The Kevin Sheehan Show - Blown Out By Buffalo

Episode Date: September 25, 2023

Kevin's recap of the ugly 37-3 loss to the Bills starts the show. He gets to Sam Howell's rough day immediately and then has his "game-take". Fred Smoot joined Kevin for the final segment of the show. 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. Bill's fans on their feet making noise on this third down, Howell. And it's intercepted. What a play.

Eponessa is going to go. Their interception for AJ Epinessa, and it's a pick six. That was the fourth and final interception for Sam Howell on a day that he and everybody else would like to forget. But we can't. We saw it, just like we saw last week as well, which makes the conversation about Sam Howell very interesting. 37 to 3, an absolute one-sided beatdown.

I picked Washington to win the game on Friday. I don't do that in terms of especially when they are an underdog and a sizable underdog. remember doing it a few years ago when they played Green Bay at home in week three. Actually, it was the 2018 season with Alex Smith, and I was right about that one. And I think actually on some of these upset picks when I've picked it on Friday, I think I've actually been right more than I've been wrong, or maybe it's split, but I was loud wrong when I said Washington would beat Buffalo 24 to 17 on Friday. That was disturbing, to say the least, a lot coming up here on the show, including, once again,

my expectation is we will have Fred Smoot on the show, and my expectation is on Wednesday, Cooley will have a film breakdown. It was such a great film breakdown of Sam Howell and Eric B. Enemy last week after the Denver game. I would imagine it would be quite different this coming Wednesday. The show is brought to you by our good friends at Wind Donation. Call them at 86690 Nation or go to Windonation.com. Mention my name. You'll get a free estimate.

You've got nothing to lose if you've been thinking about new windows. Get them now before we get into what is forecasted to be a colder than normal winter. You'll save big on your energy bills. 86690 Nation, Windonation.com, mention my name, Kevin Sheehan. More on their current deal coming up on the show a little bit later on.

Okay, so there's so many ways to kind of start the conversation about the game yesterday. But I think the big takeaway before I get to my game take is just how God-awful Sam Howl was. That was an alarming

performance. It was one of the worst starting quarterback performances we have seen not here, but in the league, in many, many years. More on that coming up shortly. I want to read an email that I got from Evan. Evan wrote, Kevin, whatever you do, please do not call for Jacoby Berset on Monday. Sam had one bad day. He deserves a chance to show he can bounce back. That was from Evan. I want to discuss Evan's email because it's another one of those that just is a bit irritating and obnoxious. For starters, you know, deserves what? I mean, why would he deserve anything? You've got to earn the right. I actually think he has earned the right. I think he's played pretty well. at times here in the first two games anyway coming in.

But Evan, you know what you're doing here. You knew that I wasn't going to come in here and call for Jacoby Brissette after one bad Sam Hal game. You know, you are doing what guys like you have been doing for a while now. You know, you're doing this thing where you browbeat anybody that doesn't agree with you, which you've done, Evan, as you've essentially, you know, made the claim that Sam Howe is the franchise quarterback, and why can't you see that? And then when he has a game like he did yesterday, you kind of stay on the offensive,

and you basically go after somebody for overreacting when they haven't even overreacted yet, because I'm not about to overreact. And you know that. You knew that I wasn't going to come in here. and call for Jacoby Brissette. You knew when you sent that email that that wasn't going to happen. But anyway, it's kind of your move, diverting the attention from the fact that this isn't going to be easy.

It's not going to be as easy as you thought it would be. He's not Joe Montana. He's not Patrick Mahomes. You thought it was going to be super easy with Wentz, and why couldn't we see that? You thought all along, Okay, Taylor is clearly the guy. You were wrong.

Just stop. And people like you, stop. We need to just take a deep breath now. I know I've gone down this route a couple of times because it's just obnoxious and tiring. Take a deep breath and say to yourself, it's okay that I don't know. We don't know.

We haven't known. and we don't know yet. There are some of you that said after last week, finally, we've got our franchise quarterback. Relax. Those of you saying now, hey, this guy's horrendous, I tried to tell you, relax. As bad as yesterday was, it was not the answer key on Sam Hal isn't the guy.

Just like last week in Denver was not the answer key that Sam Hal was the guy. some of you were convinced after the Dallas game last year. Some of you, bless your hearts, were convinced after the Baltimore preseason game. You know, you had seen all you needed to see. No, no, we need to see so much more. Nobody's seen enough of Sam Howell to know anything at this point for sure. He might be the answer. He also might not be.

You know, here's the thing, though, after three games. If it was clear that he didn't have any ability at all, it might be a little bit closer to that point where you say, yeah, I don't see anything. But last week, we saw a lot. Saw a lot at times in the Arizona game. It wasn't a great game. But he has shown the ability.

Now what we need to see is we need to see the process of whether or not that ability can turn into starting NFL caliber quarterbacking. From my seat as I see it today, that process should continue. Evan, I'm not calling for Jacoby Brissette after yesterday, and you knew I wouldn't. It's really hard to find a quarterback in the NFL. It's not as easy as some of you think. Some of you really wanted to declare him, you know, the guy after the Dallas game last year, after the preseason, after the first couple of games this year, instead of understanding, as some of us have been talking about all offseason long, it's an inexperienced quarterback. This is not going to be a rocket ship to the moon. This is going to be a roller coaster ride in a best case, really.

The overwhelming majority of guys that get a chance like Sam's getting don't make it. I'm not even talking. about his draft status, the guys with the most perceived talent and the loftiest of draft status, most of them don't make it. It's the hardest position in sports to play, and it's the hardest position in sports to find someone who can play. Nobody has it figured out yet on Sam. And if you think you do have it figured out, you're wrong, because they don't even have it figured out. The coaches, the general managers, all of them. None of them know, and they're with them every day. I just, the weekly declarations of how much you think you know about Sam Howe and get on board or get out this constant drumbeat of you're wrong and we're right,

like if you're not on board with Carson Wentz, if you're not on board with Taylor Heineke, if you're not on board with Sam Howeke, if you're not on board with Sam Hal, get out. It's obnoxious. It's tiresome. It's exhausting. You know, we don't know, and it's okay to say we don't know. And by the way, on the flip side, for those of you that have said at times, I know he's John Beck, he's Taylor Heineke. He's not the answer. You need to stop too. Now, I have found that it's the people that are the believers, more than the non-believers, who are the most obnoxious. My personal experience. It's okay to say, you don't know. It's totally reasonable to accept those who say, after three starts, I don't know.

That's the reasonable position to have right now. His game yesterday was atrocious. It was. You know, it was Patrick R. Ramsey-esque. Ramsey had a game early in his career. Seven sacks, four picks. But we know that Spurrier had no desire to protect him and didn't know how to do it at the pro level. I mentioned a couple of examples this morning of just, you know, a lot of you know these. Peyton Manning started off his career, 11 picks, 11 sacks in his first four games. Okay. If you're looking for something slightly more,

realistic in terms of comps, and maybe this next one isn't. Daniel Jones, some of you actually have said, maybe he can become Daniel Jones. Well, he's not six foot five. So let's just remember that. And he's not nearly his athletic or fast. He's athletic, though. He is. But Daniel Jones had an eight-sack three-turnover game in his, I think it was his fifth start as a rookie. He's turned into a bona fide NFL starting quarterback. You can debate how good of a starting quarterback he is, but he's a starter in the league who played very well last year and has been paid. Sam Aylinger on the flip side last year, remember, we faced him in Indy and barely eeked out a 17 to 16 win. Ealinger last year in his second year, you know, a late day three quarterback, similar to Sam,

had an eight-sack two turnover game, and now he's a third stringer in his third stringer. season. You know, sitting behind Minchew and Richardson. Colts beat the Ravens yesterday. What a day that was yesterday. More than that coming up in the final segment of the show. But the point is, maybe he's headed to Daniel Jones after a terrible game like yesterday, or maybe he's headed to Sam Ealinger. We don't know where this is going. You know who had a four-pick game early in his career for this franchise? I already mentioned Patrick Ramsey's seven-sack four-pick. game. My guy, Kirk, you know who? Can't say his name? Kirk. Back in 2014, he threw for four 27 and three touchdowns against the Eagles, and then in the next game, one of his first starts,

now he'd started some games at the end of 2013, but in one of his first few starts with Jay Gruden, on a Thursday night, he threw four interceptions and a 45 to 14 loss to the Giants. It was a blowout loss. It was hideous. And we know what he's turned out to be. That was a bad ending to their game yesterday, but we'll get to that when we go around the NFL. Sam had a great game last week.

He had an awful game yesterday. This is what unproven, inexperienced quarterbacks typically live through if they get the chance to play at all. You know, except for Patrick Mahomes and a few others, It takes time. It's a roller coaster ride. I would make a recommendation to everybody. Take it for what it's worth.

Okay? I'm not lecturing here. I'm not telling you to jump on board or get out. I'm just recommending, let's just give it some time. Doesn't mean we can't have conversations about these games week in and week out. That's fun. I love doing that. But with respect to big picture with Sam, let's give it some time.

We don't need to know today. You know, Dan's gone. That's the thing that will carry us through this season. Even on a day like yesterday where Buffalo Bills fans took over the stadium and they got beat 37 to 3, and it felt like it used to feel. Look, at least we've gotten experience with days like yesterday. And hopefully they will be fewer and fewer to come in the future now that Dan is gone. That's the big win. That's what we really needed this year and beyond this year. Of course it would be nice to find out sooner rather than later that we have a franchise quarterback to add to the good news that Dan is gone, but you're going to have to give that some time. And when I say time, I'm not talking about forever.

You know my position before the season started. There's no way I was going into 2023 thinking that Sam Howe was going to get 17 games, nor would I have been in favor of that. but it's a little bit different after what I've seen the first three weeks. He was really good last week in Denver. We all saw that. Now, maybe we learned something about Denver's defense yesterday, giving up 70, but it's not like Jimmy Garoppolo put up 35 in week one for the Raiders against Denver. You know, I guess if he didn't play the way he played last week against the Broncos,

I'd be a little less patient. My perspective would be a little bit different because the Arizona game wasn't great, but it wasn't yesterday. But the Denver game was great. He put up 300 yards and 35 points, okay? He made some next level throws. He was impressive last week.

So there's been enough good to let this play out for a bit. again, I think most of us tried to tell some of you this is not the answer yet. It's going to be a roller coaster ride. And that's the way it's played out in the first three weeks. There's been some good and some bad. There's been some really good and there's been some really bad. I think we just have to give it some time. Now, another day or two like yesterday, patients will be tested.

it will, but I don't think he's going to have another day like yesterday. I think part of it's going to be is they're going to get it together internally and figure out what they want to do offensively in terms of philosophically and game planning and play calling. More on that coming up. But he's a tough kid. I think he's a well-liked kid. You're not going to get the locker room to turn on him like they did on RG3 or like they did on Wentz.

You're not going to have those issues where the coach says, I got 52 other guys that I got to be concerned about. I don't think that's going to happen here. I think Sam is a baller. He's resilient. He's tough. And I think we'll see him have more good games and probably more bad games. And then at some point, we will, you know, rely on them to make the right decision

or the next group to make the right decision as to whether or not he's worth continuing to invest in. Now, as far as yesterday goes, Sam was far from the only problem. When you get beat 37 to 3 and have to kick a late field goal to avoid an absolute disturbing shutout, it's a group effort. And yesterday was my game take when we come back. But before we get to my game take, I want to tell you about the Window Nation deal that they've got going on. right now. The more windows you buy, the more you will save up to 50% off plus a lot more. You don't have to pay anything for two full years. It's another amazing deal on the windows that deliver

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In fact, it's the biggest sports book bonus, my bookie. has ever agreed to in its history. So this is a big deal for MyBooky and me, and I so appreciate them recognizing that this was an opportunity to capitalize on them. That was before what happened yesterday, but still, who cares? You know, if you don't have a place to wager, now you have no choice. You've got to go to MyBooky.ag. You've got to use my promo code, Kevin D.C. If you already have a place where you're wagering, where are you going to get somebody to offer you a 110% deposit match? So go to mybooky.ag, use my promo code Kevin D.C. This is an offer that you need to grab quickly.

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You're not going to see this on their website. They're not offering this to anybody else. It's just for my listeners, Kevin D.C., as the promo code. My bookie tonight, by the way, has Philly still as a five-point favorite over Tampa Bay. The bucks are my last of the smell test picks for the weekend, the smell test 5-5-and-1 heading into tonight for the weekend. I was 4-3-1 on Saturday, and I was 1 and 2 yesterday. I had Denver in the smell test yesterday.

That did not work out. Please, by the way, do not tease these picks. because you would not have been even close with Denver or Chicago. I gave out Chicago yesterday. Also had Cleveland laying the three and a half and they blew out Tennessee. By the way, Miles Garrett. My God is this guy having a season so far. Three and a half sacks in the game yesterday against Tennessee.

MyBooky.org, using my promo code, Kevin D.C. By the way, the Eagles are seven-point favorites against Washington. on Sunday. That seems a little bit light to me. I think it's probably due to Philadelphia having a short week coming off this Monday night game. The game of the week next week, Miami at Buffalo, and the bills are two and a half point favorites. All right, let's get to my game take. Let me start with the things that I liked. This list is short. Brian Robinson, Jr. is on the list of things that I like. He had 70 yards on 10 carries. I think that's 7 yards per carry. He did have 10 yards on that final run of the first half more on that coming up.

Why did he only get 10 carries? It's a good question. I will discuss that again when I get to the list of things that I did not like. He's just such a tough runner right now. We talked on Friday, Jay Gruden and I did about Debo Samuel and George Kittle and how difficult it is to get those guys to the ground. Man, it's hard to tackle Brian Robinson, Jr. And I think this year, he's more patient as a runner.

His vision is better. He's just a really good option for them. Look, considering the sack problem, the pressure problem, the quarterback holding on to the ball problem, they got a lot of issues in trying to be a predominantly pass-happy team to protect Sam Howe. Bianami may need to turn to Robinson more. Robinson was only in the game for 20 offensive snaps.

Now, I understand they were behind when we got to the fourth quarter anyway. I mean, it was 16-0 through three-quarters, but he was only on the field for 37% of the snaps. He's averaging 5.6 yards per carry in his last two games. So I wanted to take a moment here because there's not a lot that I liked in the game. Brian Robinson Jr.'s among maybe two or three things. But Ron Rivera said something yesterday that for me comes back to Brian Robinson, Jr. Now, the question was about Sam Howl and how he handled yesterday.

Here's what Ron said. Well, I thought he handled some of the moments pretty well, and I thought there was other ones that he probably could have done something different. We're going to get an opportunity to evaluate everything, evaluate what we're doing, make sure it's the right thing first and foremost, and then secondly, we'll evaluate how we thought the players did. The last part of that is telling, in my opinion. Ron's saying we're going to get an opportunity to evaluate everything,

evaluate what we're doing, make sure it's the right thing first and foremost, and then secondly, we'll evaluate how we thought the players did. I think he's talking about the pass-happy approach to the offensive game play. each week. Remember, this is a guy who last year and the year before as the head coach got his team into contention by being a run-first team. But it's more than that. I think as a defensive head coach, he has this sense watching the game get called from his perspective that dropping Sam back at a four-to-one ratio or even higher. I mean, last week he was 36 and 7. terms of pass calls to run calls in the first half.

So that's five to one, you know, just over five to one. I think he understands that there's a lot of risk in doing this. Now, you know, I think the evaluation of, you know, what he says, quote, we're doing, I think it's a conversation with BNemi about this. You know, I think it's a conversation where Ron says to Eric, let's evaluate what we've called here for the first three games and find out if it's our best way of developing a young quarterback, developing an offense, because I have some concerns that nine sacks and 19 sacks in three games is a problem. And by the way, it could get them hurt.

See, here's where what comes into play is what we're talking a lot about during the offseason. Is this conflict of interest, I guess, to a certain degree? they do have an option. You know, it's giving the ball more to Robinson Jr. Let me just be clear on one thing. You guys know this about me. I'm not a guy that says run more than throw it or throw it more than run it. I don't care how you move the football.

You do whatever you need to do based on the opponent you're playing to move the football and score points. But right now, the approach that Bienomi has taken in the first three, three games is a risky approach. You know, the risk of bad things happening when you put the ball into a young quarterback's hands and drop them back as much as you have, where with Brian Robinson Jr., giving him the ball is a lot less risky. You know, I think, though, I want to go back to what I've said in previous weeks about what BNME is doing right now. And it's a total hunch. I don't know any of this for sure. I do have a sense, by the way, that that quote from Ron Rivera is more about, hey, we got to look at what we're doing offensively. Because wouldn't any coach say that after his

quarterback has been sacked 19 times in three games? And they got beat 37 to 3 with nine sacks and four picks. But I've said this once or twice over the first few weeks. I don't think Bianimi wants to develop or coach a game managing quarterback. I think he believes, and I don't know that he's wrong in believing this at all, I think he believes to be a winning team to have a legitimate chance to win big, you've got to be a pass first team. And that's the philosophy he wants to instill here with the clout that he has. And he wants to find the quarterback that can succeed,

playing that way. Now, he doesn't know yet whether or not Sam's that guy, but let's face it, Ron isn't cut from that same cloth. And that's where this thing will get a little bit interesting. You know, maybe you needed this kind of, I don't know that it's needed, but this kind of result, I think, had Ron watching and saying, man, when I went to Philly last year and we beat the Eagles, we ran the ball 49 times. And Robinson Jr. had 26 carries in that game. And back in 2021, when we got back to 500,

we were running the football. And I have a guy in Robinson, Jr. that we drafted that is averaging 5.6 yards per carry, but we're not giving them the ball enough. And was only in the game for 20 of the offensive snaps in the game. Now, again, I realize the game got out of hand. but it really didn't get out of hand out of hand. I never felt like they had a chance to win it down 16.

Nothing, but it didn't get out of hand score-wise until the fourth quarter. But anyway, I thought that that was an interesting quote, and I would suggest to all of you that it is an indication that Ron is, you know, wants to probably at least sit down and say to Eric, tell me what you're thinking, because we were 17 pass play calls, five run play calls. in the first half. And it wasn't working. And we were that way against Arizona in the first half, and it wasn't working. Last week it worked. Last week it did. Brian Robinson, Jr. on the list of things

that I liked from the game. He did have a missed pass protection on that fourth and goal in the first half. That was, you know, a bad play by him. But I do just, I think he's been on this list of things that I've liked for all three games. All right, just to be a lot. Just, a couple of other things. Bear with me on this one. You know, last week, the first and second down offense and the third down offense early in that game against Denver was a train wreck. This week, the third down defense wasn't good, but the first and second down defense in the first half, I actually didn't hate the way the defense came out and played kind of overall. I mean, not overall, but I didn't think that they were a major culprit in this loss.

Like Sam Howell was number one, the offensive line number two. You know, Bianami probably three. That's the way I would see it. I mean, when you turn the ball over, we'll get to this, when you turn the ball over five times and take nine sacks in a game and you're one for nine on third down, that's at the top of the list. But we're not on that list yet. Offense Trump's defense in 2023 people,

you're not going to dominate as a defense every week in this league. It's just impossible, especially when you're playing guys like Josh Allen and Steph Diggs. You know, the defense yesterday on first and second down on the first two drives allowed 2.2 yards per play. In the first half, they averaged just less than allowing four yards per play, just less than that. Okay, so last week they got gashed on every down in those. first three drives against Denver, and they were better on first and second down. What happened was they gave up third downs, you know, six of the first eight, nine to 15 overall. And a lot of that had to do with Josh Allen being really good and Stefan Diggs being really good, et cetera.

But some of that was on them too, no doubt. But it was just something that I wanted to point out so that I could at least have more than just Brian Robinson, Jr. on the list of things that I liked. I also would say the defense held Buffalo to three first half field goals. They held Buffalo to 0 for two in the red zone. You know, you expect a team like Buffalo after, you know, the turnovers and the sacks and a punt return that they had in the game to be up by more than 16 to nothing at halftime, to be up by more than 16 to nothing entering the fourth quarter. Remember that, too. There were a couple of players that I thought were good in the game. game or pretty good in the game. Once again, I thought to run Payne was pretty good. I mean,

compared to everybody else, I thought Fuller actually had a good game. And look, the interception is a good interception. It's more like a punt for Buffalo. It was third and 20. But I thought Payne made a number of plays in this game. He won't grate out like he did last week, I don't think. No, that was an elite performance. But he nailed Gabe Davis on an early inside handoff on a minus two-yard loss. He deflected an Allen throw that it was actually, that actually was completed to that guy number 10, Shakir. Fourth and one, he blocked it. Josh Allen pass to stop a Buffalo drive. 94 Duron Payne is having right now the MVP season for this team.

It's only three games, but he's been the best player on the team. And I thought he was pretty good yesterday. Again, I think Kendall Fuller had a decent game. I thought Sweat had a decent game. He had the one QB hit registered all day, and he also had that sack, which they took the tripping penalty instead because it was 15 yards over the three or four yard sack that he had. But I thought sweat, you know, flashed. I thought Jamie Davis flashed on occasion. I actually thought Chase Young flashed on a couple of plays.

I also didn't like that he loathed or appeared to loaf. on one of the Josh Allen scrambles for a first down, you could see on the replay, he just kind of stopped. I want to see Chase Allen, Chase Allen, I want to see Chase Young constantly be in that high motor mode. Because with a guy like Allen, Allen's going to keep, you know, on his feet. He's not going to slide more times than not. And Chase Young's got the speed to catch him and maybe make a play from behind. But, you know, he flashed on a couple of plays positively. That's it. I think that's Did I have any other anything else on my list of things that I liked, just looking through my notes?

Percy Butler nearly had an interception. Yeah, Brian Robinson, Duran Payne, Kendall Fuller. That's Jamie Davis and a couple of plays here and there from Chase Young. That's it. The list of things. that I didn't like. You start with turnovers, of course. You cannot beat a team like Buffalo minus four in the turnover margin category. In fact, you really can't beat anybody in this league, minus four. And in many ways, it was kind of minus five, because the one turnover that Buffalo

did have was like a punt. It was third in 20, and it was a deep throw, and it pretty much acted like a punt. You can't beat a good team. You can't beat many bad teams. You really can't win in the NFL at all, minus four or minus five. All right. Sam Hal, four interceptions, Antonio Gibson, a fumble more on that. But it was an absolute self-destruction clinic by the home team. Nine sacks is next on the list of things that I did not like. Hal holds it too long. The offensive line, especially the tackles in particular, Andrew Wiley struggled.

It looked like to me. Eric B. Enemy did a phenomenal job last week, but this week's plan didn't seem to be as protective against a much better defensive. team. All of the above, and I'm sure we can throw in some tight end and running back protections. We know that Brian Robinson Jr. missed one on the goal line and fourth and on fourth and goal. It was a group effort on nine sacks. Hal's been sacked 19 times in three games. This was a concern, remember, about him coming out of North Carolina. You know, probably on the list of reasons he wasn't taken until the fifth round is that he holds it long and he takes a lot of sacks. He's on

for 108 sacks for the season. That would destroy the all-time marks set by David Carr in 2002 when he took 76 sacks. Now, I would imagine he'll never get the chance, because eventually, if this pace continues, he'll either be benched or they'll change their play-calling approach, or he'll get hurt, God forbid. He was pressured on 27 of his 39 pass attempts yesterday per next-gen. 69.2% of his dropbacks. It's the second highest pressure rate since NextGen introduced that stat. That's a combination of him getting pressured because he's not getting rid of the ball, the offensive line, etc.

15 quarterback hits in the game. That's Patrick Ramsey territory. You know, Floyd, Rousseau, Oliver, they just were all problems for everybody. The all 22, and Cooley will help us out on Wednesday, we'll be telling as to how much Sam could have done to help himself in all of those situations. But I've been here for the first two weeks, and I was kind of in this position last year where I was not, I didn't think Carson Wentz was responsible for his nine sacks, like all of his nine sacks last year. I didn't think that Sam Howe was responsible for all of those sacks, the sacks that he's taken this year. I think the offensive line is a problem. He's part of it, but the O line was a problem last year in pass pro, and it's been an issue this year.

And then, you know, the O.C. has to come up with solutions or Howell's going to take a beating this year. Number three on the list of things that I did not like after turnovers and sacks. Sam Howell. So he had a really bad game. There's no other way to say it. He was horrendous in the football game. It was one of the worst mistake-filled days by a starting quarterback in recent memory. First time in 28 years, an NFL quarterback has thrown four or more interceptions and been sacked nine times in a game.

You know, usually you're taking the sacks because you don't want to throw the picks. He did both. He didn't fumble. So it could have been worse. Five and eleven. Not the worst in the league. will, again, know how many of the sacks were on him, but the interceptions were all bad.

The first one to Bernard on a third and 19, you cannot make that throw. You're in field goal range. It's only three to nothing. It's the first drive of the game. Third and 19 ain't happening in this league unless you're Mahomes or Allen. Okay? You have to take your medicine.

You've got to check it down to Gibson or Bates and kick the effing field goal. That was really awful. It was a good pick by Bernard. It was a terrible decision by Sam. And if it's on the offensive coordinator for saying, look, take the shot, third and 19, you might be able to get it over the backer. We might be able to pick it up.

Then that's on him too. That's bad situational football, period. Third and 19, you're in field goal range, and you throw an interception on what is a checkdown and kick the field goal three to three. The second one on a third and two late in the first half, Gibson turns Epinessa loose as a free rusher. Sam's under duress.

He puts the ball in a bad spot against a defender in Micah Hyde, who has been one of the best in the league at anticipating where the ball is going to for years now. I love Micahide. I've loved him for years. Talked about him on Friday. That's a bad throw and a bad. pick. He was lucky it wasn't returned for a touchdown. Now, does Gibson, is Gibson supposed to turn

Epinessa loose as a free rusher? It's third and two. Maybe he's supposed to turn him loose and immediately get to the flat and catch the ball and move the sticks. Or maybe he's supposed to pick him up. I don't know what the responsibility for Gibson was, but it was a bad throw. The third pick, the one where Tredavius White has Samuel blanketed and leveraged in the end zone, and you just can't throw it there. You know, it doesn't seem, and I haven't seen the All-22, it doesn't seem like he had a ton of options, and he was pressured, but still bad decision, bad throw.

And then the last one, I mean, it's a great play by Epinessa, who is 6'6 and a former basketball player with, you know, good athleticism. The decision Sam makes is just a terrible decision. Even if that doesn't get picked, which it probably doesn't, eight times out of 10, He's not getting it over this guy's arms and hands. Like, you've got to know that. Four picks on the day, all of them on the quarterback, in my opinion.

Not flukish interceptions, not deflections, not balls off the hands of receivers where you give the blame to the receiver for not catching the ball. No, just bad decisions and bad throws by the quarterback. You know, he wasn't completely void of good plays. he had a good deep shot to Samuel for 37 yards. I think he throws that man coverage deep, you know, deep shot down the sideline with great arm strength and great touch. He avoided, you know, a sack and scrambled 18 yards for that first and goal opportunity where they didn't get it in in four downs.

I mean, he is, you know, he took a pounding. He was lucky he didn't get sacked, but at the same time, it was such a great run and great effort. I loved the sprint out throw to Terry on that drive. We saw some of that last week. I'd like to see more of that. I think that getting him out on the edges and having them throw, even though it cuts the field and a half is better than dropbacks. And we saw some of that last week,

and we saw a more quick game last week. He had a third and five quick decision throw to Gibson to move the chains in the third quarter. I thought that was a really good decisive play. But look, this was an F. This was a failing grade for Sam Hal yesterday. But, you know, it's just one game. Last week was an A, A minus.

The first week was a C. This week was an F. You know, so the average so far through, you know, some homework assignments, a couple of quizzes in a midterm. Well, I don't know which one of the three was the midterm. Let's say the, yeah, because the midterm is going to be more heavily weighted. He's got a C average so far. far in the class. Okay, so he's made some really good plays in two games. And, you know, just a

couple yesterday, but God, that was bad. Eric B. Enemy's next on the list of things I did not like. Last week, I sat here, I praised him, I said it was an A game for the offensive coordinator. Screens, quick game. Now, in retrospect, a week later, Denver's defense looks horrible. They gave up 70 and 726 yards to the dolphins, second most in NFL history. But last week, I'm not going to take that away from BN. I mean, it was a great week. He had them, you know, he had his coolly said, he had Vance Joseph shuffling his papers. This week, you know, where were the screens? I will tell you, and I talked about this at one point last week, Buffalo played the

screens last week in their game against the Raiders pretty well. They're smart. They're fast. You know, they had an interception on a screen last week. on a ball that got deflected. It turned the game. They were down 7-0 nothing at the time. They went on to win 38-10. But Buffalo is a smart fast team. Maybe he didn't think the screen game would work this week.

But look, when you get your quarterback gets sacked nine times in a game and it's already been an issue coming into the game, part of the nine sacks is on you, the coordinator. You know, the four picks, maybe they're all on Sam. Maybe there were no answers. Maybe Bienimi had some answers, excuse me, for Sam, and he didn't take those answers. But no, you go, you get your quarterback who's been sacked a bunch of times already,

sacked nine times in a game, and then you go one for nine on third down. Some of that's on the offensive coordinator. There was one drive I hated the most. It was the drive in the third quarter. actually kind of the first two drives of the third quarter. So, you know, they're down 16, nothing at the half. They come out, they take the ball, and they have one of their more impressive actual drives because they didn't really have many at all.

They opened up with a drive where they had the interception, and they had the drive in which it led to a first and goal. And then that was pretty much it, except for the first drive of, the second half and the second drive for a while in the second half. So they come out in that first drive in the second half and Robinson's got a 23-yard run. Gibson takes a short throw and goes for 10 yards. Gibson has a 13-yard run and that drive, you know, ends with the interception in the end zone by white. But they came out after halftime and And in that drive, there was a Robinson run, there was a Gibson run, there was a couple of short throws, there was another Robinson run, another Gibson run, another Robinson run.

They were more balanced in that 10-play drive. Then they come out in their second drive after the fuller interception, and Robinson rips off a six-yard run and then a 13-yard run. They're out near their own 40-yard line. It's 16 to nothing. Now, I'm thinking they're not anywhere near good enough to beat Buffalo today, but if somehow we can run the ball down the field now that we've got 19 yards, and by the way, the previous drive they were running the football, and punch it in and somehow make it 16 to 8, maybe we start to impose our will.

I mean, I didn't think it was going to happen, but after Robinson goes for 19, yards on two carries and had the two or three carries on the previous drive, he drops back as Sam, he gets sacked, drops him back again. I think that was the RPO, gets sacked. Actually, I think that was on an earlier drive where he had an RPO and he got sacked because he didn't want to throw it. It was a good thing that he didn't throw it. And then they're punting a few plays later.

I mean, they actually went from their own 19 out to the 39-yard line and then back to their 25-yard line. I just, this is the kind of thing where I think Ron's probably like, why didn't you just stick with Robinson a couple more times? The dropping Sam back, even in play action after we were running the football, just didn't work. I hated those, that sequence because it was kind of for me, the last gasp, even though I didn't really think even at halftime they had much of a shot.

I really started to worry in this game after the Sam sacks back to back and the interception on third and 19. I was like, that is a terrible end to that drive. But anyway, yeah, on the list of things that I didn't like, I did not like that sequence and that falls under the BNemi heading. third down defense was not good six of the first eight buffalo converted i know a lot of that was you know some greatness by the quarterback and a receiver who's great but still nine of 15 overall third down offense one for nine uh oh for one on fourth down Antonio gibson fumbled again i love Gibson he's one of my favorite players in terms of what i think he can be but you just can't put the ball on the ground and he was trying you know to make a play in your

down, you know, 16-0-0 at that point, but, you know, you just can't put the ball in the ground. I thought that the past defense seemed to have some big holes in it. By the way, I'm not putting run defense necessarily on this, even though that was a bit of a concern after the first two games. Most of Cook's rushing yards came in the second half. He was seven for 24 in the first half. The rushing yards were really the Josh Allen rushing yards. That counts.

And then Cook really got going in the second half when the game got a little bit out of hand. I mean, the defense, you know, at some point they were going to keep bending and then break a little bit. Lastly, on the list of things I did not like. Actually, two more things. They gave up another punt return this week, 23 yards plus a 10-yard penalty at the end of it. Mims Jr. had the big punt return last week, 45, 50 yards, whatever it was. By the way, he had a kickoff return for Denver. in the 70 to 20 loss to Miami.

So the last 19 seconds of the first half drove me nuts. If you are going to approach the final 19 seconds with a, we're going to try to score, but we're going to do it initially with kind of a conservative call, like a draw. And if that draw gets something, we're going to call time out and go for it, because we've got two timeouts.

left. If that's your approach, do it. But if you have no intention of trying to score, then you don't run a play, period. You take a knee and get to the locker room. Brian Robinson, Jr. ripped off 10 yards. The ball was at the 35-yard line. If they had called a timeout, there's 13 seconds to go. Now you can take a shot down the field. You still have one timeout left, and maybe 25 yards or so. You're just. You got a chance at a Joey Sly field goal. Maybe you throw a quick sprint out, you know, come back to Terry McClellan on the sideline. Now there's the eight seconds to go and you're at the 46-yard line and now one quick, you know, throw over the middle timeout and you got a field goal attempt.

Maybe you just get into Hail Mary range. If you decide you want to score, go for it. And I have no problem with the drive starting with something conservative and you're going to make up your mind after that play. but he went for 10 yards. Call the time out. Let's go get it. Let's try to get something here. We're down 16.

Nothing. And if your decision is, I'm not doing this because we got to get to the locker room. We've gotten her ass kicked. Then take a knee. Don't risk running Robinson and risking a turnover or an injury. It drives me nuts. Ron's not the only coach that does that either. There are a lot of coaches that, you know, end of the half,

it's like, look, first things first, are we going to try to score or not? And if the answer is, yes, we're going to try to score, then it's, are we going to take the conservative approach to the start of this drive, or are we going to come out, you know, slinging it? You know, and the conservative approach is fine, but that means that if your guy gets a big run on first down, then you're going for it. Balls at the 35-yard line. It's just, all of that is mind-boggling to me.

I mean, there is no chance that the head coach could convince me that it was right to run that play and let the clock run out. No way he could convince me of that. No coach could convince me what are you going to say? Oh, we wanted to get him a run before halftime because we thought it would really get him going in the second half. We were struggling a little bit with the snap. And I wanted Gates just to get another snap in before the end. No. None of that makes sense. They should have called timeout with 13 seconds left. They then should have sprinted them out, thrown a comeback against a soft defense to Terry for 10 or 11 yards, and then with eight seconds to go, you got a shot to throw it and perhaps get a 15-yard kind of a play and a timeout to get Joey Sly on the field.

And if you don't, then you can hurl one to the end zone on a Hail Mary. You just had one completed again. you the previous week. You're down 16 to nothing. You haven't scored and you've got the ball at the 35-yard line with 13 seconds to go. Let's try it. A couple of other quick observations. Number one would be, I didn't really have a problem with Ron going for the fourth and goal at the two. third and goal at the one is do we have a bunch formation quarterback sneak play Jacobi Berset was a very good quarterback sneak guy but then they lost a yard on the handoff to Robinson Jr. and then they got stopped.

There was an opportunity I think on one of those plays. Somebody sent this to me and I think it's this drive where Hal just misses a wide open receiver. I think it's Dotson. But I did not have an issue with him going for that. I didn't. I didn't feel at 10-0, even though they were down there. Of course, I'm thinking if we can get it in here, it's a game, but there was something about the way that game was progressing that made me believe Buffalo was just the better team. Doesn't mean it's going to go their way. There was still a lot of game left, but I did not have a problem with Ron going for the fourth and goal. Now, one last thing, or two other things. Big Buffalo contingent at

FedEx Field. I think everybody kind of knew that that was a possibility, because when the schedule came out, you know, we were still not unsure about what Dan was going to do. So there wasn't the excitement level. And Buffalo fans, they get tickets. I don't think the Chicago game will be Bears fans. They stink. Philadelphia and the Giants are after that, I think. But, you know, look, this is a transition year.

Okay? You know, more likely than not, the start of this new administration begins when this year ends. because more likely than not, more likely than not, it is going to be a big overhaul at the end of this year. And people will be watching it and excited about it and hopefully buy tickets. Two more quick things, and then we'll get to Smoot. Number one, I did not have much of an issue with them not pulling Hal at the end of the game. I didn't. I wasn't screaming, get Jacoby Brissette in the game.

You got to get Hal out of here. You can't get him killed. However, I didn't love the fact that they kept dropping him back. I think they should have left him out there. Ron said they wanted to see him play through it. I understand all of that, but you got him sacked another two or three times. I mean, there was not a whole lot of concern about protecting him yesterday, including at the end.

But I was not screaming get Jacoby Brissette into the game. So in the moment, I didn't have a lot of problem with it. Lastly, Ron's decision to kick the field goal at the end to avoid the shutout. So it's fourth and 19. There's still 40-something seconds left. You can't take a knee. I mean, you could, but then Buffalo is going to have to come out and take a snap. You're certainly not going to let Sam Howell drop back on fourth and 19.

Maybe you run a draw. Maybe you run a bubble screen, but you can't drop them back again. You're not going to get fourth and 19. So since the clock's not going to expire, you send your field goal kicker out there to kick a field goal and avoid the shutout. Now, I'm not one of those people that thinks there's a big difference between 37 to nothing and 37 to 3, but 37 to nothing a shutout does get talked about a little bit more, and I think Ron wanted to avoid it.

There are a couple of other things real quickly. You know, by putting Joey Sly out there, you were also putting Cameron Cheeseman back out there. Now, maybe you wanted to see Cam Cheesman snap in that situation after you brought five long snappers in earlier in the week. but you could have given him the week off cleanly and said, yeah, I'm not going to let Cam dribble one back and then he becomes part of the conversation too.

Or maybe it was the perfect situation to put him in there because for him it was actually a pressure snap regardless of the game situation. Regardless of the game situation. Also, there's net point differential to think about tiebreaker procedures end of the year. You'd hate to lose out on a seven-seed wild card spot because, you know, the Falcons had you beat by two points on net point differential when you could have kicked a field goal at the end of the Buffalo game back in September. I don't think coaches think about net point differential.

I would. It's way down the list on tiebreaker procedures. But anyway, all right. Let's get to Fred Smoot right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey Washington, looking for the ultimate outdoor destination to watch upcoming games. And by the way, groove to some live music. Look no further than the bullpen. Yeah, that bullpen located right in the heart of Navy Yard next to Nats Park.

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I know this weekend wasn't. But on some of these fall, Saturdays and Sundays that are coming in the next few weeks, a lot of you love to watch football and at the same time want to be outside and the bullpen is a great. spot to do it. The bullpen DC.com. All right, Fred is with us right now. Everybody enjoyed last week. Everybody always enjoys when Fred's on. One of the things Fred said last week was that he would never even consider, of course he wasn't being truthful, but that he would never consider trading Sam Hal straight up for Justin Herbert. I think he would definitely consider that. but we won't even go down that road today.

I just want to start with, you know, yesterday was a disturbing game to watch for all of us. I didn't expect that. I actually thought they had a chance to win the game going into it. So let me just get your overarching thoughts on what you saw yesterday. So seriously, Professor, you're going to see and tell me that we have a quarterback that's 12 quarter to know. 16 quarters old. We have offensive coordinator that's been here for six months, and you thought we were going to go 17 games without having one of those games

that we have if the coach of staff was here for four or five years. It's just one of those things where they're going to happen. We watched it happen yesterday with the Cowboys and the Cardinals. Now that Cardinal win don't look so bad. At the end of the day, every week we learn something new about a team. Sometimes it's good news. Sometimes it's bad news. What we're about to see in the weeks to come is how do they rebound from a shameful performance.

And when I say shame, I mean all 53, we go in there together. We lose their thing together. But I tell you this. And this is easy math. All right. One, two, three, four, five, offensive linemen versus one, two, three, four, defensive linemen. You got to win that battle. You have to win that battle.

And that's the battle that we're losing. and we've been winning in spite of. And now it came back to bite us. They have to learn how to play as a unit and have each other back. They are great independent contractors right now. But what they're not is a jailed, formed offensive line. Because if I told you, at the third week of the year, Sadiq Charles would probably be the best,

and playing the best out of the office line, and you'll be like, you're crazy. Because he was the question mark going in. Well, I'm with you on the big picture. Nobody's bailing, and I've been talking about all offseason. This was going to be a roller coaster ride when you've got an experience like you have a quarterback. But I'm not asking you about the big picture. I'm asking you about what you saw yesterday.

I saw a score that was 16 to zero at the end of the third quarter, and I saw a landslide. So for three quarters, they played with one of the top. teams, meaning you was two scores away, and we drove the ball, up and down the field. We just didn't end drives with points. So it ain't like the game playing. It didn't work. It worked. It just was not executed when it mattered, and that was in the red zone.

And think about it, Professor, five turnovers. You don't win games with two turnovers, let on five turnovers, and the score was still 16 to zero. So something was getting dead right. Something was still there to keep us in that game. But this is one of those games, and I have been in those games where one bad play happened, two bad play happened, a fumble here happens, and we're out of it. We're out of it, and it's a landslide. And once that momentum gets to going, it is hard to stop an avalanche. And that's what we saw in the fourth quarter.

We saw an avalanche on all three sides of the ball for Buffalo. Offense, defense, special teams, they were churning. And the thing about it is, on defense, what they did was, I, uh, I, uh, a, uh, a defense. And I love to do this when we play. Man, Champ used to do it all the time. Anytime we get a young quarterback in there, we know they're going to start off drives trying to get him easy receptions, get him easy completion so they can get going. So we're not backpedaling.

We're setting on everything and jumping everything. They had the two deep safeties over there, allowing the corner of them, allowing the linebacks to be aggressive, and they forced him to go one reed, two reed. Is nobody open by the time now the deep of the line has collapsed the pocket. Four against five, can't lose that matchup. And this, what's the problem yesterday? They had no answer for the initial way that they was going to stop this office. And they were going to make them either go big play or nothing.

You're the best. Driving the ball up and down the field. What game were you watching? We're literally, we were this composition two, three-time professor. They're like, listen, every drive and every game is not going to. end in three and out. It didn't end and three and out. Like some of those drives were draw the ball. Because they threw

interceptions before they could go three and out. I mean listen, it's five turnovers. Yes. It was incomplete. It was a terrible game. But if you go back and watch the film, I got privy to watch the film. And when you watch the film, I see way more

than the substance of 37 to three. I see a, I see a game that flooded. It The professor wants the student to just sit down at the desk, get his pencils, number two pencil, have it all sharpened up. Because, look, it's 16 to nothing. I'm sitting there and I'm like, you know, believe it or not, like they could somehow, you know, if they could just do something and punch it in and get one two-point conversion and put some game pressure. but it wasn't like I was watching a game that was close, even though the score was 16 to nothing.

And I certainly didn't watch it in offense drive the ball up and down the field going with 230 yards total, one for nine on third down. The reason that they didn't have a chance to drive the ball up and down the field, maybe they would have, is, as you said, they turned the ball over five times. and I totally agree with you. You cannot beat good teams. You can't beat terrible teams in this league. At minus four.

Yeah, at minus four in the turnover margin, you can't beat bad teams. And the truth is, it was really minus five because the interception by Fuller was more like a punt anyway. You know, it wasn't like it set up scoring position. I mean, they started that drive inside their own 20. You can't. I want to. Well, I thought, Professor, can you agree with me? Was the turning point the Gibson fumble?

If you had to pick a play, what would have been to play that it was like, okay, it's not today. It's just not happening. Hold on. Did you see – did you just tell me that you think the turning point was the Gibson fumble in the second half? No, I'm asking you. I think yesterday the turning point may have been the national anthem because there was no chance. Like, here's the truth. And I think I talked about this already.

Like, I, I pick them. I bet them plus six. I bet them on the money line yesterday. I predicted on Friday show they were going to win the game 24 to 17. So I really had this strong feeling going in that this is a team with some swag right now. Think about it too. You and I, you and I haven't talked about this. Their best players all come from places where they won a lot.

lot of football games. Yes. De Ron Payne, John Allen, Terry McClorn, Sam Howell won a lot of football games at North Carolina. And I just had this feeling that they were rolling in confidence. And, you know, somebody in the pregame show yesterday, or it was right before kickoff said they were talking to Ron Rivera and Jack Del Rio, and this team is coming into this game with a lot of confidence. And from afar, but being in the same market and talking about this team every day, I kind of

felt the same thing. Here's where I really felt like after the, you know, it was really after the second drive and the punt return in 10-0. I thought I saw, first of all, the first interception, it's not, I don't know which one was worse of the four, but that is such a bad situational football, you know, management. They're in field goal range. Third and 19, you know what third and 19 is. It's a prayer in this league. You check that down and you kick the field goal. So I already had, after those first two drives, a shaky feeling. You had already been sacked at that point three or four times.

And it was 10 to nothing after that throw. And even when they got down there and they didn't score, even when they were down there, I'm like, when they went for the fourth and goal, I was like, I think they're going to need a touchdown here. So I was okay with them going for the fourth and goal. So I thought it was, I thought it was. I thought it was long over before the second half fumble by Antonio Gibson to answer your question. But I thought as worst, you know, as bad as we played, and I think, I don't know what that tropical store name was, Ida, some old name from 19-O-3.

Ophelia. She brought, 19-03. And she poured all over the United States and spilled nothing but bad football everywhere in the United States. I felt like as bad as we were playing, I was like, how are we? we still in this game. So I was personally amazed. While you was in all of, I can't believe it's such as bad.

I was like, you can't believe we still can win this game. I was blown. Look, I'm one of those people that, you know, when we're two and seven, I'm still trying to figure out what Doc always makes fun of me for. He calls me Playoff Scenario Guy. At 2 and 7, I'm still trying to figure out a way to get into the playoffs. So I am always thinking, okay, it's 16, two touchdowns, two-point conversions. I just wasn't feeling it.

By the way, that's funny, Ophelia. Do you know that the worst, hold on, listen to this. The worst hurricane tropical storm that we've ever had in this area. And look, you grew up in an area where hurricanes were a real deal. Listen to this name. Hurricane Agnes. Agnes. That's like 2018.

That's like 1877 name. Hey, that's the revenge of the old people. Listen, why do they give these tropical storms these age the names? Because they feel a hundred house-like. They feel like the revenge of spirits coming back to get us. Like, it's just something about it. So when I heard the name, I, fuck the time, I started laughing. I said I should not be laughing about a tropical storm, but I just could not.

And then I thought to myself, a professor, who picks these names? And what's the criteria? Yeah, it's not like we've got Hurricane Jessica or Hurricane Hannah or Hurricane, you know, or Hurricane, you know, whatever the hot girls' names are right now. What's like, Danaris? Right, right? Right. Where's a Hurricane Sonsa when you need one? Like I'm saying, if you give it a Sopha name, it might attack us a little softer. That's all I'm saying.

Yeah. Because when you get Agnes and you get Helen and you get Ruth and Mabel, we're in trouble. We're in trouble. Lord, bless us if we get Gertruth, I'm leaving the area. If we get Gertrude, I'm seriously going to Minnesota for the week. No, but let's get back to, seriously, he played so well last week, and this was going to be a roller coaster ride. Now, there are some people out there, and I talked about it, and I've been talking about it, and I've been talking. about it for six months. There were some people out there that told me they saw all they needed to

in the Dallas game. And then people bless their hearts who told me after the Baltimore preseason game, he's our guy. No, no, no. It's okay to say we don't know yet. Yes, and guess what? We don't know, but we do know this. One, he's played four games. He's won, three of those games, he's three and one. I will take that. We're two and one right now. He has, Now, he haven't had a super, super great game, but I thought Demmer was a good game by him, but he's had better games than he had bad games. And we know, and let's just say this. Let's just say every three games, he have a stinker.

Would you take that? That's four stinkers a year. We've had, first of all, I don't really look at the Dallas game as like a legit start. Okay, he didn't have his full weaponry. He won't a game against a pro team that was going to the play out. They played all of the guys. I know. but they look disinterested in that game.

I don't want to go back and litigate, relitigate the Dallas game. He's played three legitimate games as the starter of this team. And if you look at these three games, he had a C game in the opener, he had an A game in the, uh, in Denver. And yesterday was an F game.

Yesterday is one of the worst performances we've seen by a starting quarterback in the NFL in a long, long time friend. No, no, it's not, because I just watched, I just watched, who was that? Trevor Lawrence throw four interceptions in the game. I just watched, I watched a myriad of a quarterback throw three, four interceptions in games. It happens. He's young.

Let's stop trying to feel like, this is the thing about him. It's okay. It's okay to say him. But we treat him like a baby with a beard and an AAR card. He's literally a baby. He might be an own-looking baby, but he's a baby. And if you feed babies too much, they tend to throw up. Either they take a dump, anywhere it go.

We have to clean it up, and we have to let them learn from their mistakes. And that's what he's going to do. Like, as much as we know it has been a quarterback-bairn place, we need to have the patience to watch one eat a blossom or watch one fold. But we have to do one or the other. I'm with you on that. I agree with you. Now, you don't give them like a forever leash, but I'm with you.

I've seen enough good in these first three games to say, I'm going to be patient. I want to see more. But just so you know, Trevor Lawrence, you're comparing him to. Please stop. No, I'm comparing him to Trevor Lawrence, I mean, Trevor Lawrence, what he performed, what he did. I don't care about no. See, this is what I don't like. Let's you're in NFL, you in NFL.

I don't care if you go. for the number one pick or the last pick and be Brock Ferdie. Once you end this league, you end this league. That's right. That's what we're judging on. More top team quarterbacks fail in this league than any other position. More top ten quarterback. That is not a sustained position.

At the end of the day, it stinks when people value an athlete by where they got drafted. How about you value them by what they do and when they do it and how they grow? I know. But when you said you've seen a lot worse, let me just tell you, it's the first time in 28 years. 28 years. Okay, you were, by the way, you were getting cleaned up after you were throwing up and taking dumps all over the house. All right, 28 years ago.

It's the first time in 28 years, an NFL quarterback has thrown four more interceptions and been sacked nine times in a game. Now, enough of that. I want to ask you this, because you said something, and I want to ask you if you believe that this is the primary problem. You talked about the offensive line. This guy's been sacked 19 times in three games. It's a record pace.

If this continues, he will shatter the record set by David Carr in 2002. He's the most sacked quarterback in three games since 2005. By the way, that was also David Carr. Do you think that these sacks are mostly attributable to the offensive line, Sam, or perhaps even some of the play calling? I would go 50% offensive line, 50% quarterback. It's one of those things where they're working in tandem for disaster. It's the ultimate tropical storm merging with another tropical storm

and making it the worst thing you have ever seen. The shining silver lining is, for some way, Sam is signing ways to still succeed somewhat even though he's holding the ball too long, which we knew he was going to have some problems he was going to have to work. Now, where's he good at? Anticipating throws, and he has an arm to make any throw. Where's he bad at? Because he scares the field like a quarterback is supposed to,

the clock in his head sometimes goes up and down. It was bound to be something that he wasn't going to be good at. So they go to damn if he don't, damn if he do, because if you take away the way he's scared the field, now those throws down the field, they're gone. So it's like you've got to let him work his way through it. We've got to let him learn deep process. And I'm sorry, this is one of them jobs.

You have to learn on the job. Practice is not enough. You have to learn on the job. But I'm sorry. I'm actually afraid for his health. Like, I'm sorry. He cannot at this rate last. He can't last a full season getting beat up and pushed around like this.

They have to figure out some way to get this done. I don't know if they're chipping the running back, having the tight end, the labor force. he goes out. Making sure he gets the ball out on three-step drop and throwing the ball away. What he has to understand, it's okay to live, to play another day. Throw the ball away. So if I'm telling you, it's only downfall decisions, I'm telling you he's going to be better at that in five weeks, in six weeks. He's going to continue to get better in the progression is what I want to see. But what I thought this week was a regression, and that's the scary part about it.

tropical stores coming together. No, you said something there. Yeah. You said 50-50 quarterback and offensive line, and then you said, well, maybe we need a chip. Maybe we need, you know, some quick game, which, by the way, we saw last week.

Well, that would indicate that you think Eric B. Enemy's got to do more to protect the quarterback. Well, I think what he sees now, you know, when you go into a season, you get people the benefit of doubt, it's similar to a corner. We're going to play man to man until you figure. got, I can't play man-a-man.

He's getting beat too much. We got to play more zone. Well, that's what he's working at the king. I thought I could trust Wiley. I thought I could trust Linole. They're breaking my trust. Now, I need to find other ways to get this done. Maybe I need to move this pocket a little bit more.

Maybe I need to realize that this guy actually is a quarterback that's right-handed and throws better when he rose to the left. So now I have to incorporate those things. And you'll see that during Philadelphia Monday night. You're going to see the pocket move around. You're going to see them many effective ways to get time. for him to make throws. So now you see that, but you don't see that

until you play games. We can't work the kinks out until we go to war. And that's what I want everybody to understand. Yes, we lost a battle, and it was bad. The battle of the bills, it was over. It was a terrible battle, but this is a war, and we're trying to win more battles than we lose,

and now we had to go back in, lick our wounds, figure out what we can do and figure out what we can't, because we're figuring out. We cannot take five-step drops, and we cannot just let these these officers of Miami, single-handly think they could take out defense line. They just cannot do it. So I talked about how I think Ron said something, and I played it earlier.

Ron essentially said, we got to evaluate what we're doing. And he said, we got to evaluate the players too. I took that to mean we can't be as pass-happy, as drop-back happy. you know, Andy Reid's been a 65-35 guy, and that's where, you know, E.B. comes from, and Ron's not cut from that cloth, even though he worked for Andy, you know, many years ago. Remember, the last time they played Philadelphia on Monday night last year, they ran the ball 49 times, and they won the game. So, A, would you recommend running the ball more with Brian Robinson, Jr.?

B, do you think they will? Claude, no. I'm not one of these components because I play football. I'm not one of these components of we need to have the white ratio. No, we need to do whatever the hell it takes to win that day, Professor. If they defense of the backfield, stink, throw it 50 times. If they de-line stink, run it down, they throw. We do what's needed for the game that we are playing

and the opponent that we are playing. I am not one of these ratio guys because we don't care. Is it wins or losses? It's easy to go back after watching something and say, well, we maybe should have random note. In the midst of the beast and the belly of the beast, we had to do what we had to do. What I want to know is, do you think we could beat teams having that same identity we had at Philadelphia? No, that was the game plan for that day.

And I do think it's a good game plan to keep Jaylor Hurts on the sideline by whipping eyes and the running game. The running game shorts a game up, make it nasty, make it murky, make it money. I understand that which there would be a good approach to keep Sam Howe out of harm's way. say because this defense line that he was about to face is, I think, way better than the Buffalo Be a defense line and not get him plenty proff. So, yeah, you're going to have to figure out ways to do something, but I am one of those people do what we need to do to beat that team. So like I say, moving their pocket, throwing their screen game in there.

Like, use their speed and their aggression against them. We're up and not dead. I think that's the way we need, we should go instead of always leaning for numbers. Numbers don't win football game. Players do. Well, since this is the first time you've taken the professor's class, and it's great to have you in class, just so you know, I completely agree with that. I don't care how you move the football. You move the football anyway that you move it. The reason I asked you the question is you feared for Sam's health, which by the way, I have suggested, too. They can't continue to have six, seven, eight, nine sacks a game because, A, you can't. can't win those games, and B, you're going to get him killed, which is why I asked,

do you think there may be a philosophical change? Well, when you put it in that terms, and we're going to go protect Sam first, the running game is how you protect him. You're right. That's what you have to do, but you need to understand this. The other people on the other side line get paid to. So while you're trying to protect him by doing certain things, they call it limiting your play calling. So they're going to play a little bit faster because they know you're going to run the ball,

and they're going to force you to throw the ball, and now you lose your edge because now people, you know what you're going to do. What we still got going for us because EB is still technically three games old as office coordinator. They still haven't found his real DNA and where he likes to do and how he likes to get to those points. So for the next four or five weeks, we will still have that advantage, and I don't think he's ready to succumb to, like, being one. one-dimensional to give that element of surprise away. I just don't see them doing that. At the end of the game, down 37 and nothing, fourth and 19, would you have kicked the field goal?

I would have kicked it right through the upright. I would have kicked it right. Listen, you never want to get shut out. I don't care how petty it is. I don't care what anybody else say. I don't care about Vegas worrying about a point spread. No, we won't get home. covered at that point. Yeah, that's what I'm telling you. So ain't nobody worry about our little three points but us. At least we got on the board. I know they don't do a lot for the crowd out there, but it's football players, yes, it is something. Yeah, kick it every time. We should have kicked more field goals earlier, maybe the game when they got out of hand. But I do not fault there for going for that fourth down down. It'll be the team like this. You have to have that

type of edge. I was all for them going forward on fourth down in the red zone. I really did. Play just didn't work. What did you think of the dolphins yesterday? Wow. Listen. I knew it was going to bury our story by, like, a mile of evidence. I love watching Theo and Greyjoy over there in the South Throne in Denver. I love after he had just called Nathaniel Hackett, the worst coach of all times.

He is so bad that you had to go back to 1952 to the leatherhead. before victory. Miami, that's what I do to people in Madden, Professor. I do that in for 10 games that I put up 70 points. I thought it was unbelievable. I couldn't stop watching it. Every time I looked up, I remember one time I looked down just to eat a chicken away. I looked up Miami has cold again.

I was like, how is this even possible? But guess what? Theon, Grayjoy, gets everything that's coming to them. I can't wait to sit back and watch what happened at them. Well, remember, Theon did end up joining in, fighting for the Starks and left his sister to defend their island. Because that's still to me, by the way. Fred and I have a lot of Game of Thrones references,

if you haven't picked up on our conversations over the last few years. When he comes back and he says to Sonsa, I want to fight for the North, that's one of the most emotional scenes in the history of that series. That was great. Well, we went through so many emotional roller coasters with the, we went from hating him from the door to feeling sorry for him because he's literally getting a piece of his body cut off.

Genevian cheering for him because now he has a redemption story that he's literally just focused on doing the right thing no matter what. So he was one of those characters like most characters in here. They make you love them. They make you hate them. That's why it was one of those shows where it didn't encapsulate age group. It didn't encapsulate the world because you were, went on these voyages with a while with everybody where you hate it in one moment loved and the

next and the unpersonified loved and hate you know you just nailed that show and i've tried to explain that to tomm tommy who does this podcast with me um he you know he goes i'll never watch a show with dragons and i said no this isn't a show about dragons it's a show about characters and and this is a character-heavy show. It's not a White Walker's Dragons show. It's one of the great character shows of all time. And Theon's

journey is one of the great journeys of that show. And of course, he's the one that ends up saying, I'm going to protect Bran. I'm going to lure the Night King out. And it's just so brilliant. All right.

Yeah, Miami's still scoring. Although you did see, you know who holds the record for the most points in a regular season game, right? Was it Washington? Yeah, Washington scored 72 in 1966 against the Giants. Still the most points in a regular season game ever scored, and the combined points is the most ever in an NFL game. And Mike McDaniel had a fourth down with still 30 seconds to go, and he took the knee instead of kicking the field goal for the record. Yeah, they're just so clas I thought I didn't put up 70 on you

And the great way about it I remember watching a game Because Doc was out there playing in like his fifth year In a game that they put up 72 So that was one of them No, no, no, no Doc was already retired He was broadcasting the game

All right, this was great as always Let's try to do it again next week Hopefully after a much better and more competitive game. I bet it will be. I would be surprised if next week isn't. It will, but by the end of the night, I felt a lot better watching Miami do what they did and watching those, you know, the Dallas Cowboys just get beat by the Cardinals. Oh, that just felt so good. I guess that Cardinal win does look a lot better now. They didn't get the memo that they supposed to be tanking, not the players.

You know, the truth is they've had the lead going into the fourth quarter of all three games. they could easily be 3-0. Easily. Yeah. And I was going to say, I was mocking them, and Josh Dobbs in particular, because I've watched Josh Dobbs quarterback a bunch of games, you know, in the NFL, including last year when he was trying to get Tennessee in. And I said, he's a backup and maybe a third stringer.

He's played really well. And, you know, they do have James Conner's a good back in. Rondell Moore and Hollywood Brown. They actually have some players. on that team. But man, Dallas. And if we don't know nothing else, we know that Zaire White, their linebackers, he is

on a mission. All right. And what they did, I rather do like what they did, because they actually undressed the Dallas Cowboys. They showed the rest of the league. Don't come in here trying to pass the ball against these dudes. They're too fast. Run it right at him. Run it right at Michael Parsons.

Run it right at Lawrence because he's no good against the run. Run it right at this fast D-Line because they're fast. but they ain't stout. No, you're right. And then on the flip side, you go one for five in the red zone. And they, I mean, I'm just not a Mike McCarthy believer. If he didn't have Aaron Rogers, they're so penalized, they're so undisciplined.

I think they had 13 penalties called against them, but they were like 17 or 18 flags against them in the game. Like some of them were declined. But it's one game. It's one game. This is what was wrong with the Cowboys, in a nutshell, overpaid, under-delivered. Everybody on their team, their main pieces,

they're paid like they have top five, but they're not top-five. Like, Dach is paid top-five quarterback. He's not. Lawrence is paid as a top-five rush in. He is not. Tyrant Smith ain't played a whole season in a million years. Paid like top-five.

He is not. Like, you just look around his roster, and then you look at C.D. Lamb. I am a truth-teller with C.D. Lam. I think he's a 1B. He's not a 1A yet. I'm with you on that. To be a 1A.

He can't threaten you deep. So he's truly not that. So they got a lot of B-plus players paid at an A-plus level, and then everybody wants them to be A-plus. The only A-plus player they legitimately have is Michael Parsons. All right. Now, Stefan Gilmore, always greatness. It is personified, but we know he's on the back end of his career.

Right. Yeah, he's 33, 34. or whatever he is. I agree with you on CD Lamb. The other thing, too, and I said this to one of my cowboy friends earlier today, CD Lam's got terrible body language. He just always looks upset and disappointed and looks like he's on the verge of tears all the time. A moody diva. We call it needy fish. That's what he is. You call it what? You call it what? A needy fish. It's nothing like having a needed fish that you got the feed all the time.

A meaty fish, yeah. That's what it deals with him. And that's what I say. Like, you know, some guys, I've been in the NFL, especially in office, could think they're more talented than they are. But I promise you, if you had to really break it down on how to stop CD Lamb, it's not harder as some other number ones in this league. It's just not dead.

Look, they're in, I've talked about this a million times. They're in that group of like 27 to 28. teams that they could go 10 and 7. They could go 7 and 10. I mean, I know they won more games than that last year. But if you don't have the truly elite quarterback in this league, every single week, it's a week-to-week league, you're vulnerable to getting beat. Look at yesterday, okay? Yesterday, double-digit favorite, Cowboys go down in Arizona. The Ravens in your double-digit favorite lose at home to the Colts. Jacksonville near double-digit favorite.

They get blown out by Houston. By the way, he looks good so far, C.J. Stroud does look like a pro quarterback. Yes, he does. I mean, Randall Conningham on the way he delivers the ball. Yeah, a little bit of a windup. Yeah. Yeah, Randall. Randall has that windup.

You're right. You know, but if you don't have Mahomes, if you don't have Allen, if you don't have Burrow, healthy, I mean, every week, flip a coin. The league is crazy, especially this time. year. And that's what make it so great. It's a balance and a small imbalance. And that's what makes it so great. And what we do love is, in that small imbalance, the Kings can get knocked off their throne any Sunday. Yep. Every Sunday is a, it's the true, it's the true game of throne. It's the true game of throne and it's way more Targaryen than it is anybody else.

The thing that the thing that you don't like to see, though, okay, just to bring it back, one final time to what happened yesterday. I know that teams take a beating every once in a while, but in the development of this young quarterback, and by the way, a new offensive coordinator and a new offense, that was ugly. I did not think actually a day like yesterday was possible. I knew it was going to be a roller coaster ride.

I thought they were going to have some bad days. And by the way, they survived a very iffy day in the opener. against Arizona. But yesterday, you got to avoid that again, because if you see that another one to two times in the next four to five weeks, Jacoby Brissette's going to be the quarterback. No, Jacoby Brissette is going to be the backup. Like, if you ain't all in on seeing what Sam Howell is, there's no second guess. And I know what Jacob Bissette is. I know what he is. He's a backup quarterback in his league. And we always do that. We romanticize and make the backup quarterback the most

popular guy on the team because he ain't never needed. until he need it. The thing about it is, if you're going to have a real chance to evaluate and see, do you need to be getting in this draft and drafting the Shadur Sanders? You need to be drafting a day from, like, if you need to get in the draft, you need to find that out this year, and you ain't going to find that out with your COVID Bresset trying to win you one or two games and knocking you out of draft. No, no, no, do what you have to do to see who Sam Hile is.

And, yes, it's going to, we got to take the good to bad and the ugly right now. This is what it is. until he shows us who he is, we're going to have to take some of these games to the chin and understand, yes, we're going to lose some games. And most of them when we do lose, it's going to be his fault. Like, it is. Okay, but, and I hear you, Jacoby Bressett, we know what he is. I totally agree with you on that. But here's my question to you, okay?

Because I, we don't know this from afar. Let's just say you were out there every day and you were on the staff and it became very apparent to you. and everybody else, nice kid, can do a couple of things, but this is not the answer, long term. And you got 52 other guys, and by the way, because of your defense and because you've got some playmakers, you're actually in the playoff race. If you can just be better at that position,

what would you do? I don't think putting Jacob is setting as making me better. I would say Sam Howe, I'm getting in the backseat of your Uber, drive us to hell, so I can get Caleb Williams or whoever else that I'm not going to lose enough games for that. You're too good on defense. You've won two games on defense here already. Guess what? He had a lot to do with winning that game.

You're right. He did. And Denver two. So the thing about it is, if you're going to experiment, let's go from the start to the end of the experiment, so we got a full closure without anything. We have to write this out with Sam this year. I know it's other variables. If you coach a variable, you're trying to keep a job.

If you, you know, like, so it's other variables involving you right. Does that decision make him make the Jacobi-Rissed decision? I just don't see it happening because I just think Sam is really damn talented. I do, too. I think he's got some skill. Yeah, and I just think he's going to play his way out of it. I've seen this before. Okay.

Last question for Fred Smoot, even though I said like 10 minutes ago. Yeah, you did. Thanks for joining us last question. So upon further review a week later, if the Chargers called you and offered Justin Herbert straight up for Sam Hal, yes or no? All right. You're right. You're right. I take her.

You're right. You're right. You're right. All right. I was trying to be a company man last week. You wouldn't let me be a superhero. All right, see you. That was fun, as always.

I'll talk to you soon. All right, brother. Thanks. Fred Smoot, everybody. Don't forget to rate us and review us, especially on Spotify. And Apple, five stars, if you see fit to do so in a quick one-to-two-sentence review, is always helpful. And try to read some of these reviews, certainly the rest of the week.

but it's really helpful if you write a review, give us five stars, and also follow us and subscribe to the podcast. Following and subscribing is important. Love talking to Fred. All right, we are too long today, so I'm not going to go around the NFL. I know many of you wanted me to talk about Kirk. He blew it. He blew it at the end of that regulation. Kevin O'Connell blew it, but he's the quarterback on the field, and they should have gotten up there and ran a play quickly or spiked it.

And it was another one of those moments. And he's had a couple of those during his career where you're just like, dude, you can't be so process oriented that, you know, the clock's winding down and you're lessening your chances to win the game. With that said, T.J. Hawkinson should have caught that ball and they would have won the game. But it doesn't matter. I'm with you. He's been brilliant this year. Their defense once again is horrible. and they're 0 and 3, and it looks like, you know, we'll have a lot of discussion towards the trade deadline about whether or not Kirk gets traded to the Jets or to somebody else that, you know, needs a quarterback.

I don't, I'm not suggesting that it would be here by the trade deadline. I am going to be patient here. I've seen enough this year to know that it makes sense to continue to put him out there and see what we got and figure it out at some point. down the road. But an incredible NFL day. We're just not going to get to it now. And good win for the Terps on Saturday. The college football was insane.

Hopefully I have time at some point this week to get to that. Maybe with Cooley on Wednesday, we'll talk about some of the college football games because I know that he is actually, as he's told us, watching some of that as much as he is the NFL. All right, that's it. with Tommy.