The Kevin Sheehan Show - Biggest Win In Years

Episode Date: December 8, 2020

Cooley and Kevin start the show with their recap of Washington's upset win in Pittsburgh over the previously undefeated Steelers. Is Thom becoming a believer too? He joined the show with his recalibrated WFT evaluation as well.  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. 11 seconds. Rocklessberger going for Ebron, makes the catch, and he's inbound. That's going to run this game out. Down to two, down to one, and the Washington football team with the upset in Pittsburgh.

Heading the Steelers, their first loss of the season coming back from 14-0-0-down. What a win. for Washington. You know, Cooley, that's one of the best wins in a long time. I don't remember the last time as I was sitting there watching a Skins game that I was that pumped up. I don't even really feel like trying to figure out how far back I need to go to match the excitement or the feeling of importance of that win.

It's not, you know, it's not the franchise. biggest win ever. You know, I lived through an era where five of these happened every year, and they were real, you know, meaningful games that led to Super Bowls and championships and all of that. But, you know, after 20 years of enduring as a fan, all we've had to endure, there was something really satisfying and memorable about that game yesterday. And I have some reasons why. But it was memorable and I was really fired up. And more importantly, this is going to be a December where they are in a legitimate playoff push right now. They're not only in a division race, coolly, they're only a game out of the wild card right now. I think it was one of the most important regular season

wins they've had in the long time. No doubt. I mean, for so many reasons. We talked about it over the last week, week and a half, as this game got postponed, that this is a pretty good football team. I think you said they don't suck. Yeah, they don't. But we were unsure of how good they actually were because of some of the previous teams that they'd played. And this was a landmark game for them. I mean, this was a tone-setting game for them. And it wasn't perfect by Pittsburgh, but Pittsburgh is still a team that's 11 and 0 and a very good football team. I think Pittsburgh really is a good football team. Ultimately, they show they can win games.

They've kind of started to show that and turn that on through the last since Alex Smith started playing, really, the last couple months of the season. And to me, this is a confidence game for the team. It's a confidence game for the fan base. It's an impactful game in terms of the playoff race. It puts you right there. in December to make a run at it. This was fun.

I loved watching this game. It was really, it was a game that had so much to it. We'll obviously get to our game take and coolies, uhs and ums, and there were plenty of ums in that game. I mean, it was a game that lasted three hours and 30-some minutes. Um,

you know, I was thinking about it afterwards and as I was sitting there, it was everything about it makes it memorable. Not that, again, not that it was, the greatest win in franchise history. It's not. I'm not about to make it that. But it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, circumstances, right? You know, this is 2020. This is a season being played in the midst of a

pandemic. This is, um, you know, it's a Monday 5 p.m. start time game at Heinzfield, no fans, you know, playing against the 11 and 0 Steelers. This is what we'll remember years down the road, even if this season doesn't end well, even if this regime ends up like all of the others that preceded it. But the whole setting in the whole setting of this year has been strange. And then to fall behind 14-0, and Alex Smith, you know, in this comeback player of the year season, to play so heroically with blood coming through his sock. And, you know, I mentioned this morning, I just can't believe how many people get so wrapped up into the uniform. combination. Some people will actually remember, yeah, that's the game when we rolled out the

white on white uniforms again. I couldn't give a shit about that stuff. It just felt really good to get a win like that, to feel relevant in the moment as a fan of this team for so long, when for the most part, it's been crumbs that we've been fed over 21 years. There just haven't been many of these. And, you know, I'll take it a step further, coolly, because I thought about a couple things that I've been, as you know, I've been feeling for the last month, month and a half, and I think you're on to it too. You know, take the ownership caveat out of this thing, which always can muck it up.

I think we all understand that as a fan base. This football team is heading in the right direction under Ron Rivera and his staff. You know, I'm a believer in a lot of their young talent. I'm a believer in the kind of players and people that they're adding to this roster and this culture change. I'm a believer in the way these players are being coached. This is what I thought we would get when they hired Ron Rivera, a guy whose teams would get better as this season went on, would be well coached, would be tough.

And I love that. But not focusing on the big picture because, you know, there's plenty of time for that. right now, this is a good football team. This is a team where you'd be hard pressed to name 15 teams that are better than them right now, which puts them, you know, somewhere in the middle of the pack. And there are only a half dozen that are obviously a lot better. You know, their record indicates that they're not a good team at 5 and 7. But the way they've played and then yesterday doing it against that team,

they're a good football team right now. Again, they're not great. They're not elite. They have flaws. They're not going to beat the Packers or the Saints or, you know, Seattle on the road in the postseason if they get there, you know, but they could beat Seattle in two weeks. No, I can't say that. You're right.

I'm not going to limit them in any way. And by the way, I wouldn't limit the Giants in any way right now. I think it's always about, you know, are you playing your ball? entering the most crucial portion of the season. By the way, you know, I mentioned this, I think briefly, they're not just in a division race now, which the Giants still have the inside track on. They're a game out of the wild card.

They're a game behind Minnesota and you know who for the final wild card spot. So, you know, if they make a run and they win, let's just say they win for, let's say they win out because it's not impossible now. I mean, would you totally discount that as a possibility, them winning out to finish 9 and 7? I wouldn't discount that as a possibility. I don't think it'll happen, but I think 3 out of 4, and certainly 2 out of 4 is a pretty good bet. Now, 2 out of 4, they're not going to get to the wild card, but 3 out of 4, 8 and 8 might be good enough for the 7th spot. Anyway, the NFL's...

That's the beauty of this game, though, is that you can't limit them now. I think that's the most important part of this game. You're right about that now are looking at a Washington football team that you can't really limit. You can't say at this point in the season based on the way they've played over the last, for sure, six weeks, and then beating Pittsburgh an undefeated team on the road, down 14-0. You can't say that they can't beat anybody in the league right now. You can say they still might not beat New Orleans. You could say they might not beat someone like Kansas City.

but at the same time, you can say that they can. The best thing about this game was that you cannot limit this team. And I don't, you have to go back to 2012 to say that you couldn't limit the team. There's been games in every season where you, after 2012, benchmark type games where you say, there's something here, but we can't beat X, Y, Z team in the playoffs. You can't really say that at this point. Also, I think that some has to do with the fact that we've said that about almost every NFC team.

Are you sure you can't beat an NFC team? I don't think so. And so to me, the most impactful part of this game and why it's such a big game is because there is no limitation on this team. Granted, they're five and seven, and they've had struggles early, but if they find a way to pull through and win three of the last four, and get to 8 and 8. They're a playoff team at 8 and 8.

I really think they're going to be a playoff team at 8 and 8 if they can do that. But if they can find a way to get there, I don't see a limitation on them. You know what? You're right. You're 100% right. And I have to remind myself of that every year because, you know, how many times have the two of us had the conversation where I say,

and it's my better's perspective, the NFL is just the wildest of rides. You know, almost always. There is something that you're convinced of in September, October, even November that turns out to be dead wrong in December. You know, it's truly like a week-to-week league. And there's so many reasons for that. But, you know, the other part of not putting a limitation on them, they wouldn't beat Kansas City. And if they did beat Kansas City, it would be in the Super Bowl.

So that would be awesome. But, you know, like I think about, you're right, 2012 was the last team that I was. would have said and agreed with you on, you know what, they can make a run. There isn't anybody that they can't beat. I remember that they're up 14-0-0 against Seattle, and I'm thinking they can go to Atlanta and win next week. They could potentially beat San Francisco. The 2015 or 2016 teams that were really good offensively were always limited because they were so poor defensively. And I think the reason I agree with you on this is that, if you're good defensively and competent offensively, even in this day and age, you're going to have a chance.

Like, they had a chance down 14-0 because Pittsburgh punted six times in the game. You know, they got, they weren't great defensively at times in the first half, but pits, but they were able to get off the field. You know, like yesterday, I think Kansas City maybe early goes down and they're up 24. four to three at half time. You know, maybe. They're the one team that I, you know, but I don't want to limit them. I don't. And now this whole, you know, I had J.P. Finley on the radio show this morning, and I love JP.

And JP said, and I'm paraphrasing here, he said, you know, whether they, you know, play, whether they win their games and make the playoffs or not, it's okay because this season is the beginning of something. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. This is the NFL. You've got to live in the moment here. They have a chance. They're playing December games.

They're going to play a game on December 13th, right, mid-December with playoff stakes. A huge game for them. The following week, they'll have a game against Seattle at home, huge playoff game, is they try to chase down a division and potentially even a wild card so that they don't have to end this season without, by being limited, because they don't have any games left. Just get there and let's see what happens. I mean, how about a Washington, Minnesota home playoff game to kick off Wild Card weekend?

I don't see any problem with that. It could be the Rams. It could be the Rams. It could be Seattle. It could be Tampa. How about a game against Brady? I know I'm getting ahead of myself right now. You know what I just feel like...

The best thing about it is you are now given... you're now given a platform to get ahead of yourself. A little bit. It's kind of the hope game or the turn the corner where we can believe the game. They're a decent football team right now, period. They could lay an egg Sunday at San Francisco, and they could give up 190 yards on the ground, and Mostert could have a big day,

and Wilson could have a big day, and they could lose 27 to 20. It's not going to, right now they're a good football team. They have developed, and I think primarily because they've got some talent and they've got, you know, some character on this team. And I think they're well coached and they're well led. They're in this thing and they're a good football team right now. I also think the Giants are a good football team right now, too.

So there is that part of it as well. It sucks that we don't have another game against them, you know, like one more. Like we've lost once to them, but have one more against them. You might end up with one more in the playoffs. Well, that would end up being probably in the championship game. Can you imagine the NFC East? No one can imagine that. But at this point, is it plausible?

Because Giants are playing good football. They are. They're playing really good football. So is Washington. So as bad as the NFC East was, and the unlikelyhood that two teams would start to get, hot towards the end of the season and the NFC East, and those two teams were to be Washington and New York.

Come on. No one owed to bought that in week five. It's laughable. It's not laughable. Neither team is laughable right now. I'm thinking about your limiting thing because you got me on that. And it's not, I said that there, you know, you can put some limitations, but you're right. You can't in the NFL put limitations.

It's too much of a fine line league and anything can have. happen in a one and done situation. I think that I think you're wrong. I think you can in the NFL limit teams. I think we've been able to limit teams. Well, so let me let me get to. Like who were they let me get to what I was going to say because I think ultimately you're right. You can limit teams that ultimately don't have a good quarterback. Like you can really, oh, in recent years, you can say they just don't have a quarterback. They have everything else. Like Denver a couple of over the last five years has had a good team, a really good team, and they haven't had a quarterback. You know, Buffalo, before they had Josh Allen, had a couple of decent teams, you know, and a couple

of really good defensive teams, but they were massively limited because they didn't have a good quarterback. Jacksonville ultimately got to an AFC title game and had a chance in Foxborough, but I think we sort of knew that they were a little bit limited, even though they were so good defensively that year because they didn't really have a quarterback. Now, that would lead to this. What do you think of Alex Smith right now? Do they have a quarterback capable with what's surrounding him on offense and more importantly on defense? Is it good enough? Well, it was never good enough when he was younger and perhaps even better and healthier and more mobile in Kansas City. He was a limited, you know, he was one of those quarterbacks that you could win with and

could get to the postseason with, but you couldn't win it all with. And I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I feel differently about Alex Smith because of the way he's played here. I do think that ultimately, if this team's going to try to win a Super Bowl, it's going to more likely than not have to upgrade and find a better quarterback. But right now, he's playing well enough to lead this team into the postseason and maybe win a game or two. Now, Jimmy Garoppolo led the team to a Super Bowl. last year. So I think Alex Smith right now is playing as well as Garoppolo did last year.

Absolutely. I think of limited it maybe a little bit different than you're proposing right now. And I think of limiting teams by saying, could this team win two or three games in a row in a one and done situation? It's not just a one and done. Could

they win two or three games in a playoff stretch? And that to me has been the way that we've eliminated Washington over the past six or seven years, even though most of those years they've just eliminated themselves much before that time were to come. But I just, I have to remind myself that this is what I've said about good teams or teams that have a chance towards the end of the year. And it's teams that, one, stay healthy to some extent. Now, some teams have enough depth and enough ability that they can

battle through some of the health issues. I don't know if Washington's one of those teams. But But two, can they coalesce and gel as a team as you get to that midway point? And when they do that, is there enough hope as far as record goes that they have a chance? And I think Washington's doing that. You know, they're playing really good team football. They're playing football that works for Alex Smith. They have guys that work for Alex Smith. I mean, the freaking J.D. McKissick is unbelievable right now as a guy that's going to have

seven, eight, nine receptions a game. Logan Thomas is coming on big. You got to bracket and double Terry McClearn. Put your best guy on Terry. He still finds ways to make plays. Not a big game last week. But they have a certain skill set built around what they're doing offensively and enough creativity to continue to get the guys the ball

with a very, very good defense right now. So I think this team, to me, seems like a team that has gel, that has come together. And in the meantime, has stayed really healthy for an NFL season. So my formula of having a chance to go the distance, it's plausible. I still don't know if they're a team that can win four in the playoff. It could beat Pittsburgh four times in a row or teams like that four times in a row. But based on the fact that they won that game the way they won that game, the resilience and the toughness, some of the some of the fortitude of that team, I can't say that it's not plausible.

I just have a hard time truly limiting them. And it's funny because I started this season saying, like, even if they're a playoff team, that's their best case scenario. I'm not sure. I wouldn't be surprised to see them win games in playoffs. You know, I tend to agree with everything, but I would come back to the quarterback as a limitation. And I'm not suggesting that Alex Smith is a limitation here. But like I was trying to come up with teams, like the perfect. example are some of those Houston teams with Bill O'Brien before Deshawn Watson that made the postseason

but had, you know, Brian Hoyer at quarterback or had, you know, some of those other guys that they had at quarterback that just, there's no chance. You didn't even really give them a legitimate chance to win a playoff game, let alone too. So I do think that in the NFL, ultimately, you've got to have quarterback play that reaches a certain level. You know, you can't have Brock Osweiler with a great defense and a great running. But you had Peyton Manning with a great defense and they get them in the right position. He had an awful postseason. But would you compare Peyton Manning compromised physically to Brock Osweiler?

I compare Peyton Manning in the way he's playing. The way he played in that year? He didn't play that poorly in the postseason that year. He did not play. It wasn't great, man. He wasn't great. He looked up and look through that postseason. He wasn't terrible.

He didn't win because of Peyton Manning. And Alex Smith isn't terrible. They're comparable on that level. In the... I think it's less likely that you win a Super Bowl the way the Broncos won the Super Bowl with their quarterback, especially in a Super Bowl game. And some of those, you'd be almost non-existent as a true passer.

Yeah. Look, the Manning thing is not the Houston Texans example, in my view. It isn't. I remember they beat the Patriots, the Patriots, you know, missed an extra point or whatever, and I thought Manning in that game was pretty damn good, if I recall. In the Super Bowl, they just, you know, defensively, they were awesome. Von Miller was awesome, et cetera. Anyway, look, I understand we're having this conversation about what limitations are, and some people are rolling their eyes going, dude, you beat a team that was beat up on five days rest that they didn't get much practice, that had some key players out and, you know, they weren't that good anyway.

And, you know, you're going to be, you're going to be ashamed of yourselves for having this conversation a week from now. Maybe. By the way, I'm not going to be ashamed of myself. It's how I feel and how coolly feels in the moment. And I do absolutely think there's a bigger picture thing here that's very positive that, of course, could get derailed by like it has in the past, by terrible front office. and ownership. But this is Marty Schottenheimer for me.

This is not in the way that Marty was an authoritarian in 2001, because Marty really was. I mean, Marty was a dictator. Ron's personality is different. But the way that team started off and the culture change that was needed and the way Marty came in and said, we're doing it my goddamn way. And, you know, Vinny's out of here. And Fred Drasner's parking spot is gone. and Jeff George, Dan, he sucks, and it's not the kind of culture we want here, and we're getting

rid of him. And then to do it with Tony Banks and Kent Graham, but with a defense that got really good as the season went on and was getting, it was young and was getting better. And they went, you know, from 0 and 5 to 8 and 8, and they went from 0 and 5 to 5 and 5, and were legitimately in a playoff push in December. They were much more limited at quarterback, but it was the best. beginning of something. And I think we're seeing the beginning of something here that feels the same. You know, it's ironic that it's also the last defensive head coach that we had with Schottenheimer

and a bunch of offensive head coaches in the in between. And obviously, I would never disparage Gibbs' four years here. They were the best four years of any coach that's been here under Snyder. But Rivera is a defensive guy. Defense gives you a little bit of an identity. This dude, every single season for the most part has had his teams playing their best football at the end of the year. And this team, unlike his first team or Marty's team in 2001, has a veteran quarterback who's been there, done that, and is playing well. Play well. I agree. I'm not going to chase this all day, but here's Manning stats from 2015 in the playoffs and Super Bowl.

51 and 92. It's 55% completions. Right. 539 yards. His best game was 222. Against New England, he was 176, and then the Super Bowl he threw for 141. He threw two touchdowns and one pick. He was sacked nine times in those games.

Yeah. That is really pedestrian. It is. It comes to quarterback numbers. But what Peyton Manny did is he gets him in the right spot. He gets him in the right call. He gets him in the right check. It's exactly what Alex Smith does.

And Alex's numbers is, better than that. Yeah. Yeah. And Alex actually has a little bit more mobility. It would be really comparable to that. I think it's, to your point, I do think it's less likely. Yeah, and I don't. When you have that type of quarterback, but Peyton had the leadership aspect of it, and he had his team in the right direction, and he had his team that believed. That's the same thing that Alex has. Is this defense as good as that Denver defense? That Denver defense had Von Miller. It had Akeeb Talib. It had the other

corner that was really good from Kansas. The other one from Kansas. I think they had Chris Harris on the team. Chris Harris. They had some linebacker play in addition to Miller. Danny who was really good on that team.

Right. Didn't they also have the big dude in the middle? Malik Jackson. Malik Jackson was, that was a That was a better, that was a better defense and perhaps more veteran defensively. They were a dominant defense that year. But you look at the numbers statistically for Washington's defense. I'm going to bet you if we look up numbers to that Denver defense,

probably comparable through the regular season, especially when you look at a defense that had no offensive help through five weeks. Yeah. All right. Let's get to this game right after this word from one of our sponsors. is good. There is a penalty on the play. That field goal gave Washington a 20 to 17 lead.

I didn't feel good about it, Cooley, when Hopkins lined up to kick it. I've not been very confident in him, but he made the one at the end of the first half. This is apparently, and has always been discussed by kickers, as one of the most difficult stadiums to kick in Heinz Field. He made that kick that gave him the 20 to 17 lead. and it was looking good with just over two minutes to go. Of course, there were so many big plays in the game that set it up. I'll get to my game take in a bit.

There's one thing, and I'm going to let you start with your ews and ums. But there's one thing I have been waiting all morning to ask you about when it comes to their defensive game plan. If you don't mention it, I will ask it of you and remind me if I forget, because that's been happening recently. Just start with it. Okay. Were they defensively trying to get their rushers into pass lanes to be disruptive? There was stunting with Chase Young. There was Montez Sweat more or less reading Rothlisberger, young reading Rothlisberger to try to get in their arms up into passing lanes more often than trying to go sack them. It just seemed like they realized he was going into this game.

There was not a quicker snap to release of football throwing it than Pittsburgh. It was like 2.1 seconds or whatever. And that sacking him was going to be difficult. So they played a lot of times to just disrupt some of the passing lanes with their front four. I got to say yes to some extent that they knew he was going to get the ball out, that they knew he was going to have answers to any of the blitz pressures that they brought. They didn't blitz really at all.

A little bit in the first half. Yeah. And ultimately, I think that they probably didn't like any of the matchups. I mean, that's a good group of receivers for Pittsburgh. That they didn't love matching up Pittsburgh's number three and Pittsburgh's number four

with their number three and four in man-to-man coverage. Right. To me, I think that was probably a big part of the plan is you're saying okay so all of a sudden they get claypool or washington or ebron on camera curl right that's not a matchup they wanted got it you know so i thought they did a great job up front with some of their stunts and some of the time how many batted passes is they have three or four five i think four i think that was just a game emphasis sweat had three of them yeah sweat one on a screen that almost they almost picked off on

A little slip screen. I say he's getting so good at that. But I don't, I don't think you say, let's stop rushing the quarterback with our front four. I just think you say as soon as he goes to throw, get your hands up. Right. Which is a good answer for it. But I think really to answer your question, in not bringing some of the pressures that Del Rio normally brings, that probably was an indication that they changed the defense because of matchups. That's what I would guess.

All right. Go ahead and give me your. us and ums so i think you go through this game and there are so many ums like so many good takeaways ums i can't say i'll keep doing this

are we getting sick of this we can change it up because i don't like doing it anymore okay the biggest thing i like this team's ability to overcome is awesome but down 14 zero they're down every fucking week yeah they don't care there's no quit they're tough too I mean, they're a tough team.

They're physical. They hit dudes. They are fearless. And they don't care that they're down 10 points, 14 points. It doesn't seem to change the way they play. It would be nice if they could start scoring some points in the first quarter. They could start getting out ahead a couple of these teams. I think they'd stay more balanced with what they're doing offensively.

But this team's ability, in my opinion, to overcome and the resilience that they have is the biggest takeaway from this game. They are not afraid of Pittsburgh. They are not afraid that they're down 14 points. They don't care that Pittsburgh's, what, 178, 1 in one, nobody in the world. Nobody. With the two-score lead at home, yeah, amazing. Nobody in Washington knew that that stat, that one. Until they put it up, yeah.

Yeah, well, nobody on the field saw them put that up. The sweat, tip ball, embostic interception was so great. so many times I've watched Washington, I've been part of those games, where you take a little bit of a lead right at the end of the game and they go right down the field.

It's the end of the game right there. That was amazing, man. It's nice to just finish a game off. It took the lead, they took the momentum, they finished the game off. That was awesome. I thought the Cam Sims one-handed grab for 29 yards on a third and for over Cameron Sutton was maybe the play of the game.

That was incredible. That one-handed catch, players making big plays and big spots, talking about momentum and whatever. That's where momentum goes. Look at Cam Sims make that play and you go, let's make another one. It was huge. I thought a huge momentum point in this game was that they had six stops in the first

half inside the two. Remember Tim Settle had that stupid penalty. Yeah. When they would have had a third down. Yeah. Get a first down. And then they end up with six stops down there. I know. Finished with that amazing Chase Young play where Eric Ebron can't block anybody. Doesn't even lay a hand on Chase Young. But still, that was to me, you pound your chest a little bit on defense with a play like that. Um, the touchdown throw to low. Logan Thomas, Alex Smith hanging in the pocket.

Dude, I love that. Logan Thomas in general was outstanding in this game. He was all over the field. He made a ton of big plays. Talking about another 30-yard catch down to the one-yard line, contested there in that cover two-hole, got over the top of the corner because they're holding on McKissick. You're like, you're not going to give it up to McKissick. The throws down the field to Logan Thomas were big. So Cam Sims big a couple times, right at the end of the half, catching run, big plays.

Good blocking down the field. Darrell Johnson pointed that out. But like when you talk about Logan Thomas and you talk about Cam Sims making some of these plays, keep in mind, there are guys Terry McLaren. And there was something I saw this week or maybe early in the game. I can't remember where it was. McClorn had accounted for 25% of their offense so far this season. That was the most by any receiver of any team.

Right. And they took away their number one weapon and Terry. And still, Alex found a way to get the ball. the field in situations where I needed to get the ball down the field and Cam Sims and Logan Thomas made big plays. I thought that was absolutely awesome. I noted this. I take notes through the game. Sometimes it distracts me. I pause the game, but I'm sitting there taking notes and I got about seven pages of notes that I kind of had. I had the most notes I've ever taken for any game. I tweeted this out last night after the game. Usually I'll have four, three, four, five pages max. I'd

Nine pages of notes. Front back, front back, front back, front back, front back, nine pages. There was so much to this game. It was a long game and there were so many impactful plays both positively and negatively. But go ahead. There was so much to this game. Their first, first down, that was in the third quarter. And that came after they had two penalties, a Moses penalty.

And Moses. Their first third down conversion. Their first third down conversion. They were 0 for 12 at the time. 0 for 8. 0 for 8. Okay. 0 for 8.

Yeah. You get that weird little ball that Cam Sims catches between his legs. I don't know how he ended up catching that ball. He actually caught another one in between his legs at the end of that drive in the end zone that Joe Hayden had batted. He was out of bounds, but he cut another one between his legs on the same drive. Right. Actually, did they, they didn't get that was so actually, I'm wrong. because Cam catches that and then Logan Thomas

catches the ball down the field, right? And then they challenged it and didn't get it. Well, that's in the first half. No, no, no. The Logan Thomas third and 13 was in the first half. And then they had the third and 14 screen. That little screen play. Yeah, the third and 14 screen on the first drive of the second half

when they got backed up by back-to-back penalties. That's happened. I think that that you said the third and four. For me, the biggest play of the game is the third and 14. bubble where Sims catches it and not only gets the first down but gets the ball out to midfield because if you don't get a third and 14, if you don't recover from first and 23 from your own five, Pittsburgh's got field position up 14.3 threatening to make it, you know, 17, 3 or 21 to 3. And it could be. That could be. I thought that that was the single. I thought there were two

massive plays in the game. And I'll wait to hear the rest of it. But I thought that that that was the first one that was absolutely must have. If not, they may never have a chance to make some of these other plays down the stretch. Right. That's the, that's the drive. And that conversion on third and 14. But the catch by Sims to just get some yards back between his legs was absolutely incredible. Right.

The other third down that I, Logan Thomas got a first down that they challenged and they didn't give him the first down. I don't know how. I don't understand that at all. I don't know how they have that up. Where the hell was Dean Blandino? They had him at the half-time, end-of-half, you know, K-ball discussion, but they didn't have them on that play, which everybody agreed that Fox had multiple angles that could be synced up

that clearly showed that Logan Thomas had an incredible third and 13 checkdown, you know, run after the catch, extended inbounds to move the chains. And it's a shame because the next play was the punt that Sprinkle couldn't recover. You know, the fumbled plunt. No, no. The next play was the weird little Logan Thomas under. Oh, oh, right. The next play, that's right.

The next play was the, exactly. I love that call. I love that call. I love that call. I love that call. I love that play. I had sat there after the game and drew up 20 things that you can come up with off of that. I hate Inman.

Oh, God. Walk somebody. I've told you all year long. It's fourth and one, bro. There's not a sense of urgency and seriousness to his game. game. I'm done with him. I am done with him. I don't hate it. Obviously personally. I love the play. But he's soft. He just, he's not part of this culture change. I can already tell his personality doesn't fit. He may have some talent. He may have some things that they like. But we have the third

nine earlier in the season on the bubble that he should have easily gotten the first down and he went down meekly after nine yards. He's got no presence, no presence at all. And no, Almost like he knows it. That play bothered the shit out of me. That bothered the hell out of me because that was totally well-schemed up. Pittsburgh saw it on tape from the Dallas game. Logan Thomas in motion going under center, fourth and short. And here they go.

They've got a good counter to that, as you would say, a good tendency break. And that's not necessarily exactly what you're talking about. And Inman basically gives an absolute matador. attempt at a block. That was bullshit. That was such bullshit. But I love the play. Yeah, no, me too.

Thomas goes in that counter motion all of a sudden. He stops right under the center. You're like, oh, go, what do we got here? Yeah. We got action. Well, we had that play in the Dallas game where he snuck it for the first down. I know. It's a great little call.

Yeah, because you got a quarterback on the field. A second quarterback. I think that's a better call on third and three, though. Like, to me, Peyton Barber on four. and one seems to be a lock. Yeah, he's got good vision. I just think that seems to be a lock on fourth and one. I still love the call.

I think there's a lot you can build off of some of that stuff. And it's two to three plays a game at best. But still, you can create a lot of conflict in a defense when all of a sudden here comes Logan Thomas Undercenter. And every time he goes in motion now that you have, as a defense, you have to say, okay, eyes, wear your eyes. Right. It's got to be on Logan Thomas.

There's a lot to that. But I love the play call. The execution was just on one dude. Oh, Edmund, I'm watching this again in slow-mo. I mean, he's just, he's not, you got to be dialed in, dude. He's watching Thomas, not watching the defender. That's pitiful. Pitiful.

It was pitiful. Some more of the positive. The Logan Thomas recovered fumble. Massive. So big. That's the second biggest play to me in the game. It was so critical. That game changes immediately.

Yeah. If T.J. Watt gets that fumble. And everything about it said T.J. Watt should have got that fumble. Here comes Logan Thomas. Just flying in, sneaks it away. Yep. It was so big. Logan Thomas was huge in this game.

A couple other things I loved. Late, or fourth quarter, they had a third and one stop. Fuller does a great job tackling, getting a third and one stop. And then fourth and one, they botch the initial alignment. And McFarlane's wide open. He runs a slant and go, that little slug-o-rout. Bostick's not there. Yeah.

McFarlane just can't come down with it. It's huge. It should have been complete. Ben probably should have had a little bit more touch on that ball. But still, that was a big time stop. Have you ever, can you remember a team that is less interested in running the football than Pittsburgh? And I'm not talking about, you know, like I mentioned to you yesterday when we were doing the preview. Like, it's, Rathlisberger would end the night as the quarterback in the league with the most past attempts. And usually the most past attempt guy is a guy in a team. team that's always coming back in the fourth quarter down two scores and they end up with 50

throws, you know, six times a year. He is, they don't have any interest in haven't all year long in running the football. And I know James Connor wasn't there. But they go third and one and fourth in one throw. Like there's no, by the way, why didn't they kick the field goal to take the lead? It was a 44-yard field goal. No idea. A 45-yard field goal. I mean, I know they have the rookie kicker, but he had already made one. and he already made both extra points. And look, the analytics, fourth and one, whatever, but you're not even considering running the football in that game.

What were the final numbers? 53 throws and 14 rushes. 53 to 14. Wow. One of the things I wrote down as a positive is even though they were not interested in running the ball, Washington gave them no more interest. That's fair. That's fair.

I mean, they'd never opened up the. door to say, hey, you might be able to run it. But there was, they shut down every single run. But there was no consideration to, hey, we got to stick with it a little bit, you know, eventually something will break, but we got to keep them honest. No, they use Rothlisberger and the short passing game is just their run extension. I mean, there are a lot of three-yard pass catches in a Pittsburgh game this year. A lot of them.

And that's who they are. They think their best five players are skill players as receivers. and those really are their best five players. They may try to run it a little bit more of Connor was in that game, but Connor's not in that. I don't know. That's their offense. That's what they do.

I've seen the Patriots in the past have success with that. Yeah. They do what they have talent to do. Ben was really good in this game. A ton of drops. A ton of drops. Seven drops most in the NFL this year by any team. Ebron had three.

He would frustrate the hell out of me because he's got too much talent to be so inconsistent. And you called it years ago that there's just a lethargic sort of casual, you know, approach to the game that you would have never signed him when he was a free agent. Remember we had that conversation and you're like, I would not sign Ebron.

And when you watch him, he's got talent and there are games, you're like, whoa. And then there are games where it's like, dude, are you even here? Like the ball's right in the middle of your chest. That is one team that fits him is somebody that does not ever want him to run block. Right.

He's a big receiver. That's what he wants to be. That's who he thinks he is. That's all he can get out of him. And there are times when he can make plays as a big receiver. There's no doubt about that. So my last positive was I thought Jimmy Morland tackled really well. I thought the defense did a great job tackling,

but Jimmy Morland in particular stood out to me as making a ton of tackles in this game. Dustin Hopkins was absolutely huge. I mean, he's really. bet on the hot seat at times this year and made three big critical kicks. McKissick over and over again in the past game. Just exceptional. Really, really good. Helps them a ton.

And then my last couple positives, I was watching the game a little bit. My son and daughter were both sitting with me. My daughter says, can we put $2 million on the back of their shirt? Two million? Yeah. Like, um, no.

Why not? Well, I think that's a little bit too long of a number to put it on the back of a jersey. Oh, as a jersey number. Got it. So then she says, can we put 100? And I said, hmm. Well, it's just zero to 99. We're one to 99.

Oh, I would have said yes to 100. You can fit three numbers on the back. And then she says to me, this is a tough one. Are there any girls out there? No. Why not? I said, well, see how big those guys are? I said, just sometimes guys get a lot bigger.

And in this game and professional football, the guys are so much bigger than the girls that maybe it isn't the safest thing. I don't know. What do you say to that? Why not? There's a reason. Well, I mean, you're, you start that now. You have a daughter.

I don't have, I've got three boys. Safety, babe. But I would have definitely, you know, shown her the Vanderbilt kicker from a couple of weeks ago. That's exactly. of it we did. Okay, good. By the way, my son says to me, why can't we play this game? And he starts trying to push buttons on the computer we were watching it on this morning. Like he's going to play like an Xbox game. That's funny. Do they know, does Sloan know what you did? Like, does she understand what you were as a? I'm not sure yet. She's really usually not that interested in football when it's on.

When you're watching the games, does Maddie, or do you say that's what Daddy used to do? No. She knows. I mean, they're football cards of me and little action figures they play with. They don't, it's not a huge part of our lives. Right. That that's what I did. Right.

All right. All right. Let's get to the, eh. Yeah, let's get to the is. Okay. The first, ugh. Look, I can't stand when you pretend to be on something that nobody in the world's been on. So you start the game off.

And Darrell Johnson says, and I think I have this almost verbatim, and we've been a part of this journey early on with Washington. And they have. They've called a lot of these games, so they've talked to them a lot. He says, and I've just had this feeling early on that at the end of the year, Alex Smith was going to be in charge of this offense, and they were going to be pressing to be in first place in the NFCE. Oh, come on.

Did he say that? I didn't hear that. Verbatim. Oh, God. Please. You know what, dude? Hopefully you backed it up. with some sort of futures bet in Vegas.

You're saying in week two, when you called the game, you and your mind said, you know, I think Alex Smith is going to be the guy. And not only that, they're going to be pressing to be in first place in the NFC East at at five and seven or a four and seven at the time that he said it. Come on. No one was on him. Oh, that's, that's honestly. You know what, even if he believed that, that's one of those things, I wouldn't say,

unless I said it early in the year. That's kind of insufferable. Do you know him? I like him. I like Daryl. Okay. I mean, I actually, he's called, you know, he's been calling games forever. And I actually think Burkart does a really good job as a play-by-play guy.

But, you know, I've always felt it's really strange about Moose and Troy Aitman. Our fan base thinks Troy Aitman hates Washington. He doesn't. And I've never felt that way. In fact, I feel the same way about it. Aikman and Moose. And I'll just share this with you quickly. I think as long-time NFC East guys who remember what it was like when Dallas was great and Washington was great, right? Because they had to topple the Washington greatness before the Jimmy era took over. And they, you know, these were the

games that Jimmy said, we got to beat Washington. You know, this is who we're shooting for. They remember those days. And like a lot of cowboy, And Skins fans, and I feel this way sometimes, I yearn for the days when both of the teams are really great and they're really relevant. And they play these massive games during the course of the NFL season. It's been a long time since we've had that. And I've always felt listening to Aitman and Moose that they sort of in a weird way want Washington to be relevant again, in the same way that they want the Cowboys to be relevant again. So anyway, that's been a thought.

Go ahead. I forgot one of my favorite parts of this game. And I don't know if this has been talked about afterwards or not before I get to the rest of the negatives. The end of the half, Alex Smith goes down on a second straight sack, but then takes the ball off the field. Right. The official right there standing next to him with his hands out, like, give me the ball. Alex never just takes the ball off the field. Keep that in mind.

Any other random third down, Alex would have given the official the ball back. They knew that there would be a delay to get the K ball back onto the field. Did Alex Smith get coached to take the ball off the field in that situation? Because if he did, it's by Nate Katzer, the special teams coach, and that is brilliant. You just bought yourself time to line up and kick a field goal.

So two things. Number one, he was on with Scott last night late. I stayed up. I watched it. He did not say that that was intentional. He just said the cable. It was. No, no, no. He said it wasn't for the purposes of having it end up in administrative clock stoppage. It is typically the case he said where he takes the football off the field because the K ball's coming in. And he wanted to rush it off the field because they were in field. goal hurry up, which by the way, I think they were very well prepared for. You know, they ran the play with 23 or 24 seconds left. There could have been a completion. It was third and 16. There could have been a completion in bounds before the first down marker. They were ready to rush the field goal team on. And there was plenty of time unless there was an extra long play to get it lined up

if the ball spotted appropriately and timely to kick the field goal there without the time out. You know, I think they knew that and I think they were well prepared. When the clock stopped, I had no idea what it was stopped for. No, it did. Yeah. And so the bottom line is they couldn't find the K ball. It wasn't available to come in real quickly.

Who handles the K ball? One of the referees? I would guess your equipment guy handles the cable or the officials handle the K ball. Yeah, the officials. Don't they have the K ball for the switch on a field? I guess my point is, is like, the other officials standing there has no clue that Alex is taking the ball off the field. how many times we could go back and figure this out find a random third down where they're going to kick a field

did Alex take the ball off the field? Have you ever seen a player just take the ball off the field on third down? No. No. No. No. Never. No. I don't know if I fully buy that he didn't know what he was doing. I watched it and I was looking for like he thought about, he thought about letting it go for a second and then he, nope, I'm going to keep it.

And he walked it off the field. By the way, he got a little banged up and hurt on that sack. He was hurting as he was. running off the field. I don't know if you noticed that. But he remembered to take the ball. Yeah, he did. He did, but him taking the ball wasn't why they had to stop the clock. They stopped the clock because they couldn't find the K ball. It wasn't readily available. So he didn't know taking the ball off the field that they weren't going to be able to find the K ball right away, which is why they stopped the clock for what they called administrative reasons. I understand what

happened. Yeah. I've just never. really seen that happen ever? Yeah. It seems interesting that he didn't think, well, there's no ball. You agree with me, though. You agree with me that they were actually well prepared. I'm watching the play right now.

I think more prepared than you think is what I'm saying. I know what you're saying. But again, unless they were also in on the K ball not being readily available, knowing that the referees would stop the clock for administrative. reasons to find the K ball, then Alex Smith taking that ball off the field isn't as significant. Unless you tell me that in those situations, the referees, they're instructed to use the ball that's on the field the spot and the kicker's just going to have to kick with that ball. Well, that's what Blandino said.

Okay. Was that if they can't find a K ball, use the ball that's in play and kick that ball. So in that... Like at least, here's the minimum. Alex knew that they would rather kick the K ball than they would the game ball. Right. And was smart enough to take that off

and even take it a step further without having some insight behind it. He knew that it would be faster if he take the game ball than to have the referees have to switch balls. I'll tell you one thing. There's something to that whole thing. That deal. He needed to throw the ball away. I mean, taking this.

Taking this. Here, let's get to the is. Are you seriously going to take two sacks at the end of the half? And the first one, clearly, like you can see on the TV copy, he's got two open receivers. I know. Didn't he take a bad sack in the Detroit game, too? Yeah. That knocked him out of field goal range?

Yeah. You could take a sack there. Yeah. Look, I think you could make the case, actually, you know, if you could make the case that after the second and nine sack. No, actually because you got receivers downfield. You got to call the time out. You got to call the time out right there.

Because you're still actually thinking touchdown possibility. They were at the Pittsburgh 15-yard line, 16-yard line before that second and nine sack. I know. And they had guys open in front and you get up. You get a first down. You get up. You spike it.

Yeah. Because, I mean, you almost didn't get points there. Right. there was a roughing the punter call in the first half of that game on Marcus Allen to extend that drive. They did nothing with it. You're like, gosh, dang it. Like, they're about to fill the goal range at that point. You got to do something with that thing.

That was, that was roughing, too. I mean, to me, you hit that foot and you, you compromise the punter's health on the play. That is ruffing, not running into. I think they honestly should just change that to. Always 15? Always 10. Always 10. Is it always an automatic first down?

Because you're calling it a personal foul, but that guy's trying to block that thing. He has no real intent, like no real intent to injure the punter there. And it's almost never that I see somebody fall into the kicker's legs where they were trying to injure the punter. It's just like they get a little bit out of position

and they try to block the ball and they bump the kickers like. So like why are we discriminating running into versus roughing. Just say you knock the kicker, the punter down, it's 10-yard penalty. Is it automatic first down? No. Okay.

Just 10-yard penalty. Repeat the down. Yeah, and then repeat the down. Or first down because it's 10 yards. Yeah, I mean, look, over the years, I mean, a punter, you know, we've all watched a lot of football. We've seen punters and even field goal kickers who are really compromised in the moment because they're not paying attention as a court. You know, they really could be seriously hurt if the penalty is just on a fourth and 17, okay, and they're punting.

You can go after the punter and you can knock the shit out of them and it's not going to be a 10-yard penalty if you don't block the punt, and they're going to have to punt it again. So I don't like your rule. I think it's a bad rule. Okay, well. Because of what I just described. It would be T off on fourth and more than 10. It would be T off on the Kahn.

Then that was running into the kicker. I didn't think so. I thought that that... It wasn't on purpose. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if it's on purpose or not. It doesn't put it to on 4th and 17 knock the shit out of the park. Well, no.

What I'm saying is it's never in the current rule structure. It's never on purpose. It's whether or not you really... But you're suggesting the reason you don't like my rule is because then you would do it on purpose. Yes. Because it's not that you would do it on purpose. It would be that... There you go.

At fourth and seven, it would be at fourth and 17, you would try to rush and block the punt and not worry about running or roughing the punter because it wouldn't hurt you. Then for the personal file, you've got to show intent to hurt the kicker. But that's way too subjective. That's more subjective than any deep pass interference call. Not according to what you just coach your team up to do. According to what you coach your guy up to do, you're going to go knock his head off. This isn't that difficult.

Why are we arguing about this? If it's fourth and 17. Because I don't like. And you, there's no downside to roughing the punter. Aren't you going to go after blocked punts more often knowing that even if you rough the punter and you don't block the punt, it's not going to be a first down for the other team? You would definitely have no concern for diving off of the edge.

Of course. Also, the idea that you could hurt the punter and then they wouldn't have a punter, their kicker would have to come out and punt. Okay. But what else do you have on your list? Okay. Tim settles unnecessary roughness with stupid. They overcame it, though.

Yep. Steven Sims had a drop at the end on a third night where he's wide open in the middle of the field. That was ridiculous. Can Kendall Fuller tackle? I'm not sure. That touched on at the end of the second quarter. DeShazer also had a miss tackle. It was on the first play of that drive.

Yeah. Come on. Kendall Fuller missed two or three. tackles in that game. The two Alex Smith sacks, I thought were ridiculous. The third and 14, later in the game, they completed a DeGante Johnson over Thomas Davis. Right. I'm not sure Thomas Davis is capable of playing.

Fuller had a DPI on a third and four at the end of the third quarter that was dumb. There was a block in the back on a punt return by James Smith Williams that was the most blatant block in the back I've ever seen in my life. You're like, Jesus. I know. Do you really think when you should, in the broadcasts, like if you can see his numbers, or you can, if you could read his name, he shouldn't, he's not looking at, no one's going to read the name. If you put both hands on their back, you're a moron.

Do you ever, that's it? Do you ever as a, as on a punt return or a kickoff return, punt return in particular, because the punt returner is focused on the ball, do you ever see a situation as somebody who's back there on punt return and you're a blocker do you ever say oh my god my guys could get blown up here it could be a turnover i've got to take the 10 yard penalty and clear him out of here with my hands on his back okay no because you put it on a returner you should have called the fair catch that little that little dude back there that's catching the ball has a special skill set to make somebody miss okay that's why he's back there right They called holding on new number 47.

Yeah, on a punt. Yeah. The ball was already punted. Yeah. Well, it's not holding. Right.

It's, if anything, right, if anything, if anything, it was holding on Pittsburgh. Or, if you want to call a personal foul.

Yeah. Yeah. That guy was a troublemaker on special teams for the, for Pittsburgh. He got into it with a couple of people early, including Apki. Yeah. Yeah,

he did. And then the sprinkled not recover the, Bumble was like, I mean, that was amazing. You blocked Danny Johnson into that thing. You got a chance right there. It's a good stroke of luck. And then Sprinkle comes in like trying to one-hand scoop. Well, he dove on it.

How the hell do you not get that ball? Remember when Logan Thomas in the game against the Giants on the Gibson big run on first down in the first series? And he just sort of got ahead of his skis a little bit and just stumbled. Like, you know, a serious question here, because that was so bad that he couldn't recover that fumble. But again, as football fans, how many times over the years do we see what should be an easy fumble recovery at full speed not end up getting recovered? I mean, I know that was a bad one, but it happens all the time. I think it's a more difficult thing you've played.

Okay? It's easier said than done. Sometimes. That one didn't seem to be. It didn't seem to be. The Lovna Thomas one, you're referencing, he was tripping falling forward. Yeah, yeah. The Sprinkle, he had a clear view of the ball. You got to be able to slow down.

You know, and a guy like Sprinkle doesn't strike me as a guy that can slow down and get to the point where he understands, okay, the spacing, and it's got to be a little in front of me so I can go down and handle it carefully rather than it hitting the back of the, my stuff or the bottom of my, towards my waist, which it might end up popping out, which it did. Yeah. I think I would, I think I'd personally, I'd be trying to scoop it because I think falling on it puts more risk into the equation. I'd rather scoop it and then go down. Well, if you scoop it, you're not going down.

Well, you can't advance a muff. Just fall on the ball. Yeah. It was a awkward deal. Yeah. I'm not sure. Oh, lastly, the guy. Gibson thing is going to be a problem.

That took them out of their game plan for sure running the football. I do think that they have game plans for different backs, and they kind of went away from some of the things they wanted Gibson to do. But that's not good for them. That really does look like a turf toe deal. Tell everybody what turf toe is. That's a month, man. I know.

That's what we got. Pierre had that, remember? Turfto will last for a long time. That sucks. That sucks. That's a big negative for them. But you know what, Cooley. Impact player. You know, when he went out, and I mentioned this this morning on the show, I mean,

like a couple of my boys are like, that sucks. It's over. We're not going to be able to move the ball. Like Gibson's become this near mythical figure almost, like so crucial and important. And I didn't feel that way. Like I'm like, that sucks because I really like Gibson a lot. Yeah. But they've got McKissick and they've got Barber.

They've got other ways to move the football. We've seen them move the football without Gibson being a significant part of what they do. I mean, it's not Eric Dickerson back there, people. Okay? You know, it's not like the guy that when you pull, you've got no chance to move the football. I didn't think they were dead in the water without them. I'd prefer to have them. Don't get me wrong.

But it does suck. Yeah. I mean, I think of all of the stuff they've done with McKissick and Gibson. And I'm not suggesting they can't. Both of us like Barber. I'm not suggesting you can't do it without Barber. But at the same time, I mean, there's a lot of versatility with Gibson.

Sure. So that sucks. Understood. Big win, though. For me, way more positives than negatives in this game for this team. Made big plays when they had to make big plays. Overcame. I was really impressed.

More positive than anything. Let's get to my game take right after this word from one of our sponsors. Pay attention. is Kevin's game day. All right. I did. I swear to you, Julie, I took more notes in this game

than I can remember taking in a long time. Like you, and it's because of what we do here, you know, you got to take notes during these games. If not, then you almost have to re-watch the game

after the game. Now, one of the things, I think many of you know this, I hate being the guy, and I don't know how people can consume a game. And a lot of people in sports media, they like tweet after every play.

Like, I don't get that. Like, I, it's hard enough to take notes and take your eyes off what's going on. I don't like to take my eyes off what's going on. Sometimes I'll wait until the drive's over, and I'll just recap it quickly in my mind, you know, at the break. But, I did, I mean, there was so much to this game. And so I'll start with the things that I liked before I get to the things that I didn't like. And on the list of things that I liked is a list of plays that. were big plays, some bigger than others, but all of them memorable from the game and

majorly influential some of them in the outcome of the game. Obviously, the Chase Young tackle on Snell on the fourth and goal from the one was just such a great play. I think, as I mentioned to you, that the Cam Sims, well, first of all, the Cam Sims 30-yard catch and run when he catches it over the middle at midfield at the end of the first half. That gets them into field goal range. That was a huge play. That was their first big offensive play of the half. 86 yards of total offense leading up to that play. Yeah, and they really needed it. McLorne had a good block, but Sims was the one that initially broke the tackle to get the yards after catch. I think the play of the game, there were two of them that were, to me,

the two biggest plays of the game. And we talked about one of them, which is the third and 14, after the first and 23 with the two straight penalties to open up the second half. They're third and 14 at their own 14-yard line. And Sims makes a difficult catch on a bubble screen and then figures out a way to a path that not only gets them the first down and their first first down in the game on third and 14, but it ends up being a 31-yard play that gets them out to the 45-yard line. That, to me, was the...

turning point of the game to get out of that bind because without it, Pittsburgh, you know, you're punting from your, you know, close to your own goal line. Pittsburgh's going to have some field position up 11 and threatened to really put the game away. And then the second most important play of the game to me is the Logan Thomas recovery of the JD McKissick fumble. Because first of all, T.J. Watt makes a great play. And nine times out of 10, Watt's going to recover that because he's a great player. And Thomas does a phenomenal job, and it's 17 to 10. It's the fourth quarter, and it would have been first and 10 Pittsburgh at the

Washington 35-yard line with a chance early in the fourth quarter to make it a two-score game. Those are the two, I think, big plays of the game. And there were a lot of them. You know, the fourth and one where Bostic is, you know, late getting out to McFarlane, that's such a big play because if McFarlane makes the catch, if the throws better, or if McFarland does a better job of adjusting. It's first and goal.

You know, it's first and goal in a tie game with roughly four and a half minutes to go. And again, I'm, I'm in, if I'm a Steelers fan, first of all, I'm happy because I've been happy for my entire life. But on third and one and fourth in one, it just didn't seem like any of those throws were going to be locks against the way Washington was, playing defense especially in the second half. And I know Ben's super confident in that stuff, but to take the shot down the field with a rookie quarterback, I mean, why didn't he snap it real quickly and throw it out to McFarland before Boste got there? That may have not been the intended throw initially.

Right. It may have been Ben Ben. It may have been Rathlisberger seeing something that was wide open. You mentioned the third and four one-handed catch by Sims. That's the throw that gets him into field goal range for the go-ahead kick. That's big. You know, Hopkins, I'll be honest with you, I was not confident when he came out to kick a 45-yard field goal. I thought there was a good chance that he would, you know, push it and Pittsburgh would take over, you know, in a 17-17 game.

But he came up big. And, you know, in many ways, it's sort of like you think about the Ron Rivera decisions this year. You know, some of them mystifying early on, but benching Haskins was the right call, should have done it earlier. You know, he, people wanted Hopkins replaced. I did not want him replaced, but I wanted some competition. But Hopkins came through for him, you know, in that spot. You know, you think about some of the decisions that they made in the offseason. They had a good off season.

Look at the players, Logan Thomas and J.D. McKissick and the drafting of Gibson. and, you know, it's really, it's been a good, you know, season for the staff after, you know, a disheveled first four, five, six weeks. And again, he's fighting cancer at that time. And then, of course, Sweets' third deflection of the game that turns into the Bostic interception. Was he not just amazing? He was amazing.

All but sealed. He's a pro bowler. He's having next time of year. He's going to make the pro bowl this year. Um, on my list. So those are the plays that I thought were just, you. you know, incredibly influential. But I would put at the top of the list,

the third and 14 early in the third quarter, and the fumble recovery by Logan Thomas, is the two games that most impacted the outcome of this game. Logan Thomas, best game, not even close, nine catches, 98 yards, tough catches, incredible yards after catch catches. The play on third and 13 obviously should have been a first down, and what an effort that was.

and how that was not overturned with the challenge. I don't get it. But the 15-yard touchdown catch that tied it, the 30-yard catch that set up their first touchdown, the massive recovery of the fumble. I thought it looked like he was blocking well-cooly. I thought this was an A-to-A-plus game for Logan Thomas, especially when you consider Gibson's out.

McLaurin may not have been totally healthy, and they were taking him out of the game. Pittsburgh was. And you needed guys, like Logan Thomas and J.D. McKissick and Cam Sims to step up. I thought Logan Thomas really gave us, you know, a glimpse of what they may have in him, you know, and these guys that were former quarterbacks and maybe basketball players with some real coordination and hands and feel, he seems to have some of that. Alex Smith is on my list. You know, I just, I thought Cooley and you

didn't mention this. I thought early on that he was jumpy, that he was a bit skittish at the pass rush that sometimes was imagined, sometimes it was real. I thought it was causing some issues where he was hitting a checkdown too early, or even in one particular case, it looked like he threw to the checkdown that really was not the checkdown that he should have thrown to. It looked there were two checkdowns on the play. He looked like a quarterback who was facing a great defense and knew it and was feeling it in the first half. Now, part of, and this is what drove me nuts, and this happens every week. And it's one of the reasons I don't tweet a lot during the game and I don't respond on Twitter.

And I'm not trying to be above at all. I'm not. But so many of you just get completely sideways. It's two drives into the game. This is who he is. This is the reality check. This is what they are. They're not very good offensively.

It was all about the competition. I'm like, you know, they're going to go ahead and play the rest of the game anyway. You know, there's still eight minutes left in the first quarter. They're not just going to stop the game. And, you know, one of the issues was they had terrible field position in the first half. Terrible field position. They had a drive that started from their own 14. They had a drive that started from their own one after the stop on the four downs or the six plays.

They had a drive that started from their own nine-yard line. And by the way, they're playing a really good defensive football team. You know, this is a long game. And what kept me into it and thinking that it was far from a done deal was this is the kind of game where if you're playing maybe the Chiefs or if you're playing maybe the Chiefs or if you're you have a bad defense and you're down 17 nothing instead of 7 to nothing or 14 nothing. But defensively, there was always going to be enough stops and enough possessions offensively. And it's like you just need a player or two to loosen it up.

And I did think early on that he's going to have to push the ball down the field one of these times. And it may be a risk play. But they're going to have to loosen it up because Pittsburgh's playing very tight coverage. and, you know, running the football, Gibson had the one run, but I don't think they were going to make a day of it running the football with or without Gibson. But I did think, as mentioned, I did think that Alex Smith was a bit jumpy, early, and inaccurate, and then in the second half. And really, he got into a rhythm when they got some field position at the end of the first half.

But in the second half, the dude 16 to 24, 174 yards, after taking three sacks in the first half, none in the second. No turnovers for the entire game, none in the second. Three scoring drives, 17 crucial points. They added the final three after the interception by Bostic. And he hit on some throws where he was getting absolutely hammered right after the release. The deep throw to Logan Thomas that set up the first touchdown, he gets crushed. The throw to Sims, by the way, that was underthrown where Sims was open

down the seam, Cooley, that was the play where he took the cleats to the leg. And we haven't even talked about that, you know, the blood. I mean, first of all, my initial reaction was, oh, my God. And then Burkhart did a nice job, or Moose did a nice job of immediately saying, hey, guys, it's not that leg. It's the other leg. But still, to see Alex Smith out there with blood, you know, Blood-soaked sock was troubling, and all they did was tape it up.

I asked JP. Yeah, you would be concerned that it would be something with the bad leg. But once you see that it's a cleat, that happens all the time. Yeah. JP, I talked to him this morning, he said he did not think it had to be stitched up, that it was just cut and just bleeding, you know. It's hard for a cleat to go that deep. Yeah.

So I just thought Smith was big. The throat of Sims that I was mentioned. was that play. I thought, you know, he had four balls dropped on him, including Terry McLorne, who I thought had two drops. I thought the deep one in the first half, an elite receiver, makes that grab. That ball was not poorly thrown. I would agree with you.

The couple Terry drops were not bad drops. They were tough balls to catch, but that's Terry McLaren. That's why the best receivers in the league make those catches. McKissick was, as we've said all year, He is a weapon. He is a versatile weapon. He is not the runner necessarily that Gibson is, certainly not from a power standpoint, but as a versatile pass catcher, 10 catches 70 yards, almost all of them coming in the second half. We've loved this player since early in the season. And without him yesterday, they don't win the game. I just don't know who replaces his ability to get open to make the catch and then to make yards out. after the catch. You really got to give me a couple. You've mentioned Logan Thomas, J.D. McKissick.

We keep, like, those are Kyle Smith guys, man. Yeah. Those are scouting department fines. I really are. I thought, you got to give him credit. I mean, yeah. And the drafting, too, of Gibson and McLaur in the year before. By the way, the Montez Sweat pick, which you know I loved,

and I would have made that pick, you know, at the Haskins spot, They wanted sweat. They wanted him there, and they traded back in the first run to get him after Dan made him take Haskins early on. And that's paying off after a year last year where he did look awkward at times and uncomfortable. But I guess if you're dropping into coverage as much as he is, I mean, how stupid? Seriously, was the team last year to have sweat in coverage as much as they did? I mean, this guy's length alone as a pass rusher and the ability to disrupt a passing lane and disrupt a passer.

It's just, it's insane to me. He had a great tackle on a draw, too, and a third and ten draw. You just swallowed people. I thought Payne and Allen were outstanding in this game. Very good. I thought Chase Young was, you know, incredible in this game. You know, people always look at these sacks.

That game was about disrupting the passer. Ben had seven balls dropped. Don't get me wrong. But he had 20 total incompletions in a game. That's a lot of incompletions in a game. And you had four back. added and deflected balls three by sweat. You had moments where Chase Young, I know, made Ben come off of a receiver because he was

right in the passing lane. I thought the O line did a pretty decent job. You know, that's a great defense. And there was some pressure early, and Alex took a beating. But, you know, I thought they did a good job. I also, coolly, I'd love to see the numbers on what they are in empty set with five, with receivers spread across the board five wide. Because I think that they are very, very high percentage, big plays out of empty set.

They get matchups, especially with McKissick and McLaurin, that Alex immediately identifies and it forces the ball to come out immediately. I love them in that empty set. They've been in that a lot with Scott Turner this year, with Alex in particular. I think it works for them. And like you said, just the resilience and the comeback ability. I mean, think about this. You know, Alex Smith is not supposed to be, you know, based on 2018, all right, the quarterback that leads comebacks.

That's always been the criticism. At the Giants, down 13-3, they got a chance to win the game. That was Kyle Allen. Sorry, sorry. At home against the Giants, down 20 to 3, they've got two chances with the ball down 23-20 after they roar back to cut it to 3. At Detroit, they come back and tie that game at 27-27, down 24 to 3. And then yesterday at Pittsburgh, down 14, nothing with nothing going.

They come back and they win the game. This is really, this is a compliment to everybody. The quarterback, the playmakers, which, you know, I think that's been the biggest, the biggest reveal of this season answers the biggest, like, question mark or concern, and that is there are weapons offensively. They have weapons. They're not the best weapons in the league. It's not Kelsey and Hill, all right?

But these are average to slightly above average support around the quarterback at the skilled position players. The list of things that I didn't like. So there was that stretch. Sims Jr. drops the third and seven. That's a 20-yard play. I mean, that's a play to get him out from deep in their own territory. Games still scoreless, moves the sticks.

Instead, they've got a punt. The next plays the punt were sprinkle right there to recover, and he doesn't. Just a killer play. And Pittsburgh ends up scoring on the next drive. We've already talked about the baffling replay review result. To me, that's just a phenomenal play by Logan Thomas, and that should have been a first down.

We've already talked about, you know, We killed Inman on the whiff on the key block on the fourth and one. By the way, that's a big risk, you know, in a 7-0 game deep in your own territory, your own 34-yard line. And he's been, he was very, it was, I loved his answer, Rivera's answer. He goes, they bailed me out because they got the stop, you know, the fourth and the goal line stand after that. Because he goes, I probably shouldn't have made that decision. No, I like the decision.

I'm with you on that coolly. How about Inman doesn't watch local. Thomas and instead focuses on the block that he's supposed to make. I'll tell you a play I hate it. When they were in field goal range at 17-17, after the third and four to Sims, they threw a bubble screen into traffic with about two and a half minutes to go in the game. That looked like a disastrous potential play. Sims makes a really good catch.

It ends up in a two-yard loss. That was maybe the call that I could not stand the most to me. You know, they're playing, you can see they're playing press coverage. Okay, are you going to bust the bubble like you did third and 14 deep in your own territory? And maybe you get a touchdown. And they've used a lot of that. But that wasn't a third down play. And that, to me, was a dangerous throw.

I also, as great as Sims was, before the field goal and before the two-minute warning, he flat out dropped a ball that would have gotten him eight more yards. and would have forced either the third and final time out for Pittsburgh or would have got it to the two-minute warning. Couldn't adjust his hands. It was weird. It was weird. That replay showed a guy they couldn't figure out the hands part.

And meantime, this is moments after he had made the third and forecatch. You mentioned that you thought the tackling was good. This was a big key yesterday for both of us. I thought the first half tackling in space was not good. And you came back and you said, Fuller. was not good as a tackler. And I totally agree with that. I thought that they really, and I thought special teams-wise, they didn't tackle well either. The coverage was too soft in the first half. You know, Pittsburgh converted a third and 12, a third and six, a third and seven, all against

soft coverage. So that seemed to be a second half adjustment. The penalties, you know, nine for 62 yards. That's a lot of penalties and a lot of penalty yardage. You know, by the way, we were back to Morgan Moses with false starts that weren't called. He had three of them. It looked like he got called on one and I think there were two others that he must either be timing it perfectly or they're just missing it. It's weird over the years with Moses how they missed that. He hasn't done that all season. You're right. Now, T.J. Wad will make you do it, right? I guess so. A, couple of other quick just observations. There's something that bothers me about Danny Johnson on kickoff returns. And first of all, I think he does a pretty good job when he gets returns. What bothers you,

Kevin? What bothers me is I think he's either not wanting to return these kicks or he's being instructed to let the ball go in. We wanted it at the 25-yard line. We don't want a kick-off return. We don't want a penalty. We don't want to start at our own 15 or our own 10. And I understand that, and if that's the case, it's not on him. But do you know how many balls are coming up short of the goal line that he's letting bounce over the

last couple of weeks? Am I right? If you're going to let him bounce, like fill them on the one hop. I think this, I think Pittsburgh had one that they filled it on a one hop and took out to like the 40. Yeah, that was a bad kickoff by Hopkins. He said that he that was not intended,

that he basically yoked it a little bit instead of trying to drive it out of the end zone, which was the play. That was at 1717, and that gave them the ball at the 40-yard line, 39-yard line. But Danny Johnson, like, to me, is a pretty good returner. Like, we've seen some good returns. We saw one of them last night. If the ball's coming down, you know, inside the three-yard line, it's going to land there, how about field it and run it out rather than letting it hit and hoping it goes into the end zone?

Last night, the one that he returned, or one of them that he returned, hit and it didn't go into the end zone, and he was forced to pick it up, and he got a late start on the return. What do you think? Do you think that they want to just, they just want the ball at the 25? Which, by the way, I'm not sure exactly what they think on that, because I will say this, Danny Johnson's had more returns out past the 30 than I think anybody's had in a while.

I agree. I don't think he's a bad returner at all. But it seems like either he doesn't want it, or they're instructing him, you know, look, unless it's definitely going to come down short, like at the 5 or 10 yard line, let that thing hit and hopefully it goes into the end zone, and then we won't get a penalty and we can start at the 25. We feel good. We'll take, we're not going to take what's behind door number two.

We'll take what we can see in your hand, which is the ball to 25-yard line. Maybe, I mean, those one-hop bounces are, they're awesome for returns because they're so many times that the defense or the other side of the special teams unit doesn't play that right. They get out of lanes on those bounces. Yeah, I don't know. You know, if Gibson's out for any length of time, you know, Bryce Love apparently is not available. Javon Leek is the only player on their practice squad. This was the guy from Maryland that, you know, I had reached out to you earlier in the season and I said he's available.

I think we should sign him and use him as a kickoff returner at the very least. I was looking to see what they had. They don't have, you know, Bryce Love apparently is not coming off, you know, I are. And JP said to me this morning, he goes, I don't think, I think his career is over. I think that they think he's never going to get back to where they hoped he would get back to. That's a shame. But I would take Javon Leak, and I would use him as a kickoff returner first.

It's weird that he's on that practice squad. It's weird how that happened. And after I suggested that I would sign Javan Lee. You suggested to me that you really like Javon Leak and then he's on that team. I mean, that seems really strange to me. I wonder how that happened. Would this be similar to when I suggested to you that I think Alfred Morris prefers to have the ball pitch to him? I think it would be incredibly similar to that.

How'd that one work out? Worked out pretty well. Oh, yeah, Javon Leaks definitely one of the guys on our radar, sign him. Kyle Smith Kyle Smith has a really good eye for talent and I'm being serious and God I hope it works out that he's still here

and doesn't. There was an odd interaction last week. I saw that. And Ron Rivera about Kyle Smith. Yeah, it was strange. It was one of those things where Ron has been so positive about every single person in that organization

and everything they've done and then they're asking about J.D. McKissick and Logan Thomas and they said yeah how how's your relationship with Kyle Smith been and he's yeah it's it's good it's all right I don't remember exactly what he said but it was not an endorsement you're right about that I I did not I think I just completely forgot to bring it up but I read the transcript I didn't hear Rivera I just read the transcript and I was like god this doesn't seem like a glowing endorsement of Kyle no it seemed like more like one of those like yeah no I knew about McKissick and Logan Thomas. I know about all these guys. Don't give him the credit.

Okay. I mean, look... That's what it seemed like to me. I think that this guy, Rogers, is a significant, you know, right hand to Rivera in the organization. But let's not forget that there was a lot of discussion that Ron was potentially going to hire a general manager. But coming off of the draft, he said, I was very impressed with the job Kyle did. they didn't hire a general manager. He's got the title VP of ProP, a VP of personnel, right? Isn't that his

official title? Yeah, that's his title. Yeah. That was a weird interaction. He's good at what he does. And Washington football fans, you don't want to see Kyle Smith somewhere else. I hope this... You don't. You don't want him to leave. Yeah, totally

agree with that. All right. What else? It was such a satisfying win. I think on some level being completely objective, the reason the line kept dropping, by the way, it went to six before kickoff, and there was just boatloads of big time sharp money on Washington all week leading up to this game was in part

because they do think Washington's a team that is better than their record reflects. but Pittsburgh had five days after a midweek game. They didn't have a lot of practice time. Rafflesberger barely practiced. They lost Bud Dupree. They didn't have James Connor. They didn't have their kicker. They didn't have their center.

And it was one of those set up games. And by the way, I think that, you know, I think the sharps, somebody keeps tweeting me saying, why do you keep talking about sharks? I don't say sharks, dummy. Sharps. Sharp. I wish you wouldn't have told me that. So I think what they see, too, and what they saw before this game was, you know, a Pittsburgh team that really isn't as good as 11 and 0.

You know, Big Tony, you know, my good friend who's a massive Steelers fan said he thinks Pittsburgh's going to lose three of their next four. He said they got to start pushing the ball down the field and they can't. They play at Buffalo, then at Cincinnati, then they get the Colts and the Browns. You know, the Browns potentially are back into this division race, you know, here. They're two games back now, and they play them at the end of the year, and they play the Ravens Giants' Jets before Steelers, and Pittsburgh, as I mentioned, has, you know, Buffalo, Cincinnati, and then the Colts and the Browns.

Again, the NFL season, it's a long game deal. You know, you cannot. And we make this mistake. all the time. You cannot think you've got it figured out, you know, on Halloween. Because this thing changes dramatically. Buffalo, you were dead right. They last night looked awesome against a defensive team that was getting better and healthier,

and they shredded the 49ers with one of the best quarterback performances of the year that I've watched, Josh Allen. Josh Allen was so good last night. Buffalo's good. Buffalo's really good. That's the... You thought that... Well, the thing was,

is you told me there was a ton of shark money on San Francisco. And... There was a lot of tiger's shark money on San Francisco. There was. He said a lot of shark money on the 49ers. I know. That's why I don't know if I want to bet that game. I...

But I'm a little bit of a shark myself sometimes. Yes, you are. You're becoming one. And you said last night, you went... You know what last night was? This is occasionally I'll get this feeling. of this is an anti-anty-play? Oh, I love the anti-anty.

It's, do you know what? You just reminded me. So, I don't know, six, seven years ago. It was with Zabe. You were with Zabe, but you called me about this. I'll never forget it. It was a USC game. Whatever it was, I can't remember the game.

I just remember you calling me one night. And you said, so we weren't doing the show together at time. And you just said, I'm just curious. does it ever work that it's so obvious, you know, that the public's all on one side, but really it's sort of too obvious, so it is right? And I'm like, yeah, that's the anti-anti. That's the anti-squared. And you had Buffalo on the anti-squared last night.

You said, you know what? All the people thinking the 49ers went from a two-point dog to a one-point favorite, major shark money on the 49ers, all the public money on Buffalo. And you're like, guess what? This is going to be one of those that the public gets right. And you were right. Buffalo was awesome last night. Awesome.

I'm worried about Sunday. San Francisco is now a five and a half point favorite in this game Sunday. That's a lot. That's a lot. That's a lot for two five and seven teams. One of them coming up the biggest win of the year and one of them getting run. Wait a minute. I stand corrected. It's now down to four.

It was at four, four and a half, and I saw it quickly go to five and a half, and now it's back down to four. So that makes me feel much better. Major shark money, maybe, on Washington again. I think the sharks are all on Washington. I think shark tank nation is on Washington. Yeah. All right. You know the problem you have?

What? I'm going to keep doing this and you're going to make it about one more podcast before you go nuts. Yeah, well, you know what? It's going to start driving you crazy. There are a lot of things that are driving me crazy. Well, this one's going to really eat you up. I already know it. Okay, cool, that's enough.

You know what? The net of all this is for the first time and a long time, it's been a while, 2016, 2015, not really 2018. Let's be honest. I mean, you know, that was not going to... Yeah, I mean, if Alex had stayed healthy, they would have been better off than Colt McCoy, Mark Sanchez, and Josh Johnson. I understand that.

Okay, I understand that. But I didn't think that that was a great team. This is... This feels like a team that is ascending. And they might be playing teams that are descending down the stretch here. I don't see one game, 49er Seahawks, Panthers, Eagles that they can't win. right now. Who do you think is going to win the division, Kevin? The Giants still. Because I think

they're also very good right now. They're good. Not very good. I just remember I asked you that yesterday and I was just thinking. Did I tell you that Legler on the radio show yesterday nailed it? He said, you know, Legler is a huge skin skin. And like I said, you know, we, we, I had them on to talk a little bit about Russell Westbrook, but a lot about, you know, Washington as well. And I said, all right, give me a final score and give me a division pick. And he said, I got Washington winning this game, Kev, 23 to 17. I like the Giants to win the division, but I like Washington to win in 2317. He nailed it.

What was yours? Yours was 23 to 13. And mine was 20 to 17, Pittsburgh. So we were really, I mean, we were all on the under, but he hit the underdog and the under. Anyway, we've got plenty of time. Cooley will have some film breakdown this week. Tomorrow, offense, Thursday defense. And then we got some fun games to preview and talk about in December.

It's so good to be a part of it, though. It's awesome to be a part of it. And they get San Francisco and a Kyle Shanahan coach team that will be totally different, Kooley. They're going to try to run the football. They're not going to have 53 throws and 14 runs. They're going to try to run the football, which, by the way, they did last night a little bit against Buffalo.

But it should be an intriguing game. All right. We're going to get Tommy in here next. I will talk to you tomorrow. All right, Kev. Talk to you tomorrow. This will actually be a fun film breakdown for the offense. I'm excited for it.

There's going to be some A. Logan Thompson's going to be an A. I bet Alex Smith is higher. I'm most interested in what Alex did, especially early. Me too. But have a good Tuesday. It seems like a Monday. But have a good Tuesday.

You got it. A brand new kicker. Here's Rockless Burger. Coming here. Tipped in the air. intercepted by Washington. John Bostic picked it out of the air. Sweat knocked it up in the air.

Bostick picked it off. Montez Sweat deflection, John Bostic interception, and that pretty much sealed one of the biggest wins for Washington in the last couple of years. Tommy joins us here to get his thoughts

on the win. I'm just going to tell you, and I'll net it out, I thought it was one of the best wins in years. I think that they have, like you and I've had this conversation before, I don't think their record at 3 and 7 or 4 in 7 was reflective of the kind of team they were becoming. I think they are actually approaching being a good team. And this is going to be the biggest opportunity for this franchise in December in a long time. By the way, they're only a game out of the wild card race now.

too. Wouldn't that be ironic two NFCE teams end up being in the playoffs? Probably won't happen. But there was a lot to like about it. It was a crazy game. What were your thoughts? What's your reaction to it? Well, you were right. You were more right than I was about them. That they are rounding up to be a good team. And there was a lot to like about, like you said, one of the biggest wins in a few years. I said it was a signature win for Ron Rivera, one of those defining wins early in your tenure that a coach can have. And it was the biggest win of Alex Smith's time in a Washington uniform, wouldn't you say? Definitely. I haven't even mentioned that, but that's a great point. By far and away, the biggest win for him in his, what, 14 starts, 13 starts, whatever it is, yes. Yeah, the six

wins he had in, you know, two years ago, none of them rival this. Not even close. No, there's so many things. I mean, going on the road, playing an undefeated team that was heavily favored, and you spot them a 14-0-0 lead. I mean, that's a tremendous win. And there's nobody that can deny that. And they played well in a lot of areas.

They didn't play well in some areas, but they were, they were so good. in other areas that they managed to overcome it. The biggest thing that they overcame was losing Antonio Gibson early. I mean, he's their second best offensive player behind Terry McLaren. And to lose him like that and to still be able to generate that kind of offense

speaks to almost everything that Ron Rivera has built so far. I mean, from the front office, having guys signing guys like McKissick and guys like Logan Thomas when you know people like myself included were saying why don't you spend the money on a big name tight end like Cooper right the guy who's you know or somebody like that uh I mean and and Alex Smith he seems to have found a second life in this Scott Turner offense ironically It may be the best offense that he's played in, certainly since his days of Andy Reed. It may be even better suited for him at this point.

So there was, I mean, the team played hard. There were some tackling issues early in the game, particularly in the secondary, that you didn't see against in Dallas in the Dallas game. but that that front four is so powerful and we played so well that they were able to overcome a lot of that. The goal line stand was basically, you know, Mike Tomlin saying, we don't think you can score on us. So we're going to try it here. And if you stop us, we'll get the ball back and score, which they did, you know, ultimately, right? They did is what happened. Yeah, no, they did. Sims Jr. dropped a third and seven, and then they had to punt, and Pittsburgh did score.

That was when then you had the Jeremy Sprinkle not being able to recover the fumble, and they ended up scoring on that next drive to make it 14-0-0. So I think you were right. I think they are more than a team that's playing well. I think they're rounding into a good team, and I think anything is possible right now for the rest of the season. What does that mean? What does that mean? In other words, they can beat the 49ers. They can beat the Seahawks. They can beat the Panthers. Do I think they will?

I don't know. But now I think they can. Right. And then what? Keep going. And then they beat the – they trounce the Eagles who are – who are a franchise

that are going to be at the bottom of the heap of this division. All right. So you got them at 9 and 7. So then what? No, I don't have it at 9 and 7. I said they're capable of – Okay. of being nine and seven.

What if they make the playoffs with whatever they're capable of? Then what? Depends on who they play. Cooley and I started off by having this debate discussion about, you know, are there limitations on this team right now? And he doesn't think there are. He said it's the first team since 2012 that you get to this portion of the calendar and you don't put limits on them because they're playing. well. They're resilient. The quarterback's playing well. The defense is good and getting better. And, you know, who couldn't they beat once they get there? He's like, you don't think they can beat Seattle?

You don't think they can be Green Bay. I don't think they could be Green Bay. I don't think they could be Kansas City if they got there. I don't. But it led to a conversation. I do think he's right. because I remember, you know, in 2012, I remember thinking, you know, they get into this thing. They're going to be really difficult to deal with. And they were up 14-0-0 in the wildcard game, you know, before Griffin got hurt. And they would have gone to Atlanta and they would have had a chance there. I always said that I think they would have lost a candlestick to the 49ers that year in the NFC title game. But I think they could have gotten there had Griffin been healthy.

The 2015 and 2016 teams, you know, were certainly capable offensive. but they were horrible defensive teams, horrible defensive teams. This team is a good defensive team, if not better than good. It's got a veteran quarterback. It's well coached. And this guy, you know, you mentioned, and I think Cooley and I talked about this, you know, he's made a lot of moves here that have really paid off. Yes.

And you have to look, I mean, I don't know who's responsible for Logan Thomas and McKissick. But Ron Rivera has the responsibility of personnel. He's the top dog. Even if Kyle Smith is the de facto general manager, so to speak. So, I mean, he would get the blame, so he should get the credit for making some wise offseason decisions and build. The offensive line, I'm shocked and surprised at how well the offensive line has played.

I think we're finding out that this guy, John Matts, can really coach up on an offensive line. I thought it played well yesterday, too. I think Scott Turner's really proving to be a guy that knows what he's doing. And their weapons are just, look, the two biggest surprises of the year, I think we talked about this last week, that Alex Smith played, and then beyond that has played well. But really, that they have weapons offensively. And we didn't know that they, my position in August was, I don't know that they don't have any weapons, but I certainly don't know that they do.

You know, I'm bullish on Terry McLorn, but I liked to McKissick and I liked the signing, but I didn't know what Antonio Gibson would be. I didn't know what Logan Thomas would be. I had no idea Cam Sims would develop into a potential legitimate number two receiver. You know, your Gibson comment, and I said this to Cooley, it's funny because I think I'm definitely in the minority on this. When he got hurt, I think a lot of people said, oh, we can't win. I didn't feel that way at all. They have other ways to move the football. And McKissick's a big part of that.

Now, are they going to miss him? Of course. He's really played well. And yes, you could absolutely make the case. He's their second best offensive skill position player behind Terry McLaurin. But they have moved the ball with Jess McKissick back there. They've moved the ball with Barber back there. I did think it was huge to see without McClorn, maybe at full health,

and with McLorn being in many ways taken out of the game by Pittsburgh's defense, it was really encouraging with Gibson out that with McKissick and Logan Thomas and Cam Sims, you know, they were able to come back. And Tommy, how about that as a story, right? Like, what did we always, what did we say in 2018? Not just us. I know. Alex Smith.

He's not capable of doing this. You get up 14-0-0 on an Alex-Smith. It's over. It was in 2018. Yeah. It was over. And this year, down 20 to 3 against the Giants. He comes back and they've got a chance to win that game at the end.

At Detroit down 24 to 3, they come back to have the game tied late. And yesterday down 14-0 and they score 23 of the game's final 26 points. It's, it's, yeah, I, I agree. They're capable of anything the rest of the schedule if they can keep Alex Smith upright and healthy. You know, somebody, and I know you think I'm a simple mind when it comes to this, but this is the reality. Somebody is going to figure out at some point the rest of the season that it doesn't matter what it costs us defensively. We have to get Alex Smith. Well, they put a hurting on him last night.

Early they did. How about the bloody sock? I know. I know. What happened there? Did his leg just first? No, no, it was a cleat. A cleat.

And he got cut. Apparently not a stitched up cut. But Cooley said, you know, with cleats, that happens a lot to a lot of players during games. And it wasn't the leg. It was the other leg. Right. Right.

It was the other leg. But I just think. You know, at some point, a team's going to say, well, we can't, we can't let them sit back there and pick us apart for 60 minutes. We're going to have to suck it up. And if he beats us on a couple of plays, but we're going to have to come after him. You know, and the Steelers did early, and then they stopped. I don't know if that was because of what Washington did. But the pressure they put on hit early, they weren't able to generate that later on, whether by choice or by,

by design by the Washington offense, but somebody's going to figure that out at some point. Maybe the 49ers. I want to very much, by the way, did you see the post story that got dropped in the middle of the game? Yes, I did. And I think we can talk about this more on Thursday. I made a point of like on a day like today.

No, you got to enjoy this game. You got to enjoy this. Absolutely. I mean, look, if you're a Washington fan, this is as good as it's been for a while. Let me just ask one question. And for those that don't know what I'm talking about, literally in the middle of the game, the post dropped a story about an NFL investigation uncovering a confidential settlement,

which it's a little bit vague in the story about whether or not the settlements with Snyder or with Snyder's former general counsel, David Donovan. I knew David when he worked for the organization. And, you know, look, Barry's Verluga is one of my favorites, you know, at that paper. And I don't necessarily have a ton of favorites from that paper, but he is definitely one of them. And, you know, he tweeted out in the fourth quarter. The Washington football team's in the fourth quarter of a tight game against the NFL's only unbeaten team. And yet the overarching issues around the franchise continue to pop up.

We can talk about this in more detail on Thursday. But just real quickly, what do you make of them dropping that story right in the middle of the game? Well, I don't know. What do you mean you don't know? Just give me the quick reaction. Okay. My simple reaction, having been in newsrooms, saying they finally figured out the story was ready to go and they sent it out. Okay.

And they didn't want to get beat to the punch? You just, you don't sit on stories if you're smart. If you think you've got the best you're going to get, you put it out there. Okay. And since you don't have to wait to be published the next day, you put it out there immediately. Fair enough. I could be something as simple as that.

Okay, fair enough. You know, I don't want to focus on the big picture and some of the big picture thoughts that I have about the football team right now, but I do want to get to one, which I will get to right after I tell you about my bookie because it's the most wonderful time of the year, Tommy. And that can't end soon enough. We all deserve a win. We all deserve a little extra money in our pocket.

and we all deserve to have a little fun. The only place you're guaranteed to get all three of those is My Bookie. They're the only sports book that doesn't care whether you were naughty or nice this year. They've got gifts for everybody. Bet the NFL, bet the NBA, which starts up in a couple of weeks, all of your favorite college sports and more. Sign up today and receive the ultimate stocking stuffer, a 50% deposit bonus up to $1,000.

Hey, guys, seriously, if you've already got a place that you're wagering, just go sign up at MyBooky, use my promo code, Kevin D, see and get the 50% deposit bonus and at least use my bookie as a comparison, you know, line shopping opportunity, like to get a better point spread, to get a better money line, to get a better price. I mean, most guys that do this and do this a lot have more than one spot. And if you're never, if you don't have a place or you've never wagered, but you want to, you can trust my bookie.

It's simple. sign up right now, enter my promo code, Kevin D.C. Get your deposit matched halfway up to $1,000. You deposit $500, you'll get an extra $250. You deposit $1,000, you'll get an extra $500 to play with. Head over to My Bookie to make the most out of the holidays this year and strut into 2021 with cash in your pocket. This winter, bet with the best, bet with my bookie. So I will end it on this today because I was thinking about you sort of as I was trying not to get carried away with how excited I was last night. I haven't been excited in a long time. Like I really haven't.

And you know me and you've known me for a long time and you know how much this used to matter to me. And whether it's age or whether it's just what we've had to endure over the years as a fan base, It's just not the same anymore. I've said that before. I don't have the same level of passion that I used to have. But last night was different because I've felt sort of like the Marty year. You know, the Marty year came off that embarrassment of 2000. Now, we had very little experience with Snyder at that point.

We had no idea how bad it was about to get, you know, over a two-decade-plus period. Yeah. But I'll never forget feeling, because remember, in 2001, it had been nine years since they had been to the postseason. You know, they were in the postseason and the 92 season, 92, 93 was their defending championship year. They hadn't been back to the playoffs. That's not true, my fault, 99 with Norv.

They went to the playoffs. And they won the playoff game against Detroit before losing to Tampa. But they really hadn't been, they had fallen a long way from the Gibbs years. You know, they really had. And when they hired Schottheimer, I'm like, something's going on here. something is going on. He is not paying attention to some of these guys that don't want to do it the coach's way anymore.

There's a culture change going on. He told this young owner that he could take Jeff George and shove it up his ass, basically. He told the young owner that this- Why would you bring this up? Because I really have this feeling right now that the, God, you never let me finish on these things. Well, because why would you bring this up? How did that end? I, can you let me get through this?

Go ahead. Have a part. I remember thinking, you know what? There's a big culture change. He told Fred Drasner, get that freaking parking spot. That's for my coaching staff. He said, he said, take Vinnie Serrado and ship them back to Notre Dame. Oh, my God.

And, you know, Rivera is not the authoritarian that Marty was. He's not the dictator that Marty was. but there is a there's a certain level of grown-upness to him and this has got a chance and it's got maybe more of a chance this time than ever before because of all of the shit that the owner is going through right now and the possibility that he's not even the owner in the next couple of years. Tommy, I love what's going on here. They need, they're going to have to get the long-term quarterback answered. We know that. Marty had Tony Banks and Kent Graham. He knew that they had to go get a quarterback, obviously. But I think this is, if they, if he leaves this group alone,

and I went, Coolly and I were just talking about Kyle Smith, you know, there were these very cryptic almost you know very almost non-supporting comments from Rivera about Kyle Smith last week we didn't touch on that did you do you remember what what you heard

no I don't remember that you go back and look at it I want Kyle Smith to stay I think he's sharp but maybe Ron's got his own guy in mind who knows but I like where this thing's going that's a big picture thing but right now in the moment I really like where they are right now I think I think they

I think they could run the table here. I don't see them winning any less than two games to finish seven and nine, any less. And it would surprise me at this point if they lost three, and maybe even would surprise me if they don't win at least three of the final four. I think they can beat the Panthers and the Eagles and win one of these next two against the 49ers or the Seahawks, and that would put them at eight and eight. You know what that would be in the running for, Tommy? If they make the postseason, coach of the year.

Mm-hmm. That's good. All right, go ahead. I can't believe you did this. I mean, how did that end? Huh? You think this is going to be different? Let me tell you something.

In 2010, at the end, Mike Shanahan's first year? Remember? I was the same way, wasn't I? felt the same way. I went back and looked at 2010. Of the 10 losses they had in that 6 and 10 season, six were by four points or less. They were so close.

And that was with McNabb, and he couldn't stand McNabb. Yes. And what happened there? I know. I know. I mean, and to discount the owner,

there's only one scenario where the owner is not a mitigating factor in this. And that is whether when if he's driven out. Okay. Because let's say he's not driven out. Right. He'll probably be punished. And that means the team will be punished.

And just like the salary cap penalty put handcuffs on Mike Shanahan, whatever penalty the NFL decides to put on Dan Snyder, short of banishment, it's going to hurt Ron Rivera and what he's trying to do here. I'm not ignoring that. You've weren't, I'm not ignoring any of that. I know it's all, I know it's all. Just enjoy this. I tell you what, you can even enjoy next season.

Because I think if Alex Smith is healthy, he's the starting quarterback next season. And I think they can be good next year too. Yeah. Okay, so I think you're looking at a season and a half of maybe fun. And just leave it at that. It reminds me, and I mentioned this on the radio this morning. And I'm glad I saved it for you. you know, it's been pretty much miserable for all of us for a long time.

We've had to endure a hell of a lot as a fan base. You're not a fan, I am. Last night didn't erase any of the last part of the 21 years. I mean, I lived through the era, as I told Cooley earlier, where five to six of these wins a year was the norm. Feeling this way five to six times a year, like big win, you know, was a norm to feel it four or five, six times a year. for two plus decades.

But, you know, as we often do, we refer back to our favorite sitcom of all time, the office. It's what Kevin Malone once said when he said, you know, it's just nice to get a win every once in a while. And I think last night I was like, God, that really felt good. It's been a long time. It's been a long time since you felt relevant. and you felt like, wow, that was really an important win. That thing mattered. And look, I'm not naive enough to think about to ignore your general surgeon,

you know, your surgeon general's warning, or to think that, you know, it couldn't go south here in the next couple of weeks. But this was a measuring stick game in so many ways. You know, this was the first one against a really good defense and a really good team, even if you don't think they're the best team. And I don't, even though they had the best record. and they were in a bind and they came back and there was just a lot that we've seen over the last seven weeks that all came together and they got it done. And now, you know, we got a December that matters.

I mean, it's been a long time. We're December 13th, the game against the 49ers, which by the way has wild card implications too. You know, you had December games that mattered with Jay Gruden. Yeah, in 2015 and 2016. Yeah. That's not that far away. It's not like another century. Four years ago.

I know. You know? And like Cooley said, and I think it's true, I think with those teams, like I was, I was into those teams, obviously, because offensively they were good. And I'm like, you know, finally, they finally have a quarterback that they can have for the next 10 years that's going to be top half of the league quarterback and they can win with it. They put a really good team around them. They were so bad defensively in 2016 and 2016. So bad. This team is not limited.

defensively at all, at all. And they're far better, and they're better coached. And they're better coached. They're better coached. You know, let me just finish with this. Okay. And we talked about this early, when Ron Rivera first took over, and I wrote a column about this.

This is, this is, this could be the opportunity to have, for Ron Rivera to have his Joe Torrey moment to get, to have a successful first season. so wildly successful. Let's say they go 9 and 7 and win a playoff game. Okay, nobody would have expected that. Nobody would have thought that. And Ron Rivera, who's a very likable, very sympathetic figure, will get all the credit for it.

Yeah. Okay. He could be coach of the year. If they win the division, he could be coach of the year. He could become so powerful among a revived fan base, a limited revived fan base, but still revived to some extent, fan base, that he may be more too powerful for the owner to cross.

Right. Like Tori was with George Steinbrenner. Tori, I mean, Tori got so much credit for that early success of the Yankees that two World Series championships in the first three years. And it used to drive Steinbrenner nuts because he didn't get any of credit. Sure. But he couldn't do anything about it. He couldn't tinker because Tori was so powerful.

this could be Ron Rivera's opportunity to literally be more powerful than the owner, where he could say the owner, you want to fight me on this, you know? Do you know who I am? Right. I'm Ron Rivera. Well, you've always said that the immediate success, which none of Snyder's coaches, with the exception of Norv, they went to the playoffs his first year, but obviously that's not who we wanted. None of the coaches have had early, you know, early success.

Now, Joe didn't matter. Dramatic success like that. By the way, the coach of the year thing, I just looked it up. For whatever reason, I thought there was NFC and AFC coaches of the year. He's not going to win coach of the year. Kevin Stefansky and Cleveland or McDermott and Buffalo more likely than not would win coach of the year. Hell, Mike Tomlin could win Coach of the Year as well. There are too many incredible jobs being done in the AFC.

But in the NFC, if Washington, let's just say, ran the table, went 9 and 7, won the NFC East, you know, with the 9 and 7 record, you're not going to give it. to, you know, Matt Lafleur or Peyton over. I mean, it usually goes to the coach who gets a team into the playoffs, and it's a team that wasn't expected to be in the playoffs. It was like an overachieving job, and that's how it would be perceived. And here's one other thing, if you're a Washington football fan. You don't have, you know, whether you felt the shame or not,

you don't have to defend the name anymore, okay? And the other two things is you have a coach that everybody loves is a sympathetic national figure. And you have a quarterback that everybody loves. So what was your point on the name thing? Well, in other words, whether or not you thought the name was wrong or not, you usually found yourself having to defend it to the rest of the world. Right. Okay.

That's gone. So that restraint is off. Add on to that, your two highest profile faces for the franchise, the quarterback and the coach, are extremely likable. I mean, if you're just an NFL fan, you're going to find yourself rooting for the Washington football team. I think that this, the way they're doing it and if they, because of the, the sympathetic figures and, and the likable figures, and if they're doing it the right way and behave, I say behaving, that makes it sound like I'm, you know, I'm critical of the player's behavior. It's the organization's behavior, which has been so troublesome over the years, so lacking in maturity,

lacking in self-awareness, the whole thing. But, you know, one of the things that I, as a long-time fan, and many who are listening, it wasn't just that we won and won big, which was the most important thing. I'm not minimizing that. But there was a certain level of decorum in class that Joe Gibbs had and those teams had. They were the team that, you know, were, they just went out in one, and you weren't, they weren't teams that, you know, were making their way into sort of pop culture for good or bad reasons. into that. It was just, man, this organ is, it's sort of like the same way I've thought about the Ravens for years, you know? And the Patriots, too, to a certain degree, although they've had obviously some scandals. But the Ravens, what have they done for years? They just win, and they've

got an identity. And sometimes you're not even expecting it. And they just win. And they win big games, and a lot of them over the years. And Gibbs and his group won even more than the Ravens did in terms of Super Bowls, but I think for a lot of the older fan base anyway, it's not that they're just legitimately a good team this year, but there's a chance for them to be good and not embarrassing, you know, moving forward. Yes, yes. Yeah. And that can't be, that's important.

To some, all that matters is winning. And to a certain degree, it's not like, like if they won big, but they were. like the Raiders of the 70s and 80s, I'd still embrace it. I know. But I really enjoyed the way this team won. It was, you know, I use the expression all the time. This organization has made a living out of overpromising and under-delivering. Well, the Gibbs years were all about under-promising and over-delivering consistently.

That's my preference of the teams I root for. I like the teams that keep a low profile and just kick your ass on Sundays and Monday night. and as Bryce Harper would say in Thursdays too. So I like that. And if you can add that to also a consistent, sustainable winner, and the owner isn't a part of it anymore, or he's really, you know, back, you know, really shelved in terms of his influence,

which you don't think could ever happen as long as he owns the team. I think that, you know, by the way, I think the ratings for that game, you know, starting at 5 p.m. and then going into prime time, I think they'll be through the roof locally. I think it'll be a highly rated game. Now, Monday 5 p.m., maybe not. Maybe the start time's going to ruin it. But I bet you that second half was watched by as many people.

Now, the Thanksgiving Day game was the most watched game of the year in the NFL. Skins Cowboys on Thanksgiving. You saw that, right? Ratings-wise. Yes, I did. But I think last night locally probably did a really big number. and now the rest of them, you're going to get people. This is where, you know, it was easy to say, I'm never, dude, I'm done.

I'm done with them. It doesn't matter. I don't give a shit about Rivera or anything. As long as Snyder owns a team, I'm not paying attention. I'm doing other things on Sundays. Well, you know what? I bet you, when they get to the 49er game, 425 on Sunday, a lot of those people are watching. I think a lot of those people.

Yeah, a lot of those people. Okay. You don't think so? No, I think some will be watching. watching. I think a winner or a perceived change of direction and the possibility of winning and getting to the postseason, you know, especially when you get into the colder months and the colder days, because the ratings on these games always get higher as we get into bad weather or colder weather because there's less outdoor activity on weekends. I think it'll do a huge local

number Sunday, huge against the Niners. They're three and a half to four. point favorites now. I just updated that. All right. Thursday, we can talk about some of this other stuff that was put out during the course of the game. And we'll probably have one or two other subjects to discuss, I would imagine. Thank you. Okay, boss. Thank you.

Back tomorrow with Coolie's film breakdown.