The Kevin Sheehan Show - NFC Championship Game Bound!

Episode Date: January 19, 2025

Kevin in for a Post-Game after Washington's dominant 45-31 NFC Divisional Round Playoff win over Detroit! Washington is headed to the NFC Championship Game for the first time in 33 years! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Third and ten. Four man, Ross. It's got thrown over the middle.

And it's picked off Jeremy Chin. And Washington will be going to the NFC Championship for the first time in 33 years. They did it. They won. They are heading to the NFC Championship game for the first time. since 1991. And if they play next weekend, the way they played tonight, they're heading for the Super Bowl two weeks later. I'm in for a postgame podcast losing my voice just a bit. My game take coming up, the show's presenting sponsor, is Window Nation 86690 Nation or WindowNation.com.

Wow, what a performance. Unstoppable on offense. Again, opportunistic. as hell on defense. And once again, you saw it from the jump. They weren't messing around. They thought they could win. They coached and played to win. And they did 45 to 31 over the top-seated lions in their house. A hell of a game between two very good teams, but only one team.

Only one had Jaden Daniels. You know, I always start these post-game podcasts or, shows with the thing that I'm feeling the most in that moment when the game ends, the thing that moved me the most, thrilled me, angered me, you know, whatever the strongest emotion is in the moment I usually go with in this opening segment before I get to, you know, the game take and sort of an analysis of the way I saw the game unfold. And you would think for somebody like me because I'm a lot like you, that because of what we've been through as a fan base for the last two to three decades, that I would be sharing with you in a very kind of emotional way, how happy I am,

how joyful I am, how much pride or relief or whatever the emotion is, something about just the weight, you know, 33 years. and being a part of this fan base that you've been a part of as well and what we've been together and how long we've had to wait for this moment and how much we had to endure to get to this moment. You know, I don't need to recount all of the ways we've been mistreated and taken advantage of over the years.

Bottom line, we haven't had a chance to experience tonight or anything close to tonight for so long, three decades plus. Like I said a few weeks ago, I kind of compared us to, you know, what Red said in Shawshank Redemption when he said, you know, Brooks had been institutionalized. I felt like, you know, as a fan base,

because a lot of the conversations were like, is this really happening? Like, are we really this good? Is Jaden really this good? We had been institutionalized. We were expecting the worst. And we always got the worst. So this year has been so different.

And tonight, obviously, you know, a first for many of you, actually. And for a lot of us, it's been so long that it really feels like a first. It's a long-awaited moment for sure. And winning a game as much as this one meant, that should be what I am going to spend much of my time expressing here. in the open to the show. But I'm not going to do that. I can't because the overriding feeling that I have after tonight is all about Jaden Daniels and how good he is. I can't get over how great he is.

I can't believe how great he was tonight. What I'm about to say is a fact right now. Jaden Daniels is a top five quarterback in the NFL right now. No worse than five. I think he's higher than five. And if you want to say after tonight and last week against Tampa, no, no, no, no, he's actually the best quarterback in the NFL right now. You're not crazy.

Personally, I think Mahomes deserves that label until further notice. By the way, that further notice might come in a few. few weeks if Jaden leads his team to the Super Bowl and wins it as a rookie, a possibility that legitimately exists now. It does. If he plays the way he has played the last two playoff games, look out. The performance tonight, especially in the first half. I know Detroit's defense isn't good and it's been banged up and they lost a player early in the game. We talked about it all week leading into the game. I told you about the Buffalo game and what Josh Allen and Buffalo did to that defense.

I told you what San Francisco did to it. I told you what Caleb Williams had done to it. The Sam Darnold thing was misleading because Sam Darnold stinks. He doesn't process. He doesn't see things. People were open in that game. He didn't find them. On the road in that environment tonight, he went in there and dominated.

He threw for 242 in the first half, accounted for 271 yards in the first half. Through two touchdowns, they scored 31 first half points, 28 in the second quarter. They didn't punt in the first half. And the only time they got stopped is when they took the ball out of his hands and gave it to Marcus Mariotta on that botched play with Brian Robinson, Jr. For the game, 22 of 31, 299, two touchdowns. There was at least one drop. Diami Brown had a big drop on the second drive of the game. That would have been a 20-plus yard play.

Would have put him over 300. He rushed for 51 yards, 16 times 51 yards. That's 350 total yards of offense in this divisional round playoff game on the road against the top seed. And you know what? He really didn't have to do much in the fourth quarter. If Detroit had turned it over, let's just say not five times, but three times and the game was closer and he had to keep throwing and keep playmaking, he probably would have gone for 400 plus yards in the game easily. No turnovers again, no sacks.

One total punt on the night. Sorry, Tress, we need you to go out there once tonight. one punt in two playoff games. When they contained rushed him tonight with four, he lit him up. When they came after him with the blitz, he torched them. Versus extra man pressure tonight, 12 of 16 for 191 yards and a touchdown. He also on multiple occasions, here comes a free rusher. Nah, he's not going to get him.

He's off running for 5, 6, 7, 10 yards. He was always there when they needed him the most, as he has been all year long. The biggest plays of the game delivered once again. Two for two on fourth downs for 19 yards, both completions move the sticks. And then on another fourth down, a naked bootleg, three-yard run,

move the chains first down. I mean, what are we watching here, people? I feel like every week at some point I think to myself, or I say out loud, is it too early? You know, is it too early to call him an elite quarterback? Is it too early to call him a top five quarterback? Is it too early to say that you wouldn't trade him for anybody, including Mahomes, Jackson, Allen, or Burrow? Is it too early to say he's having the greatest season a quarterback has ever had in our franchises? history. We may feel that way when it's all said and done. We know that this is easily the

greatest rookie season in the history of the league. The numbers say it, and now the wins in the postseason are starting to say it. He became just the fourth rookie quarterback to win multiple playoff games. Flacco, Sanchez, and Purdy are the others. I think we know that those three quarterbacks weren't the reasons their teams won multiple playoff games. Those teams had great supporting casts, whether it was defense or a combination of defense and running game. It's obviously different here. All right, 12 regular season wins, two more now in the postseason. They have been quarterback led. He's the sixth rookie quarterback to make it to a championship game. The three that I just mentioned plus Sean King and Ben Rathesberger, those are the others on the list.

If his team wins next week in L.A. against the Rams or in Philly against the Eagles, he'll become the first rookie quarterback to win a conference championship game and get to a Super Bowl. I can't believe how much one player has elevated a team. A franchise, really. I mean, there are some good players on this team, and plenty of them contributed tonight. But the team is winning big because they are riding on his shoulders. He's got everything a great quarterback has physically. You know, he makes every throw.

His release is super quick, super compact. His mobility is already all time. Great. And then there's the mental. He processes so quick. he's totally unaffected by pressure. His poise already is the thing I think most people talk about now when they watch him. I can't sit here right now and think of anything he doesn't do at an extremely high level.

I mean, where's the really awful rookie game? Where's the moment where we all looked at each other this year and said, ah, well, he's a rookie, he'll be fine. He doesn't need excuses. You have to mess up before someone can excuse you. He doesn't mess up. He lifts up. He cleans up.

He's going to be the starting quarterback next week in the NFC championship game. Does anybody listening to this think anything other than he'll be great? Tonight was special, man. It felt good. It did, to be honest. I think I was in shock a little bit the way it was unfolding. The back and forth nature of that second quarter, you know, 2814 was the second quarter scoring between the two teams. I thought we were destined to sort of witness a classic, but Washington did their part, Detroit didn't.

You know, the Lions, let's not kid ourselves. This game would have been much different if Detroit hadn't turned the ball over five times. You know, those five turnovers along with that 12 men on the field penalty on a fourth down that gave Washington a first down, I mean, Washington played a clean game and Detroit soiled themselves all night long. It was great. He was great. My game take, after these words from a few of our sponsors,

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Break through. Terry McLaren, foot race. McClellan. It's going to allow. Washington. An RPO quick bubble screen decision by Jaden Daniels, Terry took it 58 yards to the house. They had a 17 to 14 lead with 6 and a half to go in the first half, and it was a lead that they did not. give up. They still scored another four touchdowns in the game for a total of 45 points on the night the most they've ever scored on the road in a playoff game. They actually scored 51 in a playoff game at home following the 83 season against the Rams. But 45 to 31 over the Lions, two straight playoff wins and off to the NFC championship game.

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Pay attention. Here's Kevin's Game Take. All right, let's get to the Game Take, and we will start with the things that I liked from the game, and that list is long. Let me just begin with this. I talked all week about how this was kind of an easy game to think about going into it.

Two really good offensive football teams, two subpar defensive teams. The team that was, you know, better offensively, but more importantly, you know, cleaner offensively, was going to win the game. And Washington was slightly better than Detroit offensively, and they were totally clean. Detroit turned the ball over five times and committed a terrible 12 men on the field penalty on a fourth and two down by three. in the fourth quarter. It really was that simple. Washington, awesome on offense, and Detroit turned the ball over five times.

There's your game, 45 to 31. Offensively, I'll just start there, and then I'll work back to Jaden again. But offensively, you know, it was another dominant night. I mean, 27 first downs, 481 yards. Nine drives, they scored on six of them, all right? That means they've had 16 drives in these two games, and they've scored on 11 of them in their two playoff games. I don't count the two kneel downs, all right, the kneeled down at the end of the first half and the kneel down at the end of the game. And the three drives that they got stopped on, they moved on two of them.

You know, they got stopped in Detroit territory on the fourth and two, and they missed a field goal in the fourth quarter from 44 yards out. They only punted once in the game. Tressway now has one punt. in two games. They were awesome offensively, 6.6 yards per play. Just an outstanding night, four for four in the red zone. I talked about plus one or better turnovers, plus one or better red zone. Well, they were plus five in the turnover battle, and they were four for four in the red zone, and Detroit was three for six in the red zone. Great night offensively. Jaden, I've kind of already gone through some of the big numbers, but I'll do it again real quickly.

350 total yards, 299 passing, 22 of 31, two touchdowns, no interceptions, no fumbles, no turnovers on the night for the offense. He rushed for 51 yards on 16 attempts, and he did not take a sack in the game. Detroit really tried to contain rush them when they weren't blitzing, so they weren't really trying to get home. I don't know if they would have any way. pass protection, pretty solid. 12 for 16, as I mentioned, against the Blitz for 191 yards in a touchdown. My God. He was three for three on fourth down himself, two for two passing the ball for 19 yards,

and he had that naked bootleg for three yards. Man, when he goes under center on third and short or fourth and short, I just scream out, here comes the naked boot. He was sharp from the jump. You know, he quick throw to Ertz, you know, quick screen to Terry, check down versus the blitz to Echler on the opening drive. Second drive, he hit Crowder on a third and ten on a curl route, had that big one to Diami, that Diami dropped on a third and ten that led to the field goal on the second drive of the game.

Third drive, the big 42-yarder to Diami, the fourth and three to Ertz for seven yards. Fourth drive, he had the touchdown pass to Terry. That's a really good decision by Jaden. I think it was Branch was blitzing off the edge. Then they were outnumbered on the flank with the three receivers and the two defenders. And he went to that RPO. You know, he could have stuck it in the gut of, I think it was Brian Robinson, Jr. And run it against a lightbox.

But once he saw the outside blitzer, he had the option to throw and he got it out there. And Terry did a great job and they did an excellent job blocking. The bomb did Diami Brown on their fifth drive in the first half. What a throw that was, dropped it right in the bucket with Kirby Joseph's hand all over Diami's face mask and, you know, covering his eyes. I mean, what a perfect throw that was. Second drive of the second half, you know, branches a free runner off the edge, or up the middle, actually, on second and eight. And he just laughs at it, basically, and scrambles for 12 yards. That same drive, the fourth and two naked bootleg, as I mentioned moments ago.

Fourth quarter up 38 to 28, the throw to Terry on fourth and two. That actually followed amiss to Terry. I'll mention that in a second. All night long, you know, he made excellent decisions on read options. I thought last week he struggled on that a little bit. I think the running backs benefited from his decision making in the Zone Reed game and in the RPO game and in the read option RPO combined game. Brady was referring to it as more of kind of triple option.

I kind of see the triple option more when they have a pitch man and the pitch is the third option. That's more of a blended read option RPO. He was excellent with his decision making all night long. I think he had two misses on the night by my count. He threw too quickly on an RPO on a first and goal on the third drive of the game to Bates and miss Bates. They scored on that drive anyway. And then in the fourth quarter up 38 to 28, he missed terrible. on third and two, threw behind him, but came right back to him on fourth and two,

and completed it for the first down. He had a passer rating for the game of 122.9, his QBR was 91.8. He was an A-plus in the game. On the list of things that I liked, the Detroit mistakes were significant to the outcome of the game. Five turnovers in particular, the 12 men on the field penalty, which was just hideous for them. And then I'll just add this. Why do you even take Jemir Gibbs off the field? I'll get to that in more detail. The five turnovers, Armstrong, big time, forced fact, sack, forced fumble, Louvo falls on it. That's the third drive of the game and Detroit's getting ready to go up two scores. What a massive play that was early because Washington stopped

him on the opening drive, but after that they couldn't stop them unless there was a turnover. And that a big time play by Armstrong. They were approaching the red zone and about to go up either 10 to 3 or 14 to 3. The Kwan Martin picks 6 up 17, 14. How big was that? I mean, it's a terrible throw by Goff, a terrible decision because he had Leporta wide open on the checkdown. Louvre should have been penalized for a defenseless block, defenseless hit on golf. that was made very clear on the broadcast, which would have not nullified the interception. It would have nullified the touchdown, and their return would have been moved back. They probably would have scored a touchdown anyway.

The Sanra's still interception at the end of the half. Man, that was big, right? I mean, they're up 31, 21. Detroit's going to get points, at least a field goal, if not a touchdown. He takes the deep shot to Jameson Williams. and San Ristel undercuts it. San Ristel has been an absolute stud this year, and he had a big time game tonight.

The James and Williams throw on that trick play, I don't know why they were getting so tricky all night. It just seemed they needed to just throw the football or hand it off or throw it to Gibbs, and they would have marched down the field, but they got a bit too tricky there, and Williams should have run it. I mean, they didn't take the bait.

You know, San Ristel didn't take the bait. fate on the wheel or the throw to Gibbs. And you take that one. They basically handed it to us on that one. And then Chin had the final interception on the fourth down desperation with the game basically over with 25 seconds to go. Plus five in the turnover category. You're going to win pretty much every game you play.

Regular season or postseason with a plus five. Detroit was outplayed by Washington, you know, no doubt. They were also very much a contributor to their own demise. The 12 men on the field penalty was devastating. It's 31 to 28. The Lions had gone on that long drive. Washington in the midst of another 15-play drive, and they're going forward on 4th and 2 in a 3128 game,

and they got 12 men on the field. I mean, Detroit just needed one stop there. Maybe they don't get it, but that's a bad penalty. and Washington scores two plays later and they're up 10. And then again, Jamir Gibbs was the second best player in the game tonight. Jaden was one. Jemir Gibbs was two. I think Washington benefited from David Montgomery being healthy and being back and available for the Lions.

They felt compelled to give him a chance. It's not that Montgomery was bad in the game. It's just that Gibbs was so much better. I mean, Gibbs was averaging over 10 yards a character. in the first half. In the first half, Gibbs was nine for 96 yards. That's over 10 yards a carry. And he ends up with 14 carries in the game. Are you kidding me? David Montgomery got 7 for 28. He averaged 4 yards per carry. But, I mean, they rush for over 200 yards as a team, 8.7 yards per carry. Now, Jameson Williams had that reverse for 61. Gibbs was 14 for 105, 7.5. 7.

point five yards per carry. Why would you give Montgomery seven of Gibbs's carries, maybe give them three, give Gibbs three more touches? I think Washington benefited from Montgomery being back and being available in the game. All right, next on my list, look, there's a lot of offensive players to go through. I'm going to start with just the running game. It was back. I think it was back in part because Detroit stinks defensively. But I think the Zone Read game in particular, Jaden was making right decisions all night long. Brian Robinson, Jr. looked awesome tonight.

15 for 77, two touchdowns. Echler was 6 for 47. That's 7.8 yards per carry, and Jaden had 51 yards on 16 carries. 182 yards rushing for them as a team with the running backs combining for, 136 of those yards. Yay!

Got a running game with the running backs back. Really good night running the football. You got to give some of the credit to the offensive line for sure. You know, they lost Cosme there, and he was replaced by 73. And I thought they'd miss Cosme, but they didn't. And it was big that they were able to run. the football with their running backs again. Offensive line, yes, I also think Jaden made a lot of really good decisions tonight. The pass catchers. Diami Brown, six for 98, he had a drop, and it was a big one

because it forced him to kick a field goal, and you didn't want to kick field goals in this game. Terry, four for 87 on six targets. One of the balls was uncatchable because it was one of Jaden's poor throws. He didn't really do much of that tonight. Austin Neckler, outstanding. Four catches, 41 yards. Does he ever go down? Does he ever get hit cleanly by the first tackler? Ertz was big for them. Crowder had a couple of catches. John Bates had a catch. You know who didn't have a catch tonight? I thought he'd be a factor in the game was Zakias. Two targets, no catches for Zakias. So basically

everybody offensively had themselves a night. The coverage on kicks. Man, Washington, no one should bring that kick out of the end zone if they kick it into the end zone. The teams, unless it's turf and returning kicks, take the ball

at the 30. Detroit hurt themselves consistently with short of the 30 starting field positions in this game. Craig Reynolds' average 23.3 yards per kickoff, and Khalif Raymond had a 21-yard kickoff. And most of those started either down at the one or two-yard line or maybe even at the goal line or one or two yards deep.

They were not smart to bring those kickoffs out. The fourth down aggression, none of it was reckless, in my opinion. And when he had to kick the field goal at 45-30, which Zane Gonzalez missed, it was the right thing to kick the field goal at 4531 and not go for that fourth down because you were trying to extend the lead to beyond two scores. And, you know, I think everybody was just expecting them. That was a fourth and one at the Detroit 26 or two and a half minutes to go roughly. I was like, you know what, you can't do it just every time for the sake of doing it. then you become Dan Campbell.

You know, this is a field goal spot, and he sent the field goal team out there. Of course, Gonzalez missed the kick. Yeah, there's a lot to like from this game. I'm sure I will find more, and I will have that for you on Monday's show. All right, what I didn't like. Let's go through the list here. The first thing is just their opening drive. I don't, I know that, look,

I trust them and I trust Cliff and they were trying to get fancy on the fourth and one. And it looked like what Marioo was going to do was he was going to take the snap and he was going to pitch it to Jaden. I think. I think that's what he was going to do. Brian Robinson Jr. seemed to not know the play. It got all, you know, botched up, loses a yard. And that was in that moment, that was devastating because they were moving the football down the field. And I was thinking, you got to get up 7-0.

get up 7-0 because you force Detroit on the opening drive of the game to go three and out. I don't know how many more times you're going to do that. And the answer was not many. What stopped Detroit was the turnovers. So I didn't, you got, this is the biggest game. The best player on the field is number five. And he converts for you basically every single time on fourth down, especially fourth and one. So I don't know.

Were they going to pitch it back to him and throw? were they going to pitch it back to him and he was going to run? Who knows? I think it was going to be Marioada faking like he was going up and then he was going to pitch it back to Jaden. And Jaden was probably going to run around the end for 30-some yards in a touchdown, 26 yards or whatever it was in a touchdown. On the list of things that I didn't like.

The face mask call on Fowler Jr. on Detroit's opening drive of the second half is such a terrible call. I know they missed Louvo for the defenseless block on Goff that knock Goff out. We got to get replay, I think, to overturn the calls that are not judgment or subjective. A face mask is either you grab the face mask or you didn't. I guess there could be an inconclusive, like he got a little bit bit of it, but didn't jerk it as much as we thought call stands. but when you don't grab any part of the face mask, that's got to be reviewable.

That was really a very big play for the Lions. I mean, they're going to go three, well, they had a first down on that drive, but that's third and two, and they've got Montgomery in there for some unknown reason. They're giving the ball to Montgomery on their first drive of the second half when no one could stop Gibbs. I couldn't believe Montgomery started the game and started the third quarter. I thought that was a massive mistake by the Lions, but that just wasn't a face mask. Stop. I think they've got to figure that out with replay.

All right. I thought defensively it was another look. The turnovers, you're never going to say it was a terrible night. It was an opportunistic night for the defense. Armstrong play is a big time play, okay? But, you know, more times than not, that's just a sack. Gough got really loose with the football, but still good pressure. I actually thought they got good pressure, and they got Gough off his spot a couple of times. The Kwan Martin throw is just a ball that he misses. I mean, he actually threw to the wrong receiver. Laporte is staring him in the face.

The Sanra's still interception at the end of the first half is excellent. And then the Jameson Williams, you know, throw is, you know, wide receiver throwing a football and the chin one at the end. But the bottom line is that they gave up 521 yards, you know. Now, the last two drives are, okay, there's some garbage yardage in there. Okay, there's probably 50, 60 yards of garbage yards. That's fair. But they averaged in the first half, okay? They averaged over 10 yards of play. They had in the the first half, 309 yards of offense. Washington at 312, but 309 yards with three turnovers, which meant three of their drives got stopped short. Let's face it, the golf fumble took either three or seven off the board. The Sanra Still interception, which was big time,

took either three or seven off the board. And probably the throw by Jameson Williams took some, you know would be points off the board because they were moving. I thought they got pressure at times tonight. I thought like they do every single week. They try hard. They play hard. But if Jemir Gibbs, if they hadn't turned the ball over and they had just decided to either throw to Gibbs or have him run it, he would have probably had a 250-yard night and Detroit would have been better off. Gibbs is believable. How fast, how shifty, how good he is. They, again, can't emphasize this enough. It's a good thing Montgomery came back and was available because I think it meant we got less Gibbs because of it. But defensively, look, I'm putting them on the list because they gave up,

you know, rushing yards, they gave up 8.7 yards per carry. They gave up 7 yards per carry. They gave up 7. and a half to Gibbs, four to Montgomery. They gave up the 61 to Jameson, so that gets factored in. But still, it's also a running play that he was not even touched. You're going to have to be better defensively against Philly or the Rams because they're going to be better defensively than Detroit was, much better defensively if it's Philadelphia. All right, I've got a few other observations. I think that's it on the list of things that weren't good from the game. I'll get to those final observations right after these words from a few of our sponsors. So guys, if you're like me and you've basically been buying and wearing this same type of underwear for years, in my case, boxer briefs, same brand, same type for a long time.

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Still, who's now looking to take it out, and Samer Still is going to go down. The third turnover with the first half for Detroit, and this one in the end zone with 22 seconds to go in the half. Mikey Sanrystil with that big interception at the end of the first half. He had two of them in the game. What a player he's turned out to be this year. You know there were some Lions fans and Michigan Wolverines fans. in that crowd that they love Mikey Santer still for bringing them that national championship last year, but they did not like to see him have the night he had last night.

I do have, in my other sort of observations, something to say about that interception in particular. We'll get there in a moment. This segment of the show brought you by our good friends at MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.orgie. Go to MyBooky.org. use my promo code, Kevin D.C., and you'll get a 50% cash bonus on your initial deposit. I hit on my smell test pick, had the under in the KC. Houston game. That was a game, huh?

I thought, man, Houston really got the short end of the whistle in that game. I thought it was officiated very poorly. They became the first team, I think, ever to out gain an opponent by 100 or more yards and not turn the ball over and lose. That's what happened. A lot of big swings on the safety that the Chiefs took there at the end for a 23-14 final because the number went off at 9-9-5. The Washington number, by the way, came down significantly and went off at almost 8 everywhere.

So there was some super late steam, probably sharp steam on Washington. But they've got everything you need for the two games tomorrow and then, championship game, my bookie.ag promo code, Kevin D.C. So on my other observations list, number one is the Sanristil interception at the end of the first half. Why is it number one? Well, because I don't think he should have brought it back out. If he need it immediately, there's 30 seconds to go. You've got the ball at the 20-yard line. You've got all your timeouts. Washington is attacked in those situations. I know they were up 10. I know they were getting the ball to start the second half. But I kept thinking, you just got to keep scoring, man. Just keep

scoring because they're going to keep scoring too. And he ran it out to the 13 yard line and with 22 seconds left after burning eight seconds, they took the knee. And I was okay with them taking the knee in that particular spot. Yeah, I just, I thought, that's a small knit to pick, but I just thought, in that moment, I'm like, man, I'd rather have 30 seconds in the ball at the 20 because I think Jaden gets you down there and probably get you into field goal range. They have not stopped us all night. On the list of other things, you know, Zane Gonzalez had a good night kicking PATs. He didn't miss any PATs.

He was six for six. He was one for two on field goals, missed that field goal with two and a half minutes to go. but he also kicked the ball out of bounds on the opening kickoff. That was not a good opening, you know, salvo for our special teams, which had a pretty good night and we've had a great night in kick coverage much of the year. But he kicked it out of bounds. He missed a field goal. He didn't make it on to my list of things that I didn't like because he made six BATs

and made a field goal. But still, opening kickoff out of bounds. Did Tyler Biotish really false start on that third and nine on the opening drive of the game? I don't think he did. I don't think he did. And it put him back to third and 14, and then they threw it a Crowder, and then they went for the fourth down with Marioada. You know, without that false start, maybe they get the first down on third and nine.

I didn't think he false started there. By the way, Fox got back late to the play with Crowder gaining, you know, 13 yards to get it to that fourth and one on the third and 14 after the Biotish false start. I don't, I mean, it's the playoffs. We can't miss any games. We can't miss any plays. How about the touchdown catch by Leporta? That was outstanding. Sam Cosmy getting hurt. We'll have to see what happens there. That would be a big loss. How about their onside kick, man? That was an excellent onside kick. And Ertz did a really nice job, although I thought he kind of exposed it a little bit and didn't tuck it away, but he was on the ground,

touched. Good job. I thought McNeckles on a first and goal on his touchdown, shouldn't have reached that ball out the way he did. I think on first and goal, you've got to protect the football, but still, a score. What else do I have on this list? Teddy Bridgewater, I did not know he was the backup quarterback. I thought it was Hendon Hooker. But Teddy Bridgewater came in when Goff had to go into the tent after the Louvre hit. Oh, one last thing. How about that play in which, I mean, Ben Johnson, I get in credit, he's creative. I don't think they needed to run as much trickery as they did.

But how about the inside reverse handoff and then pitch back? Montgomery took it and then pitched it to, I think, Williams? It was crazy. I'd never seen a play like that before. They've run a lot of those this year. All right, I think that's all I have on my list. I'll have more on Monday on this, but how about it? I mean, the NFC championship game, 3 o'clock next Sunday on Fox.

It's the first of the two championship games. It'll either be in Philadelphia or it'll be against the Rams in L.A. I'm guessing it would be in L.A. at So-Fi next week. Washington would be based on numbers I saw at the end of the week. They'd be a two and a half point underdog against the Rams. They would be a six and a half point underdog against the Eagles. That may have changed after last night. I don't have a look at headline in front of me right now,

but we'll get the actual line after the game. That game tomorrow, by the way, is supposed to be played in a snowstorm. Buffalo will be a very cold game as well. well. Isn't it nice, we can sit back and watch football tomorrow knowing that our team has made it into the NFC championship game, into the final four? And we've got number five taking us there, which means we got a shot. We got more than a shot. All right, that's it. I'm going to bed. Talk to Monday.