The Kevin Sheehan Show - Better Team Won, Redskins-Cowboys Recap

Episode Date: November 23, 2018

Kevin recaps the Redskins 31-23 loss in Dallas yesterday. NBC Sports Washington's JP Finlay joins the show to discuss the game and update on Trent Williams. Kevin looks at the best College and NFL games of the weekend and off a 7-1 Smell Test week, he has 18 games in the Smell Test this week. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now, here's Kevin. Redskins have a chance to come and knock Dallas out, so to speak. Prescott throws over the middle, passes caught by Cooper, breaks loose. No flags on the field. Cooper, inside the 10. Touchdown. I'm here. Aaron's here. The show's presented. by Window Nation, call 86690 Nation or go to windownation.com. To get new windows today, and if you get them today, you're going to save big and possibly get two big screen televisions. More on that later. Cowboys 31, Redskins 23. Happy Thanksgiving everybody a day afterwards. Hopefully you had a nice Thanksgiving up until the game started.

I did, Aaron, do it the way that I said I was going to do it, which was eat at halftime. and pause all of the televisions and tell everybody to not look at their phones. And for the most part, it worked out. I mean, I was able to catch up late third quarter to where it was live without really knowing what was going on. But there were a couple of other TVs that were ahead during that point, and it's just some people screaming in another room and yelling. And it's just, I'm not doing that again.

I'm not doing that again. What was with the multiple rooms? Well, I mean, we had, you know, we had a lot of people. And so the kitchen, a lot of people hanging out in the kitchen with the TV on, and then downstairs, you know, whatever. I'm not doing that again. Look, the Redskins lost a game to the Cowboys yesterday. The season did not end.

You know, it may seem like it after all the shit that's happened here the last five days. I mean, it's been a rough five-day stretch for this football team. From six-and-three, two-game lead in the division to six-and-five, starting quarterback gone, Backup looked like a backup for the most part, and to rub salt deep into the wounds, the officiating has been one-sided two games in a row, to the point where it was laughably one-sided in the decisive second half last night. But, but I'm not making excuses, and that wasn't the reason they lost the game. It is a fact that the officiating has been one-sided, and the Redskins have had the short end of the whistle stick here, the last two games. They have. They've been on the short end of the stick when it comes to the whistle, the flag, in football. But it's not even in the top four or five really of my reasons that they lost the game. They lost the game long before, for many other reasons that were not officiating related. Look, I sensed in my house after the game last night a resignation of sorts on the season.

an acknowledgement that the Redskins are back to being the Redskins again, and any magic the season had to it is over. I'm not here to coach you up or to motivate you to stay in it, but there's still a ton of season left. There are still five games left in this season. The Redskins are tied for first place in the division. Someone tweeted me last night saying, quote, same old, same old going on year 25.

And my response was, well, yeah, except, of course, that it will be December late next week, and they're going to be tied for first going into the month of December in their division. That's not same old, same old. Do you know how many times, Aaron, they've been tied for first at the beginning of December over the last 26 seasons? Tied or better? Tied or better.

Three? Twice. Actually, now this one will be the third. 1996 they were tied for first going into the last month of the regular season and in 1999 they were in first by themselves so only once have they been in first place by themselves over the last 26 years entering the month of December you know over the years we've had all of these incredible statistics about lack of playoff wins and just lack of winning you know data and statistics in general. That's a pretty good one. One time since 1991 have they been in first place

by themselves heading into the month of December. That came in 1999. This will be the third time that they've been in first. This one in a tie and they were in a tie in 1996. Look, I get it. Colt McCoy wasn't magic. The defense seems to be getting worse. The running game they had is now gone. The solid ground they seem to have staked as a don't beat yourself team has flittered away in the form of five interceptions over the last two weeks. But they are still very much in this thing. And it's not like they have to do a hell of a lot to stay there or get there to the postseason. Now, you may say, who cares about the postseason? They can't beat the Saints. They can't beat the Rams. They probably can't beat the Bears. You're probably right. I mean, things happen, right?

Philadelphia looked like they were well on their way to an easy postseason last year, and they lost their starting quarterback. Now, they still got there. But do you think Taysam Hill is going to lead New Orleans to the Super Bowl? Drew Breeze goes down? Is he the backup, or is he just a player? Teddy's probably the backup, right? Probably, Teddy Bridgewater. But you got five games left.

They still have a chance to go have themselves a decent season, win a division. I'm going to get into some of that stuff later on. The wild card is not out of the question by any stretch, but winning the division is still in play. Wouldn't you like to see a home game against Minnesota in January? I mean, that's the dream. All right, let's get to the game take. Pay attention.

Here's Kevin's Game Take. Look, they lost this game because, number one, Colt McCoy threw three interceptions, and the Cowboys didn't turn the ball over at all. That's number one. When you throw three interceptions and you lose the turnover battle, three zip, you are going to lose in the NFL nine and a half times out of ten. Secondly, they couldn't cover Amari Cooper or tackle him once he caught the ball.

Thirdly, their number one back couldn't run it at all, Adrian Peterson. And lastly, their number one runner, their number one runner, Zeke Elliott, went for 120. 21 yards. They couldn't stop the run. The Redskins couldn't. They're your top four reasons. Three turnovers. Amari Cooper killed them. They couldn't run the ball and they couldn't stop the run. Now perhaps after that you could start talking about inconsistent officiating or better put, poor officiating at critical moments of the game. Yeah, there were critical moments of the game. Saw a lot of people writing about how the game was a blowout. I don't know what game you were watching. Yeah, the Redskins had a tough seven minutes and fell behind 31.13. And they

got away from them, but they had the lead midway through the third quarter past the midway point of the third quarter. That's not a blowout. All right, let me start with the things that I liked from the game, the good. The pass rush. Now, it was much better in the first half than it was in the second half. But the four sacks and the many hurries and hits through the first 30 minutes led the skins into the locker room feeling pretty good about themselves. I'll be honest with you. At halftime, I thought the Redskins were going to win the game. I thought that they were going to win the game. I thought they had a really good chance to win the game.

They were dominating the line of scrimmage to a certain degree with their defensive front and their pass rush. They had moved the ball a little bit. They had the turnover. They had the interception in the first half, the bad interception when they were on the move, but they were moving the football. Preston Smith was really good for a second straight game, I thought.

I thought Kerrigan and Allen and Payne. They missed Dionysus when he left, but Tim Settle rotated in, played pretty well. Back to Preston Smith for a moment, who I really felt through the first seven to eight games, and I said this a few times, that I felt like the numbers weren't reflective of how well he was playing. He's got three and a half sacks now in the last three games, eight quarterback hits, and a game-changing interception last week against the Texans. He's earning money right now. There's going to be a healthy market for Preston Smith when this season ends.

On the list of things I liked, I liked Trey Quinn. I mean, who knew? I mean, we heard that they really liked him. We heard from Cooley that he could really play. Mr. Irrelevant, last player picked in the draft, has been a factor since he came off the injury list. Five catches last night on six targets, one touchdown, a good punt return in the second quarter that gave the skin's good feel

position that led to their first touchdown and then the 30-yard punt return that set up the go-ahead touchdown midway through the third quarter, a touchdown that he caught from Colt McCoy. And let me just mention this once again. I guess this just got under my skin a little bit on Twitter last night. This game last night was not a blowout. It wasn't easy for Dallas. The skins had the lead with $6.50 left in the third quarter. That by definition means the game wasn't a blowout. They had a rough seven-minute stretch, late third, early fourth, but they should have been off the field on a third down stop, getting the ball back down 31 to 20

with nine minutes left in some momentum. But there was that sketchy holding penalty on Fabian Moreau. This game was not a blowout. Only someone trying to get under the skin of a pissed off redskin fan like me last night, would call it a blowout. The skins were in very good position midway through the third quarter. When they took the lead 13 to 10 and they had the lead, did you not, did you feel like they were getting blown out at that point? Did you feel like they were getting their ass kicked?

I didn't. They made mistakes and the Cowboys made plays. The final score was 31 to 23, not 51 to 10. Also on my good list, Tress Way. God, man, what a season he's having. I really haven't checked the punting numbers, but I would assume that he's got to be a possibility for the NFC pro bowl punter. I think Johnny Hecker would have the better average,

but that's the problem. He barely punts. So Trusway is up there. Hecker is the punter in Los Angeles. Tressway, after his first subpar game of the year against the Texans, he was great again against the Cowboys. He punted Dallas inside their 10-yard line three times in the game, and one of them set up field position that led to the skin's first touchdown of the game in the second quarter.

You know who else is on my good list? For the first time ever, I believe, Josh Doxon. Doxon had a career day. Six catches. He's never had Aaron six catches before. He had five earlier this year against the Giants. Last night, the six catches the most of his career. Not the most yardage. He had an 81-yard effort last year, 66 yards against the Cowboys last night,

made a very good play breaking up a near interception in the first half on a bad throat from Colt. Yeah, Josh Doxon made my good list. He's actually been getting better. You know what? Colt's going to give them more chances to. You know, we heard last year from Jay, yeah, we got to give Josh more 50-50 balls, and the quarterback didn't trust Josh.

I don't think Alex Smith trusted Josh that much. He was finding him more and more, and Josh has been, you know, healthy, first of all, for starters. But six catches last night against the Cowboys was a career high for Josh Doxon. Who knows? Maybe Josh Doxon is going to develop into. He's not a number one receiver in the league. We can see that. You saw what a number one receiver does. Amari Cooper was that on the other side. Lastly, on the things that I liked list, the tight ends as pass catchers. We mentioned during the course of the short week leading up to the game yesterday that we thought that Jordan Reed would be the beneficiary to a certain degree of Colt McCoy being the quarterback.

Colt McCoy is going to be good for Jordan Reed and for Vernon Davis, especially if they draw the favorable matchups, which I think Vernon Davis did a few times. Reed had the best day of the year for him, six balls, 75 yards on eight targets. That was the best day for Jordan Reed this year. Two third and 11 catches for first downs on the second drive of the game. Vernon Davis, I'll tell you what, he's up and down this year.

He's had some bad games last week, you know, bad first half. The two drops on the Alex Smith throws, but man, can he still run at 34 years old? He caught the 53-yarder for the touchdown, came back, caught a 17-yarder as well. A pretty good day for Vernon Davis. All right, let's get to the list of the things that were not very good from this game. That list is a little bit longer. The three turnovers, you got to start there. Three interceptions by Colt McCoy, and let's be honest, it could have been more.

He was lucky Doxon broke up that near-pick. at the end of the first half. And then he had the one into the end zone where the ball bounced up into the air and could have easily been intercepted. This team can't turn it over that much and expect to win. It's amazing actually considering the three turnovers

and not getting any of them back, that they still had some hope at the end of the game with an on-sides kick. The Skins had won the turnover battle in every win this year and even in two losses, they had won the turnover battle. They lost the turnover,

are they won the turnover battle against Indianapolis? And they won the turnover battle against Houston last week on Sunday. And lost games when they won the turnover battle, but the six wins were big plus turnover margins. They couldn't overcome minus three, the worst of the year for them. We'll get to the three picks in more detail when we go through Colts performance.

But the three turnovers were the worst thing about the game yesterday, they were very impactful, as was the inability to cover Amari Cooper or tackle Amari Cooper when he caught the football. Whether it was Norman on the first two third down conversions in the Cowboys opening drive or Dunbar or Moreau, it didn't matter. Cooper is making the Cowboys right now, Aaron, look very good for giving up a first rounder at the trade deadline. I thought it was too much. He reminded me watching. him of a guy that wasn't really into it. And it could have just been the Raiders.

But I think I made the comparison, not necessarily talent-wise, but to Josh Doxon, that he just seems to be, you know, like almost disinterested. And it could have been the organization he was with. And maybe that's the same thing with Josh Doxon. Maybe Josh Doxon doesn't like the organization. Who knows? And he would thrive somewhere else. But the Cowboys right now looking really good for giving up a first round

for a player who is making a big difference for them. Eight catches for 180 yards for Cooper yesterday. Two backbreaking touchdowns. The first one on a third and two. They're down 13 to 10. The Redskins have taken the lead, midway through the third quarter, and Quentin Dunbar slips a little,

but Cooper catches it, turns, no tackle, and he's off to the races. And then backed up at their own 10-yard line, the catch in front of Fabian Moreau, no tackle for Moreau, bad day for Moreau. and then nothing from Ha Ha ha Clinton Dix, who I thought had a chance to keep the play to a modest game,

not a 90-yard touchdown. Listen to this on Cooper yesterday. Of his eight catches, seven were for either first downs or touchdowns, and four of his eight were third-down conversions. He was the number one star of the football game last night, and furthermore, he makes Dallas, which was already a good defensive team, He's now making them a competent offensive football team.

Not a great offensive football team, a competent offensive team. That 90-yard touchdown pass was the longest in the NFL this year. Also on the list of things I didn't like from the game. The Redskins couldn't run the football. They haven't been able to run it now for a few games in a row. Adrian Peterson's last four games in aggregate. Here it goes. 171 yards on 56 carries in the last four games for Adrian

Peterson. That's barely three yards per carry. The three games prior to that, he was over five yards per carry. Yeah, the Redskins are not running the ball in recent weeks, except for their quarterbacks who have managed some yards. But Peterson, 12 for 35 yards in the game against the Cowboys last night, 2.9 yards per carry against a good defensive football team. I get it. But in their first meeting, last month, AP went 24 carries 99 yards and was a big factor in the game. Clearly no Brandon Sheriff has had a negative impact on the skins running game. I mean, he's arguably the best run blocking guard in the game, certainly one of the top three. So you start there when you're looking for reasons why the running game has come to a crashing halt. They had Trent back,

but not completely healthy. And by the way, there was the report, if you saw it, that he was, was taken from the stadium after the game in an ambulance. No details on that yet, right, Aaron? I don't think so. Nothing yet. I don't think it's serious, but I don't have any idea whether or not it is. But in some of the post-game conversation, it didn't, no one seemed alarmed by it. On Twitter, the guys that cover the team.

That could change. I mean, obviously, you hope Trump Williams is okay. The lack of a running game against a good defensive team like the Cowboys, you see it every week in the NFL. If you can't run it, you better have Aaron Rogers or Tom Brady a quarterback because it's going to be awfully difficult as a one-dimensional team against a good defense like Dallas's defense. The running game, which looks so good and was such a big part of the six wins this year,

it's gone silent. I'd like to see more Capri Bibbs from Shotgun. I'd like more quarterback involvement in the run game, which is what Alex Smith was starting to do also. Chris Thompson will help a lot if he ever gets back, if he ever gets back. Next thing on the list of things that I didn't like. They couldn't stop the run enough. There were moments when I thought it was going to be a good run-stopping game for the skins, but those moments were fleeting, and much of that was because in the first half,

I thought Jason Garrett threw it too much. I thought the Cowboys threw it way too much when Elliott may have been a better option. Zeke went 26 carries, 121 yards, and a touchdown. He's a damn good back. Great vision, cutback ability with that vision, yards after contact. He can catch it two, five catches in the game last night.

The skin's missed ionitis when he left the game. But Elliot right now is on a big run, big run, literally. Three straight 100-plus yard games. It's not surprising that Dallas has won all three. The Skins meantime have given up yards now to Elliot, Lamar Miller, Peyton Barber, Tevin Coleman in four straight games. That much improved run defense has gotten soft all of a sudden. Again, I saw some plays. Tim Settle made a play.

The Skins got to stop on a fourth and one when they were down 31 to 20, which gave them some hope there. That came a few plays after the holding call on Moreau, which was a killer penalty because they were able to eat more clock. before the skins got off the field on the fourth and one stop. Allen and Foster were there to stop Elliot on that play. That was a great play. They've got to get better against the run, much better. They've got Philly, which they don't necessarily have to be concerned so much about the run, but Tennessee is certainly going to want to run it.

Jacksonville is going to want to run it. The Giants are going to want to run the football. They don't cover well enough to be off balance against some of these teams. You know, if you can't stop the run in the NFL, it's typically going to be a long day. And the Redskins have all of the sudden become a very subpar run-stopping team. Look, they've been a bad run-stopping team in recent years. They're not that anymore. Allen and Payne and Ionitis and Foster and Brown.

They've done a good job. Sweringer's excellent at the line of scrimmage playing in the box. They just haven't been lights out since the first. Dallas game when they shut Zeke Elliott down. They held him to 33 yards in the first game and he went for a buck 21 yesterday. If you just looked at that, you'd know that the result was different. Next thing on my list of things I didn't like. Jay Gruden, again. Look, I'll keep this somewhat short. With 224 left in the game with the skins down 31 to 20, they had the football. Demarchus Lawrence got hurt. They stopped the clock as he was attended to on the field. It wasn't under two minutes, so

Dallas wasn't charged a timeout, and the clock was going to start when he left the field, because the play that he got hurt on was a play that ended with a clock running situation. When he left the field, the referee started the clock, and the Redskins didn't snap it for another 12 seconds. They were completely unprepared for that situation. They were completely unprepared for that situation. They had all the time while Lawrence was on the field, and they weren't ready to snap the ball when the ref rolled the clock. Unacceptable. Unacceptable. And then there's this. In that particular situation, the skins should have seriously considered getting the field goal team out there while Lawrence was on the field,

snapped it, kicked it with 224 left. It would have been a 49-yarder. And if Hopkins isn't completely healthy, and they're not sure about him, he did miss a PAT, although I'm not not sure he actually missed that PAT. But if he was unable to kick a 49-yarder for some reason, I can't imagine that that would be the case. But they should have kicked the field goal there. If they had done that, it would have meant that they wouldn't have had to kick an onsides

kick to get the ball back because they had a timeout left. So with that one timeout left, they would have had the two-minute warning as well. So in theory, they could have gotten it back with a three-and-out stop with about a minute 15 left in the game down 3123. That was their best chance to win the game was to kick the field goal there and have a chance with the clock being able to stop twice with their own timeout and at the two minute warning to get the ball back after a punt with about a minute 15 left in the game. And who knows, maybe Dallas throws it on third down.

Maybe they throw it on second down and stop the clock. I don't know if Jay's detailed enough or really understands this stuff, or perhaps he's relying on somebody else who doesn't understand any of this stuff. I believe he's got Bruce Allen handling the replay stuff from the booth, which is unbelievable to me. Maybe Bruce is in charge of clock management too. Who knows? It's been handled poorly at the end of two games in a row.

I did like the way he used his timeouts well at the end of the first half on defense. He got the ball back after Dallas's field goal with plenty of time. Last year he wouldn't have called those timeouts on defense, so he's learned something about the end of the first halves. But with 224 left, to not know that that clock was going to roll and to be ready with a play to snap it immediately is unacceptable on every level. He's not the only coach that would have done it. I talk about this all the time. Half the coaches in the league wouldn't have understood that. But it's the difference in a lot of these games between increasing your chances of winning or decreasing your chances of winning. And with that, they then basically,

it's not like they had a great chance anyway, but you got to understand that. Last, two more things actually on my list of things I didn't like. The officiating. Let me start with that. Now I'll start with Colt McCoy. I'll save the officiating. Colt McCoy's three interceptions is where you start, right? The Lawrence interception, the DeMarcus Lawrence intercept. The a great play by DeMarcus Lawrence. Moses tries to cut him to get his hands down, but he doesn't get his hands down. He makes a great play. I don't really put that one on Colt. I don't. The other two were on him, and he should have had more. The first one, which was intended for Tray Quinn, was just a bad decision, bad throw, bad result. And it sucked too because they were on the move.

He had made, Colt had made two third and 11 throws to read to move the chains, and they were in Dallas territory when he threw that interception. The last pick was a badly thrown ball. But as mentioned, well, I haven't mentioned it yet. There should have been a flag thrown on Mo Harris for getting held. Should have been. Look, Dallas is a good defensive team, and they played back to back the Redskins have very good defensive teams in Houston and Dallas. and they have five combined interceptions now in the last two games. Colt took some shots, made some plays with his legs that led to conversions.

He ran the ball 28 yards, five scrambles for 28 yards. He got it out quickly more than we've seen, threw the ball down field as much as we've seen. He did some good things, but they're all erased by three interceptions. Now, just one of them led to a Dallas score, but one of them kept the Redskins from scoring. They were hurtful. all three of them to a certain degree. Dallas is good. It's a good defensive team,

and he's not going to unfortunately get a chance to place some of the bad defenses the Redskins have faced already this year, teams like Atlanta, Tampa, Arizona. They have only good defensive teams left. Philly twice, Jacksonville, Tennessee. The Giants aren't great defensively, but they've got talent. He cannot throw three picks anymore. Can't.

I have no idea. what Alex Smith and less offense, but fewer turnovers, would have meant to this particular game. Smith threw two picks last week, so who knows? He may have thrown two more yesterday, but would they have won the game with Smith? I don't know. Perhaps a no turnover game would have been enough to keep a minute until the very end. Dallas didn't turn it over. That was something that the Redskins have been able to do is get turnovers, and they didn't get any turnovers back from Dallas. And look, the reasons for the loss were the turnovers, yes, but also Amari Cooper and Zeke Elliott,

having very good games and the Redskins not being able to slow either one of them down. Something that didn't happen when the skins won the game last month. Amari Cooper wasn't there, and they completely shut Elliott down. I liked some of what Colt did on a week with little to no preparation. I think he'll be okay, but he is what he is. He's a career backup. This is the conversation I've had with Tommy for years. I would never want Colt McCoy as my starting quarterback for 16 games.

But in his defense, he needs some help. Like the other guy, like Alex Smith, he needs help. And he got no help from a non-existent running game, and he needs it. And the defense let the team down yesterday as well to a certain degree. It was a total team loss, but he can't throw three-pits. Can't do it. Lastly, on the things I hated. Yeah, I was frustrated at the end of this game. The Moreau hold on Cooper was flimsy. Flimsy. Just not a good call. And like last week, remember, when they got the hold on Norman, on that third down, after the two-minute warning, which should have been a third down before the two-minute warning.

And I really thought that was a bogus call. But what made it worse is that they didn't call it evenly. when Josh Doxon got interfered with. At the end, that should have been a walk-off short, chip-shot field goal attempt. And the league did admit to that mistake. Well, they did the same thing last night. They called Moreau on a flimsy hold on Cooper. And then when Mo Harris is clearly held by a woozy on McCoy's third interception,

which, by the way, was a terribly thrown pass. I mean, it was a Billy Kilmer pass for those of you that remember, old whiskey. The ball was poorly thrown. It fluttered through the air, but Harris got held. It was so obvious, and it impacted his ability to make any play on the bad ball that was thrown. And they didn't get a flag there.

If you're going to throw it on Moreau, you got to throw it on Dallas in that spot. The skins will get something from the league this week on that one, too, I guarantee you. That one really irked Jay. You could see it. He did not let it go on the sideline. But the last one was one where the league may reprimand the officials that missed it, or the crew that missed it in general. Jordan Reed getting hit defenseless helmet to helmet on that third down in completion near the end of the game.

A guy with a concussion history tattooed with a lead helmet from Xavier Woods. Incredible that they missed that call. Incredible. They also missed a face mask on Colt McCoy early in the game. But the hold on Moreau was a crucial play because the Redskins had some momentum if they get off the field there. And there's still nine minutes left in the game and they're down 11. There's still much very much in the game at that point. All right, let me get to some other observations.

I wanted to mention some of the big plays in the game that I haven't mentioned so far. First half, skins 33-yard line, Prescott's third and four escape from McGee. and Preston Smith. They had him. And somehow he gets out of it, throws to Gallup for a first down on a drive that led to the field goal that gave Dallas a 10 to 7 lead. Great play by Prescott. Great play. Same drive. First and goal at the Skins 4. We're at the end of the half here in a 7-7 game, right? Dallas, for some reason, chooses to throw the ball on three consecutive plays from a first and goal at the Redskins 4. That made no sense to me. Cowboy fans had to be going nuts. After Presum, Scott misses a wide open receiver against the blitz on first and goal, he gets sacked on a 13-yard

loss on second in goal by Smith, Carrigan. I think they shared that sack. That held Dallas to a field goal for a 10-7 lead instead of being down 14-7 in that spot. I mentioned Josh Doxon's huge play where he broke up the interception. That was at the end of the half. That would have given Dallas the ball. Great field position, 10-7 with a chance to extend the lead. That interception would have been a disaster. Would have been a total disaster right there, and Doxon made a good play. And then when Dallas got the ball at the very end of the half,

when the Redskins couldn't do anything with it, after very good timeouts called by Jay Gruden to give his offense a chance with the ball at the end of the half, Preston Smith, he was out. He was just so good in this game. The second and 10 sack at the Redskins' 46-yard line pretty much ended the Cowboys threat at the end. of the first half. They were going for another field goal. They were, you know, five, 10 yards away

from field goal range at that point. And he sacked Prescott, four sacks for the defense in the first half. And I swear to you, I don't know if you felt the same way. I felt great about this game at halftime. I really felt like the Redskins weren't only in it. I thought they were going to win the game at halftime. There was a critical, critical penalty in the game that was called correctly. The third and one false start when the Redskins had the ball at the Dallas 33 yard line. They're down 17 to 13. And they called it on Mo Harris, but it was Sprinkle and Mo Harris, both that moved early. They were in field goal range on that third and one, on the move trying to answer Dallas's touchdown to Cooper that gave the Cowboys the 17 to 13 lead. The skins were moving it. Cold had hit Doxon for a 10-yard play, Davis for 20.

they've got a third and one Sprinkle and Harris jump. It's now third and six. They don't get it. They have to punt right there. Two plays later, Cooper's gone, 90 yards, and it's 24 to 13. That was a big penalty in that situation.

Critical penalty. You get the third and one. The drive continues. You miss it. You might go for it on fourth and one, but you're in field goal range for 17 to 16, at the very least. then Prescott made another magical escape in the game.

Third and goal at the skins five. They're up 2413. This was after the Colt pick, the DeMarcus Lawrence interception. They're trying to keep it a two-score game. They've got to hold them to a field goal in that spot. And Prescott scrambles away from, I think, John Allen first, deeks somebody else and finds a path to the end zone for a touchdown. and it's 31 to 13 instead of 27 to 13.

There was still plenty of time left in the game, but 27 to 13, because the Redskins went right down and scored a touchdown on the next drive. Imagine if that had cut it to 2720 would have felt different. A couple of other mentions. Was that missed PAT missed? That looked like it went over the top of the goalpost. You cannot challenge those plays if it's over the top of the goalposts, of the upright. I'm sorry, the upright.

It didn't look, I don't know if it was a miss or not. The referees are standing right underneath it. You got to make these PATs. God. You know, that first year, was the first year of the long PAT last year? I think it was two years ago. The first year of it, there was hardly a difference in missed PATs from the 20-yard PAT. The 33-yard PAT, I think, may have fallen to like 97%.

it was 98 before. I don't know what it was. There was like a 1% difference or a half a percent difference. It's actually the fourth year of it. It's the fourth year of it. Yes. And this year's got to be the worst. Actually, right now, according to pro football reference, this year is actually better than last year.

Doesn't seem like it. Yeah, last year was 94% there at 94.4.4 this year. Danny Johnson had a good kickoff return in the game. I wanted to mention that. And then look, lastly, it's still there for them. Again, you know, they get some rest here with a long, you know, between Thanksgiving Day, playing on Thanksgiving Day, and then a Monday nighter. They don't have to play next Sunday. They play next Monday night in Philadelphia. You know, I look at this and I think you've got five games left. You've got to figure out a way to win three of them to get to nine and seven. Nine and seven should be good for something. It could keep them out. But Dallas has New Orleans next. They've got to go to Indy to face the resurgent cults.

They still have Philadelphia. They finish in the Meadowlands. Who knows what the Giants will look like then? The Giants got the result they were looking for yesterday. So did Philadelphia. Everybody's alive in the division right now mathematically, including the Giants. I'm going to tell you right now,

if the Giants were to run the table and finish 9 and 7, they would probably win the division. The skins getting to 9 and 7 is, still going to be pretty solid for a wild card, I think. Atlanta lost, they're done. Lions lost, they're done. The Panthers still have New Orleans twice and Seattle. Minnesota's got a brutal schedule. Packers, Patriots, Seahawks, Bears. And Seattle still has the Chiefs, the Vikings, and the Panthers.

Nine and seven's going to have a shot at a wild card. Again, you may say, so what? And I say to you, how many playoff seasons have we as Redskinned fans had the pleasure of watching with our team in it over the last quarter century? Not enough. And they've got a legitimate shot still to make the playoffs. The last five days have been rough. They've got to get healthy. They've got to get Thompson and Crowder back.

I think hopefully they will by Philadelphia time. Hopefully Trent is okay. But, yeah. I mean, that's where we are on the season. It's been a rough last two games. I mean, six and three, two-game lead, looking great. And now they are technically, well, they're tied for first, but a tiebreaker, if you had the tiebreaker now, would go to Dallas.

But they split their games, and Dallas still has division games left, and the Redskins still have division games left. And Philadelphia is not out of it. Look, if Dallas, play this out. If Philadelphia were to win on Sunday against the Giants, and then next week the Cowboys lose to the Saints, and they'll be an underdog even at home, and a pretty sizable underdog, I'm guessing, at home.

And then the Eagles beat the Redskins. Do you know what you have at that point, Aaron? A three-way tie for first place with three teams at six and six. Now, the Redskins would be reeling at that point with three losses, in a row. But the good news is they would have then, and I say good news, it's never, you know, it's never easy, these division games, but they would have the giants coming to FedEx Field on December 9th. There's a lot of football to be played. The Redskins have a share of first place for just the third time in the last 26 seasons entering the month of December. They've had a decent

season. I know that a lot of it was with smoke and mirrors because they just didn't have much offense through the first nine games. But they also played smart football. They did, and they didn't yesterday. Colt McCoy cannot throw three interceptions in a football game again. I like some of the chances he takes. I like some of the plays he made. I like him looking downfield and giving his receivers a chance. He gave Josh Doxon a couple of chances in the game, and Doxon had the best game of his career catch-wise. But three turnovers were hurtful. Hurtful.

But the other things that they've been doing well, running the ball and stopping the run, were hurtful too to the results. All right. Let me tell you about Window Nation. Window Nation likes this podcast a lot. Harley and Aaron and Eric listen all the time. Texting back and forth with Harley yesterday.

He liked the three underdogs, as did I. Three favorites in the NFL yesterday. I didn't give out any of them as smell test picks. I did like Mississippi State last night, and they were able to get it done. But if you've been thinking about new windows, I promise you, as someone who has had Windonation install windows in my home, you won't go wrong if you give them a shot. If you're up right now and you're trying to take advantage of Black Friday shopping,

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And two free big screen TVs with the purchase of a house. of Windows, but the offer's only good through the end of today. Call 86690 Nation or visit windownation.com and tell them I told you to call. Let's get to some Friday Football QuickPicks. Everything you need to know for your football weekend. It's Friday Football QuickPicks. We'll get to the smell test a little bit later on when I say later on. Not too long from now.

Friday Football Quick Picks, let's pick the best games of this holiday weekend. There are some good ones in college football. This is rivalry weekend, and clearly the game of the entire football weekend, even beginning yesterday is Michigan at Ohio State. On Saturday at noon in Columbus, Michigan's a four-and-a-half-point favorite. They're 10-1. Right now, they're the fourth team ranked in the college football playoff rankings, and the winner of this goes to the Big Ten title game to face Northwestern.

which will be anti-climactic in the Big Ten, for sure. Michigan, to me, all year long, has been a team that has been so much fun to watch defensively. I mean, this is a football team with incredible talent, incredible scheme defensively, and they've been lights out against some teams this year. Now, to be fair, since the opener against Notre Dame, they have not faced an offensive juggernaut. Michigan faced Nebraska when Nebraska wasn't doing anything before Nebraska got it together, which they have recently. Wisconsin's not a good offensive football team. Michigan State's not a good offensive football team.

Penn State thought they would be better offensively this year, but really haven't been. And then Indiana actually last week, a team that actually can score did score against Michigan. Not a lot, but they were in that game for a while. In fact, Indiana had the halftime lead against Michigan, 17-15 in that game. I love watching Michigan play defense. I love watching Jim Harbaugh coach. He's crazy, but that team is disciplined, man. They just never, ever seem to beat themselves.

They've got a quarterback this year that can make plays in Shea Patterson. He's not great, but he gives him something that they haven't had in recent years, a quarterback with some elusive ability, some running ability, some playmaking ability. Higden, their running backs pretty good. They've got some decent receivers and People's Jones in particular. I like Michigan in this game. I do. I've liked them for a month running minimum to go to Columbus and win, in part because I've really shorted Ohio State all year. I've just, I saw them play at Penn State when they came back in the fourth quarter. I was in the stadium that night, in state college. What an atmosphere that was. And I'm like, Haskins doesn't throw the ball down the field. And I know he does.

But what they do really is they stretch you sideline to sideline offensively as much as anybody does and as well as anybody else does. They have playmakers at skill positions on offense. They're not a good defensive football team, Aaron. Ohio State's not a good defensive football team. Maryland rolled it up on them. I like Michigan. It's the game of the weekend. There are others in college football,

but to me, 12 noon on Saturday, on Fox, is where you have to be this holiday weekend if you're a football fan. The rivalry, arguably, I mean, it's a top five rivalry in all of sports.

You would agree with that. I don't think anybody's going to dispute that. In college football, it's number one, number two. I don't know, the Iron Bowl. I mean, Army Navy to me, is in a category by itself. Although Army and Navy have had some good teams, like Army's good this year. They're ranked right now Army is. Michigan, Ohio State, and Columbus, wow.

The weather's supposed to be decent, too. Maybe some rain for the game, but not bitter cold like we've had here over the last couple of days. Cannot wait for that game. Look, today or tonight, we get Oklahoma, West Virginia, and we get the Apple Cup, Washington, Washington State. Washington might be in the smell test, just giving you a heads up. That Washington State keeps their hopes alive. Oklahoma keeps their hopes alive with wins. You know, how legitimate are those hopes? Well, look, you get to championship weekend, and if Michigan beats Ohio State and then loses to Northwestern, and if, Notre Dame loses to Southern Cal or if Alabama loses or Clemson loses, I mean, anything's possible.

We've seen all hell break loose. It just doesn't seem like it happened this year. It just seems like Alabama and Clemson are head and shoulders, and they're not losing to anybody over these final two weekends. And it seems like Notre Dame, given that all they have to do is go to Southern Cal tomorrow night and win, although I kind of like Southern Cal in this game to keep it close. But I am looking forward to watching the Apple Cup tonight in Pullman. That place will be going nuts for that game. They're only a two and a half point favorite. Of course, you've got the Iron Bowl on Saturday, Auburn, Alabama at 330. Your Saturday starts with Michigan, Ohio State at noon. Then you get to the 330 window. Now, I'll be paying attention to Maryland Penn State. Maryland, if they were to go into State

college and beat Penn State. They're bowl eligible. And last week, they were very close to beating Ohio State. But at 3.30, hard not to watch the Iron Bowl tomorrow, even if Alabama is a prohibitive favorite, 24-point favorite. Look, these SEC matchups, Auburn's got the athletes. That if somehow a couple of things happened, Alabama had a couple of tipped balls that got picked or a couple of fumbles or a couple of bad penalties, you never know. But I think we you know on that one. It's also a revenge game for Alabama after losing to Auburn last year. At night, you've got Clemson, South Carolina. I cannot believe Clemson's a 26-point favorite over a Carolina team that has really played better football recently. Look, they haven't beaten anybody great.

They could have and should have beaten Texas A&M. They did beat Tennessee and Ole Miss in Oxford and had Florida in trouble in the swamp. They're not a bad football team. South Carolina's got athletes, they've got players, they've got the ability, they're scoring. That's going to be an interesting game, but again, the line would indicate it's not going to be that interesting. But that one at 7 o'clock, and then of course, on Saturday night, 8 o'clock ABC, in the Coliseum, Southern Cal trying to become bowl eligible. Now, everybody thinks this season is over.

that Helton's gone. They're looking forward to the coaching search and USC being jumpstarted by a new coach next year. It's a rivalry game though, SC Notre Dame and Notre Dame's an 11-point favorite. I would have thought they would have been more. So that could possibly be a smell test selection as well. And then if you want to see one of the really underrated rivalries in all of college football, Cooleys told me about this over the years, BYU, Utah, the Holy War. That's a 10 o'clock Fox Sports One game Saturday night. Utah's good. I mean, Utah's going to be the, they're going to be in the championship game, right, Aaron?

Are they going to play Washington State potentially in the – is the Pac-12 championship game set? God, I'm not even paying attention to the Pac-12. The Pac-12, I think Utah's got it. I think Utah's pretty much got it. Yeah, Utah is in it. Okay. And is Washington's – now Washington State and Washington are playing, obviously. tonight for the North

champions. Okay. So it's Utah against either Washington or Washington State in the Pac-12 title game. Sunday? NFL card on Sunday? Average. I mean, you've got a couple of important games if you're talking about

Seahawks at Panthers, certainly a big game in the wild card race. Five and five, Seattle at six and four Carolina. Carolina reeling a little bit right after I put them into my power ranking top five. We didn't have a chance to do power rankings this week because we were off yesterday.

Sure, Tommy is upset about that. Tommy did call me yesterday morning, texted me, didn't call me, to say that he was going to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving. I had a seat ready for him at the table, at the Sheehan Thanksgiving table, but he ended up going to Pennsylvania, where apparently after the game and after the meal, if he had a chance to watch the game,

they sat around, played guitars, and sang Felice Navidad. God. The other game of note really is the Sunday night game. Packers at Vikings, huge game in the NFC North. Huge game when it comes to the NFC wild card race. Minnesota is a three and a half point favorite at home against the Packers. This is a big game for Minnesota. It's a big game for Kirk Cousins. It's a big game for Kirk Cousins Sunday night. He had a bad game in Chicago Sunday night. I mean, Chicago is really good defensively. I mean, no one wants to point that out. I mean, they picked off Matt Stafford and returned it for a touchdown for the game winner in the fourth quarter because they lead the league in takeaways. They're a really, really good team, a really good pass rush. You know, the one thing the Lions did in their game against Chicago that Minnesota could not do at all, which really put them in a bind, was Detroit actually, even without Kerryon Johnson, who was hurt.

They were able to run the ball against Chicago. Minnesota couldn't run it at all. LaGarrett Blount averaged 4.5 yards per carry, had 88 yards on 19 carries in that game yesterday against Chicago. Minnesota had 22 yards on 17 carries. Kurt Cousins is not Aaron Rogers. He's not Drew Breeze. I think I've said that a few times over the years. Some of you really, really have a difficult time understanding that. He's a good quarterback.

He's a top 10 to top 12 quarterback, somewhere in that range. but you've got to give him some help, and they're going to need it, and they're going to have a better chance to run the ball against Green Bay than they did against Chicago. I actually like Minnesota to win on Sunday night, and that would put Green Bay into a difficult playoff position at 4, 6, and 1. Really, though, the NFL, they've got a Monday night game, which we can talk about, I guess, on Monday a little bit, which is important in the AFC South.

You know, the Titans are in Houston where the Texans have won seven in a row. And the Titans had an injury last week in their 38 to 10 loss to Indianapolis. Marcus Marriota got banged up with another nerve injury. I think he's going to play on Monday night. But that game in that division is really, really large. Because if Indy or Tennessee is going to make that a division race, somebody's got to beat Houston. They're both two games back.

Indy's playing better than anybody in the division except for Houston. I mean, they're playing better than Tennessee. They've won four in a row, although the Bills, Raiders, Jags, and then they blew out Tennessee last week hardly sort of equates to like a big run and a really impressive run. But man, they're scoring points. Offensively, they look great. But Indy does get Houston one more time.

but it's on the road. I mean, Houston's got a legitimate chance to pull away in this division. They've won seven in a row to get to seven and three. They've got a two-game lead, and they play the Titans and Colts, but they play them both at home. And then they've got games against the Jets, the Jags, and the Browns. It's not crazy to suggest that Houston could run the table, finish 13 and 3, and maybe have a first round,

buy in the AFC playoffs. Now, they lost to the Patriots in the opener. So they'd have to win that tiebreaker, or they'd have to beat the Patriots outright, which means the Patriots would have to lose another game. And the Patriots still have games against the Steelers on the road. They still have the Vikings. I think that's it. They may play the Jets twice. They play the Jets this weekend. Not a great NFL card. Upset alert. state is on upset alert. I'd put that, if you want to call that, they're, you know, they're two and a half point favorite. That's the one, I think that the Mike Leach run here, I'm rooting for them. I want them to win that game unless I have Washington in the smell

test, then I won't be rooting for it. But I love watching Mike Leach, and I still think that was a major mistake. That was mistake number two made by Maryland, firing Ralph Region, and then not hiring Mike Leach. Imagine Mike Leach for the last eight years. Maryland football would be relevant with Mike Leach as its head coach. All right, let's bring in J.P. Finley from NBC Sports Washington, who was at the game last night. Real quickly, is Trent Williams okay? Yes. Well, I mean, according to the team, so it was a very bizarre situation.

We were actually in the press room. Paul McCoy was doing his press conference, and then, through someone I know I got a text, hey, they're bringing a stretcher into the locker room. And I was like, what? A stretcher in the locker room is, I don't know that I've ever seen that in years in football locker rooms. So, you know, I came back into the locker room

to try to figure out what was going on. And just based on, like, kind of who was in there, whose bags were still in there, you could kind of figure out. It seemed like it was Trent. But, you know, these locker rooms have like back doors, basically. So I came back outside to the hallway, which is like a big tunnel, basically. And sure enough, there's an ambulance pulling down the little hallway tunnel.

And then Trent, on his own power, he never got in the stretcher, but he walked out into the ambulance, got in the ambulance, got in the ambulance, A few minutes later, the ambulance kind of turned around and pulled out. They took him to a local hospital. But the team said he took a big hit at one point in the game, and he came out. He came out for one play and then was back on the field the next series. The team said it was just precautionary to check out the big hit that he took in his chest and that everything came back fine.

All right. Well, that's good news. Let's get to the game. Did you at any point feel confident that the red sky, were either going to have a chance to win the game or were going to win the game? 1310 with Dustin Hopkins going out to make the extra point to make it 1410, I thought, wow, they really might do this. Not necessarily will do this, but might do this.

Because at that point, you know, the Cowboys hadn't looked particularly impressive outside of their opening drive. The skins were moving the ball pretty well, even though they had already had a turnover at that point. And it's kind of a one-off nothing thing, but then Hopkins missed the extra point. And I just feel like if it was 1410 instead of 1310, it just would have felt a little bit different.

But I think at that point they took the lead. And, you know, we've all heard the stats about no lead changes, all that. I know it changed last week with the Houston game that they changed, you know, there was a lead change. but I thought it really showed some resiliency to come back on the road when it looked bad early on. Yeah, one of the things I mentioned in going through the game is I saw a lot of people referring to the Redskins getting blown out. I felt at halftime that they were, you know, on the right path to a potential win. And then when they took the lead, I felt very good about it.

But, you know, there were a lot of reasons they didn't. And I want to start with Colt McCoy. He threw three interceptions in the game. What was the reaction you got from players, coaches, et cetera, to his first start? Colt said he was encouraged and that he felt a little bit rusty. And, you know, obviously he missed some throws, but he thought there was enough there to kind of feel positive. Especially, you know, they didn't practice once.

Cole McCoy still hasn't had a practice as the starting quarterback because they only had two walkthroughs. It was a short week, all of that stuff. Really in the locker room, the defense took ownership of the loss completely. DJ Sweringer, Josh Norman, Preston Smith. I mean, all those guys were saying, we have to be better. And in a lot of ways, they're right. Kevin, like what you said, they were right there. and then in five minutes,

the Cowboys scored three times and the game fell apart. And much of that is on the defense and really just missing tackles. It was kind of fundamental football 101 stuff that went awry. But certainly

the mood in the locker room was at the defense what was at fault for the law. All right, let's talk about a couple of things that have definitely regressed over the last month of this season. Like the run defense? Run defense and running the football. Why can't they do either one of those two things well right now? Hey, man, let me just actually put this out there before we get to the run defense portion of this conversation.

I actually thought at times yesterday it was okay and I was encouraged a little bit at times. but ultimately they gave up 121 yards to a back that only had 33 the last time they faced him, and that was a big difference in the game. But let's start with their own rush offense. It's been anemic for four straight games. Why? A Brandon Sheriff would be one reason, I would guess. That's what Gruden was asked that, and that's exactly what Jay said,

was, you know, you lose a Pro Bowl guard, it hurts you. And fans get mad about this. Sean LaValle was playing fairly well, especially in the run game. He's not a great pass blocker, but when LaVal can go downhill, he gave this team something. So that's been a pretty big change. They hadn't had Trent Williams until yesterday. Trent was back out there. I also think on some level, you've got to wonder, 33-year-old Adrian Peterson, is he slowing down a bit?

you know, he wasn't, he's in an incredible shape, but I would say for two weeks in a row, it seems like there have been cutbacks and holes that he hasn't necessarily seen. It seems like there are opportunities to hit, to hit a lane and get three, four yards, and he's looking to bounce plays out or looking for the big play and for whatever reason it's not working. I think Capri Vibs gave them something yesterday. He had six touches for about 30 yards. I agree. Whereas, you know, Peterson was averaging three yards per carry,

I think for the second game in a row. I don't, what Jay Gruden said, I think is pretty accurate. He's like, I can't pinpoint one thing for why the run game is going bad. I think it's a collection of a lot of factors, especially because yesterday, It's one thing when Alex was a quarterback and they couldn't throw the ball. So, of course, teams can just stack the boxes and load up against a run. But Colt, while he did turn it over, they moved the ball through the air. So it's not like the defenses could just stack and wait for Adrian Peterson.

Right. So defensively, they've been unable in recent weeks to stop the run. It started with Kevin Coleman and that zone runs. scheme from Atlanta. Peyton Barber actually broke some tackles, ended up with a pretty good yards per carry average. Lamar Miller the same. And then Elliot yesterday. What do they attribute that to? That to me is the bigger mystery. I mean, Matt Ionitis went out of the game yesterday. But I think that's the bigger problem, frankly. I think the defense, what is this defense? Were they the unit that was able to?

to shut down McCaffrey, Elliott, and Sequin earlier this year, are they the team getting gashed by Peyton Barber? And you got to credit, Zeech is a very good running back, obviously. And on some level, you've got to give him credit for a good showing yesterday.

But the skins, you wonder how realistic what we saw earlier in the year was. And the guys in the locker The locker room will tell you, you know, we are a good defense. That's who we are. We're just not playing up to it.

And I think certainly some of those big chunk plays that Amari Cooper got, the 90-yarder, if you make tackles, it's not like that was a 60-yard dime, DAC through. It was a fairly simple route. But the run game stuff, I mean, you're just, you're losing at the line of scrimmage. And that's a problem for any football team, and it's certainly a problem for the Redskins right now. We had heard that Trey Quinn was a player that they loved. They drafted him. I mean, Jay Gruden wanted him picked, I think, in the fourth round,

was trying to get Doug Williams to take him in the fourth round. And we heard about him in OTAs and minicamp, et cetera. And he has made an impact as a special teams returner, as a punt returner and as a slot receiver. When Crowder gets back, where does Trey Quinn play, or do they play together? I think they would have to figure that out. Maybe they put Crowder on the outside in place of Maurice Harris.

Trey Quinn's not coming off the field at this point. He's given this team something they need. I think he certainly would maintain his job as the punt returner. Honestly, the timing is very bad for James and Crowder, who is a good football player and is very quick. and brings a lot to the table. But dealing with an injury like this in a contract year and kind of giving the opportunity to a younger, cheaper player, you got to wonder if Crowder's coming back here next season.

We've seen the skins let their own guys walk so they get compensatory picks. We kind of saw that with Ryan Grant last year. It wouldn't shock me at all if that happens with Jameson. And the other thing, Kevin, is that last week was the first time Jay Gruden didn't dismiss out of hand the notion of IR for Crowder. He said, you know, we hope it doesn't go that way, something to that effect. And James has missed a lot of games. I think he had a bit of a setback. He really tried to push that ankle prior to the Texans game.

and I don't think it responded. I don't know that he had a setback, but I know we saw him every day really working hard on the practice field with trainers, and then we didn't see him for a while after that. So I don't know where his health is, but I don't know, right now I don't think the skins are that worried about having to figure out Quinn or Crowder on the field

because it doesn't seem like, They have a pretty big break now because they don't play until Monday night. Maybe Jameson will get back out there by next Wednesday or Thursday. But I don't know. That's going to be a tricky situation. You know, you mentioned the timing is not good for Crowder. I mean, because of Quinn and it's also because he's in a contract year. But I'll tell you what, the timing may be working out well for Preston Smith,

who I think has had, I thought he was having a good season. before he started to get numbers that sort of backed it up. Now he's got three and a half sacks, eight quarterback hits, and an interception over the last three games. Your impressions of how well he's played. Preston's a baller, man. He has extreme athletic gifts for his size and to be able to rush the passer. That, this Alex Smith situation is going to linger into 29.

team. Alice is making a ton of money. The skins have to re-sign Brandon Sheriff. I don't know what's going to happen with Preston. I generally have good reads on who they're going to try to keep, who they're not. I don't know that they can afford to keep Preston because he's going to get big money on the open market. A lot of young pass rushers like that don't hit free agency. And Preston's going to get paid, man. As far as why, and coming together now. He's always been a little bit shrieky like that, where he'll have no sacks for three or four games,

and then he'll have four sacks in four games. I think he'll finish the year strong. They're getting one of the things that's so remarkable, I guess, with the run game struggles, is that the D-Line is getting good pressure. I think they had four sacks yesterday, Daron Payne, John Allen had sack. You lost ionitis yesterday.

We'll see how long that injury lingers, but I think that might have heard him in the run game yesterday. But Preston could really play, and I don't know, I truly don't know where he ends up next year. I think the coaching staff would love him to be more consistent. Jay Gruden has talked about in the past how he gives Preston a hard time, but I don't know if that's a joke or if it's serious, and I don't know how much to take that, you know, to take that into account when you're hearing from Jay versus what the front office thinks with the guy.

Yeah, it's just interesting because the numbers aren't going to earn him money, but the performance is earning him money by, you know, the scouts in this league that are paying attention to what he's doing. And to your point, I don't know that the Redskins have had a better pass rush in years than the past. pass rush they have this year. I don't even know what the numbers are in terms of total sacks. Sacks on the year, but it's not even the sacks. It's the consistent pass rush pressure that they've gotten against a lot of quarterbacks and a lot of teams this year. The coverage has been an issue, you know, and yesterday was a major issue against Amari Cooper in particular. Was Quentin Dunbar really ready to play that game or not? it's hard to believe it i i talked with him briefly after the game and he was you know he was

limping he was he was certainly limping leaving the locker room but a lot of guys are you don't want to draw too much from that because a lot of guys kind of limp to say leave NFL locker room um in the second half of that game he didn't look like he had his highest end speed and that was obviously a problem. The other guy, I don't think Haha Clinton Dix was particularly impressive yesterday. Certainly not on the Cooper play. I mean, he had a chance, I thought, to make a tackle on the 90-yarder. I think on both the Cooper touchdowns, it seemed like,

and we've seen this at times this season, not just with Haha, but in the Redskin secondary, where it almost seems like one of the players believes the other guy is going to make the tackle so they don't go in to make the tackle. And I think they've got to clean that up. Make the tackle. Whoever it is, you don't have to wait for someone else to do it. Go in and make the hit and put the guy on the ground. Yeah, I agree.

A couple more real quickly, and then we'll finish up, and I appreciate the time here this morning. the officiating the last two games you know i'm not i'm not the guy that's going to tell you it's the reason they lost last week or it's the reason they lost yesterday but i'm also not the guy that's that's going to tell you that it wasn't impactful at all on the game um it clearly was sunday against houston when the when they came out after the fact and said josh doxon was interfered with um i i just thought there were there were three calls in the game yesterday that we're They've been on the short end of the officiating here for two consecutive weekends. The Moreau hold was flimsy at best.

Mo Harris was clearly held much more than Moreau held Cooper on the terrible throw by McCoy that ended up being that interception, that third and final interception. And then how in God's name, in this day and age, on a play that's right in the middle of the field, can you miss a defenseless hit on your game? Jordan Reed. How frustrated. That was face mask to face mask. I mean. Yeah. Lead. To me.

You led with the helmet. I'm with, I think we talked about this on my podcast last night. You can make a list of the reasons the Redskins lost. And for me, the referees aren't top three. The skins did enough wrong themselves that cost them the game. You can't tackle. You can't stop the run. you turn the ball over, you're going to lose football game. All that said, the rest were bad.

They missed a bunch of calls on Washington, and the Jordan Reed, to me, at the end of that game, a guy that's had concussion history in a spot where he gets blasted in the head. The defender very obviously leads with his helmet. The NFL can try all they want to talk about player safety and concussions and everything else, and then you don't call that just undermines the entire effort. I almost think they need a statement on that more than they needed Doxon. Telling everyone that they missed the call on Docton last week is terrific,

but it doesn't mean anything. They need to own that we are trying to make players safer, and we miss this one, but we won't miss it in the future. Anybody asked Gruden or anybody else about why they weren't ready to snap the ball? with two minutes and 24 seconds when DeMarcus Lawrence was finally taken off the field? No, I don't think, I was kind of running around, but I don't remember being asked about that. How about the unacceptable? I wanted to ask you on this one, how about the putt on fourth and six from the 39? Yeah, you know, the unfortunate thing about that, JP, is that they had the third and one.

They're on the move on that drive down 17, 13, and they get the false start, which would, actually more on Sprinkle, I think, than it was on Harris. It was called on Harris. And then you're in that third and six, and they miss it. It would have been, what, it would have been a 55-56-yard field goal, or they could have gone for it. Look, with the way, I guess I didn't have a major problem at 1713 trying to pin him deep there in that particular situation.

I had a much bigger problem at 224 that he didn't, he had no clue that the clock was going to roll. and it took him 12 seconds to snap the ball. And I would have kicked the field goal there anyway, because that was your chance with a timeout and the two-minute warning to get the ball back without an on-sides kick. But, you know, I'm beyond expecting him to understand these things because he clearly does not.

And again, I've said this a million times. He's not the only one. Half the coaches in the NFL. Typically, this sails right over their head, these opportunities to sort of increase chances for plays and time. etc. But that false start was a critical penalty in the game. It was the right call because they were on the move. They were getting ready to answer after the Cowboys had taken the lead 17 to 13. My biggest thing with the punt, and I wrote about this for our website, is the Redskins had a

formula with Alex Smith at quarterback where play it super cautious, don't turn the ball over, and win the field position battle and grind out wins. I believe that the organization needs to recognize that formula is going to change with Colt McCoy a quarterback because he's going to turn it over and you have to start playing more aggressive. And that was kind of, that play for me is a little bit more symbolic of the different way things are going to go.

because I don't want to just point out the bad, the turnovers. I think Cole, outside of five throws, played pretty well. You know, he had 270 passing yards. We haven't seen that from Alex outside of a legitimate garbage time, 300-yarder against the Falcons. I mean, Alex is going for 180 yards. It's like not NFL offense watching him. So it's entirely new.

and I think the coaching staff needs to kind of wrap their head around that, but look, we have to do things differently now. Yeah, look, specific to that situation, I didn't feel watching the game on television in that moment that they had to go for it. I was upset at the false start and that they didn't convert on third and six, and maybe if they had converted a play, they had gotten them into a fourth and two or fourth and one,

well, they could have kicked a field goal at that point, a 55-yard field goal at that point, 56-yard field goal, you know, I mean, I would hope that it was a possibility for them in that particular situation indoors. But that was less of an issue for me. And on Colt, you know, here's the thing. And I mentioned this, you know, during my recap of the game. Because there's a lot of, you know, I'm sure you got the same thing, you know, well, there you go. I mean, that's what happens when you have a quarterback who, you know, doesn't, you know, turns it over versus a guy that maybe isn't putting up big numbers but doesn't turn the ball over. I have no idea what Alex Smith and less offense, but fewer turnovers would have meant in the game

yesterday. He threw two picks last week, you know, one of which was a major, major factor in them losing the game. And, you know, the truth of the matter is, you know, you got to be fair here. Colt McCoy, the last two opponents have been very good defensive opponents. And for a stretch there, playing Tampa and Atlanta and, you know, a few other teams, they weren't facing really good defensive teams. I mean, everybody in the league is torched Atlanta and torch Tampa, and the Redskins, you know, went one and one in those games with no offense at all to speak of. I don't know what would have happened yesterday, but here's what I do know, Colt can't turn the ball over three times. Because if you gave me the choice right now of taking Alex Smith's 178 yards versus Colt

McCoy's three turnovers, I'll take Alex Smith's 178 yards and take my chances that way. I actually would, even though I did recognize like you recognized, that the offense moved and looked a little bit better than it did. And it probably will look better with more practice time, but they're playing good defensive teams the rest of the way. It's not going to be easy. Yeah, none of it's going to be easy. I'm with you pretty much. I think Colt gave them a chance to win. I think the Red Kids played 40 minutes of good football and then they played five minutes of terrible football and the rest of the way they're trying to dig out of a hole. And I don't think they're good enough to dig out of, you know, three score holes. I just don't. I think if they get

down 10, maybe even two touchdowns, they can fight their way back. But there's not a lot of NFL teams that can come back after giving up three straight scores and kind of the backbreaker was the DAC scramble TD. If you give that up, I mean, there were a number of backbreakers. Yeah, you had to keep it a two-score game there. Had to keep it a two-score game. And they got the sack to drop him way much further back off the goal line. So you start to think, all right, maybe they'll just hold him to a field goal here.

And in a way, that gives them a little bit of momentum back to hold them to a field goal to get that important sack. But, you know, I feel like we started talking about the tackling. I recognize that tackling quarterback is harder, and Dak's certainly a slippery player. But how many guys did he run around on that touchdown run? It was remarkable. Well, and he had the escape in the first half on the third and four, too, which was a great play. Look, they are, they've got New Orleans.

They've got Indy on the road. they still have Philly left. You know, it's not going to be easy for them, but, you know, credit to where credits do, their move for Amari Cooper at the trade deadline was criticized by many. I thought it was too much to give up for a guy. I love Amari Cooper and loved him coming out,

but I thought he looked like one of those young players that wasn't interested enough in football, but it could have just been Oakland, probably was Oakland. But that trade... He looked plenty interested, yes? Yeah, that trade has made them a very competent offensive football team to go with what has been and is a very good defensive football team. All right, last one. What's the overall demeanor after just a brutal five days, two losses and five days?

I think those guys were exhausted. I think they were frustrated. I think, I really believe they'll get the weekend off. I can't imagine outside of guys that need injury treatments, that guys will be in the facility. And I think it's good for them. Let them start fresh on Monday, preparing for the Eagles. They have their bodies can use the rest. Their bodies can use the time off.

And you're right, Kevin. It has been brutal for them. Just you've got to turn the page. Look at Philly. They'll get to watch the Eagles play the Giants on Sunday. I'm confident all these players will be watching that game. And I believe Jay Gruden, when he says it, you've got to make sure the players understand

they are absolutely still in the middle of the playoff race for this division. And they got five games left. You've got to win three of them. And then I think you get in. That's what I said. If they can figure out a way to win three of five, finish nine and seven, you know, they've got a shot to win the division. And they've also got a shot to be a wildcard team if they don't win the division.

everything's in play at 9 and 7. Hey, thank you. Yeah, go ahead. Just teams lose. You know, they've lost two in a row. It's the first losing streak of the year. They've got to recognize that they're not buried. It's the, JP, they are going into December with a share of first place for just the third time in the last 26 years.

Just the third time going into December with a share of the league. in the division. So this is for everybody that wants to bitch and complain about same old, same old. It's not same old, same old with respect to the situation they're in. They haven't been in this situation a lot. Thanks, happy Thanksgiving a day late. I know you didn't get to spend it with your family because you were down in Dallas. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

And I will talk to you next week. Really appreciate it as always. Thanks, Kev. Take care. Happy Thanksgiving to you and Oster, man. Listen to J.P.'s podcast, anywhere you get a podcast, and at NBCSportswashington.com. Of course, you can watch them. He does such a great job on TV for NBC Sports Washington. Hey, if you live in the Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Potomac, Upper Northwest D.C. area,

or if you're on the other side of the American Legion Bridge in northern Virginia, and you don't want a long commute, and it's too hard to get work done from home, check out new launch workplaces in Bethesda. They've got flexible and affordable private office solutions so you can get work done. It's a beautiful new space, fully furnished offices, conference rooms, co-working desks with high-speed internet, complimentary drinks, cafe, parking available 24-7. Get more work done. And by the way, that's free parking and 24-7 access.

You can get work done more of it. Getting out of that house, if the dogs are barking all the time, you've got young kids and you need a spot that's quiet. go to launchworkplaces.com today. That's launchworkplaces.com or you can call 240, 800, 6714. That's 240, 8006714. Call today and you'll get an exclusive free two-day trial if you mention you heard it on this podcast. That's 24086714 or launch workplaces.com. All right, I want to play a sound. If you haven't heard this from DJ Sweringer in the locker room was asked, you know, why they

have lost two games in a row and whether or not, you know, they could overcome some of the turnovers by the offense. This is what he said. We lose two games in a row because of the defense. There ain't no damn offense, man. Defense, we lost the game. We lost the game on defense. Two weeks in a row.

Defense. If you want to be a championship defense, you got to hold that weight on your back. That's the weight you got to hold if you want to be a game. championship defense. If you want to be a regular defense, then it don't mean much to you. But until you had a championship mentality as a defender, you know, it will happen like that. We can, week out when you play good teams. You know, we can, we can, we can go out there and, you know, do whatever on teams that ain't good. Like I said, against Tampa, we can do whatever we want to go on teams that ain't good. But when you got teams that, you know,

that can play with you, you got to prepare. You got to tackle. You got to do the simple things right. If you don't do the simple things right, you go get embarrassed on national TV. That's why we don't get respect as a redskins. We don't do the simple right, you know? We do the simple right. I guarantee we get respect. So we don't need no down respect. I see why we get disrespected, you know, because we don't win the big game. We got to win the big game. The only way you've been the big game is you prepare for the big game. That's every day. And that got to be in your heart. Like I said, that laughing, man, that's for the birds when you're losing. If you're losing, if you're no championship team, man.

It ain't no reason coming in the building and laughing unless that's not mean that much to you unless you just doing it for the money. But if you're doing it from the heart, that's going to mean something to you when you walk in that building after you lost two games in a row. It's going to mean something to you. But, you know, my mentality is different, you know, so I can only speak for how I feel about it, you know, and where we need to go. But it is disappointing.

I was DJ Swaranger after the game. And that last part of it, he appears to be taking a few shots at some of his teammates, laughing and carrying on after losing. Look, I like D.J. Swaranger a lot. I think he's a really good player. I think there was a very good acquisition. And I know it matters to him. And in terms of the lack of respect, that's got nothing to do with him or some of these current players. That's a long history, DJ, of the Redskins being a laughing stock in the league for, you know, a quarter. century. Hopefully they will keep this thing together. They're in this thing. I don't want to see this thing end in two weeks with back-to-back losses. Imagine they lose to Philadelphia on Monday night on the road and come home and lose to the Giants. And now all of a sudden it's six and seven

with a four-game losing streak. It's over at that point. And the whole thing's over. Just so you know, Bruce is gone, Jay's gone, especially with the quarterback now in a situation in flux, even though he's under contract and guaranteed $71 million. You know, Adam Schefter had a report, I don't know if we had this on Wednesday's podcast, but Schefter essentially implied that this is a more serious injury than just your run-of-the-mill broken leg. And let me see if I can find where it was described. I think I had that. There were a few conflicting reports because the one got Pro Football Doc on Twitter,

who's kind of made a now Twitter career, actually does articles and stuff for Cedigo, who said that while Schaefter was right about certain things, it wasn't quite as bad as Shepter was making it out. So there seems to be conflicting reports on this. Because Schaefter described the injury as a compound spiral fracture, and Smith faced a lengthy rehab, which raised doubts on how quickly Smith might be able to return to the field. and even some discussion about whether or not he would ever be right physically coming back from that. But you're into this five-game stretch here where a lot's going to be decided here in terms of the Redskins future, a lot. Because I'm going to tell you right now, Jay's not going to get the benefit of the doubt on these injuries.

Not this year. I don't believe he will. I don't think Bruce will either. All right, let's finish up the show with the smell test. Kevin looks where the John Q public is putting their cash and does the opposite. It's time for the smell test. All right. Last week was a pretty good week for those of you that play every selection of mine. Seven and one, the smell test was. I haven't done a lot of crowing about it this week because we haven't had that much time.

Short holiday week. But last week was a 7 and 0 week going into the Monday nighter where most of you had, if you had Rams had a minus three. So you pushed. I lost on the smell test because when I gave it out and we used the Friday lines from scores and odds from their app. I used that as the lines, the official lines for the smell test. But the game went off at minus three, but on Friday it was minus three and a half. So the possibility that I had of going eight and oh for the weekend ended up being seven and one. I'll take the loss, even though I pushed it personally, and I think most of you did as well, 54, 51. I was hoping for overtime in a little 60 to 54 touchdown walkoff, but that didn't happen.

But I had Maryland last week, I told you that didn't make any sense. Notre Dame was too high, and everybody was playing Syracuse. They rolled K-State, Florida State. They came back, they got a late touchdown to win by one. They were getting a point in a half. I couldn't believe that they were only getting a point in a half in that game. And then Sunday I really bit my lip hard because I didn't love any of these teams in the games they were playing, but they all fit the smell test criteria, the Lions, Jags, and Broncos, and all three of them.

Two of them won outright, and the Jags nearly won the game outright. Look, I've got a lot of plays. I'm not going to give you a lot of talk on these plays. I'm just going to rip through them. But there are a lot of games this weekend that really fit the smell test criteria. I mean a lot of games. Let's start with tonight the Apple Cup. Washington State's laying a point in a half.

It's down to a point in a half now at home against Washington. Give me the Huskies plus one and a half. I don't think I've been very good on Washington this year. I think I'm 0 and 2 on the Huskies this year is a favorite. I don't know that I've had them as a dog. So give me Washington plus one and a half to derail Mike Leach's magical season. and Pullman. Look, if they win by one, I'll be happy. Give me a little 3837 walk-off field goal for Washington State. Get the cover, but Washington State wins the game. B.C. is laying seven over Syracuse. That's pretty high.

The public likes Syracuse. Give me B.C. coming off their loss to Florida State. Syracuse got pummeled by Notre Dame, but it's still a lot of points, and you got a lot of public action on Syracuse. I'll take BC lay the seven. Give me North Carolina plus the seven and a half against NC State in a rivalry game. Miami is laying four and a half over Pitt. Aaron, explain to me how Pitt the Coastal Division winner going to the ACC championship game is getting four and a half. I would say that Pitt's not actually very good, but I don't think Miami is very good either, so I don't quite understand that one. Miami's got the quarterback, I think, coming back.

maybe that's the difference. Whatever. The public loves pit. Give me the canes laying four and a half. TCU's getting five, a short number against Oklahoma State. The Hornfrog's trying to become bowl eligible under Gary Patterson. I can't remember the last time TCU didn't go to a bowl game. Give me them plus five. Louisville's getting 17 at Kentucky. The public loves Kentucky. Kentucky, remember, had that run and then they got blown out by Georgia, but they were in that SEC East race for most. of the year. They really struggle to score. Louisville's terrible. They're terrible. They'll have a coaching change in the offseason. Give me Louisville plus the 17 at Kentucky because the public loves Kentucky. Boise's laying three against Utah State, a team that's been killing it this year. They can't be stopped Utah State. And they're an underdog against Boise. The public likes Utah State, Cooley's alma mater. I'll take Boise-Lang the three.

UNLV plus 14 against Nevada. I have no idea why, but the public's all, when I say I have no idea why, I don't know anybody that plays for UNLV. I don't know anything about the team. I just know that my bookie will need UNLV on Saturday. And so will I, plus the 14. Arizona State is laying a point in a half in a rivalry game against Arizona. It's a short number. Actually, it's two right now. I just updated that it's two. I'll take Arizona plus the two against Arizona State. Tulsas getting three against an SMU team that's been playing well. I'll take Tulsa. Middle Tennessee is getting a short number against UAB plus three. I'll take Middle Tennessee. And yeah, I'm going to take Southern Cal Saturday night plus 10 and a half. The public loves Notre Dame. I think USC's

thrown in the towel on the season and I think this is going to go one of two ways. I think either USC pulls it out in a major upset in a rivalry game. They get up for one game and they win it. Or they get blown the F out. Like 42 to 17 kind of blow out. That may be painful. That's a lot of college games I just gave you. Let's go to Sunday. Cleveland is getting three Sunday at Cincinnati. It's a short number. Give me the Browns plus three. Denver is getting three at home against Pittsburgh off of their win over the Chargers. Still, that is a number that the public is absolutely convinced is wrong. It appears to be, you know, way too low publics all over the Steelers. Denver's defense is still good. I'll take Denver plus three at home. I like San Francisco plus three at Tampa, believe it or not.

There is no faith that San Francisco can do anything. I actually don't think they're that bad. I think the 49ers are actually a, they're not a good team, but I think they're a capable team and they're playing hard. And plus, in this particular game against Tampa, you get Winston now back in the starting lineup, right? After he came in for Fitzpatrick and the giant loss and generated a bunch of offense, San Francisco's had some time off since that Monday night loss to the Giants. I actually think the 49ers are decent. I think they'll win this game outright. So give me the 49ers plus the three.

I'll take the Jets plus 10 because no one's going to have them against the Patriots. And every bookmaker in the country is going to need the Jets plus the 10. That's also one of those games that fits into that three-team teaser theory that I have, that when you can put a team like New England into a three-team teaser where all they've got to do is win the game, that a lot of times that's good value on the underdog on the money line is, well. I'm not predicting a Jets win, but give me the Jets plus the 10 in that game. And then I'll give you the Monday nighter right now. Actually, Sunday night, I like the Vikings minus three. The public

loves Aaron Rogers in this game, getting three against Kirk Cousins, who's wounded right now after the pick six that he threw Sunday night in Chicago. The Vikings are laying three, and they are an anti-public play at home Sunday night. So give me Minnesota minus the three. and then I'll take Tennessee plus six on the Monday night in the Monday night game against Houston, who's won seven in a row. That's a hell of a lot of games I just gave out. I'll just recap real quickly. Washington plus one and a half tonight. BC minus seven, North Carolina plus seven and a half. Miami minus four and a half. TCU plus five, Louisville plus 17, Boise minus three, UNLV plus 14, Arizona plus two, Tulsa plus three, Middle Tennessee State plus three,

Southern Cal plus 10 and a half. On Sunday, the Browns plus three, the Broncos plus three, the 49ers plus three, the Jets plus 10, the Vikings minus three, and then on Monday night, the Titans plus the six. Many of you I know will tweet me and say, why did you not have Texas A&M in the smell test? They are favored by three over LSU. I'm shocked at that point spread too,

but I talked to somebody right before the Redskins game yesterday, actually, one of my offshore people, and I asked them specifically about that game, and they said it was completely split right down the middle in terms of the action. So it technically does not fit the smell test, although I think I personally will have Texas A&M laying three against LHSHA.

that's a strong lean. So there it is. A big smell test. I have no idea how many games that is, Aaron. That's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen college games, and one, two, three, four, five, six NFL games. Nineteen games. I think we have a new record. No, it's not a record.

I think I've had 20 before. Record for the podcast, at least. Enjoy. I mean, bet till your heart's content over the week. It's a holiday weekend with a lot of football. Have a great weekend. Enjoy this. We'll be back Monday. Tommy will be with me on Tuesday and I'll be able to needle him about his son's performance yesterday. Of course, he'll come in here and tell me how great Colt was despite throwing the three interceptions. Enjoy the weekend. Hope you had a great holiday. Thanks to Aaron. Thanks to J.P. Finley. Take care.