The Kevin Sheehan Show - Is Sunday's Opener Must-Win?

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

Kevin opened the show by answering an e-mailer who suggested that Sunday's opener against the Giants is a "must-win" game. On the eve of the 2025 NFL season, Kevin had thoughts on whether or not Washington closed the gap on the defending champion Eagles. Legendary Eagles play-by-play voice Merrill Reese joined Kevin to preview the Eagles' season. Dan Duggan/The Athletic jumped on to preview the Giants' season and the opener Sunday against the Commanders in Landover. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. We'll continue on today's show to go around the NFC East on Monday's show. We talked to Bobby Belt from Dallas. Today, Merrill Reese, the legendary voice of the Philadelphia Eagles, will join us in the next segment.

And then Dan Duggan from the Athletic, he covers the Giants. He'll preview. their season and Sunday's opener in Landover. The show's presenting sponsor is always, Window Nation, 86690 Nation, windownation.com if you need new windows. This from Ultra B&G to open up the show. Ultra B&G writes, Kevin, I love when you have Nikki on the show, but eight and nine,

is she allowed to say that? L.O.L. seriously though, do you guys ever hear from anybody with the team when you are negative about them? Actually, Ultra B&G, I do have two examples, but only two, of hearing from the team over the years. I've mentioned them before. I'll mention them again. But the truth is, during the Snyder era and certainly during the brief Harris era so far, no, not really. My experience is, no matter how critical I have been, and certainly people at the station or Tommy on this podcast, or even Cooley, when he was sort of part of the team and on the podcast. No, we really have not heard anything over the years from them. By the way, I agree. I love having Nikki on the show.

And yes, on yesterday's podcast, Nikki predicted eight and nine, Nikki Jabala. on the show yesterday predicted in eight and nine season. I think that will be an outlier in terms of the predictions. I had the outlier last year predicting 10 and 7. Maybe she'll be right this year. I don't think so, though. I will have my Skins season prediction on Friday show. Tommy will have his on tomorrow's show.

But look, Ultra B&G, there are some cheerleaders out there. you know, in sports content, you probably know who they are. Over the years, we have been, you know, at the station at 980 and certainly on this podcast, we've been very critical, justifiably, of course, about the franchise, certainly, you know, during the 2017 through 2023 timeframe, but even before that, you know, being a part of of 980, the station, that had a very unique relationship with the team. Many thought that we were, you know, tamped down or muzzled in terms of what we could say. That was never true.

And if you listened to the station, you knew that. But we were the flagship broadcast home for the team for 15 or so years, something like that. I was the pregame host for 13 of those 15. or so years on the team's broadcast. And we were also owned by a company that Dan Snyder was the primary shareholder of, a company called Red Zebra. But I can say, you know, on my kids that with the exception of two occasions, we never heard from anybody.

I know that they weren't thrilled with this station. I know that they really didn't like this station. but the truth is they didn't try to influence what was said by people like me on the air. Now, the two examples, and I've mentioned them over the years a few times, maybe many times. I did the post-game show for a few years back in 2006, 2006, 2007, 2008, I think. And I did the post-game show with Jake, with Joe Jacoby. and there was a post-game show from a restaurant somewhere downtown. I think it was DuPont Circle, and I'm forgetting the name of the place.

It was the game, remember, in 2007, when the Skins played the Packers at Lambo, Sean Taylor had a massive game. He had, I think, two interceptions, but could have had three or four. Skins lost that game, and let's just say Jake got into it a little bit. bit in the post-game show. And I'm not just talking about, you know, being critical of the team. Jake, you know, and I probably had a cocktail or two. Jake may be a cocktail or seven, a beer or seven or maybe 10 or 12.

And at the very end of the broadcast, he said, if Dan Snyder doesn't sell the team, this team will never win. And he heard soon after, maybe a day or two after from Joe Gibbs, who was coaching the team then, Joe got wind of what Jake said and called Jake and told him he needed to apologize to Dan for saying that. Now, that was not trying to influence anything. I'm just giving you examples of when we heard from the team after, you know, there was criticism. That was Jake. My specific example for me, Easter night, 2010, the night, the afternoon and evening of the Donovan McNabb trade. Back then, ESPN News would put on, you know, radio hosts from markets for reaction.

And I went on Easter night, Sunday night, 2010. And I was asked about the trade and I said, look, for me, for me, me, it's a red flag trade. If Donovan McNabb has a lot left, why the hell would Andy Reed trade him to a team in the division? And I got home later that night and I got a call from our then CEO, Bruce Gilbert, one of the truly fine people that I've ever had a chance to work with in this business. and he just said, what did you say on ESPN news? And I told him, and he called back and he said, I've smoothed everything over. And I said, well, what happened?

And he said, well, the big guy, the owner called me at home. He was watching. And remember how excited Dan and Bruce were about that trade. They thought that they had, you know, made the trade of the century. They were so excited about getting Donovan McNabb. Well, Mike Shanahan didn't even want Donovan McNabb. He wanted Mark Bulger, who was the St. Louis Rams quarterback and was a free agent, but Bulger retired. According to Mike, and he told us this on the air many years ago, Bruce and Dan said,

what about Donovan McNabb? and Mike said, not really, but if you can get him for a mid-round pick and have the Eagles pick up a big portion of his remaining contract, and we can't get Bulger, then let's do that. Of course, when they couldn't talk Bulger out of retiring, they gave Philadelphia a second and fourth rounder and picked up his entire deal. That's not what Mike wanted, and it was a wake-up call. Welcome to Washington, Mike. You have final say on personnel except when you don't.

Yeah, that particular night, I guess I survived that night. And I don't know what Bruce Gilbert said to Dan, but he called me back and said, all's fine. But I definitely had put a damper on the evening for the owner of the team because my first instinct was, well, if Donovan McNabb has a lot left, Why would the Eagles trade them? And certainly why would they trade them in the division? They wouldn't.

And of course, the McNabb trade was not one of the more successful personnel moves by the franchise. But let me just say, you know, over all of those years, and I think all of the guys at the station would say the same thing. You know, Zabe would say it, Andy would say it, Galdi, Jackson, Scotland, B, Mitch, Doc. You know, Koken, obviously coach Thompson or Tony, they were in a separate category. I think they'd all say, you know, despite the sort of perception from the outside that, you know, the station would be, you know, somehow influenced by the team's owner being a primary shareholder in the station. and it just never happened.

And we were all, everybody was super critical of the team many times over. And, you know, usually crickets. Now, towards the end of their ownership, it got ugly. They didn't like us at all. They did a lot of things to try to hurt the station. But no, over a long period of time, was never really told what we could say and not say. This from D, D writes, Sheehan, Sunday is must win.

It's not Code Red, but it is must win. I thought must win in Code Red were one and the same, but whatever. Lose and these expectations you've been talking about get dialed way back. The team still needs buzz and a loss to the The lowly giants would be a buzz kill. Thank you, Dee, for that. I don't see it that way at all. Now, I'm actually thinking about this.

My first reaction was Sunday's not must win. Openers are weird anyway. But considering that they play two games in a very short window, Sunday against the Giants and then next Thursday night in Green Bay, starting this season, O and 2 would be a buzz kick. kill. Oh and two would be a buzz kill. It wouldn't be a kill shot to the season. There would be plenty of time to turn things around. But no doubt the short-term effect would be, uh-oh. And beyond that, you know, based on the time we're living in, social media would bury them. And by the way,

anybody that backed them heading into the season. So I don't see Sunday as a must win. By the way, the team did announce a sellout for the Giants game. I certainly expected a sellout. I didn't think there was any way they wouldn't sell out the opener coming off the season they had last year, especially when you consider what the capacity of that stadium is. Now, we'll see how many giant fans are in the stadium Sunday, but I bet it's way different than it used to be.

I'm not seeing, you know, any more than 20, 25 percent, you know, of the crowd. I don't think it'll be a third. It certainly won't be 40% or more. So there is buzz, and I don't think one loss would be a buzz kill, but an 0-and-2 start would not be recommended. That is for sure. So I do want to take a quick moment here in the opening segment to correct a mistake I made yesterday. I need to correct this mistake. And thanks to a few of you for pointing it out. So you guys know that my bookie has been a sponsor of this podcast now for six years. I highly recommend my bookie for sports betting, especially this time of year. They've been very good to my listeners with cash bonus opportunities over the years,

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They'll give you an extra $250 to bet with. There is a five-time rollover on that cash bonus, but take the free money. Even if you have an existing sports book that isn't My Bookie, sign up at My Bookie and take the free cash. It's a really good offer, and I don't know how long it will be available. So again, go to the Kevin Sheeonshow.com slash MyBooky, and then in the promo code section, type DC reload. By the way, at My Booky, Washington is still a six-point favorite over the giant. Dallas is up to eight and a half, minus eight and a half for tomorrow night's season opener against the Eagles. All right. So Wednesday during the regular season, which we are now in, is the first real practice for the upcoming opponent.

It's also the first injury update for the games. And I have the information on the injury report that was put out. by both teams. The Giants have a significant injury. Andrew Thomas, one of the best tackles in the game. He was limited in the Giants practice today with a foot. There is some discussion about whether or not he'll be ready for the opener. This has been an injury that he's been dealing with. For Washington,

full go, Marcus Mariotta, full go Matt Gay. It was an illness, they listed. Jonathan Jones, Noah Brown, and Dorrance Armstrong were limited, and Zach Ertz did not practice, but it was for a rest day. Zachertz had a lot of Wednesdays off last year. So there you go. We were wondering about Marioita and whether or not he would be ready to go for the opener.

He was a full go with that Achilles tendonitis. today in practice. All right, quick break, and when we come back, I'm going to spend a few minutes discussing whether or not Washington has closed the gap on the Eagles. That's next after these words from a few of our sponsors. Are we finally ready for some football? Well, a new sponsor on this podcast will help out,

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order with the promo code Sheehan, and that includes the NFL collection. Support this show and tell them we sent you. So I wanted to go back to last week in my conversation with Dan Quinn when he was on the show last Thursday. I asked him, and you'll hear the question, about how much focus there was in the offseason about closing the gap on the Philadelphia Eagles. Here's what he said. You usually don't hear coaches talk about chasing down one team, but I'm curious as to how much of the offseason plan inside the building was about closing the gap on one team, that one team being the Eagles? Yeah, they had a fantastic team and a fantastic year.

So during the regular season, we split the games with them, and the postseason, they absolutely got the best of us, kind of referring to what I was saying earlier about the margins of winning for them to get takeaways and for us not to get any, you know, that was the deciding factor, you know, in the game where we didn't give ourselves our best shot. But at the end of it, man, like, you also give credit to them. We don't spend our time, you know, looking at too many of the other opponents, but we do look at ourselves really, really closely. What do we need to do? Where do we need to get better? And if we can dig in on those first, that's a big deal. But you start by looking, like, you know, defensively, explosive plays, who attacked you, how to it happen. And the same thing,

offensively, you know, what were the most effective things, how we feature the players in those roles? Because, Kev, honestly, it's trying to put the players in the right spot. It's not just the playbook. It's the playbook and then featuring the players in their correct roles. So I am going to answer the question here in a moment on whether or not Washington has closed the gap on Philadelphia since the championship game in late January and, you know, the beginning of the upcoming season on Sunday, Sunday for Washington, tomorrow night for Philadelphia. So I will get to that in a moment. But, you know, in listening to Dan Quinn's answer, he essentially said that's not really

where the focus of the building was entering this off-season. Even though they did bulk up in the trenches, and I think we all know from watching the three games last year watching Philadelphia in some of their other games. Washington had to be better in the trenches against the Eagles, better in the trenches against several teams. But one of the things that he focused on is I think the thing that they are and have talked about in the building. And that is, as it relates to, you know, the big bad Eagles, we played them three

times. We beat them once, and we had a minus eight turnover margin in the three games in aggregate. They were minus one in the Thursday night, 26 to 18 loss at the link when they had lost to the Steelers, and then they went on short turnaround to face Vic Fangio in that defense and took the lead into the fourth quarter. They coughed it up five times in that. That late December game at home. They were minus three on that day, turnover margin-wise, and they won the game. And then in the NFC title game, they were minus four and lost the game. So minus eight in three games, and they won one of them. They had the lead in the fourth quarter in another one. They had the ball down 11 late in the third quarter in the championship game.

What I heard in that answer is a Dan Quinn who has emphasized takeaways turnover margin, but who essentially is telling you, we're not that far off. We were right there with these guys, and it was self-inflicted that we ended up losing two of the three games and almost lost a third. I would also mention in the game that Washington won, you know, it wasn't just, Look, overcoming five turnovers to still score 36 points against that defense is amazing. I mean, how many times have we talked about it since it happened? And Jalen Hertz leaving that game was huge for Philadelphia, but he doesn't play defense. But Philadelphia still wins that game if Devante Smith, one of the more sure-handed receivers

in the game, doesn't drop a third and five as a wide-open receiver. in the middle of the field. But that happens in NFL games. And but I, you hear, you know, I think Quinn essentially, you know, we don't need to close that much of a gap. We're not here, you know, focused or obsessed on chasing the Eagles. We were in three games with them last year where we just turned the ball over too many times.

We can't do that and beat good teams. if the turnover margin is even, we probably win two of those three. I don't know if I agree with that, but I do agree that you can't be minus eight in three games and expect to win many of them. And they did win one of those games. Now, for me, did Washington close the gap on the Philadelphia Eagles a team that is loaded? Let's be honest. They have the best roster in the NFL.

They've done a phenomenal job, Howie Roseman and Company have, in roster building. That team at the end of last year was one of the better defensive teams we've seen in modern, you know, recent NFL history had a dominating performance in the Super Bowl over Kansas City. And they had, you know, arguably one of the top three or four players in the league who had, you know, maybe the best season in the NFL last year in Saquan Barkley behind a great offensive line, two great receivers, a clutch quarterback, et cetera. So my answer to the question,

has Washington closed the gap on Philadelphia? Is yes, I think Washington has closed the gap on Philadelphia, not by a lot, but they have. Let me just say one thing real quickly before I get to why I believe they've closed the gap on Philadelphia. You know, every team has an area that they are concerned about. And when I say every team, I'm really talking about every team's fan base, media base, etc. You know, when we talk about the weaknesses or the mystery around the 2025 team,

it's defense for most of us. It is for me. Run defense specifically. Like, we won't know until they start playing games. if they're better than they were last year. They weren't good enough last year. They weren't good enough to win a Super Bowl being that bad against the run. 26th DVOA, 30th in traditional yards allowed.

They had to improve the defense. We talked about that on yesterday's show. We played what Dan Quinn said about the defense, and he talked about tackling has to improve. Takeways have to get much better. But there are 31 teams in the league out of 32. that all have that area or two or three or four in some cases, maybe more than that with the bad teams where everybody is unsure or concerned.

That's why the conversation about the defense, we don't need to be in panic or be alarmed about it. It's a concern area, but 31 out of the 32 teams in the league have the same conversations about different areas of the team. everybody's got flaws. Every team does, except for the Eagles. They really don't.

They are loaded. They have depth. They have star players. They had nine top 100 players per that NFL players, NFL. Players, NFL.com, NFL Network, top 100 list. They have great players. They have really good players. And then they have, you know, be love.

players behind some of those A-level players. They have arguably the best offensive line in football, the best running back in football, the best wide receiver tandem in football, arguably they have perhaps the best front seven with one of the great young secondaries in football. They have a quarterback who is clutch and is considered by most, no worse than a top 10 quarterback, and some believe top five. You know, if you want to say Nick, Siriani is a bit of adult when it comes to things like game management. I would sign up for that, but the players love him. Jake Elliott, the kicker, did not have a great year. He's back. Maybe that is the flaw. So by that logic, Philadelphia being the one team at a 32 that really doesn't have

a flaw, why would I answer the question, has Washington closed the gap on Philadelphia with the answer, yes? well, because Washington has the better quarterback. I believe that. And more than that, I think Jaden in year two of the Cliff Kingsbury system, year two, not a rookie season, but now with some experience. And by the way, I mean a lot of experience. Played in 17 games or 16 in, you know, the Carolina game and a series. played in three playoff games, three on the road, two wins, and played in the NFC

championship game. He faced everything. And we know, based on what everybody has said, what kind of guy he is. He is obsessed with getting better. I just don't see that sophomore slump. I don't see a step back season for Jaden Daniels. I see a huge season and a huge step forward season for him and the offense because the offense is improved. Better offensive line. Added playmaker in Debo Samuel. The offense should be better than it was last year. And look, in two of the three games, Philadelphia really couldn't slow down with that great defense, Washington's offense. Washington hurt themselves with takeaways. Now, some of those takeaways were Philly takeaways.

Defense forced takeaways. But for me, I understand the concern area. It's my concern area. I think it is for many of you. I actually have, you know, legitimate belief that the defense will be better than it was last year with some of the additions. And just by the nature of it's year two in. this system. But what I'm really, really bullish on is that Jaden and the offense are going to be even better than they were last year. And that's where I think Washington has closed the gap.

Not by a lot, but they have closed the gap on Philadelphia. They've got the best quarterback, and he's going to be even better in year two. All right. There's some other stuff I was going to get to here, but I'll save that for Tommy tomorrow. Up next, we will talk to the legendary voice of those Philadelphia Eagles, Merrill Reese. We'll get to that right after these messages from a few of our sponsors. This episode is brought to you by prize picks. Guys, football season is finally here, and my favorite daily fantasy sports app during football season is definitely prize picks. Prize picks is fun, exciting, a game of skill, and it's easy to play.

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Prize picks. It's good to be right. If you're an NFL fan to the season, back goes to the home. He's watching, he's looking, it's intercepting, it's interceptive, it's interceptive. If you're an NFL fan, in particular, an NFC, East fan, of course, an Eagles fan. You know that voice. The legend, Merrill Reese, on the call for Cooper DeGine's pick six in last February's Super Bowl. That gave Philadelphia a 17 to nothing second quarter lead over the Chiefs. They went on to a resounding 40 to 22 victory for the franchise's second Lombardi trophy. Merrill Reese joins me right now. I am guessing that Out of all the teams over the nearly 50 years you've been calling Philadelphia Eagle games, that that team last year, even more so than the 2017 team that won it all, I'm guessing that last year's team was the best Eagles team you've ever seen. Yes, Kevin, I said at the end of that game that this is the best Eagles team in modern history. So I'm not going back to 48 or 49 or even the 1960 team because times were different, players were different, the game was different.

So I'd say from modern history, we're talking about 1980 on. But this team that won Super Bowl 59 was definitely the best. I honestly think it was one of the most dominant defensive performances in Super Bowl history. I mean, I think what the Bears did in 85, you know, is probably number one. But, you know, the lead was 40 to 6 in the fourth quarter before the Chiefs got, you know, a few meaningless touchdowns at the end. You witnessed it live. What was it like to see it live? Well, it was funny because a few weeks earlier in the game against the Rams in the playoffs,

St. Juan Barclay's scored in the fourth quarter. and I made the remark. I said, that should be the dagger. And I never touched my phone during the game, but I could feel my phone buzzing in my left pocket. And later in that game, Matthew Stafford was within one touchdown pass of putting the Eagles out of the playoffs. And after the game, I looked at my phone,

and my wife Cindy had sent six messages, and they all said, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it. when I made the early declaration about that should be the dagger. So here we are at the Super Bowl, and it was 24-0-0 Eagles at the half. And I wasn't saying anything, and my son Nolan, who was in from California, where he's a film editor was acting as a research guy, and he handed me a note, and it said, Dad, just remember the Falcons led the Patriots 28 to 3. and so I wasn't saying anything,

but when they came back in the fourth, at the end of the two and a half hour, the halftime show, I came on up in the third quarter, and the Eagles kicked off, and Andy Reid's team went one, two, three, and out, and I said, Andy has no answers. He has no answers for this defense.

They couldn't do anything. And Patrick Mahomes looked like he would rather go home. I mean, the Eagles just dominated them, as they said. Now, for us, it was a lot of fun. I mean, it was a great, great domination, great win for the Eagles. For the rest of the nation, it was not a wonderful Super Bowl. Yeah, that may be true, although, you know, it's interesting as, you know, a fan of the team that lost to the Eagles in the NFC championship game, and by the way, Merrill, I liked the Eagles in the Eagles in the game. I bet the Eagles both on the money line and plus the points. So I thought they

had a really good chance to win the Super Bowl. But yeah, you know, Washington really in that NFC championship game, I think even though the final score was 55 to 23, and it was a dominant win and certainly a very impressive day for Philadelphia's offense, I thought Washington's offense against Philly's staunch defense was more. much more impressive in the NFC title game than the Chiefs were in the Super Bowl. Oh, yeah. Yeah. No doubt about that.

Listen, Washington is a very good team. Jayden Daniels was tremendous last year, and I think the commanders are going to be good once again this year. Yeah, I want to ask you about that, and we'll get to that. If maybe last year's three meetings was the beginning of something, it would be nice for us. It's been a long time since we've sort of, sort of, sort of, have participated in the upper echelons of the division. But just big, big picture going into this year. Do you think the Eagles are better, worse, or do you think it will be a similar season to last year? Do you have a crystal ball that I can borrow? No. We know how the NFL works.

It's impossible to predict, but what's your hunch? Well, it's a war of attrition. They were 14 and three during the regular season. But you take a 14 and three team and you have the wrong three or four injuries at the wrong time. They could be nine and eight, great nine or something like that. So it's impossible to say now on paper, on paper, I think there is good or better. Yeah, I mean, they lost a couple of pieces on defense, right? Josh Sweat, Milton Williams, but this rookie Jihad Campbell tell me about him and tell me about him. about, you know, what the defense will look like with some of the changes? Well, Jehad Campbell, had he been perfectly healthy, probably would have been an early first-round

pick. He never would have lasted the 30. I'm not sure he would have lasted the 10, but he had a rotator cuff injury, and they weren't sure if he would even be ready for the start of training camp. Well, he was ready for the start of training camp and took a full active role every single day, and he's very special. And you have a great defensive coordinator and Vic Fangio, who will deploy him in all the right ways. I don't know at the beginning of the season, if he is ready to move around and become an edge rusher at times, but I think that Vic will know when he is ready.

He may be ready tomorrow. I mean, he may be ready for the Dallas game. You can't tell, but he's special. He will start. And you have other people who have come in. And one guy who has been here for a while, and he showed signs of the beginning of a really good player, and you talked about Milton Williams leaving, but the interior tackle who replaced him as Morrowojo-Jumbo. He is a very, very, very good player.

So another, an outside edge rusher who just came on at the end of last season, Jay Lux Hunt, shows signs of being a star. So I think this team can be as good or better. As far as Jalen Hertz is concerned, to me, he's a great quarterback, and he has a high feeling, and he just turned 27 this summer. I think he's just going to continue to get better. You've loved him from the very beginning, even before he started to play at a big-time level, and we've seen the kind of clutch performances Jalen Hertz has provided the Eagles and many of their big games over the last few years.

So let's talk about the offense. And I want to start with, you know, another change in the coordinator. Kellen Moore is gone. Kevin Petulow, who's on that staff, takes over. Major impact, an adjustment for the offense or not? No, not really. Kevin Petulow is terrific. He is just an outstanding coach who will one day be a head coach.

And he's been the passing game coordinator since Nick Suriani arrived four years ago. So whether you call him a passing game coordinator or an offensive coordinator, the job doesn't change that much, Kevin. So I think there'll be some wrinkles. He'll put his own identity in this offense, but I still think there's not going to be a great difference in terms of schemes. Is there an expectation this year that Saquan Barclay will be used the exact same as last year in terms of the touches he got, 340-some carries on offense, or would they like the load to be lessened? You know, if you ask Nick Seriality, he will probably tell you

that he will use Saquan Barclay in the way that he has to use him. If they, it's, It depends on what the defenses do. Now, Kansas City, when did that Super Bowl, and their theory, obviously, was, if we stopped Saquan Barclay, we'll win this game. Well, they really limited Saquan Barclay. They put the ball on Jalen Hertz's arm, and he passed him the death and ran. So it depends on what the defenses do. So you think they're going to scout the Eagles,

and they're going to pay a lot of attention to Saquan Barclay. well, the Eagles will beat you another way. And I'll tell you who else is going to help Jalen Hertz. And that's the guy that the Eagles got from the commanders last year, Jehan Dodson. I think he's a terrific receiver. I think that Jalen has developed the chemistry with him. And if you want to, you can't cover the ball.

And if you're going to, if you're going to put pressure on A.J. Brown and Devonte Smith and Dallas guttered, then look out for John Dutson. He wears number two this year, and he's pretty darn good. Give me a player, Merrill, that we don't know, or most fans don't know outside of Philadelphia, that you think will be a significant contributor on the 2025 team. Well, I mentioned, you know, Moro and Jomo. He is one.

I mentioned Jalick's hurt. I hunt. I don't know how well people. people know Jay Lex Hunt, but he is a talent. A young offensive lineman, Tyler Steen, moves in at the left guard position, and he's done very, very well this season. I don't think they'll miss Beckton. I think he'll be an outstanding player.

But everybody knows everybody today in the National Football League, and as they come in, you know, you see them. I mean, there's a young defensive lineman from Nebraska. Ty Robinson, he looks good. And I'll tell you who else will help this team. And that is Will Shipley. He replaces Kenny Gainwell, who was the guy who relieved Saquan last year. Shipley can do everything.

He can return kickoffs. He can catch the ball out of the back field. He can block. He's awfully good. I really like Shipley, and I'm glad you mentioned him. I've talked about him before. I think they've got a really good backup back in that situation. What about O'Gillari?

Yeah, go ahead. I'm sorry. I had mentioned Mike Quick during a broadcast last year that Shipley finished Clemson, and he never had to be. And Mike Quicks said to me, well, at North Carolina State, he never had to be either. It's hardly tried. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I didn't know he was that good of a student, but he had a straight-a-student.

Wow. And he had a, you know, he came in and rushed for nearly 100 yards in like two series against our team in the NFC title game. What about OJolari? I have a guy for you when you said a guy who maybe nobody knows about. Because you don't tune in the preseason games that much. But it was a free age of wide receiver who ended up making the team by the name of Darien Cooper. Yeah, Darius Cooper. Yeah. Darius Cooper, and he will wear number 80 this year. But now, I don't know how much he's going to get the play in this offense, because, you know, they also added John Metchie.

And Mettie is a good player, too. When he came out of Alabama, he was a second-round-draft choice, and he ended up getting hurt in a bowl game, and he ended up having leukemia that, thank goodness, he recovered from fully. And he's a talented guy too, but Darius Cooper. Darius Cooper is a guy to, if he ever gets in, pay attention to him because he can play.

Oh, my God. I mean, the depth on this roster is amazing. You know, I didn't even notice until the preseason began that the Eagles had added O'Jolari from the Giants. You know, Nkobi Dean, it looks like I guess he's starting the season on the Pupp list. he got injured in the postseason. Washington didn't have to face him in that title game, and he was playing really well.

Is O'Gillari still good? He made the team. Is he a legit pass-rushing guy for this defense? Will he play a lot or not? Well, it depends on how the rotation goes. And again, that remains to be seen. He flashed at times during the preseason, made some big plays,

and then other times he really didn't notice him. but it depends on what happens and what Dick feels as they go along, and of course it depends on the health of everybody. But look, we started last year, and one guy who came in and nobody paid any attention to him as a free agent was Zach Vaughn. And if there was a better linebacker in the league last year, I didn't see him. He was absolutely amazing. Yeah, Vic Fangio had a vision for him.

No doubt, and it worked out. All right. So how does Philadelphia, how does Merrill Reese view the division? Well, I would go Eagles, commanders, Dallas Giants. That would be the way I think most people would view the division. But there are surprises every year. I think the commanders are going to be very, very tough. Dallas isn't as good as they were last year.

and that doesn't mean they couldn't pull off an upset because you never know the first week of the season. But how could they be as good as they were last year without their best player? When you made the move that they made and got rid of Micah Parsons, I don't care how many draft choices they got, he's one of the great players in football.

They can't be as good, although don't forget, Dak Prescott missed nine games last year and had a serious injury where his hamstring had to be reattached to the bone. And he's back this year, apparently he's healthy. And they do have talented wide receivers. C.D. Lamb is one of the best. And then you add George Pickens to that group. But the overall Dallas Cowboys team is not as good when you take away Michael Parsons.

They just can't be. Can they? Not as a pass rushing team, that's for sure. They will be missing something from that standpoint. You know, tomorrow night should be interesting to see what they have offensively. Because if they're going to be competitive in terms of maybe more wins than losses, you would think it would be because they were really good offensively this year. Well, you would think so.

And DAC is back, and I have a lot of respect for DAC. but again, I don't think he can be quite as dangerous running the football, nor does he want to put himself at risk when he's coming back from the injury that he suffered. So we'll see, and of course, there's a new coach in town. I mean, that's Brian Chattonheimer, and the players wanted him. Jerry Jones didn't seem to be on the bandwagon until the very end, but certainly he has a wealth of experience, and we'll just have to wait and see. And again, who knows about the Giants, really?

Who knows what kind of an effect Russell Wilson is going to have? I'll tell you one thing. If they don't get off to a good start offensively within four weeks, maybe two weeks, maybe in the second half of the first game, the fans are going to be screaming for Jackson's Darts. He's a good, he had a very good preseason.

Yes, he did. He did. So I wanted to finish with this. you know that we've been out sort of in the wilderness for 24 years with the Snyder regime. And last year was just an incredible resuscitation of this fan base, you know, an important one in the NFL. And we had the opportunity to play a division rival three times, including in the NFC championship game. And you know, Merrill, one of the things, and you and I have probably talked about this, that as, you know, a massive skins fan over all these years, it was depressing that the rivalries became less important for us because we just didn't have meaningful games.

You know, enough of them against Dallas and Philly in the Giants. But last year, it all changed. And I'm just wondering from the Philly perspective, do you see or even feel the possibility of Washington and Philadelphia becoming a big thing again, especially with Jaden Daniels, a quarterback. I think it's always a big thing when an NFC East team is hot. And if it's the Giants for a while, as it was maybe 12 years ago, then they become the rival or the Cowboy. But really, the Cowboys have been off and on.

Do you realize it's 30 years if the Cowboys won a Super Bowl? 30 years. Yeah. So, you know, they, they, everyone talks about, well, the Calvite, Eagles, Cowboys, but in Washington, don't they think that Dallas is their number one rival? Forever it was. Don't they think the Cowboys are the number one rival? I think it all began when they, when they started using the,

the description of calling themselves America's team. So everybody wanted to beat America's team. But the Eagles rival will be the best. team in the NFC East. And right now, I can't see that being anybody but Washington. All right. Well, I'd like to wish you great luck in terms of your team. I won't do that, but I'll wish you personally a great season. It's always fun to listen to Merrill Reese call games and get highlights of Merrill Reese calls during the course of the season. Oh, real quickly, Do you believe Nick Siriani about not knowing that tomorrow night is Banner Night?

You know, you know, one time many years ago. You see that oblivious? Listen, this is how coaches are. Training camps used to start much earlier than they do today, as you know. In early July, they'd go to training camp. And one time Dick Rameel was there in his office. He heard all this noise coming from the outside. and he said to Carl Peterson, what is going on there?

And Carl Peterson said, Dick, those are firecrackers. It's the 4th of July. He had no idea. So if Nick said he didn't even know the banners being raised tomorrow night, I believe him. I really believe him. And the players won't be out there for that, by the way. They will be in the locker room. And I think that's fine because the players have had the parade at the Art Museum

and down Broad Street. They had the ring ceremony about a month ago that was phenomenal. And it's time for them to concentrate on the Dallas Cowboys. And if they're in the locker room thinking about their plays or their opening series, while a banner is being raised, that's fine. That part of this is for the fans. I'll match your Vermeel story by ending with a Gibbs story. Gibbs was asked during the Iran-Contra hearings back in the 80s what he thought of them.

Oliver North in particular, and he said, I've never heard of him. And that was at the height of Iran-Contra, where it was on TV 24-7 for about a month. He had never heard of Oliver North or Iran-Contra. Gibbs was, like Vermeal, a rather dedicated to football head coach, that's for sure. Oh, absolutely. But Nick is basically, he's a guy who I think knows what's going on in the world, but his focus right now is totally 100% on the Dallas Cowboys and what it will take to get the season started with a win. Well, thankfully this season is here, Merrill. Have a good time tomorrow night.

You know how much I always appreciate this. We'll talk in December because we got a long way to go until the first meeting between Philadelphia and Washington this year. Thanks, as always. That's right. We have two in three weeks right in Blaine, December. Yep, exactly. All right.

Take care. Have a good call tomorrow night. Thank you, Kevin. Always nice speaking with you. Merrill Reese, everybody. I've really enjoyed over the years getting a chance to talk to Merrill Reese. Typically, before Skins Eagles games, in this case, before Philly opens the NFL season tomorrow night as the defending champs against the Dallas Cowboys. All right.

Next, we'll go to New York. Dan Duggan from The Athletic will jump on, talk about the giant season, and more specifically, Sunday's opener here against Washington. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Apple and Spotify give you a chance to rate and review this podcast. If you haven't done it, you can spare a minute to do so. It would be much appreciated. You can also follow the podcast.

That's a big deal for us as well. just hit the plus button or the follow button. It's in the upper right-hand corner on Apple, down the left-hand side, on Spotify. Joining me right now is Dan Duggan. Dan covers the Giants as a senior writer at The Athletic. You can follow Dan on X on Twitter at D.Duggan 21. The Giants, of course, come in here Sunday for the season opener. currently. They are six-point underdogs. I want to start with just kind of a big picture, Dan, for the Giants in

2025. Are Brian Daible and Joe Shane in win or else mode? And if so, what does winning or else look like? No, it's a very interesting question. It's actually something I wrote about on the athletic today. because I think what happens, you know, every offseason, it's easy to get kind of swept up in the positive vibes, and there's a lot of them around the Giants. They figure they, you know, totally remade their quarterback room. It's kind of feeling a fresh start. Now, Daniel Jones has gone.

They've added some talent on defense. So everything's feeling great. But then you remember, this is a team that went 3 and 14 last year. Ownership had to put out a statement the Monday after the finale, announcing they weren't firing the head coach in GM. And then, you know, co-owner of John Mara gave a press conference that Monday morning basically saying, like, you know, they got a winner else. I mean, those are your words, and he didn't exactly say that, but he basically said, you know,

he's run out of patience. So, you know, you can interpret that how you will. So now we fast forward, whatever it's been, you know, eight, nine months. I don't think there's like a, they have to hit X amount of wins to be back for a 50 year. But I also think, I mean, they're in year four here. This isn't year two. It's not even year three. We're in year four.

I think it's reasonable to expect some tangible results. Now, you know, of course, this regime got off to that good start, the, totally unexpected start there in year one, and it's been just sliding the other way. So I don't know, it's nuanced, though, because you add in the Jackson dart factor, so if you win six games, but three of them are by him late in the season,

he looks great, then I think obviously they'll be back. But if you're just kind of like back in that five and 12 range, six and 11 range, and it's, you know, dark gets in, doesn't look like anything special, I don't know. I think that's where it's very complicated,

and I mean, they certainly can't afford another three or four-win type season. I can't imagine how you, just by bringing them back. So yeah, like I would say that yes, they should be expected to win, but I do think it's kind of a clouded picture, especially when you add in the rookie quarterback, and I know they don't want to kind of repeat the Daniel Jones era where they fired Pat Shermer after one year, and they think that kind of contributed to Jones not building on any of the promise he showed early in his career. You know, it's reminding me so much of Jay Gruden's final year

in D.C. was 2019. And before the season started, was like, yeah, he has to win, but if Dwayne Haskins plays and looks the part, then J'll probably keep his job, even if they, you know, go six and ten or seven and nine. That's sort of what you just described. Like, if they don't, you know, have a really good season with Russell Wilson, he's done. But if they have an average to less an average season, but Jackson Dart looks the part, he's probably back. Yeah. No, I mean, DART is the ultimate X-fact in this whole thing.

Like, they ended in this season with a quarterback room of Russell Wilson, James Winston, and Tommy DeVito. Then it would be, you know, wins and nothing else matters. Right. But you do add that rookie quarterback into the equation. That's for a thing like that adds an element. And I think it's going to be super-inching to see when they decide to go to him. Like, obviously, ideal scenario, you know, Russell Wilson turns back the clock.

They win 12 games during the playoffs and DART gets his, you know, Patrick Mahomes' rookie season. and more realistic, you know, there's going to be some rough badges here. Russ is certainly on the decline. So when do they kind of pull the rip cord there? I think there's a little bit of self-preservation involved in that decision. That kind of cuts both ways. You can pull it too soon. Dark goes in and flops, well then

you're kind of, you know, you're out of lifelines. But if you pull it too late and, you know, all right, Dart plays one or two games, like, is that enough to kind of stay your case? So it's going to be fascinating. I mean, listen, it's probably the only thing I'll be monitoring at some point this season, unless they really do surprise. But I think when they make that switch will be fascinating. And then,

of course, it kind of resets a little bit of the evaluation because, again, if Dark comes in the last five games, you think, oh, we really have something here. That kind of buys everybody, I think, a new lease on life. Do you guys spend any time looking back to that late season win over Indianapolis where it was like the most impressive performance of the year? And it costs you the number one overall pick and a chance at Cam Ward? I would say in the immediate aftermath, yes, a lot of Giants unhappy with that result. I would say, like, you know, the off-season is so long, and when you see how things have come together,

I think fans are actually pretty excited with how it turned out because, you know, if they had the number one pick, they would have taken Cam Ward, and, you know, who knows how that'll turn out. Instead of the number three, Abdul Carter falls in your lap. I mean, this guy looks like, you know, the next coming of LT, you know, at least through, you know, a couple of practices and preseason games, obviously, again a little out of ourselves,

but it looks like obviously a really great impactful defensive player. And then, you know, Jackson Dart, you trade back up, get him at 25. You have no idea what to expect there, and we still don't. But I think just the excitement he generated with the way he played in the preseason, I think fans are kind okay with how it worked out. But certainly at the time, there wasn't a ton of excitement. But it's also something I think was very, very important to Daible in this regime, well alone the fact they lost 10 straight games, the fact they went out and score like 41 points with Drew Locke, it's something he could point to. Like, listen, if I get a

quarterback who will play the way I want him to play, this can be the result. I mean, he really said as much after that game. Now, I'm skeptical, but that is what the result will be weekly, but I think it was important for him to at least have some sort of proof of concept. Like, listen, Daniel Jones held me back. We, you know, get a different quarterback in here. The results will be different. And of course, now he's kind of, you know, Russell Wilson's obviously the bridge, and he's banking long term on Jackson Dart being the guy that validates that belief. All right. We'll come back to the quarterback situation here in a moment. But I've said this for actually a couple of years running, but definitely heading into this year. And I'm

curious as to what your reaction is. I think the Giants have a really good roster. I think the quarterback is the biggest question mark, and of course, if that's a question mark, then the team is a question mark. But everything else is pretty solid to much better than just solid. What do you think? I will say that Joe Shane's actions support your theory there, because you look at this offense that ranked, I think it was 31st in the league in scoring last year, 10 starters

return. And obviously the one that doesn't is a big one. And, you know, I think with Russell Wilson, I don't think they have any illusions that he's going to be, you know, MVP contending Russell Wilson from a decade ago. But I do think they believe he's, you know, professional and quality, at least game manager.

We everyone to call him at this point that you put him in that offense, it's going to raise a level there. And then obviously the defense won't be in as many situations where they're playing from behind and, you know, they're they have to do everything because the offense is so bad. And I do think the defense, if there's anything that's going to make, if we're looking back

in this conversation in four months and say, wow, the Giants surprised with the Giants with this year's version of the commanders, I don't think it's going to be because of quarterback play. I think it's because they're because they're going to be a roster. They have some real studs there now. It's, you know, taking some time to piece it together. But obviously, Dexter Lawrence, I mean, I think he's, arguably the best no tackle in the league. Brian Burns, the guy who, you know, they gave up a lot to get him, but he's still a very good player. Again, you, the excitement. you add with Abdul Carter, if he lives up to half of the billing that he's coming into the year with,

you have a stud there. And then they've made other additions like a Pulse and Adiebo and Jvonne Holland and the secondary, which those guys haven't been all pro players, but they're certainly upgrades on what this team has had in the past. So I think you can see the ingredients for a really good defense. And then again, I think the belief is just having an average quarterback will raise, you know, the waters for the entire team. And again, that's what they really put to the test. Before we go back to quarterback, I thought Tyrone Tracy had an underrated rookie season.

Devin Singletary, we know who he is, and Cam Scataboo was drafted in the fourth round, and everybody saw him at Arizona State in the college playoff. Tell me about the running back position. Yeah, no, I think Tracy kind of fits in this group they have of the draft busting last year. They're banking on those guys making a big year to leap. I mean, obviously, Malik neighbors kind of already made his leap in year once. You're just expecting that hour to continue pointing up. I mean, I think he's probably going to be knocking on the doorstep of being a top three, top five wide receiver.

Agreed. According to plan. But that next batch of players in that draft class, whether it's, you know, Tyler Newman was a safety in the second round. Drew Phillips was a nickel corner in the third. Theo Johnson, tight end in the fourth, and then Tracy, the running back in the fifth. All four of those guys played a lot last year were starters, showed promise. Tracy probably showed the most promise in terms of just flat-out production. So they're kind of on all those guys.

They're expecting all of those guys to make a leap. And so as far as Tracy in particular, he came in, was behind Devin Singletary. Singletary gets hurt, and then Tracy takes over in week five and literally kind of ran away at the job. It was very productive. I think he's still a guy. You know, he converted from wide receiver to running back late in his college career. There's still some finer points that need to be tightened up. All security was a major concern last year.

Pass protection, you know, type of thing is not shocking that a converted wide receiver would struggle with. But if he tightened those up, then maybe there's optimism there that he isn't a finished product. he could maybe, you know, maybe the ceiling is that much higher. But, I mean, he's the number one guy. Singletariat, you know, they weren't going to go into this season with, like, you know, no proven guy there. He's a veteran. He's been around. He can do the past protection stuff.

Like, he's kind of a safety valve. And it's a little bit of a wild card. You know, obviously his college career is very well documented. Showed some real problems early in camp. But then he's a battle in a hamstring injury, basically since the spring. He's finally back. But I think that's going to kind of slow his role a little bit. I think he's going to be used sort of as a change.

of pace, at least initially. And then it was probably dependent on how Tracy performs. If, you know, if maybe his role gets reduced and Scadabot Bucco increases, and, of course, if Scadabu is making the most of his opportunities, they will make it more of a timeshare. But I think that's Tracy's kind of, I don't say job to lose, but like the workhorse role is there for him to seize. And he's going to get every opportunity to do so, you know, right out of the gates

I would assume. You've talked and mentioned Malik Neighbors. I think that, you know, he's a year away from being in that Jefferson, Chase, LSU, you know, top tier class. I mean, 109 catches as a rookie with the quarterback situation you had last year is just incredible. All right, so quarterback. First of all, Russell Wilson, who's had an interesting three, four years, you know, where we learned about what a diva he was in Seattle and how badly they wanted to move on from him.

Then he had the stuff with Sean Payton in Denver. He couldn't wait to get rid of him. he's had the year in Pittsburgh last year. They didn't want to keep him. So what so far has been, you know, the Russell Wilson experience in New York? Well, it's funny. I mean, I think anyone who follows me, this is obviously going to go out to Washington listeners. I'm a bit on the pessimistic side, so I don't quite buy into a lot of the offseason hype and good vibes that I think a lot of people get intoxicated by.

So all you've heard is like, what a breath of fresh air. He's so positive. This guy's been there. He's done that. And my thought is, they said this in Denver three years ago. They said this in Pittsburgh last. He isn't changing who he is. It didn't make a difference.

I mean, his record in his last four years as a starter is 23 and 32. That's the three different organizations under three different Hall of Fame-bound coaches. So it's not like he was in these terrible situations, you know, other than Nathaniel Hackett year. Maybe we'll give him a Mulligan on that one. But he's been about a 500 quarterback under Pete Carroll, Sean Peyton, and Mike Tomlin. And as you said, all three of those guys either actively moved on from him or were happy to let him go. So yeah, I think that's telling. I think it's one of these things.

The beauty of the league is sort of the market kind of tells you how guys are viewed. You know, we can all make lists and argue it. But he was out there this offseason. The Steelers showed no interest to bringing him back. And he signed here for $10.5 million. I mean, that's, you know, like less than Gardner Minshew money. So he's certainly not a guy who I think I'm expecting to come in here and light it like the world on fire.

I think the Giants have, you know, higher expectations. I think they may be disappointed. But again, I do think they're looking at it as he's going to be a a lot more steady than Daniel Jones. Daniel Jones, it's like the, you know, he was, whatever you thought of him the first, like, four or five years, the bottom really just fell out last year. Like, he was basically incompetent.

So I think they feel like there's a baseline of competency with Russell Wilson. He's going to make the big deep ball that he still do that as well as ever. So Malik neighbors are going to have some games where he's just going to go off because he's going to catch, you know, 280-yard touchdown. Like, there's going to be a game or two like that for sure. So I just think they feel like he adds a solid floor, which had been very volatile under Jones last couple of years. But yeah, I don't think the ceiling is very high with Russell Wilson.

Is James Winston beloved in that locker room like he has been in every other? Yeah, for sure. It is a very interesting mix, though. And it'll be really interesting to see how it plays out because, you know, they put out the unofficial quote-unquote depth chart and Dart was QB2. I mean, that had been the case all throughout camp, but still on the official depth chart or unofficial depth chart during camp. James had been the two.

We really didn't know coming into, you know, Sunday's game, who's actually going to be active as the backup and who's going to be the emergency third quarterback. We still don't know that definitively. But if that's James, and he's just sitting there, you know, not dressing for, well, not, you know, not being active for games, just kind of holding the clipboard. Like, how will he take that?

Because he is definitely a big personality, definitely very outgoing, and I do think players like him. But I'm just curious to see how those dynamics will play out. If he came here, you know, I think he thought he'd be the backup, and now it's, like, looking like he's going to be the third. And again, there's just big personality. Russ is very set in his. personality. One very kind of unique, upbeat, always personality. People kind of question how

authentic that is. You got James kind of like this big personality. And then Dart kind of has his own sort of like he's got this young kind of cool personality. So I'm fascinated to see how the three of those guys will coexist. And if things go wrong or if there's changes being made, how they all deal with that internally? All right. So how chomping at the bit is Brian Dable and Mike Kafka to get Jackson Dart into a real game. Yeah, I mean, that's the question that's hover over everything. Again, I think in their ideal world, your Russell Wilson goes out, plays pretty well, the defense plays really well.

They're hanging around 500, and they can just hold off on that as long as possible. But I also think there's a real possibility. If they get out to a rough start, you know, the schedule is well-documented how tough it is, you start with two road games in the division, come back and you play, you know, You can back by KC and the Chargers at home. So it's like, O. and Four is very well-with-un-in-roll possibility. I don't think. And then they go to New Orleans, week five.

If they're at O-N-4, even one-and-three, I would not be shocked at all. If Jackson-Dart's debut comes much earlier than anyone would have projected or hoped or planned. Because, I mean, Davele loves the kid. Like, he can barely hide his fondness for him, you know, just the way he played in the preseason. That's going to fuel outside pressure to play him internal. in terms of like, I'm sure ownership is sitting there saying, wow, we might have really struck gold with this kid. It can be hard to justify sticking with Russell Wilson if the team is struggling, knowing what you

have there. And again, it's preseason, maybe we're overreacting to it, but there's only one way to find out. So if the team is scuffling, I don't see how they can stick with Ross. And again, I do think, you know, this has been dable guys throughout the draft process throughout training camp. Like, he clearly has a very high level of affection for DART. So, yeah, I think if things go south with Wilson, he won't hesitate to rip the bandaid off.

And I think, again, it could be as early as, like, week three, week five. I'm not saying it's going to be late in the year. It's really the ball kind of in Russell Wilson's court. If he plays well enough, he holds it off. But I think the moment he starts to fall to him, they'll pull the plug. All right. Record-wise, what's your best case and worst-case? I mean, best-case, I would say right around 500,

knowing we don't have 500 records anymore. Like, I don't think they can get the 9 wins. So I would say 8-9 is probably a realistic best-case scenario. worst case, like, I think that they had, the talent is good enough. I don't think it's going to be as bad as last year. So I'd say like four or five. So like, it doesn't have four to five to eight range. I don't think there's a huge variance.

I'd be very shocked if they're like two and 15. I'd also be very surprised at the 12 and 5. I think they're going to fall in that lower middle class. You know, you're not really in the playoff on, but you're not picking in the top five either. That's just kind of how I feel is going to play out. But there's a lot of variables of the team, especially with the quarterback situation, because again, when they pull the plug from Wilson,

we have no idea what you're going to get from DART. That's why they probably want to hold off as long as possible, hoping that Wilson's keeping them float. But again, it's easy to sit there and have all these nice plans and how we're going to react. You know, when we're talking here on whatever, September 3rd, that changes a lot when losses start piling up and stress starts building. But, yeah, I think they're in that range that, like I said, the lower middle class of the NFL, but at least hopefully out of the basement with it has been for far,

too long. All right. Last one. What does the team look like health-wise and otherwise coming into Sunday's opener in Landover? Yeah, I mean, good, very good, really. The only two question marks coming in is Theo Johnson, I mentioned earlier. And it's been a little strange. It was like, there's no injury reports during training camp, and they haven't been practicing a ton, so it's hard to get a handle on what he's been dealing with because he hasn't been out there for a couple of weeks. But just was just around the practice field right now, you only get to see a little bit in course during the season. But he looked like, you know, full go. So I would expect he'll be in the lineup. So that really only leaves

left tackle Andrew Thomas as a question mark and that's a huge question mark. I would say you could make a strong case. He's their most important player. You know, at a time, you probably say they're best, their best player, I think, you know, Dexonin Lancer certainly surpass him there. But when Thomas has been out of the lineup and that's been a problem the last two years, the offense has been

bad with him in the lineup. It's been like, you know, unplayable without him. So they need him. The same time, he's come back from a LIS Frank injury. I think everyone knows you know, those are major injuries and a big guy and a foot injury is even more concerning. So I think they're going to be conservative with him.

So I'm not saying they'll rush him out there for week once. I think there's a chance, you know, Washington might be able. So I got a big truck drive, might be outside the facility. I think Washington may be able to avoid him, but I would say it's, as of today,

we're sitting here Wednesday afternoon. I'll say it's 50-50. I should have a better sense, you know, after practice today or, you know, Thursday, so, you know, you get my Twitter handle at the start that people can check in there

if they want to keep tabs. But yeah, he's definitely up in the air because it's been a long recovery. And I think they want to be cautious about rushing him back. So I think that's the one that's very much up in the air. Dan, thanks. Really appreciate it. Great job. Have a good trip down here for Sunday's game.

Yeah, thank you. Dan Duggan, everybody from the athletic on the New York Giants, Washington's season opening opponent. They should be pretty good on defense if they're healthy. They've got some really good players on that side. of the football. It will be a good opening test for Washington's offense Sunday against the G-Men. I think the biggest question, of course, it's pretty obvious, is will they get decent quarterback play? Will they get quarterback play? That's a lot better than the quarterback play they've gotten in recent years, especially last year. And if they do, I could see, you know, the

Giants being the surprise team in the NFC. Not going to 12 and 5 like Washington did last year because they're not going to have a quarterback like Jaden Daniels. But I could certainly see a 9 and 8, you know, backdoor wild card scenario, although 9 and 8 may be difficult in the NFC. Remember, we had a team last year finished 10 and 7, Seattle, and not make the NFC playoffs. The 7 seed was Green Bay at 11. And six, Washington was the sixth seed at 12 and 5.

I mean, hell, Minnesota was the 5 seed at 14 and 3. The NFC, man, last year the aggregate record of the playoff teams has to be one of the highest we've ever seen. All right, that is it for today. Tommy back with me tomorrow. We'll do all of our NFL predictions, including his predictions for Washington season.