The Kevin Sheehan Show - "Chargers" Film Breakdown w/Steve Suter

Episode Date: October 9, 2025

Kevin opened with Head Coach & QB reluctance to go back to last year's Hail Mary against the Bears along with plenty of "Bill" discussion. Steve Suter joined Kevin with his "film" analysis of the Chargers' game. He started with an overview the game, then graded out Jayden Daniels, and had his Top 3/Bottom 3 Commanders on offense and defense. For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match Want to spruce up your lawn? FastGrowingTrees.com 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 Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Comes down to one last play. And it's going to be getting longer by the second. You're all the way back at the 30-yard line. Now you can step into it.

Here comes the Hail Mary with the game on the line. And the ball is caught. It's a miracle. This town is going crazy. A play that will go down is one of the most memorable regular season plays in franchise history, but coach and quarterback are not interested in discussing it this week. More on that coming up. This show's presenting sponsor is always Windonation 86690 Nation,

windonation.com if you need new windows. Steve Souter will be on the show today with his film breakdown of the Chargers game. I won't make you wait long together. get to it. Four baseball games today, a pair of game threes and two game fours, including Yankees Jays tonight. What a home run by Judge. A three-run shot in the fourth last night to tie the game at six after New York had fallen behind six to one and seemingly were on the verge of having their season ended. They went on to win the game nine to six, game four tonight in the Bronx. Caps open up their season tonight at home against

Austin. I had Joe B, Joe Beninati on radio today with me to preview the season. So if you want to hear that, go to the team 980.com, click on my show and go to the very beginning of the third hour of the show to listen. Joe's always great and he had some really good thoughts on what the caps can be in 2025, 2025, 26. So today was Coach Day and Quarterback Day. By the way, Noah Brown back at practice, Terry still out. This was Dan Quinn on if he's talked to his team about last year's miracle finish against the Bears in Landover. Hi, Coach. On the same topic, when you're helping the guys prepare this week, how much do you talk about that play in the end of that game versus recognizing Chicago's a different team this year and you have a whole different week of preparation ahead? Yep, that was the first I talked about it right there.

You haven't addressed it with the team at all? Zero. Do you plan to? None. Gotcha. Thanks. This last year's story. It was awesome.

We loved it, but it doesn't apply to this week's game at all unless we get into that exact scenario and that exact situation. So then we can talk about it. But until then, like, we got a lot of stuff to get better at and work on to get ready. I hope it doesn't, but it would be interesting if it came down to Washington lining up with a few seconds left needing to throw another. Hail Mary. The quarterback, Jaden Daniels, was asked multiple times about last year's game and didn't want to say anything really about it. So John Kime asked him why he doesn't want to look back on last year's memorable finish. Like you said, you don't want to look back at last year the Hail Mary. You don't seem to want to do that with a lot of things. Why is that?

What don't you want to look back at? I mean, that hell Mary ain't going to help us win a game on Monday. what's the point? What's the point, Jaden says. Last year's Hail Mary is not going to help them on Monday night. But you know what might help them on Monday night is if they focus on the following matchup. Washington currently has the number one ranked rush offense in the NFL.

Number one, 156.4 yards per game, two yards ahead of Buffalo, who is number two. The Bears, they have the 31st ranked run defense in the NFL in terms of yards allowed. Per the DVOA metric, Washington has the fifth best rush offense in the NFL. The Bears have the 28th ranked run defense per DVOA. So a mismatch Washington's ability to run the football, the bear's inability to stop the run this year. Here's something else that's actually kind of interesting. Washington, and I think I mentioned this last week, Washington has the number one rush offense in the NFL.

Typically that will correspond with a very high ranking in time of possession. Washington with the number one rush offense in the NFL has the number 28 time of possession in the league. 28th. As an example, like everybody else, pretty much in the top five or six in rush offense in the NFL, has very favorable time of possession numbers. Buffalo's the number two rush offense in the NFL. They're the number one time of possession team in the NFL. The Falcons are number two in time of possession in the NFL. They're number six in rush offense in the NFL. And you can go and find a couple of other examples. Detroit's high and rush offense, high in time of possession. That really speaks to the defense just not getting off the field enough. A lot of long drives against Washington's defense, especially in the last two games. Remember, that first half was pretty much doubled up, as was the case in the Atlanta game.

So it'd be nice to see if that rush offense can kind of connect with a defense that gets off the field so that that rush offense gets more opportunities, more plays, more drive attempts. If this matchup does play out to be as favorable as the numbers would indicate, that would mean a big night for Bill, I would guess. and Bill just was named, along with Baker Mayfield, and this would be the second time Bill's won this award this year, FedEx Air and Ground NFL Players of the Week. Baker Mayfield, the Air NFL player of the week, and Bill Kroski Merritt, the ground NFL player of the week. I'm actually surprised that Bill got this award.

Did you see, and we didn't talk about this in our recap of the NFL, because this was a game that was really not a game that anybody cared about. But Rico Dowdell, the former Cowboys running back, who is now a running back with the Carolina Panthers. In the Panthers win over the dolphins on Sunday, Rico Dowdle rushed for 206 yards on 23 carries, nine yards per carry. How the hell did Jacori Kroski Merritt, aka Bill, win? the FedEx Ground Award for this week when Rico Dowdell rushed for 206 yards. I mean, 14 for 111 was Bill, Dowdle 23 for 206.

By the way, the Panthers with Rico Dowdle play the Cowboys this week. I always liked Rico Dowdle when he was a cowboy. I used to talk about him certainly before matchups against our team. I thought he was underused. in his time there until last year. But even last year, which was his breakout year, and he rushed for over 1,000 yards. It was just 1,079 yards on the season. But they really started the Cowboys did last year trying to recreate the magic with Zeke Elliott. And then they realized that wasn't going anywhere. And Dowdell started to get the bulk of the carries. But he basically rushed for 1,079 yards.

and like the equivalent if you were the lead back of like 12 games, because Elliot was getting the bulk of the carries early in the season. He's very good. How did he not win that award with 206 yards on 23 carries? Are you kidding me? That is one of the best days we've seen in the league in a while. Nine yards a carry, a touchdown, 53 yards. They play Dallas this weekend.

Carolina does. Interesting game. You know, a big game for the Cowboys. It would set up, and I mentioned this, you know, after the Chargers game on Sunday night or maybe on Monday show, but it sets up a potential pretty big game between Washington and Dallas a week from Sunday if the Cowboys win and then Washington wins on Monday night. All right, I want to finish up this first segment with this. It's more about Bill. So we've talked a lot this week about sort of comps for Bill. I took multiple call segments on radio. And hundreds, literally hundreds of responses came in to, more than that. I mean, probably 1,500 responses came in on comps, you know, professional comparisons to the way Jacori Kroski-Mirit runs, current historical backs in the NFL. And I did a very rough audit of the responses.

This was not, you know, Ernst & Young kind of auditing. But this was very rough back of the envelope. And the two most popular answers in terms of comparisons for Bill were Alvin Camara and Levion Bell. I don't see the comparisons. I don't see Bill's running style anywhere near Levion Bell's running style. He was truly unique as a runner. I mean, the patience all time. You know, I've mentioned this before,

but you find, you know, some of those Steelers games on YouTube were Rathlisberger's handing him the ball out of the shotgun, and he doesn't move. He just stands there for like a full second before he moves. and if he does move, it's barely moving. He would wait and wait and wait until the play developed, and then he would use, by the way, not only some good vision, but really good power.

I don't see that yet with Kroski-Marrad. I don't see a bruiser. You know, Bell was a bruiser. Camara, I can see a little bit of the running style, but Camara runs lower to the ground. Bill's more upright. And as I said with Tommy yesterday, I'm pretty sure. I don't know if Kroski Merritt's going to be a back that catches 80 balls a year.

He might be. I had somebody, and I don't know who it is now because I don't have it up in front of me, but somebody tweeted me, and it was a smart tweet and said, maybe this is the right way to use Bill. And maybe part of his development will be into an Echler kind of back, where he gets 10, 12 carries a game, but he also gets a lot of touches in space via the pass. Maybe he looks like he can catch and looks like a threat out of the backfield. But Camara and Levyon Bell were the two most popular answers,

followed by James Cook and Clinton Portis. I don't know, Clinton here in D.C. was such a rugged guy. I mean, it's the way Gibbs sort of wanted him to be. And then there were a lot of Aaron Jones, Aryan Foster, Thurman Thomas, Curtis Martin, Jamal Charles, Edgern James, Devon A-Chain. Yeah, I said yesterday I can see the Aaron Jones comp. I also threw out today, he actually has a running style similar to J.K. Dobbins, who is having a big year in Denver right now and was one of the backs along with Nick Chubb,

who were out, you know, the two of them were out there all summer, and they didn't sign until very late. and I talked a lot about those backs. Like, why not make a run at one of them, get them into the running back room to see if it works out? Because we didn't know much. I didn't know much about Bill and what he would end up being. You know, so far this year, it's just five games. But it should be an opportunity Monday night against Chicago's run defense.

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All right, it's Wednesday, and this season, that means it's Steve Souter, film breakdown day. Steve is with us. I'm going to read this from Greg in Annapolis, Steve. He writes, heart when I saw Cooley drifting away. His film breakdown was unparalleled. I was resigned to the fact that nothing would fill that void. And then he writes in capital letters. Then along came Steve. Wow. Similar in-depth breakdown, similar analysis, even a similar voice at times. What's different? No ties to the team. I'm not saying Cooley changed his analysis, but you could tell he had friends on the team and may have 10,

tempered his criticism. What about Steve? Not this guy. His criticism is no holds barred. Pain wouldn't make the 53, he said. The analysis of the defensive scheme and why no one runs that by showing every time we got burned on that ridiculous coverage had me screaming. Finally, someone gets it. Just one word of advice to Steve. Keep your head down, brother. I wouldn't want pain mad at me. Love the pod, Kevin. Tell Cooley, we miss him. Tell Steve, we love him and tell Tom. I'll see him at Shelley's. Thank you, Greg, for that. Yeah, let me just say this real quickly. Cooley never changed his analysis because of people on the team. People got pissed at him out at the park because he had to show up to Ashburn every day. I mean, that's where the studio was. And he showed up there every day. And there were times in which guys were not happy with him. after hearing about or listening to his film breakdown. But yeah, no, Steve is going through this with a fine-tooth comb,

and I think it's really important that, you know, this is, you know, I pitched you initially as a Redskins fan because you were at one point in your life, but you're just not that fan anymore, right? No, correct. Yeah, I mean, I grew up, die-hard Redskins, but when I got into college and the closer, you got to maybe actually playing and then playing with teammates that went on to play in the league. And you just lost allegiance there as being so close to it. And I saw some players go to teams and they didn't necessarily care that they were playing

for the team. They just worried about how they were performing and were they going to keep a roster spot. And that makes total sense. So for me, I just lost the sense of emotionally investing myself when I know some of the players aren't even that emotionally invested for that city. Not necessarily for their play. They're playing hard. They want to have a roster, but for the city.

So just over time, whittled away and now became a fan of football. And so, yes, I guess I can say I don't have an allegiance right now to Washington. So I am analyzing this film, as it should be analyzed, in my opinion. And I guess I have actually the bonus of not having to go to the park like Cooley did. So it's a little easier for me. I got this from Ollie. and I don't think we've talked about this. I love Steve Souter, keep him coming.

Did he ever coach or did he end up playing in the NFL? You did not play in the NFL, right? You played in the CFL. Correct. I did go to Washington's Free Agent Camp as a rookie, and I was out there with Jason Campbell. That was his draft year. I ran some rap against the great Joe Gibbs,

so that was a good moment for me. but I found out after I played very well in that three-agent camp that they had already failed me on a physical because of my knee surgeries at Maryland. So they took an x-ray of me, crossed me off their list, but kept me there to play camp because I knew the offense. I could run all the positions at wire receiver. So I helped out to practice. Not that I have any animosity towards that,

but so then they cut me off the physical, and then I went to Canada play for a couple years before I got cut there, too, from injuries, couldn't stay healthy. That was the issue. You couldn't stay healthy. were you as a returner and a receiver in Canada? Man, that was built for me. I think I was going to be pretty dynamic,

had a bunch of good wins in pre-season and one in the regular season, but I dislocated my shoulder on my very first kickoff return of this season in Montreal. Sat out eight weeks. I come back week eight to go play Winnipeg, and I break my collarbone on my first kick return in that game. So I'm out for the entire season. Then I come back and they fail me out of physical the next year. but I had a 100-yard receiving game in preseason.

It was just, it was looking really optimistic, and it was a shame it didn't work out. Did you ever coach? I did not coach in college. Now, I coached one year in high school with sporting, but that was the extent of my coaching. I probably shouldn't something I should have always gotten into and maybe still should look into it, but I have not. Why didn't you? Because, like, so many of you guys that I've gotten a chance to meet over the years where I've, I've, I've kind of been super impressed, and I think listeners have been as well.

And I always wonder, like, in your position, you know, you could have gotten a spot on Ralph's, you know, staff, you know, to get started if you would want it. So why not? Right. Yeah, so I guess be young, right, and trying to make the right decisions. I always wanted to coach in college when I was playing, but then watching the coaches and their lifestyle, I think, kind of deterred me a little bit. I wanted to be a family man as well, and these guys were never seeing their friends. families because they're at the office all day. And then that kind of started wearing on me.

Had a steady girlfriend who's now my wife at the time in college. I didn't know if I wanted to do the, go to Arkansas Pine Buff for a year, then go to Illinois State, then go back to Towson and then hopefully try to land in Maryland and do the whole coaching corral type situation. So it just didn't line up for me coming right out the way you would want it to or I was willing to make those sacrifices. And then as life goes, you know, and then you have kids. and then you don't know if you want to jump back into it.

Man, no, sure. Real quickly, on the 2005 skins, 2004 skins, that was the year, right, that you were in camp? Actually, it would be the 05 year. 0.5 year. So I can't remember, actually, who was the return person on that team? Do you remember? I don't know if I can either. I don't think I can.

Well, who was the corner? It was Jason Campbell, and then the corner they drafted to a camp. Carlis Rogers said it? Yeah, Carlos Rogers, but he wasn't a return guy. No, no, I just remember those two guys specifically, but it was the free agent camp, so it wasn't. I didn't make it to the actual camp. Got it. Okay. You hold up free agent camp to try to get to the rookie camp. You know what? I'm looking at the roster right now. James Thrash may have been the kick or punt returner.

Yeah, that sounds right. Antonio Brown. Antonio Brown was return punts. Not be Antonio Brown. No, no, no, different Antonio Brown. Yeah, different Antonio Brown. Yeah, because Brian Mitchell at that point was long gone. He was in 2005.

He was probably an eagle or a giant or maybe even at that point retired. I forget. Yeah, so I remember Ernest Beiner being a position coach, and he was one of my idols growing up, and he looked at me and told me that he was going to go in a room to fight for me after the time. three days because he wanted me on the team. I was pumped, called my mom. I said,

Mom, we made it. And then I find out from my agent there and cut me on the physical. They'd cut you on the physical. That's too bad. All right, let's get started. Let's get started here. And maybe at the end, if you've got five minutes, we can talk about the Terps. All right, what we do here with Steve

is he gives us his overall reaction to the game. You watch the game. We were texting during the game. You watch the game. And then we'll get into Jaden Daniels, the quarterback, and his analysis of Jaden's game with a grade, and then we'll go top three and bottom three, offensive and defensive players. So let's start with just your, you know, your big takeaways from the 27 to 10 win over the Chargers Sunday.

Right. So first of all, big positive takeaways from the game. It's one thing to get a win against a team like the Chargers who were playing well, but to go cross-country and do it all, I had another element. So I was really impressed with their ability to come out of there with a win. I was also impressed early on with the coaching, especially offensively. You down 10-0, you've got a chance to panic. And I know you get a big turnover, but it looks like the Chargers are going to go down to score, so you could think that Kingsbury is thinking that, man, we're almost down 17-0-0-0-0.

Do I need to change up my game, but he didn't. Stuck to their style, trying to establish a run, bringing in six offensive linemen, Trent Scott again and trying to just maintain chunk yards and bunches, like six and eight yards, even in the past game. I thought that was real, showed a lot of maturity from the coaching standpoint to stick to his guns there offensively. And offensive line again, this is, this is another dominant performance from these guys up front. The Raider game was a clinic blocking. This is another clinic blocking up front if you like the run game. And I encourage you to just rewatch this game and watch this front five go to work.

there are several plays where you're just like, man, this is his hat on a hat. They draw it up, X's the nose. You've got a body on a body, and everybody's hitting their assignments, and that's very rare in a run game for that to happen as frequently as it did. It's all offensively. Really good. Jane and Daniels coming back. We'll get him specifically, but I think they got him back a little slower.

He had a little rust in the first, maybe the second drive, but then it was quickly knocked off, and I thought he was playing like himself again. And then defensively, I think he finally got the game plan that you're looking at in the pedigree and the recipe for how they're going to be successful going on the season, and that's to get a lead. And once they get a lead, you and I talked about it last week, how we think they should play based on their miscues in the secondary all the time, especially in man coverage or if anybody is sending any motions their way, get them all shaken up.

So they got to sit back in the zone and play the bend, but don't break because they had the lead, and that's what they were doing. They started out the game in man coverage, and Charters burned them a little bit. And then once they got the lead, it was like, oh, thank goodness, now I can call these soft zone coverages, make the Chargers go 10, 12-play drives, and see if they can get points on the board that way. And they were fortunate to get a turnover there at the end when the Sandersville kind of feel it. But they took advantage of opportunities, and I'm talking penalties. And you can't whine about it.

You're the Chargers. They gave Washington some gifts for sure, but those penalties are going to balance out throughout the season. You've got to take advantage of them when you're giving them, and they did that. and it was just a really good overall win, I thought, in my opinion. All right. You recognized, I am certain, that the Chargers came into that game, banged up along their offensive line, and then they lost players. Players were coming and going during the game.

Just real quickly, how bad was the Chargers offensive line? Was it more that? Or was it Washington's defensive front, or maybe a combination of both? Yeah, I'm going to lean towards Washington's defensive front, and specifically a couple guys, Ken Law and Armstrong. Those two guys have been the most impressive all season for me up front, and they continue to do that against the charges. They're the ones that flashed and make the plays, and on every downer given effort. So I would say it was more Washington. You didn't notice a drop-off.

I didn't think from watching the game from the first quarter to the fourth quarter of the blocking up front. they didn't blow that many assignments to Chargers. It was just, it was Washington winning one-on-one matches when they had the opportunity. So I'm going to lean towards Washington's defensive line, getting back to playing in it, or at least dominating some of the game. Before we get to Jaden's performance, you know, one of the things that I mentioned after the game in my post game was, you know, you don't have a lot of games like this in which there are so many plays during the course of the game where it's like that play we're going to look back on and say

that was the play that changed the game. You know, you have one or two sometimes. I thought there were like six or seven, you know, starting with the Juan Martin hit on Quentin Johnston. Like that fumble is massive because it's about to be 13-0 or maybe 17-0 and another three or four minutes of the clock potentially gone, and we're all of a sudden at the end of the first half, and you're down 13 or 17, nothing. But that turnover isn't as important, it isn't as significant if Washington goes three and out, and then that third and 16 throw from Jaden to Jalen Lane, and then they're off and running, and they end up going down and scoring. I mean, there were many of those, the 50-yard bomb to McCaffrey, the Crosky,

Merritt Fumble could have turned the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter. And then the Sanra still pick after the Newton tip ball. I mean, I found myself during the course of the game, this is going to be the play. I started with Sanra still jumping off sides on the field goal. I was just going to say, as you just went through that, I was going to come back and say that play, because that's a points play, you add four points to the board. Then you go to the Chris Moore drop in the end zone, which is a perfect pass from Jaden on the run. That's a four-point play, too.

That's a four-point drop. They end up kicking a field goal. Those plays are points plays, and they matter. And I would agree, there were several chances for plays to not be made or to be made, and it was going to decide the outcome of the game. And fortunately, for Washington, other than the Sandersville and the drop, they were able to make more than they didn't make. Exactly.

And that's how they come on top. Yeah, the Kwan Martin, that's a forced fumble. And that play, or something resembling it, has to happen, or they're chasing from down 13 or down 17 with three or four minutes left in the half? Yeah, certainly. If you're going to pick one play, then put that play as the one that changed the game. And I guess the good and the bad thing about that play is it's not a great defensive

play from overall defense. Amos has really bad coverage. He's flat footed. It's an easy in-cut that Quinn runs on him with a lot of cushion. He's wide open. so you can start it off by being critical, but then Quan Martin finishes the play helping out his defender who got beat, gets the big hit, and then even Lattimore, I mean, he's not involved,

but he's involved because he's there to get the fumble. You know, it's just a good team defensive play, even though you can pick, you know, pick out that there was mistakes. Right. And that's the key with Washington. I told you last week, they're going to live and die by the secondary, and if they can make plays or not make plays,

so if you're going to give up catches and you're going to blow coverages, and you better become one of those opportunistic defenses and secondary that at least get your hand on a football once or twice a game because you're going to have to compensate for all these blown coverages that you continue to give up. So tell me real quickly, and then we'll get to Jaden. Was it another game in which they struggled in coverage? They did.

They struggled in coverage. Early on, the first Keenan Allen drag, that's at 706 in the first quarter. Yep. And I know the broadcast replayed this, but I just hate this. play from the beginning. If you watch this, right, so it looks like they're in lock or Lattimore runs across the line of scrimmage and follows the motion. So this would identify that we're going to lock coverage.

Well, then you see Kwan Martin, so he's pressed coverage down here on a line of scrimmage. You see, then he backs off because he's worried about the pick. He's trying to help Lattimore out here, assuming they're going to run some type of rub route. But you see up top? Yeah. You see how they're staggered, the defenders? Yeah. Amos and San Francisco, they're staggered.

Quan Martin backs up and gets right level with Latimore. I don't, that's the, you're starting off bad right there because now you're not giving Latimore anywhere to go. And Juan Martin, I don't know what he's doing here. He is not locked on the defender here. He almost runs into Latimore. He does run into Latimore. He basically almost takes Latimore out.

He takes him out. Like he's trying to go at Keenan Allen. If Herbert stays on this, he's got a touchdown, and he doesn't throw it to Keenan. he just throws it his tight end running straight down the middle. So this doesn't make any sense, right? Lattimore's coming across, they're yelling lock, then Martin backs up to get in his way,

and he still doesn't lock on that slot receiver. This is the first pass play. Just so everybody understands, when you say lock, they're locked on a receiver. That's the receiver they're covering. We're not switching. We're not playing high, low. We are locked.

Keenan Allen's my guy. Quentin Johnston's your guy. That's what you mean by locked, correct? Correct. Correct. And here, what would make me think that they could change it, because sure, they could have changed it. He could have came over here, and they could have yelled banjo, banjo, meaning we're going to go inside out or we're going to go high-low on this. I don't think that's the case, because Latimore sure isn't doing that when the play snap. He's following Keene or he's trying to,

but they would have been much better off playing inside out here, and then Quimard could have broke on this in-cut from Keenig. Lattimore easily just rides the streak, and they got this all covered. But they don't do that because they get confused. So I'm sure during the week, they said, hey, we're going to lock on. So we stop messing up this switching, and they come out and blow us the first play. First play. So first play, like the first real pass play.

It's third and six. It's the first third down. Yeah. Yeah. Boom. And you blow it on the first map. And it's also, you know, they're blitzing, too. So they're sending, it looks like there's six and pressure.

And it's probably the best pass protection against six pass rushers Herbert had all day. You're right. The blown coverage on the outside receiver, who is that? Who's 80-something? Gadsden, he's the tight end. I think it's the tight end split out. If he throws it to him, it's a touchdown. It's easy touchdown.

Yeah. But I get it. Herbert's got the blitz come in. he's probably feeling the pressure. He's third and six, so he's down and distance. He's going to take an easy five-yard end to get an hour. It did seem like that in those first three drives, and I mentioned, first three drives before the Johnston fumble, 179 yards of offense in basically a quarter and a half. They got two scores on two drives, and they're threatening in the red zone after the Quentin

Johnston catch for a third score before he gets hit. So we'll get to the defensive best perform as worst performers. But this was a game where when I said last week to you, well, what's the answer? You know, we talked about Ben don't break or be aggressive or just having a pass rush that masks the deficiencies behind it. They had a pass rush on Sunday. Sure did. And they needed it.

There was a couple plays at the defense defensive line, saved them. from potential big plays, I think it messed up Herbert's clock. Herbert missed. I got a couple other blown coverages where you got guys running open, but Herbert doesn't see them, pressure at something to do with it. And that's just key. If you're going to have a secondary that gets confused and even in zone coverage, you've got to have a defensive line that just says,

we're going to get after the quarterback. And you got a couple guys that do that. You got Armstrong that does that. You got Kinlaw that does that. I mean, pain to me still is. on a hangover from the Atlanta game. It wasn't as bad, but he wasn't that big of a factor for me

during the game and then sprinkle in Newton here. He made me, you know, obviously he had the big tip there that led to the inception. He played with a little higher motor. You just need guys to feed off that. Armstrong is a key. Kinlo is a key in the middle for me. Those are your best two guys, and if they keep bringing it,

then they're going to help out that secondary. We'll come back to the defense. Let's get your overall analysis and grade on Jaden Daniels return. Jaden was great. I thought Jaden was awesome. You know, rewatching the game going through the all 22 play by play.

I thought his timing was really good. I gave him two negative plays. And the one was all right out of their third possession. It's a zone read. He pulls it. Thurwin James is a really good athlete out there. You're not going to have full. You probably should have been a give.

But the play was going to get blown up anyway, even if he gave it. So not that big a deal. at the very next play, he misses Lane on a deep crosser. That's the standard NFL throw. He's got to put it on him. And that was it. Those are the only two negative plays I gave him.

The rest were just Jaden Daniels doing what he does. And I thought his timing in the pocket and knowing when to scramble and having the feel when to extend the play was all perfect. He wasn't leaving the pocket when he had open receivers. And when he needed to leave the pocket, it was because things were covered. because the Chargers had played a good defense in the secondary, and he knew he needed to play with his feet, and he did. I was really impressed.

There was a couple times, well, there was one time that they blew this coverage. I don't know if you can remember the broadcast play, but it was one of those. It was, you know, they had to delay the game, and he laid at the line of scrimmage, trying to change play, trying to change protection, and they leave the DN on block. So they missed that. That's not all on him. That's all up on the line, too. They just didn't get it right.

but then the next play, and it's the third down to McNichols, where he shakes, party still on the sideline on the big third and ten to get the first down, you know, like a huge play in the ball game. The McNickles play, you said. Yeah. Yeah, it was third and 11, yeah. And he, yeah, great run after catch, right?

Great run after the catch, which, so he's early, in my opinion, on that Daniels, but it's because of the play prior, they blow their protection, so it gets little antsy. on that play, he swings it to Mickles, and he shakes him and gets the first down. Great job, right? Good individual effort by it McNichols. But he's got McCaffrey on an easy drag coming across formation if he just holds the ball for another second. But I think he's, you know, his clock's messed up because he just messed up the protection.

So no harm, no foul, but he could have had an easier read. Other than that, so then you come back to, and I want to find the play here. Yeah, so I'm seeing the McCaffrey. Yeah, he unloads that quickly. And by the way, it's third and ten. So what do you think he thinks? Like the chances of essentially, you know, a checkdown getting the first down are not high. And he went to it immediately because now that I see this, I thought maybe it was a design sort of swing, but that's a checkdown, correct?

So I would say that. I would say it was designed swing only if he was hot, but they're not hot. They're bringing sick. They're bringing sick, but they're getting it picked up. So, excuse me, watching offensive lines picking up the pressure. Yeah. So he's not hot off of this

this blitz read at all. So he should feel comfortable enough that he can stay in the pocket and maybe go through a read or two. But he's a little antsy and he swings it out there. And it's, you know, it's just quick timing.

Yes, you can dig him on. Look, you've got to stay in the pocket here. We're picked up on the past protection. You're going to have McCaffrey come wide open here across the field. And he's going to say, yeah, you're right.

I probably could have sat on that. but I wanted to get the ball out. I wasn't sure if we were getting it picked up because we just missed the pick up the last play. So I can see how that gets in your head. But, I mean, you get away with it, right? They run a super high number of crossers. I can't say that they do

because they don't see, they haven't seen a little, well, they did see some man coverage here from the charge. So they saw, you got to scout the team prior, and if you're going to think you're going to get a lot of man covers, and yes, it'd behooves. You two run a lot across it, and they're hard to cover. You run away from manned coverage instead of running curls in dick rats, right? So I think that's game dependent.

Yeah. Let's see here. Big taggers. All right. Continue with Jaden. Yeah, so Jaden was great. His timing was great. Decision making was great.

The ability to extend plays is really good. You mentioned a couple of balls. I mean, the McCaffrey ball is an absolute 10 out of 10. That's a perfect pass. can't run out there and hand it to him any better in position because the defender's on him. So he made throws when he needed to. You mentioned the third down to lane. That's a big time throw.

Then he stayed in the pocket and hit D-Bow and crossing routes. Just, I mean, I don't see any mental mistakes. And he made plays and extended it when he had to. It was just, it's the highest score I've given any player on the team since I started reading. Oh, no. Give you a factor of what I thought about his play. What about his accuracy? He looks different, right?

Sorry to jump. Yeah, no, please. When he decides to take off, it just, it's different. It looks different. I mean, it's Lamar-esque. He's the closest to Lamar in the league, for sure. But his first step is just so fast. It's night and day from even Mario who's an athletic quarterback.

When he decides to move in the pocket and he wants to go get some yards, those first two steps are just really quick. and it's such an advantage to have that in your arsenal. Yeah, he's an absolute lethal run threat. Like, Lamar's the only guy, the only guy. And not only that, like, you know, we got a lot of comparisons leading up to the 2024 draft with RG3, and I said, no, no, no, no, no. Jaden Daniels is a runner where he sees it all.

He's got the peripheral vision. You know, RG3 was a straight-line track guy. He didn't see it. And that's why he took these incredibly awkward hits over and over again. In addition to his speed and his burst and his quickness, he sees everything. Yeah, it's really impressive. Go to the third quarter minute 14 seconds. I want you to see that.

This is one of my favorite plays. And it's because of going back to the possession prior was when they blew the protection, then he throws the screen, excuse me, throws the swing a little quick because he does this in the pocket when it brings up pressure. This is the next possession. Yep. And you can see here, he almost, his clock almost goes off again and he almost wants to take off. You can see this little hitch. He almost pulls the ball down. He's like, I'm out of here. And then he fights it. He fights his own urges here, stays back in the pocket, says, wait a minute, and he delivers a perfect ball to be able to cross-rout. So that, to me, so much maturity.

because he was early on the previous play, they probably talked about it on the sideline. They probably went over. He probably watched the iPad, realized that he wasn't hot, didn't he to swing in as quickly, probably gave himself a mental check, hey man,

you've got to be strong in a pocket here. And he comes back out here. He almost does it. I just love watching it. He's about to pull the ball down and run, and then he says, no, like, that's how quick his brain. Like, no, man, I can stay in his pocket in a second.

I love watching this from the, end zone view because you see that and you're like, oh, he's so badly wants to. It's funny that you brought this play up because this is a play that I wanted to tell you about or ask you about because real quickly, first of all, if he does decide to run, he probably gets it, right? Yeah, correct. I mean, it wouldn't have been like the worst decision ever because if he actually decides to run it. I mean, I don't know, there are a couple of players out there, but with his speed and, you know, his elusiveness, he's certainly going to get close to it. But this was one of the plays that I was going to ask you about, because in the opener against the Giants and then even

against Green Bay, you didn't do the Giant film, but you did the Green Bay film. We talked a little bit about he's just off a tick accuracy-wise. It's not like he's off badly, but last year the accuracy was just impeccable. This throw to Debo is a bit behind Debo. He makes the catch. It's where a receiver can make a catch. It's not a bad throw. But he doesn't lead him in this case. It's a little bit behind him, right? Did you see, you know, this would be an example. Did you see that as anything that you would have said, yeah, that, you know, I could have downgraded him for some of the throws that he made that weren't. Like he was high to Ertz at the end of the first half and missed that.

Or it was catchable. I mean, I gave that, that's a drop to me. It was catchable. Yeah. Yeah. And that's your job, Ertz. You're not in there to block at all. You are the receiving tight end.

It's two-minute drill. You got to have that. But sure, you could say that's a little high here. I would, I don't want to act like I'm defending them too much. But it's because that little hit he does, he doesn't really get to step of this ball, because now the offensive linemen's kind of in his lap. And I would say that probably hurt his father a little bit. Got it.

Watch this from the end of again and watch Chris Paul. I mean, he malls 99 down into all of his other defenders. Then he picks up the twist, and he's one arm in both of these dudes. Oh, wow. Yeah. I'm on the Chris Paul Pro Bowl early bandwax. I'm telling you what. He's the best lineman I've watched every game consistently.

Wow. he's a good player. And when you get the other guard back, this line could be crazy good. There's a... Tunsel showed himself. This was his best game. He actually looked like dominant in the first half

and handled the edge. I know they don't have their best pass rusher, but there was no inkling of a pass rush coming from the left side. So by far, Tunsel's best game. But Paul was consistent, and these guys up front just played really well.

Real quickly, two other plays. Back to the McCaffrey throw. I observed this last year with him, and even at LSU. He doesn't have to actually step in to a deep throw. It's like it's a flick of the wrist. Do you know what I mean? Like some guys have to kind of wind up and step. Yeah, and it's just a flick of the wrist for him.

Yeah. And it's just arm strength and arm mechanics. and he just got it. He just got it. That's all you can say. Like, the flick of the wrist up reminds you of Mike Vic. He could just flick it and it would go 60-70 yards easy. Yeah.

So you just have that in you. That's his DNA. I mean, obviously he's worked on his craft, but you either have that or you don't have that. Right. And he's got it. I mean, the touch on it was the touch on it was just so good because he'd still put enough height on it that McAvary could run under it

and it could drop in the bucket. So the DB can't even come to the, his arm across because it's not on a rope so he doesn't even have a chance to break it up because it's coming high and soft. Just such a pretty ball. It's a pretty ball. The other play I wanted to ask you about is it's in the third quarter, 1316. It's 10-10, the opening drive of the second half.

And I wrote this one down because to me, like, this is where last year as a rookie quarterback, it's like he's so advanced. Like he sees it and it's out the mechanics. the quick release, the accuracy, but it's the throw to Tay Martin number 13. And it's just, it's a first and 10, nine-yard, you know, throw. But his release and his decisiveness is just so, it's been so advanced for a player to this young. Yeah, this is, this is, I don't want to minimize that because it is a good play. But it's a good play call, knowing the coverage you're going to get.

So you pre-snap, you want zone coverage for this. Right. Because that's a spot route, what we call. That's a spot route by TAY, and you're going to get the running back to pull that flat defender out. So pre-snap, this is clear to me that pre-snap, he reads this as zone coverage, whether right now I would call it before the snap that looks like a cover four. That would what we would call cover four, which is a zone coverage. So you're still going to get a flat defender coming from inside the box.

So this play is going to work. Now, at the snap of the ball, it changes to cover three. You see that top safety flies down to go cover the flat. Yeah. But it's still the same principle. You're going to have a flat defender and you're going to have a deep defender and you're going to have it inside the box guy. So his pre-snap post-snap reads are right on the money,

and it's a tall timing, right? He can't wait at all. Otherwise, this will get broken up. So, yes, I agree. It's a pre-snap read and it's a post-snap confirmation, and it's happening in a split-second, and that's a great first downplay. Yeah. And you're off to the race.

And I think that's part of it is that, you know, he's a young quarterback, and he's all last year, same thing. He sees it pre-snap. He understands what's happening post. And then he's got the throwing mechanics with the quick release that makes that play like a natural for him, always. Yeah, right. I mean, if you become a team that sees a lot of zone coverage, then you're going to call more of these type of plays and you're going to get able to see this more and more. Well, they saw a lot of zone coverage last year because they didn't want him to run. Yeah, I was just going to say, you're going to get that because you don't want to play.

It's what happened to Washington first series of the game. They ran man coverage, turned their back to Herbert, and you bust out a 40-yarder because you lose contain and the rush lanes and all your guys are covering man-and-man defense. Right. So, yes, that is a Jason Daniels thing that you have to call more zone coverage again. And so they should have a bunch of these, you know, five of these ready to go at every down in distance, first and ten, second, and six. If you think you're getting the zone, and you call this play, and you let Jason Daniels, or excuse me, Jaden Daniels do what he does.

I actually have one more play that I want to ask you about. I lied. The last play was not the last Jaden play that I wanted to talk to you about. If you go to the second drive of the game, you know, they went three and out to start, second drive of the game, they had a first down on a cross-gey merit run. And it's like a third and eight, third and nine. And he scrambles.

This is when he slipped and he ended up changing his shoes after he slipped. Do you think that he should have thrown the check down to McNichols? Okay, yeah. So I see the play you're talking about now. Man, this could have been real crappy. So go to the end zone deal here. If he had pitched it to him, are you going to tell me to lateral? Yeah.

Oh, yeah. He could have been real crap. after you. But right off the bat, I want to say no, because he's not, this isn't hot. This is a blown protection. So Wiley is responsible for that, I can't see the number there. Oh, that's Henley, right, number zero. Yeah. But on the snap of the ball, Wiley checks him and he doesn't rush right away. So Wiley thinks he's going to be a dropper, but he just leaves his eyesight too quick. Daniel thinks this is picked up. So Henley coming into his face right away, I think startles him because he doesn't think he's going to have a free rusher on him.

And so now it's instinct. I got this free rusher bailing down on me in Agap because he's not hot. This isn't a hot route where he should automatically go to McNickle. Right. They should be picked up and he should be able to look down field and hit one of these two crossing routes that you see going in front of him. Got it. But that guy flashes in front of him.

He's in the agab. He's like, oh, my God, now I got to make a play. So, I mean, they're lucky that he even got out of the pocket here and got, you know, three, four yards. Right. but if he could have parlayed this into a pit here, then you're talking. It's a touchdown.

Yeah. And you're like, you know, top 10 number one. Yeah, I mean, I said that. I said, like, right when he starts towards the line of scrimmage, he could unload it real quickly because he already sucks the defense up. Or if he's beyond, he could, you know, he could throw a, you know, an actual pass lateral across to McNichols. And then McNichols literally takes it 65, 7, you know, 60 yards.

for touchdown. Okay. So when I'm watching it, I'm not going to knock him for not being able to add live on a backyard play. Yeah. He's initial read. He thinks he should be picked up. They blow the coverage up front. And now he's just got to read and react. You think Kingsbury and Quinn get upset if he ends up latering that?

Not if it goes for a touchdown. Right. I mean, see, you know. I mean, and you don't take a hit. I think it's a pretty safe lateral. Yeah. for all intents of purposes, but you don't see many people make this type of play. No, you don't.

But, you know, you also don't have a quarterback that puts the defense in conflict as much as he does. And those opportunities do exist once he moves towards the line of scrimmage as a runner. I mean, you get a lot of opportunities because they're coming up nine times out of ten, right? I mean, I'm watching again now. I keep replaying it. certainly, I mean, he definitely looks on now, I think he's looking at the defender whether or not he's going to grab his leg. I was going to say, it looks like he looked

over to the left. Having Nicholas, but I think he's looking at the defender there. All right. But even if he had a fake pitch it right there and it shut up, it would have been nice. But, I mean, his grade, his grade. I mean, he's A plus. His grade was I said it earlier.

It's the highest grade I've given any player since I've been doing it. I didn't find any flaws in his game. I mean, I'm, you're nitpicking. right we're kind of nitpicking this right we're nitpicking if we're trying to fly flaws in him so he was great really good game for him to come back the rust was really short-lived in my opinion you mentioned a couple of balls that were missed thrown shore but overall really good performance from him I'll give him an a plus for sure uh all right let's get

to your three highest offensive and defensive grades along with your lowest offensive and defensive grades bottom three will do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. You shouldn't have to go out of your way to feel like yourself, and Hymns brings expert care straight to you to ensure that happens, with 100% online access to personalized treatment plans that put your goals first. No hidden fees, no surprise costs, just real personalized care on your schedule. For simple online access to personalized and affordable care for health.

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slash my bookie promo code DC Reload. All right, we continue with Steve Souter. Let's get right to it. Let's start with the defense. Your three high. highest-graded defensive players from the Chargers game. Three highest go to Kinloal leading away, then Armstrong, and then I have a tie between Wagner and Newton. Newton's getting big points for that big tip that really steals the ballgame. That's a huge turnover and huge play, although you can argue Wagner was more consistent throughout the game.

So there we have a high score there, but Kinlo and Armstrong, top two up front. Then bottom three go to Latimore, Amos, and Holmes. Lattimore again, obvious reasons, Amos, obvious reasons as well. He wasn't doing well in man coverage, and he had a couple blown assignments in coverage when they were in zone. So they got to continue to figure that out.

But those are the bottom three. So tell me about Marshawn Lattimore's, you know, great, because this is one of those, and we've done this a couple of times, and you've ultimately been right, based on the personnel changes that the team has made. but Lattimore, you know, ended up with, you know, I think based off of some of the advanced numbers out there, one of his more promising days or one of his better days of the year.

What did you see? So I can, there is a little bit of me maybe being a little too hard on him in certain instances in like the first play we went over. That's probably not Lattimore's fault. I mean, Kwan Martin basically picks him. But Lattimore's still not going to make a play on that ball. ball's still getting caught to Keenan and it's still going for 20 yards because he's just not in position. He's just not covering people in man coverage.

And I think he is part of the problem in the communication. And if he isn't part of the problem, he's not part of the solution. You should be a leader out there if you're getting the wrong information from your safety's or whoever it is. Correct them. So it's not seen that. I don't see a leader out there. And he should be the one doing that. and he's just missing coverages.

Here's the advanced number that somebody sent me. It's per next-gen stats. That in 41 coverage snaps against the Chargers, he allowed one catch for six yards. That would have been obviously his best game of the day. So, you know, I think sometimes some of these advanced places, they don't understand the responsibilities of some of the guys in coverage. So again, you're seeing like the communication issue like on the very first big throw to Keenan Allen as a big negative.

Yeah, absolutely, because it's going to cost you touchdowns. These plays are going to turn into TDs. I mean, go to, I mean, this is a lot more specific, but go to third quarter 1054. Okay. We'll do this one real quick. Like third quarter 1054, this is mind-blowing to me. Is this the Herbert sack? Yeah, and it's a touchdown if they don't sack him.

This is turning into cover three, but look, there's another motion, right? A motion coming across. Now, Lattimore's up top. Now he's pointing to Lovu, and I think he's telling Lovu, you got the tight end. Okay, so they're communicating that. You got the tight end. I'm assuming that. Otherwise, Lattimore would have him because he's in cover three, he's a deep guy there.

But look what happened down here to this motion. The motion comes across the field. What is Amos doing? he's the cover three corner and they just let this guy run a wheel but make it up the sideline they're not paying attention to this guy at all is that Hampton that is is that number one it was that oh no it's it's it's it's tray Harris number nine right yeah it's the wire receiver right that's the wire receiver so he starts up top he comes across the formation and they just leave him everybody leave them but if this is true cover three then this is all on AMO

he's got to have this deep third and he's chasing the drag across the field that Lattimore's picking up over there and then Lovu he leaves the tight end who delays into the flat I mean Herbert got a lot of options on this play

yeah and so if not for the sack if not for the sack it was basically pick two 50 yard plus throws one Tray number nine Tray Harris

that's a touchdown I mean, nobody's near him. So who blows this? I'm pretty sure it's Amos. This looks like you'll cover three to me, and Amos should be the deep third. Right. Now, if they're pulling, now Washington has been doing these tricky,

or half zone, half man, and maybe this is a man coverage, but then they don't have enough people over here to cover everybody. Well, they blitzed McGee. They blitz to McGee. Yeah. And so they don't have enough people. and they leave Trey, if you're going to leave anybody, you leave the running back swing.

You don't leave the guy bowling down the sideline. Or Lattimore should have followed Trey all the way across the field. So it's hard for me to exactly tell you who's wrong here because Amos is confusing me. He should be in D. Third, but he's running with the crosser. But he's not. Then he passes it off. He doesn't know where to go. I mean, this is just an example of what they do in the secondary and how they get crossed up.

Yeah. Now, does Herbert blow it by not throwing. hot here? I mean, there's a free runner. Yeah, so I left the game not as impressed with Herbert. I know that. Of the games of breaking down,

Jordan loves still number one, as far as quarterback play goes. And you could argue Herbert was three and Pennix was above him, in my opinion, and well, Gino was fourth, but... So what does Herbert do wrong here? Because he's got all these incredible opportunities.

Did he not protect right, you know, pre-snap? What does he miss here? Yeah, so in hindsight, sure, they miss pre-snap. They could slide this coverage, and they could make McGee the mic, but it looks like they made Bobby Wagger, the mic, which, okay, usually you make Bobby Waggoner to Mike. So that means the Chargers 5 are responsible for the front four and Bobby.

Bobby doesn't blitz. He goes out to Hampton and Mancovers. So they're hot off of McGee blitzing here. So Herbert's either going to have to have his built-in high routes, which is probably this swing. He's going to have to count on Hampton and Bobby in a one-on-one matchup out there in a one-offerfield tackle, or he's going to have to hit that tight-end concrete really quick over the ball. But he doesn't either. So to me, this is a misassignment by Herbert.

Okay. This is a clear hot route. You're not blocking McGee. He's got to come. But I'll tell you what, nobody following the guy in motion coming behind line of scrimmage, probably throws him off that it's not man. coverage because he expects somebody to run with him, or at least he guys bump out. But Washington doesn't do that, so maybe that's on your trickery. You know the other thing that's interesting

about this play is that Bobby McGee ends up being, and by the way, he's quick. He's got some speed, Jordan McGee. Yeah, I like him. I do like him. Athletically, for sure. He's a free runner, and we've talked all week for multiple weeks how you don't want Wagner in coverage, and Wagner's going out to cover Hampton out of the backfield. Yeah. But you can't be so obvious, though, right? It's probably clear. Everybody in the league knows you don't want Bobby a coverage,

but you can't as a defense to just do that every time, then I can just scheme you up all day long. I'm going to know who's bliss and I'm going to know who's not. So eventually, he's got to be able to stand on the zone two feet at some point in coverage. Yeah. All right. So Kenlaw, Armstrong, Wagner, Newton, By the way, Wagner's grade, he's just really good against the run and as a tackler, right?

Yeah, he was good. I mean, it helps, right? So Bobby's going to be good when his front four is good. And that's every great linebacker to ever live. If my two guys in the middle are eating up double teams and doing a good job of it and still making plays on their own, then I'm not going to get blocked as much as a linebacker. So now it comes down to do I have good run fits? do I have good instincts on the initial snap?

Do I fill my gap? Am I getting there quickly? And that was happened. So good job for the defensive line to allow Wagner and Louvre to roam a little bit more freely in the box and get in there and make plays. And he did. So he had a good, steady game. He didn't get caught in coverage like we've talked about and got manipulated or taking

advantage of. So good for Washington disguising that. And good for him when he was called upon to run with some guys and men. So steady game for him. Johnny Newton I mean you remember him at Illinois I do he's he was the Big Ten player

a defensive player of the year he's athletic he's quick you know he's not the biggest do you see like a big future a big upside for him because I thought he had a chance to be really good coming out of Illinois it's got to be motor for me

and that's usually for most things when he tackles you could be a lot better than your talent if you have a higher motor because people get tired in the box on the line of scrimmage and are you the guy that's going the hardest.

So we've seen flashes of them do that, but it's not consistent yet. And you've got to maintain that consistency of going hard. Like Ken Law does it way more. You just see the motor difference between him and Newton when they're on the field the same time. Off the ball is quicker.

His moves are more aggressive. It's just a mindset. And I don't know if he has it yet, but he has it in spur. That might be a maturity thing. You can't just play when you want to play. You got to go hard every possession, or excuse me, every play. But he has some skills, sure. You didn't mention Von Miller, who had, I thought, a pretty good day rushing the pass,

or where did you have him in your mix? Yeah, he's, I mean, he's just straighted underneath Bobby. I mean, I'd still give him, you know, still give him a B, B plus. He was effective when he's in, but he's not. He's like a relief pitcher, in my opinion, right? You got to come in and strike two guys out, and then you're back out of it. He needs to come in and rush a pass, what he's supposed to. And, you know, he gets a sack at the end of the game.

I'm not really counting that when you're up 17. And, you know, you're getting a pass. It's not that effect. It's a good play, but you're not affecting the outcome of the game at that point. So you don't get as a weighted grade as it you would have. It was in the third quarter and you're only up seven. He got the sack. Yeah.

And it was on Trey Lance, too, right? Right, right, correct. How did Preston Smith play in his first action? I didn't notice him. Okay, that's fine. I just didn't notice him. Yep. Yeah, that's fine.

I realized that he was in the game at some point when I was greeting other players, and I said, oh, he was that guy. But then that's all I can say. It wasn't impactful. Didn't notice him. You alluded to Payne briefly. Last week, Payne was part of the highlight of your low light of your film review. So just tell me, you know, the game that he had.

You weren't blown away impressed, but you thought it was better than last week. How? How so? Better. Just, I mean, not as many low plays that I would call, and he wasn't getting pushed around as much. His best play is, let's see, go right, for the half, two minutes. The screen? Yeah.

Yeah, 100%. Right. The recognition of seeing the screen because he's reading the lineman, not necessarily to play, get a feel from the lineman that I was a screen and he goes on making a play. That was the only. play that I gave him a grade above average. The rest was just he was there on the field. So interesting because...

He needs to pick it up, man. It's at motors. It's something going on with his motor, man. It's not there. It's interesting. Well, he was on the injury report, you know, last week. Every... I got about... If he was top out or not. I got 50 tweets saying Souter was right. He was on the injury report because we... You asked me, was he injured? Was he in the injury report? Oh, wow.

And he wasn't. His effort was so bad. It was ever was so bad. You know, what's so interesting about a player like that is that, you know, he's got the strip of Bejan the game before. And then he's got this incredibly noticeable sniffing out the screen and nailing Hampton for a seven-yard lost, which was a huge play in the first half because it basically ensured that they were going to get the ball back again. but there's a lot of other snaps in the game, that's for sure. Right, so there's 39, he played 39 snaps, and 38 of them are just average. Yeah.

All right, let's go to offense. Top three grades, bottom three grades. Top three, Jayon leads away, for sure. That's obvious. He mentioned that we talked about. He was awesome. So highest grade I've ever given so far in my early tenure of grading. second goes to Chris Paul

guy continues to dominate up front he's best lineman Washington has in my opinion he's mauling dudes he's picking up switches and twists and he's just really reliable he has a I don't know maybe in the 300

plays I've watched him and that may be too many there may be four or five times I've knocked him so really consistent second and then third place goes to Beiotich his team guy at center really good game from him, awesome in the run game.

The first touchdown of Bill, he helped steal two guys, really good pool from the center to do that. He looked athletic, really solid performance from him. So those are my top three, and I know everybody's going to say, what about Bill. Bill was good, Bill was great, but the fumble

just cost him. You can't turn the ball over. And he had the ball. It wasn't like he got hit right away. He had a chance to put it away. So I put the fumble on him, and that knocks him from being one of the top three guys. He would He would overtook Beiotish if he doesn't have that fumble. So what do you see when you watch Bill?

I like him, and we talked about liking him early on, and if you get more playing time, I still like McNichols too. That third down was such a huge shake on the sideline, a big play in the game. I don't want Bill's coming on to necessarily get rid of all McMichel's touches. They're going to have to figure out how to balance that because I think he's still a good player. but Bill looks good. He's got a lot of energy.

What he needs to start doing for me? I mean, he had some good runs, obviously, and he's breaking some tackles in the box. Now you need to become that next guy that breaks that second level. When everything's blocked like it should be, like was done a couple times during this game, then it's you on the safety. We've taken care of the 10 guys. You've got to go take care of the last guy. And so that's his evolution to become a great run back.

can you make that safety miss when everybody else did their job and this is your job and you turn an eight, nine-yard gain into 50. But I like him, sure. He looks good, looks promising, and he's energetic, and I think the team's vibing off of him now, which is a bonus. And now you got, you never want to say an injury is a, it's not a good thing. Eckler, that sucks. But these two guys coming out of it is a bonus for the team.

Do you have, I'll ask you the question that I asked callers on radio this week. Do you have a comp for Kroski Merritt for Bill, pro, current, past? Who does he run like? Man, put me on the spot there. Well, I mean, I think it's interesting because I kind of got put on the spot with it, too, and I couldn't come up with anybody right, you know, like that. And it's not because his running style is so unique or anything like that. think he's an excellent vision.

You know, he's got a great vision. You agree with that, right? Yeah, yeah. And you know what he has is confidence in the blocking scheme. There's another thing I've noticed, and it's not a, you think that's obvious. Hey, we're running it this way. You're going to follow these two pooling guards. Follow them.

Usually during your run place, something happens. A flash of color goes somewhere, and running back doesn't have trust in the blocking anymore, and he'll do his own thing. And that can happen, and it can be good. but for Washington right now, the offensive line is executing at such a high level of how the play is supposed to be drawn up that I think it's so positive

if you're running back that trust that scheme and he definitely sees it. I mean, his big play where he breaks a tackle from during James like wrapped around his neck. I mean, that is an ad lit play. He's, Derwin's off of the read option,

he doesn't bite it, and so he comes down last scrimmage and Bill's got to make a play there and he does. Otherwise, that's getting blown up. That doesn't go the way the bomb. It's supposed to go to the left. But he's making a play there, so that's an anomaly, but it's a great individual effort. I like his vision. I like his patience, and he runs

hard. So now you need to there comes a time we're running hard. You need to turn it in to be elusive. And he'll get there. I think it's just evolution. But that's a good question. I'll think about it. Yeah, think about it. You know what? I just

came up with a guy. pretty sure you played with him. Bruce Perry had great vision as a running back. Did he? Really good vision. Really good vision. And I would say in college, now I don't want to. Bruce was probably a little smoother.

Well, he was smoother than Bill from watching the film here. I had a little better little jump cut. Bruce was good, man. But Bill. Yeah. Yeah, let me think about that. I'll get there. Yeah, you'll get there.

All right. Bottom three offensive grades. bottom three, go to Wiley. So Wiley was the worst graded, right? Yeah. Okay. Yep. And then Chris Moore, the drop touchdown roughed you up.

Now, see, this is another game where majority, almost all the offense played well. So your grade of being terrible could cost you in one play, right? So Chris Moore had the drop. That's a big play. It took points off the board, so you get down right on that. And I gave Zach Erch to the drop on that two-minute drill. and so that puts them at the bottom three, too. Interesting.

But Wiley, that was his worst game of the year. While everybody was doing well on the offensive line, he was, and now, granted, he had really good plays too all throughout, but he was the one that was not getting to his block the most, and most of those run plays that got blown up for like one or two yards was a result of him not being able to get on a down block, which are hard blocks to do. I understand all that, but you're asked to do it. and so you don't get it done and it's kind of lay on your shoulders.

Let me ask you about two other players. John Bates' return. How did he do as, they value him significantly in the run game? Yeah. Bates was good. Yeah, yeah, he, man, I want to show you the,

which is the one where Sanute, I have one where to say this is, yeah, yeah, yeah, ready. Let's go to two minutes and eight seconds in the first quarter. Okay. And so this is like two minutes, what did I say,

two minutes at eight seconds. Yep. I mean, this is how you draw up and block a run play. I mean, this is perfect. And this is where I get to Bill. Like,

you get to that second level. This is on you to break that guy. But let's watch the front. Just dominant. Sanuke gets a pancake on his kickout, right? Paul comes across. He's the initial kickout, handles it.

Bill follows both these pulling guards. And then Sanu Kets to blow up pancake. And but if you're going into the end, interior, everybody is doing what they're supposed to. The double team with Bates, so if you watch the end's the end, they essentially do. They're triple team, this D.N. They essentially do, right? They triple team, Tully, and they work up to the backer. I mean, this is just a mauling. This is, this play is going to work because of that initial block, and Biotich has the hardest block on this play. Their triple team in the D.N., and they're moving up to the linebacker.

Biotic has to hold this point of attack to allow these two guards come across, sorry, Paul and Sanoot, he's the key block, and he turns him, he turns the nose guard, allows the pullers to come through, allows bills to come through, that's just, that's textbook. Yeah, that really... If I'm the offensive line

coach or the O-C, I'm putting this on the board in front of the team meeting, and I'm saying this is how he draw it up guys, and I'm pointing out all the effort. Like, look at Sanoon, man, he blows that guy up. Sin it. Sin it. It's fine. I think that's the best part of you doing this is that you don't read.

But, yeah. I know, but, you know, you see what percentage of their runs include pulling linemen? A lot. A lot. Yeah. And a lot of them, when they do the sixth offensive line, and you have to have guys that don't allow penetration to do this. You can't pull linemen. if your center is getting blown up from a nose tackle or your backside guards are getting beat on a down,

but I can't do that. See, even Tunsell, right? If you're still watching, his D-N, he crashes down, but he cuts him off. Yeah. And he holds that off too. I mean, everybody here is doing exactly what they're supposed to do. So on this play, you think Kroski Merritt's got to take care of the safety here, or is that just an outstanding tackle? It's a good tackle, and it's a lot for me to ask him to break this tackle.

I'm not pointing this play out to exactly saying this is where his flaws are. This is where you go to the next level, right? You did what you were supposed to do. You followed the play design, but nobody touched you. Your only time you got touch is when you got tackled. And that's just no running back wants to go down to the first hit. Nobody. I mean, it's a good run, right?

He followed his bloggers from my point. He trusted his team. He actually gets up. And I think there's a little bit of disappointment. like I need to run through that safety and turn it into an 81-yard touchdown run. Anytime we're running back gets to that second level or third level, this is a third level. Yeah. Right?

He's getting through the safety. Then it's, this is my shot. This is my shot to break one. I don't got to break 10 tackles. I'm already a year. Yeah, three levels without being touched or two levels without being touched and he gets tackled. It's a hell of a tackle by the safety.

That looks like Molden, not James. right? It could be, yeah. Yeah. All right, let's take a quick break. I know you've got more in your notes that you want to talk about, and I've got a situation that I want your thoughts on. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. I just want to take a quick minute to say thank you to all of you who listen to this podcast on a regular basis and who have rated and reviewed the podcast. This morning I woke up to an email from one of our sales. partners saying you're number 18 on the Apple podcast charts football category.

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I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. And I'll just be annoying again today and ask that anybody that hasn't rated or reviewed the show, we can go even higher on the Apple charts. I know that a majority of our listeners have not rated or reviewed the show. And I know, you know, it's not top priority and I don't want it to be. But if you can spare 60 seconds to give us up to five stars, if you think we deserve it on Apple and Spotify, it really helps. And writing a quick review on Apple, it can be as easy as just saying, man, I love Steve Souter and the work he's doing on the film breakdown. It can be that simple, one sentence.

Following us, following the podcast as well, hitting the plus button or the follow button is a big deal for us also. Thank you, though. We continue with Steve. All right, I know that the thing that you wanted to get to that I have not asked you about and you haven't had a chance to talk about is the performance of Luke McCaffrey. So tell me, how did he play? Oh, dude, what a catch, man.

The catch is top tier of that ball. That's a tough grab. It's in the air forever. I mean, he's reliable. I know you asked about it earlier, and I just said I was probably, I was a lot. even on him because he's not a guy that's shaking and baking him, beat man

coverage for you, but he's reliable offensively. I said that's probably why he plays, right? He doesn't have this assignment. He's in the right position where he's supposed to be. And right now he's making a play when the ball comes his way, so you can't knock him for doing that. That was a huge

play in the ball game. So he did well as far as, let me see if I can pull this up. He had the 40-yard kickoff return as well, another good Kickover turn. Yeah, the kickover turn is working. He's a solid roster player at this point. And no reason to not give him playing time when Terry comes back, he'll probably, I don't

know, maybe he takes over for the third guy and is not know anymore. And then he's sprinkled lane in. Right. Try to keep keeping going. And then let's not get a slighted either. I didn't mention Debo much, but Devo is Devo again. Yeah. I love watching that guy play football.

And you get to see his. his blocking effect that he has on plays when he's not getting to football and they fake it to him and he takes two defenders with him when he's not getting it. And all the ways they utilize him in and out of the backfield, made plays deep and mid-range against the charges. He was awesome again. He just wasn't as awesome as some of the other guys, but he was still really highly graded. So they're winning, continue to win with that move. I want to finish up with the situation at the end of the first half.

and get your thoughts on how Quinn handled it, and by the way, a specific play in there that I want to talk about a little bit as well. So just to remind you and everybody else, a minute 35 to go in the first half in a 10 to 7 game after the Chargers punt, Washington takes over at their own 7-yard line. They have a timeout, the Chargers have a timeout.

Washington is set to get the ball to start the second half. They go super aggressive. They call three pass plays. A second downplay results in a sack back to the two-yard line, and they end up punting after three called pass plays. I'll start there. Did you have an issue with Quinn being super aggressive in that particular spot? One time out, minute 35, 07 yard line, three-point game,

and they're scheduled to get the ball to start. the third quarter. Oh, man. I want to say no because Urge should have called that football and you're moving. But once he drops it, and then you kind of paint yourself in a corner

that you have to try to figure something out because you wasted a first down on a drop pass. So would you have run the ball on second and ten? Man, it's hard to call. I'm probably, you know, you know they got away, Wiley pulled on Derwin James there on that third downplay and they'd get away with a

safety holding, I probably would have thrown the flag if I saw it. Well, let me do. That's the play I'm leading. That's the play I'm leading up to here in a moment. But on second after the earth's drop, you really think this is just a flat-out drop, huh? I do. He's got to make this catch. Okay. I think they should have, at that point, I would have probably run it, run a draw on second and ten, called something safe, maybe a screen. And if it, if it goes somewhere, and you can stay aggressive. But you don't want to be punting from the back of your end zone,

giving them great field position, and now you're down 13-7 or 17-7 to start the third quarter. Yeah, I will defer to you. Actually, you're very good at the time management stuff. I'm not locking on it on the broadcast. Yeah, right. So I'm not watching it in real-time when it's happening. Right.

And yelling at the TV. All right, so let's go to after Daniels got sacked. Okay, it's third and 15 from their own two-yard line. And they're still throwing. What I was going to say about this play, and you're going to hit me with, it should have been a hold, did you see how close it was to a,

how close Dupre got to a strip fumble in the end zone? He almost gets the ball on Jaden's throat. Yeah. Yeah, this is, I mean, it's dangerous all the way around. 100%. But, man, I don't know, you think, well. No, with Jay, look, they're airing on the, side with Jaden that he's going to make a play

and that every possession they have with him we can go score from anywhere with any amount of time. It's the way he's, and I hear it, I get it on that. So tell me where the holding is. I didn't see that. If you go to the end, I mean,

it's real subtle, but it's the hold. So it's going to be on Wiley and Derwin James is going to come late on a twist and he's running right at Wiley's shoulder. Yeah. If he's, you start playing so he runs right at he's trying to kill wiley so that 45 can come off of him and get the sack well he rocks wiley so riley panics and grabs it by the back of his jersey

oh yeah oh yeah oh my god yeah how'd they get away with that that's a safety that is in the end zone that should be two points and they they're punning with 50 seconds to go in the half yeah that could have been a real that so hence why wiley is one of my lowest great guys he got away with this, but that could have been a real turning point in the game. Now you're 12, 7 and getting a ball back if you're the Chargers with a chance to go put more points on the board. And you see Bud Dupree on the outside how close he gets to getting a hand on the ball. Yeah, you're right. I can't say I noticed that. I was back because I was so enamored by the hole that they got away with. He grabs Derwin James's jersey. Where's the closest, oh, the

referee in the back of the end zone has to be able to see that, right? Maybe not. Well, I think Tunsel and that rush that you're talking about blocking that. So this would have to come from the line judge or the other judge. And he's like nowhere to be found. So they just get away with, there's just not enough room for people to see this happen. Yeah. But that's a blatant, yank of that back in the jersey. Yeah, because usually when you get a holding in the end zone, it's one of the tackles on an edge. Yeah. Yeah. And this is a guard on, on Derwin James. James blitzing. And it is a grab of the back of the jersey right between the three, his jersey number

three. And that is, that is, you know, this happens all the time. You know, you get, you don't get everything called. But this is a blatant grab of the jersey and it's 12 to 7 and you're punting with 50 seconds to go. Yeah. So think, right, I don't want to, I mean just, but think of all the breaks that they got in this, this two-minute span, they get away with this holding. They get the ruffing of the punter. Right. So they get the touch. touchdown called back, and then they come back and throw a bound to McCaffrey, and then they score points off it. Like this two-minute, this is a 12-point swing.

Yeah. This little two-minute spread right here. Yeah. Now, you know, who's to say in the second half with the way the Chargers were struggling up front and the way Bill was running and the way Jaden was playing that they don't come back from down 19-7 or 15 to 7 or whatever it would have been at halftime? But, but yeah. I don't want to run the risk or try to watch it.

You don't want to do that. But this is why, again, it is third and 15 from your own two-yard line. You're dropping your quarterback back. And what are the chances you're going to pick up? Now, with him, the chances are higher than most quarterbacks. I understand that. This isn't a check. You know, this is the call.

You're really, you're putting this. this getting back into the game at 10 to 7, thanks to the Kwan Martin fumble, you're putting all of that at risk from being erased. I think there, now they have a timeout left, so they're going to call time out. You get to pun it anyway, but you had a near disastrous play. I think I would have run it on second down, run it on third down, and gotten the hell out of there. I'm starting to agree with you here, especially on this third down, because now what I'm watching is there's no checkdown. option, really. No. So this is, we're trying to give 15 yards here, which means you need to

pass protect for longer, and that's more dangerous than the back end zone. They don't even have a swing. I know McNichols leaves late, but he's not even an option. So this is an all or nothing play, and they got nothing out of it. So they didn't even give Jayden an option that if they bring pressure, like they did, safety pressure, you don't even have an option to get what you would consider like a four or five yard play, which would act like your run play. Right. So, yeah, really gutsy there. And they're fortunate to get away with it. Yeah.

All right. Great job. Phenomenal job. We'll talk next week. They play the Bears on Monday night football. So we'll shoot for Wednesday next week. All right. Great job.

Good, man. Thanks. Thanks, Kevin. All right. That's it. Really good stuff again from Steve. Tommy's back with me tomorrow.