The Kevin Sheehan Show - Ambushed in Buffalo

Episode Date: September 27, 2021

Kevin solo today with his recap of Washington's 43-21 loss to the Bills. What he liked, didn't like and more from the humiliating defeat in Buffalo. He went "Around the NFL" and recapped every game from yesterday and closed with some Terps, Ryder Cup, and baseball. 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. Here's Alan. In zone four. Touchdown passes today.

The manual Sanders grabs that one. And that's two for Sanders. That capped off a 17-play 93-yard drive that took eight minutes and 17 seconds and gave Buffalo a 33-14 lead. The game was probably over before that drive, but that put a nail in Washington's humiliation coffin. 43 to 21 was the final. It was an embarrassing loss for Washington.

And now at 1 and 2, and lucky to be at 1 and 2, they head to Atlanta next week, which on paper looks like their last game or winnable game on paper for some time. Doesn't matter. The games aren't played on paper. but as most of you know by now, the schedule turns brutal after next week. And ironically, next week's supposed get right game, which many of you are calling it, be careful about that. Atlanta's a one-point favorite as of now in that game Sunday.

They beat the Giants yesterday on a walk-off field goal for their first win of the year. It's just me today, solo. We're going to do nothing but Washington Buffalo here in this first segment. Then we'll go around the league a little bit in segment two. In the final segment of the show, we'll talk about the Terps win over Kent State and what is looming for them this coming Friday night at home against Iowa. We'll talk some other college football, maybe some Ryder Cup and baseball as well. We start, though, with Washington's loss to Buffalo and a loss that really going in,

I thought they would have a chance to keep this game competitive. I didn't give it out as a smell test pick. Thankfully, the smell test was terrible on its own. It didn't need another loser. I just didn't like the number. I didn't personally play it at nine and a half earlier in the week. I kind of liked it. I thought Buffalo was ripe for the taking.

But you've got to be a live dog. And you've got to be a live dog with a defense that is up to the challenge in Washington's defense was not. That's the headline from not only yesterday, but the first three weeks of this season. What in God's name is wrong with this defense? A defense that many thought heading into the year had a chance to be one of the two or three best defenses in the entire league is actually one of the worst defenses through three weeks in the entire league. They are 31st on third down in the traditional stat of yards allowed.

31st as well in the league. It has been a disaster of a three-week period defensively for Washington, and we'll try to answer what's wrong, but I think before I get to my game to take, my game recap, I really think there's something going on that maybe we don't know about. And I'm not trying to stir it up, but I think the constant from the refrain from Ron Rivera over the couple of weeks. His biggest concern is a team on defense that lacks maturity, that lacks discipline. He said it again afterwards. He said, I think we're going to see some of the same things. I have him on my radio show each week. He has said it each and every week. I asked him last week, well, tell me who's playing well, thinking that he would identify the players that are playing well

and by sort of deductive reasoning, the names he didn't mention, we could say, oh, so that's where the problem is. And he said John Allen. playing well and Matt Ionitis is playing well. Matt Ionitis didn't even make the trip. Yesterday he was injured. He said Duran Payne's playing well. And then he sort of caught himself and he said, well, the two ends, the two young ends would obviously like to have better results, but the effort is there. And, you know, there's no doubt. I don't know if it's one player. I don't know if it's a couple of players. I don't even know that perhaps a couple of coaches aren't involved. But something ain't right. Something smells bad.

bad when it comes to where they are right now as a team defensively. It has been so bad with the coach each week discussing discipline and maturity that there must, I think, be something that we don't know that hasn't been reported. And I can't tell you that I know anything because I don't. But something ain't right with this team defensively. I know this for a fact. Last year early in the season, the defensive line in particular really pushed back on some of the techniques that were being taught and some of the scheme that they had defensively. So much so that I did hear that Matt Ionitis, you know, was looking to even get out.

They were not happy. And Ron Rivera referred to that. Ron Rivera referred to that when they started. to get back into the picture. He said, we had some tough times, you know, early on last year. There were some guys that weren't buying in. And I think specifically what he was talking about was some of the defensive scheme and techniques that they were teaching. I know Sam Mills, the defensive line coach, there was definitely some, you know, some learning curve with him and his new defensive line. But Ron Rivera had experienced that in Carolina when he took over

the Carolina job. You know, the bottom line is you guys were three and 13, you know, shut the F up. And let's try it our way. It certainly didn't work your way or the last coaching staff's way. And they'd be right about that, no doubt. But something's not right. I don't know what it is. It's more than just not executing, not playing well, not being schemed up well, not

having good plays called, whatever the actual football reasons are, and there are plenty of those, because really at the end of the day, really good players, which supposedly they have some of, would overcome all that and make some plays, and they're not. So that's really where the problem lies more than anything else. But I just have a sense that something ain't right. And they better figure it out and figured out quickly where this season is going to spiral out of control. It's early, just three games in. But if this defense continues to play as it has, the strength of the football team supposedly, they're just not good enough offensively to be able to overcome that and be a competitive team.

We're looking at a three or four wins season potentially if what's happening on defense doesn't get fixed. I think that that would be the alarm bell if it's necessary. after three games is what the hell is wrong with the defense and will it improve? Because if it doesn't, this is 3 and 14, 4 and 13 in terms of a season. It has to get back to at least the way it was playing last year against teams that weren't very good. We understand that offenses that weren't very good, but still aggressive plays were being made by their supposed best players in so far through three games.

that ain't happening. Remember that, you know, proclamation, and I think it was an understated proclamation as far as Washington football team proclamations over the years ago. But Montez-Swett was talking about setting the combined sack record with Chase Young. Well, Chase has zero sacks on the year, and Montez-Swatt has two. So I would say that they're not off to a record-breaking start. All right, let's get to my game take. Pay attention. Here's Kevin's Game Take. All right, my game take today, presented by my good friends at MyBooky.

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All right, let's get to my game take. We'll start with the things that I liked, which is a short list and then move on to the things that I didn't like. And then several other observations about the game yesterday. What I liked, there were three things that I liked that I wrote down. I like Antonio Gibson. I've liked Antonio Gibson from the jump. He didn't have his best game by any stretch of the imagination. He dropped a touchdown pass.

Now, they eventually scored when Heineke scored on a scramble. He missed a huge cutback opportunity when they actually were in the game for a moment at 2114 with the ball. That would have been a big run. It would have moved the sticks instead. Two plays later, they were punting. But he gives you, you know, a chance offensively. He has a runner, and he didn't get a lot of opportunities yesterday, and they were down, obviously, so they were throwing a bunch. But I think he's really powerful, and I think he moves the pile, and I think he is a really good runner.

As a pass receiver, he's versatile. Now, he's had some drops this year, but that screen, which was a perfectly timed call by Scott Turner, you know, a screen right into the Blitz. The Blitz was coming off the offense's right side. it was a slot corner blitz, and they had this screen called right into that area. And Gibson made a phenomenal run. And there was actually a very key block thrown on that, which I will mention in a little bit. But I like Gibson. I think he's, you know, so far along with Terry McCorn, the two best performers of the season so far.

Antonio Gibson is on the list of things that I liked. J.D. McKissick's on that list, too. You know, I think he played really well last week in the win over the Giants. I also think that, you know, he got, he was forgotten a little bit during the off season. You know, I think even some people, you know, suggested that Jared Patterson was going to end up taking his spot. Well, I think Jared Patterson's more of a Gibson guy if Gibson were to be down. But I like McKissick. I think McKissick's got really quick feet.

I think he's versatile. I thought he was good yesterday. You know, he only had three carries, but he averaged seven and a half yards, including the very first snap. Offensively, he was in there. Gibson wasn't. He had a couple of catches in the game as well. I just like McKissick. I think he's incredibly versatile and a guy that can really help you move the chains and even score. JD McKissick is on the things that I like list. He did have one bad play, that OPI, the offensive pass interference, on that first possession throw to Terry McClearn for a first down, was not sold very well by McKissick.

But that would be it with him. Lastly, on the things that I liked list, I thought the pass protection really held up yesterday. I was impressed with the job they did, the offensive line, the job they did in pass protection. They did an excellent job against a team that was super aggressive last week against Miami with multiple blitz packages. They didn't get blitzed as much as Miami did.

They faced a lot of four-man rush situations, but I thought they really held up. I think it was the offensive line. I think it was probably schemed up a little bit this week. They did have some max pass protection sets, including in a key moment, which I'll mention in a little bit. But that was one of my biggest concerns coming into the game, and I thought they handled it pretty well.

There was only, you know, there weren't a lot of dropbacks for Taylor Heineke in the game because they didn't have the ball. Again, it was another one of those games where the play count was, you know, like 78 to 50 and the time of possession was, you know, 36 to 24. But when they did have it and he did drop back, he was only sacked once in the game.

And that may have been on a scramble, right, where he got back to the line of scrimmage or maybe just barely didn't. But I thought the pass protection was a positive. yesterday. That's it. There was one defensive performer that stood out a little bit to me, but he didn't make this list. You know, in the opener against the Chargers, I said, you can't put anybody from defense on a list of things that you liked when the overall defensive performance was so god-awful. But there was a player that stood out, and I'll get to

him shortly. What didn't I like? Well, obviously that list is a little bit longer, and really it starts with the defense. This is what lost them the game. This is why they are one and two, and lucky to be one and two, actually, without a Dexter Lawrence off sides. They're 0 and 3, with a loss to the Giants on the Hopkins missed field goal.

I can't tell you specifically what's going on with the defense without knowing exactly what everybody's responsibilities are. But I'll start with what I mentioned earlier. Something ain't right here. Something's not right, and I don't know where the problem is, but as a coaching staff and as a head coach and as a defensive head coach, Ron Rivera is going to need to fix it.

And he is still in this mode where, you know, I don't want to say it's honeymoon, but there is, by most of us, a recognition that this is still part of a rebuild. You've got to make sure that the guys you want to go to battle with are there and doing it your way. And if they're not, you've got to sit them. You've got to get rid of them if they aren't worth keeping. You've got to sit them if they are worth keeping. But if they're the problem. The defense was the number one, number two, and number three reasons they lost.

Nothing was close to why they lost the game, as to a reason they lost the game more than the defense. It was a terrible performance. You know, they have talent defensively. I don't care what anybody says. there is talent on this defense. And yes, they have faced two very good quarterbacks, and by the way, another one who's playing well and getting better in Daniel Jones.

But still, this isn't what anybody expected this year. You know, not those that were convinced, I think, delusionally, that it was an elite defense last year and thought it would be even better this year. Not those of us, and I'm one of these, that pumped the brakes on what it really was last year and warned that the competition they were facing this year was so much different that it was going to be a much tougher situation. My problem all summer, all offseason, as many of you know, is severalfold. Number one, I thought the defense was massively improved last year. I certainly did not think it was a great defense last year. I thought at times it was a good

defense last year, but typically those really good moments came against really bad quarterbacks. Danuto, Mullins, Ryan Findley, Nate Sudfeld, etc. And so the actual results and rankings were overinflated. I did not think in the playoff game that Washington had gone toe to toe in a way that no one else did during the postseason with the eventual Super Bowl champions. First of all, it's not true. Green Bay had a chance at the end to actually beat them. And Tampa Bay, I'm sorry, New Orleans played them super tough. That game was tied going into the fourth quarter.

So Washington didn't play them tougher than anybody else. But the most alarming thing about the playoff game is they gave up 31 points and over 500 yards against Tampa in that playoff game. So I looked at 7 and 9. I looked at an improved defense. I looked at a defense that had talent for sure, especially in that front 4. And if they added a couple of pieces, which they did in Jamon Davis in the first round, Jackson and they were getting landing Collins back, et cetera, you know, I thought it had a chance to take another step forward.

And I said, don't be surprised if at the end of the year we think the defense is better, but it doesn't get the same results. They're facing quite the lineup of quarterbacks and offensive football teams. Well, even those of us that pump the brakes on all of the outrageous hyperbole that was being thrown around about this defense from people not just in this town, but around the league, none of us thought it would be this bad. None of us thought that it would be shredded three weeks in a row. Nothing's been more misleading in these first three games than the Chargers scoring 20.

I loved those of you that just really came after me when I ripped the defense in the opener. She and they gave up 20. Actually, they gave up 13 because of the fumble inside the five-yard line by Antonio Gibson. Sorry, dude, but you're wrong. When you only give up 13 points, the defense wasn't the problem. They had a good day. And I said on that Monday, following the Chargers game, that nothing was more misleading about a unit's play than the defense allowing 13 points in that game.

The defense was picked apart in that game. It was absolutely embarrassed in that game. The Chargers went 14 of 18 on third down in that game. I said that 90% of the time, they would have lost that game 35 to 10, but they didn't because of some real flukeish things. The Chargers dropped balls in the red zone. They had that ridiculous fumble call on an incomplete pass. You know, it should have been 30 plus in that game.

It wasn't, and because it wasn't, and because it was flukeish, they actually had a chance to steal the game in the opener. But the defense was horrendous in the opener, and it just wasn't reflected necessarily on the scoreboard. What happened yesterday was exactly the same thing that happened in the Chargers game, except for the fact that the bills actually finished things off. They were able to finish things off without drops, without weird fumble calls that were actually in complete passes in the rest.

Red zone, et cetera. And they got 43 on this team. I don't think the Chargers would have gotten 43. They would have gotten 30 plus and it would have been a lopsided score. So why has it been so bad? Or why was it bad yesterday? Well, let's start with the obvious. The defense's supposed best players aren't playing well. You know, you can pro football focus me until you're blue in the face. but Chase Young is off to an absolute disappointing start to this season. No sacks, not getting enough pressure, being run on at times, and for the second time in three games, he was off the field on some big plays in the game. I'll give you specifically where he was off the field that I was like,

why is he off the field? He better be hurt. It was the Bill's first drive of the second half. He can't be tired on the first drive of the second half. second half. Can he be? It's third and five early in that drive and he's not in there. Why? Why was he, was he winded? If he was winded, that is a problem. If he wasn't in there because they didn't want him in there on third and five, that's a problem. Now later on in the drive, a third and three he was in there. There was a blitz by Cameron Curl and he was dropping in

coverage and Beasley made the catch behind him for a first down. Wow. Your best players defensively aren't playing well. Not at all. Let me mention as it relates to Chase Young. Okay, there have been some moments here in the first two games, not yesterday, where you could see the talent, you could see some of what we saw last year, you could see that teams were game planning for him and he was getting chipped and doubled, not that that should be an excuse. T.J. Watt and Miles Garrett and all the best, you know, get chipped in game plan for all the time. They're producing results. Yesterday, there was no chipping. There was no double teaming. Darrell Williams, the Buffalo right tackle, who, by the way, was an all pro for Ron Rivera and Carolina in 2017.

He absolutely manhandled Chase Young. Manhandled him. It was a one-sided beatdown similar to the beatdown he got at the hands of Rishon Slater, the rookie in the opener against the Chargers. Chase Young's a talent. He is. But right now he is not playing up to his ability. Why? I don't know. Could it be scheme? Could it be coaching?

Could it be playing? Play calling? I guess it could be. I wouldn't bet on that because I still think, you know, he'd be making enough plays for us to say that he doesn't look terrible, that he doesn't stink in these first three games. But he's pretty much been pretty awful in the first three games. first three games. There have been moments where he's had impact yesterday, none. None. He had

no impact in that game yesterday. And it wasn't because the ball was coming out so quickly on every play. It wasn't because he was double-teamed and chipped constantly. It was because he couldn't win one-on-one, period. Kendall Fuller, another player who is a supposed big-time talent star on this team defensively is not playing well. You know, they have moved him into the slot with St. Juice on, you know, the outside a lot, and he's being torched in the slot. I don't know what the answer is there with Kendall Fuller. You know, it's really hard to cover in this league, as we know, especially against good quarterbacks who have a lot of time or are able to extend plays and create more time. It's really hard. But they,

seem to be almost picking on Fuller at times. The defense got to face a struggling Buffalo offense coming in. Josh Allen was near the bottom of most statistical categories coming into the game, but this defense yesterday for Washington allowed Josh Allen to get back to being the Josh Allen of last year. They gave up 27 points and 312 yards in the first half of the game. And Alan was good, man. He was accurate on pinpoint throws from the pocket. By the way, Cooley and I talked about the other day, you know, when Allen's on, he's making plays, extending plays, and then throwing tight throws to the sideline where Stefan Diggs or somebody's just barely getting both feet in. We saw that like two or three times yesterday. He was good from the pocket. He was good on the

move. He was good stepping up into the pocket that had openings for him to maneuver in. You know, the touchdown throw to Moss in the third on the third and goal was really courtesy of Daryl Williams pushing Young way outside. He overran Allen. Allen stepped up into an easy opening in the pocket and made the throw to Moss. Same on the Emmanuel Sanders touchdown. The third down defense, once again, a major issue. Nine of 15 was the actual final number, but really it was nine of 14. They took a knee on third down on the final play of the game with Mitch Trubisky.

most of them were too easy. They've been abysmal on third down this year. It's a combo of everything. It's no pass rush, poor coverage. You know, some good quarterbacks and receivers making good plays, that's part of it too. But you're not going to win many games this year, allowing 58.7% on third down, 31st in the league through three games. If that doesn't improve, as mentioned, you're talking about a four or a five win team.

Because it's not like on the offensive side, they've got to be a three games. a quarterback that can overcome all of this or an offense that can overcome all of this. The lack of pressure and sacks is alarming, but even more disturbing, is they're not getting close. And they're not doing some of the things they did last year, like against quick throwers, getting hands up and deflecting passes or forcing a quarterback to come off his mark to find a new passing lane. They're not doing anything to disrupt anybody. It's just too easy. for the opponents right now on offense. The first third long, some of you are convinced that John Allen was held.

I don't know, maybe, whatever. I mean, so maybe they go 8 to 14 on third down. They had one decent stop on third down and one decent stop on fourth down. Jamon Davis' play on that fourth down was, you know, one of the better defensive plays of the day. They had a stop on a third down and goal when they were up 2114. Buffalo was, and that was like the only time I can really remember young and sweat being a real annoyance to Josh Allen. They hurried him.

He was flushed and you ended up getting a hold on that third down. On a condensed field, easier for coverage, easier to make a play. They didn't sack him, but they forced him off his mark. they forced him to move. And because it was a condensed field, I'm sure the coverage, you know, was a little bit, you know, closer. And therefore they settled for a field goal. The best coverage all day, I mean,

maybe the best play was by Jaman Davis on 4th and 2, but the best coverage all day was Ben St. Juice on the two-point conversion attempt to Sanders, knocking that away. That was a 2-point conversion attempt at 33 to 14. The end of the half was just dreadful. They're sitting back in cover two. They're letting Allen with a couple of timeouts left and 26 seconds left

throw easy pitching catches to the sideline until they got into field goal range. You've got to be more aggressive there. It's 2414. Go into the half. You're going to get the ball to start the second half. You're recognizing they're going to go for it. They came out and they threw on first down. And it was just too easy.

13 yards to digs. 22 yards to Beasley, 11 to Diggs again, five more yards to Knox, where they took the snap with like six seconds to go. And here comes the kicker on to kick a 48-yard field goal. That was embarrassing to end the half that way. You're supposed to have pass rushers. You're supposed to be a good defense and aggressive defense. You've already gotten your ass kicked for the first 29 minutes and 30 seconds,

and you're going to give up an easy field goal range four play. and they pick up 51 yards? I mean, just awful, terrible at the end of the half. The first drives teams are three for three against them this year. Look, the net of it is they can't get off the field on third down because they're not getting enough pressure. They're not covering well. By the way, the whole man versus zone, you got to stop.

you know, if you want to say to me, I want them to be more aggressive, especially on these third downs. I want them, I want Del Rio to scheme up more blitz pressure. We got to get home. We got to rattle some quarterbacks. Okay, I'm kind of for that. And he did a little bit of it last week against the Giants. There was, I think, less of it. You have to be careful when you're playing a quarterback like Josh Allen.

You can't be playing on third and long press man coverage. You're either going to get beat by digs and it's going to be a big play or as you're running backwards with your back to the ball, Josh Allen's going to scramble for 17. Teams don't play a lot of man coverage against quarterbacks like Josh Allen in big third down situations, especially third and long. Because they know what can happen with his, legs. I don't think less zone, more man is the answer. I think better zone and better man

and more pass rush is the answer. I also think even though the numbers wouldn't reflect this through the first three games, I still don't consider them to be a superb run-stopping team. Zach Moss, who had the most carries, was 13 for 60. If you combine his and Singletary's runs, It was 24 for 86. That's not great. I understand that. But they seem to be timely runs for these guys, as it was, I think, in the Charger game to a certain degree. And they clearly couldn't stop Daniel Jones in the Thursday night game as a read option runner. Defense, number one reason for losing the football game. The number two reason, and if you're dividing this this morning, and I called it a blame pie chart. If you're dividing up the blame pie chart style, the defense gets 85 to 90% of the blame. And then I got two other things here, and they're minimal slices of the pie.

But still, they were issues. The turnovers, three of them, you lose a turnover battle, three nothing. If they were even in the turnover battle, they still would have lost the game and maybe by double digits. But three turnovers don't help. Logan Thomas with a fumble on a third down conversion. version, by the way. Great play by Tradavius White for Buffalo. And then Heineke's two interceptions. So turnovers would be, you know, be, you know, five percent of the blame chart, of the Pye blame chart. And then the other five to whatever percent would go to Taylor Heineke.

This one I know is a little bit controversial. Not everybody wants to put any blame on Taylor Heineke for the loss. And as far as, again, the blame pie chart, it's 88 to 90 percent defense, and the rest of whatever's left over the 10 to 12 percent can be split by turnovers in Heineke. Heineke had two of the three turnovers. But he didn't play well, period. If you guys think that Taylor Heineke played a good game yesterday, you really are a massive Taylor Heineke fan, or you're just not able to be objective. Now, there are things that I like about Taylor Heineke. And he was doing some of those things yesterday. You know, after being kept in the pocket against the Giants, he was back to being that escape artist under pressure. God,

he's got a knack and a feel for knowing where it's coming from and being able to escape it. You know, he made great efforts at times to make plays. And he made some, not enough. But he can really evade pressure, duck pressure, figure out where it's coming from, make people miss, get up in the pocket, get outside the pocket, and from there, you've got a chance to hurt a defense. He's at a high level as an off-schedule quarterback, at creating an off-schedule opportunity. Let me say that. He's a high-level creator of off-schedule quarterbacking. He doesn't always execute after he's created that off-schedule extension of the play. But he's really good at creating that opportunity.

That scramble touchdown run showed his speed. He's an athlete. He really is. That speed was incredible. You know, it was, by the way, it followed a third down and fourth row to Logan Thomas, where he just sidestepped a little bit in the pocket to find the throwing lane and to avoid a little bit of pressure at his feet, and he threw to Logan Thomas,

who got the ball down to the five-yard line, actually inside the five. And then he ran it in on that scramble play and showed his athleticism and speed. He can really run. I'm talking about fast. He's tough, too. He takes big shots.

He's fearless. He's a feisty fighter. I love all of that about Taylor Heineke. I've said that from the, Carolina game on. There are things about Heineke that happened in yesterday's game that didn't change my opinion about what I like about him. But the list of what we haven't learned enough about in terms of his quarterbacking ability is an important list too. And yesterday was his first game on the road. We talked about this all last week against a good defense in a hostile environment. And he

got no help from his own defense. The pressure was on him to match a guy like Josh Allen in yesterday's game. And that's not the class that Taylor Heineke's in. He's nowhere near Josh Allen's class, obviously. And if you think he is, this conversation isn't going to be for you. He made too many mistakes yesterday, which turned what would have been a pretty hefty loss anyway into an avalanche of a loss. First of all, he stares down receivers, or he did yesterday, stared him down consistently. Secondly, I thought he could have turned some of the plays where he avoided pressure and got out of trouble into some big runs, and instead he decided to, you know, force the ball on a couple of occasions or throw it. He should understand, and this should be,

I can tell you this, like the really good coaching staff that was here from 2012. 2010 through 2013, you know, the one with all the head coaches around the league, the Shanahan's and the Flurs and, you know, all of these people that were in the guy by the name of McVe. They always told RG3, when in doubt, you're the checkdown. He was such a good athlete, such a good runner, had so much speed. And I think that should be it for Taylor Heineke. If you're checked down, your true checkdown, if you can't get to it,

or it's covered, you're the checkdown. Hurt teams as a runner. Do it more. I'd like to see them create more scheduled or, you know, designed runs for them. Even if it's, you know, read option place. I'd like to see Taylor Heineke uses legs more. So first of all, he stared down receivers. Secondly, I thought he didn't run enough. Thirdly, his decision making on several occasions was awful.

The first interception is a terrible. decision. To come back to McClure, who's already got the rolled up coverage on his side towards him, and you know that, you have to know that. That's an easy interception for the defense and a terrible decision by the quarterback. The interception that didn't count because of defensive penalties was still a very bad throw. He missed high, the ball was deflected and intercepted. Again, called back penalties, but it was not a good throw. And then the very next play after the overturned interception, He stares down Adam Humphreys, and Terran Johnson has a pick six if the ball isn't too high. And that's his miss.

He's too high. And he stared that one down. He was late with it. And then here's part of the problem with Taylor Heineke. He doesn't have tremendous arm strength. So timing's got to be a big part of it or off-schedule stuff where you get a defense scrambling, which is where we've seen his biggest plays. but if you're going to recognize the arm strength issue,

you've got to be phenomenal in timing and phenomenal in reads and phenomenal in decision-making. And on that particular play, which came after the interception that didn't count, if he hadn't been late and high, that was an interception, maybe a pick six. Then on third down against a four-man pressure after that, after he got lucky and didn't get picked off because of a poor throw. He stared Humphreys down. He makes a throw that gets knocked down by the

defender, stared him down the entire way. He had a terrible two-play stretch on their second possession of the third quarter when they were down 33 to 14. He throws a completion when he's clearly beyond the line of scrimmage, by a yard and a half at least. Now, I don't know if he could have run it for a first down, but his athleticism, I think he would have had a chance to run it. He run it. You got to run it there. It's 3314. It's still the third quarter. It's a play where you've got to have a sense that you're well beyond the line of scrimmage. And then the interception on the very next play is when he totally forced it into coverage on third and 13 and Micah Hyde picked it off. I love Micahe Hyde as a player. I always have. You know, for a guy who's not a phenomenal athlete,

All he does is anticipate and make plays. He didn't get fooled in that reverse to Diami Brown in the first half. He was the one that didn't get fooled. And then he just made an easy interception reading Taylor Heineke's eyes. Taylor not yet really good at maneuvering and moving a defense with his eyes. Threw right into heavy coverage and it was picked off. The irony of that second interception is that he actually showed what he does really well and what he does poorly on the same play.

He created more time on that play by stepping up, avoiding the pressure, creating more time, and looking down field and making a throw. The problem was he threw it to the wrong guy because that guy had three defenders in his area, and he never saw Micah Hyde the third defender. You know, other than certain people who have absolutely declared that this is the answer after 11 and a half quarters, now 15 and a half. I think most of us would say, you know what? First road game, really good team, aggressive defense, good defense, well-coached defense, the rest of your team isn't helping at all. Your defense sucks. So every

drive becomes a drive where you've got to score to keep up with it. You're not going to do that at Buffalo, unless you've got a really good quarterback. I think it was a D-plus performance by Heineke. But again, I don't think it was anywhere near the reason they lost. It just wasn't. I think he could have played another A-minus game like he had played the first 11 and a half quarters with this team, and they still would have lost by double digits. But in his first road game against a really good defense, he didn't pass the test. You know, bad decisions, bad throws, staring down receivers, arm strength questionable, accuracy, you know, not always great, didn't run when he should have, forced too many things, just a bad day for him. You can say that. It's okay. He's going to get

more opportunities. And hopefully he gets opportunities in games that, you know, you're not down 21-0 right away because your defense sucks, although they were down 14-0 because the defense sucks. 21-0 because he threw the first of two interceptions that set up the 21-0-0 lead. I think that Scott Turner could perhaps add more designed runs for him. I also love the boot, you know, throw. On the first play of the second half, there was an actual bootleg in a throw to McLorn. I'd like to see him on the move, you know, getting out on the edges a little bit more. I'd like to see more of that.

But bottom line, you know, oh, by the way, the sneak, the quarterback sneak, ooh, that was hideous. Let's not do that one again. But this was a D-plus performance by the starting quarterback. And if the defense had played well, this would have been a much bigger issue, I think, because the decision-making would have cost them. It didn't really cost them yesterday because they were getting their ass kicked anyway. So that's the list of things I didn't like.

The defense, first and foremost, again, 88 to 90% of the pie blame chart, the blame pie chart. Turnovers, you can't be minus three and expect to beat a good team like that on the road. And then, you know, Taylor Heineke was on the list of things that I didn't like. And he's been on the list of things that I've liked in the first two games. So that's that list. Here are a few more observations. There was a stretch of the game that really, you know, in hindsight,

it was incredible that they actually were in the game and had an opportunity at one point to be more than just in the game, but potentially in a one-score game at the break. When Gibson scored on that screen, which again, perfect call by Scott Turner into the Blitz, It was just a perfect timing for a screen. I had said on Friday, I want to see screens. I think the ball needs to come out quickly. I'd like to see more hurry up. I think we didn't see a lot of hurry up because the defense needed to rest.

They had been gassed on all those long drives. Maybe it wasn't a part of the game plan to begin with, but you had to at that point say we can't go three and out quickly. If we're going to go three and out, it's got to be a little bit slower. On that screen touchdown to Antonio Gibson, watch the block and the athleticism from Eric Flowers. I thought it was outstanding from him. But after that touchdown that made it 21-7,

they recover that ensuing kickoff that bounces backwards, you know, into the wind and, you know, Khali-Kudson had a chance at it, and then Hopkins ends up recovering it. And then Heineke scores on the scramble touchdown. After he completed a third down to Logan Thomas. And then, by the way, Gibson dropped the touchdown pass, and then Heineke scored in the scramble.

It's 21-14. And then they get the one- set of downs where we actually saw Buffalo's punter on the field. It was a third downstop and a play that was a deflected pass that could have been picked off by Kendall Fuller. He had it in his hands and he was thinking pick six and then he dropped it. Should have had it. But then they get the ball back and in five minutes they went from down 21-0 to a 21-14 game with the ball. It happened so quickly. And the possession that they had down 21 to 14 was really the one chance, if you really think they had a chance. Ultimately, I don't think they would have gotten enough

stops. It wouldn't have mattered anyway. But there are five and a half minutes to go in the first half and it's 2114 Buffalo. And Washington has it after the punt at their own 14 yard line. And they've scored on their last two drives. Now, one of them on a very short field courtesy of the kickoff situation. The very first play was a max protect with two tight ends, Seals Jones and Logan Thomas, play action throw. Heineke has plenty of time. It's a four-man rush.

And I just don't think Heineke handled this very well. I thought he bailed out way too quickly. He scrambled sideways and ended up. up gaining a yard and it was second and nine. He had plenty of time. It was max protect against a four-man rush. He had plenty of time to step up. He had plenty of time for his receivers to get open and he bailed out way too quickly. I thought that that was a mistake. On the second down and nine after that, Gibson misses a massive cutback lane that would have gone for 10, 15 yards, moved the chains, now all of a sudden you are in business down 2114. Instead, he gets very little because he didn't

see the cutback lane. And we've seen that occasionally with Gibson. Then on third nine, Heineke hits Humphreys short of the sticks for a seven-yard throw. But that play seemed totally messed up because Diami Brown was almost in the same spot that Humphreys was in. That can't be right. So the one chance, the one chance they had to get back into it, they failed. You know, Scott Turner dialed up something on 1st and 10 with play action and Max Protect and the quarterback bailed too quickly and got a yard out of a scramble. And then Gibson misses a huge cutback lane on 2nd and 9. And then on 3rd down, he's throwing to Humphreys, but Diami Brown's bringing defenders into the area.

and even though it was short of the sticks and Humphreys probably wouldn't have gotten the first down, whatever happened in route running, it seemed messed up. So I wanted to just go over that stretch of the game because it was 4321. It never felt very much like a football game. But in actuality, and I remember how I felt in the moment, I'm like, this is incredible after that start. I thought it was going to be 35-0 at halftime. It's 21-14 with five and a half minutes to go. They get the ball back.

They have some momentum right now, and they went three and out. Anybody mentioning, officiating is a reason they lost is just off base in my view. I did think that Knox pushed off on Holcomb on that third and goal touchdown after the Heineke interception. But I think there were calls that went both ways. I didn't think that big punt return by McKenzie where there was a hold called. I thought that was very questionable. it had nothing to do with why they lost this game.

You know, it had nothing to do with why they fell behind so big early. This was a beat-down loss. I mentioned that I thought there was one defensive player that may, when they look at the film, you know, if you get it out of them, maybe somebody says, yeah, this guy actually played pretty well. I thought Duran Payne, and again, I don't know what his responsibilities were. I don't know where he was supposed to be, but he appeared to be in the backfield a ton. He appeared to be pushing the pocket from the inside a ton in this game.

I thought he did. And by the way, he was working one-on-one. It was really John Allen that appeared to be doubled more than anybody else on the entire defensive line. I liked Ron Rivera using his timeouts to get the ball back at the end of the first half when it was 21-14, then it went to 24. Unfortunately, they couldn't do anything with it, and then Buffalo got it with 26 seconds left.

Oh, the challenge by Rivera on the Logan Thomas. I mean, that was a bad challenge. That wasn't close. Although in real time, when I watch it, I'm like, hmm, looks like maybe, just maybe he got it. I think Cam Sims should play more than Diami Brown right now. That's the last thing I have on the game. There you go.

That's my game to. 43 to 21, they're one and two. It's really not very promising right now. The NFL, as we know, is week to week and things change so much, you know, and by the time they get to that stretch after the Falcons game of Saints, Chiefs, Packers, Broncos, Buccaneers, Panthers, Seahawks, Raiders, Cowboys, Eagles. Maybe a lot of those teams aren't as good as they are now. Like, you know, the Panthers are undefeated and the Raiders are undefeated and the Broncos are

undefeated. Those are the games you probably looked at before and said, oh, those are winnable games. And now all three of those teams are unbeaten. It really is an unbelievable schedule after this coming weekend. And they're an underdog this coming weekend against Atlanta, a team totally capable of torching them with Matt Ryan. It'll be different. They won't have a mobile quarterback to deal with. Maybe it'll help the D-line. Maybe it's a get-right game for the defense. But this is not a gimmee. My God, no. None of these games are gimmies. I'd sat here and told you the giant game was not a gimmy. They were lucky to win it.

I'm sitting here telling you right now today, the Falcon game is not a gimmy. This is an absolute loseable game on Sunday in Atlanta. But after that, Saints at Home, Chiefs at home, at Broncos, Buccaneers, Panthers, Seahawks, Raiders, and then you get into all those division games. That's nuts. Really nuts.

tonight in the NFC East, obviously, with Philadelphia and Dallas playing one of those teams will get to two and one and have the division lead by a game over Washington and the team that loses the game. All right. Up next, we'll go around the NFL right after these words from a few of our sponsors. The biggest plays and the clutch moment. It's time to go around the NFL. On its way. it bounces off the crossbar and it's good. Oh my goodness.

Oh my goodness. Did that just happen, Greg? That was the most incredible of four games decided by walk-off field goals on yesterday's NFL Sunday and Sunday night. That was Justin Tucker setting the NFL record with a 66-yard field goal. in Detroit to beat the Lions, 19 to 17. It was a kick that hit the crossbar and went over. An unbelievable kick by one of the great kickers in history. I did read that Justin Tucker is a lifetime 16 for 16, I believe it is, on kicks in the final.

I think it's two minutes to go ahead or something like that. That's incredible, the kicker that Justin Tucker is he's a Hall of Fame kicker. He is. I do want to remind any Ravens fan that he did miss an extra point with like 20 seconds to go against the Saints a few years ago after a touchdown pass made it 2423. He actually missed an extra point and they lost that game 2423. Anyway, if you paid attention to the NFL yesterday, you know that Justin Tucker's career record, you know, record-breaking field goal of 66 yards, which was two yards better than Matt Prater, who had set the record in 2013. And there have been many 63-yarders. Ironically, the first,

the record that was held forever by Tom Dempsey was a kick made by the New Orleans kicker against the Lions way back in 1970. That record held up for so long until Prater topped it in 2013. By the way, speaking of Prater, he attempted a 68-yard field goal at the end of the first half in Jacksonville yesterday, and it got returned 109 yards for a touchdown because it was short and it was returnable. But if you paid attention yesterday, you know that the Justin Tucker 66-yard record-setting field goal is controversial. It's controversial because the play that the the play before the field goal attempt, the play clock was at zero for about two and a half seconds. There should have been a delay of game penalty called and it wasn't called. And if it had been

called, five yards, now it's a 71 yard field goal. And obviously he was just barely capable of getting it exactly to 66 yards where it hit the crossbar, bounced up and went over. So not only was there a delay a game penalty on that. You know, the truth is that Lamar Jackson, I think, committed intentional grounding. I thought he was still in the pocket. He threw it out of bounds to the left sideline, and there was no receivers there. And he threw it, you know, 15 feet over anybody's head. So that kick should have probably never happened.

By the way, the play that set it up was a fourth and 20 from Lamar Jackson to Sammy Watkins, which was incredible. that got the ball out to near midfield. But Justin Tucker, 66-yard field goal for the Ravens to beat the Lions 19 to 17. Poor Detroit. You know, they have had, you know, like Washington, it's been a franchise that's really been in the dark ages

for a long period of time. And their quarterback, their beloved quarterback, Matt Stafford, finally won it out, wanted to go to a good organization. He did, and he is thriving right now as one of the two or three candidates for MVP here early in the season. We'll get to that game in a moment. This is how last night's Green Bay San Francisco game ended. Crosby to try to win it. And the kick is good to win the game. The 49ers couldn't take home. Enough time off the clock at the end.

All Aaron needed was 37 seconds. Mason Crosby from 51 yards out to win it at the gun in Santa Clara, 30 to 28 Packers. An incredible game last night. That's two straight Sunday nighters that were just amazing. The Kansas City Baltimore game a week ago, and then last night, Green Bay led the entire way until San Francisco scored to take a 28-27 lead with just 37 seconds left.

Green Bay didn't have any timeouts left, and Aaron Rogers made two unbelievable throws, the first one being a 25-yard throw over linebacker Fred Warner to Devante Adams, who was brilliant in this game. Adams, interestingly, I mean, took a big shot and looked actually knocked out, but was back in a few plays later, so much for, you know, patient, concussion protocol. But he must have passed the test, I guess.

It was an incredible first downplay. They got up, they spiked it. There were 20 seconds left. And then he threw another one to Adams for 17. And they took their time. They got up there. They spiked it with three seconds left. And Crosby kicked the game winner. Man, Aaron Rogers was

thrilled. I mean, he said his comment after the game was something about, I mean, isn't football so romantic? Or, you know, who says that football doesn't have a romantic side? I'm probably butchering the exact quote, but it was something to that effect. He was so pumped up.

It made the summer in the offseason look like it didn't even happen. They win the game 30 to 28. Now, a lot of question as to how San Francisco handled their final drive. Let me just say this. I thought it was a miracle that they ended up taking that lead. I thought Jimmy Garoppolo was terrible in this game. And then on the final drive, he got the ball to their best player, George Kittle, multiple times. And Kittle is just a beast.

He had a third and 10 throw to Kittle who broke tackles and ran for 39 yards. He had another third and 10 to Debo Samuel in traffic. I don't know how that ball was caught. But they had a first in 10 at the Green Bay 12. And this is when it got interesting because they snapped the ball there. They had timeouts left. San Francisco didn't. So what you're thinking really more than anything else is we'd like to score and leave as little time possible. Now, that's a tricky thing.

You know, when you're down 27, 21, and by the way, your quarterback's been under duress. He had just turned the ball over on the previous possession. He had been hit and he threw the ball sideways or actually backwards and they called it a fumble. And he's hit some of these, you know, like the third intended Debo Samuel, which was kind of lucky. It could have been picked. Samuel made a great play. You just want to score, really. You know, trying to sink it up so that you score and Aaron Rogers has no time left is a tricky thing. But what they did do on this first and 10 at the Green Bay 12 is they did have about 12 or 13 seconds left on the play clock.

And they could have let more of it go off. Now, at the same time, it's first and 10 at the Green Bay 12. So you want not only four potential plays to pick up a first down, you may need four more after you get a first down. So I think it's really not that easy to say that San Francisco really did a poor job with the clock. You know, the possibility existed there of eight plays, eight or more, actually, if you consider penalties. And so you're not going to run eight plays in 37 seconds.

You're certainly not going to run eight in 25 seconds if you let the play clock run down. You're not expecting to score on first and 10 from the 12, but Kyle Eusecheck made a really good catch on a checkdown throw from Garoppolo and muscled his way into the end zone. And, you know, there are 37 seconds left now for Aaron Rogers. I don't, you've got to score. You know, you've got to take that lead because there's a. really good chance first and 10 at the Green Bay 12 in the context of that game that you're not going

to get it in. Like trying to time up getting in for the score and burning a lot of clock is, that's a hard thing to do. So I think it's hard to criticize if you wanted them to take, you know, a little bit more time before that first down snap, that's okay. But what if the first down play is a completion for one yard? And now you've got to burn a time out. And then the second one is a completion for four yards. And at that point, you know, you've got to take another timeout. And I think that's what they had left at that point, two timeouts. And now you're into, we just need to get it in.

You're not going to pass on the chance to get it in, you know, like telling Kyle use check, hey, catch it, make the first down, but go down at the one yard line. And we'll try to get this in, you know, in the last few seconds. It turned out to be too much time for Aaron Rogers. And certainly when they scored and there was still that much time left, even though Green Bay didn't have any timeouts left, I think anybody watching that is like, too much time. Aaron Rogers is going to do it. But hard to really blame the 49ers, even for not running the play clock down. There are too many potential plays, offensive snaps that you were going to require to

score a touchdown to be fooling around with the clock at that point. Anyway, that was another game decided by a walk-off field goal. The first game of the game of the game. The first game of day settled by a walk-off field goal came at the Meadowlands. Youngway, Koo from 40, the kick is straight through. Koo at the gun from 40 yards out, and the Falcons win that game 17 to 14. By the way, for the Giants, they lost Blake Martinez for the year. That's a big loss. On a defense, it's pretty good.

That defense is actually pretty good in New York, and they've now, they're now, they're without Blake Lawrence, their terrific linebacker for the rest of the year. If you're wondering about the Giants, they are 0 and 3. This was a very winnable game. They had a 14-7 lead in the fourth quarter. They allowed with a 14-7 lead, a 15-play 72-yard drive that took eight minutes and 40 seconds that tied the game with about four minutes to go. And then when they got the ball back, they drove it to midfield.

and then Jones was sacked and fumbled, fortunately recovered, with about two minutes to go, and then they ended up punting it back to Atlanta. The punt went into the end zone, which was a shame for the Giants. That allowed the Falcons to start from their own 20, and Matt Ryan engineered a really strong drive, with, by the way, two players that you better pay attention to.

Cordell Patterson, who everywhere he goes to, he ends up producing. He's producing as a running back. He's producing as a receiver. I'm assuming he's also producing as a kickoff returner. I mean, he's one of the great kickoff returners in recent NFL history. Cordell Patterson was a big part of that final drive. I'm catching a pass from Matt Ryan to start that drive for 28 yards. And then the other guy is the rookie, Kyle Pitts, from Florida. You know, a guy that, you know, Atlanta took instead of taking one of the young quarterbacks. They took Kyle Pitts, and Ryan found Pitts for 25 yards,

which got him into field goal range, and ultimately set up the walk-off field goal by Koo, the Atlanta kicker. Atlanta's capable. You know, it was 2825 at Tampa last week going into the fourth quarter, and then there were two pick sixes in the fourth quarter. Tampa's defense is really nasty. It's really good. They've got Cordell Patterson, they've got Kyle Pitts,

They've got Calvin Ridley. Ridley had eight catches, 61 yards. Their real issue going into this year was running back. They've got Mike Davis. He averaged four and a half yards of carry yesterday. They used Cordell Patterson a lot out of the backfield as well. For the division, the Giants fall to 0 and 3, dead last in the division. A three-point loss at the gun, a one-point loss at the gun to Washington,

and a 14-point loss that was actually a little bit closer in the opener to 3-0, Denver. They now have road games at the Saints, at Dallas, and then they play the Rams, Panthers, Chiefs, Raiders, Buccaneers. So it would certainly appear as if the giant start may doom them, even though they've played better football. Martinez, by the way, tore his ACL. The last of the four games that ended on a field goal, game-winning field goal, was the Raiders game. They were laying, by the way, three and a half, and they nearly scored a touchdown to win it by six in overtime. But they didn't, and they settled for a walk-off field goal in the final player of overtime to win it 31 to 28 over Miami in a thrilling game. And in this game, a couple of quick notes.

Number one, Peyton Barber, remember him. 23 carries 111 yards for the Raiders also had three catches for 31 yards. The game of his career in Oakland had a touchdown, rushing touchdown in that game, too. Peyton Barbara was picked up off of Washington's practice squad and put under the Raiders full squad, and he was exceptional for them yesterday. Secondly, Jacoby Brissette gives Miami a much better chance right now at this point than Tua does. I thought Brissette was okay last week in watching him against Buffalo, and he made some big plays, including a fourth-down, late-regulation touchdown,

run, scramble run, and making a throw on a two-point conversion to force the overtime. But here's the last point on this game. In overtime, the game went to overtime at 25-25. The Raiders got a field goal on their opening drive. Game wasn't over. Here comes Miami. And Miami's moved the ball to midfield. They converted, by the way, a fourth and 20 presented to Mike Keseki, the tight end. And then they took a, deep shot to Will Fuller from midfield, and Fuller got injured on that play. It was so obviously pass interference. I can't believe that wasn't called. I mean, Fuller was tackled in the end zone, and they didn't call it. That would have been first in goal, the one for the dolphins and a chance

for a walk-off win right there in overtime. Really poor job by the referees in overtime. And that one. The game of the day was, of course, Tampa and L.A. coming in, and Matt Stafford, brilliant, four touchdown passes, 27 to 38 for 343 yards. I really did enjoy those of you that when I was really pleading for Washington to give up almost anything to get Matt Stafford, you guys kept pointing to his record and said, don't you know what his record is? Why would you Matt Stafford? with some of you saying, no way on Stafford. Heineke has more of a chance of being the long-term answer than Matt Stafford. Matt Stafford's always been a very good quarterback.

He is off to an MVP-calibre start to the season. The fit with Sean is the right fit. They've got Deshawn Jackson. He hit him on a 75-yard touchdown pass. Cooper Cup is sensational. They got some tight ends. They obviously lost their running backs, you know, with Cam Acres. and then Darrell Henderson was out yesterday, so Sony Michelle was the back.

Brady and Tampa Bay, you know, against that defense. They couldn't run against it, that's for sure. Man, the L.A. defense is great. Oh, Aaron Donald right now, just give it to him, the defensive player of the year. And Miles Garrett might end up being close. He had four and a half sacks yesterday, but God, is Aaron Donald? Just so much fun. He just wrecks.

games. 34-24 was the final, but their biggest lead was 17 at 34 to 17. A couple of other games real quickly. Poor Justin Fields made his debut against the Browns, and Miles Garrett had four and a half sacks and six quarterback hits in the game. By the way, the rookie from Notre Dame, Jeremiah Ouso, Coromo. Remember a lot of us thought that he was going to be the Washington pick in the first round, not Jamon Davis. Well, he didn't get picked until the second pick. And it was like mid-second round by Cleveland. He's off to a really good start this year, playing really well for the Browns.

And the Browns held Justin Fields to 68 yards passing on 6 of 20. That's a rough opener for the rookie quarterback. None of the rookie quarterbacks played well yesterday. Mack Jones has had the most successful of outings so far. Trey Lance did rush for a touchdown at the end of the first half in the San Francisco game, but just a horrible debut for Justin Fields. Their offensive line is really bad. Cleveland gets the 26-6 win there.

Denver's off to a 3-0 start. Their defense is nasty. The Jets weren't much of a challenge, but they won that game 26-0. The Cardinals rallied to beat the Jags, 3119, their 3-0. Kyler Murray, 28 to 34, 316 yards in that game, along with, you know, another touchdown rushing for him. Minnesota beat Seattle. The Vikings very easily could be 3-0. They were in field goal range in overtime in the opener against Cincinnati,

and Cincinnati's turned out to be here early, a much better team than anybody thought they would be. and Dalvin Cook fumbled, and then last week their kicker missed a chip shot at the gun, and they lost 34, 33 in Arizona. Well, yesterday at home for the first time, they beat Seattle 30 to 17, and Kirk Cousins was spectacular. He is really off to a blazing start for the Vikings. Again, they should be 3-0, but Kirk missed a field goal and was terrible in not holding onto the ball when he got hit in overtime.

as a ball carrier. No, that was Dalvin Cook. And no, he didn't kick it last week. 30 of 38, 323 yards, three touchdowns, a 93.3 QBR for Kirk Cousins against that Seattle team. He is, I think, right now in the league second behind Matt Stafford in overall QBR. I think he's top five in passer rating as well. Eight touchdowns, no interstafford. Cousins is playing at the highest level right now of his career. I mean, I guess 2016 with all those weapons, Pierre and Jordan and Deshaun. And it's a similar situation because the team is not very good defensively, Minnesota. But they get the win 30 to 17 over Seattle.

Also wanted to mention the Chargers Chiefs game, crazy game. The Chargers go in there. They win 30 to 24. two interceptions for Mahomes, but the end of the game was wild. The Chargers had a fourth and four at the Kansas City 30 with 48 seconds to go and decided to go for it instead of kick a field goal at 2424. They got a false start, so now it's fourth and nine. Now they've got a choice of kicking a 52-yard field goal or punting.

Instead, they decided to go for it. And if they miss it, you know, the Kansas City is almost already in field goal range with one or two throws. to win the game. They went for it. They got a defensive pass interference penalty. And then, and then they have a chance literally to walk the chiefs off at Arrowhead with a 19-yard game-winning field goal. What did they do? They threw a touchdown pass, and they threw a touchdown pass with still 32 seconds left on the clock. And they missed the extra point. So they had a six-point lead, and they left time on the clock for Pat Mahomes. And he had a chance on a Hail Mary into the end zone at the end of the game.

That would have been an all-time coaching blunder. In that particular situation, you don't need the touchdown. It's 24-24. You need the walk-off field goal and not to see number 15 come back on the field. The Chargers are 2 and 1. The Chiefs are 1 in 2 in that division. And in last place, last place, Justin Herbert, four touchdown. passes yesterday for the Chargers who are two and one, and yet they are still behind

three and O Denver and three and O the Raiders. The Bengals went in and the Steelers can't score people. That's their biggest issue. They're good defensively. They have an offensive line issue clearly. Najee Harris yesterday, the rookie from Alabama, had 14 carries for 40 yards. They only rushed for 45 yards. They can't run the football with that offensive line. Nodjay Harris also had 14 receptions in the game. I don't know if that's a record 14 and 14. It's certainly not a record for overall touches, but 14 receptions and 14 carries for a total of 142 yards of total offense. Pittsburgh loses 24 to 10 to an underrated Cincinnati team right now. Jamar Chase two more touchdown catches from Joe Burrow, who all he needed,

this game was 14 of 18 for 172 yards. Joe Mixon was big. And the Bengals are two and one in that division. And yes, tied for first place in the AFC North. Two and one, Cincinnati, two and one, Baltimore, two and one Cleveland, one and two, Pittsburgh. A wild day in the NFL for sure. The Saints beat the Patriots, 2813. Another weird box score for the win, James Winston, remember we told you in the opener against Green Bay, if you recall, he had the four touchdown pass, or the five touchdown passes on just 20 pass attempts. Then yesterday at New England, only 21 pass attempts, two more touchdowns. In two wins, he's 27 of 41 for seven touchdowns, no picks. In the one loss, he's 11 of 22 with two interceptions. I mean, he is not thrown for in a game yet more than 150 yards. And yet the Saints are

two and one with an excellent defense and obviously some real playmakers offensively. I think that is it in terms of yesterday's NFL results in terms of the games I wanted to talk about. The Monday night game tonight obviously important to the division. The smell test did not go well. It was a brutal Saturday. Came back with a three and three. to Sunday. I do like the Eagles tonight plus the three and a half, but I'm not giving them out as a smell test pick. But I do like the Eagles chances tonight. You know who you'll probably see with branding Graham now out of the lineup is more Ryan Carrigan for the Eagles tonight in Dallas. All right. We'll finish up with a little college football talk and maybe a little rider cup,

right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Demas streaming into the end zone. Touchdown, Maryland. That was Maryland on Saturday, beating Kent State 37 to 16. I thought it was a look-ahead trap game, and in some ways it was. They gave up a hell of a lot in yards to Kent State. In fact, in the game, Kent State managed 458 yards of total offense and only scored 16 points. They had some penalties in the red zone. zone. They were down in the red zone a ton. But Talia Tunga Viloa, to his younger brother, Leah, as he's known out there. Another incredible game. 31 of 41 for 384 yards, three touchdowns.

He did have one ball intercepted off a deflection for Rakeem Jarrett. This is not an exaggeration what I'm going to say next. And for those of you that aren't paying attention to college football and only think of Maryland as, you know, a basketball school only, which it is a basketball. school first. You're probably going to laugh and say Sheehan's doing that, you know, Maryland thing that he does all the time. Leotung of Iloa with another exceptional game on Friday night against Iowa if they were able to pull off the upset and what will be, I think the biggest home game Maryland's had since the Friegenera. They're only a three and a half point underdog, by the way, to the fifth ranked Hawkeyes. Maryland's undefeated at 4-0, Iowa undefeated also at

4-0. If Leah has another big game and Maryland wins, even if they don't, but if he has another big game, he will be mentioned legitimately in the Heisman conversation. That's how good he's been. I think my producer, Brendan Dar, told me this morning that only Matt Corral from Ole Miss has a higher pro-football-focused college quarterback grade right now than Leah Tunga by Loa. Maryland is explosive offensively. They are and the quarterback is outstanding. Outstanding. I think it's, I think Friday night is going to be, you know, quite a party, a Friday night game, and quite a game. Iowa had played Kent State last week and 1.30 to 7, but it was a little bit closer going into the fourth quarter. Maryland was never in jeopardy in this game. They were up 37 to 9,

entering the fourth quarter. They had plenty of opportunities to score more late and didn't. But the bottom line is, is the Terps, I think, more so than, you know, two years ago or a couple of times where they've gotten off to good starts, but it's been sort of fraudulent. I don't think it's fraudulent this time. I don't know. Maybe Iowa comes in with their big stud offensive line and they manhandle Maryland and they run it down their throat and they win easily. That could happen. But Maryland's got talent. I mean, they've got talent now. that measures up not to Ohio State, okay, I'm not saying Ohio State or Penn State or Michigan. But they've got, you know, talent that comes in that next tier now in the Big Ten. They have plenty of skill position NFL talent. That's for sure. But Leotunga Viloa, to his brother, he's a junior.

He is unbelievable so far on the year. If you're wondering what he's done on the year, 1,340 yards in four games, a 75.5% completion percentage, 10 touchdowns, one interception on the year, a 76.9 overall ESPN QBR. He's been sensational this year. That game Friday night, massive game for Maryland. And a win over Iowa, and they're only a three and a half point dog, would set up a game the following week at Ohio State for the lead in the Big Ten East. Anyway, one at a time,

Sheehan, one at a time. National television game Friday night should be, you know, I would imagine they're going to be close to a sellout in College Park for this one by the time we get to the game. The big difference between this one in the Penn State game two years ago, Maryland's better.

The difference between the two teams isn't as great. And the big difference from a ticket sell standpoint and a tailgate standpoint is there were so many Penn State people down here for that game two years ago. And I don't know how many Iowa people are going to make the trip. One of the interesting things about being in the Big Ten early on is you notice this in basketball in particular. A lot of fans, Big Ten basketball fans, made the trip to Maryland in the first couple of years when

their school was playing Maryland. They wanted to see a game at Xfinity Center. Xfinity Center certainly one of the better venues and more raucous and hostile environments in college basketball. And any college basketball fan loves to see their team in one of those road environments that you've watched on TV, you know, over the years. And so in those first couple of years in the Big Ten, I can remember they played Purdue for the first time. And I remember so many Purdue people being down. Whatever allotment of tickets they got, they sold them out. And there were Purdue people, you know, on Route 1. Same with Michigan State people and Indiana people,

especially the schools that love their basketball. And the football thing with the schools that are close, like Penn State and even Ohio State, and so many Michigan alum to begin with in the area, you've seen, you know, them take over the stadium in College Park. Not necessarily Iowa fans, though, for any Iowa games in College Park. But that was a really big win for the Terps.

You know, they didn't get caught napping. They were a little bit sloppy early. Kent State could have scored more to get the cover, but they didn't. But a big win for the Terps to set up this showdown with Iowa. Elsewhere, by the way, in college football, and what was not a great day of college football, you know, Maryland beat West Virginia in the opener 30 to 24. Oklahoma, the number four team in the country, only managed 16 points at home against West Virginia

and needed a walk-off field goal to win at 16 to 13. Alabama continued to roll, and that sets up a huge game upcoming this weekend between Alabama and Ole Miss. Big game this coming Saturday. Notre Dame beat Wisconsin 41-13. This was a 13-10 early fourth quarter lead for Wisconsin, and then Notre Dame ended up with multiple defensive touchdowns down the stretch to win at 41 to 13. Some of the surprising results included Georgia Tech blowing out North Carolina. Wake Force blowing out UVA.

Wake Force right now in Boston College are the only undefeated ACC teams. The ACC has pretty much eliminated itself from the conversation of the playoff this early in the season because Clemson lost to NC State a game, which, by the way, RG3. was on the call of, and I'm telling you, he's so good as an analyst. He's entertaining. He's good at analyzing the game. He's just outstanding at it. That's his future, clearly. But anyway, Virginia Tech won, I don't even know what Navy did. I mean, they're not good this year. I guess I should look to see what Navy did on a Saturday. Navy lost to Houston 2820. They're 0.3. So Virginia lost, Navy lost, Virginia Tech won, Maryland one,

and that sets up the showdown on Friday night. I loved the Ryder Cup all weekend long. I thought it was so much fun to watch. The U.S. destroyed Europe 19 to 9. That was the final. And it was fun to see certain players out there like DeCambeau, to see how he did, to see how Kepka did. the singles matches from yesterday.

McElroy, who was dreadful in the foursums, came through against Shoffley. But the Deschambeau beating of Garcia was really the big one because Garcia had already set the record for the most Ryder Cup wins. Man, is he a good match player? Dustin was good all weekend. And the U.S. at Whistling Straits, bombs Europe, 19 to 9. I didn't mean to put it that way. because the U.S. never bombed Europe.

But they blew out Europe in the Ryder Cup. Also, I did want to mention just Juan Soto in the stretch that he's been on. Now, yesterday, for the first time in a while, he was 0 for 3 with one walk. Still, I mean, his on-base percentage is incredible. But he went through a stretch of games, you know, against Miami and Cincinnati, where it was ridiculous. He had a stretch there in the last two games against Miami

and the first two against Cincinnati where he was eight for ten with four home runs and six RBIs. And by the way, like seven walks. You know, right now, Juan Soto, he's not going to be the MVP. I think Bryce Harper is going to be the MVP. I think Tommy and I talked about this last week. But Juan Soto is just having a spectacular season. He leads the bigs in on-base percentage of 471.

Harper's second. That was a good sneeze. He is OPS-wise, he's second behind Harper. War-wise, he's second in all the bigs, one in first in the National League. In walks, he's blowing away the field with 138 walks. Joey Gallo's second, Bryce Harper, is third. What a season once Soto is putting together.

I hope he ends up. Tommy thinks that he eventually will walk too. I hope that's not the case. The Phillies with Harper have been amazing, but they lost yesterday, and it was a big loss because the Braves came from behind the other night to beat the Padres and then held on with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth,

and they now have a two-and-a-half game lead over the Phillies and the National League East. They play each other this. week. Three games in Atlanta starting tomorrow night, and that will determine the National League East. Pretty much at this point, the Phillies need a sweep of the Braves in Atlanta down two and a half games. The Braves have a make-up game that they'll be forced to play on one of those wild card days if they are tied or only up a half game or down a half game. I guess that's where they would be. either up a half game or down a half game.

But there's a chance that they will have clinched the division prior to that. The Yankees on a roll, they've won six in a row. They took care of the Red Sox this weekend, and now they're the number one team in that wild card race, a game ahead of Boston. Who's a game ahead of Toronto? I don't know. I'm into the baseball playoffs.

I love this time of year, and I love when we get to next week. This week should be exciting with the Phil's and the Braves and the American League wildcard race with the three teams, the Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays, battling for two spots, and then we'll get the wild card games Tuesday and Wednesday night of next week, right?

Tuesday and Wednesday night. I think it's American League first, National League second. Anyway, all right, what else did I have? I think that's it. Back tomorrow with Tommy.