The Kevin Sheehan Show - Eagles Taking Command

Episode Date: September 20, 2022

Kevin and Thom started with the Eagles' performance last night and their ascension to the overwhelming favorite in the NFC East after just two weeks. Plenty on Ron Rivera, Jack Del Rio, Darrick Forrest, Jamin Davis, and Washington's surprising 3rd-down stats through two games. Some Joey Menesis/Nats talk as well.   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 Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Hertz keeps around the edge and bends it back down. Fighting for the end zone. I want to run.

Touchdown Philadelphia. Second of the night for Hertz. Jalen Hertz last night. Wow. The Eagles, I know a lot of you were making fun of me, and this is not a back-slapping exercise here. But I did kind of like the Eagles, and I said if Jalen Hertz was just a little bit better,

they would win 12-plus games this year. Last night was about as impressive as a team can look in a half, and almost as impressive about as impressive as a quarterback can look in a first half. Jalen Hertz, Tommy, in the first half last night, 17 of 20 for 251 yards, one touchdown, seven rushes, 50 yards, and two touchdowns, including the one we just came in on. I'm not so sure that Philadelphia shouldn't be right now

the favorite in the NFC. They're not. Tampa is a slight favorite at MyBooky, which the show today is presented by MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.ag or MyBooky.com. Use my promo code. DC and they'll match your first deposit dollar for dollar all the way up to a thousand bucks. The NFC championship odds right now. Tampa is the favorite. Philly's the second favorite.

I don't know. I think Philly looked really good last night. It's two weeks. Things change, injuries, the whole thing. But I saw a loaded roster before the season started with quarterback being the biggest question mark. And that quarterback was great last night. They look scary. good. The Eagles do. You know what? I think they will be a formidable opponent for the Washington commanders next week. I think they will be a worthy

opponent. A worthy opponent, indeed. Indeed. Yes. I think they will. First of all, leave the backflapping exercises to me. Yeah, I'll try to do that. But you know, but last night's a sensitive night for me. You know why, right? Last night's...

I know why. Last Last night is one of those nights where I'm like, oh, shit. I'm like, come on, Kirk. I mean, you know, once he, it's really amazing with cousins, you know, especially in the prime time games. You know, the truth is he's been fine on Sunday nights and Thursday nights. Monday nights, he's got the worst starting quarterback record in NFL history on Monday night, two and ten now. And when he is in a prime time spot and he doesn't perform well,

oh my God, you should see my Twitter notifications. It is, it's in, you know, I, I used to fire back like, oh, where were you last week when he threw for four touchdowns in 3.30? Because they all go silent most of the time. But I saw it coming last night. So I tried to preempt it by just tweeting out, rough night for Kurt. I saw that. I was following. But, you know, the funny thing is, is that, per usual, you know, with him, there is some nuance. I mean, in the first half, Irv Smith just flat out dropped a 65-yard touchdown pass

that Cousins threw as he was getting hit on the money. And that would have been a massive play in the first half. He had six dropped balls in the game last night from receivers. With that said, though, he was terrible in the fourth quarter as he was pressing, really pressing. And Darius Slay had Justin Jefferson just completely draped. But really, the story for the Vikings last night was the Eagles and the Eagles offense, which they couldn't stop at all in the first half. So let's get back to the thing that I was right about, which was James.

Halen Hertz. No, I really think that this is a really good football team, Tommy. Really good football team that is also schemed up very well around what their quarterback does. They are a true dual threat attack. There is zone read. There is RPO. There is quarterback designed runs. There are quarterback draws. This guy is the only thing missing from his game. has been, can he make the throw from the pocket on third and seven? And you know what? I don't know how many times he's going to have to make the throw on third and seven because they're so explosive everywhere else. Now, Minnesota played this cover two deep shell that was really frustrating. If you were a Vikings fan watching last night, they just gave a lot of easy stuff. But look, the Eagles have, that roster is loaded with 10.

And, you know, the quarterback is beloved. He's respected. He's a tough guy. He's a cool dude in terms of not, you know, getting really rattled ever. They're dangerous. Now, it's a short week, and it's the NFL. And shit happens in the NFL. And they're going to come in here off this big win,

and they're probably going to be feeling pretty full of themselves. They'll have a short work week. You know, Darius Slay got a little bit injured after one of the great games by a corner in recent memory last night. So I don't know what his status will be. But, you know, when you least expect it, expect it. And Washington can move the football and can score. But Philly looks to me like the team not only in the division, but in the NFC right now. I mean, long way to go, but they are going to be a very good football team as long as they stay healthy.

healthy this year. Yes. Yes, they will. You know, getting back to your boy, Kirk, I was thinking last night, he's running out of time. I mean, he's 34 years old. Yeah. This is his 11th season in the NFL.

If he's ever going to change the narrative, he's running out of time. Well. I mean, this is going to be his legacy. Yeah, I mean, I don't want to spend a lot of time on Kirk because people, for whatever reason, he's just so polarizing. The narrative is different from what reality is. Reality is he's already, you know, proven those that said he's a starting quarterback, a top half of the league starting quarterback,

and if you put some really good pieces around him, he can be a really, you know, somewhere in that range, like I've had him forever, 10 to 14, 9 to 13, somewhere in that range. somewhere in that range. He's not an elite quarterback. He's not a strap the team to his back quarterback. He's had some bad defenses. But we're talking about something different. We're talking about coming up small and big moments. But again, you can come up with all the fourth quarter, you can come up with all the fourth quarter comeback stats he won. Yeah. Okay. In the big moments that people remember, he comes up small. If you are a Kirk person, if you are Kirk, if you are Kirk

Hater, you remember all the moments he came up small. He gives you plenty of them to do. If you're a Kirk Stan, if you're a Kirk, you know, major, major league backer, you've got a lot to the contrary. If you're somewhere in the middle, I would agree with you. If you're like he's good, but he's not that good, you remember the moments, the bad moments. You definitely do. There is no doubt he is tied to this Monday night record and he can't get it done when it matters the most against really good teams. No doubt about it.

You're right about that. But he has had many a comeback win. He has played big in many of their good games. Last night was a team loss for Minnesota. If you're being objective, like if you didn't have any feeling about Kirk Cousins, you're like, well, they gave up three. 350 yards on defense in the first half. Like, how does that happen? I mean, I said about Washington's second half the other day when they had 340 yards.

I said, that's a college stat. I don't care what you think about anything. When you get 340 yards and a half, those are college numbers. Philadelphia had 350 in the first half, and Irv Smith dropped a 65-yard touchdown pass that was a dime that would have totally changed the game in the first half. But he was pressing in the fourth quarter. And man, when he presses and they're playing a good team, it can really turn ugly.

And it really turned ugly last night for him, no doubt. But back to the main takeaway. Philadelphia is a really good football team with a quarterback now in two games this year. All right. In two games this year has a 70% completion percent. percentage has rushed already for three touchdowns. And last night was just as dynamic as you can be playing the position with a total scheme that fits him.

And I like Jalen Hertz. I've liked him for a while, and I thought that there is a big upside for him. He's extremely talented. The biggest issue I've had with Hertz is that at times he's a little bit too cool for school, you know, and a little bit too casual. But man, he looks good and they look good in the addition of A.J. Brown. I mean, come on. It's almost unfair to put him opposite Devante Smith with Goddard and with Miles Sanders and a quarterback that is doing this to a defense. By the way, I was looking at their schedule here. They play, you know, their favorite at Washington this week,

four and a half, five points right now. They play Jacksonville the next week at home. Then they're at Arizona. Arizona was close to basically having, you know, the lights turned out on their season after two weeks on Sunday before their miraculous comeback. Then they have the Cowboys. I don't know if Dak will be back for a Sunday nighter.

Then they play the Steelers at home. Then they play at the Texans. And then they play Washington at home. They are going to more likely than not be favored. in their next seven games. They're 2-0, and they are really more likely than not to be favorites in their next seven. And then they play indie on the road, and who knows what they'll look like at that point, before playing the Packers on a Sunday night.

And then their schedule also, you know, they have the Giants twice still. They've got the Bears. They've got the Titans who are faltering. This is, you know, barring catastrophe injury-wise, They're going to win 12 or 13 games this year, Tommy. Mark my words. They are going to win 12 or 13 games, and they are going to run away with this division.

They are, by the way, massive favorites now to win the division. I was looking at this earlier. Washington's now picked last in the division. Phillies minus 2.25. The Giants are plus 490. They're the second pick right now because they're 2 and 0. The Cowboys are plus 510, and Washington is plus 980. So Washington's a distant fourth now, odds-wise, in the division.

I actually think Washington's probably on that price probably worth a taste, because they're going to be able to score some points and move the football this year. But they're not winning the division with Philly in it as long as Philly stays healthy. Now, this is what I said about Washington at the beginning. They're going to score a lot of points, but they're going to have to, I think, in order to win. I think who they are is a team that we kind of said from the beginning. They could win eight games. They could win nine games.

I think that's pretty much it. I think they're going to be who they think, who we thought they were, which is not much different, although the style may be different. It's not much different than what they were last year. Yeah, I agree with you. I think, you know, I did a segment on radio this morning. what have you learned about the team through the first two games? So I'll ask you that question right now.

What have you learned about the team after two regular season games? It's early, and this could change. It is early. Yes, it is early. And like I've pointed out numerous times, the NFL is the week-to-week league often. But they have the potential to be off. I've learned that Curtis Samuel might have been worth weight. Okay.

they have tremendous offensive weapons, at least particularly at receiver, and now at Logan Thomas is healthy, at tight end to that. And they've got a quarterback when he's not under attack can probably make use of those weapons. But I think the rest of the league in Philly, who brings the pressure, you know, if you bring the pressure on Carson Wentz, you're going to make it slight miserable. I mean, I don't want to get into that. Well, no, I do want to get into it. if you want to.

But I might want to point out that in that Detroit game, if you have Taylor Heineke back there, he's not getting the sacks that Carson Wentz. Oh, my God. But he's not, Kevin. He is not. He's moving. He's running around with the ball.

He's making plays, and he is not taking the beating. He can't do what Carson Wentz does when Carson Wentz does, when Carson Wentz lost it up, but Lentz can't deliver what Taylor Hineke can do when there's pressure. And that's going to be a problem. Can we still talk? Can we please stop talking about Taylor Hineke?

Please. No. Oh, my God. No. I mean. Because I just said, I just said they're not going to be much different than they were last year. So why wouldn't you talk about Tara Hineke? I thought Carson was going to be much different offensively, much different offensively.

much different offensively this year. And by the way, he had major games last year where he took a shitload of sacks. I mean, I've got to go back and look at it, but I remember the Denver game was just hideous. Give me a second. Let me just tell you something. There is no chance in the game on Sunday. that Taylor Heineke throws for 300, basically, and there's 278 in the second half and three touchdowns, and gets him back into that game. No chance. Look, is he more mobile?

I don't think he's more mobile? Yes, he is. He's more mobile. He's got great escapeability. That is his number one trait is that he really was more of an escape artist and a playmaker that way. He got that Denver game that I remembered, five sacks. You got sacked five times in that game by a really good defensive football team. The week before and the Tampa game, which they won and he played very well. He was sacked five times in that game. The Green Bay game, which got ugly four times late in the year. I guess, you know, our girl, I mean, Jesus, I hate even mentioning Sabah.

And Sabah, you know, I love you. And a lot of this is in good fun. But last night, she's trying to make the case that if we, Washington had just used Taylor Heineke the way Philadelphia is using Jalen Hertz, that essentially Heineke equals Hertz. Like if you can't see the difference between Jalen Hertz and Taylor Heineke in terms of overall upside and talent, you really shouldn't be, you know, well, she isn't paid to talk about football. But, you know, I know that there are people out there that really think they didn't use Taylor

Heineke the right way and that the results would be no different this year. And by the way, I agree that I thought Scott Turner could have used his mobility a little bit differently. But Taylor Heineke's a backup quarterback in the NFL, period. Carson Wentz isn't. Carson Wentz is a starter in the league. And Jalen Hertz may be on the verge of becoming a really good starter in the league. I'm not going to say elite because he's different.

But they've got a great supporting cast, too. But I don't know. I went back and watched the game yesterday to find out if a lot of those sacks were on Carson Wentz, and I didn't think so at all. The pressure was immediate. Aidan Hutchinson was unblockable. Their stunt action really fooled Washington up front. And Carson Wentz and almost any quarterback would have had not much of a chance, really, in that one in the first half.

We don't know that. We don't have anything close to. remotely, if that's even a situation or not, that any quarterback would have not have done much better. That's ridiculous. Well, Hertz obviously did better because he escaped at the entire game last week against Detroit. And they were coming with blitz after blitz just like they did, you know, after Carson on Sunday. But the pressure was immediate. I watched a lot of the Philly game against Detroit. And Hertz is just, you know, he saw it. And by the way, is obviously, you know, one of the more, you know, elite mobile quarterbacks in the game.

And Detroit had to respect, you know, his running ability on every play. But no, we don't know that for sure. I would agree with you that Taylor Heineke is more mobile and has great escapeability. And maybe on Sunday he wouldn't have gotten sacked four times in the first half. But I bet you he would have been sacked two or three times. There are a couple of no-chancers, including the safety, no chance. on that one. Right.

I'll grant you. And by the way, for, you know, for whatever offensive line adjustments they made in the second half to give Carson Wendz more time, and I'm not quite sure what they were, the biggest adjustment was Aidan Hutchinson was hurt. Yeah, he was banged up. He was gimpy. No doubt.

That helped out a lot. That was the biggest adjustment. Yeah, it helped a lot. But Turner, you know, they focused on getting it out a little bit earlier. They handled the stunts better. I was looking, Ron Rivera had an answer to that from yesterday. He essentially, Nikki Javala asked him about the O line and what changed in the second half. And he said, basically, we just played better.

And I was looking for, like, major adjustments. Like, are they going to more screens? Are they trying to run the ball? Or they did. They just blocked better, you know? And sometimes that's it. But the big difference from Detroit standpoint is what you pointed out, and I pointed it out yesterday during my,

during the show in my game recap is that Aiden Hutchinson was injured and was not the same player in the second half. Right. And he was awesome. He was unblockable. Completely. And they used him in so many different ways and they stunned it a bunch and they really struggled. And now they're going to be without their center. You know, Chase Rue is done.

Schweitzer now will move over. Apparently he's done. He's done for a while. I think Jeremy Fowler from ESPN reported that he's probably done for the year. I had Kime on the radio show. He said, yeah, it's looking like a very long term, maybe the year. And so now you get Schweitzer at center and, you know, you're going to have to, you're going to have to scheme up, you know, some pass pro because they did a good job in pass protection last week against Jacksonville,

you know, especially on those final two drives. And, you know, one other quick thing, Tommy, let me just add this, just because I, I did, I said yesterday in my game recap, there are two things I was going to specifically go back and check on. I thought, you know, I said, look, subject to change to review, I thought Duran Payne had some real moments. He did. He had some dominant moments in the game. But overall, upon further review, I would take him off the list of things that I liked, because really defensively, there was nothing to like. Actually, 25 St. Juice had a couple of plays and almost had a pick at the end of the first half, which would have been pretty good.

And then the other thing, just to emphasize and reiterate to those of you that said, they got all that yardage against soft coverage and prevent. No, they didn't. Detroit kept coming. Detroit was continued to be aggressive on defense in the second half. And some of the biggest, look, the argument that should be, made should be that Detroit should have been more conservative and should have played softer. And the reason that Washington got all those chunk plays in the second half, and they had quick drives. I mean, the first drive, five plays 64 yards, two minutes and two seconds. The second drive, seven plays 94 yards in just over four minutes. You know, they were scoring

and moving quickly because Detroit was continuing to be aggressive and they weren't playing soft. and Washington got big plays out of it. The argument that you could make is that Detroit should have been softer and should have made them dink and dunk their way down the field taking lots of time to score and then try to tighten it up in the red zone. You know, even the drive went through the interception, which that was a big chunk play to Logan Thomas if he lays it in there. But no, Detroit kept coming and they were aggressive throughout.

And I think that's just the mindset of the coach. I mean, hell, they blitzed on the final play of the game, on the final offensive play of the game, which was the only sack that Wentz took in the second half. But, yeah, Duran Payne had some monster plays, but for the most part, you can't give anybody on defense anything other than, you know, a low grade. They were horrific defensively on Sunday. Really bad. But apparently it's not the coach's fault, Tommy. Well, according to Forrest, their cornerback it is. Yeah.

I want to get to that. I want to get to what Derek Forrest said, because you wrote about that. I want to talk about Rivera's comments about Jamie Davis and about scheme, not really being the issue. I did really want to add to the Monday night discussion by just saying Buffalo, wow. I mean, they are so, so good. It's two weeks, and you can't get, you know, been out of shape one way or the other. But when you see a really good team with an excellent quarterback, and by the way, their defense is nasty, I mean, they were my preseason Super Bowl picks, but, you know, that was chalk.

That was a chalk pick. They were the Super Bowl favorites. They're even a bigger Super Bowl favorite now. But, God, Tommy, listen to this, and I went over this this morning. Listen to Buffalo and their schedule coming up. I mean, this is actually going to be some really fun NFL, other than in our own team, to pay attention to the rest of the league. Buffalo, after just annihilating Tennessee last night, 41 to 7. So they've outscored their first two opponents, the Rams and the Titans.

By the way, the NFC, the Super Bowl champions and the number one AFC seed from last year, AFCC, they've outscored them 72 to 17 in the first two weeks. But this week, they're at Miami. all right, the dolphins look really good. Then they're at Baltimore. You know, the two teams that just played the game of the year so far, Baltimore and Miami. Then they have Pittsburgh at home. Then they're at Arrowhead against the Chiefs.

And then they play Green Bay at home. What a test and a gauntlet for what appears to be the best team in football, Buffalo, to go through early in a season. Like if there's a division race and most people think there isn't, I think Miami looks really good. But I think the bills are a lot better. But they play Miami in South Florida this weekend. Then they go to Baltimore.

Then they've got Pittsburgh at home. Then they're at Arrowhead for a rematch of that epic playoff game. And then they've got the Packers on a Sunday night. I mean, the next five weeks for the bills are going to be, those games are going to be fun to watch if you're an NFL fan to see just how good they really are. Because they're about to get tested big time. I think they're really good. I think they will pass the test with flying colors, actually.

I think they're really good, too. And, you know, coming off the – when did the Chiefs play last? They played Thursday night. Sunday night? No, they played Thursday night against the Chargers. Yeah. Okay. That's it.

That's it. You know, watching Patrick Mahomes, and every time I watch him, I won't feel this way. Now, he plays quarterback like nobody else I've ever seen played quarterback in the league, period. but if I see Josh Allen play, I say to myself, I don't know which one is better. Yeah, there was a conversation after, you know, leading into the Super Bowl last year, I remember we had, and I know I did this radio too, like if you had your choice right now, and we excluded Mahomes because Mahomes was the default pick as number one. And then it was Burrow, because he was about to play in the Super Bowl, Justin Herbert,

or Josh Allen, if you could only pick one. And I think I said, I'm pretty sure I said Herbert. But to me, it's Alan. And I'm not so sure if you include Mahomes in the conversation right now that it's not close. I think I'd still take my homes. I agree. But just barely. You could convince me otherwise.

Let's say that. I'll tell you what, too. they have a monster defense and their best player on defense, you could argue, the White, the corner Tradavius White, hasn't even played yet this year. But the addition of Von Miller to go with, you know, Rousseau, who's an animal and Milano and Tremaine Edmins, when he was picked in the 2018 draft as a 19-year-old, and I think he had just turned 19 at the time. It was like one of the youngest players to ever be taken in the first round out of Virginia Tech.

And you saw him on highlights and you're like, he's tall, he's lanky. He is turned into such a good player. And remember this too about Buffalo. Playing in Buffalo in January, if that's where the road to the Super Bowl goes through, that's going to be awfully tough. That crowd and that city,

they've been waiting for so long. In many ways it would be like for us, if Washington was Buffalo right now in terms of, you know, the last couple of years, you know, knocking on the door and now being a legitimate Super Bowl favorite, because it's been so long, and it's such a rabid fan base up there, as we know. By the way, thank God they didn't ever move the team. I know they were considering moving it to Toronto. Remember that?

You talk about taking a team out of a city where... They played some home games. They played some home games in Toronto. They did. They played Washington one year in Toronto. Yes. the John Beck game. One of the John Beck games, yeah.

By the way, did you get somebody, what was your prediction on the Washington Detroit score? I know you picked Detroit to win, even though you texted me before the game and you changed your pick with me and our texts before the game. I did change my pick publicly.

I said Washington, given Detroit, was supposedly so banged up. Yeah. I didn't think they'd be able to run the ball. And I thought, that Washington had real opportunity to go 2 and 0. What was your prediction on this show Thursday? 31 to 23, I believe.

Somebody said that Tommy got it nearly right. Yeah, you had Detroit in the over. You got both of those right. The smell test, by the way, another losing weekend. Four and five. I was two and one on the NFL. I had Tennessee plus 10 last night for the winning weekend. And that never

really had a chance, although early it looked like it had a chance. But man, Buffalo. I mean, it's almost impossible to get them off the field. And then defensively at home, they're going to be held to deal with with that crowd and that defense and as aggressive as they play. But this is going to be a fun game. I mean, it's too bad Washington and Philadelphia. It's too bad Buffalo and Miami couldn't have been a bigger spot.

It's a one o'clock game on Sunday in South Florida. but that's a big-time early-season game, and we'll see where Miami is because they're hard to stop too so far this season. Anyway, all right, when we come back a full-fledged commanders discussion, including some of the things that Ron Rivera said yesterday, what Tommy said about Derek Forrest, but we've got to get to the J-Men Davis stuff as well. You are listening to this podcast,

of many of our sponsors, which you will hear next. Tommy just mentioned to me that he got into some sort of Twitter back and forth over the weekend. Tell me about it. No, I was not following it. Who did you get into it with? Was it a baseball argument? No, no, it was not a baseball argument. Claire Domchik, who apparently is a commander's account executive,

tweeted at one point, It was actually it was the game day. She tweeted out, Awesome energy today. The stadium was packed. We won. Thanks for coming out and supporting us. Okay.

To me, this was a bridge too far. What? Well, hold on. Wait a minute. Hold on. Who is this person again? A woman who works for the commanders. Yes.

What does she do for the commanders, Tom? She's a count executive. This isn't their social media girl, Caitlin? Yeah. Because she's excellent. All right, so it's an account executive. So as a salesperson, ticket sales, corporate sales. What did she say again?

Awesome energy today. Here's the key phrase for me. The stadium was passed. We won. Thanks for coming out and supporting us. Okay. I wrote my column last week. There was also some energy in the stadium.

Right. There was a lot of support going on. So I tweeted out on top of that that it was the smallest crowd in the NFL on opening Sunday. And I posted the length with it, you know, because it wasn't packed. You know, that's not true. Oh, come on. Who cares? Well, well, hokey, see, this is the problem today.

Words are so cheap. Nobody cares about them. Come on. I've got her tweet up right now. I mean, come on. She's trying to create some excitement. They're in sales. They're in sales.

She could have done that without the stadium was packed. Everything else she said was true. But it wasn't packed. There were a lot of empty seats. The funny thing is the picture she sent out with the tweet. you can see all the empty seats. Yeah. But,

oh, come on, Tommy. So people went after me for that. Oh, and this was my favorite one. She's a young account executive. She's in business development, selling season tickets

and suites. This is what salespeople do. And by the way, I know that. The stadium was packed. I mean, you talk about nitpicking. Oh, boy. You could have done.

So what happened? Kevin. What? Words matter. Well, I got roasted by a lot of people, but this was my favorite. What? This was a response to one guy. No one from Tampa, I think that's his name on Twitter.

Tom has issues with Dan and never misses a chance to highlight the franchiser. I mean, I think he means the franchise, usually in a negative way. And I posted, this is my favorite one. not sure what the other side to this one is. Wait, say that again. I'm sorry. I'm trying to follow. So the guy tweeted to you, what did he tweet?

Tom has issues with Dan. Right. And never misses a chance to highlight the franchise usually in a negative way. Right. I'm not sure what the other side to that is. Somebody who doesn't have issues with Dan? All right, right. Well, of course.

You know? I mean, who doesn't have. have this, you know, there's a lot of a negative way to highlight here. I know. You know, I just didn't understand. You're burying the lead here. You picked on a salesperson for saying, by the way, which you did say, and we both admitted, there was a lot of energy and excitement in the stadium against Jacksonville.

Okay? Yes. I think that's one you look at and you just let go. Come on. I don't think so. I don't think so. Words matter. Uh-uh.

Piling on. Here's the flag. You're getting walked 15 off on that one. Now, the other thing you said goes hand in hand with something I said in my game recap yesterday. Before I got to it, I just said, look, it's just, I think, you know, I don't know that it was, whenever I say things like, it's just different now than it used to be. People say, nah, it's really not that different. So I'll acknowledge that maybe it's not that different.

that different. But I do think that it's amazing the reactions you get after one game. You know, it's all, in fact, I've got this text. I forgot about it. Let me just read it. It's from Ryan Keel. Ryan Keel remember, Ryan's a friend of mine. Ryan played in the NFL forever, played for, you know, Washington, but was a long snapper in the NFL. I'm familiar with him. You know, Ryan. And I've had Ryan on the pod before, and I've known Ryan forever. He texted me and he said, Listen to the pod. I think you're spot on for what it's worth. Detroit was in a must-win game at home.

Couldn't start the season 0-2. Teams are probably just a home field advantage difference, all things being equal with injuries. Lastly, he writes, as a casual observer, it is amazing how quickly we're conditioned to go gloom and doom around here. You need to play six, maybe seven games now before you know who is good this year or not. People are bat-shit crazy.

take out the top six teams in the league. It's all matchups in week to week, as you said. And to your Dan thing, I'm not, this isn't like a direct direct, an apples to apples analogy or comparison. What I'm saying here is there's a group of people out there right now. And if you live on Twitter, which you do, you're influenced by, I think, a small fraction of the fan base. Oh, absolutely.

That wants you to believe that if you're not all on board, you leave, get out. You're not on. And by the way, they're the first ones when they lose a game to start screaming about how everybody should get fired. And I said something yesterday before, you know, it may be in the open to the program.

I just said, you know, the, the loss on Sunday was, you know, a coaching loss, a player's loss. And I said somewhat tongue-in-cheek, Tommy, those of you who are real fans of the team and expected so much more, it's not your fault. It's not your fault for bathing yourselves and the team in champagne after they beat Jacksonville. It wasn't your fault that the team was so overconfident that they thought they could just walk into Detroit because Detroit of course is terrible and beat Detroit. I just, the finger pointing and the arms raised in a V

after Wentz had those final two drives and they beat Jacksonville from some of these people on Twitter, the get on board or get out, you know, crew, which is what I like to dub them, they're the worst. They are the absolute worst because in most cases, they don't know anything about what they're talking about. And then secondly, they're the first ones to turn on a dime and start asking for everybody to be fired when things go wrong.

It's two games relax. They're better on offense than they've been in a long time if they stay healthy. Defensively, they got a lot to figure out. They got a long way to go on defense. I'm legit concerned about it. And like you said at the very beginning of this show, right now, I think what a lot of us thought is probably going to be the way it is. There's going to be a good week and there's going to be a bad week.

And there's going to be a good couple of weeks and then there's going to be a bad couple of weeks. They're not terrible, but they're not good either. They're somewhere in between. And I do have, I'm starting to grow a little bit weary of the blind. claiming it on the players from the coaching staff. You know, it's not our scheme. You know, we heard a lot of that last year as well. But like you said, like stop with the anybody that criticized these people on Twitter.

Like if you are critical of the team because the owner is the worst in all time in this town. And one of the worst four or five owners in sports in the last quarter century, like if you don't understand, that he's the single biggest driver of people away from this team, I can't help you. You're just easy. And if you're going to keep spending on him and act like he's not been a major problem and if anybody criticizes him, you're a hater? No, you can actually root for the team and hate the owner simultaneously.

The problem is how many people now dislike the team because this Snyder thing. has just gone on too long, and now they're either totally apathetic or they don't like the team at all. But anyway, I don't have a problem with you. One last thing. I have a problem with you picking on that girl. One last thing. Yeah. Okay, well, that's too bad.

You know, this was one more reply from no one from Tampa. He said to me, it's a boy who keeps crying wolf. Even if it is a wolf, nobody cares about. Nobody takes you seriously anymore. Oh, so much.

I reply to my tweet. I replied in my tweet and yet you follow me. And he's still following me as we speak. I mean, look, you and I both said this about each other over the many, many years that we've been

working together. Like, you get a bunch of emails and tweets and comments about, oh my God, how do you deal with she in? And I get the same thing. Oh, my God, how do you deal with Leverro? I mean, and here's the bottom line. People keep listening, and I'm really happy they do. Because for all of you people that think that I'm ever going to

abandon Tom, it ain't going to happen. These are my favorite hours of the week. Trust me, I've been so lucky to have people that I can have fun conversations with, serious conversations, with, smart conversations with, and Tommy and Cooley, clearly in the last 10 years of my life, top of the list. So it ain't happening. But anyway, you shouldn't have picked on the salesperson. That was real nitpicky, you know. That made you look small. She represents the team. That made the, that made you look smaller than the crowd. That made you look smaller than the crowd. No, it wasn't packed. You could have made the same. point without, you know, saying the stadium was packed. Do you know what, Tommy? Here's something I've

learned. This is a true statement. I've heard many people, you know, about the Sunday game, say, oh my God, it was a great crowd and it was so, I mean, it was packed or, you know, it was, I mean, it looked like it was near sold out. Keep in mind, a lot of people that are going to these games now, you know, haven't been to the stadium when it's like legit good. It's been a long time since Washington's had a real NFL crowd and home field advantage. So these people aren't familiar with what a really good crowd is. I think you got to go back to 2012, the RG3 year. Oh, no, I think, look, there were games.

Somebody pointed this out to me the other day that it wasn't that long ago that people were still interested in the team. And the possibility existed if the team was really good, everybody was back on board. And that's true. You go back to 2016, you know, and even 2017, like that 2017 opener against Philadelphia, that 2017 Sunday Nighter against the Raiders, you go back to 2016, some of those games, that Green Bay Sunday night game, you know, you had, you were still getting 80,000, you know, to the stadium. Now, the capacity is something less than 67. I mentioned that last week.

I heard from the team, you know, and they told me that I could source the team on this. I'm not going to tell you who it was who I talked to, but that, you know, the capacity now officially is somewhere in the mid-60s, okay, so it's the lowest it's ever been. And they are expecting 60,000 plus on Sunday against Philadelphia. And I don't know what that means in terms of Philadelphia fans versus Washington. I would expect a lot of Philadelphia fans to be there. Certainly, you know, it's been years

since we haven't seen Philadelphia fans be a significant part of the crowd. But I think on Sunday, the shots that they send out about the energy and the stadium being packed will be closer to the truth. Because if capacity is like, say, 65 now, and they're expecting already north of 60, and that was before Philadelphia won last night, and Philadelphia fans may come down and take the rest of them, you might have something approaching a sellout on Sunday. Yes. Yes, it will be. But I would think that a lot of those tickets, you know, a lot of those extra tickets are

going to go to Philly fans, who I think probably anticipated their team would be 2-0 by the time they went to Washington. Yeah. You know, and I think they anticipated feeling good about coming down to Washington for that game. For Claire? opposed to some Washington fans who, you know, I think, I don't think there were a lot of Washington fans that thought they'd be two and oh, even though there was an opportunity for them to be, given the opponents they were playing.

For Claire, Domchik, at Commander CD, don't be such a... Keep up the good work. You've got a hard product to sell. I can only imagine the challenge that they have out there. and stay positive and stay enthusiastic. And tell the truth. When you're selling, you've got to be enthusiastic and you've got to be positive.

Come on, say the word. Say the word. I know you don't even like to say the word. Say the word. What word are you looking for? Truth. Well, to her, the stadium being packed was the truth. and by the way there was awesome energy and they did win and she thanked everybody for coming out in my column

and let's point out like you just pointed out please I mean we are all we measured that call that crowd against other Redskins commanders crowd right yes that's the measurement I know it's not the NFL measurement of course it's the measurement of what we're all used to but you can't sell that hey awesome energy today the stadium compared to how bad it's been in recent years was packed and we won thanks for coming out and supporting us please think about doing it again

could you have made the same point without saying that the stadium was packed sure you could but I'm not the stadium was packed is really a nitpick because compared to what it's been it was packed and by the way in certain sections it was the lower level was completely packed. Yes, it was. Yes, it was. Yeah. So there you go. Look, it was a, it was a, it was a great commander's crowd. It was a, no, it's it was a great crowd for them. It was a really good crowd for them.

Can we talk about, um, I want to talk about your column. And well, let's start there, because I think it all kind of goes together right now. Let me just start off by saying, last week, Jack Del Rio, you know, called out Jamin Davis. We played those sound bites for you on the Thursday show, I think, you know, saying it was a so-so performance, saying he's got to do better. And then he said, hey, I've given you plenty. Ron Rivera yesterday, you know, or after the game on Sunday, said, James, you know, James got a way to go here.

He's got to get better, you know. He'll be challenged, but he's got to play better. Ron Rivera also said yesterday, essentially, that, you know, the players have to execute. They've got to play better. He does not believe it's a scheme issue. And, you know, this goes back to last year. There's a lot of this, you know, now going on, you know, over a year, 17 games last year, two so far this year. You know, we've got to be more disciplined. We've got to adhere to the scheme. The players have to do what we, what they're being coached to do. So we've gotten, you know, we haven't gotten a throwing a player under the bus like Jay Gruden did

RG3 in 2014. We haven't gotten coaches saying our players suck and we're great, but there have been subtle sort of comments here going back to last year where Ron Rivera, when it comes to Jamie Davis, when it comes to the defense, and really the defense has been asked about the most because it wasn't good last year and it hasn't been very good this year. They don't really want to take the blame for it right now. And my suggestion is, even if it's true and it's possible, it's true, well, two things. One, Rivera's in charge of the players.

Remember this coach-centric thing? So if the players aren't doing what you've coached them to do, well, it's still on you because you're picking the players. But number two is don't point to scheme in a scheme versus players situation. Just say, we lost a game. weren't good anywhere for long enough, we've got to get better. I don't like the defensiveness. Last year, I thought it was more frustration over Chase Young and maybe even Montez to a certain degree. By the way, Tommy, did you see the individual contractor line from Jack last week?

We didn't talk about that, or did we? The best quote from the Del Rio Presser on Thursday was that this year we don't have individual contractors. Here's the quote. On four guys rushing as one, because they had a good pass rush against Jacksonville. He said, yeah, I'm pleased with the effort and the energy that's gone into that. Preparing to rush as a unit as opposed to individual contractors. That's been an emphasis for us throughout the off season.

To me, and I didn't see it until after our show on Thursday either, That was actually the best quote and the Jaman Davis stuff sort of paled in comparison because that's going back to last year and that's basically pointed right at number 99 and maybe number 90 as well. Right. That's a quick. Absolutely. But again, another example of, you know, it's really not our fault. And by the way, they might be right. They might be right.

But Ron's the coach-centric coach here. He's in charge of the players. and if the players aren't doing what you're supposed to do, you've got the wrong players, and that's on you too. But as far as the coaching goes, you can't continue to put it on other people without taking some of it back on yourselves, and they're not doing that, and that leads to your column. Go ahead, tell everybody what it's about.

Well, I mean, we talked about this during COVID, actually, about how without media access in the post-game locker room, Ron Rivera is enjoying a level, was enjoying a level of protection in his first two years in Washington. Because in the atmosphere of a post-game locker room, particularly obviously after a loss, you know, emotions can be raw, and there's opportunities to vent right there in front of a player, you know, sometimes not in front of a big crowd. You know, I mean, they were bringing players up on a podium.

Right. Zoom. to talk to a group. And so, I mean, people are going to be, players are going to be much more conscious and careful about what they say in that atmosphere. Right. But in the heat of a post-game locker room,

you would get things like a Josh Norman diatribe or a DJ Sweringer coaching takedown. The opportunity happens, and particularly in Washington, it seems to happen more often than not. You know, it may happen around the league. I'm sure it does. in other places. Well, now, you can have the media in the locker room after the game,

and you got this quote from Derek Forrest, who basically said it was the coaching with the problem in the first half. It was like to, like they knew what kind of defense we were going to be in before we set it up, you know? So this is going to be something that Ron's going to have to deal with. And he had to deal with it in Carolina, I'm sure. But in Washington, things are different. Things are always different in Washington. So it's something to watch.

And I pointed out that with 19 losses in two years, there would have been plenty of opportunities for that kind of reaction after one of those games. And the coaches having to explain it the way. Imagine the post-game locker room after the Duran Payne John Allen fight. Okay, which turned out to be at halftime much worse than was first reported, thanks to the reporting of Mike Silver. You know, by the time those two players appeared before reporters at a press conference, I mean, you know, everyone had their story straight. In a post-game locker room, you can't be too sure that. You've got to figure out how to silence, and you can't always do that.

So, yeah. That was my column. No, and I certainly remember you saying during the pandemic, you know, the lack of access is a lack of as much information as we used to have. But specific to what Derek Forrest said when he said, quote, it was scheme. I felt like they knew exactly what we were in, closed quote. And then he did say it was great offensive play calling. Yes, he did. He put a qualifier in there.

Yeah. So, but when you hear that, by the way, you know, your ears perk up because, you know, when somebody says I felt like they knew exactly what we were in, and then Amman Ross St. Brown said, we knew their bunch formation and we knew that they were going to be confused by that first, you know, play. You know, then you do, you know, you do start to wonder, well, what's going on here? I mean, personally, I think the Derek Forrest comment, I'm not saying that he didn't mean it, but I don't think it's going to bubble up. into something, you know, because it's Derek Forrest, and he is, he just played in his second game as an NFL player. You know, John Allen responded to that with a pretty, I mean, I got to find the response, but here's the quote from Allen when he was asked Tommy about Derek Forrest and what Derek Forrest said. He said, at the end of the day, we've got to execute, I'm not a fan of putting a lot of things on the coaches. At the end of the day, we're players and we've got to be the ones executing. I could have been better and will do better myself. Sure, I guess if you want to go that

route, I guess you can say that, but to me, that's not really something I'm thinking about, closed quote. So there was the typical, what you were about to say, the typical John Allen, you know, he's never going to throw anybody under the bus. You know, part, that was the first part of the answer. But then he says, I guess if you want to go that route, I guess you can say that. But to me, that's not really something I'm thinking about. So I do think there may have been some truth to what Derek Forrest said, and maybe players believe that. But my point is, I don't think this is a bubbling up situation with Derek Forrest saying this. I think if John Allen had come out and set it, or if a player of more substance and more of a veteran player had said it, I think you would

have been like, uh-oh, we got an issue. We got an issue with players and now Jack in the scheme. Kevin, it's early in the season. It's the second week of the season, and you have a player is already questioning the coaching staff. I mean, you know, they're going to have losses, and after losses, these things are going to come up. Nobody does this during a win, obviously. So I just think there's going to be more opportunity, something that we haven't seen. Do I think this is kind of symptomatic of something bigger? know. I'm just saying that I don't think Derek Forrest meant to throw the coach under the bus.

I know what he said. And in my column, I said, yeah. I said, maybe he didn't mean it. Maybe he did. Okay. We don't know. But I raised the possibility. He might not have meant. He might not have realized what he said. Right. The impact of it. Right. I do think, though, that Amon Ross St. Brown saying that they knew the kind of coverage that they would be in and they knew they could really confuse them with that bunch look is more damning. But anyway, you know, I don't know what's going on defensively. I can't. The number one question I've been asked over the last 48 hours is, is Jack Del Rio going to be fired? I don't think he is.

I don't sense that. Ron Rivera hasn't blamed scheme. He hasn't blamed coaching. He hasn't said we've got to fix things. He's essentially said players have to do their responsibility. He went through a bunch of different plays and said, you know, one guy making a mistake. You know, well, you know, it's the same thing. Like I heard him say multiple times it was all about the explosive plays on Sunday.

And there were a lot of explosive plays. and there were also a lot of, you know, small, you know, small cut plays. I mean, they had 12 plays of like 11 yards. You know, I don't call that explosive. You know, the big plays of 49, you know, in 50 and 52 and 58, yeah. But, you know, they count. You know, they count. So whether it's big explosives or, you know, and so you can only point to six plays,

that's not really the case. You know, I mean, in the first two games, they've been run on. There have been a couple of big runs, but they've been run on. You know, even on three and four yard runs, you know, they don't look like they're really holding the line of scrimmage. So I don't know what the issue is. I don't know what the Del Rio thing is. I don't think Del Rio is going to get fired, not now anyway. I think you lose to Philadelphia and give up 400.

yards and 35 points and you get beaten Dallas by Cooper Rush and I think then we can start talking about you know about heads rolling but I don't think that that's where we are now that's my guess but I don't know but I don't know I think you're I think you're right I just don't think it'll take again this is my instinct no information okay and I could be absolutely wrong. I'm qualifying this as much as I can, but I don't think it'll take much to turn on Jack Del Rio in that locker room. God, I think I disagree with you on that. I think there have been too many opportunities personally and professionally to turn on Del Rio in the past, and it has not happened. And in fact- The opportunities have not been there, Kevin. They have. They've been bad defensively for a year.

Well, no, Tommy, there's still social media. No, no, no, no, there's still social media. This team is pretty quiet on social media. Tommy, if we had, if we had because of Jack's political beliefs, because of his January 6th comments, because they've been a bad defense for the last year, if we had a major problem with players in Jack, I think we would have known about it by now. I didn't say a major problem.

I said it won't take much for players, I think, to turn on Jack Dill Rio. I mean, they're human beings. But that much has already happened and they haven't turned on them. I think in a locker room it's a different atmosphere, the whole point of the account. I don't know anything with respect to this. I did know about the feelings that many of them had. And I told you guys, you know, in 2020 that Matt Ionitis wanted out, that players were really having an issue with Sam Mills.

And eventually Sam Mills was gone. I have not heard anything about Jack Del Rio and the players not believing in Jack Del Rio or not liking Jack Del Rio. So, you know, if it were to happen, my personal belief is it would be more of like Rivera saying, we need a fresh new look at this rather than the players burying him on the way out. It might happen. I don't know. I just haven't heard anything,

and I was hearing a lot of stuff, a lot of us were, from the get-go on Sam Mills. Nothing. Through all of the Jack Del Rio stuff over the last two years, nothing other than they like Jack. He's one of them.

I'm talking about football player-wise. I know. I know. The Jaman Davis stuff, let me just mention real quickly. Jamon Davis was not the only problem on Sunday. And he was a bigger problem against Jacksonville, but they had problems everywhere on Sunday. And I think the calling out of Jamin Davis here is interesting.

Because, and I asked John Kime about it this morning, because this is another thing. I'm not sure whether they've just reached their wits end and they're using the public criticism as a last resort to try to get through to this guy. Or they, you know, are just, they don't like the results because they were really positive about him over the summer. I mean, I mentioned everybody that, you know, they believed that they had a 12 to 13 win-off.

You know, that was what I was told back in June or July that inside that building after Dotson and with a healthy Samuel, they felt like they had a 12 to 13 win offense. I don't know if that's what we've seen from them, but they're clearly much better on offense. Defensively, I heard over the summer that there was some real optimism about, you know, Jamie Davis moving to a more natural position for him. and maybe it's just that they haven't seen it play out on the field and they're a little bit frustrated, but I don't know if they're frustrated with him, like personally, like he's disruptive or he's not getting it, or they can't get through to him.

I don't know if it's that or they're just disappointed with, or they're surprised by the results because they thought they would be much better. But they got big issues everywhere on defense. Either way, they're talking to the player through the media. That's what they're doing. With Davis, they really are. Whatever you think.

Yeah, that's what the end players and managers and coaches and stuff will do that from time to time. And it's usually when they feel like their messages and getting through in one-on-one or in team meetings. Right. So I would think that that would be the case in this point. That would be my assumption is that, you know, this guy's not listening to them. Well, you know, maybe he'll listen now. And initially it seemed like he did. I mean, I thought he was a much bigger problem in the Jacksonville game than he was in this game.

But, you know, number one pick? Who picked that number one pick? Ron Rivera. Exactly. Yeah. And, you know, you're now, you know, there are two number ones, Chase Young and Jamie Davis. Chase Young obviously produced as a rookie. But, you know, we don't know what's coming next.

I mean, he's got tremendous talent. And I have said this many times. I was all for taking Chase Young there. Obviously revisionist history, we'd all go back and take Justin Herbert, clearly. The Jamie Davis thing, though, was, you know, a lot of people thought it was a bit of a reach. And they may be a little bit defensive on this. And they may be like, we need this guy to work out. We're going to look terrible, you know, for picking him in the first round when we needed real help in a lot of different spots.

I mean, this can't be a bust of a pick. I will tell you this, Tommy, and I don't know what's going on behind the scenes with Jamin. You know, it's very possible he's just not getting it. They're doing their best and they've tried every possible thing and he's just not getting it. But these are things that should have been clear to them in their due diligence leading up to that 2021 draft. Because if he wasn't going to be a guy that was going to be able to adapt quickly or, you know, play your scheme,

teams, then you drafted the wrong guy. But I would also suggest to you, given his athleticism on that defense, that they should work to making him a part of the solution. Because what I did see from them on Sunday was using him in some pass rush situations, like the first series of the game. Look, if his best value is to turn him loose as a pass rusher as a blitzing linebacker, do that. But it's your job since you picked him and you knew more about. him than anybody did to keep grinding away with a really young player and find the spot where he can produce for you because you don't have a lot of options. It's not like we can sit, Jamin, because we've got so many people behind him, including this fourth rounder who's really turned

into a stud. They don't have any of that. So that athleticism, you don't get that with a lot of players. so they better be thinking about him as a part of the solution here for at least as long as they can. I mean, I understand the idea of if we were talking to them and they said, no, no, you guys don't get it. This is a bust. We fucked it up. He can't do it. He can't play the scheme.

He's not getting it. And in those situations, there is, you know, a cut-bait strategy that sometimes makes sense. but I hope that they figure out a way to make him a part of the solution because he can run. He is an athlete. Remember when I wrote a column? When was it? Last August.

No, two years ago saying that if Jamie Davis is fortunate, if the team's fortunate, he'll have the career. This was when Rich Malott died. And I wrote a column saying if Jamie Davis is fortunate, and he would have the career of Washington's seventh round draft picked in 1979 out of Penn State. Right. Would you take that now? Well, again, I think...

But you ridiculed me when I wrote it, when I wrote it. I remember mocking you about that because what I said is, you know, all due respect, rest in peace, rich him a lot. You know, he's a champion. He was part of the, you know, the championship seasons in Washington, not the 91 team, I don't think. But, you know, he was a good player. He was a decent player. He certainly wasn't a star player on those teams. No.

You know, he was just a solid. But he played a 121 NFL game. Right. Whatever it was. You think Jamie Davis is going to play in 121 NFL game? No, but at the time, my mocking of you was really more or less, I mean, let's just, let's calm down on Rich Mulhut's career. I mean, Jamie Davis was taken in the first round. got a lot of potential to be potentially a really good player, you know. Apparently, he may not have a lot of potential. Well, you're right.

You're right. You know what? What do you want me to say? A little potential. Okay. Yes. Right now, right now, I'll take Rich Mulach. I'll take Rich Malott right now.

There you go. We're done with this now. Oh, my God. I have a couple of stats for you that really would. kind of belie or contradict, if you will, the results so far. We'll get to those right after these words from a few of our sponsors. So Washington is one-on-one, Tommy, and, you know, I said yesterday, I think a lot of people would have taken that 10 to 12 days ago. I mean, I know that, Jacksonville, Detroit, you know, 2 and 0 chance, and there was a chance. There was. There's also,

you know, the truth is, like last year, when they were 2 and 6, they were closer to 0 and 8 than they were four and four, they're closer to oh and two than they are two and oh. You know, that Jacksonville game was in major doubt with about eight minutes to go in the game down by eight points with no momentum and seemingly falling apart at the seams before Wents and that offense really saved them. But here are a couple of interesting stats from the first two games. Washington right now is third in the league on third down offense. I think third down defense and third down offense is one of those traditional statistical numbers

that can be very, very informative and very telling about teams. And last year, you know, second to last third down defense was pretty damn telling about what they were last year. They were a bad defensive team. They couldn't get off the field. And that's why they, you know, that was reason number one, they won seven games. last year. On offense right now, third in the league, behind Buffalo and Philadelphia, all right, arguably the two best teams in the league, certainly the best team in the league

in Buffalo right now, and one of the better teams in the league in Philadelphia. And then on defense, on defense, fifth in the league through two games on third down, they are 28 percent conversions against on third down. That's fifth best in the league right now. And by the way, have one takeaway on the season. They're getting off the field on third down. So what's the, problem, Shan? Well, these big explosive plays on first and second down are the problem, you know, and Ron's right. They've got to stop those. Easier said than done. They're also getting run on on early downs where you're getting some chunk runs. And they count. You know, for those that say, Well, if you take the 57-yard run out of the – well, you can't take the 57-yard run out of it.

The dude broke free. It's not like he broke seven tackles and you had him contained. There was nobody near him as he went for 50-some yards. But the third-down number is really – The third-down numbers are great. They had a player. They had a player fall down on the ground. Get up and score a touchdown.

without anyone putting a hand on them. And that player, by the way, was banged up all week. He's a really good player. By the way, they have some really good players. Amon Ross St. Brown, Dandre Swift, Aidan Hutchinson, Akuta, I think. They have drafted pretty well, and they've got some really good players. I don't know if that means they're going to be, you know, a much improved team. I mean, they're going to be much improved from where they were last year.

08 and 1 at one point. I don't know if that means there's going to be a playoff contender, but they have some players, Detroit does. Anyway, I thought those third down numbers were interesting. Also, by the way, Washington's second in the league in red zone offense. They have been effective, and a lot of it has been play designed. There have been some really good play designs from Scott Turner in the red zone. I mean, you can tell they have worked on some things, you know,

to get to score touchdowns when they are in the red zone. So anyway, it's two games. They play the best team, obviously, they have played this year on Sunday. This is not Jacksonville. This isn't Detroit. Even though I think Jacksonville and Detroit are much improved teams, they're getting a heavyweight, I think, coming in here Sunday. Now, maybe Philadelphia is in letdown mode after the Monday night,

maybe the short week. Maybe they were banged up after last. night, Darius Slay would be a big one to look at. Maybe Washington can move the ball and score with Philadelphia. Detroit did. You know, Detroit put up 35 against the Eagles. But this is, you know, this is a big test. The next couple of weeks, I mean, you and I just said, yeah, they're, you know, so far probably what we thought they were going to be, eight wins, nine wins back and forth. But the next two weeks with Philadelphia and Dallas, two division games were last year, you waited until pretty much the end of the year with all those division games.

It'd be nice to come out of the next two with a split. I mean, I'd take that right now, a split with the Eagles and Cowboys. Yeah, I mean, the Cowboys, the Cowboys game, I mean, I think people are strutting a little bit less after the Cowboys win on Sunday. I think they realized that the Cowboys looked so bad the week before, because they were playing Tampa Bay. Yeah. And Tampa, Tampa's defense, oh my God. I mean, there are a couple of teams defensively that really look awesome. I'm not sure there's anybody better than Tampa defensively right now,

and Devin White in particular, although Micah Parsons is close. I mean, we're going to be talking, I mean, Micah Parsons, we're going to be talking about all year long as a defensive player of the year candidate. And I think that was one of my kind of bold predictions when we were doing our division picks, which you really enjoyed last week, or two weeks ago. Micah Parsons has, I think he's got four sacks in two games, and I think if you go back to last year, I mean, it's something, where is it?

Yeah, he's got like, I think, six or seven sacks in his last like six games or something. He looks really good. But, you know, Sunday first. And every week's a new week. And Philly, you know, you could catch him at the right time. Who knows? A little bit full of themselves after the first two weeks and after a Monday night blowout of the Vikings. And, you know, and by the way, there might be a packed crowd on Sunday at FedEx Field.

It should be awesome energy. I'm looking forward to it. Are you going to go Sunday? Of course I'm going. Okay. I got a big weekend ahead of me. Do you have anything else to talk about today? No, I got nothing else for you, boss.

All right. I'm into the Aaron Judge thing. We talked about that the other day. He's up to 59 now. Yeah. He's too short of Maris. Yeah. He's going to hit 64 or 65 this year.

Yes, he will. By the way, real quickly, seriously, serious question. I think I've asked this of you. Who and what is this Joey Menesis? And what is the deal with him? He is having a season out of nine. nowhere. He was four for four last night. He had an inside the park homer over the weekend. Who is this guy and is he the real deal?

Well, he could be the real deal. I mean, in terms of a player that you can count on as a foundation builder, he's a career minor leaguer. He's 30 years old. Yeah. I think, you know, you've got to see him for a full season. I mean, you know, because I mean, in order to see, you know, like teams prepare for them, teams have, you know, pitchers have books on them, see how he does there. But I think the Nats found themselves, you know, they didn't find much this year, but I think they found themselves a couple of good complimentary players in Lane Thomas and Joey Menenez. Menez. Meneces.

I think between the two of them, I think they both be on the roster last year. and they'd be good complimentary players. They still got a long way to go before they can find some foundation players. But he could be the real deal. I'm not going to say he is. You've got to see him for a full seat. I'm looking at his numbers right now. He basically, if you were to extrapolate this to 162 games,

he's basically a 40-homer 100 RBI, 325 batting average guy. I mean, that's ridiculous. I mean, it would be a little bit less than 100 RBIs. It'd be like 38 homers. But still, I mean, this guy, every time I look at the, because I'm not watching these Nats games. I mean, who is at this point? But I look at the box scores every night, you know,

just to see, you know, try to keep up with it a little bit. And last night, I looked at it and I'm like, oh, my God, he went four for four last night. I mean And he's doing this with nobody else in the lineup. Nobody. Neither. Yeah.

He had an inside the Parker against the Marlins the other day. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't know. It's just, it's weird. I'd like that be an interesting, um, uh, Mike Rizzo conversation just about, you know, like a grinder like Mike Rizzo, like a lifer

in the game. To look at a guy like, this who gets called up for the first time at 30 years old and produces. Like, what were people missing about this guy? Or is it suspicious? You know, you always have to wonder about those things at 30. Yeah, but, you know, good for him. It's kind of, it's kind of these story right now on what has been just a disastrous

season. I think Scherer last night clinched it for, clinched a playoff, I think for the Mets. He had a perfect game going. It was his 200th win. He did have a perfect game going? I didn't know that through how many innings. That's what I read where they took up through six innings.

You know, but they took him out. It's his first game back from coming off to the L. So they took him, well, hold on for a second. I actually did not know this. They took him out and he had a perfect game through six. I think so. You're 100% right. He pitched six innings last night.

Perfect. Nine strikeouts in six innings. No walks, no hits. Wow, that's tough to do, man. Wasn't he great to watch? Boy, he was great to watch. What was his reaction to getting pulled last night with a perfect game through six?

I don't know. I'm sure it was frustration, but understanding that he needs to be able to pitch in October for a team that just Clint, you know, that is going to be playing October. So he needs to take care of himself. With their pitching, they can definitely win the whole thing, don't you think? Yes.

Yeah. All right. Clayton Khrushel, by the way, I'm just looking at this because he's been out. Hasn't he been out for a little bit? He struck out 10. He struck out 10, and they clenched. I mean, obviously they clenched. I mean, they're in their lead like 20-something games.

Something like that. All right. We're done for the day. I'll be back tomorrow with Cooley.