The Kevin Sheehan Show - Season Ends In Philly

Episode Date: January 27, 2025

Kevin's post-game of Washington's 55-23 loss to Philadelphia in the NFC Championship game. His Commanders-Eagles "Game-Take" along with a look back at a memorable season and a peek ahead to what should be an exciting off-season.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Daniels. Curveing, goes four side. One other turnover for Washington. Their third of the day.

If they were ever going to have a chance to add another comeback to this incredible season, that Austin Echler fumble killed it. It was the third of four turnovers on the day, and the turnovers were a big part of this. story, but not the entire story. I'm in for the post-game podcast after Washington's season ended just a few hours ago in Philadelphia, a 55 to 23 loss to the Eagles in the NFC championship game. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, is Window Nation, 86690 Nation or WindowNation.com if you need new windows. I'll get to my game take in the next segment, and I'll save my thoughts

on the season as a whole and take a quick look ahead to next year for the final segment of the show. Washington season is over. You know, the dream of what would have been truly a shocking, improbable run to the Super Bowl ends a game short in Philadelphia. And it ended resoundingly. You know, the final score was pretty ugly, 55 to 23, not totally representative of the game's, you know, competitiveness, but it wasn't that far off either. You know, I'll start with this. NFL games, one sports talk host many, many years ago,

used to say all the time, Ken Beatrice. NFL games are more often lost than one. And the meaning of that is that mistakes made by the losing team are very often the biggest reasons for the final outcome of the game and are more important than whatever the winning team did positively. But sometimes both things contribute to the final outcome equally. And that was this game, in my opinion. This game was as much about Philadelphia as it was about Washington's mistakes. Washington committed four turnovers, three during the competitive portion of the game. The last one was when the game was already over.

Washington committed nine penalties in the game. Washington's defense wasn't anywhere near good enough to win a game of this caliber against a team like that. All of those things played a big part in why the game was lost, but more so why the final score of the game was so lopsided. You know, the other part of it is that the Eagles were damn good today. We knew heading into the game that they were a more complete team, that they had a better overall roster. But they had looked wobbly a little bit coming into this one in their two playoff wins over the Packers and the Rams. And their starting quarterback got hurt last week, and his overall health and readiness for this game was in question.

So there was legitimate reason to think that the game was winnable. You know, it was a combo of how well we were playing and how shaky they, had been, you know, especially on offense. But man, the Eagles were good today, especially on offense. They're awesome on defense, and they had the number one defense this year. But I thought they were exceptional on offense. 459 total yards, 229 rushing yards. They were 50% on third down. They were 100% on fourth down. They averaged seven yards per play. They were seven for seven in the red zone, and they had seven rushing touchdowns in the game. That's the most in a playoff game since 1940 when the Bears had seven rushing touchdowns

against the Redskins in a 73-0 championship win. They had offensive line issues coming into the game and during the game, which allowed Washington's defense to actually generate some decent. pressure at times and even make a few plays that seem to matter in the moment. But Jalen hurts, man, he answered the bell today. He was excellent, throwing it, running it, protecting it. It was a championship performance by their quarterback. He came up large in this game for them.

He's got some history of doing what needs to be done all the while doing it very cleanly. You know, he takes a lot of criticism, and I didn't think he looked very good, you know, this season at times, and even in the playoff games. But, man, they needed him today and he came up big. You know, he is not thrown an interception since early November. Philly stars played better than Washington stars in this game. They also have more stars, understood. Hertz wasn't the only star who was tremendous for Philadelphia in this game. Seekwan Barclay took his first touch 60 yards for the first of his three touchdowns. AJ Brown was pretty much uncoverable all day long. Middle linebacker Zach Bonn, who was outstanding all season long, had a forced fumble and a recovered fumble. And Jalen Carter was a problem to say the least. Washington has fewer stars, and they only had one really play at a high enough level for

this particular stage. And that was Jaden Daniels. I really thought when they cut that 19 point lead to 11 and then got the ball back before that Echler fumble that we played coming in and they were on the move, I thought, here we go again. This dude's about to lead us to an incredible comeback again. No lead is safe with him on the field. I thought he was outstanding once again.

Any chance of winning relied on him to carry the team once again. and the load, it was too heavy today. You know, there was just too much overall crap, you know, to overcome. You know, some of that crap included officiating. Washington was clearly on the short end of too many calls and too many non-calls. Head referee Sean Hoculi, he's never reft a game in the Siriani Hertz era in which the Eagles have lost. the birds are now 7 and 0 in games in which he lead officiates. The missed blatant hold on Saquan Barkley in the first half on 4th and 5 was probably one of the biggest plays early in the game.

The Eagles led 14 to 12. It was right before the 2-minute warning. They decided to go for a 4th and 5, and Hertz found A.J. Brown down the far sideline for a 31-yard completion. but they missed the hold on Louvre. Barkley grabbed him, hooked him, pulled them, and it was right there, right in front of Hertz. They missed it, so instead of fourth and 15 and a punt, and Washington taking over with the football on a chance to drive for the lead before halftime, the Eagles scored a touchdown a few plays later,

then recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and scored again. So instead of having a chance to have a halftime lead, Washington was down 12 at the break. That was an egregious miss. I thought the Sanra still late hit on Barclay on a third down stop. Washington stopped Barclay short of the sticks on the Eagles drive after the fumbled kickoff was one that you just can't call in that kind of a game. It was too close and that ended up being a four-point swing. There were more officials' calls, but let me just say, officiating wasn't the reason Washington lost the game.

When you lose by 32, it's not the refs. The bottom line, the Eagles are just better than Washington right now, and they showed it today. And Washington's biggest weakness all season long. You know, it's defense, in particular, it's rush defense. It didn't magically get better in the 20th game of a long season. And it couldn't be, you know, perfumed over by another great performance by Jaden Daniels and the team's offense. So the season is over.

But oh my God, what an unforgettable season this was. And let's just hope the seasons that follow this one, starting next year, last a little bit longer. All right, my game take when we come back after these words from a few of our sponsors. So guys, if you're like me and you've basically been buying and wearing the same type of underwear for years, in my case, boxer briefs, same brand, same type for a long time, well, not anymore for me. I want to tell you about skims for men, something I've discovered recently, the softest underwear I've ever worn. I got a few pairs of the 5-inch boxer briefs so comfortable, no matter what you're doing,

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There's Barclay, a little shovel. Looking for an edge, gets his Saquan. Barkley, first down. Barkley, Sequin! Touchdown! Not this start they were looking for on defense. Following an 18-play drive to open up the game on offense, the Eagles answered in one play.

60 yards, Sequin Barclay, he's pretty good. Washington knew that. but it didn't seem to matter. This segment of the show is brought to you by Window Nation. If you need new Windows, 86690 Nation or head to WindowNation.com, 60% off all windows between now and the end of the month. You need to let them know that I told you to call. You'll get 60% off and no payments and no interest for two full years.

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you'll get access to 60% off with no payments and no interest for two full years. 86690 Nation, windownation.com. Let's get to my game take. Pay attention. Here's Kevin's Game Take. All right, my game take, as always, things I liked the good, things I didn't like, the bad, and lots of other that don't fit into either one of those categories. It was another one of those games, and they played so many of them this year that just had

a lot to it. So let's get started. Number one on the list of things that I liked, Jaden Daniels, poised, of course. good decision-making much of the day, of course. He threw it well. There were a few that were off. There were a few that weren't perfect, but mostly really good. 29 of 48 for 255.

A touchdown, and then the one pick in the fourth quarter on a 50-50 ball that Mitchell made a really good play on. He ran it well, six carries, 48 yards. Most of those were scrambles, but that was a really good speed option run on the touchdown that made. at 34 to 21 and then they got the two-point conversion that cut it to 11 with five minutes to go in the third quarter. He handled pressure well delivered over and over again, whether it was blitz pressure or four-man pressure. He's just too good against pressure, especially when you send extra men. He sees it too quickly and then his release is just lightning quick and he's accurate. You know, my favorite throws of the day, so many to choose from, actually.

Let me just rip through a few of them. First drive, the first third down throw to Terry on third and six, that balls out. It's low where only Terry can get it. Terry makes a good catch. Move the chains. First drive, it's fourth down and five. They converted two fourth downs on that opening drive. He fires it to Ertz versus zone coverage.

fourth down for him never seems to stress him even a little bit. Like if you were watching it, you'd never know it was fourth down. Still in the first half, it was their third drive. It was a second and 16, and he goes to Diami Brown versus zone coverage for 24 yards. Fourth drive of the first half, there's the third and three slant touchdown pass to Terry. Man, does he throw a good slant, right? I mean, we learned that this year. Man coverage slant, even zone coverage slant.

The ball's just out too quickly and too accurately on those. So many good throws, so many good decisions on that second drive of the second half. I mean, there's just one after another when they cut the lead to 34, 23. But I thought the second and five shot to Ertz for 21 was really big. On the play before the Echler fumble, you know, at 34 to 23, third quarter, he had a third and 10 throw to Ertz for 13 yards. It was big time to move the chains. They were down 41, 23 in the fourth, but they went for a fourth and six,

and he found Ertz again for a conversion. Just looking through my notes. You know, what did I just rip off? seven throws, something like that. There were probably another four or five. He had some big runs in the game, too. The first drive of that game, you know, the long drive. There's the fourth and two scramble for the first down for five yards. He had that 19-yard scramble into field goal range at the end of the first half. What a drive that was. What a huge run that was in the moment, and he got out of bounds. There was the third and one touchdown run on the speed option

that was really nifty. Yeah, I mean, considering how much he was asked to do in this game, which was everything, they called 28 pass plays in the first half to just nine run plays. They couldn't run the football at all again. He was their leading rusher for, I don't know, the fifth or sixth time this year, I think, maybe more. I'm pretty sure he was their leading rusher. Yeah, because there's no way Brian Robinson, Jr.

Yeah, he had 48 yards, and Brian Robinson, Jr. had 36 in the game. But this was, you know, a big ask against that team with four turnovers and a defense that couldn't get off the field. They were behind because of it much of the day. I thought he was great. You know, there were a few misthrows. He had a deep ball early for Terry that could have been picked. He threw behind Crowder on a ball. He threw low to Zakias once.

that Zakias actually caught. And then there was another one I think he didn't catch. I think it hit the ground. He took a big sack on 4th and 12. I'm not sure if there was a chance to chuck it down the field on that one. That was late too. I'm sure there were a few other things that I'm missing. Maybe a few misses for him.

But overall, I mean, he became the third rookie in quarterback, a third rookie quarterback in NFL history to have at least one rushing and one passing touchdown in a playoff game. This postseason, by the way, Daniels 822 yards passing, the most by a rookie in postseason history. And the 822 passing yards is now a single-season post-season franchise record. He passed Joe Thysman's 774 passing yards in 1983. Thaisman played two home playoff games that year and then in the Super Bowl against the Raiders.

Jaden once again, an A for the game. I don't know how you give him anything less than an A in the game. I haven't seen his QBR. Let me see if it's up yet. 83.2 QBR. They just put it up. That's an A grade for sure. Next up on the list of things that I liked.

The opening drive was outstanding. until the end. 18 plays, 54 yards, 7 minutes and 3 seconds. You know, if you're going to win a game like that on the road, like we talked about, you've got to win it with your offense and the way that game started. First of all, 14 passes, three runs, and a field goal attempt. That was the drive breakdown. 14 passes.

I'll get to the field goal attempt in a field. moment. But is there any doubt that they came into this game knowing that they were going to have a difficult time running the ball against Philadelphia? I agree with them. They're not wrong. He threw the ball or there was a pass play called on the first six plays and 10 of the first 11. So much for a rookie quarterback needs a really good run game. It would have helped for sure, but that was a hell of an opening drive. Five different pass receivers caught ball. There were two third down conversions, two fourth down conversions. And then on fourth and three, I was surprised he kicked the field goal.

Right? I mean, you take that opening drive and you've already converted two fourth downs. You've got the defense gassed a little bit. You went for a fourth and five at their 43, a fourth and two at their 28, and now it's fourth and three at their 16. I know it's a chip shot field goal, and you want that drive. drive to pay off. And remember, last week's opening drive, long drive didn't pay off. They got stopped. Well, at least they didn't put Marioita in for a fourth down and get stopped on any of the

fourth downs. But I was really surprised. I didn't have a major issue with it. I don't know what the analytics said, you know, whether it was to go for or to kick a field goal. Typically, you never see when the analytics say kick the field goal or don't go for it. It's, you know, seems that way to me anyway. I just was surprised. He opted for a 34-yard field goal on that drive. But the opening drive is on the list of things that I liked. Zach Ertz is on the list of things that I liked. Zach Ertz was big for this team, and they're going to have to think about bringing him back because he was on a one-year deal this year. 11 catches, 104 yards, a lot of third down,

a couple of fourth down conversion catches. He did drop one ball. You know, it wasn't like a flat out drop, but it was a catchable ball. But Ertz was big for this team, you know, so much more often than not. Really, you know, a running game is a young quarterback's best friend, and a big old tight end with a big catch radius is a big friend to a rookie quarterback, and he was all season long. Pro's pro, a really, really nice game from Ertz.

By the way, his 11 receptions are a franchise record for receptions by a tight end in a postseason game. And his 104 receiving yards, second most by a tight end, Jordan Reed caught balls for 120 yards, 120 against the Packers back in 2015. Next up on the list of things that I liked. Look, there's not going to be a lot defensively that I'm going to mention. Frankie Louvre single-handedly cost Philadelphia at least six points in the game and maybe more. So he had that big sack right over the center, Landon Dickerson, who was in for Jurgens, and their offensive line was a mess, and Dickerson was hurting in the game,

and probably should have come out earlier than he did. But that was a huge sack. It knocked Elliott back to a 54-yard field goal from what would have been something in the mid-40s, and the field goal was wide. Right. So that was a huge sack by Louvre. And then he had a huge TFL for minus yardage on Barcl

on a third and five that forced Philadelphia to punt in the third quarter when they were in field goal range before. the TFL. So Louvo had some big-time plays in the game. He also decided to go over the top on a few of those brotherly love, brotherly shove, excuse me, attempts on that wild sequence, which we'll get to towards the end of this game take. But Louvoo's on the list of things that I liked.

How about the fake punt? You know, down 14 to 3, about to go 3 and out for one of the few times, it seems like all year. That's an exaggeration, but not by much. And tress away to sin it for 23 yards. Let me just tell you, I know that this is easy to say, but if I put my son on with me right now, he would say, yeah, no, dad was screaming.

They're going to fake it here. For whatever reason, they were starting to kind of do something right before the snap, and I'm like, they're going to fake this. They're going to fake this. And Philadelphia was not ready for it, really well-schemed up. SIN it wide open. Really good throw by Tress Way. And look, they ended up getting three out of that drive. So instead of down 14, 3 about to give it back to Philly, they're in the game at 14 to 6. How about Zane Gonzalez in this game? He's on the list of things that were really good. Three for three in the game. None of them were even close to missing. So, you know, their kicker. We talked about kickers. being a big deal in this game. Certainly, it may have played a role had the game been close, but Elliot missed his only field goal. By the way, that was Elliot's first ever missed postseason

field goal. He was seven for seven on extra points. They did have eight touchdowns, but they went for two and missed it on another one. But Zane Gonzalez, three for three on field goals. So good for him. What else is on the list of things? that I liked. I thought that they got some pretty good pass rush pressure at times. The blitz versus that interior, the center situation. It included, you know, a backup guard in there because of the center, you know, switch. Look, Hertz avoided a lot of lost yardage plays. You know, he got sacked by Louvo. He got sacked by Armstrong. But I don't think there were any other sacks. He avoided a couple of sacks and was able to either throw the ball away or make a play.

I thought, you know, Washington did a pretty good job rushing the passer. It's about the only thing they did well defensively. It wasn't consistent by any means, but, you know, that would be on the list of things that I thought was pretty effective. You know, Armstrong had some pressures. They all, there was some pressure. Alan had a pressure. Alan had a pressure. Alan had a DFL. I think that was a run play. Yeah, it was not a sack. But I thought that they got some pressure on Hertz. I also thought Hertz was really good today in not making any mistakes against some of that pressure. Oh, the end of first half, the clock management, the timeouts on defense, the way they use them, outstanding. And then they got the ball back with 39 seconds left. No timeouts. I thought

Philly played too soft, to be honest with you, but Jaden had that huge 19-yard run. That was the one that got him into field goal range. And then there was a real easy pitch and catch to Ertz to the sideline. The Eagles played like Hail Mary defense on that. I don't know why they were playing that way, but it got Gonzalez into very makeable field goal range, and he drilled it. And instead of, you know, a 15-point deficit at halftime, it was 12. Anything else on the good list?

No, let's get to the bad list. Let's start with just turnovers. Can't turn it over four times in a game and expect to win a game like that. Look, none of them were just handovers. None of them were just flat out, you know, unforced. Philly is really good on defense, and they forced all of those fumbles.

The first one that Diami fumbles, was knocked out by all-pro first-team middle linebacker Zach Bonn, who was outstanding in the game. The McNichols kickoff return was Will Shipley. What a game he had as a runner, kickoff returner, and a forced fumble on the kickoff. That guy coming out of Clemson loved him. I mean, he's third string,

but he could start, I think, for some teams, and he's an outstanding special teamer. Echler gets up and Burks comes over and knocks it out. And then Mitchell, Quignon Mitchell, the rookie, makes a really good play on a 50-50 ball that, you know, it's late. Washington's really trying to force it, but Terry goes up and Mitchell knocks it in the air. Terry's got a shot and then Mitchell comes down with it. None of the turnovers were anything other than forced by Philadelphia's defense. But still, you know, you've got to protect the ball.

Can't get it knocked out of your hands, Diami. got to hold on to the ball, McNichols. Echler, you can't get it punched out by Burks after you got up. You know, you may want to look at Jaden's throw on that one. It was probably a little low, made him go to the ground and he got back up, but got to protect the ball. Next up on the list of things that I did not like. Number two is the defense overall.

It's just not good enough. I know that there was some pass rush pressure. there were some TFLs, there were a couple of good run stops, but it doesn't matter if you get a couple of good run stops, if you're going to give up an average of 7.9 yards per carry to Saquan Barclay. He was 15 for 118. And by the way, after that opening run, he had calf issues. You saw that on the sideline.

And actually, Kenneth Gainwell, who got hurt in the game at one point, came in on a drive when the game was still close in the first half. And I was thinking, oh my God, maybe Barclay's out. He came back. He had a couple of good runs, obviously down near the goal line. I mean, some of those touchdown runs. He's got such incredible vision and acceleration. I'll tell you what, these last two games against running backs wearing the number 26,

they just played two of the truly elite running backs in the game. They may be one and two in some order, Barclay and Gibbs. I mean, it's insane. how good they are. Anyway, yeah. So the defense gave up, you know, an average of 6.4 yards per run. By the way, they couldn't figure out the little, you know, inside, you know, fly sweep to the tight end, Dallas Goddard. Shipley came in at the end.

I know he had a lot of yards. He's a good back. And the game was over at that point, but it doesn't matter. The damage had been done on the ground. They could not cover A.J. Brown. It didn't matter who was on him. Latimore, San Ristill, didn't matter. A.J. Brown was a stud today. He had three catches coming in. He was open. He curled people up. He broke people off. He blocks in the run game. He was really a superstar today. Six catches, 96 yards on eight targets and a really good blocker. They couldn't cover Goddard.

They couldn't get to hurts enough even though the pressure was there. Look, Philly's really good. They're really good. And Washington's not good on defense. You know, they gave up 50 percent, 5 for 10 on third down. They gave up seven, you know, yards of play. It's just not good enough defensively right now to probably win a Super Bowl. You know, you've got to be at least average defensively.

this team wasn't average defensively at any point this year, and they were really awful against the run pretty much the entirety of the year. But let me just say this, as I've said it all year long, their effort was there even today. They never lacked in effort. They just need better players or more good players, because I do think they have a couple of good players. What else is on this list?

All right, the officiating. So there were some bad calls and non-calls, and I think Washington was on the short end of it. Again, not the difference in the game. But the fourth and five already mentioned it to A.J. Brown in the first half, there's a clear hold by Barclay against Louvre. That's a big play, massive play in the game. You know, it's instead of 14, 12, and Washington's got the ball,

just short of the two-minute warning after a punt, and they walk off the punt yardage. It is, you know, it's 20 to 12 and then a fumbled kickoff return, and it's 27 to 12. That was big in the game. I thought the Sanra still late hit was a terrible call. I think Barclay's too close to that sideline. They were letting them play at that point in the game, and I just thought that that was an absolute bogus, you know, non-championship game call, and we're in a championship game. especially when they had let things go already like Barclays hold.

A.J. Brown and Latimore, when they got into it after the Philadelphia touchdown and they were fighting, why wasn't that offsetting? Should have been offsetting. Philadelphia took advantage of it to go for two. Honestly, you know, I don't think they should have gone for two, even though the ball's at the one-yard line. Because, you know, if they miss and they did, it's an eight-point lead. but they took advantage of it or they tried to take advantage of it. They didn't get it, but they shouldn't have been given the opportunity to take advantage of it. That was an offsetting penalty situation. Man, Jalen Carter got away with smacking Biotish in the head late in the game.

There was no call. But really, the fourth and five missed hold and the Sanra still late hit is, you know, that's points that you're handing to Philadelphia. And at a crucial point in the game, you know, they missed a few against us, too. There's a Lattimore tackle on Goddard in the end zone that did not get called. I can't believe that he wrapped them up with both arms,

and they didn't flag that. He ended up getting called a few plays later for DPI on Devante Smith in the end zone. I thought that was a good call. and Washington's two-point conversion, there were two to three offensive linemen clearly downfield, and they got away with that. But, you know, I thought those crucial calls on the first half hurt. Line of scrimmage, they got beat on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

It happened a lot this year. It did, especially on defense. Offensively, no Cosmi definitely hurt. Trent Scott got the start, and Jalen Carter, another. the first play of the game just went right by him. But this is an area of emphasis for sure in the offseason. I think offensively, the offensive line at times played very well. But I also think sometimes we probably overlooked the performance.

Chalked it up as decent, but it was really more about play calling and quarterback. And defensively, they just weren't good enough this year. Philadelphia won in the trenches in a game like this. It's quarterback, it's turnovers, it's trenches. And turnovers and in the trenches, they lost. I didn't consider today's loss in the trenches to be as bad as, say, the Dallas game at home or the Philly game in Philly. But yeah, I thought the team lost its cool a little bit at times today. I thought Lattimore in particular.

Lattimore's a fiery dude. We know that from his days in New Orleans, and he's had a rough go of it after the trade. I think he needs a full off season to get healthy. He's a talent. I'm not going to even discuss whether or not they got the better or the worse of that trade. I absolutely was in favor of it in the moment. You had to go for it. You had an opportunity.

And the bottom line is he helped, you know, he helped a little bit, certainly last week. but he wasn't the big time take away the other guy's best receiver corner. That's for sure. But he could be that next year. And I look forward to seeing what Latimore can do next year. But I thought that the team and Latimore in particular lost. It's cool a little bit tonight today. Don't go for too early in the game like that.

I just hate that. I think it's way too early. 14 to 6, and they're going for two at 14 to 12 after the Terry touchdown catch. I don't think about it personally until the end of the third quarter, beginning of the fourth, not in a game that's going to have a lot of scoring in it more likely than not, and a lot of opportunities to score. You know your offense is going to be back down there again more likely than not. I just think it's too early, and I think when you miss it takes a little bit of the juice

away from the touchdown that you just scored. All right. Let me get to some other observations from the game, and we will take a look back and a look ahead to finish up. Please rate and review the show if you get an opportunity and you haven't done it. Really important for us on Apple and Spotify. Follow us as well. Hit the plus button or the follow button on Apple and Spotify or any other place.

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orgaine.com. That's orgian.com slash sheen. Use my code Sheen. When I told the players, I really wanted them to savor this time in the locker room with their teammates. The locker room's never the same

year to year. And they've really created something like very unique here and very special. Dan Quinn after the game talking about something that is a reality in the NFL. There's just not a lot of carryover year to year for most teams, in part because the locker rooms do change. You know, teams change roster-wise. Look at this one from a year ago. Even really good teams lose four, five, six, sometimes, you know,

10, 11, 12 guys, and they bring in, you know, 10 or 11 new guys. And Washington's got a ton of free agents. The locker room will change. The dynamic of the locker room will change. The good news for Washington is that they have the number one predictor of success moving forward, and that is an elite quarterback. But it will make the offseason really. interesting, fun for us to follow, but something they need to get right, because they really did

create a locker room that was this brotherhood that they talked about all season long. And I can only imagine being a part of that kind of journey, especially the journey they took this year, and sort of the finality of it when it ends and how much that hurts. And knowing that the locker room won't be exactly the same next year. This segment of the show is brought to you by MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.orgie. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. And MyBooky will give you a 50% cash bonus.

The Chiefs Bill's game just ended. Chiefs going back to the Super Bowl, looking for a three-peat first ever in NFL history. and they have been installed as a one and a half point favorite at MyBookie over the Eagles in Super Bowl 59. The total is 49 and a half. I'll have more on the Kansas City Buffalo game on tomorrow's show. I think Cooley will join me on tomorrow's show as well. But go to MyBooky.orgie.org.

They'll have everything you need for the Super Bowl. And between now and the Super Bowl, all the college hoops, all the NBA, all the hockey you need. Plus they've got an online casino that has everything in it. MyBooky.ag promo code, Kevin, DC. All right, I'm going to take a look back on the season briefly and then take a quick look ahead, although we'll obviously spend a lot of time looking ahead in the coming weeks.

But let me finish up on the game take with just kind of a list of other things from the game. This game had a lot. I want to start with something that I'm labeling turning points that weren't. In the moment I wrote down, this is a turning point, could be a turning point in the game. We may look back on this particular play and say, this is when it turned, but none of them really ended up being significant turning points in the game. It's hard to go back and look at one play when you lose by 32. But I'll start with this. the fake punt was such a big, you know, play.

14 to 3, you're about to give up the ball, and they're going to take the ball more likely than not go down and score. You're going to be, you know, in the second quarter down 17-3 or 21-3, and it's really going to feel lopsided. Now, you know, all week last week I said, Washington's the team capable of coming from behind. Philadelphia isn't. but you didn't want to get behind that big.

And that was such a massive play because it kept them on the field and they ended up kicking a field goal on that drive. And I just thought that that was huge. And I wrote down, Turning Point on my notes. And, you know, congrats to Larry Izzo and Tressway and Ben Sinit. It was just a really, really perfectly timed, gutsy, aggressive, but need to have, need to stay on the field moment for them. The Louvre's sack on third and six, you know, that interior of the Eagles line was really hurting,

especially at center. But that was so big because it pushed Elliott back to 54 yards. He missed, and Washington took over, went down, and scored, and it was 14 to 12. So that was such a big turnaround there. Instead of being 17 to 6, Washington getting the ball after a kickoff return at, you know, just call it the 30-yard line, they start from their own 44 down 14 to 6, and it was, I think it was five plays later. They're in the end zone on the slant to Terry. They went for two and missed.

Don't think they should have gone for two. But the play by Louvo was massive. The sack by Louvo was big. So that was kind of turning point number two. I'm like, God, that's a huge, huge turn of events there. 17 to 6. Or, you know, look, they weren't getting many stops. So just to get the stop to force a field goal, but to get the stop with the nine-yard

loss was massive. The fourth and five missed hold is probably the biggest turning point in the second half because it's 14 to 12. and Washington's potentially going to get the ball back if they call the hold on Barclay. It's an egregious hold. It's right in front of the quarterback. You can't miss that in a game like this. You cannot give them a 31-yard fourth and five play with a hold that clearly benefited the quarterback.

Barkley clearly held Louvo who would have gotten to Hertz if not for the hold and the play would have been blown up. So you got to call the hold there. And instead of getting the ball back down 14, 12 with a chance to go into the halftime break with a lead, the game gets sideways. And before we know it, it's 27 to 12. I thought that the third quarter first offensive drive was really a chance. They stopped Philly on a three and out to start the second half. So they had a little bit of momentum from the field goal. then they get a three and out.

The Armstrong sack was huge. And then Jordan Davis just blows up. Whomever was in front of them, I'm actually forgetting who was in front of Davis because I had written it down and then it was wrong and I meant to go back and check it. But it's a 12-yard sack, and it goes from second and eight to third and 20.

And that was so deflating because they got the stop defensively and then immediately it's third and 20, and you're punning it back to Philadelphia. And then kind of the last and the biggest of the moments and turning points was the Echler fumble. Because Washington at that point, I mean, I did not say at 34 to 15 this game's over. I didn't say that. I didn't think that. I knew Washington could score quickly.

We've seen it all year, and they were behind by a lot against Philadelphia. In the first game, they were down 13 late, late third quarter in that game. There were still eight, nine minutes left at 34 to 15, and they went right down the field. They scored. They got to two-point conversion. It's 34 to 23. And then they get a stop. And, you know, that punt nearly was downed at the one or thrown back into the one,

but they called it correctly. And so Washington starts at their own 20, and they're moving at midfield. And Echler, you know, gets the ball. punched out by Birx and Philadelphia has made plays like this all year long. I mean, they are, you know, really good at forcing turnovers. And that was kind of the last gasp. I mean, I didn't think, you know, I didn't think it was over over, because I'm like, if you can hold them to a field goal here and it's 37 to 23, but no, they couldn't stop them. And they took over, you know, at their own 49 after that fumble. And that, you know, preceded

that crazy brotherly shove sequence at the goal line. But anyway, I thought there were big plays until really at the end of it, it's like, yeah, they're just better. You know, right now, they're better and they played better. And they deserved it. They did. We didn't help ourselves, but they deserved it. What else is on my list here? So the Tush push fiasco, right? Second and goal, four second and goal plays. By the way, the first in goal, remember, Hertz fumbled and then recovered it, picked it back up. But second in goal, you get four plays, you get three Washington penalties, two Lou Vu over the tops, and a John Allen, I think, encroachment, and then they scored on their fourth attempt on second and goal to make it 41 to 23.

What we learned from this is that a warning for a palpably unfair act could end with Philadelphia being awarded the touchdown. Let me just say this. I'm not lying when I tell you this. I'm pretty sure I knew that rule. Now, I thought that I've heard that prior to this with intentional defensive holds in the red zone. purposefully run the clock. I could be wrong about that, but I'm pretty sure I've heard that before.

But Washington, you know, look, the Louvo stuff was intentional. They're taking a shot to try to blow the thing up. But what if a team just, you know, jumps, because Philly's clearly also trying to make them jump, but they deemed it to be palpably, unfair. So there you go. What else do I have? Oh, early in the game, first quarter, the DeVante Smith on the sideline catch. I thought that Washington should have challenged that. It looked like by the time he had possession of the ball, the other foot was off the ground, and when it touched,

it looked like part of the toe was out. I thought that Quinn should have challenged that play. The Eagles, man, they sniffed out the bubble screens today for the most part, didn't they? They broke up a couple of them. A couple of them were some big hits. A couple of them looked like they were near ugly, maybe, you know, balls batted up in the air and picked off. How about Walker's hit on the kickoff return? That was the play Gainwell got hurt on, but that wasn't his hit. I think he hit Shipley on the return. Good special teams kick coverage all year long. They did give up a big return to Shipley. Shipley is sensational, man. Really is. Yeah, I think that's everything.

You know, the only other thing I had written down is Johnny Newton nearly had a forced fumble on Hertz in the second quarter of the game. But that wraps up my last game take of the year. I hate when football season's over. But this one went much longer than what. we ever thought. And that leads me into this. A quick look back and a brief look ahead to finish up this show. Today was painful, no doubt. Although the lead-up to the game was really exciting because it's a place that wasn't for our franchise for so long. So to be a part of this day, championship Sunday, you know, starting with the early morning programming.

It was exciting, and I really did feel building all day into the game like I felt all week. I thought they were going to win the game, and I thought that they were going to be in Super Bowl 59. And it didn't turn out that way. And to lose the way they lost it to that team and that fan base is not pleasant. And it leaves, you know, a bad taste in my mouth, and I'm sure the mouths of many. of you. But look, you know, they had a great season. They had an unforgettable season. It is a season that we will remember as fans for a long, long time. Younger fans will remember it forever, especially if this is what I believe it is, and that is the beginning of an era, a winning

era with an elite quarterback at the helm. You know, this season won't be forgotten. by those that have never experienced a true threat to go to the Super Bowl team from our city. The season was so exciting. I mean, you know, it started with the walk-off field goals, seven field goals from Austin Seiberton, week two. The Cincinnati game, the throw to Terry on Monday night football to get to two and one, and it's like, wow, this team might be good. The buildup for the Baltimore game, you're a four-and-one team. You're one of the biggest surprises of the early season, and they were competitive at Baltimore.

And then, of course, the Hail Mary to Noah Brown, you know, an all-time moment play in franchise history. The Pittsburgh game was a really exciting football game. But that three-game skid, you know, had us all worried that the seven-and-two start was, uh-oh, maybe it's a bit fraudulent. And then all of a sudden they get on a roll and win five in a road and the regular season, with obviously the big one being the come from behind win against Philadelphia, followed by the come from behind win to beat the Falcons on Sunday night football, followed by the walk-off win at Dallas. I mean, just the stretch of those five straight games,

the four to end the regular season and the Tampa Bay playoff game, of winning on the last player in the final five seconds of a game was unprecedented and it was incredible and it just built on the incredible story that Jaden had created all season long. And then to get to the postseason and win a game for the first time in 19 years, winning at Tampa on a walk-off doint field goal by Zane Gonzalez. And then the game last Saturday night, just all time memorable in terms of Washington playoff wins. I mean, going into the number one Seeds House and putting up 45 on that team, the performance

by Jaden Daniels in that game was insane. And that got them to a place they hadn't been in 33 years. The NFC championship game, one game, 60 minutes away. from the Super Bowl, but so many memories. And what's really, really so obvious is, number one, the franchise has risen from, you know, the ashes of the Dan Snyder era. The new ownership group is competent.

They hired Adam Peters, who looks like he is the right guy, to pick players, to pick a, coach, and he did a great job in his first off season. They got themselves a coach and a staff, and they may lose somebody from this staff. We'll see, although the New Orleans job, it's still out there and open, I believe, as of now, but that would be the last one for Kingsbury or Joe Witt, Jr. But I think Cliff would be obviously the one if they lost either one of them. It would be Cliff, but I don't think they're going to lose either one of them, which is huge. but they got the coach right, the head coach right.

Dan Quinn's quality through and through. And he understands what kind of culture, what kind of dynamic you have to have in a locker room. And he really manages and relates and communicates very well. But obviously, when this season started, you know, it was, as Steve Zabin likes to say, hey, let's go have ourselves a season, and we're in the moment and trying to win games,

trying to make it a competitive season. And they did. You know, early on in the season, I remember people saying, don't even worry about right now. This is about all these other things in the future. No, no, no, no. Once you start the games,

you're trying to win these games. I mean, you're trying to go have yourselves a season, and they did. But, you know, the big, you know, thing at the beginning of the season was, if we get to the end of 17, and they're not playing in the postseason, we need to be able to look each other in the eye

and say honestly, they got it right at quarterback. I think we knew that after week three. And if we didn't know it after week three, we definitely knew it after the Bears game. They nailed it. They got the quarterback, and this guy is going to be a top five-ish kind of quarterback.

back for many years to come. Is there a chance he could have a sophomore slump? Is there a chance he could take a big step back? Is there a chance people could figure him out? Very, very slight chance. He's just so high level at everything he does. The only thing that will slow him down or stop him, knock on wood, is injury.

They have to build around him. this should be the worst supporting cast he plays with. And they won 14 games and lost six and had a chance in the NFC championship game, at least for some of it, to go to a Super Bowl. Now, I think today proved they've got a long way to go to match up with Philadelphia's overall roster. You know, Philadelphia also has superstars plural. You know, they've got five or six or seven true stars. And I'll tell you what, I'm still kind of sitting here a little bit surprised, but also incredibly impressed with how well Jalen Hertz played today.

I've always been a Jalen Hertz fan going back to Alabama and Oklahoma and then at Philadelphia, but I saw a guy this year at times. I'm like, what happened to him? But he does what's required to win. They needed him to throw it a little bit more today. He apparently was hurt coming in or maybe a little bit compromised. Not one sense of that. He ran when he needed to run.

He threw accurately all day. He avoided pressure and he never made a mistake. So there is some distance right now. in the division between Philly and Washington. I know that we beat them once. We didn't get swept by Philadelphia, but we had to come from behind in that game, and we had to overcome five turnovers against those guys,

and that's typically not going to happen. So there is some distance between Philly and Washington, but Washington's got the opportunity. You know, they've got top three salary, top fours salary cap space. They've got draft choices in the first round, second round, third round from Philadelphia for Jahan Dotson, fifth round, seventh round, seventh rounders. They've got all this cap space. They've got all these draft choices.

They've got a lot of needs, too. They should be a desired landing spot for free agents because of Jaden Daniels, because of Dan Quinn. They were a bit desired last off season when you think about it. some of the players that decided to choose here, Eckler, Ertz, Wagner, etc. Hell of a season, memorable season, but I think the first of a run here. You know, and it's hard to get to the next spot. You know, and there's no guarantee. Every season's kind of a new season.

And the NFC has Philly. They've got Detroit in it. they'll have a Green Bay team that's going to be good. They'll have a Chicago team that may be able to take a jump. The 49ers were decimated by injuries. That was really their issue more than anything else. The NFC South, who knows if they've got anything in that division right now. But they don't have Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen and Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson.

I think Jaden's the best quarterback in the NFC. And so that's a start. That's a big time start. But looking ahead, yeah, you know, you got all the cap space. You know, Wagner, Ertz, Fowler, Jr., Marioita, Chin, you know, among some of the big free agents that they're going to have to make decisions on, Bates. By the way, Tressway, they'll have to probably find a kicker.

Marcus Marioita is a free agent. agent. They're going to have some big decisions on guys. I think they need to bring back Wagner, Ertz, and Echler, if they can. I think these three players played well. They've got more in the tank and their leaders, and I want them back. But they've got to improve up front on both sides of the ball. They need a number two wide receiver. They need, I think, another running back. You saw the running back really make an incredible resurgence this year in the NFL. And if you've got an elite one, man, it is a difference. But the priority really overall is on defense.

It really is. That's where you've got to go and improve because it's really hard. Even though it's an offensive league, it is really hard to win four games. you know, to win the Super Bowl. If you get the one seed, it's hard, it's hard to win three games if you can't stop the run and you can't stop people more consistently than they did this year. So I think defense is the priority, but they're going to have a chance to do a lot. And it's going to be fun to kind of follow it, you know, in this offseason.

By the way, you look ahead to next year and you look at their schedule for next year. The two Super Bowl teams, Washington plays road games against both of them, Kansas City and Philadelphia. Who knows, Washington at Kansas City or Washington at Philadelphia for the first game of the 2025 season on a Thursday night in the first week of September with Jaden Daniels on the road in a rematch of the NFC title game or at Arrowhead? That's a possibility for sure. Yeah, and lastly, we'll see what ownership does on the stadium front and on the name front. Those issues are big issues with a significant percentage of the fans. There is no doubt about it. We'll learn more about the stadium, certainly in the coming months.

And I think once that gets finalized, I think we'll start to hear things about what they're planning to do on name brand uniforms. etc. All right, I will be back with a show late tomorrow with Cooley. The season's over. It was a hell of a season. Just a disappointing finish. Man, I hate that Phillies in the Super Bowl again. Going to be hard to root for them, but then again, it's going to be hard to root for Mahomes and the Chiefs. I'm getting sick of that story as well. All right, done. Back tomorrow.