The Kevin Sheehan Show - Now What?

Episode Date: November 9, 2020

Cooley and Kevin with recap, analysis, and what's next after Washington's strange 23-20 loss to the Giants. The "what's next" is obviously about where they go now at quarterback. Cooley's answer might surprise. The boys go "Around the NFL" and Kevin talked about Maryland's stunning blowout of Penn State on Saturday. 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. Second down at six. Smith. Over the middle.

Intercepted once again. This time it is Logan Ryan. And that will put an exclamation point. And that was it. They had a chance late, and Alex Smith threw his third interception, his second in the final two drives. That one ended any chance of why. Washington pulling off what would have been a miraculous comeback win over the Giants. It's a Cooley and Kevin Monday.

We're going to take you through the entire game here and give you our thoughts. I've got my recap. Coolie's got his uhs and hmms. And we'll go around the NFL, a wild day in the NFL. And I was thinking about you pretty much the entire Dallas game because we sat here on Friday and we talked about and you're like, how didn't you have Dallas in the smell test? I mean, it's just so obvious to me. Like, it's got to be Dallas.

And I'm like, I know. I'm like, but I said, what did I tell you? I said, I think that line's going to go higher. And I think there's going to be sharp money that comes in on Pittsburgh late. And I just want to stay off the game. And it did at one point get to 14 and a half, 15. Cooley. I was looking at about one o'clock, like right after the one o'clock games, it was 14 and a half on my site.

I saw 15. And then it came back. In fact, right here, Bet America had it all the way up to 15 and a half at one point. A couple of William Hill had it to 15 at one point. And then it came back to 14 right before kickoff. And I almost, I almost played it. And I'm going to tell you another thing, too. Dallas was plus seven and a half on the second half line.

They were up by four at halftime. I almost played them on the second half line, too. Because in watching the game, I'm like, this game's coming down to the wire. Now, as it turns out, I would have lost the plus seven and a half second half bet. But that was incredible. Like on Friday, and I love how you picked up on this, you're right. It should have been in the smell test, period. And I should have just put on it as a caveat.

If the line gets to 15 and a half, 16, just stay off it. But if it stays at 14, 14 and a half, you should be on Dallas. Smell test, rough weekend. Rough weekend. It was an interesting weekend in football. Yeah. I think we have a lot to question here after this last weekend of football. Sam Monson from Pro Football Focus and whatever about Pro Football Focus.

But I've had him on the show. He's this Irish guy. He's one of the early employees of Pro Football Focus. And I like him a lot. He put out this tweet late yesterday. He said, so to summarize, the Bucks got wrecked by the Saints. but Tampa Bay stuffed Green Bay. Green Bay beat New Orleans handily. Casey embarrassed Baltimore. Casey lost to the Raiders. Pittsburgh barely got by Dallas. Seattle imploded versus Buffalo. Buffalo lost to Tennessee and Tennessee lost to the Bengals. Who the hell is the best team in the NFL? Yeah. I mean, yesterday's one of those days we were like, okay, well, we thought it was Tampa. We thought it was Seattle, but maybe not. Pittsburgh's undefathing. defeated, but they nearly lost to the

Cowboys. And then you got to get up his knee now. Yeah. Now you got a couple of teams who are on a role like Atlanta, Minnesota, you know, and yeah, it's, but you know what? I think the NFL's like that a lot of years. The NFL's

always unpredictable. It's week to week. It's a week to week league league. I've been saying that for many years, as many of you have. It's hard to figure out. Hard to figure And that's what makes it so hard to bet. I think this is the year or one of those years where there's a lot of teams that are hard to figure out.

Yeah. I think there are certain years where you get a couple of surprise wins, but this has been one of those years where it's just who the hell is anybody? I think I know who the chiefs are. I think I know who Pittsburgh is. I still think Pittsburgh's good. I'm reevaluating the Saints. On Friday, I did tell you again, though, well, the Saints were my preseason Super Bowl team.

And both of us at the Bucks would win that ballgame. I mean, it's just funny because in watching the Saints paying attention to them, you know, they barely beat the Chargers, they barely beat the Panthers, they barely beat the Bears, they were down at one point, I think 14 to nothing to the Lions, you know, and it's like I was not a believer in the Saints. Last night was that... They got Michael Thomas back. They have a couple tight ends now. They have some weapons, Camara. But they riddled a really good defense. Oh, I know.

I mean, they were like 10 of 14 on third down. Tom Brady quarterback team was down 31-0 at halftime. They were down 21-0 before they had a first down. It was it. I turned it off late second quarter and went to bed, actually. I don't yeah the NFL's impossible to figure out we'll go we'll talk about these games in more detail a little bit later on in the podcast before we get to our recap of the game I did want to start with this did you see jack del rio's tweet I didn't what did jack del rio have to say so jack del rio for the purposes of background most of you know this has been very active on Twitter since he got here politically very active He's a Trump supporter, very active politically. Last week there was the tweet that he put out after Brian Baldinger had suggested that the Giants' defense was the best in the NFC East, and it wasn't even close.

And Del Rio retweeted Baldinger's tweet and said, I love you, baldy, but dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot with an emoji with like a magnifying glass over one of the eyes. like, you know, come on, our defense is better. Yesterday after the loss to the Giants, the second loss to the Giants in their last three games, to fall to 2 and 6, that's their record. Somebody tweeted to... I know, you're looking at it right now. Let me get through it for everybody.

No, no, I'm laughing because that's their record. Yeah, that's their record, 2 and 6. Yeah, we got that. Somebody named Riverboat Hostage on Twitter who's got 60, well now he's got 70 followers. Tweeted to Riverboat Ron, Ron Rivera, and Jack Del Rio. He said, at Riverboat Ron H.C. and at Coach Del Rio, instead of stumping for universal health care and bragging about registering everyone to vote, instead of clapping back at

Brian Baldinger about your defense, let's focus on winning, which is your only purpose. Shut the hell up and coach better. Okay, this dude, you know, trolling the two coaches on Twitter after the game. By the way, there's a lot about what he said that I agree with. And Del Rio read this and got very upset and responded to it. He retweeted the tweet, and he said the following on Twitter, take your whiny butt somewhere else. You're not the boss of me.

Take your whiny butt somewhere else. You're not the boss of me. That from our defensive coordinator, retweeting somebody with 70 followers who criticized him after a loss. Cooley, I don't think it was an attempt by Del Rio to be funny because although it is kind of a funny,

okay boomer kind of a response, and maybe that was the intention I don't think it was. I think he got frustrated and he was home and he's like, who's this guy to tell me to shut the hell up and coach better? Hey, Jack, I think you're a really good coach, and I think you're the best defensive coordinator, and you and Ron together are the best defensive coaches we've had here in a while.

But you do need to get off Twitter now. You are part of an organization that has, has over-promised and under-delivered for 21 years. I know you just got here. But more people in your role and in players' roles and in front office have told us about how good they are and never showed us. How many times have all of us at some point in our lives been told, you know what, actions are louder than words?

You didn't need to respond to Baldinger, okay, especially considering that you had this opponent, the Giants, upcoming. Secondly, responding to somebody with 70 followers on Twitter after you lost and your team sucks at 2 and 6 is a sign of sensitivity that actually is disconcerting for somebody like me. I like Del Rio as a coach. This stuff is like, you've got to be kidding me. We got another guy in the organization. We got another guy in the freaking organization that cares more about social media.

You know who's been less active on social media recently? Dwayne Haskins. The defensive coordinator is more sensitive right now on Twitter than Dwayne Haskins. I'm throwing my arms up in the air, Cooley. This is just, you've got to be kidding me. First of all, take your whiny butt somewhere else. You're not the boss of me. What are you six?

I mean, what are they doing? Why can't we ever get this right? I know the reason. The reason's the owner. I understand that. But why does it always end up happening here? I don't know. Is he really being serious?

Oh, yeah. I got to say yes. I think it's yes. And you know what, if the attempt... You're not the boss of me. You don't write my programming. If the attempt was to be... funny? You know,

you got to pick another moment. A smiley face emoji. Yeah, or a wink a wink wink. A wink emoji. Yes. That's even worse. If our defensive coordinators putting wink emojis in there. I mean, come on, man.

Maybe he would say, uh, you guys fell for it. I was just trying to be funny. I was just like, you know, he should do that. He should do that. Oh, but you You should come out and tweet right now. Anybody thought this was serious. You're wrong.

This was a joke. This was just to be funny. It's not obvious that it was a joke. No. He should say it was a joke. And I would lean in the direction strongly, lean in the direction of it not being a joke, but being very, very super sensitive after a loss. And I don't know, Cooley, like, you know, when you're losing, and by the way,

after your defense got gashed on the ground yesterday and your defense was a part of why you lost, in my opinion, not that it's some biggest part, but a part of it, just how about you shut up until you win? Seriously. And, you know, the riverboat hostage, you know, it's true. They have been involved in just, there's been once again, so much focus from this organization and their social media department out in Nashburn on everything but winning games. It's just, it's like Doc used to say, one of my favorite Doc Walker lines. Nobody in this organization is better between Monday and Saturday than this one. Sundays are the problem. And it's been that way for 21 years. The other thing, nobody's better in March and April than this organization at building up,

you know, a free agency class or a draft class and talking big and delivering less. There just hasn't. This organization, Jack, you may not know this. We have not won a playoff game in 15 years. 15 years.

We've only been in three playoff games over the last 15 years. Four, actually. Green Bay, Seattle, Seattle, and then the year that you won the playoff game beating Tampa. Beating Tampa Bay with a quarterback with an offense that had like 80 yards

was the last playoff win. And by the way, the classiest of class was the coach here when we won that playoff game. The guy that would read your retweet, a Hall of Famer, and probably say to you, hey, Jack, we don't do that after we lose. We don't even do that after we win. But we definitely don't do that after we lose. Oh, Joe would have been livid. Livid. He would have been

absolutely beside himself. Can you imagine if Bugues went on, like the offensive line got trashed after they got their ass kicked by a division rival? And Bugues, you know, came out and, you know, if there was social media

and said, take your whiny butt somewhere else, you're not the boss of me. What Bugues would have said is, you're goddamn right. We got our ass kicked and we're going to try to do better next week. We got to focus on winning. We got to win a goddamn game. Whatever.

I think it's always going to be this way. For whatever reason, when you come into an organization with no culture, somehow even if you're really good, and I think Del Rio is a good coach, you agree with me, don't you, that he's a good defensive coordinator? They're a top five defense right now. Statistically, yeah. Statistically. Yeah.

That's pretty good. It's pretty good. If you're top five statistically, you're at least the top 12 or 13 defense. It's so improved and they've got good players on defense and I think they're well coached defensively. But you really seriously, when you're two and six, when you're two and six and you just got swept by a team that is two and seven, and their only two wins are over your team, they're 0 and 7 against everybody else. It's really best to just lay low.

That would be my advice. Lay low. But what do I know? We'll get to our game take, and Cooley's uhs and ums when we return. Right after this word from one of our sponsors. All right, time to get to our game take. Cooley will start with his uhs and ums.

I mean, pretty obvious why they lost this game. You start us off. There's so many things. Did you see the stat that they put up on the broadcast? Daniel Jones was 3-0 against Washington? Yeah. One in 16 against the rest of the league. I did not see that.

I knew he was 3-0 against Washington. I did not see that he was 1 in 16 against the rest of the league. I also saw the stat that said the Giants have only twice held a lead at halftime of 17-plus points in the last five years, both of them against Washington. Because remember they had the 40 to nothing half-time lead two years ago. Yeah. Well, we're in second place in the division. Yeah, we are.

I mean, seriously. That was a game you had to have. But we just needed to go win three games out of the next four, according to Ron. So we're still poised to do that. Kev, the things I liked from this game, that third play from scrimmage that the Giants had, where they brought Ingram and the backfield and then motioned him out, and then they fake the screen or fake the handoff,

and then they went in the fly sweep, right? That was what I'm talking about with getting to the edge. Creative ways to get to the edge. I loved that play. Granted, it wasn't a good play for Washington, but I loved the creativity of the play. Right. that was awesome

that was shepherd that was shepherd right well it was ingram came in the backfield right and gave it to shepherd yeah but it was shepherd that ended up having the big run it was like a it was like a fake throw reverse kind of a thing it was it was a fake the inside dive and then pump the swing screen right right ingram who went out in motion and then go back underneath to the fly suite Jason Garrett getting creative against jack del Rio

worked him on that one The fourth and one stop on the first drive was big. Yeah. Payne settled coming up. That was big. I thought DeShazer gave up some things, but the aggressiveness, him and Curl. I think Curl gave up some things, but I just like their aggressiveness. DeShazer did have a punch out, which created no turnovers.

Man, that Terry, the third and three, there was a bootleg early. Terry went up and got a high ball, got two feet down. Terry's awesome, man. Awesome. And then that big play that he makes to make it 2319 and then they kicked the PAT. That was huge, man. That was into triple coverage.

I don't know how he turned around and came out with that. That was weird the way you just said that. Because I always call it a field goal. No, you didn't call it a field goal. But the way you said the big play that Terry caught scored on to make it 23 to 19 and then they kicked the PAT. I think most people would say that big touchdown that cut it to 23-20. I know, but you don't.

You always correct me on that, so I wrote down very clearly that that made it 23 to 19. I never, I would never correct you on that. You always correct. No, that made it 23-19, and then they had to kick. I've never corrected you on that. You always do. Not true. I would have said the touchdown that McClorn caught that made it 23 to 20.

Well, did it make it 23 to 20? No, it didn't. Because you're wrong. It didn't. It did not. That's correct. I'm surprised they didn't go for two there. I thought Cam Sims was big.

Yeah. He looked fast. Yeah. A couple of those plays Sims looked fast. Didn't get much out of Stephen Sims Jr. No. Cam Sims was good. Terry was good.

You know, it was interesting. Alex was okay there for a while. More than okay. He was making some plays until he wasn't. The is, you can't win a game with five turnovers when you force none. It's just almost statistically impossible. Analytics say that's not going to happen very often. And they still had a chance.

They had a chance with four turnovers to zero. Those picks Alex, they were bad. I mean, the, the, eh, is you get the ball back. It's 2320 and you're fleeing right throwing across, body and I didn't hate the throw. Alex wants that back. Alex can make that throw. You can make that throw.

I actually thought Alex looks spry in the pocket on a couple plays. He moved around all right. Definitely. For a one-legged pirate. That's a joke. Smiley, winky emoji. But he moved around all right. The last pick was egregious.

And they sat there and said Logan Ryan baited it. I don't know how he baited it. He was just standing right where Alex throwing. Like, oh, hey, he's right in the way. He don't want to throw it to him. No, I mean, I get that he's pressing, but those turnovers late in the game killed you. The Gibson fumble was more like a mm than an e.

Because that was hysterical. Yeah, it was a good play by him. That's all-time NFL blueprint. Oh yeah, that's an NFL films blooper, no doubt. How did Logan Thomas not fall on that ball? So I talked about this on radio for a while because I went back and examined this play. If you watch him, he stumbles. So the criticism was he tried to pick it up and run with it.

No, I think he fell and overran it. Exactly. Exactly. He tripped and he was going to overrun it to be able to fall on it. And his last ditch effort was to pick it up because it would have been the easier way to recover it. That's what I thought, too. It was hysterical. Now, Del Rio, or Del Rio, Rivera was mad because he said, I think Fackerel went out of bounds and touched it.

Yeah, it's not true. I think they thought it. I thought there was a chance that that was true, too, but that was not the way it happened on replay. That's a challengeable call, though. No, it isn't. It's a turnover. It's already reviewed. Right.

Yeah, so they reviewed it. So he would have reviewed it and watched that. Yeah, they did. And he was not, nobody touched the ball while, you know, while out of bounds. Yeah. The other two turnovers, McKissick falling down on the checkdown. That one, I said they were bad by Alex. That wasn't bad.

Of course. That was McKissick. Right. And that's, sometimes that happens. That's what we say when we like players, because we really like McKissick. Well, every once in a while that happens. If we don't like players, we say, that piece of shit fell down. Ryan Grant, why can't you stay up?

You always fall down. There's a body of work here that Ryan Grant has, which it involves falling down a lot. McKissick doesn't have that. So those things happen. And then Isaiah Wright fumbled punt. My God. Yeah. That wasn't, that didn't, was it windy?

No. That was gorgeous. How did not catch that in the chest? I don't know why Danny Johnson wasn't back there. He's been back there and doing a great job fielding punts. Even if he's not a big threat to return him, I guess they just thought that Wright was more of a threat to have a big return. If you're going to put Wright back there, I don't know why Sims Jr. isn't back there.

Isn't that right second, that's his second fumble on a pun, right? Didn't he? No, Sims had the one in the Arizona game. No, Wright had one too. Okay. And he recovered it. Yeah, that's his second fumble. but if you're worried about Sims Jr. back there

is a rookie in Isaiah right that much better? Well, obviously he's not, but, you know, at least Sims Jr. If he fields, it might make a play. Right. I don't know, maybe you're right will too. God, I hated the, it was right after the Gibson fumble.

They go deep to Austin Mac. You're like, really? Who's Austin Mac? He actually looked good to me. He looked really good. Yeah. but it's like transition defense that's been one thing that this defense has not been good with is transition defense they've given up too many points off turnovers true they get stops in big situations but when they when this offense turns it over they give up points um I had an

interesting thought for you I'm just kind of going through the things I had written down at the end of the half you you really need points 205 going into the kickoff and they kick it right inside the goal line to the one Danny Johnson should not have brought that out should have had an offensive play before the two minute warning at the 25 okay I didn't give that much thought I mean did he did he field it at the one yard into the end zone one yard one yard deep you're saying one yard deep and then he brought it out to the 23 right but you ate up the two minute warning.

Yep. It was also after a different, an interesting situation where they didn't challenge a third and five. Yes. With like 3.40 left. I thought they absolutely should have challenged. Like you, you might lose a challenge. The timeout's not going to hurt you because you're right.

They would have won that challenge. That ball hit the ground. Bored did not catch that pat. I didn't think there was any question that the ball hit the ground. And then they called a timeout for no reason 30 seconds later. Well, so first of all, the Giants did an excellent job after that non-catch rule to catch to get up to the line of scrimmage, snap it quickly before Washington had a chance to digest what had just happened. The problem was that was the third and five, and it was a conversion for a first down, and you've got to be better than that in your replay booth. I tweeted out that it's too bad Bruce Allen wasn't up there. He would have gotten it, right?

but the timeout after the whatever played the Giants ran I actually was like hey good he's he wants to get the ball back he's going to use his timeouts on defense and then he didn't use a timeout after the next play which you know was the play that led up to the score where they kicked off whatever you said two minutes five seconds whatever it was two minutes seven seconds right but yeah whatever I mean way down the list of anything to nitpick over over in this one. Yeah, I hear you. But it was something I didn't like, so I am nitpicking it. Okay. Time of possession. Yeah.

23 minutes for the football team. Yeah. Gibson had six rushes for 20 yards, and Kissick had three for 17. I realized that you had a quarterback change. But seriously, you can't run the ball at all. And the idea that McKissick can't get more carries is just beyond me.

It's baffling. I think he's a guy that can stretch the field. I think he's a guy that can get to the edge. I mean, he averaged on 5.7 on three carries. He's got to have over a 5-yard average this season. Why can't McKissick run the ball? I think McKissick is terrific. I mean, he ended up having nine receptions for 65 yards.

I love him. I love him. I don't know, man. You turn it over five times and you have nine total carries in the game. The fact that it was 2320 is astounding. Well, that's the first thing when I get to my game take, which I'll wait on getting to until you're completely done. But I'll just, you know, reiterate what you just said.

I mean, when you, well, I'll give you my first thing from my game take right now, since it works perfectly here. The fact that they lost the turnover battle, five-zip. The fact that they had the ball for 13 minutes less, for 24 plays less, where they lost the field position, penalty battle, every single thing you can lose. And by the way, the other team took advantage of it and built a 17-point lead. And you had two chances at the end of the game, down three. It's actually a real testament,

it because my contention, coolly, is that, you know, a Jay Gruden coach team over the last six years, that would have been 40, you know, that would have been 37 to 10, you know, and I, I felt this way in watching this team battle over the last few weeks, that they haven't given up on the coaching staff, that they believe in the coaching staff, that they have the right kind of players, the right kind of character, and I think yesterday was another example of that, you know, I know two of the turnovers happened late, but they still down minus three, minus penalty battle, minus time of possession, minus field position, down 17 with a quarterback who, by the way, is never proven to have been able to come back. They came back and they had two chances with the ball down three

at the end. That's actually, I know they lost the game, but that's actually in some ways a good sign. I thought the deep, well, we'll get to it later. Finish your, finish your. Finish your. RETA. 402 yards on 50 plays to the Giants 350 yards on 74 plays. I know. It's amazing. 50 plays 402 yards. It's over eight yards of play.

That's really, really. Anyway, go ahead. You finish up, and then I'll get to my game tape. Then you can interject as much as you want. I mean, Kevin, everyone, I haven't mentioned it yet, but obviously the Allen ankle injury was nasty. It's a dislocation. Jeremy Fowler is reporting this morning.

He just came out with this a little while ago that Washington, that he is going to undergo surgery. Surgery is likely going to be the outcome, which would cost him the season. It was not as bad. I thought it was Dak Prescott when I saw it. I thought it was fractured.

I thought it was a really serious thing. Dislocation, less serious, right? Yeah, I think so. Here's Fowler's tweet. Let me be more clear on this from just moments ago. Washington quarterback Kyle Allen is expected to undergo surgery in the coming weeks on his dislocated ankle and small fracture. Okay, so there is a small fracture according to sources, jeopardizing his season and paving the way for Alex Smith to potentially start the remainder of the way according to sources.

So there you go. We're going to talk about the quarterback thing or what they should be doing, but let's get the. There's not even, I mean, I just won more loss, and I don't think there's even a question. So, all right. I just, I thought it was a game that they should have won, like you suggested, 24 to 10, 24 to 3. I just thought they were a better team. I mean, the other, they couldn't stop the run. That was another thing.

I think one of my keys of the game was get them in third and longer situations. And it's hard to do that when they average 4.7 yards on the ground. Right. Start to do that when Alfred Morris has nine carries for 67. and looks like a monster. He did. He did. And Dick Galman's almost five yards to carry.

Galman was one of those backs coming out of Clemson. I told you when we were doing the show together. I actually thought he had a chance to be a really good running back. I thought he ran really hard. I thought it was a break not to see Devante Freeman, and it wasn't because Galman and Morris were really good. They were really good. I just thought it was a spot that they had to win a game,

and ultimately they started slow. again. And it makes it really tough. So let's get to your game take. I will do it right after this word from one of our sponsors. Pay attention. Here's Kevin's Game Take. Some of this will be repetitive.

Some of it won't. Let me start with the things that I liked coolly from the game. I already mentioned the fact that, you know, to be totally one-sided in the turnover margin and a lot of other very influential stat categories that typically tell you who wants. the game. If you pulled up the, if you didn't know the final score and you pulled up the stats from this game and you saw the Giants, you know, had the ball for 36 minutes to Washington's 23.

They won the turnover battle by committing zero and getting five. They dominated field position. They ran the ball at 4.7 yards per carry, yada, yada, yada. You would have expected to see, you know, 41 to 17, you know, 35. 14. And you didn't. And so that starts my list of things that I liked. Terry McClorn's the real deal. We know that. I think we all know that. Seven catches, 115 yards, including the 68-yard catch and run for the touch. And as you said, I don't know if it was triple coverage, but you're probably right. He makes a great catch and then a phenomenal run afterwards. McLorn has 50 catches through the first eight games. He's on pace to catch 100 passes this year. That would be just the third receipt. in franchise history to do it. Pierre Garsohn did it in 2013. He had 113 catches. Art Monk's the only other one to do it. You know, McLorne at Receiver is their best drafted wide receiver since Art

Monk, and he's their biggest big play wide receiver threat in their offense since Deshaun Jackson. I mentioned Jackson. I understand he didn't play a lot of games. He missed a lot of games. But when Deshawn Jackson was healthy and in the lineup. That was as scary a player to defenses that we've had in a long time. J.D. McKissick's on my list of things that I liked. You and I have talked about it many times. We don't need to spend a lot of time. He's so versatile. He's their second best playmaker. And Gibson, I like a lot. Don't get me wrong. He had nine catches on 14 targets for 65 yards. He did have a drop in the game. He obviously fell down on an interception. a lot of those catches were either first downs or for plays that set up easy second or third downs.

I just love McKissick. I'm glad, you know, Cooley, he was in on 83% of the snaps in the game yesterday. So somebody was listening to, you know, us and others that said, we love Gibson, don't get us wrong. And we want to see a lot of Gibson, but we want to see a lot of McKissick as well. I hear you with that. But it's also a massive tendency that you're throwing the ball with McKissick on the field because he doesn't have any carries. Okay, so they got to fix that in their next game.

They got to get him on there more. Yeah. Get him on their more touch as a ball carrier. He was on the field for 20 more snaps in the game than Gibson was. Just so everybody understands that. Gibson came off 128 yards rushing against Dallas and was in on 20 fewer snaps than McKissick was in the game. That's actually a startling number.

even though I think they like Gips, McKessick, when they're going to throw the football more than Gibson, obviously. On my list of things that I liked was Alex Smith. Cooley, this is a little bit, you know, where was the expectation bar, and did he clear it? Well, the expectation bar was low, and he not only cleared it, he sailed over it. I was wrong to say what I said last week about them releasing him.

Actually, you know what, I'm not going to say that I was wrong because I still don't see an end game with Alex Smith, but I was wrong that I didn't. Basically, that he was done. That he was done and that he couldn't play based on what we saw against the Rams. And I said, look, he's going to be better than next time we see him because you couldn't be any worse. But all the while Rivera had said, no, he's looked good in practice. And Rivera, you know, on these quarterback, whether it's him or Turner, on these quarterback switches to Allen, and then to stick with Alex Smith and say, no, he's going to be better the next time. They've been right about both of them.

The three interceptions, one of them wasn't his fault, the McKissick one. The other two were bad. But yesterday, Alex Smith came off the bench, and at one point was 17 of 20 for 272 yards off the bench. He was quick. He was decisive. I think his best play. telling play Cooley was the play on the next to last drive of the game, down 2320. They had a third and two deep in their own territory.

He got pressured. He extended the play, went left, flush left, created a little bit of time by going backwards, and then making a throw to McKissick for five or six yards to move the chains. That was the play where I'm like, whoa, he just not only proved that he can throw a quick bubble, he can go quick game, he can go checkdown, which he's great at, and he can throw the ball down the field and drop back. He just proved that he can create enough time on third down to make a play. I was, again, he was 17 of 20 for 272 yards, and got him to within three, and had the ball twice with a chance to tie or win the game. I thought his checkdowns for the most part were really quick and decisive.

I thought he looked off that bubble when he threw to Cam Sims down the field really well. Look, he knows how to play the game. And he's obviously got a very good handle on this offense. Much more so, I'm sure they would tell you, than Dwayne Haskins. We'll get into whether or not he should play or not here after we get through this game take. But he's on my good list. I mean, I don't know, I understand that the two interceptions were horrible at the end. And it's actually very ironic, right, about Alex Smith, because the narrative on Alex Smith is, if you get behind, you can't come back.

And, oh, by the way, the great thing about him is he doesn't turn the ball over. Well, they came back yesterday from 17 down because he was good, really good, and he turned the ball over, which was really bad and cost him a game. I mean, he turned the ball over. The last two turnovers are basically what Kyle Allen did against the Giants the last time. You know, it cost them a chance to win a game that was winnable, amazingly winnable, when you think about the context of how the game started and with Kyle Allen leaving. Cam Sims is on my list of things that I liked from the game yesterday. I'm really glad that this guy, you know, has bounced around.

He's been a guy that I had John Allen on the radio show, last year before the 2019 season. And I'll never forget this. I said, give me one player that we as fans are going to be totally surprised about that the player ends up having a real breakout year. And he didn't hesitate. And he said, Cam Sims. And I said, the big receiver?

He goes, yeah, he's the real deal. He's going to have a breakout year. Now, he didn't in 2019. He's a Bama guy. I know what he is. I understand that. But, you know, it also is John Allen. I mean, John loves him.

Yeah, but we've heard this from other people over the years, too, about Cam Sims. He's been on practice squad, on IR. That preseason, a couple years ago, when he got hurt. What did you say? He was awesome. That preseason a couple years ago, we got hurt at the end of the game. So tell me what you thought about him watching him up close at times. I think watching him throughout this season, I think he's got to develop into a better route

runner, but I thought I saw some real sharp routes in this last game, at least the television copy, with some speed. And I liked his run after the catch. I thought he was competitive. He's six-five, you know? So I was happy to see that. That's on my good list. Also on my good list, the pass rush early and late in the game.

Not great in the middle. They had five sacks in the game. Really not great. Really not great. early and late early and late through the middle portion of the game

non-existent early in the game they were pressuring Daniel Jones over and over again they forced him into quick pressure and an incompletion

on the third down the third down that led to the three-nothing lead they had a first down sack that led to a second and a long third and long before the punt

that Isaiah Wright fumbled and so you know there they are they're putting pressure early in the game, a 3-0 game despite the offense turning it over, and then Isaiah Wright turning it over. And then late in the game on those final few drives, you had two sacks on their final two offensive drives that gave the ball back to the offense two times, down three. And, you know, the last one, the Cameron Curl blitz off the edge, unblocked

blitz off the edge, that is a play that Daniel Jones during the course of his short career fumbles 95% of the time. Seriously. It was like such, they could not get a break the entire game, and that was the last of the non-opportunity breaks. They pressured him. He was rattled a little bit late on those final two drives and curl, you know, blindsided, and somehow he held on to the freaking ball. Got to get that ball out.

The other thing I just wanted to mention on the things I liked list, I really liked Kyle Allen before the injury, Cooley. I thought he was really sharp. And one of the things, and this is an observation, it's not necessarily on my list of things that I liked or didn't like. Even though they were down 3-0, and even though they had gone fumble, dropped pass, I mean, Alan makes a perfect throw to Logan Thomas on a play where he sort of flushes, right, extends, and makes a perfect throw. And Thomas drops it on third and eight, and then you get the Isaiah right. And then they're on the move on the drive that he got hurt on. I mean, you know, basically on 10 plays, he was five of seven for 62 yards.

Like, he was doing a good job. And I know some of those yards came on the fumble, you know, that eventually got recovered on the Gibson play. But I swear to God, early in that game, even though they had, you know, bungled a couple of things early, I'm like, we're going to win this game. This guy, by the way, looks totally comfortable. And the other observation I made early on is that it's what you and I talked about Friday. And I know Doc wanted them, oh, let's get nasty and play bully ball after they did against the Cowboys. And I'm like, I don't think they're going to do that against the Giants. I don't think Scott Turner thinks he can run it against the Giants.

He didn't in the first game. And even though they got behind in this game, which forced them to throw a lot more, you know, they're down 17. You'll always see more throws than runs. Their game plan was to throw it. Their game plan was to use checkdowns to throw the football. Their first play of the game is a throw. The second drive, Kyle Allen, throws two times at three plays. And then on the drive that he got hurt on, you know, they're throwing the football.

So the plan was to throw the football yesterday. You weren't going to see something unless they got a lead and they started running it in the second half. Scott Turner felt that their best chance, whether it was Allen or Smith, was to throw the football to move it. But on my list of things that I liked, I like Kyle Allen, man. I think that injury, I really think they would have won the game yesterday with Kyle Allen. And I think we would have been talking about here today a team that we thought was capable of winning some games, continuing to win and be competitive in games.

I thought he looked super, super comfortable before he got hurt. I did not think that was a dirty play by you. Gibral Peppers at all. In fact, I'm not even sure it should have been penalized. Do you want to weigh in on that real quickly? I don't think he purposely leg whipped him. I just felt, I think he felt like I am not getting him down. And so he did leg whip him. I mean, that, that you can see. But, you know. So you think it deserved the penalty. It was a last ditch effort to get. Yeah, I think it's a penalty. But I don't think he was trying to break it. No, I just, I'd never buy that someone's trying to break someone's leg. Right.

By the way, Peppers... It's like I don't buy that Bostick was trying to kill someone against Dallas two weeks ago. Right. Right, against Dalton. No, but I do think it was a leg whip, and that's a penalty. He picked his leg up. Yeah, the things I didn't like, obviously, the turnovers, you know. I think actually in many ways the turnover is early hurt more than the ones late,

because without the turnover is early, you don't fall behind as much as you did. And that set the tone for the game. They had too many drop passes in this game. Logan Thomas had two. McKissac had one on a third and ten. The third and eight early on the perfect Kyle Allen throw was awful. They had a stretch of the game where it seemed like there was a penalty against them on almost every play. I put rush offense, but really they didn't try to run the ball.

And I don't necessarily have a problem with them not trying. I think that was the game plan and I think it was going to work. And then I think they got behind and they threw it. We already mentioned the non-challenge on the board catch was unfortunate. The Giants did an excellent job, but you got to have somebody up there that quickly is able to tell the coach, throw it, throw it, throw it. That was a third down conversion and a big one. And then the run defense. It's funny, Cooley, because I think that whether it's you or others over the years, as I was watching it, I'm like, something's not really.

right today with the run defense. And they're like they've got a lot of people at the line of scrimmage and yet Galman and Morris are getting through. And by the way, both of them had a lot of yards after contact as well. And I said on the radio show early this morning, I said, I think it's essentially like gap control. Like they're not getting in the right fits. You've talked about fits and run stopping. And then I played the Ron Rivera interview from the post game show with London and Fletcher and Scott Jackson. And he said, yeah, we had bad gap. control. We're a gap control defense. So you can explain that better than I, but it was not a good day for the run defense. And really, you know, the only guy, I mean, you had Nick Chubb have a big day

against them. Other than that, the big runs that they've given up have been to quarterbacks this year. You know, Murray Jackson and Jones. And that's been it. They've been a good run defense team, Not great, but good. A couple of other quick observations from the game. Number one, there were, C.J. told me this morning, I asked him, I said, there were 3,000 fans allowed into this game. There was a lot of blue giant jerseys. He's like, oh, yeah, he's like every bit of a third of the fans in there were giant fans.

How does that happen? You get 3,000. You can't give them to 3,000 of your season ticket holders that you know are going to show up in Ryan Carrigan and Tress Way and Antonio Gibson jerseys? You shouldn't have had, if you have 3,000, there shouldn't be one giant fan. You could see it. You could see all the blue giant jerseys. The fourth and one stop early was a really good play by pain, and I really thought, yeah,

because I really felt confident about this game going in yesterday. And I wanted to see an overwhelming defensive performance like we saw against Dallas, and I didn't expect it to be like we saw against Dallas, because Dallas was dead when they came in here that day. But the Giants off a short week, Golden Tate, Joe Judge didn't even let him come to the game because he bitched and screamed about not getting the ball on Monday night. They didn't have Devante Freeman.

You know, they were missing a player or two on defense. I thought this is setting up perfectly. They were coming off the by week. And I heard a lot of people say, flat, terrible coaching. You're flat coming off the. the buy week. I didn't, I don't consider them to be flat. I considered them to be, unfortunately, they had a lot of mistakes on turnovers. Gibson makes a great run after a catch, and you get an

NFL film style fumble, and then you get Isaiah right on the other end, and I didn't consider them to be flat. I thought they had a chance to win this game, and I, I'm not so sure they wouldn't have won it, had Kyle Allen stayed healthy. I know that's a crazy. thing for some of you to hear. But they, that fourth and one early, I was like, hmm, I think this is going to turn out well. And then Gibson's running down the sideline. I'm like, it's going to be seven nothing here before we know it. I wanted to just say this about Daniel Jones because we've had this conversation already. If you told me right now, I can have Daniel Jones as the quarterback of my future and I have to give up. I don't know what I would give up, but I would not be

displeased having Daniel Jones as the quarterback of my future. I think there's something to this kid. I think he's a gamer. I think he's really, really exceptional at extending plays. I think he's dual threat. I think he can make every throw. And I think if they, if he, I mean, he's 22 starts into his career, I think it's going to be proven over a long period of time that they got Daniel Jones right. I think that they're going to have the guy that's their franchise quarterback. I just still seem as fairly meh. Okay. And so when you say got it right, I think got it right would have been later in the first round. Okay. But who cares if you get it. Like at some point, I remember having this conversation about Robert Griffin the third, you know, and the incredible compensation package that had to be

delivered to the Rams, to the St. Louis Rams at the time, to move up to number two. And I remember thinking, look, we have all now decided, and this is 2012, that you cannot win the Super Bowl without one of these franchise quarterbacks. If he's right, no one will ever complain about the compensation. If Daniel Jones ends up being a franchise quarterback, nobody's going to ever complain that they picked him too early. In fact, it'll make Gettleman look like a genius if he turns into a tournament. true franchise quarterback. You think he, I'm not, I'm not saying that I, it's just my feeling after

watching him here last year and this year that there is more than just something to him that I think he's going to be a good quarterback in the NFL, like a legitimate top half of the league starting quarterback, if not better. I guess what I am saying is that at some point that, you know, Dwayne Haskins famous quote on draft night that the league done messed up by basically picking Daniel Jones ahead of him, it's probably going to look pretty silly in hindsight. I mean, I still believe that Dwayne needs another chance. We're going to talk about that here momentarily

about what's next tier quarterback. But I don't know. I kind of like Daniel Jones. I think he's a player. We'll see. I'd rather, I'd take Daniel Jones over Dwayne. Well, of course. But that was how I felt in the draft as well.

I would have taken Drew Locke over Dwayne. And based on where, Drew Lockfell, I think Duane would have went way further down in the draft. But Daniel Jones was going to be the first quarterback taken. After Kyle. Something happened. After Kyler Murray.

Yeah. That's a good point. I keep forgetting about Kyler Murray being the first pick of that draft. Yeah. He's pretty good. Oh, my God. He's so exciting to watch. All right. Let's talk about sort of the, you know, the big topic, which it will be

for a while. What do you do, Ron Rivera's already said that Alex Smith is going to start next week and Dwayne's going to be the backup. What should happen? So, that's what should happen. If they believe that there was

something missing during the week and there was anything they were upset about inside the walls, you can't reward Dwayne in this situation just to gain compensation. It's, unless you

really believed in him as potentially being the guy. And you loved him, his character, his work ethic, everything about it, which it doesn't seem that they do, then Alex Smith should be the starting quarterback. For how long? Until the last two or three games. I don't, if you're really serious about building culture and you believe that Dwayne isn't your guy, you can't put him in. until you're at a week 15.

And even at that, it's almost this. Well, we're going to play him so we see if we can trade him mindset going in. That's not good. That's bad for your team, Kev. They have to do the right thing for the team and not for the organization, if that makes sense. Like in this situation where they've gotten to, they have to do the right thing for players. I know what you're saying. Or they'll lose it. I think you could also make the argument that that's the best thing for

the organization. Look, I don't know enough. Here's what we do know. We do know that there's been a lot of smoke around Dwayne Haskins' preparation, work ethic, maturity, etc. And I'm not just talking about smoke from anonymous sources. Okay. We're We're talking about, you know, really good reporting from people like John Kime, Les Carpenter, you know, Diana Rusini, et cetera. We're talking about, you know, players and coaches themselves who have talked about this, including Adrian Peterson from last year. We're talking about a head coach that basically told you when he benched him that I got

52 other players to worry about, and you don't know what the reaction is down on the sideline when Dwayne's out there. So I'm not naive enough to think that all of these people are completely off on Dwayne, because I don't think they're off. There's something there. I think we can all admit that clearly there is something there that not only would bother this coaching staff, but would bother others because it has. So if they have decided, which I believe they have, and I think him being third string behind Alex for the last couple of weeks, him automatically, I mean, Rivera, not even giving it a second thought about Dwayne, tells you all you need to know about what they think

about Dwayne Haskins. They do not like him. They do not want him, and they are going to move on from him at the end of this year. So I, my opinion of I want to see more of Dwayne Haskins on a two and six football team that's got eight games left because the guy that they're going to play isn't going to be on this team next year more likely than not. I say more likely than not because it's a different answer than definitely, which is where I was last week, and I'll get to that in a moment. But I would rather see Dwayne Haskins because there's more of a chance that he's somebody you might keep versus the guy that you're about to play. But they're not good. But they don't think the same way. They don't want him. So on some level, I think they should just elevate Stephen Montez

to back up quarterback off the practice squad and leave Dwayne at number three. But I think that that would be such a public slap in the face that any chance that they have of getting something for Dwayne in the offseason would then be completely ruined. But him as the backup now puts him in play to be in a game because he's going to be active. The bottom line is if we're just talking about, hey, we're two and six, and look, it's true, they're not out of it. I mean, Dallas lost. They're still in second place, as you mentioned.

They still are in it. And if they win a game next week in Detroit with Alex playing, then we're going to be like, well, they're three and six and the Eagles and the Giants beat the Eagles. And now we're only a half game out of first. I mean, so if you're telling me, you know, we're still trying to win the division. Based on what I saw yesterday, and this is a major 180 from me, I think maybe they're right that Alex Smith probably with what's left gives them the best chance to be competitive. I mean, that's crazy because of where I was last week in the weeks of preceding it.

But, you know, more information, and we got a lot more. We got three and a half quarters yesterday of more information. I don't think they can win. I think with Allen, they could have won six or seven games. I think with Alex, it's more like four or five, maybe a four win. They get two more along the way. But they don't want to play Dwayne. That's clear.

Okay. So at this point, it doesn't matter what I'd like to see. It matters what is in the best interest of the team and in the best interest of the organization. And for them, it appears to be very clear that it's playing Alex Smith. Now, I do have one question for you. I wonder if Philadelphia right now, instead of being three, four, and one, what if the Eagles were five, two, and one?

And there was no chance, you know, to compete for the division. What would they do in that circumstance? I think they would do the same thing. I think they would play Alex Smith in that circumstance. It goes back to my point is that you have to do what's right for this team. And based on the first five weeks, there was not an offense that is growing. It was an offense that was stagnant that was surviving. And it can grow with Alex.

We understand he's a checkdown guy, but he can run it. He can run the offense. He can run a large playbook if that's necessary. Right. Here's the other question, though, is you got a lot of caps base next year, and Alex is playing, and he's under contract. I asked the same question this morning. Yeah. He's under contract. He's probably, if he plays well, you can still go out and draft your quarterback, and Alex Smith can be your starter. And you don't have to play the rookie you drafted. Oh, my God. Did you do that this morning? I totally pose the same question to CJ. It just occurred to me.

But by the way, my answer was, oh, my God, if that's true. But I just said, I go, look, what if he plays like he did yesterday next week, and they lose 23 to 20? And then they play Cincinnati, and he puts up another 320 and maybe turns it over once or two. But what if he's just running the offense competently? And he looks like a legitimate starting NFL quarterback, even though he's not a good one, but a legitimate? They're going to start to get ideas about him coming back because he's. He's under contract next year. Even though they would have a savings, a cap savings of $14 million,

which would put them, I think, in the top three of top three or four in total cap space going into the offseason. Can you imagine Cooley if we go into an offseason with Alex Smith playing the last nine games for Kyle Allen and he puts up competent numbers and they, you know, let's just say they go two and six second half, but they're competitive in a lot of games. They finished four and 12. You know, and it's totally different. The narrative completely, the thought on Alex Smith completely changes from this.

It's over. I mean, his career is over to, no, no, no, no. They think he's the starter next year. Or he's going to battle it out with Kyle Allen. They'll draft somebody young. I still, after seeing what I saw from Kyle Allen in two games and in the first quarter, half of the first quarter yesterday, I would rather they come back with Kyle Allen and draft somebody else, but Kyle Allen's young too.

But Kyle Allen isn't going to cost you anything, especially now coming off an injury. The thing with Alex is he would be the guy he would want a young quarterback to learn from. True. When you said last week, I think you cut him. I said, well, you don't cut him. Maybe you IR him and ask him to come and be a part of everything.

Right. If that was the direction they were going to go, you don't just cut him right now. There's value in Alex Smith in this team to not just lose all that money. I mean, you're already invested. It's worthless to cut him. You're taking the massive hit and you paid him a massive amount of money. I mean, look, this is one game against the Giants defense.

That's not an outstanding defense. It's not the best defense in the NFC East. It might be. Well, it's just not. Philadelphia is this? Our defense, the Washington's defense is pretty good. Yeah.

Philly's is probably the best. I mean, it's not a bad defense. I agree. I totally agree. I mean, I'm not trying to... I'm not trying to... You know, you look at the spot out of the zan. I'm not being a whiny butt. I'm not being a whiny but. No.

No. And you're not the boss of me. Crazy. But I could see drafting a first round quarterback with Alex Smith on the roster next year as the starter. Especially if you look at who's the kid, the kid out of North Dakota. Trey Lance. Trey Lance isn't playing football this year.

Right. Is Trey Lance, he's going to be a first round pick? I guess. What do we know? We don't know, no, but that's all the reporting says. He's going to be a first round pick. Is Trey Lance ready to start for an NFL team next year after not playing a snap football. If you're going to get a guy like that, you're asking the question, I mean, who do you

want in your locker room? I think Alex would be a guy that would help Trey Lance. I can tell you who wants the quarterback on the roster the rest of the way. Yeah, I know. Yeah. The question is, which one does he want more? That's a good question. Let's go to 301-230-0-0-980. Who do you think the owner wants to start this week? a great question that is but i mean in all serious like let's just stop this for one second the owner picked all these fucking quarterbacks yeah you can't do that no the back to the shanahan stuff they didn't want donovan no and then it's rg3 who mike endorsed and it said that but we know who the owner wanted and then it's Alex Smith and then it's

Dwayne Haskins and, man. This is why it's why they're just perennial losers. You can't sabotage your team that way. Well, great. You can't undermine and sabotage your coaching staff. We understand. We understand all that. There's going to be a chance to get a quarterback in the draft.

There's going to be a chance to potentially get one in free agency. You know, or we're by. trade. I mean, you know, what are the Jets going to do with Darnold? What are the Falcons going to do with Matt Ryan? Cam Newton's not in play anymore. You know, what are the Cowboys going to do with Dak? You know, what if they have the first pick? I mean, we're a top pick. I mean,

whatever. The bottom line is Alex Smith right now probably gives you the best chance amazingly to me to be a competitive outfit next week against Detroit and the following week against Cincinnati and then on Thanksgiving Day against the Cowboys. And as you said, Ron...

And the most important thing to me is the competitive outfit means an offensive operation that you can go and coach week in and week out. And the rest of the guys around that offense say, we see where we're going. If you can see where you're going and you can see how you're developing, you're better next year. That's what Alex gives you. Now, that's it.

we might have this conversation next week with Alex with another broken leg. Hopefully not. No, but you understand. Or some form of injury. Or some form of horrible performance. I don't think that, and in saying that, I don't think you're going to see 300-yard performances week in and week out with Alex.

They have some really good. But he knew he had to take risks and make throws down the field in this game. they have really good checkdown running backs for yards after catch purposes. They sure do. It's not a bad way to move the football. Who's the best two-win team? The best two-win team? Two- or less?

The Chargers. Yeah. Wouldn't you love to be two-and-six with Justin Herbert right now? Yeah, well, Cincinnati's two-five-and-one. Yeah, true. Houston's two and six. The Patriots are two and five. Would the Patriots beat the Chargers?

Probably not. Nope. Nope. The Chargers have lost six of their first eight games by one score or less. Their last two games lost on the final possession. It's only the second time in NFL history that a team has started the first eight games losing six by one score or less. I mean, they've had a throw into the end zone. It got overturned at the last second.

Yeah. against Las Vegas. There's a terrible call in that game. We'll go around the NFL in a moment. You know who's a pretty good two-win team? The Giants. Yeah, I don't think they're the best. I don't think the Giants would beat the Chargers.

Tell you what, the Giants have the Eagles and the Bengals coming up the next two weeks. Both of those are probably winnable. I'm not saying they will. They should have beaten Eagles already. What if they win those games? Their 4 and 7 mark at that point could be, could be good enough for first place in the NFC East. Well, I'm being serious. I understand.

They're not going to win those games. I actually think that there's something about them that is not 2 and 7. I mean, it's more like a 6 and 10 team, you know, maybe a 7 and 9 team. it's not a playoff team by any stretch of the imagination, but with Saquan Barkley, they may have been an eight and eight or better team. I mean, think about what they've lost, you know? Also, Joe Judge, no nonsense Belichick like here.

I mean, he told Golden Tate to stay home. Don't even, you're not coming, you're not coming to the game. And you know what? That may have been one of those things too coolly, like you just said about Dwayne, might have just been the best thing for the team in the locker room. You had to.

If you want to establish who you are as a coach, you can't have some player being the boss of you. Let's take a break. Three-win team. Hold in one second. Before we go around the NFL. Is there a three-win team that gets into the playoffs? Like, Minnesota could get into the playoffs.

Minnesota could still win their division. Green Bay probably will, but. You know, I mean, you know that I have, followed them a little bit here over the last couple of years because of Kirk. I also liked Zimmer. When they had Bridgewater, because I was a Bridgewater fan, I was sort of thinking that they were a good team. Look, they should not have lost to Seattle, and they really shouldn't have lost to Tennessee. They should be a five-and-three football team right now. And they have the best running back in the NFL right now. Dalvin Cook's ridiculous. And they have, if they're able to run the football, Kirk's very

efficient. They didn't even need him in the second half. He had 220 yards and three touchdown passes in the first half, and then they basically just ran out the clock in the second half. But they have, I'm telling you right now, a terrible matchup for them on Monday night, and that is a Chicago team that has really figured them out offensively. And as Chicago team coolly, that's, I mentioned this to you the other day, that even though people are down on them because of their quarterbacking situation. I think that they're going to end up having a really good chance to make the postseason because of their defense. You know, yesterday's game, do you know what they held Tennessee to offensively? They held them to, I think it was under 200 yards total.

Derek Henry averaged 3.2 yards per carry in that game. Here it is. 21 carries 68 yards. The bears are really good defensively. Tennessee had a defensive touchdown in that game, and I think there were three turnovers for Chicago, or, You know, one fumble was returned for a score. He was either two-turned, whatever. So to your Minnesota thing, I think Minnesota is such a capable team. I mean, their defense is banged up in bad, but I think Chicago is the worst matchup for them. And I think you'll see them not be able to run the ball, which will bring them with their

offensive line to a grinding halt on Monday night, and that'll lend their hopes. What is that line? I haven't even looked at it. I would imagine Chicago's got to be a slight favorite. You think so? I don't know. Pick them. It's next Monday night. Oh, my God.

Okay, Chicago open minus two, now Minnesota's minus two and a half. Wow. I think Minnesota's going to win that game. They're certainly capable offensively. They've been capable offensively all year long. I mean, and with Cook in the lineup, They are really difficult. You know, Cook got hurt in the Seattle game late, so they didn't have him on that fourth and inches.

They ran Madison, who's also a good back. Why are we doing the around the NFL now without? I was just, well, you started going around the NFL. You asked me about two-win teams. I know, but I was just asking a question about two-win teams. Who's the best two-win team? Who's the best three-win team? You know, Jacksonville is a one-win team.

they've been close in a lot of games. They had a chance. By the way, that's one thing I just want you to go look at. They started a quarterback yesterday. Jake Luton, or Luton from Oregon State. And, I mean, I give Jay credit. Jay knows how to coach quarterbacks and offense. I mean, they rolled up some big numbers against Houston,

and Houston's not a good defensive team. But go look at their two-point conversion at the end of the game to tie. It almost looked like they were trying not to make it. I swear to you. They were trying to make it. I don't think they were trying to make it. No chance.

Did you see the play? I didn't see that play. I've watched most of the games too, but this one obviously wasn't a big television game. No, it was not. All right, let's take a break for a word from one of our sponsors, and then we will go around some of the games yesterday, and I definitely will weigh in on Maryland's stunning win Saturday over Penn State.

Pay attention. Here's Kevin's game day. Yeah, let's start as we go around the league and we'll go through some of these games relatively quickly. Let's start with last night because I had a rough smell test week and it shouldn't have been because it was a good underdog day yesterday and that usually favors me. I just had the wrong underdogs. I didn't have all the wrong underdogs. I had the bills.

I had the Panthers in the smell test, but I had the chargers. I had the, what was the other underdog that lost Denver? Let's just sum it up. You had Penn State. I did have Penn State. But I also had Iowa. But that was not as bad as, you know, Washington, I mean, look, that's going to happen. I'm not sure if it would have won or not one, but it never, you know, it got derailed early.

the Broncos really never had a chance to cover against the Falcons who are really red-hot right now offensively. My God, the Falcons are putting up some numbers, aren't they? Well, they have been all year. I know, I know. But anyway, let's start with last night because that to me was the shocker. I mean, I told you last week the last couple of weeks, and I think you finally came around. I'm like, Tampa's the best team in the NFC. They're the best team in the NFC.

And I was not a big fan of the Saints. The NFL's impossible to figure out. I just kept saying to you, like, is there a team that can't beat another team? Well, of course not. Not in the NFC. There is in the AFC. There are two teams that I don't think are going to lose a lot of games in the AFC. But in the NFC, I wouldn't be surprised.

I said this. I wouldn't be surprised at Minnesota beat anybody. God, you've got. Brady looked like garbage last night. Atlanta can beat anybody. Atlantic could beat anybody. Yeah. How did it?

I mean, there was a lot of wind last night. The Saints took the wind to start the game. They had the effects of that tropical storm down there. And I mean, they went three, the Buccaneers, three and out, three and out, three and out, three and out. Interception stopped on fourth down interception. I mean, it was the worst Brady-led half I've ever seen, ever. I had one, the first, first down was with 11 minutes in the second quarter down 21-0. Oh my God, they were one for nine on third down,

Mike Evans, Godwin, Antonio Brown, Grankowski, if you were to look at this and say that Brady will be 22 or 38 for 209 yards and three picks, you'd laugh. There's no way that stat line occurs with all of their receivers in this ballgame. Now, I didn't see this because I was long gone at this point, had no interest after halftime of watching this game. I had, I bet, not only did I have the Buccaneers in the smell test, I bet them last night, and it had no chance.

But I guess Antonio Brown, when they were down 38 to nothing, got a first down and got up and gave the big first down thing and spun them all. Is that true? Yeah, that's so smart to do that. I'm trying to pull it up here, right here. I just want to see it if it's true. It's 31-0. There he is. He catches it.

Let's see what he does. is this the one? Oh, yeah. And he drops the ball. Okay, and he's woofing down 31-0. Mm-hmm. Well, he won. He's better believe it.

It's a win for him. Oh, my God. Catches for 31 yards, baby. How does a... Dude, Drew Breeze completed to 12 different receivers in this game. Twelve. He completed 26 total passes to 12 different dudes. I mean, come on.

12? Wow. That's a lot, man. He only threw for 222 yards. The Saints were so balanced, though. They ran the ball really well. Tason Hill came in, made some plays. Everyone loves Camara.

Latavius Murray is a good back. Well, they probably ran it mostly in the second half when they were just running the clock out, right? I'm just guessing. No, they were balanced throughout the entire. They had 37 carries. early on it just seemed that they were throwing the ball everywhere. Well, yeah, those were the big plays, but they're 37 carries.

Their first drive, throw, throw, throw, throw, run, throw, run, throw, throw. Second drive, run, throw, throw, throw, run, throw fumble. Yeah, I mean, they were throwing in the first half. Much of their runs obviously came when they were running, they were running a lot of the clock out in the second half. They had a 31, a Tom Brady team was down. After they were up 21-0 in the first quarter, then, yeah, sure. But still, they were balanced throughout.

Breeze was outstanding in this game. I turned this game off later in the third quarter because I needed Tom Brady to have a good fantasy day to win my game, which it was not. I think he scored like zero fantasy. I needed Godwin to have a big game last night, and he did not. So I am... Piece of shit. I've got the worst fantasy team I've ever had, I'm one in eight.

I've had a couple of like four-point losses. I had a one-point loss last week. So now we look at the NFC South. The Saints not only have a half-game lead over the Buccaneers, they've swept the Buccaneers. So clearly, the Saints are the favorite. Now, at the same time, the Saints still have two games left with the Falcons,

who are really dangerous. Like, can the Falcons get back into the NFC South picture? Sure. Why not? They're not going to get back in the NFC South picture. Really? I don't know. Could they get back in the wildcard picture? Definitely, especially if they end up expanding it because of COVID to eight teams.

And then everything's up for grabs. Let me see Atlanta schedule. I mean, here's the other crazy thing about the wildcard picture. There's no real advantage to being at home. None. So any wildcard team in the NFC could win any game against one seed? Let me just explain one thing to you. The Atlanta Falcons, who are three and six and have some of the most horrific losses of the year along with the Chargers,

they still have the Saints twice and the Buccaneers twice. The Buccaneers aren't very good. They just lost 38 to 3. Yeah, but those are the two teams in front of them. Oh, I know. So my point is that it's actually almost. within their control to get back into the division race. Now they also play at Kansas City.

They play the Raiders and they play the Chargers. God, all they have this, all the Falcons have left are division games and AFC games. Weird. I mean, think about the games they lost, the cowboy game, horrible, bear game, three scores in the last quarter. The loss of the Lions when Gurley just needs to go down at the one. If they won that game, they'd be on a four-game win streak and we would

definitely be saying, oh, yeah, no, Atlanta's going to end up in the playoffs. I think you would have to think Atlanta would be in the playoffs at four and five. Yeah. Atlanta should be five and four worst case. Yep. But still, I mean, you're still looking at New Orleans and Tampa. Are you going to believe in New Orleans yet? I mean, after last night, I mean, again, it's so week to week.

And Michael Thomas missing, obviously, it was a big deal. I actually thought that Breeze was playing well. And Tommy and I got in this argument the other day. I said, no, actually, Breeze hasn't been the issue for me. And when he gets Thomas back, they're going to be better. There's just something about watching them all year long. I'm like, they're not like overly impressive. Every single game for them, until last night, every single game has been close

that they could have easily lost. They could have easily lost to the Chargers, easily lost to the Panthers, easily lost to the Bears last week. they just weren't like dominating people and I guess that's what you know but Breeze Kamara Michael Thomas boom I mean you get some you got some legit weapons on offense and they are fast on defense they I mean they picked off Brady three times I mean here's the amazing thing is that you look at them statistically like on defense totally yards third in the league yeah no I know defensively they've got some

To some team speed. Rushing yards per game second in the league. Do you know what time of possession was in that game last night? I can imagine. I didn't look at what time of possession was. 40 minutes, four seconds for New Orleans, 19 minutes, 56 seconds for Tampa. They ran 73 plays to 46.

So they ran 27 more plays. And you know in the second half, they were just trying to, you know, run the clock out. I mean, what's the point? Wow, that's amazing. We talked a little bit at the beginning of the show about the Dallas game. There was a really interesting situation at the end of that game. Two things.

Number one, I thought the illegal contact on the fumble by Rathelsberger when he got hit. First of all, Dallas, give them credit. Let me start with this. Last week I said to you, they played with so much more energy in fight than they did against us. And they were in that game against Philadelphia, legitimately in that game against Philadelphia. Philadelphia last week. So that was, you know, that was a huge thing for Dallas. They came out and they were creative.

They, you know, and Gilbert was so much better than JMU, much better than James. No, he's definitely a D1 quarterback, little Gilbert. I thought that the illegal contact on Jalen Smith was a terrible call on the play where Rathlisberger got sacked and fumbled. It was horseshit. And that was a real backbreaking call because. Dallas is obviously, you know, they've got a lead. They've got a 1915 lead.

So at the end of the game, when Pittsburgh, after they had taken the lead and they got the ball back, and they're fourth and one at the Dallas 15 with 40, the clock was ticking down under 50 seconds. They snapped the ball with one second left on the play clock, which was smart. Don't you have to kick the field goal there to go up by eight? I hate this analytic crap. No, it wasn't an analytical. move. It was not the, I mean, there's no analytics here.

Well, then what is it? What do you think you're just going to go ahead and win right now? Well, Tony Romo, who, you know, we both love, I mean, I do, doing these games. He said, look, he's good. I think he's very good at doing the game. He just said, look, they've missed two extra points. They've had one of them blocked. They nearly had another kick block. They can't, they can't protect on these kicks. So this is why they're going for it. And I think he's right, although Tomlin's always been questioned with sort of clock and score and the whole thing at the end of games. But, you know, once you miss that, it then became a possibility that you could lose the game. And so I never want to be in a position.

That's a 32-yard field goal. I mean, that is, that's a third, it's, it's shorter than an extra point for an eight-point lead. I mean, you got to kick it. I mean, I get that dude Crawford was getting in the backfield on everyone at least kick. Yeah, he was. Yeah. But Garrett gets him down there, and they've got to play from the 25-yard line into the end zone to win it. Gilbert, you mean? What did I say?

Garrett. Garrett Gilbert, yeah. Oh, yeah, you're right. His first name is Garrett. It's a funny name. The other thing, too, that's really interesting, God, it doesn't Pollard? Pollard gets a lot of carries. When you've got apparently, you know, a perceived top three back in the league, he's not a workhorse.

They give the ball to Pollard a lot, and Pollard's good. Pollard average 6.3 a carry. Is that what it was? Elliot was 2.8, and Pollard had nine carries. Pollard's had some big, big games in terms of you. Oh, it's a good back. Really good back. He's another guy from Memphis, I think.

I just think this fumbling thing is really stuck with Ezekiel Elliott. He doesn't run as hard as he can run. And I think a lot of it is the fumble issue. I don't think it's a want to think. I think he's worried about fumbling the ball. God, you nailed it. 2.8 yards per carry for Elliott on 18 carries. Pollard, 9 carries, 6.3 yards per carry.

Wow. Anyway, you know, I don't know what to make it a Cowboys. I give them credit because after they came in here and looked dead, they've put together back-to-back credible efforts, and yesterday would have been the biggest upset of the year, you know, without question. They go into their by-week and then they play at Minnesota and then play us on Thanksgiving. They still have to play the Ravens, the Bengals, the 49ers. I mean, it's not like they're going to get back in.

I mean, the 49ers are not. I know. the normal 49ers or what we think they are. They can beat the Bengals. I mean, it's just, it's the wildest thing. It's literally the race to six or seven wins. I just don't think Dallas can get there. I think the Steelers thing too, you can look at and say they were ripe for the taking.

Unfortunately, they weren't playing somebody better than Dallas. But when you come off that kind of an emotional game that they had last week against the Ravens and a physical game, You at least fit the smell test. Should have had the Cowboys. So the Raiders Chargers game real quickly on that one at the end. There was bad officiating all day long. We'll get to the interception. Have you seen the Marcus Peters interception yet from the Baltimore game?

Yeah. Okay. But real quickly on the Raiders Chargers game. First of all, I have fallen in love with Justin Herbert. I was not a fan of him at Oregon. Every big game they had, he just didn't seem to play well. He's also got weapons. I mean, Keenan Allen and Mike Williams and Hunter Henry, they've got weapons.

The final drive of that game, when they got down there, there is a throw to Mike Williams at the end of that game that goes out of bounds at the Raiders' four-yard line. It is clearly out of bounds, and they rolled the clock. This is something, I think, in recent years, it's been more than just recent years. It's been a trend over a 10 to 15 year period in which it's an attempt to speed up the games, Cooley. They want these games in a tidy three hours, three hours, five minutes, whatever it is. And they're told if it's, you know, if momentum is stopped in bounds, even if you carry a guy out of bounds, roll the clock.

Well, you know what, in the final two minutes, you've got to officiate the game differently. You just do. That guy, Mike Williams is out of bounds on that catch. period. And you forced them, instead of having 20 seconds left in the game and first and goal at the four with four chances to get it in, you had, I mean, watch the play. I'm watching it again.

It's a joke. They rolled that clock. A joke. And they should have had, and yeah, I had the Chargers in this game. But he makes the catch and he is hit and ends up two yards, three yards into the white out of bounds. that is just awful.

And they rolled the clock. And then the chargers were very slow to get up there and clock the ball. And now it's first and goal and there's six seconds left and they could only run two plays instead of four. And they threw two fades. God, I hate the fade in that situation. No, they got the second one.

He just didn't get his feet down. No, he got his feet down. He just didn't complete catch. He did bobbled the ball a little bit. Yeah, he bobbled it a lot. Well, yeah. You still ended up with it. I know.

There's also, by the way, a play that started that early in the drive. It's the play right after the two-minute warning. It's a third and six, and Herbert really, he battles, and he gets a first down, Cooley. And it's clear that he gets a first down. And the clock's rolling and rolling, and now the referees mark it short of the first down. And Anthony Lynn, their head coach, is like, wait a minute. Is a first down? Is it not a first down? Are you going to measure? Are you going to stop the clock? And the referees just screwed them. First of all, they marked it short of the first down,

which was not a good, more likely than not spot. Secondly, they absolutely should have stopped the clock and measured. And then he ends up having to take a time out with a minute 22 to go, I think it was, instead of having a minute 49 left when they stopped the clock to measure. So that really hurt them. There was some terrible officiating yesterday, and I thought the Chargers in particular really got screwed at the end of that game. Well, the Chargers find a way to get screwed every week. They do. They are the best team that can't win a football game. So have you ever seen a call worse than the Marcus Peters interception that wasn't?

I mean, I could probably run through a gamut of plays. the Saints pass interference called two years ago in the playoffs against the Rams. But who looks at this on replay and says that's an interceptor? I don't understand why they can't just look at it. And they do. Well, Baltimore challenged it. I don't know what would have made them challenge it. It's not a catch.

Bottom line, for those that don't know, Indies got a 10-7 lead, okay? it is into the third quarter. And this is exactly the kind of game we thought it would be on Friday. Indy's defense is very good, okay, very good. And Marcus Peters gets his hands on the ball and briefly has it, but loses it on his way to the ground. And it pops out and it's an incomplete pass. Baltimore challenged the play,

and somebody looked at it on replay and said, oh, yeah, he caught that. It was crazy. I don't know that I've ever seen. something so wrong on replay gotten so wrong. Of course, yeah, the New Orleans thing, but that wasn't, you know, that wasn't reviewable that particular year. And it would have been reviewable last year, but it wasn't, it's not reviewable anymore. Anyway, Baltimore, you know, takes over on that interception. They go in, they take the lead and they never looked back and they

won 24 to 10. Man, their defense is good, Cooley. Two really good defenses in that game yesterday. The Colts defense in the way To see Rivers try to make a tackle in that game? I'm sorry? Do you see Rivers try to make a tackle in that game? Yeah, on the fumble return for a touchdown. There's a fumble return for a touchdown. Rivers tries to change direction, kind of backpedaling.

Yeah. Well, that's not really his job. Yeah, well, he's super athletic now. Jackson is, became the first, first of all, it's the first time that Baltimore's won during the Jackson era when they trailed at halftime. secondly, which is an amazing stat. Secondly, Jackson is now, along with Dan Marino, at 25 and 5 in his first 30 games,

the best start to a career win-loss record since Marino in the last 50 years, which is really quite remarkable. You know, you said Kansas City in Pittsburgh, I can't, like you said, Baltimore, if they're a frontrunner and they're ahead, they're going to be tough to beat. and Baltimore is going to, you know, they're going to be one of the final four teams more likely than not in the AFC. I would be really surprised to see Baltimore not in a semi-final situation. Yeah, they're going to play the Chiefs or the Steelers in a divisional round final four of the AFC game. Likely.

Yeah. How about the dolphins? I mean, I can't, I just don't know what to make of Miami. Dude, there's something to him. I mean, Tua was good in this game. For a guy that we didn't think it was very good the week before and they won a game against the Rams, too was awesome. It's like his brother, his brother, the first game, not very good.

We'll get to that in a few minutes. His brother might have hyped him up. I mean, but, God, Miami's, they scored again on defense. Yeah, Murray fumbled. that's another thing. I mean, they just keep scoring on defense. They're a well-coached team, Miami.

You got to give credit there. Another Belichick disciple. Yeah. But Miami's a well-coached team. They're a physical team. They're tough, the gritty. I mean,

I don't know if Miami's a contender or not. I can't decide if they're a contender or they're not. But the way they, some of the teams they've beaten, how they've handled them, You can't say that Miami couldn't win any game. I mean, they smoked San Francisco. They handled the Rams on defense for sure.

I think Arizona is a really good football team. Yeah, I know. They were in it against Seattle like a month ago. I think you're right about Flores. I think he's really good. I think there's, and you know, the dolphins, you know, they decided that they were going, to, you know, find out.

They're going to find out. But even before that, the last couple of years, that they were going to have, you know, 20, 21, 2022 in mind. There's certainly, I think, over expectations this year. But they've built it by accumulating a lot of draft choices. I still can't believe they got rid of Mink of Fitzpatrick. He's such a good player, but he didn't want to be there. And they're going with Tua.

And they had a bunch of assistant coach. that were not on the sideline because of COVID reasons. Kyler Murray, such an incredible show to watch. I mean, he is just the speed. He's so much fun to watch. They've got weapons. I mean, how did they lose that game? They had a kicker that missed a 49-yard field goal short indoors.

Zane Gonzalez. He's a good kicker. It was weird. Arizona plays Buffalo this coming week. Then they play Seattle again. it's going to be really interesting because Arizona, that loss is one they're going to look back on and say, damn,

because if they were to lose, let's just say, to the Bills and the Seahawks back to back, and now they're 500, they may be at, you know, they're not going to be out of it in the NFC wild card race, but they're good enough, you know, to be in the postseason. Yeah, well, they're also good enough to win the games that you're talking about.

True. I agree. I think Arizona's good enough to beat Seattle. I mean, Seattle cannot stop anybody right now. now. No. That's the problem. Seattle gave up 44 to the bills, who a lot of people thought were stagnant on offense over the last couple weeks. Alan looked like a all-star in that game. I mean, they couldn't even score against the Jets, the Bills. And you're right in recent games. And they rolled it up. Seattle's defense is a problem. It's a real problem. As great as Russell is, and they're getting, they'll probably be in the playoffs, and you don't want to face Russell Wilson

in a playoff game, but Buffalo destroyed them. That score was not indefinitely. I mean, at one point, I think they were up 41 to 20. They were 21 in the fourth quarter in that game. Ended up being a 10-point game. Josh Allen, 415 yards, three touchdowns, ran for another. They've got weapons, too, on offense. I mean, Stefan Diggs has been awesome for them. Awesome.

No, he's awesome. It's really funny looking at that division because all the years that the Patriots were so good, no one else was good at all. I know. And now the dolphins and bills are legitimate good football teams. Yeah. I think when you look at both of them, they're legitimate good teams well coached that the bills especially that have talent.

No doubt. I mean, that's that division, how fast that flipped. I still, I mean, it's, I still don't think the Patriots are as bad, but just they don't have quarterback. They just don't. Yeah, they're done. You like to Stid them.

I never liked Stid them. But I'm sure they'd like to go to anywhere else right now, but Cam. I did like Stidham, but whatever. I'm probably wrong about that. All right. So what other NFL games did we need to? Oh, I just wanted to mention, because I've talked up the Panthers all years being a team that I really like, and I like how well coached they are.

They had a chance to beat a team yesterday that, you know, is pretty hard to beat, you know, in Arrowhead, even with a few fans. And they got McCaffrey back, which obviously is a massive deal. And they used it. Oh, my God, did they use them? He had 10 receptions and 18 carries. He had 28 touches for 151 yards total in two touchdowns. I mean, he's such a difference maker.

But, yeah, I like that coaching staff. I like that coaching staff. I think Carolina's, I think with rule, they'll be a good football team. God, it's fun to watch Mahomes and Kansas City, though. Jeez. I saw the one of the, I mean, I love Andy Reid. I keep talking about all his little gimmick plays and all the things he does creatively. And Andy's one of those guys that watches so much high school, college football.

Did you see the play where Mahomes went in motion? Yeah, I did. I have never seen this. It was awesome. The quarterback went in motion, but came back and took the snap. He starts to go in motion out to the right. he comes back and takes the snap like he's going to boot left. And it's it's a bootleg or it was like he was going to run left.

It's a bootleg without faking the handoff with the like fake quarterback sweep boot. It was awesome. I mean, and he, some of the throws he made, wow. But yeah, to your point, you know, the Panthers, they had a fake punt that was huge in the game. They took shots when they had to take shots. Bridgewater was really good. And they, with that dude, he missed like a 67 yard field. to end the game?

Yeah, and he tried a 65-yarder against the Saints a couple of weeks ago, where it fell just short indoors. Yesterday's at Arrowhead, it was wide right, but I think it had the distance. It looked like I had the distance. Yeah, Joey Sly, the Panthers kicker. They tried to run a play to get them a little bit closer right before, and it almost worked. But, yeah, so the Panthers are three and six.

But they're a team that you don't, it's not like you're going to play them and think that it's an absolute win because it isn't. All right. Last thing before we finish up, first of all, I want to tell you about my bookie.ag. You got a Monday night game tonight. That line is, lines pretty high for a New England game, but they're playing the Jets. So that line's nine and a half. But anyway, my bookie right now, you know, offer so much, including like a full-fledged casino, which gives you, I haven't mentioned this a lot, gives you classic table games, slots,

you know, anything that you would find in any other online casino, they've got all of that. They've got a horse book. You can, you know, you can bet on UFC, you can bet on NBA draft projections, et cetera. They've got everything that you'd want to bet. And we're approaching that time of the year in the NFL season and the college football season where it's getting busy and, you know, There are opportunities. Be careful. I got smoked this weekend, coolly smoked. But that means that next weekend might be better. Make the right play and sign up today at MyBooky. And when you do, use my promo code, Kevin, DC, to get your deposit matched halfway all the way up to $1,000. The terms are simple. You put in $200, they'll match you with another $100 in your account.

If you're already planning to bet this season, this is free betting money. My promo code Kevin D.C. at my bookie.orgie. It's a winning season at my bookie, so come join in on the fun and win some cash while you are at it. I wanted to finish up the show with this. Maryland went to Penn State as a 20, so on Friday I gave Penn State out as a 25-point favorite in the smell test. That was wrong. that wouldn't even close I've never been happier

to lose a smell test or a bet in my life because I mentioned to you early last week I said I think I've seen the real deal at quarterback after one watching him against Minnesota last week I think to his brother is really special and he plays just like Russell Wilson

and I think I told you that I had him on the show and I asked him and he said yeah he patterns his game after Russell Wilson you can see it I'm telling you can see it in his slide You can see it in the way he avoids pass rush. Penn State had lost two games, okay? I understand.

One of them was to Ohio State. The other one was the Indiana game they shouldn't have lost. Penn State's Penn State. They are, you know, they're not a, they have a lot more talent than Maryland has. But it didn't appear to be that way on Saturday. Maryland destroyed Penn State in Happy Valley. It's never happened before. They went in there and they kicked the living snot out of Penn State.

State. This game was over early in the second quarter. The Terps were up 28 to 7. And Talia Tung of Iloa, Leah is what his teammates and his coaching staff calls him, was brilliant. He was so good. He had three touchdowns in the first half through for like 240 in the first half. The second half got a little bit ugly for Maryland, but they had a massive lead. They were never in doubt. The final score was nowhere near indicative of how one-sided it was. Terps also have Cooley. They've got talent, man. Like they always do at skill position players.

And Lox is keeping all of these, you know, keeping more players at home. They've got a top 20 recruiting class coming in next year. They're already for 2022 in the hunt for one of the best recruiting classes. Rakeem Jarrett, he committed to LSU at a St. John's as a five-star wide receiver. And Loxley got him to change his mind and commit to Maryland. And he's a true freshman. and he had five catches for 144 yards and two touchdowns. If you were watching this game and you watched Rakeem Jarrett,

you saw a future NFL wide receiver. Maryland's produced a lot of skilled position players in the NFL because the area produces a lot of talent and they've been able to get some of those players in recent years from Good Counsel and St. John's and Demath, etc. Rakeem Jarrett's the real deal. Dante Demas is the real deal, but more importantly, Leah Tunga Viloa is so good.

He is a difference maker. This was the most impressed I have been of Maryland football and the most optimistic I've been about Maryland football since Ralph Region was here. Ralph, you know, over his 10 years, Maryland was always competitive. They went to seven bowl games, won five of them in his 10 years. He won the ACC title in his first year, was the ACC coach of the year in his last year. Ralph was a widely respected guy in NFL circles, was Bobby Ross's offensive coordinator on the Chargers team that went to the Super Bowl and lost to the 49ers. And you know who coached under Ralph?

Mike Loxley. And you know who Mike Loxley mentions in terms, and he coached for Nick Sabin. You know who he mentions more than anybody else? Ralph Regent. He understands. He understands that Maryland football has a chance to be a lot better. than it's been here over the last 10 years. And this program is on the rise with Loxley. How great of a coach is he? I have no idea, but they're getting players. And they got Tunga Viloa from Alabama to transfer.

They got Rakeem Jarrett to switches commit from LSU to Maryland as a five-star, you know, one of the top wide receivers in the country. And they beat Penn State badly. Now they go to Ohio State next week. there are 25 point underdog, not 28. They're only 25 next week, which you know what? Ohio State was just a 40-point favorite over Rutgers. And now against Maryland, all of a sudden, believe it or not, a 25-point underdog? Actually, it's 26, I'm looking at it right now, is actually respect from Vegas against Ohio State. But I'll tell you what, though, you watched Leah in this game.

You watch some of the throws he made. There's a lot of poise in the pocket. Oh. Like he is really comfortable in the pocket moving up in the pocket making throws. I think the second touchdown he threw. He's moving up in the pocket. Not really sliding, but kind of running up in the pocket. And that's an accurate ball.

Great feel, coolly in the pocket. Incredible. He's really comfortable. Like he looks like he's a pro quarterback back there. 5-11, which is exactly Russell Wilson's height. Look, they may get crunched at Ohio State. It might. And they probably will.

But those that were predicting after the Northwestern loss, and by the way, Northwestern's undefeated, that they weren't going to win a game or even come close. That's obviously wrong. And look, I didn't feel good about the Northwestern game. I thought there's a chance they were going to go winless this year until the Minnesota game when I watched Tunga Viloa play his second game, which was much different than the first game. and I realized, and I think all of you realize now, if you've got a quarterback at any level in football, if you've got a quarterback, you've got a chance.

Now, you don't have a chance against Ohio State this weekend. They're not going to beat Ohio State. But the rest of the games in their schedule, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan State, Michigan, all they need now basically is two of them to be a bowl team this year. Yeah. So I wonder, you know, they probably are already being projected now. into bowl games. But congratulations to Coach Loxley. It was such an impressive performance for a lot of longtime Maryland fans and Maryland alum like me who, you know, Penn State, I know it doesn't

coolly, you would never know this because it's not a real rivalry. But long before, you know, Maryland and Penn State were in the same conference together, Maryland played Penn State for many years in a row as a non-conference matchup, Penn State when they were an independent. Maryland when they were in the ACC, and Maryland never, ever beat Penn State. It was also always disappointing. Even when Maryland was really good, they just couldn't beat Penn State. I think Saturday was the third time in their history that they beat in Penn State, and by far and away it was the biggest beat down. And that is one of those games, Cooley, that is a huge recruiting game. You know, that is one of those games where Loxley says, really?

Because Penn State's been coming into the D.C. area, as Ohio State has, everybody. They've been coming into the WCAC and taking players away from this area for years. And Loxley now has them, you know, staying here. And so it's just a lot different with Loxley as a recruiter. And the potential for Maryland football is not to be an elite team in the Big Ten East. Okay, that's going to reside with Ohio State, Michigan, you know, Penn State. Their power programs. But Maryland's upside is, you know, in a normal 12 game, non-COVID schedule, winning eight, nine games and being a bold team a lot of those years.

You know, that's what their upside is. They've done that before as a program. At a basketball first school, maybe that's the best you can ask for, but good for. Yeah, but that's how you start getting players, Kev. Yeah. And right now, college football, it's not about coaching. And It's not necessarily about what you do. It's about having dudes. Yeah. And that's how you get dudes. And Loxley clearly is one of those guys that's capable of it.

Dude, I didn't know that the Penn State series history was 42 and one going into this game. Yeah. 40. Maryland had beat Penn State twice ever. Yeah, that's it. Did they have two? They won their first Big Ten game at Penn State. Stefan Diggs was huge in that game.

And have they won another one? sense or is that the only one before Tuesday, before Saturday? Well, Wikipedia gives the series history as, oh now, 43 and 1. Well, no, Saturday then was their second win. Was their third? That's what I said initially. Was it their third or second? Yeah, Saturday was their third win. Okay, that's what I thought. So they've won two. They tied them one year and whatever. I mean, forever and ever they hadn't beaten Penn State. And even when they, in 1985, Cooley, and I was in school then, they opened up their season against Penn State. Maryland was number seven in the country.

Penn State was like eight. 19. What? 19. 19 what? They were ranked 19. Who was ranked 19th? Penn State.

And when? 1985. I thought they were ranked higher than that. Maryland was on sport magic. magazine predicted to be the number one team in America in 1985. But I think the AP, they were either seventh or eighth. So you're telling me that Penn State was only 19th. Maryland turned the ball over like five times and lost by three or something like that on a day that was, oh, my God, was it hot?

It was Labor Day weekend. And let's just say we were overserved by the time the game started. And the game was a 12 o'clock noon kick. And it was hot as hell. Anyway, they just never could beat them. They just, they could not beat them. What was that final score? I want to say 20 to 17.

2018. 20 to 18. That was close. And it was like Marilyn had like four turnovers in the game. And then turned it, a fumbled late when they were in field goal range. What's the date on that game, Cooley? September 7th. 1985?

Yeah, it was Labor Day weekend. So it was, well, actually, that wouldn't it, September 7th probably wouldn't have been a Labor Day. Probably was the week after Labor Day. Bobby Ross was the coach. He was such a great college coach, great pro coach, too, obviously. They were supposed to be so good that year. They lost to Michigan that year badly at the big house, and that may have been, and then they won a bowl game over somebody, Syracuse, I think.

He did win a bowl game that year, over somebody. I think it was the Detroit game. Like it was, I think it was Syracuse. Whatever. The year before was the year they came back and beat Miami with Frank Reich when they were down 31, nothing at halftime. All right. That's it for the day. Cooley will have offensive film breakdown. I can't wait to hear what you say about Alex Smith's game. Because the most shocking thing between Friday and today is we're talking about Alex Smith as a guy that just played a game in which it actually looked like he could play.

play a little bit. And he's going to be the starting quarterback for the rest of the year. J.P. Finley, congratulations. I gave him 20 to one odds that Alex Smith wouldn't start a game this year, so I owe him some money. All right, have a great day. Everybody back tomorrow with Cooley's film breakdown of the offense.