The Kevin Sheehan Show - Linking Ali & Washington's Defense

Episode Date: September 21, 2021

Kevin and Thom today with a ton on Washington's defense and Taylor Heinicke's first big road test. Kevin had some "Coaching Blunders" and the boys talked NFL taunting 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 Cheyenne Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here today, coolly scheduled for tomorrow. Subscribe, rate and review where you can.

That's really been a huge help to the podcast here in recent weeks and months. Much appreciated. Tommy and I haven't talked together on this podcast since the Thursday night win over the Giants. Tommy, what did you think? Well, you know, a win is a win, right? That's pretty much all you can say about it, is a win, is a win, you know, and it's better than being 0.2. But other than Taylor Heineke's performance,

there was nothing really to feel particularly good about coming out of that game if you're a Washington football fan. Nothing to feel good about. I mean, I'm sure you could find a couple of things, but once the euphoria of not losing wore off, because that's the euphoria, it's not winning, the euphoria is not losing. Once that wore off, you'd say, Jesus. I mean, you know, they're lucky to win that game. Even the coach said they were fortunate to win.

Of course they were lucky to win that game. Anybody that says they weren't lucky to win that game is an idiot. There was an off-sides penalty on a field goal that missed. Literally the last play of the game, a guy jumped off-sides, which, by the way, was very much debated over the weekend, I guess, with various photos. I thought he was off-sides. The Giants claimed otherwise. He said he wasn't off-side.

But the league, I guess, didn't. The league said they thought it was called accurately. I guess that's what the statement was. But, no, there were things to like more than just them winning the game, which was number one. Taylor Heineke was something to like for that game. I said Taylor Heineke. What about Terry McClellan? Well, that's a given.

I mean, that's not a surprise. That may have been the best game of his career. It's the most stable force on that team. he's the most money in the bank. Now, he has to rely on other people to help him produce since he has to have a quarterback getting the ball. But Terry McLaren is a given. You're not going to be surprised if Terry McLaren has a good game.

It's pretty obvious that they were lucky and very fortunate to win the game on Thursday night. It was a competitive game. It was a back-and-forth game. It was an exciting game. phenomenal thriller final four or five minutes of that game, but the Giants dropped a wide open touchdown pass and they had somebody jump off sides on what would have been a game-winning missed field goal.

The issue here through two games as it relates to this football team and the defense specifically is are we seeing just, you know, a short snippet season within a big season? or is this a trend? Well, I mean, you better hope that this is just a slow start to the season. I mean, one of the things I brought up in the column I wrote in The Washington Times is that there seems to be a pattern here of a defense that teams just walk down the field on. I mean, they just march down the field and score, have their will,

you know, have their way with this vaunted great deal. defense, and this defense you everyone fell in love with last year, you know, I look, I wrote this column, and with the Muhammad Ali. It's a good column. Thank you. I just, I just, I just, I just retweeted it. Well, thank you. Thanks. I compared it, because of Muhammad Ali documentary that's on PBS right now. Is it good? It's, I watched the first episode. It's pretty good. I mean, there's a lot about Ali that we already know. Of course. But, uh, but it's pretty, pretty good. So I compared it to Ollie's fight against a fighter. Nobody remembers named Jergen Blentz. Was it Yergan or Jirgin?

I'd say Jirgin. I don't know. It could be Yergan. Yeah. And I said, you know, Ollie won against a forgettable opponent, but he took a beating doing it. He took far more bigger beating than he thought he would than anyone thought he would. over. And I said the Giants were jerkin blends. I mean, you know, a team that's probably not going to be that good

that nobody really has in high regard at this point. And Washington took a far worse beating than they should have than you would have expected them. 391 yards

in total offense for the Giants. They didn't have that in the entire 2020 season. You have to go back to 2019 to find a giant offense that rolled up that many yards against an opponent. Tommy, they're concerned out there about the defense. They're not alarmed. They're not panicked because they have, they believe, and I would agree with this, they've got enough talent to be a really good defense. Maybe not an elite defense, but they've got enough talent to be a very good defense, and they haven't played that way in the first two games. And there's

some concern out there. And it's the concern that Ron Rivera has expressed to me on the radio show now two to three times when I've asked him, you know, I asked him before the season, what's your biggest concern? He said maturity. And then after the opener, I said, the maturity that you were talking about, is it a discipline maturity? Like on defense, he said, yes. I'm paraphrasing here, but it's very clear that the maturity that he was talking about is a level of discipline. And the discipline that I believe he is really referring to is that defensively, you know, he and Jack Del Rio and the defensive staff, you know, this goes back to last year where they had some issues teaching new techniques to some of the players that had been there. And there was actually some pushback from some of the guys that had been there. And it was the old, really, you guys were three and 13 last year.

Why don't we try it our way? And it eventually, you know, played out that the defense had a good season. and albeit against a pretty weak group of teams offensively anyway that they faced. We've been through all of that. But there is legitimate concern that this is a defense and a scheme that requires a level of discipline and an environment of do it our way and do your job the way we've told you to do our job. We don't like a lot of freelancing for the lack of a better description. And there's some concern that they're getting too much of that right now.

From how many players, I have no idea. But from at least a couple. And one of those players would be Chase Young. Because Chase Young and I pointed out here in the post-game recap podcast last week, played a little bit freelancing-ish in that game on that slot corner by Kendall Fuller, which we talked about. He almost got in the way, almost tripped him up. Anyway, they want more.

more play it our way, do it the way we've taught you how to do it, and everything will be fine. And that's not necessarily what they've gotten through two games. So I can tell you that there is some frustration slash concern about this. Now, again, are they panicked? No, they've got talent. They understand it. And, you know, they've got to coach it up. You know, a lot of this is on them to coach it up. But, you know, they're going to get, by the way, they're going to get a quarterback who was one of those quarterbacks that when we looked at the schedule, we thought, oh, Josh Allen, you know, top 10 quarterback.

I still think he is a top 10 quarterback, but he has not played like a top 10 quarterback in these first two games. He's had a rough start to the season. So this will be an interesting matchup Sunday between a defense that was supposed to be great against a quarterback that was. supposed to be great, and yet neither one of them, the defense for Washington or the quarterback for Buffalo, has played that well in the first two games. Well, I mean, look, you watch a Miami game. I didn't watch Miami game. I'm sure what you saw is accurate. But the pattern that I talked about is teams not just playing well, offense not playing well, but doing their best, having like some of their best days. I mean, the

Chargers had 424 yards of offense. That's the most they had since the beginning of November last year. Yeah. And you go back to the playoff game last year. I mean, I know it's Tom Brady. I know it's the eventual Super Bowl champions, but they had 507 yards of offense. So, I mean, teams are not just offensively playing well.

They're playing their best offensively against this unit. And given the fact that Daniel Jones mobility gave the defense such a problem, that would seem to really spell disaster for its Washington team facing a guy like Josh Allen. Yeah, I agree with that. I think I want to say one other thing about them defensively. They're not happy with what's, you know, and they're concerned because they are a big, believer in what they've schemed up. At the same time, they've been close defensively. You know, there were moments in the Chargers game. The overall result was terrible, but not every player was terrible. Against the Giants, there were moments. You know, multiple

players played pretty well. I actually think I'm less concerned about the front four, even if not all of the front four players are playing, you know, this scheme exactly the way you want. There's so much talent on the front four. I think they're going to get results. I'm concerned that in their first two games, the opponents have had people wide open all day and all night long. I think the front four is so talented and hopefully it'll become more disciplined and it'll become more disciplined. and it'll become more a part of the scheme consistently that Ron Rivera and Jack Del Rio are coaching. But I'm concerned that in that back seven, people have been wide open against some of their coverages.

I don't know if it's scheme. I don't know if it's play calling. I don't know if it's coverage. But some of it is just flat out these guys aren't covering well. They're not passing off players from one zone to another properly, or in man, they're not close. Now, they were close in the Charger game, not as close the other night. And then when they are beat committing blatant penalties, but really in the first two games, we've had too many instances of people wide open.

That, to me, is a bigger concern right now defensively. But big picture, it's two games. and they do have a lot of talent on defense, certainly in their front four, but I think they have some talent elsewhere too. I don't think Kendall Fullers is bad as he's played in the first two games. I think Cameron Curles actually played pretty well at times. I think, you know, we've seen signs from both rookies,

the corner St. Juice, and also from Jamie Davis, especially in the last game. I think I'm hopeful. that, you know, it's going to improve. Sunday will be a big test. But I do think, you know, it's way too early to panic because I think there's just too much talent to panic after two games. You know, this is what the coach himself said. I mean, the coach himself said there's too many good football players for us not to play

better than what we did today against the win over the Giants. And I loved what you wrote about that, too. You know, but once you start saying, And there's a lot of good players on this team, but they're not playing very good. People are going to start saying, well, then there's a coaching problem. That's right. You keep saying that. Now, I know, you know, part, look, you're right about the talent, and that, you know, is one reason to think, well, they'll get it right at some point.

And at some point, even if they make mistakes, they have too much talent to have enough talent to compensate. for those mistakes. But, you know, I mean, last year, you know, the fourth-ranked defense in the league, I pointed out my column, they only gave up 305 yards a game. But they faced a lot of Jergon Blends last year, almost every week. I mean, they're facing Joe Fraser, George Foreman's, and Ken Norton's this year. Well, they didn't Thursday night. No, they didn't.

You know, Jergon Blin almost beat them on Thursday night. Yes. Yes. So that was my point. And let's face it, they beat Buffalo on the road and everybody's throwing a party. Then we're talking about expectations here instead of disappointment. Yeah, it's such a different picture, right, that's painted that we're looking at after they held on for the win the other night at one-and-one. versus being 0-2 and heading to Buffalo. In many ways, had Hopkins missed the field goal with no penalty, and they lost that game 29-27, at 0-2 heading to Buffalo, it would have really been bleak around here.

But at 1-1, there's a whole new attitude. Now you look at, okay, road games at Buffalo, road game at Atlanta, hey, let's just get the split. You know, there isn't an urgency to the Buffalo game like there was with the giant game at all. We say it all the time. The NFL's just so week to week, you know, for so many of the teams. And look at last week versus the first week. You know, you had a team like the Bears that got blown out and a team like the Bengals who had this upset win over Minnesota and the Bears beat the Bengals.

We had the Rams blow out the Bears and the Colts get blown out by Seattle and the Colts nearly knock off the Rams. They covered in that game. You had the Panthers barely hold on against the Jets. The Saints look like the most impressive team in the league. And the Saints looked like one of the worst teams in the league on Sunday losing 26 to 7. You know, you get that every year. The Titans lose. They get blown out by Arizona.

Seattle wins in Indies. and Seattle loses at home to the Titans in overtime. Green Bay looks terrible a week ago, and then they blow out Detroit last night. I mean, that's probably not the best of examples. But it's just, it's really, it's 17 games now. I know it's a sprint compared to the other sports, but this sport changes so much more in such shorter periods of time than any of the other sports.

I get all that. You're right about all that. So where do we go? My point here is the pattern of performance by the defense beyond winning and losing. I mean, there is a pattern here right now that has to change. I mean, how many games have it take to say this is the defense? I mean, it's been three straight games if you go back from last year. Yeah, they were not good in that playoff game against Tampa, and they were not good in the first two games this year.

And they're getting a team in this upcoming weekend that has not been playing well offensively, even though they're capable offensively. I mean, you have to say that. And if we're going to sit here like I do every year and talk about the week-to-week nature of the NFL, just because Josh Allen hasn't played well in the first. two games, and he hasn't, and I've got more on that coming up. It doesn't mean that this won't be their breakout game, but it would be a little bit disturbing if the breakout game came against a team that was supposed to be great defensively on Sunday. But yeah, I think the trend is not their friend right now, that's for sure.

Speaking of elite quarterbacks, how about that terror high-hacky, baby? Well, he gets his biggest opportunity on Sunday and the most unique of his very few limited chances on Sunday because it's his first road game, Tommy. Remember, he played in relief against Carolina last year at home. Then he played against Tampa in the playoff game at home. Then he came off the bench against San Diego at home, L.A., the Chargers at home. and then he started against the Giants at home. And the only game he ever started in Carolina was a home game as well. So he gets his first legit road game in a very hostile arena.

You know, Buffalo, it's going to be cold, it's going to be maybe damp. And when I say cold, like in the 50s, and they've got high expectations up there. I really, first of all, I'm really, Now, just as I'm talking about this, I'm excited to see what he can do in that environment. I'm also mindful of this that he's played very well. He has played at, you know, if you're grading it, he's been an A since he got that first chance against Carolina and has played 11 and a half quarters. But this is a completely different test, and this is a much more revealing test on Sunday of a quarterback. You know, elite quarterbacks do it everywhere.

Really good quarterbacks are able to do it everywhere. You know, the guys that are journeymen, occasional starters, mostly backups, don't do it everywhere. This is going to be revealing to see how he handles this. And you know what, Tom, I think he will do okay in it. I don't think he's going to fear it. I don't think this is going to be, you know, a situation, you know, a John Beck against the bills, although that game was in Toronto. I don't know if he'll be good enough

or the team will be good enough to win. But this is a real interesting test. The more I'm talking about it, the more I'm getting excited to see what Taylor Heineke does in his first true big-time road environment. Taylor Heineke, baby. You know, it's a party.

It's a Taylor Heineke. I mean, Look, I said, I don't think there's much of a difference between him and Fitzpatrick and Kyle Allen. I think they're all the same guy, different skill sets. But I think the results are all going to be the same. And I think this kid, if he can stay healthy, can get them to eight wins over the course of a season, which is what I predicted for them. You know, I don't think they particularly will lose much, maybe durability, since Ryan Fitzpatrick was durable until he went down. the first week for Washington.

Kyle Allen's not necessarily durable either. He's been hurt. So, and there were some questions, you know, I could, I mean, this is nitpicking stuff. His throws were high. Some of his throws were high. He seems to thrive and play action, does not throw the ball down the field much with success. But this is all nitpicking stuff. I mean, he was terrific.

If he plays well in this environment on Sunday, that'll be a big step towards what you just said that you think he can be a quarterback that can win eight games this year for them as a starter. I mean, he's got to stay upright for 17 or for the next six anyway. I said yesterday on the show, Tommy, that ultimately all of the hand-wringing over Taylor Heineke is, you know, it's awesome. It's conversation, you know. but we're going to see. I mean, he's going to get six more weeks probably minimum as long as he stays healthy.

And at the end of those six weeks, we're going to know a lot more than we know now because it will include if he plays the next six games road trips to Buffalo, Lambo, and Denver, and home games against the Chiefs and the Saints. And, you know, we'll know a lot more about Taylor Heineke in six weeks. We don't have to have a conclusion. Nobody's forcing anybody, even though some people want to declare him already, the franchise quarterback moving forward. Let's sign him right now to a long-term deal.

Can't let him get to free agency at the end of this year. Actually, I think, did he sign a two-year deal? I forget what the deal was in Taylor-Hen. He did sign a two-year deal. Well, maybe it was a team option on the second year. I'm looking it up right now because I want to, I forget. It was a very minimal. risk deal from the team.

It was a good deal for the team, as I remember. Yeah, it was two-year, $4.75 million, $1 million signing bonus, a million and a half guaranteed. So he is under contract next year. That's awesome. There's also some big incentives that he can earn. He gets, there are $4 million in incentives in his contract. And it all has to do with him ending up playing a lot and producing at just a medium level.

But, you know, it's mostly about playing and taking snaps and being the starting quarterback. So I'm looking forward to seeing what he does at Buffalo. This is really a big, big test for him. Thursday night was big. It was his start. It's a regular season start. It's on national TV. And those of you that sent me some big graphics saying Ron Rivera's 4 and O in primetime.

he's not 4 and 0 in prime time. He's 2 and 0 as the Washington coach in prime time. The Dallas game on Thanksgiving was not a prime time game. It was an afternoon game, a 430 start. And the Pittsburgh game on that Monday was a 5 o'clock start. If you want to call that prime time, you can, but it's actually not prime time. And I'll also add, that game wasn't nationally televised. It was regionally televised because it was the reschedule because of all the COVID issues with Baltimore. and they had played Baltimore the week before on a Wednesday. Anyway, I've got some stuff on Buffalo that I want to share with everybody right after these words from a few of our sponsors. MyBooky has a $50,000 survivor contest that's absolutely free if you use my promo code, Kevin D.C. when you sign up at mybooky.orgie.a.g.

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they are going to double your first deposit. $1 for dollar, put in $500 you'll have $1,000 in your account instantly. Bet anything, anytime, anywhere with my bookies. So I just spent not a lot of time, but I spent some time just watching Buffalo in Miami and then going back and watching a little bit of Buffalo in Pittsburgh. First of all, Buffalo is, the thing that stood out more than anything

is that they're pretty good defensively. Let me just say, they've got good players. defensively. And their head coach, Sean McDermott, who is a defensive guy, was Ron Rivera's defensive coordinator in Carolina. Leslie Frazier is the defensive coordinator in Buffalo. They've got a defensive mindset, but they've got some

talent on defense. You know, Hughes and Oliver and Addison and the first round pick out of Miami, Rousseau, he had two sacks against Miami. The kid from Virginia Tech that they drafted a few years ago that was so young, Tremaine Edmins is really coming into his own. I'm a big Matt Milano fan. Tredavius whites flat out one of the best corners in the NFL.

Micah Hyde has always been one of the smartest players in the NFL. They've got talent on defense and it's shown up here in the first two weeks of the season. Neither the Steelers nor dolphins could run the ball against Buffalo. Now, the Pittsburgh hasn't been a big running team anyway, but they were hoping to be more so this year with Najay Harris. And they have to be. had in the second half a two-scored lead, they were trying to run, they couldn't. They essentially with Najee Harris averaged 2.8 yards per carry against Buffalo. And Miami got behind and was trying to throw the ball with Jacoby Brissette because Tua went out and Tua was awful in the two drives that he played, two or three drives that he played for Miami. Just looked terrible.

And Berset actually was better. But, you know, one of the things you want to be able to do with a young, inexperienced quarterback playing in a very hostile environment against a team with a very good pass rush, which I'll get to here in a moment, is you'd like to take the pressure off them by being able to run the football. If they can run the football against Buffalo, that will be surprising to me, given what I've seen in the first two games. Now, Buffalo last year wasn't a great run defense, but I think they have the talent to be a good run defense. And it could be the first two opponents that they faced, which is why they've looked so good as a run defense. And maybe Washington will run it all over them on Sunday.

But I think they're going to have to have Taylor Heineke make throws against extra man pressure. And that's the other thing that you see with Buffalo. They blitz a hell of a lot, and they blitz from everywhere. They have exotic blitzes that they see. scheme up. And in the game, in the opener, you had only two sacks and six quarterback hits on Ben as the ball was getting out pretty quickly. But one of those sacks in that game was by Jordan Poyer, a safety. Then on Sunday against Miami, good God, they were coming from everywhere against Berset and early in the game against Tua. They had six sacks on Miami's quarter.

in that game, six total sacks in the game against, and 11 quarterback hits. Here it was. Sorry, I lost track there. And of the sacks, okay, Terran Johnson had one. He's a corner. Micah Hyde had one. He's a safety. Matt Milano had one. He's a linebacker. A couple of times they came with corners and safeties that nearly got there. They're going to send a whole lot of exotic stuff at Taylor Heineke. I think this is going to be a great opportunity on the road, a team with a fan base that's all fired up. This is going to be the real first sort of adverse conditions game

we're going to get to see Taylor Heineke in. And by the way, it's adverse conditions. You're right about that. And here's the other thing, Tommy, for the first time, would you agree with me on this? for the first time, maybe a little bit of expectation for Taylor in a game. There were no expectations against Tampa. We didn't even know he was going to start until, you know, the last minute.

The giant game after the way he played against the Chargers, you know, it was a, well, we'll see, who knows. And this one, though, now there's a little bit of expectation. Look, I have more expectation. I don't have a lot of expectation, but I do have a growing confidence level that this guy's got some baller in him and he's going to make some plays. Now, it wouldn't surprise me if he makes some bad plays like he did at the end of the giant game in Buffalo. But I don't think that he'll, you know, cower, you know, curl up in a ball. I think he'll keep slinging and keep trying to make plays. Now, will he be good enough?

This is going to be a really interesting game because Buffalo. Buffalo defensively has playmakers. Now, offensively, I mentioned they're not playing well. Josh Allen has been very off in these first two games. Let me point out, Pittsburgh's a very good defensive team, and Miami is a good defensive team. Josh Allen is completing 55.9% of his passes in the first two games of the year. That's more in line with his Wyoming. completion percentage when everybody thought that accuracy was going to be a big problem. He is in the league right now among the 32 starting quarterbacks for the season in completion percentage.

Let me see where he is. He's got to be way down there. He's 30th. He's 30th in the league right now in completion percentage. Well, it's got to be a rough day for him because Washington, I've been told, has a good defense, don't they? Yes. We can hold off on some of the sarcasm at this point. You made your point in the opening segment.

You think the defense is great because everybody's told you it's great, and yet it hasn't been great. We get it. We get it. We understand that you think the expectations for the defense are a little bit wildly out of touch. Josh Allen, 55.9%, 30th in completion percentage. again against two good defensive teams. His passer rating is 77 in the first two games.

Let me see where that ranks. That can't be very good either. No, that can't be good. That is 28th in the league through two games. His QBR is not very good either. It ranks 23rd in the league through two games. And yes, we are supposed to, we being the Washington football team, have a third straight, very good defense that he's facing.

So if he comes out and lights them up on Sunday, it's going to be a big concern. He did not light Miami up. He was 17 to 33 in the game for crying out loud against the dolphins. Dolphins were, God, I mean, it's funny about these games. You just look at the scores and even a box score, and it can be so misleading. Miami never had a chance to win the game. Don't get me wrong. but the game was more competitive than the score indicated.

It was 14-0-0 well into the third quarter, and Miami had the ball multiple times in, you know, in scoring range. I don't know how many red zone trips they actually had in the game. They were in the red zone three times, and outside it a couple of times and didn't score at all. But anyway, yeah, Devin Singletary, A back that I loved coming out of Florida Atlantic looks like he's really starting to come into his own.

He's been their most effective offensive player in the first two games. He's averaging six and a half yards per carry. He just hasn't gotten a ton of touches in either game. But he's a guy that they'll have to certainly keep an eye on. But this should be for the defense, perhaps, you know, it didn't look that way on the schedule two weeks ago. But they're probably catching this offense right now at a good time. It doesn't seem to be in sync. On the other hand, if we go by evidence of what we know,

Josh Allen has become an elite quarterback. He's not performing at an elite level. Not through two games. He isn't. No. No, he isn't. But his track record would tell you he is an elite quarterback. There is no doubt that last year, Josh Allen became a franchise quarterback at a big time level.

I mean, last year, I'm pulling up the numbers because they were outrageous. Last year, 69.2% completion percentage, 4,544 yards, 37 touchdowns, 10 interceptions. Now, he did also have five fumbles on the year, and then what were his rushing numbers last year, rushed for eight touchdowns and 421 yards. Yeah, he was, you know, two weeks ago, before the season started, Josh Allen was in everybody's top 10.

It's for some people, higher and climbing quickly. And so far this year, he's back, you know, statistically more in line with where he was in his first two years when everybody, you know, labeled him as a bust. But it's only two games. And we've seen what he can do. Like he was spectacular last year as a playmaker. Spectacular. But it's been a rough start. Again, remember, let me emphasize this. Pittsburgh appears to be a very good defensive team. And I think Miami is a decent defensive team too. And so, you know, the results could be because he's played two excellent defensive teams. As you would say, well, he's about to get his third.

That's what I've heard. I've heard that Washington's going to be the third tough defensive team that he's faced. Speaking of defensive teams, yeah. apparently when Ron Rivera was on, and if he said this with you, I apologize. It's fine. It's if you didn't hear it. I don't care.

Okay. Just say it. But when he was on with the junkies. He's on with the junkies today. He goes on with them this morning. What did he say? And he was asked in that basically softball style. if his star passer was putting too much pressure on himself,

meaning Chase Young. In other words, why isn't Chase Young playing better? And Rivera said, without a doubt, this is such a coach answer. You really got to look through all the lines to see this. The kid works so hard, the way he comes to practice, the way he goes through meetings, the way he's on the field. He wants to be explosive. He wants to make things.

happen and he's really trying. Here's the money quote. Because of that, I think every now and then he puts himself in a bad position. But I'm not going to fault guys that give you everything they got. I mean, you know, I mean, you've got to see what he's saying here. No, I know what he's saying. He's been out of position and out of the position they want him in, and won him in multiple times in these first two games.

Now, there is recognition about his impact on games by just being out there. You know, there have been players that have been far less productive on defense than Chase Young. He's had an impact by just being there, and he's made some plays. There is recognition, too, that this is a young player. And, you know, at the end of the day, if he's not playing this scheme the way they want him to do it, and this goes for any player, you know, it's their job to coach him up, you know. And let's face it, he's got a lot on his plate, right? I mean, there's, you know, there's game show appearances, there's rap news, there's rap records to come out.

He's juggling a lot of things, so let's not be hard on him. Well, he does, seems to have a lot of things going on. Yes. Okay, enough about that because he actually has been far, far from the worst player on defense. Most of those players exist in the linebacking and the secondary group. I think Kendall Fuller's been terrible in these first two games, and that's a surprise to me. But he's had impact on some of these games. But you know what I don't want to hear?

I don't want to hear next week. He's trying so hard, but he's still getting himself into some positions. Coach his ass up. You know, it's your responsibility to take outrageous talents, which Chase Young is, and to coach him up. If he's not playing the scheme exactly the way you want to, make him. So he does become that great player. There you go, baby.

I just want anybody who isn't playing well and who isn't, you know, playing the scheme exactly the way they want the scheme to be played. I want them to start playing the scheme. You know, it's up to a coach to, hey, you're not playing the scheme right, whether it's coverage, whether it's linebacking, whether it's, you know, edge rusher. Well, we'll find somebody that can until you're ready to do it exactly the way we want you to do it. this team is too talented defensively, as Rivera said, not to get high-level results. I'm not saying they're the best defense in the NFL. I don't believe that to be true. But this is a top 10 talent defense in the league just because of what they have up front.

What you wrote in your column, you know, it's what Coach Thompson used to say. Be careful if you keep admitting it. Well, it's different, actually. That's one way to do it, right? To keep talking up the talent and then not produce, then it becomes clear. It's coaching. But Thompson, I remember, and I think it may have been Jay Gruden early on, that was like, yeah, that was my fault. Yeah, I need to do a better job here.

He used to do that a lot. Coach came on the air the next day and said, hey, Jay, little advice. If you keep admitting you're the problem, they're going to start to believe you. But anyway, Sunday's a guy, Sunday really is a big, it's a big game, but it's not like the, in the same way that the giant game was, because we, there was a real sense of urgency. Getting the giant win takes the edge off a little bit as it relates to this. I mean, this game. They could lose to Buffalo, turn around and go to Atlanta, a winnable game, and beat Atlanta and be two and two after four games.

You're going to take that. Yeah, in the next two road games, you'd take one in one right now and run with it because they're a nine point dog Sunday. Actually, that line's coming down a little bit. But I do think it's such an interesting matchup because you've got, you know, before the season started, we would have said this is the best quarterback of the first three, the best quarterback that they'll face in the first three games. I'm not so sure that's true. It might be Herbert, but who knows? They're both really gifted and talented. But for Taylor Heineke, you know, first road game, tough environment, I want to see how he does.

This is, that's number one on the list for me, is how will Taylor Heineke play in this atmosphere? Look, Taylor Heineke, again, I'm of the philosophy, and not to say that I couldn't be proven wrong, that there's a reason these guys wind up in the XFL, and it has to do with exposure. The more you're on the field, the more your limitations are exposed. I don't think composure is one of his problems. I think he'll be composed even in an atmosphere like that.

My gut tells me that I agree with you on that. Up next, coaching, blunders, and taunting right after these words from a few. of our sponsors. So I did one of the coaching blunders for the week yesterday, and that was Mike McCarthy's coaching blunder at the end of the game where the Cowboys didn't get better field position for the game-winning kick for Greg Zerline when they had plenty of time to do it. Now, he made the kick, so I guess all is well.

What I did not see before yesterday's show was one of the worst in-game coaching decisions that I can remember. I, I, David Cully is the new coach of the Houston Texans, Tommy. He's the one that's been dealing with the whole Deshawn Watson thing in, in Houston. And by the way, the Texans won their opener against Jacksonville. And actually were very much in the game Sunday against Cleveland. They had a first half lead against Cleveland, 14 to 7, and it was a 24-21 game early in the fourth quarter of that game. I think it was 24-21 early.

in the fourth quarter. But he made a decision that's one of the biggest head scratchers of all time. It was such a head scratcher that the referees checked with him to make sure that that's actually what he wanted to do. Kevin Stefanski, the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, was caught like scratching his head and looking to the skies like, wait a minute, what's going on here? Let me spell it out for you. So early in the second quarter, in a seven, to seven game. The Texans had the ball at their own 38 yard line on a third down and 15. And on that third and 15 play, they picked up 13 yards into Cleveland territory at the Cleveland 49-yard line, and they faced fourth down and two. Now, on the third and 15 play, there was a

penalty. It was an off-sides penalty against Cleveland. So obviously you've got two choices there if you're the coach. You take the penalty and you take another swing on third and long, this time it would be third and 10. Or you liked the gain on third down and you're like, hell, we'll go for the fourth and two in Cleveland territory at their 49 yard line. We'll decline the penalty, keep our offense out there and go for it on fourth and two. Those are the two choices. There are no other choices. Now, there are other possibilities, but there are.

no other choices, except if you are David Cully. Cully declined the penalty, fourth down and two, and instead of going for fourth down and two, punted it. He punted the ball. The officials looked confused as they were talking to him, thinking that maybe they, when he sent the punt team out, that maybe he had misunderstood the referees in terms of what the options were. But he said, No, no, I'm declining the penalty. And they said, well, but you're sending your punt team out. Did you, you could have had third and ten. And the, uh, Stefansky was shown on TV looking totally perplexed as well, the head coach of Cleveland.

After the game, Cully was asked about it and he said, or I'm sorry, on Monday yesterday, he was asked about it. And he said, quote, if I had to do it all over again, I would have taken the penalty. It was more out of, out of frustration than. anything. I was a little frustrated at the time because I was thinking field position. I didn't want to do anything that hurt us. That was just out of frustration on my part because of the series we were having at the time. But if I had to do it over again, I would have taken the penalty and given our offense a chance to get the first down, which is what I should have done. I'm not sure what he was frustrated over. They were moving the football on that drive. It was

their second drive of the game. The first drive, they went eight plays 84 yards for a touchdown. And then they're on the move to take the lead again into the early part of the second quarter. Like he's 66 years old. He was a surprise hire, Tommy, you know, major surprise head coach higher by the Houston Texans who just two weeks ago before the regular season opened were thought to be the worst team in the league. and in total disarray, they win their opener, and then they are in the game against one of the AFC favorites this year. Cully's 66, hardly too old to coach. I'm not suggesting that. But this was a major whiff on his part,

and that's one of those things. You can apologize for it, and you can say, I should have, I should have. But if you're a Houston Texans fan, two games into this thing, on that thing, you're a little bit concerned. Like, whoa. What I don't understand is any of any of his staff on the sideline grabbing him and say, you know, coach, wait a minute. This is our situation here.

You know, he may have been frustrated, but somebody's got to snap him out of it. Somebody has to go to him and say, no, no, no, coach, you just, you decline the penalty. Yeah. Get the offense out there and go for it. No, no, no, we're punting. No, no, no, you can't punt. We're in this, in seven, what? By the way, the Texans, Tyrod Taylor is out.

Davis Mills will start Thursday night. That's too bad. How long is he out for? Because Mills came in that game. I don't know. I think, like Houston right now through two weeks, if Tyrod Taylor were healthy, I have no idea what Davis Mills is going to be. He's the kid out of Stanford that a lot of people were excited about before the draft.

But Houston would be the ultimate slap in the off-season. season, you know, a prognostication business. If they ended up, you know, having like a nine and eight season and qualified as a wild card or something like that. And the funny thing is Tyrod Taylor has played decent football at times. He's not Deshawn Watson, obviously, but they've got talent on that team on offense in particular. They've got, they've got, they added Philip Lindsay from Denver. They've got Mark Ingram. They've got, you know, David Johnson. I have no idea how old David Johnson is now. He's probably, he's got to be 30, 31, 32, something like that.

And he's had all the injuries. It just would, I mean, they had a chance at Cleveland to win that game if Tyrod Taylor stays in it. Mills came in, played okay for them. But that would be the ultimate, right? Houston universally, no one picked anybody other than Houston to have the number one pick in the draft in 2022. They are in total disarray. They're a bad team. DeShon Watson's out.

They only won three games or whatever it was last year. And they win the opener and blowout fashion. And they've got Cleveland on the ropes in Cleveland, about to force Cleveland to go to O and 2. And Taylor got hurt. Mills came in. Taylor was 10 of 11 for 125 yards in a touchdown when he got hurt. He had a 94.9 QBR and a 144.3. passer rating when he left the game. Mills came in, was 8 of 18 for 102 yards through a pick,

and they ended up losing 3,1, 21. Anyway, that's your massive coaching blunder of the week, much more so than the Dallas one. And then I did want to mention my buddy Tim Murray, our friend, Tim Murray, sent me something about the BYU-U Arizona State game late Saturday night. It wasn't a coaching blunder. It was a coaching decision that was kind of unique. And it was BYU scored with a minute in 10 or something left in the game to take a 27 to 17 lead over Arizona State. And on the extra point, they decided not to kick it. They sent the offense out there and they took a knee on the extra point.

And Tim said pretty unique. He tweeted it out. And he sent it to me. And we've seen many times at the end of games when the only possibility of the other team winning is a, you know, a block extra point and a return for two or, you know, interception. And we've seen teams take a need, but not with like over a minute to go in a 10 point game. But, you know, Tim's point was if they did get it returned, blocked and returned, it's 2719. And they're going to get the ball. It's pretty much the only chance that Arizona State would have had.

And that's true, but it's almost true. The other chance they have is scoring quickly, going for two if they're down 2817 to make it 2825 and recovering an onside kick, which is still a long shot. But with that much time left, would I want a 2817 lead and taking the risk that it's not going to be blocked in return for two, which is pretty low probability? or do I want a 27-17 lead with no risk of a blocked extra point in return? I probably would kick the extra point. I probably wouldn't have thought.

I probably wouldn't have thought about taking the knee, but I think it was an interesting thing that they did. And the only difference is, you know, if they get a quick score and they're 30 seconds left and it's 27, 24, and they recovered on side kick, well, that 10 point, that 11 point lead would have come in handy. They would have had to go for two to cut it to three and get into that position. Anyway, I know you wanted to talk a little bit about the Baltimore win over Kansas City the other night.

I thought Lamar Jackson was just phenomenal in what was clearly the best game of the first two weeks of the season. It really was. I mean, basically, he carried the team. He put the team on his shoulders, carried the team to that remarkable comeback. And, you know, this is part of my gig. I can't help it. It's in my DNA. But when John Harbaugh went on the field and said, Lamar, do you want to go for it?

You know, this wasn't Jimmy Chitwood saying to Normandale. I'll make it. Okay? I'm sorry. If Lamar Jackson had said, coach, are you nuts? John Harbaugh would have went for it just the same. He still would have went for it. Yeah.

You know, what Lamar Jackson said was a great dramatic moment for a coach and, you know, probably helps solidify their relationship even more. But it wasn't going to change John Harbaugh. He was going for it. Of course he was. I talked about this yesterday. Like, people are making it so much about analytics. And I'm like, no, 10 years ago, before anybody even mentions, you know, football and analytics, that was a go-for-it situation.

Bill Barnwell, you know, the writer for ESPN who writes those super long pieces, tweeted out the following yesterday. And I saw it. and I, it was, to me, it totally struck exactly what I was trying to say if I didn't say it quite as well yesterday on the podcast. He said, I think putting the game on the line with the thing you do best and not letting the other team do the thing they do best is smart and doesn't require even a shred of math. Yeah. That was the situation. It's like they have not stopped us from running and we can't give the ball back to Patrick Mahomes. I also thought it was interesting that NBC put up a graphic either before or after the fourth down conversion that said that the

win probability if Baltimore punted the ball was still 60%. I don't, you know, a lot of that is based on you know, time and score and distance and all of that stuff historically. In that particular situation, I don't think that Baltimore's win probability was better than 50-50 if they had punted it back to Patrick Mahomes. And I know that Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs would have had poor field position potentially and no timeouts. I would put it at least at 50-50 that Mahomes would have gotten them in field goal range with a minute left and no timeouts. I don't think Kansas City had less than a 50-50 win probability if they got the ball back. I would have put it slightly higher than 50-50 in that. particular situation. I would also add that their kicker, Butker, even with poor starting field

position potentially and no timeouts, you know, they only have to get to Baltimore's 40-yard line to send him out there. He's got a big leg and is a really good kicker. So I don't know, to me, that was a no-brainer. That's the only way you're going to lose that game, unless you don't make the fourth down. But then you're giving a ball back to him anyway. Either way, you know, one, you're just giving them the ball, the other one, at least you have a chance to keep the ball away from them. And they haven't stopped you once in the second half because the player on the field who played the best that night was dominating you. You could not stop him. Lamar Jackson was great in that game.

The decision was the right decision. The game itself was phenomenal. Anyway, let's finish up the show with this taunting discussion. Pete Carroll, for those of you who don't know, the NFL has emphasized and asked their referees to enforce the taunting penalty, the 15-yard penalty for taunting opponents. And through the first two weeks of the season, there have been 11 taunting penalties called last year for the entirety of the 2020 season, there were 11. The year before that, there were only nine taunting penalties. So there's been an emphasis on calling the taunting penalty, which has upset some coaches,

including Pete Carroll, who said the other day after their loss against Tennessee, a game in which his team got called for two of these taunting penalties. He said that we, we, we, we, we, We've really opened up a can of worms a little bit with this. He said you've got a lot of guys that have to deal with those explosive moments and they've got to really turn their focus away from the opponent. It's a good thought. It's just hard to manage this. I'll let you go first. What do you think?

Well, look, I'm not passionate about it, but I think it's a sad commentary on our society when we have a generation that thinks taunting is okay. That's one way to look at it. I'm not sure the people who are against the emphasis of this think taunting is okay. Well, I don't understand what the other side is. I mean, if you're going to change, if you're going to change a behavior in your organization, of course. And is it worth changing? I don't know if it's worth changing. But of course, there's going to be rough moments in the early days of executing those changes.

But if you, I mean, at some point, you know, players will get the message. I don't think that's the last. I think that the pushback is going to be so great that the league will just fold on this thing. And you'll be back to, you know, people sticking footballs in their opponent's faces for getting a seven-yard catch. So, but I'm not passionate about it. But that has been penalized in the past. That's what we're, I think, you know, you think that taunting is that they're somehow eliminating the guy gets up and he sticks the ball in somebody's face and taunts him. That's always been flagged in the past.

I think what's happened, though, in the first two weeks of the season is that normal, you know, routine celebration is being flagged. You know, the guy that gets up and pumps his arms up in the air after breaking up a pass on defense to force a fourth down that is being flagged for taunting. I think there are degrees of taunting and whatever the lowest degree of taunting, which was never an issue with anybody really is now being flagged. The real taunting, the taunting that provokes, the taunting that potentially provokes a fight. the taunting that you don't want your children to see, which drives me nuts when I hear that conversation. If you don't want your child to see it, don't let them watch it. And if you're going to let them watch it, tell them and explain to him why it's not right to do that in his own game. But it's that they're essentially flagging anything that even resembles taunting.

Like they've taken a very subjective... That's how you change behavior. Well, no. But the behavior wasn't terrible to begin with. You didn't have a major taunting problem in the NFL. You haven't had a major taunting problem in the NFL. I just think they're trying to fix a problem that just wasn't much of a problem. And it's not because of what you said that people don't have an issue with taunting.

I think people do have an issue with, you know, taunting. I just think there are degrees of it, and these guys are going to flag for things that just don't really resemble what most people would consider to be a taunt. I think you've got a generation of young fans that think taunting is cool. That may be true. That may be true that there's, I don't think it's a generation of fans. I think that there are fans in general, by the way, and some of them aren't all of the same generation,

that love the confrontation, that love the fights that come from, you know, a real taunt and a real provoking taunt. but I think that that's the minority. I think what's happening is you're taking plays where players are expressing emotion after a big play and you're flagging them for it and it's changing the games. And nobody wants to see that.

Nobody wants to see a dude get up, take a football and push it right in some dude's face. Or at the 10-yard line, start taunting the guy in high-stepping and pointing at him before he's in the end zone. Some people want to see that. But that's been flagged. Those things were being flagged. Now you're getting, you know, basically DJ Reed,

breaking up a pass with AJ Brown on a third down and pumping his arms in the air while looking at AJ Brown and he gets flagged. It's more of a routine celebration from the past that is now being flagged. I think that's what most of us have an issue with through the first two weeks. By the way, I do agree with you. I think this is going to be one of those things that eventually all the sudden this weekend

or next weekend, not as many taunting penalties, and they're going to relax the way that they're enforcing this, and they may not even tell us. And they're going to say at the end of the year, well, we got the message across in the first two weeks. But it's a message they're getting across that, I just don't think was a major problem in recent years in the NFL. I'm okay with enforcing it, but if it goes away, it's no big deal. Well, so if it goes away, it's no big deal.

So if they're allowed to continue what they've been doing and getting flagged for, it's not a big deal. It's not a big deal to me, but I don't like it. In that words, am I going to draw a line into dirt, say this is where I'm going to fight my fight over taunting? No, but I think it's distasteful. I think it takes away from the game. I don't think it's good human behavior. What do I know? No, I certainly think a lot of the taunting that's been flagged in the past I've not been against.

But they've taken it to a degree where just, you know, you know, the taunting. ordinary celebration is being flagged. I'm not for that. I'm for real issues that bother me in football being addressed. Like, you know, the 10-minute overtime, which is silly, it should be a 15-minute overtime. I've talked about that for several years, where, you know, the five-yard illegal contact or defensive hold on 3rd and 20 turns into a first down,

even though the hold was nowhere near where the quarterback was looking. Some of those things I'd like addressed. I think they've gone overboard here early on the taunting issue. Anyway, anything else, or are we done for the day? That's it. That's all I got to. I got nothing else. I feel like today's show was a little bit herky-jurkey, and I think that was my fault.

Let's give the show away for free today. Let's do that. Let's not charge anybody. Hey, guys, today's a freebie. Today you get... Now, did you see this, Tommy? Did you see if you, you know, buy three games together, you get a massive discount for Washington football games?

Hold on, where is that promotion? Anything they need to do to get people in the stands? Oh, I'm all for it. It's smart. It's smart. Thank God they're doing it this way, then the way they used to do it, which was to act like there was still a waiting list, and then there was nobody in the stadium.

Yeah, and they have to drop them. the cost of their tickets to get people into that stadium, that's what you do. Oh, shit, I'm looking for this thing because I saw it the other day. And it was something like literally like buying, I think it was a package of three for essentially the cost of one game. And I think the Chiefs game was one of them. I could be wrong about that. Their next home games are the Saints and Chiefs and Buccaneers.

I mean, quite a next three games stretch. Oh, the Seahawks after that. And then you get into all those division games. So, yeah, there was something the other day. I think it was essentially pay for one, get three. So that's what we're doing today, okay? We're giving you today's show and tomorrow show for free, but you have to listen to Thursday show to get the first two free.

There you go. What a deal. All right. See you. Kooley's going to be with me tomorrow. Have a good day.