The Kevin Sheehan Show - Houston Helpless Against Washington D!

Episode Date: November 21, 2022

Kevin with a complete recap of Washington's 23-10 win in Houston to improve to 6-5 on the season. Is this team legit good? Where is this headed? At 6-5, the playoffs are becoming a legitimate possibility. Kevin shares his optimistic thoughts on the team, the game, and more. After going "Around the NFL", Al Galdi jumped on with Kevin to talk about yesterday's game and the rest of the season.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. And in that direction, it's intercepted. He was throwing for cuts, but Kendall Fuller, command his touchdown. And with that interception returned for a touchdown by Kendall Fuller, which came on

Houston's second play from scrimmage offensively, Washington had pretty much all it really needed. You know, we're all football football. almost everybody that listens to this podcast. And we've all watched enough football to know occasionally early in a game that a game is basically over before it has started. Two offensive series into the game for Houston, I tweeted out, I guess this could turn out to be a tweet that doesn't age well, but this game is over.

Houston has no chance against a Washington defense that has become one of the better defenses in the NFL. NFL. Not much of a reach. I hesitated to do it. I didn't want to jinx it. I put out a similar tweet about the Wizards the other night playing Oklahoma City and looking so good in the first half and they lost that game. But this one was really obvious. It was utter total domination by Washington's defense in this game. And that is going to be the subject here in the open. I will get to my game take in the next segment. We'll go around the NFL and talk about some of the college of football and college basketball from the weekend in the very final segment.

There was going to be a guest on the show today. That guest had to cancel. No big deal. We'll get him on at another time. There's still a possibility we will add a guest here. I put a request into someone, and if they get back to me in time, we'll put him on the show as well. The show today is brought to you by my good friends at MyBooky. go to my bookie.ag.

Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. And they'll match your first deposit dollar for dollar all the way up to a thousand bucks. Right now, if you're wondering about the odds of Washington making it to the playoffs at 6 and 5. On MyBooky, those odds have been updated. They are now minus 165 no plus 1.30. yes. They are now getting very close to almost even money odds on making the playoffs. I mean, you're only getting plus $134 back on a $100 bet. And it's six and five. And for the first time since 2018, a winning record in the month of November, this football team, to me, and I'll get, and I'll get, get to this shortly, looks like it could be a playoff team.

Yeah, let's kind of talk here in the open about what this football team appears to be right now because it's different than the 2018 team or the 2020 team or even last year at 6 and 6. This situation is different, in my opinion. They have won 5 out of their last 6, and they are like. out on defense. This has become a top 10 NFL defense. That's what it is playing like right now, and it is an elite-level rush defense. There are two defenses in the NFC that I would take in front of Washington right now. Dallas's defense and San Francisco's defense. Philly is good. Tampa is capable. Washington's right there in the conversation in the NFC for the third best defense

in the conference right now. You take the bills, jets, patriots, Broncos in the AFC, Tennessee, and Baltimore are pretty good as well. Washington is a top 10 defense in the NFL. And again, an elite rush defense. Their front four is dominating games right now. Say whatever you want about what Houston is, and I get it. They're not a good football team. but they've been much more competitive against other teams than they were yesterday against Washington.

They're running back, which I talked about multiple times last week, Damian Pierce, was averaging over 85 yards per game and nearly 4.8 yards per carry. Yesterday, 10 carries, 8 yards. Eight! He had 137 two weeks ago against the Eagles. He had close to 90 last week. week against the Giants. He averaged 0.8 yards per carry. Washington's run defense is going to more likely than not when the DVOA football outsider's numbers get updated later today after all of the

Monday night games, etc. After the Monday night game, et cetera, they'll probably be close to the number one rush defense in the NFL. Tennessee, I think, was last week. They had 21 yards on 16 carries. Half of those yards by the quarterback. Davis Mills on scrambles. Hey guys, this defense is really good right now. It's been good for a while now. 2020, it was against, you know, they were inexperienced.

They played well. They made a lot of plays, but against teams not so capable down the stretch. It wasn't a good team. They were seven and nine. They made the playoffs as a division champion. at 7 and 9. Last year at 6 and 6, the defense was terrible.

You go back to, you know, the teams in 2015 and 2016, horrendous defensive football teams. In 2018, it was a mirage to the defense early in the year. When they played a good offensive team, they got smoked. It's been, in my opinion, since 2005 that Washington's had this good

of a defensive football team. The Greg Williams teams of 0405, 07, maybe to a slightly lesser degree, that's where you have to go back. You've got to go back literally 15, 16, 17 years to find a defense that's better than the one that Washington has right now. It is a force. People are starting to recognize it too. And you can see that the other teams recognize it on film. They're not even trying to run early in games. against Allen and Payne.

Alan and Payne yesterday, along with sweat, combined for five sacks, seven quarterback hits, another five to six TFLs. Allen and Payne right now, I think, are the best duo in terms of defensive tackles in sacks and tackles for loss. Alan and Payne. Oh, my God. This is the best tandem of defensive tackles in the league right now. maybe both of them as individuals, you know, neither one of them is better than Aaron Donald.

All right. I certainly think Jeffrey Simmons in Tennessee is now approaching, not necessarily approaching Aaron Donald level, but is approaching kind of a level by himself in that kind of number two position behind Donald. Alan and Payne are in that next group. And as a tandem, you're not going to find many as good as Allen and Payne. Allen on every snap appears to be in the backfield, unless his responsibility is to take up a double team and free it up for others. If he's not an all pro this year, I don't know what people are watching.

He is having a tremendous season. Duran Payne will have plenty of time to talk about this in the off season. I think they're going to have to keep them, even if it means franchising him. The tandem of Allen and Payne are giving you a chance to have a chance to have. a good football team and then sweat, finally starting to get home. Three sacks now in the last two weeks. You know, it's more than just the front four. Jamon Davis's development. The safeties are outstanding. You know, Forrest and Curl and McCain too. And then the corners, Fuller and St. Juice, Fuller had one of his best games. He's been playing well. St. Juice got banged up,

but I was told it's not that big of a deal. The team has Really good players on defense. They're also very well coached by Jack Del Rio, Ron Rivera, disciplined. This is why you've got to look at what we're going through right now with this football team as something that's much different than last year at 6 and 6 or the 2020 season, or even the 2016 or 2015 season. Look, in 2015 and 2016, they were great offensively. They were terrible defensively.

They are a top 10 defense in this league, and they are probably a top three to four, worst case, top five defense in the NFC. I'll get to the offense in more detail when I get to my game take coming up. But this six and five right now feels to me like I am watching a team that has a good chance to, A, make the playoffs, and B, and no I'm not smoking or drinking this morning, B, depending on who they play and the matchup, they've got a chance to win a game in the postseason. Remember right now the NFC, it's not like a Rogers Brady, Russell Wilson kind of era where you really didn't think if you got in, you'd have much of a chance against those guys.

I mean, the best quarterback right now in the NFC, just in terms of the way he is playing, is probably Jalen Hertz. And Philadelphia barely survived yesterday. After losing to Washington on Monday night, they had to rally from 10 down to beat the Colts in the fourth quarter, 17 to 16 in Indy. Same score, by the way, Washington beat the Colts by,

in Indy. It's going to be, it's sort of feeling like the NFC postseason could be a little bit wide open. Now, I think San Francisco is pretty damn complete minus the quarterback. I think Dallas is super dominant defensively and they can run the football. And DAC looked really good yesterday. I think the Vikings aren't very good on defense at all. They've got O-line issues, but they are capable. We've seen them win eight games, but nobody's going to be scared to play them in the postseason.

Tampa's 5 and 5, Seattle's 6 and 4. I mean, the Eagles, the Cowboys, and the 49ers are really the three teams. I guess Brady, if he gets hot. I'm just saying that I really believe watching this team over the last several weeks, and yesterday in particular, and I think yesterday may have been as a. impressive as anything else, and I'll get to the reasons why here shortly, but I think we are watching a good football team right now, not just a team that's gotten a little bit hot and won some close games and gotten things to go their way. We are watching a good football team right now.

This isn't 2020. It's not 2015. The 2012 team, I mean, they certainly could have won the playoff game against Seattle, had RG3 stayed upright. They were up 14-0. But that 2015 team was bad on defense. The 2012 team, excuse me, bad on defense. The 2005 team won a playoff game with defense at Tampa and nearly got another in Seattle the following week. The team right now is so good on defense and probably good enough on offense to win three to four more games this year. They've got six left. I think there is a really good chance.

They get to nine, and now I think 10 is a possibility and a good possibility. It gets tougher than Houston yesterday. Atlanta comes to town, dual threat quarterback in Marietta. Cordarell Patterson set the record for kickoff returns for touchdown yesterday with his ninth career one. This is a big game Sunday, Atlanta, a three-point dog against Washington at FedEx. and then you've got two against the Giants with a bi-week sandwiched in between. You've got a Christmas Eve game in San Francisco. That's four games against three teams,

all three of those teams in the hunt for a playoff berth. You can't ask for much more. Look at where we were six weeks ago in early October. I mean, this season at one and four, and really was a muffed punt away, a muffed punt away, from being one and five and really seemingly over at that point. They won that game.

They came back with Taylor Heineke after the injury and beat the Packers. They have been winning games. It's not pretty all the time offensively. At times it's a little bit limited offensively, but the formula is a good one when you have a great defense. Yesterday is so much more important. impressive in a few ways to me than Monday night in Philadelphia because I talked about this being

the, you know, the cliched, the proverbial trap game in the NFL. Everybody knows it, especially people who bet. They're only a three-point favorite on the road in a rather, you know, dismal atmosphere, probably more Washington fans in Houston. Houston's given up on the season. They were one seven and one coming in, but it was a short week and it was a short line and Houston's been close recently. They were dominated yesterday. That is coaching and maturity on your roster. They have those things right now. They do. Look, I know how some of you are feeling. I know how some of you are feeling about this. You're very, very, you know, much in kind of a quandary. You're like, you don't want them to do it until Snyder sells the team. You don't want Snyder to have

second thoughts, you know, if they make some big run, but put all that to the side. You know, it's November 21st, and let's just talk about this football team and the job that Ron Rivera and Jack Del Rio and yes, Scott Turner, and the players in that locker room who have put all of the distractions to the side, all of the off-the-field shenanigans that never stop, the near tragedy before the season started with Robinson Jr., this team is. This team is. six and five, and we're at Thanksgiving with a chance to go to the playoffs. This is what I joke about every year. Just get us to Thanksgiving and have meaningful games to play in late November into the month of December. And that's what they have right now.

Several meaningful games. They're all matchups against teams looking for the same thing. Atlanta at five and six, big game Sunday. Two against the Giants after the The Giants come off a Thanksgiving Day game against the Cowboys. They've lost two out of their last three. What if it's three out of the last four? And they've got Washington coming into their building for a game where Washington could literally pass the Giants in the division. They beat Atlanta and the Giants lose to the Cowboys and then they beat the Giants. Washington's in that spot.

We talked last week about the path to the playoffs. And I said the NFC West is crucial, but my feeling is. is that Seattle and San Francisco are both going to make it. So that means to make it the path is to pass either Dallas or the Giants. The Giants would appear to be the team that you can pass. You've got two games left against them. They're not as good as the Cowboys. They're a good team right now.

Try to take a step back from all of the stuff that we spend a lot of time talking about when it comes to this wretched organization. The football side right now is playing its best ball with good players, with mature players, and they have something that none of these teams have had when they've made the occasional one out of every five-year run to the postseason. They have one side of the ball that is dominant right now. And it's, I think in many ways, even in this day and age of offensive football, it is something that you can still win in January with, especially in a conference that looks,

well, it doesn't look like it has an overwhelmingly dominant team. We may feel differently a few weeks from now about Dallas, about San Francisco, maybe again about Philadelphia. But, yeah, of course, six weeks ago, dead and buried, done. I said if they lose to Chicago, it's over. It's going to be over for Ron Rivera. It's going to be over for everybody. That two-game stretch of Chicago and Tennessee, they lost to Tennessee.

If they lost both of those games, that season was going to be over. And really, you don't recover from one in five. And let's face it, like even if they ended up playing better after the Chicago game, if they lost the Chicago game, they'd still be sitting here right now at five and six, not six and five. All right, my game take when we come back, what I liked, what I didn't like, and a lot more, right after these words from a few of our sponsors. We're going to go with Taylor and we'll work Carson back in and see where Carson is in terms of if he's ready to be the backup. And then we'll go from there.

What were those conversations like? They were very good. With Carson in particular, obviously he didn't come here to be a backup, but was he generally understanding. very good. He really was. That was Ron Rivera after the game, but it was reported before the game that Taylor Heineke was going to be the starting quarterback for the foreseeable future. I don't know what this means with respect to leash length on Heineke. I do know what it means overall here. We've been talking about this for a couple of weeks. There was no way after the Philadelphia game that they could start Carson Wentz against Houston. And the bottom line is, even before the Houston result, it appears as if they had made their decision that they were going to ride this out with Heineke this year.

There are a couple of reasons for it. The biggest is this is what the locker room wants. More than anything else, this is what the locker room wants. This is what their team leaders want. And Ron Rivera definitely can read the room on stuff like that. He is not going to put Carson Wentz out there. I have no idea what the locker room thinks of Carson Wentz. We do know what they think of Taylor Heineke.

They believe in him. They totally believe in him. This is also about a formula with Taylor Heineke that they got to last year during their four-game winning streak, that they've gotten to this year during this four-and-one stretch with him as a starter, which emphasizes a heavy run over pass ratio. and the playing of some really good defense and special teams. And it's a formula that they believe that they can win enough games

and advance to the postseason with. And with Carson Wentz, there would be too much out there that would be enticing for maybe Scott Turner, but maybe everybody out there to kind of leverage the arm strength and stretch the field a little bit more like they did at times when he was out there. That's not what they want right now. And they're certainly not going to do that with the locker room begging for Taylor Heineke.

One quick thing on Taylor before I get to my game take, because I was thinking about this when I ran out after the radio show to get some coffee before coming back to record the podcast today. I was listening to the NFL network on radio, Adam Schein's show on the NFL network, NFL network radio. And Shine was talking about the Jets situation. The Jets are outstanding defensively with some really good young players. They are very similar to Washington right now. They have an outstanding defensive football team with some really stud defensive players. I mean, Quinn and Williams is something else for them. And then Sauce Gardner is going to be the defensive rookie of the year.

But they are struggling at quarterback and on offense. And Zach Wilson has become a problem, not only on the field, but his lack of accountability off the field has been a major turnoff. I'm listening to this segment where they're talking about the jet situation, and it's not good. Why am I talking about the Jets? Because of this. In the conversation, Adam Schein brought up the following.

He said, and I'm paraphrasing, if you had somebody like Taylor Heineke out there with that defense right now, because he said, look at Washington. If you had Taylor Heineke out there instead of Zach Wilson, and the Jets would have another win. They'd be seven and three at least. And the reason that I thought that was interesting is that we've talked the last two weeks about how Taylor Heineke is not under contract for the 2023 season.

He's an unrestricted free agent. And I think we just all assume, most of us do. There are a few that don't, but the large majority of us, you guys, me, kind of feel like, you know, Washington will go to him and they'll say, hey, we got a two-year contract extension. we want you to stay with us, you know, $5 million and, you know, three, two and a half of it guaranteed and whatever. And that'll just stay.

He'll just stay because it's Taylor Heineke. He's not going to have a lot of options. That may be changing right now. I'm not talking about him getting an opportunity to get starter money somewhere. You know, I'm not putting him in the class of a Mitch Trubisky who was still thought to be a starter quality guy or at least until the young guy was ready in Pittsburgh. And what did he get? I forget, it wasn't a lot of money, but whatever it was. But there certainly will be people interested that don't have backup quarterbacks in Taylor

Heineke. And then there may be a team like the New York Jets who will finish with a good enough record that may prevent them from drafting Zach Wilson's replacement in a quarterback heavy draft and may not be able to pull off a trade or a free agent signing for anybody else that may say, let's bring in that kid in Washington who with a similar team, really good team on defense, led them to the playoffs. I say led them to the playoffs, was a quarterback that played well enough with everything around him to not blow it because Zach Wilson blew it yesterday. He threw for 77 yards in the game. He takes sack after sack. He is apparently, again, not a great, he's making a lot of young person mistakes on and off the field.

They may turn to Flacco here at 40 years old, however old Joe is, because they were better with Flacco earlier in the year than they've been with Zach Wilson. He's completing, like, I think it's close to 50% of his passes. That's it. He's got more picks than touchdowns. It's a bad situation with Zach Wilson right now with a really good team around him. Garrett Wilson, the rookie from Ohio State, you know, called it out a little bit after the game. But anyway, just something I figured I'd throw out about Taylor Heineke and just suggest, and trust me, I'm not changing my opinion. Washington's going to be in the starting quarterback market when this season ends.

They are. I also hope that they're able to sign and retain Taylor Heineke to be there as a backup quarterback, or if they end up drafting a young quarterback, be there to play until the guy's ready. But if he finishes strong here and Washington gets to the postseason and he's the starting quarterback on a team that wins a postseason game, there may be more interest than you would think. in him. All right, let's get to my game take. Pay attention. Here's Kevin's Game Take. All right, my game take is brought to you by, my good friends of MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.orgie. And use my promo code, Kevin, D.C., and they'll match your first deposit, dollar for dollar, all the way up to a thousand bucks.

You want some prop bed action on Washington to make the playoffs? They're now plus 134 to make the playoffs. I think when we did this last week, weren't they like plus two? 75 or plus 300. After back-to-back wins over the Eagles and yesterday in Houston, Washington is really becoming noticed by the odds makers as a team that's got a legitimate chance to make the playoffs. They are three and a half point favorites right now against the Falcons with a total of 43.

Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. This is the best week of the year for sports. Throw in the World Cup, which I'm actually paying attention to, England's annihilating Iran right now as we're recording this podcast. U.S. opens up against Wales later on this afternoon. But Thanksgiving week with all of the college hoops, with all of the football, is such a great weekend to bet. Holiday season, great season to bet. But no, if you're a better, even if you've already got a spot, use my bookie, take the free money and use it as a comparison opportunity for point spreads, totals, money lines, pricing.

etc. MyBooky.aag use my promo code Kevin D.C. All right, let me get to my game take. I'm going to start with the things that I liked. It starts with the defense. We talked a little bit about it in the open. Bottom line is when you hold a team to 10 points and 148 total yards and 2.7 yards per play, you are going to win like 95% of those games. They had 21 on the ground, 16 carries 21 yards, 1.3 yards per carry. Damian Pierce, their rookie star, 10 carries 8 yards, as we talked about in the open. I mean, he rushed for 137 two weeks ago against the Eagles. He's been averaging over 85. He had no prayer against Washington. His longest carry of the day was three yards. Houston was held to a league

low minus five net yards in the first half. The only thing they did positive was they converted fourth downs yesterday. More of that coming up on the list of things that I did not leave. did not like. Washington right now is a top 10 defense, as we discussed, and they are an elite run-stopping team in the league. You know, there's this old kind of NFL tried and truism. If you can run the ball, stop the run, and don't turn it over. You're going to win a lot of games. Right now, Washington is an elite run-stopping team. They are a very good rush offense team. They are a very good rush offense team. They're good. And they are winning the turnover battle here recently.

So you keep doing that. You're going to be in a lot of games. Look, defensively, it's more than just the rush defense, although it is led by those monsters up front in Allen and Payne. Allen yesterday, once again, proving he is one of the best defensive tackles in the game. Two sacks, four quarterback hits, three TFL's tackles for loss. By my count, he drew two holding penalties. That poor Kenyon Green, the rookie first rounder from Texas A&M.

I mean, he was a turnstile. I mean, Alan basically just shoved him to the side on almost every play he was in the backfield. Alan's just flat out one of the best defensive tackles in football. I hope he gets noticed for it. I know other teams notice it. They clearly don't want to run the ball against Allen and Payne. Allen should be an all pro this year. I mean, a pro bowler, of course, but an all pro this year.

He's having just a great year. Duran Payne, a freak athletically. It's always been about his consistency. This year, he's been consistently great. I think they've got to sign him to a long-term contractor, use the franchise tag on him. 18.1 million, if it's the franchise tag, they won't have a quarterback salary next year.

You know, not Carson Wentz's $28 million a year anyway. Payne had a sack on third and goal early in the second half. He had a tackle for loss. He had a deflected pass. I think he may have had two. I think he got a finger on another one. He had on Davis's fourth and three scramble. He nearly knocked the ball loose from Davis on that scramble.

He's like John Allen. He's impossible to block one-on-one. And now here comes Montez Sweat. He was getting close all year. Now he's got three sacks in the last two games. The front four is awesome. I like Smith Williams a lot too. I think he's great against the run, and he chased down a bubble screen yesterday.

Just a hustler. I love the way Del Rio is coaching this thing up. I love the way he stunts on pass downs to generate pass rush with four guys. I think on five of the sacks, there were stunts on at least four of the five. I love watching what happens when Payne or Allen draw the double. By the way, sometimes those stunts confuse teams into tripling. some of those players opening it up for, you know, two or three of the others. They're well coached right now.

They're stopping the run. They're getting to the quarterback. And maybe Chase Young is back this coming week. You know, this is going to sound like it's criticism. And I don't want it to be because I really want Chase Young to be Chase Young and be the chase young that I thought he would be. But you hear over and over again, Del Rio and Rivera, you know, for the last few weeks, we're just really playing well together.

We're very well coordinated with our pass rush. Last year, the big issue was maturity, discipline, not adhering to the scheme, et cetera, et cetera. And a big culprit was Chase Young. I think they want him back. I think they want to make sure he's super healthy. I don't think they're rushing him back because they don't need to rush him back.

They're playing great without him. I would like to see Chase Young adhering to the scheme opposite Montes Sweat with those two beasts. inside. I just, you know, hope that Chase Young learned from what the first half of last year before the injury was, which was not very good and disappointing to the coaches. I think he's super smart, and I think that, you know, to me, more importantly, does he have the physical athleticism when he comes back? The rest of the defense, outstanding, Jamin Davis. I mean, it would be nice to get Cole Holcomb back, because Bostick, bless his heart,

is so smart. They love his IQ. He can't run anymore. And they're going to target him, you know, with matchups where he's in coverage. And that's not a good thing for Washington. I don't know what Cole Holcomb status is. He's missed now, what is that, four games in a row? Certainly three. The secondary, my goodness, I mean, the corners have been playing great and Fuller is now stepping up. St. Juice got a little bit banged up, but I heard he'll be fine. The safety play outstanding. I thought McCain at times. was great. Forced another pick yesterday. I'm glad the way replay sped that up and we didn't require a challenge flag. You know, the calls from New York that are saying, nope, that's a, that's an interception,

tell the coach not to throw the flag. That's a beautiful thing to see this year. And, you know, Cameron Curl, my God, I mean, I don't think it's coincidental that, you know, some of the really good defense started to get played with his return earlier in this season. It's a double. It's a dominant front four with Allen and pain and sweat being very good players. It is tied to a pass rush that really helps out a secondary that's pretty good on its own anyway. So well-coached, discipline defense. It was the number one reason for the win yesterday. It's been the number one reason for their run of five and one over the last six. On the list of things that I liked, Terry McClorn. I don't know how you cover him. I don't want to have the conversation about where he ranks.

There are a lot of great receivers in the league. Terry McCorn's one of them. He is a true X. He is really difficult to cover one-on-one. He is great in the medium route running ability. He gets immediate separation even against good corners, and he has chemistry with his quarterback. I love him with his hands. I love his separation. I love him after the catch. He is a star. There's no doubt about it. How about the return of Logan Thomas? He's on the list of things that I liked. 6-6-250. They needed him. We were a little bit concerned. Is he going to have a game this year where he's really impactful? Well, he did yesterday. Six catches for 65 yards. You know, such a quarterback, man. Total hands catcher. It's so sweet to watch him. Even when he's thrown the ball in a contested

situation, the hands are way out and he's hands catching it. That ball never gets. close to his chest. He had a great game yesterday. The running back situation on the list of things that I liked. I mean, Gibson, Robinson, Samuel, I'll put him into the equation. He had two rushes for 18 yards. I love the way their running game is schemed up, lots of action in the backfield. We've seen that now for a while. The jet sweep looks, the actual jet sweeps, we had reverses yesterday to Dotson and McCorn. You've got pulling tight ends. You've got zone runs. You've got power runs. You've got counters. You've got Robinson banging it up there for 15.

Carries 57 yards. He had two memorable runs for me. Fifth drive, first play of the drive, nothing there. He carries a pile five yards forward. And then in the second half, a third and two, he's hit in the backfield by Jerry Hughes, their best defensive player. And then the rookie from Baylor,

the safety that I think was picked in the second round, was a potential first round guy, Jalen Petrie, comes up, he's got a chance, and somehow Brian Robinson Jr. ends up with a three-yard run. Should have been a two-yard loss, and they should have been punting. Antonio Gibson, he's just really good, period. He's a top five player on this team, in my opinion. Has been all year.

You know how much I have been talking about Antonio Gibson. 18 for 72 yesterday on the ground. Three catches, 31 yards, nearly five yards at touch. He is their best in the backfield, I think. Whether it's between the tackles or in space, it doesn't matter. I like Robinson Jr. I love the way he's played the last two weeks. I just think Gibson, like yesterday, should have more touches. Because I think Gibson, you see it.

You just see it with the burst. You see it with the speed. I think you're seeing it with the vision this year. You definitely see it with the power. He has not fumbled. knock on wood. He's not fumbled yet this year, not since that preseason opening right against the Chiefs.

Was it against the Chiefs? I forget who it was against now. Antonio Gibson, just so important to what this team is capable of doing on offense. Even with this kind of formula, it's even more important. And then there's Curtis Samuel. I mean, that 10-yard jet sweep touchdown,

did he get touched? I mean, he is so quick. He's got great vision and he's got great spirit. beat. Look, they lost McKissick to injured reserve with a neck injury again. I hope he's okay. It would be great if they have him or had him.

But the truth is, as much as I love him as a player and loved him in 2020, they don't need him. I mean, it's a position that's packed right now. Gibson can certainly fill the McKissick role. I love McKissick, though. I just hope he's well.

Also in the list of things that I liked, Joey Sly. He's now made 11 straight. None of them were long yesterday. 11 straight. He kicked a field goal in pregame warmups from 67 yards out. He has a leg. And nobody returns kickoffs, not indoors. None of the field goals were long, but he's just been on a roll, so I put him on the list. And then lastly, on the list of things that I liked. Yeah, I've got Taylor Heineke on this list. I do. I know, you know, I see what a lot of you send me about him, and I think you're missing the point here. I think you're missing the point. Okay, you can think, as I do, and I don't disagree with you, that he is not a guy that you're, you know, going to have great offensive teams with. And that's true.

But he's playing at a pretty good clip here, the last two games. You know, you had three straight games with three fourth quarter interceptions, including the Philadelphia game. They overcame that. They didn't against Minnesota. They did against Indianapolis. He's inaccurate at times, but there was much more good yesterday than bad. I'm going to go through it real quickly, okay? The bad is a really short list. You know, the second down and nine on the opening drive deep shot that was dropped by Petri should have been an interception, you know, a turnover worthy. throw. I think there may have been some miscommunication with Terry. There's a third and six on their third drive where he does a great job of escaping and then on the move just Mrs. Dotson, who was open for a first down. There is the touchdown throw that didn't connect with Logan Thomas because it

was too hot. Needed to throw that with more touch. It should have been six. Thomas was there. He would have had both feet and bounds. But Taylor, I actually usually think he throws some of those balls with touch, but not on that one. He fumbled a snap. That was not a bad snap. That just wasn't handled by him. And there were a couple of inaccurate throws. He got Terry, you know, nearly hit in a big-time spot. You know, you don't want some of these plays where he throws, is indecisive, throws to the wrong spot and puts his receivers and harms away. But, you know, he made one big play after another yesterday. I know they went, you know, three drives, three punts, but on that third drive had a 19-yard throw to McLaren on the first and 10, and then he really started to

face some pressure and deliver. Third and seven versus the Blitz hits McClorn for a slant for 10 yards, had a play action throw to Dotson on their fourth drive, the touchdown drive that went from late first quarter into the second quarter. He throws actually under pressure a really good throw to Logan Thomas when he's in the pressure in the pocket but feels it and throws to an open Thomas. There was an illegal contact penalty, I think, on the play that gave him a first down anyway. He gave Thomas a contested throw for 16 yards. Thompson, you know, makes with hands out, not really a high-stress play. He extended plays consistently yesterday, hitting Thomas on another one on their fifth drive for 19 yards.

The Blitz is not working against him. Didn't yesterday dump it off to Gibson for 18 yards. Perfect Reed. There was that first and 20. at the end of the first half, and then they had a timeout, which was a bit of a problem. But if there was a second and 14, and he nails, he gets nailed and throws a dart to Terry McCorn for 17 yards. He had good place in this game. There was a stretch in the second quarter on the three scoring drives, the touchdown and the two

field goals. He was 11 for 16 for 139 yards, 139 of his 191 passing yards. Statistically, doesn't look great. completion percentage, yardage. But he's doing what they're telling him to do. And he's hitting the plays. Yesterday they did not have the down and distance advantage they had on Monday night. I'll get to that in a second.

I give him another B to B plus. That's where I had him on Monday night. Cooley had him with an A on Monday night. He didn't get sacked. He didn't turn the ball over. He didn't have a ton of turnover-worthy plays. You know, he's leading the league. and turnover-worthy plays even after Monday night against Philadelphia.

But he didn't have a bunch of them yesterday. You know, quarterbacks do throw interceptions. He didn't throw one yesterday. He could have on that opening drive. But my God, I mean, it would not have made a difference against that team with the defense the way it was playing. Yeah, Heineke's on the list of things that I liked from the game. The list of things that I didn't like is kind of short.

I'll start with third down offense. They were three for 13. Last week, all third and ones, twos and threes. This week, they didn't have one third and one the entire day until at the very end when they were trying to run the clock out. They only had one third and two all day, and it was also when they were trying to run the clock out on the final few plays of the game. They had a third in 19. They had a third and 10 twice. They had a third in nine.

They had a third and seven twice. They had a third and six twice. So how the hell did they move the football yesterday? without having great advantages in down and distance. Well, they were excellent on first and second down. You know, they were two for two on fourth downs, first of all. That helps. But, you know, they didn't have many third downs at all on their scoring drives.

Their first offensive touchdown drive in the second quarter, not one third down. The two field goal drives in the second quarter, they had one third down on each one of those drives. They didn't convert. and you need to convert more on third down against better teams, you know, but when you're playing well on first and second down, you take, you know, the pressure off yourself of having to convert third downs. Bottom line, you know, yesterday they weren't in makeable third down distances. On Monday night they were.

They were, you know, 12 for their first 16 on Monday night. They were three for 13 yesterday. 15 of their 21st downs yesterday came on first and first. second down. By contrast on Monday night, 12 of their 25 first downs came on third down conversions. So you're not going to have, you know, perhaps enough offense against really good teams if you're three for 13 on third down. Remember, they were five for 22 and their back-to-back games against Indy and Minnesota. But you can survive it against Houston, especially if you're moving the ball a little bit, on first and second down.

Look, they weren't inept offensively yesterday. They ran 67 plays, had another 10-minute time of possession advantage, and 344 yards of offense. You know, I know that more than half or, you know, well, just almost more than half of those yards. Well, it wasn't more than half. They had 191 passing. They had 153 rushing on 40 carries.

Okay. The other things on the list of things that I did not like. Fourth and fours, they converted four of them, Houston did. That's crazy, considering how inept they were and how shut down they were by this defense. You know, you're not going to face a lot of fourth downs unless you got a big lead unless you're facing Dan Campbell or, you know, Brandon Staley. But they went four for four. They had that nice run by Mills. Fuller lost cooks on one of them. And then Washington also on the list of things that I didn't like. They were one of the ones. one for four in the red zone, one for three really, because the last drive doesn't really count. And you got to be better against better teams in the red zone. They kicked a 25-yard field goal and a 24-yard field goal.

You never want to see that. And then they used a couple of timeouts on offense to avoid delay games. Got to fix that. A couple of other observations. Number one, Ridgeway, what are you thinking, dude? Just pick them up and then gently put them down. Don't pile drive them. I think Ridgeways played well, but that was not a smart play.

I, what else did I have on kind of just the other observations? Oh, Gibson could have scored at the end. He did the slide down short of the first down to keep the clock rolling. They're up 2310. He should have just taken it in and made it 30 to 10. It's not running it up in that spot. You know, if Houston's using your timeouts, it's third and one. At that point, it was third and whatever.

He got it to third and one. It was second and whatever. Just run it in the end zone. He could have scored on that play. Or he certainly could have gotten the first down. Oh, here's one. They almost had a punt blocked again yesterday. Third drive that ended with that incompletion to Dotson

when Taylor did a good job of extending the play. There was almost another punt block. I mean, this has happened. I mentioned it for three weeks running. They had the running into the punting, the roughing the punter on Monday night on a punt that was nearly blocked. nearly had one blocked. I think it was against Indy. Minnesota came after Tressway. Hey, Nate Katzer, I hope you're noticing that your punt protection unit seems to be showing up on film for your

opponents as a weakness. Figure it out. But the special teams actually have been pretty good. I thought Milne had one of his best punt returns of the year. All right, that's it from the game take. we will get to other NFL and maybe a guest here in our final segment right after these words from a few of our sponsors. The biggest plays and the clutch moment. It's time to go around the NFL. One deep. Pot one will touch him again. Touchdown Dallas.

The Cowboys with an easy, lopsided, maybe the most dominant performance in a game this year. by any team, 40 to 3 over Minnesota. The Cowboys were a smell test pick on Friday. If you were listening, 5-3-1, another winning weekend for the smell test with one game pending. I've got the Niners tonight laying the big number against the Cardinals in Mexico City. Look, Minnesota had that incredible, you know, one of the best regular season games we've seen in a long time win in Buffalo last week. they lost their starting left tackle early in the game Christian Darrasaw. Their offensive line is already a mess, and Dallas's defense is dominant.

That game was won at the line of scrimmage, both sides of the ball. I love some of you that reach out to me only when Kirk Cousins loses. And it's crickets when he's leading one of his four to five comeback wins in the fourth quarter earlier in the season. He didn't have a chance. You know, last week I said, I didn't. I didn't think Kirk had a great game, had a great finish to the game in Buffalo, down 17, got hot, you know, had a big run from Cook in the game, the incredible catch by Jefferson. But man, did he make some big-time throws in the fourth quarter and in overtime to help them win that game as he's done all year long? But I said, you know, some of those interceptions put him in that bind to begin with.

And I didn't think he had a great game in Buffalo, even though it turned to, even though it turned out to be a class. Yesterday had nothing to do with Kirk Cousins, for those of you who have suggested that it did. You obviously did not watch the game or you don't know anything about football. He was pressured yesterday. 59.5% of his dropbacks, the highest mark of the year in the NFL, and what's number two is a distant number two. He was sacked seven times, and it was merciful, really, at the end, when Kevin O'Connell took him and several of the starters out. Look, they did have, for you Viking fans that occasionally reach out to me.

I do know they had some injuries to the offensive line. Their best offensive line, Christian Derisaw, lineman was lost early in that game. Second straight concussion for him, and Ed Ingram was already compromised, but he's been one of the worst guards in the league. They've had issues with their offensive line and pass pro all season long. But really more than that, because Michael Parsons did completely disrupt the game. And the pass rush was a major problem, obviously. But they wouldn't have been in position to drop Cousins back as much as they did if they didn't get down as much as they got down.

They couldn't stop Dallas. Dallas ran right through them like it was a sieve that they were running through. Minnesota's been opportunistic on defense, but this isn't one of the better defensive teams in the NFC, which has been why, as much as I'm rooting for Kirk, I've been very hesitant to say that they've got a chance to make a run in the NFC. I've not had them even in my top five in any of the power ranking segments that I've done on radio, because I don't think they're very good on defense. And Dallas proved it. I mean, DAC 22 of 25.

They rushed the ball. Pollard was great. Zeke was great, especially in short yardage. The ball barely hit the ground when they dropped back and threw it. And they didn't get close to Prescott except on that one play early when he slipped out of Zedarius Smith's hands. That is one of those losses where I'm sure, you know, the shows today are saying, So what was it? Was it a one-game aberration for both teams, Dallas and Minnesota,

or was it reflective of something? I think Minnesota's in trouble with their past protection, and because Kirk is not, you know, an off-schedule quarterback, that they're going to have to run the football, and they're playing the Patriots and the Jets the next two weeks. Two of the best defensive teams in the league. I mean, you know, Parsons was a problem. Matthew Judon's going to be a problem.

Quinn and Williams is going to be a problem for them. Now, the difference is they're playing two teams that are struggling offensively coming up, so they won't be shredded like they were by the Cowboys defensively. I mean, the Cowboys had 458 yards of offense yesterday, and they sat their starters for half of the fourth quarter. They were 12 for their first 14 on third down. It was really a bloodletting. and I think it says a lot about the Cowboys defense for sure.

I think the Cowboys defense is elite. And I think if Kellyn Moore calls the game the way that he called it with Cooper Rush, I think the Cowboys are a Super Bowl threat. I do. I don't think Minnesota is a Super Bowl threat. They're just not good enough on defense and they're not good enough along their offensive line. They're going to be in the postseason, and they'll pull out some of these fourth quarter comebacks again,

the stretch. I mean, Kirk's already top 10 in the history of the game for fourth quarter comebacks in one season. And he's still got seven games left. And Jefferson is still a massive star. And Cook is great. And, you know, even though he dropped a touchdown pass yesterday, T.J. Hawkinson's been a good ad. They'll win 11, 12 games and be in the, you know, 10, 11, 12 win that division. It'd be hard to lose it at this point. But I, you know, I haven't been on Minnesota as a Super Bowl I'm definitely not on them after yesterday. They've got to get healthy along their offensive line with Dar esau. He's a huge key.

He's become one of the better left tackles in the game. I think this was more yesterday about being so impressed with what the Cowboys can be on defense and what they can be if they don't have DAC drop back 40 times a game, 50 times a game. When you're able to run it 40 times, you know, for 150 plus yards, then you only have to throw it 30 times. I mean, Cooper Rush came in. He was four for five. I mean, the ball hit the ground four times on 30 throws. It was an impressive outing by the Cowboys who now get the Giants on Thanksgiving Day, while the Vikings get the Patriots on Thanksgiving night,

another great defensive team with a player playing at a super high level and Matt Judon. All right, let's go to Indianapolis for the Eagles. and the Colts. Hertz will run, takes it in, touchdown. Nothing in front of them except the end zone. And the Eagles are an extra point away

from taking the lead. You know, the Eagles did in Indianapolis yesterday, pretty much what Washington did in Indy a few weeks back. And that is, they were down 10 and rallied for a 17 to 16 win on that Jalen Hertz

third and goal, quarterback draw. They got to stop on the last drive. I mean, the Colts were starting to get near, you know, one throw being field goal range, and they sacked Matt Ryan, which was a huge play in the game. And they pulled out a 17 to 16 when Washington, remember, was down 16 to 7 and 117 to 16. A different quarterback and different team and a different coach for Indy. But the Eagles bounced back a little bit, I would say, off the Monday night loss to Washington. But they weren't blown, you know, they weren't super impressive in the game. They had turnovers.

You know, the Eagles were plus 15 going into the Monday night game against Washington, and now they're minus three in the last two games. But they were able to survive yesterday and win 17, 16 to run their record to nine and one on the year. But it's funny in the NFC, I think really the 49ers and the Cowboys are the teams to really, I like Philly a lot. And you know I liked them before the season started. And I'm not off Philadelphia. But I don't know.

There's not, it's not that they have a super thin margin for error. But, you know, here recently, they lose to Washington. They could have very easily lost to the Colts. The Texans, the team we saw yesterday, it was a four-point game heading into the fourth quarter against the Eagles on a Thursday night. They haven't been dominant. you know, as much as we thought they might be early in the season.

You know, they had a close win over the Cardinals, a close one over Cooper Rush and the Cowboys after they had a big lead early. They blew out the Steelers. That's really their only blowout win of the year. I guess they blew out the commanders, you know, and they blew out the Vikings Monday night football week too. But they won. They're nine and one.

And I think if the Eagles get home field advantage, it's going to be tough. It's going to be tough on them, tough on any opponent. if they have home field advantage in the postseason, although I could see the 49ers going in there and winning. That's the team that I think is really dangerous for sure. All right, let's go to Atlanta for Washington's next opponent. Cordero Patterson has the seam. Patterson splits it. Goodbye.

Cordero Patterson, the ninth time on a kick. Corderole Patterson. sets the NFL mark for kickoff returns for touchdown with his ninth. He's been such a good player. He also, by the way, 10 carries for 52 yards. Atlanta is a dual threat attack with Marcus Marriotti at 13 carries yesterday. They've got this kid, Tyler Alger from BYU, who I loved coming out of the draft. He was 8 for 55 yesterday, nearly 7 yards per carry. Justin Fields had a critical interception in the game late in the game. Late in the game and a tie game, and that gave Atlanta the opportunity to kick what turned out to be a

game-winning field goal, 27, 24. Again, Fields pretty dynamic, man, as a runner. And the bears have been close. They're three and eight, but, you know, they're not an easy team to play right now. The Falcons get to five and six in this game with Washington on Sunday, a big game. But, you know, you're going to hear me talk about the strength versus strength matchup again. Houston's strength was running the ball. Washington completely shut it down. Atlanta's strength is really running the ball with a dual threat quarterback. That's not what Houston is clearly.

But if Atlanta can't run the football, it's going to be a long day for them offensively. I like Washington's chances Sunday to get to 7 and 5 and 5 and 5. and then you don't really have to worry about them and some sort of tiebreaker at the end of the season. Elsewhere in the NFL yesterday, I'll just run through it real quickly. You had the bills after 77 inches of snow and Orchard Park and they moved the game to Detroit,

beating the Browns 31 to 23. The Patriots had that punt return late in the game for a touchdown. Man, the Jets are a mess right now. I think they're going to turn to Flacco. the players apparently love Flacco and have a problem with Zach Wilson. The Giants got beat by a Detroit team that's really playing well. They've won three games in a row. Look, it was the Packers, it was the Bears, and it was the Giants.

But the Giants on the road, big win for them. The Giants lost receiver Wondale Robinson, it looks like, with a torn ACL after he caught nine balls yesterday for 100 yards. And Barcl, after a big week against 3rd, against Houston last week, 15 carries 22 yards. The Lions with D'Andre Swift and Amman Rae St. Brown in the lineup have been really good offensively. When they've been out-hurt, they have struggled.

They're still not a good defensive team. They play on Thanksgiving in the early game against the Bills who will be playing a second straight game in Detroit. The Ravens won 13 to 3. That game was 3-3 in the fourth quarter. I don't know, man. I'm not buying the Ravens right now. They're good on defense, got it.

Panthers are good on defense, got it. But you've got to blow out the Panthers. I mean, the Panthers at one point when it was 3-3 in the fourth quarter, I was thinking, how many double-digit underdogs have won outright more than once in a year? Because they were a double-digit underdog against the Buccaneers recently. They were a big underdog against Atlanta recently and won out, right? And they were 3-3 with the Ravens in the fourth quarter of that game. The Raiders cut a touchdown pass in overtime from Carr to Devante Adams to beat the Broncos, 22 to 16.

It seems like every Bronco game has a score with somebody having 16 points in it. The Bengals had a ball game against the Steelers. 37 to 30. Nobody had that one as a shootout. Joe Burrow threw four touchdown passes. I gave the Steelers out plus three and a half. We had a good chance with that one. I really like Pickens a lot.

their rookie receiver. And I like Kenny Pickett. I know he makes some bad decisions. I think they've got a gamer in Pickett. You know, I don't care about the picks. I don't care about the numbers right now with him. I'm just watching him play, and he's got, you know, he's got some ability to really create off schedule.

He's got a quick release. He's got some, you know, swag to him. He really does. I like Kenny Pickett, and I think Pittsburgh got it right. with Kenny Pickett. It'll be a while until it's figured out on him. The Bengals moved to six and four. They're a game behind the Ravens in the AFC North. And then the game last night, wow, another Mahomes to Kelsey game winner, 30 to 27. How does he get so open? I don't know. But Mahomes, after throwing three touchdowns last night and for 329, you know, it's been at times, you know, is it Josh Allen? Is it Mahomes? Is it Jalen Hertz?

Recently, the Tuatunga by Loa talk. Patrick Mahomes is going to be the MVP this year. And the Chiefs really with a big win against the Chargers. And now the Chargers, you know, they've got, you know, the close loss to the 49ers last week on Sunday night. Another heartbreaker. That was last week on Sunday night. Another heartbreaker last night on Sunday night football. They had the week two Thursday night heartbreaker to the Chiefs.

in a game in which, you know, they had a chance. I think they've got like four out of their last five have been one score losses to the Chiefs. I think they've got one win in there over the Chiefs. The Chargers are very good. They really are, but they're five and five and a loaded AFC. You know, the AFC East has four teams with a winning record. The NFC East, four teams with a winning record. The Dolphins and Bills are both seven and three.

The Patriots and Jets, six and four. and then you've got Philly 9 and 1, the Cowboys and Giants, both at 7 and 3, and Washington at 6 and 5. I think Washington's best path to the postseason, as we talked about last week, I think I did it with Tommy or Cooley can't remember, is through one of the other two NFC East teams that are in front of them, and most likely the Giants, because the Giants not only play Washington twice, they play the Cowboys, they play the Eagles twice,

and they have to play at Minnesota. They actually have a game against the Colts at home. I mean, there isn't a game that you look at that say, well, that's a win for the Giants. The two games against Washington will obviously determine a lot in the NFC wild card race. You know, there are other teams that, you know, if we're talking about the actual race in the NFC,

you know, Washington right now is an eighth place in the playoff race in the NFC. right now just a game behind the 49ers. Actually, they're sitting there tied, but not percentage-wise. I think it's a 556 to 545 winning percentage. But 49ers play tonight if they win, they'll be 6 and 4.5 game in front of Washington. But you've got Atlanta there at 5 and 6. You've got a Detroit team that's playing better at 4 and 6.

I don't think the Cardinals are much of a threat. And everybody below that line, the Packers, Saints, Rams, Panthers, get about it. I mean, the Saints, you only say, have a chance because of the division that they're in after they won yesterday against the Rams. The Rams are done, and Matt Stafford appears to really be physically unable this year. All right, I wanted to mention a couple of other quick things before we bring on a guest. Number one, good weekend for the Wizards. They won Friday night. They won last night. Some injured players here and there, but the Wizards are 10 and 7. Man, I wish they'd gotten that one against OKC, which they had a 17, 18 point lead in the first half,

because they'd be right now on one of their longest winning streaks in years. I mean, they've won six of their last seven with that one loss being to the thunder by a point at home last week. But they're playing awfully well. Look, the Heat and the Hornets missing players, and the Wizards had some missing players as well. But Washington gets the win over Charlotte last night, 106-102. college football, I wanted to just mention Maryland's incredible effort against Ohio State. Man, I thought there were a couple of calls, typical TIRP fan complaining about the officiating.

But the defensive pass interference penalty on Jacori and Bennett in the third quarter in a 20 to 13 game was horrendous. You can't coach it any better than the way he played it. And it led to a touchdown in a Buckeye lead 27 to 13. But look, Maryland had the ball at midfield after a fourth down stop, down 3330, against the number two team in America and a chance to win the game. They lost 43 to 30, that three and out. I know a lot of you think they should have gone for the fourth and seven at midfield in that spot. I don't think I agree.

They had stopped Ohio State on the fourth down before. It's a three-point game. Fourth and seven, I don't know. I mean, in hindsight, of course. And the ball wasn't in Ohio State territories. I think it was at the Maryland 44-45-yard line. but even down 3630 they had a shot until Leo was hit and fumbled and they ended up with a touchdown on defense for a 43 to 30 final.

But really, you know, one of the most impressive outings for Maryland this year, especially coming off the two blowout losses to Wisconsin and Penn State. They finish up with a Rutgers on Saturday at home. If they can get that win, it ends up being a 7 and 5 regular season. I predicted a minimum of 7. They're bowl eligible already, but you don't want to finish with a four-game losing skid. So hopefully they can take care of business Saturday, end up with the best regular season record they've had since, I think. I don't know. Maybe did Edsel have a winning season? I forget.

And then there's this. First of all, the college football Saturday was crazy. I was in Dallas at a wedding, my nephew's wedding, my son, my oldest son who went to TCU was there. All of his friends who live in Dallas, we all went to a business. bar for an 11 a.m. kickoff between TCU and Baylor. What a game that was, you know, we had all of the, you know, we had Ohio State barely winning, Michigan barely winning, TCU barely winning, and then Tennessee got blown the blank out by South Carolina. Wow, 63 to 38 against the team. They're really at times struggled to score points this year. And Tennessee gave it up. And then the terrible news that Hendon Hooker at the end of that game tore his ACL.

What a season he had for Tennessee. USC gets the win in a classic over UCLA. I like Notre Dame a little bit Saturday in the Coliseum. They're getting less than a touchdown against SC. SC's got to win that game. If you look at the playoff rankings, what you'll probably get this week is Georgia 1, Ohio State 2, Michigan 3, TCU 4. That's probably what you're going to get.

And then, you know, SC might jump up to 5. they did in the AP, and then LSU, I think, now definitely controls its own destiny. I think if it wins out, I think it did before this weekend. It's in. I don't think SC as a one-lost team would trump LSU if LSU beats Georgia. But what you have now in play is you've got an Ohio State, Michigan one-loss team that's in play, SC in play. Clemson, back in play, even though I don't think they're very good. TCU still has to win out.

They've got to beat Iowa State and they've got to win the Big 12 championship game. And if they end up playing K-State, that won't be easy. But what a hell of a win for them. A fun college football Saturday that wasn't supposed to be at all. And then one last thing before we get to our guest. How about Maryland and basketball over the weekend? They destroyed on Saturday St. Louis a team to finish near the top of the Atlantic 10. And then yesterday annihilated Miami.

Jim Laronagos squad was picked number four to finish fourth in the ACC this year and be in the NCAA tournament. Maryland not only destroyed both of those teams, they did so playing a style of basketball that, you know, a lot of you guys and me included, the one major complaint other than, you know, the obvious, which is not getting it done in March, was pace of play. Well, Kevin Willard gets after it defensively. They had 18 turnovers yesterday. If they didn't have those 18 turnovers, they would have scored 100. They scored 95 on Saturday and a 28 point win over St. Louis and 88 yesterday against Miami and an 18 point blowout against the Cains. I would expect when the basketball poll comes out today that Maryland will be a ranked team this year at 5 and 0. Now, with that said, for all of you that tweeted me and said, Turgeon never did this year, your boy Turgeon never started 5 and 0. Yeah, you're right. He started 10 and 0 in 1920.

the 19, 2020 season, 6 and 0 in the 2018-2019 season, 7-0 in the 2016-2017 season, where they also started 20-and-2. In the 15-16 season, they started 6-0 and 15-1, and the 14-15 season, they started 7-0 and 14-1. They were 27-5 regular season that year. And even in the 12-13 season, still in the ACC, 13-1. Don't do, some of you just stop, okay? You're not going to fool me on some of this stuff.

Okay, if you want to say that we haven't seen a style of basketball like this, you're right. That's true. Don't say we haven't had a start to a season like this in years since Gary was here. That's wrong. It's inaccurate. And some of those starts to the season included big time wins. over teams like Georgetown and Iowa State and Arizona State and other big wins. Did he schedule the way Kevin has scheduled?

No. And I love the way Kevin's scheduling. And I love the style of play. Love it. I'm very excited about what happened this weekend. It was unexpected for me after watching their first three. I didn't know what to expect, but that I did not expect. They play completely differently in terms of their style of play.

and we'll see how that holds up and a grinded out Big Ten. It's November, and there's a long way to go. Coach Thompson once told me nothing more meaningless than talking about November college basketball results. But still, the Terps 5 and 0 with two wins over two teams expected to really compete for the NCAA tournament before the season started anyway, I think they'll be ranked when the polls come out later today,

which was not expected. And now you've got, you know, two potential quality wins when you get to March if they can have a competitive Big Ten season. All right. Let's finish up the show by bringing on my good friend Al Galdi of the Al-Galdi podcast. You can get that wherever you get a podcast, including the same places you get my podcast. So thank you, by the way. I had another guest scheduled that kind of fell through. So I'm so glad that we can do this.

we haven't done this in a while, I don't think, on the podcast. Al and I talk frequently, but I've not talked to Alan a while on the air. So it's good to have you on. So I guess I'll just start with this. I mean, they're six and five after being one and four. They are very much in the playoff hunt. What do you make of this right now? Because I said in the open of this show, I think it's a good football team right now.

I really do. What do you think? Yeah, it's really impressive. I mean, we have seen in season turnarounds a lot with this team because it seems to be the only way that it ever makes the playoffs. But this one really does stand out because it wasn't just that the team was one and four, but there were all kinds of questions about, you know, the Ron Rivera era and where are we and what are we doing here? And is this guy you're going to be here next year? And instead now, everything has changed.

And what's so funny is that, okay, from one in four to six and five, but when you throw in the ownership thing of this gift from the football gods that Dan, in fact, may be selling the team. I mean, you think about where we were a month and a half ago. The team was one and four, and, you know, we all felt, okay, we're doomed to be owned by Dan Snyder for decades. And here we are a month and a half later. And the team is six and five, and it looks like Danny's on his way out.

I mean, those two things from where we were a month and a half ago are stunning. And specific to the team and how it's playing, I mean, obviously the defense has been great. You know, the offense has a way to go, but there are things to like about it, and it does seem like a unit that's on the rise. The special teams are very good. You know, if you need to get to 10 wins, I don't think it's unreasonable to say that this team can go four and two over the remaining six regular season games. It's not going to be easy, but I do think that that's doable. It's remarkable what we're seeing here. what do you think about the job that this coaching staff has done like i think ron rivera with all of the

shenanigans going on you know over the last you know two years but specifically in season the last few weeks i think he's done a great job what do you think yeah i think he has i think jack del rio has done an outstanding job um i think jack and his staff have done a great job i think it's really interesting that in almost every press conference now ron makes it a point to raised Jack Del Rio. I think that's telling for several reasons. And, you know, with Scott Turner, I mean, look, at some point he needs to coordinate an offense that's not in the bottom, you know, fifth of the league. And that is an issue, no doubt. But I still feel like there are things to like about him. Like, I know there are people who look at him and they think

that, like, he has no business being an offensive coordinator. I don't think he's some adult. You know, like, I think he knows offense. The results haven't been there. You know, hopefully as the season goes on, the offense does get better. But yeah, it's crazy to me with this defense, and it's so funny how sports in the NFL specifically can work because, like, when you don't have the expectations, things tend to go better than when you do have the expectations. Last year, there was so much expectation for the defense, and it ended up falling on its face.

This year, there weren't expectations for the defense, especially off the preseason to whatever extent that matters. And then you see the first couple of games, especially the loss at Detroit in week two, and you say, all right, this team is going to have to be led by its offense. And yet here we are now, you know, Thanksgiving week, and clearly the team is being led by its defense. And the defense this season is playing the way that the defense was supposed to play last season. You know, I tweeted this after the game on Sunday. It's odd, but this team this season is what the team was supposed to be last season.

When you think about the team being led by the defense, the team leaning on a solid running game, and the team having a quarterback who, you know, yes, is flawed, but is well-liked by his teammates. you know, has that sort of baller mentality. It's a guy who can make big plays. Is a guy with guts, you know, like Ryan Fitzpatrick and Taylor Hineke, a lot of similarities between those two. And so, you know, if you're late, but I feel like this season's Washington team is what we all kind of thought

last season's Washington team might have been. Yeah, I mean, you know, we've had this conversation for years. It's like I, my perspective's always been a little bit different as somebody who has really bet the NFL for a long period of time that you just, you know, if you don't like what you're seeing, just wait a few weeks. And this year with this team, I mean, you know, last year it was we thought the defense would lead them and we were hoping for improved offense. This year it was the concern was about the defense.

We thought that they would, they could be dynamic offensively or certainly improved offensively. And like you said, it's the defense leading the way. See, I think there's a difference, too, in what we're watching right now. This isn't 2020. That was a losing record team and a bad division. You know, even last year at 6 and 6, they weren't very good defensively. You know, 2015 and 2016, those teams were horrible on defense.

2012, they were pretty bad on defense, although the dynamic quarterback situation and what they were doing had people excited. I actually think this is kind of a formula that is tried and true in the NFL, maybe not in terms of being able to advance or win a super advance to or win a Super Bowl. But when you're this good defensively,

and by the way, the rest of the NFC may not have a truly dominant team, certainly not a dominant offensive team at this point. It's going to be interesting if they get in the matchup that they get because they're tough to score and move the football against right now. Really, really tough. I don't think we've had this in decades. I mean, 2005, Al, was a really good defensive team. They were really good, and they won a playoff game with their defense at Tampa,

and nearly one another one at Seattle. But this is putting all the other stuff to the side. This is a pretty good team right now, I think. Yeah, and with the defense, I mean, you have this incredible thing of three guys in one position group all playing at, I think, elite levels. You know, maybe all pro levels, we'll see. but in Allen, pain, and sweat, when's the last time this team on any unit

had three different guys at the same time, in the same season, all playing at such a high level? Buts man, manly. That's the answer. Yeah, maybe. That might be it. You know, you have a secondary, I mean, think about all of the struggles for this team

at safety for years. I mean, basically, since Sean Taylor died, the position of safety has been a giant black hole for this team. And now all of a sudden, you have Cameron Curl, you have Derek Forth, you have one of the best safety tandem in the NFL, and I know guys get moved around a little bit, but now with McCain playing the Nickel Corner, you have two young stud safeties who are killing it this season in Curl and Force. Like that is such a departure from what we have become used to with this team.

And, you know, specific to like the rest of the NFL, it's a weird year, right? Offense is down, passing is down, rushing is up. You know, and so this recent trend of it's hard to win with defense because it has been hard to win with defense. We've seen plenty of good defenses get carved up at various points in recent seasons. Maybe this is a season in which you can turn back the clock and, you know, win with a defense and win with leaning on a running game. And, you know, it can be 1990 all over again. I mean, I don't know. I think you kind of have to be open-minded of the things with the way that this NFL season is going and without good Washington's defense is.

what do they do with Duran Payne at the end of this year? I don't know. I don't like the way that this has been handled. I didn't understand the thought process last off season. If you're going to keep them, then you should have been talking contract extension with him. And as best as we can tell, the team didn't even talk extension with him. So if you're not going to want to keep him, then you should have been open to trading him. And the team wasn't open to doing that. So at this point, I mean, I hate to say this, but it feels like,

We may be on a one-way street to franchise tag bill, which is not a place that any of us want to go back to with the way that has worked out in recent years. But he's been awesome. I mean, you know, you talk about like playing well in a contract season. This is like the epitome of that of a guy timing his breakout season so perfectly. And I'll tell you something else about pain, which I don't think it's talked about enough. And I'm especially appreciative of it now, especially with the Chase Young stuff. Duran Payne has been incredibly durable. This guy doesn't get injured.

He doesn't miss games. And there's a lot to be said for that, where every season you can count on this guy playing in 16, 17 games. And so it's not just now that he may well have taken his game to a new level. It's that he doesn't miss time. And so, you know, there's a feeling of, okay, if I pay this guy millions of dollars, you know, if I push across the table, say, $18, $19, $20 million a year, I can have a pretty good certainty that he's going to end up playing in 16-17 game.

This isn't a Brandon Sheriff's situation in which, yeah, the guy's good, but you have to budget for him to miss five, six, seven games the season. It's a guy who doesn't miss time. And, you know, I think the thing too of, well, you can't pay all these defensive lines. That may be true, but you need to pay the good ones and you need to pay the durable one. And I think the conversation maybe needs to change from, you can't pay pain. to, okay, let's not just book it that we're paying Chase. You know, let's see what happens with Chase.

But in the meantime, if you have something special here with Payne and this incredible interior defensive line duo with him and Jonathan Allen, you really hate to see that be broken up, especially with him blossoming. And here's another thing, too, with Payne. He's young. He was extremely young when he was drafted. This is just his age 25 season. So think about that.

Mid-20s and durable and rising. How do you let a guy like that? leave your team. I don't think you can. I don't think you can. I think, you know, you have to keep your best players. And Duran Payne is one of the best five players on this team right now. He is. And his inconsistency is what drove them to not being aggressive in resigning him. And, you know, it could be one of those situations where he's in a contract year and this is going to be his best year. I don't know if I buy that, though. The two of them together are stout. All right, where are you?

I don't know what your position is. I kind of remember where it was on Taylor Heineke. You know, you were, I think like me. You don't think he's a starter, but you love kind of the baller attitude that he has. How about him, essentially, for all intents and purposes, at least for the foreseeable future. We don't know how long the leash is, but being named starting quarterback by Rivera before the game yesterday. Yeah, I mean, I've always been open-minded with Heineke. like most people, I don't say to myself, okay, this guy, like, is a definite prime candidate to be a

franchise quarterback, but I've always tried to say, okay, let's see what he does before we pass full judgment on him. I think it's amazing how we've gone from this past off season, most considering it to be a slam dunk that you need to upgrade over him to now most believing that it's a slam dunk that he should be the starting quarterback. Like, that's another remarkable turnaround. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute, hold on. Most thinking he should be the starting quarterback when next year moving forward? No, for right now. Oh, for right now. No one right now is arguing for Carson Wentz. There really is no argument. Right, right, right. Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. And so it's done like a total 180. We're like back in January, February, your people were saying,

no, you've got to stick with Taylor for this coming season. And now everyone's saying, no, you've got to stick with Taylor as your starting quarterback. Like, it's just crazy how it changes. And by the way, when I say everyone, I'm including the head coach because his mindset clearly has changed. all of this. Look, Ron, if you read what he's saying and you listen to what he's saying, he is walking a line on this because he is really not committing to Taylor any more than just a week-to-week thing. You know, this is not when Jay Gruden in August of 2015 declared Kirk Cousins starting quarterback for the entire 2015 season. I actually thought that we might have gotten that from Ron, but obviously we're not getting that. It's more like, hey,

as long as Taylor plays well and we win, Taylor will remain the starting quarterback. And that's kind of like a no-duck kind of thing. Like, yeah, all right, but you're not really committing to him. So I still think we could see Carson once again this season. I wouldn't just slam the door shut on him playing again. But there's no doubt. You don't go back to Carson now. The difference between the two at worst has been negligible. And I think most people would agree that Taylor has been better. And, you know, while he's not a candidate necessarily to throw for 400 yards per week, he is a guy who can play smart. He can play efficient. The mobility, obviously, is a real weapon.

And when he's on, he can be really good. I mean, the problem with Taylor is the problem with, you know, actually Wentz and other guys, but Patrick has it, too. He's a high-variant quarterback. So his good can be great, but his bad can be awful. If Taylor just can avoid the awful, you know, avoid the really bad play, you saw say, in the two Dallas games last year, and just play it like a steady level, which he's capable of doing.

I think we've seen that the last few weeks. And I do think that he can be good enough to win, because with the way that he's the defense is right now, you don't need spectacular quarterback play. You just need a guy who's decent, and he certainly can be decent. And like I said, when he's on, he actually can be really good. Where does this end? Where is this headed? Six and five. We're at Thanksgiving. We used to always say to each other, just get us to Thanksgiving with meaningful games ahead of us, whether it lands in the postseason or not. You know, that was always good for us. It's good for us again this year. Where does it end? I think they're going to finish 10 and 7, and I think they're going to get in as that third wildcard spot.

I thought 10 and 7 going into the season, I think we're going to end up seeing that here. You know, my biggest fear at 1 and 4 was, okay, you either need to be really bad the rest of the year or you need to go on a tear, because the worst thing that could happen is that this team wins some games but doesn't make the playoffs and ends up with some middling record. And instead of having a top 10 tick, you're like, you know, in the teens or, you know, somewhere between, 10 and 20, and so you're stuck in that dreaded place of the middle. The middle does us no good. So now that the team is 1, 5, or 6, you've got to keep winning. You might as well keep winning, because at this point you lose out and you're going to end up being in that middle of the road area, which is not where you ever want to be. So I think the run continues. I do think that

the team gets to 10 and 7. And, you know, like you alluded to earlier, in this NFC, this season, you could be viable in the playoffs. And the fact that we're talking about, I mean, the fact that this team could end up making a playoff for a second time in three years, even with how wretched the division was in 2020, is something, you know, given where we were at one and four. So I think the team is going to do it.

And while the schedule isn't as easy as I think everyone thought going into the season, I think you can find four wins over these remaining six regular season games. I think they've got a good chance to do it too. All right, man. Hope you're well. Happy Thanksgiving. at Al-Galdi and, of course, the Al-Galdi podcast.

I'll talk to you soon. Yes, as our friend Dan says, happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. All right, that's it for the show today, back tomorrow with Tommy.