The Kevin Sheehan Show - Rewind: Jayden's Rookie Masterpiece

Episode Date: August 1, 2025

Kevin is off this week but he left a few shows with a theme. The theme, Jayden Daniels. Today's show features Jayden's rookie masterpiece as recapped by Kevin during his post-game podcast following the Commanders' 36-33 comeback win over the Eagles on December 22, 2024. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jaden Daniels week finishes up with one more show while I'm on vacation. This one, my post game following Washington's 36 to 33 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on December 22nd. They overcame five turnovers, Jaden threw five touchdowns, in a game in which his QBR was 96.3, the highest of any game in his rookie season. season. I referred to it as his masterpiece of 2024, even though it was flawed. It was a hell of a football game. And this is how the post-game show began shortly after the game ended on that Sunday afternoon in late December. You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Sheehan Show. He is Kevin. 10 seconds. Daniels,

fires, it's on. What a game. Are you kidding me? What is this guy doing in his rookie year? It is ridiculous. Wow. I mean, another memorable finish in what has been a memorable season

with still a lot more left to it. 36-33 Washington. game that's going to go down as one of the more unforgettable games in Skins' Eagles history. This wasn't the most memorable game of this year. The Hail Mary would be number one on the list, but man, this was a close second. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, is Windonation.

If you need new windows, call them at 86690 Nation or head to windonation.com. Mention my name. They'll come out and give you a free in-home estimate. I'm in for a quick react podcast tonight, although I have no idea how I'm going to keep this short. A lot of these quick react podcasts on Sunday's following games

have been in the 35 to 45-minute range. I'm going to try to do it, but God, did this game have so much to it. I'm also hoping to get a guest from the locker room before we are done. But yeah, this game just had so much to it. I mean, I think I have 11 pages of notes in front of me. We had big plays. We had controversial penalty calls. We had turnovers galore.

We had penalties galore. There were huge drops. I mean, none bigger than the Devante Smith drop on Philadelphia's last possession. If he catches that and he's wide open for all intents and purposes, it's game over. there were injuries, and let's be honest, one of them consequential to the outcome of this game. Jalen Hertz getting hurt and leaving the game in the first quarter. The game was sloppy for a big part of it. It was also brilliant in other parts.

You know, there were so many moments that in the moment felt like the big moment or the turning point, only to be trumped by another moment, you know, a few seconds or a few minutes later. You know, this was one of those games that had so much to it that however you describe it after the fact, you're probably not wrong. But there was one thing that stood out and stood above all else. Jaden Daniels, special again, not the first time this year, not the last time more likely than not this year. Against arguably the best defense in the league, Jaden threw five touchdown passes, His fifth with six seconds to go on what was a perfect anticipation throw to Jameson Crowder in the back of the end zone, where the ball had to go into the end zone on that throw.

No choice with no timeouts left. Five touchdown passes the most for a Washington quarterback since Mark Rippin through six against the Falcons during the 91 season, the Super Bowl season. His fifth capped off a nine-play, 57-yard drive that began with one timeout and a minute 52 left needing a touchdown. It was a drive where, I bet you his pulse rate never exceeded 50. Maybe when he was running around, it got to 60. The calm, the poise, the command, the intelligence, the IQ, the football IQ, the understanding of the situation. score, time, timeouts, field position. That's something you see from, you know, 10-year veterans.

And he's been delivering that all year long. You know, four-for-four on that final drive. You know, you don't count the spike for 43 yards. He rushed for 14 crucial yards. We've seen it before. We saw it in week two against the Giants. We saw it the following Monday night in Cincinnati. Of course, there was the Hail Mary against.

against Chicago, the near miracle against the Cowboys, if they could have just converted an extra point. And then today happened. You know, he wasn't perfect. He threw two interceptions, including a real damaging pick with just over three minutes to go in the game. But to be fair, nobody's been perfect. Nobody's been anywhere near perfect against that Philadelphia defense this year.

And he had very little support. Everything that happened offensively today was with his right arm or his two legs. They had no running game other than him. 81 yards, nine carries. There was a designed run in there. There was an option run in there or two. Almost all of it was scrambles.

How about the 4th and 11? Oh, my God. I mean, first of all, who goes for 4th and 11 late in the third quarter? I think it was a 29, 30-yard run. I think I said maybe like a month, month and a half ago. not that it was a big revelation at all. But he's one of the greatest scrambling quarterbacks I've ever seen through 15 games. We've all watched a lot of football.

We know what Michael Vick was. We know what Steve Young was. We know in recent years what Lamar and Josh Allen and Mahomes are. For some of us, we remember Tarkington and Stauback. He's elite as a scrambler. He's in that class. he's a bad situation eraser all the time. You know, today he overcame a lot, man, to beat a team with a great defense.

They had five turnovers, three lost fumbles, two by Brian Robinson, Jr., which was troubling. The defense had some tough breaks. I thought there were some defensive pass interference penalties that put the team into a bind. But he throws that pick with just over three minutes to go, and it's like, that's all right, give me the ball back, and he marches them right down the field to win the game. You know, there are nits to pick in a game like this. There was so much there. He wasn't perfect, but games like this are never perfect.

You know, you just keep playing and you hope you have the guy that when he has to make it happen at the end, does. And he did. They've got 10 wins first time in 12 years. They've got two more games to get an 11th win for the first time since 91. We all know what happened that year. You know, without him this year, let's be clear about this. We can all agree on this, I think. They're 10 and 5.

Without them, they'd be 5 in 10. Best case, 5 and 10. He's the offensive rookie of the year. That's a lock. now. He'll get some MVP votes. He's not going to win the MVP. There are four or five guys ahead of him. He'll get some votes, though. He'll make the Pro Bowl as a rookie. And most importantly, you know, at 10 and 5, after beating a winning team for the first time this year, a team that had won 10 games in a row, after the win today, they are on the verge of clinching a playoff

birth. Now, they did not clinch one today. Atlanta just won. Seattle's playing right now. They needed Atlanta and Seattle to lose today to clinch a playoff birth. But they made a statement today, and we talked about that last week. The statement is simple. They're a good team, and they can beat good teams because they just did. So the playoff situation, you know, one more win in their final two, they clinch. There is a way that they can lose both games and still make the playoffs. But one more win and they're in. And they may end up playing Philadelphia again as a seven seed playing a two seed. Detroit won today, which means Philadelphia falls a game back of the Lions. Minnesota is still playing. So Minnesota could still win that

division. Minnesota is playing Seattle right now. It's still a long shot for the division. The Eagles would have to lose out. Washington would have to win their final two. Now, if Jalen Hertz doesn't play in the next game or the season finale. Who knows, but they play the Giants in the season finale. Even if they lost to the Cowboys next week in Washington beat Atlanta, and somehow it came down to the final week, it appears the Giants are just trying to get that number one overall draft pick. They threw two pick sixes today against the Falcons. But mathematically, with two games to go, they're still alive for the, for the, for the division two back of Philly.

Philly would have to lose both. Washington would have to win both. And then Washington would win the division based on division record. Because Philadelphia's last two losses would be to Dallas and the Giants. Again, I'm not expecting them to lose both of those games. Now, the seven seed is still the most likely spot, but a six is still a possibility. They're a half game behind the Packers. The Packers play tomorrow night.

They're two touchdown favorite. over New Orleans. But if they finished in a tie with the Packers, Washington would win that tiebreaker and get the six seed. We'll see. I think the Packers are really good, but they do play the Vikings next week, even though it is at Lambo. Next up for Washington, Atlanta. I mentioned two pick sixes for the Falcons today against Drew Locke and the Giants. No Kirk. Michael Pennock got his first start today. I just looked it up. He didn't throw a touchdown, but he really didn't have to. He was 18 of 27 for 202 yards. He had one interception in the game. That interception, though, I saw the highlight. It was a drop by Kyle Pitts that really ended up being the reason for the pick. The Falcons can

really run the football with Bijan Robinson and Tyler Algier. That's my big concern next Sunday night more than anything else, but we've got plenty of time to get to that one later in the week. So much to get to with the one just completed. Rate and review the show if you get a chance, especially on Apple and Spotify, and follow us on Apple and Spotify as well. That is really helpful if you can do that. My game take next after these words from a few of our sponsors. So guys, if you're like me and you've basically

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It comes in multiple colors, multiple sizes. Shop skims men's at skims.com. Let them know I sent you. After you place your order, select podcast in the survey and select my show in the drop-down menu that follows. That's fourth-down team in the league, versus fourth down an extra long here, fourth and 11. Daniels Stats out.

Daniels Nudes inside the 30 with his legs. They'll get it. I wonder what the analytics call was on that fourth and eleven. On the final play of the third quarter, it was at the Philadelphia 41. They were probably not in Zane Gonzalez field goal range, but what a scramble, what a play by Jaden Daniels, 29 yards on the run. They were in business. They finished off that drive with a touchdown to make it 27 to 21, and they were back in the football game.

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All right, the game take, as always, what I liked, what I didn't like, a few other observations. Bear with me. I got so many notes from this one. I wanted to say this before I get to the number one item on the list of things that I liked. There were two things in this game that mattered most, in my opinion, to the outcome. Actually, three, if you want to count the Devante Smith drop. But two things big overall theme-wise that mattered the most to the outcome of the game. The play of Jaden Daniels and Jalen Hertz leaving the game in the first quarter.

It's a tough call as to which was most influential to the final result, but I'll go with Jalen Hertz leaving the game in the first quarter as the number one thing on the list of things that I liked, because it was so beneficial to Washington's defense. It all changed. Not right away and not consistently, but what you saw in the first two drives of the game is an offense that includes the quarterback as part of the run game.

That's what Philly does. That's what Washington does. It's 11-on-11 football when you're running it with Jalen Hertz in the game. It's 10-on-11 football with Kenny Pickett in the game. They went through Washington like a, knife through warm butter on those first two drives. Hertz had 41 yards rushing. Barclay couldn't be stopped. They had 80 yards rushing on the first two drives. They had 150 yards rushing in the first quarter. But the game really started to change when Hertz left and then Kenny Pickett over

three and a half quarters, more than three and a half quarters. It was a completely different team they were facing offensively. And that was a massive, massive, massive. loss for the Eagles. It was about to become a bloodbath of a day defensively, I think especially against the run. But if they continued to load the box to stop it, he was going to kill him through the air. I thought that Washington went from a heavy box to some of the heaviest boxes I've ever seen. There were two or three occasions where Washington had 10 players within two yards, three yards max of the line of scrimmage. That is a loaded box, about as loaded as it can be. There was one shot on a replay where you saw a deep safety and 10 players on the line of

scrimmage on a first and 10. And that was game changing, so game changing. I thought that it was going to be a rough day after watching those first two drives. Things could have changed. It just is a different team with Hertz versus Pickett. You know, Washington's defense wasn't perfect after Hertz left the game. They gave up some big plays. They gave up some big throws. Pickett did make some throws.

They still had some runs. The 68-yard touchdown run came after Hertz left the game. But, man, Hertz. leaving the game was a massive game changer. Washington's defense, after he left the game, was able to force five field goal attempts. They got the Louvo interception on picket, which was a huge turning point in that game. They were about to fall behind 17-0, maybe 21-0. And instead, that pick, which was a bad throw, it's 14-7.

You know, Hertz leaving meant Washington. could totally sell out to stop Barclay. And after that 68-yard touchdown run, gave him 109 in the first quarter, they pretty much did. So number one on the list of things that I liked, Hertz leaving the game, I think, was the most impactful moment to the final result of the game. Number two on the list, let's just get to it, Jaden Daniels, 24 of 39, 258 yards, five touchdowns with, as I said in the open, no running game to speak of. He was sacked once. He threw two picks. Both of them were on him.

You mark him down for those, obviously, but in a game in which he dropped back, you know, if you count scrambles penalties, 45, 46, 47 times, there are always going to be a few that you'd like back. He was the team's leading rusher, 81 yards, nine carries. He had two fourth down conversions on scrambles,

including that fourth and 11. He also had a fourth in four in the four. in the first half. He had that 12-yard scramble where he juked. I think it was Zach Bond, who is amazing, by the way, on the final drive of the game. Among his 24 completions, there were quick game throws, there were screens, there were timing sideline comebacks, there were deep shots, there were over the middle with anticipation throws, including the game winner.

Here are some of my favorites. Let me just go through my notes here, all right? The 51-yard bomb to Diami Brown in the second quarter. Missed on deep balls last week, not really today. Same drive, the touchdown pass to Terry from 32 yards out. Unblocked pass rusher takes a big hit, drops it right in the bucket. The third touchdown pass to Zakias that made it 27 to 21. He's got to extend out to the right side, then work over to Zakias,

who I don't think was anywhere near his first read, but excellent play. All right. There's a second and ten throw to Ertz on the play before the go-ahead touchdown pass to Zekees on the long one, on the broken coverage play. This was a beauty to Ertz who played today, although he was not as much of a factor as I thought he would be in the past game. He had one catch on two targets, but that was a really good one on second and ten by Jaden. And then it was that next play. The 49-yard pass to Zekees, the 12 men on the field for Philly.

I don't know if he saw the 12th man on the field. I think the whole situation and the flags kind of threw the play off a bit. It's one of those. I can't wait to go back and look at it again. It resulted in a busted coverage, but probably an unexpected. busted coverage. Not every quarterback sees that and then is calm and patient enough to take advantage of it, you know, because you're not sure if what you're seeing is probably right because there's flags. Is the 12th man still on the field? What's going on? But what a play

to see him in that spot and take advantage of it. And then obviously a great job by Zekees after the catch to take it in for the go-ahead touchdown. The one that made it 2827. Final drive of the game, the out pattern to Terry. Perfect timing. Throws it before he's coming out of the break. Well done. Good job by Terry to roll out of bounds. The touchdown to Crowder, I mean, come on, 10 seconds left. We'll talk about all the clock management stuff in the game. There were a lot of errors by the head coach in this game. Ball's got to go into the end zone on that play. They've got no timeouts. They've spiked it at second down. You've got three shots, maybe two, depending on how long the plays take.

So much for the people that said he can't throw the ball in the middle of the field. That was always ridiculous. But anyway, that was a professional throw the receiver open, anticipation pass that makes a quarterback millions and millions and millions of dollars. You know, the scrambling, the running, the playmaking, all important. Nothing more important than needing a throw from the pocket on a condensed field with 10. seconds left and doing it with the right read, the anticipatory throw to a spot, the quick release, the accuracy, ballgame. He's got it all. There are so many things that impress me about his passing ability. We've talked about them all year long, but I think number one for me

is his quick release. It's so quick, it's so compact. He does it from a lot of different positions. He does it on the move, he does it from the pocket. Sometimes he does it moving backwards. Sometimes he does it stepping into a throw. His release is lightning quick. Something, you know, we talked about in the buildup to the draft, that he's got such great throwing motion. It's so compact and the release is so quick. But, you know, part of it, too, is that he sees it, he reads it, he anticipates it. You know, as mentioned, you know, it wasn't a perfect day. No quarterback has a perfect day against that defense, against that coordinator. They had some injuries on defense during the game as well. Philly did. Gardner Johnson got booted from the game. It was a game of

attrition at times. It really was. But the first pick with the first interception with under two minutes to go in the first half, that's a pretty quick analysis. He overthrows Luke McCaffrey. He just sailed it and it was picked. The second pick with three minutes or so left, That is a rough one, man, because it's third and four, third and five, and they really needed it down 30 to 28. He's flushed. He tries to make a play rather than taking a sack, but what he really needed to do was chuck the ball out of bounds.

And instead, he put an up for grabs throw that was knocked up into the air by Slay, right, and picked off by Blankenship. Blankenship's second interception of the season, Didn't he have the one interception? I think he did in the Thursday night game. So second pick of Jaden this year. Throwing that one away and living to get another shot on fourth and five would have been the better decision there.

So he gets knocked down a little bit for those two picks. There were a couple of throws that were low but caught. Terry had one. Sekees had one for a touchdown. And obviously there are probably things that he missed that the coaches will know even before we do. But again, they have like no chance without this guy. He's the most important player on the team,

and he is the best player on the team. As a rookie, he's already one of the best quarterbacks in the league, in the entirety of the NFL. I've said the last few weeks that he's got one box to check. You know, how does he play in a big, big game? Can he strap the team to his back against a good team in a big game, play well and win the game, box checked. More chances for him to come through like he did today,

but with two regular season games left in his rookie season, he's him, as the kids say, Jaden with another A performance today. Next up on the things that I liked list. I'll start with this, just kind of resilience. You know, they're down 14 twice. They're down 13 once in the second half. They barely touch the ball at all in the third quarter. But we've seen this all year long.

They're just resilient. They're never dead. You know, that is a culture thing. That's a coach thing. And that's the kind of players that they're signing and they're drafting. They were in a bit of trouble in week two against the Giants, remember? Against Cincinnati on that Monday night, they had to keep scoring. They literally could not afford to punt.

in that game, and they didn't, and they won. They were nearly dead against Chicago. They came up, you know, a tenth of an inch short, maybe, against the Steelers. They kept coming back against the Ravens, even though they fell a bit short. They came, you know, within another miracle of tying the Cowboys late, if not for that missed extra point. And then today, playing a team that had won 10 games in a row, you could have argued going into today was the best team in the league, and maybe they still are with Jalen Hertz healthy.

And, you know, at times, they were outclassed a little bit, you know, especially early, 14, nothing before we knew it, 21 to 7, 2714. And then 33, 28 with one last shot. And the team led by, you know, this coach and the culture they're creating, but most importantly, this quarterback, they're just never out of it. It never feels like it's over with him. You know, other than the season opener in Tampa, they've had a chance in every game they've played, 14 of them except for that opener.

That's why, you know, the talk of statement game the other day and that Jaden had a chance also to make a statement is that when they had done it before, they had done it against teams without winning records, not really good teams necessarily. Today was different. And I know Hertz was out, and that was a major factor, but they still had to face that defense. Jalen Hertz doesn't play defense. Next up on the list of things that I liked.

Just Phillies' mistakes overall really helped. And you start with the Devontas Smith drop just before the two-minute warning. He's wide open on third and five versus Noah I. And he just flat out drops it. It's a perfect throw, perfect read by picket. It's pretty much game over with that catch. The clock would have gone to two-minute warning. The two-minute warning.

Washington had one timeout left, so if Philadelphia approaches it with three runs, Washington gets the ball back after a timeout with a minute 53. Then they run the next play. It's 49. It's down to 10. then they run another play that ends at six, and then you go another 40 seconds before they kick the field goal. And now we're talking about 20 seconds left when Washington fields the kickoff.

And they need a touchdown down 33, 28 at that point. So that drop by Smith was an absolute killer for Philadelphia. They would have survived had he caught that. They have two losses this year with two drop passes at the end of games. Sequin Barclay dropped one in week two against Atlanta that would have clinched and ended the game. Cousins took him down the field and scored, and you had Devante Smith dropped this one, and Jaden Daniels takes him down the field. They had other drops in the game.

Brown had a drop for a first down. They had 10 penalties for 91 yards. C.J. Gardner Johnson booted with two personal foul calls. The game was chippy at times. some of the calls against them weren't good calls, but of course, we can say the same thing. So, yeah, that's the next thing. Just Philadelphia's mistakes really helped. But Washington made just as many. I understand that. It wasn't, Washington had five turnovers and won the game. Frankie Louvre is on the list of things that I liked. Multiple TFLs and he had that big interception.

You know, they were reeling that, you know, it was 14-9. nothing, and it felt like it was about to get bad, even with Pickett in the game, and then he picked off Pickett. Down 14-0-0. He kind of deceived Pickett into thinking that he was blitzing or rushing, but he dropped quickly into that spot, picked it off, didn't drop it. Remember, he had a dropped interception against the Saints last week. He's just outstanding, as we've been saying all year.

He is a star in the making, however you want to describe it. I think he'll make the Pro Bowl this year. He's got a really good chance. Next up on my list here is three for four in the red zone offensively, and two of the touchdowns were on third downs. I thought this was one of the keys to the game, you know, winning the red zone battle. Washington was three for four, Philly, two for four. Third downs, both defensively and offensively. Washington seven for 13 on third down.

Two for three on fourth down. The only miss on fourth down was on the opening drive fourth and one when they stopped Brian Robinson, Jr. Don't run at Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis. Talked about that as keys to the game. No pullers. I talked about on Friday. Don't pull in this game because it just leads to Jalen Carter being in the backfield too much. But third down, seven for 13 on third down for Washington's offense.

Washington's defense held Philadelphia to three for 16 on third down. Now, the Eagles were three for three. on fourth downs. And to be fair, with Jalen Hertz in the game, they only had one third down, and they converted it. It was actually a penalty on Igben O'Gennie, defensive hold, which was a good call on that opening Philadelphia drive. But, yeah, third downs were huge in this game in terms of the difference.

Philly 3 for 16, 3 for 3 and 4th downs. so you kind of say six for 16 in terms of staying on the field. But still, good job by Washington and really good job by Washington offensively. On the list of things that I liked, what was next on the list of things that I liked? The run defense once Jalen Hertz left the game. With Hertz in the game, you know, kind of talked about this, I thought we were in big trouble. It's just so obvious that teams that they have faced this year that have a good offensive line, starback, that have a quarterback capable of also throwing the football and running the football,

you know, they've gotten healthy statistically on defense because of some of the competition they have faced. When they have faced better competition, they have struggled, especially against the run, but they did a really good job. They had to sell out completely to do it, but with pick it in the game, they could afford to do that. Washington, as I mentioned, gave up, you know, 109 yards to Barclay in the first quarter, 150 in total, rushing yards to Barclay in Philadelphia finished with 2-11. So for the final three quarters of the game, they had 61 yards rushing. For Barclay, how about this?

109 yards on nine carries in the first quarter, and he had 150 for the game on 29 carries. So that's 20 for 41 the rest of the way. I think Philly ran the ball, honestly, far too much with Barclay against eight, nine, ten-man fronts. But Pickett, they clearly didn't trust, or he didn't check enough against those loaded box. If you can't stop the run with that many people, the line of scrimmage, you're really in trouble. But they did, for the most part, after they realized that Pickett was the guy to let beat them. What else on the list of things that I liked?

How about good field position all day long? And when they didn't have good field position, the one time they went 96 yards in a few plays. They hit the big one to Diami Brown and then the touchdown pass to Terry. Average starting field position, I did quick back of the envelope math, 35 yard line for the day. They had four drives at no worse than their own 40-yard line, and they started two drives in Philadelphia territory. They started the first drive of the game. Remember at their own 40 after Elliott didn't kick. it into the landing zone. Remember, if you don't kick it into the landing zone, ball comes right out to the 40-yard line.

Let me just rip through some players here that stood out at first glance here. First blush, I'll probably update this tomorrow. Terry's on the list of things that I liked. Five catches on six targets, 60 yards, including, look, that's a great play by Jaden under pressure, getting hit. He drops it right into the bucket, but Terry still has to make a really good over-the-shoulder catch. The one catch that he didn't make, it seemed to have hit off his helmet. I wish Terry was more of a hands catcher. I know he doesn't drop balls as a chest and arms catcher, but the one that he got targeted on that either got broken up or had hit his helmet, he waits for it to get him, you know, rather than reaching out as a hands catcher. Crowder is on the list. I mean,

he's been kind of reliable since coming back last week. Two catches, two touchdown. Two touchdown. although he did bobble that one punt return. A reliable route runner, good hands. Newton, I thought stood out at times. Farrell stood out at times. Fowler Jr. did. Wagner did. Am I missing anybody on defense? Probably. I'll update it on tomorrow's show when I have more time to go through it.

I thought Luke McCaffrey showed some real good burst on kickoff returns. I think he averaged over 30. the 30.7 yards per kickoff return for Luke McCaffrey. And he had a catch on a bubble screen that he took for like 10, 11, 12 yards. That's the list of things that I liked, you know? I mean, Jaden Daniels clearly just amazing. All right, the list of things that I did not like. By the way, I just got a quick note.

We're not going to have a guest in the final segment. So I'll save my other observations for the final segment. Let me get to the list of things that I did not like. You start with turnovers. You know, I mean, you're just not going to win against anybody turning the ball over five times, losing the turnover battle minus four. They were minus four in the day. I think the last play of the game was called a turnover when they were pitching it around.

That doesn't really count. You know, they're trying to pitch it around because the clocks run out. They had the Lou Vu pick and the three fumbles, Brian Robinson Jr. twice, Diami, who got hurt in the game once, and then Jaden's two interceptions. It's just amazing that they were able to win a game at minus four against that team. But of course, that team was without their starting quarterback for 54.5 minutes of the 60 played. Turnovers lead the list of things that I didn't like. The early run defense was a sieve, obviously.

They pretty much went through everybody with everybody, Hertz, Barclay, and then they still gave up the 68-yard or even without Hertz in the game. But after that, they were great once they could really sell out and not even worry about the quarterback. But it's still my number one concern, and you guys saw why. It is the number one flaw in this team is their rush defense. And even though they had multiple TFLs when Pickett came into the game over the final, you know, three quarters of the game, I don't trust it against a good football team that's balanced. I don't. And next week, they get two excellent backs.

We don't know what the quarterback will be at this point. He's only played one game. So early run defense in particular. Next up on the list of things I didn't like coverage. It's not that Philadelphia lit Washington up through the air. That is not true. But there were too many easy pitch in catches. And they had some drops.

I mean, the Smith drop being the biggest one of the game. And look, most of it will focus on Latimore and his matchup with A.J. Brown. he traveled with Brown. Sanra still did with Smith. And, you know, Latimore had a rough day. He had a really rough day. And he left the game with a hamstring injury. And I think of the three DPIs that he had, I think it's three. I think one was a really bad call. I think the other two, one of them was definitely DPI and maybe one was close enough where you probably see the call 50 or 60 percent of the time, 40 percent you don't. Forty to 50 percent you don't. It was a rough. day for Lattimore, no doubt. I mean, the idea that Philadelphia would avoid him was always

kind of ridiculous. New Orleans avoided him because they had two bad quarterbacks and they didn't have great receivers. Philadelphia's got a superstar in A.J. Brown and a really good receiver in Devante Smith. And I thought there were just too many easy pitch and catches. By the way, the first play of the game, they went at Lattimore. Their first throw was, to A.J. Brown. Hold on. There's a third and seven on Philly's second drive. He finds A.J. Brown against Lattimore. It looked like, you know, behind, especially when Pickett came into the game, they loaded the box with a minimum of eight, and they played either single high man, single high, and some zone. Because you saw some of the times that Lattimore was around A.J. Brown when he caught a ball. I'm not sure if he was in pure man. Now, the slant for the touchdown, you know, he's in press man.

And, man, A.J. Brown, we, you know, we're not going to have this conversation now. But there's so many great receivers in the game. And then there are a few that can actually dominate a game. And he is one of those guys. He got targeted 15 times in the game, had eight catches. So he did have a drop. Look, Lattimore had a rough day, period. However, here's the one thing I would say.

Lattimore fought like hell, and he made some plays after, you know, a rough stretch of penalties and getting beat. He still had some really good coverage plays. And one of the balls that I would call a drop was actually really aided by Lattimore getting down there and digging it out from A.J. Brown. You know, St. Juice came into the game for Brown when he left and had some issues. Sanra still had a few issues here and there. Yeah, it was not a great day coverage-wise. That's for sure. And they did get some pressure on Pickett.

Pickett will hold it, you know. He will hold it. And they came with, you know, they came with extra man pressure because they already had, you know, eight or nine players at the line of scrimmage. before each snap. All right. Let me get to the game and clock management stuff. So let's start at the end of the first half.

A big mistake by Dan Quinn. I think Quinn, for the most part, I know that I've been critical of a few things here and there. I think every team, you know, blows it, you know, pretty much at least a few times a year. Quinn's not in his staff. They're not terrible at this, but they messed up at the end of the first half, and I'll tell you why.

After a third and one in which they nailed Berkeley for a loss, I think it was Louvo, who did, and it knocked him out of field goal range. Well, Elliot's got a big leg, but on a cold day, you know, he had already missed. No, this was before his first miss, which was from 56 yards. But anyway, Washington, after the Berkeley stop with about 48 seconds to go, needed to call a time, out, maybe not right at 48, but somewhere in the neighborhood, which would make Philadelphia have to risk it to go for it. When they didn't call a time out and Philly let the clock wind down to 11 seconds and call a time out before their fourth down and four at Washington's

43, then they had very little to lose by going for it. If Washington calls a time out, if Washington calls a time out with, say, 40 seconds to go, Philly's going to punt the ball, or they're going to take a big risk in going for it, because if they don't get it, Washington's got plenty of time with the ball, you know, somewhere around their own 40-yard line, right? So you don't want to give them a chance to go for it with little risk if they miss. If they don't pick up the first down, and they did on a five-yard throw to Smith right in front of Santer still, one of Pickett's better throws, which set up a field goal that they did miss.

So Washington got lucky. But Philadelphia was in no risk situation, because let's just say that it's an incomplete pass. Well, then there are five seconds left after that play, and Washington's going to do what, with five seconds to go at their own 43? They could throw a Hail Mary. They could do that.

So you're giving up the risk of a Hail Mary, but you're not going to be able to complete a ball and get a field goal attempt because there's one play left after that play. So big mistake, not a little mistake, and not a debatable mistake. This is a real like no-brainer. You cannot let Philly run a fourth and four play with no risk of missing it. you have to make them make the decision to go for the fourth down, but understanding that if they do, there's a massive risk if they miss. And that'll probably force a punt. And then on a punt, Philadelphia only had one time out left.

So Washington could either go for it after the punt, you know, if they want to try to get into field goal range with, you know, 35 seconds to go depending on where the punt goes, or they could knee it out if they wanted to in that spot. So that was a major error at the end of the half. And they got lucky that Elliott missed the field goal short. And then at the end of the game, you are on defense. You have two timeouts left.

You've already burned one. They burned one defensively when it looked like, or they burned one in the second half. Where did they burn one? was it before a punt or a field goal attempt where he didn't think he had the right field goal group out there? Yeah, I think that's what it was. So he had already burned one time out. So Philadelphia with the 30 to 28 lead is trying to run the clock out, right? Or maybe score a touchdown to put the game out of reach or kick a field goal to make Washington come down and score touchdown.

And they run a play to Barclay and he gets nailed for another TFL. This was one of, I think, it looks like on my notes, Newton, I had done. Newton and Payne maybe with the stop. So Payne had a face mask penalty that was really hurtful in the game. You got to call your timeouts on defense right there. You call your timeout with $2.50 to go. That means they got to run another play that likely you can call that last one, and then they can run their third down play and run it down to the two-minute warning,

or they'll throw incomplete and you're left with a lot of time. Timeouts before the two-minute warning on defense. so he makes the mistake of not calling it after the three-yard loss on first down and lets the clock go down on their second downplay and calls it with 207 left. You can't call timeouts with 207 or less. Why? Because now you put the team, the offensive team, into position where they can drop back and throw the ball without much risk and not being in.

in not being concerned about the clock stopping on an incomplete pass because it's going to stop at the two-minute warning anyway. Now, 207 is within that range where it's like, you know, the play could be a five or a six-second play. And in fact, the play was a five-second play. It was the drop to Devante Smith. But it's just you should have called it at 250 at 250. and when you didn't call it there, you can't call it with 207 left.

You can't give them a free opportunity to throw the football. You want them to try to run it and force you to call that last time out. Now they're in a run-pass situation with 207 left, and that ability to go run-pass is harder to defend. And they went past, and Devante Smith was wide open, and he just dropped it. that was a big mistake. To be honest with you, on their offensive drive at the end, I didn't really have a problem with where they called the timeout.

They only had one left. You know, I think after the, I think running the, here's the mistake. Third and one, I would not have run the football with 23 seconds to go. They called their last time out on a play in which, Jaden almost got the first down, but it was short. It was third and one at the Philadelphia. 14-yard line. And with 23 seconds left and no timeouts, they ran the ball to get the first down.

I would not have done that. I would have thrown it, you know, for the first down and maybe gotten a bigger chunk play and then gotten up and spiked it. Or thrown it, you know, into the end zone from there. You're already at the 14-yard line. They ran it, they got up, they spiked it with 10 seconds to go, and then we had the touchdown on the next play. I think that I would not have run it there.

I would have thrown it, but it worked out for them. I think the bigger, the no-brainers in terms of the mistakes, the end of the first half, you don't let that clock go down to 11 seconds and let them go for it without any risk to missing it. And you've got to use your timeouts and defense before the two-minute warning when you're down and you're trying to get the ball back. And you don't call a timeout with, say, it's basically 207, 206 or less,

because then you give that offensive team free license to throw the football on third down without any risk to an incomplete pass because the clock's more likely than not going to make it to the two-minute warning anyway. So there you go. All right, a few more observations to finish up the show after these words from a few of our sponsors.

This final segment of the show is brought to you by My Bookie, Go to mybooky.8.m. Use my promo code and participate in their ongoing 12 days of Christmas. They give you tools during this time to elevate your game. Risk-free Thursdays, super boosts, and free bets. They've got the road to New Orleans, bowl games galore, and a Christmas Day doubleheader in the NFL with plenty of NBA. This is your season to win. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. That's Kevin D.C. at mybooky.ag and they'll give you a 50% cash bonus on your initial deposit. Mybooky.orgie.orgie. promo code, Kevin, D.C. Washington, an early four and a half point favorite over the Falcons next Sunday night. A Washington win they're in. Washington can also get in by beating the Cowboys in the season finale.

If they were to lose both of those games, Atlanta would need to lose their final to Carolina, and I think Tampa would have to lose out as well. I think that's what it is. I'll have all of the playoff scenarios for you tomorrow. MyBooky.ag promo code Kevin D.C. All right. No guest in this final segment. We have plenty to finish up the show with, though. Plenty of content, plenty of things that didn't make either the good list or the bad list, but they were observations. worth discussing, and it starts with this. Did he or didn't he false start? Talking about Cornelius Lucas on the game-winning touchdown pass to James and Crowder.

Well, Mike Pereira, through Greg Olson, said he did not. He said that you get a bit of a benefit of the doubt, maybe a frame or two, because frame by frame, he moves before the ball snapped. But how many times do we watch games and say, didn't that dude false start? It seems like it happens all the time and it doesn't get called. If I were an Eagles fan, I'd be incensed. But I'm not.

And so I'll go with Pereira saying it shouldn't have been called. That was Cornelius Lucas, even though it was identified as Wiley by Olson. The throw-by picket, which was called a fumble at first, but then was quickly overturned to an incomplete pass. That was the right call. He was shoving the ball forward. That ball was in his hands when it came forward.

I did not have a problem with that call. I also thought they did the right thing clearly in picking up the flag on Percy Butler with the late hit on picket when he slid. Although, let me just mention it was the right pickup of the flag. Percy Butler did kind of lead with his elbow, and he's just kind of lucky it didn't make contact. Go back and watch it. I will tomorrow as well.

Butler came in and was a little bit too close there and looked like he was leading with the elbow in front of the helmet. Nothing touched, so it was the right thing to pick it up. But I don't think that it was anything other than a lucky miss on the hit. That's what I would say to it. Did Washington jump off sides after the second Philadelphia touchdown, the slant to A.J. Brown? It looked like it. Now, the reason I bring it up is would Nick Siriani have gone for two there?

He would typically, but Jalen Hertz wasn't in the game. Pick it through that touchdown pass. So maybe they would have just kept the extra point and kept it at 14. Really good play by Jeremy Chin on the half-back option off the Wildcat snap to Barclay. He didn't get fooled at all. By the way, Robinson Jr.'s wildcat snap led to his second fumble. I meant to mention kick coverage and punt coverage on the things that I liked the list. Tyler Owens in particular was outstanding.

How about Gardner Johnson getting his first 15-yard penalty between quarters with Diommy Brown? But Brown pushed him. Clearly, Gardner Johnson said something, and that's what was being explained. What he said, I have no idea. bad the Cleland Farrell sack and force fumble wasn't recovered by Washington. Duran Payne had a bit of, you know, a mixed day. He had the third and 16 face mask on a four-yard gain. He also got away with a helmet-to-helmet on Pickett on one of the DPI calls on Latimore. So there should have been maybe an extra 15 on that.

Speaking of one of the DPI calls, I didn't mention this when we were talking about Lattimore, but I thought one of them could have been an offsetting call with A.J. Brown also called for offensive pass interference because he had his hand inside the Latimore jersey at the neck area. I thought that could have been offsetting penalties. Remember the slant into the end zone to A.J. Brown, which Lattimore broke up. I actually thought that could have been called DPI. but there was a defenseless hit on Kwan Martin not called. It was helmet to helmet clearly on the replay.

They did not pick up on that. What else do we have here? How about the Philly Drive, the second one of the second half? 14 plays, 8 minutes, 13 seconds, just 36 yards covered. That's hard to do. Okay. How about Pam Oliver? I love Pam Oliver. I've always thought she's done a great job. This happened one time last year, too, where she was really slow in her communication. I think she doesn't deal with cold weather very well. Because it feels in the moment when you hear her, or it sounds like either she's been drinking or it's like a neurological episode.

I know that that was trending there on X on Twitter. Hmm. St. Juice giving up that fourth and seven to A.J. Brown's great. Turns it upfield. Can't get the tackle. I think that's it. How about the third and two when Chris Rodriguez got nailed for a loss? Jalen Carter just busted through two dudes.

and it was literally like there were two defensive linemen that impacted the play with like four people blocking them. Man, Jalen Carter and Zach Bonn in particular on defense for them are just so damn good. I think that's it. You know, injury-wise, I guess Wiley, Lattimore is the big one with the hamstring again. Diami Brown with a hamstring. There will be more in these injuries.

sure tomorrow, but Latimore hamstring did not sound good, clearly, and he did not play there for that last stretch of the fourth quarter. All right, I'm done. Great win. I'll be back tomorrow.