Adam Schefter

ESPN’s Adam Schefter made his weekly appearance on the Dennis & Callahan show Friday, and he began by trying to justify his prediction of the Browns upsetting the Patriots on Sunday. “I’ve been on an island all season long with your football team,” Schefter began, referencing the times he stood behind the Patriots while other analysts were abandoning them. “And I think I’ve been right on your football team more than I’ve been wrong on your football team.

“I don’t think it’s a trap game,” Schefter continued. “First and foremost, I think we’ve seen Cleveland seems to play its best football against good teams, evidenced by the fact that they’ve beaten the defending Super Bowl champion in each of the last three years, including the New Orleans Saints on the road two weeks ago.

“I think they’re coming back home. I think that they’re coming off a bye week. I think the Patriots are coming off a game that took some things out of them, a great win over the Minnesota Vikings, where everybody thought a game like that could go either way. I just think that Cleveland is this tough, crafty football team. New England’s the best team in football right now. You’re not going to get an argument from me on that. I just think on one Sunday, I think it’s going to be a tough game for them.”

Following are more highlights of the interview, including Schefter’s thoughts on coaches that are skating on thin ice, Randy Moss in Tennessee, Shawne Merriman in Buffalo, Donovan McNabb‘s benching and more. To listen to the interview, visit the Dennis & Callahan audio on demand page.

How does Cleveland score?

In Cleveland’s last seven wins, dating back to last October, they have average in those seven wins, 91.4 passing yards in those seven victories. So how are they going to win? However the hell they’ve won the last seven times. By throwing for 91.4 yards, forcing two or three turnovers, by getting a Josh Cribbs special teams play, by coming up with a big turnover on defense, that’s how they win.

You say how are they going to do it? I don’t know. But they do it. … They do a pretty good job of continuing being fluky. I don’t know, they’re 2-5, so I’m not making them out to be some world beater team. I’m just saying they’re a tough out, they’re a tough out. I think coming off a bye at home, against a Patriots team that has the best record in football, that team is going to be fired up to play this game. Are the Patriots going to be fired up to play in Cleveland?

Do you think Eric Mangini is there for the long haul?

Good question, good question. I would tell you that if they win games and have a good season, he’s going to make it very difficult for [Browns president] Mike Holmgren to get rid of him. I think, all things considered, the chances are it’s going to be tough for him to stick around. He probably knows that, I think Mike Holmgren gave him a year to show him what he’s got and that’s my point. If they come out and finish 8-8, 9-7, have the type of finish they had last year, it’s going to be tough again on Mike Holmgren to get rid of him. But ultimately, I think Mike Holmgren wants his coaching guy, be it Jon Gruden or John Fox or Marty Mornhinweg or you pick the guy.

Which coach is more likely to be fired before the season is over, Wade Phillips or Brad Childress?

I think that it’s a given that both those guys won’t be coaching their teams next year, right?

What if the Vikings reel off seven of eight wins?

That team is capable of doing that. That team is talented enough and good enough to do that.

Jeff Fisher says he doesn’t think that the Titans are taking a chance on picking up Randy Moss off waivers. Do you agree with that?

Well of course there is risk. But I think that the upside outweighs the downside by a long margin. Number one:  You’re getting a guy for eight games with a strong head coach who I think and many people think will be able to control him. You’re getting a Randy Moss that is actually excited about the idea of going to Tennessee. You’re getting a team that just lost Kenny Britt for over a month and needs a downfield threat. You’re getting him on a team that needs somebody to help stretch the defense for Chris Johnson the running back.

Is there a threat that Randy Moss could do something disruptive? There’s always that threat I guess. But, I think that they felt that the spotlight he brings to the franchise, which that franchise doesn’t get talked about very often, and the threat he’d bring on offense outweighed anything that he would against the team.

Adam what does it say to you when only one team claimed Moss off waivers? What does it say about his prospects next year for getting a multi-year, multi-million dollar deal?

Well I don’t think that we had to see only one team claim him to know that the market might not be bustling and robust for his services this offseason. Just look at TO last offseason. It took him until July to sign with one team that was interested in his services, and TO has produced at a higher level this season than Randy Moss has.

Saying that, Randy Moss to me is still a threat and still will intrigue some teams. I think that when you’re looking at the top half of the waiver order, the first four teams or so teams they know they aren’t going to make the playoffs, and they don’t want to absorb a $3.38 million contract. That’s as much of a commentary on them as anybody else.

But there are other teams like the Dolphins, like the Redskins, like the Rams, that were in the thick of the playoff race and had a chance to claim him, and for whatever reason decided not to. It doesn’t bode well for Randy Moss, but if Randy Moss goes to Tennessee and over the final eight games catches 30 passes for five touchdowns and averages 17 yards a catch there will be a team or two that wants to sign him next year. I don’t think that anything on waivers this week revealed anything that’s going to happen to Randy Moss this offseason. We already knew that the market was not going to be robust

What would have happened if he had made it through?

My own feelings? He would have been back in New England. Here’s the thing . You say how come teams like the Patriots didn’t put in a waiver claim? Well, let me explain why the Patriots wouldn’t put in a waiver claim. They’re 32. They are the last waiver claim. If they put in a claim for him, and they get his services, they get his $3.8 million contract which they didn’t agree to pay him.

But if he clears waivers, and he’s free, and he’s in the New England area anyways and he feels the way that he does about many people in that franchise as we heard him say. If he clears waivers the Vikings then owe him the $3.38 million organization and Randy Moss can go sign wherever he wants for whatever money he wants on top of the Vikings pay him. … I say the ultimate win for Randy Moss would have been to clear waivers, to collect the Vikings money, and then go sign with New England for the veteran minimum over the last eight weeks, say $400,000 on top of the $3.38 million . He gets to be back in an organization that he wants to be.

Logan Mankins comes in a couple weeks early, why? Why does he do that?  Is something going on here, will he sign and stay here?

Eventually he may sign, I don’t think there’s anything going on right now in terms of an extension and I think it just boils down to the fact the guy missed football, he missed the guys, he wanted to be there, knew he had to be there in two weeks anyways. So he said, “Know what? What they heck, lets just go in now, make a little bit of extra money, start getting myself acclimated so that I’m ready to play when I’m eligible to play.” That’s basically what I think happened.

What sense did Buffalo claiming Shawne Merriman make to you?

Look every team can do whatever it wants to win football games. Every team can do what it wants to win football games. There are many moves the Buffalo Bills could have made over the offseason to strengthen their quarterback position. They could have gone after Michael Vick at one point. … Why would the Buffalo Bills, with Chan Gailey‘s offensive imagination, not take a flier on Michael Vick for a mid-round pick? Why would they not do that? And they had no interest in doing it.

Again, there were enough moves that they didn’t make, I think this is a move basically it is a PR move. They bought $1.7 million worth of PR by bringing in a linebacker that they can say look who we got, who doesn’t want to be there, who’s going to leave after the year. Who now goes to a winless team and just basically is buying time until he becomes a free agent.

I love the way the Bills have played the last two weeks. That has been a tough team. They’ve taking their last two opponents to overtime in Baltimore, in Kansas City. Major props to them, I mean that. You’re asking about that move, that particular move? It’s a $1.7 million PR move.

When you talk about guys angling for losing records for the number one pick, is Standford’s Andrew Luck still the guy?

Luck is the guy. Luck is the guy. You hear about this guy at Iowa, Adrian Clayborn, the defensive lineman, being like a [Ndamukong] Suh, [Gerald] McCoy type of guy. But it comes back to exactly why the Rams took Sam Bradford number one. If you are the Buffalo Bills and you have the number one pick and you have the chance to get a Bruce Smith type of player, or a quarterback that is as highly rated as Andrew Luck, what are you doing? I don’t think it’s a question.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how happy is Merriman going to be in Buffalo?

I think he’ll put a rosy picture on it, you know, but deep down inside lets just look at the facts. You’re living and working in San Diego. San Diego, they’re competing for the AFC West title even though they’re struggling right now. Miami and Tampa where there is no state income tax, where there is warm weather, where there are winning records on teams, both put a waiver claim for you. You go to Buffalo, where they have not won a game, where the weather is not exactly what it is in San Diego, Miami or Tampa, where you are just basically playing out the string. How do you think that makes him feel? It speaks for itself, I don’t have to say anything.

Why has Mike Shanahan handled the Donovan McNabb situation the way he has?

Well, I think that the fact of the matter is that [Redskins assistant coach] Kyle Shanahan said Donovan McNabb has been limited in practice the last few weeks because of his hamstring. If you go back to training camp, he missed the first two weeks with an ankle injury.

Then say that!

This is what should have happened because it is what happened. Donovan McNabb’s out there, he doesn’t look right, hasn’t gone through practice for five weeks. He’s been limited in practice for five full weeks, OK. He just doesn’t look right. So Mike had a hunch, and thought at that time that going to Rex [Grossman] might be the difference in that game. It didn’t work.

What he just should have said, he should have stepped to the podium post game and said, “You know what? Donovan’s missed a couple of weeks at the end of camp due to an ankle, he’s missed the last few weeks due to a hamstring. He didn’t look right to me. I thought by going to Rex we would get a spark. I was wrong. That’s my mistake. That’s on me. Donovan’s our guy, we got to get him ready for two weeks from now against the Philadelphia Eagles, and I’m confident Donovan McNabb is going to lead us to victory.

Is it possible Shanahan has seen enough of McNabb?

No. I don’t think that’s fair to say at all. And I’ll just say this. Go back to the last time that Donovan McNabb was benched by the Philadelphia Eagles, who many felt the same thing at the same time that Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb could never live again and coexist together again. In that next game Donovan McNabb threw four touchdown passes against the Arizona Cardinals and led the Eagles to the NFC championship game that year.

Only one game Adam, which one are you watching?

I’m tempted by the Chiefs and Raiders. It’s very intriguing to me on a number of levels. It’s not often that we get to see the Chiefs or the Raiders on this program. … I’m going to go Raiders and Chiefs, because we never go Raiders and Chiefs.