The Kevin Sheehan Show - NFC East Favorites!

Episode Date: October 15, 2024

Kevin opened with the current odds of Washington being the favorites to win the NFC East. He had a ton of follow-up to the 30-23 loss to the Ravens as well. Fred Smoot jumped on with his thoughts after the close loss in Baltimore. Kevin also recapped some of the other NFL games, specifically those that impact the Commanders.  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. He's Kevin. Speaking to the team today, tell the truth Monday. And I think biggest truth, we're not where we want to be yet. And I was honestly proud as hell of the fight we showed in the game yesterday. But I also think there's definitely another gear.

And it's a gear that we need to get to. And to finish against the teams, we know we're going to have to go battle with. that's what we're grinding for, finding that next gear. Leaving the game, I would say, how do I know we're ready to learn that and to get there? I think six of the words I heard in the locker room last night, we're effing going to learn from this. Dan Quinn, just a little bit earlier today during his Monday press conference following the 30 to 23 loss to Baltimore yesterday,

saying we are not where we want to be quite yet. Yeah, they're not. They're certainly not on defense. But it was tell the truth Monday out in Ashburn. That's what they do following a win or a loss. He said something else about Jaden Daniels that I will play for you here in this opening segment. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, as Windonation, call them at 86690 Nation or head towindonation.com. I did a show after they, game that was available last night and hopefully you guys had a chance to listen to that show. That included my entire game take from yesterday on what I liked, what I didn't like, etc. I've got a lot more on the game here in the opening segment, but you can certainly go back and listen to that show as well. Fred Smoot's going to be on the show. He'll be on the show with me next segment. And then in the final segment, we'll go around the NFL a little bit and talk about, especially the games yesterday that impact Washington.

But I have to start with this. Right now, at MyBooky, yes, mybooky.orgie.com promo code Kevin D.C. for up to a $1,000 cash bonus on your original deposit. Washington is favored to win the NFC East. This is the case now at a lot of sports book. everywhere, but my bookie just moments ago updated their division odds, and Washington is plus 120. They are the favorite to win the NFC East. The Eagles are right there at plus 135, and then the Cowboys at plus 430. The Giants are plus 5,000. They're a long shot. I'll tell you,

the Giants don't stink. Their defense is really good. The Cowboys got blown out, in embarrassing fashion by the Lions, 47 to 9. It's pretty clear now that the Cowboys just have major talent deficiencies. I know Micah Parsons didn't play in the game, and you didn't get DeMarcus Lawrence in the game, but they're so reliant on essentially what they have invested in Dak Prescott and C.D. Lamb, and they're just not very good. That loss was a terrible one. More on that coming up at the end of the show.

but when you look ahead to Dallas's schedule, the 49ers, Falcons, Eagles, Texans, Washington, they have dropped Dallas significantly in the division odds. Everybody has. Philadelphia wasn't overly impressive yesterday, but they did win their three and two. But Washington, I can't remember, probably, well, probably at the end of the 2020 season, when it became clear that if they beat Philadelphia in that final game of the year, they could be the NFC East Division champs. But this early in the season, when's the last time this early in a season?

Washington was the favorite to win the division. Been a long time. I don't know, maybe 2016 following their division title in 2015. I guess it's possible. But my bookie.orgie.orgie for all of your sports betting needs. They've got Washington as an eight-point favorite over Carolina. I mentioned this on last night's show following the game, that this is the biggest favorite Washington has been in seven years,

eight-point favorites at my bookie over Carolina. But wow, division favorites. Here we go. After a loss, but really it was about what happened elsewhere, right? Dallas getting blown out in Philadelphia, you know, barely getting by Cleveland. They're going to play these games coming up anyway, as I like to say. And the NFL changes a lot. So stay tuned.

So if you missed my game take yesterday, really it was kind of simple. Number one is that Jaden Daniels was really good. I thought excellent. I thought it was another outstanding performance by Jaden. Offensively, they were really good. yesterday. You know, not as perfect as they've been and were during their four games stretch. The receivers were exceptional. I thought it was one of Terry McClearn's best games. I thought Noah Brown played a high-level game. And defensively, there were a couple of performances. I thought Sanra still played well.

I thought, you know, Fowler Jr. was decent. I thought Wagner was okay. Cybert had a good game yesterday. He missed one kick. It was blocked at the end of the half. What I didn't like the defense was horrible yesterday. Just not good enough against a very good team, as I emphasize, Baltimore probably the best offensive team in the league. They got to get more takeaways. They got one first interception of the year.

They just have to get more. And I did sort of hone in on a playoff. in the first half that I thought was big in terms of the context of the game in the moment. And that was Zekees's drop with the score tied at 3-3 when Washington had a second and 11 at midfield. And he was open and Jaden put it on him. And he tried to kind of turn to move up field before he had the ball and he dropped it. That was a big drop in the game.

Again, I said what I said yesterday, which is I don't know if they go on to win the game with that. if he makes that catch. But they certainly would have put some game pressure in the second quarter on Baltimore in that moment. So there were a couple of things that I wanted to follow up on. Number one, I mentioned that with the All-22, I thought that Jaden perhaps missed Terry on the third and seven on the opening drive where they settled for the field goal. He took the sack. No, he didn't miss Terry. The safety was just hovering too close.

He should not, I don't think, I don't think he should have made that throw. And the truth is he didn't really have anything. So wasn't able to scramble there. It was a good contain rush. He got sacked on that play. But I did not think that after seeing the All-22, there was an opportunity to throw to Terry McLaren. I did want to mention this about Jaden Daniels, because I, emphasize this on my game take yesterday, that he had made a super high level, high IQ play

on that final drive of the first half. When Quinn decided not to call a timeout with 30 seconds to go, which I thought he should have, I thought he should have used his last time out with about a minute 20 to go on defense. But when they decided not to take that time out after the Noah Brown catch on the sideline where he didn't get out of bounds, even though it was close. Jaden had a checkdown after nothing was open, and he threw it at Echler's feet. He basically didn't ground the ball, but he threw an incomplete pass to stop the clock, because hitting the check down there, it would have been a one or two yard gain, and Washington would have been forced to call their last time out.

It was such a high-level, in-game decision by a quarterback that, You know, I gushed over it on the show last night because you don't see veteran quarterbacks sometimes recognize that stuff. He just is super savvy, super high IQ when it comes to football. You know, and that's what you get, by the way, from gym rats. You know, guys that are truly dedicated and love it, they get all that stuff. And he knew it. And Dan Quinn went out of his way to point out that very,

play specifically. And he also said that he was super smart in their final drive where they got a field goal. And I'll mention the plays where he was really smart on that drive as well. But listen to what he said about what Jaden did at the end of the first half. This would sound unusual. But there were a couple of plays that took place in the two minute yesterday, I think both before the half and maybe even one at the end of the game. throwaways. And this was, you know, an instance where there wasn't much time left at the end of the half. There was one outside to Austin where it wouldn't have made much of a play, Scott.

And so in that instance, the better play, it's incomplete to go fight for another one. We still had a timeout that we could use. So the football intelligence that he brings into the position is really strong. I think all of us felt that early with him. but I love the fact that when he's in these spaces, you know, the two minutes at the end of the half, and then it wasn't quite two minutes at the end of the game, but we had to go score and get down the field to go

of like the decision-making there. He did a really good job of, you know, taking care of the ball, the right decisions, where's the location? I thought some of the best rips of his season actually happened yesterday and some tight windows throws the touchdown to Terry in the corner of the end zone on a fourth downplay was just fantastic.

So I thought moments like that, you know, were ones that I said, okay, like he's really dialed in and he's thinking about the ball and thinking about decision making. And like, that's not just throwing it well. Like that's playing quarterback well. Dan Quinn on his quarterback there at the end. Quote, he's really dialed in and he's thinking about the ball and thinking about decision making. And that's not just throwing it well. that's playing quarterback well, closed quote. Lofty praise for a quarterback who's played just six NFL games.

But you know what? He's not wrong. This guy is a quarterback. He's not just athletic. He isn't just a guy with a great arm and great accuracy and great processing ability. You know, all of those things, if you watched them last year, knew he had all of that. You've clearly seen it through six games. The intangible stuff is the stuff that only his teammates and coaches and those that were doing due diligence, you know, in meeting

with those coaches and teammates and interviewing the player himself. They knew about that stuff. But even they're not totally sure until you get him into the building. But the intangible side of this thing is so, so encouraging, because the other stuff is there. The plays that he was referring to, Quinn was in the fourth quarter, because they weren't comparable really to the play that I talked about on the show yesterday and that he referenced the smart throwing the football at Echler's feet for an incompletion to stop the clock. I think what he was referring to was that final drive of the game offensively for Washington when they were down by 10, 30 to 20.

And you're getting down in that general area of you need to score, whether it's a touchdown or a field goal, before the two minute warning. You've got two timeouts. They'd used one earlier. And there were a couple of plays where he was flush from the pocket. And he did a good job understanding that getting out of bounds would stop the clock because you were under, you know, five minutes to go at that point. Once you get below five minutes, everything out that goes out of bounds stops the clock, and the clock doesn't start again until the next snap. Pre-five minutes, the clock stops, but once the ball is set, the clock rolls. Final five minutes of the game,

final two minutes of the first half, the clock stops when you get out of bounds. And there were two different scrambles where he got out of bounds. And the very last scramble was a third and eight. you know, maybe there's a chance to turn it up field and get closer to a first down, but you're going to keep the clock rolling. And instead, I think he understood, we just need three here. We don't need the seven here. We need the time on the clock. And he jumped out of bounds and they kicked the field goal.

Cyber did on the next play. And there were two minutes and 48 seconds left. And they had two timeouts. So they, in essence, with the two-minute warning, had three timeouts. So they were going to get the ball back if they could have forced Baltimore to punt with a chance to tie the game or potentially win the game. That would have been, by the way, a much better ending to the game. If somehow defensively they had gotten that stop prior to the two-minute warning. And, you know, it would have been actually at the two-minute warning.

Because if they went first down, second down the two timeouts, then the third down play, if it was an in-bounds play, would have run the clock down to two minutes, and then they would have punted. Washington would have gotten it back. But, I mean, what am I even talking about? I mean, on second Nate, Derek Henry ripped off a 27-yard run. And that was pretty much game over. But, yeah, I mean, I, you know, I gave Jaden and A.

I thought there were so many high-level throws. And I went back and watched a lot of them on the All-22 this afternoon. I think he had some of the best throws he's had all season long. The throws to Terry McCorn, the third and six, and then the two touchdown throws, I mean, these are just incredible throws. I think the throw he made to Ertz on the third down and long that got him down there to score the touchdown, which eventually led to the fourth and gold that they scored to make it 27 to 20 was a great throw. He proved yesterday. that one-dimensional as an offense, they can still move the football score points and be in the game against a high-level opponent.

I thought he was outstanding once again. They played, I think, the front-runner for the MVP. That's one thing I didn't check at my bookie. I did not check the updated MVP odds to see if Lamar Jackson is, the favorite right now. He isn't. Patrick Mahomes is. Lamar Jackson is the second favorite. Then it's Stroud, Allen, Purdy, and Daniels. So Daniels was fifth this time last week. He fell behind Purdy, who had a great game on Thursday night football against Seattle. But look, the comparison of the two yesterday, Lamar Jackson is right now entering the prime years of his career and I think maybe the

highest powers he's going to have at quarterback for the next few years. I don't think he's ever played better. I mean, we are still five years away from Jaden Daniels entering his prime, right? I mean, so, I mean, what is Jackson? A seven-year pro at this point in the league? I think it's seven. You know, drafted in 2018. So, yeah, I mean, he's in his seventh season. And he's 27 years old. Jaden Daniels will be older in his seventh season. That's a big difference, so I get that. But we're still a few years away from Jaden sort of understanding everything, even though it appears he understands everything right now.

All right, a couple of other things from the game yesterday. I didn't mention a play that was rather big at 3 to nothing in the game before Baltimore kicked a field goal to tie the game. There was that snap from the center that just stood on, that just was left on the ground and Wagner went right past it. That would have been a huge opportunity to keep Baltimore from tying the game on their second drive. And that's also one of the reasons they probably didn't convert the third and seven,

is that, you know, Lamar never got the snap. But that was one of the forced field goals, you know, in that. spot. You know, they had the interception at the 20 on Baltimore's first possession. So the first two possessions, you get an interception, you know, at the 20, you know, 20 yard line right around there, actually below that, you know, true red zone. And then you get the third and seven near red zone snap that never, you know, gets beyond the center's feet and is laying there on the ground and Wagner never saw it. I can't blame him. I don't think he's looking down. I think he's looking forward. but that would have been huge to recover a fumble there and keep Baltimore from scoring or kicking the field goal on the next drive.

One thing that I didn't mention, and it was brought up by a friend of mine last night. He's like, why didn't you talk about Quinn not going with the analytics of going for two on the touchdown that made it 27 to 20? Yeah, because to be honest with you, I don't love that spot. You know, I don't love what the analytics, the two-point analytics say, about, you know, scoring when you're down 14 and then you're down 8. And, you know, the two-point analytics say you go for two there because you're trying to win the game in regulation. And if you miss it, don't worry about it because when you come back and score again,

you can go for two there. Well, that assumes that the two-point, you know, percentages are 50-50. and they aren't for most teams and context is everything. And I think yesterday, you know, if they go for two down 2719 as a one-dimensional football team that can't run the ball, I don't think that they probably had their best options. You know, they took away Jaden Daniels on Zone Reeds yesterday. They did a really good job with contain rush most of the day. So, yeah, they could have gone for two down 2719, but I don't think that would have been the spot to do.

do it in at all. I think they would have been left without a point in down 2719. And then if they had gotten the ball back down by seven with a chance to, with a chance to potentially tie the game, they probably would have missed the next one too, because Baltimore defensively up front is pretty nasty. Back end, not so good. Yes, I do know that Washington scored on a fourth in goal from the seven. What else did I have? You know, I wanted to emphasize the lack of Emmanuel Forbes playing in the game yesterday. I don't know why he wasn't active, but I probably didn't emphasize enough in my immediate reaction that his speed could have been really helpful. Emmanuel Forbes has struggled with big receivers, big physical receivers.

And maybe he wasn't out there because they didn't want him involved in the running game, you know, because Baltimore's big and they're strong and they're physical. But if you know you're loading up the box all day long to try to stop the run, and you're going to be in more man coverage than you've been all year long, you've got to have guys who can run. Zay Flowers is not big, but he can run. You know what Emmanuel Forbes can do? He can motor. He's sub-4-4. I think he should have been out there yesterday. But, you know, the coaches, they know.

There's something going on there. You know, we'll see if he plays next week. I mean, they're playing, you know, the Panthers. They've got Deonté Johnson. Not much else. The kid leg at the rookie from South Carolina is a big receiver. But, you know, on Flowers in particular, a guy who can run and get separation, Forbes probably would have been the best cover guy out there yesterday for them.

Oh, injury news. John Allen just announced out for the year. Peck tear. You know what? I actually heard from a pretty decent source early this morning that they weren't that concerned about the MRI, that they felt like it would turn out okay. Well, it didn't.

He is done for the American. this season. Something else I didn't point out yesterday in my game take is that Duran Payne did not have a registered statistic in the game. So I'm assuming that he did not grate out well for them, but sometimes that can be misleading. Sometimes the job is to take on doubles, et cetera, and let linebackers make tackles. Look, there was a lot of conscientious objecting out there once Derek Henry got rolling in the second half. That was a little bit disappointing. You know, I think when Quinn talked about today that it's not where they want to be, it's not where they want to be defensively against an opponent like that,

who's going to do that to a lot of teams. Also, by the way, Armstrong has an oblique or a rib injury, and Baptiste had an ankle injury. I think Baptiste has played well. But now with John Allen out for the rest of the year, well, I guess that's why you take the best player on the board. and the best player on the board for them early in the second round was Johnny Newton from Illinois. Johnny Newton's going to get a big opportunity now to step up. He's already been playing a lot as we know.

F.A. Obato is back yesterday, so they had him back as well. But interior-wise, we're going to see Newton. We've seen a lot of Phil Mathis, who I think actually has played pretty well. but it's hard to tell, you know, based on responsibilities in a game yesterday. I mean, good God. I mean, they had the box loaded up and it still didn't matter in the second half. What else did I have? St. Juice's second DPI was questionable. I'll give you that.

And I guess something I didn't realize in the aftermath of doing, you know, kind of the recap right when the game ended or an hour or two after the game ended. I would have guessed that Washington was better on third down. They were four of 12 on third down. They were one for one on fourth down, right? They were now nine for nine on the season. When you move the ball and you score on five of nine possessions, when you end up having the opportunity to score on six of nine possessions,

and by the way, that field goal at the end of the half, it wasn't because they missed on third down. it was because there were only five seconds left. But, you know, I thought that they were a little bit better, but they punted twice, and they kicked two field goals after third-down misses. They punted three times, so there you go. You ended up with some third-down misses. But they had the one-three-and-out after Baltimore tied the score at three-to-three.

They had that one-three-and-out. And then after that, they had a drop pass that derailed a drive on second, and long. Then they missed on third and long on a deep shot to Terry. But, you know, they shouldn't have had that third down exit right there without points anyway. And then they had the third down miss in the second half on the deep shot to Noah Brown at 20 to 13. Yeah, so there you go. And then they kicked the field goal, obviously, after the third down scramble, where Jaden wasn't necessarily trying to get a first down. He was trying to get out of bounds to stop the clock. So the four for 12 on third down, maybe a little bit misleading. You know, they're still way up there on third down

conversions. I think they're third in the league right now on third downs offensively. I can pull it up right now. Defensively, you know, they're still near the bottom. They are 29th defensively, offensively on third down. They are, I think, third in the league. They are second in the league, excuse me, behind Baltimore. Baltimore is the number one third down conversion team in the league. Washington is second in the league. Washington, number one in fourth downs. There are other teams that have converted all of their fourth downs, but nobody's converted nine in the entire league on fourth down. That includes the Detroit Lions who always seem to go for fourth downs.

Actually, I'm wrong. Cleveland's converted 10 fourth downs this year on 16 tries. Wow, the Browns. Who knew? Anything else from my notes in follow-up? Again, the entire game take on yesterday's show where I went through, you know, every Jaden Daniels, good play, a couple of the plays that I wasn't so sure of, and graded him out as an A, and went through that whole end of first half scenario as well.

I think Quint, I think Baltimore blew it by not, by going too fast. And then I really think Quinn, although he was aggressive to get the ball back, I think taking a time out to the locker room when ultimately you had to try a 52-yard field, goal, there were opportunities to use that time out to save time. All right, Fred Smoot next after these words from a few of our sponsors. Is there anything better when you're a football fan than this time of year? It seems like there are games on around the clock. It's a changing time of year.

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Results vary based on studies of topical and oral monocidil and phenosteride. Prescription products require an online consultation with a healthcare provider who will determine if a prescription is appropriate. Restrictions apply. See website for full details and important safety information. If you've got a minute, you don't mind rating and reviewing this podcast. It's a huge help for us, as is following the podcast. That's really simple. Just hit the plus button or the follow button on Apple and Spotify. We did get five stars from LPVA on Apple, and he wrote the following. The Kevin Sheehan podcast is a mainstay in my daily listening. I take a double dose starting with the show on 980 and then move to the podcast,

a glutton for punishment. I'm sorry, sir. I find that I remain well informed, can refine my views on sports issues, and personally I identify with the concentration of football news. here's something that I think warrants some conversation. We all were down on the O line over the summer, and the coaches told us they were comfortable with what they had. They appear to have been right.

So for me, I have trust in the leadership's thoughts and perception, and I haven't felt that since I was a boy in the 70s and 80s, from the owner all the way down. Thank you, LPVA for that. Very much appreciated. Yeah, I mean, Dan Quinn told us over the same. summer. He answered that question. We made a big deal out of it on the show when he was asked about, you know, the weaknesses on the roster. And he said sometimes the perceived weaknesses on the outside

don't match up with how they feel internally. And I was pretty convinced at the time he was specifically talking about the offensive line. I'm 100% convinced of it. Now, the offensive line was a different offensive line to begin with from last year. You had Biottoch and Allegrety, you had Cornelius Lucas, but he's been platooning with Brandon Coleman. And so it was a different offensive line to begin with. And then there were different coaches coaching it. And you had a different coordinator and a different quarterback. So all of those things, I'm sure, played into what they thought the offensive line could be in 2024. And so far, it's been a very effective offensive line. You know, heading into the game yesterday, they were top 10 in both pass block and run block

win rate. So they had proven through five games to be one of the better offensive lines in the league. I know that that seems crazy, but it's true. And again, last year, it wasn't as bad in terms of the advanced numbers, as most of his thought, as I've suggested many times in the past, I am pretty sure that offensive line play around the league is much less than maybe what our fan base thought it was, and they thought that just our O-line was terrible. No, compared to a lot of other offensive lines, even last year's offensive line wasn't terrible. It wasn't great, but But this year, as a run block unit in particular, I have been very impressed. All right, let's bring on one of my favorite people to have on the show.

And one of your favorite people to have on the show as well, Fred Smoot joins us right now. Let me just cut to the chase. Sum up how you feel about the loss yesterday to Baltimore. I don't feel bad about the loss. I'm not one of those guys here. You know how I am. I don't like good losses. There's no such thing as good losses.

But what I understood was everybody said it was a measuring stick. I love what the coaches said. I love what the players said. This ain't a measuring stick. We are out here to play football. I understand that. But we went against a Super Bowl contender yesterday, and we lost by seven. So evidence tells me that we're not far off.

And guess what? We're going to get closer as time goes. Remember this. I want everybody in the DMV to remember this. we're only six games into this campaign. Remember that. They're going to play the other 11 regardless of what happened yesterday. But come on, Professor.

Listen to me. I'm hearing you. What we're seeing now is we're literally six games into this, and we're ahead of schedule. We understand where we're at. But we also understand that we're not scared of anybody in this league right now. If we played, to me, pound for pound, the best team. I know everybody wants to say Kansas City is the best team,

but they're not playing great football right now. If you looked at me right now, I'd say what team could win the Super Bowl undefeasantly right now? I say the Baltimore Ravens right now. And just because they can run the ball, and then when it get cold, everybody has to fold. All right, they have to understand what's going to happen then. All I'm saying is, we played the best team in NFL,

and we lost by seven. I know. So, you know, I'm not into the moral victory thing either. I don't do moral victory. Yeah, with that said, maybe you've already said it, but specifically what are the things that the team takes out of that game yesterday that are positive for them moving forward? The thing you take from that game is you played the most dangerous quarterback,

the MVP of the league, you played ex-Nvip of the league, and they were hearing, and you literally went blow for blow with them, and it was a heavyweight match. It was not this blowout. It was not this defeatist mentality. It was not this. We got blew out on national TV. It was none of that.

It was, you score, we score, you score, we score. We understand what situation we are in that. This is a new situation, and none of us understand what we in right now, but what I'm going to say is a fan and a person that works very close to the team, It's very, it's closer than you think. Let's go each side of the ball. Defensively, what's the biggest problem right now?

The biggest problem right now is not to understand how to communicate in the defensive backfield because me Sean Springs, me Sean Taylor, me, Chair Bailey, me Dale Green. We weren't great because we were great athletes. We were great because we were great communicators. And what they're not doing in the back end right now, they're not communicating. They're not talking to each other on a high level to get on top of the wire receivers and the officer coordinator. When we play defense, it's not about the wire receiver. It's not about the running back.

It's about the offensive coordinator. That's where the war is. And right now, they are trying to learn it. And don't forget, we just talked about six games. Because we ain't had but six games to teach these guys his defense. He ain't had but six games to figure out who can do what. Who can do what is good. So we're still problem solving.

So what I need the fan-based understand is let Grandma cook. Like, understand that it takes time to make things good. Like, let Grandma cook. I know. But the ingredients have to be the right ingredients. So do they have enough talent right now in that secondary? Do they have enough speed? Professor, can I ask you some?

Yeah. If I ask you, we talked a year ago, and we talked today, are we ahead of schedule? Of course we are, but that's not what we're talking about, because I'm with you. At this point, I know that we've got the guy or a guy at the most important position in sports, a quarterback. No, no, no, we got your guy, because you know what, me, you argued for a long time. You were right. You are right. You were right. Well, that's quite the admission from you, but it's one of the reasons I love you. But what I don't want to do is I don't, I'm not into 25 and 26 in the middle of 24. I'm thinking we got a division that we can win, have a home playoff game, and then all bets are off when you get there. But I'm concerned about their limitations defensively and what it will mean to, you know, a potential run. at some point this year. And I'm wondering if you feel the same. I don't think so. I think it's one of those things where, come on, give us time.

Give us moments. Give the defensive coordinator a chance to figure out who he got, what he got, who he can be into his will, who he knows can do what. Like, I don't think it's one of those situations when we need to panic. I think it's one of those situations where the team is so new that we can identify what we do great. So if you can identify what you do great, we got to identify what we do good. So what we do good is we can rush the pass. We do that good. We don't do that great. What we can do is cover. We can do that good. We can't do that great. So they need to understand how, what, and win, and we got to get them time. So we have to give them time. Well, the good news is they're not going to play Lamar and Derek Henry anymore. Because

Lamar right now, seriously, I don't know that he's ever played better or looked better. Do you agree? Yeah. I agree. And guess what? They're in a different window than us. We're in a playoff window. They're in a Super Bowl window. They are in a window that they can win. Listen to me, what's so scary about what we saw the other day was, wait until it get cold. When it gets cold and nobody else can pass the ball and they got Lamar and they have Derek Henry, this is something we've never seen before. Like I picked it. them to win the Super Bowl before the season started.

If you told me that we were going to lose them by seven points when we did, I would tell you that we were a playoff team. Like, I'm sorry. Like, at the end of the day, we own two different time schedules, and we just got measured up to them, and we didn't fall short. We didn't do what the Cowboys

did. We didn't do what the Eagles did in barely beat the Brown. We showed up, we played a game, and now we have to answer the questions of, what's next? Let me ask you a specific question about Emmanuel Forbes. The one thing he does well is he can run. He's sub-4-4. Yesterday, there wasn't a big imposing physical receiver.

They were going to play, you know, as we saw, eight in the box, play more man than they've played all year, single high. Why wasn't he on the field covering Zay Flowers? I don't know. And it's one of those things where I have to trust. the coaches. I've got chatted with a couple coaches. I understand. They say sometimes you need to just sit them down

and let them watch other people do things the right way. That don't mean they're going to go out there and make plays. That means they're going going to go out there and do things the right way so you can learn how to do things the right way. So I'm not mad at him sitting him down. I'm not mad at him pushing the reset, but I'm not mad

at him taking the heat off of him because that's what the coaching staff didn't do last year. They didn't take any heat off him. And I was really more mad. at the veterans. I was mad at the St. Juices in the furl of the world because they didn't take the heat out for him. That's what Champ Bailey did for me. That's what Dale Green did for me. They did these things that made it easy for me to be great. And I don't think he had that, so I'm not mad at that. Offensively, what did you like about the offense yesterday?

I like the way they kept fighting. I like the way that we showed him. We might be your little brother right now, We're not going to be your little brother Long. We showed them that we're willing to fight anybody. I'm telling you right here, Professor, and I'm going to be honest with you. I love Pet Mahon. I have fought against Andy Reed. I don't think it's no better team we're going to see this year

than the Baltimore Raven. Baltimore Ravens are the most potent team in the NFL, and I think nobody can stop them. and what we did the other day, we gained respect of everybody else. We showed everybody else. Yeah, you thought we were just a gimmick? No, we just showed you. We only lost to the best team in the league by seven.

And I know they don't have the best record. That ain't what this is about. I'm telling you right now, it's something special brewing right now, and I want everybody to get behind it. Anything yesterday bother you, and let me be specific. Were you okay with them basically relying on Jaden to drop back and move the football by throwing it and pretty much becoming a one-dimensional team yesterday? Were you okay with that? We have no other choice.

We couldn't go blunt force trauma with blunt force trauma. We did not have B-Robb. We didn't have our enforcer. We had somebody that we had to beat with speed. We had somebody we had to beat. We had to beat them with a different way than we was usually, used to doing business. We didn't have the backs that we usually have.

So I'm fine with that. Like, I'm fine with adjusting. I understand week by week in the NFL. I understand by players being hurt. I understand, like, that's why I would love to replay that game with B-Rob in it. Because I don't know if it goes to same. See, they're going to think about it. Like, if you think about what happens to take on yesterday, I don't think it's the same.

I don't think it's insane that we got to be robbed in it because I think he's a true and forth. And he leans on DBs to make the runner back does. Smoots at a golf tournament, so he's in a golf cart riding around right now, which is really nice that he decided to give us some time today. And it is much appreciated as always. Yeah, the one thing that I would say is Baltimore's run defense was lights out coming in. Like, not even Pacheco had a good game against them. You know, I'm not so sure they wouldn't have had the same game plan with B-Rob if he had been there healthy, because that's not a team.

I totally understand what you're saying right now because they have been one of the best run defenses in it. But they never had nobody that leaned on them with a quarterback that does what their quarterback does. They've never had somebody that played him with a third option. Like, he's going to think about a run defense. A run defense is used to take on a running, running back. But when you have to take on a running, running back with a running quarterback, it changes all the elements. They've never had to take on the image of themselves. We are a younger version of them.

We have a better version of Lamar Jackson. We have a younger version of the Office of Line. We have a younger version of everything they do. So at the end of the day, playing us was going to be the hardest challenge of the year. do you understand it? That's what makes this feel so good to me. Sounds like you are into a moral victory here. I mean, you're talking yourself into a moral victory. I don't do more victories. I don't believe in them. They are not real. My kids don't bring in

participates into my house. I don't do any of that. But what I do know is we were just measured by one of the best teams in the NFL, and we lost by seven, on the road in their house. I'm going to look at them. I'm going to look at things like they should be looked at, and not how I want to look at them. I'm going to look at them for how they are.

We lost to one of the best teams in the NFL by seven. And look, if we get another shot at them somewhere down the road, the North remembers Fred Smoot. The North always remembers. And here's the thing. Actually, we're the Southern team in the two. But go ahead. We're doing.

We're doing. And he's fine because the dawn is you have never been taking over. That's what I love about it. And guess what? We got a younger version of Lamar Jackson in our lap right now. And I am, I am ecstatic about what we got going on right now. Like me and you debated and obviously. about Drake May and we debated about Jayton Daniels. The one thing I never knew about

Jane Daniels at that time was the person. And what I have learned over the last couple of months is the person defeats the athlete. He is a person. He's a leader. And we got some special right here. So could not afford what's going on right now, you're probably afraid to be happy. Great job. Get back to the golf. I appreciate you doing this as always. And I want to give a shout out to the Maryland NIL. I'm out here right now at a golf tournament with the Maryland NIL. We're raising money for the turf to the dirt and I'm fine with that. Even though I'm a Mississippi State Boydoll, I'm all going to do that.

But I'm going to show love to the team that I feel like if I was born here, I probably would have been a Maryland turtle, even though nobody's ever scared of a turtle. I'm fine with that, but I'm going to show them love and we're going to help them raise money to get every great athlete in the area, in this area, right now to Maryland. This is what we're going to do. Well, I'm familiar with the event that you're at right now. You know I'm a terp, too. So raises much money for Mike Loxley and Kevin Willard as you can.

And let's get Maryland sports back to where they should be. Appreciate your work. Hey, maybe we'll get a couple of young smooths here. I got a couple of coming right now. All right, good. Well, do you know what? They could use a little bit more, Their skill position players, Loxley's got some, he's got an NFL.

Have you watched Ty Felton play? Oh, no, no. Yes, I have. Actually, one thing about Loxley is he's fighting back against Penn State. I know. And Virginia Tech. I want to say this for this area. I am, I like, I'm disappointed in the way that y'all let Pennsylvania come into this area and take all the athletes.

I'm sorry, it should not be that way. I'm from Mississippi. I'm not from here. I'm not born and raised here, but my kids are. And I'm telling you right now, my kid's not going to Penn State. So we're going to play that. Well, I'll explain some of the history to you when we have time. But you're doing a good thing.

I appreciate it. I'll holler at you later on in the month. Anytime, professor. There's only one Fred Smoot, everybody. Love having him on the show. We'll do some other NFL to finish up. next right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey guys, I have found a product that I want to tell you about that works if you've got congestion.

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Mellon and it's a picture set this for the second time today. It's Branch again. Brian Branch, looking for the end time of the five. How about them cowboys? Oh, my God. How bad has Dallas been at home in their last four games? I'm going to get to the ugly details for you Dallas fans. That was an interception that came early in the fourth quarter with the Lions already

leading the game 40 to 9. They went on to win the game 47 to 9. I'll go around the league or at least address some of the games that impact Washington here momentarily. But this segment of the show is brought to you by Window Nation. Go to WindowNation. Or call them at 86690 Nation if you need new windows. Buy to get too free right now with no money down. payments and no interest for two full years.

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Mention my name. And in an hour or less, you'll be holding on to a free, no obligation. quote. All right, man, the Cowboys, that was ugly. Here are the ugly details of Dallas's last four games at home. You remember the playoff loss to the Packers? They gave up 48 in that game. They gave up 44 to the Saints in week two. They gave up 28 in a loss to Baltimore in week three. and yesterday they were literally embarrassed and emasculated by the Detroit Lions, who actually got disrespectful at the end. If you were watching this game, and I don't know why you would have been,

but at the very end of this game, the Lions were not even taking the Cowboys seriously. They tried throwing a touchdown pass to offensive lineman Taylor Decker. They ran a hook and ladder play with Amonrass St. Brown, and the best tackle in the game, Penae Soule, they let offensive tackle Dan Skipper run routes as wide receiver, as a wide receiver. I mean, that's like, you know, in CYO basketball, youth basketball, rec basketball, it's like the big tall kid wants to play point guard, and you let them do it for, you know, the last minute of a game or a scrimmage.

I mean, the lions were utterly disrespectful to the Cowboys. It was really something else what Detroit did there at the end. Look, they had revenge on their minds heading into Dallas yesterday because of what happened on New Year's Eve last year when they felt the short end of the stick on that two-point conversion. At the end, they ended up losing that game. And there were some conversations that the Cowboys kind of mocked Detroit after that game. Well, Detroit went into Dallas yesterday with some.

some big time payback. That's for sure. Listen to these numbers, though. In the last four home games, the Dallas Cowboys have given up 167 points in four games. Forty-eight to the Packers in the wild card game last year, 44 to the Saints in the home opener, 28 to the Ravens in week 3 and 47 yesterday. In four games, they are giving up 41.7.5 points per game. And here's something else. Yesterday at halftime, Detroit led the game 27 to 6 at halftime. I mean, this was never a game.

I heard people saying, well, when Dak threw his first interception in the first half, that was the biggest play of the game. They lost 47 to 9. They could not stop Detroit. They had no prayer of stopping Detroit. But the 21 point halftime lead, if you go back over the four games at home where they've given up 167 overall, they've been outscored in the first half of those four games, 110 to 35. They've been outscored by 75 points in the first half in their last four home games.

That's an average of being down nearly 19 points at halftime. Look, I mentioned in the opener when I talked about, you know, Washington being the favorite now to win the NFC East. Dallas has major, major problems. There is no doubt about that. They're on their byweek and they come back and play the 49ers, Falcons, Eagles, Texans, Washington. But the other takeaways from this game are two-feworthy.

fold for Detroit. Number one, they lost Aiden Hutchinson to a broken leg. And it was an ugly injury. You could argue that Hutchinson was one of the top three or four defensive players in the league. My personal order at this point would be T.J. Watt, followed by maybe Dexter Lawrence, and then Miles Garrett, and then probably Hutchinson. They're going to miss Hutchinson a lot, but man, the lions are so dominant at the line. a scrimmage, their offensive line, their running backs, Montgomery and Gibbs, their receivers now with James and Williams having really developed into a major stretch the field kind of a threat. The Lions are really one of those two or three teams in the

NFC that you look at and you say they're complete. Now, the loss of Hutchinson hurts them, but at 4-1, man, that NFC North with the Packers and the Lions and the Vikings who are 5 and O. What a division. And how about the Bears who are sitting there at 4 and 2? Right now, the best division in football top to bottom.

It's really not even close. Dallas gets San Francisco after their by week on the road. All right, a few other games, those that really impact Washington. I'll touch on right now. Philadelphia

beat Cleveland 20 to 6. off of their by week to get to three and two. Hardly an impressive win as a nine-point favorite over the Browns. Look, the Browns didn't light Philadelphia up offensively. They were just as horrendous offensively as they were against Washington. They scored their only touchdown on a blocked field goal return. Miles Garrett blocked a field goal. They returned it at the end of the first half to tie the game at 10.

Philly, not impressive offensively. But, you know, I said this last week. Cleveland's a good defensive team. And Washington struggled in that first quarter, and then after that, they really didn't. It was the first game back for A.J. Brown, six catches, 116 yards and a touchdown. Look, I just am not going to count Philly out yet. Not yet. They're five games into a 17-game season.

Nick Siriani's a buffoon. He was chirping at fans at the end. Apparently he apologized for that earlier today. There is definitely an unraveling sense, as we discussed in the open with Siriani and perhaps the quarterback and who knows who else. But they've got a lot of talent. And I wouldn't count Philly out. You know, they have the Giants this coming week. They have, you know, games with the Jags and the Rams and the Panthers.

You know, I still think that the Washington Philadelphia games, more likely than not, will be the biggest. And again, it wouldn't surprise me if the Giants end up being the third best team in the division. And in part, it's just because they are really good defensively. And Dexter Lawrence is having, you know, a defensive player of the year kind of season. He had another sack last night. He's got seven sacks in six games, Dexter Lawrence does. He is an absolute monster. and they held Cincinnati, a team that put up 38 against the Ravens last week and 490 yards.

Cincinnati had basically seven points late into the third quarter. I mean, the Giants are a very good defensive team. I think when they get Malik neighbors back and Singletary back, they'll be better offensively. I think Daniel Jones is really the guy that lacks the confidence, but they don't really have an option. there. The Giants are two and four. They play Philadelphia this coming week. It's actually a game that I'm very interested in watching. I think it'll be a very physical game both sides. The Giants don't suck. I don't think Philly sucks. I don't think either one of those two teams are good NFC teams, but we got to find out where we are defensively and whether or not we can hold up

enough defensively against some of the teams that will be favored to beat. But the Bengals did beat the Giants last night, 17 to 7. That was a 10 to 7 game late when Chase Brown, who should have gotten down and they would have been able to knee the game out. Instead, he scored, which, you know, ruined another NFL pick for me yesterday. The Panthers, the Washington's next opponent. I did watch some of this game. Not all of it, but I watched some of it. The Panthers aren't the worst team in the league. I think Cleveland might be the worst team in the league because of their offense. They're so limited offensively. Maybe not Cleveland. Maybe the Patriots are the worst team. You know, you have a hard time distinguishing, you know, in six weeks between the

truly awful teams. I'm not sure Carolina is, though, the worst team. not with Andy Dalton, a quarterback, with Hubbard in the backfield. They're actually capable offensively. They put up 17 on the Falcons. It was a 22 to 17 half-time score. But right now the Falcons are just clicking on all cylinders offensively. They can beat you with Kirk throwing for 500, or they can beat you like they did yesterday with nearly two backs rushing for 100 yards.

That's where I think Washington next week, you know, they'll fall back. into their ability to be balanced and perhaps run the football a lot. The Panthers gave up nearly two 100-yard backs. The week before that, they gave up, you know, well over 100 yards rushing to Chicago. Not impressive, Carolina defensively, though, just, you know, a bit of a warning. They don't suck offensively. They lost 38 to 20 to the Falcons to fall to 1 and 5 on the season. The Bears, who are Washington's opponent, two weeks from yesterday, they beat the Jags 3516 in London,

and Caleb Williams is really starting to put it together. Caleb Williams threw four touchdown passes, had an 88.4 QBR in the game. That's back-to-back, excellent games for him. In his last two games, he's 43 of 58. You're talking about close to 75% completion percentage. He's thrown for 530 yards and six touchdowns to just one pick. And he's only been sacked four times in the last two games. Look, Chicago hasn't played anybody.

Tennessee, well, they played Houston in week two. But, you know, their last three, the Rams banged up. the Panthers and the Jags. And they will certainly get tested more, including when they get back against Washington here on the 27th. But they are getting much better performances here recently from Caleb Williams. It is always kind of ridiculous to weigh in and be conclusive after just a few games on a rookie quarterback.

elsewhere around the league. Tampa beat the Saints 51-27. The Saints actually scored 27 points in the second quarter and became the first team in NFL history to put up 27 points in the second quarter and lose the game. Not only did they lose, they lost 51 to 27. Baker Mayfield threw three picks in a quarter, but also through four touchdown pass. That was the first game for Spencer Rattler as the starter in New Orleans. Rough day for him in particular. Tonight we get the Bills and the Jets. The Bills are just a one-point favorite. I really like the Jets. I'm not giving them out. This was an absolute horrific beat-down Sunday.

Yesterday was for the smell test and for any contrarian better. The public just had one of the biggest. days they've ever had on an NFL Sunday. So I'm just steering clear of it, but I do think the Jets are probably the right side tonight at home against Buffalo. All right, that is it for the show today. Back tomorrow with Tommy.