The Kevin Sheehan Show - Is Wentz In Trouble?

Episode Date: September 27, 2022

Kevin and Thom today with lots on Carson and the Commanders who face the Cowboys next. Is there even a reason to talk about how long or short the leash is on Wentz yet? Well the boys did. Kevin had a breakdown of the nine sacks on Sunday. Other silly stuff on the show too.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy is here. I am here. And the show is brought to you by My Bookie.

You know football and you pick winners all the time. So why not get paid for them at My Bookie? Well, I mean, some of you know football. And some of you pick winners all the time. I was Tommy nine and four on my smell test over the weekend. And I have a couple of things to say about. out the smell test today because there was a team that I wanted to give out that is due some kudos and it's somewhat not really a local team but there are many people in the area

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MyBooky's a proven sports book that makes it simple to bet and to win. So make this your winning season exclusively. my bookie. I do want to mention something about the smell test. May I do that to start today? Absolutely. You know, it's your podcast. No, when you're

on it, it's our podcast. Okay. That's the way I view it. I know it's not set up that way in terms of the business, but I kind of feel like it's that way. In fact, you know, somebody... Okay, well, that's good. Somebody wrote us a review,

and I would urge all of you, if you don't mind, if you haven't, written a review or rated us on Apple in particular, but wherever you can rate and review podcasts to do so. But this is an Apple review from Jeff the Jarhead. I'm assuming is Jeff a Marine? Does that mean Jeff's a Marine? I don't know. Kevin and Tom are must listen in football season and no slacks the rest of the year either. But when they play dumb and dumber, even better. Yes, Tom didn't know the fair catch-free kick rule. But apparently you didn't either, Kevin.

There is no snap that you described. The kick is made from the spot of the fair catch without a rush, snap, or scrimmage at all. Keep it up. Always fun to find the mistakes. Well, thank you, Jeffrey. I think that's a bit of nitpicking. I mean, this is such an obscure rule. And what brought it up was long field goal attempts and the history of long field goal attempts.

and Mark Mosley tried a fair catch kick. And I knew the rule. And you're right. I did say there's no rush. There's no, you know, there are no players out there except for the snapper holder and the kicker. And I did say the ball is snapped. So what he is saying is essentially the guy, the holder just puts the ball down at the fair catch spot. Kicker backs up, lines up, and kicks it.

Okay. Very good. I think there was kind of nitpicking, but whatever. I'm fine with it. It was. It was exactly nitpicking. How are you today? I'm good.

I'm feeling strong, buddy. Why? I am boosterized. You're boosterized? Yes, I got my latest COVID booster shot last night. How many have you had now? Well, I'm eligible for the latest one, which is supposedly geared more towards the latest. most recent outbreak, whatever it is.

So I've had two boosters and two shots. Two shots and two boosters. Two shots initially, all Moderna. What are the names of Pfizer and Moderna, right? Pfizer, Moderna, and the other one was Johnson and Johnson? Johnson and Johnson. So you got what initially, I forget? I get Moderna.

I've got Moderna all the way through. Okay, so you've had two Moderna booster shots. Yes. Got it. Okay. Yeah, so I'm feeling good going into this winter. I was going to get the flu shot at the same time, but I read somewhere that it's better maybe to delay the flu shot a little bit

because as the winter goes on, you know, as time goes on, it loses its effectiveness. this, if you get it too early, you know, like in February or March, when you might really need it, it might not be as effective. So I'm going to wait a month to get the flu shot. Okay. Are you getting a flu shot this year? I'm not planning on it.

I've never gotten a flu shot. I don't know. I've been told I should get a flu shot. You know what I've been told over and over again? I bet we've talked about this, that I should get the shingles. vaccine. That shingles are extraordinarily painful. Did you tell me this?

Yes. No, I didn't tell you that. I'm not a big shingles vaccine guy. Here's the thing. Oh, boy. About six, seven years ago, what? I got a shingles vaccine. Uh-huh. Okay. And

apparently that's not as good as the new one that's out. So they want you to get the new shingles vaccine that's out. So they have a new improved one. Well, will you get that one? It's a double, it's a double dose. Okay, you get one dose, and then you go back and get a second dose. And everyone I know who has had it

says it's painful and there's side effects. Oh, boy. Okay. Well, you just talked me out of that one. I mean, the last... So I'm sitting there thinking, I haven't gotten the second one, the new improved one, because I'm going to have phasing the one I got before. It may not have been the best, but it was good.

It was good enough then. But I'm sticking with that one. I have heard that shingles are just painful if you get them, and that the pain, well, maybe what they would say is whatever pain there is associated with the vaccine, with the shot, it pales in comparison to getting shingles itself, which I would assume is true. By the way, when I got... I would assume that's true. When I got my booster, which was a five,

booster. I told you, like, I couldn't lift my arm for a day and a half. And I was freaking exhausted. So I'm not really fired up about the booster shots, but I'm going to do whatever I'm supposed to do. I did. So, yeah, the shingles thing, the flu shot, my wife really is upset that I have not gotten the flu shot. And I keep explaining to her. And I'm knocking on wood. I'm saying this because I am a bit superstitious on this stuff. I just, I haven't gotten the flu in years, in years. I mean, there are, I've got, I'll tell you what I've gotten, I've gotten strep throat. I've gotten that a couple of times during the winter months, you know, or bronchitis, you know, something like that, but not the flu. So, but I don't know, maybe I'll get the flu shot. Hey, I wanted to mention

something because you and I always get this from a lot of, you know, sports fans in the area. Why don't you talk more about this team? Why don't you talk more about that team? You know, and it really is a college sports thing because, of course, we talk a lot about the professional teams in town. I mean, there is the, you know, conversation over the years of, you guys don't do enough caps, you know, talk. Well, you know, again, not to go down this path, but it's hard really in this town if you do a if you do sports content you know and you want a big audience to talk about hockey during football season like you you might as well just take a gun and point it at your forehead because that's not that's just not going to get you many many listeners

it's got to be football during football season but hockey during the playoffs everybody's into it But I always hear from college sports fans around the area. Sheehan, why don't you talk more about the Hokies? You know, why don't you talk more about UVA? But there's this one school, which, by the way, I love because I've been to this school, you know, years ago when a friend of mine went there, I've taken my boys to visit this school. I've heard many times over the years, Sheehan, will you please talk about JMU football?

They are one of the best Division I, AAFCS schools. in the country. They've got a great football program. And by the way, I love Madison. You know, it's a beautiful school right off, you know, Interstate 81. You know, it's an hour and 50 minute drive from the D.C. area. Phenomenal school, great, you know, student body. Steve Buchance, probably its most famous alum. Yeah. Well, JMU, I on Friday, on my smell test, I did well on the smell test this weekend. I was nine and four on the smell test, so I'm back to 500. But there were other games that were on my list that I really liked, that I didn't give out. And one of them was James Madison. James Madison was an underdog against App State. App State had beaten Texas A&M a few weeks

ago. They had the incredible season opening, thrilling loss, like 65 to 63 against North Carolina. and the, I liked James Madison because I just thought everybody's going to be on App State, which they were, and I like James Madison, and I've heard they're pretty good. Well, James Madison is now an FBS team. They're division one team. They're in the sunbelt. They're in the sunbelt with, you know, with teams like, you know, in their division in the sunbelt. There is Coastal Carolina.

There's Old Dominion. There's Appalachian State. Marshall, you know, some teams that have really, you know, made headlines this year. Marshall beat Notre Dame, Old Dominion beat Virginia Tech. We had Marshall, we had obviously the biggest one was App State beating Texas A&M in College Station. So I didn't give out James Madison, and I was kicking myself, because James Madison beat Appalachian State on Saturday, 32 to 28. Their record is 3 and 0. and in the latest rankings, they got in the coaches poll, they got 11 votes to be ranked in the top 25 in America in Division 1 college football.

In the AP, James Madison got four votes, and they are considered to be an excellent football team. Their opening win, Tommy, was against Middle Tennessee. They crushed Middle Tennessee, 44 to 7. middle Tennessee just went to Miami and crushed Miami who was ranked. So to all of you, JMU people, Harrisonburg, Virginia, shout out, Dukes, whatever you guys do when you see each other on campus

and you say something like, hey, Dukes or something, or Duke's up or something like that. I forget what the saying is. They're 3-0, and they're going to be favored in a bunch of these games. They play at Louisville. They play an ACC team later in the year. but, I mean, pretty damn good season so far for the JMU Dukes. I mean, in their first year in Division I, they are close to being ranked.

It's pretty amazing. That's pretty amazing. It really is. Good for them. Yeah. I've driven by there numerous times seems like a great school. Great school. Absolutely.

Seems like a great place you want to send your kids. I think I took two of my three boys. to visit, you know, on one of those visiting days. And I loved it. Now, I think they did too. They ended up going elsewhere. But, yeah, it's a cool place. And, you know, it's not that far away from the D.C. metro area.

But it feels like it's, you know, a little bit of a college town, college down in Harrisonburg. So anyway. And it's one of those, you know, Virginia's got so many great schools, right? There's so many great universities and colleges. in the state of Virginia. I think I've told you this before, Tommy. The state of Maryland, living in Maryland, I live in D.C. now, you know, this is no offense to the other public universities in the state of Maryland.

But, you know, the truth is Maryland doesn't have a lot of great public universities. College Park is by far and away, number one. And it's not, you know, whatever second is a distant. Second, you know, I know UMBC and Frostburg and Salisbury and some of these places have become really good universities. I'm not knocking them. But the state of Virginia, if you live in Virginia, you just have so many options. You know, UVA, William and Mary, Virginia Tech, you know, Madison, VCU, Mason, you know, you get into Old Dominion, you get into, well, you know, schools that are private, like, you know, W&L, the University of Richmond and H. and Hampton, Sydney, and Randolph-Macon.

Like, the list goes on and on. There are so many great colleges and universities, both public and private, in the state of Virginia. So if you're a Virginia resident, you just have more options. And, you know, here's the thing about Maryland. I've talked a lot about this with so many people over the years because, you know, we've been over the last many years, you know, my friends and I, with our kids and applying to colleges and the whole thing.

And if the University of Maryland is really hard to get into, really hard to get into, especially if you are an in-state student. It's actually a little bit easier to get into Maryland if you're an out-of-state student. But in-state, Tommy, you've got to be an elite student, elite, to get into college park. And one of the reasons that UMBC and Frostburg and Salisbury and some of these other schools have become much better schools is because a lot of people that, you know, public schools, in state public schools are the only option, aren't getting into college park. And yet they're really good students. But, you know, it's really hard. And, you know, a lot of Maryland residents have a problem with that.

It's like you're paying taxes. Your kid's a good student, maybe not a superstar student. the public university in the state should be an option. And it's not unless you are an incredible student. And so, I mean, look, I like that about Maryland to a certain degree. It's a much better school than when I went there, you know, but maybe not as fun, you know. I think it's a different student body than the one that maybe I was there with. But anyway, JMU, congrats.

I mean, getting votes and who knows, might be ranked before we know it. I mean, that'd be pretty amazing if they ended up being a ranked team in their first year in Division I. Not to mention that they're one of the favorites along with Coastal Carolina, I believe, to, you know, an App State to win the Sunbelt. You know, so that league has produced some big time wins this year already. So, I mean, I don't know if they are in their first year, I don't know what the rules are like with respect to. bowl games, like if they have to be in it for a while, but I would imagine that they've got a chance to go to a bowl game this year. So good for them. We never do that with these smaller schools around town. The other thing I always hear is, why aren't you talking about Mason basketball? Sheen,

Mason's pretty good this year. What about the new coach? Well, they've never really been that good since that final four in 2006. No, they haven't. Right? I don't think so. They have not. No. But anyway. They haven't been able to capture that magic again. So I have a question for you. My question is, you predicted that Carson Wentz would be benched by week 10. Have you revised your prediction? Have you pushed up the timeline at all?

No, I'm not going to be greedy about this. I'm not going to, you know, strut down the street. saying, see, see, no, no, no, no. I mean, because he could turn around and throw, you know, another four-touchdown game at some point. He's capable of good games and bad games, still. So, again, the 10th game benching was basically a long-shot prediction. I wasn't telling you that that's what I think's going to happen.

I know. That was when we did the long-shot prediction. Right. okay which literally a long shot is you think there's a chance that it could happen i feel better about that chance uh but no i'm not i'm not changing my uh prediction so i think it'll take a lot for uh them to go to the other guy so in the next segment i'm going to talk about the sacks that Carson Wentz took because I spent some time and gave some effort to looking at those very carefully. And of course, you know, it's my opinion and other people may have different opinions.

But I think they've got a major offensive line problem. And by the way, this coming weekend against the Cowboys, this is not just a big game for the team. This is a really big spot for Scott Turner. And I'll get to some of that in a moment. But You know, the Carson Wentz discussion after Sunday's game, which was a brutal game for him. He was awful in the game. He was pressured consistently. He was sacked nine times, as we know. He was hit 17 times as we know. He was clearly rattled. You know, and going back and watching the game, I think the bigger issue than the sacks was just how inaccurate he was, especially after he started to get hit. I mean, he just was off.

and I actually gave this some thought, Tommy, and I talked about it on radio this morning. And I know that it would not happen because they would not want to open up Pandora's box. But I think in that game Sunday when you got to the fourth quarter, I would have given some thought. Now, this is in hindsight. I did not think this in watching the game. But then again, when we got to the fourth quarter, I was more intent on watching the Red Zone,

some real football that was going on with real games. But it would not have been crazy for them to pull Carson Wentz Sunday, other than the fact that it would have created just massive, you know, discussion. But there was going to be just some discussion anyway. But he was getting wrecked. He was having an awful day. And I would have perhaps pulled him. And I would have just said, this has nothing to do with anything regarding you're starting.

Next week in Dallas, you're starting. This is not your day. This is not the day of the offense. And, you know, we're going to put Taylor in there. And I don't even know if Sam Hal was eligible. I would have put Sam Hal in there if he was eligible on Sunday. And we're going to just see, you know, if we can run around a little bit and just make sure that you're protected the rest of the way. Because here's the thing that also from a lot of you out there that, you know, swore during the off season,

that this was just a magical move made by the team and that everybody was going to see, you know, that Carson Wentz was. that Indy made a major mistake and Philly made a major mistake. And I thought about this after watching the game yesterday and reading some tweets. I was like, this goes to what I've said before. People that didn't understand that at the very least you were going to get inconsistent play from Carson Wentz this year, you have an upside there that you haven't had in recent years, no doubt about it. We saw some of that on display at the end of the Jacksonville game and in the second half against Detroit. But if anybody thought that somehow this was going to be 2017, you don't watch football.

You just watch Washington. And you know I've said this for many years. In discussions I have with fans, it becomes very apparent that they watch the Washington games, but they don't watch the league. And they certainly don't watch college football. But if you actually believe that Carson Wentz was going to have like this magical season, those odds were so long because that's not who he's been recently. I mean, understand this people. Teams in the NFL don't get rid of quarterbacks who are really good. It doesn't matter about their vaccination status if you think it was all Jim Mersey. It doesn't matter.

Quarterbacks that are really good are so hard to find. He wouldn't be on his third team in three years if he was like some sort of magic bullet answer. So he played awful on Sunday. He was terrible and he was rattled and you saw what you saw at times last year and the year before and the year before that in Philadelphia. he's capable of some stinkers. He's also capable of some really good games. But my question on radio this morning, and I'll ask you, if he puts another stinker out there on Sunday against the Cowboys

and maybe follows it up with another stinker against the Titans the following week, would you bench him? I'm not asking you what you think they would do. They're not going to bench him after five games. I don't think. Do you think they would? I don't know. I think Rod Rivera is, what's interesting about Rivera,

and this would be a whole discussion, is I think he can rationalize any decision he makes in his head. So I think that he can basically bench Carson Went after five games and try to convince people it's not a reflection on him, on the coach. You know? Because apparently the coaches have done, apparently he, not the coaches, he has done nothing wrong this year. Here's what you won't hear out of Ron Rivera.

I feel like the worst coach in America. You're never going to hear that out of his mouth. So I think that they would. I think that they would if he put in a couple of stinkers like that. Yeah. Two more stinkers? Yeah. I don't think they would.

And I don't think they should. I don't think there's any chance that they will, actually. I think that, you know, what you said, by the way, I kind of agree with that he's able to sort of rationalize any sort of answer he gives. And by the way, you know, it changes with the wind and has since he's gotten here. And yesterday's presser is really interesting, and we're going to play some of it for you. By the way, he did take a little bit of accountability. I was really upset yesterday, Tommy, in saying that yesterday in that post in the Monday presser was not the day for him to talk about the players being responsible for the last two games,

that yesterday was a buck stops here kind of a day, and that it was going to be really off-putting to a lot of people if he once again said the players have to play better, which he did say. But he also did say, but we can make. you know, better decisions and corrections on our side as well as coaches. So he did say that yesterday. So there was some lumping him and the staff into the mix. But I don't, to your point, I don't really think he thinks it's his fault so far. But back to the question, I just don't see being able to rationalize it or not.

There is just no chance. that they would admit defeat that quickly and admit that they got it wrong that quickly. I mean, they, you know, to your point, they rationalized and convinced themselves that they, you know, they got a guy that nobody else saw what they see in him and they can get him to be much better than he's been because, you know, of course it's them. And so, no, I don't see that happening until they're mathematically. What if the Love Fest in the locker room for Carson Wentz disappears in the next two games? That's going to be interesting to follow, but my answer is still no.

My answer is still no. Because this is part because this is the ground you've already, you know, sought out for yourself. Well, you know me. I would change my mind. You're not going to go back. Oh, come on. What are you talking about? I do it all the time.

I change my mind all the time. because I staked out the other side. No, I would totally, if I really felt like he was in trouble with two more stinkers, I would tell you, you know what? You may be on, you were on to something. I've given you lots of credit for the two or three things you've gotten right over the last 10 years. I just don't see any chance like in October of him being benched, no matter how poorly he plays.

I don't. I don't think there's a chance. he gets benched until they're mathematically, or let's just call it practically, out of the playoff race. And then, to me, I would hope that they would, you know, see what Sam Hal has, not what Taylor Heineke has. We know what Taylor Heineke is and has. He's a solid backup in the NFL, good backup in the NFL.

But no, I don't see that happening. Should it happen? I don't think, you know, I don't know. I mean, a lot of it would have to do with what's going on in the locker room, et cetera, and am I going to lose my team if I don't put Taylor in there or give Sam a shot? I just, I think that, you know, it's still so early and you've got a new, you know, you've got a new system, you've got a new quarterback, you are only three games into this. He's had moments.

You know, maybe I would feel differently if we didn't have the end of the Jacksonville game or the second half of the Detroit game. But yeah, no, I don't think they should do it, and I don't think they, and I'm convinced that they won't do it. I mean, like, I would bet a shitload of money that he's not benched before the end of October. I mean, as much money as I have, I would bet on that as an even money proposition. I think you really underestimate Taylor Heineke. I really do. I mean, you know what?

So far from what I've seen? This guy's not a better quarterback. He may have a stronger arm, but he's not a better quarterback. He's not. Yeah, he is, in my opinion. No, but he's not, but he's not. He's got a huge arm. Yeah.

But there's more to the position that goes back than that. Okay. So, and how good was Taylor Heineke that last year that makes you believe he's better or just as good as it went? Well, I guess my point is Carson Wentz is a good backup quarterback. Yeah. Well, he might end up being that, and we've always considered that as a possibility, but the reason that you went with Carson Wentz is because he's got a much bigger upside. And I actually think we saw that at the end of the Jacksonville game. I don't think that we would have seen that from Taylor Heineke.

I want to remind you, and anybody that is nodding their head at what Tommy is saying, is that Carson Wence is capable of the stinkers that he put out there on Sunday. Taylor Heineke last year, over the final four games of the season, Carson Wence's quarterback rating, the ESPN QBR number, was 11.4 on Sunday. That's terrible. Three of the last four games for Heineke, in the biggest game of the year against the Cowboys off of a four-game winning streak, he had a 5.9 QBR. he was absolutely horrendous in that game.

The next game that he played in after missing the Eagles game with COVID, and I know the Dallas game on the Sunday night short week was a bad game. He had a 4.3 QBR. I think it was the worst QBR of any starting quarterback in the entire season last year. And then he finished up the season with a 6.3 QBR. See, Carson Wentz's bad is pretty bad. Taylor Heineke's bad is exceptionally awful. And so I don't think Taylor Heineke and Carson Wentz are the same.

And I'm not building up Carson Wentz because you know how I felt about the trade and you know how I felt about Carson Wentz. I was not a big fan. I didn't think this was the answer long term. I don't think it is now. But I would rather have the upside of Carson Wentz than roll out Taylor Heineke as a starting quarterback again. Because I know what I have in Taylor Heineke. You know, during that four-game winning streak, they did a good job of protecting him, putting the game on everybody else, and they had a nice little run.

He had some really good games and some really good moments, no doubt about it. But he also had some awful moments. Last year, Taylor Heinekees, last year was against a much stronger schedule with much weaker weapons at his disposal. Yep, no doubt about it. That's fair. Totally fair. The end of the year's schedule was not that difficult, though, and he shit the bed.

And I know that he had COVID and he missed the Philadelphia game, but in the biggest game of the year, after they had a four-game winning streak, he was, we saw what he really was in that game against the Cowboys. He is a backup quarterback in the league. Carson Wentz may end up being a backup, but I would say right now, no, Wence, not only, it's obvious that his best is better than Taylor's. I don't think that that is even debatable. But I think that, you know, his, I mean, because we're seeing the inconsistency here early, even though it's early, I think what we're going to end up getting is what we've had with Carson Wentz

the last couple of years, which means he's not the answer either. But Taylor Heineke's not the answer. Now, if you are convinced after three games that Carson Wentz is not the answer, and by the way, I didn't think he would be the long-term answer anyway. and you are really pissed off that they made the trade. That is a reasonable position, and it was a reasonable position at the time. I didn't like the trade.

I especially didn't like the $28 million. There's no way that they needed to eat the $28 million. Indy would have eaten half of that. I have to think. But, you know, as we know from some of the reporting, you know, with Schefter and I had some information on that yesterday as well, they, you know, after the Wilson thing, after they were told by Seattle that Wilson was,

was not going to be Delta Washington. They were desperate. And this was a year, Tommy, like we talked about. They couldn't bring back Taylor Heineke with Mitch Trubisky. It was all about the new name and about trying to create some excitement. After they announced 2222, you know, everything new. And Carson was the best they could do because Wilson wasn't available. Rogers, Watson, all the big swings were swing and misses, including the one from the year

before with Stafford. But he was terrible on Sunday. And what was really troubling was just how rattled he was. And I put a lot of it on the offensive line. I put a lot of it on Scott Turner, too. But his, you know, there are some of you out there that have been convinced that we were all going to be eating crow, those of us that didn't love the trade and weren't, you know, doing somersaults over Carson Wentz.

You don't watch football. You just watch this team. And you knew the name Carson once. This is who he's been recently, very inconsistent, capable of really big games with big plays because he's physically able to do it, but capable of the kind of game we saw on Sunday as well. And I think it's going to be, I think this Sunday's big. I know you want to get into the sacks. So why don't we do that? Okay, I was just going to say, and you know what, we don't have to play the Rivera stuff. I think the Rivera press conference yesterday was, he came out with the intent of saying very little. I mean, I've never seen the transcribed version of the press conference, which you get and I get from the team.

Yeah, the first 10 answers are all short answers. They're all dealt. And I watched it, not live. He had a tuned. But he warmed up after that. He became much more loquacious after that. The first ten questions or so, one answers,

one sentence answers. Yeah, I mean, it's sort of, in some ways, speaks to some lack of discipline because he had a game plan for that press conference, but he couldn't execute it start to finish. Because there was the question that got him going. I know what it was. It was Ben's question. The question was, was it on his concern and optimism level? Yeah. That's what got him going. Yeah. That's when he started, okay, I got things

to say. And he said, I'm optimistic. I've told you guys that yesterday I'm an optimistic person, but what has to happen is that guys need to play better. They've got to play better. That's the truth in the matter. By the way, that's one of his crutches. That's the truth in the matter. We all have crutches. That's his. I can't tell you if we could just drink when you hear Ron Rivera say that's the truth of the matter or in the matter and will be hammered by noon. But he said, you know, you go back and you look at things that happened. We had some opportunities, whether it was some of the things that happened up front with the offensive line or was it some of the things that happened down field or some of the things that happened at other positions. I mean,

there's some things that we have to fix. And that's the truth of the. the matter. We have to play better. You know, when we have opportunity situations, we got to make something happen, we got to do those things. We've looked at it. We've figured it out. We've addressed it. Now we've got to go do it. So then the next follow-up was, well, you know, the players have to play better again. We're going that route. And he said, there's a couple of things that have to be better. And overall, you know, there are some things that we can correct. And we can make better on our side as well as coaches. Thank God he, you know, it. least thought. Maybe this week?

Well, that's because the question was basically pointed at the players. Yeah. And I think he's not toned at enough not to realize that, you know, well, I can't hang my players out to dry on a question where they're begging me to hang my players out to dry. Yeah. Individual execution. But here's something, and the transcript that I've got in front of me that I don't get. It was the question before Ben's question about concern and optimism.

Somebody asked him about James Andrews and his evaluation of players. What was that? Was that specifically towards someone, an injury? Well, was that an overall question? Dr. Beanie Cap was in town evaluating some of the players, like Brian Robinson and Chase Young. That's what that was about. Okay, I get it now. I get it now.

Okay, let's move on. Okay, yeah. There was a lot, there was, I'm looking for the, because you just said that, you know, he wasn't going to throw people under the bus. And he actually said at one point, he kind of went after the media. Okay, here it is. I found it. It was a question about Carson Wentz and Carson Wentz assimilating to, you know, them and them assimilating to Carson. And this is his longest answer.

And midway through the answer, he said, you know, he said, The things that we're working on right now, I just want you guys to know, I mean, it's not as if we didn't look at the tape and we didn't know that a three-step, you know, three-step beats some pressure sometimes or a bubble screen against a zero blitz. He's trying to say, we know how to protect the quarterback, you know, and we're working on that. And he said, I mean, those are the things that we know. Those are the things that we worked on. Those are the things that we tried at some point in the game. I think the thing that's really difficult for me is that if I do make an issue of something and In all honesty, some of you will make it a bigger issue. And that's what I don't need, because I'm trying to get our guys to understand what we're trying to do and get them to understand that they have to play better. They know that. But just understanding what we're trying to do is important and what I have to do also. I'm not going to get out here and start calling players out. You know, I mean, they know they understand they get it.

Yeah, I mean, he's certainly done it before. There's a lot in his presser yesterday just about the Wentz where you can tell that the offensive line was an issue and Wentz was probably an issue and I'll get to the Sacks thing here after we take a break but he was a funny presser yesterday to watch it. I watched it last night and he came out with the intent of basically you know you guys are so critical.

right now. Well, yeah, because you just got absolutely destroyed on Sunday and you were destroyed in the first half. I mean, you know this, but for emphasis, they've been outscored 46 to nothing the last two weeks in the first half, and they've allowed, and they've been outgained 575 to 106. I mean, Sunday's game was completely non-competitive. They were not an NFL team. on Sunday. And so he... I tweeted at one point during the game, can somebody check to see if Scott Turner has arrived at the stadium yet?

Maybe he was caught up in all that Eagles traffic trying to get here. That's right. You were there. So I heard basically anywhere from a range of 60-40 Eagles to DC fans up to 75-25, you know, Eagles. Actually, somebody mentioned it was 80, 20 Eagles. What did you think it was? I think I'm going to be conservative and say it was high 60s, closer to 70. Okay. It was dramatic. Here's the measure. If you were outside the stadium and you heard cheers and you thought it was because of a commander's big play, you would have been wrong.

God, that just brought back so many memories. leaving RFK Stadium. I think I've told you before. My father was, you know, the Zabe Ale theory, always leaving early. Oh, God. My father did not want to stick around if the game was over. If it was over, he was like, we're out of here. He was not for sitting in traffic ever.

And so we were the always leaving early group. I mean, it could be early in the fourth quarter. If the game was over one way or the other, we're out of here. And I can always remember never wanting to leave early. Of course, I became that kind of an adult as well. I don't like sticking around for blowouts either either way and beating traffic. But I can remember walking out of RFK Stadium and then, you know, the game, let's just say they were losing the game and it looked like they had no chance of winning.

And then all of a sudden hearing a loud roar. And I'm like, we've got to go back. We've got to go back. And he's like, no, we'll get it on the radio. We'll be fine. And those loud. That loud roar. Yeah.

outside of a ghost town field would have been pretty eagle. Understood. You know, so it was dramatic, and one of the things I wrote about my column, and it seemed more dramatic because this is their new brand. This is what they're selling. They're selling their new brand, the commanders. And I think it illustrated, not that some people, some of us didn't realize this, but I think it illustrated publicly.

how deep a hold they're in. Yeah, but it's not new. But this was different. This is, you've changed. You know, that's history. You've changed things. This is the new era. This is the commander's era.

Yeah, but the commander's era isn't going to take hold until something dramatic happens on the field. But this was like, I wrote the cop, like everybody in the stadium took a sip of new Coke and spit it out all at once. Well, I mean, that's the comparison I've been using for years about if they change the brand. It's like what Coke tried to do, and it was a big mistake. Yeah. You know, this Sunday, this Sunday in Dallas is a really big game. It's a Jay Gruden code redder. I mean, because, first of all, Dallas won last night, and I do want to talk about that game before the end of the show briefly,

because I was impressed and I was impressed with Dallas's defense, which I mentioned last week is something that I think is really well-coached and, you know, sort of under-talked about right now is how good they are defensively. But this game, Sunday against Dallas, is big for them out there. If they lose to Cooper Rush and the Cowboys and Cooper Rush played well last night, if they lose to Cooper Rush and the Cowboys and they're one in three at that point, I mean, no one's going to be there for the Titans game the following week. I mean, nobody will be.

And I was looking at this week's schedule that everybody, you know, wanted to talk about in the offseason when I say, please, only talk about my mock schedule. Don't talk about the real schedule. I mean, I don't see them. They're a three-point underdog this week. I would imagine against Tennessee, even though Tennessee's one and two, I would imagine that they're probably not going to be favored against Tennessee.

and if they are, I mean, it's barely a favorite. At Chicago, and a Thursday. Especially if they lose to the Cowboys. Yeah. At Chicago is a possibility, but Chicago's two and one, even though it's a mystery two and one. They've completed 23 passes in three games. That's amazing.

But then they have the Packers, Colts, Vikings, Eagles. And by the way, at the Texans, they're improved. I mean, they may be favored in one out of their next seven games on this very easy schedule. And it would probably be either the Chicago or the Tennessee game. But there's a chance that they will be a favorite in one of their next seven games against that easy schedule. People, they're the easy game. They're the game that the Tennessee Titan fans are saying, okay, we've got the Colts this week, but then we get a break. We get to play Washington. So we should get that one. You know, the Bears are looking at their schedule. Bears fans are

now saying, well, I mean, we're two and one. We played a Giants this week. That's winnable. Then we're at Minnesota. But then we get Washington at home. That's a winnable game before we have to play, you know, New England, the Cowboys, and the Dolphins. We're the easy game for everybody. You know the DVOA football outsider's metric that I actually like in terms of advanced numbers. I think it's the most comprehensive of all of them. It's hard to look at any of these numbers through a week or two, or even three, it's not fair. It's just not enough football at this point. But through three weeks, the overall team ratings on football outsider's DVOA metric, Washington is 32nd out of 32nd out of 32 teams. Right now, their defense...

Is that bad? I'm not sure. Is that bad? Their offense is ranked 29th. Their defense is ranked 29th. Their special teams, though, are 18th after last. They're special teams, though, are 18th, after last night. That's bad. That's really bad. Now, you know, it's interesting in looking at this. The best team in the league is Buffalo. The second best team in the league, per the football outsider's DVOA metric, Jacksonville.

And if you've watched Jacksonville the last two weeks, they benefited from the Chargers being very injured. And the Colts being very injured the week before. but they have been lights out and Trevor Lawrence has been phenomenal. Lawrence in Washington, we know we missed a lot, and Washington was very fortunate to win that game. If they had gotten Trevor Lawrence after at least one game with Doug Peterson, 25 of 30 against the Colts for 235 yards, two touchdowns, no picks, a QBR of 94.4 on a scale of zero to 100. Carson Wentz wasn't that on Sunday.

And by the way, Taylor Heineke's never been that either. Against the Chargers, 28 of 39, 262 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions. He has not been sacked once in the last two weeks. He had a 71.8 QBR and a 115.5 passer rating. Now, do I think Jacksonville's the second best team in the league? No, but I think that they are massively improved. And Washington getting them when they got them was fortunate. very fortunate

but you know then it goes Baltimore Philadelphia Tampa Dallas who defensively is really good right now and then Washington is 32nd but anyway okay

can I do this share some of my studying from last night with you and the audience sure absolutely we'll do that when we come back right after these words from a few of our

sponsors. Wentz is looking in that direction. Nothing there. And the pocket collapses. Brandon Graham is there. Another Philadelphia sack. That was one of the nine sacks from Sunday. Carson Wentz sacked statistically nine times.

I will tell you why in a moment, really, I think it was eight sacks. But that's beside the point. Let me just say I gave Carson Wentz a D yesterday. It was a D at best, the performance. What was worse than the sacks was just how many, how rattled he was, how completely flustered he was and how inaccurate he was all day long. There were a couple of good plays that he made. He had a really good bootleg. I don't know why they didn't come back to it after a couple of runs to Samuel early.

He had a good quick throw to Samuel. But it was bad. But I went through the sacks, Tommy, because there was a lot of discussion yesterday about, like there always is. This kind of started, no offense to Cooley, but actually, kudos to Cooley. Until we sort of as a fan base started to think about Sacks as potentially a quarterback stat, you know, quarterback to blame. Cooley did that a lot with RG3 in those early years of his film breakdown. And, you know, he would say things like, I can't even evaluate the offensive line because the quarterbacking is so god-awful. and he would say that sack, Robert is going backwards.

The offensive line, they expect the pocket to him to step up into the pocket, and he's drifting outside of the pocket. By the way, which is what Wentz did at one point on Sunday. So let me go through these. I'm going to do it quickly, I promise. Sack number one was the first drive of the game, third down and five, shotgun, four-man rush. They didn't show blitz. They didn't show it on many of the sacks.

Lenno's beaten by Josh Sweat badly. Fletcher Cox pushes Schweitzer into the quarterback, any kind of vision that the quarterback has. Philly's playing zone underneath. They're playing it right at the sticks. Samuel lines up in the backfield, gets held up a bit, but he's the checkdown. And if he gets it to him, you know,

he doesn't really get the first down, but he really doesn't have a chance to get it to him. The pressure is so immediate. You know, somebody said, what about Logan Thomas after I went through this on the morning? Logan Thomas is coming. He's covered. He can't even see him. Fletcher Cox is completely, you know, masked that part of the vision from the pocket.

This totally was on immediate pressure being allowed by the offensive line. Sack number one, blame goes to offensive line. Sack number two, second drive of the game, first and ten, he's under center. it's play action on first and 10. It looks like they're trying to get something deep. By the way, let me just tell you when I did all this research, my all 22 wasn't out yet. But I did get some information and some help from some people

that would really know what they were thinking out there. Four-man pressure, five-man front, but Graham drops back into coverage. And Fletcher Cox, who is truly one of the great players of his generation, we know that, destroys Trey Turner, destroys him in like under two seconds. And it collapses the pocket completely.

And Wence is just, he's trying to hit Gibson, who's the checkdown. His arm is hit by Cox as he's trying to throw it. And he's lucky not to fumble the ball. Lucky not to fumble it. That was a no-chancer for Wence. Unless you want to say, well, he should have just thrown it to a spot. He knew where the checkdown was going to be. It happened so quickly, and Gibson's not even anywhere near the checkdown area.

He could have dumped it there and anticipated that, but he would have had to anticipate that Trey Turner was going to be blown up by Fletcher Cox. That one was on the offensive line, sack number two. Sack number three, it was the next play. It's second and 16. They're deep in their own territory. Another four-man rush. Philly could have rushed three, I think.

against this offensive line and wreaked havoc. He's in the shotgun. He wants some of the lost yardage back on this second and 16. They're not looking for a slow developing play. They want to get something quick to Samuel. That's the side he's working as Chris Samuels, Curtis Samuel's side. But he does the right thing. He pulls his arm back at the last second because Darius Slay is about to jump it.

Now, you can say it should have come out quicker. If it does, Samuels nailed. but his arm is getting hit. He's getting hit by Hargrave at this point who destroyed Norwell on this play in less than two and a half seconds. That was on the offensive line. First three sacks, my opinion, on the offensive line. Sack number four, third drive, third and five, shotgun, four-man rush. Again, no blitz.

No threat of a blitz. There are two shallow crosses with McLorn and Dotson. Dotson's trying to set, you know, one of the. those kind of, you know, a hair. I'm looking like I'm trying to get open, but really I'm setting a pick. And he doesn't set a very good pick. Wence, in this particular case, he's got to step up into the pocket quicker. And if he does, he might be able to throw to McClorn. But even if he does, it's not a first down on third and five. It's short of the sticks. I mean, I think Wence wants to get a throw that has a chance to get the first down. Dotson is covered. Wence may have been able to

flush right out of the pocket and run. I really. think so. There was an opening there, but he's not that mobile. I think we knew that his mobility was not what it was when he was a younger quarterback after all of the injuries. We're really seeing a quarterback that is really lacking mobility. I mean, he's not immobile, but he's not anywhere near. He's a shell of his former mobile self. But the bottom line is he had an opportunity. The old Carson would have been able to run out and flush right. Something Heineke may have been able to do on this particular play. He could have thrown it to McClorn. It would have been well short of the sticks. The bottom line is Graham gets the sack off of Leno Jr. By the way, lucky once again that

Wentz held on to the ball. Tommy, I tweeted after this sack, this fourth sack, I can't believe that Wentz hasn't fumbled yet. And then the next 20 fumbled. But sack number four, I gave basically half the blame to Wentz and half of it to coverage. Look, you can give blame to the quarterback, the offensive line, to coverage. There are things called coverage sacks. And you could give it in general to Scott Turner, which I was appalled really at the way the game was called in the first half, dropping Wentz back as much as they did. It was embarrassing.

I really, and I'm a big Scott Turner fan. I thought he had a bad day, and he needs a better day against a pass rush that might be even better than Philadelphia's on Sunday. But sack number four, I gave half the blame to Wentz, half of it to cover. Sack number five, it's the fourth drive. It's second and six. Shotgun, four-man rush, no blitz. Play action to Gibson. Graham is doubled and still gets pressure. Gibson and Rogers, I think it was Rogers, are both open short. Ball's got to be out, but it isn't. And he doesn't really have time because of the pressure to work anything else. In this particular sack, I'm going to give the blame to Wentz, but really the big blame to Wence goes for fumbling the football and not protecting the football

because he just gave up the football. He was pressured and there was a chance potentially to get it out quickly to Gibson and or Rogers. But the real issue here is not protecting the football on that sack. And that was the turnover that led to Philadelphia's first touchdown in the second quarter in a 10-0 lead. I put that one on Wence. Again, though, the constant dropbacks at this point, it's getting to the point where, what are you doing? I mean, he's already been sacked four times in the first three drives. And on second and six after a four-yard run, you're going to drop them back again?

Stop doing that. Stop. But that one I put on Wentz. The sixth sack was the sixth drive of the first half, because he got sacked six times and a half. It was third and ten shotgun. They did show blitz, but they only rushed four. Wentz gets pressured. He steps up and he starts his throwing motion.

And this is the sack that I wouldn't call a sack. He's not actually sacked. Hassan Reddick, who's being blocked by Cosme, makes a great play to reach out and strip the ball as Carson is beginning his throwing motion. It's not forward motion yet, but he's clearly got somebody. He is stepping up into the pocket, but he doesn't pull that ball back in and reload. Probably because he wouldn't have had time to pull it back and reload it. But it's not technically a sack.

It's a great play by Reddick in that particular spot. So I'm not assessing blame to anybody. By the way, Fletcher Cox again was, you know, against a double team was wreaking havoc on this play. So sack number six to me, I'm not calling as a sack. So I've got eight sacks here. Sacks seven, fourth quarter, the game's over now. We're now getting into the fourth quarter. And, you know, at this point, it's 24 to 2. They're dropping them back on a lot of these plays. They're teeing off. They came with one of their only pressures on the sack plays. They came with a five-man pressure. And this one is partially on Wentz, partially on, you know, a good combo coverage. But Cosme gets beat a little bit. But this is where I said, Wentz, he drifted backwards into branding Graham. And it's almost a strip by Graham, but Wentz pulls it back just in time. I don't know why he was drifting backwards, but he's got to hit that back step and step up.

In that particular case, he didn't. And that one, you know, that one's on Wentz for me. Number seven. Number eight, fourth and 22, the next play, again, fourth and 22. Come on, you're at the 27-yard line. By the way, the play before it was the Mr. McClureen down to the five-yard line, a terrible throw by once. This is a four-man rush, no blitz.

They dropped everybody into deep coverage. So, you know, the quarterback's got to wait for people to get open. Fourth and 22, you're not going to hit your checkdown and then walk off the field. You're going to try to make a play in the end zone or at the sticks. And you got, you know, basically. seven guys sitting back there waiting for it, and you've got to get your receivers down there. But Cosme, again, you know, is pushed by sweat, but I think he had the right drop or pushing him to the right level, which should have been beyond Wence's drop. Wence needs, again, to step up a little bit.

It's fourth and 22. He's trying to create more time to let his guys get down the field. You know, they got pressure and they got, you know, in that situation. And once again, you know, five guys blocking four. And, you know, it's a long shot play. I don't really blame anybody for this sack. It's fourth and 22. And the last one comes with four and a half to go. It's 24 to 2.

There is a five-man pressure, quick pressure. There's no checkdown. And Norwell gets just absolutely chopped to pieces. And Wentz has no chance. That last one was on the O line. So in total, eight sacks is what I really counted, because I think the Reddick play really wasn't a normal sack. Five of them were on the offensive line.

Two and a half of them were on Wentz, and a half was on excellent coverage. By the way, I think the excellent coverage was there for some of the others, too. Now, I did not evaluate the rest of Wentz because I watched it live and I saw how bad it was. But for those of you that think, like, the offensive line was okay, and that Wentz was just sitting back there holding the, ball the entire time. You're wrong. You're wrong. There was immediate pressure on those sacks every time.

He could have helped himself out by not drifting backwards on one of them and getting it out a little bit earlier on the other one. But for the most part, for five out of the eight of them, no chance. He just didn't have much of a chance. And this is a problem now, Tommy, is they've got an offensive line where they thought it was fine to say, you know, goodbye to Eric Flowers and bring in two Carolina guys, Norwell and Turner. And now they got Schweitzer playing center. And they've got a very good coach at this

position, but they have some issues. And man, on Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys are coming in as the team that leads the league in sacks, leads the league in pressures. Last night, they had 24

pressures on Daniel Jones and five sacks. Demarchus Lawrence was unblockable. And Daniel Jones, Daniel Jones is much more mobile back there than Carson Wentz's. Yeah, I actually thought Daniel Jones did a pretty damn good job last night. Actually, it was one of the reasons the Giants had a chance last night. But, you know, when you've got Lawrence and you've got Michael Parsons,

and by the way, I love Anthony Barr as the pickup for Dallas. I think that was so smart. they are wreaking havoc defensively, and Washington better have a completely different game plan for Dallas than they did for Philadelphia. That was a hiccup, by the way, not a burp. I've got the hiccups right now. I'm concerned about Sunday with this offensive line against this Dallas defense. Now, DeMarcus Lawrence got hurt in the game last night, came out, but then he came back in. But Scott Turner is on. the spot this Sunday, Tom, big time. He has to figure something out that doesn't rely on dropbacks because dropbacks are going to be a major problem. You know, something Rivera said yesterday, he said that, you know, he and Turner were talking, I'm going to paraphrase at this point,

but he said, we have to understand that, you know, it can't be just about our three best offensive players. And I think basically what he said was, I'll translate. We have a big-armed quarterback. We couldn't stretch the field the last couple of years. We wanted to be able to stretch the field. We added another receiver. We were getting another one back.

We really thought we could be dynamic, throwing the ball deep, and getting the ball into our three best players' hands with a guy that could do it deep, could do it in other ways too. But we have to be careful because we can't protect him. And by the way, if we can't protect him, he falls apart. He gets rattled and he falls apart. And then we've got the bad version of Carson Wentz. But this is nothing new.

I mean, I've been saying this for weeks. I mean, you know, it's obvious that, I mean, the way to Carson Wentz is to bring the pressure on him. Yeah. Of course. You know, I mean, he can't move like he used to. And the remarkable thing is he was, he was great to watch when he was elusive. Right. I mean, he was the exact opposite.

He was so tough to bring down and to sack when he was at his best. And now, I mean, he's just an easy target. And, I mean, there's no brain surgery to figure out how to beat this team. You know, I mean, if you're the Cowboys, whether you would do this normally or not, if you win the toss, you give the ball to Washington so you can bury Carson Wentz right from the start. Well, everybody does that anyway. They all defer. Well, not everybody.

No, no, no, no. Cincinnati didn't do it this Sunday. You're right. Okay, because it's stupid logic. It's ridiculous. If you have a great offense, you want the ball right away. So it's a stupid rule, stupid logic by stupid coaches who all are sheep who follow one another. But the Bengals guy didn't.

He took the ball. Well, not everybody. Not everybody. Not everybody does it. But they're. Right. I will concede this. The logic that says deferring allows you a double dip at the end of the first half and the start of the second half is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

Because, well, the only way to get a double dip is to get the ball first in the second half. I understand that part. But there is no way to guarantee that you're going to have the ball last in the first half. It's 50-50, basically. So I love the people that say, well, no, no, no, you defer because you get the ball at the end. end of the first half and then you get the ball at the beginning of the second half and that's a double-dip situation. Well, it can only happen. You're right if you defer, because that's the only way to get the ball to start the second half. But why do you think it guarantees you that you're

going to have the ball at the end of the first half? It doesn't. That's actually not the reason what do you think they're doing? What do you think they're doing right now over at the whatever the Ortho Virginia Training Center in Ashburn? What do you think they're doing right now to try to prepare for a game like this? Well, what I was saying is that Rivera had this quote yesterday. We have a mixture of playmakers. We have to figure out the best way to use them. But we can't feel that our best three offensive players are our three wide receivers.

Because if we go into that mindset, the tendencies to throw the ball to get into their hands. And this is a pet peeve for me over the years. And I'll just mention it real quickly. I can't stand when I hear people say, you've got to target your best players. I mean, you just have to get the ball to Terry McLaren right from the beginning. You have to force feed Terry McLaren. You have to force feed Justin Jefferson.

You have to force feed Devante Adams. No, not when you have other options. The best part about if Terry McLaren is your best player is they start taking Terry McLaren away. That gives you opportunities in other areas to really attack. You know, so I don't, I don't subscribe to the have to, to force feed your star unless he's the only person. And I don't subscribe to you have to run the ball or you have to throw it. I subscribe to the theory that says whatever is the best way to move

the ball and score points and win, you should do that. And you know who's done that for years? Guys like Andy Reid, guys like Bill Belichick and whoever's, you know, Josh McDaniel has been his offensive coordinator, you know, for years. They just figure out what it is you need to do that particular day against that team and do it. And Sunday against Philadelphia, dropping him back consistently over and over again was a bad idea that never really got adjusted. Sunday, you better take the pressure off Carson Wentz. There better be three-step drops, get the ball out quickly, some quick, you know, throw a quick five-yard out to Dotson or to McLorn, run more of the fly sweeps like you open the game with. Try to run the football effectively.

you know, put the pressure on the cowboys to not just be sitting there thinking we can just pin our ears back. Then play action and bootleg works if you run the football. I don't care how they run it either. I prefer to be Gibson or Jonathan Williams, who wouldn't surprise me if he plays on Sunday. I know he said that about the opener, but now, you know, he played last week, and I think they like him between the tackles. And I think they're going to try to be more balanced this week. I don't care if it's balance or unbalanced. Just do whatever it takes to move the ball and score.

And last week, everything they were doing was wrong against a defense that only needed four to destroy you at the line of scrimmage. And Dallas can do that too. So it better be a, it's going to be interesting, really interesting. You know, do they come in, you know, with some with some 21, with some two tight ends and a back? and do they try to be physical and try to run the football? Do they let Carson throw some real quick stuff, some quick bubbles? You know, against Dallas, like against Philadelphia. Philadelphia is just good.

Dallas is really good on defense. These are two of the best defenses in the NFL that you've gone back to back against. And then Tennessee, I think, is pretty, I haven't really watched them, but I love Jeffrey Simmons. But anyway, yeah. This game's Sunday, Tommy? So big for them. Really big for them.

What else you got? And you know what? Before Sunday, I mean, before Sunday, before this past Sunday, I would have looked at the Cowboys game and said that's a winnable game. Now, I think it's still a winnable game, but I wouldn't feel as good about it

as I did before Sunday and before last, you know, before last night as well, and watching Cooper Rush play. Again, it's not quite as winnable as I thought it would have been. Yeah, I mean, look, last week I thought the Philadelphia game was a game that they could hang in there. You know, you picked Philadelphia, I think, pretty easily. Well, no, maybe you didn't. I picked Washington to lose a very close game. So I picked Washington to lose 31 to 29.

Yeah, I picked them to lose 2423, and I thought they had a chance. And I said, I think the first half is their chance. You know this, I'm sure, at this point. Sunday was the seventh game during the Rivera era that they've trailed by 20 or more at half time, 10th game in the Rivera era that they've trailed by 20 or more at any point during a game. That's really stunning. So I thought Philadelphia coming off the Monday night win, short week, you know, the whole thing, that there was a chance. And, you know, I'll say this again. I said it yesterday.

I think the defense isn't very good. I understand that. But I thought the defense gave him a chance early in that game on Sunday. They took away everything Philadelphia had done well against Detroit and Minnesota and made Hertz throw from the pocket. And he did it. He did it, which should be scary for the rest of the league. Because that's the one thing. thing you're not sure about Hertz. Can he drop back and throw it from the pocket on third down? They had nine third downs in the first half. That's a lot of third downs. You know, by definition, that means Washington was doing a decent job. But they gave up too many of the explosive plays. And one of them should have been, you know, overturned by replay, but

Rivera was late with the challenge flag. But yeah, this, I don't know where I was going with that. Okay. Let me ask you this. Yes. You see, you've been a big fan of Scott Turner. I have. And I've come along, and I agree with you. I think Scott Turner has called some really good games. And as much as I joke around about Voodoo Jack, his resume is very strong as a defensive coordinator. I mean, he came to Washington with a solid, if not strong, reputation as a defensive coordinator. So you've got two guys on both sides to the ball that are probably pretty good at their jobs.

So why does it turn to shit? Well, it's the aura of. It's unbelievable. Let's be clear about the difference between the two. One of them's been doing this forever. One of them's brand new. Yes. You know, so Scott Turner, I think, has proven in the two seasons,

that he can do this. I've never said that I think Scott Turner is great at it. I've just said, I've been impressed more often than not. There have been some games where I've ripped him, but probably more games where I've said, I really liked what they did. I really liked what they did against Jacksonville for the most part. I didn't like a lot of, I thought that they play calling in the Detroit first half put Carson Wentz and that offense at risk. And again, I'll go back to what I said a few minutes ago. I do think that there was this notion, and I think Ron Rivera was trying to say this in his presser yesterday, where this team thought it could be kind of a high-flying dynamic team that could really stretch the field. Well, right now what they're

finding is without, you know, like legitimate play action or facing, you know, a pass rush that isn't very good. They're going to have a hard time keeping him upright long enough for these longer developing routes. So they're going to have to go to some other stuff. you know, to move the football. That's what I'm saying. This Sunday's big because Scott Turner needs to make a big adjustment. You can look at Philadelphia and say, they're really good and we got hammered up front, which is true. And then Carson sort of folded under the pressure. But you're not facing, you know, a team that's any less than Philadelphia up front, maybe more and maybe even better coached by Dan Quinn. But, you know, like I said last week, Philadelphia, I'll say again this

week. Dallas Monday night coming back. Cooper Rush, can he really do this three games in a row? Like, I'd like to think that Washington has a chance to compete, but I thought that last week. And all I'm saying is this week, you put out another game like the Philly game or the first half of the Detroit game. I mean, this season will feel like it is over. We said that, you know, losing to Jacksonville would be a massive, massive disaster, and they averted that. And we talked about the Philadelphia game being no lose. I think I was wrong about that because I didn't anticipate them looking like, not looking like an NFL team, which they did not look like an NFL team on Sunday.

And the concerns now of two games back to back looking so poor, you put another one like that out against Dallas overall, this season's going to feel like it's over on October 2nd. Over. Do you agree? I didn't say it would be over. I said it's going to feel like it's over. Yeah.

Yeah, I think the level of desperation will be immeasurable at that point. I'd love to see. You know what? Not that I look, I don't care if they win or lose, okay? But if they lose and they don't look good against Dallas, that press conference the next day is going to be really interesting. Talk about short answers. Yeah.

Look, this is a spot in which you judge, this game on Sunday is a spot in which you definitely judge a coaching staff and a team. But a coaching staff in particular, because this should be urgent. This should be code red-like, you know, and you can sit there and say it's only week four all you want. You know, and we can talk about Ron Rivera's teams, improving as the year goes on, that's been his history. But improving at the end of the year and becoming the best that you can be at the end of the year when you are out of it, unless your division is so bad like it was two years ago that you can win it with a seven and nine record, that gets old. Hey, we finish strong. We miss the playoffs, but we finish strong. This game Sunday, there should be a, Washington should be the disparate, urgent,

team. And the desperate teams in the NFL weekend and week out are usually the teams you want to play as a gambler. And if they're not desperate and they don't play this game urgently, then, oh boy, then something isn't right. Something's not right. And I know they started one in five and two and six and then rallied. If they're one in three and Philadelphia, by the way, plays Jacksonville. Interesting matchup, by the way. And they're four and O. at that point, and Dallas is three and one. And the Giants, by the way, play the Bears. They could be three and one.

And so now Washington is, you know, losing massive ground early in the season. Now, it won't be good. And then, of course, there'll be an underdog the following week at that point against the Titans more likely than that. You might have to wait until the bear game for a potential next win. This game's massive for them. It really is. We talked about it before the Philadelphia game.

Philadelphia kind of no pressure, no lose. but you really have to, you know, with Cooper Rush on deck, but Cooper Rush in that running game last night, the Cowboys were good. And I'll just take this quick moment to say that was a good football game. I mean, it may not be two really good teams, okay, but it was a good football game. It was intense.

It was physical. Daniel Jones was, I mean, just under pressure the entire night. I thought he was damn good. I think if you were looking for a sign that Daniel Jones might be the guy, I think last night was it. Not statistically. He can't look at any of that. Just look at the way he played under the pressure he was under.

They had a chance to win that game. Dallas ran that hell out of the ball. Pollard was great. Zeke was great. C.D. Lamb, by the way, is not a number one wide receiver, in my opinion. Not at all. He had a great one-handed grab for the go-ahead. He dropped one.

There were a lot of drop balls last night. But Cooper Rush, you know, he's like one of those guys. He's 3-0 now as an NFL starter. He's been in the same system with, Ellen Mornell for what four or five years, he's comfortable in what they're trying to do. And if you run the football like Dallas did last night and you got a guy that can manage the game and be consistent off the play action stuff and off the bootleg stuff, he was 21 to 31 for 21-15, one TD.

And he had a couple just flat out dropped. CD Lamb dropped a 45-yard catch. And there were some calls that didn't go to Cowboys' Way either. They win that game, and they're two and one. By the way, Tommy, perfect example of week one in just the NFL in general. Everybody pronounced the Cowboys DOA after the opener against Tampa and the loss of Prescott. They've won two in a row, their favorite Sunday against Washington, and then they'll probably get Dak back the rest after that.

It's very possible they're going to be a three-and-one football team when Dak comes back with an outstanding defense. Okay. You're right about all of that. Thank you, boss. This will be the coaching staff right here on Sunday. This one's on them. They better be ready to play. I mean, you add another 21-0-0 at halftime,

and those sets are going to be turned quickly to the red zone, and it's over for them. Good luck selling a ticket to the Tennessee game. All right, we'll finish up with a couple of other things when we come back right after these words from a few of our sponsors. answers. Tommy, through three NFL weeks, there are only two undefeated teams left. That's pretty remarkable that there are only two three and oh teams through three weeks. I don't know how many times that's happened. You usually get to at least week four before you're down to two of them,

Philadelphia and Miami. And the Miami game really is one of the more incredible box scores you'll ever read in a football game. Miami in the second half of the game against Buffalo, or let me put it the other way. Buffalo against Miami in the second half ran 53 offensive plays, did not punt and only scored three points. I mentioned this yesterday. In the game, the Bills had 90 offensive snaps

and Miami had 39. Buffalo had 51 more offensive snaps in the game than Miami had, and they lost the game. How did that happen? Josh Allen had over 30 incomplete passes. No, he didn't. He was 42 of 63. 21 incompletions. Oh, okay.

Yeah, he was 42 of 63, 400 yards, two touchdowns. how can you have the ball that much more in the second half? Fifty-three plays and only score three points? Well, a 20-play 87-yard drive that took nine minutes and 22 seconds ended in the field goal. The next drive was six-plays, 60 yards, miss field goal. The next drive was 17 plays, 73 yards, eight minutes and 19 seconds, and they got stopped on fourth down. And the final drive of the game ended with the clock running out on them after running seven plays. amazing. By the way, played in apparently just unbelievable humidity. I mean, it's interesting. Buffalo plays Baltimore this week and really one of the games of the early season, Buffalo at Baltimore.

And Buffalo was shot at the end of last week physically. I mean, Diggs was cramping and out of the game. Josh Allen nearly keeled over at the end of the game. And they got to come to Baltimore this weekend and play the Ravens who are really good. Buffalo lost a lot of defensive players. You know, Micah Hyde's out for the year. That's a big loss for them. They went from looking like no-brainers through two weeks to having now a bunch of injuries and having a loss and having the dolphins in their division.

But anyway, there was something else that I wanted to. Oh, I wanted to ask you, did you see the post story? You know, the Maskey, Liz, about, you know, the owners. What was your take on it? Well, I mean, what does it mean? I mean, what's the result? You know, if there's a bunch of owners who are bad-mounting Dan Snyder behind the scene, what does it add up to?

I mean, we really, there are multiple shoes ready to drop on multiple investigations. I mean, it's like the whole ownership thing is in limbo at this. point. We don't know what Mary Joe White's going to come up with. We don't know what the, what the congressional committee is going to conclude from Dan Snyder's testimony. We don't know what the Virginia Attorney General or the D.C. Attorney General is going to come up with. We don't know what the, so, I mean, you know, I mean, I think that the momentum that they're talking about will either take a giant step forward or just stay where it is, depending on the results of investigations. Yeah, the story for those that missed it is just, it was written by Liz and Mark

Maskey and Nikki Javala at the Washington Post. It's just that, you know, sentiment among NFL team owners regarding Snyder's ownership have shifted significantly. That's what it says. You know, that multiple owners said in recent days that they believe a serious consideration may be given to attempting to oust Snyder or by convincing him to sell the franchise. um, oust him by vote or convincing him to sell his franchise. I think, you know, what we don't know is like on, I mean, I put the chances of him being voted out at near zero. Now, the chances of convincing him to sell, I think are higher. I don't think they're super high, but I think they're much higher than him being voted out. Uh, and, you know, some of what you're discussing

could change the calculus on that. I mean, if Mary Joe White has the Tiffany Johnston allegations cold and has her totally telling the truth. And now there's a direct sexual harassment claim against Snyder. You know, that would change my opinion. I still don't know why he enjoys owning this team. I don't think his family loves the ownership of the team anymore. He would get $6 billion plus for the team. So enough people, you know, in that league asking him to sell.

I don't know. he's a dig your heels in guy. I just don't, I think he's the, you know, consistently the only one that doesn't realize how despised he is. And how, you know, again, like last week, I think we talked about this. I think we did. There is a big difference between Sarver and Snyder,

and it's the race thing. You know, just like there's a difference between Richardson and Snyder. There's been no allegations ever that Snyder, you know, is racially insensitive or worse a racist in any way, shape, or form. And that's, and those are the issues that get you today. You know, even like, you know, Neil and Rockville texts to me, he's like, even the woke NBA, you know, they'll forgive like Kobe Bryant and the rape case, you know, the NFL will forgive all the Deshawn Watson stuff and give them the highest

contract. It's racial stuff that gets you. And right now, there's no. none of that on Snyder, none of it. And I've heard many times before, there will never be any of that on Snyder. So, I don't know, I don't think, you know, what did they do? Did the people saying that they'd vote them out go from four owners to six owners? You need 24. I mean, four to six would be a significant shift. You know, it would be a big jump. What if the Virginia Attorney General concludes that, yeah, Snyder was hiding money? What about the hiding money issue?

I just wonder whether or not it's, you know, it's exclusive to them. My guess is that they're not the first team to do it. Remember, we had the numbers of the last couple of years in Washington got paid back money. Well, you know, while other teams, most of the other teams, after the audits owed the league money. I hope you're right on that. I just wouldn't hold my breath on the voting thing. I think that that is just literally near 0%. It's the there for the grace of God go I,

as we've been talking about for years. If they don't have him cold on Tiffany Johnston or some sort of racial thing, I just don't see them going there. I do see key owners saying to him, Dan, you can't get a stadium deal. Your team is the worst in the league. in ancillary revenue after the media revenue.

You've lost a fan base. You launched a new brand and it's not going well. You can get $6 billion for this team. And maybe the other owners, what they could do is they could all pitch in, you know, another half billion to incent him to leave. Maybe it'll come down to his family that finally says, enough is enough. You're not, your dream of standing there on the podium with Roger Goodell,

accepting the Lombardi trophy and everybody forgiving you is not going to happen. Join us in the real world here. You've ruined this for so many millions of people. And now you've got to let it go and let somebody try to repair it. I don't know who would be able to tell him that truth and have him actually understand it and believe it and do something about it. But you're right. There's still so much percolating out there. Who knows?

Maybe the Mary Joe White thing's got something in there that, you know, is a bombshell. They're just looking for the ammunition. Maybe these owners are just looking for the ammunition and we'll have to see if it comes out or not. They want to do this. You know, what I don't know is what Jerry wants to do. Jerry obviously is significantly influential. I don't know what Jerry thinks of Dan anymore. You know, at one point they were certainly friendly as owners go,

but that's when Jerry was number one and Dan was number two in terms of revenues. You know, and in terms of the business of getting the most out of their NFL franchise, Dan's now near the bottom of that, you know, and he's chased away, you know, what was something that Jerry understood, a great fan base. Yeah. Jerry hasn't been able to do that, even though the California. Cowboys haven't won shit since Jimmy left. Well, I mean, they had the Barry Switzer year with Jimmy's players.

All right. What else you got? Well, I got two things. One, I don't know if you heard about this, but the Washington Metro Basketball Hall Fame, they're having their induction ceremonies since Saturday at Congressional Country Club. I did not know that. And Austin Carr is one of the people. who was going to be inducted. Do you remember watching him play?

No, I'm not, Austin Carr is before my time, but I grew up hearing about how great Austin car was. Played at Mackin, played at Notre Dame, still holds the record for the most points ever scored in an NCAA tournament basketball game. Yes, 61 points in the game. Yeah. So he's going to be inducted. Johnny Dawkins, I know you know. It's going to be inducted. Donald Dell, the agent, whose clients include Michael Jordan. He's going to be inducted. Did you know David Carresco, the coach at Montgomery Blair? That name rings a bell.

Okay, I'm not playing with him. It goes way back. Yeah, because I played for Marty Dickerson, who passed away a couple of years ago, was my high school basketball coach at Whitman, and he had taken Blair to a state title, two state titles, or lost one and one one, and then became our coach at Whitman. And, you know, I've told the story many times. It was one of the best experiences I've ever had in sports was playing for him.

And so I'm assuming that this guy may have been after Marty, or maybe before. No, this guy was before. Okay. This guy was before. Okay. Blair was a powerhouse in Montgomery County for a long time. Yeah. Yeah. Also, Harold Fox, who was a star player at Northwestern.

I mean Northwestern, yeah. No, oh, yeah. That name is a legendary name. Yes. Yeah. He's going in, and John Feinstein is going to be inducted. Okay. What else you got today?

Well, I just wanted to let you know I'm going out tonight. You're hitting the town. I'm going to town red tonight in D.C. We're going to see the James Hunter 6. It's a British, he's a British soul singer, and we're going to the city winery in D.C. You ever been to the city winery? I don't think I have. Neither have I. So this would be a first for us. You know, that'll be fun. I actually passed last night.

And Matt Terrell, if you're listening, I hope you enjoyed Sunny Day real estate. at the Fillmore. My son went, said it was great. One of the greatest albums, emo albums of all time, which I fell in love with this band in the 90s. And they're touring for the first time in a long time. And they were at that Fillmore in Silver Spring, which I've seen shows there. I've got to tell you, like the Fillmore, I didn't go last night. I was exhausted and I wanted to watch the Cowboys Giants game. I wish I had gone. Diary is one of the great albums of all time if you're into that kind of a thing. But anyway, that venue is, this is going to sound like such an old person. That venue is so loud.

It's so loud. I love the anthem. The anthem acoustically is so great. But the Fillmore, if you're in the wrong spot, my God, I remember the last time, the last show I went there was like two years ago. And I walked out of there and I had a headache for three days. but it's pretty cool that in downtown Silver Spring you've got this venue that some big bands come to but I saw I saw Jake Isle there right at the Fillmore and we sat like in the like the fourth row and it was great it was a great show so I had a good time the one time I went to the Fillmore um anyway I've never been to the anthem

oh the anthem you'll love it's phenomenal all right good job today way to bring it I appreciate it Keep those ratings and reviews coming, please, especially on Apple and Spotify. Real big help for us. I will talk to you on Thursday, and we will be knee-deep into the Dallas game, I guess, at that point. Yes, I would say so. All right. I'll see you on Thursday. Cooley will be with me tomorrow.

He will have a version of the film breakdown. Have a great day.