The Kevin Sheehan Show - Why is Alex Smith On The Roster?

Episode Date: November 5, 2020

Kevin and Thom today on why Alex Smith is still on the roster. Kevin thinks it's time to move on. An early weekend "Smell Test" pick from Kevin and mid-season Super Bowl picks from the boys 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. Sports Fix Thursday, Tommy, from his fortress of solitude in Frederick. I'm here in our studios in Bethesda. Didn't do a show yesterday.

I apologize about that. Did you have something that you wanted to say about that? Well, why didn't you do a show yesterday, buddy? I didn't. Ha? Well, really, I didn't have much of a voice. You know that I was losing my voice. You were sick, right?

No, I wouldn't call it sick. What's a sore throat? I had a bit of a sore throat, but I also just didn't have a voice. I had a sore throat on Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning and Tuesday during the podcast, and I was doing the show. But when I got done with the radio show yesterday, I literally had gotten to the point where I didn't have much of a voice. So I went home, and it was a Wednesday, and this week being a presidential election week, the number of spots that we had this week, were down a little bit on purpose because the world is caught up in the election this week. And I took the day off yesterday. Yes, I did take today off.

I want everybody to remember what we discussed, what he discussed, what Kevin said on two days. on the podcast where he declared to the world, I never get sick. I don't get sick. Look, if you can't talk, you're sick. You can lose your voice by talking too much and feeling great. And I talk a lot during the course of a week. If you don't have, if you have your function to talk. Fine, I didn't feel well.

I did not. You talked yourself into existence. You bragged. about how you never get sick and within 24 hours, you couldn't even talk. I'm going to tell you right now, had it been one of those days where I had to be here, of course I would have been here. It was one of those days that set up when I got done with the radio show after staying up the entire night, Tuesday night.

I don't know how late you stayed up watching the election coverage. I may have slept an hour and a half on Tuesday night, and then I got up and did the radio show. Nobody cares about this, but I got up and did the radio show. And when I was done, I really, and you're right, I had not felt well the day before. I had a sore throat the day before, no fever, no other COVID symptoms. I mean, sore throat might be a minor COVID symptoms. But I know what it was. Every once in a while, I get a sore throat.

I don't miss work because of it. Yesterday, I would not have missed work and I didn't miss work. I did the radio show yesterday. And I decided because I hadn't slept and I had lost my voice. and because we didn't have a significant number of advertiser responsibilities, and quite frankly, yesterday, other than the election, what were we going to talk about? So we can talk about that today, and Cooley will be back with me tomorrow to preview the NFL weekend in the Washington Giant game. Now, what else do you have?

This is like Superman explaining why that little bit of kryptonite bother him for a day. Yeah, it's going to take more than just a little bit of kryptonite. Real quickly, mybooky.ag, if you want to wager on sports, I would really recommend my booky. combe.orgie.orgie.orgie.orgie is going to offer you a dollar-for-dollar deposit match on your deposit if you use my promo code, Kevin D.C. The Packers right now are minus eight. That line was about minus seven early. here this morning. I actually gave out the 49ers on the radio show this morning as a smell test picked tonight plus seven and a half. So I'm going to do it again here plus seven and a half. I'll use the number that I had on radio this morning. So there you go. An early Thursday night

smell test pick, the 49ers, which by the way, Tommy, nobody will have tonight. They basically are starting the JV version of the San Francisco 49ers tonight, which, which, by the way, Tommy, nobody will have tonight. They basically are starting the JV version of the San Francisco 49ers tonight, which is why I will be on them, because every bookmaker in America will need them. But my bookie.ag, use my promo code, Kevin D.C., they'll match your deposit, dollar for dollar, all the way up to $1,000. We've got big college games, Clemson, Notre Dame, Saturday night, Florida, Georgia. I'll give you several smell test picks tomorrow. There are a bunch of games I already like. Sunday's full NFL card, although maybe. a game or two now in jeopardy with the Titans having a couple of more positive COVID tests,

although we'll talk about that in a moment. But, you know, they just have so much in so many ways to wager. I was looking at my bookie this morning about the NFC East Division odds, which we've talked about. Washington now clearly the second pick. The Cowboys and the Giants are massive long shots. Washington now right around 7 to 2, about 3.5 to 1, they're plus 3.50 to win the NFC. East. The Eagles are the favorite at minus 250, so there is a disparity there. But if Washington wins Sunday, you'll see that come down a little bit more. And, you know, they still got the election odds out there. If you think some of these recent numbers that have come in on Arizona as of 1030, 1045 this morning that seemed to be making that race a little bit tighter in Arizona.

You can still bet Trump right now at plus 400, Tommy. I wouldn't, but you could still bet them right now at plus 400 at mybooky.ag. But in all seriousness, if you're looking for a shop that you can count on, that you can trust, mybooky.orgie.ag, I promise you, they will offer quality point spreads, pricing, and if you win, you're going to get paid. And more importantly, great opportunity on the signup at mybooky.ag. Use my promo code, Kevin DC, and they'll match your deposit dollar for dollar all the way up to $1,000. Anyway, one other quick thing before we get really into the show.

If you haven't rated us or reviewed us on any platform and you haven't subscribed, subscribe to us, that's going to really help us and does really help us with, respect to the ability to monetize this podcast, which is very important because Tommy does not come cheap. I promise you that. So I really, if you haven't subscribed, subscribe, that means the show gets automatically downloaded to you when we're done doing it. It doesn't mean you have to listen to it or listen to the whole thing every day, but it's important to us that it gets downloaded automatically. And if you haven't rated or reviewed the podcast, and your platform offers you the opportunity to do that,

it would be great if you did that. We'd appreciate it a lot. Anyway, where do you want to start today? Do you want to start with the election? Because I thought it was a fascinating Tuesday night. We didn't get a chance to talk about it. It's not done yet. I have CNN on right now in the studio,

and clearly, you know, their headline, breaking news, razor-thin margins now separate Biden and Trump in the uncalled states. I've not followed it this morning, so I don't really know what the new numbers are. But is Trump getting closer in Arizona and Nevada? I don't know. You don't know. Well, thanks for that. I don't know.

By the time people listen to this, it may be called already, so maybe we shouldn't. You don't pay me enough for that kind of. For political analysis? Yeah. Yeah. So I will just mention this. You know, I love gambling. I love talking about betting and gambling.

And Tuesday night, and I haven't done this because we didn't do a podcast yesterday, I lost my voice. I felt great. I just didn't have a voice. Except for the voice. But what was really incredible if you are in that world on social media of following people who talk gambling, which I do. Like I'm not sitting there putting out gambling information, but I follow a lot of the gambling people on Twitter. And what started to happen, for those of you that don't know, but I have a feeling many of you do know this now, is that you had a situation where before the networks, before the cable news networks had any sense that things were tightening up, Vegas and offshore bookmakers did, you know, because if you were following what was going on with the actual live in what they call in-game betting. In this particular case, it was live in-election,

you know, points, spreads and money lines. It was changing dramatically. I'll give you the quick thumbnail of it. Biden was the favorite going into the election on Tuesday. He was a sizable favorite. We talked about this. He was anywhere from minus 175 to minus 220. Trump was a sizable underdog going into the election on Tuesday. And then when Trump won Florida and some of the other races that initially looked good for Biden initially, you know, he was trending well early on in North Carolina and Georgia and some other states. But once Trump won Florida and won much beyond any of the polling, and it became very clear that the polling was way off going into this election as it was 2016. The odds started to change dramatically. And Trump went from a sizable underdog Tommy to sometime

around 10 p.m. between 9 and 10 p.m. about as big a favorite as you can possibly get in an event that is actually on the board. He became at one point a minus 770 favorite. And those of us that are following, you know, gambling sites and betting sites are seeing this. And it became a huge buzz, you know, in terms of it going viral on social media, so much so that the networks actually started to pick it up and talk about it as well, because Trump went immediately from being an underdog to a slight favorite, to a moderate favorite, and then to a massive favorite. And then the Arizona result started to come in.

And it looked like Biden was going to flip Arizona. Arizona. Then all of a sudden you started to see it flip back the other way. Not significantly, but very slightly, it went from Trump minus 770, all of a sudden now Trump's minus, you know, somewhere in the neighborhood of minus, you know, 300. And then by the time we got to about two in the morning, Biden was the favorite again. It was a wild swing. A wild swing. There, it is the most, I had this, Pam Maldonado. Pam is a contributor to Odd Shark, which is a handicapping and betting site. And Pam was on the radio show with me this morning.

And I did not, I knew I had read that this was one of the most bet on events in history. She said it's the single biggest bet on event ever in Vegas and offshore, more than a Super Bowl, more than anything else. I think when all is said and done, it'll approach a bad one. billion dollars was bet on the election. Now keep in mind, a lot of that was bet pre-election, because a lot of people that bet on the election, they're not following the in-game live odds changing of what was going on. But a lot of people were, and it was just fascinating to watch, literally, and Darren Revelle sort of spelled it out by percentage rather than odds, because, you know, more people can understand sort of the percentage chance of winning. Joe Bucle.

Joe Biden at one point after Trump took the lead, his chances of winning the election at around, I think it was between 9 and 10 o'clock Eastern on Tuesday night, was 29.2%. That's how far it had fallen. And then when we woke up the following morning, his chances were 86.2% to win the election. Anyway, here was my suggestion, Tommy. I watched everything on Tuesday, and I don't know how you consume the election. you can tell me here in a moment. I watched a lot. I watched ABC. I actually think Stephanopoulos does a nice job as sort of the traffic cop, and I sort of like the mix of people that they have on there, from Chris Christie to Rahm Emanuel. You know, the different, they have everybody covering, you know, all ends of the political spectrum. But I was flipping around a lot between all the cable news networks as well.

on ABC they had this guy Nate Silver from 538 what an just I don't know who at ABC thinks this guy's good enough to be on television he is horrible on television he looks terrible he can't communicate very well

and he's an analytics guy you know he's not a gambling guy he's an analytics guy my suggestion is in 2024 or in 2022 midterms These networks, cable news and traditional networks, they got to get some guys from Vegas on. They got to get the director of Westgate, you know, sportsbook or whatever. You got to get a sportsbook person on to talk about where, you know, the betting markets are.

Because that's much more of an indicator in the moment of what the real possibilities are. Now, it obviously flipped a lot. But it was fascinating to watch that aspect of it. How did you consume election night? Well, this is what I did. At 8 o'clock, I watched my DVR rerun of the Maltese Falcon with Humphrey Bogart. Yeah, of course. And then when that was over, I switched to CNN for a few minutes.

I was reading Twitter on and all for a while. and then I went back to DVR and watched my copy of The Big Sleep, my Humphrey Bogart movie, The Big Sleep. And I watched that until about midnight. And then I watched CNN for a little bit. And then I went to bed. Simple as that. I was probably in bed by 1230.

Wow. So it really wasn't that interesting to you at all. No, no, it was. It was disappointing, obviously. for me, but it wasn't that much interesting. The whole, look, I find the whole process has changed so much from when I used to cover politics that it's become sickening for me. Disappointing because it wasn't this massive blue wave that you would have preferred.

Right. Yeah. Right. It wasn't that. Although it did remind me that the ultimate goal was to get, get, and we still don't know that, is to get Trump out of the way. White House. So, I mean, it did remind me that everything else should have been gravy, and there only should have been one real goal here, you know. And so, and we still know if that could

happen. So no, I don't like the, like I said, I've never watched the debates. I watch these presidential debates just to keep my wife's company while she was watching them. But I don't like how the process has become. It's become, it's become like a reality, you know, game show. It's like the rest of the television. It's personality driven. So you'd rather go Humphrey Bogart. Yeah. How good of an actor was Humphrey Bogart? I'm being serious. And being Humphrey Bogart, he was very good. I mean, he played the same tough guy. Well, he was a pretty good actor. I don't want to diminish that he wasn't a good actor, but, you know, the good, the good, bad tough guy, the good, the good, tough guy, the good, the good, tough guy, the good,

guy who you really, who walked the line between breaking the law and not breaking the law. He played that very well. I mean, the Maltese Falcon, there's not a wasted line in the whole movie. I mean, the script is as tight as it could possibly be. And the big sleep is just, it's just great movies. I watch these movies sometimes to make me feel good because they make me feel good. It's like listening to a song that makes you feel good. Yeah, no, I get it.

I get it. And I felt like I needed that Tuesday night. You know, in the end, what happens in this presidential election isn't going to really affect me much. Right. You know? I mean, I'll be fine. Did you vote? Of course, I voted.

I voted by mail weeks ago. And we dropped our ballot off at a ballot box outside the government building and got an email. saying it had been registered and then recorded. Right. So, yeah, but, but again, in Maryland, it really, Maryland is, it's always going to vote, you know, blue presidential. But, yeah, I voted. But, you know, I mean, it's just speaking, it's not good.

You know, in a way, like I said, it's not going to impact me that much. You know. I'll be fine no matter what. I mean, my concern, I'm sorry if this sounds, you know, self-promoting. But my concern is for my fellow man, not for me. Well, that isn't the way you present it a lot of times when it comes to what we do. But this? One of your favorite lines is, I root for me.

That's one of your favorite line. But when it comes to the outcome of this election, it really doesn't affect me that much one way or the other. I mean, technically, I'm one of the few white men over 50 who doesn't think he's in a press class. You're one of the few men over 50. Who doesn't think he's oppressed. Right. Right. You know, one last thing on this, because I think this part may be interesting to you.

Maybe it isn't. It is amazing that you have this supposed industry of expertise called polling. and for a second consecutive general election, it was so bad. Oh. And I hate to be in that business right now. It would really be tough to be in that business because there's a lot of credibility lost. They have no answers. I mean, I think, you know, I mean, from afar, my uneducated viewpoint is the cult and

personality of Trump is so strong that it skewers everything. everything, you know, what we know politically, what, it just, it just skewers the whole process. I mean, can you imagine any other Republican that you can think of where people would be so passionate about one way or the other? Any other candidate, period. Oh, I think we've had candidates that have really generated an incredible. Reagan. Reagan. Reagan and Clinton to a certain degree, Tommy.

No, no, not really. Kennedy, for sure. Kennedy. Okay, that's two in 60 years. I agree with both of those. But there's really hasn't been, I mean, we're talking about a person who people write, whether they support or against, they're driven by the personality and what he represents. And that's something that has nothing to do with politics.

I was re. I was reading a lot about, you know, the polling going into the election from 2016 and the mistakes that were made. And they call, you know, they have this theory called the shy Trump theory, which essentially means that people will not admit if they're polled that they're going to vote for Trump. And, you know, there's been a lot of reasons for that. We've had sort of a cancel culture created where people have lost jobs, lost relationships, lost friends, you know, lost their security because they say they're voting for Trump. which to me is not, you know, indicative of what I think our democracy should be, regardless of my politics. But anyway, the shy Trump thing is a factor. The other factor, which I read about before the election, and I don't know if they're saying this had a lot to do with it now,

is that people don't like talking to people on phones anymore. They just, they see numbers on their cell phones, all right, and nobody's answering, you know, most, a lot of people. People don't even have landlines at home anymore. You know, so it's not even an issue. But they see the number coming into their cell phone and they don't recognize it. And so they don't take the call. So it's harder and harder. That's so interesting because that's what I do.

Me too. I mean, if a number that comes in, I don't recognize, I say if it's important, they'll leave a message. And there are certain, you know, demographics that really, like younger people in particular. and people, you know, old people might answer almost any call. But the other thing, too, is that robocalls, which don't get answered, actually pull more accurately, they believe, because somebody is more apt to be honest with a pre-recorded question than they are with a human being on the other end,

which I thought was really interesting. Like, who are you going to vote for? Who are you going to vote for in the 20? Oh, Trump. You know, they might say Trump there. But if it's a live voice on the other end, they don't want to share it. It seems to be too personal. Anyway, there's a lot.

It makes a lot of sense. Look, if technology has changed so much about our lives, why wouldn't it change polling? Yeah. Of course. I mean, when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. There's this one group called the Trump. Trafalgar group, which was one of the groups, poll groups that correctly predicted 2016. And the guy's name, I've seen him on a couple of shows.

It starts with a C, his last name. I think it's Robert or Bob something. It's not Charles Cook or anything. No, no. No, but to make a long story short, this person is sort of credited for first recognizing that people were concerned, that they would. be, you know, canceled if they admitted to being a Trump supporter or even a conservative. And so apparently, once again, he had a lot of Tuesday night correct in terms of how tight it would be in a lot of the states. I mean, you know, like the ABC Washington Post poll,

you know, Biden had a seven, their last poll was Biden would win Wisconsin by 17 points. Like there were so many outrageous sort of Biden. easily by a landslide polling. And it's almost like they didn't learn from 2016. But anyway. You know, one last thing. Yes. On my Facebook page, I tend to post more personal and viewpoint things than I do on Twitter.

And a couple weeks ago, we went up to Berkeley Springs, my wife and I for today. And we drove around a lot, the West Virginia. countryside. Right. And look, I recognize it's West Virginia, and I recognize it's different. And I posted on Facebook how the ratio of Trump to Biden signs was like 50 to 1. Really? Oh, my God. Yeah, the Trump to Biden, 50 to 1 at least. And I posted this warning. You know, don't think your world is the world. Of course. Of course. This should have been the lesson of 2016. Yes.

If you live in big cities on either coast, you are really detached from the rest of America. Yes. And we just learned that again. Look, Cooley in 2016 on the day of the election, I've told you this. He said Trump's going to win. It's a good measure. It's not a ridiculous measure. I thought Hogan was going to become governor in his first term.

Because when I drove through Howard County, of all the Hogan signs I saw. Yeah, right. Anyway, so one last thing real quickly, because this is going to lead to a question, and then we're going to get to some sports here for the day. So I was reading yesterday that WMAL's towers had been basically blown up, that they demolished them. The WMAL Towers existed on a property in Bethesda, which I'll tell you about here in a minute. But for those of you listening that don't know WMAL, it's been one of the longest standing radio stations in this town.

I mean, they were the home of the Redskins for years during all the championship years, 6.30 a.m. They also have an FM dial now, which is conservative radio on FM. The AM is, I think, sports now. I don't think it's sports. disingenuous. It is sports now. And so, but it's been a long-standing station. They sold the land about a year ago, year and a half ago, where the four WMAL towers had existed forever. And the signal was very strong in the area, one of the strongest AM signals in town. And they sold the property a year ago for $75 million,

and they moved their radio station to new towers. And it's, actually weakened the signal. The signal is not as strong as it used to be. Anyway, there's this story yesterday about how the four radio towers in Bethesda were demolished. They were blown up. And a lot of people that lived in the area heard the explosions. This was a planned demolition because they're going to build housing on the property. It was purchased for $75 million. They're going to build houses on the property. It's a very valuable property in Bethesda. First of all, just as an aside, I would have thought that they would have just put cranes up there and taken towers down piece by piece. I didn't know

that they needed to be demolished, but maybe it's cheaper to do it that way. Anyway, this is what I was going to tell you. Now, I grew up more in the suburbs, the enclosed suburbs. You grew up in Brooklyn. You know, so our experiences growing up were much different. But WMAL field is what we referred to it, which was where the WMAL towers were for many, many years, Tommy, was a field in which I spent a lot of time in high school. This was a place where you drove to, you know, with your girlfriend. My girlfriend actually lived in that neighborhood. So I can tell you that I spent many, much time in a vehicle at WMAL field, as did everybody. It was a makeout site. it was a, you know, party site.

It was right in the middle of a neighborhood in Bethesda near Whitman, where I went to school, near W.J. Walter Johnson High School, where in some of you know what I'm talking about and some of you don't. But that's really not the point anyway. It was one of those places that you went and partied. It was funny when I was talking about it on radio this morning, Big Tony, who you know, for those of you who don't know who Big Tony is. Big Tony is a good friend of ours, a huge Steelers fan, huge listener to the podcast, to the radio show, everything. And he went to Whitman, you know, he's younger than I am. But when I was talking about it, he just texted me.

He said, man, some shit went on at that spot, you know. And I got several text messages from people who just had, you know, had so many of those stories about, you know, parties and lots of other shenanigans that went on at that spot. Did you have any high school spot that you guys all went to? Oh, yeah. Yeah, there were a couple that we went to. Zach's pond in East Straussburg was a place where you would go. But you see, here, this was a big thing. We lived three miles from the Delaware River, beautiful country.

And in the 60s, this was a big crime, really. and I wrote about this and lots of people have written about it, they were going to, the federal government had decided as a water supply for Philadelphia and New Jersey that they were going to dam up the Delaware River up in the Poconos and basically put a lot of what was called the Shawnee Valley underwater. And they started taking people's homes, you know, eminent domain. Eminent domain, right.

Forcing people out from these beautiful, you know, homes along the scenic Delaware River. Right. And people, and the local government officials fought it for years in courts, and it kept getting delayed and delayed and delayed. Well, finally, the Army Corps of Engineers gave up on it. They just said, we can't win this fight. So we're not going to build this dam. But then they had all this land.

and they had all these empty houses and stuff. So they put them up for sale for people to move. And a friend of mine who went to high school, who was in high school with us at the time, bought one of these cabins, Bobby Heater. And we used to go down until they moved it, we used to go down to the river on Heater's cabin and party all the time.

I mean, just like, you know, in the middle of school. We'd go down to Heater's cabin. Right. and have a party. And it was great right on the river. And there's one story in particular. There were a lot of hippies down there who wound up taking over these houses. And we called them squatters.

And, you know, there was a lot of, there was a lot of drug dealing and stuff going on down there. And, you know, there were guns and stuff like that. So it was kind of a shady area. Right. But one time at a party, we were down by the river. We were pretty loaded. there was this old car that seemed abandoned and, you know, broken up and stuff. So two or three of us decided to push it in the river.

Let's hope it wasn't one of the Buffolino's cars. It wasn't one of the Buffolino's cars. But it turns out it belonged to somebody. Oh, boy. And it took 20 of us to push it back out of the river. Oh, my God. How would you push it out of the river? I don't remember.

when we were so, I was so out of it at the time. Yeah. You know? That was like a good idea for a second. So the river always had, I mean, you know, if you lived around there, you'd say you go down there to the river. You know, and it was a big party. Down there about a crick. Yeah, it was beautiful.

It was just a beautiful location, too. Well, what about Hakey's Pond or whatever? Now it's a national park. Zach's Pond was closer. That was right in East Strasper. Right. The river was about three miles away. Oh, that's funny.

Let's push this thing into the river. Tommy will do it. He's banged up. And you probably started it. And then some dude came around and said, excuse me, that's my vehicle. I don't think it worked. I think it was still a piece of junk.

But he didn't want it in the river. He wanted it out. It's a good thing. He didn't mess with those squatters. It's a good thing he wasn't related to Russell Buffolino. That's for sure. Sure. Those WMAL towers stood in that same location for 80 years. 80 years. Wow. Wow.

So it went through a lot of Walt Whitman and probably W.J. High school student parties. It saw a lot on that. Those towers, Tommy, if they had eyes and they could talk, wow. Anyway, I want to get to, a thought on the Washington quarterback situation right after this word from one of our sponsors. So Tommy, Ron Rivera was on Rich Eisen's podcast the other day, and then he spoke yesterday as part of his Wednesday update on everything that was going on with the team. And there were a couple of things that were interesting that came out of it that's going to lead me into something here momentarily. But I want to tell everybody what he said on this. podcast the other day with Rich Eisen. He was asked about, about Dwayne Haskins and what he thinks of

Dwayne Haskins. And his answer basically was, you know, he said, what do you think of him? Like, how would you rate him? And he said, somewhere in the 70s. And he said, but, you know, he said he's got an NFL arm and he's, you know, got a great release and he's got good athleticism. But, you know, he's got a lot to learn. But he's also developed. And, you know, we think, you know, he's got a future. There were a couple of things that came out of that that I was happy about. Like, he wasn't negative about him. It wasn't the initial conversation that was very, very negative and critical of what he had said.

Remember, when they benched him, you know, he said, I got 52 other guys to worry about it. You guys don't know what the reaction is like on the sideline. I mean, they really threw him under the bus. and then the leaks came and, you know, it was all over at that point. Anyway, he was more positive about Dwayne, but in the process of this interview with Rich Eisen, he also talked about Alex Smith and how, you know, he believes, you know, Alex is really getting himself ready and might have a chance and the whole thing. And I'm not suggesting that he, you know, was indicating that Alex Smith is going to get another opportunity.

but when it was followed up on in yesterday's press conference about the quarterback depth chart, he emphasized that Kyle's the one, that Alex is the two, and that Dwayne is the three. I mean, he made it very clear that that's what the quarterback position is. And he said, you know, and again, he was complimentary about Haskins yesterday during this press conference saying, you know, he appreciates the way that Dwayne's been working. These are, by the way, Tommy, this is the approach you take. You know, when you are moving on from somebody at some point, you don't leak shit, you don't talk negatively about him.

You are super positive and glowing about him. And if you have to tiptoe around the reason why he got benched, you tiptoe around it. You don't come out and say, I had 52 other guys to worry about. You don't know the reactions I was getting. from the other players on the team. I mean, no one's going to be interested in trading for him. If you tell everybody, hey, look at what I have to sell. He stinks.

That's not the way you sell. You got to build up the product. You got to put ornamentation, Tommy, on the product and really prop it up a little bit. Anyway, I like the way he handled it with Eisen and even yesterday. That's not why I brought this up. Did he say he had good penmanship? He had better penmanship. this time. Okay. I brought it up because I just am ready and I wish that they would move on from

Alex Smith. I think they should release Alex Smith. It seems like they're higher on him than ever. Apparently he's been very impressive in practice. I remember telling you that I thought that they should cut Colt McCoy just so he wouldn't tempt Jay Gruden. And I said, you got to take the temptation away from Jay. Now, I'm not comparing Alex Smith to Colt McCoy in terms of the way the coach feels about him. In fact, the coach reiterated in that Eisen interview, the reason they left, you know, left the quarterback in there in the Rams game, was to protect Kyle Allen, which is I told you the day after. I'm like, that's crazy. But you know what?

They really did want to protect Kyle Allen because he's their guy right now. In the meantime, they allowed for this man two years after nearly dying to take a beating of extraordinary levels. The guy was ravaged and plundered during that game. He was sacked six times and produced one of the worst quarterbacking performances in a half as part of one of the worst offensive performances in a half. Anybody has ever seen in the history of the NFL. No team has ever had minus six yards and a half and produced zero first downs, zero points, and had a quarterback go four for 11 for two yards and a half. It was so bad and so obvious at that point to anybody that was watching that, okay, we saw it.

He wasn't hurt, thankfully, almost lucky that he wasn't hurt, given how they, you know, they allowed Aaron Donald to run roughshod over him. And, you know, they got out of that. And for Dan, if this was a big deal, it may be enough for him to win the comeback player of the year award, if that's important to the owner. I don't know, Ben Rathlisberger has a chance of winning that award as well. But enough already. You know, it was my feeling then, and it's even more my feeling now.

Like, I don't want to see him on the field as a Washington football quarterback anymore. And I say that with all of the disclaimers in place. Okay? Incredible story. What a great guy. What a great family. Just the spirit, the resiliency, the story. It's all incredible.

Moved by it. I've heard Alex Smith has good penmanship. But my point is he's not going to be on your roster next year. He costs way too much to be on the roster next year. Secondly, now that the season is half over, you can cut them and it'll cost you $7.3 million in cash because you already paid him for half the year. The cap number is not going to change. There's a huge cap savings in the offseason by releasing them. It's like $13.8 million.

J.I. Hallsell, you know, our good friend, our agent, capologist, you know, NFL guy, friend for a long time, sent me all the numbers. You know, it's, and I actually said to him, I said, if he's not going to be on this Ross, next year. Don't you think it makes sense to release him now? And he's like, yeah, I don't disagree with that at all. Anyway, what's the point here? Why is he taking up a roster spot for a team that actually believes that it might be competing for something? I actually believe it might be competing for something right now. Why not use that roster spot for a kick returner? Signed Ted Ginn Jr. He just got released. Signed Javon Leak. He's out there, the former Maryland player.

Is it because he's the owner's guy? I don't know what the reason is anymore. He is. He is an owner's guy. Well, of course, but I don't even know if that's the reason. I think, look, I'll concede that I don't know anything about what he looks like in practice. And I would even admit that it would be really hard for him to look as bad as he did against the Rams if he got another opportunity. It would probably look better because it would be impossible for it to look worse than it did against the Rams. But if I'm going with Kyle Allen and it doesn't work out with Kyle Allen or Kyle Allen gets injured,

I either want to see Dwayne Haskins in the game, now that they haven't traded him, and he's going to be on the roster the rest of the way, and the head coach is talking them up a little bit, I either want to see him in the game. And if you don't want to put him in the game, then call Stephen Montez up from the practice squad and have him be the backup. What are they doing with Alex Smith? This makes no sense to me, allowing him to continue to take up a roster spot.

I think part of it is that this is the owner. It's got to be the owner. But the owner got what he wanted already. He's going to become a player of the year more likely than not. They had the moment. He didn't do it. And he was terrible and he was lucky to survive. that day. I know. I know. Look, it is inexplicable. I mean, Dwayne Haskins should be the backup on

Sundays. He should be dressed in uniform. Yeah. And by the way, I might want to point out, everyone made a big deal about Terry McLaren being named a captain yesterday. And that's fine, because Terry McLaren seems like a stand-up guy and maybe a real leader for this team. But did Dwayne lose his captaincy? I don't think so. No, that was for Landon Collins, because Collins is out the rest of the year. So your offensive captain doesn't even dress. He doesn't even dress on Sunday. What's he do? Wear a uniform? Can salute people? Give out, take out, take orders? What's he do? I don't know what he's doing. They obviously, look, I think we can all come to the conclusion that no matter what you hear Ron Rivera say about

Dwayne Haskins, and I'm glad he's being positive. He's not going to be on this roster next year. No. The quarterback of the future is not on this roster. More likely than not. It's certainly not going to be Haskins and it's not going to be Alex Smith. And by the way, if he's still having an issue

with preparation and work ethic and showing up late and leaving early and all of those things, and you're trying to change a culture in an organization, I understand. stand where they would say, no, we're not rewarding him. First of all, you benched him. I mean, if he's the backup, he's already been demoted, you know, and benched. So if he's the backup, it's not like you're rewarding him by allowing him to be the backup. But I guess now that he is

the third stringer. But if, you know, what I'm saying is, Tommy, if they're seeing something and they're like, we're just counting down the days. Well, then they should release him now. But maybe they're hoping to trade him in the offseason for something. And they don't want, they don't want to reward him because it's a culture change and he hasn't earned it. Okay, I understand that. But what's the Alex Smith end game? Is he that great of a mentor? Like if he is and there's real value in having him there, you can have him there all week long. You can have him in civvies on the sideline. and you can elevate Stephen Montez to the backup spot. If you absolutely don't want to have Haskins, you know, anywhere near playing

because you feel like it's not good for the culture. And by the way, I bring that up not knowing anything. But I think we all have to, you know, understand that the stuff that came out is now the second straight coaching staff that has talked about, you know, maturity and preparation and work ethic and all of that. And I would make this other point, too, Tommy. So many of you would prefer Haskins to be in there and you're upset that they're not giving them a chance.

And then on the other hand, you say, I want the culture change. Well, this may be part of the culture change in benching Dwayne Haskins and not letting him see the field and moving on from him at the end of the season. Yes, you're right. So, yeah. Go ahead. What? No, you're right.

This may exactly be part of that culture change. The idea, but we don't know the impact of it. Look, when we talk about the culture, we always talking about the culture of the team. The culture at the top needs to be changed. Okay? I mean, the culture, organizational-wise, needs to be changed, and that's only one person. Well, we know. So I know that, you know, so no, Kevin, Kevin, there's no point in talking about who you

What do you want to talk about? Well, I mean, look, we can talk about the moment. We can talk about the fact that Dwayne Haskins shouldn't be the starter, that it's clear that the team performs better with. Kyle Allen is his name. Kyle Allen as the starter. Yeah. But for, but for God's sakes, don't, don't read out. anything into it. Don't think this is some kind of like massive sea change. Why do you do this to me all the

time? I've already said to you, we all understand and we have read the Surgeon General's warning. But then you go off on the side of the road. But what I'm doing is I'm talking about the moment. Like I've said many times, we have these conversations. We all understand intellectually that as long as Dan owns the team, they're going to lose more than they win, and there's going to be more turmoil than not. But would you rather talk about women's volleyball? No. Kyle Allen gives them a better.

The main thing is Kyle Allen gives them a better chance to win football games. I agree with that. Forget this. Don't even address the culture change when it comes up to the quarterback. No. Okay. Well, I brought it up because I hear people all the time. And look, I was hoping that Dwayne would get 16 games and that he would develop into something. But I'm not there every day. I don't have all the information. And clearly there's

a maturity issue that has been an issue now with the second consecutive staff. I was just making the point that I have a lot of people that will say to me, you know, there they go again, you know, fucking up another quarterback. And, you know, a young quarterback, he should be playing. Well, and then at the same time, they want the big culture change. Well, if part of Rivera's culture change is not rewarding or playing guys who are, immature and don't prepare the way he wants them to prepare, then you can't have it both ways. So that was my only point on that. Okay.

Okay. Anyway, I think they should release Alex Smith. I just don't, I don't, the other part of this, Tommy, is what if this guy does get hurt on Sunday, Alan, or next week against Cincinnati or the following week? And number 11 goes back into the game. And this time... They feel pretty good about that. And this time he gets hurt again.

This is what we talked about in the off season. Remember when I said to you, this can't be the franchise that, you know, he gets hurt on their watch. Dan already got the benefit of perhaps the comeback player of the year moment. So now let's move on. Let's not have him take up this roster spot anymore. They are actually legitimately, if they win on Sunday, it's a two-team race. It's it. It's them and the Eagles, and the other two teams are out, and they're three and five at the halfway mark,

and they're going to have a couple of games that might mean something here in the next few weeks. Sunday means something. I'm not saying that it doesn't, but I'm talking about where all of a sudden people say, oh, maybe they could actually get into this playoff race in the NFC East. Why are we taking up a roster spot with a guy that isn't going to be on the roster next year, can't help you this year, based on what we saw? and, you know, and it's just, I just don't understand it. Again, all disclaimers about how inspiring it is.

And how, by the way, what a great dude he is, by all accounts. I was an Alex Smith fan. I still am an Alex Smith fan. I don't think he's a great NFL quarterback, but he's certainly a starter. By the way, every single team he's had success with, all right, legitimate success with, has a great, good, a great supporting cast offensively around them. This team does not. No.

Look, like we've pointed out before, in Alex Smith's six and three start a couple years ago, they had the lead in all six games that they won right from the start. They fell behind in the three games that they lost, and they were losing in the fourth game when he got hurt against Houston. So, I mean, he can't bring them from behind. So he can't generate the kind of offense that Kyle Allen can. Now, Kyle Allen can bring you back from behind with a couple of scores and then take the game away from you with two intersections, too. I mean, this is kind of a remarkable game on Sunday.

I mean, because this could be the turnover bowl between these two quarterbacks. Was it you who asked me the other day, who would you rather be right now, the Giants or Washington? No. You didn't ask me that? I don't think so. I think you do.

Maybe I did. Because I said, Was it a good question? It was an excellent question. Then I did. I'm sure I did. Because my answer to you was basically, well, the answer is, you know,

a reflection of what you think of Daniel Jones. because this team, Washington, doesn't have an obvious quarterback of the future, and the Giants may have a quarterback of the future. You know, in thinking about that, you know, going back to your Surgeon General's warning, I'd actually rather have the Giants front office and owner, even though I am not a big John Mara fan, because I think he was really unprofessional and, you know, and nasty to Washington during that salary cap penalty situation.

I think he was devious and sneaky on that front. And that's fine, but he's obviously a much better owner than our owner. Anyway, netting it out, I don't see any reason why Alex Smith should be on the active game day roster anymore. I just cannot see any reason why he should be taking up a roster spot. You can admit they're not going to cut them. No. And again, if you believe Rivera, they think he can give him something if they have to go to him. You know, they do believe that.

I mean, I don't know if they really believe that. But all I know is what I saw in that game. And that was really and truly one of the worst, you know, offensive performances and quarterbacking performances I have ever seen without a turnover. You know, I've seen Nathan Peterman throwing five interceptions in the first half when he quarterbacked the bills that day. That was terrible. But this was so inept and so incapable of doing anything that I just, I don't want to see it again. It literally was maybe the worst quarterback performance ever. It was the worst.

There are 108 total yards that day, which by the way, Kyle Allen had most of them when he was quarterbacking that day. The second half was seven possessions, zero points, zero first downs, minus six yards, six three and outs, and then on the seventh possession, they were going to go three and out. They decided to go forward on fourth and two, and they missed that. So it was truly one of the most feeble offensive halves of NFL football ever seen, ever. Yeah.

And Alex Smith in the second half was four for 11 for two yards, and he got sacked six times. Now, it wasn't all his fault. The next week, the team promoted those six sacks. The team what? Promoting them. What do you mean promoted them? All the following week on social media, the team kept promoting the fact that Alex Smith stood under six sacks. They thought it was something to be proud of them.

because they thought it was a marketing opportunity. The return. I mean, this was what they wanted. And, you know, like, I know so many of you are like, oh, this is really mean. No, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, we're, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's not be on this roster as, as, he just shouldn't be. He should not be taking up a roster spot anymore. You know, watch, you know, Kyle Allen will get hurt on Sunday. He'll come in and go 10 for 15, two touchdowns, and lead him in a come from behind victory.

Look, he's never been that kind of quarterback when he was healthy before his injury. He was a really good front-running quarterback with good talent around him and a super game manager. Look, they created at Pro Football Focus a statistic named after hours. Alex Smith. Check down Alex, because that's what they did. And he did. But when he got Tyree Kill and had Travis Kelsey and had Kareem Hunt, they were off to the races. But I've said this many times, and I won't spend much time on it. I think if you injected Andy Reid with Truth Serum, he would say about that 2017 season, we should have moved to Patrick Mahomes. We would have won the Super Bowl or may have gone deep. And with Alex Smith, they really struggled offensively. And,

and they ultimately lost in a wild card game at Arrowhead to Tennessee, where he could not do anything in the second half of that game. Anyway, whatever. So a couple of other things to get to today before we say goodbye. This game tonight, Tommy, between Green Bay and San Francisco is a... Are they going to play? As of now, the game is still scheduled. As of now, the game is scheduled.

But by the way, I think that says something, doesn't it? Well, I think it says that until the NFL basically becomes an ICU unit, they're going to keep playing. Yeah, and this is, it's a really good point because they were much more conservative earlier in the year. They canceled a Thursday night game. Bill's Chiefs was moved, in part because the Bill's Titans game was moved, right? Or the Bill's, whatever. The Titans ended up playing. maybe the Chiefs on Tuesday, whatever it was.

And we had some games postponed and moved around, and we had Monday nights and Tuesday nights available. And this game could easily be moved to Sunday or Monday or Tuesday. If you're wondering why we're talking about it. San Francisco's Kendrick Bourne is a wide receiver. He tested positive. And then three other players, including Trent Williams, along with Debo Samuel and Brandon Ayuk, their rookie wide receiver.

All three of those players are out because they came in contact with Kendrick Bourne. Actually, Samuel wasn't going to play anyway because of a hamstring. And then for Green Bay, the Packers have A.J. Dillon, they're running back out, the guy from BC, who I actually think is a good back. And then Jamal Williams and another player because of contact with him, they're out. But understand this. Even before, even before you had the COVID-19 issues, these teams were.

were ravaged by injuries, the 49ers in particular. I mean, I think everybody knows at this point, right, that the 49ers have essentially been the most injured team in the league. The defending NFC champions lost their best player in Nick Bosa, lost Steve Ford, lost Richard Sherman, lost Solomon Thomas, running backs Rahim Mostert, who had 220 yards in the NFC championship game. The backup guy, Jeffrey Wilson, who was running well,

got injured against the Patriots. Jordan Reed, shocker, you know, started off pretty well with them, then, you know, got injured. And they just don't have many players left. Then last week, they lost Garoppolo and Kittle. And they have nothing. They have nothing for this game tonight. So it's literally the JV version of the 49ers playing tonight. It's like a bunch of guys offensively in particular that you've never heard of.

But Tommy, to your point, they're moving forward. They're moving forward until a ventilator is required. They're getting this season in, especially on the big TV games. I think they're going to have to start moving multiple games into their primetime spots, so if they have to move one, they can move one. Tonight's game, I think if it were a Sunday game, and we were talking about these issues on a Friday, would have already been moved to Monday or Tuesday.

But because it's a Thursday night game, and they don't want to lose another primetime Thursday game, they're moving forward with this thing come hell or high water you know it's funny uh ray ratto one of my favorite column this used to be in san francisco uh chronicle and he writes for various websites now he called it the 49er plague ship yeah i mean it really is i mean they're i mean they've got the i keep it's amazing how many players from the team that that that blew out green Bay in the NFC championship game aren't going to be on the field. And yet, they're not, I mean, this is what's weird about the game tonight.

And that's why I gave out San Francisco. And look, if that line goes all the way up to 10 or 11, I would tell you to just back off the game. Like if we get a late run here, I mean, I'm looking at my site right now. You know, it's seven and a half. My bookie's got it at eight. If I play the game, I should play it right now at San Francisco plus eight on my bookie, which I probably will do, actually.

But Green Bay lost last week, and people who bet, Tommy, people are football fans, they just always think, oh, if Aaron Rogers lost last week, he's going to light somebody up in the next game. Well, okay. Then why didn't, you know, considering they're playing basically a JV team tonight, why isn't the line 10? There's no home field advantage. This game reeks to high heaven.

I'm going to have San Francisco. The one thing about the 49ers, even with all of their injuries, they are capable on defense. They still have some talented players on defense. Warner's been great. Greenlaw's been great. Armstead's been great. Ward's been great. They've had some really good performances defensively.

And you know what Kyle can do? Even with like almost anybody, they can run the football. You know, they seem to be able to run the football. And you know what Dalvin Cook did last week? He shredded Green Bay on the ground. That's right. You're right. So maybe that's why Vegas isn't upping that line and they're taking all the Green Bay action they can get.

That may be the reason. Anyway. And then there was, you know, Matt Stafford came in contact with somebody. He could be out Sunday, but I guess there are enough days for him to test negative. You know, Washington plays. I know. Next Sunday. Next Sunday.

The Texans closed their facility today. after a player tested positive. They've had the most... No, the Titans have had the most issues. The Texans played Jacksonville Sunday. Virginia Louisville got canceled, postponed until November 14th. We're, you know, got a lot of... This is what the football season is right now.

Every week there's a chance. You're going to lose a couple of games. But the NFL hasn't lost any yet. You're right. You're right. And like you said, they could go this could go all the way till they could play to super bowl in March. Yeah, well, that's what Mark Murphy had said.

Right, yeah. Mark Murphy had said March 7th, you know, in Tampa is a possibility that would give them four additional weeks to finish the regular season before they start the postseason. So anyway, so I wanted to do two more things. I want to get your prediction for the Giants Washington game on Sunday. But instead of doing NFL power rounds, rankings today. All right. I'm going to give you the ability, I'm going to give you the week off on that. And I'm going to ask you to give me at the halfway mark, most of the teams have played eight games.

Washington's played seven. They had their by week. But much of the league has played eight games so far. So we are technically at the halfway mark. I want you to give me the two teams right now that you think are going to be in the Super Bowl. And then I want you to give me a team that isn't predicted to be in the Super Bowl or even predicted to make a big playoff run. Sort of like Tennessee last year. No one would have predicted it to halfway mark that Tennessee was going to play in the AFC championship game. So I want you to give me a team sort of under the radar that you think could make a deep

run at least to the final four, if not maybe have a chance to go to the Super Bowl. When do you want me to do that? Right now. Unless you want me to go first. Why don't you go first? What do you want me to do it? I want you to do it now, damn it. I thought you were giving me.

I thought you wanted me to do this for next week. No. I thought this was something you wanted to do some homework. My two Super Bowl teams are Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay. I think that Pittsburgh can beat Kansas City in the playoffs. I think they're the best defensive team, although I think there are a lot of really good defensive teams emerging. I mentioned this morning, by the way, the Bears, nobody's,

they're not my surprise team, but the Bears are so good defensively. I actually think they're going to be dangerous the rest of the way, even though most people look at their quarterbacking situation and say no. But I like Pittsburgh in the AFC, and I like Tampa Bay in the NFC. Tampa Bay was my pick before the season started, and I think my, What was my Super Bowl pick? My Super Bowl pick, I have it right here. Before the season started, I had Casey over Tampa Bay in the Super Bowl,

but I've got Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay right now in the Super Bowl. And the team that I really think could make some noise the rest of the way and go further than most people are thinking are the Indianapolis Colts. I'm actually a really big fan, first of all of their coaching staff, Frank Reich and Matt Eberflus, who is their defensive coordinator. Philip Rivers has had back-to-back really good games after being threatened potentially to be benched. But really what it is about the cults that I love is defensively, they are really, really good defensively. And it's a team offensively with weapons when they're healthy and with a veteran quarterback.

I am rooting for Rivers. Most of you know that I've always been a Rivers fan. So I am rooting for Rivers, but that's not why I'm picking them to be. You know, this year's version of Tennessee or two years ago, the version of Jacksonville, when they made a run to the AFC championship game. But I think the Colts are a really good football team and really well coached and exceptional defensively led by guys like Darius Leonard. And I think that they could end up like in an AFC championship game with an upset over Kansas

City against Pittsburgh, something like that. So Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay is my Super Bowl pick. and the Indianapolis Colts are my under the radar sleeper pick to go deep into the postseason. Are you prepared now? Okay. You want my Super Bowl teams and then you want my long shot make an impact in the playoff, right? Let me see if I got this right. Yeah, I think you have it right.

Yeah. Thanks for listening. Okay. My Super Bowl teams would be the Seattle Seahawks and the Baltimore Ravens. Okay. And my team to make some noise are the Las Vegas Raiders. Ooh, that's an interesting one. Yes.

That's why I picked them because they're interesting. Your pick is kind of boring. Mine is interesting. I don't know why the Raiders are so much more interesting than the Colts. I guess it's because they're the Raiders and that John Gruden coaches them. There are two teams right now that I am shorting a little bit. The Raiders are one of them. I don't think they're that good.

And I don't think the Saints are very good. I think the Saints are overrated right now. It's remarkable how they win games with True Breeze, a quarterback these days. He's not the problem. And Kamar is not the problem. They've got, I don't know. That was, I don't know. True Breeze looks like Alex.

sometimes. No. No, no, no, no, no, no, he doesn't. In terms of his ability to throw beyond 10 yards? No, he doesn't. Yes, he does. No, no, no. Yes, he does.

If you told me that Drew Breeze was on my Washington football team roster right now, and he wasn't starting every single game, even if he were on one leg, I would be very upset. Drew Breeze is still getting it done, still getting it done. No, he's not. Oh, yeah, he is. No, he's not. Okay, explain.

Well, he's not. He can't throw the ball for, he can't find receiver down the field. Everything's barely much more than like 15, 10 yards. That's it. Right. And just the down the field stuff, do you think that not having the best receiver or one of the top two or three receivers in the NFL might be a factor on that? Or do you think it's just his arm strength? I think it's its arm strength.

It's possible he's lost some arm strength. I won't dispute that. But he is still, I'm just pulling up his stats because I just wanted to see what he's done this year. He's having an incredible season. He's completing 73.1 percent of his passes. He's got 13 touchdowns, three interceptions. His, you know, QBR and passer rating are exceptional. The team, there's something about the team. Look, I will tell you, they're not clearly as explosive as they've been without. Michael Thomas on the field. I mean, you're talking about a true superstar receiver that they've been without here, and that's hurt them offensively, although they keep winning games. They keep winning games even without him, and they keep scoring points even without him. So, you know, I shouldn't be down on them based on what they've been able to do without their best, arguably their best player. I just there's something about them defensively, something about there's not there's just I think Tampa is much better I think we're going to see Tampa really hammer the Saints on Sunday night

and what you're right and what might be the game of the day because Drew Breeze is not very impressive this year well you can't say after I just ripped off his numbers that he's not very impressive this year you can say he doesn't look like he's looked in years past he's still one of the most effective passers in the NFL right now. He's leading the NFL in completion percentage. Is he leading, where is he on yards per completion? Middle of the pack.

I'm not going to dispute the fact that he has perhaps lost some arm strength. I think the same about Philip Rivers too. It's funny, I don't feel that way watching Brady this year that he's lost much arm strength. You know, there may be some of that there, but he's having a good season. Well, maybe he'll win the most effective quarterback award that they give out here. That sounds like a column. Drew Brees, most effective quarterback this year. So says my podcast partner, Kevin Sheehan.

All right, who do you like? Who's going to win on Sunday in the most defective quarterback? Washington's going to win this game, but I'll save my specifics on that for tomorrow's show. But I do want your pick. Oh, and the turnover bowl, I think that the Giants are going to wind up winning this game. I think they're going to why. I think that Kyle Allen is going to turn the ball over just one time more than Daniel Jones in a key situation. I think the Giants will execute offensively better than Washington.

Washington does. I like the Giants in a 25-20 win. 25-20 Giants, you know, it's funny, as you were talking about the turnover bowl, I wanted to see where the Giants ranked in giveaways. They are 30th among 32 teams. The Eagles are 31st and the Cowboys are 32nd. If you want to know why a division is bad, look at how many turnovers teams have. And at the bottom of the list, Cowboys Eagles, Giants. Washington could be in that bottom rung, but they've only played seven games. So maybe with another turnover or two, they'd be near that, although they've got 10 turnovers on the year. The Giants have 15. But yeah, Daniel Jones has turned it over a lot. There's no doubt.

But do you see, his turnovers just feel different. I mean, his turnovers are like, what kind of moron makes a play like that? And you know, at some point, at least you believe in some point, it's going to click for him. It's going to click for him that he's not going to make such a stupid turnover in a situation like that. And once you eliminate that, you see a lot of talent. Otherwise, you know, you just don't see that with Kyle Allen. You know, it's funny about Kyle Allen and Daniel Jones. If, if, let's just say right now, Kyle Allen over the next nine games, he cured his turnover problem and he didn't turn the ball. over anymore and Daniel Jones kept up the pace of turnovers. You might get to the end of the year

and think Kyle Allen's a better long-term solution to quarterback than Daniel Jones. But I agree with you. There are incredibly, look, Carson Wentz is making some of those boneheaded turnovers this year too. But Daniel Jones has to eliminate those backbreaking plays because the rest of his plays really look good. You know, if he didn't have all these turnovers, and that's a big if, there's a lot about his game that I like. I mean, I've taken some heat from some of you in really being more bullish than bearish on Daniel Jones. Like, I see something with him, definitely. You know, he drove them 70 yards in the final two minutes of the game the other night against arguably the best defense in the NFC, Tampa's defense, and threw a touchdown pass to Golden Tate,

and then he was laid on the two-point throat. Still should have been pass interference. But he was laid on the throw, and he had two critical interceptions in that game, too, you know, that set up short fields for Tampa. So I don't know, I like Washington's chances Sunday. I mean, we'll get into with Cooley tomorrow the keys to the game and have our prediction. But I like Washington's chances against the Giants. One thing about the Giants real quickly, the Giants are better defensively than most people think they are. They're better defensively than it shows statistically. James Bradbury's been a problem for everybody he's matched up against, including

Terry McLaren. Blake Martinez was a great ad. Peppers, Leonard Williams, you know, all Dexter, all these guys. Their defense is improving. It's improving. It'd be nice if they don't have Devante Freeman Sunday. That would be really actually a good thing for them.

Alfred Morris, we might see him Sunday. All right, 25-20, Tommy's down on the Giants. You got anything else for today or not? What else did I have? I had something, oh, yeah, today, 26 years ago, the greatest sports moment I ever covered. Ever covered. Today, 26 years ago, was it Foreman? Foreman knocking out Michael Moore.

Yeah, God, you love that moment. Oh, my gosh. 45 years old, right? 45? Yeah. 45 years ago, 20 years after he lost to Ali in Zaire. That's amazing. Losing like the first nine rounds overwhelmingly taking a beating

and then hits him with a great short right hand in the 10th round. And it literally was like the arena lifted off the ground when Moore went down. I mean, I've never been in such an electric emotional moment live as that was. I mean, that was just absolutely stunning. That's really amazing. That was 20 years, 20 years after the after Zaire. Yeah.

I mean, that's, you know, Cal Ripkin was the greatest sports night I ever covered when he broke Luke Eric's record for consecutive games, but the former knockout, I still get chills. I remember sitting down to tight my head. and that never happened to me before. I'm looking at the video right now of the knockout. I do remember this fight. I think it was an HBO fight or maybe I bought it on pay-per-view. It was a short, like maybe trouble, maybe six inches.

It broke Moore's mouthpiece. So it was a hard punch. It cracked his mouthpiece. Boy, there it is. Oh, yeah. And he was out. Yeah. And Foreman was so big, so big.

And looked old, Tommy. Looked old in the ring, didn't he? Yeah. Yeah. Well, he had taken a beating for the first nine rounds. What's interesting, though, he wore the same trunks, I think, that he did. I think he wore the same trunks that he did in Zion air that night. I think he did, something like that.

How many, I'm looking at it right now. in how many more fights did he have? Maybe three or four. He fought Axel Schultz after that. Probably lost the fight, but won the decision. And then I think he fought Shannon Briggs after that, should have gotten the decision. He lost a Briggs.

He beat Shultz. He beat Crawford Grimsley, beat Lou Savarisi, and then he lost the Shannon Briggs. And then he lost the Briggs. But he beat Briggs. He was wrong. did I decision. That was three years after. It was 48 years old. Yeah. Three years after he knocked out more. Oh, you know, you know who he fought before he beat Michael Moore?

What's that, Tommy Morrison? He lost to Tommy Morrison. Yeah. Yeah. Tommy Morrison died of AIDS, right? Yeah. We had this conversation because I told, I think I told you about the kid, the 16-year-old sophomore golfer of the year that we played with, whose name was Tommy Morris. And I said, yeah, Tommy Morrison. He was in Rocky 5. And he was a pretty good heavyweight fighter. But he died at a pretty young age. He was the fight before. How did he get the title shot after losing to Morrison? Well, I'm not sure how he got.

Well, he got the title shot because Bob Aram, his promoter, somehow he became the number one contender or something like that for when more one beat Evander Holerfield and won the WBA and the IBF versions of the title. Lennox Lewis was the WBC champion at the time, I think. So,

you know it's wild and I didn't realize this? Like, I'm just looking through. So basically, his career is over. He loses to Jimmy Young in 1977. And then he starts his career back up at 38 years old.

in 1987. Yeah, 10 years later. But it's seven years after that that he won the title. Yes. Well, remember, he fought Evander Holofield in 91, and people thought he was going to get killed, and he lasted 12 rounds. I mean, Evander won overwhelmingly,

but... He knocked out Jerry Cooney in the second round. Yeah, you know, it's funny. I had Cooney on my podcast, Cigars and Curveballs, and Years ago. and I remember watching Cooney train up in the Poconos for that fight. I was as a fan. And I remember coming away thinking that Cooney, Cooney was too nice to be a fighter.

Yeah. He just was such a nice guy and so nice to everybody. And Cooney took a little bit umbrage to that when I put that up in the podcast. Oh, he did? Yeah. And Cooney was an underrated fighter. Eddie Futz said with the right training, Cooney could have been a great heavy. Great left hook, right?

Tommy. Devastating left hook. Yeah. And he went 13 rounds with Larry Holt. Yeah. You know? One of the most hyped fights of that era. Yeah, absolutely.

Because he was undefeated and referred to as the Great White Hope. Do you think they'd be able to do that in this day and age? No, he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He wasn't the chance. He knocked out Kenny Norton. He devastated, just destroyed Kenny Norton. Oh, my God, yeah. It's just horrible.

Like, I mean, Norton was just out on his, like on his knees. Yeah. And he was just pounding him, right? Is that the fight where Norton's like on his knees and he keeps getting hit? Yeah. Yeah. But, but yeah, more George Foreman. And then I got to know George a little bit and had the pleasure of watching him perform Sunday services at his church in Houston during the, I think it was during a 2004 All-Star game.

So it's one of my favorite people. You know, Cooney, I'm looking at his record right now. Cooney, you know, he was 25 and O going into the Holmes fight, had knocked out Norton in the first round in 54 seconds. He also had knocked out Ron Lyle in the first round before that and knocked out Jimmy Young in the fourth round. Those were his three fights into the title fight against Larry Holmes. He barely fought after that.

I mean, he fought Michael Spitz. Spinks un-lost and then- He got beat by Spinks. And then lost to Foreman, and his career was over at a fairly young age. Yeah. And, you know, one of the things, and he was right to bring this up. Look, he had bad management. He had good management in that they made him a lot of money and propped him up for a long time, you know, in his career to get that fight with Holmes. But to be a real good fighter, he had terrible management.

Really? Victor Valley was his trainer. But he wasn't a terrible fighter. He had a devastating left hook. No, but he wasn't handled and trained right. Gotcha. And one of the things he brought up in the podcast with me, and there's no real answer for this,

is how come he didn't get a rematch with Holmes? Why wasn't there a second fight? He went 13 rounds with him. Right. You know, people would have paid for a second fight. What did he say? He said he still doesn't know why. He wanted a rematch.

Maybe Holmes, didn't want it. Maybe he did. Yeah, that's strange. You know, the fight, his final fight, Cooney's final fight against Foreman came three years after he lost to Spinks. So he obviously took a lot of time off. And, you know, I don't remember the life of Jerry Cooney. I remember the Cooney Holmes fight so well. And all the buildup to Jerry Cooney, great white hope, you know, heavyweight division, New York guy.

and you know and you're right i mean he fought he fought a hell of a fight against uh against larry holmes and now those two are good friends uh do a lot of charity work together and uh it was just larry holmes birthday a couple of days ago he turned 71 wow how do you remember birthdays or did it just pop up that it was larry homes's birthday it had popped up okay and because i'm really smart too that's the other reason right i remember things like that um Tomorrow on my radio show, Talia Tunga Viloa, to his brother, who's the quarterback for Maryland, will be on the show. And I want you guys, if you can, Team 980, 95.9 FM, Team 980 app, and the Team 980.com. But I'm going to ask him, because I mentioned this to Cooley or to you, I forget earlier this week.

I'm convinced that he patterns his game or the guy that he looks up to, that he, tries to play like is Russell Wilson. Because everything about that game Friday night was Russell Wilson. And I know I got carried away in talking about him earlier this week. But if you haven't, Maryland's going to lose a lot of games this year. Okay, they're just overmatched by the Big Ten teams they're playing. But Talia Tungaviloa, and they refer to him as Leah, is the real deal. So watch him and tune in.

I have him scheduled to be on the show tomorrow morning. All right, I'm done if you're done. I'm done, boss. Have a great day, everybody, back tomorrow with Cooley. Football Friday will preview Skins, Giants, and the rest of the NFL card.