The Kevin Sheehan Show - Postgame: 28-27 Loss To Steelers

Episode Date: November 11, 2024

Kevin in after the game to recap Washington's 28-27 loss to Pittsburgh. What he liked, didn't like, and a ton more from a wild Steelers-Commanders game.  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. Fourth and a yard with 102 to play. Pittsburgh has their two-timeout, so they may take it all the way down here and see if they can jump and get it free for themselves. And there is a jump.

Washington played into their hands. Wilson celebrating. Steelers are going nuts on the sideline. neutral zone infraction defense number 95. Johnny Newton. The rookie results in the first down. Rookie at Illinois. And that's it.

The Steelers have iced it. Huge mistake there at the end. There were several mistakes today. That one tough to take. The rookie Johnny Newton on a play intended to draw the defense off sides and it worked. No last chance for Jaden. and the offense, 2827 Pittsburgh, in a wild game that had so much to it. Window Nation is the presenting sponsor of this podcast, as always, call them at 86690 Nation.

If you need new windows, you can go towindonation.com as well. Mention my name. They'll come out and give you a free-in-home estimate. So I'm in to do a quick post game after Washington's third loss of the season. And this one's hard to deal with because it was very winnable to get to 8 and 2 prior to their massive matchup on Thursday night in Philadelphia. My game take coming up in about 15 minutes or so, I guess. I wanted to read these emails and tweets to start the show because I just looked at them moments ago. And it sparked a bit of an emotional response, which you will hear. Alan C writes, Kevin, this was a really bad loss.

You can't throw away games like this one. I don't need to hear the good things from your game review. There weren't any. Crush them, Kevin, for giving one away. From James, terrible loss, Kevin. Can't sell sunshine on this one, especially for your boy Daniels. from Dirk, a disastrous loss totally there to be one. We did everything wrong.

Everything wrong? Dirk? Really? A really bad loss, Alan C. writes, James, a terrible loss, a disastrous loss from Dirk. No credit to Pittsburgh guys, seriously? Look, there's no chance you're going to hear me on this show right now or even tomorrow, say that this was a disastrous loss or a really bad loss or what was the other one a terrible loss. I mean, is this your first season watching this team? I've been doing this for years. Trust me,

I know what a really bad loss looks like. This was not one of them, not even close. A disappointing loss, yes. The game was winnable for sure. Lots of missed opportunities, lots of mistakes, especially on offense, the missed opportunities. There was a very controversial call on the spot of the ball. And like most of you, I would guess, I thought Ertz caught the ball at the line to game and should have been given credit for that spot. You know, I'll have more on that play when I get to the game take,

but at the very least, you can say the actual spot in which they put the ball, I didn't even think that was close. They were at least a half yard off on that. spot. Maybe he didn't actually get it if they say that he was trying to make a football move. I thought he got it. I thought it looked like he was there at the mark. Not the line on TV looking at the sticks, but where they marked it was incorrect. But yeah, this was a game that could have easily gone the skins way. You know, it didn't. And losses like this one are always

difficult. But this was not a bad loss. This is the way it happens most of the time in the NFL. You know, it comes down to a few plays. In week two, the Giants' best receiver, Malik Neighbors, dropped a wide open fourth down pass, and that helped give Washington a win, the first one that they had this year. We all know what happened two weeks ago when the Bears' defensive back Stevenson, Tyreek Stevenson, was late to the play. say, and then tipped it nicely into Noah Brown's hands for an all-time finish. NFL games are decided so much of the time by just a few plays, few mistakes, few missed opportunities, like this game. Those aren't bad losses. The bad losses are when you don't have a chance,

or when you play a bad team and you lose one like this one. Pittsburgh's not a bad team. They made some really good plays. Executed at a high level at times. The two touchdown passes are two of the three by Wilson, the first one to pick-ins and the last one to Mike Williams, perfection. You know, a few plays, a few plays and maybe an official's call decided the game today. That's not a disastrous loss. That's not a bad loss. That's not a terrible loss. To be a good team, you need to win more of those than you lose, and so far they have. I was upset at the end because I wanted Jaden to get one more opportunity. I would have had a ton of confidence had Newton not jumped and Pittsburgh had punted and Washington had gotten the ball back with say 55 seconds or so left.

I'm not discouraged at all after this game. I'm more disappointed and upset that they didn't win it because it was winnable, but I'm not discouraged. In fact, I'm more encouraged about what I saw defensively in this game than in any other game they've played this year. I thought if they were going to lose today, and I said this on Friday, it would be primarily because the defense wouldn't be able to get off the field, because it hasn't against the good teams they've played and some of the bad teams they've played. It wasn't the reason that they lost today. The defense actually stepped up nice. in this game. It wasn't perfect, but what stood out most for me is they did a much better job

today against the run, against a team that's been running the football. They held the Steelers to 3.3 yards per carry. Najee Harris, two and a half yards per carry on 21 attempts. That's big time. Harris came into this game averaging 6.1 yards per tote. in the last three games for him. Not today. 21 carries, 53 yards, 2.5 yards per carry. The Steelers had back-to-back 400-yard plus games in which they were averaging 6.5 yards per play coming into this one in their last two games. That's the best they've been offensively since Rafflesberger was there. Today, 312 yards on 75 offensive plays. That's 4.2 yards per play. I mean, I'll emphasize that the defense wasn't perfect, but it was the best they've been all year against a good opponent.

You know, they stacked the line of scrimmage, swarmed on running plays, got pressure on Russell Wilson much of the day, and they came up with two takeaways, the biggest being the Kwan Martin strip of Jalen Warren. down at the two-yard line. Some encouraging signs on defense. They weren't good enough in a few games this year defensively, and they won. Today they were good enough on defense and lost. It's the nature of this long-winding journey, this road of 17 games. It's week to week, and most games don't look exactly alike.

And for sure, there are games every season for every team. where you win when you could have lost and you lost when you could have won. Today was the latter, and it was just one game. And the loss was to an AFC team. They've got two losses of their three to AFC teams. That's actually a good thing. You don't want to lose games, but if you're going to lose games, lose them to AFC teams. It helps you in tiebreaker scenarios down the road.

It certainly doesn't matter today's game as much. as Thursday night's game in Philadelphia does. Philly and Dallas right now with a lead. You'll know the final score, I'm sure, by the time you listen to this. If Philly wins the game, they've got a half-game lead in the division. But 7 and 3, and in second place, if that's where it ends up, is a good spot. 8 and 2 would have been better. It would have been that we can all agree on.

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Prescription products require an online consultation with a health care provider who will determine if a prescription is appropriate. Restrictions apply. See website for full details and important safety information. Washington has converted 11, fourth down attempts this season. 11 of 11. Daniels on fourth and nine delivers it. Wow, it's really close. I think he's going to get it. Catch is made by Erks. And now it's going to come down to the officials and where they spot it.

They're giving it to Pittsburgh short. I don't get that one. I really don't. I thought that he caught the ball in live time and even on replay at the line to gain. I've seen some of the blown up still shots of the catch. I think he catches it and then, you know, gets pushed back away from the line. Now, I guess there's a chance that they rule it as he then tried to make a football move to turn back to get it. And that's why they marked it where they marked it.

I would assume we'll hear something about the call from the pool reporter who interviews the referee. But as of this recording, I don't know what they saw on replay. The spot itself, though, whether it was a first down or not, that was a bad spot. It should have been much closer to where it was. Now, if it's not a first down, who cares, I thought it was. I did. I thought, you know, I was thinking that if that had been caught at the goal line and it had been for a touchdown or no touchdown, I think the nose of the ball would have been close enough even on replay for them to overturn it.

But apparently not. Rate us and review us if you get a chance, especially on Apple and Spotify. It's really helpful for us if you follow the podcast on Apple and Spotify 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 Bookie. Go to MyBooky.ag if you're looking for a huge deposit bonus, because right now, MyBooky will double your bankroll with a 100% deposit bonus right from the jump.

You have to use my promo code, though, Kevin, DC to get access to it for your initial deposit. If you're a returning customer or you're re-uping, you'll get access to the new loyalty rewards program called MyBooky Plus. You'll earn extra cash into your account for just betting. Go to my bookie.ag. Use my promo code, Kevin, D.C. And they'll take good care of you. By the way, Philly and early three and a half point favorite over Washington on Thursday night. All right, the game take, what I liked, what I didn't like, and more.

Let's start with what I liked. The run defense. It was the team's biggest vulnerability, biggest weakness, coming in, and it was far from that today. Pittsburgh rushed for 140 yards, but it took them 43 carries to get there. 3.3 yards per rush. That's an excellent day against anybody in terms of run defense, especially a team that had been running the ball as well as Pittsburgh had coming into this game, and the key, as I mentioned earlier, was stopping Najee Harris. They held them to 53 yards on 21 carries. That's a shutdown of a key running back, of a top level running back.

And by the way, I think a lot of the 53 yards that he got, it was just him willing his way to 53 yards. He's a tough runner. He was averaging, as I mentioned, 6.1 yards per carry in his last three coming in, he averaged 2.5 yards per carry today. Warren had some good runs, but the defense did a really good job of putting the game. mostly on Russell Wilson. They made Russell Wilson have to do it with his arm primarily. And while, you know, he didn't light it up, he made some big time throws and his receivers made some big time catches.

But run defense for the first time this year makes the good list. Next up on this list, I'm just going to put the defense as a whole on the list of things that I liked because there was so much more to like than not like. at least that's the way I feel right now, an hour or so after the game. I thought Pittsburgh had to work really hard to get what they got. They made some really good plays, excellent catches in particular. You know, I mentioned in the open the Steelers had averaged six and a half yards per play in their last few games. 4.2 today.

They had 312 total yards, but on 75 offensive plays. Wow, 75. This was not the low possession game that I predicted. It was a high possession game. Pittsburgh had 13 opportunities with the ball. Washington had 12. For a defense that was not getting off the field nearly enough against the better teams they had played,

how about 13 Pittsburgh drives, four scores, nine that did not end up in scores. That's pretty good. Now, four of the times that they took possession of the ball and scored, they scored touchdowns. All right, the four scores were four touchdowns. But two of them were not necessarily on the defense. I mean, the Zakias Fumbles set Pittsburgh up at Washington's 14, and on their go-ahead drive, late in the game, they started at Washington's 46.

Overall, it was a very good day against the run. They had good pressure that led to three sacks, two more by Fowler Jr. A few excellent plays that stood out on third down. First drive of the game, Payne absolutely demolishes the blocker and stops Cordarell Patterson on a third and two. Sanra still made a really nice play on a third and six. It was a throw to pick-in short of the sticks. He made a great tackle.

The defense had two takeaways, including the big time, forced fumble, stripped. by Juan Martin on Warren down by the goal line. Pittsburgh punted five times. Given all the chances Pittsburgh had with the ball, it was a good day for the defense. Subject to change, but that's the way I feel right now. Some names that stood out, and I'm just going to rip through a few of these names that I jotted down, the safeties are playing very well right now. Quan Martin and Chin are playing well right now. thought Fowler Jr. again, I mean, he's got two more sacks. What does he have? Eight and a half

now for the season, I think. Louvre was all over the field. Man, he's a good player. I mentioned Payne and Sanra still. I thought Butler had a couple of plays when he was in there. It was one of the, if not the, best defensive days of the year considering the opponent. All right, what else is on the good list? How about Terry McClearn? I mean, come on, man. Five catches, 113 yards. point six yards per reception. The catch in the third quarter on the sideline, that's just him, man. Looks hard enough to make the catch for starters. And then to get two feet in, it looks impossible. But he does it all the time. He took that slant 54 yards on the first drive of the third quarter. That was a huge play that led to the 24 to 14 lead. Ten point lead in the third quarter they had.

Things were looking good at that point. Terry was outstanding. McCaffrey is on the list of things that I liked. I know one catch 23 yards, but it could have been so much more. He had that big catch down the seam on third and four on the final drive of the first half, but he was so wide open on I think the opportunity that Jaden would love to have back more than any other. From their own end zone, six minutes to go after the forced fumble by Juan Martin on Warren. He gets huge separation McCaffrey does on a second and eight, and Jaden just missed him. The ball's overthrown. That's a 50-yard plus play more likely than not, and it probably puts the game in position to be put away with points. You know,

their field goal range away from a 30 to 21 lead instead of 27 to 21. He may have been in field goal range after that catch in the yards it would have followed. One thing, just real quickly, about that play, T.J. Watt got held pretty obviously by Trent Scott in the end zone. No call would have been a safety. But Jaden would love to have that throwback, I'm sure. Austin Echler is on the list of things that I like. The numbers may not say that he deserves to be here. 13 carries, 44 yards. Some of those runs, he had no shot. I think there were three tackles for losses right after he was handed the ball. He had one catch for seven yards, but he had some really good runs,

especially on that last drive of the first half, which resulted in his second touchdown run. There was an early third and one on that drive where McNichols was in the backfield as a running back in a three-point stance. It was the oddest look, and they gave it to Echler on the fly sweep. He also had a big day on kickoff returns. He is a weapon on kickoff returns. Average 29 and a half yards per return, had a 39-yarder in the second half that gave them good field position near midfield. Austin Echler is on the list of things that I liked.

Special teams on the list minus two plays. The Zakias Fumble, obviously, and the fake punt, which was dropped by a wide open player that obviously was a mess up special teams-wise. But everything else, I mean, there was no Austin Cybert today, and who cares? Because Zane Gonzalez didn't miss two-for-two on field goals, although they missed a hold on his 41-yarder that would have backed it up 10 yards and made it a 51-yarder. The coverage was really good. There was 1 35-yard return by Warren.

but I thought the coverage for the most part was excellent. Butler had a huge hit on a punt return. Mentioned Echler on his kickoff returns. Tress Way had a 74-yard punt in the game. Unfortunately for him, it ended up being a touchback. I'm sure he didn't anticipate that. But he averaged 55 yards per punt on his busiest day of the year. Six punts for Tressway.

But I think the special teams are contributing big time, although they had a couple of big, you know, they had a couple of bad plays. One didn't cost them. One cost them dearly. That wraps up the list of things that I liked. Let me get to the list of things that I did not like. It starts with just too many mistakes, too many missed opportunities. We'll start with the two biggest mistakes.

Number one is Zikia's fumbling that punt that led to a super short field at Washington's 14-yard line, and it gave Pittsburgh a chance to snag a 14-7 second quarter lead. I wrote down after Zakias bobbled the first punt that he fielded in the game, but he recovered it. I wrote down, he can't catch cleanly enough to be back there. It's been a recurring problem. It has been. He can't be back there. If he can't catch the ball, he can't be back there.

He's actually not a bad punt returner when he gets control of the ball, but it is a disaster waiting to happen. In fact, the next punt he let hit over his head. Now, I think he did the right thing in that spot because it hit down at the five-yard line. But I don't know. Is Jameson Crowder healthy or not? I forget. Should have looked that up.

But they could use Santer still, who they used in the preseason in practices. I think Igben Ogeny can do it. I think Echler can do it. I put Echler back there. That was a massive mistake. The Newton off-sides penalty, obviously a massive mistake. He's played well, too, so that kind of sucked for him. There were key penalties in this game.

Chin had a roughing the passer on a second and ten incomplete pass that helped the Steelers first TD drive. There were two penalties on that drive. St. Juice had a PI on that drive as well. There was a Fowler Jr. off sides that was a key to keeping the Steelers in good down distance on the drive that they scored on to cut the lead to 24 to 21 in the third quarter. The fake punt was obviously a mess up on special teams. Nobody was out there on the gunner. They just got lucky on that play. There were drop passes in this game at least three to four of them. Diami Brown in the end zone, that one didn't hurt them. They scored anyway.

Ertz on a second and 11 in the third quarter. That would have moved the sticks. Instead, they had to kick the field goal two plays later. They gave him, I think, the 27 to 21 lead. Noah Brown had a shot at the one that could have pulled them, would have moved them into field goal range. That was the one prior to the Ertz play on fourth and nine. The ball was a bit underthrown, but still, it's right in his hands.

He's got to make that catch. You know, that would have been field goal range at the Pittsburgh, year line with, you know, time to sort of walk off the Steelers, 30 to 28. Missed opportunities. I mean, Jaden Daniels, he missed some throws, you know. He and the offense were just not in their season-long rhythm to start the game. That final first half drive was spectacular. And then the first drive of the second half. But, you know, it was hit and miss the rest of the way. Here's some of the misses. for Jaden. And I'll get to Jaden's overall grade because he's not on the list of things that I did not like.

He was not the major problem in this game, even though it was probably his worst game since the opener and maybe the worst game of the year. But his misses included first drive of the game, it's third and three, and Zakias runs that little in-and-out pattern, and he just missed him. It was not a good throw. Should have been, you know, an easy pitch catch, and he threw it wide of them, and they had to punt. The Zakias throw when it was 24-21 after the Echler kickoff return, the big kickoff return that got him to near midfield. I'll call this a missed throw versus a drop. Jaden did a good job working the pocket and then he just doesn't lay it in there to a wide open Zakias. It would have been a huge play. Zichias maybe can lay out, maybe can try to one-hand it, but it's not a good throw.

It just isn't. And I would call that more of a miss throw than a drop. The miss to McCaffrey from the end zone is the one more than any other. He'd love to have back. And as mentioned, you know, that was a play in which they got away with a hold in the end zone that would have been a safety. More on Jaden coming up. The play after the missed to Zakias, when he missed Zichias, he actually hit Noah Brown for a first down, but there was a holding penalty on Biotish, who was in and out there during that one stretch. But there were offsetting penalties on that play, but that would have been a big time opportunity field position-wise.

They would have been in scoring range, field goal range for sure, but you had the penalty. What about the first play in terms of missed opportunities of the fourth quarter? Third and 16, they throw to Diami Brown,

who then his job was to throw back to Jaden as they were setting up a wall on the other side of the field. This is the play they ran with McCaffrey in the opener against Tampa, and for whatever reason McCaffrey didn't throw it, and Diami Brown should have thrown it. The wall was set up right when he catches it. He's a left-hander.

He should have thrown it to Jaden, who maybe a little bit too casually turns to sell it, but if he throws it and leads him, this is a third and 16 massive play. I don't know why he didn't throw it. Another missed opportunity, I think, in the game. So, you know, number one on the list of things I didn't like were all of these mistakes and missed opportunities, you know, and they weren't able to overcome them. Also on the list of things that I didn't like, they didn't have any ability to run the football.

You know, I didn't think it hurt them that much in the Baltimore game when they didn't have Brian Robinson, Jr. Because they were so effective in throwing the football. And they decided not to try to run. They tried to run tonight a little bit more. They just weren't successful. They averaged 2.7 yards per rush. You know, Echler was 13 for 44. He got stopped for, I think, three TFLs, 3.4 yards per carry.

They got no rushing yardage out of Jaden. McNichols was four for seven. Rodriguez carried the ball twice for four times. Maybe Rodriguez should have gotten more opportunities at it. This was probably a game in which Brian Robinson, Jr., healthy, may have had more of an impact in the run game, but they couldn't run the football. I thought pass protection struggled at times. There were some injuries up front. Wiley was active but didn't play. So Trent Scott was in there, and he was not great. And then on top of that, Beattish, who was banged up a little bit, you know, he got beat a couple times. He got beat so badly by Hayward on that sack at midfield at the end of the third quarter. You know, they're banged up right now along that offensive line on a short week, not great. Also on the list of things that I didn't like, look, the touchdown to Mike Williams for the go-ahead, 2827, Benjamin St. Juice didn't play it well. I don't think he did. He was way to too soft on a play in which he got beat by Mike Williams.

You know, an older player who just got traded to Pittsburgh, Williams ran right by him, and he was playing 10 yards off. I think it was 10 yards off. It certainly felt like it. You know, the throw and the catch, I mean, Wilson is under duress. They blitzed him. It was a five-man pressure, and he's moving backwards, and he threw a dime. Russell Wilson has played like Russell Wilson used to play for the Steelers the last two and a half games.

That is a hell of a throw. And that is an incredible catch by Mike Williams over the shoulder, Willie May's style. But that's a negative play in coverage, no doubt about it. Also on the list of things I didn't like, red zone defense, you know, three for four. And that was a key for me coming in. Now, you know, the throw to Pickens for the first touchdown against Noah Igben Ogeny was a great throw, great catch. He was in coverage.

The touchdown throw to Friermouth on the third and goal looked like maybe they didn't do a good job of passing off out of the bunch because there was a pick kind of, but it wasn't really a pick because there was no contact. And he's wide open. I thought they should have switched. I think they've done that before in those third and short situations. that was third and goal. If you switch, Friermouth is covered. They didn't switch, and he's wide open. So red zone defense, the Steelers were three for four.

So you don't, you know, they were the 30th ranked red zone offense coming into the game. And I thought that was a key to hold them to field goals instead of touchdowns. And that would have, you know, just one less touchdown. And a field goal would have probably made the difference in the game. All right, I'll finish up with a few other observations, including a grade for Jaden Daniels, 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.

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at Leaffilter.com slash Kevin. That's a free inspection and up to 30% off at L-E-A-Filter.com slash Kevin. See Representative for warranty details. All right, let's finish up with some other observations from the game, and there are several of them that I have, including kind of breaking down Jaden's performance, which we've already started doing, talking about some of the missed throws that he had on the day. This segment of the show brought to you by Window Nation. If you've been thinking about new Windows, all I ask is just give them a chance, because Windonation's offering right now 50% off on all windows and zero percent interest. for five years. There's no risk. They'll come out to your home, give you a free estimate, doesn't cost you a thing. They're not going to obligate you to anything. They're not going to pressure you in to anything. They're going to take good care of you because you're a listener to this show.

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because he was average in the game, maybe slightly above because of some of the plays he did make. It was his worst game of the year, but we're comparing it to greatness so far. He made some plays in this game, guys. The reason they lost this game wasn't him. It was a total team loss, but also a total Pittsburgh win. They made big-time plays, and this was a battle, an intense battle. crazy game, two good teams, you know, that played well at times, at other times, not so well. Jaden was 17 of 34 for 202, 50% completion percentage, worst of the year.

A lot of that was on him with the miss throws that we've already, you know, gone through that we talked about. But there were also three to four drops, which we've talked about. But he had some really good plays too and also made some big, big time throws. The 28-yarder to Terry at the end of the third quarter is a great throw in addition to it being a great catch. You know, the slants to Terry on the first drive of the third quarter that led to a 24-14 lead, great in-timing, quick-release throws. Two throws to Noah Brown, one that got called back by offsetting penalties, and then the throw on their last drive for 14 yards, which was in perfect timing on an out pattern right before the two-minute warning that put him at midfield. I thought he managed the game well. You know, we've heard Quinn saying he plays the position well.

He plays quarterback. He made some good decisions, really good decisions. First of all, by the way, no interceptions again. And he avoided some big negative plays. There were two screens that he just dirted the ball in the general area of Echler, I think it was, to save what would have been huge lost yardage. The plays were not there. He did a really good job on a checkdown to Echler on a third and long to improve field goal position.

That was before the one that made it 27 to 21. It was clearly his least productive running day of the year, five yards on three carries for him. I think it was probably more about Pittsburgh than anything else. That'll take a little bit more time after the fact to see if on any of those read options, he could have kept it. He kept it on one or two of them and did not get much. There was a quarterback draw play that they called on that final drive on the first play after the two-minute warning. So he had the throw to Noah Brown out to midfield.

Then you got to the two-minute warning, and they called a QB draw, designed QB draw. And it was really close, except number 95 for the Steelers. I don't know who that is. He made a great play. And maybe it was a missed block too. But that could have been a huge role. run. I love the idea of the call. They spread it and he ran QB draw because you're at the 50. You get the clock rolling, you know, on that one, and you probably think you're going to get

eight to ten yards and you're starting to approach field goal range. Look, you know, I was on with my good friend Howard Gutman and his son Colin in their post game show that they have on their post game show that they have down in Richmond. And Colin thought that maybe Jaden isn't 100 healthy. And yeah, I think that's possible. I do. You know, it hasn't hurt him since the injury, you know, with respect to, you know, with respect to some running plays and some scrambling opportunities. Look at some of the scrambles he had last week against the Giants. But it's possible that he's not 100% healthy. I think it probably had more to do with Pittsburgh. They're really good up front and Washington was banged up and they struggled, you know, for one of the

first times this year up front at times. C-plus for Jaden, certainly some missed opportunities, the one to McCaffrey that he'd love to have back. But again, you know, they were lucky that they didn't call Trent Scott for a hold. That would have been a safety. There's a play that I still have to go back and check. But there's a play in which it's the third and one stop before the fourth and one that Pittsburgh went for and picked up with Warren. It's the play that Harris got hurt on. He came back into the game. It looked like when he went down,

he wasn't down, and Newton stripped him of the ball or took the ball from him. But that play was not challenged, so I'm assuming, because there was a commercial break there, because Harris got injured on that play. So I'm assuming that they looked at it and didn't think that they could win the challenge. By the way, on the Warren fumble, the strip by Kwan Martin, you could argue that forward progress had been stopped.

But I don't think that it should have been thought of that way, because how many times have we seen the team push guys, and that's what they were trying to do, push him forward into the end zone. They had already pushed him a bit for the first down. And I have a feeling that would have counted. So I'm glad that they did not call that forward progress. He was still fighting, even though he had been temporarily stopped on that play. 11 for 12 on fourth down now. They were 11 for 11, and then after the Earth's play, they're now 11 for 12. And on the Ertz play, we've pretty much talked about it. I just, I need to hear what the explanation after they looked at that on replay was. I definitely don't think the spot was correct.

It's a shame because that was a good throw by Jaden. You know, that's fourth and nine. And he doesn't, you know, I haven't seen the All-22. The checkdown would not have gotten there. Didn't look like there was an opportunity really to scramble. And he threw one in there to Ertz right at the sticks. you know, and maybe Ertz has to push it a bit further, but I thought he pushed it enough. What else do I have on the list of other things? Oh, how about Noah Brown

and all of the defensive pass interference penalties he's drawn this year? Is it my imagination or is it like six or seven? It's not six or seven. It's got to be three or four at this point. He's got to be up there among receivers drawing defensive pass interference calls. Oh, I know what I wanted to say.

I haven't talked about the crowd yet. I'll finish up with that. So my friend John Soup Campbell, one of the all-time great bartenders in town, but also a hell of a college basketball player way back in the day, great golfer as well, he called me right as the game was ending. And he said,

did you think they should have considered a safety instead of punting the ball when they were up 27-21? You know, this was after the miss to McCaffrey, and after, by the way, on the final play, when Jaden on the third down and nine, you know, got pressured and he threw it kind of deep, you know, and avoided any bad plays in the end zone. So, you know, they were at their own three-yard line. All right. So it's fourth and eight from their own three. There's 546 left in the game.

If you take a safety there, it's 27 to 23 and you're able to punt and make Pittsburgh start in much worse field position than where they did start, which was in Washington territory at the 46. I did not think about that in the moment, largely because you typically don't take a safety with basically six minutes left in the game. You know, there's still multiple possession opportunities there. Yeah, Pittsburgh would have ended up with worse field position because they had a good return on that particular punt after Trussway had a pretty decent punt.

I think it was like 56, 57-yard punt. But 27, 23, then if they score, they're up three. Instead of if they score, they're up, you know, they would have, you know, kicked the extra point as they did to go up 28, 27. so a field goal wins. I don't think you do it with that much time left, but definitely you do it if there's much less time. If you're down to like one possession each,

you take the safety at 27, 21 with that, you know, fourth down at your own three-yard line. You 100% do. But I did not think of that with six minutes to go. But still an interesting, you know, strategic, you know, debate. I would say no because there's too much time left. and they didn't, but much less time it would have been a given to take the safety in that spot. All right. Lastly, just the crowd.

I started getting text messages from everybody that was at the game that I know from the moment they entered the parking lot until they entered the stadium. Look, we know what it was. It was a road game today for the home team. It was a road game because of two key factors. Pittsburgh travels better than anybody in the league. Their fan base travels better than anybody in the league. And two, remember, when the schedule came out in May, even though there was excitement over Jaden Daniels,

nobody knew what this season was going to turn out to be. So, you know, the excitement for season tickets and tickets just wasn't there. And so Pittsburgh fans got them. All right? Hopefully next year off of a, I think, will be a playoff season and a ton of excitement with, You know, the rookie of the year, for sure, offensive rookie of the year and the way they've played this year, hopefully we don't see that happen in the future. Pittsburgh's done this in a lot of places. It was, I know, you could hear it on TV, and everybody that was there said it was anywhere from

65, 35, 35, 35, 80, 20, 80, 20. I can't imagine it was 80, 20. But it was a Pittsburgh home game. is no doubt about it. You could hear it on TV. Iron Eagle, Charles Davis, they all talked about it right from the jump. You could see the terrible towels, no matter how many of those burgundy towels were handed out. But again, they're building something here. Not everybody's jump back in yet. Next year, if Pittsburgh were on the home schedule next year, it would not be the same. You know, we'll see what happens with Philly at the end of the year in a big game late December. But I'm not surprised, but I also think that there's a reasonable explanation that

isn't about, oh my God, our fans are terrible. No, their fans are great, and the schedule came out in May and nobody knew what this year would be like. And nobody knew how big this game would be. By the way, I was told by somebody before the game that this was the toughest ticket to get in years, maybe one of the toughest tickets ever for. a skins game. The Virginia Tech USC game that opened up the season in 2004 when USC was ranked number one in the country, Matt Liner was the quarterback, that apparently is the toughest

ticket in the history of FedEx Field. You know, they had to add seats for that game. I think it's the largest crowd ever at FedEx. But I was told that the buildup to this one and because of the Pittsburgh fan base that we're talking about aftermarket prices that were through the roof. And it became one of the hardest tickets in terms of pricing to get in a long time. Well, look, next up is Philadelphia. This is the big one. And it's a big opportunity to go down there and play a team that's playing awfully well right now. I'm not going to assume Philadelphia is going to beat Dallas, although Dallas seems to be running the ball a little bit better.

without Dak Prescott, who is gone for the year, it looks like. He's going to have surgery on that hamstring that was torn from the bone, apparently. But this is going to be showdown number one of two big-time regular season showdowns that will determine more likely than not the division. I mean, there are other games to play, but with seven games to go, two of them will be against Philadelphia. Can't wait for Thursday night. This one was tough to swallow, but it was. It was not a bad loss.

It was not a disastrous loss. This was one of those games in the NFL you get. Like it was wild. And there were mistakes and there were missed opportunities, both teams. And there were breaks that didn't go, you know, Washington's way, especially with that spot on the earth's throw. But they probably got away with a hold that would have been a safety on the possession before that. So, all right.

That's the wrap for today. I will be back tomorrow and we'll have a chance to have heard what Quinn said in the post game and probably what Quinn says in his follow-up presser on Monday. All right, that's it.