The Kevin Sheehan Show - 3 In A Row!

Episode Date: November 30, 2021

Kevin and Thom today on Washington's 17-15 win over Seattle last night. Kevin has his "Game Take", Thom has his big takeaways, and the boys also discussed the RG3 announcement of his new book, "Surviving Washington". 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. Wilson. Well, source of time, throws, and it is intercepted. Intercepted.

Kendall Fuller will seal the game for Washington and maybe the season for Seattle. Kendall Fuller, picking off the two-point conversion throw by Russell Wilson. The game wasn't over at that point. It took an illegal procedure lineup on an onside kick recovered by Seattle. And then another onside kick attempt, which Washington finally got, to seal what was a 17 to 15 Washington win. That is three wins in a row. And as of right now, Washington is in the NFC playoffs.

Six games to go to determine the playoff field. Right now, they are holding down the seven seed via all of the tiebreakers with the other five and six teams. Tommy is with me today. I've got my game take coming up. Tommy will give you his. There is other stuff we're going to get to at the very end of the show. We didn't have time to get to it yesterday, including all of these college football coaching changes. Just an amazing movement, excuse me, over the last several days.

days, and our old friend Robert Griffin III has a book coming out called Surviving Washington. We'll get to that a little bit later on as well. Tommy, did you write the forward for that book? You know, that would have been a George Will situation. No, no, no, no, no. When he wrote the forward for my book and he says, I don't agree with this book, but I'm writing the forward anyway. Yeah, I don't think he's going to be reaching out to many people in the media locally here to write the forward for his book. All right, let's get to the game. Wow, I'm just going to start with this kind of overarching thought, and then I want your overarching thoughts from the game as well.

They dominated the football game last night. It would have been an all-time tragic loss. had somehow Seattle converted on the two-point conversion or recovered the onside kick and gotten into field goal range and kicked some sort of long field goal because Washington deserved this game. They were the superior team start to finish. And the only thing that didn't reflect their dominance in this game was the scoreboard. And I mentioned the opener when they lost to the Chargers 20 to 16. and I said, the scoreboard does not reflect how badly Washington was dominated in the game.

The Chargers were just the superior team throughout, but there were a couple of flukish plays here and there that led to the score being tight and Washington actually having a chance to win the game. And I felt the same way last night. I thought Washington was the much better team. Seattle, for the most part, for 58 minutes offensively, was inept. with a Hall of Fame quarterback playing at really as bad a level as he can play at, considering the way we've all seen Russell Wilson perform over the years.

He's clearly not right health-wise. But it just would have been an unbelievable loss. I described it on Twitter at the very end of the game. What was, for the most part, and for most of the night, a very easy game to describe, became at the very end indescribable. with what happened. And there was just so much to the game in the final couple of minutes, but there really wasn't much to it in the first 58. The superior team was winning 17 to 9, and really it felt like it should be 31 to 7 in watching that game. That's my overarching theme.

They won the game, they deserved to win the game, but the final score was not reflective of how much they dominated their opponent. Well, the final score was basically, to me, an illustration of a contest of two teams that at times seemed intent on self-destruction. I mean, the only way Washington could lose this game is if they self-destructed. And let me just point out, my guy, Taylor Heineke, had no hand whatsoever in any of the self-destructive. moments that put the game at risk. He didn't have one hand at all. No. I mean, it was, you know? So, and, and, I mean.

Did you just say my guy? Did you say my guy? My guy. He's my guy now. Okay. He's my guy now, baby. Of course he is. Of course he is. I'm all in.

Took you till a couple of wins in a row. He's done number two. I got to give you credit. You jump. in after the second win. You know, you didn't wait until the third win in a row. You jumped in after the second win. All right. Go ahead. I got in, not on the ground floor, but before it hit the seventh floor, at least. Yeah, you got in after the product had been out there for five years, and you said, look what I found, if you found it. I mean, Seattle, you know, they just totally,

self-destructed. I mean, in their offensive scheme, you know, at one point, and it was like two plays before he did this, I think, in the fourth quarter. I'm watching the game of quartermasters, by the way, my favorite cigar hangout in Frederick last night. I had a great time there. And I said to the guys watching the game, I said, Russell Wilson has to start running the ball.

He's got to start taking off with the ball, because they don't clearly think he can anymore for whatever reason. You know, they're not respecting Russell Wilson, the guy who can take off and run for 20 yards. And two plays later, he did just that, but it was the only time of the game. He did that. And I think that's the only thing that might have saved them from what was a pretty good defensive performance for the most part

against an inept Seattle offense. Now, I don't know how much that ineptness was caused by the, Washington defense. They seem to, I mean, there were not a lot of yards after catch. I mean, but you had your moments where you had the open receivers and things like that. But, I mean, it was stunning to see Seattle, which for the past, what, 10, 11 years has been one of the gold standards in the NFL play so poorly. Yeah. And, you know, that was one of the storylines going into the. game last night is, you know, they were in free fall a bit. They got shut out for the first time

during the Russell Wilson, you know, Pete Carroll era 17-0 at Lambo in Russell Wilson's return game. They got beat last week by your real guy, Colt McCoy, 23 to 13, you know, a Cardinal team that didn't have their starting quarterback, their best receiver, and one of their best running backs and they lost that game and could only manage 13 points. And coming in at 3 and 7, you know, I had the guy that covers the Seahawks for the Athletic on and I said, look, to me, the big question is, are we going to get a desperate Seattle team that, you know, brings that championship heart, you know, to try to resuscitate their season tonight? Or are we going to get a team that's basically mailed it in? And he said, I think we're going to get a team that

that is done. Now, I don't think they came out and played like they were done. I think they were flying around. I think they were hitting people. I think they were trying. And the bottom line is, if they were really done, they wouldn't have driven the ball 96 yards at the end of the game and had a chance to tie it. But they are a diminished team right now. And they are a diminished team primarily because Russell Wilson is just not right physically. You know, he can't throw the football

real well. That finger clearly is still an issue. They called it a six to eight week injury when it happened. He came back after three weeks and a lot of people thought he was rushing it and clearly he is. I mean, he missed people by, you know, seven feet

in terms of overthrowing people. He missed people who were wide open. That's the one thing defensively. that I probably will be a little bit critical of is, you know, another quarterback may have made them pay a little bit for some of their coverage issues much more than Seattle did. But Washington was the dominant team. I mean, I'm going to get to my game take, and I'm going to go through the things I

like, didn't like, and a few other observations from the game. But I'm going to start with this because this is really incredible. And it goes back, Tommy, to the conversations we were having during the 2018, early portion of the season with Alex Smith when, you know, they started off six and four. I like to say six and four, not six and three, because they were on the verge of losing that Houston game. They were down, you know, 17 to three or whatever it was. And everybody likes to say six and three. And what they were doing is they were playing that old tried and true formula of running the football, stopping the run, not turning it over, winning field position,

winning penalty battles, getting the ball to bounce their way. a little bit, you know, and, you know, they were getting beat by good teams in that six and three start, but they were handling their business against teams that were, you know, hurting a little bit. And in the last three games, they have had a play advantage, an offensive play advantage of 215 to 141. That's an average. Well, yes, last night's game, last night's game really swayed that into the margin right there. Last night's margin was outrageous.

Last night was the biggest, but against Tampa, it was 71 to 47. All right, so they had 24 more snaps in the Tampa game than the Buccaneers had offensively. 65 to 49 last week, 16 more offensive snaps than Carolina. And last night, you know, and by the way, if you look at the, you know, the actual game book, you'll see more snaps, and that's because they count the penalty plays that aren't counted statistically. So these are the plays that are counted statistically, you know, minus the accepted penalty plays. Seventy-nine offensive snaps to 45 for Seattle. 34 more snaps. They're averaging 25 more snaps than their opponent in the last three games.

The time of possession last night was 41 minutes and 40 seconds to 18 minutes and 20 seconds. Some of that had to do with Seattle on offense. There's no doubt about it. They were the worst third down offense coming into this game. They've been awful since Russell Wilson came back, and they could not stay on the field last night on third down. Part of it also was Washington's defense. And more importantly, the thing that I was confident about yesterday is I really felt like Washington was going to continue to do what they've been doing even in their losses. And that was move the football.

You know, they've moved the football now for four, five, six, seven weeks in a row. Even during that four-game losing skid, they moved the ball against the Chiefs. They moved the ball, not against the Saints as much. They moved the ball against the Chiefs. They moved it against the Packers. They moved it against the Broncos, the Bucks, the Bucks, the Seahawks. What they have to do is they're going to have to turn that movement into more points. And I think they'll have the chance to do that.

Last night, obviously, you had points taken off the board because you didn't have a kicker, you know, at the end to kick a field goal. We'll get to that situation in a little bit. In the Green Bay game, you didn't score more points because your quarterback, you know, conceded before he got to the goal line. and did the Lambeau leap anyway. But they've been moving the football. But it is really, it's a tried and true NFL formula for having a chance to win games and to typically winning more games than losing. You know, it's not necessarily a formula without great quarterback play

and great explosiveness to win titles and to go five years of averaging 12, 13 wins a year, and two to three playoff wins a year necessarily. But it is still a formula that works in the NFL, and it keeps you in games, and it gives you a chance to win games, and that's what they've been doing here recently. And last night's game of the three was the one that really should not have been close.

The game should not have been close. It was way too one-sided of a beatdown in every facet of the game, pretty much, for them to be hanging on a two-point conversion and an on-side kick, at the end. But it's the NFL. You know, things change. And Russell Wilson gave you what Russell Wilson's giving you throughout his career, which is a 96-yard drive and a touchdown pass. By the way, last night, when it was least expected, when he got sacked on that final drive

and the clock's rolling, I'm like, I mean, there's no way. There's no chance. And then somehow, you know, he completes two balls, including the first one of the night to Metcalf. And then all of a sudden they're knocking on the door and there's still a minute left. It was crazy the way the game ended. But here they are, you know, here they are. Three wins in a row, very much in the thick of it, which by the way, 27 of the 32 NFL teams right now are in the thick of it. You know, that you can't count. Now, I'm not just talking about just mathematical. I'm talking about teams that will look at the standings, like even four and seven teams in the NFC, and say we're a game out of the final wild card spot.

27 of 32 NFL teams are legitimately in the hunt as we enter December. It's going to be a wild month of football. And especially for Washington, since once you get past the Raiders, it's all NFC East. Well, and that brings the whole division into play because of the Dallas. situation. They've lost three or four. They've got COVID issues. They've got injury issues. They are, you know, this is the kind of thing where, you know, in the off season, when I go ad nauseum, and I'll concede that it probably gets a little bit obnoxious at times over the years to say that you can't, you know, by the way, coming from the guy that does the mock schedule, you just can't

put stock in these schedules in April, May, June, July, August, even September. Because you you just don't know. Now, one of the things we focused on in the offseason was, you know, don't focus on the schedule, but focus on the quarterbacks that they're lined up to face because it's an all-time list. And it's much different than the quarterbacks that they faced last year. But again, Russell Wilson compromised. You know, Dak Prescott right now, maybe not completely 100%. So things are starting to shake their way a little bit in the schedule as well. You know, they got Cam Newton back in his first game. They got Russell Wilson not 100% in the Seahawks tanking.

The Raiders had the big win on Thanksgiving, so it looks a little bit tougher now, and then we'll see what the Cowboys are. But we can't even predict, you know, what the division games are going to look like by the time they get there. No, because even if you think you can easily predict division games, you can't. I mean, they're always unpredictable. There's been so many instances where, like, the one, and 13 team winds up beating the team going to the playoffs

or something like that. You know, look at the Giants with Washington. Yeah, 2007 and 2011, both years. Washington was the last team to beat them, both of those years. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I mean, that's 100% right.

You know, I'm sure every division, I think probably every group of fans that root for a team and a certain division that has a real sense of the history of that division, they probably say the same thing. It's like, you know... Except for the AFC East. Except for the ASE East. They don't say that the

AFC East. No. No. Although there were years there where the Jets played the Patriots better than anybody, even when the Jets weren't super good. But yeah, it's it's the NFL's wacky. It's always

wacky, but God, I think there's even an increased level of unpredictability this year. Like, if we were still doing your favorite segment power rankings, which you're really upset that we didn't do this year on Thursdays during the football season, I mean, it would be almost impossible to do a top five right now. And by the way, how many times over the last several weeks would it have changed dramatically? You know, I mean, in the AFC right now, who's the best team? Well, it appears to be

New England. Yes, it does. They wouldn't have been in your top 15 a month and a half ago, a month ago. Well, here's what may come into play. And we haven't come to that point yet because we're not at the 17th game. I mean, so far, a 16-game schedule would still be in play. But I'm wondering if the 17-game schedule, I guess it doesn't, because we're not even at the 17th game yet.

it'd be like a 16-game schedule. It seems like what is evening the playing field. I'm just wondering if the extra game this year is contributing to the more chaotic results that we see week after week. But that doesn't hold up because they could be playing a 16-game schedule at this point, and they'd be at the same price. Yeah. So that doesn't hold up. The only thing the 17th game did is just,

make the schedule differences a little bit more different than they were for division teams. I mean, one of the things that people never really understood is that, you know, Dallas, Washington, Philadelphia, and the Giants played the exact same schedule with the exception of two games. That would be it. They would play the same AFC teams. They would play the same division in their conference. And they'd play each other in their two games within the division. And then there were only two out of the 16 games that were different. You know, based on your positioning in the standings the year before, you would face two teams in the other divisions that you weren't playing in its entirety based on their finish. And the third 17th game, the third different game that was added was another AFC game against a team that finished in that spot in the division that you were playing.

And for Washington, that meant Buffalo this year. because the AFC West is the NFC East's matchup, but the AFC East was the additional game. So Washington got Buffalo. So it made their three additional games, which were Buffalo, Green Bay, and Seattle, right? And Seattle, just different than three games in the NFC East. Whatever.

We're getting bogged down to minutia that just doesn't matter that much. much. It's a wacky year because it's a wacky year. And ultimately, like, if you forced me right now to start picking teams, I would just go with the best quarterbacks. You know, I would go with Aaron Rogers and Tom Brady in the NFC and Patrick Mahomes and probably Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson in the AFC, and I'd call it a day. And I would just say those teams with those quarterbacks and the way the game is played will ultimately figure out a way to win the game that they need to win to advance. Yeah, that's as good as any, which certainly puts Washington in a great position because of their quarterback. Well, he's not at that level. So let's not go there. But he has been

incredible. And he had another game last night. that I have highly graded. So we will get to that when I get to my game take. Tommy will have a little bit of his own game take. We've got a lot more to get to. But right now, Washington, with six weeks left in the regular season, five games against the division, they are legitimately, as we speak this morning,

front and center in the wild card race is the seven seed. And for those of you that don't pay attention to a lot of that, the NFC and AFC now have four division winners, three wild cards that started last year. So seven per conference. So the four division winners and then the next best three records from the conference will qualify for the postseason. The number one seed gets a buy. No one else does.

And you play two against seven, three against six, four against five in the first weekend of the postseason in each conference. And as of today, if the season ended and it doesn't, Washington would be. holding down the seven seed in the NFC playoffs based on winning tiebreakers over teams like Atlanta, Minnesota, and New Orleans. Crazy that 30 days after the season was declared over by yours truly, because it really deserved to be declared over it, two and six after a loss to Denver with everything that was going on. A three-game winning streak has completely changed their prospects. By the way, a two-game losing.

streak will do that as well. And there'll be underdogs and their next two against the Raiders on the road and probably the Cowboys at home, depending on the Cowboys' Health and their situation. So you are, you know, right now in this wild race, you are basically a two-game losing skid or a two-game winning streak away from feeling completely different about your postseason prospects. You know, I look at a team like the Giants, okay, just as an example, the Giants, right? They beat the Eagles this week.

They play the Dolphins this week. The Dolphins have been playing well. The Dolphins have won four games in a row, and they're back in the hunt in the AFC after starting 1 and 7. But if the Giants were to win that, that'd be a two-game winning streak. They'd be 5 and 7, and it's possible that the Giants would be tied for the 7th spot at the end of this coming weekend. So this is where you are right now. A team puts together a little bit of a run, and they're right front and center in the discussion. And if you lose a couple of heartbreakers or you lose a couple of games in which you don't play well, it'll look a lot different.

Which is why a month ago at 2 and 6, it looked like no chance, but a three-game winning streak, they're in the postseason right now. Crazy. And yes, they're in the division hunt as well, because Dallas has lost three of four. and Dallas is hurting everywhere, and they've got COVID issues. Their coach is going to be out. This game Thursday night against the Saints, a team that is also struggling, is a loseable game for the Cowboys. That line opened at five and a half.

It's down to four, and the Saints have been terrible recently. They've lost four games in a row, and yet the Cowboys go in there limping into that game without their head coach. That might be a benefit to them. And it's funny, a result in which the Cowboys lose puts Washington within a game in the loss column in the division. But if the Cowboys win it, it helps them head to head with New Orleans. So either result's going to be a good one for Washington. I'm sure most of you will be rooting for a Saints win, as will I, because I just don't think the Saints are very good.

And I don't know if they can sustain some sort of winning streak here at the end of the game to get back into the hunt. Anyway, crazy times in the NFL. Going to be a hell of a December and early January. Remember, the regular season, Tommy, doesn't end until the second weekend in January now. I know. I know. So we got... I'll have a destined tan by then.

You will have a destined tan. We got a month and a half left in this regular season. And all the things that apply will apply. You know, teams that are healthy are going to have a chance, teams that, you know, don't get, you know, caught in a bad weather game on the road, you know, in a game. Like, all these things will come into play. It makes the NFL so great. You know, I didn't mention this on the podcast. You probably saw this, that the Raiders Cowboys game on Thanksgiving Day was the highest rated game since 1990 in the regular season on television.

Yeah, I did see that. It's amazing. The NFL is The NFL is single-handedly going to keep network TV alive, isn't it? Yes. Yes, it is. I mean, it's... Absolutely. There's nothing that gets watched more than the NFL.

And man, some of the matchups over the next month and a half with the stakes, you know, at this time of year, which is always the highest rated time of the year, because of weather, especially on the East Coast and the Midwest, It's going to be something else. All right. I'll get to my full-fledged game take right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Pay attention.

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Feel free to interrupt whenever you like. I'll start with the things that I liked. I thought the offensive line was great. And I think we just haven't given the offensive line enough credit this year. I asked Ron Rivera, I think last week it made. have been the week before when I had them on the radio show. I said, did you guys have any sense that the offensive line was going to be the surprise that it's been?

And he said, not really, but I knew that we had some players that were interesting, and I knew that John Matzko would get the most out of them. John Matzko, their offensive line coach, is an underrated coach on this staff. Given how much change there's been this year on the offensive line, and last night after Schweitzer left the game. They were down to their fourth center of the year. I thought the offensive line was really good. They controlled the line of scrimmage much of the night. There was room to run for Gibson and McKissick. The pass pro was pretty much on point all night long. I thought, you know, clearly there were some short yardage issues in the second half on third

and ones, which we'll get to in a moment. But I think the O line deserves a lot of the credit on a night where the offense, as I mentioned in the first segment, had 34 more offensive plays than the opponent and created a time of possession advantage of 4140 to 1820. Heineke was sacked. Yeah, go ahead. I think you're 100% right. The offensive line, for the most part, throughout the season, has been a surprise to me. And considering you have an inexperienced quarterback back there, that comes into play as

very significant. And of all the offensive line, I mean, you know, they brought back Eric Flowers, which turned out to be a great move. But Sam Cosme has been, for a rookie, has really been a standout for them, I think. One of the most impactful players on the offense because he's a rookie. And, I mean, he's played so well. Yeah, he was out last night, and Lucas was in. But, you know, before the draft last spring, I knew Scott Turner liked a couple of players,

and I mentioned them before day two of the draft. I knew that he liked Diami Brown. I knew that he liked Elijah Moore, who's really starting to play well for the Jets as well. And I knew that he liked Sam Cosmy. There was another right tackle or two that he had targeted. But Cosmy was great. Now, last night, obviously, inactive. Lucas comes in.

I think the Leno flowers combination was outstanding. I thought they did a really good job at times out on the short stuff and the screens. I actually thought Gibson missed a couple of opportunities on screens that were blocked well to run to daylight. The McKissick touchdown in the red zone, hell of a block by sheriff out on Jamal Adams to free him. The offensive line, part of what I liked from the game. The defense is on the list of things that I liked, most notably the run defense. but the defense was dominant all night long, you know, except for, you know, the two drives, the first drive that Seattle scored on and the couple of catches that Lockett had against what

appeared to be some confused coverage, maybe with McCain. And then the last drive of the game, which really came out of nowhere. And on that drive, they had a sack that appeared to really derail any opportunity that Seattle had. but they got constant pressure on Wilson, whether with four or five. Wilson, look, Russell Wilson was terrible last night. There's no other way to say it. Russell Wilson was horrible in the game until the very final drive where he made some plays and showed you sort of that Russell Wilson magic at the end.

But they played the worst quarterbacked team. they've played all year. I'm not sure there's a close second for them. If you go through the list, I mean, even Daniel Jones had a tremendous game against them in week two. Matt Ryan played well. Winston got healthy and played great against them. Then it was Mahomes, Rogers. I mean, hell, even Bridgewater had a decent game against Washington.

His Denver moved the ball all up and down the field against him as well. Cam Newton played well last week, even though he was terrible on Sunday. This was the worst quarterback team or performance that Washington has faced all year, and I think part of it was defensive-related, but part of it wasn't. I mean, Russell Wilson had people wide open at times and missed them. But defensively, how about four of 12 on third down? So now it's 10 of 31 on third down during this three-game winning streak after being the worst team on third down defensively in the first eight weeks by a lot.

How about the fourth straight opponent that they've held under 300 yards? Now, the offense has a lot to do with that. Moving the football and keeping the defense off the field has a lot to do with it. 267 total yards. Fourth straight opponent limited to under 300 yards of offense. So why? Why are they better now than before? The defense without Young and sweat have played their best ball of the year.

Yes, that's an unbelievable. Yes. So, you know, look, I am not giving up on Chase Young, nor should you. I can tell you, and I've told all of you this before, they were pissed when he didn't show up for OTAs, really, really pissed. They would never be public with that. He's a captain. He's coming off a defensive rookie of the year.

They also probably know that really and truly it wasn't necessarily going to impact his performance the following year. But he was a team captain and he was one of only 90 not to show up. The only one out of 90 players not to show up for one OTA day. It's also real clear that all of the discussion about maturity, discipline, lack thereof, adhering to the scheme, doing your job was mostly a Chase Young pointed Ron Rivera criticism. Anyway, look, Chase Young, I think, is going to be a great player. I hope he's going to be a great player because they use the number two pick on him. I also want to be right about Chase Young because I thought what I watched as a college player

was a player that was going to have a massive impact as an NFL player. And I think we saw that last year. But I don't know that it's just coincidence that, you know, they've played much better without him, even if you look at, you know, the quarterback performance from last night, and, you know, Cam Newton in his first game. They did beat Brady, and we'll see how they do against Derek Carr and Dacquessod, who they get twice. Well, what about the factor of a player like Shaka Toney?

Do you know how many snaps Shaka Toney played last night? No. Shokotony last night played five defensive snaps in the game. Five. That's it. You knew he was on the field every time he was there. Yeah, he made plays. And by the way, he made a player two and that. that Tampa game a couple of weeks ago, too.

I mean, you know what? He's already made as many plays as Chase Young made in the first eight games. Okay. You know what? I thought Wise played well, too. I don't want to pick on Chase Young here. We all understand what the situation is, right? Like, they're playing better without Chase Young, period. You know, you can come up with a million reasons why that don't put all of the blame on Chase Young

or make it completely coincidental. but that's probably not true. The truth is somewhere in the middle. He wasn't playing to the scheme, and the guys they have now are, what they are probably missing without Shishung is the ability to have a guy that could change the course of a game in one play.

And they'll get that guy back also in Montez Sweat. Real quickly, 12 carries 34 yards in the game last night. Seattle had no prayer of running the football against that defensive front. You mentioned the Russell Wilson quarterback draw from earlier, which was a 12-yard run. You take that away. They're running backs. 11 carries 22 yards.

That's domination. Seattle had 10 total first downs the entire night. And six before the final drive. Six first downs in a football game. They went five straight possessions of three and out and then had a five-and-out punt. Landon Collins specifically stood out to me again last night. So many outstanding individual performances on both offense and defense. But I wanted to read you this quote from Ron Rivera after the game.

I don't know if you saw this. Landon Collins last night, the forced fumble on Alex Collins after the catch was a big play, a really big play in the game, actually, because it was 7 to 3 and it was following the Heineke interception, and he hits a big one to lock it, and he's got another one to Collins, and now all of a sudden they may be heading to do a 14 to 3 lead, which could have totally changed the tenor of the game.

You know, one of the things about the last three weeks is Washington's been in the lead a bunch, which they hadn't been all year long. Anyway, about Landon Collins, Ron Rivera said after the game, quote, he's playing that Buffalo nickel position, you know, He, the big nickel position, it's really just a drop-down safety. So if you guys would say that once in a while, he'll be happy. You can't call him a linebacker.

I love this about Ron. Ron was very firm a month ago or whenever it was six weeks ago. Landing Collins is a downhill in the box, you know, linebacker, safety, Buffalo nickel, whatever you want to call it. Well, you know, he thinks he's a safety, yeah, but he's wrong. This is what he does well, and this is what he's going to do for us. But then at the same time, because Landon doesn't like to be called a linebacker or a buffalo nickel or a big nickel, he wants to be a safety.

Ron's telling you, hey, call him, you know, a Buffalo nickel, big nickel, drop down safety. Just don't call him a linebacker. I love that quote last night. Landon Collins was good as a blitzer. He was good in the box. The team tackled well. He tackles exceptionally well, and he had one of the biggest plays of the night knocking the ball out of Alex Collins' hands after a catch that was headed towards a big game. Kendall Fuller had multiple big plays in the game, obviously the biggest being the interception on the two-point conversion. Cam Curl, I think once again, shows you that this guy is a real fine. in a real player and is going to be a big part of what they're going to do for years to come. The entire defensive front, I thought, played well. You mentioned guys like Tony. I mentioned guys like Wise. But obviously, the guys in the middle, John, Duran, and Ionitis are just outstanding players. I'd have to go back and look at this in more detail, but it really seems to me over the last

couple of weeks, the defense is focused on John Allen, and he's getting doubled a ton. On the list of things that I liked, Taylor Heineke. He played another outstanding game with few, if any, legitimate mistakes. Now, that's the key to me. In a game like this, the only way Washington

was probably going to lose was if they beat themselves. And on his side of the ball, he never gave them the opportunity to do that. He didn't fumble a snap from center. He didn't get sack for 20-yard loss.

He never put them in a position with one bad moment. Yeah, and, you know, the interception was his fault, okay? The interception, and I mentioned this early in the show this morning, and then I heard Ron's quote on this because Brendan, my producer, played it back for me. But he was late on, you know, that cover two seam throw to Logan Thomas. And he allowed Bobby Wagner to get back into position. and he's got to be more decisive on a throw like that.

And that's, you know, that was the right read, I think, according to Ron. I think that was a tough throw to make personally because it was Wagner and he was dropping. But he hesitated. He threw it late. He also had a throw that was nearly picked on the sideline, which Brian Greasy on the broadcast went on for about 20 seconds. And he said, and he's right. He said, it's this kind of a throw that, you know, makes specifically. people wonder about Taylor Heineke.

You've got to be able to drive the football from hash to sideline, you know, on a comeback pattern. It can't be floated out there. He had a couple that floated early too. But look, the bottom line is what he does well, he just keeps doing well, which is he is a tremendous athlete with an incredible knack for escaping pressure and playing off schedule. And this has been the obvious thing that I think we've all agreed on when it comes to Taylor Heineckee, regardless of what you think he is in terms of his future. I think we've all agreed he's got gamer in him.

You know, he's fearless and he's a high-level athlete with a real knack for feeling pressure, ducking it, escaping it, sidestepping it, and creating plays off schedule. And he did it multiple times last night. He managed the game beautifully, as you said, Tommy, by not. making killer mistakes, especially when it was clear that they were the superior team and that it was going to be difficult for Seattle to score last night. He didn't take unnecessary chances last night. I loved everything about it. The dude has completed 69 of his last 89 passes, five touchdowns, one pick. Okay. He's playing at a high level. I don't think it was as good of a game as he played last week. I think last week was basically flawless, and I gave him an A, and I wanted to give him

an A plus, but I wanted to hold the A plus out for a future. I'd give him an A minus in this game, you know, more like the game he played against Tampa, which also just leads me to this as it relates to Taylor Heineke. He delivers with the game on the line. I mean, he did it in the Tampa 19 play drive. He did it last week in Carolina. And last night, when they got the ball back, you know, 17 to 9. They went on another one of these amazing drives. 16 plays, 84 yards, 8 minutes and 37 seconds. He had a second and nine throw to Logan Thomas for 12 yards, a very decisive throw. He, you know, hit McKissick on a checkdown for six. He had a, there's a third down conversion. Wasn't there on the final drive? Yeah, the third down throw to DeAndre Carter for the, the first down on that final drive. I'm sorry, the fourth down throw.

What am I talking about? The fourth and fourth throw, when they didn't kick the field goal the first time at the Seattle 22, he makes a throw to Carter, which, by the way, Logan Thomas nearly stuck his arm up and tipped the ball away. He was clearly a clear out in that spot, but it was the right read and it was the right throw, and it was a big time throw.

He is delivered with the game on the line, and the truth is on fourth and goal from the Seattle three. he delivered with the throat of Logan Thomas. And Thomas should have never bobbled the ball. It was right there. It should have been a touchdown. Now, we can debate whether or not you think it should have been overturned. I was kind of surprised that it got overturned.

I saw his arm and wrist underneath the ball, but, you know, New York may have had another view. Whatever. You know, they have sided more often than not with the call on the field if it's really tough to overturn. They must have seen something in New York that said Logan Thomas, let the ball move around too much didn't have his arm or wrist or hand underneath the ball and it hit and it hit the ground. But what a throw by Heineke on fourth and goal from the three. He's not going to get credit for another touchdown pass, but he basically threw a touchdown pass in that spot.

He was outstanding and he's been outstanding. And that's where I want to leave it for today. Because we got six games left. This is a continuing audition for him. I will concede this. He's auditioning. Okay? I think I dropped the opportunity for him to audition a month ago or three weeks ago when I declared him an NFL backup.

But he is auditioning for the starting job. So you got six games left, a lot of big games too, which will be great to see him in. And one of the things that I'm confident about is I don't think he's going to soil himself in any of these games. I think this dude is a big believer in himself. And he may not be Aaron Rogers or Patrick Mahomes or any of the elite quarterbacks or the top half of the league quarterbacks, but he is going to make plays that give you a chance, that give you a chance to win some of these games and be a 500 kind of a team and get into the postseason, potentially, at least with the way he's playing right now. All right, next up on the

list of things that I liked, because the list is long. Both running backs were outstanding. McKissick was great. McKissick has a concussion. Hopefully he'll be ready for the Raiders game. I've loved McKissick going back to last year. I remember during the off season, there was some discussion about potentially them not bringing McKissick back. And I was like, I thought he was one of their best players last year. I think he needs more touches. I would actually consider him in some of those short yardage situations with, you know, with a true, you know, three to four wide out, you know, situation in a spread field.

But Gibson's just tremendous, and he didn't fumble. And then lastly, the coaching staff gets a lot of credit in this game. one of the things I said after the Denver game, I said, look, the rest of this year is about Ron Rivera and how he handles a season that could potentially really get ugly as it has around here many times in the past. I think he's a high-quality person. I think his team's going to continue to play for him, and they have. And more than that, they are playing their best football right now heading in to December. And more than that, he's got two coordinators in Del Rio and Scy. Scott Turner, who know what they're doing.

I've been very much an advocate for Scott Turner going back to last year in the face of many of you who have said, I'm nuts. And I've said, no, I see a guy that really can scheme up in offense and can call plays. And now I will take it a step further. If they continue to have this kind of success with a quarterback off the street last year, Scott Turner, not this year. But because of his name and who his father is, Scott Turner is going to be a head coach one day.

You're probably right. If those things occur, if they have a level of success that's impressive this year, and they do accomplish this with a quarterback that nobody else particularly really wanted, yeah, his name will, I mean, not next, not this, not this off season, but it will come up at some point as a high coaching candidate. Some of you will be critical of his third downplay. I think that the situation, I don't know, man, handing the ball off to Gibson and third and one seems like a pretty good bet to me.

You know, if you want them to get more creative and put Taylor into a read option possibility, I hear you. You want him to throw in third and one in a game that stops the clock and potentially ends up in a bad play against a team that can't score. I think they were taking the context of the game. into consideration there. All right, the list of things that I didn't like is very short. The short yardage offense in the second half, I mean, as well as I think Taylor Heinecke played, and as dominant as I think the team was, and as much as they dominated time of possession,

etc. The bottom line is they went three straight drives, three and outs. And they were three and outs in which they picked up eight to nine yards on the first two plays. And one time out of a first and 15 because there was a false start on Lucas, I think. I think it was Lucas. And Gibson got stuffed and they punted, which they should have from their own 30 or wherever it was. The second drive, same thing. Gibson gets stuffed on a third and one after Gibson, by the way, had gained like nine yards on the first two carries. And then on that third one, you know, they get into the third and one and Patterson's in the game and he gets stuffed. And then they go for it at the Seattle 47 yards.

guard line and Gibson breaks loose for a 37-yard run and Sheriff gets called for the hold. Santana Moss was on the radio show with me this morning. He thought it was kind of ticky-tack, but he also, you know, said that the first half PI versus Logan Thomas was a bad call as well, which I agree with. The bottom line is, I thought that fourth and one, I thought he was going to punt it. And I know it's Riverboat Ron and he's going for fourth downs, but man, there was no indication that Seattle was going to be able to move the football from deep in their own territory. And they're up eight. They're not, you know, the worst thing, the best that they can happen is they could be tied on a drive. I didn't think he wanted to give them a shot at midfield, but he went

for it and there was the holding penalty, so they ended up punning it anyway. But the short yardage offense obviously was an issue. And I'll agree with any of you that say, well, they could have been more creative there. They didn't have to run essentially the same kind of stuff three times in a row. But look, they had had so much success running the football in this game. They were dominating the line of scrimmages. That last drive, they ran it down their throat. There was some secondary confusion on some of the big plays to lock it in particular. The blocked PAT obviously was not a good thing. The fact that it got returned for two points was incredible. And it went from 10-7 to 9 to 9. DeAndre Carter had a muffed punt in this game that

could have been a massive play, but they recovered it, but got to be more careful. Carter does. I think Carter's a good returner. I think they really give him, he's really given them something this year that they haven't had in a long time. And then, you know, obviously the kicking situation was, you know, not within their control, but it's on the list of things I didn't like because it led to really kind of an interesting decision that Rivera had at the end of the game. Before that fourth and goal at the three-yard line, first of all, on the play before it, Antonio Gibson ran out of bounds, right? And, you know, the Seahawks had already had all their timeouts. So there were 25 seconds left in the first half.

So they saved Seattle 25 seconds on the other end. The truth, though, is if you watch that play, Gibson's really trying to score. I didn't have as much of an issue with that out of bounds as I did with the one the week before against Carolina. but you've got a fourth and goal at the Seattle three. It's 17 to 9. There are two minutes and 25 seconds left. A field goal ices the game. The field goal is a 20-yard field goal.

Now, Ron Rivera, Tommy, said after the game, a field goal or a PAT, kicking was not an option. That Nate Katzer said kicking is not an option. Tressway can't kick. He cannot kick. The operation's not going to work. They try. They practiced it.

And Ron Rivera, by the way, let me read this quote to you because you'll love this one. He said, Nate came to me and told me we didn't have a field goal or an extra point kicker once we lost Joey Sly on the two-point conversion play. I did ask Nate if Trey can drop kick. He said, I'm serious. I did ask him. I love that Ron Rivera, when I talked to him two weeks ago about the free kick rule that he knew exactly what it was and he's used it before, you know, the free kick

on a fair catch where you can kick a field goal without, you know, a rush, and that he thought of a drop kick. Do you know I went back and looked this up? Flutie was the only kicker, was the only person to convert a drop kick in the NFL since 1941. He did it in 2006. If you don't know what a drop, if you don't know what a drop kick is, look it up. Look up Doug Flutty drop kick and you'll see you. You drop the ball, it hits the ground, and then you kick it right after it hits the ground. And he asked Nate if Tress could drop kick. Now, to me, the fact that they did not have a contingency plan to their kicker being injured is on them. I don't know how many teams have a contingency plan.

I know that Pittsburgh was in this situation at Cleveland a few weeks ago where they lost Boswell. I know that Tress Way is the punter and he's also the holder. That is the case in a lot of situations. But, you know, the chance of losing a kicker in a game isn't remote. It's a long shot, but it's like not unheard of. You know, kickers can pull hamstrings on kickoffs or in the case that he did it chasing down somebody with a ball, whether it's a returner or in that case, the guy that blocked the extra point. You need to have a contingency plan. It least for a 20-yard field goal. Are you telling me that Tress Way couldn't have come out?

You didn't have to give them the laces. You didn't have to give them no laces or laces or, you know, the ball tilted or whatever. You just needed to put it down somehow, some way and let him boot it 20 yards. Are you going to kick a 20-yard field goal? Yes. Not in a game. I wouldn't be able to. Yeah.

I'd be. But, you know, remember when we would do the events out at the bubble and ass? Ashburn, the 980, you know. It was the Zabe thing that we did. You know, Zabe can... It was the 980 combine. Zabe can really kick. It's one of his favorite things to do.

But we were out there one of those years... That's why he built a football field out at his property. Zabe kicked like a... So he could kick field goals. No, no shit. In one of those days where we did the 980, whatever, you know, the indie... The Combine. The Indie Combine.

The 980 Combine. He kicked a... 45-yard field goal. Not against a rush, not in a game, but he kicked a 45-yard field goal. He's 50-whatever years old. I kicked one from 35. Zab's, by the way, straight on. I kicked one and Nick Ashu kicked one, I think Aschu may have kicked one from like 40. And I got one just barely over the crossbar from like 35. Now, let me just say, it takes everything. But the 20-yarder, look, if you're halfway athletic, if you went out to your high school field and you took a couple of practice things

and you put it on a tee or had your son or daughter hold it for you, you'd probably be able to get four out of ten through. Trisway's got to be able to make a 20-yard field goal. Now, somebody said, well, he's a left footer. They didn't have a holder for a left footer. Well, they didn't find out before last night. that he was a left footer. Why couldn't you have a contingency plan for at least a short field goal at the end of the

game if you lose your kicker? What if that field goal was to win the game? They didn't have an offensive or a defensive line and go to Ron. One of those guys say, I can kick it. I used to kick in high school. I could kick it like a Deacon Jones situation. Deacon Jones did it, yeah. I can kick it. Yeah.

It's like the center. You know, the point guard goes out and the center comes to the coach. Play point guard. Yes. Yeah, I understand that he's saying it wasn't an option. We had to go for it. But my God, you know, if they had tied the game 17-17 and somehow lost that game, or if they had converted the on-site kick and gotten a field goal and lost 18 to 17,

I mean, to be honest with you, I'd be killing them right now for not having a contingency plan. You got it. Maybe they're not the only team. I don't know. Maybe it's true that there isn't contingency plans for losing a kicker in a game, but there should be a punter is capable of kicking a field goal. They put up the numbers, by the way, on Tressway at Oklahoma. He was 11-11-11 for 11 on PATs and one-for-6 on field goals.

But the 20-yarder is a college P-A-T. Yes. Yeah. It sounds like he didn't want any You know You're right They should have been better prepared for this At some point

I think I think so You remember You remember Steve Cox Steve Cox was their punter But he was also their long Field goal kicker Yeah

Yeah And teams have had that over the years Some teams have it even now I've seen that recently Colleges definitely have it But colleges don't have roster limits So, you know, you've got multiple kickers, you know, that are out there. So you don't have that issue.

But, yeah, I don't get it. It's one of the things I'm going to ask for it. It didn't. And by the way, when they didn't kick the field goal in the moment, I'm like, they're probably going to score a touchdown here. And even if they don't, there's no chance that they're going to drive at 97 yards, you know. But they did. And they had a two-point conversion to tie the game. and I don't know.

I'm going to ask Rivera this week when I have them on the radio show. I'm just going to say, I mean, shouldn't you have a contingency band? Because it's not, again, it's really not a long, it's not like super long odds of losing a punter or a kicker in a game. They're involved in a football game. There are plays that don't go as scheduled and they end up doing more than you really want them to do. and usually by the way, when a kicker does more than just kick, they get hurt. It seems like it always happens, right?

I mean, if they're not just punting or just kicking, if they got to chase down somebody or make a tackle or it just seems they get hurt. I don't know. Maybe I am over emphasizing that. There were just a couple of other quick observations from the game. I thought Terry McCluren should have had that bomb that Taylor threw to him. I thought that was a catchable ball early in the game. And I'm surprised that Terry didn't make a better play on that particular ball. The interception by Jamal Adams on what wasn't a good throw by

Heineke and Rivera confirmed that. That it was late and it was definitely that in the one-out pattern that he threw that nearly got picked or got broken up by number 23. I thought in the moment that Logan Thomas was a defenseless receiver when he got hit. But the replay clearly showed that he was not hit anywhere near the head or neck area. And so I don't know. I kind of feel like we see that get called a lot on the interception, Tommy, I'm talking about, when Logan Thomas clearly got hit as a receiver who was not expecting to get hit. But they didn't call that. Hold on. I had something else on my two other things. Number one,

Terry McClorn, when he lines up in the slot, boys and girls, they're throwing to him. Okay? Every time he's in the slot and God Turner does a good job, just, you know, very subtly on different plays, working McLorn into the slot, getting him into a matchup, and Taylor's eyes light up. That's where he's going to Terry when he lines up in the slot more times than not. I wanted to mention that on that final drive, there was the third and seven before ultimately they converted the fourth and four on the throated to DeAndre Carter. But there's a third and seven and they took a delay a game penalty. Now, that is on Taylor Heineke, but you've got to be more aware of that on the sideline as a coach, as a staff, to see. save your quarterback by calling a timeout.

That's a big delay a game penalty because you know you can't kick a field goal. So you've got to get a first down or a touchdown. And you just cost yourself, you just went from a third and seven to a third and 12. Now they picked it up. They got, you know, the throw to McKissick for eight yards and then the fourth and four to D'Andre Carter. But you've got to, I think you got to help your young quarterback back out a little bit on the sideline.

I mean, there are many times we see coaches. sprinting down the field saying give me a time out so you don't get a delay a game penalty. But they had a delay a game penalty in that spot and that kind of hurt them a little bit. But yeah, that's it. That's it on my game take. You know, again, I thought they were dominant in the game. I thought it felt very much in watching it like it should have been a 31 to 7 final. And maybe that's coming. Oh, yeah, all that's, you're right, maybe it is coming, but they only scored 17 points still.

And I know a lot of these numbers are first half numbers, but the fact is they're 20th in the league in points per game. You know, and that could wind up haunting them in the final games of the season. They got to put more points on the board. I mean, look, I know at one point, Brian Greasy, you know, but was like you gushing about, you know, Scott Turner's offense and what a rhythm it was in. Well, they had nine points at the time. You know, it was in the third quarter. So, I mean, you know, George C. Scott and the hustler says they don't keep score by yardage.

They keep score by, like, who wins and who loses, who have the most points at the end of the game. they got to get more points on the board. Yeah, but if you have your choice of scoring few points and not moving the ball versus scoring few points and moving the football, you'll take scoring few points and moving the football because moving the football will eventually more likely than not give you the opportunity to score more points. Look, there's a lot of context to it.

I mean, they didn't have a field goal kicker last night, so they should have scored 20, you know, if you kick the field goal at the end. They also had an extra point block, so it really should have been. been, you know, well, they made the two-point conversion anyway. By the way, that two-point conversion that they made after the McKissick touchdown that made it 17 to 9, think about this, right? That was the play of the game. I don't know why I didn't mention that. Ultimately, that proved to be the difference in the game. They had not made a two-point conversion in their last, in their previous 12 tries, which was an NFL record. I knew nothing about that until they put that up there.

If they don't make that two-point conversion, the lead for that whole second half, is 15 to 9, not 17 to 9. And the truth is nothing about the game's context would have changed between 17-9 and 15-9, except that last drive, the touchdown throw, would have made it 16 to 15. Seattle with 15 seconds to go in the game. That's a good observation, right?

So they really, you know, hitting on that two-point conversion ultimately was the difference. But back to what you said, You know, they should have scored more points against Green Bay. Now, ironically, they moved the football against Green Bay, and they should have scored more points like Taylor Heineke, you know, conceding before he went into the end zone and the other fourth in goal that they didn't get in and all of that stuff. But I never felt like they had a chance to beat that team.

I think Aaron Rogers just would have turned it on whenever he felt like it. The – but the last two games, they were averaging 28 points a game. You know, they scored 29 against Tampa. They scored 27 against Carolina. And, you know, they're shortening these games, too. Now, the game ended up being a longer game because it got crazy at the end in terms of the time. But that first half until the penalty flag started flying at the end of the half was on pace for like two hours and 10 minutes. You know, but you're right.

Like, you can't continue to move the football like they've been moving the football. at will and come away with 10 against Green Bay, 10 against Denver, 13 against the Chiefs, and 17 against Seattle, and hope to, you know, win enough games to be playing in late January instead of just mid-January when the regular season ends. But I do really agree with Greasy. They are in a rhythm right now, and they've got some playmakers, and Curtis Samuel was back last night. And Logan Thomas was back last night. And by the way, Samuel, you can see the explosiveness that he has. You know, I hope they don't lose McKissick for a game or two. They really could

use him. They are going to lose their kicker, by the way. I don't think we mentioned this, but Joey Sly is officially out for three weeks. Ron Rivera announced that this morning on local radio on 1067, the fan, on the junkie show. So they're going to have to go find another kicker before the game in Vegas on Sunday. I do not think it'll be Chris Blewett. I don't think it's going to be blew it. But, yeah, I mean, you know, I feel like that's one of those age-old NFL, you know, arguments. You know, don't tell me about them moving the football.

What are they averaging points? And I think sometimes that's really true, like if you're just a terrible red zone team. But Washington's missed field goals. Remember, in the Green Bay game, they missed two. Two field goals blocked, you know, after moving, you know, the football the way they did. They had a quarterback that conceded before he went in on a fourth down. So right there, that's another, you know, that's another 13 points. So they've had opportunities.

If they keep doing what they're doing, they're going to put up points. They're going to put up points. I think the challenge moving forward is can the defense sustain the level they've been at for three games? Because, you know, again, last night they didn't feel. face a very good offense. They really didn't. They faced a quarterback that wasn't great. Last week, you know, I thought Cam played well. I don't want to take anything away from him. I think he played well in his first game back. He was terrible on Sunday in his second game. But they get Derrick Carr and they get Dak Prescott the next two weeks. And then they get a mobile dual threat quarterback,

which other than Cam, they really haven't faced this year since Daniel Jones. You know, when Jones carve them up. So we'll see. We'll see. I hope the defense continues to play at this level. I have a lot of confidence that up front they're going to keep playing at a really high level. And I have confidence that the offense is going to move the football in some of these games. You know, hopefully they'll make it pay off. All right. What else do you have on the game? Because we've got a couple of other things to finish up the show on. I've got nothing else on the game. All right.

By the way, they're two and a half point underdogs against the Raiders Sunday in Vegas. And my guess is that the public action will be kind of split, but maybe on the Raiders after what the Raiders did on Thanksgiving. But I think people watched last night and were probably impressed with Washington to a certain degree. All right. More to finish up the show next after these words from a few of our sponsors. So Robert Griffin, the third, put out a tweet this morning. New book alert.

The truth will set you free. Surviving Washington coming August 9th, 2020, pre-order now. He's got a book that will discuss all of his time in Washington. And apparently it will discuss things like, you know, Well, let me read it to you, okay, about the book. A one-of-a-kind explosive tell-all from the former franchise savior, Robert Griffin III, detailing the shocking mismanagement and toxic culture within the most dysfunctional,

professional football team in America. After winning the Heisman Trophy, he was selected, yada, yada, yada. It was clear to anyone watching that Griffin was seriously injured the night of the playoff game in January, 2013 against Seattle. However, he was cleared to re-enter the game. Late in the fourth quarter, his knee finally buckled. The entire stadium attendance fell silent as Griffin was helped off the field. And less than a year, he had gone from franchise savior to Fallen Star. Now in this eye-opening, moving memoir, Griffin shines a light on that infamous playoff game,

along with the toxic environment he witnessed with medical mismanagement and sexual harassment in the most dysfunctional organization in sports today, overseen by Daniel Snyder. A football memoir, unlike any other, this is a powerful story of survival and the importance of speaking up no matter the risks. Robert Griffin III, surviving Washington, and it looks like Gary Myers wrote the forward. Former New York Daily News, a longtime football writer. Look, as much as, you know, I think, at least for a lot of people, you're going to have to hold your nose. on this, this may wind up being a very, not so, I don't want to say a good thing.

This may have an impact beyond serving RG3's self-interest of being labeled a victim in this case. I mean, if you're of the school thought that any shame and embarrassment that can come to the organization while Dan Snyder is the owner off the football field that will contribute hopefully, possibly, slimly to his demise as the owner of the football team is a good thing. What do you think he would say in the book that could lead to the demise of Dan Snyder's ownership of the football team? Oh, I have no idea. And like I said, it's slim.

It's a slim hope. you know but but I mean there may be aside to this that if you if you want to

if you're if part of your goal if you have separated your fandom between rooting for what happens on the field and then rooting against everything that happens against the owner rooting for everything that happens

that hurts the owner then this book could be a good thing do you think he knows his why? Oh, I think he's known as why forever. Do you think that this is going to be, what was it when

Shanahan got fired and Gruden came in, it was hashtag the movement? Was that what it was? Yeah, yeah. When he gave that big interview with the Washington Post, we're going to run the team our way now. We're going to do things our way. I don't,

first of all. I'm sure this will be revisionist history about him totally. Absolutely. I wonder if he'll put in the conversation he had with Trent Williams on the sideline. That was caught by NFL films. Yeah. Where, you know, don't tell coach. Yeah. That's, that's, yeah, I'm hurt, but don't tell coach. I mean, do you think that's one of those things where he says how the whole thing unfolded in the Seattle game that he told Trent Williams and it's right there on NFL films, don't tell

coach, it's my knee. I don't think that's going to make it in the book. Shanahan told us in that interview that he did with us a couple years after he was gone on 980 on our show. One of the things he told us on that interview is that as it related to

the Seattle game, because remember, we went through it meticulously. Every, every detail of it. And he said that he was ready to start Kirk Cousins in the second half, that he was not going to put Griffin back out there. But Griffin and Dr. Andrews came out of like a closet or some room in the locker room and said he was good to go and said, Robert said the issue wasn't the knee, it was the brace. And we had to just, we had to reset the brace, that the brace was bothering him, that it wasn't the knee. Griffin didn't want to come out of that game.

You know, you can only look, there are two sides to every story. I understand that, okay? I've heard the mic side many, many times. If you've been listening to us over the years, you've heard the mic side many, many times. The bottom line is he was ready to put Kurt Cousins into the game in the second half, in part because whether it was the brace or the knee, Griffin had lost all effective.

You know, they were up 14-0. Seattle had a third and 12 that they converted, and then, you know, that was the biggest play of the game. I mean, Griffin getting hurt, you know, on that second touchdown pass was a big play, obviously because he was not the same after that play. But the third and 12 that Seattle converted down 14-0 was a massive play. Anyway, I digress. You know, the bottom line is Griffin didn't want to get pulled. You know that from based on what he told, William's on the sideline, don't tell coach that it's the knee. Mike's side of the story is he was going to put Kirk Cousins in because Griffin wasn't anywhere to be found during halftime.

Where's Robert? Where's Robert? Kirk, get ready. You're playing the second half. And then he and Dr. Beanie, Dr. Andrews, walked out of some room and said, no, no, he's good to go. It's the brace. Now there's more kind of controversy and vagueness around what happened in the Baltimore game

when he originally got hurt and he basically went out there and put himself back into the game. And Shanahan says he looked at Dr. Andrews and Andrews said, it's fine. And Andrews claims that he didn't give Mike the okay on that. Bottom line is Griffin inserted himself back into the game in the Baltimore game after the Hologna hit, which is the hit that really messed up his knee. And then it wasn't the same. And then he, you know, really tore it on the, you know, wonderful FedEx turf. I'm sure, I hope, I bet there will be something in there about the FedEx turf in that game as well. But Griffin didn't want out of that game. Griffin didn't even, you know, according to the tape with Trifax.

Trent Williams, and according to the stories from Mike Shanahan, he said his knee was fine. Yeah, that's right. Now, some will say, well, that's what players do. You have to be the head coach. God, I feel like we did this just for months upon months. And I know you and I got into it about this for so many days, and I just said, look, it's the playoffs. Okay, Philip Rivers played on a torn ACL in the AFC championship game. You're the hottest team in the league.

You got a 14 to nothing lead, a 14 to 3 lead, a 14 to 10 lead in a playoff game, and your quarterback is telling you it's the brace, and the doctor is telling you he's good to go. I mean, what are you supposed to do? You could pull them for performance. I mean, look, I mean, that'll be legislated, but I'm much more interested in the stuff that makes the owner, his friend, Dan Snyder, look bad in this situation. Well, I mean, really ironic, right? The one person, more than any other in the organization, that had Griffin's back, you know, in a majorly, I don't know, I hate the term that I hate the term that I,

I've used before, but I'm going to use it because it's the only one that's applicable. The owner's a jock sniffer, and he's been a jock sniffer, his entire, you know, ownership life of this football team. He has saddled himself up to young star players that are half his age and had just relationships that really undermined coaching staffs, plural. And so the relationship that he had with Griffin, my God, was he enamored with Robert Griffin the third? This was his guy. This was his star. This was, you know, everything. And I've said this many times for those that say, well, Shanahan never wanted him. That's not true. Mike Shanahan told us that he was okay with drafting Griffin, okay with trading up to draft Griffin, but he had two specific warnings for Bruce and Dan. One was they were going to have to play football early in his career in a different way because he was not super.

at that point in time, experience-wise, to play traditional NFL quarterback football, but they had some ideas, which, you know, Kyle had a lot of those ideas, stealing the pistol formation from Chris Alt at Nevada and, you know, bringing in really, bringing a read-option dual-threat quarterback revolution into the NFL that still exists today. And two, he said, this kid's never faced adversity. And I. just have a concern about what will happen if he does face adversity because the one bad game he played, I think it was against Oklahoma State, I sat down with him and his father, we reviewed the tape, and for every bad throw he made or interception he threw in that game, he threw

the head coach under the bus for the play calling each and every time. I was very concerned about that about how he would handle adversity. I was concerned that we weren't going to be able to drop them back, traditional NFL style, but we had some ideas. And then Mike, of course, has said many times, if they knew the salary cap penalty was coming, they would have never made the trade. But people who say that Mike was dead set against drafting Robert Griffin III,

that's not true. And Mike told us that, and Mike's told me that before. He didn't go to Bruce and Dan. and say, I want this guy. That's what he didn't do. No, he wanted Andrew Luck. He certainly would have preferred Andrew Luck, but they knew at that point Andrew Luck wasn't going to be a possibility.

He was going to the Colts. And look, what you just said is Bruce and Dan, and Dan in particular being all ginned up about this kid and about the possibilities and them looking at the head coach and saying, what do you think? And him saying, these are my concerns. But if this is, but, you know, Mike, said, look, we didn't have a quarterback. We didn't have an answer a quarterback. And the kid had a

boatload of possibilities in talent. And there was a lot intriguing about him. And he was, you know, a huge personality with, you know, the charisma and everything else. But man, the ownership relationship with that player, the owner's relationship with that player, sabotaged completely the 2013 season. And then sabotaged the future of the organization. organization when he picked the 22-year-old self-absorbed delusional quarterback over a staff that included three future playoff head coaches. You know, maybe the congressional committee should call Robert Griffin the third to testify. Look, there's some things there that I guarantee you Griffin's got, and I bet you there's some

things there that they probably have on Griffin, too. Look, all of these players and all of the people. that have come through this organization and worked for these people have a lot of stories. You know, there's a, you know, this is the problem. I mean, they have a lot on him. They know he's a bad guy. They know he's a terrible owner. But they don't have enough, apparently, or they're not willing to go to that.

Maybe you're right. Maybe this book will shed some light on a situation that, you know, I think it's interesting. The guy, the one guy that had his back more than anybody else was the owner, you know? The owner sent him into that meeting with Mike and Kyle and Matt LaFleur to tell him about the 21 plays he wanted stricken from the playbook or whatever it was. I'm forgetting now. And he had his back and he picked him and he sent the coach that he didn't want any more packing with all of the other coaches that were a part of that staff, all of whom would have been better for his career than the ones he eventually had. Which, by the way, is he going to also write a book about surviving Cleveland and surviving Baltimore? Because he wasn't very good in any of those places either.

No, he wasn't. What did you think about Max Scherzer? Well, I mean, if you're a Nats fan, it's going to be so hard to have to see this guy so much now in the National League East playing for the Mets. I mean, he took, look, you know, he took a ridiculous amount of money, the most money, I think, per season of any player in history, and all of it is up front. None of it's deferred, you know. He's making that money each of those three years. By the way, he reportedly has an opt-out after two years, like when he's 39 or something like that. but, you know, it could illustrate what a difficult time.

That fans are going to be in for the next couple of years. You know, I mean, there's going to be, you know, they're on the verge of a lockout probably starting Wednesday, tomorrow. Everybody's spending money. All these teams are spending money left and right before, you know, the hammer comes down on the lockout, except your team. the Nationals. Your starting catcher,

Jan Goams, just signed a two-year, $13 million deal with the Cubs. So it could be tough times there on South Capitol Street. Mike Rizzo's going to earn his money this offseason.

There'll be deals to be had once this labor stoppage, whenever it starts, is over. And the smart opportune general managers will make hay with that. And, you know, he could put together a team that if healthy, could be competitive. A lot of it has to do with Steven Strasbourg, whose health status remains up in the air

as to whether or not he'll be ready to start the season. But right now, it looks like tough times on South Capitol Street. Do you think that the learners were interested in paying big money for sure or not? No. Okay. No, again, the time to have... Because remember, you... The time to have paid...

Go ahead. You did say to me, I don't know how long ago, that you thought there was a chance he was going to be pitching in Washington next year. Well, I was told that Max would... He'd be open to coming back to Washington. He liked it in Washington. Okay. But, you know, I mean, whatever money they were going to offer him

wouldn't even have been in the ballpark as to what the Mets paid him. And, you know, he's very active in the union. He's one of the union leaders for the Players Association. And the Players Association always preaches, take the money. because the more money you take, you know, the whole rising tide lifts all boats kind of thing. Right. You know, as the highest salary goes up, the lowest salary goes up. That's the theory, at least.

So he was always going to take especially that significant amount of money. But he liked Washington. I think what they would have had to do, if they were interested, and competitive was sell him that they were going to be competitive, sell him on what their plan was going to be. I don't think it ever got to any of that. Just lastly, before we leave for the day, these college football coaches, this carousel is as fascinating as any in recent memory.

Lincoln Riley, you know, leaving Oklahoma to take the USC job. By the way, the contract details, or at least what's been reported. you know, 110 million over 10 years. USC's buying both of his homes in Norman for $500,000 over the ask, each one of them. So he makes a million dollars and essentially a bonus there. They're purchasing a $6 million home in L.A. for him. He's got unlimited use of a private jet for his family, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That's amazing to me.

Brian Kelly leaving Notre Dame for LSU. So when did LSU become a bigger job than the Notre Dame job? When did any job become a bigger deal and a bigger job than the Notre Dame job? Well, you know, it's been that way for a while. That's the truth of the matter. But for people of a certain age, it's like he's coaching at Notre Dame. He's coaching at Notre Dame. There's no other job you would ever want than being the coach at Notre Dame.

And by the way, he's second to Rockney all time at Notre Dame in wins. And they're on the verge of potentially going to the playoff again, playing their best football at the end of the year. I think, by the way, he's an excellent coach. But to me, it talks, you know, first of all, the money is, you know, close to $10 million a year. But what it says about college football and really about college sports, there is no bigger product, no more important product to be a part. part of, no more compensation, you know, no bigger compensation ceiling than SEC football.

It is king in college sports. You know, and Lincoln Riley, look, was headed to the SEC with Oklahoma. But he's going to USC, he's going to Southern California and, you know, leaving Norman, Oklahoma for L.A. You know, by the way, I think one of the more under-discussed parts of these moves, is, you know, you're living in Norman, Oklahoma, and you get a chance to go work and live in L.A., especially when you're younger with a family, you know, with a young family like Lincoln Riley is.

I mean, come on. I'm sure Norman's a wonderful college town. I haven't been there. But, you know, Brian Kelly, going from South Bend to Baton Rouge, I mean, Brian Kelly leaving Notre Dame, it's crazy. By the way, Virginia Tech for you Hokie fans, who listened to the show, they did make their hire. It's Brent Pry, the D.C., the defensive coordinator from Penn State.

That's who they hired to be the next coach at Virginia Tech to replace Justin Fuente. But now we've got the Oklahoma job, you know, and the Notre Dame job. And probably the Cincinnati job, because it'll probably be Luke fickle to take the Notre Dame job, not that that's as big of a job. but fascinating times in college football, man, and the money is insane. Insane what these guys are getting. By the way, the Notre Dame job.

I mean, these are colleges, you know. I mean, really, everyone loses track of what these institutions are. You know, I mean, to be paying this amount of money is obscene. It's unbelievable. Especially in the SEC, where most of the schools, and I brought this up time after time, are located in some of the poorest states in the country. I mean, Jesus, it's just, it's like a Charles Dickens story. It's unbelievable. I, yeah, I hear you.

I mean, it's true. But at the same time, we know the money that gets generated when these programs win. I know. You know, it pays off. I know. And there's a point, there was a story. I think we talked about this together, about all the dead money in college football and college basketball, all the contracts that are still being paid for with coaches who are no longer coaching at those universities. And, I mean, you've got so much of it, especially in the SEC and the Big 12 in college football.

But, you know, the LSU job and the Notre Dame job and the Oklahoma jobs, you know, I'm sorry, the Notre Dame job and the Oklahoma job now are the two that are available. It was the LSU and the USC and the Florida jobs that were available. Now you got, it's just Notre Dame and Oklahoma. There was a time in my life, Tommy, where like the Notre Dame job, if it were available, it was a massive story. and the biggest story in college sports, who's going to be the coach at Notre Dame? It's not anymore. Because a very successful coach left to go to Baton Rouge,

which is phenomenal. And win a national championship. Yeah. And win a national title, like the three coaches before him have, who coached there. Yeah. I guess that's it. Money's pretty good, too.

Ten years, $95 million. Okay. We done for the day? I think so, boss. All right. Big win for Washington. Three wins in a row. It sets up for a December that matters. And with an accompanying Tommy quarterback controversy. I mean, that is 777 on the slot machine or whatever the big money is.

I don't play the slots. But anyway. Yeah, December. Games that matter and a quarterback ongoing discussion slash controversy. All right. Thanks. All right. I'll see you. All right. We're done. I'm back tomorrow.