The Kevin Sheehan Show - Elbow News

Episode Date: September 22, 2026

Kevin opened with everything reported and discussed today about Jayden Daniels' injured elbow. He updated his "game-take", went around the rest of the NFL, and recapped Virginia Tech's 35-26 win over Maryland on Saturday night. Exclusive High Roller bonus designed for bettors who want more firepower for this season. Double your money all the way up to $5000. Minimum deposit $1500. Use my promo code “DCVIP” at https://www.mybookie.ag/signup/?affid=3910. Download the app today and use code SHEEHAN to get $150 instantly in Lineups if you win your first $5 Lineup! “PrizePicks. Run Your Game.” Join the millions who are already banking fee free with America’s #1 Choice forBanking. Head to Chime.com/sheehan. ADDITIONAL TWENTY PERCENT OFF better plants and better growing at Trees.com using the code SHEEHAN at checkout. Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to Quo.com/SHEEHAN. For a limited time, our listeners get 10% off their first bidet order when you use code (SHEEHAN) at checkout. That’s 10% off your first bidet order at HelloTUSHY.com.    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Sheehan Show. He is Kevin. I'm going to start off just regarding Jaden and some updates there. He had imaging done today. He'll see specialists early this week, Tuesday and Wednesday. And then we'll go through the process from there.

I know you'll have some questions regarding timelines. But until we go through that process, we just, I'd be guessing to give you any. We will start Marcus on Sunday, and there's nobody easier to rally around than him. Dan Quinn, just a little while ago during his Monday day after press conference with not much on the Jaden Daniels injury, nothing that nails down a plan or a timeline. It would appear we'll have to wait until later in the week to get anything from him or the team. Adam Schaefter did have some information earlier today. I will share that with you in a few minutes.

Window Nation is the presenting sponsor of this podcast. If you need new windows, I highly recommend calling Windonation. 86690 Nation is the number. You can also go to Window Nation.com. So before I go back to the injury yesterday, the game yesterday, and I did do a post-game show last night, and I will update my game take in the next segment on today's show. I wanted to begin today's show by looking ahead a little bit

and asking and answering the question that I think many of you have already answered. The question being, is the season over? This from Darren in Frederick. Darren writes, Kevin, I'm not sure what we as fans did to offend the gods. But yesterday was too much to deal with. 2024 seems like 20 years ago now. When Tom talked about the aura of collapse, I didn't think it would collapse after two games. What the hell do we do with a season that's over after two weeks?

I guess the countdown on Quinn and Peters is officially underway. So I'm sure during my emotional reaction watching the game yesterday when Jaden got injured. And I was emotional. I mean, I stood up and I am sure I dropped multiple F bombs. My wife was not in the room watching the game. she was in another room. And she came in and she said, what the hell happened?

And I just said, I can't believe it, but the effing season is over. So in that moment, I certainly felt probably what a lot of you felt, which is, I can't believe he just got hurt. And oh, my effing God, the season is over.

I'm pretty sure I said something. to that effect in the moments following that gruesome shot of his elbow. But is it true? Is it true that the season's over? It might end up being true, but at this point, it's definitely not true yet. This league is schizo. Truly terrible teams, or at least teams we thought were truly terrible. Cleveland, not only one yesterday, but the terrible delusional quarterback to Sean Watson,

he completed 80% of his passes 24 of 30 for 238 yards, two touchdowns, and no picks. The Titans who looked hapless a week ago nearly beat the Eagles. The Saints beat the Ravens. The Raiders are 2-0. The Jets were nearly 2-0. They had a 10.4th quarter lead on the Packers and blew it and lost in overtime. Chicago scored 59 last week, three yesterday, and the Panthers are currently the highest scoring team in the NFC. So my brain says, no, the season's not over yet, not with 15 games left in the NFL, which is utterly unpredictable.

Now, I don't feel good about it. I don't feel good about the season right now. But stranger things have happened. The major reason to feel like the season is over, of course, is that the team's best player, who just happens to be the starting quarterback, is going to miss games. But what if he only misses a few games?

Another reason to feel like the season's in big trouble. here after two games, is that Jaden isn't the only player, and he's not only the only good player that is hurting. I mean, the team already lost. It's arguably second best player, Laramie Tunsell and Training Camp. Sam Cosmey is in concussion protocol. He's the team's second best offensive lineman, but among the offensive linemen playing so far this year with Tunsell out before the season started,

he's their best offensive lineman. Chigga Concoe, the team's big off-season acquisition at tight end, he's dealing with a hamstring injury, missed the game yesterday. The team's most talented corner, Trey Amos hasn't played nearly a year, and there's no guarantee he's going to be back anytime soon. Frankie Louvue's dealing with an injured groin didn't play yesterday. Javon Kinlaw got hurt yesterday. That could cost him some time.

Nick Cross, who's played pretty well in these first two games, spent last night in Dallas for what Quinn called today an internal injury. Now, he did fly back today, but who knows what his status will be. Duran Payne missed some practice time last week. Jordan McGee and Johnny Newton are on injured reserve. I mean, the injuries are piling up here early in the season. and it's starting to give, I would imagine, most of you, me included, 2025 vibes. You know, it feels like a redo right now.

Add to that. Add to that. Yesterday's defensive performance was a flashback to one of the, you know, 11 or 12 pathetic defensive performances from last year. My God, can you imagine if they're terrible on defensive. again. So, while I do believe that the season isn't over yet, I don't feel very optimistic about where it stands today, but is it possible that Jaden misses just a few games instead of a lot of games or the season? Is it possible that the players who are banged up now get healed and play soon? Not tonsil, of course. Is it possible that the defense just had a bad day? And this

wasn't a bad sign. Dallas is pretty good offensively. All of those things are maybes. Look, none of those things are as important as the first thing I mentioned. And that is the net net of any kind of conversation about is the season over or not. Is that no injury is as impactful as Jaden's injury? If he comes back sooner rather than later, this season. season might be saved. If he doesn't, the season doesn't have much of a chance. Yeah. I mean, if it's what it was last year, all right, four weeks, last year he got injured in

that Seattle game, a game in which he should have never been in that football game. At the end of a game in which they were getting completely blown out, had no chance to win the game in the fourth quarter. and they're running an RPO with him on a condensed field in the red zone, which was really, really stupid. I called it out at the time, and that was the dislocated elbow in the Seattle game. He missed the following week against Detroit, the week after that, Madrid against Miami. Then there was a buy week. Then he missed the Denver game after the buy week.

So he really missed four weeks, three games, and then he came back for the Minnesota game. So if it's something similar, and let's just say it's four weeks, well, four weeks would be the Seattle game this coming week, Indy in London, the Giants at home, the 49ers on the road, that would be four weeks. And then the following week is actually a buy week. So let's just say that he's out for the next five weeks. if it's similar to last year, then the target would be a return November 1st Sunday night football against the Eagles.

Now, you know, is he going to have a rust after missing four or five weeks? Is it like starting all over? I'm just giving you, you know, maybe a best case. Although someone else gave an even better case, I'll get to that in a moment. But if that's the case that, it's a four to five week injury, then somehow Marcus Mariotta, with the help of a supporting

cast on both sides of the ball. This is where was the defense yesterday, did they have a bad game or is it a bad sign? I'm going to chalk it up to a bad game. I think they are in trouble from a coverage standpoint in the secondary, but we saw them play pretty good football in week one. Dallas is very, very good offensively. But if you could over the next four weeks, get two of them. Indian London, the Giants at home, and you're two and four headed into the buy week,

and you're getting Jaden coming out of the buy week, this season isn't over yet. That's, you know, maybe a bit too rosy for some of you. But fingers crossed, whatever good luck gesture you use, do it. That's the best I can do. If the gods, as Darren calls them, decide that we could use a break or two, then maybe the season can be saved. Now, as it relates to the injury, Quinn basically told us nothing. Adam Schaefter earlier on ESPN said that he doesn't think that Jaden is going to get surgery.

says it could be the same timeline as last year and that he could wear a brace for the rest of the year and get surgery after the season. Surgery right now would put him out, Schefter said, until at least December. And then there was this from Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner on an ESPN NFL live show, I think, not that long ago, like as in an hour or so ago, early. afternoon here on Monday, September 21st. Listen to what Kurt Warner said about having suffered the same injury. The only thing I would say is I suffered the exact same injury back in 07th. And I played the next week. I braced it up. Obviously, a couple shots along the way. I had to hand the football off with my right hand in both directions. But this to me is something because it's the left arm. If he wants to play through that and get back out there and help his team, I believe he can't.

It's not going to be one of those things that affects the throwing part of things. Does it affect his movement? Does it make him running or some of the things they want to do by design? Maybe. But I do believe this is something that he can come back from. And because it's a left arm, I don't think it's something we worry about long-term. Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner talking about his elbow dislocation years ago and his quick return from it. You know, last night in the heat of the moment and for the few hours that followed the Jaden Daniels,

injury and the game last night. There were a lot of those internet sports doctors out there claiming that they had back in November of last year after the Seattle game suggested that Jaden get the elbow surgically repaired. I personally don't remember that conversation at all. I'm not saying that they're making it up, but there were a lot of second guessers. out there on the way Washington handled his dislocated elbow. Remember, again, after four weeks, three games, he returned to play football against Minnesota

and then reaggravated it after that Andrew Van Ginkle pick six when he tried to tackle Van Ginkle and literally got thrown up into the air like a rag doll. But Quinn was asked about whether or not surgery was an option last year. Here's what he said. Was there any conversations that you remember, you know, when the injury happened last year or toward the end of the season? Was there any discussion of maybe having surgery? Because I know that was, you know, with this injury, it looks like there's a chance for re-injury with another dislocation, which obviously happened yesterday. Was there any type of conversation to have surgery on that elbow last year?

There was not. There was not, Dan Quinn said any consideration of surgically repairing the dislocated elbow. After the injury last year against Seattle, he was answering Channel 7's Scott Abraham's question. You know, last night, after all of the surgery sort of takes from the internet doctors, today it's been interesting. Many of those same people have said, hey, he can play with a brace since it's. his non-throwing elbow and then potentially get surgery later. I mentioned last night on my post-game podcast that I had talked to right after the game, a friend of mine who is an orthopedic surgeon in town.

He's actually operated on me a few times, my back. But I said, what's your take on this injury and the people that are saying that it should have been surgically repaired? and he said, and I'm just reading from his text, he said it's extremely rare to have a redislocation after non-operative care, one to two percent. There can be residual instability, but surgery is rare for elbow dislocations. Now, as it relates to the brace that now people are talking about as a possibility. Ben Standing asked Dan about whether or not a brace had been considered even before yesterday on the elbow. And just to go back to Jaden, I don't know if he's going to wear a brace possibly going forward, but I guess why was there a discussion of that, even if he didn't have

surgery, to wear some sort of a brace considering the past injury? Yeah, I'd have to follow up with you on that. There's been a lot of rehab to go through the pace, so that was nothing that was discussed prior to that. My hindsight's awesome, man. I wish we had it in all things, but we'd have luxury of that. So as we get through the next couple days, I think I'll have better insights about, you know, what it looks like moving forward. So my interpretation of those back-to-back answers from Dan Quinn to Scott's question about surgery and to Ben's question about the brace, sort of goes with what my orthopedic surgeon friend said, which is, No, they didn't consider surgery because, as my orthopedic surgeon friend said,

surgery for elbow dislocations is very rare. And no, they didn't consider a brace because, as my orthopedic surgeon friend said, you know, redislocation, you know, is rare. It's a 1 to 2% of the time thing. So as long as it was healed, as long as they, you know, rehabbed and strengthened the elbow and it was ready to go, they weren't concerned about a re-d dislocation of the elbow. Maybe they'll feel differently now.

But when they brought him back for the Minnesota game, they had to have felt that it was sufficiently healed and that there wasn't much of a risk going into this season. They had to have felt, based on what doctors told them, that there wasn't really much to do about the elbow. And that what happened yesterday was freakish, flukeish, whatever word you want to use. Now, because we've seen it twice in less than a year, it may not seem as flukeish to us. Now, how they handle it?

Do they let it heal? Do they strengthen it up? Does that take more time? Do they put a brace on it? Who knows? Now, there was one more question about sort of the overall handling. of the elbow going back to last year. And this question was asked by Tommy.

Tommy jumped on to the Zoom call with Quinn today. I'm going to actually play the whole thing because it's kind of funny, because Tommy's got his mic muted, and they had to tell him a couple of times to unmute his mic. So I left that in there for entertainment purposes, but it was another interesting answer. from Quinn. Here's how that exchange went between the PR people, Tommy, and the coach. Tom, you're muted there, Tom. Still muted. There you go. Okay. Dan. Tom, good to see you, man. We got you now.

Thanks. Was there discussion ever since the first elbow injury that Jaden is more susceptible to this kind of injury? not you know one of like more susceptible into that space i think when you're going through the rehab process that's probably true there's re-injury for all things you know like whether it's soft tissue or otherwise but he really put on more armor this year tom and worked hard during the off season for that he's bigger he's stronger into that space so it wasn't any you know one specific thing that we made special attention to as we're leading up into it mute button discussion on tomorrow's show when Tommy joins me. Quinn's answers, though, to the three questions.

Scott's question about surgery, Ben's question about the brace, Tommy's question about whether or not Jaden was more susceptible to an elbow dislocation again because he had it last year. Quinn's answers really sync up with my orthopedic surgeon friend's answer to me, which is, no, they didn't consider surgery. no, they didn't consider a brace because, you know, surgery's rare and red dislocation is rare. Now, maybe this is the dislocation that leads to a rare surgery. We'll find out later on in the week.

But that's what it would seem to me, that they didn't do anything other than rehab it, let it heal, and then let him play. And we'll find out whether or not that's what happens again here or whether or not there is something more serious that needs to be done. Stay tuned on that one. All right. The play that he got injured on, what exactly was that play?

What was the plan on that play? Well, Quinn was asked about that today, and he answered, the question. I don't know if he was being truthful or not. Steve Souter doesn't think he's being truthful. By the way, Suter will be back with a film breakdown on the Dallas game this week on Wednesday's show. But you'll hear what the coach said, along with a quick update or two to my game recap from last night. I'll get to those things after these words from a few of our sponsors. Isn't it nice that football's finally back and prize picks knows it?

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Plus, get $30 off your first two orders when you use my link, Thrivemarket.com slash sheen. These offers stacks, so sign up before the sale ends. Man, on that actual play where Jaden got hurt, it looked like it was going to be a toss to Rashad. I guess what was supposed to happen on that play had Jaden not fail. Yep. So it's a, as like Jaden's coming down, the line of scrimmage, you can keep to go in or a toss going back out to that side. so you're right.

So yeah, it's certainly a freakish one of getting stepped on. So sometimes hard to explain, man. Dan Quinn, talking in some detail about what the play call was on that last play of the first half. More on that coming up. This segment of the show brought you by Window Nation. If you need new windows, I highly recommend giving you. window nation a chance, at the very least, to come out and give you a free in-home estimate. It'll take an hour or less. It'll be when it's convenient for you, you'll actually find out

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I am going to update something that I got wrong, and it dealt with the sequence leading up to the injury on the final play of the half. I had that play as a fourth down play on the podcast last night. It was a third down play. That's significant because of how they managed the clock prior to that play. But real quickly, on the play, it's. pretty fascinating, right, to hear Quinn say, and this was my guess. My guess after watching the play is that it was some sort of sprint option.

Now, he was under center on the snap. They did not have any receivers in the game. They had on the field, basically were multiple tight ends. Tony Wiley as a tackle. Now, it does not say that he reported. as tackle eligible, even though he was the third offensive lineman to the right of Allegretti. On the field up front were Ben Sinnett, John Bates, Matt Gulbin, the backup center was in the game, and he was playing guard.

Nick Allegrety was the center, Chris Paul, Cosme, Wiley, Connerley, Jr., Brandon Coleman. They were all on the field with Jaden Daniels and Rashad White. So the only skill position players were Daniels, White, Senate, and Bates on the field. No receivers on the field. Jaden went under center. I think it's also important to point out something I didn't point out last night about the play. And that is the ball is not at the one-yard line. It is actually closer to like the one and a half-yard line.

So it was more than a yard that they actually needed to convert from. Look, I think the analytics probably say fourth and three or better in a fourth down analytics, and this would have been similar because it's the last play of the half, even though it was third down, that anything three yards or closer was probably a go-for-it situation. But Jaden goes under center on the play. And what's interesting about the play is that every single offensive lineman is me. making sure not to go down the field, which would indicate that pass is an option on the play.

Steve Souter and I were going back and forth this morning, and he said this is a really difficult play to sort of decode because they're blocking as if it's pass, and yet Rashad White is actually behind Jaden, indicating that if he's going to get the ball, it's going to be a lateral. So Souter thought this was going to be a pass, potentially from Rashad White, if he had gotten the ball. Now, to whom, I have no idea because nobody on the line of scrimmage,

including the eligibles, go out for a pass. Now, the play gets hijacked early by the step on Jaden's foot, and him having to hurl it underhanded incomplete. Quinn says this is essentially an option where Jaden's going to turn from the line of scrimmage and he's going to threaten the defense as a runner and have Rashad White as a potential pitch option on the play. But then why aren't the offensive linemen blocking run?

Why are they concerned about not going downfield? It's a strange play. Now, I think if Jaden gets a free release after the snap with the way he was playing, if it was supposed to be an option with White as the pitch option, you know, had a defender defended Jaden, which would have been the outside edge, which was blocked, by the way. They essentially had two guys blocking three. on the edge, which is why you would have had the pitch option. Jaden's going to read something.

He's either going to keep it or pitch it. I think Jaden, if he gets a free release and he's down the line with the football, I think he can probably run it in. Maybe with some contact, but I think he can run it in. But Souter's convinced because of the blocking scheme, no one very intent all of the linemen were not to go down the field, that some sort of trick play, like a lateral to Rashad White,

who was going to throw it to somebody, he said maybe even to Jaden in the end zone. Because nobody else is actually going out on a pass pattern. Nobody else was. So you've got Bates and Wiley as the last two players. But Wiley, according to the game book, did not report as a tackle eligible. That one's a mystery.

Souter will give us more on Wednesday when he does the first film breakdown of the season. I wish it were a full game of Jaden Daniels at quarterback, not one half. All right. My game take that I did last night, there is one major update to it. I will get to that in a moment.

But for those that missed it last night, let me go through kind of the list of things that I liked. Jaden's first half before the injury was really, really good. Of course, that was going to be on the list of good from the game. He threw it well, he ran it well, he was in total control at the line of scrimmage. Brady pointed out that he's got clearly more autonomy at the line of scrimmage than maybe he did under Cliff. He missed one throw, which was the bomb to Berks on second and one on that final drive. I'm sure he'd love to have that back. And maybe the pitch to Kroski Merritt on that first field goal drive that cost him an opportunity for a touchdown

because it moved him back to third and 18, you know, a bit too far into the red zone area. But other than that, man, I mean, he was absolutely lights out. He accounted for 165 of the 225 yards that they had in the first half, 96 through the air, 69 as a runner. The running game was benefiting from Jaden being presented on run plays as a runner, certainly in the pistol because he was in the pistol a few times with White and Kroski Merritt. But White ran well over six yards per carry. Kroski Merritt, I thought, was okay. He converted big-time runs, big-time throws. The 3rd and 18, after the absolutely horrible call against Terry for offensive pass interference,

that was classic vintage Jaden from 24 as a pocket passer. Third and 18, a little bit of pressure, steps up, fires down the field, accurate on time. Terry makes the catch 24-yard gain move the sticks. that really ignited the offense. The third and two, scramble for 18 yards. The third and six, throat of Diggs versus the Blitz. You know, he had an excellent check at the line of scrimmage on a third down and two,

where he checked out of a pass to a run to Rashad White, who got seven yards. Brady pointed that out on the broadcast. He was accurate, except for the throat of Berks. Love when they go hurry up. He still loves to go hurry up. The touchdown pass to Diggs was a hurry-up play last week, the same thing. You know, he threw a great ball to Terry, 50-50 ball that Terry nearly came down with.

It was actually called a touchdown and then reversed. Yeah, I mean, he was just, you know, he was playing at an elite level. He was making sure that the team on a day in which they probably weren't going to get many stops, could keep pace with the Cowboys, and they were right there at the end of the first half. Also on the good list, Stefan Diggs is one hell of a route runner. He has got exceptional A-plus hands,

a really good addition for this football team. Because let's face it, right now, Stefan Diggs is a 1A at the very least. Rashad White really bounced back off of a game in which I thought he looked slow. against Philly. I thought he looked great yesterday. You know, averaged over six yards per carry against the Cowboys. Seven carries, 43 yards. Also had another six catches for 40 yards. So a really good day for Rashad White out of the backfield. That was encouraging by this, by the way,

he led the running backs in snap counts. I finally finally. got these snap counts later today, and he was in there more than Kroski Merritt was. Rashad White, 52% of the snaps. Kroski Merit, 37% of the snaps. So there is a trust level right now that I think they have in White that they're still, you know, trying to get with Kroski Merit. And I thought White ran really well yesterday. Great vision.

And again, both backs really benefited from Jaden being presented. as a run threat. I thought Blow called a more aggressive game, obviously with some of the trick plays in the second half. Last week, though, it was a different game context. You know, it was a different defense for starters, a much better defense, and you couldn't force it against that defense,

or the game could have gotten away from you with just one mistake or two. I thought that defensively, it was a terrible day, but I thought they did a decent job against the run. The numbers obviously bear that out. The Cowboys, 21 rushes for 66 yards. Now, DAC had 26 of the 66. So really, it was 17 for 40 with the running backs. Javante Williams was 12 for 30. His one big run got called back for holding. But he was at two and a half yards per carry. So, if you take out the Sequin Barclay run from last week, which again, you know, they count two.

But through two games, the defense has done a decent job against the run. I would say more than a decent job against the run. Now, they gave up big explosives last week and they gave up 26 of 31 for 279 and four touchdowns to Dak Prescott. CD Lamb is still open. But I thought, you know, on the good list, they, did a decent job against the run. I thought Ken Law was a big part of that. I thought of Mick Robertson played well, and I think he's played well in the first two games of the year. I thought the O line, for the most part, and again, maybe I'm caught up in comparing it to the doomsday scenarios that were being painted before the season began, but I think the O line has held up pretty well in the first two games. You could look at how many times Jaden scrambled. some of those were just really, really good opportunities, and perhaps receivers weren't open.

What I didn't like, obviously the injury to Jaden Daniels and to Ken Law and to Cosme, and now we find out Nick Cross was injured as well. I still, and maybe we'll get something official at some point this week, I don't know how the hell they did not overturn Washington's challenge that the challenge on the Diami Brown touchdown catch from Marcus Mariotta on the opening drive of the third quarter, how Washington didn't win that challenge. It makes no sense to me. I am just Dean Blandino, Tom Brady, Kevin Burkart all said, yeah, that's a touchdown. And essentially, when we come back from commercial break, Washington will have six on the board getting ready to kick an extra point.

And yet the call on the field was upheld. He clearly had possession. There was clearly a knee down, which equals two feet, before anything else hit out of bounds. And he survived the catch. I don't know what they needed to see there or what they saw. And maybe I'm going to look like an idiot because they're going to say we had a different view and the ball moved slightly.

And so we had to at least go with the call on the field. But that looked like a play that replay was built for. You know, a massive play in the game, Washington's still in that game, that would have tied the score in the third quarter. And instead, Washington had to kick a field goal two plays later. As I already mentioned, the Terry Offensive Pass Interference call is on the list of bad things I didn't like from the game. I mean, that was horrendous, especially when you see the replay of C.D. Lamb pushing Mike Sand were still much more aggressively on a touchdown catch, and it wasn't called. On the list of things I didn't like, look, the defense was horrendous.

There's no other way to say it. I had callers today on radio telling me that they really saw that the defense was on the verge, you know, of doing something, which is why they would have kicked the field goal. I didn't see that. Yes, the drive before the long drive at the end of the half, Washington got a sack on DAC, minus nine. That was the one drive that they punted on. They had the ball eight times, and they scored on seven of the eight drives. They converted seven of eleven on third down, and they scored 37 points. No, the defense was god-awful. The secondary was poor from Sanrystil to everybody but a meke Robertson,

it seemed to me. They played soft. People were just so wide open. Now, Sanra still had a couple of contested plays on Lamb. It's just a mismatch. The game, Dallas's offense against Washington's defense yesterday, was a mismatch. Last week, certainly it was the opener, and like I say, every year, the opener can be a head fake, and with respect to the defense, it may have been.

Now, I still think they are going to be better defensively. They got better players. I do like the Durante Jones scheme, but they got torched yesterday. Dak Prescott 26 of 31 for 279 and four touchdowns, no picks. He didn't have a perfect passer rating, but it was 143.8 with an 89.8 QBR. It was, they didn't run the football well. That's true. but if Jaden stays in that game, this is a back and forth.

You pretty much have to score every time you have it, Jaden Daniels and company, if the team's going to have a chance. Or you're going to have to get, you know, a break. When you're bad defensively, you know, and I'm not suggesting that they are this year, it's two games and they played a very good offensive football team. But when you're bad defensively and you end up having, a game in which the result isn't nearly as bad as it was, you know, the previous week or the week before that. It's usually because you're playing a team that's not very good on an offense,

or you're playing a team that is self-destructing offensively with penalties, with turnovers, mistakes that derail drives. Washington forced one punt in the football game, and it was because of the Javan Kinlaw, first and 10, nine-yard sack on Dak Prescott. Good for the defense. They made a play in the game that forced one punt on eight drives. The other seven resulted in points. You want to talk about red zone defense and forcing some field goals?

Yeah, no. The defense was lousy. yesterday. Not to mention they didn't get one takeaway. That's on the list of bad. The missed opportunities, the double pass was a nice call. It was set up perfectly, and Antonio Williams made a bad throw. The missed field goal, that's two and two weeks for Drew Stevens. Yeah, they've both been longer field goals yesterday's from 51. You know what? In the league this year, when your team is in a game like the one it's in yesterday, you have to score on every opportunity that you can score on.

Drew Stevens better get more consistent even with the long ones. And lastly on this list, just the fact that we've now gone two games into 2026, and the takeaway pattern continues. Second to last last year in takeaways, tied for 26th the year before in 2024, and through two games dead last. in takeaways with zero.

I would assume, let me look at it real quickly, that there are other teams that they are tied with that don't have any takeaways so far this year. And they are, but there are only two other teams currently without a takeaway. How about this? Pretty good company at the bottom. Houston and Philadelphia,

both of those teams have not had a takeaway in the first two games. Two of the on-paper expectation and otherwise, best defenses in the NFL, along with Washington with zero takeaways through the first two games. All right. I did have a couple of other observations, and the one that I really want to correct from the post-game show last night is this. The end of first half sequence. I thought that they went for that. final play on fourth down. It was actually third down. They had the first and goal at the one,

a second and goal at the one. That was the one opportunity that Jaden had to maybe throw to Bates for a touchdown. Bates was open, but the herried nature of the play is it starts with eight seconds to go and then you can't get tackled in the field of play. He didn't see Bates. Maybe he was you know, sort of masked by a defender there, but Bates did come open on that second and goal at the one. But there were some tweets and some texts from friends about the end of first half clock management. So Jaden scrambles to the Dallas 14. It was a 14-yard scramble with roughly 40 seconds to go.

And they let the clock roll down to 29. seconds before they called their first time out. And I said on the show last night, and I actually, the premise of what I said is still true. Because of what Dallas is offensively, because of what they've done to you already offensively, because they've got a kicker that basically is in range once you get to the 50 yard line or even before it. By the way, last year, they basically gave up a touchdown at the end of the half in about 10

seconds. you've got to score and you want to score a touchdown, but you also want to leave them with no time. Because if you leave them with any more than 15 to 20 seconds in that general range, Aubrey's probably getting a field goal attempt to end the first half. So I basically said last night, look, they ended up getting their four shots from the one yard line. No, they didn't. They got three shots from the one yard line.

So, yes, maybe if they had called that timeout with 34, 35 seconds left, they would have had an opportunity for four plays. And the third play would have probably been another throw. I do think in those situations, it makes some sense if you have the advantage, and they had the advantage at that point, they had Dallas reeling to surprise them and maybe run it on third down. or the next to last play of the half. Yes, it's great risk because you won't get another play if you get stopped. But I think the chances of scoring on a run play when they're expecting throw are higher. But I also thought that they could have thrown the ball into the end zone. Yeah, I'm not going to kill them for clock management because when they get to the 14, okay,

with 29 seconds to go in 2.2.2. timeouts. That should be plenty of time to, you know, run the number of plays that you may have access to to get a touchdown. Now, Dallas could have defensive held across the board on that last play to force Washington into a true final decision, although actually on the third downplay, on the second downplay, excuse me, I'm getting confused. First in goal at the one throw incomplete. second and goal at the one, probably had Bates incomplete. Third and goal was the play with three seconds to go, trips, et cetera. End of half situations, you know, teams have tried to hold on purpose

to force you into making that decision of running that last play or not. There is a delay a game and even a personal foul that extends the half if you do it more than one time intentionally. that rule was put in place several years ago. But yeah, again, I did not have an issue with the decision to go for the touchdown. I also would not have had much of an issue if they had decided to kick the field goal. They know the play that they wanted to run and what the chances of it, you know, of scoring were. They probably felt like we're not really being stopped.

They're gassed. They've been on the field three straight drives. This one for 15 plays. And we need touchdowns. Field goals aren't going to do it. Not with the way Dallas is playing offensively and the way we're playing defensively. Anyway, I wanted to correct that.

That last play was a third down play. And yeah, with a few more seconds, maybe that third down attempt is another throw. And then maybe it's the fourth down attempt. in which he gets stepped on. But maybe on that third down attempt, they score. So it would have been better to have more plays rather than less plays. Also on that list of sort of other observations,

Jalen Lane struggled, you know, to field some of those kicks. Cavante Turpin, good God, he is a threat. He's one of those guys that you actually think about just kicking it out of the back of the end zone and giving them the ball at the 35. Kehoe made a really good play to trip him up on a play that nearly went the distance. Aubrey, 60-yard field goal. I think he's got seven of them in his career now, 60-plus. I didn't mind the trick plays, the double pass, the pass back after the lateral to Diami.

And then I wanted to just say Marcus Moriota, I thought played a decent game. I thought he did a nice job. I don't know what it's going to look like when Souter breaks down the film and he talks about whether or not Mario should have let the ball fly quickly on some of those past attempts and that maybe people were open. I haven't gone through the All-22. That's why Souter's going to be back with us on Wednesday. But I thought Marcus Mariotta did a pretty decent job.

All right. I'll go around the NFL, and I also want to talk about the Maryland-Virginia Tech game to finish up today's show. I'll get to all of that after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey guys, creatine is one of the most researched and effective supplements available, but as the category has exploded, most brands have focused on things like flavors, formats, and marketing instead of actually making the creatine itself better. That's why Momentus created signature spec creatine, their most advanced creatine ever, setting a new standard for creatine quality. Momentus's signature spec creatine is one of the only creatines to be manual. Andes, Momentus's signature spec creatine, is one of the only creatines to be manual. manufactured in a pharmaceutical facility using reverse osmosis water purification and verified through an expanded six-stage testing process with four independent agencies. And the benefits of creatine are real.

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Kansas City, 2 and O, winning in overtime. Mike Toriko on NBC's Sunday night football last night calling Harrison Butker's game-winning field goal. in overtime, lifting the Chiefs to a 33 to 30 win over the Colts. It was actually Butker's second field goal during the overtime period. And Colts coach, Shane Steichen, nearly made a decision that would have been an all-timer. I will tell you about that in just a moment. But first, this segment is brought to you by My Bookie. My Friends at My Booky are offering my listeners.

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He's been banged up all year. He was the number one wide receiver free agent, and he has been hurt so far here early in the season. Daniel Jones played at a high level. Kenneth Walker, the third, after the incredible performance in the Monday night went over Denver, another 117 yards on the ground, 61 on six receptions. I mean, this guy right now looks like the free agent acquisition of the year. We have never seen Kansas City with an elite level running. back. We've seen them with an elite level wide receiver in Tyree Kill and an elite level tight end in Travis Kelsey, who by the way looks great through two games. And Mahomes really looked awesome last night after Monday night looking not Patrick Mahomes-esque the entire game,

certainly not throwing the football. But here was the situation in overtime, which was a very interesting situation. So the Chiefs, uh, The Colts won the toss deferred. You know, with the new overtime rules, really the play is to defer. You're now more in a college mode where you know you're going to get a possession. It's better to have that possession knowing what you need, whether it's a touchdown or just a field goal to win the game. Kansas City drives down the field, they kick a field goal. Indy drives down the field, not really drives down the field.

They've got a massive play. It's a deep throw, 48 yards from Daniel Jones to Laquan Treadwell. I didn't even know he was still in the league. Treadwell actually caught the ball, went down, didn't think he was touched, got up, got hit, fumbled, Kansas City recovered, and for a moment, it looked like the game was over. But there was a grazing of a hand on his thigh with his. knee on the ground, which ruled the play dead. So then a few plays later, it was fourth down and eight at the Kansas City 15-yard line.

Three minutes and 15 seconds remained in OT. Now again, the Colts trailing in that moment, 30 to 27. Fourth and eight, kick the field goal, right? And tie the game, extend the game, and see what happens. well, Shane Steichen put the offense back out onto the field. And it was very interesting because Toriko and Collinsworth were talking about, do you go for this? Do you try to score the touchdown to end the game here,

knowing that if you kick a field goal and you give the ball back to Patrick Mahomes with three minutes left in overtime, you're going to lose. Mahomes is going to drive them down the field and you're going to lose on a walk-off field goal. he put the offense on the field. Now they never snapped the ball. They took a delay a game penalty because they had called a timeout before that play. So back-to-back timeouts would have been a 15-yard penalty. They took the delay a game.

And Shane Stuyken said they were going to run a play if they got the coverage that they needed to run the play. They would have gone for a fourth and eight in overtime down three if they got the right coverage. That's crazy. Now, fourth and one, fourth and two, maybe even fourth and three. But you've got to extend the game. I know that the chances of getting a stop on the chiefs coming back the other way aren't great, but your chances of making the fourth and eight to extend the game aren't great. Either, you would think.

Pretty wild game at Arrowhead last night. The Chiefs are 2 and 0. and they get the dolphins next week. I mean, chalk that up as a win. Then they get the surprising Raiders. Then they get the chargers who are off to a bad start. The Chiefs looking like they may be back. All right, it was a wild day in the NFL.

Let me just go through some of the results. The smell test was 7 and 1 yesterday, 8 and 4 on the weekend. I'm now 17, 6, and 1. on this season. But I went six and oh on the one o'clock games, you know, had all of the terrible teams and all of the terrible sides, at least perception-wise. I'll start with, I gave out the Titans plus the points. Philadelphia looked awful on offense. Now, the temperature on the field in Nashville was apparently 157 degrees. Is that even possible? And Philly looked off. They couldn't run the football. Now, Tennessee defensively with Jeffrey Simmons in

the middle of that defense is pretty stout defensively. But that was a game in which Tennessee had a 20 to 17 lead and Philadelphia put together the best, or one of the best drives of the game for them. Nine plays 65 yards with Jalen Hertz completing a touchdown pass to Darius Cooper with nine seconds to go to win it 24 to 20. But Tennessee nearly pulling off that upset. Cleveland did pull off the upset at Tampa with, by the way, a multi-hour delay because of lightning. God, we saw that all weekend long in the southeast,

especially on Saturday in college football. But this is like, again, this is one of those things where if you think you know what's going to happen on any given NFL Sunday with any level of certainty, you just have never really paid attention to the rest of the league. Or more importantly, I don't know if it's more important, but more likely you've just never wagered on football, which by the way, bless you because you've saved a lot of money.

But Cleveland, after looking horrible in their loss to Jacksonville in the opener, Deshawn Watson cries for him to be benched. He can't do it. He's delusional. I said that last week. He threw for 238, two touchdowns on 24 of 30. He completed 80% of his passes. They had no run game.

It was all him. And by the way, they got it right on some of the picks. Denzel Boston, the kid out of Washington, I loved him. I love their running back Jonah Coleman, who's in Denver. He looks good too. but Boston and Concepcion combined for 11 catches in their second games as rookies for 123 yards and a touchdown. Watson was outstanding. Mayfield, another pick in the game took three sacks.

The bucks are off to an 0 and 2 start losing to Cleveland at home as an 8-point favorite. Jay's lock of the week went down. I was on the other side of that. But Jay will have, I'm sure, more winners than losers. He certainly has the last couple of years. Then how about the game in the Meadowlands? The Jets and the Packers, the Jets were nearly 2-0 to start this season. The Jets!

Aaron Glenn butchered the clock at the end of regulation so badly. I'll get into that maybe tomorrow with Tommy. He might be at the top of the list. And it's a list that's crowded at the top with coaches that are absolutely clueless on how to manage the clock and timeouts. And maybe has somebody that does it for him, but he's obviously not interested in listening to those people. Look, Green Bay is a bit banged up. The Jets got another decent performance from Gino Smith. Neither team could really run the football.

and it turns out that Green Bay got a big turnover and ended up winning the game in overtime, 20 to 17, rallying from 10 down. They're lucky at this point to be one-and-one the Packers are. How about the Raiders, 2 and O? Who had that? Actually, I did. I told you guys, and it wasn't just because of Kirk. I thought that the Kubiak-Kirk connection was going to be a good one, but they're more talented.

then I think people gave them credit for Bing. But Cousins is off to a great start in the first two games. Now, they beat Miami last week. That's not saying much. This week against the Chargers in SoFi, Cousins, three touchdowns. He got picked, but it was because a receiver fell down on what would have been a good throw. No running game from Ashton Genti after being exceptional last week. And no Brock Bowers still.

And they beat the Chargers 26 to 14. the Chargers put the ball on the ground. Listen to this. Six times. Six fumbles. They only lost one of them. They recovered five of the six. But Herbert threw two picks.

His offensive line is a complete and utter disaster again. And the Chargers are 0 and 2 and the Raiders are 2 and O. And the Raiders head to New Orleans. after the Saints rallied from 14-3 down, also from 17-9 down to beat the Ravens at M&T Bank. Tyler Shuck, I'm telling you, he's the real deal. I loved the Saints at the end of last year. It's why I picked him this year,

had a lot of the same players back. Chris Olives turning into an absolute star with the quarterback Shuck. He had 10 catches, a buck 82 last week, Eight more catches for 86 yards this week. And guess who is turning into a legitimate upper tier pass rusher in this league? Chase Young, sack and a half yesterday, multiple quarterback hits. He was outstanding at the end of last year for the Saints. Chase Young is still only 27 years old.

You can't bail on the real talented guys. too soon. He looks like he's turning into one of the better pass rushers in the league. The Saints beat the Ravens 24 to 17. Lamar had a horrible pick on their final drive. And I don't know what Baltimore does sometimes. It's a new coaching staff, but Derek Henry on a role in the first half barely touches the ball in the second half. I feel like that's happened before. The Bears scored 59 last week. They scored three yesterday. I had Minnesota and the under in that game.

The world was on the over and the Bears in that game. And the Vikings won it with three field goals in the game. Turnovers by the Bears hurt. There's a fumble in the red zone in interception by Caleb Williams. And of course, the story was when Caleb Williams went down in the fourth quarter, Wet field, ugly game. It looked like, I think everybody thought, torn Achilles, the poor kid is done in week two. It turns out he's got a hamstring injury and he may play next week.

There was a lot of drama for an injury in which he might play next week. I have to wonder whether or not he could come back into the game. I don't know that for sure. But he didn't, and Tyson Badgant had him down there but couldn't get him in at the end. The Vikings with that defense, and Carson Wentz, another starting quarterback, 9 to 3 winners. By the way, Aaron Jones, I mean, this was a throwback game for the 31, 32-year-old running back. He was outstanding on a tough, sloppy field, 23 carries, and 105 super tough yards. Minnesota beats the Bears 9 to 3.

Drake May was not very good against the Pittsburgh defense, but Pittsburgh's got a major problem with their offensive line. They cannot protect, and if they can't run the football, it's going to be tough for Aaron Rogers. Again, another five dropped passes, three of them by D.K. Metcalf. This guy right now has serious issues mentally in catching the football. New England's defense was outstanding. They got a big play from Trayvion Henderson,

and they won 20 to 3 over Pittsburgh to get to 1 and 1. The Jags Broncos, that was a big game yesterday. Denver did a nice job after falling behind early. That defense is outstanding. I think Jacksonville's a really good team, but Bo Nicks came up big through for 288 and a touchdown after a pick. Lawrence had a big-time pick and it was an ugly pick.

Those are two good football teams, I think. Certainly on the defensive side of the ball, two good football teams. Jalen Waddle had a really good game. Remember, he's a Denver Bronco this year. Eight catches for 138 yards. 20 to 13. Denver gets to one-and-one after the Monday night loss. What game?

Oh, the Seahawks, Washington's next opponent, destroyed the Cardinals. Now, here's the fear next week. Seattle's defense right now through two weeks is the best in the NFL. They held Arizona to, listen to this, seven points, 151 total yards, three of 12 on third down. Jacoby Brousset completed 17 passes for 95 yards. They rushed for 70 yards, but Jeremiah Love, 9 for 29. Tyler Al Jir, 5 for 10. So those two combined 14 for 39 yards.

Not a good day against a dominant defensive football team. I'll tell you what, they better figure out a plan for Jackson Smith and Jigba. You can't let him come in and do what he did to them last year. It looks like Drew Locke will get the start. And guess what? Yesterday, 19 of 26, 235 yards, three touchdowns, plus the Seahawks rushed for 162 yards. They are 2 and O and they are very good defensively right now. And Drew Locke has been really, really solid in relief of Sam Darnold.

The only other game I haven't mentioned, the 49ers blew out the dolphins. That was actually the one smell test loser yesterday. I had Miami plus the two. touchdowns. Brock Purdy, 20 of 22 in the game, 287, two touchdowns. Tonight, it's the Rams and the Giants, no smell test pick on tonight's game, although the Rams are now down to at my bookie, just six and a half. So I'm sort of interested in the Giants tonight plus the number, but not a smell test pick. An eight and four weekend, we move ahead to next weekend. All right, I'll finish finish up with some thoughts on Maryland's loss to Virginia Tech Saturday night and the Ole Miss LSU game.

We'll do that after these words from a few of our sponsors. Ethan Grunkenmeyer is Virginia Tech's quarterback, if you didn't know, and he threw for 314 yards and three touchdowns Saturday night in College Park. By the way, 31 of 39 on the night. The play you just heard was a third and goal, from the 18, and he scored on a quarterback draw. Virginia Tech in a highly anticipated game for Maryland fans and Virginia Tech fans. The Hokies won 35 to 26, and to be honest, the score was not really indicative of the one-sided nature of the game. More on that game coming up here in a moment. I do want to ask a favor, and I know I can be annoying asking this face. But for those of you who haven't rated or reviewed, rated and reviewed, this podcast, and you don't mind doing it, it's huge for us, especially on Apple and Spotify.

To get five-star ratings and a quick positive review really helps us out a lot. Following the podcast is a big deal as well. Just hit the plus button or the follow button. So look, it was a sold-out game at CQ Stadium in College Park. I would guess 50-50, maybe 55-45-45 Maryland fans to Virginia Tech fans, an enthusiastic setup for not a big national game, obviously, but two teams that thought with a win, they'd have a chance to go on and have a successful season.

In the case of Virginia Tech, the first under former Penn State coach James Franklin, who has very much a confrontation. I was going to say love, hate, it's more hate relationship with Maryland. He was an assistant here with Mike Loxley all the way back in the early 2000s on the Ralph Friegen teams. Franklin was the successor. He was the coach in waiting for whenever Ralph retired, but they went in a different direction when Ralph retired. They hired the very likable, I'm being sarcastic Randy Edsel instead. And, you know, Franklin's, you know, journey has been a successful one to Vanderbilt where they won more than they had ever won,

and then to Penn State, where Penn State fans, you know, obviously feel like they didn't win enough, but still, Franklin won a lot of games in State College. And when they moved on from him last year, he got the job at Virginia Tech trying to kind of resuscitate that program. So there were a lot of storylines in this one. For Maryland, the storyline really is about the head coach, Mike Loxley. You know, there were a lot of thoughts that after last year, that would be it, but Maryland apparently didn't have the money to buy him out. So he came back this year, kept a lot of his key star players. He's phenomenal with sort of the culture, the recruiting, the environment that he's created has landed Maryland a lot of talent. The problem is they haven't done enough

with that talent. And, you know, as a lifelong Maryland fan and alum, I'm one of those Maryland football fans who's been frustrated with Loxley. I think on one hand, it's like, wow, the players he's able to attract, but who cares if you're not winning eight, nine, ten games with those players? And you can't get into that upper echelon of the Big Ten. And they've not sniffed that area since entering the Big Ten. He had a couple of of seasons in a row of winning eight, you know, seven, eight, nine games and three straight bowl wins, including a 54 to

10 win over Virginia Tech in the Yankee Stadium Bowl from a few years back. But this was a big spot for both teams and Virginia Tech dominated. Dominated the game. 35 to 26, not indicative of the domination. Yes,

Maryland offensively is pretty legit. They've got some explosive ability offensively, and their quarterback Malik Washington at 6.5-240 is capable of having big, big nights. You know, the conversation about him being a future first-round pick or a future pro, I'm not there with him yet, but he's a good college quarterback. He isn't consistent from an accuracy standpoint, doesn't throw with great touch, but he threw for 359 and three touchdowns the other night. And their receivers, the two that they brought in as transfers, Gladding and Durer, are really good. They have some real explosive ability, and their best running back didn't play the other night.

But defensively, it was embarrassing on Saturday night. One of the worst tackling displays I have ever seen in a football game. It was, I think they thought they were playing touch because Virginia Tech literally ran over them, around them, and through them without any level of pain. It was a horrendous defensive night for the Terps. Virginia Tech rolled up 35 points, 445 yards, 10 of 16 on third down, two of two on fourth down. The real consistent thing that's epitomized the Loxley era in these games. Discipline. They weren't disciplined defensively. Eight penalties in the game. Clock management, score management issues. Down 35 to 14. They scored. They went for two. Yes,

there are analytics that would suggest down 21 if you score a touchdown, go for two. I wouldn't have, not in that spot. You know, your three touchdowns, three extra points away from tying the game. It's probably not going to happen. But they missed that first, then they came back on the second one, and there are analytics that say down nine, go for two, even though if you miss, it's a two possession game. The truth is down eight is often a two possession game. You know, the two point conversion percentages in college end pro are less than 50%. So when people say eight point games or one possession games, they usually are not. Yeah, there are some analytics around the going for two that locks decided to do in those situations.

There's also context. And that is, when you're getting your ass kicked, any hope of a comeback, don't give away points. Don't give them away. I mean, and they followed up both of those scores and missed two-point conversions with kickoffs. out of bounds. It's frustrating, for sure, in some of these big spots. Some of the teams they have played in some of these big spots, they have been completely outmatched.

I don't know that they were outmatched talent-wise, but otherwise it was not necessarily a fair fight. Now, will Maryland go away and hide the rest of the year? Was that the game that was the pivot point to this season? maybe, but they certainly offensively can move the football and score some points. So I would not be surprised if they have enough offense this year to still threaten a bowl eligibility season, six wins. But I don't know if that's going to be enough to bring Loxley back. I think that the talent, it'd be one thing if you were winning big with the talent, but what's the

point of keeping all these, like you hear people say Maryland fans, well, if he goes, we're going to lose all these good players. Well, what are the good players doing for you anyway? You got your ass kicked by Virginia Tech in your own stadium, which was basically half the opponent's fans. And that will be the biggest crowd they have all year long because they don't even have, well, they do. At the end of the year, they've got Penn State at home. And that'll be and if Penn State's good and Matt Campbell's off to a pretty good start in State College, the stadium will be taken over by Penn State fans. But they don't have the home game against Michigan or the home game against Ohio State to fill the place up.

Yeah. The other thing from Saturday real quickly, Ole Miss LSU. Wow, what a scene. What intensity. You know, I recorded it. I watched it. Lane Kiffin is a villain. He's the number one villain in college sports right now.

I'll tell you the takeaway I had from that game is, wow, Ole Miss is really good, and Trinidad Shamblis might be the best quarterback in the country. You know, they went for two, by the way, up 30 to 24 to give themselves an eight-point lead. They got two off sides, which made it easyer, but they, like, they, lined up at the normal spot to go for two, up six. A lot of that stuff has really come into play in both college and pro. LSU was not up to the challenge. And Sam Levitt was nowhere near Trinidad Shambliss, who threw for 363, two touchdowns. And they lost Kiwan Lacey, their top running back during that game. By the way, Ole Miss this coming weekend against Florida,

they're an underdog in the swamp against undefeated Florida. One other thing. I'm going to weigh in on the NC State Vanderbilt ending. One of the all-time blunders to end a football game at any level. But I'll save it for tomorrow's show and discuss it with Tommy. That'll do it for today. Back tomorrow.