, which would make me two, five and one on the season.

And a caller called in, it was Robert, you know, longtime caller from Baltimore. And he said, I think you were 1-4-and-2 last week because I think you gave out the Broncos plus two and they lost by two. So that was a push, not a win. And I said, you know what? I think I did give out Denver plus two. But I had asked CJ earlier this week, I said, did I win the Denver game or did I push the Denver game? Because you won it. You had them plus three.

I corrected myself. So if I said on the podcast earlier this week that I was two, four-and-one, I was not. I was one, four, and two last week, which makes my overall season record through two weeks. One win, five losses, and two pushes. The one win was Washington last week, plus five and a half. That was the one win last week. Anyway. That was one no one had.

Would you say? I said that was one nobody had. True. True. So look, the picks this week, I hate college football right now because it's not really college football. I didn't give out a college pick last week. I'm going to give one out this week. I'm going to give you Tulane minus six and a half against Navy tomorrow.

The world loves Navy. BYU beat Navy on Labor Day night 55 to 3 in that game. What's painful about betting on Navy or, you know, betting against Navy. Navy or betting against Army or any of these triple option teams, it's so painful because they can go coolly on these 11-minute 24 play drives because they go for every fourth down and they get four or five yards per carry. And it's painful. And then they score and you're like, I'm dead. Well, BYU basically did to Navy, what Navy sometimes does to other teams. They ran for over 300 yards of offense and they also threw for like 279 and they won 55 to 3. Maybe. Maybe

Navy Navy isn't very good. Tulane shouldn't be a six and a half point favorite in the public's betting Navy. I will take Tulane and

lay the six and a half. Sunday, the Lions were a team I gave out last week minus three against the Bears and they should have covered. They were 23,

six in the fourth quarter, whatever. You win games like that, you lose games like that. They're getting six and a half against the Packers. Aaron Rogers,

according to pro football focus, was the highest rated player in the league in the in week one. He was brilliant. The ball was coming out. He looked like Aaron Rogers. He looked like MVP. Aaron Rogers. And he carved

up Minnesota last week. So everybody's on Aaron Rogers laying less than a touchdown against a Detroit team that completely crumbled and caved in the fourth quarter to the Bears. I think the lions are pretty good. I'm going to take the lions plus the six and a half, by the half

point and get it to seven for sure. The public loves the Ravens this week. the Packers are the biggest public play of the entire weekend of the football weekend. They are by far in a way the biggest public play. The Ravens are also a massive public play, laying seven to Houston who looked terrible against Kansas City. The Ravens crushed Cleveland.

I'll take the Texans plus seven. And then believe it or not, the Patriots this week are a huge anti-public team against Seattle, who was as impressive as anybody was in week one. the Patriots are getting four against the Seahawks in the Sunday night game. You know, in Seattle, but what does that mean? Fans aren't going to be there, so they won't have the 12th man advantage. I'll take the Patriots plus the four at Seattle. And then one last pick.

I like the Raiders plus five and a half in the Monday night game against New Orleans. The Saints won, but to be honest with you, I didn't think they were very impressive winning. The Raiders won at Carolina, perceived bad team. They're getting five and a half at home against the Saints. Again, at home, whatever the hell that means. I'll take the Raiders plus five and a half. So recapping, Tulane minus six and a half tomorrow. Sunday, the Lions plus six and a half, the Texans plus seven,

the Patriots plus four. And then on Monday night, I like the Raiders plus five and a half. you in your lock of the week last week took one of my smell test picks and said you really liked it and I'm forgetting what it was now. Do you remember? It was Cincinnati. Right. So you pushed. Los Angeles and I pushed

and Cincinnati missed a field goal at the end of the game that would have taken it to overtime. But at that point you could have lost. Right. Well, I could have lost. Obviously, they could have lost. I could have lost because the charges could have scored a touchdown. They could have.

But the odds, I wanted them to make that kick because the odds were you're either going to push or win in overtime. The Chargers had scored 16 points. I mean, the chance they were going to take the kick off and go down and score weren't very high. But I know what you're saying. Anyway, yeah, the lock of the week this week is what? I thought your smell test was going to have a few more. There were a couple of close lean. There were big liens, and I'll let you make your pick,

and then I'll tell you what the liens were. I have a feeling I know what you're going to pick now. Here's the ones I was weighing on. I'm weighing this. Tennessee's minus eight on the line that I have against Jacksonville. Yeah. Jacksonville's coming up a win. Tennessee's, eight's a big line.

I agree. And I'm looking at Indy, who's favored against Minnesota. That's another one. I'm like, why is Indy favored against Minnesota? Well, they're both picked to be playoff teams by a lot of people before this year started. Yeah, I know, but Indies pick to be a playoff team mostly because of the division that they're in. True. And then I look at Tampa, minus 9 versus Carolina.

I agree with that one too. No one really knows who Carolina is. It's minus 9? Yeah. It's Carolina? and I go through all of this and I still, Kansas City's eight and a half point favorites against the Chargers, I'm like, I hate the Chargers offense. I just don't think they have it.

And to me, Kansas City is explosive and it doesn't matter who you are defensively. My lock of the week is Kansas City. If I got to pick one, I'm picking Kansas City as an eight and a half point favorite in this ballgame. I could be wrong on this one. But to me, I'm betting on what I think is the best team in football against what I think is a bad team. And it's probably a public play

that I'm taking here. It is. But you really went through all of the other ones I was considering with the exception of one. I considered the Jets again against the 49ers this week getting seven. Let me just tell you that

the, you know, when you were so Tennessee, what was interesting about Tennessee. I think it's a big number two against a Jacksonville team that won last week, but there's massive sharp money on Jacksonville, which is why I backed off Tennessee. You mentioned Tampa. I'm with you on that. And by the way, my personal observation of that Tampa New Orleans game is that Tampa is going to be a really good team on defense and they'll figure it out offensively. I didn't see Carolina, but I backed off that because at this point, I just have this sense

it's going to take Tampa a little while to become good offensively. You're 100% right about Indianapolis. The public is all over Minnesota plus three at Indy. There's also some sharp money on Minnesota too, which is why I backed off that. Indy

with Rivers was thought to be a potential division winner. Minnesota this year, certainly one of the teams picked to be a playoff team, if not a division winner. This is a huge game for both of these teams. Huge game. Because falling to O and two when you had playoff expectations really could be disastrous because I was looking at Minnesota's schedule after this one.

They've got the Titans, the Texans, the Seahawks, the Falcons, the Packers. But that's why there was sharp money on Minnesota, which is why I backed off. You had... I would know, I could not take Indy and this. I would take Minnesota. all day if I were to take this. I just think Philip Rivers is a huge question mark. He's not Aaron Rogers. They're secondary, Minnesota secondary, was dreadful last week.

They didn't have much of a rush, but Rogers can move around where Philip Rivers can't. He'll be a way easier target for that defensive line. I think they'll get it together in the secondary a little bit. And a defense that plays a ton of zone in Indies. That's what Kirk does that as a tax zone defenses. I like Minnesota a lot in this game. I just, I would have taken that as my lock of the week.

It just seems so good. Minnesota was favored by three. I would have taken Minnesota favored by three. You're the best. I'm so, I've taught you so well. No one understands what you just said, but I definitely understand it. So, your lock of the week is the Chargers laying eight and a half. My smell test.

No, I'm taking Kansas City. I mean, Kansas City, excuse me, laying eight and a half against the Chargers. My smell test includes Tulane tomorrow and then the Lions, Texans, Patriots on Sunday and the Raiders on Sunday night. The smell test brought to you by MyBooky.ag. Go to MyBooky.orgy.org. Enter my promo code, Kevin, D.C., and they'll double your first deposit up to $1,000 in free play and a doubling of the deposit. You should do it. Even if you already have a place to wager, log on to mybooky.org.

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MyBooky.orgie.org.compochee, promo code Kevin, D.C., your winning season with MyBooky begins this weekend, all right, only at MyBooky.ag. All right, let's finish it up with just predictions on the game here. Who do you like Sunday? I like Arizona. I think Arizona is a really good football team. Again, I think they're consistent on defense with enough talent that they're going to make it really hard on Washington's offense. I don't see a lot of teams getting the ball downfield and out.

side against Arizona, and that includes Washington, because I just don't think that talented enough. And if there were some better weapons interior-wise as a tight end or backs, the slot receivers, I like Sims a lot, but he's your only interior weapon right now. I would like Washington more if they had anything I think they needed to attack Arizona's defense. And then on the flip side, I just, Arizona's ability to get big plays off schedule. and get some of those quick hitter plays against our linebackers

who I don't think are there in zone coverage. I just think it's a bad matchup right now for Washington. If Washington wins this game and Duane finds a way to manage it and pull this one out, I will stop betting against them. I will stop picking the other team, but he's got to show me more than what I thought last week was a Philadelphia team that lost themselves a ball game. Do you have a final score prediction? I think what's the over?

on this. It's pretty hefty. I think it's like 46.5, 47, something like that. It seems like a lot. I see this not being that high scoring of a game. I think it's two good defenses. I think this will be a huge test for Washington's defense, but to me it looks something like 27 to 20. I had Arizona 23 to 20 this morning on radio. That's what I'm going to stick with. I think it's going to be a game that that Washington can win, but I see Arizona winning too. Part of it is just, you know, I respect the boys in the desert. This is a big point spread. I'd lean, I mean, I wonder why it is.

I think Arizona's good. I think you've identified that maybe they're just better than most people think. And it may not be, you know, a reflection of what they think of Washington. Because maybe the following week at Cleveland, if they play well, they'll only be like a three-point dog or a three-and-a-half-point dog instead of a much bigger dog. But I think their defense has a chance to keep a minute. I think the key is Dwayne's got to play well and not make mistakes. 2320, Arizona.

I wanted to mention one other quick thing before we go about the NFL card because I almost forgot to do it when we were doing smell test and lock of the week. You know, the division this week has some big games. The Cowboys with, by the way, no Teron Smith more likely than not. they are playing Atlanta at home, whatever that means. I have no idea. Maybe Jerry's going to fill the place up in Texas. They pretty much have their own laws down there. If they lose, they go to Seattle the following week.

They could be 0-3. The Eagles play the Rams this week. It's a pick-em game at Lincoln Financial. If they were to lose and fall to 0-2, they get the Bengals next week, and then they have a stretch of the 49ers, Steelers, and Ravens. I hate playing the schedule game, but I'm playing the very short-term, you know, the imminent. The one-quarter of the schedule game.

Yeah, this is a big- We're alive 10 games into the season game. This is a big week in the division. It's a big week for Dallas and Philadelphia. The two teams that were picked to be far and above the two teams that would contend for the division title before Washington or the Giants. If somehow Washington went to Arizona and won and the Cowboys lost to Atlanta and the Philadelphia Eagles lost to the Rams and they're looking at what they're looking at coming up,

it would be the reaction in town would be lock it up going to the playoffs. But the point here is these are big games for the Eagles and the Cowboys and the Eagles are still banged up. I mean, I was looking at their injury report earlier. Let me see if they've updated it today, because they still have some issues defensively. Hargrave and Graham are still limited and questionable. And Lane Johnson and Jeffrey, the same thing offensively. It does look like they're going to get Miles Sanders back, which will be huge for them.

But they're banged up, you know? The Rams could, I could see the Rams winning that game. I can see the Rams winning that game too. I think the Rams are good. All right. Well, we'll have plenty to talk about on Monday. I'm anxious to see. The thing that I didn't tell you is that I think this is the most anticipated early season game for me in a long, long time. I know that sounds crazy, Tommy and I were talking about it, but there haven't been many early season games that have been, you know, that I've been excited to watch.

I was not, you know, pumped up, fired up for last week. But after Chase Young and what the defense did, I'm really, really interested and curious, as Tommy said, to see what can happen. The most excited for a week two game we've been in 20 years was after RG3 went to the Superdome, beat the Saints, and everybody couldn't wait to see what he would do next. And it was a game against St. Louis, the Rams in St. Louis, and it was a good game. Josh Morgan had a 15-yard penalty. late that knocked him out of field goal range, even though Kundif tried a 62-yarder to tie the game late.

But RG3 played well in that game. But I'm excited to see what this team does Sunday. I mean, this is not the same Arizona team that Alex Smith beat two years ago in Arizona. There's a much better Arizona team. So I'll just tell you, if Washington finds a way to win this fall game, there's something there. This is a test game, and this would mean they won two pretty tough games. So if they win this game in Arizona, there's something there. Even if it's ugly, there's definitely something there.

All right. We'll be back Monday to talk about it. Everybody have a safe, healthy weekend. Enjoy the game. And we'll be back on Monday.