The Kevin Sheehan Show - Post-Game: Washington Rolls Past Raiders 41-24

Episode Date: September 22, 2025

Kevin in for a post-game pod following Washington's 41-24 win over the Raiders to move to 2-1 on the season. A ton of impressive performances are highlighted as are the injuries that came fast and furious for a 2nd straight game. Commanders' WR Luke McCaffrey joined Kevin from the Locker Room as well. For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match Want to spruce up your lawn? FastGrowingTrees.com 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. Commander's Raiders is happening as Debo Samuel grafted inside the Washington Five. That splits right off the middle. Debo Samuel across midfield.

Inside the 30. And out he goes. Debo's 69-yard opening kickoff return was a great start to an impressive day. that ended with a pretty easy 41 to 24 win over the Raiders. I'm in for about an hour or less, a postgame podcast, following Washington's win that gets them to 2 and 1 on this season. Windonation is the presenting sponsor, as always, 86690 Nation or windonation.com.

If you've been thinking about new windows, they are the best. After a week of guessing, will Jaden play or won't he? He didn't. We knew it on Friday, but it really didn't matter today. Marcus Marietta was outstanding. The defense was dominant, especially up front. And the special teams had a special day. 245 total return yards, including a 90-yard punt return by rookie Jalen Lane for a touchdown in the third quarter. Let me just take a minute to discuss Lane.

he's legit guys and I think this is just the beginning. He provides something they have not had in a while, a legitimate big play return threat. You know, when they picked him in the draft, they said that they thought he was the best punt returner in the draft. He's making them look good here early in his rookie season. He's got excellent feel, excellent vision. He is super decisive. He makes that cut up field and then he's got legitimate game. breaking speed. We saw signs of it last week against the Packers. Today, he was incredible.

We are a few more big returns away from him to having the opponents start to kick away from him. I think that he is really dangerous as a punt returner. It looks like he could be a major part of the team's success this year. If they have success this year, he is very good. All right, I'm going to to him in more detail and the return yardage in more detail when I get to the game take shortly, the things I liked didn't like and more. But four things to highlight here in the open after putting some of the spotlight here for the last minute on Jalen Lane and even Debo Samuel. Number one, I really loved the plan to take it to the Raiders from the jump physically. They came out and heavy personnel on that first offensive drive, six off.

offensive linemen, and they ran it down the Raiders' throat. They flew around on defense. They hit all day long, both on defense and on special teams. This was a game in which they knew the Raiders were coming in on short rest. Washington had the long rest, the west to east, early start. Quinn and his staff's plan was to take it to the Raiders with muscle. I loved it. Number two, Washington has, without question, one of, if not the best backup quarterback situations in the business. Marcus Marioota always prepared, he's versatile, he fits the system perfectly, the offense doesn't change at all when he's in there. When I said they've got one of the best backup quarterback situations,

it doesn't necessarily mean I mean Marcus Mariota is the best backup quarterback in the league, But everything works with Mario da as the backup. Offense doesn't change. He's a pro. He does a lot of the same things that Jaden does. It's just a great situation. And he was excellent today in his first start as a Washington commander. Remember, he was in the Carolina game last year in relief.

And then, of course, the Dallas season finale in relief. He was sharp. He was quick release, decisive. accurate as a thrower. He looked fast as a runner. He's such a good decision maker in the option and in the RPO game. He won the Heisman Trophy, playing the way he played today. The offense that he's in right now, I think, is the best offense he's been in as a pro. You know, part of that, of course, is because there are a lot of college elements to it, including, you know, the pace that they play at. I'll talk about his day in more detail coming up in the game take, but needless to say,

his grade is going to be very high, and they've got a terrific, you know, quarterback room and quarterback situation with Marcus Mario da back. Number three, something to consider about today's game, and I think you have to consider it, just like you had to consider it in the opener. The Raiders are not very good. I talked about this on Friday show, but they stink up front offensively, which I thought could lead to a big day for the defense against the run and also getting after Gino Smith with the pass rush. And then they're not very good defensively either, except for Max Crosby. Not to mention, they played on Monday night, fly in east, one o'clock kick, Washington rested. This was the perfect setup for Washington after getting wrecked last

week at Lambo. It was a very good NFL situation, a team that was better rested at home against a not so good team traveling east from the West Coast on short rest. So keep in mind that the opponent and the setup today was a very good one. And I'm sure it's one of the reasons that they weren't concerned at all about keeping Jaden out. Now, we learned some things about the Jaden situation, which I'll get to here in a moment. But, you know, like the giant game, the opener, you know, we got to be careful not to come to any great conclusions about today, although I think there are a couple that we can come to. And I think Jalen Lane is a punt returner. And the quarterback situation backup-wise being a good one are two easy ones to.

sort of see. Lastly, there were more injuries today. They are piling up. Terry McLaren, quad. You think people will be talking about Terry McLaren being injured this week? I can't wait to start taking calls on that. And then listen to the injuries to the secondary. Latimore, concussion, Will Harris ankle. That one does not look good. And that would be a big loss, Will Harris. I know that he did not have a great game per Steve Souter's breakdown last week, but I thought he played really well against the Giants. Trey Amos, Caff, Percy Butler, hip. Add all of these to Echler, Wise, Bates, Noah Brown, and of course, Jaden Daniels.

Injuries are piling up. They are a reality, people. They're not an excuse, okay? This is what impacts NFL seasons every year. That's another reason why it's a week-to-week league. You never know who you're going to be playing necessarily week-to-week because of injuries. They did not need an excuse today, but this team is not the deepest team in the league. And, you know, being without multiple starters moving forward against the likes of the Chargers and the Chiefs,

the Eagles twice down the road. We don't have to worry about that one right now. but injuries are a big story right now for this team. I think, you know, Terry's quad, you know, especially if Noah Brown continues to be banged up, Will Harris's injury looked serious. We'll see on that one. Of course, Jaden's health is the most important, despite how well Marcus Mariotta played today. Some of the reporting about Jaden before the game continues to suggest that his knee injury is a sprain,

but not a serious sprain. I personally don't have any clue right now, as of the recording of this podcast, if there's a chance, Jaden might miss next week as well. You know, I don't think he will, but I don't know for sure. Here's some of the reporting from pregame.

This is from Jeremy Fowler, and I think this is probably the one I'm going to read. I have a couple others here. The sideline reporter said, that had this been a playoff game, Jaden could have gone. Jeremy Fowler said, quote, Jaden Daniels is out for this week, and it really wasn't even close,

which begs the question, what is he looking like for week four? So I checked with a source over there who said, quote, it's just too early to tell on that knee sprain. They want to see how he responds, closed quote. I think it was Jay Glazer who had, that really the issue is more of a sprained knee ligament,

which means his lateral mobility is not there yet. It's going to be another Jaden watch all week long starting tomorrow. By the way, I think Quinn will handle it the way he did last week in that he will be evasive. You know, he won't tell us much here early in the week until he has to. Now, if Jaden ends up practicing on Wednesday in preparation for Atlanta, then we probably know he's going to play. But make Atlanta prepare for both guys as long as you can pull it off.

The Falcons are next. They got beat by the Panthers. 30 to nothing. Man, the NFL. A really bad day for Michael Pennix Jr. The worst of his very young career. In fact, they benched him. They brought Kirk in late.

I don't think Raheim Morris is going to go to Cousins in week four. I don't. I think they love Pennix in that organization and believe in him and he's starting his seventh game of his career. Second against Washington. Remember the Sunday night game last year in which Washington clinched a

playoff spot. But next week, the Falcons on the road and you know in this league they're coming off a 30 to nothing loss. A desperate NFL team is a dangerous NFL team and they will get that in the Falcons.

next week. All right, my game take after these words from a few of our sponsors. It can be hard for men to deal with hair loss, even though it's common. Luckily, I'm here to provide you with a solution so you don't even have to talk about it. Through Hymns, you can restore your hair by accessing their personalized hair loss solutions. HIMS provide you with convenient and quality access to a range of hair loss treatments that work all from the comfort of your couch. Hymns makes treating hair loss simple with doctor-trusted options and clinically proven ingredients. Choose from personalized chewable, oral, spray, and serum treatments to find out what works best for you. The process is simple and it's 100% online so there are no uncomfortable

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And Jay LaVeim! Gets past Paul to Potter. He's going to go. all the way for a touchdown. What a day for Jalen Lane. That 90-yard punt return gave Washington a 27-10 lead early in the third quarter. Never felt at any time for me during the course of this game after the first quarter anyway that this was a loseable game, even when it was 10 to 10 in the first half.

Similar to the giant game, but of course the giant game was 14 to 6 in the fourth quarter. this game was over by the time we got to the fourth quarter. Washington was the better team all day long, and I think the much fresher team as well. All right, let's get to my game take. Pay attention. Here's Kevin's Game Take. The game take brought to you by my good friends at MyBooky.

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type in DC Reload, and you'll get the 50% cash bonus. well. The smell test so far one and one after the one o'clock games, the Tampa Bay game, just went final. I got the Jets to get a blocked fuel goal down 2620 in a return for a touchdown. And then Tampa was threatening maybe the end zone for a potential score, two-point conversion for the push. But I got the Jets as a cover in the early window. and then the loss in the early window was Tennessee. So have the Bears pending, have the Giants pending, and the Saints pending in this late window of games today. Yesterday, a four, three, and two day.

I'll tell you what, man. The Browns just beat the Packers 13 to 10. There was some incredible action here as these one o'clock games came to an end. I so wanted to give the Browns out, but there wasn't heavy Green Bay action at minus seven and a half. But I really thought the Browns had a chance with their defense. They are nasty defensively. That may have been a matchup of the two best defensive teams in the NFL, the Packers and the Browns. All right, my bookie is where you should go and go to it by getting to the Kevin Sheeonshow.com,

the Kevin Sheeonshow.com slash my bookie and using my promo code, DC reload. No line yet on the Atlanta game. If there is one at the end of the show, I will give it to you. The look-ahead line was Washington minus one and a half. But that may change. We'll see. All right. Let's get to the things that I liked, didn't like, and a few other observations.

And I'll update this tomorrow after I've had a, a bit longer to digest it. So the list of things that I liked from the game today. And I'm going to start with Marcus Marietta. He did have that fumble on that early read option keeper where he ran 22 yards, leapt into the air and had the ball stripped. But man, did he look sharp from the beginning? The opening touchdown drive on the short field, five plays, five runs,

four by Chris Rodriguez, who got this start. And then on third and goal, a decisive scramble. on a called pass play. That was not a design quarterback draw. I'm pretty sure it wasn't. He saw daylight took off, scored from two yards out to give them a seven to nothing lead. Remember last year when he came in in the Carolina game, like the first couple of plays were really bad plays, and then he settled in. He was settled in from the jump today. He was 15 of 21 for 207 yards, a touchdown, no interceptions. He took one sack, avoided a few others. He took one sack, avoided a few others. saw the field. He got it out quickly when he needed to. He was accurate. He was on time. He had

three balls dropped in this game. He would have been much better than 15 of 21. He had a touchdown by Lane dropped on a play that I still can't believe wasn't called off sides. They clearly missed the off sides on that play to Jalen Lane. Lane's got to haul that in. He is phenomenal as a punt returner, but he is not really established himself yet. as a solid option as a receiver. That was a great throw. He's not Jaden as a runner. Marcus Mariotta isn't, but he's really good as a runner. He has really good vision. He is very decisive, but also a good decision maker, very good as a zone read quarterback, actually a better decision maker as a zone Reed quarterback than Jaden's been.

He is fast, he's quick. You know, when you consider that he basically spent much of the summer with that Achilles tendonitis, I guess I was surprised at how good he looked. Six rushes, 40 yards, he just was outstanding. As a thrower today, the ball's out quickly. He knew where to go with it. You know, against pressure, he knew exactly where to go with it, and that ball was on time and accurate.

Love the way they protected him for the most part. There were a couple of pressures there by Crosby. Cliff realized that protecting the quarterback includes running the football, which they did very well. Marcus Mario dae was an A in this game. You know, the fumble probably knocks him down from an A plus, but he was really, really good. Number two on the list of things that I liked.

the running game by committee. Wow, everybody got involved. You know, they started with the six offensive linemen, not exactly the six that we thought. Brandon Coleman, not active in this game. Chris Paul got the start. Andrew Wiley got the start for Allegretti. And then Trent Scott was in there from the jump. We talked about him being a John Bates eligible sixth offensive lineman, and he was. And they went right after the Raiders on that opening drive. Five runs, Rodriguez was the first to take the ball, not Bill, but everybody got involved. A committee of runners amassed 201 total rushing yards, 174 in the first half. Rodriguez 11 for 39, they kind of started with him, I think, because they were trying to set the tone of being the physical team. And Rodriguez is really the bigger,

stronger, more physical back. I thought that his very first carry of the game, I thought they grabbed his face mask and they missed that. Then you had Kroski Merritt, Bill 8 for 26. God, he had a jump cut in the back field after he was almost dropped for about a 1-yard loss and then cut it up field for 7, 8, 9, something like that. I love his vision and his cut ability. How about McNichols in this game?

60-yard touchdown just ran right through the would-be tackler, broke a 10-10 tie, gave him a 17-10 lead, four for 68 overall. They love him. You know that, right? They've loved him from the jump. You know, when he first got here, I think a lot of us thought just a guy, you know, a jag.

But they loved his work ethic. They loved his smarts. They loved that they could play him in a lot of different situations, obviously on special teams. but it was really like that Arizona game last year when Washington was blowing them out and he came in and he ran the ball real well and it was like everybody looked good that day. He's had some of those days where everybody's looked good.

Maybe today was one of those, but he's going to get used as a running back. This is a committee approach right now. It could change, I guess, but I think McNichols is the one they trust the most on every down. He's certainly going to be in there for Echler's role on third downs, but he's going to be in there on. some first and tens as well. Debo three rushes for 18 yards and then of course Mario Mario is 6 for 40. Overall, 201 yards rushing 6.3 yards per carry, three touchdowns. Where was that last Thursday night? A different situation, of course, last Thursday night. But they came in with

the idea of setting the tone by being the more physical team up front. Again, I think that's probably why Rodriguez started the game and got the most carries. They wanted to beat up on the Raiders early and often because that was a team that probably wasn't super fresh. Yeah. You know, like Jaden, Marioada as a run threat man, boy, does that make it hard on defenses. It's just so hard to defend teams where the quarterback is not only a part of the running game, but is really a threat as part of the running game. I love the diamond formation.

and it just seems like they have so many possibilities out of that. You know, Cliff didn't have a great game last Thursday night. Kingsbury didn't, but he had them ready today. The balance, the emphasis on the run game, you know, that was something the Quinn talked about last week, that they didn't run it enough against Green Bay. But, you know, they lost Bates, and that was kind of the reason score never got out of control at Lambo. But they were more than balanced today. I think it was 32 rushes, 21.

throws. Next on the list, look, the return yards were massive in this game. And this could really be one of those things that develops into something really positive for this team. You know, 245 return yards. Jalen Lane had the 90-yard punt return. Five punt returns in total, 127 yards. So the other four were still for 37 yards, so nine yards a return, you know, just a little bit over nine yards a return. 25.4 was the overall average for Jalen Lane. That'll put them up there in the punt return leaders, you know, top five-ish area. Debo had, you know, the 69-yard kickoff return. I mean, after the big kickoff return he had in Green Bay. This is a line of scrimmage play. This is the way they view it. That's why

Ebo is back there and he is really good at it. You know, McCaffrey had a good return, but he stumbled and it looked like it could have been a bigger return. But 245 return yards in a game is outstanding. They didn't even need all of them. Let's save some of them for next week and the week after. Look, the special teams overall, Tressaway was outstanding. Coverage was great.

You know, another really good day in the punt return coverage area. there were a couple of miscues by Matt Gay. We'll get to those when we get to the list of things that we did not like. Next up on the list of things that I liked, just a lot of explosive plays. They haven't had a ton of them through the first two weeks. Debo's kickoff return, Lane's punt return. We had the McNichols' 60-yard touchdown. We had the 57-yard bomb to Terry, which I think he scored on.

So big explosives today really, really helped out. You know, there are a lot of coaches, you know, especially in college that will say that among the top two or three things that they preach every week is limiting explosive plays and then getting explosive plays. And that often is the difference. Next up on my list, we'll go to the defensive side of the ball. They stopped the run, man. They've been a good run-stopping team through the first three weeks. They have been, even the Green Bay game. I think Jacobs got what he wanted when he needed to get stuff.

But 28 toots today for 93 yards, 3.3 yards per carry. Gentie had a few runs. Man, he's getting hit so much in the backfield. Their offensive line is terrible. But still just 3.7 yards for him per carry, even with a couple of chunk runs. the run stopping was excellent. I thought pain in particular. Up front was great. I thought Lou Vu and Wagner were outstanding. I'll get to a few other defensive players because I want to mention what's next on this list of things that I liked, and that would be the pass rush. They dominated the Raiders offensive front. Dominated it. Five sacks in total, but a ton of pressure. In fact, I don't know how Gino wasn't sacked eight or nine times. He escaped miraculously. Two, three, four. four I thought pressures that were absolutely going to end in sacks. I still can't figure out how he got away.

Wagner had two. Armstrong had one. Hey guys, Doran's Armstrong is a baller. He is a very good player for this team. He's a good pass rusher. He is so versatile. He can play inside. He can play on the edge.

He can drop into coverage. I thought Louvo was outstanding in this game. I thought Wagner was. what pain was. Von Miller got a sack. Again, the Raiders' offensive line is not good. I talked about that on Friday. I'm like, whatever you do, you got a chance in this game, the D-Line does, to have a much better game than they had against Green Bay because of the issues that the Raiders have along their offensive line. I kind of mentioned this already, but next on the list is they just swarmed all day. You know, they just were the more urgent team. They made a lot of

mistakes. I'll get to those. There were big hits. Actually, the Raiders had some big hits, too. Jeremy Reeves, I've got to mention him, man. He came in for Will Harrison. I thought he did a really good job, and Jeremy Reeves is a big hitter. I love the fact that, you know, that when they got the ball back at the end of the first half, unlike, you know, the Green Bay game, they were aggressive here. They started at their own 35-yard line after a punt, and they had no time. mounts left and they went, you know, the big play was the face mask. You know, Mario was about to be sacked and they grabbed his face mask. That ended up giving them the opportunity. But a really, I thought it was a really interesting call when they were at the Vegas 40

with eight seconds to go. And Marioota, you know, they called a run for Marioota for him to get out of bounds. That was the play where Quinn got hit. And by the way, that head hit hard on the ground and he was bloodied up. Hope he's okay. I mean, he certainly didn't need to leave, but that was, that's, I love that when the defense is a little bit drop, you know, dropping back a bit, running the football to the edge to get out of bounds with no timeouts can work. And it was three or four valuable yards. And then Matt Gay punched through a 56-yarder after missing two 50-plus yarders last week.

Good for him, because he had missed. a 37-yard or earlier. They had a 20 to 10 lead at halftime. And yeah, that's, I'm sure I'll have more to add to this, but those are sort of at the top of my good things from the game list. All right, what I did not like. This was a game that still had too many mistakes, especially early. You know, it wasn't clean enough. Drop passes, at least three of them. Lane had one. Debo had one. Terry had. one on a third and long, or second and long maybe, penalties including two different plays where both Tunsell and Connerly Jr. were flagged. There was an out-of-bounds kickoff, there was a fumble, and there were coverage issues in this game again. Look, their D-line dominated, and

Gino Smith, for the most part, did not have any time to throw the football and was running for his life. But, you know, take that first play from scrimmage, bootleg, 45 yards to Jacoby Myers. That looked like a coverage bust. Tucker, number one, was open all day. If the opposing quarterbacks got time, they don't seem to be communicating well through the first three games in the back end. Now, today there were injuries, you know, Amos, Harris, Latimore. They got some injuries. You know, they lost Jonathan Jones last week. This is going to be a big thing.

But I think, you know, this is another kind of reminder about summer conversation that's very, you know, almost declaration like, you know, oh my God, this secondary is going to be so great. Why? Because they're covering, you know, Noah Brown in practice. I mean, Terry wasn't even there. You got to wait until the real game start. And, you know, the Thursday night game, major communication and coverage issues. And there were some coverage issues in this particular game. I think, you know, Overall, there just were some mistakes early, especially. But, you know, Gino got picked off three times last week. He got sacked five times.

A lot of this yardage that he had, he threw for 289, three touchdowns in the game. You know, a lot of that is, you know, coming with the game already decided. But, you know, you got to cover Tucker. You got to cover, you know, some of these guys. Brock Bowers, they kept under wraps for the most part. But, you know, I think number one on my last. list is not a mistake free game for sure and coverage issues. Matt Gaye missed a 37-yard field goal and kicked a ball out of bounds.

Yeah, the 56-yarder was nice. It's great that he got that one and the other kicks that he had in the game, but can't miss 37-yarders. When he missed that, I think everybody was thinking the same thing. Is he done? You know, he redeemed himself, but that kick out of bounds. You don't want teams to start at the 40-yard line. also on the list of things that I didn't like, another game with no takeaways, not one takeaway in three games this year.

They should have had one. Amos had a chance and then the ball popped up into the air and Harris had a chance at it early in the game. They've actually played now in three games with just one turnover in three games total. That was Mario's fumble. Zero takeaways on the season. They didn't need him today. I said going into the game, if they are plus two, it's a route. If it's even they win the game. if it's minus two, it's a close game.

They were minus one, they blew them out for the most part. They got to start taking the ball away. I do think when you play the way they played today, pressure on the quarterback, hitting, you know, gang tackling on guys like Bowers, you're going to get them to come. I do think that they will come. All right, other observations. I already mentioned this, but, you know, I hope Quinn's okay.

That was a big hit that he took from Marioota. he's a tough dude. I didn't put Debo necessarily on the list of things that I liked, but I did like Debo. He had that drop. Man, he is really valuable. He's having a Debo Samuel kind of a year, and he's used in so many different ways. Early in the game, I thought, is Debo going to basically be the guy that they target on every play? Kickoff return.

That Wildcat run was beautiful. It came very up-tempo. The reverse for yards. he recovered the on-sides kick. I probably should have put Debo on the good list. Terry's big play, it should have been a touchdown. How did they rule from, you know, replay review without a challenge that he's down. He wasn't down.

And Quinn had already used a challenge that he had failed on. It was first in gold at that point. Really good move. Terry's got a really good wiggle on that double move. But again, the Raiders are not. a very good team. Luke McCaffrey had his first touchdown today. And by the way, I did get the word about 10 minutes ago. Luke McCaffrey will join me when we're about 15 minutes away from Luke McCaffrey. Maybe not 15 minutes away from the recording of this. For me, I'm about 15 minutes away from

Luke McCaffrey because I'm about to wrap up with the game take. There was a helmet to helmet unnecessary roughness call by number 20 on a hit to Debo's head on a play. Man, that's football. I'm sorry. He's not a receiver who's defenseless. I just don't know how that gets called. It's so hard. A runner, he's lowering his head.

Tackler's coming in. I did make a note that I saw Ben Sinnet as a blocker on a zone read keeper. That may have been a design keeper, even though it had a zone read feel. And I thought he did a good job on a, as a blocker. Oh, Mariotta did a phenomenal job on a play where he side-armed and got rid of the ball and everybody thought it should have been grounding. It was the pressure by Crosby.

He avoided the sack and flicked it. It was a screen that was set up. Chris Myers and Mark Schlewreth missed it. They called a screen, which is why he flicked it in a general direction of lineman, but there was a receiver nearby as well. It was a good job by him. What else do I have? on this. Oh, Mario's intentional grounding late in the game. I actually think it was a bad call. I think

he and Jalen Lane got sort of mixed up. I think he thought Lane was going to break in the direction in which he was throwing it away, perhaps, but I think he thought Lane was going to be in that other area. What else do I have on this? Quinn lost the one challenge on that catch on the sideline. Oh, you know what's interesting with the new kickoff rule is that, you know, last year's kickoff rule, too. And I probably just missed not talking about this last year. But on the Jalen Lane punt return for a touchdown, there was an unless, there was a 15-yard penalty against the Raiders for the runner that went, the kick cover gunner that went out of bounds and didn't come back into bounds quickly enough. And Washington decided to take it on the kick on the extra points. So here are the options, right?

You can take it on the kickoff. That's stupid. Why would you take it on the kickoff? You know, 15 yards, you're trying to hit it into the landing area, the 20 to the 10. And so they can't, you know, if the line moves, maybe actually, as I'm sitting here saying it, I don't know what the rule is if they take it on the kickoff. If they take it on the kickoff, the kick coverage players, they don't move. The kicker would move.

So that's the only thing that would change. So there you go. I just answered it myself. The kicker would go from the 35 to the 50. Would it be easier for him to kick there into the landing zone? Maybe. But the other options are half the distance to the goal, try a two-point conversion, or half the distance to the goal and line up and kick a much shorter PAT.

That's the option they chose. Interesting. You got some choices there. All right. Luke McCaffrey is going to join me from the locker room after these words from a few of our sponsors. This episode is brought to you by prize picks. Guys, how good was this past weekend?

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McCaffrey will take it into the end zone. He didn't necessarily have to to seal it, but when you have that chance, you don't want to patch it up. Washington puts up 40. Mariota to Luke McCaffrey for his first career touchdown. That one came late in the fourth quarter in Washington's 41 to 24 win over the Raiders. Luke's going to jump on with me momentarily. This segment of the show is brought to you by. good friends at Window Nation. If you need new Windows 86690 Nation or Window Nation.com,

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three catches, 56 yards, including that 43-yard touchdown pass from Marcus Mariotta late in the game. You know, you have a lot of fans. A lot of people believe that Luke McCaffrey, can do a lot more on this team as a part of this offense. I know you're modest because I've had you on the show before, but how did it feel to get into the end zone for the first time in your career? Hey, that was awesome. That was a fun team win, kind of on all cylinders.

So great to be out there. You know, I know you have a sense of this, and I've already had you on my show, I think, once or twice, and I know how modest you are. But you did hear the Luke chance, right? You're a favorite of a lot of fans because they see a lot of potential in you. So what was your reaction to that? It was a lot of fun.

I was pretty excited. Sometimes when you're in the moment, you can't help to just be tunnel vision. But that's always exciting. It's so fun. I think we had such a great crowd. The community came out today and it was a blast. Tell me about the week before we got to today. When during the week did you have a.

pretty good sense. Did the offense have a pretty good sense that Marcus was going to be the starting quarterback? I think we kind of prepare every week just whatever we need. You know, Jaden wasn't practicing, so we were preparing with him. And I think he did such a good job this week. And the way that he led, the way that he kind of set the foundation for the week was pretty cool and super grateful for him. And I think the whole team just felt his energy. You're talking about Marcus? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So tell me about it. his game today. I mean, it started quickly. There were big plays,

chunk plays. He was tucking it and running it on some of those read options. Overall, you know, as you were in the game or out of the game, what did you think of Marcus Mariotas' day? Yeah, I think he left off exactly where he practiced this week. And I think we

set the tone just the way that we, you know, approached every single day, every single practice this week. And I think I think it was cool to see that translate to the game. And I think from him personally. That was the biggest note is it was kind of just clean the whole week, and then when that translates to the game, it's kind of how it's supposed to go. Are there any differences between Marcus and Jaden when it comes to kind of personality

and being in the huddle with them? He seemed very similar. Oh, they're very similar. They both bring great energy. They're both, they're both great teammates. They both kind of exude that love for the game that you look for. The game plan doesn't change much at all, right, with Marcus. in there instead of Jaden? No, we have a great a great game plan. I mean, it changes week to week no matter what,

but they're pretty similar skill set type players, so it's a lot of fun. What did you guys, you know, kind of have on the board as the Keys offensively going into the game? I think this week, the biggest thing that we had was just focus on the team. You know, I think

D.C. has a great quote that's the best part about our team is the team. And so just doing your job, doing one thing at a time, and then executing that and execute the highest level you possibly can. And I think it was fun to see that come out. I'm sure there'll be coaching points and things we can learn from. But for the most part, it's exciting when you can get that done. You're back on kickoffs with Debo. You had a kickoff routine. Return today. It looked like there was a bit of an opening. You kind of stumbled a little bit. You've been pretty good on returns.

What happened on that one? Because I thought, here we go again with another big return. turn. Yeah, that one should have been a big return. That was my, that's something that I'm going to want back and film when we go rewatch it. Yeah, I mean, I think you've done a really good job when you've had that opportunity. Talk about the big day for Jalen Lane with that 90-yard punt return. What have you, have you guys kind of sense that something big was coming from him? Yeah, I think on the team side of things, we're always pretty intact. I think when you have a bunch of guys who kind of can fly around and then you combine that with Debo and Jalen back there

who are explosive playmakers. It's a good combination because you kind of get both sides of it. And I think we have that. I think we can continue to, you know, continue to do what we're doing on special teams and a lot of fun. What's the addition of Debo Samuel

meant to this offense? It's been awesome. I think as a fan, it's got to be fun to watch. But as a player, it's exciting. You know, he's explosive. he's consistent, so it's a lot of fun to be out there with him. You know, Luke, I'll say it again. I think there are a lot of people out there that want to see you continue to get more chances,

more opportunities, because they think you'll make them look good if you get those opportunities. How do you view sort of your overall involvement offensively in particular? I don't know. I don't think that's my mentality at all. I love the game. I'm blessed to be out here every day. and I think every single opportunity I get, I'm just trying to do my job at the highest level possible. That's kind of where my mind is. I'm so grateful to just have an opportunity to be here. And so I think things will happen naturally if you just focus on your job and have fun doing it.

I think our team is so special. I think you have a bunch of guys who have that mentality. And when you have that, the combination of it grows into a team, into a community, into a unit. And it's a lot of fun to be a part of that. Noah Brown isn't there. What is the offense missing? You know, I think Noah is such a good player. I think he brings a lot to the table. And it hurt to not have them out there today, but I'm excited for him to get healthy. I know a lot of people are excited about your day. Congratulations on it, Luke. Keep it up.

Can't wait for the next one. Appreciate you doing this. Awesome. Yeah, thank you so much. Luke McCaffrey from the locker room, everybody, following the best day of his. professional career. Three catches, 56 yards, and a touchdown. Yardage-wise, the best day of his career. He did have three catches, I think, in another game or two, but his first touchdown of the year as well. I think we've all said this at some point over the last, you know, 13 months or so. But it does seem like Luke McCaffrey gets open. I know that the touchdown catch was late in the game and the game had already been decided. But it has seemed.

over the last year plus that when he's out there, he gets open. There may be more opportunities coming his way, that's for sure. All right, we are done for the day. I'll be back tomorrow, and we can talk about a wild one o'clock window

in which three games basically came down to kicks that all got blocked. Amazing special teams day in the league. That's for sure. More on that tomorrow. See you. Thank you.