The Kevin Sheehan Show - Feel Free To Enjoy It, Redskins Beat Cowboys!

Episode Date: October 22, 2018

Kevin recaps the Redskins 20-17 win over the Cowboys. He touches on the solid, tried-and-true NFL winning formula the Redskins executed for the second straight week. He doesn't ignore the flaws, including Alex Smith's struggles at QB. He invites JP Finlay in to discuss the big win, goes around the NFL, discusses the Wizards loss on Saturday night and the key college football games from Saturday. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. So 52 yards to try to get it to overtime. Brett Marr. It all rides on his toe.

And the kick is the upright and wins it. And finally, no apologies to anyone about anything. It was a win. and a big one in the NFC East. A happy Monday to all. I'm here. Aaron is here. This show is presented by Window Nation.

If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to WindowNation.com and tell them we told you to call. Here's what I want everybody to just think about today, Aaron. I don't want all of the naysayers. I don't want all of the critics. I'm going to get to all of that. I promise you, but my number one takeaway from the 20 to 17 win over the Dallas Cowboys at FedEx Field, enjoy it. Just enjoy it. We can discuss all of this team's deficiencies, but we can take simultaneous pleasure

in beating the Cowboys for the first time since 2015, beating Dallas at home for the first time since 2012, And being in first place through week seven of the NFL season for the first time since 2008, I think. The Zorn year when they were six and two, I think they were in first place. I didn't even look that one up. It's been so long. It may not have felt convincing. It may not have been pretty at times. We all may have wanted to curse out Jay Gruden and Alex Smith on that last offensive drive.

but it is a win, a big one for the Redskins. And here is after Enjoy It, my second big takeaway of the day. Can I have two big takeaways for the day? I think you're allowed to. Adrian Peterson is the MVP of this team through seven weeks of the season, six games for the Redskins, and it's not even close. They might be two and four without them, maybe even one in five. they wouldn't have lost to the Cardinals in the opener.

We can all thank Doug Williams, who decided not to ask for permission from the dummies he reports to, but I guess he did have to beg for forgiveness. Doug, thank you very much, because Adrian Peterson is the big difference maker so far for these 2018 Washington Redskins. As far as the game goes, it was a win the way I described they could do.

it on Friday. Another clean game, another old-fashioned formula win. I'm not stupid. I know against good teams they're going to have to do more offensively. I understand that. But they can win games, stay in the race, potentially win enough games to make late December really important this year playing this way. Now, they can't do much in January with an offense that can't throw the football. I get it. But there is time to improve on that. I'm not suggesting that four and two makes them this great team. They're not a great team. They're a work in progress.

But here's the thing. When you're winning games while you're trying to figure things out, then that's a great thing because when you do figure them out, if they are able to figure them out, they'll have something to play for because of what they're doing right now. They're winning games. It's not pretty, but it's an old. old-fashioned formula that's worked in the NFL, and they're going to have to have a chance to do something great this year. But they're going to give themselves, if they keep sort of piling up some wins here, and two in a row is not piling them up.

I get it. For the Redskins it is. For them it is. But they're winning games not playing great football necessarily, but smart football, but still, in the process of trying to figure it out. Look, there's no need to apologize for anything. Enjoy the day and thank the good Lord that they went out and signed Adrian Peterson and that Adrian Peterson decided to sign here because he is so far the number one difference maker through six games on the season. The Redskins are four and two and they are in first place. Let's get to

my game take. Here's Kevin's game day. There's a lot, a lot to get through. And I will, of course, have things that I didn't like about the game. But my overall feeling, seriously, and I felt this way right when the game ended, and it was so good to see something finally break their way with that kick on a call that was very questionable. We'll get to that, the five-yard penalty for the snapper moving the football

a little bit early that drew apparently the neutral zone infraction. But it was nice to see the Redskins get a break at the end of one of these games, to be in a position to take advantage of an opportunity for a big win over their arch rival. It didn't seem like it was going to end well when the Cowboys got into field goal range. Let me go through first the things that I liked, because there was a lot. The run defense was as good as it's been all year long, and I thought it was going to be much improved coming into this season because John Allen was back and because they drafted Duran Payne and Matt Ionitis

and they had the look of a legit run-stuffing front three, four, front seven. But the game at FedEx Field yesterday last evening was the game in which you saw it because this was a top flight rush attack. Elliott was held to 33 yards on 15 carries. That's 2.2 yards per game. Now, you had Dak Prescott get some big scrambles late in the game that made the numbers look less disastrous for the Cowboys, but really, Dallas couldn't run the football in this game

against the Redskins defense. They couldn't. I didn't see anyone on defense who didn't contribute in the run game when they were on the field trying to stuff the run. There were a couple of things that were interesting that I noticed during the course of the game. And I don't have the snap counts right now. And I'll get those later today and have those for Tuesday. But DeShazer Everett was in the game a bunch.

And at times it looked like he was a third safety on the field with Swaranger and with Nicholson. And I think he was probably out there for one of the corners to stop the run. Run defense, big. The rush offense. was huge in this game. I didn't think they were going to be able to run the football successfully. I didn't, and I talked ad nauseum on Friday about field position and punting when you had to punt and winning that field position battle

and making a couple of plays here and there and winning the turnover battle. We'll get to all those things. But I didn't think that they were going to have success running the football against Dallas, but they did. 130 yards rushing, 99 from Peterson on 24 carries. Most of his big runs came out of the shotgun, where Alex Smith had some RPO stuff, he had some read-option stuff.

The shotgun stuff does make it look like Smith can pull it. And because of that, and because he's been a good runner in the past, you can see the defense respecting the possibility that Smith on those shotgun mesh runs. a lot of them are counteraction, especially the ones that go wide. They are respecting Alex Smith's ability to potentially pull it. It's helping. But the best run of the day for Peterson was that 16-yard run in the first half where he completely reversed field.

It was an incredible run. He's jump-cutting. He's making people miss, and the first guy there is not making the tackle. It takes a gang tackling effort. to get him down. Run defense, rush offense. How about plus two in the turnover category? Now, they didn't take advantage of the first one. The Sweringer strip on Prescott's fourth down sneak. What a great play. Great play from DJ Sweringer, who I thought had a really good game, especially in the first half. He really brings energy and made some plays. Look, the first pass

of the game that he nearly picked, but just didn't get his feet down. An incredible break on the ball an incredible catch. The second turnover force was, of course, the game winner. Carrigan not only gets to Prescott, but strips them of the ball and Preston Smith scores. Plus two, turnover margin. A massive, massive reason for the win tonight, the win last night. It was, it's now plus five in the turnover margin over the last two games. How about field position in this game?

Wow. For a second straight week, the skin's completely dominated field position. They had a starting average of their own 33-5-yard line, but they started three drives at midfield, one in Dallas territory, and that was after the Sweringer play. Now, Dallas, on the other hand, started their drives from their own 21 on average. So you're talking about a 12-yard difference, and they had five drives start inside their own 20.

The Redskins for the second consecutive week dominated field position in this game, a major factor in them winning this game. Special teams last week were really good. Well, they certainly didn't hurt them in this game. Dustin Hopkins made both of his field goals and Tressway punted five of his six times inside the Cowboy 20. The only real sort of question

decision on teams all day long, was Stroman calling for a fair catch with nobody within 10 yards of them? Special teams, another contributing factor in the 20 to 17 win over Dallas. How about the pass rush? Consistent all day. Four sacks, 10 quarterback hits. Carrigan had two sacks, including the game-winning strip sack that resulted in the Preston Smith touchdown. Preston Smith at time seemed to be unblockable by one of the better left tackles in the game, Tyron Smith. He had problems with Preston Smith all day. It was one of Preston Smith's better games as a Redskin. That pass rush drew multiple holding penalties that killed Dallas opportunities. The Connor Williams hold on John Allen nullified that big third down conversion for Dallas early in

the fourth quarter and the next play was the Carrigan's sad. strip Preston Smith touchdown. The pass rush was outstanding, start to finish. It helps when you're stopping the run. It really does, and you put that quarterback into a position where he has to throw the football. Look, the last two weeks, plus five turnover margin. Adrian Peterson, last two games, 196 yards rushing 4.8 yards per carry. Significant field position advantage, the last two games.

very good run defense the last two games no bad penalties the last two games all of the above mean that the quarterback didn't have to do too much for the Redskins to win the game thankfully on that I'll get to him in a moment remember this too they won the game without Thompson without Crowder that's two straight wins without Thompson and Crowder two of their better offensive players in fact you could argue Tompson one of their two best offensive players. No Richardson, no Dunbar, too. So they were missing key pieces and they still won the game. The players of the game to me, Adrian Peterson won, and then you could follow that up with some distant twos. Sweringer was outstanding. Alan was great.

Carrigan, Preston Smith, all of them stood out. All right, let's get to the things that I didn't necessarily like from the game. The last offensive position. possession was, it wasn't the right strategy. I tweeted out right before that last possession at 20 to 17. You've been conservative, but you've got to go win the game on offense. You can't give the ball back to Dallas. You've got to try to win the game on offense. And to do that, you're going to have to throw the ball on first or second down. I was fine with the conservative approach to most of the game. It's sort of the formula that I had suggested on Friday, do a lot lot of the things that don't create sort of self-inflicted pain. And they didn't. And that's

why they had the lead late. Dallas wasn't a team that you needed to keep pace with offensively. So all of those things added up to the position they were in. But with the game on the line, with your offense on the field, I would have preferred to have seen Jay stretch his legs a little there's a big difference. Let me make this point. There's a big difference between having a three point lead in that spot and having a greater than three point lead in that spot where the other team is going to be forced to score a touchdown. If the other team's down by more than three and they're going to need a touchdown, I am less inclined to be overly critical of the team that runs it three times, makes that team burn all of its three timeouts, punts it, and then says, go ahead

with no timeouts, try to score a touchdown going 80 yards with a minute to go. I'm less inclined to be overly critical in that particular situation, but when you're up three and you allow them to get the ball back with a minute or so left, you're in danger of having that game tied. All they have to do is get in field goal range. And by the way, in that particular situation, the Cowboys were with the wind in the game. I know it was swirling,

but that was the direction in which the both coaches felt like you kick a longer field goal. It was the other end in which Jay passed on a long field goal at the end of the first half. Because that end was too windy. Dallas had the win. So for me, you got against nine in the box, you got to take a shot on first or second down,

even if it's a bootleg or some sort of conservative play action, and if it's not there, eat it, all right? Take the sack, make them call their time out. But you got to go try to win the game by getting a first down on one of the first two plays against a loaded box. Because trying to throw it on third down when Dallas is then expecting it more,

and they don't have nine in the box, but they're playing it more conventionally, then your chances of converting it on third and nine aren't that great. I think Jay played it not to lose instead of playing it to win in that spot. And I think he got lucky that the kicker missed the kick to put the game into overtime. Because if they had lost in overtime,

it would have been on him for that sequence. It would have been. And of course, the worst part of that sequence is Alex Smith scrambling on the third down play and going out of bounds, which saved Dallas's last time out. For a veteran quarterback, that was a bad play, a real head scratcher for a guy

that's supposed to have the poise and the understanding and the game management at the end. All right, the next thing on the things that I didn't like list from the game. I'm going to be much more critical of Alex Smith this week than I was even last week, where he didn't make this list, I just sort of reviewed his performance. Look, this isn't that hard. He's really struggling right now.

He's not seeing things, and when he does, he either misses with inaccurate throws. All right, see the bootleg to sprinkle on the end zone, which was the worst throw of the day. Sprinkles wide open. It's a bootleg. It's an easy play. It's a touchdown, and he misses him. I think he gives up too quickly uncertain plays, especially. when he feels like there's pressure bearing down.

You know, the Mo Harris in the red zone underneath on the third and goal before they kicked the field goal to go up 13-7. I think he felt that pressure way too quickly and airmailed it over everybody out of the end zone. Mo Harris was open underneath. He could have thrown it to Mo Harris. I don't know if he scores, but he's got a chance with the ball in his hands at about the two or three yard line.

He's wide open. He needs to make that throw. That was against the blitz where he still. isn't having success enough. And the protection in this game was much better than it's been. They had their starting offensive line back intact. He needs to make teams for send, and make teams pay for sending more than four pass rushers. The pressure on a third and 11, I think, on their second drive of the third quarter, was third and 11, second drive of the third quarter. He's rushed immediately out of the pocket, never looks down field, checks it down to Bibbs for nine yards and

they punt. Now, I said on Friday, on third and long, you're going to have to check it down and punt it. And I don't have a problem with them checking down and punting it. But he never looked down the field. He got rushed too quickly, dumped it to Bibbs, never looked down the field to try to make a throw to get the first down. With all of that, okay, he did make some big throws in the game. He made a really good throw to Michael Floyd on a third and ten late in the first half when they were driving to try to get in field goal range. It did not result in points because they couldn't get one more completion to get in decent field goal range, but that was a good throw. He did pick up the blitz nicely on the first drive of the third quarter where he found

Jordan Reed for 27 yards on a third and seven. That was a really good throw. That drive led to the field goal for a 10 to 7 lead. He found Doxon on a couple of throws right in the seam of the defense, including a first and 20 throw, which went for 15 yards that got them started on the drive that ended in the field goal that gave them a 13 to 7 lead. That was an excellent throw. So he, like last week, made a couple of good plays, winning plays that contributed to points that led to points, not touchdowns, but field goals. Overall, though, he's just not that good right now. And I don't think Jay's helping him either.

I think he needs more play action opportunities on early downs. Now, look, I wanted Adrian Peterson to run it on every play. All right, he is their best offense right now. He's their only offense right now. The more, the better of Adrian Peterson. I'm good with that. But on first and 10 in this game, listen to this. not counting the drive at the end of the first half where they're throwing it

to try to get into field goal range, which they didn't. But on first and 10 in this game, Jay Gruden or Alex Smith, if Alex Smith was checking to these plays at the line of scrimmage, they ran the ball 17 times out of 20 first and 10 plays, not counting the last drive of the first half. Again, running it was successful, But I think to get Smith going, a few early down play action throws will help him.

Look, I think he's feeling pressure too quickly. He's giving up on plays too early. That's a bit surprising too because he needs to make more plays with his legs while he's not making enough with his arm. I liked some of the speed option stuff. I like when he's running and creating, and they ran two or three speed options. The one they got stopped on was, I think he checked into that play on third and two,

and Sean Lee read it perfectly. But Alex Smith in this game was a C-minus. At best, they won despite him, not because of him, but that's okay. Last week, similar thing. And if they do all of these other things well, they're going to be in these games, and he did make three or four big throws. I'm not suggesting that he was completely blanked. I didn't give him an F.

Giving him a C to C minus. But there are easy throws that he's missing. I thought they protected well too, much more yesterday for him. Field position was dominant, but it hasn't led to offensive points, and that's on the list of things I didn't like. Last week, they had two possessors.

in Carolina territory that didn't produce points. Then in this game, they got a short field off the Swaranger turnover. That produced nothing. And towards the end of the first half, all they needed in Dallas territory was one decent completion against what looked like soft zone coverage, some soft coverage anyway. I don't know if it was zone. And they could have gotten into field goal range. And they couldn't get one of those completions.

He missed Josh Doxon twice. The other thing that I didn't like. Two other things. There were some coverage issues. That's expected without Dunbar and a rookie Stroman in for him. Stroman obviously got beat badly on the touchdown pass to Gallup at the end of the first half. A little stop and go action. He bit badly on it.

Moreau got beat a few times, especially on that final drive on that fourth and not the fourth and 13. It was a third and long. I think he got beat on. The play that he got hurt on. There was a third and goal on the first. drive of the third quarter. This was something I didn't like it all. This was after Smith miss sprinkled badly on the first and goal bootleg.

Peterson then caught a pass on second down, got it to the one-yard line, then it's third and goal. And the play came in too late. He's rushing to the line of scrimmage. There's a shotgun handoff to Peterson who runs into Vernon Davis first and then gets tackled. Then as he's falling down, fortunately he, had fallen down. He tries to pitch it to Alex Smith. Now, he was down. I think it's pretty much

the only bad decision I think that Adrian Peterson's made all year. But the play was jeopardized from the start because it appeared that Gruden wasn't decisive in just getting a play, getting it in, and they were really lucky the play didn't end up in something much worse. Let me get to a few other observations from the game. Start with this. The false start on the snapper on the 47-yard field goal was really the difference on the final kick. And it was likely a very bad call, regardless of what the league says. NBC last night at halftime of the Chiefs Bengals game did a really good job of pointing out why it was a terrible call. He never moved the ball after getting it set. It's the same process on the ensuing attempt from 52 yards out, and it wasn't called.

It was the difference between a 42-yard attempt and a 52-yard attempt. And based on the kick from 52, he would have made it from 42, probably would have made it from 47. That was a break for the Redskins, a big break. But hey, you know what? They didn't give us the timeout in 1979 in the finale at Texas Stadium with two seconds showing on the clock. They just ran the clock out on us, and Mark Mosley didn't get a chance to attempt a field goal to send the skins to the playoffs.

I remember all of the times that the Redskins got jobbed. That was a bad call, though. It appeared to be a very bad call. In fact, taking it backwards a little bit, I think Dallas mismanaged that whole final 50 seconds. They got into Redskins territory with 52 seconds left, and they still had a timeout. I thought they were going to be more aggressive

trying to score touchdown to win the game. Do you know how many plays they ran in the final 52 seconds before the final field goal attempt? Three, three snaps in 50 seconds, basically. Way too comfortable they seem to be with a long field goal attempt to force overtime. I actually thought it was the first time in the game that they seemed to have the Redskins reeling a little bit defensively.

Moreau had just gone out. You got young players on the field. I thought they should have been more aggressive and thought touchdown in that spot. Then in the final 12 seconds, if you recall after the Beasley catch, which was reviewed by the booth, they could have run another play for more yards

instead of taking the snap after the clock started and handing it off to Elliott. If they had been smart, they would have clocked it real quickly when they restarted the clock at 12. So you got 11 or 10 seconds, and now you can run a play to get chunk yardage on a throw to set up an easier field goal.

Anyway, they didn't. They were comfortable right when they got into Redskins territory of saying, let's just get it to about the 30, somewhere between the 35 and the 30, and we'll be good with our kicker coming on to force overtime. A few more observations. The challenge by Gruden, you know, on the Alan Hearns catch, I didn't think that that was a bad challenge.

I saw a lot of you on Twitter saying a horrible challenge. He burned a time out. You know what? It came after that fourth and 13 that they converted. They didn't need to convert the fourth and 13. Norman was called for holding on the play. But it was an eight-yard play to Hearns. That's yardage you'd like to get back if it isn't to catch.

you'd like to get that yardage back. That's eight yards. So perhaps it was a chance to save yardage. Perhaps it was a chance to give his defense a quick break. I didn't have much of a problem with Gruden challenging that in that particular spot. A couple of other things. How about the Hail Mary at the end of the first half to Michael Floyd? It's right.

He's got to catch that. I get why he didn't. He didn't see it. He got screened. But man, he got to catch that. I thought he needed to catch that. And I swear to God, 30 seconds earlier, I'd said to one of my sons had them all home yesterday, which was nice to watch the game.

The whole Sheehan household was fired up for Redskins Cowboys. We almost at the last minute decided to go out to land over to get to the game. But I just said to one of them, I'd said, Michael Floyd's got great hands. He's always had great hands. And then he had a chance to pull that in and he didn't do it. Well, he has great hands. Just doesn't have a great chest. No, he didn't. It did him hit him in the chest.

Thought the good throw to Doxon on third and ten on the drive at the end of that half, if you go back and look at that play, it got him going on that final drive that they didn't score on because they couldn't make another completion before throwing the Hail Mary. Go back and look at that play. That should have been delay a game against the Redskins. Should have been. The hit by Stroman on Prescott. Come on Tony Romo. Tony Romo says, that's a concussion. he doesn't know where he is right now. It was a bit dramatic and premature, I thought. Although Dak, you know, after going through all of the concussion protocol, was hitting the smelling salt on the way back out on the field.

A couple of other observations. Josh Doxon targeted six times more than any other receiver in the game. I don't know if that's ever happened where he's been the most targeted receiver in the game. He only had three catches for 42 yards. Jordan Reed, on the other hand, targeted just four times two catches. It's still not enough. I mentioned the Redskins had their starting offensive lineback with Ruey at center and LeVau at guard. I thought they ran it much better because of the two of them, and I thought their pass pro was much better because of that.

What else do I have? I'm just going down my list here. Three for 12 on third downs isn't going to be good enough most weeks, but it was fine. week because it really it was better than forcing something and potentially turning it over or potentially punting from worse position. You know, I talked about punning and I said to you on Friday, it's not sexy the way to win this game, but field position's going to matter and it did all day long. Still, you'd like to see him be a bit better than three for 12 on third down. Look, the screen to bibs for the touchdown was really their best offensive play of the day. It was a perfect call,

blocking, Bibbs set it up beautifully, and then accelerated past everybody into the end zone. It was the one time, really, they've taken advantage of great field position other than taking advantage of it from the perspective of putting Dallas in bad field position to start their drive. Hey, how about the uniforms? Championship uniforms. Burgundy pants and white at home making the Cowboys wear blue. I also loved the CBS flashback. after the Carrigan Preston Smith sack and then the Preston Smith touchdown.

They flashed back to 1992 at RFK to Jason Buck Danny Copeland play on the sack of Troy Aikman in the end zone, which by the way led to a 20 to 17 win at RFK Stadium. Jim Nant said Riggins was a league MVP during the broadcast. Hey, Jim, he wasn't. He was a Super Bowl MVP, not a league MVP. Look, four and two, to the Meadowlands we go to face the Giants who will be on a short week.

They play tonight in the Monday night game. So a legit chance to get to five and two. And you know what? If they stop the run again and they don't beat themselves again, they're going to have a chance to win a third game in a row. Good win for the Redskins. I don't care if it was ugly at times. I don't care about the conservative nature at the end,

the fact that they almost gave it away, they got it. And it counts. And they're not a great team right now. I don't even know if they're a good team right now, but they're winning on the way to potentially improving. Worry about being good in December. Try to pile up enough wins right now to make December meaningful if you're good by then.

I think that that is something right now. They've never done this before. They're winning some games, not playing perfect football, not playing explosive football, not playing the most attractive football. But the last two weeks, the formula they've used, is winning football against a lot of teams. Let's bring in J.P. Finley, who was at FedEx Field for the Redskins 20 to 17 win over the Cowboys. And I just went through sort of my whole game take and the things that I liked and the things that I didn't like. And the first thing I said JP is I'm like, look, we can sit here and we can nitpick how ugly it was at times and how conservative they got at the very end and the things that we didn't like. But I'm going to actually enjoy it because they haven't done it in a while over this particular team.

It certainly haven't done it at home in a long time against this particular team. And I do think over the last two weeks, even though it hasn't been sexy necessarily, especially on offense, it's a formula for winning games against teams. like Dallas right now, which is let them make the mistakes. You win the game in a tight, you know, close-knit game where you don't turn it over, where you don't commit too many penalties, where you run the football, where you stop the run, where you win the field position battle, all of those things. And you can figure out later, you know, and worry about later trying to be really good. Because right now they're not necessarily really good, but they're winning.

What do you think? What was your overall take? Kevin, what you're saying, average minds think alike. I'm with you. Running the football and stopping the run is absolutely a formula to win football games. And I think folks almost need to be reminded of that because the highlights are what the Rams are doing or what the Patriots have become with Tom Brady. And you can win football games in this league doing that.

I think the headline of this game, and it won't be because of the way it ended and how poorly the Redskins finished out this game. But the headline of this game should be what the Skins' defense did to Ezekiel Elliott. And then flip that around is how well Ajor and Peterson was still able to run the ball against a really, really good front seven of the Dallas Cowboys. I mean, those two things are how the skins won this ball game, and then you add in two turnovers on top of it. Skin fans are in a weird place right now. I mean, my Twitter, I'm sure yours is the same. Fans can't handle that the wins are coming ugly. Yes.

It's odd. And I think you and I even talked about this last week after the Panthers game, that, you know, that was a good win. You should be happy with the win. The skins close this game very poorly, but they still won the game. They're in first place in the NFC East. I'm with you. I think people should be smiling. Look, we're not stupid.

You know, and I said this earlier, we know against much better teams, they're going to have to do more offensively. I think we understand that. But right now, by winning this way against the opponents they're playing, they're staying in the race, they're making December, you know, the possibility of December being relevant more and more likely. And they can worry about improving in all of these. areas where they're deficient right now along the way. But it is so true because I'm getting

the same sense that it's this weird place where, you know, they're not buying it. Most of the fans aren't buying it. And there are parts of it that I'm not buying either. I totally get it. But here they are. And by the way, you know, you look at some of the teams that the Eagles still have to play, you know, the Rams and the Saints. And, you know, you're four. and two, nine and seven, ten and six probably wins this division. Absolutely. And you know, Kevin, what's funny is I'm not sure that the Redskins aren't a good team. If their defense can keep up this sort of effort and generating turnovers and shutting down

the opposition's run game, I think about how different this game probably would have looked just if Quentin Dunbar was playing instead of Greg Stroman. And Dunbar's injury situation kind of developed late in the week. we're not sure what his status is for next week. But I think where Washington will have bigger trouble is against team. I think Atlanta and Tampa are a much bigger team to worry about. Honestly, and this might sound silly, than Philly and Dallas right now. And not in the division race because ultimately I think the NFC East is only producing one

playoff team, whoever wins that division. But teams that can score in bunches, I think, are more work. worrisome for the Redskins than teams that want to grind it out because the skins will engage you in a grind-it-out game, no problem, because that's what they're best suited for. I do remain the, I'm getting less and less optimistic about what the offense can become, but I do remain confident that at some point the offense has to look better than it has. I just, I think you can rely on the run game, but I think there are spots where they can still be a little smarter and go to play action.

Late in that game, and I think Cooley said this on the broadcast, actually our mutual friend, Danny Frank, told me that Cooley said this on the broadcast. I didn't get to listen. But what if they go in the two-minute, in that under two-minute when they're trying to kill clock, go to the boot on second down, go to the play action earlier, rather than on third down when everybody knows that it's an option. I think there are spots that, like you said, they got way too conservative, later, late in that game.

I think having your full complement of receivers will only help. Although, I got to say, I was actually pretty impressed with Josh Doxon against the Cowboys. You know, nobody's stats really stand out, but the way he made catches, getting open inside, getting inside position on corners, I thought he did a pretty good job. Look, you said a lot there. Number one, I think they will get better offensively, but it is definitely from a past offense standpoint. Yeah, from a pass offense standpoint, it is a major sort of work in progress, you know, is the best way to describe it. Number two, Adrian Peterson, where would they be without him?

Because, I mean, you know, it's, if Doug Williams hadn't gone rogue and brought him in for the workout, I don't know that this team would be any better than two and four right now without him, because he is clearly the MVP of this season. The run defense, which you pointed out, I think we're. we felt, you know, when we had this conversation over the summer and in the spring after the draft, like it was going to be an improved defense if it remained healthy and it had a chance to be a good run defense because they had actual guys that looked like run stuffers. And it really, really played out yesterday more than it has at any point this year. To your discussion about Gruden at the end, I'm with you. It's like, and I said this, JP, I,

didn't have, if they're up more than three, I'm less inclined to be super critical if they want to run three plays, make them burn all three timeouts, and then say go try to score touchdown from 80 yards away in a minute with no timeouts. I'm less inclined to be critical in that situation. But up three, you've got to go win the game on a first or second down boot or play action with nine in the box. You just have to do it. And then of course, Alex Smith made a crucial error. I mean, This is unbelievable. We've been told how smart the guy is and that he doesn't make mistakes, and I recognize that he didn't have any turnovers. You have to point that out. I think this game's margin was so razor-thin. The quarterback did have a turnover. They probably lose.

But going out of bounds there, I wrote about that on NBC Sports Washington, is just so unthinkable. And from everything we've been told, and not even that, every conversation I've had with that, him. I've gotten to know Alex a little bit. He is a really smart guy, and it's tough because he was trying to win the game, and that's what he said in post-game. He's like, I thought I could get there, and I didn't, and I really messed up. I could have cost us the game. And in some capacity, you'd like that your quarterback's going to try to win the game, but you also, he's got to

recognize that he wasn't close to getting there. And it's, it's, that, that place, that place, play was mind-boggling, frankly. It was stunning. Look, he made some, like last week, he made some plays. He didn't get blanked. He made a beautiful throw to read on that first drive of the second half on a third and seven, third and eight, and I think that splits. He made good throws on third down. Yeah, a couple of really good throws on third down. There was a first and 20 throw to Doxon that got him 15 yards that got a drive started there in the second half. So he made some plays, but he's also, and I think this is where we heard from Jay last Monday, when Jay said he's sticking on the first guy too long and not getting to his second spot.

But he's also JP been very inaccurate at times. And I don't know that that was an issue in his career necessarily prior to this year. The boot to sprinkle, he just misses that so badly. That's a touchdown. It's an easy pitch and catch touchdown. The red zone, especially, seemed to be bad for him. There was another one, I think, in the second half when they got bogged down inside the 10, and it looked like he had Reed maybe coming in on tour.

I think it was Mo Harris. And he threw it out of the back of the end zone. I mean, I believe he was throwing off his back foot. He was facing a little bit of pressure, but he didn't give anybody a chance at that football. I mean, I bet that went into the third row. Yeah, I think it was Mo Harris. that was coming sort of underneath. And maybe it doesn't score,

but you've got to give him a chance to catch it, the two-yard line and see if he can make a play, make a move, and get in there. All right, let's go back to some of the positives. I thought the... It's crazy because there are positives. Oh, yeah. Like, there's so much to get bugged down on.

But, you know, one of the things we haven't mentioned is this was the best their pass rush has been as well. I thought Preston Smith, he really gave Tyron Smith a major problem most of the day. Yep. Carrigan got home twice, including what was the game winner, the strip sack where Preston was able to pick it up and get into the end zone. It was, I think, defensively, their best effort probably all around, maybe that's tough to say with what they did against Arizona and stuff.

But absolutely, finally getting that pressure off the edges. maybe will let Preston and Ryan Carrigan feel a little bit better about their games. Because, I mean, I could tell you firsthand. Those guys were getting frustrated both by their lack of statistical production. They both thought they were getting good pressures, but, you know, the stats weren't supporting it. And they were getting kind of tired of hearing about it. I think, you know, as much as players will tell you, they like to block out the noise, they still hear it.

Those guys have Twitter. They have Instagram. I think having a good week, going up to New York where Eli's a statue and the O-Line's terrible, and maybe they can kind of build off that momentum. But you're also seeing John Allen and Duran Payne consistently being able to give you that interior rush. And, you know, I joked around with Duran Payne after the game, and I just said, hey, man, you didn't get a sack tonight, but Allen did. Does that bug you?

and the Bama guys are such robots as a negative connotation, but he was just like, no, man, we play well as a team. Like he wasn't even engaging in that little bit of banter. You know what, at this point, we don't need personality. We just need the deflected pass that he had in a couple of other plays. What was the locker room like? This was a win over, I know the players are told about this, J.P. and what the fans think, and yet the rivalry's really been diminished in recent years for a lot of reasons.

We don't need to go into them now. I went into them a bunch last week. But what was the feeling in the locker room afterwards? So it's funny, Kev. I listened to that podcast last week where you talked about kind of college rivalries are bigger, but how big Skins Cowboys was for a long time. And Durant and Durant Payne, I asked him about his first ever Cowboys game. and he's like, man, I'm trying to train my mind that the Cowboys are now my rival,

and it's not Auburn anymore, which I just found kind of telling. But the locker room relief. I heard that word for more than a couple players. DJ Sweringer told me that. A lot of guys were saying how relieved they were when the crossbar, when the field goal attempts hit the upright. And I think they would have been happy. if the game ended 20 to 10, I think they would have been happy.

I think even if the game ended 2017, but the skins had gotten a first down inside the two-minute warning and were able to finish that thing out in victory formation, I think it would have been happy. But to almost give up a 10-point lead in under two minutes, nobody was happy. They were relieved, and I think they were going to enjoy it a little bit. but I think the way that how close that got at the end kind of served as an alarm bell a little bit. You know one of the things though, and hopefully people in the organization can share this with the players,

this game, the cowboy redskin thing, it's never easy. You know, when it looks like it's going to be easy, it isn't, and when it looks like it's going to be really difficult, it's a shocking surprise. It just has always been that way between these two teams, And, you know, at 20 to 10, I didn't think it was over yet. I mean, there were still, you know, close to five minutes.

I think it was 450-something left in the game. And it could have been over it with a fourth and 13. I mean, they had to convert a fourth and 13, although there was a hold on the play, even if they didn't convert it in that spot. But did you know, you know, there, and I'm sure you heard a lot about it afterwards, that that movement by the snapper on the,

47-yard attempt. It was a very sketchy call. It was not the leagues trying to back their officials, but NBC at halftime last night at the Chiefs-Bengals game did a really good job as sort of breaking it down, and there wasn't really anything that should have been called there. In fact, it should have been, you know, neutral zone infraction, 42-yard field goal. You know, I haven't, I didn't have time to kind of see all that stuff yet. I saw Nick Sundberg had a tweet about it. I think a fan or somebody had asked him, hey, what did you think of that call? And he said, you know, it doesn't get called very often,

but when the long snapper addresses the football, he's told very clearly not to make any abrupt movements. And I guess it was abrupt, but somebody told me that on the replay, on the Fox game, the next snap, he basically did the same movement. Yeah, it was the same thing. It was, once he got it set, it was set. It was, you know, just like any time you see that long snapper,

they tend to get it, you know, get organized with it and move it around a little bit. But once it got set, it was set. But you know what? It just adds to, you know, the Redskins Cowboys thing. I hope the Cowboys think they got screwed because the Redskins have found themselves in that position many times before. And who knows, all that was going to do was send it to overtime anyway. You know, I do think that win meant something for Jay Gruden, just that he had lost four in a row,

and he hadn't beaten the Cowboys at home. And now he's – I don't think he worries so much about the win streaks, but winning two in a row and what every player will tell you and coaching staff as well, even though – I mean, really, a lot of these guys haven't been around enough long enough for a Redskins Cowboys game to really carry great weight. but they recognize how important division games are, if you're going to try to win the division, which if you had to really pull that locker room, I think those guys realize that winning the

NFC East is very much in play. And, you know, there's still 10 games left, but they've put them in a position that winning it could happen, and I think they realize the value of that even more than necessarily beating the Cowboys. Look, I mean, I mentioned Philly's schedule. You know, they have to play Jacksonville, who's really struggling in London next weekend, but they have to play, you know, in New Orleans, in Los Angeles against the Rams. They still have to play a game against Houston, and they've got a lot of their division games left. You know, the only division game they played is against the Giants, which was the game, you know, a week ago last Thursday night. But from the

Redskins perspective, you also have to say this. They still have five division games left, three of them on the road, and two, they've got games against Philadelphia in December, where maybe at that point Philadelphia has gotten it figured out. Because I still look at Philly as the most talented team in the division, certainly on the defensive side of the ball, though really all four division teams really are pretty good defensively. It's the one thing you could say about the NFC East is that all four teams have pretty good defenses, good to maybe very good in some cases.

And you know what's crazy is I think the Giants have the most talent on offense, and yet they're the farthest away. I mean, quarterback and no line. If you don't have that, it doesn't matter how good the weapons are, I guess. But I agree. I think most of the NFC East games are going to look like this Skins Cowboys game. I mean, the Giants Cowboys game earlier in the season looked like that. The Philly Giants game, I think you can kind of, this giant season might get away from them based on some recent games. That said, in no way should Skins fans or the Redskins players at this point because we've seen this happen be taking that Giants game for granted next week.

I think that sets up to be really a huge game for them to build a little more steam in the division race. Yeah, and I think the comment you made earlier was really, really a great observation. I think you've had two teams in your last two games that I don't really think you would categorize as explosive offensively, certainly not Dallas. And you do have teams, and actually, if people haven't been paying attention, Tampa's much more explosive even with James Winston offensively. He's actually playing pretty well. Atlanta is still certainly capable. of scoring. And, you know, but they still also have some very good defensive teams on their schedule.

Houston, Jacksonville, you know, the Eagles twice and the Cowboys again on the road on Thanksgiving. A couple of things, and then I'll let you run, and I really appreciate you doing this. First of all, any of the players that were out, Crowder, Thompson, Dunbar, Richardson, any of them going to be back next week? Hopefully Thompson. They missed him yesterday. Yeah, I think he, you know, when we talked to Gruden earlier in the week, it seemed like he would be back. And then he just never progressed.

And the other thing, later in the week, his knee popped up on the injury report. So coming off the Panthers game, it was a rib situation, and then it became a rib and a knee situation. Dunbar, I'm not sure about. I saw him working out with the Tori and Gray, the DeBacks coach, and the Redskins training staff before the game. And this was a couple hours before the game, not when players are normally working out. He was basically testing to see if he could go,

and it seemed like he was pretty far away from being able to go. Now, maybe that was just yesterday for the Cowboys game. But when I watched that unfold was a little bit more worrisome than I expected it to be. I think maybe Richardson is the closest. but Jay Gruden actually told me that, you know, if Richardson's out there, a lot of guys you want to play at 80, 85%. But Richardson, because his speed is an elite weapon. It doesn't, you don't necessarily, he might be more of a hindrance if he doesn't have that fifth year,

then if you're able to give Mo Harris more snaps and he can be a big body and run clean routes for you. So it's tricky right now. until he gets a Wednesday. Crowder had a boot on and was riding a scooter last week. So maybe he makes a big recovery, but I think, I don't, if I had to guess any of those four kind of who I would pick as, like who I would wager on playing, it would probably be in order, Thompson, Dunbar, Richardson, Crowder, I think.

Look, before I let you go, I for yesterday was I think the Redskins really handled Rich's passing in a very classy way. But I wanted to say to you, and I think everybody that listens and follows sports in this town and listens to your podcast and your podcast for for a while now with Rich Redskins talk podcast. But you were as close to him as anybody else. So I wanted to say to you and you and I have talked, you know, during the course of the week, but how sorry I am because he really was. such a kind guy, but you knew him better than anybody, and so we're sorry for your loss, too. I appreciate it, Kevin. It's been a tough week, and in some wacky way, I feel like, you know, they weren't losing that game on Taylor's Day.

Right. All right. Thanks for doing this. I will talk this week. Appreciate it. Okay. Sounds good. Thanks, Keff. Always good to catch up with J.P. Finley. Listen to his Redskins Talk podcast. It's not going to be the same without Rich, but he's going to continue it, and J.P.'s got such great insight on the team, covering the team on a daily basis. Let me tell you about Window Nation. Harley and Aaron are fans and believers in this podcast and me, and I want you to trust in them. Window Nation's my favorite window company because I've used them and it should be yours too. Temperatures are falling fast. We just had our coldest morning and that is a great reminder that your window, pun intended,

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It's time to go around the NFL. I mean, seriously, the NFL this year, every week, there are really crazy games, lots of points, although some of these games were lower scoring yesterday, but it's really been through seven weeks of the NFL season as exciting a first half of an NFL season, and I can remember you had more of these games, nutty games yesterday. Let's start in Philadelphia, where the Eagles were seemingly in control,

up 17 to nothing in the fourth quarter, and then all hell broke loose on three consecutive drives, Cam Newton drove him 80 yards and 11 plays, 87 yards in seven plays, and then 69 yards in 10 plays on three consecutive drives, throwing a two-point conversion, and they had a lead of 21 to 17 on the Eagles. After the Eagles had really dominated the game, listen to the day that Carson Wentz had statistically. 30 of 37, 310 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions. sacked four times. But he had a 120 quarterback rating.

I mean, Zach Gertz, and by the way, that other tight end, Dallas Goddert, they got some tight ends, man, that can really catch and then really make things happen after the catch. But Carolina, with a 2117 lead, Philadelphia now needs the touchdown late. First play from scrimmage, Wents goes deep down the center of the field for Alshon Jeffrey, interference, they're all the sudden now, they're in scoring position, late in the game, 2117 down, but they've got plenty of time now. All right? The time now is really not an issue after this interference penalty. They still have a minute 11 and there at Carolina's 22-yard line. The next play, though, Carson Wentz, over the middle, air mails one for Ertz, and it's

intercepted by Eric Reed at the four-yard line. Game over. Because Philly doesn't have to, have any timeouts left. This is game over at that point. And they go to replay to confirm the interception. And on the broadcast, you had Dean Blandino, the Fox, you know, officiating expert. And he agrees with the broadcast team that he thinks the interception is going to be overturned because he sees the ball hitting the ground. Well, the ball did touch, the nose did touch the ball of the ground, but Eric Reed was in total control of the football with a hand underneath it, the entire play, I was absolutely floored that this interception was overturned. It just didn't seem like based on what we've seen this year, that if you have possession

of that ball, if you're cradling that ball, even if the nose hits it, if you have control of it, they're going to let that catch or let that interception stand. I didn't think there was one replay that at least Fox showed. maybe Al Riveron had a different one in New York that we didn't see. But of the replays they showed, it didn't appear as if there was one replay that could have possibly overturned that call. I tweeted that out, and it's funny how everybody has typically in these cases, you know, different perspective.

But 99.9% of you totally agreed with me. You couldn't believe it. And maybe we were predisposed to just hoping that they weren't going to overturn it because we wanted the Eagles to lose the game. I don't think that was it, though. I thought it was a terrible call. Meantime in that game, there was a pre-game exchange between Eric Reed and Malcolm Jenkins over the whole, you know, Reed leaving the Players Coalition thing,

which was co-founded by Jenkins. You know, Jenkins called, I'm sorry, Reed called Jenkins a sellout. It started a bit of a melee, not a big one. You know, Reed, of course, continues to take a knee during the National Anthem. He's been doing it since his former teammate, Colin Kaepernick, took that stance in 2016. You still don't see a lot about this Sunday to Sunday.

It really has died down as an issue because, you know what? Most people just want to watch the games, and so far the season's been great, and the games have been great. Let's go to Baltimore where it was windy there too because their weather is pretty much our weather. Justin Tucker had never in the history of his career in the NFL missed an extra point. After Joe Flacco drove him 81 yards in the final minute and a half of the game down 2417 to make it 2423, Tucker missed the extra point. he was 222 for 222 in his career it looked like a good kick but the wind clearly took it and blew it right of the upright I can't remember a more shocking finish to a game me neither look I'm not watching that game

clearly because it's Redskins cowboys coming down the stretch I was following it on my phone because I did during one of the commercial breaks see New Orleans get held to a field goal to make it 2417. By the way, in that game, Drew Bree's 500th career touchdown pass that gave New Orleans a 73 lead. The Ravens actually had a 17-7 lead in the game.

But Justin Tucker, missing a point after. And you know, now, that's my pick. I mean, I'm standing by it. I picked Baltimore before the season started to really make a deep run into the AFC postseason. I still believe it. Their defense is still very good. New Orleans

is really good. It was a matchup of maybe the best defense in the NFL against one of the best offenses in the NFL. And in that particular game through basically the first half, it was Baltimore's defense pretty much coming up big. They held New Orleans to seven through

three quarters, and then New Orleans got it gone in the fourth quarter. And they took a seven-point lead from being down 10. But there goes Flacco, driving them down the field. You can say whatever you want about old cool Joe. But with the game on the line, Joe always seems to make big throws, and he's chucking it down the field, leading him to a touchdown pass,

and then Tucker misses the point after. Really interesting, you know, when you look at the standings, and that's why I always say this league's week to week, because what you see one week is something totally different. I mean, Houston's in the lead now in the AFC South. I'll get to that in a moment. Pittsburgh now has the lead in the AFC North, because they are three, two, and one. They were on a buy week this week, and they took the lead with Baltimore losing. Cincinnati getting blown out last night at Arrowhead.

That was a smell test pick of that workout. And then Cleveland losing. Speaking of Cleveland, they rallied from 239 down to tie it. Game went to overtime. It's the fourth overtime for Cleveland this year. And then Chandler, Cantanazaro, kicked the longest overtime field goal in NFL history. The longest game-winning field goal in NFL history

from 59 yards out after at the end of regulation, he missed a 40-yarder. He had also missed an extra point in the game. I was paying attention to that last one because I had the Browns plus three and a half, so I wanted him to make the one at the end of regulation. Well, that won one. That was a smell test pick that actually won yesterday.

Tampa's interesting because, you know, they made the move from Ryan Fitzmagic, right, after all of those big games early, to James Winston coming off suspension. And very quietly, James Winston's putting up some big numbers here. Again yesterday, 32 of 52, 365 yards. Now, he had two interceptions in the game. He did, but the Buccaneers in both of these games under James Winston,

the game last week in Atlanta, which was his first start, he threw for 404 touchdowns, had two picks in that game. but Tampa offensively has weapons with Evans and Jackson. Jackson missed some of the game yesterday, but they're moving the ball all over people. Tampa is. Cleveland's got a good defense, but they've had some odd results for a good defense, or at least for a talented defense. Cleveland now has dropped two in a row after getting to 500. They're two, four and one, and Tampa improves to three and three. To the Meadowlands we go, another brutally windy day, very windy on the East Coast yesterday.

And the Vikings are playing the Jets. And all I can tell you is that neither offense was very good in this game. Kirk Cousins didn't turn it over, though. I mean, he's prone to turnovers. We know that, you know, but he didn't turn it over yesterday. They did not have a rush attack in Minnesota until the very end. But Sam Darnold threw three interceptions in the game and lost a fumble in the game.

four turnovers for the Jets in that game and none for the Vikings. And that was the difference in the Vikings roll to a 37-17 win. And guess what? Adam Thielen, another 100-yard day, seventh straight to start this season. And that is the fifth player in NFL history to get to at least 100 yards receiving in seven consecutive games. One short of the record. Incredible.

that Adam Thielen did that, and he caught a touchdown pass early in the game. And then Aldrick Robinson caught one late in the game from Kirk Cousins, aka Kurt Cousins, 241 yards passing for him on 25 of 40. Not his best day of the year, but he didn't do anything to hurt the Vikings, who all they needed to do in that game was let Sam Darnold self-destruct. How about Miami? This was my guy in the draft. This was the guy that I really wanted the Redskins to take in the second round.

I thought that Carryon Johnson was the second best running back in this draft next to Saquan. Barclay, 158 yards for Carri-on-Johnson in this game. That is, listen to this, for the Lions, it's the most team rushing yards, 248 on the ground, 158 from Carion Johnson. In 21 years, they just have not had a rushing attack during the Matt Stats. Auxford era. The Lions improved to three and three on the season with a 32-21 win over Miami. In Chicago, a wild one at Soldier Field because really the Bears had a chance to win this game. They had the lead in the second half up 24-21. Trubisky had some turnovers but also had a ton of yards rushing in this game.

But the difference in this game, two special teams touchdowns for New York. England. You had a kickoff return from Cordell Patterson for a touchdown, and they had a blocked punt returned for a touchdown. Tribisky in the game had 333 yards passing, 81 rushing, but two interceptions for him in the game were crucial. They did have a play down 3831. Hail Mary on the final play of the game. Did you see this, Aaron? Oh, yeah. Trubisky throws it to the one-yard line. Kevin White, where's Kevin White been?

The West Virginia receiver goes up, makes the catch at the one, but can't turn and get it into the end zone. He's tackled right there, and the Bears, remember just a week or two ago, and everybody's like, oh, this feels like a Bears year. Maybe the Bears are going to have a big year. Guess what place they are in right now in the NFC North? Dead last.

Now, they're only a half game out in that division or a game and a half out. that division. That's a crazy division right now with Minnesota in first place at four, two, and one. Green Bay at three, two, and one. The Packers had the week off with their by week. They go to Los Angeles next week to face the undefeated Rams who pummeled San Francisco, and Aaron Rogers is the biggest underdog of his career. The Rams are nine-point favorites at home next week against the Packers. Aaron Rogers has never been a bigger underdog. And then one of the games, of the day was the first game of the day.

In London, early morning Eastern time zone start of 9.30. I had the Titans as a smell test pick plus the seven. And they it was one of these weird games because they really dominated portions of the game,

especially the fourth quarter in particular. But they still needed a late drive to get a score and then Vrable decides with all of the momentum in the world. This was my feeling in the moment anyway. I'll share this with you because all of the analytics people will say two-point conversion increases win probability. You should always go for two. Why settle for overtime? Yada, yada, yada. If you were watching the game, Tennessee had really turned

that game around. They'd gotten two of three stops on the chargers. They were not getting stopped there towards the end. And I thought it was advantage Tennessee had the game gone. to overtime. They went for two, and on the first play, there's a penalty which moves them to the one-yard line, and then they throw a slant. You've got Marcus Marriota, you've got Dionne Lewis, who, by the way, had a hell of a game. You've got Derek Henry, if you want to use him from the one-yard line, and they throw a slant, incomplete game over. The Chargers survive 20 to 19. They are five and two. And then last night, the Chiefs just completely destroyed Cincinnati. Another 40-point game for the Chiefs, who just are a video game right now with the speed at

wide receiver. Tyreek Hill, seven catches, 68 yards in a touchdown last night. Kareem Hunt, five catches, 55 yards, and two touchdowns catching the ball. By the way, he also had 86 yards rushing and a touchdown there. They rolled up in this game, Kansas City did, 556 yards of offense against a team that many thought was a good defensive team in Cincinnati. Mahomes, four more touchdown passes, 358 yards passing in this particular game. So on the season now, he's got 18 touchdown passes through 7. games. Let me read a few tweets from the follow-up to the Redskins game. We'll take some calls

maybe tomorrow or Wednesday. Tommy will be in with me tomorrow. A lot of you tweeted throughout the game and after the game, and I'm going to read a few of them here and respond to him. This one from Earl on Twitter, winning ugly will keep you employed, but only for so long. It's a win, but it's so hard to watch. I don't necessarily understand this sentiment. I am not being naive to the point where I think the Redskins right now are a really good team. I don't think that. I don't think that they can win games against really good teams in January with an offense that can't throw the football consistently. I get that. But this formula is tried and true in the NFL. Even in this day and age of the NFL, you can win enough games.

You can win enough games to get to the postseason. When you do what they've done for two consecutive weeks, run the ball, stop the run, win the turnover battle, no real bad penalties, play good special teams, and dominate field position. That's what they've done for two consecutive weeks. Now, they still needed, you know, a missed field goal that would have forced overtime yesterday. And last week, they needed Cam to miss on a fourth down play, you know, leading a missed. in that game by six to win these two games. But look, this was a team that got beat so badly in New Orleans.

And I know it was all set up for Drew Breeze that night. But remember the game against Indianapolis. That was a dominating one-sided loss as well. They've put together two consecutive weeks of winning football. Isn't sexy the way they've done it. And yes, Adrian Peterson, without him, where would they be? But they have him.

They haven't had a running back for the last several years. They haven't had a running attack since Alfred Morris and the Shanahan's rear. To have a running back like Peterson, a difference maker, like Peterson, and to be able to run the football, you know, they are doing things here that we just haven't seen. We're not used to seeing them run the football, stop the run, not make self-inflinflit. mistakes, you know, like picks or fumbles. It's hard when they can't make throws that are open. It's hard when they're not scoring enough touchdowns.

But 23 last week, 20 this week, two wins, and an opponent next week, where this same kind of formula should be good enough for a third straight win if they can pull it off. And then you get into, and JP pointed this out, you get into teams like, like Atlanta, and yes, even Tampa that can really score and really move the football. Well, then running the football becomes even more important. Getting a couple of turnovers becomes even more important. Dominating field position, dominating clock.

All of these things that the Redskins have been able to do here for two weeks does give you a chance, even in today's NFL to win. This one from Josh, it was a field goal to tie everyone's acting like the game would have been lost if they had made the attempt. I hear you. It felt like it because it would have been 10 points in the final, basically two minutes. And what it would have come on the heels of, Josh, is it would have come on the heels of what really was playing not to lose on that last offensive possession. That was painful. And again, I want to just, you know, emphasize this. I would not have killed Jay if he had been up

four or six or seven, if he had decided to run it three straight times, make them burn all those three timeouts and say, go ahead, try to score after our punter drives it inside your 25-yard line, go try to move in a minute with no timeouts left to score a touchdown. I would have been less critical. I don't know if I would have endorsed the strategy because I still would have preferred that they had been aggressive there and won the game on offense, but it would have been more understandable. Up three, however, no.

You've got to go win the game on offense. You can't turn it back over to them and give them the opportunity for a couple of big throws and a field goal attempt because then Dallas would have had all of the momentum going into overtime and I don't even know what that means. I mean, potentially the Redskins lose the time. I mean, in that particular game,

I would have preferred the Redskins kicked off in overtime and taken the wind, especially with the way the defense was playing, even though they would have given up a lot there on those final two drives. But yeah, I would have much preferred to see Jay go play action or boot on first or second down and tried to let Alex make a throw against nine in the box to stop the run to move the chains and then knee out the game at that point. This from Redskins' 1977, I tweeted out the following.

I tweeted out, four and two, first place, it doesn't mean they're a good team, but winning games while trying to figure things out means that if you do figure it out, you can still play for something. And it's what I've said earlier in the podcast is I don't think they're a really good team right now. But it doesn't matter because there's still time to become a good team, which what is very important right now is they are winning games while they're trying to figure it out. So Redskins' 1977 just responded with, Jesus, Kevin, as if it were a real thing. real critical commentary and you're interpreting it wrong. That's really not criticism. It's really closer to a compliment. I mean, to be able to win these games, to win it with the formula they've come up with with the last two games, I think is admirable. I think it's been smart. And there's time, plenty of time. They have 10 games left to get good. There's time to figure out the pass

offense and get more in sync with the quarterback. And the best part about this is while they're not you know, hitting on all cylinders, they're winning games. They've won four of six games on the season, and they will be favored more likely than not. I have no idea what happens tomorrow night in the Monday night game, but they'll get the Giants on a short work week. All right, for them, you know how the schedule seemingly always is broken wrong for the Redskins? They get a break because they get the Giants coming off a Monday night game.

I think they'll be favored to get to five and two. A lot of tweets about, Alex Smith. This one from Gotta Be So Heartless. Please address the terrible quarterback we have in Alex Smith. I wish Kirk had a run game in a defense when he was here. Alex is just terrible. And there are a lot of tweets like this. Look, he's not terrible. You're right. They haven't had a run game like they have now the last three years. They didn't have any run game. But Alex Smith is not a terrible quarterback. He's going to be fine. I do believe that. I think there is definitely some of what Cooley said he saw in New Orleans. You know, he's unsure of himself right now. He's

trying to figure it out. There is a little bit of nervousness. Cooley called it the yips against New Orleans. I don't think we've seen that the last two weeks because he has made some good plays. He's made some good throws. But Alex Smith is definitely off a little bit. And Jay Gruden's play calling as it relates to Alex Smith isn't really focused on getting Alex Smith into a rhythm necessarily. And that's okay. They ran the ball on 17 of 20 1st and 10s in the game. 17 times on 1st and 10 they ran it. Three times they passed it. Now, I'm not counting the final drive of the first half. There were times in the past, remember, where they threw it too many times and we complained about that. They were successful running the

ball. I don't have a problem with that, but if he wants to get Alex into some sort of rhythm, he's going to have to do it on non-passing downs, early down action, play action, bootleg, that kind of stuff. He didn't get blanked yesterday. He made some good throws, some really good throws. Three or four of them at least that really contributed to keeping drives or flipping field position or leading to a chance at a field goal. He's not a terrible quarterback. He's not playing well.

He has not been the reason they've won the game. games that they've won. They've won them not, I don't want to say, despite him or in spite of him. They just, they haven't won these games because of him. And they're going to have to have him at some point in one of these games make more plays and not miss as many plays as he's missed. But I think some of the harsh criticism really goes against what the Redskins are accomplishing right now, which is, you know, right now there is a sense, I believe, they have,

that Alex isn't a guy that you can throw a lot at right now. I know he's a veteran quarterback, but he's still learning the system. He's still getting it together with Jay. I know it sounds like excuse-making. Look, he's not playing well. But right now, the team recognizes, the coaching staff recognizes we got to run the football, we got to punt when we have to punt, and we've got a good defense and we've got decent special teams, and we're not going to put too much pressure on Alex to go out there and make plays to win these games or to keep us in these games like we've had to do in recent years to stay in games because we didn't have a running game because we didn't have a defense. You got a running game right now. You have a pretty good defense.

Your special teams are playing pretty well. When's the last time Hopkins missed a kick? When's the last time? Did Hopkins miss a kick in New Orleans? I forget. Well, he's been perfect the last two weeks. Perfect the last two weeks, five for five the last two weeks, including a long one last week. Another tweet real quickly. Is Michael Floyd going to be a go-to guy? I don't know. I will say this, though.

Michael Floyd, despite the end of the half, Hail Mary, that was right in his chest, Michael Floyd's, he can catch. He's got hands. He's got sighs. And you heard J.P. Finley, probably no crowder next week. Maybe not for a while.

Richardson needs to be perfect, too. They had, and I don't have the final snap counts yet, but you saw a lot of guys out there that you didn't necessarily think you'd see at the beginning of this season. You had Michael Floyd out there. You had quick out there. You had Harris out there a lot. They went with three tight ends in some of the run plays with Sprinkle out there. I still think they've got to figure out a way, and I know that they want to go where the defense dictates.

But you're not succeeding that much through the air when you go in the direction in which the defense is trying to push you. So let's try to get Jordan Reed the ball. Maybe a couple of bubbles for Jordan Reed, a couple of slants for Jordan Reed. He had four targets yesterday, two catches, 43 yards, but a big one, one of those plays that Alex Smith did make. He made a couple of good throws. It's not like he had an F performance.

I'd put the performance at about a C-minus. One last tweet from B-Dog. When are you going to talk about the signing of Adrian Peterson into a longer-term deal. I don't know when we can do that because they have Darius Geis, who they drafted in the second round, and he is their back of the future. But I will say this right now.

The Redskins are four and two because of Adrian Peterson more than anything else. Without him, if you had had Capri Bibs or Samajai P.Rine, or you wouldn't have had Rob Kelly, you'd be more likely than not a two and four football team, maybe three and three. you wouldn't be four and two. Adrian Peterson's been a big difference maker in the last two games in particular, the Green Bay game for sure. I think they would have beaten the Cardinals with me at running back in that opener. That's how bad Arizona was. We'll get to some weekend DVR, but first, I want to tell you about

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Let's get to a little weekend DVR. Did you have a busy weekend? Don't worry. We've got you covered. It's time for Weekend DVR. I'm going to start with the Wizards. who are 0 and 2. After two games on the season,

they played a Toronto team on Saturday night that was without Kauai Leonard. He was resting, and they lost the game. Well, they lost it in painful fashion because Fred Van Vleet, with the shot clock winding down, hit a shot that basically gave him a four-point lead. The Wizards lose 117, 113. It came after a block shot by Otto Porter

that was called goal-tending, but they went to the replay and they called it not goaltending, but then they jumped it up at center court instead of just giving Toronto the ball with 4.5 seconds left on the shot clock, which is what I thought they should have done. And then Van Vleet, at the end of that possession, made an impossible shot to basically ice the game. Here's the problem with the Wizards through the first two games.

Rebounding. All right, they got out rebounded in the opener against Miami. They gave up 22 offensive rebounds in that game, and then against Toronto on Saturday night. They gave up 14 more offensive rebounds and got out rebounded 52 to 37. It's a disappointing win because Toronto did not have Kauai Leonard in the game. You got to win at home when Toronto's on a back-to-back. They had played Friday night.

No Kauai Leonard. You got to win that game at home. These are the games you point to towards the end of the year when you are a seven or a six seed and you say, well, if we had won the four or five that really were set up to win, we may have been a four-seed or a three-seed. There are, Candace Buckner wrote a story, Aaron in the Post. It was in yesterday's post, and I want to read the title to it because it was really interesting. The title of the story was Wizards Might Soon Face Core Question.

Then she basically writes about the core, right? Beal, Wall, Porter. And is this it? Is this going to be it for Beal, Wall, and Porter to try, first of all, I don't even even think of Otto Porter that way. I can't stand when I know he's a max player contract wise. But Wall and Beal are like all the way up here, like way at the top in terms of what your core is, what your franchise is about in terms of if you have any hope, these are the players. Porter's not in that level. Come on. Porter is a glue player. He's a versatile player. He's a,

he's not even a third wheel. He's like a third and a half wheel. It's a fourth wheel. I like Otto Porter. I've always said this about Otto Porter. He's a sweet guy. And he's a good player. He's just not a max player.

He's not even anything remotely resembling a max player. They're 0.2. Disappointing. You know, all the analytics people, shoot more, freeze. fired up a bunch of them the other night. In the first half, I think they fired up 26 of them, and

they still only had about 52 points at halftime. They had the lead. They're down three at halftime, I think it was. Wall is now one for nine from behind the arc on the season. He did have 25. And Bradley Beale, let me just mention, became the all-time three-point

shooter in Wizards history, eclipsing Gilbert Arenas' career mark. let's get to some college football from Saturday. Maryland was completely manhandled at Iowa. I mentioned this on Friday, and it's really easy to figure him out. You can see it in the first quarter, if they are able to run the football on offense

or stop the run a little bit on defense because they're not completely outsized and out-strength on the line of scrimmage, then they're going to have a chance to win. Even though Iowa was kicking field goals, and Maryland was sort of in the game at halftime, they weren't in it. You could tell that it would be a fluke for them to score. They only had 15 plays from scrimmage in the first half,

and Iowa had 44. They lost the game 23 to nothing. They are a 15-point favorite, though, Saturday, against Illinois at home to get to 5 and 3. They need two more wins for bowl eligibility, Also, just a quick aside, that second investigation report didn't come out on Friday. Thought it might. I don't know what they're waiting for.

I don't know anything about it. So many of you, the Maryland people, you guys tweet me and you think I have some sort of inside information. I really don't. I've heard different things, but I said this on Friday. I've heard different things that completely contradict each other. Like, I'll hear something from what I consider to be a pretty reliable person, and then another reliable person will say the exact opposite in terms of what's going on there. Elsewhere in college football, there are a couple of big games on the day. Washington and Oregon, I'm sorry, Washington State and Oregon in the game day game, which Mike Leach, Washington State won the game.

24 to 20. They had a 27-0-0 lead nearly blew it. Mike Leach after the game said it was like Woodstock. He apparently was at Woodstock. I love Mike Leach. Do you know what? I think firing Ralph Regian when they fired Ralph Rheeson was a big mistake, but I think not hiring Mike Leach was another big mistake. I was going to say Maryland football would have been much more relevant with Mike Leach. Yes. The other big game of the day, Clemson destroyed NC State. That was a smell test pick laying all those points. Man, you know, right now in terms of the college playoff, does Clemson have anybody?

They can't lose to anybody on their schedule, right? They can't lose to South Carolina at home. At BC, I like BC. I think they're well-coached. I think they're a tough team. They can't score enough to be Clemson. Florida State is their opponent this week. Florida State stinks.

They're playing a little bit better, but they're not going to lose to Florida State in Tallahassee. So Clemson really does look like, you know, in an ACC title game. Who were they going to play in the ACC title game? Is it Virginia Tech or Miami? One of the two, right? Virginia may be the team.

I think Virginia is three and one. They've got one loss, and they still play Virginia Tech. Virginia had a big win over Duke this weekend. Clemson's going to be in the playoff. I don't think there's any question about that. A couple of other quick notes from college football. I don't know if anybody saw any of the Michigan or Michigan State thing. It got delayed by weather, but Michigan, this is one of the underrated

rivalries in college football. These two programs and fan bases hate each other. It's the inferiority complex that Michigan State has about the big Michigan, you know, academic prowess, the whole thing. And Michigan State's not as tough of a school. You know, if you don't get into Michigan, you go to Michigan State if you live in the state, or you go to somewhere else. else. And it's big brother, little brother. That's what it's always sort of been described as. Well, before the game started, Michigan State basically walked from one end zone to the other with their arms locked in a long line. And they walked right through some of the Michigan players who were warming up, including Michigan linebacker Devin Bush. After that happened, Devin Bush went to the middle of the field where the Spartan logo was and started chopping it up with his foot.

Jim Harbaugh thought the whole move by Michigan State was total Bush League, quote, unquote. Dantonio, the Michigan State coach, who I think is a phenomenal coach. I think they've always been so well coached. Dantoneo said that he wasn't involved in the line, but there's video of him walking right behind the line. And after the game, Vinovich, the long-haired, blonde defensive player for Michigan. Chase Venevich said basically, you know, sometimes your little brother gets out of line and you've got to put them back in place. And that was, that's the game right there. Michigan won at 21 to 7. I personally believe that Michigan has a chance to go to Ohio State and win. I think they're very much in the playoff picture. I think you take some of these SEC teams like LSU and Bama and Georgia and Florida and Mississippi State in terms of their defense.

ability and you throw Michigan into that class. Michigan's defense is so, so good. And then the big upset of the day was Purdue destroying Ohio State. Something's not right with Ohio State, and I said this a few weeks ago after the Penn State game. I wasn't impressed with Haskins. I'm still not overly impressed with Haskins. I think Ohio State could lose in Columbus to Michigan, and therefore they'd be completely out. But certainly with one loss, They're not out. You know, right now what you're talking about in terms of the playoff is you're talking about Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, or all the three unbeatens that if they continue that

way, we'll be there. And I think a lot of people feel like Alabama could lose once and still be there, even though the numbers would never support it if they lose a game, because their schedule's been the weakest of all of these schools. Notre Dame's got the advantage of having beaten Michigan head to head. Where's Notre Dame going to lose? How about SC late in the year? their freshman quarterback just got concussed in the loss to Utah. LSU is just so nasty on defense

in that LSU-BAMA game, not this coming Saturday. They both have a buy, but a week from Saturday really is going to be the game of the year in college football. But this coming Saturday, you get an elimination game with Florida and Georgia, because this one could really decide the SEC East and determine either LSU or Bama's SEC title game. opponent. Good college football season as well. I had, what else did I had? I had a couple of things real quickly before we wrap up the show today. Do you see that Adam Schefter reported that the Redskins were one of the teams interested in trading for Amari Cooper? Cooper apparently is available for a first round pick, but the Cowboys are interested. They've called, Schaefter's report said that

the Redskins and Colts and Cowboys are the three teams that have talked to the Raiders about Amari Cooper. I should have asked JP about that. My fault, I meant to do that. I'm not giving up a first for Amari Cooper. No. But I loved Amari Cooper coming out in that draft.

It's a great player. But there's something there with him too. It could be the Raiders. It could be the Raiders. He also drops the ball a ton. He drops the ball and looks disinterested at times. You know, right now they're dealing with a young first round pick at the receiver position that looks and can be, you know, a guy that looks disinterested at times. A couple of other quick things. The fight on Saturday night in LeBron's home debut.

I personally have looked at the replay of the Rondo Chris Paul fight so many times. I found it to be very entertaining. The suspensions are in, by the way, Ingram four games. Rondo three games, Chris Paul, two games. Brandon Ingram came in after the fact. You knew he was going to get dinged harder than anybody. I thought he was going to get more than four. I thought he was going to get six or seven, maybe. But Chris Paul immediately said that Rondo spit on him.

And you can see that he's wiping something off his face. But if you look at Rondo and you look at all the replays, I don't ever see Rondo spit. It may have been one of those situations where when he was talking to him, some spit came flying out. But I'd be surprised if we ever. learned definitively that that was an intentional spit. And I know Rondo's prone to just about anything. I guess Rondo's girlfriend and Chris Paul's wife nearly went after it after the game

too. Meantime, the Lakers are 0-2, but quite a scene in L.A. Saturday night. That was a Saturday of college football all day. Then you had the Dodgers beating the Brewers. How about that catch from Taylor in the fifth inning, you know, which really, which really, really was the game-saving catch on Yelich's hit, which would have been an extra base hit, would have scored a run at least. The Dodgers come through. They use Kershaw to close out that game. Who knew Kershaw was coming in? But I guess they had had enough at that point. They had enough felt like in that moment that it was enough from Kenley Janssen. Sure, familiar feeling for Nationals fans.

Right. Well, we saw that. when Kershaw came in in the game five. But the catch by Chris Taylor is going to go down as one of the all-time great plays in a championship series. I did want to mention this one last thing, and then we'll run. Actually, two more things. Sorry. Sports Center, yesterday morning, Sunday morning, led with the fight, the Chris Paul, Rondo fight, then the Ohio State Purdue game, and then in the second block of Sports Center,

They got to the National League Championship Series game seven. And I just thought about that for a moment. Baseball, I love postseason baseball, but it really is a reflection of where baseball is in the sports hierarchy when you get into October. I mean, look, you got football and then you got LeBron. I can't even argue for it to be ahead of that. And I'm not arguing it.

I'm just saying it's shocking to people my age to think that the National League Championship Series 7th and deciding game was played the night before, and there were two sports stories, one a regular season NBA game and the other one, a college football game, that knocked it out of the A block in sports. All right, back tomorrow. Tommy will be with me. We'll have coaching blunders. Probably take some calls tomorrow too. We'll work some of the calls in. keep tweeting me. A big win though for the Redskins. Seriously, that was a game that I didn't feel they were going to win. My pick was Dallas 20 to 19. That was my prediction on Friday. The point spread

actually went to Dallas minus one and a half at kickoff from the Redskins being a one point favorite. There was a ton of sharp money on Dallas. The smell test, I should mention this, five and seven over the weekend. Three and five on Saturday, two and two in the NFL. All of my liens, though, they almost all came through. But anyway, I didn't release those as Smeltestown. So 5 and 7, still a respectable 45, 37, and 3 on the season. But I really didn't think, I didn't have a great feel about this game. And one of the big things that kept sticking in my mind as I thought about this game yesterday

was the Redskins were not going to be able to run the football. And that was going to cause all kinds of problems. But they did. They ran the football. and boy, did they stuff Zeke Elliott. Those were the two keys, throwing the turnovers, the field position, some of the special teams. Look, our kicker has come up big the last two weeks,

and you've got a four and two football team that'll go to New York, and more likely than not, after tonight's game, be favored to get to five and two. I would imagine that on the road against the Giants, unless the Giants look great tonight and beat Atlanta, and then maybe it's a pick-um in the Meadowlands. I could see that, but more likely than not I see the Redskins is maybe a one, two-point favorite on the road?

Maybe? I don't know. The Giants are funny because they get some respect. I think they get more respect than maybe they should at this point, but it's because of their talent. I mean, they're a four-point underdog tonight on the road. They're on the road against Atlanta. I know Atlanta has struggled, but they can really score, and they're only getting four on the road. I almost thought about the Giants as a smell test pick.

but I'm not going to do it. All right. Thanks to Aaron. Thanks to all of you. Thanks to J.P. Finley, who joined us. Tommy's with me tomorrow. Enjoy the day. It was a winning, it's a winning Monday, which for a second consecutive week,

we haven't been able to say that in a long, long time. Four and two, first place. Have a great day.