The Kevin Sheehan Show - Redskins Fail Falcons Test

Episode Date: November 5, 2018

What the hell happened? Kevin breaks down the Redskins' 38-14 loss to the Falcons A to Z. JP Finlay (NBC Sports Washington) joins Kevin to talk about the seriousness of all the injuries suffered in the game and whether or not any serious consideration will be given to a quarterback change. Kevin goes Around the NFL spending time on the Rams-Saints, Packers-Pats, and Ravens-Steelers in particular. He finishes up the show with Weekend DVR recapping the Wizards' and Caps' weekends and going back to Saturday's Alabama-LSU game among others. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. Third down and two. They'll fake the run. They'll get into Jones. Looking at the bottom. That was the capper on a great day for the Falcons, a bad day for the Redskins. Good morning, everybody. I'm here. Aaron is here. The show is presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 866.90 Nation or go to Window. Nation.com and tell them we told you to call. Well, Aaron, the retake of the test they failed in New Orleans just over a month ago. That's what I was referring to it last week is, hey, guess what? You failed that test in New Orleans, but we're going to give you a chance to retake the test. It's this Sunday, 1 o'clock.

You've got to be there. You got to have, you've got to be ready. It's not going to be exactly the same test, but a lot of the same stuff will be on it. And they didn't study. No, they didn't study for this one. either. It went poorly. Pretty much the same as it went in New Orleans just over a month ago. A 3814 blowout loss to the Falcons. This one at home or something resembling home, I guess, a lot of Atlanta in that crowd yesterday. Dan Quinn made sure to point that out in the post game press conference.

Oh, I didn't hear that. Oh, yeah. He just, he just, before he took questions, before I take questions, I just wanted to say how great it was to see so many Falcons fans here. It was a true. Brotherhip. I was shocked. That was not a fan base and it has not been a fan base. It has traveled very much. There was a lot of Atlanta in the crowd by some estimates as much as 40% of the crowd. That may be a bit of a reach, but it was too much of it. The defense was shredded. The offense was unable to take advantage of a bad defensive team coming in and they lost their poise in this game with a ton of mistakes. Now, they're still five and three, but they are injured. And the injuries all of a sudden are starting to look like last years, especially along the offensive line.

Let's get to the game take. Pay attention. He's Kevin's Game Take. All right, the good, the bad, and a bunch of other from the loss yesterday. Let's start with the limited amount of good from the game. Tress Way was the player of the game for the Redskins. He was. He's been a weapon all year long and today his punts were spectacular. Yesterday's puns were spectacular. He averaged 49 per punt, no return yardage on the day. He punted well enough and the punt coverage unit covered well enough to force Atlanta to go very long distances to score. And guess what? They did. Their scoring drives traveled 81 yards, 86 yards, 75, 75, 72, and then the last one just 56 yards.

Tressway leads the very short good list. I put Vernon Davis and Mo Harris on this list. Davis seems to be the only guy that Smith really has any rapport with. We've seen it in a couple of earlier games, the Green Bay game. That obviously probably, or more likely than not stems back to the days that they were together in San Francisco. Vernon had five catches, 62 yards, largely responsible for the drive that gave them hope in the third quarter when they cut the lead to 2814. Mo Harris was big on that drive too, catching the first two balls to get things started.

He finished the day with a career high, 10 catches, 124 yards. Even though, let's be fair, several of those catches came at the end when Atlanta was playing soft. in one 15 yarder on a giveaway play at the end of the first half he got right there at the end of the half with one second to go. The one thing about Harris, he's not what you would call a great yak guy. Not a lot of yards after the catch. Also, back to Vernon Davis. One other quick thought on him.

He could have helped his quarterback out a little on that interception. That was a pretty good ball by Smith, I thought. That's your good list. I don't have anything else from the good list. Let's get to the bad list. one on the bad list is that the formula, which had worked so well for three weeks and had created this wonderful dinner and a wonderful entree that was so tasty and they didn't have any of those ingredients this week into the formula. They forgot all of them. Remember, they won three straight

games by running the ball, stopping the run, winning the turnover battle, playing smart, and with poise. Yesterday they couldn't run the ball, they couldn't stop the run. They didn't win the turnover battle, and they committed 10 penalties for 147 yards. Next on the bad list. Their third down defense, Jay Gruden called it a joke. About as bad a day as you can have on third down in this league. Really, very rarely do you see a team go 10 for 13 on the day on third down conversions. That's a wow third down conversion day.

many of them were just very good plays by the opponent, but many of them were defensive breakdowns. The Falcons in the first half were eight for eight on third down and route to 289 yards in the first half and 21 points. Would have been 28, more likely, had they not gotten the interception on that mix-up by Calvin Ridley when he ran the wrong route that led to Dunbar's interception. That was a huge play in the moment. kept the Redskins in the game because it looked like they were about to go down 14-0-0 and then would have eventually been 21-0.

The last conversion of the first half that made it 8 for 8 on third-down conversions in the first half was the touchdown pass on a third and nine to Calvin Ridley. That was a backbreaker in the game. They had a chance the Redskins did to potentially hold them to a field goal attempt or even get off the field completely before halftime, down 14-7. No worse than 17-7, but that touchdown pass on 3rd and 9, the game just seemed like a major uphill task from that point moving forward. Number three on the bad list, it was more than just third-down defense.

It was just a bad day overall for a defense that had played so well for three straight weeks. we said this was another real test to tell us just how far this defense has come. And it is an improved defense, a much improved defense, and it'll continue to get better. They still need some pieces. But with that young talent up front, you've got a defense that's being built here that looks like it could be a very good defense down the road,

but against the Saints and the Falcons, the two teams that could really move the football and really score points. it couldn't hold up. It just didn't. The Falcons are a different animal when you compare them to the Giants, cowboys, and even the Panthers. The skins were, you know, as mentioned,

terrible on third down, but they weren't much better on the other downs either. They allowed 491 yards, a season high 7.7 yards per play, and a season high 6.4 yards per rushing attempt. Atlanta's offense is damn good. Damn good. It is. Steve Sarkesian, like Kyle Shanahan, before him, is an excellent play caller. Number four on the bad list, the injuries. No Trent Williams. We learned after the show on Friday that Trent's gone for a month. He had surgery on the thumb. He's gone for a month.

Crowder and Thompson, they didn't play yesterday. Hopefully you get Crowder back. We'll ask JP Finley about that. Hopefully you'll get Thompson back. We'll ask JP in a few minutes about him as well. But LaValle was lost. Moses was in and out. Jordan Reed had a back and neck injury. Dunbar seemed to be a little bit banged up, but the biggest one might be Brandon Sheriff, who looked like he had something of an issue with his peck.

And those we know from other players over the years can be long injuries. Brandon Sheriff would be a big loss to this team, especially with Trent Williams out for another three games, potentially at minimum. Obviously, these injuries are injuries to watch and be concerned about. We know what happened last year when they lost most of their offensive line in the middle portion of the season, and that was with a quarterback who could drop back and throw it.

Without a running game, Alex Smith can't do it, And if they're missing too many people along the offensive line, you just wonder whether or not they'll be able to stay balanced, be able to run the football against the likes of the Eagles twice, the Texans, the Cowboys, and even the Jags in December. Things could get ugly on offense if they are as injured as it appeared they were at the end of that game on the offensive line. Christian, the rookie, not ready for an NFL game yet.

That was apparent. next thing on the bad list. The penalties and the drops, especially early in the game. The Redskins were very good during their three-game win streak of winning almost every impactful category that mattered, including penalties, not yesterday. 10 for 147 yards. Some may have been bogus calls like the Doxin taunting call. I don't think that was a great call. I don't think he was taunting with the ball spinning.

several of the penalties can be chalked up to lack of poise, the 15-yard unsportsman-like on Morgan Moses for apparently arguing with that referee. I think that was on the play that Sheriff got hurt. You know, that drive in total included 40 yards of penalties. 25 on Moses. I thought the referees missed some calls. I thought Hooper hooked Foster on the Coleman touchdown to start the game.

If you look at that play from the backside, Hooper Hooks Foster. A lot of frustration on Twitter about the calls in the game. A lot of frustration apparently in the locker room about the calls during the game. Zach Brown, Jordan Reed, others upset that some of the picks on Atlanta on defense, when the Redskins were on defense, Atlanta on offense weren't called. Jordan Reed didn't like some of the things that were going on defensively against their offense. but let's be real here. The Redskins didn't lose this game because of officiating.

They were destroyed by Atlanta's offense, start to finish. Next thing on the bad list. No meaningful rush offense at all. Now Atlanta loaded the box a lot, dared the skins to beat them throwing the football against what was a weak and injured secondary coming in. It worked. Adrian Peterson carried it nine times for 17 yards.

The rest of the rush offense came at the end of the half and the end of the game and it was meaningless. For those that want to bitch and complain about Jay getting away from Adrian Peterson, what do you want them to do on first and 20, second and 16 after penalties early in the game? Those penalties on those first two drives really derailed their opportunities to sort of keep pace with Atlanta and keep Matt Ryan off the field. Listen closely.

Adrian Peterson got eight, eight first and ten carries in the game for six yards. Peterson got eight first and ten carries in the game for six total yards. They couldn't run it. They couldn't run it. And especially they had a difficult time running the football when they started to lose their offensive linemen. All right, let me get to all of the other observations from the game. start with the quarterback because it's going to be lengthy today. For all those that love to focus on hollow numbers, because a lot of you did it with the last quarterback over and over again, a lot of

times when it wasn't even true. Yesterday was a true hollow numbers day for the quarterback. He threw for 306 yards, nearly 200 of those yards, coming after the Redskins fell behind 28 to 7. But who cares about the numbers? Did he play well or not? The answer, it's a hard to really determine because the start of the game with the penalties and the drop passes truly impacted the early portion of the game, and none of that was really his fault. With that said, overall, I'd say he did not have much of an impact on the game, though, against an opponent that opposing quarterbacks have torched since the beginning of the year, 29th in the league in yards per pass attempt.

That's what the Falcons defense was coming in. Let's start with Alex Smith's good. He made a very good early throw to Richardson after extending the play on a third and two. And he made some big plays on what I thought, and I tweeted this out right afterwards at halftime, I thought the drive down 14-0 was his best drive of the season, and it was something they had to have. First of all, he hit Vernon Davis on 3rd and 10, or that drive never happens, and the game's probably really out of hand early.

It was a great throw versus the blitz to Vernon Davis on that third and ten. His escape in that long run, that was reminiscent, remember of what he did on a Monday night a year ago against the Redskins at Arrowhead? He was all but dead in the pocket. Somehow he escaped Beasley and Jarrett, who both seemed to have him. He took off, he looked as quick and fast as he has all year. I have no idea why he didn't get out of bounds. He claims that it sort of snuck up on him. Brian Poole did, and he was sort of masked as to where he was,

and Smith was sort of thinking about staying back in or cutting it back. The hit was legal despite Smith having a foot out of bounds before the hit, because he was trying to stay in bounds. The fade to Doxon on that drive was a beauty. That was a drive that he was able to overreact. come bad down in distances, usually a problem for him and this offense. They had a third and 10 on that drive. They had a second and 10 on that drive. They had a second and 11 on that drive. I really do believe. And when it happened, I said that's his biggest and best drive of the season and it just

kept his football team in the game. Now, outside of that drive, I didn't think he was very good. I thought he was antsy at times in the pocket, and I thought he had made improvement on that a week ago against the Giants. I thought he threw inaccurately too much of the time and was really, really fortunate that he wasn't picked off at least three times in this game. Truffant dropped two that were right in his hands. Now, he wasn't helped by anybody, especially early. Doxon's drops, the penalties that got him behind the chains early,

injuries to his offensive line. There were a ton of things working against him. But bottom line, the Falcons defense has been awful all season long, and opposing quarterbacks have feasted on Atlanta's defense. And the Redskins weren't able to feast at all. 14 points were a season low against Atlanta. A couple of the plays specifically that I didn't like. Third drive of the game, he got real happy feet in the pocket,

and he misses Reed on a checkdown. Bad miss. The throw to dockson that should have been picked off by Truffant at the end of the half was a bad throw. There were 10 seconds, the balls at the 50-yard line. They had done a nice job. You know, with the draw and the screen to bibbs to get into position to make one little 10-15-yard throw

and trot your field goal kicker out there to get a field goal before the end of the half, that would have been a nice momentum builder, especially after Ridley had taken that third and nine to the house and you were down 21-7, if they were able to have gotten a field goal there, it would have been big. The ball thrown was a terrible throw. Should have been picked. Truffon dropped it, and then somehow it ended up in Doxon's hands,

but it didn't matter anyway because Moses was called for holding. The play I hated more than any play that Alex Smith was involved in in the game yesterday, They came when they got the ball back at 2814. Now, it's 2814, and your defense has held for a second straight possession, which was very unique in yesterday's game, the defense getting stops. And for a brief moment when they got the ball back and they've got some field position, you're thinking it's early in the fourth quarter. If they can get another one here quickly, now the pressure is on Atlanta to make something happen

up 2821. They faced a third and three at their own 42-yard line. I thought Jay going into that play should have been thinking about two-down territory. You don't want to punt it back. You've got to score on that drive. That's the drive that's going to make it a ball game, 28-21. And on third and three, Smith gets flush from the pocket, heads toward the sideline, and instead of throwing the ball away, he runs out of bounds for a four-yard loss.

That was a terrible play by a guy who should know better. Now, there was a hold on that play. But if you throw that ball away, it's fourth and three, and now you can think about going for fourth and three from your own 42 down 28, 14, early in the fourth quarter. Maybe at fourth and three, perhaps maybe Atlanta takes the holding penalty and you get another shot third and 13. but instead, because Alex didn't unload the pass

and instead carried the ball in his arm out of bounds for a four-yard loss, it's now fourth and seven, and Jay decides to punt it. That was a dumb play by the quarterback. Not throwing the ball away led to a punt which effectively ended any real chance the skins had of getting back into that game. The grade for Alex Smith yesterday was in the C area, you considering the team they were playing it's that's a generous grade against that team you got to

generate more than 14 points on the day next thing on my list of just other observations josh norman apparently he said to gregg minosky i want julio jones in this game and guess what they gave him julio jones for a lot of the game even when jones went to the slot josh norman was covering Julio Jones, and he was unsuccessful much of the time. Jones was a beast in this game, caught seven balls for 121 yards. First touchdown, we played that coming in to the show. That was his first touchdown since week 12 of last year. The P.I. on Norman against Jones on the 3rd and 13 bomb was truly awful.

Really, he tackled him. I hope Zach Brown didn't have, and some of the others that complained about the officiating didn't have a problem with that call. Look, Norman shouldn't be allowed to get his wish to cover the number one on the other team. He doesn't run well enough. And by the way,

he's a better zone corner than a man corner. We've known that for a while now. I didn't like that. And I'll tell you what, they've got Mike Evans coming up this week, DeAndre Hopkins the week after that. Don't let him do it.

Do not let him do it. And maybe they did it because Dunbar is coming off the injury and they don't want anyone else on Julio Jones. But look at all the weapons Atlanta has. Who cares if it's Jones, Ridley, or Sunoo? They're all dangerous. A couple of other observations. Second and 10 Atlanta running plays. One of my keys on Friday to beating Atlanta, I said, you've got to stop the run.

And I mentioned that a lot of you would say, what are you talking about? They're not running the ball well this weekend. this weekend this year. A lot of you tweeted me over the weekend saying the same thing. Don't worry about their runoff fence. They're not running it this year. That's not what I was thinking. I think Atlanta's capable of running the ball. I'm a Tevin Coleman fan talked about that on Friday. They rushed it for 154 yards in this game, 6.4 yards per carry. But get this. And I mentioned this on Friday, that the Falcons on second and tens will run the foot. football against nickel coverage.

And they did. Eight second and tens in the game for Atlanta. They ran it on seven of the eight. And that allowed them to set up makeable third downs, which they converted almost every third down they had in the game. We went over that earlier. Ha ha, Clinton Dix's debut. He seemed to need a ton of pre-snap help, which is understandable.

But bottom line, The skins really were susceptible in the middle of the field a ton yesterday. Some of that's the linebackers being asked to carry guys to certain portions of the field, especially in zone coverage. Clinton Dix led the team in tackles or co-led the team in tackles on the day. I don't know how he really played, but again, Atlanta sort of had their way throwing the football against the Redskins secondary, and a lot of that was in the middle of the field. I wanted to mention, you know, Atlanta dropped some passes,

and they had penalties also, at least three offensive drops, Ridley and Coleman twice, and at least two defensive interception drops by Truffant. The Falcons also were whistled for seven penalties, 50 yards. Skin's pass rush, it needed to be great, and it wasn't. But it wasn't a terrible day either. I actually thought the Redskins got at times some pretty decent pass rush pressure, but not enough of it.

Ryan's so good in the pocket, knows where to go quickly. has damn good feet and damn good receivers who get open quickly. So they're five and three at the halfway mark. All of us would have paid for that in August. No one would have turned down the opportunity to pay some amount of money for five and three at the halfway mark. Here's the thing, though. The injuries are a problem. Next week at Tampa, they're going to play another team that's capable offensively.

with either Fitzpatrick or with James Winston. They already announced it's Fitzpatrick. Okay. So, you know what? To be honest with you, I don't know how I feel about that because I think they're both capable of throwing for big numbers. And they have weapons too. They have a lot of weapons.

They've got Sean Jackson. They've got Mike Evans. They've got O.J. Howard. But they're also another team defensively that isn't very good. you know so at Tampa they're already a one point underdog and early one point underdog at Tampa Tampa got beat pretty soundly and handily at Carolina yesterday 4228 although they rallied from 357 down

to get it to 3528 in the fourth quarter but they've got they've got Tampa and then they get the Texans and the Texans have won six in a row first team I don't know if anybody saw this first team since 1970. First team in 48 years, the Texans are, to lose their first three games and win the next six. And they get a buy week, and then they come in here fresh on November 18th. By the way, I heard, I heard that the league was considering the skins and Texans as the flexed Sunday night game had the Redskins won yesterday. Steelers Jags is the scheduled game on November 18th.

That's two weeks from yesterday, but the league was considering the Redskins Texans to get flexed into that spot if the Redskins had won this particular game to get to six and two, but they didn't. So they won't be flexed into that spot. I'm going to talk to J.P. Finley here in a moment, but do you hear that noise? It's your furnace kicking on again and again over and over. Why? Because your windows are old and drafty, and it's letting cold. air in and hot air out. Keeping you up at night.

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86690 Nation or Window Nation.com and tell them that I sent you. All right, let's bring in J.P. Finley from NBC Sports, Washington, who was at FedEx Field yesterday for the Redskins' 3814 loss to Atlanta. Which unit had a worst day? The offense or the defense, that's a tough call, isn't it? It is, but I... I got to say the defense. And there's plenty to point, too, but I'm going with the run defense.

That's supposed to be the strength of this football team. They came in on a hot street. You know, they'd held Sequin, they held Ezekiel Elliott, they held Christian McCaffrey, and then you go out and you let the Falcons put up 150 on the ground. You know, midway through the third quarter, they're getting seven yards of carry. That, to me, above everything else, just stands out. even going into this game, I think people were still a bit skeptical of the Redskins run game and just kind of the formula, time of possession and field position and all that stuff.

But the run defense was the one thing you could point to and say, hey, this is legit. They've drafted for this, they've addressed this, this is legit. And against the Falcons, or not a good running team, they hadn't rushed for more than 100 yards in five games. They come out and just do work on the ground. do whatever they want. And I think that above all else is the most disappointing part of this result. Yeah, one of the things I talked about on Friday was don't let their numbers in the run game sort of fool you.

They're capable of running the ball. They've got a good run scheme. And Coleman's a good back. And the truth of the matter is a lot of their damage early was sort of on the second down and long runs, which just set up these makeable third downs. and that's where the Redskins got killed in the first half and really throughout the game. And they did a good job.

I'm sorry to interrupt you. No, that's fine. To the edges. Like so many, like the last couple weeks we've seen the Giants and the Cowboys try to run on the interior of the skins and that's really their strength. And, you know, it kind of becomes this, you know,

coaches are like, well, we're going to prove we can do it. And I think the Falcons didn't really mess with that, especially in the first half and just decided to get outside. and the scheme was great when it was, you know, an outside linebacker trying to chase down one of these speedy guys to the corner. Yeah, I don't think Atlanta actually ran on a first down play until Smith had that 12-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter to make it 14-0. I think it was like six or seven first-down throws for Matt Ryan. The third downs were obviously an issue, and Jay Gruden referred to it as a joke.

their third down defense. Part of that was that they didn't get the consistent pass rush pressure that they've been getting recently early anyway. They had it in spurts, but not early. Yeah, I mean, the Falcons didn't punt until midway through the third quarter. Like, you're never going to win that game in that situation. You've got to force the other team off the field. And, you know, kind of to that point about the.

pass rush, interior pass rush is hard to depend on. The Redskins have been counting on that. They're not getting as much from the exterior, certainly, as they want. But I also, you know, a couple different guys I talked to in the locker room after the game said this that, like Adrian Peterson, Josh Norman, guys that are veterans and have been in the league, they pointed out that you do have to kind of tip your hat to the Falcons at some point. And for me, watching that game, I think Matt Ryan was.

was excellent. And his ability to sidestep pressure and just move a little bit and get out of the way of oncoming rushers was really remarkable, especially in the first half when the game was tight and, and, you know, the guys were right there. I mean, they had a couple big third downs early and Ryan was able to put the ball on the money to his receivers down the field. He had a play to the tight end hooper, I thought was really impressive. A couple of nice throws to Julio early on, not for big chunks, but for 15, 20-yard games. And he was in control throughout the game. And, I mean, the third down, you said Gruden said it was a joke.

I think he nailed it. Yeah, I thought Steve Sarkesian called a great game, too. I think he's actually developing into a pretty damn good play caller. And they've had a couple of them there here recently in recent years from Matt Ryan. I want to stick with the defense for a moment. Josh Norman apparently asked for and then received star coverage on Julio Jones. Not every single throw, but a lot of them. Is that something you think they'll continue to allow him to do, JP,

because I didn't think he was very effective on Jones most of the day? It's tough to know because of the situation with Quentin Dunbar. I think when you have Julio or a guy of that caliber, it makes sense to at least try it. I mean, what is burying the Redskin secondary is the lack of high-end speed when opposing offenses run these long cross-drag routes. And you saw it today on a ridley touchdowns, you saw it time again. And that's where Norman really can't compete is trying to keep up horizontally

and then going vertically. He just doesn't have the speed. No. But if you're talking about Norman, Danny Johnson, Greg Stroman, I do think it's the best way to go because his experience and his talent is just so much higher than those guys.

And I think Stroman and Danny Johnson make nice plays and can give you something down the road. But if the 7th-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-T rookie, when you have Dunbar out there, I'm not sure he has to do it, but I don't know that you're going to have Dunbar out. He left the game. I talked to him briefly in the locker room afterwards.

He said his hamstring was just bugging him and that he should be okay. But it's hard to believe him considering he missed last week's game. He's dealing with a clean injury. He didn't come back in. There's a lot going on there. And, you know, the Norman situation, I thought the Redskins defense did better in New York when they had Norman falling around O'Dell Beckham. So I think it was kind of the right attempt to have him fall around Julio.

Part of me thinks a big part of the difference, though, is Matt Ryan and Eli Manning. This is a significant difference there. And, you know, the one play that won't show up in Julio's staff sheet is when Norman just tackled him on the deep ball for the pastime. Yeah, right, right. That was ugly. I mean, that's the kind of play where a guy could get hurt. And I'm glad nobody was, but, you know, that would have been another 50 yards on the touchdown. All right.

Let's get to a couple of things of massive importance here in terms of moving forward. They suffered a ton of injuries today, JP. Which of those injuries looks to be the most serious, by the way, between the last time I did my podcast on Friday and this morning, you know, we now know that Trent Williams is going to be out for, you know, another three games. minimum. I think it's Brandon Sheriff just because he is right there with Trent Williams at the level of play. And we don't know. There's an MRI pending, but it doesn't look good for Brandon. It's either a shoulder or a pectoral muscle, and, you know, kind of just the initial stuff I heard has legitimate worry. You know, Sean LaValle's injury looked bad as well,

but losing Sean LaValle is a tough break. Losing Brandon Sheriff is potentially a ruinous move for this Redskins offensive line. What will they do? Let's just say next week they're without LaVal, Trent Williams, and Sheriff. What does their offensive line look like? Are we talking about, I mean, the rookie Christian obviously was not ready for this level of play yet. Who else do they have? So, I mean, In Secky stays for Trent.

That is the most seamless transition the offensive line can make. So you have In Secki, in it left tackle for Trent. All of this assumes, by the way, that Morgan Moses is able to keep playing right tackle. Right. He was hurt for a while and came back in the game today. I think what they have available is Tony Bergstrom and Casey Dunn. what I think they'll do is sign. They'll have to sign someone or bring somebody up from the practice squad.

But the guys on the practice squad, I don't think they're that impressed by. I think you go veteran bargain hunting, see what's out there. If they go into next week and you're looking right to left with Moses, Dunn, Ruey, Bergstrom, Ty and Secky, I think. the formula that's been established for this football team where they run the ball and that's the way to their success, I think there's a serious, serious flaw in that formula. Hey, is Ariquanjo on Injured Reserve? Didn't that happen?

And what about Catalina? He tore his quad. He tore his quad in Marchish, maybe April. And then wasn't Catalina on the roster in the summer? Never on the active, I believe he was on the practice squad. Catalina and Calis, if you remember, were kind of the guys we thought could make that jump in camp and never did. Casey Dunn was the guy that gained steam late coming out of training camp and made the roster. What about Crowder and Thompson?

Is it possible they're back next week? The stuff I'm hearing on Thompson, I don't think so. Crowder maybe because it seemed like he was close. It seemed like Jay Gruden was surprised. that he wasn't closer, frankly. And I watched James and Crowder on the practice field really testing that ankle. He was, you know, I've kind of gotten to know the drill. These guys, when they're dealing with ankle or foot injuries,

will do something where they basically, it's almost running 10 yards on one leg. It's like a fast series of hops, I guess, on one leg where you're really seeing what the impact is on that joint. And I saw Crowder do that two days in a row. I kind of thought he'd be moving closer to the roster, and clearly he couldn't against the Falcons, and maybe he'll be back for the Bucks. The word I've heard with Chris Thompson is that there's a cartilage injury in those ribs, and it doesn't – you never know, but the brief parts I saw of him last week in the locker room, he never once even kind of pretended to practice.

A lot of times you'll see these guys go through stretches and kind of be out there for individual drills, and they're not really doing anything, but they're kind of part of it. Chris didn't even seem like he was there. So if I had to guess, I would say Crowder's ahead of Thompson, and I'm not particularly optimistic about either, but certainly not. We might see Byron Marshall up. I think next week he's actually eligible to come off injured reserve, and we know that Bruden loves him.

Yeah, but to do it, you've got to make a roster movie. Yeah. You got to, and with the way this old line is going to be banged up, you're talking about cutting someage P-Rine or you're talking about carrying, you know, what would they be at, four running backs, which I just don't think. Yeah, I don't see that happening.

I would see P.Rine perhaps, you know, going down or, yeah, maybe releasing him. I wanted to get to one more thing before I let you run, and that is you were there after the game, and there appeared at least based on everything that I read to be a lot of complaining about the officiaries. What specifically were the complaints? I think the one call that really stood out for a lot of the guys

was the play Brandon Sheriff actually got hurt. I haven't seen it. I have to go back and watch, but by all accounts, Brandon kind of got cheap-shotted. And then Jordan Reed was standing up for Brandon, and then I think I don't know if he pushed somebody or what, but he got flagged. and then the other players were just trying to talk to the refs,

and the rest weren't having it, and were threatening to throw more flags. And, you know, guys like Jordan Reed and Morgan Moses aren't really the hothead type, and they were kind of getting caught up in that stuff. Even Jay Gruden said something about, I got to check the tape, but these penalties didn't seem legitimate. Jay Gruden said he said the refs tried to call token penalties late in the game. to kind of even up the score, which, you know, it's that kind of stuff you hear in college basketball,

where, you know, the foul count is 20 on one team and seven on the other, and the refs try to balance it out. You don't hear about that much in the NFL, but I actually wrote a story about it for NBC Sports Washington with some really good quotes. You know, Alex Smith talked about the play where Josh Doxon got called for taunting on the sideline. I don't think that gets called very often, especially, I don't know, you'd notice this, Kevin. So Doxon spun the ball on the sideline, and it was a dumb move and letter of the rule, you're not allowed to do that. But then the guy gets the interception

on Alex Smith, and he makes a heck of a play. But he runs 40 yards down the field. I think it was the safety, Casey. He runs 40 yard down the field, throws that ball a whole section up into the end zone, and there's no flag on that. And I don't know the rulebook enough, but to me, if spinning the ball was worth a flag, the throwing the ball 30 yards into the end zone would have been worth one too. But, you know, that's just this reporter's opinion. Yeah, I think the penalty on Doxon was

the spinning the ball as a way of taunting. I think the spinning of the ball is actually, I could be wrong too. I thought that they said that that was okay unless it is deemed to be taunting. Yeah, and it didn't really. appears if he were attempting to taunt anybody in that particular spot. But beyond that, don't spin the ball down three touchdown. Yeah, of course not.

But let's also say this. The officiating didn't impact this final score at all. I mean, this was a, they got demolished. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. They were outclass from start to finish. I don't know that the officiating helped, but it wouldn't have been the difference in the game. I think the biggest concern, JP, moving forward with all of these injuries along the

offensive line because we've seen it before. We saw it a year ago, is that they've already healthy really struggled to move the football consistently in score points. And if they'd come out of this game healthy, there still would have been a question as to why this offense is still sputtering and isn't able to consistently move the football and score against some very average to subpar defenses that they have faced at times. Like, Atlanta's defense, which has been torched by virtually every quarterback it has come up against and every offense that it's come up against. And now without an offensive line, if you don't give this quarterback a running game, it's going

to be problematic. I mean, I almost feel like we've ignored the elephant in the room for our conversation here. No, it's still there. You're not getting enough out of out. No, not even close. You know, at some point, what is just Twitter, whispering is going to become a real conversation around

you're not getting enough from the QB and I don't I think he had his best drive as a redskin on the definitely he had the big long rush and then he made a couple nice throws and then you're like all right maybe there's some momentum from that and it just didn't happen I've asked around

in extremely unofficial situations and internally by all answers is that there's there's no talk of cult or or seeing what else could happen. But they are not getting enough from the quarterback, period. And that Atlanta game, there's a hundred things you can point to. I mean, they got, they got boat race at home. There's a lot of problems.

And the injuries on the O-line are a big part of it, but you cannot. And the worst part is, if you want to point to Alex stats, It was his first 300-yard pass game of the year, I think. So statistically, he kind of did okay. But watching that game, man, you're not getting enough from the position. No, not even close. But I would be absolutely floored if they made a quarterback change. You cannot admit this group.

I agree. This group can't admit that they made an error if they did. And I still think, look, they've got eight games left. We've seen Alex. And they're five and three. And they're five and three. and we've seen Alex Smith play at the position of quarterback much better than he's played here. The problem is when he's had his best days as a professional starter, it's been with a lot of talent around him.

And they don't have that right now. Now, if they could get Thompson and Crowderback, and it doesn't seem, based on what you said, very promising with respect to Thompson, and that hurts a lot because he really is, Alex loves to check it down. and when you're checking it down to Thompson, you've got a chance to move the chains. We know that from the past. And Crowder is a slot guy that he really hasn't had. I think Vernon Davis is the only receiver, pass catcher,

that he's developed any sort of rapport with this year. And that's probably, you know, muscle memory from when they were playing in San Francisco 10 years ago. The reality with Alex right now is that not much is going outside of the hashes. certainly not much is going deep. And I think where Crowder could really help you is intermediate stuff inside the hash marks. And say what you want about James and Grouter, but you lose something significantly when he's not out there and you're replacing him.

Mo Harris, I think, is playing well. And I'd argue that if you get all these guys healthy, you might have to put Mo Harris Harris out there instead of Doxon. Doxon can give you the incredible play, but he's not making the routine play. and this team needs more routine plays than they need incredible plays. Love to see Mo Harris try to get a couple of yards after the catch. That's it, because I like him. I like him a lot, and he catches everything, and he's tough,

and as Jay likes to say, he'll go out there in the run game and dig out of safety for you, but Mo doesn't look like a big threat after the catch. Did you notice on a couple runs that Adrian Peterson, it seemed like if he just kept running, he would gain more yardage and he cut things back upfield. I don't know if you noticed. I thought Atlanta decided they were going to load the box up a bunch and just take their chances with the Redskins pass offense. And that's probably a pretty good strategy against them right now.

You've got a quarterback that won't beat you. Not right now. A running back that can, even though he's 33. Thank you for getting up. Three more years of this Alex Smith situation. I get so many people on Twitter asking about drafting the quarterback. And, you know, certainly nothing early. Look, I've seen him play well.

Now, last year, against Green Bay. Yeah, and last year when he played well, obviously, you know, Travis Kelsey, Tyree, Kilk, Kareem Hunt, it doesn't hurt to have those kinds of weapons, as we see right now with Patrick Mahomes throwing to them and letting Hunt run the football. seen him play at a much, I just don't think he's gotten comfortable yet. So there are eight games left for that to happen. And, you know, they won't be in all of their games playing catch-up because of penalties and a defense that can't get off the field on third down in all of these games. They'll be in them in a bunch of them like they were the previous three. But you're right.

I mean, it's not, if it's the elephant in the room, it's because people are too afraid to talk about it. We're talking about it. He's not been good enough, period. For a guy that you dealt a third and Kendall Fuller 4 and then gave him a contract extension, you would have expected, you know, more contribution from your starting quarterback with a coach who can scheme it up and has schemed it up. And I think, you know, even yesterday, there were people open in that game. Thanks for getting up early to talk to me. I appreciate it as always. anytime keb thanks for having me bud thank you jp

really appreciate it really enjoy uh jp joining us the day and the mornings after games he's been a big help there ferrish chrysler dodge jeep in fairfax should be on your list if you're considering something new go to ferrishcars

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and ask for Ralph Perkins. He's in the store six out of seven days. So there's a pretty good chance. You'll see him. Ask for Ralph. He'll come out. He'll put you in touch with one of their best salespeople and most of their salespeople have been at Farish for 15 to 20 years. They're located right in Fairfax Circle that you can also find out everything you need to know about Ferris, live inventory, live pricing right now if you go to ferrish cars.com. All right, let's go around the NFL. The biggest place and the clutch moment. It's time to go around the NFL.

All right, before we get to the first game, let me just tell you that the smell. test was pretty good on Saturday, five and three. And then came yesterday the worst NFL day I think I've ever had. I was 0 and 4 in the picks that I released on Friday. And then, you know, when I lost that, oh, oh, in three early, and then went to the four o'clock window and I already had Denver laying a point. They missed a field goal with the gun that would have, you know, given me a push in that game, but I added the Rams to the list. There was a lot of public action on the Rams over the weekend, some sharp action on Los Angeles as well. So I added them as sort of a way to chase some of those NFL losses. So I turned what started to be a great weekend, a five and three Saturday,

into an overall five and eight weekend. And that's the third straight losing weekend. I'm still up for the year because I had that incredible month, a stretch of winning, still up for the year. We'll try to do better by you next weekend. All right, let's start going around the NFL by going to New Orleans for the game of the day. Third down and seven. Amara starts in the slot. Passes to Thomas. He's gone.

Touchdown Saints. There it comes. There it comes. Go ahead, get that cell phone. Grab that cell phone. Joe Horn did it 15 years ago. 72 yards to Michael Thomas on third down. You see Marcus Peters, he's not even ready.

And he's trying to communicate. Michael Thomas just simply runs right by him. And the sinks are going to be penalized for this celebration at the end of the play using a pro. That's very uncharacteristic of Michael Thomas. The cell phone that he hit prior to the game. This is too big of the game to be risking those kinds of yards. All right, that was Joe Buck and Troy Aitman on the call. And yes, that's what Joe Horn did 15 years ago.

And Michael Thomas, he had the day of the year for any receiver, but it was tarnished a bit by that ridiculous expression of stupidity. Seriously, grabbing a cell phone from underneath the goalpost, flag for using a prop. I don't, look, as an adult who gets sick of this kind of thing, I just don't understand why anybody would partake in something that has only downside and no upside in a game that's so big and far from over in that spot. It's close to over, but it's a selfish, selfish act.

And I swear to God, I was just praying, in part because I bet the Rams. But the other part of it was I really wanted them to get a big kickoff return, score quickly off the good field position, somehow win the game because of what Michael Thomas had done. I can only imagine what's going through the head of some of these coaches and how they handle some of this stuff. With that said, Michael Thomas is a complete and utter stud of a receiver. 12 catches for a franchise high, 211 yards, and that 72-yarder before the cell phone shenanigans gave the Saints a 45-35 lead. Now, they had blown a 35-14 first half lead. Rams had scored 21 consecutive points to tie it up, but after the Rams got the ball back

with a chance to take the lead down 3835, they went three and out and punted for the first time in the game. The entire game with 458 left, they went three and out and punted. I think the huge turning point in this game, if you guys watched it, came in the second quarter. The Saints gave up the ball on an Ingram fumble in a 14-14 game. The Rams brought their field goal team out after getting stopped on a third down, and they faked the field goal and the punter, who's also the holder, Hecker. Hecker seemed to get the first down. They marked it short. the Rams challenged it and the ruling on the field stood.

I have no idea what they were looking at, but it looked pretty conclusive to me and to Buck and Akeman, and I think a lot of people that were watching it, it looked like Hecker had gotten the first down. So instead of a chance to go up either 17, 14 or 2114, the Saints turn it around. They run off three straight touchdowns to take a 35-14 lead. Rams got back a long field goal right before the half

that helped them, but they weren't able after tying the game in the fourth quarter, they were never able to take the lead, even though they got the ball back down 3835. Drew Breeze was sensational, 346 yards, four touchdowns. Gough went for 391 and three touchdowns. It's a long way to go before we start talking about a rematch between these two teams in the NFC championship game, but they both look like right now the best teams and certainly the best two offensive teams in the NFC. The Saints are 7 and 1.

The Rams lose for the first time. They fall to 8 in 1 so the 72 dolphins can pop the champagne. Let's go to Foxborough for the Sunday night matchup between Aaron Rogers and Tom Brady. Wide open. Well, there are two guys who were there, but it's Josh Gordon, the second guy. Into the touchdown. Tom Brady's a sneaky little devil. Yeah, and that gave the Patriots the 31-17 fourth quarter lead.

The two games of the day, Ram Saints and Pat's Packers, had drama going into the fourth quarter, and then the game sort of ended with, you know, sort of as duds. You were hoping for some sort of fantastic finish in both of these games. You didn't get it. 17-17 Packers, Pats entering the fourth quarter, and Green Bay had the ball driving in New England territory. when Aaron Jones coughed it up, and then the Patriots scored, then they scored again, and they win going away in this game, 3117.

The Packers, they fall to 3 and 4 and 1 in that NFC North. The Patriots are 7 and 2. Brady at times didn't look great, and he actually was sacked a couple of times in big spots. He threw for 294 in a touchdown. Aaron Rogers was 24 or 43 for 259, two touchdowns. There were a couple of big fourth quarter sacks in that game. Aaron Rogers was down a few players, but so was Brady. I'll tell you who was a star in this game for New England,

was Cordell Patterson, who was playing running back for the second consecutive week. 11 carries 61 yards for Cordell Patterson at running back in the game. He also had some really good kickoff returns, which is what he's. known for. But the Patriots win the big matchup between Rogers and Brady 31-17. And, you know, the Packers, they look at times and have looked at times the last two weeks against two really good teams and the Rams and the Patriots to be playoff caliber in the NFC, even though there's not a lot around Aaron Rogers right now. But in that NFC North right now, Chicago's 5 and 3, Minnesota's 5, 3 and 1, and the Packers are three, four, and one.

Plenty of time for them to get it together. Plenty of time for them to get it together. But that is the second straight, tough loss for the Packers. They do get the Vikings in a couple of weeks. You know, I think that's the, is that the Thanksgiving night game or the Sunday of Thanksgiving? I think it's a Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, Sunday night game at Minnesota. Before then they get Miami and C. Addle. Let's go to Baltimore now for the Steelers and the Ravens.

Ninth play of the drive. Steelers try to take the lead. Ruffusberger, hooks a pass underneath, caught by Connor. He's got the angle. Connor fames his way in for the touchdown. Hit by Eric Weddell, not enough to keep him out of the end zone. And the touchdown street continues for Connor. Yeah, James Connor caught a touchdown pass. That gave the Steelers the lead. They never gave up a first quarter seven three lead. 23 to 16, the Steelers win at Baltimore. And my Ravens, who I have really touted all season long as a team that would play deep into January. They have now dropped three in a row.

Connor, by the way, 107 rushing yards, seven catches 56 yards in that touchdown. And Baltimore's defense that looks so good a few weeks ago, couldn't get off the field in this game. The Steelers were 10 for 16 on third down. They held the ball for 36 plus minutes in the game and ran 20 more offensive plays than Baltimore ran in the game. And now Pittsburgh is in first place in the AFC North at 5, 2, and 1, and the Ravens are now in their byweek. John Harbaugh said he's not worried about his job.

He's worried about getting healthy and coming out for a stretch run over the final seven games. They'll play Cincinnati. when they come back and then Oakland at home. So there's a chance there they could get to six and five, but the Bengals won't be easy. But Pittsburgh wins a big AFC North matchup against the Ravens, who right now are in free fall.

I am very surprised at that, especially the way their defense was playing. And boy, if Justin Tucker makes that extra point against the Saints, maybe they're not in this free fall right now. Let's go to Seattle for one of the most exciting finishes of the day. This is the final play of the game Seattle down eight with a chance to score at the Chargers' six-yard line. Now they're back at the six, untimed down. Empty backfield with Davis the running back wide and now back in motion.

Wilson. The Chargers win. Dropped by David Moore, the Chargers have won. 25 to 17 was the final. They led 25-10 Russell Wilson trying to rally Seattle from two scores down. That was an untimed down after a PI in the end zone. They still would have needed the two-point conversion to force overtime, but a really good game in Seattle.

Rivers threw two touchdown passes for the now six-and-two chargers. This was another game, though, where one team really dominated the ball. Listen to this. Seattle ran 75 offensive plays to the Chargers 50, but Russell Wilson threw a pick six in the game. They also missed a field goal in the game. The Seahawks fall to four and four. They get the Rams next weekend on the road. The Chargers have to get a new kicker.

This Caleb Sturgis is just awful. He missed two more PATs yesterday, one field goal also in the game, after returning to the lineup after missing a few games. He's missed four extra points for the Chargers this year. Chargers should try to get Atlantis kicker, that guy, Giorgio, Teveccio, or Tevecchio, when Matt Bryant comes back. He's good. He's got a big leg. The chargers are in dire need of a kicker out there. All right, the rest of the league, the Lions at Vikings, Adam Thielen caught a touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins, but his streak of 100-plus-yard games came to an end. There was no

Stefan Diggs in this game. Their big story was really Minnesota's defense. They sacked Matt Stafford 10 times in the game. That's a Minnesota franchise record, the franchise of the Purple People Heaters, and they set a record yesterday, sacking Stafford, 10 times. I mentioned no digs. He should be back after their by week. Cousins did get Dalvin Cookback yesterday, and he was big, had a 70-yard run that set up a score. Cousins was 18 of 22 for 164 yards. Minnesota only ran 46 offensive snaps in the game. Detroit just couldn't score touchdowns. They moved the football, but they were 0 for 3 in the red zone.

Minnesota wins it 24 to 9. That gets them to 5, 3, and 1. And they're getting healthier, and their by week next week will help even more. Two huge division games right after the buy for the Vikings at Chicago and then Green Bay at home. Meantime in Cleveland, the Chiefs got another ridiculous. performance from Patrick Mahomes, three touchdown passes, 375 yards through the air. He's now at a rate of, well, he's at 29 touchdowns and 3,185 yards right now, both of those on pace to break NFL records.

The Chiefs, they're averaging over 36 points a game. They are 8 in 1. Greg Williams loses his debut as the interim head coach. Cleveland after taking over for Hugh Jackson. Meantime, down in Tampa, down at Carolina yesterday in Charlotte. The Panthers have now won three in a row since losing to the Redskins, and they've looked good doing it, especially the last two weeks. They beat Tampa 42 to 28.

They actually had a 357 lead on the Buccaneers, and Fitzpatrick tried to, you know, create one of these incredible comebacks again like he nearly did in Cincinnati last week. Christian McCaffrey, 157 total yards, two touchdowns. The Panthers are now six and two. And if we're thinking about New Orleans and sort of a runaway in the AFC South, do you know that the Saints and the Panthers play two times in the final three weeks of the season? That's a bit of a scheduling, you know, quirk, I would say. Two out of the final three games are head-to-head, Saints and Panthers.

The Bucks, meantime, they're three and three. And five, they are one-point favorites, as I mentioned earlier in the show over the Redskins next week, one o'clock in Tampa. Houston beat Denver 19 to 17. The Texans watched as Brandon McManus missed a 51-yard field goal at the gun, the second field goal that he had missed in the game. Houston becomes the first team since 1970. I think I mentioned this earlier. To lose their first three, then win their next six, they've got a buy week before coming to Washington. How about the Dolphins who won a game against the Jets 13 to 6 without scoring a touchdown in the game?

Only 168 yards of total offense for Miami. They won because Sam Darnold threw four interceptions. Meantime, there was Chicago in a similar spot. They beat the bills 41 to 9 with just 191 yards of total offense. How do they do that? Well, Nathan Peterman got the start for Buffalo. I have no idea why they continue to play him. I guess they have no choice with Josh Allen out,

and then Derek Anderson was concussed. E.J. Manuel was taking shots at him on Twitter today. Why wouldn't he? Nathan Peterman's horrible. I mean, three interceptions. I think he's got like seven in three games this year, but the Bears won going away, 41-9. So we are at the halfway mark and beyond it for several teams

who have played nine games. in the NFC, a couple of interesting things. Like I just mentioned this. The Saints and the Rams look like the best two teams. Well, the Saints have maybe, potentially, the third best team in the NFC, who the Redskins beat, but Carolina is playing very well. They've got talent. They've got many more offensive weapons than they've had.

So Carolina is still sitting there at six and two. And would you count the Falcons out? No way at 4 and 4. They look like a playoff team yet. yesterday. And I think right now that is probably the best division in football. If the NFC North isn't with Chicago in first place at five and three, the Vikings at five, three and one, and the Packers at three, four and one, my lions aren't going to do anything. They made that trade for Snacks Harrison and off that wind over Green Bay and they thought they're going to

make this run at three and three and they've looked horrible the last two weeks. The Redskins still have the lead in the NFC East. The Cowboys played a night against Tennessee to try to get to 500. And then the Eagles and Cowboys will play next week. You know, very possibly the Redskins who've been in first place now for a while in the division, if they were to lose to Tampa and Philly were to beat Dallas next Sunday night at home, where they're a six-point favorite, Philly would technically at that point would they, well, no, they'd still be tied.

They'd both be five and four at that spot. Neither one of them has played each other. They've got those two games in December. The Rams running away with the NFC West. In the AFC, the Patriots look like a lock to win the AFC East. Miami's sitting there at five and four, but they really don't look very good. The AFC North all of a sudden Pittsburgh over the last couple of weeks, they've won four in a row while Baltimore's lost three in a row.

And they are in first place, just a half game better than Cincinnati. The AFC South now in control are the Houston Texans, and they look good. Winners are six in a row, really good defensively. The Chiefs and the Chargers, that is a race. Let's not count out the Chargers yet. They're six and two, the Chiefs are 8 and 1. They'll play one more time this year. Remember they played early in the year.

That game was out in LA. They'll still play in Kansas City, I think, mid-December. that may be a Thursday night game too. I think that is scheduled as a Thursday night game Chargers at Chiefs, which would be and potentially be a huge game in the AFC West. Next week, how about this for a Thursday night game? Two hot teams, Carolina at Pittsburgh on Thursday night. The Steelers are early five-point favorites.

Next Sunday, the Saints off that win over the Rams are four-point favorites in Cincinnati. That looks like a good game. The rematch of the game, the Rams almost lost at Seattle, but there are 10-point favorite at home against the Seahawks. And as I mentioned, next Sunday night, Philadelphia is a six-point favorite at home against the Cowboys who could come into that game four and four. I kind of like Dallas tonight, but I don't think it'll be easy. And we'll see the debut tonight of Amari Cooper. Real quickly, before we get to Weekend DVR, if you're listening to this podcast and you haven't rated it yet, rate it you have to subscribe to rate it

subscribe doesn't mean paying anything it doesn't mean giving any information but on iTunes or any of those other podcast platforms if it gives you the option to subscribe go ahead and subscribe to it and then rate it that would help us a lot and as I mention all the time just tell people that aren't listening to the show but want to listen to the show and they don't know how to do podcasts to just go to the kevin shian show.

We're on Instagram now. We've got our own Twitter homepage for the show, Twitter page for the show. Go ahead, if you don't mind and give us a follow on the Kevin Sheehan Show, at the Kevin Sheehan Show on Twitter. At the Kevin Sheehan Show, right, Aaron? Or is it at Kevin Sheehan Show? At Sheehan Podcast.

Or it's at Sheehan podcast. Yes. Even better. See how familiar I was with that? Let's get to Weekend, DVR. Did you have a busy weekend? Don't worry. We've got you covered.

It's time for weekend DVR. All right. I'll get to the college football here in a moment. Let's start with the Wizards. They beat the Knicks last night. Wee! 108-95. They needed that one.

No Auto Porter. Wall went for 26, Beale for 22. First game of the year holding the opponent to less than 107 points. They'd given up the most points of any team so far. Dwight Howard 10 and 10 last night. Second game for the Wizards. Jeff Green, 14 and 9 off the bench. Wizards are 2 and 7.

Dallas is up next on the road. That's not why I wanted to talk about the Wizards, though. I wanted to talk about the Friday night game, which I actually attended. A lot of people listen to the podcast, Aaron. Had a lot of shoutouts from various people saying they're listening to the podcast. It's great. It was very nice to talk to several of you at the game on Friday night. I think I mentioned to you for whatever reason, and it's part of the reason.

and part of the reason is that I'm a huge Russell Westbrook fan. I think I've seen six of the last seven games against OKC at Verizon Center, at Capital One. They lost Friday night to OKC 134 to 111. They gave up 79 points in the first half. They got humiliated by Russell Westbrook and OKC on national television. That was an ESPN game on Friday night.

The turnovers were just so bad. Beale had five of them. Wall had seven of them. Their ball handling and passing was terrible. I've said this about Beal from the get-go. He's just not a strong ball handler. He exposes that ball way too much in traffic. The wizard's offensive plan on Friday night was non-existent.

God, Beal and Wall need offensive structure. They really do. Scott Brooks, you got to put in more of a structured attack offensively. The ISO ball and the one ball screen. There was better ball movement at times. I could see that you were trying to get some ball movement. The defense was abysmal. The Thunder shot 57% on Friday night, and that's only because they basically went with all their subs in the fourth quarter and didn't care. They could have shot 60% for the game. The Wizards can't run if they don't. get stops. And if they don't run and they're forced then to run offense

and a half court, it's just not a good situation. When they turn it over as much as Wall and Beal did on Friday night, it ends up being halacious dunk shows on the other end of the floor. Westbrook had a ridiculous one. Nobody

was happy about the game Friday night and afterwards, listen to this quote, not listen to it, listen to me, read the quote. It came from the new guy, Austin Rivers. all right during the post game he was asked if the biggest issue on the team was its defense and he said quote yeah uh it could be more than that i don't want to speak on it too much but you know closed quote whoa it could be more than that like uh yeah the defense and the things that are happening

actually on the court those are the least of our issues right now there are a bunch of issues i'm about behind the scenes. And I don't know that guys like Jeff Green and Austin Rivers are really that thrilled to be here right now. They need leadership. I don't know where it would come from in that locker room. It's not your cornerstone players. It's not any of your franchise players, Max players, none of them. But they did win yesterday against the Knicks, and they can beat the Mavericks, I guess.

Also in my weekend DVR, I wanted to mention this because I saw the highlight of this. The Caps lost on Saturday night. It was their third loss in four games. This one to the Stars in overtime. The Stars got a penalty shot in that overtime. Braden Holteby stopped it. Then they turned it over later in the overtime, and Jason Dickinson scored to win it four to three.

You don't see a penalty shot that much. Penalty shots are exciting. It's fun. But I actually think in the overtime, when you're three on three, it might be more beneficial to go four on three with the penalty and have multiple opportunities because four on three seems to generate many more opportunities than five on four.

I don't know if I'm right about that. The Caps host Edmonton tonight. Let's talk some college football. I'll start with the Maryland game. Boy, I'll tell you what, as riled up as the students got about everything that was going on last week, certainly didn't rile them up to come out and support the players on Saturday,

a pathetic home crowd in college park for Michigan State. Pathetic. Maryland never had a chance in this game. There was one brief moment when Byron Cowert had the pick six as he was rumbling into the end zone for a pick six that would have cut it to 17 to 10 in the fourth quarter, early part of the fourth quarter, and then he got stripped from behind.

And it was recovered in the end zone. So even if he did score, did you have any faith in them scoring again? Now, I'll tell you what, you know, Kassim Hill, I'm hopeful that he's going to turn into a decent quarterback. He's not really capable of throwing the ball very accurately or when you have to throw it. He's been fine when they've had good balance, but they couldn't run it against Michigan State. Next week is it for bowl eligibility. They're a three-point underdog at Indiana. It's a winnable game for them.

Indiana is not terrible, though. but if they don't win that one, then they're going to lose to Ohio State and Penn State to end the season and finish five and seven versus six and six. Six and six would be bowl eligibility and probably would end up with them playing in either the New York Pinstryte Bowl or that Motor City Detroit Bowl. Maybe the Military Bowl. That would be good for Steve Beck. Or maybe it wouldn't. No one, I don't know if you're going to show up for a bowl game. Basketball season starts Tuesday night.

Delaware, Terps, Xfinity Center. All right, let's get to the best, the real college football from over the weekend. We'll start with what was really billed as the game of the year, one of the games of many years, and that was LSU hosting Alabama. This game wasn't much of a game. It was not much of a game. It was Alabama's first real test, and they passed it with flying colors. My God, are they good?

Listen to the disparity in this game. 576 total yards for Bama, 196 for LSU in the 299-0 shutout win. Alabama was 8 for 14 on third down. It was a terrible night for LSU trying to run football, and they kept trying to run it, and they just couldn't. 12 total yards rushing in the game for LSU.

you. The moment of the night was that opening drive. Did you hear that crowd on that opening drive? I mean, it was coming through that television set, and it was, they got themselves into a position where they got the first stop on Bama all year long.

All year long, the first stop. But Bama was just too good. Tua was too good. Damien Harris was too good. This guy, Jerry Judy, is one of the most explosive college receivers I have seen in a long, long time.

He is, now he's a sophomore, right? Is he a redshirt sophomore? Is he coming out this coming year? I don't know if that's right or not. But he is going to be special at the next level. He certainly looks at. He's big. He's explosive.

I don't know what his 40 time is, but I've never seen a guy accelerate faster after a catch in traffic where he pulls away so quickly. The worst part of this game, was Gary Danielson on the call for CBS. I love Brad Nestler. He does a great job. Gary Danielson from the start of the game through halftime could not stop talking about LSU's strategy of bleeding out the clock so that they could get Devin White back, who was suspended

because of the targeting penalty in the previous game. It was a bogus call. He had to sit out. He was the best defensive player, potentially on the field in that game, had to sit out the first half and Gary Danielson, I swear to God, I thought that if LSU could have just need out the game to start with, he would have advocated for it. It was such a meek and wimpy strategy and he just kept going on and on about it and kept talking about how they should be taking more time between the snaps and they got to hold them and they can't be down by too much and they got to get to the third quarter in a 13-0 type of game, he didn't give him any chance and didn't want him to even take a chance. Now, to be fair, he was probably right. That's the point. At what point do we

start talking about this as Sabin's best team? Well, it's his best offensive team. It's his best offensive team. That's not even close. We're getting there, I think. We're getting there. We're getting there. They are really, really dominant. Now, they get Mississippi State this week. They have to play Auburn. Both of those games are in Tuscaloosa. And now the SEC title game because Georgia went into Lexington and just took Kentucky to the woodshed, 34 to 17. So now your SEC title game here on November 5th is already set. You know, the Auburn, Alabama game won't mean it. No, these games mean something to the playoff picture. You know, Alabama's got to keep winning. and Mississippi State's great defensively,

and Auburn all of a sudden's playing a little bit better. They certainly have talent, but neither one of those two teams is going to beat at Bama. Bama's a 26-point favorite this week against Mississippi State. And Mississippi State is good, really good. A couple of the other games. Clemson destroyed Louisville 7716. We may have to start thinking about Clemson

and this particular Clemson team for Dabbe Sweeney. as being maybe his best team because of Trevor Lawrence. He may have, now, Deshawn Watson was a great quarterback. Trevor Lawrence is also a great quarterback. They've got a ridiculous running game, and their defense is so, so nasty with guys like Farrell and Lawrence and Wilkins, etc. This is, look, if, at this point, it does look like somehow we're going to end up with Clemson-Bama again, and this time in a title game, or third time in the title game.

It would be third time in four years, right? Right. Michigan destroyed Penn State. This is a team to keep an eye on, all right? And we may be talking about, you know, fighting for the second best team in the country, but Michigan's defense is legit. They had Penn State locked down from the start.

Up 42-0 at one point in that game. They went at 42 to 7, and Michigan's heading towards that showdown in Columbus. later this year. And Ohio State barely got by Nebraska on Sunday. But Michigan's got Rutgers, then they got Indiana at home. So they are going to be a one-loss team going into Columbus to play for that Big Ten East title to get to the championship game, which whoever it is will be favored to win that championship game. Right now it might be Northwestern that they face in that game. Northwestern actually gave Michigan a tough game

earlier in the year. But Michigan looks really, really good right now. And right now, I would probably make them along with Bama Clemson, and I guess Notre Dame, because who's Notre Dame going to lose to? Is Notre Dame going to lose to

SC on the road? That's the only one I can really think of it, even that. They're going to be favored by a touchdown going into that, probably. I mean, they have Syracuse at home. I mean, Syracuse is good. Syracuse is ranked.

Syracuse is the one ranked team they're going to face. But right now, it really looks like Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, and then, you know, among the teams, Michigan would be the favorite right now, but Oklahoma's still in it, West Virginia is still in it, Washington State's got one loss. I guess theoretically you can't count LSU completely out as a two-loss team, can you? If all hell broke loose? They're really good. But bam is just better.

Still, you know, we say this every year. We still have three regular season games left in conference championship games after that. All right. Thank you to J.P. Finley for joining us on the show today. Thanks to Aaron for producing the show, as always. Tommy will be with me tomorrow. We'll obviously go into this Redskins loss in even more detail. Tommy thinks it's an easy story about the Redskins.

They got to get the lead in these games. He asked Jay Gruden about it. He asked Alex Smith about it. But Tommy will be here tomorrow. We'll recap the Monday night game too, our first chance to see the Cowboys with Amari Cooper tonight. But a big week for the Redskins because they've got a tough stretch here with Tampa on the road, Houston at home,

and then the short turnaround Thanksgiving Day in Dallas. Not a pretty game yesterday, but there's still. five and three. A lot more information too tomorrow on all of the injuries. We should have a lot more information on that tomorrow. Enjoy the day. Everybody, take care.