The Kevin Sheehan Show - What If...Belichick To DC?

Episode Date: October 19, 2023

Kevin and Thom today on a poll that indicated overwhelmingly Commanders' fans would prefer Eric Bieniemy to be the team's next head coach rather than Bill Belichick. Thom had his Washington-Giants prediction and they also weighed in on a few of Bieniemy's comments earlier today about Sam Howell. The boys talked about one of the most famous plays in the Redskins-Cowboys rivalry in the wake of Walt Garrison's passing. MLB Playoffs, "You Heard It Here First", and more on the show 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.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. The show is presented, as always, by Window Nation.

If you've been thinking about new windows, especially with winter right around the corner, call them at 86690 Nation, or go to Window Nation.com. Mention my name. You'll get a free estimate. You've got nothing to lose, and you can take advantage of their best deal of the year,

which is buy to get too free with no money down, no payments, and no interest for two full years. 86690 Nation, window nation.com. Tommy, how are you today? I'm doing great. How are you doing? I'm well. I'm well. I mentioned this briefly on the podcast yesterday that John Hussey is the head referee for the game on Sunday at the

Meadowlands. John Hussey and his crew were the crew on the game at the end of last year that ended in controversial fashion. It was the game in which, you know, they played Sunday night, turned out to be a critical game, turned out to be the difference between the Giants going to the playoffs and Washington not going to the playoffs. Because even if Washington had lost to Cleveland, if they had beaten the Giants, they would, you know, then they could have beaten Dallas to get to the postseason. Right. The Giants ended up 9, 7, and 1, and Washington ended up 8, 8 and 1, and so that was a big game. Well, John Hussey is going to be working the game on Sunday in the Meadowlands, and I went back, and I looked at the miss call, which was the fourth down throw to Samuel, where Holmes, the defensive

back literally bear hugged him, and it didn't get called. Darnay Holm. Holmes, and Terrico and Collinsworth went on and on about how this was, you know, just an awful missed call. And in fact, the NFL told Washington a couple of days after the game they messed up, that that was clearly pass interference. But there was also another play in the final three plays of the game that maybe some people don't remember as much. I think everybody remembers the Curtis Samuel play, because that was the final play in

the game, and it meant that Washington was done. They lost 20 to 12, and they didn't have a chance to run first and goal at the one, get a touchdown, have a chance to make a two-point conversion to stay alive in the game. But two plays earlier, they scored on a Brian Robinson touchdown run. But Terry McClorn was called for an illegal formation penalty. And you may not remember this, but many people listening will remember that Terry checked with the line judge and the line judge said, you're okay. And then he threw the flag. And the touchdown was called back.

And then two plays later, they missed the pass interference call in the end zone. But after the game, Terry said, look, I, you know, most, I think most people know, you have to have seven players on the line of scrimmage. And that's why sometimes you'll see that wide receiver check with the referee to say, am I enough on the line of scrimmage for it to count? And they'll say, yes, you are, or they'll say you've got to move up. And so they, Terry claims that he checked and the referee said, you're good and threw the flag anyway. And that erased a touchdown.

Now, on the follow-up to that, the league did say they don't have any obligation to say anything to the wide receiver. It's the wide receiver's responsibility. But we know from watching football that it is one of those common practices where the referee, they check with the referee and says, you're a-okay or you got to move up. And Terry checked with him and he said, you're a-okay and then he threw the flag anyway. That was not acknowledged by the league to be a rules infraction missed because they don't have that obligation, even though it's kind of a common practice. But they did acknowledge afterwards that Curtis Samuel was absolutely mutilated in the end zone. And it wasn't called. I went back

and watched that play this morning, and maybe at the end of the show, you'll hear the play called by Torrico and Collinsworth. But my God, that was a horrendous miss. In the same way that the Giants are probably upset Sunday night that they didn't get a chance first and goal at the one for an untimed down after Darren Waller got absolutely mugged in the end zone against Buffalo. But anyway, sour grapes, whatever. This crew really screwed Washington over then. It did. And they've got the game Sunday.

John Hussey, 20-year referee, has the game on Sunday again. Had the last Giants' games game and has this one. I think the giants are going to need all the help they can get. Oh, that means we've got a prediction coming up for Tom. me that sounds like for those of you that hate when we pick against them, that maybe, maybe this week we're both going to pick them to win. We both picked them to win last week. You had nearly the final score, 24 to 20. I had 21 to 19 as the final score prediction. So we were both in the general area. Actually, I had the exact number of points, 40 points. I nailed that.

And I had the exact number of points that the team that Washington did score. That's right. But actually, but if people were betting and they took our final scores and they bet Washington plus the points and then they bet the under based on what I put out there, they would have won both bets. For you, they would have won the Washington bet but lost the over bet. Right. Right. I know you care.

Do you want to do your prediction now? Do you want to do what? I got something to tell you. Remember, last podcast I was talking about how there's a dent in my arm? Yes. Where I was really severely cut. Yeah. But we don't need to go to WebMD.

We've got our listeners out there, okay? Who are very concerned about me. One of them, Peter and Manasse's, suggests I might need Tommy John surgery. Another, Russ I am, please ask me to please go to the doctor to get it looked at. And then a third one, if I can find him here, okay, Justin talked to his wife, who said that it's probably at atrophic scar,

or atrophic scar, whatever that is. So it's good to know that our listeners care about my health. I appreciate that. I am looking up atrophy or atrophic, I guess, scars. Yes. And I am making a WebMD diagnosis that she's got it right. I think that's what you have. Okay.

Do you feel better based on the feedback or worse? Well, I feel better that people care enough to actually, like one guy, urged me to go to the doctor. Well, did you go? Are you going to take his advice? No, I'm not going to the doctor. Well, then why should he continue to care and give you advice if you're not going to listen to him? Oh, is that your standard? Yes.

If someone doesn't listen to you, you should just wipe them off the face of your existence? No, that's not much. stay married for this long? That's not my point. My point is, if you're so thrilled that people are offering up the advice, but then you're going to say, no, I'm not going to listen to him. Why should he offer you advice anymore? Okay, don't. You know, I can't imagine you have in this conversation with your wife, if she asks you to do something, and you say, honey, I really appreciate your concern, but I'm not really going to do that. That's not the answer. That's not. The answer is No conversation after that ever again?

The answer typically is yes, dear. Would you like it done right now? It just is easier, I have found out over the years. All right. We'll save your prediction for the Sunday game here for a few minutes anyway. So you saw what I saw this morning. Actually, my producer Denton provided this to me this morning before the radio show that the junkies this morning on 1067 the fan.

put out a Twitter poll. It was a hypothetical question. If you had to choose one of these two guys as the commander's next head coach, who would you choose? Bill Belichick or Eric Bienemy? As of the recording of this podcast with 1,600 votes in, 77% said Eric Bienemy. And 23% said the greatest coach in the history of the NFL? This is just mad. I mean, you know, I'm constantly amazed at the level of lunacy out there from people and how people are influenced. You know, Eric B. Enemy has never been a head coach,

couldn't get a job as a head coach, and you'd rather have him because you've heard him talk a few times, and you've seen an offense that at least has piqued your interest. I don't know how much better it is, but I'll grant you it may be better than it's been over the greatest coach in the history of football. Okay? Look, we love Joe Gibbs, and Joe Gibbs can make the case that he's among the greatest because he's won three Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks.

But Bill Belichick is the answer to that question. Of course it is. chance to hire him. Okay. I understand there's all kinds of baggage there. You know, is he going to run the hold to operation? Is he going to listen to the GM?

Is he going to be, you know, new age, high tech, you know, analytic, all this stuff. But he's Bill Belichick. By the way, betting sport AG or something like that has Belichick is the favorite to be Washington's next head

coach. So, look, the easy answer here is, what is wrong with you, people? I mean, seriously, you need your heads examined. Seriously? Like, you would actually pick Eric B. Enemy over Bill Belichick if these are your two choices? I like Eric Bien to me so far. I actually have been more impressed than unimpressed through the first six games. We're talking about Bill Belichick here.

I don't think it's an unreasonable position if it were Belichick versus no Belichick or starting with a clean slate. Like if people said, look, I want the new owner to hire a general manager. I want a head of football operations that's sharp, that's got some experience, and he's going to go out and find a head coach that maybe it's the new up-and-coming head coach. That's the route I'd like to go. that's not unreasonable to me. If somebody said, you know, Belichick's 71 years old or whatever he is, I just, you know, how many years are we going to have them? Plus, we've got to give him total control.

I'd rather go like another route. That's not unreasonable to me. Given the choice of Bill Belichick or Eric Bienemy next year as your head coach, no disrespect to Eric Bianemy. He's doing a fine job so far, six games into the first. first time he's ever had full responsibility that comes with being, you know, a true full responsibilityed offensive coordinator. What is wrong with you people?

Seriously. Bill Belichick's forgotten more football than Eric B. enemy has any clue about. And he's not 90, he's not 95 or 91. He's 71. By the way, Pete Carroll is an older coach than Bill Belichick. Pete Carroll's, I think, a year or two older than Belichick. Okay, but what about his recent performance, Kevin?

What about it? I mean, okay, he was great with Brady and he won all those Super Bowls with Brady. Do you think, and maybe we're learning it was more Brady than Belichick. Okay, does that, all of a sudden that makes Belichick a terrible coach? Oh, my God. Did you see, do you remember him as a different? defensive coordinator against our glory year teams? Yes. I mean, remember, look it. Do you think this defense has talent and you give it to Bill Belichick?

Right. Come on. I, whatever, whatever. You missed yesterday. Because you, you and I recorded the podcast on Tuesday early. and Eric Eager had not yet come on my radio show. And Eric Eager, and I talked about him yesterday, and Pro Football Focus and Sumer Sports with Thomas Demetrov. And he made a comment that got a lot of attention within our fan base.

And the comment was that Sam Howell's a good NFL backup quarterback. And, you know, the reaction from many out there, probably the same people that would vote Eric B. Enemy at this point. instead of Bill Belichick, I guess, although it's 77%. That's shocking to me. Shocking. You know, that really, I'm sorry, but that really speaks to the level of intelligence we're dealing with out there sometimes.

It's not a rational decision. It's not the sharpest fan base in the NFL anymore. There was a time that it was, it's not anymore. It hasn't been for years. And I'm not being, you know, maybe I am being a little bit condescending here. I just, this is based on, you know, firsthand observation, which you have as well. I mean, it just, let me just say this. Maybe that's the wrong way to put it.

Maybe the way I put it yesterday is better. It's a very, very hypersensitive fan base, which could be easily explained by, you know, this 25, year run of being, you know, a fan of one of the most embarrassing franchises in sports. And so, you know, you just, you've had it. You just don't want to hear it anymore. So when somebody actually questions Carson Wentz's signing, trade, you can't, you can't deal with it. When somebody says Sam Hal might not be the answer, you can't deal with it. When somebody backs up with facts, the sack rate, the historicals with sack rates not improving, you can't deal with it. Somebody throws out Bill Belichick or Eric B. Enemy because Eric B. Enemy is the current guy

on your team. You can't even contemplate the possibility that Eric B. Enemy isn't the answer there. I also think the fan base isn't nearly as sharp as it once was. That's for sure. But it is definitely there's a portion of it that's super sensitive to criticism of the team. I mean, you know, look, we both knew Larry very well. We know Larry very well. I would imagine that the people that used to watch Larry's show are a lot of these people. Because that was the one show in town. There really wasn't a Homer-esque show on radio. The Homer show was Larry's show on Comcast Sports Center, NBC Sports Washington. I mean, Larry was an employee of the team.

But that show was a total pom-pom-waving Homer show. And there were people that watched it. And they didn't want to hear anything that was constructively critical of the team. Didn't want to hear it. Larry hated to hear it. I understand

how we've gotten to where we've gotten. Okay. when we've used the word damaged fan base often. Right. And you could argue that damage includes football intellect and emotional ability to deal with questions like this. You know, the idea of being, oh, my God, if I don't pick Eric B. Enemy here in this poll,

that means I'll be saying, I think they made a mistake on their offensive coordinator that they brought in here. And oh my God, what if that happens? Where are we going to be then? Yeah. By the way, Bill Belichick's not coming here. Josh Harris, I believe, is going to want to start over from scratch, which I actually think is my preference as well. Like if the question was asked, would you want Bill Belichick here next year or would you want to start down the path of a true GM having full football responsibility, being responsible for hiring the head coach? I don't know. It is Bill Belichick we're talking about. Let me reconsider that one because Bill Belichick would also be incredibly motivated.

And you'd have, you can watch the Patriots. They are still well coached. They have issues. Is it quarterback? They have issues with personnel. Bill Belichick, the general manager, has actually failed Bill Belichick, the head coach, more than anything else. And he wouldn't, he's not going to go somewhere where he doesn't have full control. So it's not going to happen. No. By the way, somebody also sent me.

And I think you're right that Josh Harris wants to get a fresh start with a young, fresh general manager, and have that general manager hire a young coach that's more 21st century than 20th century but again we're talking about the kind of person

that you throw out all the reasons why you wouldn't want to hire him say that again all the reasons that you wouldn't want to hire Bill Belichick you ignore you just ignore them Right.

Because it's Bill Belichick. Yeah, and, you know, as we're talking about him, I know that I, on the quarterback front, have advocated very much so in recent years. You just have to keep swinging big until you find one, you know, or until you land on one. Now, you know, people have come after me for you wanted Russell Wilson. Yes, that's true. and I probably would have been wrong on that one,

but I probably would have been right on Matt Stafford. I think I would have been right on Aaron Rogers. I mean, I'd love to see. Now is where in watching the Jets, in watching how good they are with just Zach Wilson, I'm convinced that they would be, you know, a legitimate front runner right now for the Super Bowl, had Rogers stayed healthy.

But, you know, Belichick's not even, like, we're also talking about this situation before when we were talking about quarterbacks coming into a dysfunctional franchise and how would that work? And, you know, I understood always some of that pushback. But at the same time, for me, as long as Dan was the owner, there was only one way to overcome the dysfunction. And that was with, you know, an elite quarterback. And I was never against getting it in the draft either, you know, figuring out a way to trade up to draft a guy that you were 100% convinced was going to be the next guy. But Bill Belichick's a known.

He's the greatest head football coach of all time. I mean, some people might still debate that. Maybe more people will debate that now in, you know, the hindsight of what Belichick's been without Brady here over the last few years. But, you know, nobody's going to say that he's not one of the two or three greatest of all time, for sure. And it would be, you know, somebody sent this to me during the radio show, too, that cousins, Washington's like the second favorite for cousins next year. So imagine Belichick. Oh, I forgot.

I just said his name. I'm supposed to say, you know who. Belichick and you know who as a combination in Washington next year, because, you know, Bill loves Kirk. Absolutely loves him. Before they played them Thanksgiving last year, go look at the four or five minute rant that he did on cousins leading up to the game.

But anyway, that's not happening either. None of this stuff is happening. You know, we're in the midst of a season, which, by the way, they're three and three with a chance to get to four and three. And when Sunday is over, they might be in this sixth spot in the NFC playoff picture too early. And one game behind the Philadelphia Eagles for first place, because they play the dolphins on Sunday night, with Philadelphia coming to town the following.

week. So let's focus on, you know, sounds like a season to me. You know, that, so that apparently, I think, is the first week. It's Halloween weekend. Halloween's not that weekend. I think they're, Halloween's that Monday night or whatever. But Eagles, Washington, Sunday, October, what's the Sundays? So the game was on the 15th, 22nd, 29th. So Sunday the 29th. Washington and Philadelphia, it could get flexed to Sunday night. The Bears and Chargers are currently in that spot. This is the first week in which games I think Sunday night could get flexed. And there is a Browns Seahawks game, but Washington, Philly, especially if it were for first place, although I think it's got to be picked by now. I think it does, or maybe by today. Maybe by the time people are listening to it, Washington, Philadelphia was flexed to Sunday night. But hey, you know, I think they've got a really good chance to beat the Giants.

I do. I'm a little bit concerned. They could lose the game. But I kind of like their chances Sunday. Have you seen the injury report for New York? I mean, they've been so injured all year long on offense in particular. They've been pulling offensive linemen off a practice squad. It's all around the league.

It's unbelievable. And, you know, it looks like they're not getting, that they're not going to get Andrew Thomas back. Evan Neal might be in jeopardy of not playing. I had somebody on from New York this morning on radio that she believed that Tyrod Taylor would get the start at quarterback. By the way, Kendall Fuller missed practice again today, it looks like. So that's a concern now for Sunday,

especially given how well he's been playing and played Sunday against Atlanta. But the Giants are just, they're just barely getting by. And they played well Sunday night against Buffalo. So why don't we do that right now? What's your pick Sunday night? I like Washington putting up some points this week, a little bit more points, 31 to 20.

30 over to Giants. 31 to 20. Yeah. Wow. Well, part of that will be defensive points as well, because somebody in that Washington secondary is going to have a picked six. Okay. And maybe it'll be a manual Forbes, because if Kendall Fuller can't play, I'm assuming

Forbes would play Sunday. Yeah, it would be. Yeah. And then you'd have Danny Johnson continuing in a slot. You know, it's interesting because the Giants are really banged up, but you're right. I mean, if Tyrod Taylor doesn't decide to run the ball at the end of the first half with no timeout, you know, they kick the field goal instead. Maybe the Giants wanted to win in that game. Yeah, that was a, I tweeted out at the end of the third quarter.

It's 6-0 Giants, but man, this is a damn good game. And it really was a very intense physical game. And the Giants really, I mean, we talked about this, I think, on Monday, on Monday show, but they're just a completely different team with Saquan Barclay in the lineup. And they would be a completely different team if they had offensive line health, which they haven't had since literally early in the opener against Dallas to start the season. But it's a loseable game to act like, you know, if, I think it was Pauli basically said to me this morning on radio,

as in the 757, Polly, he said, if they lose to the Giants, we need somebody's skin on Monday. We need somebody's hide on Monday. Somebody's got to basically be shot on Monday. I'm like, you know, again, this idea, like with Chicago, like with Atlanta, that these are, you know, these are should win games.

It's ridiculous. Washington's a middle of the pack team. Middle of the pack teams lose to middle of the pack teams all the time, you know, because by definition, one of those middle of the pack teams is going to lose, but middle of the pack teams lose to lesser teams all the time. And right now, I would say that the giants are a slightly inferior team to Washington. Atlanta was basically dead even across the board. Chicago offensively had some firepower, you know, with Justin Fields healthy. He got hurt last week.

And the Giants, though, with their injuries, they're decent defensively. You know, they're not a terrible defensive team, but they just don't have a lot of ways to hurt you offensively, especially with everybody out other than Saquan Barkley. I really see this game, by the way, and I'll have much more on this tomorrow, being very similar to the Atlanta game from a defensive standpoint. It's like, let's line up with five across the front, three four as Ron calls it. But that Cinco package, let's stop the run. That'll be the goal to stop the run, Sequin Barclay and make Tyrod Taylor and his group of very average to less than average playmakers try to beat us. The playmakers in Atlanta are better than the playmakers they've got in New York.

So it's basically the same game. And then the Giants are a little bit better defensively than I think probably the numbers say. I said Atlanta was a lot better than the numbers said. And by the way, Atlanta now, you know, ranked very high defensively in a lot of metrics. But they're not as good as Atlanta. Atlanta is better defensively than the Giants, but the Giants have some good players defensively, certainly up front with Leonard Williams and Dexter Lawrence and Tibado.

But Washington is going to have to give this game a way to lose it, I think. Yeah. I mean, this game should be played the way the Atlanta game was played. Let's stop the run. Let's make their quarterback beat us. We don't think he can. and let's not turn the ball over. And if we do those three things,

we've got a really good chance to win the game. And if they turn it over, we'll definitely win the game. To me, it's a very similar game. 312 would be, you know, with some defensive set up scores. I mean, they had some defensive and special teams set up scores on Sunday and only got to 24. But that's because the offense did nothing. in the second half. I hope Kendall Fuller can play. I think he's played really well. Although

I'm not, you know, the Emmanuel Forbes thing, I'm ready to see him hopefully, you know, get another opportunity. I think he's got some talent. But they feel like, you know, he's not ready. So we'll see what happens on Sunday if Fuller can't go. All right. When we come back, Tom wrote a column. He wants to talk about that. We'll talk baseball playoffs. And I want to read to you, something Eric Bianamy said today, without saying much, which he's brilliant at. But it was about Sam Howell and the sack problem. That's next right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Head to my bookie.ag.

Use my promo code Kevin, DC for a cash deposit bonus. MyBooky.orgie.g. Kevin DC is the promo code. the line on tonight's game, New Orleans minus two and a half, a little bit surprising since it seems like Trevor Lawrence is going to play. I do have an early smell test pick for the weekend. Marshall plus three and a half tonight at home against James Madison. James Madison is undefeated, Tommy. They are a very good college football team. They're undefeated.

They are laying a short number. the public's all over the Dukes laying the three and a half. They've never beaten Marshall. Marshall's in Huntington, West Virginia, right? Or wrong? I think it is. Yes, I believe so. They've never beaten Marshall. They're laying a number that the public perceives to be too short. Take Marshall plus the three and a half tonight. I think they beat James Madison outright. By the way, for all of you, JMU people, and I love your school, there's something about JMU that I've always loved. There's an incredible, uh, voted alum base and student population.

And now that you're playing big time college football, it sucks that you can't go to a bowl game until starting next year, I think it is. This rule that keeps you from going to a bowl game in your first two years of playing, you know, at the D1 level is stupid. But I think you're going down tonight. James Madison is a three and a half point favorite. Take Marshall, early smell test pick plus the three and a half. I also kind of like the Saints tonight, but that's not an official pick.

MyBooky.ag for all of your sports betting needs. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. They will give you a cash bonus on your initial deposit. Tommy, on the podcast yesterday and on the radio show, I told everybody that I was going to bet Houston last night for the maximum. I just thought that Scherzer coming off this injury, and, you know, he has not been, and I looked this up before, he's not been a great postseason pitcher.

No, he has not. He's been up and down. He's had some drastic blow-ups in postseason before, and he's had some great games. Yes. But he hasn't been consistent. And he got absolutely sheled last night, so I won that pick.

That was not a smell test pick. We don't do baseball picks on this show. But tonight we get Phillies and Diamondbacks. game three. In Arizona. Remember the other day, the other day we were talking about Schwerber and you said he hits him in bunches and he did that in game two. He's something else. He's so strong. He really is. Yeah. I mean, people, I mean, there was, when he was in Washington, I mean, that was the last moment of hope for the nationals because Schwerver had this tremendous month where I think he hit like 16 home runs in one month. Yeah, right.

and then and the nationals were within two games the first place and then Strasbourg got hurt and then Schwaburber got a terrible hamstring injury and I don't think he wound up getting traded before he ever returned and the whole thing just collapsed and it was Nassabin the same sense yeah so

so 2021 in Washington in Washington, he hit 25 home runs. A bunch of them were in one month. Just set the record, I think. Yeah, I'm trying to look for the game log. I do remember that, though. It was just, it was a, they were in bunches. Like, I want to see exactly what it was.

Yeah, there's this, there's this stretch, Tommy. There's this stretch. Listen to this stretch. You ready? So it was in June of 2021. And he went two homers, one homer. Then he went four games without it. Then two homers, three homers in a game.

Then no homers, one homer, two homers, one homer. No homers, no homers, two homers, one homer. So let me just add those up. 3, 6, 7, 12, 13, 15. 15 home runs over a... It looks like an 18-game stretch. Yeah. Incredible.

Yeah. Bunches. It really was. That was it. Yeah. You know? You wound up getting traded when everything fell apart. I think Bruce Bochie is going to be...

He's going to regret pushing Max out there last night. You know, they ended up scoring a bunch of... runs after he left the game. Yeah, I know. I don't know. Actually, I shouldn't say that. I don't know what their options were, because like you, it's not like I'm following Texas all year. But it's 2-1 now, and it kind of feels like Houston's back in this series. They were the favorite to win this series.

They play, you got a double-header tonight. You got Phillies, Arizona at 5 o'clock, Houston, Texas at 8 o'clock. Tell me about it. The remarkable thing about this, this series is that's the first game Texas has lost this postseason. First one. Yeah. Yeah.

And Houston has a losing record at home this year. Overall? In their division. Yes, with a losing record at home. That's remarkable, isn't it? Well, let's not forget in the 2019 World Series they lost all four games at home. Yes. Yes, they did.

So that's still one of the oddities of all time. The Astros had a losing record. So, I mean, they're in their element right now playing on the road. Yeah. There's something about watching that team. I know that you haven't forgotten, and I know a lot of baseball fans haven't forgotten. But there's something, like this is their seventh straight American League championship series. and for me, like, now that it's obvious that in addition to cheating,

they're also a really good team. And I would also add to that that we love Dusty Baker and root for Dusty Baker. That's it for me. I mean, Dusty Baker has wiped clean the evil that was there as far as I'm concerned. Maybe that's it. That's just for me. Do you think most sports fans have kind of almost? forgotten that, not hardcore baseball fans, but sports fans, that kind of just pay attention

this time of year? I think so. I don't think baseball fans have. I still think when the Astros travel, they still get on the road. They still get jeered for that. I mean, there are still guys that, you know, I think it's spring training sometimes. There's still people who show up with trash cans and stuff like that, you know, So I don't think baseball fans have, but in the general conversation, I think it's disappeared.

Right. Okay. I wanted to just read some of Eric B. Enemey's quotes from just moments ago. Today is Coordinator Day out in Ashburn. So Jack Del Rio spoke and Eric Bienemy spoke. He was asked, he has created the art of long answers without actually, you know, disseminating any real information. He was asked about what the offense can improve upon. And he said, well, obviously, you never want to have the high number of sacks that we have. You know, first and foremost, Sam,

the young quarterback is still learning how to play the game. Then on top of that, he just needs to continue to improve with his mechanics and the things that he's doing. I think that'll help everything out. Then our O line, they're doing a heck of a job. Just they need to continue protecting. But on top of that, as you know, the game goes hand in hand. It doesn't make a different. who's making the mistake. We all get blamed for it. When it's all said and done, we just got to make sure that we're giving our guys the right info, the right details, so they can just continue to improve. But the thing is, I like our guys, our mindsets are in the right place. And then the follow-up on coaching Sam Howe. At least he didn't say last week, he talked about,

he said he saw the light last week. He saw the light last week. He saw the light. Yeah. So I think he didn't say that again. More on how. Well, So tell us what you're doing with Hal coaching him wise. Well, you coach him day to day, just like we normally do. You bring him outside for individual drills. You point out the issues that always show up on tape at times. And then you just address them and you continue working with a young quarterback as you're supposed to do. This is so great.

You know what this reminds me of? This is head coachworthy, Tommy. This is head coachworthy. I know. This is Bella chicken. In his own way, in his own way, that's Belichickie. I just said that, yes. Except he doesn't use six words.

He uses a lot to say nothing. But this reminds me one of my great quotes of all time was when Casey Stangel was going to manage the Mets. This is their first year, and they're going to have an expansion draft. And they picked a catcher, Chris Canisero, as their first pick. and reporters asked them, well, why did you pick, you know, this guy as a catcher? And Casey Stangler said, well, you need a catcher because if you don't have a picture, you're going to have a lot of the pass balls. That's what this reminds me of.

You know, stating the obvious, well, we coach them, we take them outside, we show them what to do, we coach them, and that's what we generally do, and that's the way we coach them. There is, I'm reading now through the rest of the transcript, because we just got sent the transcript. There is one later on if he reminds howl of the internal clock he has to have as a QB. Quote, yeah, you could talk to him until he's blue in the face, right? But yes, those conversations are discussed.

You know, you watch film together. These things are discussed. Like I said, the kid is still a kid. He's discovering how to become a professional football player at this level, okay? Ideally, we would love for it to be perfect. That's not necessarily the case. The thing that I appreciate about Sam is that all the mistakes that he does make,

he shows improvement. One of the biggest things that I've been harping on is telling him and making sure when he's scrambling to keep his eyes downfield, I thought he did a heck of a job of that in the game keeping his eyes down field when he scrambled out to the right and located Terry and made that big completion.

That was huge. That's improvement. So as much as you want him to take giant steps, there's been some really good baby steps that he's been taking that's been helping with his process. And so ideally, yes, I want him to work on his pocket presence. We're working on that, but I'm not in his shoes.

The thing I do love about him is that he's a competitor. He's a great listener, and he knows the difference between what's right and what's wrong. So that's what makes it fun coaching him, close quote. That was actually, you know, that was more than what I read earlier. I know, but this was his MO from day one. Yes. The first couple of days he was in camp with Sam Howe. You know, he talked about how great he was at correcting his mistakes.

Right. Okay, we're still in that mode. We're still in. He listens and he corrects his mistakes mode. It's so funny, I know I've mentioned this in previous years, but to look at Jack Del Rio, the transcript that they send out of his presser in the number of one-sentence answers on what led to a good performance by the linebackers. I thought it was a good day.

we'd like to stack a few of those together. On what the plan for Emmanuel Forbes going forward is, we'll see he's maintained a very good disposition work ethic, the things we want to see in terms of preparing and working, it's a fluid situation. On how Danny Johnson did stepping into Forbes's role, he did well, Danny's very dependable. On New York Giants quarterback Tyrod Taylor,

good veteran quarterback, seen a lot, done a lot, has mobility. I think they run their offense, with either guy. He just, he's great. This is what you like, though. I love that. Right? Yeah, I don't. You want that. But that's a member of the media, you should want that. I understand that, but I, I remember when very little was said, but a lot was done. And for 25 years, we've had a lot said with little done. And Jack Del Rio is old school. Eric B. Enemy's old school, too. They both say nothing. They just do it in different ways.

But anyway, tell me about your column. Well, you know, Walt Garrison died recently. I didn't know that. Former cowboy fullback, who was actually a real-life cowboy, competed in rodeo for many years after he retired from football and actually did it while he's playing football. And when I think of Walt Garrison, I think of one play. Ken Houston. I think of Kenny Houston stopping him on a fourth down with seconds left in a game at RFK Stadium in 1973.

Washington led 14 to 7, and Ken Houston stops Walt Garrison, lifts him off the ground and puts him down right at the goal line to save the game for Washington. That became an iconic moment. It's one of the iconic plays in franchise history. It's one of the iconic plays in the history of that rivalry. No doubt. Yes. So I called Kenny Houston about the passing of Walt Garrison.

And I took, you know, I didn't know if they were good friends after that. You know, it became a thing where they travel around together and did autographs shows. Who knew what was happening? How it went. Well, it turns out they didn't have any. They weren't really friends. They didn't really know each other. Well, even though they're both from Texas, you know,

and they're both in the Texas Fourth Hall Fame. And Kenny told me this story a couple years ago where he was at a Texas Sports Hall Fame induction ceremony. And they had autograph shows and stuff like that. And Walt Garrison was signing autographs, and he had a line. So Kenny Houston got in line. And when it was his turn,

he said to Walt Garrison, can I have your autographing? Walt Garrison didn't recognize him. And Garrison says, who do I make it out to? And Kenny Houston says, Kenny Houston. And then Walt started laughing, and they had a good laugh and a nice conversation. That's probably the last time he saw him before he passed away. Oh, wow. But I talked to him about that.

I talked to him about the play. and he very detailed in how the play unfolded and how the whole atmosphere, the whole Howard CoSell, Monday night football, the Redskins, Cowboys rivalry, just elevated that play. And he said it elevated his career.

He already had an all-pro career before that. And he said it to raise his profile significantly. So that's all. I had a conversation with Kenny Houston about that play. can't wait to read this comment. Who has come back from two cancer. He's beaten cancer twice

in recent years. He's been through a lot. Great guy, great talker, and one of the great defensive players in the history of this franchise. I mean, so first of all, I can't wait to read the column.

And I just retweeted it. So you can get it at Tom Levero or at Kevin S. DC at Kevin Sheen, D.C. Excuse me. I don't even know my own Twitter handle. At Kevin Sheen, D.C. So, that game is very, very memorable, as you discussed. First of all, Sunny was the quarterback that night, not Billy Kilmer.

Washington was the defending NFC champion team. That was the year after they lost to the Dolphins in Super Bowl 7. but the last game they had played against the Cowboys was the 72 NFC Championship game on New Year's Eve, 1972, the 26 to 3 win over the Cowboys to go to their first Super Bowl. And that game does not exist anywhere. There are so many games, Tommy, from even back that far, that are available on YouTube as the game was called by CBS,

or in this case it would have been ABC because it was a Monday night game. The only thing you have from that is there is some video or film or the actual video of the play. Not of that play. That's an NFL film's play. What you actually have like the ABC video of, not the whole game is Sunny's touchdown pass to Charlie Taylor. And Brigg Owens had a pick six of Craig Morton, who is the quarterback. Staubeck was not the quarterback that night, that gave Washington a 14 to 7 lead. And then the Cowboys drove the ball down the field.

And remember, there was no overtime in 1973. So the Cowboys weren't, they were going for what would have ended up being a tie, you know, had they scored. But Kenny Houston came up with the tackle on Walt Garrison. And that play really goes down in, you know, that is a top five-ish kind of memorable franchise moment. You know, Rigo's run, you know, is clearly number one. You know, Dexter and Darrell Grant in the championship game, you know, is there. Darrell Green's punt return in Chicago.

I mean, we got a lot of them, but, you know, and then, by the way, we have a lot of them that didn't go our way. Clint Longley, you know, that moment. But, and certainly 35, 34 in terms of the history of Cowboys, Washington. But, you know, it's funny that season, Washington came in as the NFC champion, you know, defender. And they were a really good football team, but they went back and forth with Sonny and Billy all year long. You know, Sunny was hoping that that would be his year because he had torn the Achilles in 72 in Yankee Stadium against the Giants. Didn't get that opportunity.

But they went back and forth that whole year. and Kilmer ended up being the starting quarterback at the end of the year. And they won a game in their season finale in a snowstorm at RFK against the Eagles to clinch a playoff berth. And then lost to the Vikings in the playoffs at old Metropolitan Stadium in just frigid weather in a very close game. That game actually exists on YouTube. It's pretty cool to go back and watch it for those of you of a certain age that remember that they played Minnesota several times. times in the playoffs over the years. You know, they played them in 73, they played them in 76, they played them in 82,

they played them in 87 in the NFC championship game, and then they played them in the wild card round in 92 as well in Minnesota and won that game. But I can't wait to read that. And I think that's awesome that Kenny Houston got in line and introduced himself to Walt Harrison, because they'll forever be linked. How old was Walt Garrison? I think Walt Garrison was 79 when he died and I think Kenny 78. Talk about a great defense.

Brigg-Owins and Kenny Houston are your safetys. Well, eventually it became Jake Scott and Kenny Houston. Yes. You know? But no, yeah. We've talked about this before. any kind of list you pull up of the greatest of all time at a position, Kenny Houston is the highest ranked player in the history of the franchise

at a position in the history of the game of any other player. Typically, you will see Kenny Houston, you know, in the top five, top three greatest safeties in the history of the game. Gil Brandt, who recently passed away, I think had Kenny Houston as the second greatest safety in the history of the game behind Emlyn Tennell. And ahead of, I think, it was Ronnie Lott, Ned Reed. But you don't get that for any other position. Like Sammy Baugh is not a top five quarterback. Daryl Green's not a top five corner of all time.

Kenny Houston is the highest ranked position player of all time in the history of the franchise. any Houston, 12 pro bowls, 12 all pro selections, named to the NFL's all-decade team in the 70s, named to the NFL's 100th anniversary all-time team. And I'm pulling this up right now, but basically half of his career was in Houston with the Oilers and the other half was in Washington. I think it might be a few years more in D.C., but maybe like one more year or something like that. Here it is. Houston, 67 to 72. He got traded in 73. Right. And played here until 1980. Right. So he played eight years here and six years in Houston in his 14-year career. God, 12-time pro bowler. First team all-pro twice, second-team all-pro ten times.

So in 12 of his seasons, he was an all-pro. Yes. By the way, one other thing about Ken Houston, he was a really good punt returner when they put him back to return punts. He had a punt return for a touchdown in a game against the Cowboys in 74 at home. They didn't always use him as a punt returner because that was the era where they had guys like Speedy Duncan, Larry Jones, Eddie Brown. You know, Eddie Brown was a big-time punt returner. He was before Mike Nelms. God, you know, Washington's got, and I mentioned this the other day about punt returns when Jameson Crowder had the big punt return the other day.

They've just had before, you know, in the 70s, 80s into the 90s before Brian Mitchell left, they had a run, they had a 20-some-odd year run of incredible returners. Yes, they did. And they haven't come close to it since. No, they haven't. And that was the emphasis, really. It started with George Allen's emphasis on special teams. You know, he was the first half of special teams coach. And that coach with Marv Levy.

Marv Levy, by the way, if you think Bill Belichick's too old, Marv Levy coach the Bills, I think until he was 80, right, Tommy? Or am I exaggerating that? I think it might be an exaggeration. Marv Levy is 98 years old. He is still alive. The last year he was a coach in Buffalo was 97, 1997. So that is exactly 26 years ago.

So he was 72 when he retired. He was not 80. My fault. But he was right where Bill Belichick is. Did Bud Grant come back and coach as an 80-year-old? somebody I thought coached as an 80-year-old in the NFL. But Grant retired once and then came back to coach the Vikings in a second stint, I am pretty sure.

He coached the Vikings from 67 to 83 and then came back and coached him in 85. He was born in 27, so he was, yeah, he was, he was, he was not anywhere near that old, much younger than Marvely V. Is Pete Carroll on the verge of becoming the oldest head coach in history? How old was George Hallis when he coached? Oldest head coaches, NFL head coaches of all time. Do you have a guess as to who that is? I'm going to say Hallis.

Romeo? Cronnell is the oldest ever NFL head coach. He was 73 years old when he was coaching in 2020 to Houston Texans. The second oldest is George Hallis. He was 72 when he retired in 67. The third oldest, Marv Levy. He was 72 when he retired in 1997. Al Saunders, the Al Saunders. was a head coach at 71 years old with Cleveland. He must have been an interim head coach, right? What do we remember Al Saunders for in Washington? There's one thing.

Yeah, the 700-page playbook. Page playbook. Pete Carroll is, Pete Carroll's got a chance to be the oldest coach ever. Dick Vermeal, Belichick, you know, anyway. All right. Let's finish up the show with a you heard it here first. We will do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, Tommy, this segment is brought to everybody listening by Shelley's Back Room 1331 F Street, Northwest. Tell us about Shelley's. Big time night tonight with all the sports going on. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's a great place to watch sports at Shelly's. At eight big high-definition TV. these scattered throughout the whole place with all these great chairs, these comfort leather

chairs that you can just sink into, couches, you know, great tables and chairs where they can serve their wonderful menu from. And the selection of cigars is the best you'll find in D.C. Shelly's has always make sure that they have the top 25 cigars named annually by Cigar of Fissione auto magazine. And that's the Bible of the cigar industry. You know, I was down there the other day

and I had a Rocky Patel, vintage Churchill when I was there. And that's the thing at Shelly's, you see a lot of the word vintage around, you know, whether it's liquor or whether

it's cigars. A lot of vintage is used because Shelly's is a vintage kind of place. It's old school. It is. Yeah. It's so old school, but, you know, there's room for everybody at Shelley's. New Age, old school, everybody at Shelley's. I ran into a couple of big fans of the podcast last week when I was there.

And it's just a friendly place. It's a vintage kind of place. Shelly's back room, 1331 F Street, Northwest. you can find out more at shelley's backroom.com. All right, it's time for you heard it here first. I've been waiting to hear what the big announcement was going to be. You got it right here. Heard it here first.

All right, bold predictions for the week to finish up the show, Tommy. First of all, last night, and I know that very few of you were paying attention to NBA preseason. I mean, why would you? But the Wizards played the Knicks in Madison Square, Garden, and Jordan Poole in a preseason game had 41 points. He had 29 in the first half, but understanding he had 41 points in 27 minutes last night. So I was thinking that my you heard it here first was the Wizards are going to sail over the total. Do you know what they're over under when total is in Vegas? You don't, so I'll tell you. 24 and a half wins.

Like, the next worst is Portland at 27 and a half. The Wizards are thought to be by far and away the worst team in the league, with, by the way, kind of a tanking strategy. But the truth is, they actually have some decent players. You know, Kyle Kuzma, you know, Tyos Jones, and Jordan Poole, who, you know, one of my predictions was going to be the over, but I'm going to pass on that. One of my predictions I was thinking about was going to be

Jordan Poole's going to lead the league in scoring, but that's a little bit too bold. But I just wanted to fit some Wizards conversation into the show. Aren't you happy about that? Here's my real, you heard it here first. Chris Rodriguez is going to get on Sunday eight plus carries against the Giants. You heard it here first.

Rodriguez, eight plus carries against the Giants on Sunday. I promise you that out there, they really like Chris Rodriguez. They think he's really good. And we saw him get four carries, 23 yards against Atlanta. By the way, he's had 12 total snaps the entire year, and on seven of them, they've given him the ball. So if he's in the game, he's probably going to get the ball. They still love Brian Robinson, Jr. They still love Antonio Gibson,

but they really like Chris Rodriguez as a runner. Chris Rodriguez, eight plus carries on Sunday against the Giants is my you heard it here first prediction. What do you got? Well, I'm going to steal one of yours because I like it so much. Let me explain first, and we could talk about this more on Tuesday before the wizard start their season. but I'm very curious about the Wizards this year.

I'm not down on them at all. I like the kid that they drafted. Coolabali. How do you pronounce his name? Coolabali. Kulabali. I like him for what I've seen from him a lot. Got a lot of steals so far in the preseason.

I like some of them. I like the way the front office has kind of engineered this re, Not rebuild, because I'm sure they get fined if they use the word rebuild. Sort of like a restructuring, because I don't think it stops them from being, from still accomplishing what they want to do. I think that both Jordan Poole and Kyle Kuzma and their contracts are still tradable commodities, if they want to go for a number one pick at some point in the season. Right.

I like them to pretty over to go over the point total. I think they're going to be competitive. The win total. I think they're going to be competitive. I think a lot of it has to do with West Sunself. I think that's why I think they brought in about six new assistant coaches to basically hold his hand. Their biggest issue is going to get beat, and it's like any NBA team, is to get them all to play together. and not like somebody told me, you know, eat themselves up, you know, with their own egos.

I think that'll be their biggest issue. Look, I don't want them to win more than 24 and a half games. I want them to win 19, and I want them to also trade out, trade off some assets and just accumulate, you know, high picks and pick really, really high for the next few years. And see if you can actually. Well, I don't think that's going to happen with. I know that's what's... It's got to be good. I understand that.

Like, this is, when they made the Jordan Pool trade, like, we talked about this. It's like, and then they re-signed Kuzman, it's like, are you really going to suck that much? Well, Vegas thinks they're going to. So that's why I didn't go over with my bold prediction. But one of my favorite players in town is going to become Tyas Jones. That's another thing I'm predicting. The point guard that, they got from Memphis.

He is, you know, he's always been a super high IQ player, but more of a backup point guard. He's going to be the starting point guard here. And I think that from a basketball IQ and leader kind of a player, I think I'm going to really end up liking Tyos Jones. And I think that he is young enough at 26, I think he is, to be a part of whatever comes next. that's enough basketball for the day.

Certainly enough wizards. By the way, I didn't mention this earlier this week. I'm disappointed that Maryland wasn't in the preseason top 25 in the AP or the coach's poll. I'm actually surprised by it. There's something about the, it doesn't matter in a sport that has, you know, 68 teams in a tournament. Maryland certainly should be barring injuries in NCAA tournament team this year. and they'll be ranked at some point.

They were picked, by the way, by the Big Ten writers to finish third in the Big Ten behind Purdue, who's a top five team in Michigan State, who's a preseason top five team. It's weird because the Big Ten people recognize how good Maryland is, but the Big Ten has a couple of teams in the top 25, and Maryland's not one of them. But anyway, the emphasis in college sort of offseason is to look at who did well in the portal and who brought in somebody from somewhere else in the portal

and to give that team a lot of credit. Well, Marilyn kept Juju Reese and Jemir Young from going to the portal. Like, does anybody really think like if they went out and got some guy that averaged 12 points a game at a, you know, at a non-power five school but, you know, was sought after? That was better than keeping Reese or Jemir Young or Dante Scott. I know some of you aren't thrilled with Dante Scott coming back. I am. And not to mention, they've got one of the better recruiting classes in the country coming in.

Their freshmen will be big contributors. I don't know. It's weird how college basketball is viewed in the pre-season. It's like it's not the recruiting class as much as it's who did well in the portal. Who went out and got four or five guys in the portal and totally remade their team? Well, Maryland got one guy in the portal that'll be a big deal, Jordan Geronimo from Indiana, but they kept guys from going to the portal, except for Hakeem Hart. But I think Marilyn very much looks like a top 20, top 15 kind of a team to me on paper.

They'll get tested early. They get Villanova in the first, I think, first two weeks of the season on the road in Philadelphia. And then they got to go to UCLA a few weeks. after that. So there you go. Can you tell that as a Maryland guy, football's not nearly as important as basketball to me? Yeah. Yeah.

It's true. A little bit. But I love Coach Lox. Terps have a buy this weekend. Back tomorrow with a full football show. I think Cooley might be on this show. But who knows with him? Jay Gruden will be on the show.

Hey, Tommy, nice job today. And did you notice that I just let you go on? You heard it here first. I didn't push back at all on your bold prediction for the week. I didn't want to really upset you with that indentation that you have in your arm. I'll give you an indentation, buddy. Bring it. Back tomorrow. Here we go. Fourth and goal.

They're going to do everything they can to keep this ball out of Terry McLaren's hands. Heineke. Locke. Seeking. Tipping out of the play. He throws incomplete, broken up by no flags down. And the Giants are on their way to getting this one over Washington. Oh, a lot of contact there. Wow.

A lot of contact there. All over him. Look at Holmes. Holmes has him draped. Wow. That is past interference. That's past interference. Totally.