The Kevin Sheehan Show - Crazy Ending To Week 17 + Quinn On Rookies

Episode Date: December 30, 2025

Kevin opened with some follow-up to his thoughts Friday on Netflix's coverage of Washington-Dallas specifically the push to promote the "Commanders-Cowboys" rivalry. Kevin recapped the big Week 17 NFL games including Buffalo's controversial coaching decisions at the end of their loss to the Eagles. Kevin talked about Dan Quinn taking a few minutes today to review his 2025 rookie draft class. For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match 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 Sheehan Show, here's Kevin. Window Nation, as always, is the presenting sponsor of this show. If you need new windows, I highly recommend Windonation. It all starts with a free in-home estimate. You can schedule yours by calling them at 866.90 Nation. We're heading to Window Nation.com. quickly before we get into the show, no smell test picked tonight on the Falcons. I did not include

them on Friday, but a few of you reached out to say, why not the Falcons in the smell test? And yes, there is overwhelming public action on the Rams tonight, but the sharp action's pretty split. And that's why you see seven and a half as the primary number out there. If the sharp action was overwhelming, that number would be at six and a half, maybe seven. But it's at seven and a half, although I do see a seven popping up right now, but it's mostly seven and a halves out there, but no Falcons tonight. Even though I do kind of like them, I think they've been playing well, and it is an anti-public play, but it's not a smell test play. The smell test, by the way, five, two, and one last week. And let me just mention, as I did last week,

follow me on Twitter. This is a big football week this week, and a lot of the games on some of the days start before this podcast will be out. So I will tweet out picks at Kevin Sheen, D.C. on Twitter. I'll tweet out picks, as I've been doing on the non-Saturday and Sunday picks so that you can have them before the games begin. At Kevin Sheen, D.C. I mean, we've got college bowl games.

We've got college playoff games. It's a busy, you know, football week. So that's the way to get these picks. And I'll have, you know, it's possible I won't have any for games that start early in the day. But if I do, that's how I'll get the information out. I will be doing a podcast every day this week except for New Year's Day. I'm off radio the rest of the week. So this is the only way to listen.

Tommy will be with me tomorrow. I'll do a show New Year's Eve, probably focus more on the college playoff games, and then on Friday we'll have a full football Friday show. By the way, speaking of that, Jay Gruden's heater finally came to an end. He had Buffalo as his lock of the week, and they did not get it done. That line, by the way, went to three. There was a ton of sharp money on the bills, but it did not work. So Jay had hit on 11 of 12, so now it's 11 of his last 13 on the show.

But he'll join me on Friday. To kick off the show, I've got four tweets slash emails to read about something that I talked about on Friday's show. I'm going to read all four of them, and then I'll respond to them. The first one comes from Rick. Rick writes, Kevin, your emotion talking about the name controversy is my favorite version of Kevin. Just like you, I felt sick to my stomach when I heard during the broadcast, the rivalry referred to as Cowboys Commanders. This rewriting of history is childish. If the old name is gone, so be it, but the rivalry with Dallas is a Redskins rivalry.

This from Chris in McLean. Chris writes, Kevin, I'm a lifelong Cowboys fan living in the DMV. I listen all the time, this is my first time writing you. You should poll other NFC East fans because if they're like me, they miss the old name as much as you do. It just isn't the same anymore when we play Washington. When you've said that it feels like you're watching an expansion team, as a Dallas fan, it feels like we're playing an expansion team. I'm your age and I have a hard time believing that I'll ever view Cowboys commanders like I view. Cowboys Redskins. This from Devin, Devin writes,

when will the local sports media stop slurping new ownership and start talking about changing the name? It's so frustrating. Do you work for the team? And then this from Samuel, Samuel writes, been in a Redskins, Washington football team commander's fan mode since moving here

in the late 90s. I really wish you'd put the name game to rest. It's boring. They're never changing it, and the current name will be fine as long as the team on the field is good. We saw evidence of that last year. So four interesting and different responses to my discussion the other day

about Netflix's discussing the rivalry as a Cowboys commander's rivalry. I said on Friday's show, look, they didn't have a game that was important in the standings. It was a meaningless game. So they did focus a bit on the storied past, the rivalry between the two franchises. First of all, you know, I suggested all due respect to, you know, those that still want to talk about how great of a rivalry it is. It really isn't anymore. We've talked about that for a few years.

Now, it's sad to say it, especially for somebody like me who lived through when it was not only the best rivalry in the sport, but one of the best rivalries in all of sports. But like we've discussed in the past, Washington became unimportant to the other three NFC East teams and their fan bases at the end of the Snyder era. You know, it just kind of got to the point where it was like this franchise is so messed up and so terrible. Our games just haven't meant much with them in a long time. You know, Philadelphia, Dallas has now been the biggest rivalry in the division for basically the same period of time that Washington, Dallas, was the best rivalry in the division. The biggest games in the division have by far and away been Dallas-Filly games for the last, you know, 25 years this century. You know, second on the list would probably be Eagles Giants. You know, the Giants and Eagles just in this century have played four times in the postseason against one another.

But look, beyond just the overstatement of what the rivalry means today, and they made, you know, big deal. out of it. And I, you know, when I hear that now with Washington, Dallas, I think they're just trying too hard. But really, the biggest issue I had on Christmas Day with the broadcast was the referring to this great rivalry as a rivalry between the Cowboys and the commanders. I just think rewriting history, if that's what they were doing, and I don't know for sure that it's intentional, but it comes off as nails on a chalkboard for people like me when I hear it. Oh, this great rivalry. Throw out the record books when the Cowboys and Commanders, you know, hook up.

No. And what I said on Friday is I think it's okay when talking about the past as they were doing on Christmas Day to say that the rivalry was between the Cowboys and the Redskins. or at least if you somehow feel like you're offending people by saying Redskins, just refer to the rivalry when discussing it as Dallas, Washington. When talking about the rivalry, if it's done using commanders as part of the description, it's being done inaccurately. It's not accurate.

There's no rivalry between the Cowboys and the Commanders. The rivalry is Cowboys Redskins, 122 out of the 132 meetings. We're Redskins Cowboys. And I just think it's okay to mention the old name when it's the only name that will make the rivalry conversation makes sense. So that's what I talked about the other day on Friday's show. Now, to each of these emails and tweets, Rick writing your emotion talking about it is my favorite version of Kevin. I felt sick to my stomach. Yeah, Rick, of course, it's childish.

It's nonsensical. if they're doing it intentionally. And I'm not sure that everybody that refers to Washington's past as commanders is doing it intentionally. But if they are, it's just, as I've said in the past, it's silly. You know, do some research and you'll feel more comfortable, more than comfortable when referring to our organizations past by using Redskins as the name of the team. I mean, 90-10 was the last serious polling on this. 90% of Native Americans don't think Redskins is insensitive. 10% did.

Like I've said many times in the past, you can find 10 to 15% of people polled on almost anything that will claim to be offended by almost anything. Chris, the Cowboys fan that wrote and said that, you know, other fans in the NFC East feel it just as much as we do. Yes, I totally get that. I've referenced that many times. Like, put the shoe on the other foot. What if the Cowboys had to change their name?

And it was the Dallas Stallions or like the Dallas rodeo. I mean, it wouldn't feel right. It wouldn't seem right as a Redskin fan. It would be a turnoff. It would make the games against Dallas feel like, you know, a spring league game, you know, a UFL game or U.SFL or whatever that league is called. And I know Chris and McLean that it's not just cowboy fans, it's giant fans and Eagles fans. I've had Eagles fans and Giants fans and Cowboys fans come up to me all the time and tell me how much they feel for the name change because they feel it too.

You know, this NFC East has been this marquee division in the NFL and one of the marquee divisions in sports. and when you change the attachment, you know, the brand attachment emotional aspect of it, it affects more than just the fans of that particular team. You know, I've had guys on from other markets that'll say Redskins and I'll say, oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I meant to say commanders and I'll say, you don't have to be sorry. And then sometimes I'll end up having conversations with those people and they're like, I just, it's hard for me to say commanders. Anders. I'm like, yeah, I get it. The one from Devin, when will the local sports media stop slurping new ownership and start talking about changing the name? It's so frustrating. Do you work for the team? Devin, I'm not sure what the other local sports media people are doing, but you can't possibly be referring to me or this show. I'm not even sure why I read your email to me, but it's so, like, off.

that I thought maybe you meant to send it to somebody else. So there you go. Maybe you accidentally sent it to me. Certainly, we've talked a lot about the name, about changing the name, not changing the name, what they would do, what they wouldn't do, why they would do it, why they wouldn't do it. And I think everybody that's ever listened to this show knows my position. I can't stand, commanders. I desperately would love to see it go back to Redskins. I don't think it will.

I don't think the league will ever allow it. I've talked to too many people that have insisted that it would never happen, that it would be too big of a fight for Goodell and others with their top 10, you know, corporate sponsors, the Anheiser bushes, the Amazons, the Fox and CBS and Paramounts, et cetera. But most of you know that I, I don't feel the same way about the team that I used to feel. I don't feel anywhere close to the way I used to feel.

I got excited last year, but a lot of that was Jaden Daniels driven, and it was good for me, but I don't feel the same level of passion. And a lot of it started to wane even before the name changed, but certainly it really was a bit of a death knell with the name change. Then the one from Samuel, where he said, I really wish you'd put the name game to rest. It's boring. They're never changing it. And the current name will be fine as long as the team on the field is good. Yeah, you know, so a couple of things on that from Samuel. First of all, he says at the beginning, and I didn't read it, that he's been a Redskins WFT commanders fan

since moving here in the late 90s. So Samuel, you've sort of identified yourself as a fan that came in with the beginning of the downfall, the beginning of the, you know, worst years in the history of the franchise. So I don't know that you feel it as much as I do. But you can wish all you want that I'll put the name game to rest. But the name game is going to be wide awake, Samuel, and a part of this show until it actually does become boring, which to the large majority of my listeners anyway, it's nowhere near boring. Now, as far as they're never changing the current name, maybe I would say not back

to Redskins. That's how I feel after many conversations. I don't think it's ever going back to Redskins. I would love it to. I don't think it will. But I still think there's at least a chance, and I think this season could increase that chance a little bit, that they could, you know, change it from where it is now, the commanders. And the reason for that is, Samuel, that commanders isn't fine as long as the team on the field is good. They were really good last year, and they didn't see anywhere near the bump that they thought they'd see, and here we are a year later, and brand equity and attachment, et cetera, is

down after a great season, the greatest in 33, 34 years, followed up by a bad season. And I've said this before, but it's worth saying it again. It's a personal observation, although I think probably many of you have felt the same. I don't know one person, not one, who likes commanders. And I'm not just referring to the people who only say they'll come back if it goes back to Redskins. I'm saying that in my life, I can't right now for a million, identify one person in my life who likes commanders and the associated, you know, rebrand. Not one.

Young, old, middle-aged, male, female, most of the people in my life who are fans or used to be fans of the team, they say redskins or skins, the majority of the time. And they hate commanders. I know that many of you are in the same boat and I think that ownership knows that. Ownership feels that. They felt it last year. But as I said, 12 and 5 and 2 playoff wins

and an NFC championship visit created a path to not change it in the moment. If we had had this season, 4 and 12 headed to 4 and 13, maybe last year, I think we'd already be in the process of changing it. They did what they, you know, were going to do all along with the uniforms. And I do think that that's going to become permanent, as I first told you, you know, over a year and a half ago.

But I don't think the name is a given to be changed. I don't think it's, you know, out of play at all. But I just don't think it'll be Redskins as much as many of you and me. want it to be but could they you know change it from commanders they could but like we've talked about so many times if you're not going back to redskins there's not an easy answer to me changing it is better than not changing it even if the answer you come up with is still polarizing and to that end I think the least polarizing answer would be Washington football team and we call them the skins with the old uniforms and preferably the old logo back as well.

All right, there you go, Samuel, some name conversation. No, it won't rest, and it's not boring to most people. To people who haven't felt it and lived through it as die-hard Redskins fans, I get why you'd view this as somewhat wasteful in time spent, But I can't really take, as I've said before, those of you who haven't lived the same experience as all of us that have being lifelong Redskins fans, it's hard for me to take that view seriously, even though Samuel, you said you've been here since the late 90s and been a skins fan. Look, not everybody that's been a lifelong Redskins fan has an issue with the name being changed. I understand that. It's not a hundred to nothing. percent wise. But it's still the overwhelming majority of longtime Redskins fans who still feel it and would love it to change back to the old name. All right, that's it on that. We got a lot of football to talk about what a day, what a weekend of football. Plus, Dan Quinn said two things

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After you purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them. please support this show and tell them that I sent you. Alan, looking to throw, pressure throw, incomplete. Don't see a flag. Eagle's going to hold on. Four seconds left, second in goal. Here is Williams. He's got to throw it to the end zone.

Clock has expired. Williams keeps the play alive. He's looking. He's got to get rid of it. Retrieving, he throws. Incomplete. It's over. And the Niners have.

The NFL just does not disappoint. The final two games of Sunday's week 17 slate, tremendous. You heard first Buffalo coming up short on the two-point conversion to beat the Eagles, and then Caleb Williams and the Bears last night against the Niners in one of the games of the year, unable to punch it in on the final play of regulation. 49ers winning that game, 42 to 38. We'll go through both of those games, a few of the others on Sunday, and we'll also get to both of the games on Saturday, which were outstanding as well. But first, let me tell you that

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and right now you'd be hard-pressed to find a deal that gives you 50% off everything you purchase and 0% interest for five years. 86690 Nation, windonation.com. All right, let's get to the NFL from over the weekend. And let's start with the two games that I came in with, Buffalo, Philly, and San Francisco, Chicago. I'll start with Eagles bills because that game did include some questionable Sean McDermott coaching decisions at the end of that game, which I'll get to here momentarily. But two things before I get to that. Number one, the Eagles defense is in championship form.

With Jalen Carter back, when they're healthy, that is a Super Bowl defense. Wow, are they good? Not a Super Bowl offense, not even close to it. Jalen Hertz did not complete a pass in the second half of that game, but that defense is capable of carrying them. I think it is to three wins. These matchups in the NFC and the AFC playoffs are going to be so interesting because we have so many great defensive teams,

and we're seeing a little bit of, you know, a turn from, great offense, Trump's great defense, to last year, Philadelphia, winning the Super Bowl, led by its defense, to this year some of the best teams in the league right now being led by their defense. Seattle as an example. Philly as an example. Denver as an example. Houston as an example. Philadelphia's defense championship form. The other part of the game before we get to the end of it is that Buffalo has really struggled this year with great defense. teams. They lost to the Eagles yesterday and really struggled for three and a half quarters of that game to generate anything offensively. Hell, last week against Cleveland, they struggled.

Cleveland's defense is so good. And then the night they lost to Houston on Thursday night football, the next morning I came in and said, I think Houston can win the Super Bowl. But part of it was, man, Buffalo against really good defensive teams, especially up front, they struggle. a little bit. And in a year with no Mahomes, no burrow, you'd expect Josh Allen to have a shot. I don't know. We'll see. I mean, it's going to be a wild postseason. And I think almost anything can happen. But Buffalo's really struggled with the best defensive teams on their schedule. Now, let's get to the end of the game. So there were two things at the end of the game that I want to talk about. The second of which is the decision to go for two that Sean McDermott made. But actually, before that, there was a very interesting decision he made that I think he was wrong about. So before Josh Allen scored on a quarterback sneak on fourth and goal to make it 13 to 12, and before they went for the two-pointer and missed, there was a touchdown pass, we thought, to Knox the tight end, but it was overturned by replay.

That was the third downplay that ended with 18 seconds left in regulation. So when a play is reviewed and the call on the field overturned and now there's another snap and the clock would have been running, there's a 10-second runoff. 18 down to 8 or Buffalo had a timeout left. They could choose to take the time out and stop the clock with 18 seconds left before their fourth end goal from the Philadelphia one-yard line play. Well, Sean McDermott accepted the 10-second runoff and then called a timeout. So why did he do that? Well, he did that because it was fourth and goal, and if he scored and his plan was to go for two, and he took the lead, he didn't want Philadelphia to have enough time to get into field goal range.

First of all, Philadelphia had not completed a pass in the entire second half. The odds of them getting into field goal range were slim and none. had they had, say, 15 seconds left after they snapped it with 18 and scored. But I think there are two reasons why Sean McDermott made the wrong decision by accepting the 10-second runoff, trying to make it the final play of the game, leaving Philadelphia with the least amount of time possible. Two reasons why it was the wrong decision. Number one is this.

What if there were on that final? fourth down play, a defensive penalty, say a defensive hands to the face, a defensive hold, and Josh Allen didn't get in, and all of the sudden you had first in goal. Well, at 18 seconds left after you get stopped, you have 15 or 14 seconds left with the flag on the field. All right. So now it's first in 10. You always have to account for the defensive penalty that results in an automatic first down because if Josh Allen didn't get in on fourth and goal and if there had been a defensive penalty that resulted in an automatic

first down, they would have only been able to run one play on first and 10 because the clock would have gone from 8 to 5 or 4 seconds. The downside of leaving that team, Philadelphia, yesterday, with, say, the 14 seconds left versus four seconds left versus the upside of having three potential downs if you were to get a first and 10 versus one, I don't think was worth it. But here was the other reason,

and it's more important than even that one. He didn't account for the possibility that they missed the two-point conversion. If you miss the two-point conversion, as they did, with five seconds left in the game, instead of 15 seconds left in the game. And there were five seconds left because it was a three-second play, the fourth and goal touchdown by Josh Allen,

and then the two-point conversion is an untimed play. If there had been 15 seconds left versus five and you're lining up to kick an on-side kick, if you get the on-side kick, you now have an opportunity to throw the ball downfield and get into field goal range. In his situation, after he missed the two-point conversion, lined up to kick the onside kick.

They did not get it, and the chances aren't great of recovering an on-side kick anyway. But if they had returned, if they had, excuse me, recovered the on-side kick, well, they would have had one play, a Hail Mary with one second left or two seconds left, instead of having 10 seconds more and an opportunity to get into field goal range.

So I think he made the wrong call on accepting the 10-second runoff. Now, the decision to go for two, I think, was primarily driven, I'm guessing, by the fact that they had this Michael Badgley, all right? They had a guy that is not their regular kicker. He's been with them going back to the Cleveland game last week. So this is his second game in Buffalo. It's a driving rainstorm, and he had his last extra point blocked by Jalen Carter. and Philadelphia has been excellent at blocking kicks all season long.

Now, is it worth going for two points against that particular defense to try to win the game on one play? When, in fact, you're playing better offensive football. You've started to wear Philly down a little bit, and Philly's offense is completely worthless in the second half. I think it would have been Advantage Buffalo in overtime, whether they won the toss and kicked off or whether they lost the toss and took the football, I think it would have been advantage Buffalo in overtime. But was he spooked by the extra point, you know, a catastrophe possibility? Maybe, maybe. It's also possible that he knows that New England's not going to blow the division at this point, and he doesn't want his players who are going to be playing

in the postseason in two weeks on the road to take any, you know, undue extra punishment. You know, Josh Allen was a little bit hobbled at the end of that game. So there's a lot that went into that. I actually had a bigger issue with him accepting the 10-second runoff than going for two. I would have kicked the extra point. I think it was Buffalo's best chance to win the game. I understand why he did it if it had to do with the kicker and the extra point and the fear of that or anything else. But to me, I think it would have been advantage Buffalo had they kicked the extra point, made it, and gone to overtime.

Now, the game last night in Santa Clara, let's start with this. Is there anybody playing better offensive football right now than the San Francisco 49ers? They have scored in their last three games, 37, 48, and 42 points. They are an offensive juggernaut right now, and they lost Trent Williams early in that game on offense. But, man, Brock Purdy is playing at a high level. McCaffrey is just ridiculous. They didn't have kiddle in the game. A lot of conversation we've had during the course of the year

about the 49ers overcoming all of their injuries in Washington not being able to. As I've said many times, this 49ers team is an aberration. Nine times out of 10, injured teams like Washington lose more games than win. The 49ers in 2019 coming off a Super Bowl appearance went 6 and 10 with a lot of injuries. last year coming off a Super Bowl appearance in 2023. The 49ers went 6 and 11 with a lot of injuries. They have benefited from a

weak schedule. They still have very important key players who have been playing healthy like Christian McCaffrey. But yes, what they've done is amazing. And it is the exception to the rule. And

last night, they hadn't punted since November 30th. They punted last night twice. but they beat the Bears 42-38 with an unbelievable offensive show 496 yards of offense 32 first downs, 42 points average 7.3 yards per play

but then how about the Bears 440 yards of offense 6.9 yards per play 26 first downs and 38 points and they were at the two-yard line at the end man Caleb may have had an opportunity early in that play to let it go. He tried to make a play. He played great. I mean, there are throws he still misses, but man, come on, 330 yards, two touchdowns, no picks,

no sacks. He's, you know, an absolute threat off schedule. He's got a gun for an arm. Chicago's outstanding right now. This was a team a month and a half ago. Nobody's sure of. By the way, the 49ers, nobody's sure of a month and a half ago. They've been flying under the radar, but these are two exceptional offensive football teams right now. The 49ers in particular, but they're terrible defensively. I mean, that's where they had two, you know, incredible players in Bosa and Fred Warner lost to that defense, and that defense is terrible. They've been able to overcome it with great offense and still,

some of their stars on offense, staying healthy, or coming back enough. But the 49ers, man, on one hand, it's like going to be this, you know, this budding of heads. Is it great defense that wins championships? We saw it last year with Philadelphia. Are we in a new era of defense wins championships? Offense puts people in the seats? Or are we still in this era of offense, great offense, Trump's great defense? We'll find out because San Francisco plays Seattle on Saturday night for the one seed, and Seattle's defense is lights out.

They're good, though, and Chicago is so impressive. Both of those coaches as play callers, wow. Yesterday early, Pittsburgh and Cleveland, man, the loss of D.K. Metcalfe really hurt the Steelers. They also didn't have Miles Allen and Darnell, Washington, their big 300-pound tight end, went out in the first half. Against that defense, that spells trouble, and it turned out to be trouble for the Steelers, who went into this weekend with a pretty good chance to clinch the division. Either Baltimore had to lose at Lambo, or they had to beat the Browns, and neither one of those things happened, and now we will see the final game of the regular season be Pittsburgh,

hosting Baltimore for the AFC North title. I will say this about that game yesterday. The talk about, you know, Miles Garrett afterwards said they seemed more interested in not letting me get the record than winning the game. No, Miles, those two things go hand in hand. Winning the game, priority number one is not letting you wreck the game. When you play Cleveland, priority number one, is Miles Garrett. That's priority number one. And Philadelphia did a good job of not allowing him to set the record. The problem is Aaron Rogers, who was pretty good, especially on that

final drive, just had nobody to throw it to in the game. And guess what? He's not going to have anybody to throw it to on Saturday night because D.K. Metcalf is suspended for that game too. And Miles Austin, more likely than not, won't play. And now Darnell Washington, their big tight end is probably out for the duration. Now, Baltimore's defense is not Cleveland's defense, but Baltimore poses a different problem, and that's what we saw Saturday night with the Ravens win at Lambo. They finally just gave the ball to Derek Henry, and what a pleasure it is to watch Derek Henry run with the football.

Unbelievable night for Derek Henry, 216 yards, 36 carries, and four touchdowns. and the Ravens stayed alive and they became more alive, and now they're favored on Sunday night in Pittsburgh to win the division. The interesting thing is Lamar Jackson, will he play or won't he? Would it be better if he didn't for Baltimore? Because Tyler Huntley is efficient and healthy. Lamar Jackson as an unhealthy quarterback may be a less attractive option for Baltimore than a healthy Tyler Huntley giving the ball to Derek Henry 28 plus times.

Interesting game for sure. Malik Willis, interesting for me, because I bet the Steelers before the season started to win the AFC North and it looked like I had at one. Malik Willis, has he earned himself an opportunity to start next year somewhere? Maybe he was outstanding in that game before leaving that game. How about a 94.5 QBR for Malik Willis? you know, a week after coming in for Jordan Love and playing outstanding football against

the Bears. Now, the Packers are locked into that seven seed and Jordan Love will be back. The Packers haven't been the same defensive team since losing Micah Parsons. That is for sure. The early game on Saturday was an unbelievably physical, violent football game between two, well, one good defense and one exceptional defense. I think the best defense in the league right now in Houston's. The Texans won that game 20 to 16. I think they can win the Super Bowl. I think they can get to the Super Bowl.

They still have a chance to win the AFC South. But C.J. Stroud cannot be as careless with the football as he was against the Chargers. After throwing two bombs for touchdowns, he gave the Chargers life with two interceptions in his own territory. The last one I put on Demico Ryan's. They could have run the clock out and got into halftime. Although the Chargers kicker, Cameron Dicker, the kicker, missed a shorty at the end of that half. The Chargers now cannot win the AFC West. That's locked up by Denver, Denver and New England and Jacksonville, I guess, still with a shot right playing for the overall one-seat Houston, still with a shot in the AFC South, but likely with Jacksonville

playing Tennessee, they will end up being the five-seed and travel to the AFC North winner in the first round. A couple of other quick games from yesterday. The Seahawks Panthers game, the Panthers quarterback Bryce Young was 14 of 24 for 54 yards. It was the few passing yards for any quarterback attempting 24 passes since 1980 when Dolphins quarterback David Woodley had fewer yards with 24 plus passing attempts. David Woodley was the starting quarterback for the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl 17 against Washington. How good is Seattle's defense. Wow. Bryce Young, 54 passing yards. Now, Carolina losing that game meant that the Tampa loss in Miami didn't eliminate Tampa. Carolina could have clinched the division. Instead,

those two teams play Saturday afternoon in Tampa for the division, more likely than not. I say more likely than not, because if Atlanta were to win their final two games, Carolina would clinch regardless of what they do against Tampa. Let me walk you through that again. So Carolina is 8 and 8, Tampa Bay is 7 and 9, and Atlanta is 6 and 9. Now, Atlanta plays the Rams tonight, and they're a big underdog, and then they play the Saints to finish out the season, and the Saints have been playing very well, but Atlanta's been playing well.

If Atlanta won both games and Tampa beat Carolina, there would be a three-way tie in the NFC South at eight and nine, and Carolina would win that three-way tiebreaker. Whereas in a two-team tiebreaker with Tampa, if Tampa were to beat Carolina and Atlanta loses one game in their final two, Tampa would win the division. But how about the Buccaneers, man? They are absolutely falling apart. losers of now seven of their last eight games. Can Todd Bowles get them together for one last chance? We'll see. But again, it's possible that Tampa could win that game on Saturday

and not win the division, although they'll know more about that situation after tonight's game. How about Drake May and his performance against the Jets? 19 of 21, 256, 5 touchdowns, no picks. a 99.8 QBR, a 157.0 passer rating nearly perfect. The 99.8 QBR, according to Seth Walder from ESPN, is the highest that's ever been measured since QBR came into existence in 2006. Now, I am a believer in the Patriots. I am. I am a believer in Drake May. I'm a believer in Josh McDaniel, in Mike Vrable, in their team. I think they are outstanding.

With that said, New England has now only beaten one team with a winning record, and that is Buffalo. Every other win has been over a team with a losing record, or in the case of the Panthers, a team at 500. So what will it look like when they get to the playoffs and they face, say, Houston, or they face Denver, or they face Jacksonville? but Denver and Houston in particular great defensive teams I will be interested to see that now they beat Tampa in Raymond James I don't know six seven weeks ago I thought that was an impressive win but man look at their wins you know dolphins Panthers Saints Titans Browns Falcons Jets Bengals Giants Ravens on the road Jets now they do have the one win over Buffalo.

And I think the Tampa win was interesting. Does anything say week one is fraudulent more than the Raiders beating the Patriots in Foxborough in week one? No, is the answer. Just remember that when we get to week one. There's always a lot of head faking in week one. Yeah, that's essentially it from the NFL day yesterday. some incredible performances and really I think one of the wildest post seasons we've seen in a while or the least predictable of post seasons we've seen in a long time coming up.

But one more week, including Washington's final game of the year. Tell you when that is, tell you about their draft position, tell you about next year's schedule, which is shaping up, and I'll play two Dan Quinn soundbites for you. these words from a few of our sponsors. Dallas goes empty, Prescott, stepped, throw, flag down, and caught in stride, turpin, the speed. He's gone. Touchdown, Cowboys. 86 yards on a 3rd and 11 Christmas Day.

We talked about that play on Friday's show. We found out today who got blamed for it. More on that coming up. of the show is brought to you by MyBooky. If you want to bet on sports, and this is one of the busiest sports weeks of the year with all of the bowl games, all of the college playoff games, all of the NFL. My recommendation is to go to mybooky.com or mybooky.orgie.org and use my promo code DC Reload, D-C-R-E-L-O-A-D. They'll give you a 50% cash bonus.

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just football galore all week long. Bet it if you're going to at MyBooky and take the free money. So, the 86-yard touchdown pass on Christmas Day to make it 21 to 3 in the second quarter to Cavante Turpin on a third and 11. We talked about this play on Friday. Who was at fault for it? Well, Dan Quinn spilled the beans today about whose fault it was. You'll hear Ben Standing ask about a specific player and the fact that his snap count went down significantly on Christmas Day, and Dan Quinn explained why. Hey, Dan. I'm just curious.

Kwan Martin's snaps have gone down in recent weeks, pretty low for him this last game. Just curious, what led to that change in his role? Yep. There was a busted assignment, Ben, that eliminated some of his reps. And so, as I was kind of referring to with David earlier, there had been a big mistake in the game regarding coverage. And so there were consequences to that.

I'd like to also say, like, I love Kwan and I believe in him. And that's not so unusual when a difficult play happens, you know, that you change and they have to come stand on the sideline for a moment because my belief in him is sky high. But that would be the reason behind the less playing time in that specific moment. So there you go. Kwan Martin essentially benched after giving up the 86-yard touchdown. touchdown pass to Cavante Turpin on a third and 11 where Turpin ran right by Kwan Martin, who started that play as the deepest safety on the field.

It did look like they were doing what Steve has mentioned to us, Steve Souter, where they were inverting from cover three to cover two post-snap, but I'll let him explain this play when he breaks down the Dallas film. But Kwan Martin, responsible for that play, according to Dan Quinn. was one other thing that I wanted to play from Quinn today. He was asked about sort of the development of the young players. And he was actually asked specifically about Connerley Jr. and Bill Kroski Merritt. I want you to listen to his answer because he starts with the first person that comes to his mind in terms of the young players that have had, you know, the biggest development or

at least the biggest impression on him. But then you'll hear him. He kind of breaks down. every rookie except for one from the draft class. Here was Quinn answering a question about the development of young players during this season. With Jalen, I thought coming in, I knew the return skills were going to be good. But I thought, quite honestly, after being with him every day and watching him catch a punch, I thought they were exceptional, you know, his ability to track it, his ability to make somebody miss. And so in a season on punt returns, you don't get 50 chances, you know, at retirement. returns generally. You know, the punters who are good can angle and direct it to go,

but I thought he had really shown real Moxie as a returner. This is not the easiest place, you know, outdoors and wind and everything that goes with the pump returns. So he's been somebody that's impressed. Certainly Bill has right from the beginning. There was always a moment or two in training camp early on, the cut, the explosiveness. And so to see a 70-yard run, And that just doesn't happen very often in our league. And so it showed the speed that he's capable of. So I'm certainly pleased with that. Trey, I would say, exceeded my expectations in some regards just by his ability to compete right

from the very beginning, Donna. Patients at the line of scrimmage, always in control. And I thought you could really tell, like, he really put a lot of work in to earn the starting job. And then Josh coming in on the same space, I thought he's gained a lot of experience. He's been a better run blocker than I thought even coming out of Oregon. I knew he'd have the athleticism to pass protect because he could change direction. But if you look at like the long reverse play to Debo or, you know, the combination run on the one to Bill, he was right in the middle of

some of these key blocks. I think that's something that will continue to get better as it goes. So with more strength and experience and size, I'm trying to think of who I'd left out. But I've been pleased with the class. They're a mature group and ready to work. And so that part, having meaningful roles as rookies, that's a big deal. So I thought that was an interesting answer to play for a couple of reasons. Number one, you kind of got, you know, an overview of what the head coach thinks of the 2025 draft class after nearly a completed first season. Now, there was one draft pick he didn't talk about, and that's Kane Madrano. But Kane Madrano is the one draft pick that hasn't played a significant amount of football as a rookie player.

But the part that I found most interesting is that the question was about young players on the roster and how they've come along and how they've developed. But the two players mentioned were Connerly Jr. And Bill Kroski-Marrant. And the player that he went to first wasn't either one of those two players. It was Jalen Lane. And it wasn't Jalen Lane as a receiver. it was Jalen Lane as a punt returner.

Now, when they picked him, I think everybody knew that they picked him because they thought he was the best punt returner in the draft. Larry Izzo was head over heels when they picked Jailen Lane. And they thought they wanted somebody to be able to flip the field. They didn't have that last year. And they loved him as a punt returner. They did not have any expectations about him as a receiver, certainly early in his career, despite, you know, a lot of the glowing report

that were coming out of training camp and off-season. He would not have played receiver at all this year if their receivers had been healthy. And if he had played, it would have been more in the very limited role and maybe even on some, you know, gadget plays where he was a runner or he was just a bubble screen guy or maybe just a deep threat. But he would not have played that much as a receiver. But I think one of the reasons this answer is interesting to me, first of all, you get a little bit on four out of of the five draft picks. But drafts are impossible to measure two years after they happen, let alone one year.

But occasionally there are things that you can be declarative about. And in the Jalen Lane case, you know after one season and maybe even after less than one season, this guy can return punts. you know, it's such a specialty and, you know, you're not evaluating 30 plays a game or 40 plays a game. You're evaluating, you know, two maybe a game, but you can identify somebody who can catch it, who can track it, who can make somebody miss. You know, Quinn said his ability to track it, his ability to make somebody miss. You don't get 50 chances it returns generally, but they know. for sure that from the

2025 draft they got themselves a punt returner. That's what they know more than anything else. You can certainly take what he said about Trey Amos and Bill Kroski Merritt as a favorable early return

and to a certain extent what he said about Josh Connerly Jr. As well, but what you know for sure that they know for sure is that Jalen Lane is a good punt returner and he's going to be in that position for them as long as he's healthy for the foreseeable future. All right, a few other things to get to, and then we'll wrap it up for the day.

Washington and Philadelphia in Week 18 set for 425 Eastern in Philly on CBS. So Washington will finish up their season, this long, brutal season, Sunday in Philadelphia, with a 425 kick. Philly still has something to play for. The Bears will be playing in that same window against the lions, and the two teams, Chicago and Philadelphia, are playing for the two-seed versus the three-seed. If both win, the Bears get the two, Philly gets the three. If Philly wins and the Bears lose, Philly gets the two,

and Chicago gets the three. The two-seeds important because even though you've got to play opening weekend, you can play up to two home games before championship weekend. And then if they're upset, you could end up playing a third game at home. But because the Bears beat the Eagles on Black Friday at the link, they hold the tiebreaker with Philly. They're both 11 and 5 right now. So if they both win Chicago's the two-seed behind the Seattle-San Francisco winner,

Philly would be the three. The games of note are the two games, on Saturday, Carolina at Tampa at 430, followed by Seattle at San Francisco for the one seed in the NFC at 8 o'clock, and then the Sunday night season finale, regular season finale, Baltimore at Pittsburgh for the AFC North title. Now, draft order won't be set officially until the end of Sunday night. However, one of the things that we learned about Washington's drafting position in the April 2026 draft after yesterday's results is that they can't pick any lower than 7th overall.

So the lowest they will have in the first round is number 7 overall. they could climb as high as number two. It would take a miracle. It would take the Giants, Jets, Titans, Cardinals, and Browns, all of whom are in front of them to all win in this final weekend of the NFL season and Washington to lose. But if it happened, Washington would be two instead of seven. They do have an opportunity with any of those teams winning this weekend

in Washington losing to climb, you know, a spot or two or three or four or five, depending on how many of those teams win. Now, as far as next year's schedule, the 2026 schedule, it's a bit more in focus than it was before the weekend began. Now, I think most of you know this, the schedules are pretty much in focus before the season begins. 14 of the 17 opponents are known long before. a season even starts.

It's three games out of the 17 that are determined by where you finish in the standings. So the NFC East, by the way, next year, plays the NFC West. That kind of looks daunting as we speak, although who knows what it'll look like when we

get there next year. But Washington, in addition to playing their division opponents, home and away, Dallas, Philly, and the Giants, they'll also play NFC West teams, Los Angeles, the and the Seahawks at home next year. They'll play the Niners and Cardinals on the road next year.

They also play as an NFC East team, the AFC South next year. They'll have home games against the Colts and the Texans, road games against the Jags and the Titans. And then the three opponents that haven't been determined, although one has now after this weekend, they'll play the AFC North third place team. Washington's going to finish in third place. Cincinnati at home.

That is now locked in. They'll play the Bengals at home next year. They'll play the NFC South winner at home. That's yet to be determined. It would be Atlanta, potentially, if they finish in third. But New Orleans could finish in third as well. Maybe even Tampa could finish in third. And then they'll play the NFC North third place team on the road.

Right now, that would be Minnesota, but it could be Detroit as well. I'll also mention, remember, Washington's going to play an international game again next year, and that's going to be one of their home games played internationally. So right now, the schedule, it's a long way off, and every year's a new year. We understand that. But, man, it, you know, playing the NFC West, that division this year, the best in football, aggregate record-wise, it's got to be the best, right? Seattle's 13 and 3, San Francisco's 12 and 4, and the Rams are 11 and 4. as we speak. Yeah, that's easily the best division in football,

even though Arizona is 3 and 13. But who knows what it will look like next year? What else did I have? How about the Wizards winning a second straight game last night? They have won three out of their last five. They beat Memphis last night, 116, 112. Alex Saar had six blocked shots. How about Kauai Leonard?

last night. Most of you know I'm a big fan of Kauai Leonard. Say whatever you want about him. And a lot of it's true. He's weird. He's odd. He is one of those, you know, pictures next to the definition of load management, but he's also been legitimately and seriously hurt many times in his career. He had 55 last night, 51 in the first three quarters against one of the best defensive teams, Detroit in the NBA. He is still, for my money, next to him. to LeBron in his era, he's the second best two-way player of his generation. He's been elite defensively and elite offensively when he's healthy. And at 34 years old, 55 last night, 51 through three quarters,

they were just blowing Detroit out by so much. He didn't play that much in the fourth quarter. He could have gotten 70 if they had needed it. Back to the skins for one last thing, and then we'll wrap it up for the day. I meant to read this earlier. I'm glad I remembered because I would have forgotten between now and tomorrow. Bill Barnwell wrote a story today for ESPN.com where we went back through the 17 weeks of the season, and he identified things in each week of the season that were meaningful in the moment.

and about week seven, he wrote the following about Washington. He wrote, Matter then, matters now. The commanders gave up 37 points to the Cowboys offense in week seven. Remember, Mario to throw a pick six for the other seven. Dallas had 44 in the game. He writes, while Dan Quinn's defense had already shown cracks during the three and three start to the season, this was the game where the defensive woes began to compound and destroy.

destroy Washington's chances of competing. The commanders ranked 18th in EPA per play on defense through the first six games of the season. They're dead last from week seven onward while allowing a whopping 3.1 points per possession. No other team in the NFL has allowed three points per drive over that same time frame. He writes, the Cowboys did whatever they wanted on offense and the victory. Javante Williams rushed for 116 and a touchdown. C.D. Lamb racked up 110 receiving yards and a touchdown.

George Pickens didn't get over 100 yards by himself, but there was a 37-yard pass interference penalty with Marshawn Latimore, setting up the first of Dallas's seven scores on offense in a 44 to 22 victory. I'll mention one other note about this week's seven game. This week's seven game saw Dorrance Armstrong get injured and lost for the season early in that game. They have not been the same defense since the Armstrong loss. Now, I will repeat what I've said a million times since it fell apart defensively. I don't think this would have been a good defense or even an average defense if everybody had stayed healthy.

But it's the worst defense I've ever witnessed as a Redskin fan. It's the worst I can ever remember. I don't think it would have been that had they stayed healthy, because I think Dorrance Armstrong was in the midst of a pretty good season. Dorrance Armstrong, even today, is second in the league in pressure rate percentage. That's amazing. He was second when he got hurt, and he still remains second after not playing for the last 10 weeks. But, yeah, that Dallas game, remember, too, was the beginning of just a hideous stretch.

The Chiefs, to 22-point loss to the Cowboys, 21-point lost to the Chiefs, and then it really got bad as they started losing more and more players. I mean, Seattle, they couldn't get off the field. They couldn't get off the field against the Lions. And then that's when that was it for Joe Witt, Jr. And Quinn conveniently took over for the Miami game. which was not the same level of opponent that Detroit, Seattle, Kansas City, and Dallas were offensively. Anyway, even though Miami is a pretty good offensive team, actually, with some pretty explosive playmakers.

All right, that's it. Back tomorrow with Tommy.