The Kevin Sheehan Show - A Giant Referee Ripoff?

Episode Date: December 20, 2022

Kevin and Thom today with a lot more on Washington's Sunday night loss to the Giants including plenty on the controversial officiating. Also, Ron Rivera implied the Taylor Heinicke was close to being benched on Sunday night and that the game against the 49ers may be his last chance to hold on to the starting job. Some Wizards and World Cup from the boys too.  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 Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. I'm here. Tommy is here. Don't forget to rate us and review us whenever you have a chance on Apple and Spotify in particular.

From M.D. Matt. King Sheehan. Five stars. Love Kevin. His passion for Terps basketball and the skins. unparalleled. Good luck on the show. Looking forward to the Sports Fix Reunion. And then from Jerry Dee, nothing better than Laverro

and Sheehan together. Sports Fix 2.0 Rejoice. Happy holidays, boys. Happy holidays to you, Jerry Dee. Appreciate that. How are you, Tom? Absolutely. How are you? I'm feeling in a Christmas spirit. Those kind words always help. They always help. Kind words are nice. I had a lot of unkind words after my podcast yesterday.

People love Logan Paulson. And I hope you enjoyed the recap I had of the giant game. I have a lot more in the giant game. I'm going to let Tommy take his swing at it first. But I guess for some of you, I went a little bit too long on the Kirk Cousins comeback. I mean, it's just so funny how most of you don't reach out when he plays well, only reach out when he plays poorly.

And then I take exactly six minutes. That was it to discuss Kurt Cousins yesterday. And it was too much for you. I'm sorry about that. Anyway, first of all, you wrote a column. I read your column. but I could not decipher from the column whether or not you were at the game Sunday night.

Were you at the game Sunday night? No, I was not at the game Sunday night. I didn't think you were. No, I wasn't. I wasn't at the game Sunday night. You just talked about the crowd in sort of a, you know, in a very firsthand knowledgeable way. Well, I was relying on my press box observers.

Got it. who I trust, who basically said it was a loud crowd for Washington, but there were more giant fans there. That's not what I heard. Now, I was wrong. I had several reports from the game. By the way, pre-game, I had more reports than even in-game. Pre-game, I got a lot of different people telling me there hasn't been a tailgate situation like that at FedEx Field in years. that the traffic, they haven't seen traffic like that. Because, you know, in recent years, it's been pretty easy to get,

no complaining about the traffic getting in and out at FedEx Field in recent years. But apparently it was a late arriving crowd because they had traffic problems. And then with respect to the crowd breakdown, now I wasn't right in my projection, which you scoffed at and laughed at me for last week, when I suggested that maybe it could be a 75, 25, 70, 30 kind of a crowd. I got from most people that it was 60-40,

that there was a lot of blue on the, you know, giant side. And you could see that on TV. You know, you could see that on TV, but that it was really probably, you know, at least slightly tilted in favor of Washington fans. I had one friend of mine said, I don't know, it seems 50-50, and everybody else was pretty much in the 60-40 camp.

You know, that reporting really sometimes depends. on your perspective in terms of where your seat is. Now, the game was not a sellout. There were empties up top. You could see those on TV as well. It's amazing that the smallest stadium in the NFL couldn't sell out the biggest game of the NFL weekend and one of the biggest games that they've had in years. But like you said, I heard it was a very enthusiastic crowd both ways to the giant fans and the Washington fans.

Right. Look, I mean, I talked to and followed certain people who I trust. And actually, I know as Pete Medhurst had tweeted a photo during the game, said lots of blue here. And the photo he tweeted was of the home side, not the visitor's side. Okay. So these things are subjective. But 6040, I think when you think a crowd is 6040, it could go. either way.

Okay. That's fine. I think if I were there, I would have, I don't know. There's one friend of mine more than any other that usually nails it pretty correctly. And he said, I don't know, it seems like certainly it could be 60-40 Washington, but there's a lot of blue in here. That's it. But everybody agreed that it was an enthusiastic crowd in one of the more kind of raucous crowds. A lot of giant fans being raucous as well. And the official paid attendance was 61,917. The official...

Which is almost the sellout. It is. It's 62 and change. I forget what the number is these days. I know it's 62 something. But anyway, what did you think about the game? Well, I don't know what to make. out of the reaction to the game

because my impression was, and I'm watching it with a lot of Washington fans, and my reaction was I mean, the commanders got screwed over on two key plays, at least at the end of the

game, that might have tied the game for them. You know? Okay. Probably would have, but at least might have. But I came away thinking, they didn't lose. this game because of the officials. I mean, they gave the game away with the two-tailor Heineke fumbles.

Plus, I mean, again, this is what I talked about before. They don't play as hard or as intense as the Giants do, and that was pretty evident. They didn't play with the same level of intensity in New York did. I mean, the Giants were had, the Giants played like they were having a part. when Sequan Barclay was running through that Washington defense. Okay? I mean, they were having a festival. It was a giant festival.

And for Washington, I just never felt that way. I don't think they're lazy. I don't think they don't think they don't play hard. I just don't think they can ramp it up to that notch. Hmm. Okay. What else? I mean, look, okay, the other things are, I mean, besides,

I mean, besides, you know, that kind of abstract concept, the obvious ones, I mean, Brian Robinson touches the ball 12 times in the game, only four times, I think, in the second half. And he still had more yards than Sequin Barclay, who had 18 touches. Right. With 18 carries with the ball. You know, Brian Robinson averaged seven and a half yards to carry. He did. And I don't know why that's not your ghost.

to move every time you've got the ball first. Okay, we start from there. That's how operating base. And then everything goes from there. Scott Turner's father, like I pointed out, Norv, had enough sense to keep giving the ball to Emmett Smith when he was with the Cowboys. So I had an issue with that.

I think that cost them probably the game as well. And again, I've bought it. a defense, they couldn't stop Barkley when it counted. I mean, a 97-yard drive fourth and not, fourth and nine, they should have just folded their tent up then when they couldn't stop them on fourth and nine. Well, I would hope early in the game because the other team converted a fourth and nine, you're not going to bail that. Still pretty early.

Well, yeah, I know, but, I mean, that was embarrassing. And I just think they're a better team that didn't. play as well as the Giants. Okay. What else? I want to let you get it all out. That's it. Okay. I mean, I think some of what you said I agree with, I definitely agree with you on the

Brian Robinson thing. I agree even more after watching the All-22, which I did last night this morning, and I've got a lot of additional thoughts on the game, which I'll share with everybody right now. I disagree with you on the intensity. In fact, the one thing that I really felt in watching the game is that while not a game played between two, you know, excellent teams and while not a beauty, you know, a pageant when it came to the type of football being played, I thought it was fiercely contested by both sides. I think both sides had a sense of urgency in this game. I wish Washington,

with respect to Brian Robinson and some of the runs he had, and I'm going to get to him in a little bit more detail here in a moment. But his fourth run of the game is a first and five, 15-yard run. People just go back and watch that run. Like, he carries the pile and pushes the pile for 10 of the 15 yards. He was an absolute beast in the game. I thought I really did think and felt watching the game. It was funny, I was talking to a friend of mine. Let me mention something real quickly, because this is something that I probably should have told you about before. But Chris Johnson, CJ, who has been a close friend of all of ours, for years, lost his mother last week, Priscilla. And so we send all of our best to their family. And the funeral

was yesterday. And everybody got together at the Dublin or afterwards. And so I was down there for a few hours with a lot of familiar faces, by the way. It was great to see you, Ernie Bauer, who listens every day. Scott Lynn was down there. Just a lot of people, you know, Al Cokin, Lots of people down there. Heather, it was great to see you. So many people. Anyway, CJ lost his mom last week, and she was a huge sports fan, and it certainly was sad. By the way, while she pretty much grew up in Washington, she was born Tommy in Cooperstown, New York.

So there's a little tidbit. But anyway, the best to, you know, CJ and his family. But I talked to so many people last night about the game, and somebody said to me, they said, I was listening to your show, I agree. That was actually a good football game. That was an intense football game. That's the way I felt watching it on television. I thought it was befitting of kind of a big late-season high-stakes, you know, playoff kind of game

between division rivals, cold weather outside. So I disagree with you on that. However, with that said, going back and watching this game, I have a lot of different things that I want to bring up here in the opening of this show. But the Brian Robinson thing still bothers me because it's rare for me over the years. I don't like, and I remember Sonny Jurgensen saying this to maybe both of us, said it's really hard to pick apart play calling. He said, you're not there during practice. You don't know what they've looked at on tape. know what the game plan is. You don't know where they think they have the matchups because you don't

know. And so a lot of times that's a really hard thing to criticize. I've kind of felt the same way. And look, I've been a Scott Turner fan. I think given the quarterbacking situation that he's had, he's done a pretty decent job since he got here in 2020. There have been things that we've pointed out in recent years. But man, Sunday night, I just didn't think that it made sense at the end of it, that Brian Robinson Jr. got 12 carries when he was averaging 7.4 yards per carry. And especially when you took into consideration that the Giants' weakness was their rush defense, their strength was their pass rush, especially since they got O'Jolari back, which happened before the Washington game, the first game.

And everybody's run the ball on the Giants. And Washington was running the ball on the Giants. And there's a certain level of, you know, heart that you kind of take out of the opponent when you're running it down their throat over and over and over again, especially in a game like that. And, you know, dropping your quarterback, you know, back brings risk into the equation. You know, I said sarcastically, Brian Robinson, Jr. can't get sacked, fumble, and have it returned for a touchdown. He could fumble, obviously, and it could be returned for a touchdown, but he's not going to be sacked, you know, without him knowing Tibado's just absolutely torched Leno on the

outside and have a game-altering play. What? You know, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's three things that can happen when you pass a ball. Two of them are bad. Yeah, George Allen always had that line. You know, when you put the ball in the air, two of the three things that can happen aren't good. But fortunately, we haven't watched that kind of football over the last half century. It's evolved into usually when you put it up in the air in this day and age with the rules favoring the offense, that one thing that's really good actually usually happens and the other two don't. You know, when you consider 70% completion percentages and not nearly as many interceptions as you used to have back in the day.

But Ron Rivera and his presser yesterday said, Yeah, we need to look at that because that's our bread and butter, you know, running the football. And yeah, we would have probably liked to have run Brian Robinson, Jr. Moore. Look, it wasn't that I took the offensive coordinator, Scott Turner off the hook, by suggesting that the Giants also had major coverage issues with the Dory Jackson out and Fabian Moreau as their lead corner. You know, I can understand the temptation to throw the ball. And I like when they go play action off the run game, and that works for them. That's a quarterback's best friend.

It doesn't matter who the quarterback is. Play action when you've got a running game. But it's not – I just don't think it's debatable that a guy that was averaging 7.4 yards per carry – and let me emphasize – this wasn't because of, like, one 40-yard run, and then he got stopped for two yards or less on every other carry. Right. This is a guy that went for seven – 5, 5, 15, 13, 11 in the first half.

The other two carries in the first half was a zero-yard gain, and then he had a minus two, which I'm just going to point out right now, to me, was a mistake by the quarterback. It looked like it was a read option, and he made the wrong decision as Tibado crashed down on the back. Now, another time, Heineke made the right decision, and I'd like to see a lot more of the. read option against these four three teams, which San Francisco is, be a part of what they're doing.

Heineke's got to be presented as a run threat, especially now that you've got a big time back in Robinson. By the way, his second half runs were 7, 4, 5, 19, and he had a two-yard run. So the 7.4-yard average was basically what he was getting pretty much every time he touched the football for the most part. And by the way, Gibson was 5 for 21. He was over 4 yards per carry. Yeah, over four yards of carriage. Yeah, and so I just think in a game like that, that is, you know, as our good friend, Richard Doc Walker, would say, this is a manhood issue, manhood issue game. You had the ability to be the man in the game. You had the ability to suck the life out of them by running it down their throat, which is something every other team's done against them recently.

And you didn't do it. You know, you got a little bit too fancy with the runs. You know, Curtis Samuel had five carries, including a third down and three where you handed him the ball, and he got nothing. He had five carries for one yard. I like what he does with the run game. I like a lot of the motion. I like a lot of the jets, the jet sweeps. And Diommy Brown had a reverse, actually, for 15 yards.

But Robinson, Jr. was your ticket to a slug fest that you were in better position to win if you had played football that way. four carries in the second half is a joke. Now, I also understand that somebody could say, Sheehan, they also threw the ball well. And their one touchdown drive was when they came out in the second half and started pitching it to their best player on offense, Terry McClearn. You're right. You are right. They did very well on that drive. They threw it primarily on the drive.

They scored a touchdown. And it was Heineke at his best. By the way, Rivera basically told J.P. Finley in the interview yesterday that if they didn't move the ball down the field on that drive, Carson Wentz was coming in. So the leash is super short right now. That was the drive, the first drive that they had in the third quarter. Ron Rivera told J.P. Finley on their interview that they do for NBC Sports Washington, that that drive, that they were definitely planning on making a switch to Carson if they hadn't got. anything out of that drive. I think Heineke's been living on plays and drives for the last

couple of weeks as Wence is now an option where he wasn't before. Personally, I don't think it would have been the right move, but whatever. Heinekees, you know, they're struggling on offense with Taylor Heineke. They really are. They're struggling with their offensive line.

And that's why I would have just gone with Robinson Jr. But they did move it down the field and the best throw he had was the touchdown pass to Dotson. So, Like everything with Heineke, there's a complication to the blanket statement he stinks. We got to get somebody else. The complication is that occasionally he doesn't stink, you know? And the times that he doesn't stink tend to be with the game on the line.

But anyway, the Robinson Jr. thing, I don't get. And I also think that against these four three teams in particular, you have got to run more bootleg, which they had a boot in the game. They had a boot throw. They had a naked boot on a third and one. And you've got to incorporate Taylor much more as a runner if you're going to have them in these games. Absolutely. You absolutely do. Yeah. You have to do something to take the pressure off that pass rush.

And what you've really got now, you've got teams like the one they're about to play, which is the first legitimate, I mean, monster that they've had during this whole stretch. Look, I don't want to take anything away from the win at Philadelphia because that was a really good win. And they played exceptionally well. And everything went right. By the way, for those of you that would blame the officiating for the loss on Sunday night, I mean, Dallas Goddard had his helmet ripped off, got injured, fumbled the football, and that turned out to be one of the real decisive plays. And how a referee missed that call is beyond me.

But to the other thing that you said about the refereeing, I agree with you. This was not a game lost by the officials. However, because the worst call in the entire game came at the very end of the game, it was impactful. They missed a blatant pass interference in the end zone on Curtis Samuel. Yes, they did. It was blatant. It was an absolute mugging of Curtis Samuel. And how you miss that is the same way,

you say, how do you miss Dallas Goddard having Jamon Davis rip his helmet off? You know, and then fumble because that wasn't like a running back in traffic. That was out in the open for everybody to see. Everybody could see that. And Curtis Samuel got absolutely interfered with well before the ball got there. And it should have been first and goal at the one. But I'll just point out to everybody. First of all, they still would have had to stick it in the end zone.

Secondly, they would have had to make a two-point conversion, which they, you know, are thursday. 33% on for the year. And then thirdly, it would have been a tie score. They would have had to stop the Giants from scoring. The Giants were using their timeouts to try to get the ball back. And I think actually at 20 to 20, if they had gotten a two-point conversion, we probably would have gone to overtime because the Giants aren't a big chunk pass team.

And so, you know, more likely than not unless they got some big return or a big penalty. I don't know that they get in field goal range and you go to overtime. And then, you know, with these two teams, as we saw two weeks ago, it's a coin flip. Who knows? So it's not like they... I would agree with all that. Yeah. Except that, you know, the way that Giants had been running at some point, that I think all they had to do was run Barclay three or four times and they get in field goal range.

Well, I'll just, I'll address that right now. I talked about the biggest disappointment for me, there were two of them. One was, you know, Scott Turner, I don't think felt the game. I don't think he really had a good feel for the game. But again, he might say... say, yeah, but, you know, their corners, we lit up. You know, our quarterback averaged 14.6 yards per completion and 8.6 yards per pass attempt. Pretty productive. That's true. He also missed a hell of a lot. I'll get to that.

The other disappointment for me was the defense played, you know, well again throughout, with the exception of the long drive, which, man, the Giants had a lot of plays that they converted by a whisker. I mean, the defense was there. on a lot of those completions, including that fourth and nine. I mean, it was decent coverage. Daniel Jones made an incredible throw. The best throw he made was on a play, by the way, on a third down throw to James,

where he converted it under pressure, a blitz pressure, and clearly got hit, you know, Jamie Davis led with his helmet and should have been flagged for 15. There were also a couple of defensive holds, and there was a PI on Danny Johnson, on the very first throw of the game that didn't get called. You know, I was going to say on the Curtis Samuel thing, which was a big miss, they let them play in this game.

That was the nature of the game throughout. You didn't see a lot of illegal contact or defensive holding or pass interferences called because they were letting them play. And so it kind of fit in there at the end with the Samuel play. But that one was just an absolute mugging. You can't have that. But you're right. But nobody wants to hear it.

I mean, people are consumed with the idea that they got screwed by the NFL. That's what people do. I wanted to say that. The other big disappointment for me was with the game on the line, I mean, they let Saquan Barclay take the game over. And Washington's been so good this year defensively. They're in this position. first and foremost, you know, because of their defense.

Like, it's not close. Nothing else is close. Their defense has been what's led them into the position they're in, which is still a decent chance to make the playoffs. But after the Heinecke Fumble, which, by the way, let me just mention another quick officiating thing. Washington's very lucky that that play got called down by contact. Because if not, you watch the All-22 on this one,

Leonard Williams and probably a faster guy or two that are standing next to him, that may be a house call. All right. So it's 24 to 12 if that play doesn't get whistled dead. And if it's not 24 to 12, it's the Giants at midfield. Now, ultimately, they got a field goal off that drive because Barclay went 12 yards, 15 yards, 14 yards, 3, and then a read option keeper for 7 for the quarterback. before they got a little bit conservative and started making Washington take their timeouts. And then that was a big-time field goal by Graham Gano. I mean, that's a big field goal for an eight-point lead. Because if not, if he misses that, Washington's got great field position down five in the game. And then people are really pissed off at the end.

But, yeah, so that was a big disappointment. You know, the Barclay stretch reminded me of the story. that Jake would tell me sometimes, Joe Chacobie, of when they were playing like the Cowboys, and they had it really going. And him and Russ Grimm would literally line up in front of Randy White and tell him what was coming and where they were going, and they couldn't stop it. That's what that Barkley series of three runs reminded me of. I know, but the...

They just couldn't stop it. They couldn't there, which was just surprising and disappointing because, you know, before that, had 45 yards on 15 carries. He was averaging three yards of carry. You know, so Washington's defense had a another, look, they held the Giants to 13 points, okay? And in the first game, really, if you take away the Taylor Fumble that set up the short field for a touchdown, they basically held the Giants to 13 points. You should be able to, in the NFL against a team that's really not that good defensively, you should be able to win that football game. I agree with you. I do think Washington

has better talent. I don't agree with you on the intensity thing, but I do think that the Giants were exceptionally well-coached. I think Daible really schemed up some stuff offensively. I thought Daniel Jones had an exceptional game and made some big-time throws. Barkley, obviously, was a dangerous player and kind of took the game over on that last drive, even though it didn't clinch the game. It got him to eight. And I thought Wink Martindale really dialed up some stuff against Washington, especially with the pass rush that was exceptional too. So I wanted to just touch on a couple of things that I looked at and made notes about. First of all, a lot of you reached out and were really upset that I didn't spend more time

on the first, fourth down decision by Ron Rivera. And several people that I talked to at the Dubliner last night, same thing. I'm not changing my mind on that. I think Ron Rivera, you know, they knew and they said that, you know, the kicker, Joey Sly, going in that direction at that point in the game, it was not good from 52 yards out. Okay? So this is a nothing, nothing game. This is a game that you're expecting to be 13, 10, 16, 13, 20 to 17. And your defense is the best part of your team. And you've got a punter that consistently punts it inside the 10, usually inside the 5 in the 3. those situations. I have no issue at all with him punting in that fourth down situation. None. Now, if he decided that his kicker, he just wanted to punt, but his kicker did have the range,

yeah, I would have wanted them to try the field goal, but he didn't feel that way. And by the way, the Giants in the second quarter on that long drive had a fourth down and nine, same field position, and didn't put Graham Ganoe out there for a field goal because of the same thing. Because of the same thing. because it was at that point in the game, for whatever reason, that was a problem going in that direction with a kick. I will tell you, though, that, man, you know, the sack that Taylor took, which was a three or four-yard loss was the second straight week he's taken a sack that knocked him out of field goal range.

Now, it didn't knock him out of field goal range in the Meadowlands. They tried the field goal, but it ended up being a much longer field goal, which Joey Sly missed. He's got to understand in these situations, given this fine line and this small margin for error, that four yards of a sack is going to make a difference. Now, I looked at that play many different ways. There really isn't anybody open, and they get pressure with five rushers against six blockers. Okay, Gibson does a good job, but eventually he's under pressure,

but he has an opportunity to be real quick and decisive in flush left and run. I want to see this dude run a lot more. I think it would make a massive difference for this team right now with their pass protection. I've been saying this for weeks. We've talked about it all last year, too. But he hasn't talked as, he hasn't run as much this year. No, he hasn't. Here was an interesting play that it was much more clear on the All-22.

So Ron Rivera decides to punt. People were just irate with that. I'm not. I think the decision was fine. But the result sucked for him. The result was a punt to James who didn't fair catch the punt. You never see that. You never see a punt from the opponent's 35 or 40 or 45 yard line. That is a, you know, a pooch punt up in the air, fair catch or the guy lets it hit and goes into the end zone or goes down to the two yard line. line. You never see a guy field it and run it back. And it totally surprised Washington. But here's the most interesting thing. James on the return, first of all, David Mayo, number 51, he didn't, this would be more of a question for a football coach or a special teams person like Brian Mitchell. I think he's got to have contain return wise, and he gets inside and loses contain to the outside. James doesn't call for a fair catch. I'm sure the players for Washington are thinking, well, we're going to run down there, but nobody returns a punt like this.

You just never see a return on a punt like that, that's short. And he fielded it. And Washington was caught off guard. And he returned it to the 30-yard line, so it ended up being a net four-yard play. Well, Ron Rivera obviously would have just gone for it if he knew that he was only going to get four yards out of it. But here was the real interesting thing. Washington was lucky. James cut it back inside, and you can see from the end zone camera, if he stays to the outside, he may take it the distance, and it's 7-0-0 on a long punt return in the first quarter. He would have had only the punter to beat. I don't know why he cut it back, but he did, and they were fortunate on that play. There were several things that – I still can't believe the Giants went for that fourth and nine.

I couldn't believe it during the game. It's really unbelievable that they did that. I couldn't believe when they went out there. I thought for sure they're just going to try to draw Washington off sides, and they didn't do it, and then they snapped the ball, and Daniel Jones, who had thrown a dime to James, I think, on third and nine earlier in the drive. That was the one where I told you that Jameson Davis went helmet to helmet and they got away with it on the quarterback.

And then on fourth and fourth and nine, they said, snap the ball. And Washington's got good coverage. It's covered well. He is under pressure and he throws that ball before James comes out of that cut. And it's just a perfect throw that just gets in there before the defenders get there. I mean, sometimes the other team just makes a really good play. And the Giants made a really good play. The coverage wasn't terrible. The pressure wasn't as good as the earlier third down and nine earlier in the drive. And then they scored a touchdown and it's 14 to 3. But I still can't believe they went for that fourth and nine.

And by the way, people, Washington's was fourth and 12 from the same field position. Fourth and 12, no offense to Taylor Heineke. Come on. You're not getting fourth and 12 with him at quarterback unless he runs around and makes, you know, throws a behind the back pass. Or unless he runs with the ball. Well, I mean, he would have pulled off probably some magic act if it had been the fourth quarter. He probably would have picked it up. But, you know, fourth and 12, when you're in that situation, you've got to be able to hang in the pocket and you've got to be able to throw in a tight window.

You know, or you're just taking a shot deep in hoping. But I still can't believe that. There were a couple of other things that I picked up on watching the All-22. to Cornelius, the play before, the play that creates the sack fumble for the giant seven to three lead, which really was such a significant play in the game. Because the Giants had not done, you know, they had gone three-place punt, five-place punt. And it's three-nothing Washington. And Washington, you know, move the ball in their opening drive.

They moved the ball on their second drive. They only had three points to show for it, but they had been moving the football. And the Giants really needed something. They didn't get it, but they did punt it down to the Washington 18-yard line. And what put him back at the 10-yard line was a holding penalty on Cornelius Lucas. This is one of those, look, they were letting them play, but this one got called, and I think it was really, really ticky-tack. Like, if it's a hold, it had no impact on Gibson, who was already by O'Jolari on a 10-yard run

and a first down. And I don't even think it was a hold. He let go so quickly. But the bottom line is they called that. And then on second and 18, for me, I'm not dropping Taylor Heineke back from my own 10-yard line anymore. Not against Tibido, who already had made an impact

on the game, you know, at that point. It's second quarter. You already knew from the game before. And by the way, O'Jolari, Dexter Lawrence, Leonard Williams, their front four can really get after a quarterback right now. That's their strength defensively. Not run stopping, but pass rushing. And I just think that's a bad call by Scott Turner to drop them back. I think when you're second and 18 from your own 10 yard line in a 3-0 game that you've got to go draw, you've got to go bubble screen. You've got to go

something that picks up eight, nine yards. And then maybe on third and nine, you can drop them back and see what happens? Second and 18, what are you really going to get out of that? You can't protect. You already saw in the first game what happens when you drop them back. against that pass rush. And I think you kind of, you deserved it. Now, did Taylor have a chance maybe to get rid of it quickly? Yeah, but it would have had to have been real quick. Like that pass rush, Leno got absolutely torched. I don't really put that sack fumble on Taylor. I don't. You know, I think he holds the ball too long in a lot of instances. I do, which was the criticism of Wence. And I think against good pass rushes, it's one of the reasons you've now seen him get sacked a bunch of times. Because they

have past protection issues and he does hold on to it a bit much. But I don't know, that's another Scott Turner criticism that I would have, which is, what are you doing, dropping him back from where he's going to set up and try to throw from his own four-yard line on second and 18. What are you looking for? Something quick, something without the risk of a sack and a fumble or just a sack. I also hated the call I mentioned this, the third and three run to Curtis Samuel after the second and three flea-flicker attempt. It does look like that was pretty much a one-man show.

So Taylor may have thrown into coverage, but that was what he was supposed to do. By the way, I think it's probably the throw more than any other he's made during his time in Washington where it actually looked like he had a legitimate arm strength. He missed a lot in this game, Tommy. I gave him a C for the game because of the two fumbles. and the reason it wasn't lower is because he had a good drive.

I mean, his completion, you know, average completion was great. There was some good throws. I mean, the touchdown throw to Dotson was good. Every throw on that drive was a good throw. But, man, opening drive at a game, he misses Logan Thomas, okay, against the blitz, against cover three. He's got him running down between that, you know, that corner and the single high safety, and that ball sails.

It just sails. It's incomplete, but that's a throw you got to be able to make. You designed it that way. Thomas is there. You got to put it on them. The most egregious play, though, for Taylor after the mistake plays, Curtis Samuel would have had a touchdown had Carson Wentz thrown the ball to him on that last drive. Curtis Samuel, I mean, Turner designed a play for Curtis Samuel to be wide open. Taylor makes the read. He's decisive and he gets the ball out on time. But it's so inaccurate and he leads him to the sideline

that Samuel has to catch it and has to toe tap just to have it be a completion of 27 yards. With a quarterback that can throw the football, that's a touchdown. Right there. Touchdown. He is so wide open. You know, it's the throw that Wentz made to Terry McLorn. He's made to Diami Brown. You know, if you're a Carson Wentz guy and you're like, we've got to get him in there now, that's the play you point to because that should have been a touchdown.

You know, the throw to Logan Thomas early in the game. That's a 25-yard throw, but it's sailed on him. A statement like that, I mean, he lacks the context of the fact. This was the fourth quarter, right? Yeah, this was after the kickoff return, which Antonio Gibson's a phenomenal kickoff returner. Yeah, he is. He's pretty good. That was the part. If Carson Wenth starts that game, he doesn't make it to the fourth quarter.

I'm serious. I mean, I don't see why this isn't obvious to everyone. Well, it's not obvious, but I hear what you're saying. I think it's pretty obvious. I don't. I don't know what he'll be like now that he knows the offense and he's got, you know, well, he's got Brian Robinson Jr. The defense is playing better. You know, there's a lot of things that are different that... Imagine that Giants pass rush on Carson Wentz. What'd you say?

Imagine that Giants pass rush on Carson Wentz. How many sacks are we talking about? I don't know. I mean... Dick? No. I don't know. I can't answer that question because I don't know what Carson Wentz is now with his understanding of the offense.

And with a formula of a group. But you can answer the question that you think that he throw the touchdown in that situation. Well, because the protection was great. The protection was perfect on that play. But you don't know that. You don't know if he throw the touchdown. Oh, well, we've seen him do it. It's just as valid to say he would be a crumbling mess.

That's the throw that we've seen. The offensive line, it's just as valid to say he'd be a mess, a crumbled mess by the fourth quarter behind that offensive line as it would, that that would have been a touchdown play. Except that we've seen that. That's the one thing we've seen. That's where I would just disagree with you. We've seen the other thing, too.

We have seen the other thing. You've had the league and shafts when he got hurt. We've seen the other thing. But Tommy, the protection. has been an issue for Taylor just like it was an issue for Carson. And when he was protected, they had a big play offense. You go back to the Jacksonville game when he hit Terry McCorn on basically not the same route because it was a different route.

But you had the 49-yard touchdown that after Jacksonville had taken control of the game and then they ended up winning the game. You had the same kind of throw, multiple throws to Diami Brown in the Titans game, which, by the way, was his last game before the Chicago game in which he got hurt, where it was probably his best game until the end, right? He threw for 360, he threw dimes all over the field, he had Diami Brown on two long touchdowns, and then he threw the pick at the end in the end zone.

But no, I am, I don't know what it would be like. I'm not saying to you that I think it would be a lot better, but I'm also not saying that I think it would be like, he'd be sacked eight times, you know, on Sunday night. I know this, that protected, that's a throw he's made, and that should have been a touchdown to Curtis Samuel. That was not a good throw. It was a terrible throw.

The interception, I don't know how this dude gets lucky like he does, but number 44 should have ended the game. Two weeks ago, and he should have ended the game for sure on Sunday night when Taylor threw it right to him in the end zone before all of the controversy. with McLaren and with Curtis Samuel. And then the last thing that I just want to mention, I still don't know how he didn't score on that run and that scramble. He really, he went for the pylon.

All he has to do is plant the foot cut back and he's in the end zone. Maybe he dives. But I'm still shocked after watching that play, especially with the way he plays when he is running, that he did not score on that. I don't know how that happened. But it clearly hurt because they didn't get in and then all hell all hell broke loose with the McLaren stuff,

which by the way, real quickly on the Terry stuff. I don't know what, I take Terry at his word that the referee acknowledged that he had moved up far enough and that he was good. Dean Blandino went off on how the referees are instructed not to be literal. You know, if they tell them you're good or if they tell them to move up and they move up, it doesn't have to be exactly at the line of scrimmage. It shouldn't be handled literally. So I'm going to side with they screwed Washington in that particular case.

However, it's also true that Terry McClorne's nowhere near the line of scrimmage. He's a yard to a yard and a half off of it. So I hear everybody, and I'm with you, and if that referee acknowledged, yeah, you're good and then through the flag, that is really sketchy, understood. But I think there's, you know, there could have been, you know, He told him to move up. He barely moved up, by the way, when he was told to move up. He took like a half a step and moved up.

And was still a yard to a yard plus behind the line of scrimmage. And then maybe Taylor, maybe Terry looked at him and thought he got the thumbs up. You know, he said he did. But we don't know that the referee, you don't see him give him a thumbs up, by the way, on the second go-round. Yeah. And he didn't blink. He didn't blink when he threw that flag. No, he did.

He threw that flag immediately after the ball, as the ball would snap. Yeah. So you really have to be kind of a, you have to believe that this referee just decided I am going to fuck Washington and Terry McCorn. I just told him that he was fine, but yeah, right. I'm going to throw the flag anyway, because he's still not on the line of scrimmage. I mean, you got to believe that. If you believe Terry, and I do, I mean, I think the second part of it is he felt like it was acknowledging. that he had moved up to a spot that was good and he was good.

And that's what Terry said. And Blandino, who was the head of NFL officiating, said, look, you don't, that's tiki tack. They're instructed not to be literal. You don't have to be exactly on the line of scrimmage. As long as you clear them, you know, or they're close enough, it's fine. He really wasn't close enough. That's the one thing for me that has me hesitant on saying that they got completely, you of screwed because he wasn't anywhere near the line of scrimmage.

He barely moved up when he was told to move up. But again, Terry's a guy that you don't see making something up about this. And the bottom line is it was so, it was insignificant to the play. The receiver checked, it's not like he walked up there, stood one yard behind the line of scrimmage and didn't know that he was supposed to cover up the last ineligible. He knew what he was supposed to do. His intent was to do it. And so it probably shouldn't have been flagged on that alone.

The Curtis Samuel thing is much more black and white to me. I'm not saying the McLauran thing is so gray, but it is suspicious. Like you really have to jump to the referee said, move up, he moved up. Am I okay? And the referee says, yep, you're fine. And then he just kind of smiled, grinned and said, but I'm going to get you anyway. I don't know why that would happen. I mean, I had somebody, you know, several people tweet me and say, they were after Snyder on Sunday night.

That was obvious. Okay. If you feel that way. Snyder, by the way, accepting bids right now, and I'm told the first round of bids in by the end of the week from everybody that's interested. And then they go from there. Is that when you, do you have your bid ready to go? I'm going to, you and I haven't talked. You did not tell, you didn't send me your financials.

I needed your financials to put in. to the bid. And by the way, I needed, you know, at least some belief that you are going to be able to cut the check for the $4 billion because you're going in for four and I'm going in for three and a half. What else did I have on the game here? Several of you sent me all this stuff about empty set. Like, you're really upset that they keep going empty set. I don't know. The empty set missed Logan Thomas early was really just on Taylor. I actually like the empty set most of the time, because I feel like they have the weapons to go empty set. Yeah, and it also puts a real kind of urgency into Taylor to get rid of the ball quickly, which I like. Yeah, I think that, I think

that's kind of it. I really like Gibson on kickoff returns. I like Gibson in general, but man, I have fallen in love with Brian Robinson, Jr. Everybody had. I understand why. I mean, you know, he's just been, they'd be a lot worse off without Brian Robinson right now. So let's get to just a more in-depth conversation in our next segment about what we think will happen at quarterback. And I'll also update you on the playoff situation after Green Bay won last night. We'll get to all of that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, Tommy, tell everybody about Shelley's, especially this time of year. What a nice spot it is during the holidays.

Well, it is. It's an oasis from the cold. It's an oasis from the stress of the holiday season. It's the place to be. As Craver once said about their pool room at Frank Costanza's house on Seinfeld, Shelly's is literally the place to be. And I'll tell you why it's the place to be, is because you never know who's going to show up there.

You know, I brought a lot of people to Shelly's over the years of note. Right. I brought Bert Sugar there once when he was in town, and he loved it, and Bert is like the king of cigars. It was the king of cigars and had been in cigar bars all around the world, and Shelley's turned out to be one of his favorite places. I brought Jose Rio there when he was coaching. for the nationals early in the team's tenure, and he loved the place as well, and he's a big cigar guy.

He used to have cigars in a Dominican with his own name on them. And when Mike Tyson bought Kevin McBride in 2005 at the MCI Center, you know, the British sports riders. They cover a lot of boxing. A lot of boxing. And we're talking about the greatest sports writers in England. and they would always come to Tyson fights. So they came over to Washington. I knew them pretty well because I'd been out, you know, drinking with them.

And it's funny, when you go out with them in Vegas, I mean, the biggest issue is trying to figure out of the way to fudge your expense account. Because the Brits spend money on their expense accounts like there's no them are. you know, and really to keep up with that was quite the challenge. And they spent a lot of money in Shelly's because they came there during the Tyson fight that week. I told them, you're going to love this place. And I brought about six of them there, and they absolutely fell in love with it. We were there for a couple hours, you know, had a great time. And I still hear from them once in a while about when they ask me,

how's that cigar bar doing back in Washington. So it's the place to be for the average show. It's the place to be of your celebrity, and you never know when you go to run into there. Shelly's backroom at 1331 F Street Northwest in the district. Did you and I go to the Ricky Hatton-Packial fight? Was that you and I together, the two of us? Or was that with Doc? I think it might have been.

Because the Brits just took over. No, I was not at the Hatton. and Pachio fight. That was you and Doc. I think that was two of us. Doc and I. We were at the Moseley fight together. The mostly Mayweather fight. Yep.

Sugar Shane Mosley, Mayweather. That was a good one. The Pachial fight against Rikian. I mean, that was such an incredible couple of days with the Brits just all over the casinos and pubs.

I mean, we had a great time that those couple of days. And then he got absolutely, if I recall, Pacquiao knocked him out quickly. Like, I want to say it was like the third round. Ricky Hadton's best days were behind them by that point. Not that he still would have beaten Pacquiao, but he was pretty much a Dunn fighter by then. Yeah. The other thing, too, Tommy, is when Pacquiao fought in Vegas, the Filipino invasion of that city was pretty remarkable, too.

those were those were fun fights to cover all right i want to get to um i want to get to taynike's so j p finley had a conversation with rever and i told you about that by the way one of the other things that he said was i'd really like to get robinson and gibson into the high 20s low 30s on carries well that's not what happened the other night um but he said uh to jp that you know, Carson now being available, you know, makes it a different kind of conversation, and that the second half drive, the opening drive for a touchdown, was pretty important, as if, you know, he may have brought Carson once into the game had they not scored there. Again, I don't think, I would have been surprised had he done it, because I didn't think the issue

was the quarterback necessarily. And it was a, you know, it was a 14-3 game. And you did, Look, if you get behind, it's going to be harder for Taylor. But he brought him back from, you know, two scores down against Indy. I want you to listen to David Aldridge's question to Ron Rivera during the Zoom press conference, day after game press conference yesterday. When Aldridge asks the coach, you know, whether or not he's considering a quarterback change, here it is. Ron, do you give any thought to a change of quarterback for next week? No, no, David. I think that the biggest thing more than anything else is, you know,

sticking with Taylor and what we're trying to establish. You know, and it is something, though, that obviously is talked about, obviously, out there. And it is something that, you know, to be quite frank, as I do have to think about at some point. But if we can continue to, if we can get back on track and play the way we've played and do things that we've done, you know, then we'll stick with where we are. Until then, you know, I will do that.

I don't know about you, Tommy, but he's telling you that this is it. Saturday is it. If he plays well and they win the game, of course he's going to continue to start. If he plays well and they lose the game, I think he will continue to start and probably get the start against Cleveland, I think.

I don't know. Maybe if he plays okay and they lose, you know, maybe he still goes to Wentz. I think they're dying to get back to Wentz. I really do. And when he said, you know, it's something people are talking about. It's obviously out there. And to be quite frank, I do have to think about it at some point.

Well, I think they've already been thinking about it. And I think San Francisco is it. And I want to say this, and then I'll let you have at it. It's kind of unfair for San Francisco to be the game. game. I mean, this is first of all, the best team, I think defensive team, they will face all year long. They are right now playing the best in the league. They're the best defensive team in the league right now. They have the best, I think, defensive player in the league right now. They are also a team that can run the shit out of the ball. And I think as great as the defense has been for Washington, the only chance they have is if the defense somehow turns them over three times.

Like this to me is a plus two or better turnover margin game or it's a no-chancer. Just like against Philadelphia, they needed all those turnovers really ultimately to win the game. And I think they're going to need that and more against the 49ers. The 49ers also are coming off a quasi-by where they played last Thursday night and Washington played the Sunday night game. And now have to go all the way out to San Francisco play a game on Christmas Eve. It's not exactly the best spot for Taylor. truth of the matter is it's probably not a good spot for Carson either.

No, absolutely not. And they need to win all three to lock it up. But really, I think two out of three gives them a decent chance. You know, so, you know, I don't know. Did you hear what I heard, which is this San Francisco game is basically Taylor's last stand to keep the job for the rest of the year? Yeah, I heard that as well. And that's the not necessarily unreasonable. If they were considering making the switch during this game

that we just saw with the Giants and they're still not going to pull tower, I think in some ways they're giving them still a fair shot. Like, you're right, it's the 49ers. And it's a tough test to have to pass to keep your job.

And they're going to have to use some level of intelligence to be able to decide if they lose this game. Did we lose this game because of Taylor, or did we lose this game because of something else? You know, because if Taylor Heineke plays like he did against the Giants, should he be benched, minus the two fumbles? Well, you can't do the minus two fumbles.

He's got four fumbles in the last two games. He's lost three of them, and they've cost dearly. I'm just saying if he plays without the two fumbles against him, against the 49ers. It has similar numbers. Yeah, to me it's not a numbers thing as much as it is, are we seeing a guy that's giving them

the best chance to be dynamic offensively and score points? They can't score, Tommy. They're, you know, against teams that are getting lit up, you know, Philadelphia scored 48 against the Giants last week. I know it's Philadelphia, understood.

You know, I would also just point, point out that Gino Smith, Seattle couldn't really run the football against San Francisco, and Gino Smith was 31 to 44 for 238, and it was the only chance they had to move the football was with Gino Smith. The week

before that, while the Saints did not score against the 49ers, I'm looking for the Saints game, this is a couple of weeks ago. Andy Dalton was still 18 of 29 for 204 yards, and they could not run the football at all. I mean, Alvin Kamara, seven carries 13 yards. Mark Ingram, four carries 10 yards.

They kept getting the ball through the air down into the red zone, but couldn't score against the 49ers. The dolphins got absolutely crushed, but really their only chance of moving the football was through the air with Tua, because Most managed 30 yards in the game. They had 33 yards rushing against the 49ers. So you actually may only have a chance if you can throw the football against San Francisco. And then you would say, well, I mean, it's Bosa coming after him. And do you want them coming after Wence or coming after Heineke? I don't know who I want them coming after.

I don't want them coming after anybody. It would be great if you could line Brian Robinson up and just run with Gibson, and you could run the football and do what you did against Philadelphia to pull off the biggest upset of the year. for almost the biggest upset of the year, where you, you know, you ran 85 plates and had 40 minutes of time of possession because you kept running the football. They ran it 49 times against the Eagles.

But I don't know if you can do that. So I don't know what the answer is. I just know this. They can't score because they can't really throw the football dynamically. They can throw it off of play action. I think he's fine play action. They didn't run as much play action the other. night. They had too much drop back in there.

But if you're going to drop back and throw the football, you might as well go to Wentz. Like, if you think the only chance you have is to drop back and throw it, you might as well have Wence slinging it from the shotgun and just go that route. Here's what John Kimes just tweeted. Oh, tweeted a while back, actually. What did you tweet? Washington attempted 10 play action passes. That's not a lot.

That's not a lot. For the third lowest, third lowest total of the season. Yeah. It should be an offense built off the play action, especially considering how they've been running the ball. And they managed 157 yards off that play action, the second highest total of the season. Tommy, most quarterbacks are pretty good off a play action, you know, especially when they're not good drop back passers. That's what they, you know, that's what you have to have with a guy like Heineke, you got to have a run game and then play action and boot off of that. you know, and they did have a boot the other night.

And but, but, you know, just so everybody understands, it's exactly what the 49ers play really well. They stop the run and they go after the quarterback. And the play action, I don't know. I don't know what the answer is Saturday. All I would say is that this is a tough spot for him to have basically the rest of the season at stake. I don't know that Carson Wentz gives him a better chance

to win. But I think they believe that he does. So I think you're going to get that. Well, I think against if they do that against Cleveland at home the following week, that's a bit, that's an easier

place to reintroduce him. Although they have Miles Garrett as well. And Jadavian Clowny and yeah, and they're playing well. They can really run the football. I mean, there are a lot of, yeah, there are lots of things there. I don't.

I think he's not going to finish out the year. I think I've heard enough from Ron Rivera and I've heard enough to know that the fourth and four against the Giants and the Meadowlands basically was the difference between him starting the game Sunday night and not starting the game Sunday night. They want to put Wentz in there. And a lot of you disagree with it

and a lot of you are totally for it. I don't know that it's going to make a big difference. I think they have to play great defense and I think they have to run the football and they have to have a quarterback that doesn't make any mistakes regardless of who the quarterback is. Now, would it be better if some of those play action downfield throws were thrown by Carson Wentz

with a really good running game and a really good defense? I think so because he can throw it better. He can. But he better know the offense a lot better than he knew it earlier in the year because that's Taylor's biggest advantage is he really knows the offense. offense. I think that Taylor Heineke will finish out the year for them, even if they do go to

Carson Wentz. You're right. Yeah, because he's going to be so terrible or he's going to get so hurt because he's going to get sacked so many times that they'll have to, they'll have Taylor back in there for the finale against Dallas. Yeah. That's what I think. Okay. I'll tell you what, they're getting a load of some pass rushes. here. You know, Tibido's turning into a star before our eyes. O'Jolari's really been good and was just hurt a lot of the year.

And now you get Bosa in company. And then you get Garretton and Clowny. And then, who knows, if Parsons plays. But you could get Parsons. So, okay, so your prediction is Wence plays and then Taylor

plays again. Fair enough. Yeah. My prediction is that we see Carson Wentz either during the San Francisco game or as the starter against Cleveland. And I know what's going to happen here because the defense is capable against Mr. Irrelevant, the last pick in the draft, Brock Purdy. I know how well Purdy's fitting in

and how much of a genius Kyle Shanahan is, which he is offensively and how well they can run the ball. But you've got a chance defensively against Purdy with Alan Sweat. No Chase Young, I don't think. We haven't spent a lot of time on that. I don't know. It's not, I'm not doing the doc thing where I'm only talking about players who are playing in the game. The Chase Young thing is a weird thing all year long.

I mean, I don't think he's playing again this year. But you could see a scenario where this seventh round pick, ends up making a couple of bad plays against a good defense, and all of a sudden it's a competitive game, and Heineke runs around, throws it to the other team, they drop it, and it flicks up into the air, and Diami Brown comes down with it and runs for a touchdown, and somehow they pull it off.

I don't think they can beat San Francisco, because I think the 49ers are really good. But the 49ers, you know, they haven't faced, The defense, the best defense they faced in the last few weeks with Purdy was the Saints defense. And actually I think Jimmy G played in that game. And the Saints defense, which is awesome, held the 49ers to 13 points. 13. Garoppolo did play in that game.

So, I don't know. I mean, Washington's defense is going to give them a chance, a fighter's chance, a puncher's chance, a puncher's chance. in almost every game they play. But my prediction is that Wents doesn't play Saturday, but he starts against the Browns and the Cowboys, where they have to win both games and hope Detroit loses once. Last night, the Packers winning. Packers are still alive.

I mean, they're six and eight. If they run the table, they are an underdog this week against Miami. Then they would probably be favored at home against the Vikings, and then the Lions game in the season finale could be huge. But if the Packers run the table, they're kind of in a situation like Detroit is, like Washington is to a certain degree.

Washington controls its own destiny. They just have to win out. I don't think it's going to happen. But Green Bay would just need, if they went out to get to 9 and 8, one Seattle loss combined with two Washington losses. Well, Seattle plays Kansas City. Washington plays San Francisco this week.

So they'd need Washington to lose two of their final three, and if Green Bay runs the table, they're in. But the reason I'm bringing it up is that the season finale between Green Bay and Detroit could be significant for Washington, Green Bay, and Detroit. Because Washington and Dallas would potentially be playing at the exact same time, because there could be huge playoff stakes riding on this game.

And Detroit would be trying to win and hope for a Washington loss to get in. And Green Bay would be playing Detroit with a chance to win, hoping that Washington lost to Dallas so that they could get in. But here's the thing about Dallas. I don't think that game's going to mean anything to them. It's almost... It probably won't.

Now that Jalen Hertz is more likely than not out for the game Saturday with a sprained shoulder, and they're probably going to sit him, Dallas is a six-point favorite. If they beat Philly, it basically now cements their... spot, unless the Giants were to win out, it cements their position as the five-seed. They're not going to win the division. They're three games behind the Eagles. And when they get to

Washington, I'm telling you that's like a 90% chance right now that that game has nothing riding on it for the Cowboys. So the key game is Cleveland. That's the key game. Because if you assume like I do that they're going to lose to San Francisco, then they better beat Cleveland. And Cleveland is still in the playoff hunt themselves in the AFC. And I would guess Washington would be a very, very slight favorite against the Browns. Very slight. Browns have won three out of their last four.

They have the Saints this weekend. And so that's the game. You know, if they lose to San Francisco, it would be the game anyway, even if they beat San Francisco. but that Cleveland game may be the game, because if they lose to San Francisco and then lose to Cleveland, they're probably done. Well, I mean, I think at that point, if Detroit's won two in a row, they would be done. Yeah. So anyway, something to keep in mind. It's going to be a wild last three weeks of the NFL season.

Hell, the Thursday night game between Jacksonville and the Jets is a huge game in the AFC. Jacksonville now controls its own destiny to win the division. It's crazy. The whole playoff picture is actually kind of the NFC South and the AFC South in particular. Two bad divisions, but you could end up having, you know, Carolina and Jacksonville as division winners. Or, you know, Jacksonville and the Saints are still alive. That would be the one team. I said this after they lost the Monday night game to the Buccaneers when they blew the 13-point lead.

Of the NFC South teams that I think would have the best chance of winning, as a four-seed at home against probably the cowboys, it would be the Saints. They're excellent on defense, excellent. And they still have some weapons on offense. They also have Andy Dalton quarterbacking them. All right. Let's finish up with a couple of other things, and that'll be it for the day, right after these words from a few of our sponsors.

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Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. and they will take good care of you. So the Washington Wizards have lost 10 games in a row. They lost the other night with Bradley Beale making his return to the lineup. To the Lakers 119 to 117, Beal had 29 points in the return. Porzingis was in the lineup, and they lost a two-point game to the Lakers, and they've now lost 10 games in a row. Their 10-game losing streak, Tommy, pretty much coincided with me.

me saying, I think this team, if they stay healthy, can be a six-seat or better. Well, they're not healthy, to be fair. But in any other city where the NBA matters, wouldn't the coach be on the hottest of hot seats? Oh, this says everything about this franchise. They've lost 10 straight, 13 of their last 14 games. games. And nobody is even paying attention. I mean, this is an NBA franchise you wouldn't even know existed in this town at this point. You know, Adam Silver came out the other day and said, you know, they're considering maybe in a long term putting an NBA franchise in Mexico.

Well, how about Washington? How about putting an NBA franchise here in the district? That sounds like a column. Well, no. I mean, here's the best part. You want to get some enjoyment out of this? Okay? If you don't follow them already, follow NBC Sports Wizards, the Twitter account for NBC Sports Washington. Oh, God. Are you going to rail on some young person who's got a really cool social media job?

No, listen, you need to follow this social, this Twitter account. What's it called? Because NBC Sports Wizards, NBCS Wizards, and watch them turn themselves into a pretzel as they try to say something positive about every single game. Here was the last one. Quote, even in a loss, it did not take long for the Wizards to reintegrate Bradley Beale after a notable absence. this is what they had to say after they lost to the Lakers, which I tweeted out, does anyone know that even with the Wizards reintegrating Bradley Biel after a notable absence, they've lost 10 straight and 13 of their last 14.

If you want some enjoyment out of this, follow this because it's a lot of laughs. Now, let me make it clear. I'm not talking about Chase Hughes, who covers the team. and I think does a good job covering the team. He does do a good job. I'm talking about the NBC Sports Wizards. Follow that for some last because that's all this team is worth right now is laughs. They've got a coach who's clearly over his head.

They've got an owner who, this is going on 12 years. They're not going to do anything with the coach. You do realize that, right? Ted has proven to be one thing whether you agree with it or not. incredibly loyal and super, super patient. And maybe that comes with not wanting to pay out a contract to somebody who isn't working. But Wes Unseld Jr. would be on the hot seat in any real NBA city. He's lost 10 games in a row.

And yeah, an owner might say, well, his best player, you know, our mega contract, best players missed the last many games as well. When everybody's been on the floor together, they've been kind of an exciting team. and a decent team. Well, they better get it together pretty quickly. They play Phoenix tonight. I'd love to see what that point spread is, because just give me a short number

so I can hammer the Wizards and Beals return. What would it take for the coach to be fired? 15 straight losses? No. No, he's not going to get fired. He's Wes's son. There's no way he's losing his job. No chance.

Not this year. No. I think there's a number they can't live with. What's that? I don't know what it is. It's got to be 20 straight losses. They're not going to lose 20 straight. Okay.

But they're at 10th straight right now, 13 of their last 14, and they get the same amount of attention that their G-Leat team gets. Maybe they keep losing. You know what? At this point, they should to get the big, you know, to get the big French kid. You know, the next great superstar. You know, Victor Wembe Nama. Keep losing so that they have a chance to totally turn around the fortune of their franchise. They do have a first round pick, don't they, in 2023? Oh, my God. I think they do. I think they do.

But something's telling me that they're missing a, they're missing picks here. future draft choices. Yeah, 2020. Their own, oh, their own if 1 through 14, but if it's 15 through 30, it goes to the rockets. Okay, so it's protected.

That would have been for, for Wall or Westbrook or whatever. I can't remember what it was for. Tommy, they're terrible right now. The funny thing is, I do think they have some good players. Like, I don't think they're without talent. Porzingis really,

is a incredibly gifted player. Kyle Kuzma is a good player. You know, Beal is a big-time score. You got to trade him. You got to trade. You got to trade him by a trading deadline. Kuzma? Kuzma. Yeah. Got to. Got to go. It's a got to go situation. Yeah. You got to get something for him. My answer to you is I don't think that there's any number of games he could lose in a row this year that would get him fired? I guess 20 in a row or 30 in a row would be problematic for him. By the way, they're only a seven-point underdog tonight at Phoenix. Is somebody not playing?

Is Booker not playing for Phoenix? What's going on? I don't know. I have not really been paying attention a lot to the NBA. Okay. Ovechkin didn't get a goal last night, but the caps are rolling. I mean, they really are playing. Yeah, they are.

Is there anything? Is there anything else you'd like to contribute to the show? I will tell you that the Masters made their decision today on the Livtor golfers. They're taking every player that's qualified for the Masters in 2023, which would include former champions like Bubba Watson and Mickelson and Dustin and Sergio and Patrick Reed and Schwarzel. And they've essentially said, look, there's a divided golf situation right now. but our goal at the Masters is to put together the best possible field year in and year out. And so that was a big question as to what the Masters would do with the Live Tour players.

Well, if you're qualified, you're going to play the Masters regardless of which tour you are on. How exciting. How noble of the Masters. Oh, my God. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Of course. Such an inclusive.

Is he so inclusive? Well, that is pretty inclusive, actually. They're not excluding anybody, regardless of your Saudi ties. That's what Augusta National is known for. How did we forget? Everybody's waiting for our World Cup analysis, the World Cup final analysis. I thought we were going to get through it. Did you watch the game?

Did you watch the game? Yes, I did. And? I watched the game. And let me be the first to say it was thrilling to watch. It was, wasn't it? Okay. That said,

Penalty kicks are ridiculous. Ridiculous. Wow. Right? Am I right? That's exactly 100%. Look, I feel like there's so many different things that I feel like are just at this point, you know, the typical sort of pushback on soccer

from American sports fans that gets a little bit old. You know, the lack of scoring, hey, let's eliminate off sides from soccer. That'll make it great. And I think the penalty kick thing is there too, but it really is, I think, the best solution for it. I mean, we'd give the rest of the world the best solution.

They seem to be fine with it, whatever. I just think they should go to sudden death once the 90 minutes plus the stoppage. Yeah. I mean, you know, you just go to sudden death. And I guess you have to. Here's what they're scared of. Here's what they're scared of, I think. They're scared of the idea that you could have two teams play for four straight hours and not score a goal.

So what I was going to say was because it is a very physically taxing game, I think it is. I mean, there's a lot of standing around. I'm kidding. There is, though. But once you get to sudden death, then you get to put players back into the game. That's reasonable. You have to be able to then sub somewhat freely. And maybe it's not for the first 30 minutes of sudden death.

Maybe it's a continuation of that. And then after 30 minutes, you go to sudden death period number two, and then it's some sort of ability to sub-freely so that you don't get into that situation. Look, hockey is just as physically demanding, if not more so. And there have been games that have been in seven overtime, six overtimes in the playoffs, you know, at four in the morning. So, you know, eventually whether they're exhausted, physically exhausted, and it's hard to score, the physical exhaustion may lead to an opportunity for an easier

opportunity to score. I just, I can't stand the penalty kicks either. I just, I don't understand why that's acceptable. It's such a, the game was so thrilling. It really was. I sat there. Now, at two to nothing, at two to nothing, I will tell you, I went out and I said, my son was at the house.

It's over. I mean, Messi's going to get his World Cup. It's 2-0. Nobody comes back from 2-0. Nobody does. 1-0 usually is good enough. And so I went out and I didn't care there and I came back in just as Mbapé was doing the penalty kick. And when I saw he was kicking the penalty kick, I'm like, oh, that's interesting.

It could be 2 to 1 here. And it was. And then they scored like 60 to 90 seconds later. And it was just insane. It really was. And then the extra time, I think they call it that, was insane too. I mean, I don't know any. I know Messi is the guy that, you know, everybody wanted to eventually get, you know, a World Cup.

Just like I think a lot of hockey fans wanted Ovechkin to get his Stanley Cup. It was really by far and away the greatest soccer game by far that I've ever watched. Now, there was a conversation with a soccer fan, someone I know down at the Dubliner last night. and I just said that was the greatest soccer game of all time. And he goes, well, no, it was the greatest World Cup final, but there had been a lot of games. And somebody suggested to me, Tommy, I'd have to look it up because I didn't believe it, that there was a game once that was some great game that ended eight to seven. And I just said, that's not true.

That can't possibly be true. That was probably an indoor soccer game. But this one had everything. It had scoring. It had so many scoring chance. and it was really exciting. Have you seen some of the shots of Argentina and Buenos Aires? I mean, it's unbelievable.

Have you seen the video of the Argentinian announcer calling the... Yes, I have. I've seen that. Yeah. I think that... I was in Brazil a few years ago for a sports conference. Yeah. And they were just showing.

shocked that in America, nobody really cheers in the press box. They just couldn't get that concept that if you, I mean, all those British reporters who cover, you know, British, I mean, Brazilian reporters who would cover Brazil in the World Cup, they're clearly, clearly rooting for their team. And that's how most of the world is, I think. And they had a hard time getting around that concept about, no cheering in the press box rule in the United States. It was exciting.

Enjoyed it a lot. You know, I think that this is, like we talked about, I do think it's the thing every four years where a lot of people decide that they're big soccer fans. And then, you know, four years go by, and then, you know, they're back at it again after being dormant for four years. But I do think the World Cup's kind of fun and interesting.

and I don't love the sport. It's hard sometimes to sit there and watch. But, oh, I had one other comment. I will tell you that Messi is different. Watching Messi handle the ball is so obvious of his skill level compared to some of the other players. He is truly a wizard with the ball at his feet. He is magic as a passer. he's bird as a passer.

He's got incredible, he's just got the vision, the touch, everything that, you know, I can see that as a sports fan, the incredible skill and gift that Messi has. Oh, my God, you have jumped in the pool. I'm sorry, I'm being serious. Oh, my God. But I'm telling you the truth. Magic. If you want.

And talent. And you don't have a clue. you're talking about. I swear to God I do. I'm watching it and I'm sitting there going, oh my God, did you just see that no look pass? Did you see the way he caught it? I mean, he is very, very talented and I see the difference with a player like him and other players. Was this, is, am I right that this was supposed to be his last World Cup? That's what I've read. Right. Well, good for him. to go out.

Not his last soccer game, but his last World Cup. Right. Yeah, he'll play more soccer. Yeah. Maybe I'll come play for the D.C. United when he's 40 years old. Well, what's his face did that? The Brit. Rooney.

Wayne Rooney. Was he 40? Now he coaches him, doesn't he? He coaches who? The D.C. United. He does. Are you being serious? He does.

No, I think he is. I just pulled it up. He does. He does coach him. Yes. Yeah. Look at that, buddy. I know my soccer, my local soccer. Wayne Rooney took over in 2022 as the coach, so he's brand new as the coach.

So that's great. But you don't really go out to see a coach, do you? In soccer? I don't know. I don't know. Okay. We're done for the day. I'll be back tomorrow, I think, with Cooley.

Ma Montiel. Montiero! The world! He did Cuchuco, the Tata! It's all you, players! That's

won't in the Cielo. Messi is champion of the world. No, could be of other but, without suflin.

Argentina! The selection Argentina is a champion.