The Kevin Sheehan Show - On To Philly

Episode Date: November 12, 2024

Kevin and Thom today cleaning up the Pittsburgh disappointment and moving on to Philadelphia. Where do the Commanders rank currently in the NFC? The guys answered that while Thom also talked about spending time with Dan Quinn last week for a column he wrote.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, is Window Nation.

Call them at 86690 Nation. Or head to WindowNation.com if you're looking for new windows. Man, we got a lot of reviews, a lot of five-star ratings, a lot of really solid reviews on Apple. We really appreciate it. if you haven't rated or reviewed the show and you've got a quick minute to do it. It's really helpful for us. Following the show on Apple and Spotify is big as well. Tommy, we've got per usual, and I say per usual, because I would bet you one out of

every three reviews we get comes from outside the DMV. So maybe that's not usual, but that is, you know, that is more than sporadic. We have a lot of listeners from outside the DMV. I think I've mentioned this before. It is in part because the area is so transient. That's a big part of it, although there are a lot of us that are natives and or have been here for a long, long time, like Tommy. But a lot of people that haven't lived here in a while were here when the football team was pretty good. They're still fans of the team.

And we benefit from having people interested in the team, even though the team has. hasn't been good for a long time until now. And we get a lot of out-of-market reviews. So I've got two to read to you, Tommy, for today's show. This one comes from Cali Fire Guy. I am born and raised in Northern California. My mom was born in Alexandria, Virginia, and raised in D.C. Both have been my second homes since the mid-70s.

I've been a California skin since 1981. I love listening to the podcast. Kevin makes me feel like I'm in town when I can't be. He, Tom, Doc, and C.C., as in Chris Cooley, are outstanding. Thank you very much for that. How about this one, though? All right? This one from Sharif.

Sharif writes, My story is a Redskin fan with a review of the show. So this is not your one to two sentence review. We got a story. here, but I want to read it to you. Before I review this awesome show, let me tell you my story. I lived in Virginia from 1994 to 1998 on my father's diplomatic mission. I come from Jordan all the way in the Middle East. And from the day we landed, I heard about football and the NFL, and I came from a country where soccer is popular, and I knew nothing about football. I not only

fell in love with football, but I fell in love with the Redskins. And I've been a country where soccer is popular. I knew nothing about football. and I've been a fan ever since. In the early days, when I went back to Jordan, I didn't have access to watch, so I would call family and friends in Virginia to get the full recap. But when it became accessible, I've never missed a game.

That was when RG3 was our quarterback. By the way, I was thinking, like if you were a massive Redskins fan, you know, as a kid or, you know, any sports fan as a kid, and your parents, your father gets a job somewhere where you can't follow the team. can't watch football. You know, we're going back to the 80s, right, 90s. And you don't have the Sunday ticket. You don't have satellite TV. You don't have the internet. And you've got to

call your friends and family for a recap. I think, like, I'd be calling that George Michael sports machine line, you know, but that was just a score line. Maybe the business back then was recapping the game with a, you know, a 900 number. Maybe for all the Skins fans from outside the market. What were you going to say? Look, when there was a big series in 85 between the Mets and the Cardinals, I had moved to Maryland two years earlier and did not get Channel 9 to the station at the Mets were on, and it was a huge series. And there was a big, one particular game was going to be big. So I called my friend Pete up in the Poconos, and I had him put the phone next to the TV, and I listened to the entire game over our phone like that.

And these are the days of long-distance rates, you know? Yeah. Oh, my God. I remember a day, I mean, my good friend Scott, as in Scott Van Pelt, still to this day, won't speak to me for what I did this particular evening. I don't even know what got into me, but it was a long time ago. We were young, and we were, of course, gambling on sports. And he was somewhere where he didn't have access to, I don't know, TV, whatever.

This was probably pre-internet. It's probably late 80s, early 90s. And there was a game that we both had a large wager on. And it involved the Washington Bull, Bull, not the Washington Wizards, the Washington Bullets, who are playing the Atlanta Hawks, I'll never forget. And so I'm watching the game on TV, and it's coming down the wire to the wire in terms of the number, the point spread. I don't remember exactly what it was. And I'm giving him play by play over the phone.

And for whatever reason, the game got sideways and we were going to lose it. you know, I don't know, we were getting six and the lead ballooned to 14 with, you know, two minutes to go, so it was kind of over. Yeah. And then I did something that was so bad. I, you know, it got to 14 with two minutes to go and I said, I don't know. And then all of a sudden I started to go, oh, we just, we just hit a three. We just hit a three.

Steal. And I'm like, you know, another three good. And then he's like, you know, he's going nuts on the other end. And I mean, it was terrible what I was doing. And then at the very end, he's like, so they won, they were going into overtime? Like, it was a big comeback. And I'm like, yeah, it's going into overtime. And then I slowly like going through overtime, I decided to just tell him the game it ended like 15 minutes earlier.

And we had gotten blown out. He was so justifiably. He was so angry. and he called back like two hours later and he just said, you know, it wasn't fair that you hurt me with your words. You really hurt me with your words. I don't appreciate that. Don't ever do that again.

I don't know. That sounds like a pretty good scam to me. I thought it was funny in the moment, but I also knew that he was going to really be pissed when he found out that we actually didn't win the bet. Anyway, let me get back to Shari. Reef's review. So Sharif, but at those days, I mean, we're, God, I can't even fathom no internet. In some ways, I think it would be great to have no internet and other ways would be impossible.

I don't know how I would do this show or a live radio show every day without the internet. Actually, you'd be smarter without the internet because nobody would have information and you would have a little bit more than everybody else. Maybe. I don't know. I doubt that, though. Actually, we would be richer if there was no internet. So anyway, Sharif writes, I haven't missed a game since RG3 was our quarterback. I have to say I've been miserable all these years, but never stopped watching. I would wake up at 3 a.m. to watch the Thursday night and Monday night games. I would stay up until 2 a.m. on the late games, but it was painful every season.

I had Dan Snyder show up in my nightmares. And it was so hard to explain why you're miserable every month. Monday at work in a place where you are one of the few that watches the NFL. Can you imagine how I feel right now? I am over the moon. Even people around notice that I am in a better mood. I'm glad I hung in there for this team. It's paying off.

And Jaden Daniels, JD5, has been the hero I always wanted. But I am happy for my favorite player even more. And that's Scary Terry. On this show, this show has been throughout its beginning my go-to podcast, Before games, after games, preseason, postseason trades, you name it. I never miss an episode because Kevin is like the friend I want to talk to about football in a place where no one talks about football. Him and Tom feel like my friends that I like to say good morning to all week and talk football.

And at the end, they are fans just like me that rant get excited, sometimes upset, and their feelings towards any situation have always been exactly what I feel. This show is my Redskins therapy, and I love it. Thank you, Sharif. That was really nice. Does that make it all worthwhile? It's really, really very nice. And, you know, when I look at, occasionally I'll pull up, you know, where we're doing,

look, 50% roughly of the audience is, you know, D.C., Maryland, Virginia. 50% of it is outside of the market, which a lot of people don't understand. The Redskins used to tell me when we were somewhat part of their group that 70% of their fan base lived outside the DMV. And I said, well, what would it be if you guys were really good? It wouldn't be that high. And they said, probably that's true. But, you know, I've told you before that, you know, this podcast does very well. for the kind of podcast it is.

It does very well for almost any kind of podcast. But, you know, you get ranked on the Apple charts in a lot of different countries. And so I'm going to see if Jordan makes it on any of these lists. But we're big in Bermuda, right? Bermuda was always a good one. That's right, Tommy. Yeah, Bermuda. We were always big in Bermuda.

Didn't we get some kind of award from the Bermuda sports podcasts? I don't know if that's true. I think we did. All right now, so here are some of the higher rankings. Right now, we are the eighth ranked us football podcast in South Korea. How about that? We are, let me give you like the true like top 15s. We're 13th in the football category in Saudi Arabia.

Let me just mention though, if you pull up the Saudi Arabia podcast, they're all mostly No, these are football podcasts. My thought I thought they were going to be soccer podcasts. We're 12th in the Philippines. We're 11th in Romania. But Tommy, we're second in Bahrain. We're the second ranked football podcast in Bahrain. And right now the number one podcast in Bahrain is a Chicago Bears podcast.

I guess because Caleb Williams, because they just fired their offensive coordinator. number five in Kenya, we're number three in the Cayman Islands. Wow. Now, that sounds good. That's home for both of us, doesn't it? It does. That's where I went on my honeymoon. And you and I may have been there at the same time. At the same time before we ever knew each other. Yeah. I was in Grand Cayman. I've told you this story, staying at the Grand Hyatt when they were filming the movie, The Firm. They were filming it downstairs. at the Holiday Inn where they filmed the beach bar scene

for that movie yeah well there was I mean I remember we've talked about this story before my wife and I grand it was the Grand Hyatt Grand Cayman Hyatt Grand Cayman they're filming the movie the firm you know the

John Grisham that was the first Grisham book that I think was made into a movie I could be wrong Pelican Brief I don't think it is I think there were others before that. A good movie. I really enjoyed it. Yeah, the firm was good. Cruise was in it, but the people filming, I remember, were Gene Hackman was there. Holly Hunter was there.

And then who plays Cruz's wife in the movie? She wasn't like a big star, actually. I got to pull that up. That's going to drive me crazy. It's like a long, weird name. Mary Mastroly only or something like that? No, no, no, no, no. If you say, it'll note the firm.

Well, Brimley was it? Gene Triplehorn. Oh, okay. She played Abby McDeer. Holly Hunter, Gene Hackman. And so Gene Hackman, Holly Hunter, and Gene Triplehorn were filming the scene. Now, you know, I remember not really knowing anything about, you know, what was being made. but when you heard Hackman's name and Holly Hunter's name,

I don't think I knew who Gene Triplehorn was, and that Cruz was in the movie. But yeah, they filmed the pool scenes at the Hyatt Grand Cayman. Yeah. When, you know... And then at the holiday end, they filmed the beach bar scene where Tom Cruise

cheats. He's drinking and the girls approach him and then he winds up on the beach. Yeah. You know, all that stuff. And they set them up. Yep. Yeah.

That's how they do it, Tommy, in that firm. So we're big in Grand Cayman. We apparently are pretty big in Grand Cayman right now. Okay, we're the number three football podcast in Grand Cayman. I got food poisoning on that trip. You probably didn't have the good restaurants. Food poisoning because I went to an American bar that was recommended to me by Eric Johnson, who played defensive tackle for the...

Eric Johnson, Johnson, not Johnson. Yeah, Johnson, for the... Yeah, Washington. Yeah. He knew I was going, and he told me to stop at this place. The guy was a big Redskins fan. Old an American bar, I stopped there, had a hamburger, and then it was deathly ill after that.

Food poisoning, not good. It's not fun. First time... only time I've ever had that. I think I got food poisoning once, and it was seafood related, and yet I love seafood. Okay, well, keep the ratings and reviews coming, people. It's very important to do that if you don't mind. Also following us, that's really easy. Just hit the plus button or the follow button. So Tommy, you were in Pittsburgh Sunday for the game. I mean, it was quite the atmosphere. I'm sorry?

Oh, okay, okay. I get what you're doing here. Okay. So tell me about the game Sunday at Northwest Stadium. Okay, well, let's deal with the crowd, first of all. It was pretty, it seemed pretty overwhelming. I mean, the towels were everywhere. Now, I'd say it was maybe 60-40, Pittsburgh.

That said that the commander segment of the crowd made themselves hurt. They didn't sit on their hand. Right. You know, when something could happen for Washington, there weren't booze. There were cheers. You know, when Pittsburgh had the ball, there was a crowd that made a concerted effort to try to make some noise to drown them out. So while they may have been overwhelmed by Pittsburgh, it was a feisty commander's crowd that was on hand for the game. I'd say that.

It was a big difference than the week before with the Bears. Okay, the Steelers are a different kind of animal. So let me get that. That's the crowd out of the way. Well, let me just mention real quickly that your estimate, and I probably have a half-dozen, what I would call reliable, crowd estimate people. Your estimate was given to me by a couple of people, but I also had some 70-30s and some 80-20s. So I basically took the average and said it was probably 70-30. But whatever. I can't argue with that. Okay. I can't argue with that. Look, here's the thing.

You said it. Pittsburgh fans, number one in the league, when it comes to taking over stadiums, they've done it before. And number two, and I've already said this multiple times, and I said it last week because I had the, I think everybody had the expectation that this was very possible. And that is, the schedule came out in May, you know, there weren't many people that thought that they had a chance to be seven and two with a game against six and two Pittsburgh, you know, on November 10th. So next year will be much more of a true measure of how far the fan base has come back with respect to attending games. You know, the TV ratings locally have not been great.

Now, I haven't seen them over the last three or four games, but they have not been great. You know, sometimes I wonder what kind of bubble we are in with this. I don't mind the bubble. It's a big bubble. You know, it's not a small bubble, but it may not be as big as we think it is yet. But that might change. It may be the bubble that used to exist. That doesn't exist anymore.

Again, I still think that every piece of evidence has to be considered as to how much work has to be done to repair the fan page. Sure. That's why I personally hope, and I don't want to talk that much about this subject, especially two days before maybe the biggest, you know, November and on game they've had in a long. long, long time. But, you know, if they end up, you know, getting to the postseason, winning a couple of games, that should not be a get-out-a-jail-free card for Josh Harris, for Mark Eind, for Mitch Rails when it comes to the name and the branding. And I'll leave it at that. All right. So, I would agree. So next up on your list in talking about the game and being there on

Sunday. Well, let's start with the quarterback. I didn't write about the quarterback this week. Okay. But, I mean, you know, he had some misses. There were a lot of drop passes. But I think he's still hurt. I think he's still suffering from the rib injury. Because, look, there was, I mean, he didn't do much with his legs, okay? And there was a lot made of Pittsburgh bringing a lot more blitzes, you know, being a lot more aggressive.

that kind of pinned them in. If it was that easy to contain Zaden Daniels, then all the teams would be doing it. Well, you have to have the players to do it, Tommy. Yeah, I get that. I get that, but it can't, it's not that simple. It's not a simple fact of Pittsburgh had the formula to contain Jaden, because I don't think he can be contained when he's healthy.

I think he's still not healthy. Yeah, so I talked about this on the podcast. yesterday because I you know there were multiple people who said he was being that that who were at the game that said and wrote me and said they were working on him and his ribs on the sideline well they were doing that also in the giant game and in the Chicago game so I did talk to somebody who said look go back and watch Chicago and watch the giant game did he have any issues in those games I mean he didn't we took him off the injury report because he had improved.

He was on the injury report going into the Bears game. He was on the injury report going into the Giants game. He wasn't on the injury report because the trainers felt good enough to take him off the injury report. Now, with that said, it was indicated that the ribs are sore, but they're no more, they're probably better than they were last week in the week before when he ran for 55 yards, when he ran for 35 yards, you know, where, you know, he was ridiculous getting out of trouble and scrambling and running zone reads and, you know, was accurate and the offense was fine. I think it was probably more Pittsburgh.

I'm not saying that he's 100% feeling great and that there isn't some soreness, but I just don't think it's the reason that he didn't run for, you know, more yards. and I don't think it's the reason that he was off a little bit, you know, on Sunday at times. I think they played the best team that they've played so far this year, all-around team, the best defense that they've faced since Cleveland, but that's actually kind of unfair because Cleveland had no offense, and they were out there too long. And it was just a really good team. They're good.

I mean, T.J. Watts is one of the best. Alex Highsmith is awesome. Cam Hayward is great. And Washington was banged up up front, and it was not the best day for the offensive line. And then they couldn't run the football. And so they were one-dimensional. So I think a lot of that just played into it. You're probably right.

You're probably right. Look, they missed. In my calm, I wrote from the game, I said, what's the difference between these two franchises? Was this any kind of measure? I mean, because the Steelers have had a certain personality, an identity, as everyone likes to say, for 50 years now. Right. The Steelers are always tough. That's who they are.

It's their identity. And it goes back to the days of Terry Bradshaw and Mel Blonde, Blount, and Jack Lambert. You know? And the commanders have been exhibiting a level of toughness for about 30 seconds. So there's a long way to go. But in that game, it could have come down to 88.6 centimeters, which is the measure of two hamstrings, Brian Robinson and Marshawn Lattimore. Did you do the measurements on both?

What about the measurement of the Zachard's fourth and nine? I looked up what the average hamstring was. The average hamstring? And then I doubled it. Yeah. There's an average hamstring length? 44.3. Wouldn't you say that it's a little bit longer in those two? Maybe you should have gone up to 90 plus...

I should have gone up to 90. Yeah. Okay. 90 centimeters. Okay. I mean, that was the difference in the game. So it was either 1.1 yard or 90 centimeters. Because, I mean, I think, look, I know this is a stupid game to play sometimes, but if Brian Robinson

is in that game they control the ball better on offense it takes some of the pressure off Jaden Daniels and you know Russell Wilson doesn't connect maybe on a play to Mike Williams that they've never run in practice since he got there

that they ran for the first time yeah I wish you had the ability to measure whether or not the ball touched the line to gain fourth and nine. Oh, God. Oh, that's not going to do this, aren't we? Well, no.

I mean, I've already done it. Let's be bigger than that. It's not about being bigger than that. This is real passion, which, by the way, hasn't existed in a long time in a lot of people. That's true. And so that's, there's, you're right. You know, fans, when they feel like they've been robbed, it galvanizes them a bit. You know, I didn't think they were robbed.

I thought that he had the line to gain. I've seen multiple stills, and my good friend Ben Standing sent me one version of it. I'm like, yeah, I still, what you sent me, I still see the ball maybe touching, you know, the very, you know, first part of what would have been the line to gain. Here's what is 100% true. That ball where it was marked wasn't even close to where even he got touched and the ball was. it was a half yard to a full yard off. They put it at the 42. That was ridiculous.

And I just didn't think CBS and Stere Tour, who I like usually. I didn't think they did a great job of explaining it. And, you know, Quinn said yesterday they were going to reach out to the league and maybe submit something or have a call with the league. And I haven't heard the follow-up to that. But, you know, it was not a topic of conversation after the game by the team. Well, nobody asked him about it in the press conference. I mean, it's fine.

You know, there was a lot. Look, there was so much to that game, so much to it, that I'm sure at the end it was dizzying what just went on for three hours and ten minutes. It was a really exciting game that had a lot to it. By the way, played, as I mentioned yesterday, Tommy, by two good teams. That was a good football game. It wasn't clean. It wasn't perfect.

But that's the NFL, man, played at a high intensity level with the crowd being what it was, even though it was predominant Pittsburgh. You know, it just felt intense. So I'm going to bring something up. And I wasn't going to bring this up. But I'm going to bring it up with you because this is not criticism at all. because I love this person. I think she is incredible. In fact, I think she's as good as anybody's been covering the team,

Nikki Javala at the Washington Post, for years. But Nikki is the person on the beat reporter group that has the ability to, as a pool reporter, interview or ask, I think, up to two questions of the head referee at the end of the game. But you have to request it. I only know this because I reached out to ask what the process was. At first, I wasn't sure if they even did that for regular season games, but they do. Did you know this?

It's available for every home team's designee among the reporter group to request it if necessary. I personally, if it had been me, I would have requested it because I actually thought there were two interesting calls, but I would have wanted just the explanation of what New York said, what the booth review said about the replay. And more than just short of the line to gain, because they didn't mark it just short of the line to gain. They marked it a yard away from the line to gain. But I'd really like to know, is it where he catches it with the forward progress, or is forward progress just when he's touched? And when he was touched, where exactly was he in relation to it? Did he ever have the line to gain with the original catch?

I don't know. I think it would have been interesting. And I'm not convinced they got it wrong. But there was so much in that game and so many people to talk to at the end of it and so much to write that, you know, it was what it was. So I, you know. But I'm- You're right.

You're right. I mean, looking back, you know, anybody in that, no, nobody asked Dan Quinn in the press conference. I don't think they did. Not until yesterday. No. No. But, you know, if the team was outraged, I've seen coaches bring them up without being prompt. He's not going. Do you think Quinn's one of those guys? If he was pissed off enough, I think he's a passionate guy.

I think if they thought they got robbed of the game at the end, yeah. I think it would have been one of the first three or four things out of his mouth. Okay, but let me just say, it wasn't clear, that they got robbed. In fact, they may not have gotten robbed. I think it was that close. And he, because it's not a challengeable play, it's final two minutes. It's a booth review. They told him what he told us yesterday, which is they said it was short of the line to game, that it went to booth, went to New York, and they came back and said it was short of the line to game. The one play, correct me if I'm wrong, because you were in the press conference, and I just read the transcript.

They did, somebody did ask about the Najee Harris fumble, which Johnny Newton recovered on the play. It was a third and one where Harris got hurt because on TV that looked totally worth challenging. But he, I think he said that they didn't have an angle that they thought would overturn the call in the field. And that's fine. You know, at least they were looking to challenge it. They were interested in challenging. Remember, they got this guy from the league office, Dave Garty, up in the booth. He's handling a lot of this stuff for them.

I think that's true. I'm not 100%. You know what would have made it a lot easier? What? If Zach Kurtz just started getting some yards after catch. He's not going to. That's not what he is at 36 years old or whatever he is now, 35 years old. He's – let me – you know, I've heard a lot of this in the last couple of days,

including from a really good friend of mine. He's like, they got to get Senate out into the field. Ertz can't do it anymore. I'm like, you're wrong. Ertz has become a very reliable route runner for Jaden Daniels. I don't like the drops. He had a bit. That's obvious.

I know that. But to your point and to my friend's point, I'm surprised that we're not seeing more of Senate because Senate looks like much more of a yard. after catch tight end. And I'm excited to see him when they finally feel comfortable enough to put him out there a lot. And Ertz has had, you know, has had some drops. He had a massive drop in Sunday's game. There were four to five drops, period, in the game.

And he's had drops already this year. But he's also had some big-time snags and been kind of a big, reliable target for, for Jaden. I don't think Zach Ertz has played poorly. this year. In fact, I'm going to check something out real quickly because I am curious as to where, what kind of... Okay, while you're checking that out, I got a question. Yes, fire away. What was your, what, okay, 24 hours late, after the game, what was your emotion? I was, I talked about this, when I did my post game in yesterday. It was, I thought, a fucking thrilling game. I was disappointed and pissed at the end because I thought they had.

had a legitimate chance to win the game. And I really wanted to see Jaden with the ball one more time. 55 seconds left, no timeouts. Maybe they punted inside the 20-yard line. I think he would have gone down and we would have had a field goal attempt to win the game, to win at 30 to 28. Look, they were on the move before the fourth and nine that he threw to Ertz that was called short of the line to game.

And look, there was a big play on that drive where he threw to Noah Brown. It wasn't the perfect throws. little bit underthrown, but it was a good enough ball to catch that would have put him in field goal range. The QB draw play at the two-minute warning was, I love the call. It just barely missed being a massive play. So I think I was really, I really wanted to see so glad that they didn't pick up the first down running the football. And then when they got to fourth and one, I'm like, well, you just had, you can't move. Because I knew Pittsburgh would stay out there, try to draw them off sides after the last time out.

And that in the moment was really disappointing because I so wanted to see Jaden one more time. Let me ask you real quickly before I tell you what the next thought was. Did you think if they got the ball back, he would have taken him down there and gotten him in field goal range? I think absolutely I did. 100% at this point, yes. Right. I think he would have. I mean, by the way, that's really telling, very telling that you said that.

It's one thing me saying that. It's another thing you saying that. That's what he has brought to the, and it's not like he's led a lot of game-winning drives. I mean, he did in the New York game in week two, delivered at the end, but that wasn't a game winner in the Cincinnati game. Obviously, the Hail Mary. But yeah, I felt like he would have done it too.

But here's the thing that I was thinking throughout the game that I felt really good about and encouraged about. after the game, and even more so after I watched the game again, that was by far in a way the best defensive performance of the season. I'm not talking about the games against the Panthers or the Browns, you know, the terrible teams that they have faced on off, you know, just bad teams. Given what Pittsburgh was coming in, you know, basically ramming the ball down people's throats for, you know, a couple of games in a row. Nodjay Harris averaging over six yards per carry. I said on Friday, I, you know, I think this is going to be, you're going to have

to outscore them. I just can't see the defense getting off the field enough. It concerns me. I picked Washington to win 27 to 26. What did you pick? I forget what you picked. You picked Pittsburgh. I pick Washington to I think 34 to 30. Yeah, 3430. Exactly. So we both had kind of the right idea in terms of a super close game. But I was really encouraged to see them. Now, they had to sell out to do it. And that's risky because when you sell out to stop the run, which they did, you know, yeah, it was 140 yards on 43 carries.

The Steelers average, I mean, Najee Harris averaged two and a half yards per carry. That's dominant against the run, their best running back. But when you do that, you are vulnerable to the deep ball because you got to play pretty much man coverage behind it. I mean, they were in single high man coverage with eight in the box. I mean, I think I said this on the pod yesterday. I counted a few times in the first half. We're literally nine players were basically in the box to stop the run.

And that's what they did against Baltimore, remember? And, you know, Lamar torched them through the air. Well, Russell did it to them on some big. place and he made some great throws. And Washington's not good enough on the back end right now to say, you know what, we can sell out to stop the run, but we're okay. No, it's a pick-your-poison situation. I think they picked the right poison to snuff out, but they were vulnerable on the back end and to your hamstring measurement. Hopefully Marciaun Latimore can help out because they play a team that's similar, if not much better, as a running team and a deep ball throwing team.

Oh, my gosh. Yes. Absolutely, when it comes to deep ball there. But I felt good about that. I don't know if it's a one-game aberration. I mean, there were players in the game. I thought Duran had his best game. I think the safeties are excellent.

I think Chin and Kwan Martin are actually really good. safeties. I love either one of them in the box against the run. Louvo is a really good player. Wagner is super steady. I like Armstrong. I'm surprised at how much I like Armstrong after watching him in Dallas. I didn't think I'd like him that much. But yeah, encouraged. So disappointed. Disappointed in the moment because I wanted another shot, because I think they would have won the game. It was a winnable game. It was a winnable game. Yeah, they made mistakes. Pittsburgh did too, but not as many. But you know, you lose by one point to a good team on the road for all intents and purposes. A team that was coming off a buy, had gotten healthy,

and your team was banged up along the offensive line. It was missing Brian Robinson, Jr. That's a great observation. I think they needed a much more Sunday than maybe they would have in Baltimore, because I don't think they ever intended to try to run the football again. against the Ravens. I think they wanted to run it more or try to against Pittsburgh. Because if you don't run the ball against Pittsburgh and T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith and company have a chance to get you into, you know, it's not a good situation to be in. Right. But that's why I actually thought Rodriguez might get more opportunities. But, you know,

seven and three. Seven and three, one point loss to Pittsburgh. Okay, so seven-point loss on the road to Baltimore in a competitive game. Two playoff teams. You know, the opener is Tampa that's like, you know, five years ago at this point. And you have a perfect setup. It's right there in front of you. I think Jaden certainly wasn't the biggest problem, nowhere near it. He had a C-plus game, he had a C-plus game.

He had barely above-average game. The problem is we're comparing. it to all of his great games. But he made some big-time throws. He had four or five balls dropped on him that were big in the game. Here's what he didn't do. He didn't throw an interception again. He manages the game well.

He, you know, he dirted a couple of those screen passes that had no chance. He didn't throw a pick. He didn't put the ball into harm's way, really. He just missed a couple that were big-time misses, you know, that could have potentially changed the outcome of the game. But look, let's talk about Philadelphia because... Wait, let's say it was a disappointing but not discouraging loss. Yes, I railed on the people that said this was a bad loss.

I had a lot of people say, this is a terrible loss. You know, your boy wasn't good. You can't lose games like this. I'm like, no, no, no, wait a minute, wait a minute. Okay. I've been around here for a long time. So of you, we know what bad losses look like. A one-point loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in a great football game,

entertaining football game, as I described, them coming off by road game, the whole thing, is not a bad loss. Just in recent years. When they got blown out by the Bears last year on Thursday night, football. When they were a favorite, there were six and a half point favorite. That's a bad loss. When they lost to the Browns and Rivera didn't even know they could be eliminated, that's a bad loss. Those are bad losses. I understand the sentiment and maybe it's more painful than bad because they were winning the game. Yeah, by 10. You know? Yeah. Yes. So I understand when they

say bad loss. I know. It's probably just, you know, it's language. It's semantics. It's whatever you would use to describe, you know. To me, a bad loss. The problem is some described it as a bad loss as, clearly this team isn't what we thought.

Clearly the quarterback isn't what we thought. I mean, stop, stop, okay? You know, this team is a good team, who, by the way, might lose. Thursday night at Philadelphia. And still be a good team. You know, maybe not the best team in the NFC. I think Detroit is that.

If you told me right now to take just a big step back, we'll do this in the next segment in terms of where they are right now in the NFC. All right, because there's a team in the NFC that Washington beat that has been incredibly impressive here recently. So we'll continue to talk some football. We'll do it right after these. words from a few of our sponsors. Euro step around that hot take and make a play today with Robin Hood. With a 3% boost on your

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You'll find out which windows actually need to be replaced. Call them if you've been thinking about new windows and just give them a chance. 86690 Nation, windownation.com. So, Tommy, the NFC, like, I can definitely see Washington losing Thursday night. Philadelphia is playing good football. They're a more talented team. They're a more experienced team. You know, this two-game set was, like, perfect to give us a real tell,

a real indication of, are they just a playoff team that gets in as a wildcar team, or are they a legitimate contender? You know, things can change another six games after this one on Thursday night. But I think Pittsburgh and Philadelphia back-to-back are really good measuring stick games. Philadelphia is more talented. It's on the road. They could lose this game Thursday night. Here's what's not going to happen.

Remember we talked about last Thursday? What if they win these two? And you and I got carried away about basically, you know, it's New Orleans. And we're making our New Orleans plans. Detroit right now seems to be the team that you see every once in a while just from start to finish. You know, even when they don't play well, they figure it out. Jared Goff threw five interceptions against Houston on Sunday night. They were down 16 and they came back and won that game against a good team on the road.

I think Detroit's the best team in the conference. And if you said, who's the number one challenger to Detroit? That's where it gets interesting. If I weren't so into what I've been watching with Jaden in this offense all year, I think I would probably knock Washington down a couple of pegs. I don't think they're Philadelphia, but I also don't trust Nick Siriani anywhere near the level that I trust Dan Quinn. I think Minnesota is really good on defense. Sam Darnold turns the ball over way too much.

Green Bay is a really good team. Jordan Love just hasn't been able to stay healthy. I still think the number one challenger to the Detroit Lions, the San Francisco 49ers. And they didn't even run the ball Sunday at Tampa, and they still found a way to win. Their kicker missed three field goals, and they still won the game. I still think they'll get it together and be the significant challenger to Detroit in January. I'll tell you what, Arizona, right now, Tommy, is looking like Washington's most impressive win of the year. Yeah, isn't that amazing?

Amazing. I would have never guessed it. I mean, Kyler Murray is all the sudden entered actually the periphery of the MVP discussion. He's been great. He was terrible against us. You know, he didn't run. You know, we said Jaden didn't run. That was a Pittsburgh thing.

Well, he didn't run. I don't think it was a Washington thing. But anyway, I would say the number one challenger to Detroit is San Francisco. I still believe that. I don't trust Siriani enough. I think Washington is definitely in the conversation, for sure. I think Green Bay is probably in the conversation.

Yes. As long as short love is healthy. He's got to be healthy. You know, I don't trust Sam Darnold. I always liked Sam Darnold, and I still think he's a decent quarterback, but God, he turns the ball over a lot, and he holds on to it a lot. I don't think Atlanta is a legitimate challenger to Detroit. They're terrible on defense.

Their kicker missed three field goals on Sunday, and they lost against New Orleans. I would say after Detroit, it's San Francisco, and then Green Bay, Philly, and Washington are in the next group behind those two. What do you say? You know, I hate to agree with you about too many things, but I think you're right in the way you've got them bunched up and the order in which they are. You know, it's amazing that when I left Shelley Sunday night, the Lions were getting their ass kicked.

I woke up the next morning I thought there was something wrong on my TV I couldn't believe the score so the Lions clearly have something special going on and Dan Campbell everyone loves watching Dan Campbell with those post-game speeches that he does I think the 49ers have too much talent

to say that they wouldn't be the next dangerous team and then Yeah, Green Bay, Philly, and the commanders. I think you're right. What can I say? Yeah, I mean, Philly's the favorite, again, to win the division. Let me pull up the latest odds here so I can give them to you from MyBooky.

Go to MyBooky.orgie. Use my promo code Kevin D.C. And MyBooky will give you a 100% cash bonus on your initial deposit. Here are the NFC updated division odds. Yeah, Philly's now minus 210 to win the division. Washington at plus 151. And, you know, just a couple of weeks ago, Washington had actually become the slight favorite. But now Philly, you know, a two to one favorite to win the division.

I think if I were the odds makers, I'd probably call it that way. But here's the thing with Philadelphia. If we're being as objective as I can be, I don't trust Nick Siriani. Quinn's a much better coach. Siriani leaves more points or takes more points off the board than in any coach I can ever remember because he's just a dunce. I also look at Philadelphia and, okay, they've won five in a row,

but they barely beat Cleveland. They smoked the Giants and they smoke the Giants, and they smoke the Bengals, and that's their most impressive win. They hung on for Deer Life to beat Jacksonville, and they crushed a terrible Dallas team right now. I mean, the Cowboys are laughable right now. They might be the worst team in the league right now. That's not an exaggeration. Without Dak Prescott, they might be the worst team in the NFL.

Sorry, Clay, but it's true. And by the way, if I were a cowboy fan at this point, it's too early to do this, but you want to end up with the highest draft pick possible. Not for quarterback, but for Travis Hunter, who will, I think, be the number one player overall. Yeah, I mean, let me just see. Let me see what the NFC odds are, because Washington's probably dropped in those as well.

The NFC odds overall. Okay, Detroit's, Detroit is plus 191. then the Eagles and 49ers both at plus 480. Then it's the Vikings at plus 990. Then the Packers at plus 1,000. And then Washington at plus 1125. So Washington is 11 to 1 to win the NFC championship. I think that's fair.

I would actually, that's where I would have them. Atlanta's just slightly behind them. Arizona's further back. Arizona is the division leader in the NFC West. You know what's interesting here? Zach Berman, who has been a long time meat reporter for the Eagles. Yep. I've had him on the show, I think.

Yeah. Okay. He said that the last time both of these teams had records of more than one game above 500 and entering a game against each other? Yeah, 1996. November 26, 2000. wait 2000

that's what he said 2000 oh my god wait a minute he might be right because that was McNabb that was Brad McHawson Jeff George was the quarterback for water Oh George had replaced him at that point

so yesterday I went back and did very quick research because I thought to myself you know we've played the Giants, as recently as 22, in kind of a later season big game. It was that Sunday night game that they lost at home. And that was basically for a wild card spot for all intents and purposes.

They played the Cowboys in 2012 at the end of the year. In 2016, on Thanksgiving Day, the Cowboys were 9 and 1, and Washington was 6.3 in 1. That is the best aggregate record of, you know, a division matchup, you know, post-November 1st that Washington, had during the entire Snyder era was that Thanksgiving game in 2016. You know, Dak Prescott and the Cowboys were 9-1. Washington had just absolutely blown out the Packers on Sunday night football, and they were 6'3-1. But I went and said, okay, so here's the game. What were the records?

The records were 8 and 4. 8 and 4 versus 7 and 4. 8 and 4. and four, that's 15 and 8. Because I went, I, I, I said, they haven't played Philadelphia in a game late in the season or just from November, December, January, where both teams were really good at the same time. And I went back to 1996 when both teams were seven and three and played each other in mid-November. but yeah this was later in the season and Washington was tanking at that point you know the whole thing was about to implode remember it was the next week that Norv got fired so maybe what who's the guy that you said put this out? Jack Furman yeah I've had Zach on the show before yeah good job Zach that's that's better than my 96 you know but but again it's

It didn't feel this big. This is November, you know, the game will be played on what? November 14th. November 14th. Yeah. And 7 and 2, 7 and 3 for first place in the division. That game... A prime time game.

Yeah. That game, Washington, you know, they were 7 and 4 and the Eagles were 7 and 4. That was McNabb. I remember that game. Washington had a chance to... to win that game. And that was another one of those Eddie Murray field goal kicker games in which

he missed a big field goal at the end. And then the next week he missed a couple of field goals against the Giants and Norv got fired. And then we had Terry, as Dion called him, Terry Robbinski took over as the head coach. Okay, good for Zach. He found he found the one that I clearly glossed over. But 96, speaking of 96, that game, when both teams were 7 and 3,

Gus Ferrat was the quarterback, and Gus was on the radio show with me today. Now, he was also on the podcast a few weeks back. Gus is such a good guy. He's a good guest. He pays attention to the NFL, pays attention to Washington, but if you want to listen to Gus on the radio show, the Team 980. So, look, netting it out. Gus played for 14 seasons in the NFL.

Very impressive career, and I think he had like 114 touchdown passes. 15, he played. 15 seasons, seven different teams. Played for some really interesting, you know, he played for, he played for Norv, obviously here. He played for Nick Sabin in Miami. And by the way, Dan Quinn was on that staff. He's known Dan forever, which is, something I want to talk to you about, your column from after your sit down with Dan Quinn.

But did we solve the NFC in its current state? Detroit, San Francisco, and then I've got Washington there with Philly in Green Bay. And, you know, tomorrow night will tell us a lot, Thursday night will tell us a lot. I trust Quinn more than Siriani. And I think I trust Jaden Daniels more than Jalen Hertz. How about that? Yes, I would agree. But we don't have Seguan Barclay. Here's who we may not have either. Marshawn Latimore, who did not practice again today.

I'm just seeing that. It had to be a walkthrough today. I would think, Scott. Let's see if they put an injury. Yeah, Marshawn Latimore. Austin Seibert didn't practice today. Nick Ballore didn't practice. practice today? Okay. So I have a feeling that we're not going to see Lattimore Thursday night.

That's bad. Jameson Crowder, Quinn said, Quinn said today, Jameson Crowder's IR practice window has not been opened up yet. Another punt returner option whenever he does rejoin the roster. You know, Quinn said yesterday he's going to keep Zakias back there on punts. I saw that. Yeah. It's a fine line a coach has to walk. Yeah. Between not sending a message of giving up on a player maybe prematurely and what that would mean to the player and the team or when it is the right time to pull a trigger.

You're right about that. You are right about that. You know, I was reading about Kyle Shanahan and the issue with the kicker, Debo Samuel went after him on the sideline in Tampa. Saw that. And the snapper. The same thing happened in Atlanta without the sideline theatrics, but their very reliable kicker, Koo, missed three field goals in an indoor game in New Orleans

on Sunday. And you read, when you read what some of these coaches say about that, it's like, look, you know, you can go to the numbers all you want. This has been a phenomenal, you know, this has been the year. of the field goal, right? The long field goal in particular. And the percentages are up, et cetera. So in this day and age, when a kicker misses three field goals in a game, you know, I think it was Kyle who said, it was either Kyle or Rahim Morris who said, you know, you can go with the numbers, you know, you can go with all of that, but you also have to go with what you know the person is

and whether or not you trust the player. And, you know, I think it was Kyle said, I trust the player. It may have been Morris actually on the kicker coup. That's where Quinn is with Zekees. He trusts the player. He trusts that Sunday was a left-footed punter where maybe the hang time was a bit higher or longer and the ball flight was a little bit different and the wind was swirling apparently on two of his, on the two punts. I would just, you know, I would say that's great and I want to give him a chance because he's been a good player for them and he's a guy they love in the locker room, but he also dropped one against the bears and recovered it. He also bobbled one against the Giants. Those are the last three games. He's had a difficult time catching punts.

And this is not a job where you can just be almost perfect. Like, you know, he gets it eight out of ten times. He catches it cleanly. That's not the job. He's 80%. I mean, you can't No, you have to be 100% or you can't be back there. You know, so... When you make a mistake, when you don't catch it, it's an overwhelming impact. Incredible impact. I mean, Pittsburgh got on the, you know, took a 14 to 7 lead because of it. They won by a point.

You know, they had, you know, we were gifted one too by that fake punt drop. The guy was wide open. Oh, my God. You know, we were gifted one with a clear safety with a holding penalty in the end zone on T.J. Watt on the ball that Jaden missed to McCaffrey. McCaffrey's the one, Tommy. He's going to be the guy that ends up being the number two pass catcher to Terry on this team. I feel it. Well, if that's the case, it'd be a good thing.

the time to start. I know. Because no doubt Jaden has a real trust in Noah Brown, and I think Noah Brown's been really good for them. I do. Yeah, yeah. But McCaffrey seems to, in his limited snaps, get open a lot. He really does. All right. You met with Dan Quinn last week, and you wrote a column about Dan Quinn. We'll talk about that and other things to finish up the show right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Is there anything better when you're a football fan than this time of year? It seems like there are games on around the clock. It's a changing time of year.

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slash Kevin. That's a free inspection and up to 30% off at L-EA-Filter.com slash Kevin. See Representative for warranty details. All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelly's. Well, after the game Sunday, I headed down to Shelly's back room for my post-game smoke at 1331 F-Strees. Northwest, just a short drive from Northwest Stadium. And, you know, I had a beer. I had my usual Sierra Nevada draft beer, you know, because it wasn't my team that lost.

You know, I pointed out a thousand times, except for how it affects my story. I don't care if they win or lose. But I was thinking there were some commanders fans there, clearly. And I couldn't tell what they were drinking, but they weren't drinking beer. so they were clearly drinking something a little bit harder, which I could certainly understand. You know, I think in a situation like Sunday's game, if you're looking for some solace at shelley,

if you're going to go for something maybe a little bit harder, maybe like a blended scotch whiskey. Do you like scotch whiskey? Yeah, I'll drink some scotch whiskey. I prefer when it comes to liquor. I prefer vodka. I'm more of a vodka drinker when I'm drinking liquor, but yeah.

I certainly will drink. I'll drink a really good Irish whiskey, too. I went to the Jameson distillery when I was in Ireland. That was a fun day. We didn't make it there. Okay. But, you know, and look, I don't know a lot about whiskey, but I understand Johnny Walker's really good, right?

Okay, yep. And I don't even know what all the colors mean, but at Shelly's on their... Black label. It might be the number one. I don't know. I'm not a big Johnny Walker person, but continue. Well, apparently Johnny Walker Black they have. If you go to shelley's Backroom.com, you can see their extensive drink menu.

They have Johnny Walker double black, which I guess is a little bit better than black. Then they have Johnny Walker Blue. That's pretty pricey. That's the one. Johnny Walker Blue, yeah, right. the real good stuff. Then they have Johnny Walker Blue Umami,

which is even more expensive. So, but they have all the, all the Johnny Walk, Johnny Walker Green, Johnny Walker Red, you know, the whole bin, that's just a small part of the whiskey. So, like, you know, if you're looking for something a little bit harder

to either celebrate or, you know, console yourself after a commander's game, Chelsea's has that too. and instead of a celebration cigar, you have a commiseration cigar. Shelley's back room, 1331 F Street, Northwest, in Washington. I'll tell you what, man, that whiskey distillery and that process of doing it is, that is a passion, man. That is a labor of love.

Takes a long time before you're ready to drink some good whiskey. I did want to mention something real quickly before we talk. about your interview with Coach Dan Quinn. I wanted to just say, you know, John Brown, long-time owner of R.J. Bentley's, Bentley's on Route 1 in College Park. He passed away over the weekend. I've known John for a long time. He was a lovely person, such a great, you know, Maryland guy. And Bentley's is legendary for all of us who are Terps. And I spent a lot of time. at Bentley's more so after leaving Maryland because Bentley's was always kind of the bar for maybe, you know, the older crowd, whereas the Voo, which was basically next door, was for students.

Not that Bentley's wasn't for students, it was. And it became even more popular. John opened that bar in 1978. So I was there in the mid to late 80s. So you're talking about, you know, he, it was still relatively new. I worked Tommy at so many different restaurants. I think I've told you this before. I waited tables. I bartended. I worked briefly at Bentley's, but I actually worked for a while

at 94th Air Squadron in College Park when I was out there. I don't even know if that still exists. I think we've talked about this before. Worked at a lot of different places around town. But anyway, John was a legend. He was an absolute legend. He was such a nice person. So many great memories in

recent years in particular of being out there before Maryland games or at, you know, at Bentley's after games, seeing John at road games on the road, you know, at a Sweet 16 or whatever. But really, really super, super guy. And he passed away over the weekend. And I know that a lot of Maryland people are hurting. I know Gary and a lot of the people that have known John forever are truly sad. So rest. piece. All right. So tell me about getting together with Dan Quinn last week. Well, with Friday, you know, late morning after they had a brief practice and, you know, he did his press conference and then in the media annex, the building where the media are, he sat down with

me for not very long because, look, this is this turn of the scene. season, and they're preparing for a game. So, you know, he hasn't do a lot of one-on-one interviews during the season. But he gave me 10 minutes because I wanted to talk about one of his passions, and that's boxing. Yeah. It turns out that Dan Quinn works out with a former local fighting favorite named Jimmy Lang.

Sure. Jimmy Lang, I covered Jimmy for much of his career. he fought some wars in places like Eagle Bank Arena and Michael 8th Avenue up in Glenn Bernie and the ABC Auditorium in Annandale. When the local boxing team was very lively, Jimmy Lang was a big part of it. And I told Dan he was a warrior in the ring.

I mean, you got your money's worse in a Jimmy Lang fight. and Dan has had been a boxing fan, he said, since growing up in Jersey and watching Hagler Hearns for the first time. That was the fight that got him. That's where he fell in love. And he became a huge Marvin Hagler fan after that and watched all of his fights. And was in love with the whole four kings of that decade, Duran, Ray Leonard, Hagler, and Tommy Hurd. you know that that kind of dominated that thing. And he goes to live boxing.

He said every stop he's been at as a coach, he told he made a point to go to see live fighting. He used to go to the Garden when he was on the Jets squad, and he saw Miguel Koto fight at the Garden a couple of times, which was quite the experience because Koto is a huge Puerto Rican hero, and you get a big Puerto Rican crowd at the Garden, very passionate crowd for that. And he said he's hoping to go to, you know, some local fight shows around here.

It's just not that many anymore, like it used to be. There aren't, Tommy, nowhere, right? No, there's, you know, sometimes at the MGM, you know, National Harbor, there'll be a boxing show. And there's others from here and there, but it's not as lively as it used to be. but he works out with Jimmy Lang. They don't spar. You know, Jimmy told me that basically he wears the mitts on his hands,

and then he wears a body, you know, padding, and Dan basically throws punches. And, you know, they do working on throwing punches and movement with the feet. And Jimmy and Dan hooked up because Jimmy Lang, in the previous administration, coached at the Washington defensive lineman when Jim Tomasula was there. Right. Jim Tom's going to.

Yeah, he got hooked up with the team and was teaching the defensive line about footwork combined with the hand speed and the handwork. Right. You know, it's all kind of connected. And that's kind of what Dan works on. He likes that for good workout. Jimmy says he's got a pretty good punch. and Dan said he was being kind.

And Dan's thinking of institute the same thing again next year for the linemen to introduce a boxing workout as well with you. So did you like him? No, it was, look, I can understand why people like Dan Quinn. He's very likable guy. Right. Yeah, he is. By the way, speaking of, you know, I thought you were going to say Ron Rivera may have

out with Jimmy Lang. Last night, I was in the car during the Monday night game first half, and I was listening to the Dolphins Rams game. By the way, I did pull that pick back on the smell test, so I would have won, but I didn't. Still a good weekend on the picks. Ron Rivera was calling the game with Kevin Harlan on Westwood One. Really?

I didn't listen. I listened to maybe 50. 20 minutes of it because I was going to pick up dinner actually and I was waiting for it to be ready at the restaurant in which I was picking it up on my way home. But he was good. I thought he was really good. Now, you know, you'd have to listen to more and listen to see, you know, how he, you know, plays off of Harlan. But he was succinct. He was to the point.

I thought the explanations of what, you know, for radio on the plays made a lot of sense to even a layperson. I thought he was really good calling the game. I mean, that's, I don't know why. I mean, the Monday night Westwood, you know, one broadcast is the national broadcast of Monday night football. So I didn't think that Ron Rivera was the number one analyst. I knew Kevin Harlan is number one. I'm pretty sure he was, but I would have thought it was somebody else. Maybe he was subbing for somebody else.

I think Rivera's been doing some stuff on NFL Network. Am I right about that? I think. You don't seem to know. I don't know. Yeah. But I sat there and I'm like, let's see how this goes. Ron was pretty good.

Wasn't bad at all. Maybe that's his gig. Maybe that's his gig. wish ill on him. Everybody that's ever known Ron Rivera around the league likes him. I mean, in his former players, when he actually worked for an organization that was

normal, they loved him in Carolina. He wasn't just the coach here. He was a lot more. We don't have to get into him. But I just, I was thinking as you were talking about the former coaches, I wanted to mention that. All right. What else?

Anything else? I got nothing else for you today, boss. You know, over the weekend, Ovechkin scored two more goals. Like this guy's on a ridiculous pace right now. He's on pace to have, I think, the most goals he's had in any season except for his number one season scoring goals, which was a 65 goal season in season three in his third year. I think he's on pace right now, basically,

to have his second best goal scoring season, and he would at this rate break, Gretzky's record past Gretzky in very early March of this season. Maybe late February. I don't think he's going to keep up this pace. It all depends on his health. Yeah, I don't either. They're pretty good, though.

They're a good team. Yeah, they are. It would appear. They're very good. They beat St. Louis the other night. I read this. I can't say I've come up with this myself, but their power play hasn't been very good, yet they're still scored.

Look at you. At full straight. Look at you. So once their power play gets good, watch out, baby. Yeah. I mean, they beat St. Louis, I think it was over the weekend. I saw 8 to 1. So they obviously have some firepower.

Firepower, Tommy. That's what they have. They need traffic around the net. You need traffic around the net. The Wizards, however, now back on schedule. You know, after that encouraging two-and-two start, they've lost five. in a row. They lost at Houston last night and fell

to 2 and 7. My Terps won. Denton told me something this morning on radio that I didn't know. Maryland, for the first time, was it in 50 years, he said? Won by more than 30 points in their first three games of a season. They play

Marquette Friday night at Xfinity Center. Marquette's ranked 15th in the country. So big game for Maryland Friday night in College Park. perfect night to do it, too. You know, there's no competing interests. There's no college football. There's no NFL. You know, the Ravens and Skins, you know, skins will have played the night before. So, all right. Nice job today. Appreciate your effort. And I will talk to you on Thursday.

We're going to, you know, I told you this. I want to do the show a little bit early on Thursday so we can get it out since there's a game on Friday night you may have heard. Yes, Kevin needs lots of time to get ready to prepare. And it's not that. It's that I want the show to be out there early so people have time to listen to it before the game begins. That's all. They can listen to it on their drive up to Philadelphia. Yeah, and you can, you know, you've got your prediction on Thursday. I'll have a prediction on Thursday rather than Friday.

And it'll be a game day, you know, podcast Thursday. So I'm looking forward to doing it with you. So until then, have a good one, Tom, and everybody else, and I'll be back tomorrow. Logan Paulson is going to join me on the show tomorrow. See you, Tommy. See you, boss. 24-yard field goal attempt by the 44-year-old Eddie Murray and his game. So Murray, who kicked four Monday night at St. Louis, misses here, and Andy Reed's Eagles take over with 1-16 to go.

That's the game. point lead. They have one time out. It's over. 116 to go, one time out. This kick and this miss is a victory for the Philadelphia Eagles.