The Kevin Sheehan Show - Clinton Portis On Commanders Offseason

Episode Date: May 7, 2025

Two great guests on today's show. Clinton Portis joins to talk about the Commanders offseason and draft. Joe Beninati then joins to talk about the Caps' Game 1 loss and the rest of the playoffs. Go to zbiotics.com/SHEEHAN and use SHEEHAN at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics.Go To WindowNation.com. Buy 4 windows, get 4 free!Betting on sports? Go to mybookie.ag. Use code KEVINDC for a bonus!  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. Now Orlock, around behind for Martinuk. That one goes back to the point to Slaven. And they score. Jacob Sleven.

Through us. Caps lose game one, and they deserved it. The show's presenting sponsor, Windonation. 86690 Nation or Windonation.com. if you're looking for new windows. Two guests on the show today, Joe B. Joe Beninotti in the final segment of the show today to talk Caps Hurricanes. Before that, Clinton Portis will join me today. Clinton is the running backs coach at Delaware State University.

His first foray into coaching. Deshawn Jackson is the head coach there. So C.P. you'll jump on with me in the next segment. We'll talk about how it's going for him. in coaching and get his thoughts on Washington's off season. Some NBA playoff talk, some Dallas trading with the Steelers for a wide receiver, and why Trey Amos may have slid into the latter portion of the second round. All of that coming up here in the opening segment of the show.

I want to start, though, with the Caps loss. Jakub's Slavin's goal, three minutes and six seconds into O'Swold. overtime ended it. I'm going to ask Joe B if that was one of those, you know, bad goals or soft goals. It seemed like it. The Carolina reaction to that game winner was a bit of a surprise

and a bit delayed. The puck just kind of slipped through Logan Thompson and into the net. Thompson was great throughout. But look, Carolina won the game. They have a 1-0 lead in this Best of Seven second round series.

And I'm not about to pretend to be Mr. Hockey here because I'm not. I'll save the X's and O's and the more intelligent discussion of hockey for Joe when he comes on the show. But I've got to mention that even though I'm not a hockey guy, I am a sports guy like many of you are. And it doesn't take much to recognize a one-sided beat down when you're watching it as a sports fan, even if you're not super familiar with the intricacies of the game that you're

watching. I don't think last night required a lot of expertise to understand that the final score, two to one in overtime, was totally misleading. I actually reached out during the game a couple of times to friends of mine that I will occasionally reach out to and ask them about hockey things, and I said, and this was after the first period, am I missing something here, or were the caps just absolutely dominated, and yet the score zero-zero, said the same thing after the second period. A friend of mine, one friend of mine said, look, it's true, but when you have a goalie that's stoning everybody,

you can win a game in the postseason. And even I understand that. I understand what great goaltending can do. You know, the team's getting their ass kicked, but your goaltender, Logan Thompson, is stopping everything. And the truth was there weren't super high quality chances throughout. It's not like he had to make one sprawling save after another, but he almost pulled off what we see in hockey, you know, every once in a while.

It shouldn't even be considered stunning. and that is one team dominates the action, but the other team either wins the game or loses a very close game. Two to one in overtime. The Caps got a goal early on from Prodis in the second period to take a one-nothing lead. And I actually thought that there was like pressure building. You could kind of feel the pressure building on Carolina because they had dominated the action so much. and yet the fear of losing a game that you were clearly the better team existed. You know, that possibility existed.

But the Caps made a mistake. They turned it over. Carolina got the game-tying goal, almost got the game winning goal on a clearing by Logan Thompson right to a Carolina player. But they ended up losing a game that I think they deserve to lose. You know, the stats in this game were, these were stunning numbers. Not necessarily shots on goal at 33 to 14, but the shot attempt number of 94 to 34. I've had a couple of people on today. I had Emily Kaplan on radio today.

She's the excellent on-ice interviewer for ESPN. And she said, look, Caroline is known for kind of tilting the ice, dominating the action in the offensive zone, and out-shooting teams, out-attempting teams. But even that disparity of 60 shot attempts was pretty remarkable. The Carolina Hurricanes out-hit the caps, 44 to 31. They doubled up offensive zone time on the caps, 33 minutes, 28 seconds, to 16. minutes and 51 seconds. The only stat that the caps won is they blocked

more shots than Carolina. Well, of course they did. They had 60 more opportunities to block shots in the game than Carolina did. Yeah, I thought it was truly a game

that should have ended 4 to 1, 5 to 1, something like that, but I like hockey playoff time and I watch hockey playoff time and I'm familiar with a team getting their absolute ass kicked and yet winning the game or just barely losing. The issue is, is this what we're going to see the rest of the way? Are we going to see the equivalent of, you know, in a football game, a team rolling up 500 yards of offense, never getting stopped on third down,

but somehow missing three field goals and having a couple of deflected passes or drop passes turn into interceptions, and you're like in overtime at 1313. Because that's what it was last night, the football analogy. But I just don't know what one game to another, what typically happens. Like Spencer Carberry is known for making big time adjustments. and being very good with X's and O's. What's he going to do? There were a couple of things that stood out to me in addition to the domination of ice time,

of shots on goal. Like Montreal was clearly a smaller team that had one line. Carolina was clearly a bigger and a deeper team. Carolina's skill level, I thought, passing-wise, just looked so much better than the caps. Maybe the caps were just off. and they were sloppy. I'm sure that's the case. I also wonder, and I'm going to ask Joe this,

when you decide that the way you're going to play is just a throw pucks on net, to out-attempt by a lot your opponent, to tilt the ice and dominate the offensive zone, do you make it easier for a counter-punch, for a counter-attack? Because the Caps had a couple of those opportunities, including Ryan Leonard, their rookie, who had a chance with a breakaway off one of those dominant sort of portions of offensive play, you know, is the, can it be overaggressive? I'll talk to Joe about that as well. I would certainly say that game two tomorrow night seems like it's a must get for the caps. going back to Raleigh down 02 would seem like a bit of, you know, a long shot to turn the series around.

But who the hell knows in hockey? These results tend to be so random. But I will kind of end this opening hockey segment with this. We've talked a lot about the Caps not being a favorite of the odds makers going into this postseason, despite having the best record in the East and the second best record overall. in the sport. I think last night I understood why. That was a one-sided beatdown where the score, and this happens often in hockey, just didn't reflect it. But Carolina, from their standpoint, won a game that they totally deserved to win. All right. So let's switch

subjects and we'll get back to the hockey with Joe B at the end of the show. Did anybody see this story? I brought it up this morning because I saw it early this morning. It was Intel, it was a story on ESPN.com titled Intel on every team's draft. And there was some interesting information on Washington's second round pick, Trey Amos. All right. Remember, Trey Amos, corner out of Ole Miss, had played at Alabama before that, Louisiana before that, was thought to be anywhere from a mid first round kind of a pick to maybe worst case, you know, early second round. That's not where he went.

He went late second round to Washington, pick number 61 overall. And people believe that that was a very high value selection. So on ESPN.com story, Intel on the draft for all 32 teams. I don't know if Kime wrote this, but there's a quote in here that I want to get to. So Washington got a plus starter with second round pick defensive back, Trey Amos, who has size, speed, and instincts. Selecting him at number 61 was considered great value. One aspect that may have hurt his value slightly,

multiple teams discovered a back injury in the pre-draft process. Now, this wasn't a major red flag for some teams, but it was at least a mild concern that, quote, according to an AFC team executive, quote, probably caused him to slide a bit, closed quote. The story continues, people around Amos and the commanders did not seem overly concerned about it. So I went back and I tried to find like back-related stories on Trey Amos. Nothing. Literally nothing. Now, he missed part of the combine with an ankle injury and he's had hamstring injuries in college. A hamstring injury this year and a hamstring

injury back when he was at Louisiana a few years ago. Nothing about his back showed up anywhere until this story. So there's always a reason for a player to slide a little bit further than you thought. Sometimes it's just the evaluation, but it sounds like with this guy it may have been because there was some concern about the injury. Hamstring, you know, issue, certainly soft tissue injury, certainly a problem with guys that have to run like corners. Back injury depends on what it is.

Totally depends on what it is. but I thought that that was worth sharing. How about the trade in the NFL earlier today? The Cowboys acquiring George Pickens from Pittsburgh for a third rounder in next year's draft, Pittsburgh will also get a fifth rounder from the Cowboys in 2027. They'll send a sixth round pick in 2027 back to Dallas for George Pickens. By the way, those 2027 picks will be made right here in Washington.

There must be something wrong with George Pickens. When Pittsburgh moves on from a player, a talented player, something wrong. A.B., you know, Antonio Brown, Chase Claypool, remember him. They fleece Chicago for Claypool. I don't even know if he's in the league anymore. Pickens has been certainly a head case and a problem at times. Super talented. you know, three years in the league without basically a quarterback,

and he's had some good seasons. You know, 900 yards last year. The year before that, he averaged 18.1 yards per reception and caught 63 balls for 1140 yards. Has had some big drops, but Dallas wanted a receiver. The story about this trade indicates that Dallas would have taken Arizona receiver, Ted McMillan had he been available for the Cowboys at that selection. But he went number eight overall to Carolina, I believe, and then Dallas took Tyler

Booker, the guard from Alabama at 12 overall. But C.D. Lamb, George Pickens, a healthy Dak Prescott. Their backfield is completely different. If you haven't followed what Dallas has done in the offseason, they added Javante Williams. I've loved Williams. He just hasn't been able to stay healthy. They added Miles Sanders, and then they drafted Jaden Blue from Texas in the fifth round, a back with some really good speed and playmaking ability.

But Pickens, C.D. Lamb, maybe a better backfield. The key for them is obviously a healthy quarterback and a healthy defense. They had a lot of injuries last year. But I don't know, man. Feels like Dallas, not the sharpest group in the NFL. Pittsburgh sharper that maybe it was time for Pittsburgh to say goodbye to George Pickens. In terms of the value, it depends on what the market was. Essentially a third rounder because the fifth and sixth rounder, I mean, a little bit better

for Pittsburgh, but I don't know. It's so hard to judge these deals, especially when you don't know whether or not there was a market. But I was expecting D.K. Metcalf and Pickens to be together there for maybe Aaron Rogers. Who knows? Maybe Aaron Rogers said, I'm interested, but I don't want to play with that lunatic. I love D.K. Metcalfe and I love, you know, Friar Muth, and I love, you know, some of the things you've done for the team, but I don't want to play with Pickens. Maybe that's part of it. Who knows? Real quickly, before we get to Clinton Portis, NBA playoffs last night, man, big blow to the Golden State Warriors.

Steph Curry hamstring injury, probably will miss the next three games minimum of. this series. They lost him early in the game and he was off to a great start. In the second quarter, he had 13 points. He had been bombing threes. He looked really, really good. And then left the game and still Golden State somehow beat Minnesota, which meant that the first five games of the NBA playoffs have been, and the second round have been won by the road team. Terrible game for Anthony Edwards shooting wise. He's had a couple of rough games. and Golden State, man, their IQ, Draymond Green, I don't care what you think of him.

He is one of the all-time smart players. He's been shooting it well recently, playing very well. Jimmy Butler, just unbelievable ad for them. And then Golden State went deep into their bench last night. They played Pat Spencer. Pat Spencer was a lacrosse player at Loyola in Baltimore, won the equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. in college lacrosse and then played one year of college hoops at Northwestern,

and last night played 11 minutes in a playoff game for the Warriors. It was interesting to watch Steve Kerr worked the bench. I don't know if they can survive without Steph. It doesn't make sense if they do, but they do have Jimmy Butler, and Butler has carried teams by himself against this level of competition in the postseason, and he does have Draymond Green and Buddy Healed shooting the lights out right now. The other game was insane. Indiana down seven with 40-some seconds left came back to steal game two. So they swept Cleveland on the road. Cleveland was banged up. Donovan Mitchell had 48,

but they were missing several players, including Darius Garland. He's a big miss right now. Mowgli was out. But man, Indiana looks like they'll be the team to face. I think Boston, I do think it'll be Boston, even though they miss 45. three is the other night. But the big blow to the NBA playoffs right now is potentially the loss of Steph Curry for some time. First ever, by the way, hamstring injury in his career. You could tell he was hurting last night. What else did I have? Oh, this I just saw right before I started to record the show. CBSports.com ranking the quarterbacks, power rankings on NFL quarterbacks. Cody Benjamin wrote this story for CBSSports.com. The number one quarterback in the league, per his NFL

quarterback power rankings, Jaden Daniels. He writes, recency bias, sure, but you'd be hard pressed to find an NFL team that wouldn't hurry to claim him as its quarterback of the present and future, contenders included. He was simply unflappable for much of his dynamic debut, which ended on the doorstep of the Super Bowl. A second-year dip is possible, but who says Daniels won't keep climbing with some added veteran help in D.C. Now, let me just mention

the second-ranked quarterback in the league in these power rankings is Jalen Hertz. What? Then Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, and Patrick Mahomes. So those are your top six. I could see Jaden easily being, in somebody's top five, and even somebody's top three.

I don't know about number one right now, but his point of you'd be hard-pressed to find an NFL team that wouldn't hurry to claim him, including contenders. You know, Joe Burroughs had a bunch of injuries. Patrick Mahomes is older. Lamar Jackson can't win the big one. Josh Allen. Mahomes, Josh Allen.

Those are the two that I think you have to put ahead of Jaden. Then we can debate Lamar and Joe. borough. But Jalen Hertz is not the second best quarterback in the NFL. He's not. I'd have Stafford ahead of him. I'd probably take Herbert in front of him to name a few. Jalen's back in the top 10 range, though. Clinton Portis next after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, guys, a good Mother's Day gift idea for you. It's Gold Belly. I've been talking about Gold Belly for a while now. In fact, I just got a delivery recently of some of my favorite pizza, Johns of Bleaker Street, up in the village, the best New York-style pizza, certainly among the best New York-style pizzas in New York. Goldbelly is this amazing site where you can order the most iconic famous foods from restaurants all across the United States, and they'll ship anywhere in the country for free in time for Mother's Day.

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And my bookie will give you a cash bonus on your initial deposit. By the way, in their NFL futures category, the first point spread of the season is up. I didn't even see that the Hall of Fame game was announced, I guess, last week. Detroit is going to host the Chargers in the inaugural first preseason game in Canton. The Lions are a one-point favorite over the Chargers in the first preseason game of the year. My bookie's got all the NFL futures opportunities that you're looking for. And as I mention all the time, my bookies fair, fair numbers, fair pricing. You shouldn't be paying minus 125 or minus 130 on a straight bet loss.

My bookie is old school. You're going to pay pretty much across the board minus 110 on a loss. you should be paying. Go to mybooky.ag for all of your sports betting needs. Take the free money that they're offering and use MyBooky as another book to comparison shop on point spreads, on money lines, on totals, etc. MyBooky.ag or MyBooky.com promo code Kevin, DC. Joining me right now is the running backs coach at Delaware State University, Clinton, Portis. Yeah, that's what CP is doing these days. He joined Deshawn Jackson staff at Delaware State.

He's the running backs coach at Delaware State. We're going to talk some skins and draft and some NFL, but how's it going so far? It's great. I love it, man. Opportunity to help shape the future in sports. You know, some of these guys are going to get an opportunity to go to the NFL and just to be a part of that to be able to help direct and lead and guide them, kind of give them structure as dope. You know, I've talked to you about this before because I've said to you before, I think you'd be a good coach, and I know you've had some interest before,

but how did this come together? Man, you know, I wasn't really listening. I wanted to do what I wanted to do, and that was kind of broadcasting. I didn't think I really had the time to put into coaching, but now that I'm in it, it's like, why haven't I been doing it? I should have been, took this advice. I should have been, got on board and gotten involved. So it just kind of come with timing, man.

You know, I think the moment I stepped on campus and realized the opportunity, that was being given to me. It was like a second, third, four, fifth chance in life to go out and do something special. And I think this gives me an opportunity to stay in sports and make a bigger impact than the one I was making broadcast. So how did it come about, though, with respect to Deshaun, reach out to you, or did you reach out to Deshaun when he got the job?

How did that work out? Actually, our conversation was about, you know, we have the youth needs. So we have the 7-on-7, the Carolina Prospect, myself, London Fletcher, Antoine, but they, Nate Clement. We already, you know, been doing this, you know, helping kids get into college. So that's what our conversation initially started as, like, me saying, hey, look, bro, I got all the skill positions in the Carolina, like, what you need, you know. and it just kind of escalated really quick. I was, you know, pitching the kids, and our conversation kind of escalated.

Warren Sap, you know, had kind of gave both of us, like, man, you need to get with Jack and help Jack, and I guess told Jack the same thing. And, you know, the next thing I know, we're talking about kids, and it was like, hey, man, look, we need you. You want this job. It's yours.

And I'm like, bro, I got to think about that. like this kind of out of the blue but the more I thought about it the more I felt like this school this institution of the history in Delaware like it was an opportunity that just like fit like you're starting at the bottom to grow and at the same time make sure this is your passion your love, your direction. And more it was listening to God. Like, how do I end up in this position? You know, and instead of question, it was just like my heart was so heavy for the

opportunity that it was like, you know what? This is what I'm supposed to be doing. So, you know, I've reached out to you a couple of times, and you've been on the recruiting trail, you know, recruiting players. So what kind of challenge has that been? And actually, what's the overall challenges so far that you've sort of embraced and found easy and then maybe some that have been more difficult? Well, I think that easiness is being able to relate to kids, you know, having kids, myself, having kids this age,

having kids experience this, being already dealing with the youth, that was an easy, smooth transition. You know, like, I've been doing this just unofficial. But now that it's official and I really impact, you know, I said to myself, like I have five kids or six kids in my running back room that I have to impact. And that's my focus. And then that room grows, you know. Their friends start coming in and other guys on the team start gaining respect and, you know, listening to that voice.

So it turns into like, I'm responsible for five back, but in reality, you know, we got 60 kids that need that advice that you can take over the top. And then being that we were one in 11, it's an easy, like, whatever you know, it's easy to break that because you were one in 11 doing it, you know. So for me, talking football, you know, is, I mean, that's ABCs to me. but being able to teach it, get kids to understand, get kids to grow and develop has been like the biggest, like the biggest appreciation. Because once you show kids, like, if you just listen, I'm going to put you where you need to be, you know, like it takes a lot of other stuff to get to the next level, but I'm going to put you in position to have you primed and ready.

And I think the challenge is I don't see why I can't get the same. kid that I go to Ohio State or Miami. And I honestly feel like I deserve to be able to go out and get the number one back in the nation. No, we can't pay you an NIL. We can't give you the money that they're giving you. But I can give you some gains that they can't. I could put you in position like Prime put Travis a Hunter, you know, and he was the second

picking the draft, I can help you develop as a player and give you that opportunity. And that's the belief I have in myself. Yeah, I was going to ask you that because, you know, they went from Jackson State and all of a sudden they're at Colorado. And, you know, their high profile, D1, you know, big conference first year in the PAC 12 this past season in the Big 12. Like, you know, it's one step at a time. I understand that. You guys open up with Delaware on the road, August 28th. on a Thursday night. But did you take this thinking that if it goes well, there may be an opportunity similar for Deshawn Jackson and staff

to go to a much bigger spot if it goes well at Delaware State? Yeah, I would think every coach thinks that way. You know, Del State is a great opportunity, great university, but I don't think this is D. Jack's end-all B-all, I don't think it's my end-all be all. But if it is, we're not opposed to that, you know. But it's kind of one of those feet-on-land mentality.

Like, be where you are and appreciate DEL State for however long get last and give all, you know, I can't be sitting here focused on how do I get away from DEL State when I just got to DEL State. Wherever I'm at, my backs, I'm going to give them the game that I have.

I'm going to drop all the knowledge that I can and try to grow these kids to be better men, to be better players. And that's kind of just the idea. Like, you can't be sitting in the office thinking, boy, if I was somewhere else, like I'm cheating the kids. Right, sure. It's be where your feet are. Yeah, I'm where my feet are.

And right now, Dale State is where I am, and it's a great opportunity. and I love it. And our staff is just one of those staffs of a lot of knowledge, you know, a lot of the guys played in league. I think we have like six or seven guys that played in the NFL at a high level, played college ball at a high level. So our staff is cool. You know, like you get an attachment to that.

And it's like, you don't get this everywhere. You don't get a D-Jack, Clint Porter's, Eugene Chung, Emerson Martin, Sammy Parker. you know, like you don't get that every staff you go to. You know, I think we have a young dynamic offensive coordinator and Nemo Washington and our D coordinator, Brandon Blackman. You know, he came from under AP and Marv. So it's some similarities.

Like knowing those men and then coming to be one of their disciples, it's just like the opportunity, like, man, these people are going to do, and I think our staff as a whole can all go on and be, bigger coaches somewhere else. You've already talked about sort of the interaction and the experience you've had with young people and giving them your knowledge and kind of helping them get to the next level. As a coach, beyond developing these players as, you know, developing them as players, developing them as young men, what will you be good at, you know, X's and O's-wise?

and is there an area that you think you've got to improve upon? Well, I think my area and improvement is I watch a lot of what the head coach do. Like, that's where I want to be. That's what I want to do. So as a running back coach, I've been playing running back, I mean, at a high level for a long time. So X's and O's, like, again, it's like ABCs to me. You can't forget those. The execution of it is kind of on the back.

I just got to get him to his landmark, his aiming point, and that's easy to do. You know, once I can't tell you, hey, yeah, you know, let me get you to this landmark, and then you get to make your decision. So for me, I think the things that I need to learn are more head coach perspective, you know, how to organize a coaching staff, how to. to lead a group of men because I don't want to be in the position of, hey, he's just a running backs coach. You know, like I think I bring so much more to the table.

But this is my starting point, and it's great because it makes me understand that I have an appreciation for it, you know, like not being the lead voice, but having a huge voice within the organization because all of the coaches lean on one another, Jack, Nemo, Coach Black, you know, everyone leans on each other for information, guidance, and to make sure this thing is done as a collective. Instead of Jack just saying, like, hey, man, I'm the boss man, listening to what I'm saying, what I say goes. You know, it's not one of those situations. It's more of, hey, man, you're strong in this. I need your help over here.

Or me stepping to someone saying, hey, how do I do this, you know? So it's a great starting point, and the understanding is I know it's not like this everywhere. Do the players know you? You've been out of the league for 15 years. You're 43 going on 44 years old. Are these players familiar with you guys? Man, one of the best things that happened was Marshall Fault let the world know he was Googlerable. Clint Porterfield the same way.

So being able to go, you know, I think when we first got started, and I'm giving the tips, you know, of course they knew who I was. And one day I had to sit down and show you, like, I'm not asking you to do something that I haven't done. Right. And we went through my film, and then it was a different respect and appreciation. I didn't have any of that. This guy don't know what he's talking about. I'm going to do it my way. You know, it became, oh, oh, yeah, coach was like that.

And I could kind of see how they reacted or how they started to want more knowledge or want more perspective and starting to, you know, do things that you're like, man, I've been trying to get you to do this. Now all of a sudden I can't get you to leave my office because you're trying to acquire so much time. Google me. You know, so. Yeah. Yeah, Google me.

That's all it was. We put on the YouTube highlights, instead of going through me as one day, like, let's be clear. Like, I've done this. Right. That's funny. All right. Well, do you have a spring practice at that level? You do, right?

Yeah. We just finished up spring ball a few weeks ago. Yeah. And just the response for where we were when we came in, all these kids inherited. Remember that. Attention 1 in 11 with confidence, low, and discipline low, and all of that, to get them to buy into our vision, to get them to buy into Coach Jack vision, and to be able to grow that team and see all the potential that we do have.

And then having a portal open where we can go out and get the missing pieces that we need. So that's been great because this is like, I mean, like, bro, you're telling me in four months or six months, I can go and find something else instead of having to wait to the end of the year and going to high school, like it's a kid that's in my DMs right now saying, Coach Pete, like, I want to play for you. Like, come get me, I'm ready. You're like, oh, okay, okay, I got it. Right. Do you have talent or not?

I do I actually I actually have a lot of talent and that's just to the growth of of the men on the team and you know at the end of when we sat down and talked

as a team it was kind of like where do you see yourself like how do you value your teammates and then we had a walk on we got a walk on kid who everybody voted as the MVP of spring ball.

And that speaks a lot because nobody saw his talent. And everybody kind of said, hey, man, you know, like, he didn't get an opportunity. Like, Alex can play. You know, like, AP can play. His name is Alex Perry. Like, AP can play, you know. So it was one of those.

And then the other challenge was when we chose 10 cabins. When Jack chose team captains, it was no running back. And the challenge was, no, we need to have representation in that captain's meet. Now the lead voice is probably our running back, you know? So that's been the challenge. Like, it's the little battles that you have to win and this. And that's the attempt or that's the challenge for me. Like, let's win these little battles.

The things we can control, getting rid of unnecessary connection, focusing, locking in, and that's going to make us better ball players just by doing that. All right, let's move on to our football team in the offseason that it has had, a free agency in the draft, because I haven't talked to you in a while. Have you followed it closely or not?

I know you're busy, you know, out on the recruiting trail, but have you paid attention at all? Yeah, I've been paying attention. to not like the depth that I used to. But I've been paying attention. They're making good moves. You know, I think it's been more of need and really bargained, you know, which has been great because normally we make flash moves.

Well, yeah, for many, many years we did that. So let's talk about before we get to the draft, what did you think of the Tunsel trade and what did you think of them signing Debo-Samuel? So, Tom Saw, I would think, is top five tackles in the NFL. Trent, Panaystool, those guys will be at the top. But, you know, he's still one of the top tackles. For him to be available, for them to be able to go out and pull that off, it's great because it gives you somebody protecting Jason Bad Ty.

I think he's had a lot of years left in it. So I think it was a great. move. What about Debo? I know you've been a fan of his in the past. Well, even for Debo, I think that was a bargain great move because we needed a, we needed a receiver. And to go out and get Debo for a bargain, what better draft pick were you going to get than Debo 70? You know, already proven a guy who's been there and he's been with, been with this front office. So to go out and get him, I know they have to belief that he can return to the form that he had in San Francisco. So if we see that, that was like one of the best bargains this off-season

because you got him for the load. And it could only be upside. It doesn't hurt you. It didn't cost you much. So to be able to pull this move off and go out and add a playmaker, such as Debo to the room of Jane and Terry, you know, to add Debo to that bowl, still playing at a high level.

So I think it's just a great bargain. So let's talk about the draft. Everybody thought going into the draft that they would draft an edge, a defensive end, because they lost Fowler Jr. That's 10 and a half sacks. There's no obvious replacement for that on the roster. They didn't draft a defensive edge.

Were you surprised by that? And was there one in this draft that you really liked? I wasn't surprised. This edge was, I mean, this draft wasn't high on edge. You know, I think the kid from store, you know, like, there was a lot of upside in a lot of these kids, but not a lot of production. So you didn't have an edge that was in the draft like, oh, man, this man reminds me of Dwight Frini or this guy reminds me a Wally-A-Gulier, you know, like, you didn't have that dangerous edge to just get to the

quarterback whenever he won't. So, for me, it didn't surprise. You know, I thought a big receiver, I think I was excited about the the TJ White, Pittsburgh moving on from TJ Y

or Cleveland moving on, and neither one of those happened. So it was just like, you have to trust what they're doing because we didn't see division that they saw last year to get to the NFC championship game. So for them to go out and fill the roster as necessary needs, it's just one of those. They know what they're talking about.

They know what they're doing. If they're not concerned or panic, I'm not going to be concerned or panic. Think about what you just said. For all those years, when we didn't trust what was going on, sometimes you didn't. have to say to you, are you sure? Because they don't get anything right ever. But now I feel the same way. I'm like, I'm just giving them the benefit of the doubt. They've earned it. They've definitely earned it. I mean, to get to the NFC championship game, lose to a division robbery, and for them to go on and win the Super Bowl and dominating the Super Bowl the way that they did, it's just one of those,

hey, we see where we have to get to. And then you watch the Eagles draft, and it's like, man, how could they keep doing this? Like, and it's straight SEC. It's straight Georgia, Alabama. I'm not budging. I'm taking their best player at this position and making it happen. You know, instead of their scouts having to go and, oh, let's look at this kid from Washington. And let's look at this kid from Oregon and USC.

Hey, it looks like their whole staff go down to Georgia and say, let's rate these Georgia kids, and if they're available, we're taking. Yeah, they drafted Bama, two Texas and a Georgia. And by the way, best defense in the NFL last year, and their first five picks were defensive players. All right, Washington's draft. I just thought you would, because we. struggled in short yardage goal line all season. And the kid Scatterball from Arizona State was there for a lot of those rounds.

I thought we had an opportunity to pick up a steel. Like, why did his stock drop or what happened in his workout? It's play on field. You know, it warrants it saying, I'm going to take a chance on this kid. Maybe he didn't test well, whatever it was. He was tough. He's downhill.

He's hard-nosed. You've seen him give Texas a run single-handed. And to not get a kid like that, that, I mean, that was some values, you know. It's just one of those. I feel like it was more of kids that we could have brought in and didn't. compared to what we dressed. Like going out, getting an O-Lignment in the first round. It was cool, but I thought we kind of fulfilled that need when we got tonsled.

But you could never have too many O-Lignment is something I'm learning in college. You can never have two-minute O-9-D-line on this college level. So in the NFL, if you got eight of them, seven or eight of them, you feel outstanding because somebody is going to go down. So it's always good to pile low. position of competition, but I think it's going to be competition throughout.

You know, I usually every year get a chance to talk to you before the draft, and I didn't this year because of your new job. But who were the backs that you really liked in this draft? You said you liked Scataboo. Who were the others? Do you think Gentie is a generational

talent? I just think I think Genti is an outstanding player. Now, after wearing hair from college carries over. You know, it's just those question marks. Like, I think because of the season Barkley had, Gentry was, it was an obvious no-brainer for the Raiders. But you still don't have a lot of help around here.

And I know everybody believes in Pete Carroll, you go out and find Marchand Lynch, and you made things work. It was smooth selling, but you don't have that same talent. You don't have the same defense with the Raiders. You don't have a quick strike offense. So teams are going to load up. And it becomes like how first straightens does he get? Because he should walk in day one and be the guy, you know? Yeah.

It just makes me think, why let go Josh Jacobs, who had proven he could play to go. go two years later to draft the running back. You already had a running back, you know? Right. Were there backs, though, that you really, because you usually have strong opinions on the college backs and what kind of pros they'll make. Were there guys that you really liked? Well, I think that kid from UNC. Hampton. Yeah, I think he's going to be a animal. fast kid, great vision. He hit the whole full speed.

You know, I like to see stuff like that. So I think, honestly, he probably have, I think he will have the best year. You know, for backs, which the running game is coming back, all of a sudden, the running game is coming back to the Jacobs and Barclay and Baltimore, Derek Henry. you know, so it's a kind of position of need, and you see, hey, if I get this, going into the playoffs and in those cold games, I could actually win by playing good defense and handing the ball off still instead of trying to make everyone Aaron Rogers to throw the ball 40-50 times a game. Man, the backs are back, no doubt about that, with Barclay's season,

in a Henry season, Bejohn Robinson, Jemir Gibbs. There is an elite level of backs, and I think we just name them. I'm curious if you think anybody else is on that list. Barkley, Henry, Bejohn Robinson, Jemir Gibbs, who else is on that list? McCaffrey, when he's healthy. Is there any other back that you would put into that category? Well, you can't leave Camerre and Jones off just because of their production. Aaron Jones.

Yeah, Aaron Jones, Camaradown in New Orleans. You can't leave those guys off because of the production that they've been having. And when you look around the league, like the guys down in Miami, if they could stay healthy. San Fran got a slew of running back if they can stay healthy. But when you look at the main guys, it's like those names, names stand out because they're the names or those other guys that's consistent in getting opportunities. Like, I still tell you to this day, I did not see Derek Henry having that

season in him. I still don't believe he had that season. Like, I still can't believe that worked out that well, but Derek Henry are the race. Like, and then to look at, say, Klon, and it's like, you go from the Giants to the Eagles, you don't want to see. Super Bowl, you brought running backs back and showed the value of running back. So we have to be appreciative of his season. But I think if these guys get the opportunity, you know, go back to Cleveland. If he can get healthy, you know, just looking around. What do you mean go back to Cleveland?

Are you talking about Nick Chubb? Yeah, if Chubb can recover. Yeah, he's a free agent. I talked about him the other day, and I said, if you went and did the medical on him and he's healthy, I would definitely roll the dice because it'll be cheap. It's not going to be expensive because of the injuries. And I think he is a borderline elite back when he's healthy. It sounds like you agree.

Well, I mean, we've seen what he's capable of it. The only back that I've seen recover is continuously play at a high level. like Chubb is doing with Frank G. Like Frank G. Yeah, go. It blew out his knee in college. He did it in the NFL, and, you know, he's still top three backs all time in Russian right now.

So I think if Chub can, because he has the attitude, he has a work ethic, given the opportunity, I think he's going to be great somewhere. You know, it sucks of Cleveland. don't go out and keep them in house. Now his man got hurt giving his all for you all. You just said something that I would have never guessed.

I knew Emmett was one and Walter Payton was two. I would have just guessed that Barry Sanders was three. Frank Gore finished his career just barely ahead of Barry Sanders, but not that far behind Walter Payton as the number three rusher in the history of the game. That's crazy. I mean... And that's after blowing out both in the years. Yeah. Did you see Washington's back that they took in the seventh round? Jacori Kroski Merritt? Do you know... Are you familiar with him at all?

No idea. Okay. Yeah. He played one game at Arizona last year, was ruled ineligible, but he had a huge year the year before at New Mexico. but they took him he was the last running back taken late in the seventh round. So that was, I thought that they would get a running back and a defensive end in this draft. They got a running back, but super late, and they didn't get a defensive end. But I'll finish up with this. Do you think they gained ground on Philadelphia, lost ground on Philadelphia, or they are in the same position they were in last year against Philadelphia?

I think Philly got better. And that's bad to say. I think Philly got a lot better because they got positions of need. They upgraded that position. And I don't think we really upgraded that many positions. I think we feel some positions. of needs, but I won't say it was like, oh, man, this was a home run, you know. It could be just because you're saying let's trust this front office decision making.

But I think Philly kind of separates themselves from a lot of people. It's like the Dodgers all season, or, you know, it's like the Dodgers all season where you say, oh, man, these people are so good and they just won and then they go out and add all of this Salas, you know. Today, I think Dallas made a major move in bringing in

Pickens. Pittsburgh receiver. You know, in bringing in Pickens, it was how do like, Pickens, Lucas Donchig, like these moves is being made. How is this kept so quiet underwrept?

I know you could have got more for him. I know you could have got more for Pickens. Like, it's too many teams that need a receiver, and then you send him to Dallas and he's next to the CD-LAMP, they should go crazy, you know, whether it's just preseason, I mean, regular season, and, you know, something happened like it always does out in Dallas, and it don't amount to anything playoff-wise, but the stats in the pre-season, I would love to have Dak

Prescott in my fantasy draft, because most of those guys are going to be open. But don't you think that Pittsburgh, the way their organization is run, I mean, they got rid of, you know, Antonio Brown at the right time. They got rid of, remember what they got for Chase Claypool when they dealt him to Chicago? He's, is he even in the league anymore? I don't even think he's in the league. There's something about Pickens. Like I kept thinking Aaron Rogers with Pickens and with DK Metcalf, that that's a great combination. So I think the fact Pittsburgh's giving up on him says something about him.

Well, I think with Coach Tomlin having the respect that he had, when he moves on from guys, it's like you had to really do something to piss them off, just because how that organization is structured, the loyalty that they normally show to their players in keeping them around for them to kind of, you could have made this move. during the draft and got more. Yep. So to do this after draft is like, what happens?

Like, what makes you not want to deal with this man anymore? And you just want to get the best thing you can get and move on. You know, so there's like a respect for Coach Tomlin, and appreciation for Coach Tomlin to say he's great at developing these guys. He's great at getting the most out of these guys. and he knows when it's time to move on from these guys, because normally when he does, like if you take an AB or a lady young, the career was never really the same, man.

The 33rd all-time leading rusher in NFL history, the second all-time leading rusher in Washington history, and now the running backs coach for the Delaware State Hornets, They open up against the Delaware Blue Hens on August 28th. We will be following the Delaware State Hornets this year, CP. Good luck with everything. Thanks for doing this. I hope it goes well for you.

Appreciate it, man. We need all the followers we can get. You can catch our games on TV. I'll talk to you later. Appreciate it as always. All right, peace out. Clinton Portis, everybody. Joe Beninotti next after these were.

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to follow Joe. By the way, Joe does everything well. And I actually was listening to Joe called the Maryland-O-Hoyos-Lacross Big Ten title the other night. You get around. That was a pretty good game. I actually... Was Maryland the one-seed or was Ohio State the one-seat? Ohio State's the one seed in the Big Ten, Kevin. But Maryland had beaten seven top-ten ranked teams during the regular season total. So when it came time for NCAA tournament seating, Maryland was actually a higher seed than Ohio State, the team that just beat their breaks off in the Big Ten championship game. But Maryland had beaten Ohio State three weeks prior.

So I think John Tillman's team is terrific. Nick Myers' team in Columbus, Ohio is really damn good, too. I wouldn't be surprised if you had a couple of Big Ten teams in that NCAA championship weekend, depending upon how the brackets square out. I'm not sure how that lines up. But yeah, a really good game. And you know me, it's so a love for me to do that sport. It's one that I grew up with.

You played it and we're good at it. And I'm looking at the bracket, actually. This was not what I intended to talk to you about. But I do know that there are people listening that are very much into this. In fact, I know some of the kids on the Maryland team because I know the families very well. Maryland is the overall two-seed. Cornels one, Princeton's three and Ohio State's four. Maryland and Ohio State are on opposite sides of the bracket. Maryland would play Robert Morris Air Force and then Duke Georgetown to get to, it would appear, the final four.

I just think, when Maryland has a week to prepare for teams, that coaching staff, that head coach in particular, John Tillman, and the players, the way they respond, to him, they get it done. I'll throw this quick aside at you, Kevin, during the semi-final win for Maryland. We interviewed Logan McNaney post-game, and afterwards, the producers in my year, okay, just quick thanks and cold. So I thank him, congratulate him, and he's like, yeah, go caps.

Awesome. Well, he obviously knew who he was being interviewed by. Oh, yeah. Now, do you call any of these games in the tournament or not? No, I wish. It's the same issue with regard to me and ESPN where I would love to be involved. They know I want to be involved, but there are people on contracts who need to get their events. So this is a lonely part for me. I lonely watch the NCAA tournament unfold, and in the same way, I'm sitting in the arena last night watching the Stanley Cup playoffs unfold.

It's the best time of the year, but it's the toughest time of the year for me. All right. Let's get to why I reached out to you. So in brief, you know me. I don't know the sport like I think that I know other sports. But last night, I think anybody could have identified if they're a sports fan, a one-sided game. The final score, not even close to reflecting how much Carolina dominated. Fair or not? Oh, completely. And don't sell yourself short. You know this sport. Yeah, that game was, and I said it, it was one of the most lopsided one-one games I've ever seen in a long, long time. Logan was terrific, and that's exactly what I think Caps fans should hold their heads high, knowing that this, in my opinion, was going to be a long series, and if it's going to be, Logan's going to need to play like that. But that was just about as close to a perfect. executed road playoff game as you can get. Both of those teams were on relatively equal rest. It should come as no surprise to Washington what Carolina wants to do, but their execution of it was matter-of-factly close to perfect last night. And they do what they do. Washington has a very similar schematic approach to the game, so there's no surprises at all between these two squads. that Carolina executed

at an incredibly high level. Logan kept them close, and you're going to hear all the metrics about shot volume and shots attempted and goals above expected, all this good stuff. It comes down to, for Washington's sake, it's always been a matter of quality versus quantity. Carolina and Brindamore,

they favor quantity. They want to throw everything they can at the other team's goalie. I think Washington waits for the better scoring chances, and if this series plays out the way we saw last night, the caps are going to have to be incredibly efficient, very economic, because they're not going to get very many chances. When they do, they have to bury them.

So that's perfect segue into what I wanted to get to, because, you know, they were in terms of shots on goal 3314, Carolina, but the shot attempts 94 to 34. Everybody has explained, including going into the series, because I had John Walton on the show on radio yesterday, This is what Carolina does. It's about volume of shots. What I haven't had necessarily explained well, but I bet you will,

is the quality of chances, you know, the better scoring chances isn't necessarily Carolina's MO. It's about attempts, and 60 more attempts is pretty incredibly one-sided. But my question to you is, does it make... kind of the counterattack, the counterpunch, more likely when a team is that aggressive, and as long as they're not getting consistent high-quality chances, is it a strategy that could pay off for the caps in the form of like what Ryan Leonard had late, you know, or two-on-ones in sort of the counter, you know, punch ability off of the way Carolina is playing?

everybody knows their philosophy they are constantly stressing you and the question is can you find can you expose their vulnerabilities in football I'm going to zero blitz you to death okay you can do that and you'll get home

and you'll get to the quarterback but you are going to leave yourself exposed to some one-on-one and in that instance that's where the counterpunch that's the countermeasure the 90 attempts, 90-plus shot attempts to me, speaks more than anything to a stat that was season-long with Carolina. Kevin, nobody spends more time in the offensive zone than Carolina. They get the puck

in deep very well. They forecheck the bejesus out of you. They force turnover after turnover. The thing that Caps fans do not want to hear Sean McDonough and Ray Ferraro, if they remain on the series, I'm not sure if they're there tomorrow, but you don't want to hear Sean and Ray talking about, oh, there's another almost clear. They almost got it out. No, every chance the caps tomorrow and I get to get the puck out of the zone, it has to get out. If it doesn't, it just turns into these waves and waves of momentum, shift after shift. Spencer Carberry put it to us perfectly in the lead up to this series.

He's like, you cannot left. one strong Carolina shift of momentum turn into two, three, four different changes of personnel where they are just jamming it at you. And that's what they love to do. That is their MO. They will not stop. They are relentless. It starts from the head coach and the players buy in 100%. Yeah, I mean, the expression, the ice was tilted. I mean, it was at 180 degrees last night. It felt like. But back to the question I asked, what I'm getting at is, is the strategy to even out the tilting of the ice, or is it to create more opportunities from their overaggressiveness on the counter? A little bit of both. And honestly, Kevin, what Carolina does really well, Washington does really well.

That's Washington's strength normally is get the puck deep. get it beyond the defenders for Carolina, force them back, force them into panic situations, hit, forecheck, use your strength, use that heavy brand of play that the caps are known for, force turnovers, create off those turnovers, score goals. What the caps do is what the canes do.

Now, who gets to execute it better? And for some reason last night, Washington's passing game, which has been very good of late, Washington's breakout game, getting the puck from the defensive zone, out into neutral, out into offense. That's called breaking out. The caps have been breaking out so very well all season long. Carolina has a way of neutralizing those skills.

Washington will try to do the same thing and try to put that onto Carolina's plate. Here's a difference last night. The thing that stood out to me, and it's amazing, I've said this a time or two, when I'm calling a game is one thing, when I'm watching as a spectator, as an interested pre-and-post game show, analyst host, or whatever I am, I see things differently. And the first thing that noticed, I noticed last night, and this is not to throw shade on Montreal, Carolina's defenders, their back sick are so much better than Montreal. Yes. And that's where they expose you. those guys crash down the wall.

They don't let you get out of your own zone. So the puck's always near Logan. They're pinching. They're crashing. It's relentless. And oh, by the way, those defenders are really good at it. Lots of teams try to do it. Carolina executes it.

And it starts with a 40-year-old gentleman who, you know, you sit there and go, wow, I can't be that effective. Brent Burns is still effective. Jacob Slavin may be the best defensive defenseman in all the NHL. Gostis Bear with his deception and all at the point on their power play, running offensive sets. Dimitri Orloff, who we've known here for a dozen years, their defense is really good. And that's what stood out to me. Like, whoa, this is a major leap from Montreal to Carolina.

There's a reason why Carolina was second best in the Metro took to Washington and really good and highly thought of and thought by many to be even the favorite in the series. I didn't think so, but I got the suspicion that the Caps win a long series. And that's going to be, if they're going to do that, if they're going to live up to what I think they can do, they're going to have to get it done tomorrow. Yeah, you mentioned something that I was going to ask you about, because one of the things you pointed out to me early in the Montreal series when I had you on radio, is that the caps, it's very obvious, they're just bigger and stronger. And they did not appear to be that last night at all.

That struck me. And Carolina defensively, when the caps were even in the offensive zone, they just, They were knocking pucks away. They were turning them over. And then I thought the passing, Carolina seemed, now maybe the caps were just off last night, but the passing, taking that puck into the offensive zone was so crisp for Carolina and so sloppy for the caps, I thought.

Did you feel the same way? No, no argument at all. They weren't sharp. Washington was not sharp. Carolina was. and as that game unfolded, the more and more you watched it, you're like, how was this 1-0-0 Washington? Exactly.

And you go to the Gold Creek. Logan was good last night, Kevin. He didn't have to be extraordinarily true, but he was very good last night. And if, you know, there were a bunch of posts, there were some very, very good stops by LT, that easily could have been 4-0-0-0-0-0 the other way around. But it was right there for you to steal. and such a shame to not be able to get that one across the finish line when it looked like you might be able to steal it.

You were badly outplayed, and yet you still had it on your stick. I'm not going to – things happen with plays off the boards, Protis jamming Alexiev on that clearing effort. It winds up on Stan Cove and stick. That's trouble. But it could have been settled long, long before that. The thing that amazes me, or not surprises me, Kevin.

It's just these two teams want to do the same thing. And one team last night did it at incredibly fast, accurate speeds, and the other team did. Was the goal Logan Thompson gave up in overtime a soft goal, as they say? No, not to me. I mean, I think screened, yes. The release was quick. I don't know that he saw it cleanly.

Has he made that say before? Yes. So I'm not going to, I can't pin that on him. Nobody really saw the flight very well. And this is one of the reasons why Carolina preaches the game they preach. Every shot's a good shot. Every shot on goal has a chance to end up as a deflection going off of somebody's butt. at the goalie can't see it, so why not take it?

And if Jacob Slavin, who's not a real goal scorer in any stretch, has a wide open shot from a long range, just take it. And in Brindamore's philosophy is take it, and then crash that net, look for rebounds, force Washington's defenders to panic. They didn't have to. It went in clean. To me, that's just all part and parcel of what Carolina does. And for the first 40 minutes or so, one thing I mentioned in our pregame coverage on Monumental Sports Network was for Logan Thompson, the puck needs to stick to him tonight. It can't be, he's got to have good rebound control for 40 minutes clean.

It was like he was a sponge. The glove was good, really good. And if you have to take stoppages and take defensive zone faceoffs, do it. Rather than what Carolina wants is keep throwing at the case. somebody will screw it up, it'll bounce on our tape, we'll bad goals that way. No, it wasn't there, and that's why it was a shutout performance

for a long, long time. I'm not, there's nothing that Carolina did offensively last night that surprises me or overly concerns me. Yes, are they speedy? Absolutely. Do they pass the puck well? Yeah, you didn't see the best of their power play last night.

You can't take penalties against them tomorrow or any other game in this series. But if it was disappointing to see the five-on-five play tilt so much in Carolina's favor, because I think that's one of Washington's strength. You know, the game winner was, I thought, an odd reaction. I think Stahl was the one that was right there. And I think they had just assumed that Logan Thompson had swallowed it up like he had almost everything all night long. And they didn't see it.

It was almost a delayed reaction. That's the thing, Kevin. It's the cage sometimes. Those beanbags at the bottom. There was no net ripple. It got stuck in there. It goes in. It's like a thud.

You know, you're not seeing a big, the net doesn't flare and bulge. But they knew it was through, and it just squirts through his pad underneath his pad. And have we seen to make that save? Sure. But I don't think he tracked it at all with the screen and the amount of bodies that were in front of him. It was a bad ending for Washington, but man, there is something so, dramatic about sudden death overtime in the NHL playoffs. So, you know, the NBA playoffs, these games are like, you know, individual entities.

I mean, game two can look completely different than game one after adjustments. You've already talked about some of them for Spencer Carberry. But is this sport one in which what we saw last night the opposite might occur tomorrow night? Sure. Again, I would imagine the caps are in meeting rooms and in film rooms and on the practice sheet and going to be talking about it in independent group chats and however they meet for the rest of the day and for tomorrow morning and the subsequent minutes leading up to game two about ways to counteract what Carolina does. And they saw it in the flesh. They saw it twice in April late in the regular season, so it shouldn't have been far into them. There's no surprise.

rises between these two teams. And schematically, people will sit there and go, geez, you know, they really behave alike. It's just a matter of who executes the best. So how do you get Carolina's four-check off balance? How do you support the Washington defenders? How do you help Carlson and Chickren and Sandine and Roy and Alexev and Van Reeves? Like, how do you help them get out of the zone cleaner, better?

The thing you want to look for to me, and I'm not an analyst, I'm just a play-by-play person pretending to be an analyst. But to me, tomorrow night look for five caps in the picture everywhere. And that means the wings in the defensive zone, not just the center getting deep to help, but I think the wings will come further down. You'll have a more connected-looking group trying to leave the zone because Carolina is crashing and taking the boards away

and forcing you to the middle and forcing you into these traps. So if you can shorten the distance of that first pass, make it quick, it's got to be accurate, and it forces them to back off a little bit, then all of a sudden you can breathe. And then you get to neutral zone, you dump, and it becomes like a punting game, Kevin. You want to change the field.

You want to flip the field all the time on Carolina. They do it to you, and they put it inside your five-yard line all the time. You want the ability to cough and corner them. You've got to get out of the zone. So whatever it is that they can do, and again, the analysts and the head coaches and the assistant coaches, more importantly, and the players, they'll execute on what will help them get out better, cleaner. If you have to flip it and just, you know, literally punt the puck out of your zone,

you can do that from time to time, too, but you've got to get it out. They tried that a couple of times last night and never got it out, so it just keeps coming right back at you. You have to get it out, and I think it's more of a five-man unit, deeper support, move as an entity through neutral zone, dump it in and then do what they do to you. You forecheck them, and that's what we like to do. That's what the caps like to do when they're playing well. That's why I keep saying these teams, there are times when they're mirror images of each other. Carolina is faster, top to bottom, yes. But Washington is normally a better passing team and something I've learned since I was in Utah.

The puck moves faster than any man. If they move the puck well, pass the puck well, they can overcome all this pressure. Joe B reads the room better than anybody with all of these football analogies on the show today. I still think the zero coverage blitz is the better of the two football. analogies that you've given us today.

All right, I'll finish with this. Concern level 0 to 5. Zero, no concern at all. Five, the caps are in big trouble in this series. Where are you? Three. Three, you have to get tomorrow night. I don't really like the chances of beating Carolina,

four out of five, and especially with three of those games being in Raleigh, where, oh, by the way, they won 31 times, I think. They were one of the top, if not the top, home ice team, toughest team to be right there. I want to say with Los Angeles, I don't have numbers in front of me. No, you need to get it done tomorrow, so your concern level can't be a zero. I think it's a little bit more than half, so I'll go to three.

And I just believe so much in this team, Kevin, they rarely, and I'm going to knock on what does I say this, they rarely throw two clunkers in a row, and now where you're considering eight months of really hard work, on the line. All the high stakes and the high rewards and all the pressure. It's all on the line now and that game tomorrow. They need to perform better and level the series and then go down there and figure out how to beat them once, and then you become part of a best of three where you have two of them in D.C. That's got to be your mindset now. First and foremost, one in the time,

game two, and remedying the situation from last night. No cap's going to look in the mirror today and say, geez, we were good last night. They weren't. Logan was. Logan was. But it was off. It was just an off performance. And I'm going to chalk it up to that until I see Carolina execute that well again. If they do that well again, then they're going to make things awfully difficult. You know, I actually have one more question. Because we've asked, I've asked you a lot about, you know, pressure on the caps in the postseason. And, you know, getting out of the Montreal series was huge because they hadn't gotten out of the first round since 2018. You know, Carolina has been a threat in the Eastern Conference postseason

for several years in a row now under their current coach, Rod Brindamore. Is there pressure on Carolina to go deep this year? Are there fans like we can't go out in the second round again? They've been to some conference finals, but is there a lot of pressure kind of building on them? Sure. I want to say they've been out in the second round. three of the last four. Yeah. Yeah, they want to go deeper. They have a nucleus of players there who are just about in their prime, and they have some young guns that are going to come up and

make them very, very good for a long time moving forward. But yeah, I think any of the eight teams that are left in the Stanley Cup playoffs are good enough to win at all. I really do. Those four teams out west are seriously good. And I don't think there's a weak link in the east at all. You're down to four outstanding teams in the east. Two of them are in this series. One of them needs to behave better tomorrow night. And I know they're capable of it, and I know they're going to be extremely well-coached to do it. Let's see how quickly they can turn the tables. You have to flip it because one team was able to do and execute its identity far better than the other. And I don't think these two teams are that far apart. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong.

But I think Washington is way better than what they showed last night. I love the heart and the hustle and the block shots that they were, there was a lot of sacrifice there. It had to be. You never had the puck. You have to be able to get out of your own zone tomorrow, and you have to put them under that pressure-pack situation. You've done it before.

They can do it again. They'll do it tomorrow. Joe Beninati, everybody. Always the best. Really missing you in Locker and Allen and all the guys. Hope Locker's doing well. really appreciate this. Hopefully we have a chance to do it again before the next series or during the next series. Thanks, Joe. My pleasure, cab. Thanks for spending some time with us. Joe's the absolute best. So good at everything he does.

All right, we are done for the day back tomorrow with Tommy.