The Kevin Sheehan Show - Commanders-Panthers Recap

Episode Date: August 14, 2022

Kevin's reaction to the first-ever game for the team now called the Washington Commanders. Kevin included his "Game Take" on today's pod and then was joined by Santana Moss to get Santana's thoughts on the preseason opener against Carolina.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheyenne Show. Here's Kevin. Addish, it remains in the back field. Second of goal, Howell. He's in. Strike up the band, baby.

It's second touchdown. They're in the fourth quarter. You have to learn how to win. How to put yourself in position to win. How competitive are you? Lowman wins. Coach Baskout, I see your boys up front coming off for football. I can't tell you the last time I watched a preseason game start to finish. It's been several years, even though it's kind of part of the job description to watch all of these games start to finish.

I've never missed to play during a regular season game, although that's not even true. some of these horrible seasons late in the year when you get to a fourth quarter of a blowout game. I have definitely turned the channel. But preseason football for most of you is a tough watch. It is for me. But as long as Doc Walker is in the booth, I will be watching start to finish as I did today. Now, it was a close game, but the star of the game from the jump was Richard Doc Walker as the lead analyst. in the booth. I told you guys last week, those of us that have known Doc forever and have worked

with Doc over the years, I think there's always been a sense of what we all kind of know about each other, like strengths and weaknesses and broadcasting, et cetera. But there's never been anybody that would disagree that Doc's best is when he's in the booth as a lead analyst. I know it's subjective. I know not everybody agrees, but he is entertaining as hell. He is, and he's informative. And yeah, okay, fine, a couple of cliches, a couple of repeats. But my God, for a preseason game, it was the best watch in a long time for me. I enjoyed that.

We are here on a Saturday afternoon, early Saturday evening doing a podcast because it was the first ever game for the Washington commanders, as the commanders. and I wanted to, I thought, you know, there might be some feelings, some emotions maybe about it. To be honest with you, there weren't a lot, but I'll share with you what I thought and watching a team on the field representing Washington in the NFL, not named the Redskins or not named Washington with different uniforms, et cetera. I will share those feelings with you coming up shortly. I will have a breakdown, you know, what I liked, what I didn't like, primarily. player evaluations from the game today. And then Santana Moss will jump on with me. I love Santana. I love having conversations with Santana. And he is right now in the midst of finishing up the postgame show on NBC Sports Washington. And he's going to jump on this

podcast right when he is done. This pod today is presented by my bookie. If you want to bet preseason football have at it. By the way, the overs Thursday night and first. Friday night were undefeated. Every game went over the total. The game so far today, Washington went over the total. The other final that is in the Kansas City Chicago game probably was under the total, I'm guessing. That was 19 to 14, although the totals are super low in the preseason. But anyway, if you want to bet preseason football, if you want to take a look at all of the regular season NFL props, I would urge you and suggest that you go to my bookie. If you're you're looking for a place and you don't have one,

or if you're looking for a second place to comparison shop on things like points, spreads, money lines, et cetera, my bookie has fair lines, fair pricing, they're reliable. Go to mybooky.com or my bookie.orgie.orgie. Use my promo code, Kevin, D.C., and they will match your first deposit, dollar for dollar, all the way up to a thousand bucks. So you put in 500, you have a thousand in your account.

You put a thousand in your account. You've got 2,000 in your account. your account. MyBooky.com, mybooky.ag.agy.ag. The play that we came in to this podcast with was Sam Hal's second rushing touchdown of the game. It made it 20 to 19, and then they converted the two-point conversion to take a 21-20 lead, but they lost on a field goal with just under 30 seconds to go and they lost the game 23 to 21. So the first preseason game of 2022, the first ever game as the Washington Commanders goes in to the books as a 2321 preseason loss. I will get to my what I liked, what I didn't like from the game, my game recap coming up here in a minute or two.

Let me just share with you. And some of you are in the same boat as me, lifelong fan of the team, die-hard fan of the team, where it was massively outsized in terms of its importance for us for a long period of time. And while many of us don't feel quite the same passion that we used to feel, today was going to be a weird day. It's the first time that Washington's NFL team has been on a field with a new name that isn't the Redskins. The Washington football team felt very interim. It did not feel final. Today, I thought, would generate feelings of more of a finality of everything. Seeing it on the field, February 2nd, 2022, it was the announcement of what it was going to be. But I don't know that, or I guess I said at the time, I thought it really wouldn't hit home until

we saw a game. And it may not hit home until we see a regular season game. And it may not really hit home until we see a regular season game against an arch rival. You know, where for our entire lives, you know, it was Redskins Cowboys, Redskins, Giants, Redskins Eagles. And now it's going to be presented as Cowboys Commanders, Giants Commanders, Eagles commanders. Feels different, as I've said since 2222. It feels very much like an expansion team landed in town.

to be totally honest, as I always am, I didn't have many emotions today about seeing them out there as the commanders. In fact, I thought the uniforms were crisp looking. The white uniforms that they wore at home today, when we first saw them, they looked almost cranberry-ish in terms of the red. It wasn't burgundy. Well, it looked more burgundy to me today. I thought the helmets looked really good.

I actually think the W is perfect for the helmet because I want Washington emphasized. And, you know, seeing commanders in the end zone and seeing commanders up, you know, as a full-screen Kairon on a scoreboard, it wasn't that, you know, jarring to me. Maybe it will happen if they're good and there's a big game against the Cowboys or the Giants or the Eagles and it's a big national television game and it's not Redskins Cowboys.

Maybe that will make it hit home and hurt a little bit more. But for the most part, and I did not hear the hail to the commanders song, and going into it, didn't much care. I'm sure I'll hear it at some point. I saw the options for mascots. I'm not sure why they have to have a mascot, but the only choice among the choices that made any sense to me if they're going to choose a mascot,

which they're going to do and they're going to allow fans to vote on it. The options, by the way, for the mascot were... Hold on. I'm pulling them up here. Oh, here are the four choices. Hog, dog, historical figure, superhero. Hog, period. If you're going to have a mascot for this franchise, it should be hog.

So they have and have given the ability for you to vote on that at commanders.com slash htc. So there you go. Again, I mean, I think I was expecting, like I was planning all week long and all morning long to be in front of my television at 1 o'clock today to see what it looked like and what it felt like. And it wasn't, you know, it really wasn't moving one way or the other. It wasn't, you know, there was no visceral reaction. Maybe there will be when we get to the regular season.

All right. Let's get to my recap of the game right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Pay attention. Here's Kevin's Game Day. All right, a 2321 loss. Look, if this were a game in which the result actually mattered, And, you know, the teams played their starters throughout, and we were really evaluating the game. The game essentially came down to Washington committing two turnovers, Carolina not turning it over at all,

and Washington committing too many penalties on Carolina's final drive, which allowed them to get into field goal range without completing any significant play during the drive. The longest pass completion on the Carolina drive that ended in the Gonzalez 45-yard field goal was 11 yards on 3rd and 4 from their own 39. After that, Matt Corral, who was in quarterbacking, I think completed one more pass for like one yard. It may not have, no, I'm looking at the play-by-play right now. He did not complete another pass the rest of the way. And their average run was for negative yardage because there was a sack in there. But you had a penalty on a fumble that was recovered by Washington. The penalty was on Reeves for illegal contact.

Something, by the way, the NFL has said they're going to emphasize this year. And then on third and nine, that was a third and ten play where they had the fumble, the sack, the fumble, the recovery, and there was an illegal contact penalty on Reeves. And then on a third and nine with 47 seconds left, there was a face mask by, I think, shock a Tony or William Bradley King. It was one or the other. And that extended the drive. That put them in field goal range, and they only gained one more yard.

So, you know, if we were evaluating the actual game and why they lost the game as if it mattered, two turnovers and too many penalties on the final drive, that pretty much sums it up. Now, let's get to, you know, the list of things that I liked, and then we will get to the list of things that I did not like. The list of the things that I liked starts with Doc Walker. He was phenomenal throughout the broadcast. At the very end of the show, you're going to hear him call with Kenny Albert, the two-point conversion in which he did something he often does,

which is, mention my name. I don't know why he does that. He's done it for so long, whether it's on one of his talk show, or his podcast. To be honest with you, it's one of my favorite things about what we had at the station at 980 when the station was the station with everybody that, you know, had been there for a long period of time is there was a lot of camaraderie. You know, there was a bullpen outside the main studio and, you know, it was very, very fraternity-like and there was a lot of crossover between shows, you know, Zabe and Andy or, you know,

and Cooley and I or Tommy and I and Coach and Doc and B. Mitch and Cokin, you know, and C.J. and Scott Lynn and Scott Jackson, the whole team, all the producers, there was always a lot of discussion about and with each other on various shows. But Doc's always had a habit of mentioning my name and he did it a few times during the broadcast today. But he really was so entertaining. I think my favorite, there were three, three moments from Doc. When Joey Sly missed the extra point after Washington's first touchdown, you would have thought that it was the most devastating missed extra point in history, because as they were throwing it to the break, Doc just said, you've got to be kidding me. At one point, Doc said about PJ Walker, as Kenny Albert was talking about PJ Walker, the third string quarterback for Carolina and was talking about, you know,

PJ Walker's history and his resume and Doc said, well, whatever that's worth, I hope his experience today at FedEx Field is horrible. And then I forget what the last one was. There were so many good ones and so many of you were tweeting about them all day long. Anyway, that was my number one thing that I liked from the game. All right, let's get to the player performances. Brian Robinson, Jr. looked like a guy that is ready to play NFL football. He was in for Antonio Gibson after Gibson's fumble, which we will get to on the list of things that I didn't like from the game.

But Brian Robinson, Jr. runs with quickness, quick feet, really quick vision, and power. He really looks the part. Number eight in your program, the 23-year-old 6-1, 230-pound rookie from Alabama. They took him in the third round. They really liked him. You don't take a running back really in the third round, maybe the fourth round or earlier, if you don't think the guy can play for you right away and he is going to play for them right away. He was outstanding.

Six carries 26 yards. That's 4.3 yards per carry and a touchdown, the first touchdown for the team on the day. next on the list of things that I liked was Sam Hal. Sam Hal's a gamer. There are so many similarities to Taylor Heineke in Sam Hal's game. Now, I think Sam Hal has a bigger arm. I'm not sure that we necessarily saw it today, but I think he's got a bigger arm and he's much more capable of stretching the field with his arm.

So that's a big difference between Hal and Heineke. but the way they play in terms of extending plays and making plays with their legs, very similar. They're gamers. Sam Hal was that way at Carolina. He had a 17-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter that cut a 14-point lead to 20 to 13 and then had the touchdown that gave him a chance to go for two and threw to a wide open Alex Erickson for the two-point conversion to give them the lead. Hal got most of the time. He was 9 of 16 for 145 yards. He rushed three times for 19 yards and two touchdowns.

And he really was, you know, if we're going to end up like many summers, we have a preseason hero. Well, Sam Hal took the first step towards that. You know, it wouldn't surprise me, by the way, after today. If we don't see a lot of Brian Robinson, I think they know what they have in Brian Robinson. We'll see carries here and there. But he's not trying to make the team. He's on the team. He is going to be a guy that ends up getting a lot of carries this year,

especially if Antonio Gibson continues with his fumbling problem. But Sam Howell, we're going to see a ton of the rest of the way. We're going to see him play, you know, a half to maybe more than a half in the final preseason game. Sam Hal was on the list of things. that I liked. I thought their pass protection, the offensive line did a really good job in pass pro most of the day. A couple of guys stood out, including Norwell on a couple of screens in addition to the pass pro. I also thought their pass rush was pretty good all day long, including against Carolina's starters in Baker Mayfield, even though they didn't get to them.

And that will be one of the things on the list of things that I didn't like is I thought that Baker Mayfield made it look a little bit too easy against Washington's first team defense. I thought they got pressure. I thought they got pressure multiple times. And one guy that stood out more than any other was Wise. Number 92. He had two quarterback hits. He had a sack in the game.

He was around the ball. We saw him last year. You know, we saw him, you know, play in, I think, six games last year, especially towards the end of the year when you had so many guys that were out. But I liked Daniel Wise. 92 on defense. And I liked, and I thought that, you know, they generated pass rush, whether it was with extra man pressure or with a four. I liked their tight end play today. I thought both Rogers and Hodges were impressive. Armani Rogers, you know, Logan Paulson mentioned him on Friday's

podcast, on yesterday's podcast as a guy that he had been really impressed with. He's a quarterback out of the Mid-American Conference, Ohio University, 6-5-225. He's got great hands. I mean, he ended up catching three balls on five targets. You know, there was that first third down, or maybe it was the second third down of the game where there was a ball that was thrown, you know, with the defenders back, and it just wasn't quite there by whence.

It was a little bit underthrown, and Rogers almost made the catch on it. But I thought he was impressive, and I thought Big Curtis Hodges was impressive as well. They've got a tight end issue right now with Logan Thomas and Cole Turner and Bates, you know, banged up. So they needed these guys to play a lot and they did and I thought they were both impressive. I thought J.D. McKissick, he only touched the ball once. I don't even think, I don't think we need to see J.D. McKissick. Although you want him also to be kind of in rhythm with the quarterback. But he had one catch and you just see how dangerous he is in the open field, making people miss.

They missed him a lot last year. I like Jonathan Williams. I've mentioned his name going back to last year. I think he can play in this league. You know, he's bounced around, you know, throughout his careers. I think Washington's his fifth or sixth team. He had opportunities last year and played well, came in in that Dallas game at home played well.

I think they like him too. I don't know what they do here. I mean, how many backs are you really going to keep? I mean, obviously, Gibson, McKissick, and Robinson Jr. are gimmies in terms of their running back situation. I think John Williams can be a short yardage back option for them, but I think that's what they think. Robinson Jr. can be as well. But Jonathan Williams is impressive to me, and he has been for, since he got here. I thought Phil Mathis had some moments, the second round pick out of Bama.

I thought Taylor Heineke, and I'll get to the list of things that I didn't like, struggled at times, but you still saw his best trait, which is off-schedule mobility. He had that long first-down run. And then I thought the two-point conversion play was a really well-designed play. Again, you're in the fourth quarter playing against guys that more likely than not are not going to make the team for Carolina. But I think Scott Turner does a good job of scheming people open. I really do. I think that, you know, he is a solid NFL offensive coordinator. If not, maybe somebody we will learn is a lot better than just solid. I think he knows what he's doing. And I think he knows how to get people open and with a quarterback that can stretch the field. I think we will see a lot of that this year.

All right. I think that's it from the list of things that I liked. Well, the number one thing after, number two thing after Doc should have been, there were no serious injuries. That's all you really want to make sure doesn't happen. I mean, you can't control it. You got to play these games, but you just don't want any serious injuries. And as of now, no serious injuries from the game. All right, the list of things that I did not like. I start with maybe the biggest storyline. from the game today. And that is Antonio Gibson's fumble. I think Antonio Gibson has extraordinary upside. I think Scott Turner feels the same way. I think the coaching staff feels the same way. Scott Turner told us that a week and a half ago. 6-2, you know, under 4-4, 230, improving as a back, didn't play running back in college. But you cannot put the ball on the ground as much as he does and expect to be on the field. This is one of the reasons they drafted Brian Robinson, Jr. in the third round. I think there may have been other reasons, but certainly they did not want, A, Antonio Gibson to be worn down. B, they wanted an option in case Gibson continued to have issues protecting the football.

He fumbled again, people. I mean, you can't do that. It's a preseason game. It's early in the game. And you're in your own territory. I mean, not that it matters much in terms of score and wins losses in preseason, but you cannot. You know, I think a lot of his fumbles, too, happened towards the end of runs where he's almost down and he breaks his fall a little bit and he exposes the ball in the arm in which he's carrying it in. And that's what happened.

I think it was Jeremy Chin, the really good safety from Carolina who knocked it out. for them. I think it was Chin. I could be wrong, but I believe it was Chin who knocked the ball out, and they recovered, and they scored a touchdown on that drive. Can't have that. Number two on the things that I did not like list. Taylor Heineke, look, he's a backup quarterback in the NFL, and I think he's probably in the middle of backup quarterbacks in the NFL, if not in the top half. You know, maybe we should just shove him into the top half of backup quarterbacks because you know he is going to be ready to play. He'll be prepared and he will make some plays for you that are positive. But I think what you see with him and what we've seen in the regular season, and you saw it again today, his decision making and his arm strength.

He threw an interception. It was a bad interception. He was under pressure, made a bad decision to throw the football there. and there's just no zip on the ball. He got one of his receivers nearly decapitated. We saw that a lot last year. And that's the limitation that he has primarily, is without a legitimate NFL arm, you've got to be so quick and right with your decisions and the ball's got to be out quickly.

And when he's good in completing passes, it's because of that. You know, he sees it and it's out quickly. and he throws with decent touch. You know, some of those floaters are okay when you're throwing to somebody in space. But the interception was not very good. The Miss P.A.T. Are we going to have a problem with field goal kicking and PAT kicking again this year?

Hopefully not. I heard Ron Rivera say that he had a major problem with kickoff return position. certainly the opening kickoff got returned to like the 14 yard line or something, which is where they started. Let me see where they started their first drive, their own 18 yard line. And then after a field goal, they started from their own 16 yard line. And then after the touchdown, they started from their own 18 yard line. So, yeah, they didn't generate a lot on kickoff returns.

But my counter to that, and I don't know if I'm right or wrong, but I know this is the case in a lot of situations. and that is you're not playing the guys on special teams in the preseason that you'll be playing on special teams when the regular season begins because a lot of starters end up on special teams. So I understand, by the way, the overall idea of we've got to give our offense better starting field position and if you can't get it to the 25-yard line,

well, then you should not be bringing it out. But you've got guys that are battling for positions, and they're going to take their swings at trying to bring it out. And they didn't do a good job with that. And I heard Rivera, it was one of the first things he said in his post-game presser. What else is on the list of things? I thought the starting defense, you know, again, you're not game planning. I'm not alarmed by anything other than the Gibson fumble.

that's really truly the only thing of concern, legitimate concern coming out of this game is Gibson's fumble. And the fact that in his first opportunity, after probably being given a list of priorities of things to work on in the offseason with number one, number two, and number three being protect the football. And he fumbles in the first quarter of the first preseason game. But I didn't think the first team defense looked pretty good. I mean, I thought Baker Mayfield made some plays. It's funny, they had some pressure on him, and he got away a couple of times and completed some passes. You know, they didn't do a great job necessarily stopping the run. Hubbard had a couple of five and four-yard runs. Mayfield completed a third and five to that Smith guy for, you know, 20 yards. They settled for a field goal on that opening drive primarily because Mayfield fumbled a snap on. second and nine or something like that. But, you know, the first team defense was in there for a while.

And Mayfield, you know, if you're a Carolina Panther fan, Mayfield was four for seven for 45 yards. But move the football team, you know, a little bit. And I'm not, again, I thought John Allen, there were moments there where I'm like, you see 93 looking great. I thought that a couple of other guys defensively at times looked good and quick, but they couldn't get off the field there early. You know, opening drive, Carolina, third and three, first down, third and three,

first down, third and five, first down. They had to get them in third and 14, and that was after Mayfield fumbled the snap on second down to get off the field and force a field goal. You know, those are, you know, probably not issues to be concerned about, but overall, I made note of it that I thought the starting D, was kept a little bit off balance by Carolina. I think Carolina's got some talent on their team. If Mayfield ends up being the guy there,

I think they're a better team than most people, more likely than not believe. All right. Others in the game that didn't necessarily stand out from a positive standpoint or a negative standpoint. And of course, that leads me to Carson Wentz. Of course, we are going to evaluate Carson Wentz.

every Monday during the season after every regular season game, and we will do so after the preseason games as well, even if he didn't make either one of the two big lists. I thought he was okay. I didn't think he was great. I didn't think he was terrible. He was somewhere in between. They went three and out on their opening drive. They fumbled on their second drive, not his fault. That was Gibson. And that's why I think he was in there for the third drive. And I'm glad he did come back and play that third drive because, you know, I think that it was kind of a slow start for him and the offense. And Ron Rivera said as much right after the game. And on that third drive, they went 14 plays, 82 yards. He completed a ball to McClorn, had a really

nice third down conversion to Curtis Samuel, who, by the way, I was happy to see looked good and didn't injure himself, had a nice third down conversion to McKissick, got a lot of help from Robinson Jr. on that drive. By the way, as I mentioned earlier, I thought pass protection was good. But I thought he was fine. You know, three drives. I mean, the first third down on the opening drive, I thought the ball was a little bit underthrown, if we're going to nitpick to Armani Rogers. You know, that was a throw back, you know, defenders back to Wence. He's taking a shot, and the ball was just barely underthrown. And therefore, Rogers did his best to get his hands on it, but, you know, it needed to be thrown a little bit further. But it's,

I can't imagine, really, unless it's a disaster against Kansas City, or if they go out against the Chiefs and go three for three on drives and score 21 points or 17 points, and he's nine for 10 for 11 yards and two touchdowns. I can't imagine that we're going to have, you know, a real definitive opinion of Carson Wentz from preseason games. Now, the one thing I would like to see personally next week is just throw the football. You know, Philadelphia last night in their preseason game, Jalen Hertz and Gardner Minshu, on the first 14 plays, they dropped both of those quarterbacks back 13 times.

You've seen this as a preseason trend with several teams that say, we don't care about trying to run the football in these preseason games. We care about getting our quarterback and our pass catchers in rhythm. Washington didn't do that with their last coaching staff. They didn't do it and they don't do it with this coaching staff. They're trying to call plays and be balanced and get everybody involved. Personally, next week at Arrowhead, I'd like to see Carson Wentz play, you know, a quarter and a half minimum, four drives and have 20 plus pass attempts.

That's what I'd like to see. where he's trying to spread the ball around the field. He's trying to get in rhythm with his pass receivers against an opponent that isn't their own team. All right. Don't forget to rate us and review us. Please do so on Apple. It's really helpful, five stars, quick one to two sentence review

if you haven't done it already. Up next, Santana Moss, right after these words from a few of our sponsors. All right, let's bring on Santana Moss. Santana was part of the pregame and post game on NBC Sports Washington, and he will be a part of that all season long with Brian Mitchell and company. You know, before we get to the game, let me just ask you this.

As a former, you know, fan favorite Washington Redskin, how did it feel today to be watching a team with a new name and new uniforms and the whole new thing? What was it like for a former player? It was great, man. It was great to see that, you know, the team. that's now called Washington Commanders when I've been represented for our franchise. I think, you know, fans and people

want to always look at the win and loss column, but I'm looking at it as, you know, what kind of output did they put out there as a team collectively? You know, did they go out there and play, you know, with the desire to win or try to put their first, their best effort out there, and I think those guys did that. I mean, I think the best news of the day, unless I'm wrong, unless something broke kind of after the game,

is that there were no serious injuries. That's kind of the number one goal is to get through the preseason unscathed and nobody got hurt today. Yeah, preseason is one of those things, man. You want to get in and get out. You want to make sure that, hey, whatever I came into this game, feeling I want to feel that way when I leave.

We know it's football, so you're not going to always have the best bill of help. But you want to make sure that at least your core guys that you're going to depend on to, you know, making a team and going to beat those guys for week one. You want to make sure you get them in there they can get some work done, get the feet wet a little bit, and each week we can build on that. All right, let's talk about the players from today's game.

The players that stood out from a positive standpoint, maybe a couple of concern areas for you. And I know that you were impressed with Sam Howell, so let's start there. Well, you know what? I've been watching Sam Howard do this every day in practice. Every time he gets put in the situation in practice, this guy drove the ball down the field and put the ball in the, you know, in the end zone. And so coming to this game, you know, they asked me who I was looking forward to seeing.

He was one of my guys. He was one of the guys, the young guys, who I look forward to. So I'm glad he went and took the same energy that he plays with him practice. He went out there on a big stage because this preseason game is the big stage for him being a young guy.

He went out there and did what was expected. That's something promising going forward just knowing how vital that quarterback position is and knowing he's going to be, you know, basically fighting for that second job. You know, nothing is given right now. So as much as he can do right now to show that he's worthy, you never know, he might climb up the ladder and be sitting there second.

You know, someday, I'm not going to try to shift things, you know, so soon with Heineke, because I still believe in Heineke, but when you have a guy who has the same intangible, but with a stronger arm and if you're going to use it and play at that level, you got to, you know, hear my shot and Sam did just that today. Let's just make sure that everybody heard that. It was Santana Moss had decided to create a second string quarterback contract, in August. He's got Sam Hal with a chance to beat out Taylor Heineke.

In all honesty, though, do you think there's a chance we could get to opening day against Jacksonville and Howell could be the backup quarterback and Heineke could be, you know, deactivated or not? Look, look, I'm not trying to, you know, give anybody roles, like I said before. I love what Heineke brings, you know, we know what he brings. He brings that excitement. He brings that, you know, he's going to add a little bit and make a play happen. I think when you watch it, sometimes you need a quarterback that can do that,

but also when things are clean, you know, get rid of that football and be able to put it down field. That's some of the things that Sam Howard did today. When things are clean for him, he saw his arm. He put the ball in the air downfield to guys and gave him a chance. So going forward as a receiver, you want a quarterback that can do that for you. Not standing out if you can't. but I know it's going to be tough to have a guy that can do that, and then a guy like Heineke, who's going to be more of a, you know,

a Mike Vicks-slash, you know, style, you know, or Steve Young-style, you know, quarterback in the back field. You want a guy that can be able to execute your play down the field and, you know, throughout the short-passing game as well. Well, let's be serious here for a moment. We would be going to great all-time lows if we, literally as a fan base and a media base had a second string quarterback controversy in August. I think we can do better than that.

Who else stood out on the positive to you in sort of a player evaluation mode? Well, it was obvious that Brian Robertson Jr. stood out. He was the guy that, you know, we all had high expectations coming in. you know, everyone kind of scratched their heads and raised their eyebrows when that pick was selected saying that, hmm, what are they trying to say? And, you know, don't get me wrong. You know, we know what he can do between the tackles and, you know, at Alabama and college. And he brought that intensity to the NFL.

You saw what he did. Every guy that touched him first was basically sliding off his path. And so the guy's going to make that first guy miss some kind of way, whether he's running through you or stiff on you. And he also caught the bar at the back. feel well, man, the guy goes, he's all around back. He's a guy that has vision. He can do some things. He stood out. Another guy stood out to me. I'm not sure

anyone had him on the radar. He's a cornerback. Number 16, Parker, Stephen Parker, I believe. He showed up PVU after PVU, played with a lot of energy. He was very impactful in some of those drives in the second half. He's a guy that raised my eyebrow. So I'm pretty sure it's more guys. I'm having

a brain freeze because I had a lot of guys on paper when we was doing our show, but, you know, those names that I remember just always, you know, I kept saying, hmm, you know, this guy keeps showing up. So all three of those guys, Sam, you know, Robertson and Parker, they all showed up and played well to be young guys. Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think you nailed it. I was curious as to what you thought of the tight ends, Rogers and Hodges. Oh, see, yeah, I told you some of those guys, I'm going to leave off. Both of those guys played excellent. I mean, even Eli, he got in there, or Wolf, he came in a couple of days ago, and he was actually going there and, you know, played some valuable

plays, you know, some valuable snaps for us. All three of our young tight-ins were not been played well. We, me and Logan, we've been talking about these guys, the entire camp, talking about how good this, this tight-in room could be, you know, just with knowing that we have a guy like Logan Thomas down. We've been very high on Cold Turner, and he went down, and we know what they, you know, he can do. It's, man, look, Rogers and Hodges, man. Those guys are going to be somebody to record, too. It's going to be interesting to see how they're staying out for those tight ends as well.

All right. Let's talk about the flip side. You mentioned Brian Robinson, Jr. He really was impressive. But Antonio Gibson put the ball on the ground again. And we know that this has been a problem for him, and it was the single biggest issue that anybody's had with him. So tell me about what a fumble in his, you know, one of his first preseason carries, you know, does to the coaching staff.

What do you think they're talking about right now? It's going to be a problem. I mean, I think it's always going to be a problem because one of the first and first things we go over as our offense is holding on to the ball. You know, we want to make sure that we're not fumbling or throwing an interception. So especially when you have a veteran that we know capable of playing a position at a high level. That's one of the things you can't sit up in and say for granted. When Antonio Gibson has the ball, he finds a way to get into that pay dirt. And that's what you like about him.

But I think he just has to pay more emphasis on controlling how he falls. I mean, if you watch that play real close, he was going down. He was just trying to break his stuff. He put one arm down to, you know, the brace his ball. And being that we in the NFL, these defenders will go to the ground with you, striking at that football. He has to pay close attention, make sure he knows that these guys are going to be going to go out to this ball regardless of what area you in, how you're falling. They go out to that ball.

So you've got to cover up. You've got to find a way to tuck it. You can't fight it with one hand if you can't meet the other and find a way to get back up with the ball so you can have another down. And, you know, stuff like that is little things. You know, you don't think that that's going to go on in a preseason game and look what happens to him. So that can shift everything when it comes to just, you know, how coaches are feeling right now. You saw him in there. You know, I kind of got discouraged when I saw him in there with Hineke him

him because I feel like, you know, he's a veteran still. He's a guy that we, you know, that did a lot for us last year and a year before. And we're going to be, you know, counting on him to do some big things. I didn't want to see him in there with a group that wasn't going to protect him. So I'm hoping going forward, man, he can salvage that, you know, that problem. And we can see him plan some meaningful down for us. Because I think with both of those guys, being able to go out there and we can lean on both of them, you don't have to ask too much from one or the other.

you have two capable backs. That's what Ron Rivera is used to. You saw him in Carolina when he had two capable backs, he gave teams hell. So I want to see, you know, a guy like AG with the, you know, the talent that he has to be able to, you know, hold on to that ball and not let that be a problem for it. Yeah, it's, there's so much talent there.

6-2-230 runs a sub-4-4. I thought he got better with his vision last year. And I don't know. I thought in watching him in the, past. This guy's got a chance to be a big time star, but you're not going to get that chance, not at that level if you keep putting the ball on the ground. And it's going to be interesting, I think, between now and the opener, you know, if he puts another one on the ground in a preseason game, let's just say next week at Arrowhead, I mean, Robinson, number eight might be

the starter on opening day. I mean, that's not out of the realm of possibility. Am I right or wrong? Anything is possible, man. You know how this game is. Hey, whatever way to cook and crumble, man, it can be drafted. So that's why I say, you know, one of the things you don't want to see and you don't want a guy to start thinking or pressing that, hey, this is where I'm at. I think he's very capable. You know, first and foremost, let me keep saying that.

He's very capable of being the guy that we lean on and he can be a starter on anybody's team, I think, in this league as a runnerback. But when you have that problem, we saw that with Tiki Barber. career. When you have that problem, it's going to be hard for any staff to want to, you know, go to you and have you as their lead guys. So I'm a big fan of them. I like his game. I know he wasn't, he's still raw and, you know, in so many aspects of a running back. You know, I've seen running backs that do some of the things that he's done. And I've seen guys that don't have the talent that he has that been able to go out there and look like a running back

that has been doing it for years. He hasn't. So that's one of the things that stands out that he can go out there and be so, you know, efficient at that, at that position with not being a full-time running back throughout his career. So I'm hoping the best from, it's not just for him, but as far as the team going forward because I believe that you got to have two capable guys to be back there. And that's one of the reason why we went out and got a Robertson so we can have a guy that can give less, you know, put less of a load on AG. I think he had too much of a load for the team for the past two years and that would cause them to have some of those injuries. and some of that stuff that took place in last season.

That's why you go out and get some help, so you got to make sure that he's available for that help to be able to not put so much on him as well. By the way, as long as we're talking about running backs and just mentioning another player and he only had one touch, but you just see in McKissick a guy that when they lost him last year, that was a big loss, and it's a good thing, I think, that they were able to retain him.

I mean, you know, he's got a lot of those things that you had and people like you have, which is just the knack and the open field to make people miss. I mean, he's important to this team, Idney. No, no doubt, man. I was so happy to hear him sign back with us because at first time, we lost him again. And, yeah, he's one of those guys, man. He finds a way to make somebody miss and make a big play out of nothing. And he's another guy that you can obviously put a lot on too when it comes to taking the low,

but just so small. You don't want to overuse him as well, but you need them for those critical downs, those third down plays where we can get him out of the backfield, be a mismatch in the passing game. And also every now and then when you have a game, you know, have a guy or two unique game, he showed that he can run the ball well behind a tackle. So I'm glad to have this guy on our team. It's great to have weapons like him that you can always rely on. All right.

Two more, and I'll let you run, because Santana's been working all day and he's on his drive back home. We haven't talked about this guy because he wasn't necessarily in the things that stood out, and he wasn't positively or negatively. And that's kind of the way I thought about, you know, his first, you know, opportunity in a game for Washington. But just give me your, you know, overall thoughts on Carson Wentz today. I was pleased to see him go out there and be productive. One of the things you're looking for in anybody that's a veteran or not, you know,

that's playing at first season again, you want to go out. there and see them take command of what their job, expect them to do. Carson's a quarterback, so you definitely want to see him probably move to offense efficiently. I think he did that, especially that third series. You know, that guy, he moved the ball up and down the field, and then they later, you know, gave it to Robertson,

they're pushing that for a touchdown. I think he could have easily got a touchdown if I young tight-in would have ran that route a little more into the end zone, I think the play right before Robinson scored. So I was pleased to see him where he was 10 for 13, or he was accurate for the most part. He took advantage of some of those dump-offs.

You know, those lay-up passes get you going, and that's some of the things that stood out to me because he was able to take advantage of some of those lay-up passes, and that got him into rhythm for those bigger throws that he had to do that out field. Last one for you. Who do you think is going to be the punt returner when the season starts? I have no idea.

I thought coming into this game, they had a clue, and I don't think they have a clue. So I'm hoping one of those guys pan out. But I saw Erickson get a chance to get back there. I've been seeing Dax Mim get back there in practice. We know Dotson has some opportunity back there from college days, but I think he's going to be too vital to our offense to rely on him to be back there for a time. But, you know, it sucks when you have a guy that you had a guy here last year that did very well

and took on that road for us and kind of, you know, solved that problem of us not having a guy and then now we lose him and now we got to find somebody new. So this preseason, we should find out. But right now I don't have a clue because I didn't see nothing promising from anybody today. What did you think of Doc calling the game? Phenomenal. Sign them up, give him a job, whatever it makes you, whatever it takes, man. Doc was, I mean, look, he was made for it, man.

It was so entertaining just to hear him call the game. He's always been phenomenal on the radio. Anytime I've ever heard Doc talking, any interview that I had to do with, him or sit on the side of him. He's been just that, you know. He's very insightful. Man, he was funny for the most part. I mean, I was just laughing.

I was tracking up. Me and beating me interesting there. Like, you heard, Doc, every five minutes, something he was saying that raised out eyebrows. It was almost like this is to Fred's smooth. You know, those guys just have a way with words. You know, Doc has his own weight. Fred had his own weight.

But Doc brought up today to get a great job. I'm looking forward to hearing him again. All right. You're doing a great job on the pre-in post with Brian as well. Keep it up. talk soon, maybe before the regular season starts. I appreciate you doing this. Thank you, buddy, as always. Santana Moss, everybody. I always enjoy my conversations with Santana. He's one of my favorite former players. He's always so willing and generous with his time,

and I always appreciate it. All right, that's it for the day. Just thought we would do something today after the first ever Washington Commander's game, even though it was a preseason game. I'll leave you. I'll leave you with what was, as I mentioned in the open of this podcast, my favorite part of the day. And that was getting a chance to listen to Doc back in a television booth as a lead analyst. He kept me entertained start to finish. And per usual with Doc, whenever he's on the air doing anything, he tends to mention my name, which is what he did right before the two-point conversion that gave Washington the lead. late in the fourth quarter. We will leave you with that call, and I will be back on Monday.

Oh, my goodness. Sam Howell with touchdowns on back-to-back possessions. You can't make this up. Oh, Kevin Sheehan, where are you? Bonifant in the backfield, three receivers set. This is for the lead. How a looking, he throws, and they convert. It's Erickson. The commander. through trail by 14 at the start of the fourth quarter now lead by one. I know Graham T somewhere saying believe, believe you have to. Why play if you don't feel like winning? The only reason you go through this is to win, and it ain't over.

There's still enough time on the clock. Now we have to really elevate our game on teams.