The Kevin Sheehan Show - Down Before Dominance In Denver

Episode Date: September 18, 2023

Kevin's complete recap of Washington's 35-33 comeback win in Denver yesterday opened the show.Fred Smoot called in with his thoughts on the 2-0 start to the season. Use https://www.mybookie.ag/ for your sports betting needs. Use code KEVINDC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Wilson looking for a miracle. Going to gather on leashes towards the end zone. It is deflected and elected Johnson.

So one of my favorite callers and listeners, Pauley, is in the 757 Polly, called me this morning on the radio show and reminded me that she, Sean Payton coached teams now have two completed Hail Marys against Washington's teams coached by Ron Rivera and Jack Del Rio. Back in 2021, the Saints were playing here in early October, and James Winston at the end of the half threw a Hail Mary that was caught by Callaway in the end zone. And then you got the play yesterday. I mean, what are the odds? Who cares, really? Washington won the game despite that, oh my God, moment,

because the two-point conversion failed. Why did it fail? It could have been because of a missed defensive pass interference call against Benjamin St. Juice. Oh, yeah, that was pass interference. But you know what? Sometimes referees miss calls or referees swallow whistles or keep their flags in their pockets.

Remember last year, Sunday night football, Curtis Samuel, being absolutely mauled in the end zone on their fourth down and final chance against the Giants in a game that meant a whole lot at the end of the season. That wasn't called, and yesterday they got a return favor. 35-33 Washington, 2-0 for the first time since 2011. man, that game had so much to it. My game take is going to take a little while today.

Fred Smoot is scheduled to join us as well. So I'm hoping that Fred will have some time to break away from his responsibilities out at Redskin Park, out at, excuse me, Commander's Park to join the show. A show who's presenting sponsor is Window Nation. If you're thinking about Windows, don't think anymore. Just call Windonation at 860. 690 Nation or go to windonation.com. There's nothing to lose.

You get a free estimate if you use my name. They'll take good care of you. Windonation for the best product and the best deals. 86690 Nation or windownation.com. I mean, what a football game yesterday. What a day in the NFL. 10 games so far in week two with two more to go tonight. been decided by one score or less. But Washington down 21 to 3, and it happened quickly,

man, they were down 21 to 3 in 20 minutes of game clock time. And really at that point, with Denver in Washington territory after that big punt return, it looked like this thing was going to be a complete ass kicking of the highest order. And then a play that completely changed the game. This one. Wilson, this is where he's been so deadly in his career, but what pursuit? Jamon Davis. Football came loose. What's the call here? Nothing official yet. Officials are talking about it. The ruling on the field is a fumble recovered by the defense. First down.

You know, it's not that often in sports where you can point to one point. play in any game and say that play, that play decided the game unless it's like the final play of the game. And that Jamin Davis forced fumble happened with six and a half minutes to go in the second quarter. But that was the play that changed yesterday's game. That was the one play that truly flipped yesterday's game. Usually we're talking about four to five plays that really determine the winner, not yesterday. Jamon Davis sacking Russell Wilson, running down Russell Wilson, forcing the fumble that Cody Barton recovered. That was the play of the game and there was no close second. The Broncos had scored touchdowns on their first three drives. They had held

Washington to two straight three and out punts. They led 21 to three. They had just returned a punt 45 yards into Washington territory, and we're on the verge likely of extending that lead to 24 to 3 or 28 to 3. Worst case for them, a punt backing Washington into poor field position down 21 to 3 was the best case for Washington in that situation. There was zero, zero indication before that forced fumble that Washington could either stop Denver or score enough on offense to make it an actual game. You know, it was nearing that point that some games get to where you just know it's not your day. And that's when Chase Young forced Russell Wilson out of the pocket, and as Wilson started to head for that sideline, here came a blur. Jaman Davis. Oh my God,

he run from sideline to sideline quickly? He makes the tackle, the balls out, Barton recovers. No, I don't think that that was a face mask. He let go of it immediately, and they've been letting those go, the incidentals go, as long as you don't grab and hold or grab and tug. They've been letting those go now for a few years. I actually, watching it on television and live time, did not think that it was a fumble when I first watched it. But the replay clearly showed that that ball was out and that there was a clear recovery. What a play made by Jamin Davis.

What a turnaround. It sparked after that turnover. Denver's next five offensive drives. All right? Washington gave up 52 yards. That's it. Forced three punts. Had an interception.

And then they gave up three. on a field goal drive that started at midfield, and I think was played against mostly the second team defensive front. After that forced fumble, it was total dominance for the next 25 minutes of game time. It went from 21-3 to 35 to 24. It was a 32-3 run. unbelievable run over about nearly two quarters of football as dominating as stretches we've seen from this team in a long time.

The defense took over again like it did last week and the offense became unstoppable. The 18-point comeback was the second biggest on the road for this franchise since the Jeff Rutledge game. Remember that one back in 9th. 1990, some of you do. They were down 21 against the Lions in Detroit. Stan Humphreys goes out.

Jeff Rutledge comes in. He throws for over 300 yards in a half and in overtime. And they beat the Lions 41 to 38. What a stretch of football, of course. The final, you know, five or six minutes was a major sweat for sure. You know, they got down there and they kicked a field. and then they got the ball back, and we got the Hail Mary from Russell Wilson deep in that look. I'll get into that play in my game take.

But that Hail Mary conversion from 50 yards out to Brandon Johnson gave Denver a chance there at the end. By the way, I mentioned this earlier today on the radio show. That's the second time Denver's completed a Hail Mary against Washington in Denver. 1995, in Denver, October 3131, John Elway rears back and throws the ball to Rod Smith in the end zone to beat the Skins 3831. Final play of the game. This time, though, Denver had to convert a two-point conversion to tie it and force overtime. they didn't because the referees swallowed the whistle. And that's a good thing for them.

You know, people often say about those kinds of plays where there aren't, you know, calls made when perhaps there should have been calls made, that those are game-deciding plays. Not really. You know, Curtis Samuel got mugged in the end zone in that game against the Giants last year on Sunday night football. But Washington was down eight. They still needed to score a touchdown. even if they had a new set of downs,

and they would have still needed to convert a two-point conversion, and then they would have still had to win in overtime. Yesterday, yes, Denver should have had another conversion attempt from the one-yard line, and maybe they would have converted. Maybe they wouldn't have. Washington's defense was pretty damn good. It's possible that they wouldn't have converted, and then even if they did, they would have still had to come up big in overtime.

But look, this was an early statement game from this team. And to me, the statement is that they've got really good players, and you should pay attention to this team because they've got really good players and really good playmakers on both sides of the ball. You know, this is something that we've been talking about for a while now. but this roster is pretty good. In years past, a lot of you would exaggerate what they had on the roster. You know, they'd spend a lot of time talking about, oh, the cuts are going to be tough this year.

You know, they're going to let players loose and they're going to get picked up by all these other teams. No, they have spent two to three years of doing a pretty good job, building up a talented roster. Of course, what's been missing more than anything else was someone good enough at the most important position on the field. Now, maybe they have that person. Look, I'm not going to overreact on Sam Hal's two football games here. Okay, it's still two games. And last week wasn't that great, but yesterday Sam Hal played well. He made some big time plays. He was significantly influential on the final score of that game. He played at a level. that they just haven't had much of a quarterback in the last few years.

I will nitpick some things that he did, but his performance was much better than it was last week. Last week I had him graded as a C. The grade will be much better this week when I get to my game take. You know, overall, there's just a feeling, a vibe about this team and about this organization that we just haven't had in a long, time. You know, yesterday would have been typically a game that would have continued to go south. They would have lost the game, and I would have been in here talking about what I talked about a lot on

Mondays, another chalk it up to organizational loss, because most of their losses were organizational losses. But the stench is gone. There's a new vibe. It's really been two months of this, last week was incredible. I can't wait to see what Sunday at FedEx is going to be like. I'll tell this quick story in watching the game yesterday. I actually had two of my three sons at home. And at the end of the half, after they had made it 21 to 11, Denver had the ball.

And on a third down in nine, there was a throw to Judy that came up short. And according to one of my sons, I got up, pumped my fist in the end. air and he said, oh yeah, you're back. Busted! There's no doubt that the last few years, there have been some games. Last year, you know, the playoff game against Tampa, there have been some times where

my lack of passion for the team, which, you know, has been at an all-time low, you know, there were flashbacks, but I thought it was funny. and I just said, yeah, I want them to win this game. And they were just down 21-3, and now they got a chance to get the ball back and get it to 21-14. But anyway, look, I don't know where this 2-0 start goes from here, but they are a capable team. You know, capable of what? Capable of being in the mix in the NFC. You know, I don't think they're Philadelphia.

I don't think they're Dallas. I don't think they're San Francisco. but they have really good players on both sides of the ball. And if the quarterback is good enough, and there are indications here in the first two games, it's early in the opponents, Arizona and Denver, are not Buffalo and Philadelphia, the two opponents that they've got coming up.

In fact, when you look at the schedule, the number of at least on paper right now, really good defensive teams that they face. You know, Buffalo, Philly twice, Dallas twice. They have Miami. They've got the Jets. They've got the 49ers. The Giants are capable on defense.

The Patriots are really good on defense. They're going to get tested. Sam Howell's going to get tested. But there is a lot to like about the way he played yesterday. and they've got a team right now around them, that's for sure. There are better rosters in the NFL, but Duran Payne and John Allen and Montez Sweat and Cam Curl and Emmanuel Forbes and Jaman Davis and Chase Young, you know, on defense,

and Terry McClorn and Brian Robinson, Jr., and Dotson and Gibson and Diami Brown, they've got some legit dudes. They really do. It's been a long time since we could really say that confidently. I was thinking about at the end of last year, the disappointment of losing to Cleveland, and then, you know, beating Dallas in a meaningless season finale. And, you know, I said after the season was over, I didn't think that I would be saying this, but this season in so many ways is encouraging because they've got a lot of good players. The roster's pretty good. And it is.

a fun game yesterday. A big early season win. I discussed last week, you know, you don't have to be a good team now. You've got to be good later in the season when it matters, but you've got to harvest those nuts, as Eddie Jordan said. You've got to have enough wins so when you get good, if you get good, the games that you play matter. And they've got two, two and two tries.

You know, two games that could have, easily gone the other way, but they didn't lose those games. They won those games. And now you've got a massive game coming up Sunday at home against Buffalo. Buffalo is a six, six and a half point favorite right now. Josh Allen and company coming off that game where they lost the Jets on Monday Night Football, but they hammered the Raiders yesterday. I haven't seen much of that game. I will watch it or certainly watch the condensed version either tonight or tomorrow. tomorrow, but this is a different test than Arizona and Denver. Now, the jets defensively for Buffalo are kind of similar to what Washington will be.

I mean, there's no sauce gardener, but Quinn and Williams is great, but my God, is Dron Paine Great. John Allen great. I think they've got a chance Sunday at home. I'm very interested to see what the environment will be like. A lot of these tickets were probably sold even before the ownership situation was finalized. and Buffalo travels. It's not going to be the Arizona crowd. There will be some blue and red in the crowd. But it should be a phenomenal atmosphere,

and it's a chance for Washington to get to 3 and O for the first time since 2005. Wind donations got the best deal that they have during the course of the year going right now. The more you buy, the more you save. And right now, you pay nothing for two full years, plus you can save up to 50% off the original price of the windows. They're going to deliver more for your home, more energy savings, more value, more features,

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and tell them that I sent you. My game take next, right after these words, from a few of our sponsors. How slinging it to the end zone? Was it caught? Yes, McLaurin. Touchdown.

An amazing catch by one of the stud-wide receivers in the sport. What a throw by, Sam Howell. What a catch by Terry McClure. They had erased a 21-3 deficit at that point, tying the game at 21-21 early in the third quarter. My game take coming up, Fred Smoot, after that, but first I want to tell you about my bookie. My bookie's got a no-strings-attached cash bonus that lets you deposit and withdraw quickly. You have to use my promo code, Kevin DC, on a deposit of $50 or more. And then you can receive up to $200 in cash instantly to your MyBooky account.

Bet your deposit amount one time and you're ready to withdraw at any time. Again, you've got to use my promo code, Kevin D.C. to claim that cash deposit. My bookie's got minus three tonight on the first game. It's a double-header tonight for Monday night football. The Saints are three-point favorites at the Panthers. The Panthers are the last of my smell test picks for the weekend. And then Pittsburgh is a two-point underdog at home against Cleveland. So a Monday night doubleheader not only tonight, but next week as well.

The smell test five and two, three and one on Saturday, two and one yesterday with the Panthers pending. I had somebody tweet me and say, if the Cardinals cover, I'll donate $100 to your favorite charity. Well, I'm not going to let you do that. But yes, the Giants were one of those heavily bet public teams, and I gave out the Cardinals plus the four. And look, they were in total control of that game, up 28 to 7, up 20 to nothing at halftime. The Giants literally were shut out 60 to nothing in the first six quarters of the NFL football season.

But give them credit, they came back on the road, and they scored 31 points in the second half to beat Arizona with a walk-off field goal by Graham Ganoe, 31 to 28. And it wasn't actually a walk-off. I think there were a couple of seconds left when he made the field goal. But would have come back by the Giants? But they did not cover. And my God, how about the Rams giving me a field goal with no time left for a backdoor plus seven and a half cover against the Niners? The one loss, the Patriots last night didn't get it done.

They were down 24-17. Had a chance late to tie it, and I've got the Panthers going tonight. MyBooky.ag, use my promo code, Kevin D.C., looking ahead to Sunday. All right, I mentioned the point spread. Six and a half Buffalo at Washington, and the total now up a little bit. Part of that has to do with Buffalo, but part of it has to do with Washington scoring 35. points in basically two quarters of football. That total is 44 and a half on Sunday. My lean towards the Washington, Denver under didn't exactly hit. And I haven't added it up yesterday, but it

certainly seems like after a week in which almost, I think it was a 12 and 4 week one on the unders, a lot of overs yesterday. A ton of over. A ton of. of overs. We had a lot of points and a lot of close games yesterday. All right, let's get to my game take. Pay attention. Here's Kevin's Game Take. What I liked, what I didn't like in lots of other observations about the game and sort of critiques of performances that didn't necessarily fit into either category for me. Let me start with what I liked. Sam Hal tops the list. And actually, you know, I could put these in any order. Um, uh, uh, um, uh, or you could put them in any order, and I'd have no problem with that.

But I just thought that that was a big-time performance yesterday, especially with them trailing 21 to 3. They moved the ball a little bit on those first two drives. They missed a field goal, and they made a field goal. And then, you know, there were two, three-and-outs, and they're down 21-3, and it looked hopeless until the Jamon Davis play. But at that point, you know, everything came to life. The offense came to life.

The defense came to life. Sam Hal made some big time. plays. I think overall, what is apparent about Sam Howell, some of the things, you know, we knew when we talked about during the offseason, and some of these things you've got to see. And we haven't seen enough yet. The jury is still out. I mean, it's not like they've returned the verdict here, and you got a top 10 quarterback in Sam Hal after starts and wins over Arizona and Denver. But, you know, he does look the part of a guy that's an NFL quarterback. quarterback. At what level?

You know, we've got to wait on that. But he's got the arm, which we've known. He's got the mobility, which we've known. We've been learning that he's got some intangibles that you look for. He's tough. He's smart. He's fearless. You know, he's a gamer. He's a baller. You know, he's got grit, all of those things. What's really clear, and we can say definitively, I think, at this point,

is he just appears to be better than anything they've had here recently. You know, he's got an NFL arm that this franchise hasn't had with Taylor Heineke for the better part of the last two years. He makes all the throws. And he had three exceptional throws in this game. The throw to Logan Thomas on fourth and goal for the first touchdown is a throw that is read correctly, it's out quickly, and it is perfectly thrown. What a catch by Logan Thomas, who took the big hit from Kareem Jackson.

He's got the throw to Bates before the end of the first half. I mean, that is a throw that gets him in field goal range and makes it a seven-point game. It's not the same route as he connected last week with Curtis Samuel on, but it's still such a big-time throw, and it's a three-point throw. I mean, that throw guarantees a shot at a field goal, which they converted. last week's throw to Curtis Samuel guaranteed a shot at a field goal which they converted.

I mean, these are big time throws at the end of halves and then the throw to Terry is just it's perfect and Terry makes a great place but he puts it in the spot you have to put it in. And there are throws that he makes like that one where he hangs in the pocket he takes some shots by the way

a lot and he threw that tall meaning that ball came from up high and it launched high and there didn't seem to be a chance for that one to get deflected. He scrambles off schedule for plays. He creates more time off schedule. He avoids bad plays a lot. He was an A-minus yesterday.

The nitpicking, well, let me just also mention some really good quick game throws early on, you know, to Diami Brown, some screens to, by the way, on some of those screen passes, perfectly timed, perfectly disguised. But he had a couple of those wide receiver screens, I think one to Terry, one to Jahan, had a really good throw to Logan Thomas when he took a big shot, had a throw early in the game to Dotson on the first third down of the game, just made a lot of good plays. I don't know how he got out of that one near sack where they had him by the leg and he was able to throw the ball out of bounds to avoid the lost yardage.

Had a scramble for 10 yards on a big play. There was a defensive hole on that play. He just made a lot of really good place. You know, the nitpicking would be the number of balls he gets deflected. I think there were another three or four of them yesterday. One of them was very close to being intercepted in the first half. Last week he had a ball deflected that was intercepted. There were a couple of times where he was a little bit, you know, slow in delivering and slow in his processing and he held onto the ball a bit too long.

It was amazing that he held on to that first sack from the backside. I think it was Gregory that got him. You know, he had a missed throw to Terry on a third and nine where Terry was open in between some coverage, but, you know, missed badly on that throw. But really, there's not a lot to nitpick from his performance. A-minus for Sam Hal. Eric B. Enemy's play-calling. I just thought he called a great game. He was pass-heavy in their play calls in the first half.

But, you know, he protected his quarterback better this week. He protected him from himself. He protected him from the offensive line. He's going to throw the football in 2023. He's going to throw the football to set up the run. He's going to throw the football because it's the way he can get the ball to his best players on offense, which, by the way, also includes his running backs who he threw screens to in Robinson, Jr. and Gibson. He's going to use the throw to set up the run in the second half, it looks like.

He's confident in Hal. He's confident in his playmakers. And I thought the big progression from last week or the big takeaway was he understood the pressure that was put on his quarterback in the opener. And it doesn't really matter at this point, whether it was the O-line or Hal holding onto it too long last week. He accounted for that in Denver yesterday. More quick game. More line of scrimmage throws early. More screens.

I mean, screens to everybody. Robinson, Gibson, Cole Turner, you know, Terry, Dotson. And then when he established that they were going to be a team that was going to throw it heavily over running it. Then he comes back in the second half and he runs Brian Robinson down the throats of the Broncos. I had Robinson for 13 of his 18 carries in the second half and 74 of his 87 yards in the second half. That's 5.7 yards per pop in the second half. two touchdowns also. You know, Eric B. Enem, he's got a bunch of weapons and a quarterback that he is more than comfortable with.

And I just thought he called a really good game. I thought it was a game in which he got done what he wanted to get done, but at the same time did it in a way that was more protective and more and less risk to blowing the game on offense, which nearly happened last week. There were a couple of things that I would like to see called back. These are small nits to pick, but I didn't love the RPO on third and goal before their first touchdown near the end of the first half that went to Logan incomplete. I just in that red zone would prefer to see Sam having the ability to create off schedule,

which is what he did last week to the tune of a touchdown pass to Robinson Jr. a touchdown scramble. On that RPO, he may have made the wrong decision. He may have, he may have been better off handing the ball off to Gibson, but he pulled it and he threw it to Logan Thomas and it was incomplete, and then they went for the fourth and goal more on that in a moment. But I didn't love the dropback call at the end of the first half with 13 seconds to go and no timeouts. I thought that was risky and dangerous. You know, they weren't going to score touchdown on that drive with 13 seconds to go in the ball at the Denver 31-yard line. But they could have picked up more yardage by, you know, a sprint out and a quick dash and a

sideline throw with Denver maybe playing a little bit soft. And he dropped him back with 13 seconds left and he let that thing go out of bounds, fortunately. But given the pressure and given the sack totals, I thought that that was risky because they had no timeouts left. And then with eight seconds to go, they dropped him back again and had him throw towards the end zone. But overall, an A for Eric B. Enemy. Brian Robinson, Jr. I mean, what can you say? 18 carries 87 yards, two screens for 42 yards. He had 20 touches for 129 yards. That's six and a half yards per touch. That's pretty good. I mean, a lot of the runs he gets and the yardage he gets are runs, you know, is some of those

runs after contact. I mean, he carries. carries the pile. He's really showing better patience. He's a load to tackle. He's got an upright style, but it doesn't seem to really impact, you know, at point of contact. And the two-point conversion, sticking that ball out just enough was a huge, huge play in the game. Also on the list of things that I liked. Well, the Jamon Davis play, of course, was the play of the game. But just the defense overall after the forced fumble, as I mentioned earlier, five drives. that they had after the force fumble, 52 yards, three punts, one interception, and it was a field goal drive that started at midfield. That is dominance. And it was dominance when they needed it

most like last week when they were down 1610 to Arizona in the fourth quarter. Specifically on defense, Duron Payne, his personal three and out to start the second half was awesome. I mean, he had a sack, a tackle for loss. He had two more of those yesterday, and then he knocked down a pass. I mean, that is a Hall of Fame series from a defensive tackle who is turned into an elite player. Duran Payne is elite as a player. Is he Aaron Donald, Quinn and Williams? I don't know. But he is super athletic, freakishly athletic. He is smart. You have to double team him to keep him from being a factor on any play. And even when you're double teaming him,

he's taking on two to make it easier for others. He just is an absolute complete player right now. He got doubled a lot. John got doubled a lot. But a sack, two more TFLs, multiple quarterback pressures. I am sure, and I haven't seen it yet, but it'll probably be out later today. I'm sure PFF will have like an average grade for pain.

I don't know what it is with pro football focus and their grading of Duran pain. But every time I think he was dominant, it seems like their grade is like just a little bit better than average. I thought it was one of the best games he has ever played. He and Allen together are the best inside duo in the league. You can certainly make that case. I love John Allen's performance. He took up a lot of double teams yesterday as well. I thought Jamin Davis, the sideline to sideline speed, the early penalty was not a smart play on the roughing the passer,

but he had the biggest play of the game. He had multiple quarterback pressures. There was one time where he just walloped Russell Wilson. Jamon Davis is on the list. Casey Two Hill is on my list of things that I liked. I mentioned him last week. I know he doesn't get a lot of snaps, but this. Snaps he gets, he's effective.

He makes plays. On the play where Jamie Davis got called for roughing the passer, Two Hill totally red and deflected a screen pass that would have gone for big yardage. He's got pressure every time you kind of look at him on the field. And again, he's not on the field a lot. I kind of like just a lot of their defensive linemen. A lot of them are really, really good players. I think Ridgeway's good.

you know, obviously the starters. I think James Smith Williams is strong as hell. But I like Two Hill. He had a sack in the game. He had a couple of quarterback pressures. And I think Denton told me earlier today his, do I have that up? I did put it up.

He played on just 16 of the 66 snaps. He's not out there a lot. But when he's out there, I think he makes an impression. Also on the list of things that I liked, the decision to go for two after the first touchdown when Kareem Jackson leveled Logan Thomas and knocked him out of the game. Right when that happened, I tweeted out, go for two right here because you're going to go for two from the one yard line. You're going to get half the distance to the goal. And they did it and they made it. It was a big play in the game. I mean, they won by two. Hello. And it's not one of those where

you know, maybe the game turns out differently. If they don't make it there, if they don't replay that and then give them the two points. And I just think it was the right decision by Ron to go for it there. They were probably down 21 to 3, down 18. At some point, there might have been in a position where they had to go for two. So go forward there where you have half the distance to cover. But if they had missed it, you know, it would have been 21-9, then the field goal before the half would have made it 21-12.

And then they would have scored and they wouldn't have gone for two right away down nine and it would have been 21-19. And then they would have given up a field goal so they would have been down 24-19. And then their touchdown would have either been 25 to 24 or 27 to 24 because down 24-19, they would have gone for two. And then when they scored that next touchdown, the Robinson touchdown, the score would have been either 32 to 24 or 34 to 24. more likely than not. And so Denver with a touchdown, with a field goal and then a Hail Mary would have potentially either been on the verge of winning the game or, you know, tying the game. More likely than not tying the game, because at 3224, they wouldn't have kicked the field

goal. They would have kept the offense on the field to try to score. But anyway, there were a lot of other things that I liked in the game, but those are the things that stood out more than anything else. Terry McLaurin looked good. Diombi Brown had a good game. I thought Sadiq Charles played well. I thought a lot of the receivers did a good job of blocking downfield.

You don't get the kind of yardage that they got on screens and on big chunk runs without wide receivers blocking. There was a lot to like from the game yesterday. All right, what I didn't like, I didn't like the start defensively. They gave up a lot of runs on the edges, and this is a bit of a concern right now. They gave up some runs last week to Connor, who, by the way, went over 100 yards against the Giants yesterday, and they gave up some real yardage to Javante Williams. I mean, he's the real deal. I talked about him last week. You know, he averaged 5.9 yards per carry in the first half. He's a really good player. I think, you know, even when they were in that five-man front, that their Cinco package, I think they got run on. They really got, you know, run on on the edges. a zone read keeper by Russell Wilson was a good play. That touchdown run, the first touchdown of the day by McLaughlin, was just too easy. It looked like Chase got influenced a little bit to the inside and there was no contain.

They got burned on the two corners blitzing when St. Juice and Forbes blitzed on the big touchdown pass to Mims Jr. Seemed like Sean Payton in those first three drives was just playing chess a little bit to Jack Del Rio's checkers. I mean, he was a step or two ahead. Those first three drives for Denver, 17 plays, 226 yards, 13.3 yards per play, 21 points. They just seemed to get to the line of scrimmage, and if they didn't like what was called, they had a check they could get to. They built a 21-3 lead with Russell Wilson having five completed balls. Now, one was for a 60-yard touchdown, and another one. one was for 54 yards, but the defensive start is on the list of things that I did not like.

Now, after that start, after those three drives, Denver had 45 offensive snaps for 173 yards, 3.8 yards per play versus 13.3 yards per play. The defense became what we believe it to be, and that is dominant. And keep in mind of those 173 yards on 45, five plays, 50 of them came on the Hail Mary. Again, one concern, just the consistency against the run. Secondly, on the list of things that I didn't like, I still think they're just allowing too much pressure on offense, too much, you know, pass protection issues, too many of them.

Sacks pressure allowed, you know, need more time to determine, you know, where the sacks fall in terms of blame. I thought Sam was under pressure pretty quickly early. I think he got lucky on that one where he could have been easily stripped, but that may have been an example of him holding onto it a little bit too long. But there was one where Sam clearly could have hit the checkdown. I think he had Dotson. He held onto the ball, and then Gibson was wide open on the checkdown,

and he didn't hit him. I thought there was a time he could have stepped up into the pocket when he got hit from the backside. But yeah, on the list of things I didn't like, I still don't love their protection all the time. Two missed field goals and Cameron Cheesman snap. I mean, come on, enough already. Special teams in general, two missed field goals, one bad snap from Cheesman, which we really didn't see on the television thing unless you really bring it back frame by frame.

And you can see Tressway taking a ball that's not, doesn't look perfect, you know, in his hands. and he gets it there for Sly to kick it, even though Sly missed it. They gave up a big punt return the special teams did. I thought I saw a block in the back on that play. But look, you've got to fix this problem. Cameron Cheeseman is going to, you know, hurt them in a big spot. You know, you've got a close game against Philly in two weeks, division opponent, you've got a chance to kick a walk-off field goal from 44 yards out.

you know, is he going to roll one back and are you going to lose a game because of it? They got to figure that out. Penalties, I think we're an issue again. Eight for 70. Davis's roughing wasn't very good. Chase is roughing not good. Chase had a neutral zone as well. 16 penalties in two games for 141 yards of penalty, you know, assessment.

And their third down offense hasn't been great. It wasn't great yesterday. three for 10, and that makes them seven for 22 in the first two games. So that's the list of things I didn't like, but let me get to some other observations and then we'll get to Smoot. There were a couple of key plays in the game that were really important after the biggest play in the game, the Jaman Davis forced fumble. So after that forced fumble, Washington takes over at the Denver 49-yard line. Cosmey gets called for hold. on first down. And then they get a nine-yard play, and it's now second and 11. And that guy,

Benito, who was their second round pick, I think last year, man, he was tough to block. He blitzes, he's got Hal dead to write for a sack, which would have set up third and 20 or longer, which means that they would have stopped Denver with the forced fumble, but they needed to score. and Benito grabs Sam Hal's face mask while attempting to sack him. That was a big time break. The call was the right call. But if he doesn't grab the face mask and he just wraps them up, it's third and 20 plus, and Washington's probably punting the ball down 21 to 3.

That was a very key play. The Jamon Davis force fumble, and then that face mask allowed them to stay on the field and eventually get a touchdown and a two-point conversion to make it a 10-point game. There was another key play in the game that I wanted to mention. After they scored to make it 21 to 11 with the two-point conversion, Denver's got a third and nine from their own 26-yard line. And Jerry Judy is wide the you-know-what open, uncovered for an easy first down and more.

And Russell Wilson, who had, I thought a good day. I did. I think he last week looked a little bit more like Russell Wilson, and this week at times looked a little bit more like Russell Wilson, but he was facing, you know, one hell of a defense. But he throws behind Judy on third and nine. If he hits Judy in stride, Judy's out to the 40 or 45-yard line.

And in a 21 to 11 game, Denver's got a chance. chance to get in field goal range to take a 24 to 11 half-time lead, but instead the ball's behind him, he hits the ground, making the catch, and then Washington gets to him and stops him two yards short of the first down. And instead, Washington gets the ball back, and they go down and kick a field goal, and it's 21 to 14. So looking at sort of this game beyond what I liked and what I didn't like key play was for sure the face mask on Sam Howl to continue what would have been a drive that was about to end after the forced fumble by Jamie Davis, which means you probably go to halftime, 213. I don't know, maybe you get a quick three and out after the punt. And then I think the behind Jerry Judy throw on third and nine, we see.

huge. That was going to be a nice chunk play for Denver to get out of that trouble and then maybe, maybe just stem the tide a little bit because it's 21 to 11 at that point and maybe they can go down and get a field goal to make it 24 to 11. All right, Chase Young, he did not make the things I liked list and he did not make the things that I did not like list. He was closer to making the things that I light list. He's just an absolute monster when he's healthy. He's such a physical imposing presence. He's a freak athletically. He's a big man. And he impacts the game positively when he's in it. Now, he also at times impacts the game negatively. But he looked healthy. He was impossible to, you know, at times to block. He had the pressure on the biggest play of the game. The, the

Jamon Davis forced fumble. He had a sack and a half in the game. He had multiple pressures. He ripped Giovante Williams down to the ground on a run. He's explosive and strong. At times you you think he's really seeing everything. Like he read a screen that Russell Wilson had to basically dirt, throw it into the ground. But then there are times where he seems to kind of misread things. You know, if we're being objective here, there are a couple of things that just have to be cleaned up with Chase Young to make sure that we get the best of him every week from start to finish, that it's not, you know, great play, great play,

and then, oh, why did you do that? Like, why did he rough Russell Wilson? That was a stupid penalty. Why was he in the neutral zone? That was a dumb penalty. You know, and he, he, gets influenced by plays and by lineman and by tight ends. He got sucked in on that first touchdown run for Denver that made it 7 to nothing.

You know, they turn them loose up field sometimes and he doesn't realize until it's too late, oh, they're running behind me or there's a screen called in my direction or whatever it is. He just is so talented and I'm so excited to see him healthy and I hope he stays healthy. and I know that everybody says that he is more into his approach, you know, now. It's just at times he's got to be a little bit more disciplined. Penalties and scheme-wise, a little bit more consistent. The fourth and goal go for it in the first half. I mean, it's a big-time call.

It's one of Sam's best throws to Logan Thomas before the big hit that knocked him out. I mean, a lot of teams kick the field goal and it's 216 and they try to get it back one more time or they just go to halftime 216. That was an interesting call. Somebody told me and I have not checked it out yet that Eric Bienamee looked pissed at Ron when Ron said field goal. So that Bienemy was the one that basically talked Ron into going for fourth and goal. I don't know if that's true or not. The two-point conversion, I thought it was the easy call after the,

penalty on Jackson. You get it at the one-yard line and you get a chance, you know, to get two from 21-9 to 21-11. We didn't see the play because CBS was late getting back. We saw the replay. And I thought Robinson Jr. did a great job of getting the ball just to the plane of the goal line. So it was 21-11 and, you know, they got the ball back after using three timeouts very wisely. They get it back and they get a field goal before halftime and it's 21-14, just like that. Okay, a big one in this game.

Ron's decision to kick the 59-yard field goal in a 21-21 game. Now, the context for this, it's 21-21 in Washington's got all the momentum. Okay, they've run off 18 straight points. They had just intercepted a pass, the Emmanuel Forbes interception. They've driven it down to the Denver, 24-yard line, and then Hal took a sack. That should have been, you know, kind of a nitpicky thing on Hal. That's a big sack that knocked him out of field goal range in that spot. Ron decides to send Joey Sly out there for a 59-yard field goal in a 21-21 game when you've got snap issues and you've got

a defense playing lights out. Look, I have no problem with those of you thinking that that was a horrible decision. But here's why I'm not going to kill Ron. for it, okay? If you don't know this, Denver's a mile high, and the thin air makes the ball travel further. On average, if you take into all, if you take into consideration all of the weather conditions in Denver, on average, it's about five to six yards you gain kicking in Denver. In warm weather, like it was yesterday, it's more like seven, eight, nine yards of additional yardage for your kicks. Apparently in pre-games, Joey Sly was easily getting it from 65 and end. It's a situation where you've got a long snapper who's an issue, understood. The defense is

playing well. You could pun it. I don't have any problem with those of you who take issue with Ron kicking that field goal, but I can't kill them for it. That's a 52-yard kick when you factor in everything, not a 59-yard kick. And I'm sorry, but in a 21-21 game, you've got a chance to take the lead and keep the momentum, and it's a 52-yarder, and your guy's got a big leg, and he's certainly capable. I can't kill him for it.

Can't. I'll tell you what I didn't love. I didn't like the decisions on the last two plays of the first half. I know I mentioned this with Eric B. Enemy's play calling. I didn't like to drop back with 13 seconds to go. A sack would have ended the half. They would have never gotten a field goal opportunity off. and then with eight seconds to go, they threw it into the end zone.

I mean, there were two seconds left when the play ended, but man, I thought that was, they dropped them back, and then what if the ball? What if it's contested for and it gets bounced around and the final two seconds run off the clock, and the ball falls incomplete? I didn't like that. I know I mentioned this last week that Ron handled it the right way.

So before the Hail Mary final drive of the game, Washington's on offense. They did the right thing, I believe, by running the ball. I guess they could have run a bootleg and Sam could have kept the ball for a couple yards, stayed in bounds if the throw wasn't an easy throw for a first down. But, you know, they were upbate and Denver had two timeouts left when they started that drive from their own 43. After, by the way, let me mention the onside kick by Will Lutz was a great onside kick attempt. It was a very nice job by Dotson to kind of kind of, you know, not get in the way of bobbing it and then Rodriguez recovering it. But, man, that was a live ball in that spot. But Denver, you know, needed to call those last two timeouts. Washington forced those. And then on third down, they decided not to take a chance throwing it for a first down. They were content with punting the football and giving it to Denver with like 40-something

seconds left. But Ron did the thing that coaches do where they stand by the referee as the play clock's ticking down. You know, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two. Ah, time out. We got it at one second. We look so smart. Yeah, the problem is, is I don't think that was very smart.

I think the second was more important than the five yards on the delay of game. Take the delay a game and run that clock down the entirety of the clock. Because Russell Wilson threw the Hail Mary on a play with three seconds left in the game. So imagine, you know, seconds do matter. And coaches, for whatever reason, they get caught up in this. Look at how smart I am. I'm standing next to the ref.

I'm a clock manager. I know where to call the timeouts. And he calls it with one second to go. No, to me in that situation, punting from midfield, truss away, to me, the one second's more important than the five yards, period. And then, yeah, I guess. guess that's it. Look, the Hail Mary play, I guess they could have had Cole Turner back there. I just, I just think it's kind of a flukeish play. They rushed five. By the way, the Cam Curl tackle on Wilson on that final drive, man, that ran the clock. I mean, Wilson was close to getting

out of bounds. What a great play by Cam Curl. Oh, I wanted to mention, I thought that Denver did a terrible job managing the clock at the end of that game. I mean, they had the ball with four minutes in the red zone, and they didn't kick a field goal until after the two-minute warning. They were huddling up. They took way too long. I think that is it. Chase Young plays up in a two-point stance a lot. I find that interesting where Montez Sweat really doesn't. But a really, really nice effort after the force fumble by Jamin Davis. That game completely flipped in Washington was a dominant team with just better players than Denver has the rest of the way. All right, Fred Smoot to finish up the show next. Fred Smoot coming up here momentarily. Football season,

well, it's finally here. It's really here with Washington in the first two weeks. If you're looking for a to watch your favorite teams battle it out, head to Do South Doxide in Navy Yard, right on the Capitol Riverfront Boardwalk, with a stock barred draft beer and a menu full of Do South House smoked barbecue favorites. Their waterside location is the perfect place to gather all season long or to host your next event.

So come on down and do the queue at DoSouth, menus and more at DoSouth, dc.com. This is another one of those places. owned by Bo Blair. He's just an incredible restaurant tour. Jetty's, Millies, the bullpen, and Do South is another one. If you guys are down there, it's a great spot with a great menu, and they've always got sports on in that place. Again, do SouthDC.com. All right, let's bring Fred Smoot on to the show. Smoot, of course, host. pregame and post game with our good friend Scott Jackson on the Washington

Commanders Radio Broadcast Network, and he does so much with the commanders on the commander's website as well. So I want to start with just this, 3533, a two-point win. They're 2-0. What did you think? I'd say in a pre-season because I know we did one of your problems. professor, where I told you this is what I felt this team was going to be. Did I not say that?

I said we were going to see a young, growing quarterback who can make every throw, and he's a sneaky, better athlete than most people give him credit for, and he has the emotion. Like, this guy's emotionless. It's the great thing about it. He don't get too high when he succeeds. He don't get too low when he fails. and this guy is an elephant that remembers nothing.

And I love that about him, and it is resonating with the team. And was making it even better, and this is what I told people. At the end of the day, since this guy's been starting for this team, he beat the Cowboys last year, so he hasn't lost to the Cowboys before. He doesn't care what you're saying. He is undefeated. He's 0-3 as a starter. He's played in three games.

He's won three games. All right, and if you count the preseason, he's still undefeated. All I'm saying is this. It's something with him. He has a moxie about him, and it doesn't matter if he's up, 15, if he's down, 20. Like, I never, why I was sitting there watching the game, and I haven't felt this for a long time here. I haven't felt it. We was down, and I wasn't worried.

Like, I wasn't shaking. I was like, just give him a second. And they just start the methodically chop wood. Well, hold on, hold on for a second. Hold on for a second. So it's 21 to 3. And this is about to turn into the red wedding. Okay, this is how ugly it's going to get. And you were like, you were like, no, no, no, no, no. We're good here. We're going to win. You really thought down 213. Let me just make one thing clear here. They scored Denver did in 17 plays, 226 yards, 21 points. And the, and the, offense have gone three and out punt, three and out punt, and you thought we were good. Yes, I did. Hey, Professor, sit at my bytender. I'm in my bar.

I'm going to make your drink. Check them out. I'm going to put a little beat juice in it first. But this is what happened. You're coming out, you're playing the Broncos. You're playing the Broncos at their first home game. It's going to be a lot of drilling and pumping. You just see what was happening in that FedEx, bringing a lot of energy.

You know they were going to start our fans. Mixed that with the fact that our guys got to get. acclimated, especially on defense, how to just breathe here. They're going to start our fans. There's always been a signature of Denver Bronco football. They will start fans. But if you can weather the storm and still be in the game, because even though we was down, we was moving the ball, up and down the field.

I say it's something to it. Get a defense. The defense and time to settle. Then we finally got Russell out of the pocket, made him move. and when we made him move, the turning point of the game with Jamie and David came from out of nowhere. I don't know where he popped up from. Just a ghost. And he smeared Russell, the governor of Colorado, across the grass of Power High Stadium.

That changed everything. That was the pivotal moment. That's when everything changed. I said, we have no problem now. I understood what's going on. And it was so smart. Our coached the enemy literally said, okay, they're at Randy Gregory, they got speed off the edges with these guys.

How about I weaponize their rush. Huge their rush against them. Run screen. Make them rush up field, throw the ball under. It was masterful what I was watching. And I would say, once the defense gets the pass rushing, now everything happens. And guess what? I want to congratulate one governor, Russell Wilson of Colorado.

You are the first person to be on the fourth list. Yes, you are. Congratulations. You know, in all seriousness here, and I know you're being serious, but I think, and I talked about this a lot in the open to the show, most games, you know, you're a sports fan, I'm a sports fan, we watch games, and usually it comes down not to one play, but they're like four or five plays that really decide the game. The Jamon Davis play was the play of the game, and there was no close second, because they really were. And by the, and by the game, and by the game, the way, you pointed this out, and I think it's really smart to point it out. The offense did move the football on those opening two drives of the game. They missed a field goal with the bad snap, and then they made a field goal. It's not like they were shut out completely, but they had gone three and out, and that score was getting ready to be 24 to 3 or 283. And I don't

care how much you knew that that game was still in play. At 24 to 3 or 28 to 3, at that point, with about two, three minutes to go in the first half. It's over. Jamon Davis's play gave them a chance to flip the script, and then they took advantage of it, and then, you know, we can talk about everything that happened, but do you agree with me that often we don't talk about one play because it's really exaggerated, but in this case it's not.

The one play totally save them in the moment. It's the moment play. I know what I was going to say. It's the play in the morning. that switches it for both teams. Now, here go to coach, and I'll tell you, it's some funky dynamic

about this relationship with Sam Payton and Russell Wilson. I've never seen a future Hall of Fame be brought to a new team and bent to the coach's wheel like I'm seeing there, so it's some there. So when that fumble happens, there's more disgust on the face of Sean Payton.

There's more distrust in Russell and Sean Payton. It twists the narrative because now it gives the offense of short field, which this offense has succeeded with short fields. This is what people also have to understand. I know this is pro football, but the narrative is this. If you write it on a piece of paper, our officer coordinator has been in the building six months.

This offense is running like a well-all machine that has to mature. Our quarterback has literally started 12 quarters of football, and the expectations are through the roof for him instead of saying, let's watch him grow. So everything he does to me over a certain bar and a certain line is only extra. It's only this is what this kid brings to the table. This is more than his game. It's a maturity there. And it's a mental, it's a chip over there, too.

It's a chip on his shoulder also. But no, that turning point with Jamie Davis, yes, it's that plate. It's the LeVar-Earitan pickoff against K. Carolina. It's that play. Oh, good one. Good one. Yeah.

Yeah. It's the Sean Taylor picked up the fumble, Tampa Bay. You know what? Some plays are gone without saying it's that play that you'll remember, especially if it's season turned out to be way more than the people expected to be. The LeVar Arrington play against the Panthers was the play that completely turned around the game and then the season. Because remember, it was 14 to nothing in that game.

Yes, it was. Yeah, so, and then all of a sudden we win that game against Carolina and then go win five in a row and it's back to 500. So, all right, God, there's so many places to go here. I just, I agree, look, I agree with you. And I know that you've told me a lot, you know, I think you referred to him at one point, actually, as the, you know, as the young wolf. I think you actually referred to Sam Hal as Rob Stark. And yesterday was a near red

wedding experience in the first 20 minutes. But I am going to tell you that I just needed to see it. I knew he had the arm. I know he's got the mobility, but I needed to see it. I think that's fair. And I still haven't seen enough. He was not good last week. He made some good plays, but there's still some things to overcome. So I want you to be a little bit more, a little bit more objective, and tell me, I thought he was an A. I gave him an A minus for the performance yesterday. We know he made big time throws to Logan for the touchdown of fourth and goal.

The throw to Bates at the end of the half was incredible, and the throw to Terry was incredible. He extended plays. He got rid of the ball at times to avoid things. But what do you still feel like when you watch him? that at least gives you some pause, like that has to be developed. That's got to be coached out of them, et cetera, et cetera. You know what?

Because it feels like I'd be to coach something out of you. It feels like you're so scorned over the quarterback play over the last decade that because you're watching good quarterback play, you can't digest it right. Like, you have like, listen, he's everything people thought he wasn't. He's the, we knew he was a good throw of the ball. Like they said he hold on to the ball sometimes because he gets sacked. And guess what? That's called the gifts of being gifted.

Like, they're just like Josh Allen. The reason he's so crazy your 80-year-old passes is because he can. So when you sometimes have gifts are the curse in it. But what I'm saying, he's mature more than we think he is. This is what he's seen going against a defense like this at practice, going against his defense in line at practice. preparing to go against top-notch defenses. He's been doing it for a year.

And now I'm not shocked that he's coming out here. And plus I say, he has, everybody always say either the it factor are intangibles. Maybe he's just the same thing. Well, he has that it, and that it is gamer. I'm going to make plays when they need to be done. For instance, Herbert just got paid. I thank Lord, brother. We all want to.

I tell you this, look at his stat. line. Look at Sam Halstead line. They're the same stat line, except one of these guys played winning football. Wait. Who did you just say? Herbert. Oh, Herbert. Herbert. Herbert. Yeah. Herbert. Justin Herbert for the charges.

Through for 300 yards. Sam threw for $2.99. But one is playing a winning, winning type ball of football and football and football because of this new brain trust he got also. And one is playing a stat-field game. Like, at the end of the day, meaning for football, like, I want to see my guy go win his first role game in a hostile territory with everything, with Mother Nature going against you because of an aptitude with great players on the field, playing against the future Hall of Fame and quarterback, a Hall of Fame coach, and all he does is go out of going in there, get the victory, picked on the plane, come back to D.C. yes, it's real, and I know you think it's a dream, and I will come out there and teach you if you need me to, but yeah, we finally got a quarterback, but we still have to be patient with him. We've got to be patient. I haven't been pinched in a long time. That might be great. But did I just honestly hear you, like, okay, I'm going to put it to you right now. Right now, you get, somebody is offering you Justin Herbert for Sam Howell straight up, and you are the, general manager of the Washington commanders. What do you do?

I tell them, if I wanted him, I would have got him on the first go-around when I picked Chase Young. Oh, so you're not taking that deal. Listen, am I taking his contract, too? Yes. Because if I'm taking his contract, I'm going to look around with some guys with his contract and see who didn't actually won a playoff game? Do you know? Can I get a list of a player?

You look at something and a half out of potential in the world. All right? But then, what am I getting back for my investment? He looks good getting out the bus. He throws for 300 yards. He puts up $4,030,000 per year. Let's play out win. What are we doing?

Hold on for a second. You know, I want to move on from this because I actually don't believe you. I know that if I 100% know you would make that trade in a heartbeat. Because, because. It's more than just talent is about what am I doing? All right, let me ask you this. What? How do the Denver Broncos feel about their investment they made in the Super Bowl?

That's a apples and oranges. Russell Wilson's an aging veteran player, Justin Herbert, 6'5, 250 pounds, and is going to be probably, a future Hall of Famer, who's played, by the way, in his first two weeks, the Miami Dolphins who right now are starting to resemble the greatest show on turf. And, by the way, a Tennessee team on the road that was desperate and has amassed a great defense. A Tennessee team is a steep. Well, a guy got the home NFC Easter play who had the best record last year in the league.

And at the end of the day, look at the records of the NFCEs right now. We got two undefeated teams, and then we got the Giants. If Justin Herbert were on this team with 94 Duran Payne and 93 John Allen and 90 Montez sweat and what they have on defense, we would be the Super Bowl favorite in the NFC right now. You really think that over? You really think over Philadelphia Eagles? You think they would pick us over there with just inside him? I'll tell you what, it would be really close between the Eagles 49ers and Washington if Justin Herbert were the quarterback.

The Eagles and 49ers might be slightly favored over Washington, but we'd be right there if Justin Herbert were the quarterback. Why did you suck me into this? I don't want to talk about something that's so obvious. I don't think that absolutely what is, but I want you to know that Eric B. Enemy just got here six months ago. So he went ahead to say office as a coordinator. It would have been another guy by the name of Turner. So, you know, it's a lot that the variables that go into that when you talk about succeeding, right? Right.

All right. Let's, okay, every subject number one, Sam Howe, we can check that box. He was outstanding yesterday. We both agree. And there is definitely something to him. He's got the intangibles. He's got the talent. I would love it if he were two to three inches taller because he's now had six.

He's got six to seven balls deflected in two games so far. By the way, one got picked last week and one should have been picked yesterday. Tell me what they did wrong if they did anything wrong on the Hail Mary play. And you say should have. Don't be bringing up shit apple, professor. You're better than that. I should have invested in apple and I'll be a big. No, I said maybe the answer is they did fine, and it was just one of those things that happens.

I'm going to say, the flukiest play in all the sports is a hair, Mary. There's no science to it. There's nothing to it. It's guys jumping in a bunch and the ball being his pinball that either going to get spiked, pipped up, and what I've seen it get bounced up, once I've seen, a tip ball, a tip ball is a cop ball. and they is the most dangerous ball in football. So I was afraid then. The only thing I could say is the guys in the front need to understand

the receive was always going to send a guy to the back of the pile, and he's the guy to receive the rebounder. He's the rebounder. So what we used to do is we have one guy like Son Taylor looking for the rebounder. He would move him first, and then we would try to secure the ball from the front with the rest of us jumping. So just having a true, true plan, but it's hard to practice. you can never really practice it, and it's one of those things.

You don't know what type of ball you get, and you don't know what's about to happen until it's happening. I know, but, you know, so what you just described was... Chaos, organized chaos. I know, and I agree with you. And I'm not... I actually am not super critical of what happened on the play. I mean, it looked like certainly Forbes tried to get up and knock it down. St. Juice was behind the play, but he was actually covering somebody,

so he wasn't right behind the play. But, you know, they did rush five, and so they only had six back. Usually in those situations, you know, a Hail Mary defense, you'll see three rushers, maybe a fourth, and you'll have seven to eight back. So I just thought you might have an opinion on what they did there other than it was, it's always a fluke when it's completed. By the way, I've got something for you. The professor has something for you.

And it was called in by my guy Paulie from the 757 on the radio show. Did you know that this is the second time in three seasons that Sean Peyton has coached a team that's converted a Hail Mary against Washington? Remember when James Winston for the Saints threw to Callaway at the end of the half? Yeah, I do. I do. Yeah. But that was different because they were kind of playing to stop them from getting a quick out and maybe. be a field goal attempt because it was at the end of the half. But anyway. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I do, I do remember there.

And Polly is right that he is a gym. So maybe he's got a four-leaf clovers or rabidst foot in his pocket. When he comes to throwing a hair mirror, but I like to say this, if somebody throwing a hair mirror on you, you are in the league, then all you got to do is stop them. All right? That means they are panicking and they are running out of time. Okay, before you answer the question, well, it wasn't called,

I'm going to preface this question by saying, I understand that it wasn't called. But do you think it was pass interference on St. Juice on the two-point conversion? No, no, it was what you call a bang-bang-clake, one of those things where I thought everything met at the same time in real time. When you look at things in slow motion, man, it can be very deceptive. And also, I'm going to take it and be honest with you, I'm also a DB, so it's a slight lean over there towards him. understanding the situation, I thought the referee did a good job of letting it play. And we've seen, if you really want to know, the play before that, the receiver was out of balance. So they, like, in a way, they owe to something.

So at the end of the day, I don't think the play, right, and I know everybody's going to say, but by the way, it was passing the fear. How many times have we been on the opposite side of that call? How many times have we been the team that sits there with some kind of odd situation that don't go our way. Well, sometimes things are going away because you ain't good spirits and the energy has changed. Well, maybe this is one of those times.

No past interference by me, by Fred Smute. St. Juice did his thing right there. Great way to see each player go and make plays. That was you saw, you saw Forbes make a play. You saw Durham Payne. Hey, take a whole series and dominate it. You watch Chase Young, take a whole half in Dominated. You watch Sweat, like.

This is something magical we're watching. The one thing I can get these guys in the front office platform. If you look at the draft picks, we accumulated over the last four or five years. We are one of the best drafted teams in football. They have built a roster. This is the best overall roster Washington has had since I think maybe the 2005 team, you know. But I think, but let me. me just say, there's no Duran pain on that team. There's no John Allen, there's no Montes

sweat, there's no Chase Young. None of that. I mean, so there's something, I agree. They've done it. And this is why it frustrated me when Ron would say, we're just going to now start to focus on roster building. You can take a bow. You've done a pretty good job at building the roster for the last two to three years. Tell me. You built it from the top down. That's the thing about it. And this D-Line is so, like, Ridgeway is a dog. All right, like, we have, like, it's so deep in certain positions that I don't think people going to see it until they get to play on the big stage, like a playoff. But it's like sometimes you don't know because you know, and I've been in his market

and I have been numb to teams that people are going to say going to be good because I can look at it and say something wrong with it. This ain't one of those teams. Not on defense. It's not. And there are plenty of playmakers on offense. So there's a couple of performances I want to ask you about from yesterday. I just, I mean, I've been the biggest Duran Payne since, fan since day one.

I think yesterday may have been one of the best games he has ever played. From that forced fumble on, he and the rest of the defense, don't get me wrong, but he just dominated that game. I think he isn't, right now, he's elite at his position. You know what? If you talk to him, his mind frame, I had to talk to him because he loved a fish. He loved, like, ride four-wheelers and all that stuff, because the country boy stuff we love to do. And he ain't been doing none of us.

He's been consuming football. I was like, what you do the other day? Football. Like, he just, he is so, he feels so disrespectful. I have never seen somebody that just got paid the amount of money he has that feels so disrespectful. Like, he is dumb. Like I told you, at some point in.

times in games, he takes over the game and dominator, and it will be one of the three like he did in that one. One, he could go get the sack most of the time. Two, he always in the backfield when it comes to the run, and then he gets his hands up and knock down plays. And I know people don't really take batted balls down by the defensive line. Man, these are the small plays that change his game. Those passes.

If you get two, three, four, five of those games, and that quarterback, like a 10, I mean, 40 passes, that's only 35 true attempts you got. People do not understand how big these slaves is, and you're right. On the track, he's going now, he's going to be dominant. If people don't look out numbers alone and don't judge him because of, you know, when Washington came on commanders, no, this dude is dominant. All right, tell me, you mentioned him, but just tell me, overall, good and bad, Chase Young's performance yesterday.

I thought it was a hungry dollar and ate for a while. I thought it was very aggressive. I thought he was flying around. I thought it was, if I got to say one word, it was free. He, like, mentally he was free. I could tell physically he was free. And he probably didn't feel like that for the first time body and mind-wise. Probably for like two years.

Like, I've seen what we drafted at the number two pick. I've seen somebody that's coming out there. He another person that feels like the world is a good. Like, we have some guys playing with some little spikes inside them that get so beneficial for the team in the long run. Like, we play, we got some guys fighting for respect. I see a dude playing the run, the past, disturbing, like, disturbing past concepts by the rush. And that's what you want to do. When you do that, you bend the play to your wheel.

You contract it for me as a DB. You contract it for the safety when you do that. You make a Russell Wilton who ain't that tall step up in the pocket, force him to meet the House of Pain. You start to do different things. So it ain't always the sex and the numbers. It's about how do you affect the game. He affected the game at a high level yesterday.

And nothing made, nothing to minimize yesterday's game more than when him and Chase Young stood over Russell Wilson Wilson, Wilson, Wilson, when they met at the same time. That death different. They're special. on the offensive side of the ball you already talked about eric bianami and the game call and i spent a lot of time talking about that too i mean the screens they just he just had them guessing um Brian robinson junior and gibson maybe we did talk about this this running back room

being a little bit kind of underrated by at least the national media um just describe Brian Robinson in the game he had and the kind of player he's developing into? Well, he's one of those guys, another guy, the underdog, went to Alabama from the city, and he was always the most underrated one at the bunch who did nothing, not pub like Derek Henry, not, not one of the, the, just put out their guys, but it actually made, it was a present in disguise because he was actually not used as much as they were. So he came in here with a fresh body, he's bigger than people think. And when he makes contacts

with DBs, he's always leaning forward. Linebacker, D-Lyman, it doesn't matter. And the one thing that we did not know, into a coach start to put him in his face, he can catch damn good, Professor. He can actually run route. There we will, and he starts to punish

people. He gets better as the game goes on. He runs angry. And that makes you dangerous. That's weaponizing something. When you run angry, like that. That means every time he makes contact, he's getting two to three extra grunt yards that most guys don't get.

Like, in that way. So when he starts to pound and ground you and run around you, then you bring in a guy like Antonio Gibson who can really, like, I hope they just don't get down to him because of the fun because, like yesterday, he'll show you what he could do in the open space. All I say is, if the guy used to play wide receiver and we turned up to a running back, hell I think we should throw them the ball out of backfield I'm just saying so at the end of day and then Chris Roderita is pleasant surprise like to get in there like to run angry underrated group

and I think they just go get better that's why I'm so excited right now I'm more excited over the fact that I get to watch these guys mature and get better than I am the fact that we're two and oh who does Brian you're usually good at this who does Brian Robinson Jr. remind you of Oh, he reminds me Arrian Foster. He doesn't have the glide. He did, but have you ever seen the statue of Aryan Foster, how he was built?

Right. Doesn't run with the same glide, but runs with the power and has the finesse to catch the ball. And just like Aryan Foster, late bloomer, right? Lake bloomer. And that's what you want to see. So mentality is there. So I would say Aryan Foster, body type, and skill set.

That's such a good one because, you know, one of the things I've mentioned about Robinson Jr. It doesn't seem to affect him at all is he runs a little bit upright, which is what Aryan Foster did. Yes, yes. You know, and by the way, the all-time kind of upright back was Eric Dickerson. Like when you, you know, when you watched Eric Dickerson, there was this upright, tall look to the way he ran.

but it never stopped him from overpowering at the point of contact. And don't forget Adrian Peterson. He was an upright runner that ran with a horses gallop. He ran with a gallop, an up and down gallop that was very, very powerful and threatening. Right. What did you make of the decision that Ron Rivera made to kick that field goal from 59 yards out at 21-21? I love it. There's one thing about being at My High Stadium in the Airstein,

the ball, the kickers love it there. It's a kickers delight. If they can kick 55 somewhere else, they can kick 60 there. And it says, I got faith in my defense. That defense probably was caught on fire from that, man. I'm telling you, talk to the NFL players, they're going to be like, yeah, we told them, let's do this. Let's do this, man.

We came in here to win the game. That shows confidence in your whole team. Let's get these points. try, let's try to add to the thing. I don't see nothing wrong with. Do you think it was ill-fitted? No, no. In fact, what I said was there was a lot of criticism of it. For me, in Denver, it's in warm weather, it's about a seven, eight-yard difference. So it's not a 59-yard kick. It's a 51 or 52-yard kick. And the dude apparently was kicking at 65 yards. Now, the argument, the counter-argument is you've got a long snapping problem right now.

And you had a defense that was playing lights out, so if you punt it, you pin him deep. But I couldn't kill Ron for that like some people were because it's 21-21. And you're going to pass on a 51 or 52-yard field goal because that was what it was in Denver is the equivalent. But that long-snapping, that long-snapper problem is a problem right now. No, no, it's a problem that needs to be answered. And I don't know. like I'm one of them people if I change something and it ain't working, I might need to change it back. Like, this is the mindset I am to what makes it comfortable.

You mean the style. He changed his style, right? Yeah. He changed his technique. Yeah. He changed his technique getting job done. And now, I don't know about you, but I don't remember this problem last year. No.

No, he said he changed it in the off-season. He changed his technique in the off-season. Why would you do that? I literally don't know. I'm telling you, if he keep changing techniques, we're going to be changing long-snap. Yeah. Well, I mean, Ron said last week, it's a concern to him, but he'll wait until something bad happens to change it.

Well, they missed a kick early. We can't have this, you know, down 23-21, you know, against Buffalo on Sunday, and Sam drives him 70 yards, and they got it 30. eight-yard field goal, chip shot to win it, and the ball gets rolled back. We can't have that. Can't have it. That's why the MVP of the season this far has been Treshway. He's been great on holding it, for sure.

He's been terrific. He's already in a pro bowl, you ask me. All right. Tell me what you think of Buffalo. First, you know, first thoughts on the game on Sunday. I think you've got an Uber talented quarterback. Like I said, he has the curse of being gifted. Well, I'm talking about, but what do you think about Josh Allen?

Because I know you're talking about Sam Al right now. And I'm just saying, but he's injury prone. I mean, they're not injured prone. I mean, he's a turnover prone because he has the big, because he's known to sometimes classically throw balls in there too hard, which turn to tip balls that give guys and say. And now he's playing against a defense is very optimistic. got some players on the back end, but also really got the front end that has enough players,

more than enough players, to irritate him enough to turn the ball over. One thing I have to see and I want to see early, I want them to force them to be one-dimensional. I want them to shut down the run and force them, and I know this sound crazy. Put the ball in Josh Allen's hands. If you do that, the more you do that, the more your chances go up to win. So if they can go in there and set these guys down, make sure you take Stefan Diggs out of them, tell the other guys, y'all are going man to man.

We're going to take him out of the game, and we're going to make sure they don't run the ball. I think they gives us the best chance to make some plays. And guess what? We got something that we've been missing here for a long time. We got a home-fail advantage. That's worth three points. All I'm saying, this is the team that's been playing Buffalo

year after year after year. they're not new to them. They have a legit chance to win this game and go through and no. And like I said before, we have no loss. Since Sam Howe, the young wolf has taken over the North. We have not no loss. We haven't even lost in the pre-season. Listen, he's untainment, and nobody's talking about it.

You know, you mentioned something, and I talked briefly about it in the open, but, you know, James Connor had some creases last week, and Javante Williams, who, by the way, I think, has a chance to be a star running back in this league. He has stood. He had, they got to the edges on them yesterday, and so it's not that I'm concerned about their ability to stop the run, but it's just more the consistency of it. And, you know, it's Dalvin's younger brother in Buffalo, and he went for over 100 yesterday. He's pretty good. Yeah, but he's one of the first. those guys not a running back wise, not built to take on a defensive line like that.

He's more of the scatback tight. So we already know they're going to keep him out of the A and the B gap, forcing him to run to the edges. But this is a Jamie Davis game, a Cody Bartman game. They'll be the guy while washing the dishes right after the big guys finished with these guys. I don't think they'll have no problem taking him out of the game. It's the legs of Josh Allen we have to worry about because he makes it to the point where we can't play two men. He makes it, but we can't play certain coverages that we turn out back to him because the coach's going to make sure all 11th and us are looking at the quarterback.

So we're going to be forced to play zone. I'm hoping he's on blitzes. So it's a counter to the counter action. And that's what we got to see. We've got to see that the chess match that's played with the coaching staff to their enemy has been the MVP this far. So we've got to see the chess match and dead. So the game going to be dead thin line. Yeah, I mean, look, the next two weeks, you can't turn your.

back to the quarterback, Josh Allen, and then Jalen hurts the week after that. All right. Great job. Sorry about Saturday. I mean, Jaden Dan is, did Jain did one ball even hit the ground? Hey, we need you. Hey, Professor, we need you to play for us in Boyd Dog Country right now. It looked bad on us.

You know, every Sunday, it's like that for some fan base. And, you know, this was our. We was undefeated at home. and we thought we were going to do the LSU what we did to Arizona, and it didn't work out, man. And one of those times we're going to bounce back and we're going to play Mississippi State football. I'm still surprised LSU got waxed the way they did by Florida State

because I think that team, I think LSU is the real deal. I think by the end of the year they're going to be back in the hunt, even though they lost to Florida State. They're good, really good. Hey, yeah, they were very, very good. about it is you've seen what happened with Florida State with BC with Boston College. I, Boston College took them to the wire. So sometimes it's when you play a team.

And I think we forget about this with college players. They don't have a preseason. No preseason. Yep, exactly. And I, yeah. And unfortunately, because the season is such a sprint, these games matter so much in the early portion of the season. But, uh, all right.

That was fun. As always, I appreciate it. Anytime. Don't wait so long. All right, I'll call you soon. Fred Smoot, everybody. I'll talk to you later. See you. All right, Brad.

Fred Smoot, everybody. Love having Smoot on. He's always a lot of fun and very insightful. All right, that's it for the day. No time to really do the rest of the NFL. It was a great NFL day yesterday. No time to do college, although, man, we got to talk about the Colorado game. I'll do that with Tommy tomorrow.

I'm sure Tommy will have a lot on. Shadur Sanders, who was just sensational at the end of that game. By the way, Colorado, a 20 and a half point underdog at Oregon this week. I was thrilled that Maryland destroyed Virginia. The old ACC really came out in me on Friday night. They were down 14-0 and then ran off 42 unanswered. They get Michigan State this week. But I'm going to call it a day. Get this thing out. I'll be back tomorrow with Tommy.