The Kevin Sheehan Show - Suter Film: "Defense So Much Better w/Quinn"

Episode Date: December 4, 2025

Kevin opened with a Howard Gutman text message about Jake Moody and a decision to not let him kick a 56-yard FG on the Commanders' opening offensive drive Sunday night. Kevin reacted to Dan Quinn talking about Treylon Burks today. Steve Suter jumped on with his "film analysis" of the Denver game. He loves Dan Quinn running/calling the defense and he was more than impressed with Marcus Mariota. For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match Want to spruce up your lawn? FastGrowingTrees.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it, you don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Sheehan Show, here's Kevin. Steve Suter on the show today to break down the film from the Denver game on Sunday night. We'll get to Steve at about 15 minutes or so. In this opening segment, I'm going to play something from Dan Quinn's press conference earlier today. he talked about new wide receiver, Traylon Burks. You'll hear that coming up shortly. The show's presenting sponsor is always,

Window Nation. 86690 Nation, if you need new windows, you can also go to WindowNation.com. I'm going to open with a text that I got last night from Good Friend and Show contributor, legal contributor, great storytelling contributor, a text from Howard Gutman, former ambassador to Belgium during the Obama years. And by the way, a host, actually a co-host with his son, Colin of a commander's post-game radio show in Richmond,

WRVA Radio in Richmond. You can listen to Howard and Colin do a post-game show following each game if you're driving down in Richmond. Anyway, Howard texted me last night the following. He wrote, Kevin, I tuned into the show yesterday to hear your thoughts on what I considered to be the most significant decision of the game. I thought Dan Quinn and the team spoke volumes about Jake Moody before he ever made his first attempt by choosing to punt from the Bronco 39-yard line rather than attempt a 56-yard field goal or even go for it on fourth down. We're down 3-0, and at that point, a field goal would have changed momentum. In today's NFL, any average or above-average kicker gets to try a 56-yard field goal. He also wrote, Howard did.

In today's league, there are no more punts from the 39-yard line. Good text from Howard, and he was right. I did not cover this in my recap of the game. I think in part because I don't agree with Howard that it was, you know, the most significant decision of the game. It didn't strike me as that. And I think in the moment, I think I thought that he was punting the football because, A, it was fourth down in eight, not fourth and five or fourth and four, fourth and three. And then secondly, you know, it was a cold, windy night. And I think maybe that kick was into the wind.

Maybe that's what I thought in the moment. and it did not strike me as a huge mistake by Quinn. And I excluded it from my post game. Now, after getting Howard's text and thinking about it, I should have mentioned it. Because Howard's right about one thing. Teams this year with, you know, the juiced football, the juiced kicking football,

they're not punning much. You know, they're not punning really at all once they get, you know, to the 40 or inside the 40, We have seen plenty of 55, 56, 58, 60, 61, 62, and certainly a 68-yarder this year. We've seen a lot of long kicks more than in any season in NFL history. So I should have mentioned the fact that there was a decision there, and the reason I think he punted was it was fourth and eight, maybe kicking into the wind was maybe borderline in terms of,

of what he could kick from, you know, lengthwise, distance-wise. So today, during Dan Quinn's presser, Ben Standing asked him about this decision. Now, Ben texted me during the radio show today, so I think he heard me read Howard's text on the air, because I talked about Howard's text on the radio show as well. And then he decided to ask Quinn about why he didn't go for it or didn't kick the field goal. Actually, I think he specifically asked. You'll hear the question about not kicking the field goal. Here's what Dan Quinn said.

In the opening quarter, you guys passed on the long field goal, 57-yard kick there. Obviously, new kicker, a lee-long-snapper. I just curious, what went into that specific decision, and have you kind of determined what range you have for Jake Moody at this point? Yeah, it was definitely the former, not the latter. So it was the snapper, new, kicker new. And so I thought, this is not the first one I want to try, you know, going into it.

So if we could get into that spot and I liked, you know, hey, this is some field position where we can go. We've got excellent special teams, you know, if we can pin them down and go into that spot, and that was the thought going in. There's certain, like, thresholds that we would try in, like, the regular part of the game. And then obviously those extend at the end of the half or the end of the game. So had it been the end of the half, that would have been well. within his spots to go. So at least we got from Dan Quinn

that Jake Moody's capable of making a 56- or 57-yard field goal. And in fact, he is. He's got a pretty big leg. His career long is 57 yards. It came during his rookie season in San Francisco. But how about Quinn's answer? First of all, referencing the long snapper replacement because Tyler Ott was sick and inactive for the game.

So he says, you know, the new snapper, the new kicker, I just thought this isn't the first one that I want them to try. I would also add to that that the last guy got cut for what? Missing long field goals, everything 50 or longer. So if Jake Moody's first attempt was an attempt from the range in which the last guy got cut for missing and he missed it, we would have all been rolling our eyes about the selection of Jake. moody. Look, Howard's not wrong. In today's NFL, you know, even on a cold and windy night, you get inside the opponent's 40-yard line this year with that juiced football. You have a pretty

good chance if you've got an average kicker, certainly an above-average kicker of coming away with three points. Teams do punt still, you know, from the other teams 40, 39, 38-yard line. but, you know, you really want to be in a position in today's NFL with the balls being, you know, juiced, and we've gone through that explanation multiple times this year, you want to be in a good position to come away with no less than three once you get into the other team's territory and you get inside the other team's 40-yard line. The 40 or inside of it needs to be a pretty good chance at three points in today's NFL. And look, not getting three on that drive was important. You don't know how the rest of the game would play out if the score gets adjusted by three points,

but you never know. Of course, a miss would have also given Denver great field position versus what they got, which was first and 10 from their own 11 yard line after the punt. Washington actually got a rare three and out, and after Denver punted it, Washington had very good field position to start their next drive, down 3-0 at their own 42, and they drove it into field goal range, but then Marcus Mariotta threw that horrific interception. This from Jay Po. Jay Poe writes, Kevin, I was at the game on Sunday night, my first of the year. It was a road game, exclamation point. I thought Josh Harris was going to stop this from happening. I can only imagine what the final two home games of the season will be against Philly and Dallas.

Yeah, I, you know, I've mentioned this this week. I was told that, you know, four or five people that I know go to every single game and are reliable when it comes to sort of crowd breakdown. and the most optimistic view of the crowd on Sunday night was kind of 60-40 Denver to Washington fans, but one of my guys said it was 75-25. And you could hear it coming through the TV. You could see all of the orange, but you heard the defense chance when the Broncos were on defense,

the let's-go Bronco chance. And all you got to do is listen to the crowd reaction between two plays, Nick Benito blocked, you know, pass on the two-point conversion. There is a loud roar, and then a much less of a roar when Terry catches the fourth and gold touchdown pass. But, yeah, Philly and Dallas, I'm sure with the seasons they're having are going to overtake the stadium.

Look, I don't know what kind of, you know, policies they put in. I know that, you know, they wanted to keep at least on that initial sale through what they're selling, you know, create through whether it's zip codes or area codes or whatever, the inability for opposing fans to get as many tickets as they have in the past. And look, last year worked out for the most part. But I think, you know, on a cold night Thanksgiving weekend, three and nine, you're going to get a lot of people that are going to put those tickets up. And you could have gotten into the stadium at like 30 bucks, 50 yard line seats on Sunday night.

By the way, I mentioned this to Tommy yesterday. The home game against the Eagles on December 20th, it was assigned a time. It will be the first game of the doubleheader on Fox on Saturday, December 20th, a 5 o'clock kick in Landover. The Packers and the Bears will play the nightcap at 815. This from Q. Q writes, Kevin, explain to me why Minnesota is favored.

in the game on Sunday, feels like a smell test pick, you on Minnesota. Am I right or am I wrong? I think you're wrong. I don't know if I'm going to have Minnesota in the smell test. I might by the time we get there, but I don't think the line's that far off. Look, Minnesota is at home. Minnesota is a very good defensive team. Minnesota is a very good team running the football against teams that can't stop the run.

This all gets factored in to the point spread. So that's what I would say as to why they are a short favorite at this point. By the way, I'll add this. They've lost four in a row, the Vikings have, and six of their last seven. But like our team during our nosedive, they have faced an unbelievably brutal schedule. In order, okay, their last seven games. Philly, the Chargers, the lions, the Ravens, the Bears, the Packers, and the Seahawks. The Seahawks shut them out last week, 26 to nothing.

The kid, Brasmer, the quarterback that came in for J.J. McCarthy, threw four picks in his first NFL start. So, you know, for them, the Vikings, our team is looking like a reprieve from what they've been facing as much as it is for us. against them. But no cue. I don't think the point spread is that off. By the way, Noah Brown expected back. Dan Quinn said today, Terry not on the injury report, which means he looks good for playing in back-to-back weeks for the first time since early in the season. Back-to-back games for Terry, huge. Noah Brown back huge. Berks

healthy after the game he had and the catch he had. Look, Berks could end up being their number three receiver next year. He's an unrestricted free agent. That's not the question Dan Quinn was asked about Traylon Burks, but he was asked about what he thinks about this receiver that they picked up off the street about a month ago, or five weeks ago, something like that at this point. And this is what Dan Quinn said about Traylon Burks. Yeah, I think it's the unseen work when Adam and his group knew a more about them just going through the process from draft to that i got a chance just to have fresh eyes man and say like and i try to do that with every player here sometimes when a person's on

another team well he did do this or he did that and so like let's just see what it looks like here you know and i think a player like tray deserves that you know have fresh eyes here and i told him that coming in man like this is your space and you could feel a hunger to go for it the unseen work was coming in to learn a new system um some of our verbiage and communication is unorthodox but it's not standard NFL wording and formations and groupings and so it's not just like add water yeah we used to call this that and so seeing that type of work you could feel how important it was after you know his injury to his finger nope I'll be back where it knew it could be a couple weeks no no no like he he wasn't having any part of that like that was not an option that he

wasn't playing that's what I felt from him you know in the game heading into Denver big brace on it nope I'm good he was catching everything with it and so that's what what I see a guy that's hungry to prove, and I think you're just going to keep seeing that. Certainly seems like a guy that Dan Quinn likes and fits from a work ethic locker room, et cetera, standpoint. He's a former first round pick, 2022 of the Tennessee Titans. He's got size. He's got hands. He's not the fastest receiver necessarily, but certainly a guy that you throw on.

the list with Mariotta, Chris Paul, Jacob Martin, McNichols, Rodriguez, Debo maybe, in terms of players that are on your roster right now that are going to be unrestricted free agents that you either need to definitely sign or are certainly going to seriously consider signing. One last thing before we get to Souter. Jake didn't make the final three for the senior route into the Hall of Fame. Joe Jacoby, not one of the final three, Ken Anderson, Roger Craig, L.C. Greenwood were the finalists. Jake was a semi-finalist, so again, Joe Jacoby is not going to be in the Hall of Fame. And here's what I would just say about Jake's candidacy. I think he should be in the Hall of Fame. Jake is one of the four

tackles voted to the all 1980s decade team. And the other three are in the Hall of Fame. Muno who absolutely deserves it. He's one of the greatest tackles in the history of the game. Gary Zimmerman, quite honestly, I don't think there's much difference between Zimmerman and Jake. And then Jimbo Covert, and I think Jacoby was a better tackle than Covert.

I just do. All three of those guys are in the Hall of Fame, and Jacobi isn't. Look, we can talk about the standards for the Hall of Fame these days, and that's why it's hard for me. I don't like the Hall of Good. I like the Hall of Great.

Let me put it a different way. I don't like the Hall of Great. I like the Hall of Greatest of all time, or certainly in the conversation for one of the greatest of all time. Jake's the one with the best argument. It's a better argument than B. Mitch's. And I love Brian. And I think Brian with Devin Hester getting in,

I think it's going to make it easier for him. if he's ever going to get in, the chances are higher than ever because of Hester's inclusion into the Hall of Fame, even though Brian Mitchell was not Devin Hester. I don't think anybody would say that. I think Jake should be in, and again, if you just point to the four best tackles of the 1980s, three of the four are in the Hall of Fame, and there's only one of the other three that you could say definitively was a better player than Jake. Anthony Munoz, one of the greatest that's ever lived. But covert and Zimmerman, especially covert,

I just think Jake was a better tackle. And he was very good, and so was Zimmerman. Jake was a part of one of the all-time, most recognizable offensive lines in NFL history, and he was an anchor of it, along with Russ Grimm. All right, let's get to Steve Souter. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey, guys, Goldbelly is fast becoming one of my favorite websites. I've told you about it previously.

We've ordered through Goldbelly now many times. It's a site where you can get the most iconic, famous foods from restaurants, legendary restaurants across the country. They'll ship it to you anywhere you live in the United States. Have you ever had pizza from Johns of Bleaker Street in the village in New York? I've been to Johns, and now I've ordered it through Gold Belly, did it a few weeks ago, New York-style pizza at its best, and yes, it was delivered frozen, but it tasted like I was just served it straight out of the oven. And how about considering Gold Belly for Thanksgiving, taking the stress out of the holiday? They can ship smoked turkey from salt-lick barbecue in Texas, savory sides like lobster mac and cheese straight from Maine, and legendary dessert.

like the three-and-one pie kakin to make hosting a breeze. And also Black Friday right around the corner, it's a great time to pre-order holiday gifts that ship right to their door. So if you're looking for that perfect holiday gift or want to impress your friends and family with an epic Thanksgiving, go to goldbelly.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code Sheehan. That's goldbelly.com code Sheen for 20% off your first order.

Hey guys, taking care of your mental health shouldn't be harder than taking care of your physical health. If you pull a muscle, you go see a doctor. But when it comes to finding the right therapist, suddenly it can be frustrating. You've got long wait lists. You're staring down huge out-of-pocket costs. That's what usually stops people from getting help.

And that's where Rula comes in. Rula makes therapy simple, affordable, and fast. They work with most major insurance plans, and the average session co-pay is just $15. It's basically the cost of lunch, but instead of a sandwich, you're investing in your own headspace. And with Rula, you're not just matched and left to figure it out on your own. They check in and make sure you're actually making progress. Every therapist on the platform is licensed, vetted, and picked for their expertise. So you know you're talking to someone legit, not just who has.

happens to be available. Getting started couldn't be easier. You answer a few quick questions about what matters to you, and Rula connects you with an in-network provider who actually fits your needs. You pick the time, and you could be talking to a therapist as soon as the next day. No weeks of waiting, no endless back and forth. Thousands of guys have already used Rula to finally get the care they need. Don't keep putting it off. Go to Rula.com slash sheen to get started today. That's R-U-L-A.com slash sheen. Take the first step, get connected, and take control of your mental health.

Back after the five is our good friend Steve Souter with another film breakdown. This one of really one of the better games Washington's been involved in in a long time, although they've had back-to-back overtime games. games. This one even more exciting than the game in Madrid. Steve's been doing film breakdown for us all year long, as most of you know by now, Steve was one of the greatest punt returners in college football history for Maryland during the early to mid-Ralphrejan years. And he's been calling games, Maryland games, on the Maryland Football Radio Network with Johnny Holiday now for several years. And I've had him on a lot talking Maryland football, but

But this year he's been on breaking down Washington Games film style, and it's been great. And what we typically do is we get an overview. We get Steve's thoughts on the game, and then we get into a breakdown of the quarterback, again, Marcus Mariotta. And then we get his top three highest graded players on offense and defense, and then the bottom three graded players on offense and defense. and then the bottom three graded players on offense and defense. So a pretty entertaining game. What were your big takeaways? Certainly was.

I was thoroughly entertained. I got to watch this one on the broadcasts, which don't always get to do. So that was a fun trip. I mean, I probably have some of the main general thoughts that most people do watch in the game, and that starts offensively. Just the interior guys are awesome.

And the offensive line was fantastic. throughout the entire game, really solid up front and running, and especially in pass protection, which allowed Mariotta to have a really good game as well. I think the game was called pretty well from an offensive coordinator standpoint, too. They played a, you know, in rhythm, down in distance, staying ahead of the chains. Kingsbury could switch it up, taking chunks here and there, but mostly just a mid-range team, I would call it, from a game plan calling standpoint,

and that happens when your offensive line is playing as well. as they were, and your quarterback's playing as well as he did mentally. And he had guys outside making plays. So offensively had to be a good watch. If you're a fan, it was a good watch for me from the film standpoint, a lot of good grades. Nobody really was a standout of not performing well in the game. We'll get into the grades later. But overall, offensively, really good game playing.

Defensively, I'm starting to like what I'm seeing defensively. And I know it was Miami and then as the Broncos, not too high-powered offenses. but the Dan Quinn change is noticeable. Again, I know I mentioned that last week into Miami, but it's really noticeable and it's going into week two of them call and played. It's still noticeable. I'm going to take going a little tour later of some play calls and some third downs that I've really stuck out that I want you to be aware of.

But defensively, I think they're honing on who they are and what they should be, and it should be a plilamic, primarily zone defense in the back end. I think those you have players that fit that. Sandra still is one, he's obviously more comfortable outside and in zone coverage. Not outside in man, but outside in zone coverage. Now, him and Jonathan aren't getting really tested on the outside in zone, but that's a product of playing zone coverage is when you're switching them up too. So quarterbacks just can't come at you thinking you're in cover three all the time.

They can't just come at you thinking you're in a cover two or cover three if you're doing a good job, switch in which they are. I think going forward, I think that is how you have to build this defense. You have to build off players that play well in the zone in the secondary, and then you've got to find rushers. It looks like to me they want to be the Packers right now defensively. The Packers play primary zone coverage in the secondary, and they rely on a front four that get a good pass rush.

Washington can't do that right now, but that's what they want to do, and that's what they tried to do this game. And what you saw a lot was checkdowns by next, checkdown, check down, check down, check down. And it's because playing good zone coverage in the back, taking away the primary reach, but no pass rush allows that gap between secondary dropping their zones and then a checkdown coming out. So when that checkdown gets hit, then it's an 8 and 12-yard game, where if you're getting a little bit of a pass rush, that checkdown has to happen faster. So then the pass coverage in the back end zone isn't as deep.

So then you come up and you make a better tackle, and it's only a three- or four-yard game. So if you can build on this, I think it's a solid foundation moving forward, and it's a shame because you had Armstrong, you had Y, that could have been the answer this year. They could have been providing that pass rush while you're playing the zone in the secondary provided Dan Quinn took over and all those things, right? Of those dominoes that would have to have to hit. But I think the foundation is there. I think this is what you should build off of.

And it was a really good game defensively. most, I think, let me take a quick look. We have one or two guys that didn't grade above par. So that's the first that's happened all season. Really, really, maybe not surprising. Yeah, hasn't. Hasn't happened all season, right? Yeah, it hasn't.

Yes, it has not happened. Usually there's plenty that are in the negatives for me from a great standpoint. That did not have missed game. So overall, awesome game to watch, entertaining. Going down to the overtime was great, too. So guys making plays, some didn't make plays, but overall really good watch. Would you say that going into the offseason, and there's going to be a lot of conversation about what they need, and the list is going to be long, but I felt kind of this way last year heading into this year,

that they needed an edge setter and they needed a pass rusher. They needed a game impacting defensive player on the edge. edge. They really didn't get one. They added D-Dre, you know, they added WISE with the hopes that Wise could be an edge setter and they could be much better against the run because they were not a good run-stopping team last year. And I think they knew Dorrance Armstrong was coming into his own. He had played well at the end of last year. And obviously, he started off very well this year before getting hurt. But even with Armstrong and Wise is an unrestricted free agent, and he's coming off a serious injury, do you think that the number one need for this team is

just an impactful front four, specifically, edge rusher and run stopper? Absolutely. I could get on board with that. I mean, what team doesn't want a dominant path rush? It makes everything better right on the back end. I just talked about the gap between when you're playing zone coverage and if you're not getting a pass rush, you're secondary still sinking in those zones so that checkdown just gets more yardage because of the space in between those two and the time that's allowed. So if you can add somebody to the other side and assume Armstrong is coming back healthy because he was playing awesome before he went out. One of my favorite linemen on the team, be short.

You pair him with Kinlaw, who I think is a really good pass rusher from the inside. You don't see that a lot, but he has pass rush moves. If you add a dominant D.N on the other side, then yeah, absolutely take it. I don't see if you're going to play this style of defense in the back end and you're going to play zone primarily, are there really game breakers? from a secondary standpoint that plays zone coverage, I want to say no, right? You leave that to a Patrick's stand who they just played, like that dude is elite in man coverage,

and those things are more obvious. And if you're a man coverage team and you want elite man coverage corners, but if you're a zone team, I think you can find guys that fit into your scheme a lot better. So, yes, if I am utilizing a high draft pick or a big money buy and free agency, then sure, put it up front.

Absolutely. I'm on board with that. Have you watched any of the guys? Have you watched, you know, a guy like Reese at Ohio State or Bain at Miami this year? You know, it's going to be a draft, which is going to be interesting from a quarterback standpoint. But there are some pass rushers. There are some edge guys in the top 10 that look like, you know, high-level prospects. And Washington could end up very easily with the top 10 pick.

They certainly could. Yeah, and the first part of that, no, I haven't dialed in on any of the guys coming out at pass-rush. I couldn't comment on whether or not I thought they were worth it or not. Leave it up to your scouts. However, I will say, I mean, I think they got this whole season wrong from a defensive standpoint and a schematic standpoint. The Lattimore play, moving Sanders still inside. Right now it looks just like dumb moves if I'm calling spade of spade. They just didn't work.

Sanders still is not a man coverage corner. That's clear. Lattimore couldn't handle man coverage, but you were running it. They couldn't handle passing off. So Witt wasn't calling the right defense They didn't go back to the zone They should have They had personnel in the wrong place

So they totally screwed the pooch here In the beginning of the season In my opinion, it shouldn't have worked Well, it didn't work And they just let it not work too long Before they made the adjustment And for all the things I say about Sandersville From a man coverage standpoint

And getting lost out there in coverage And all the issues we had early on I mean, I'm still not ready to say He's a really good zone corner But for everything he isn't I know one thing he isn't, and he's not soft by any means. Right. And that's why he can make a good zone corner because he's willing to come up and tackle

that checkdown. He's willing to stick his nose in when his receiver motions away from him and he gets to pin down because he's got a tight end. He'll get in the box and make a tackle too. So if he can build on that, he looks way better in that role. So he's a tough guy, for sure. Find other tough guys to play his own and build off of that. But they got it all wrong in the beginning, and it seems like now they're just because of the

injuries, like it made them become right. So it's a shame it had to do that to figure that out. All right. We'll get to your thoughts on Mario'd and some of the players, but real quickly on the game. What did you think of the two-point conversion decision to go for two in the win, and then what did you think of the play? 100% go for two. No questions asked. You're three and eight or whatever your record is. You go for the win or you end it. I'm totally on board with that.

And the play call was right. It's a good play call. They got the switch they wanted with the man coverage coming from the back side, safety, and he just had to run through all the traffic, never going to get there. And I'm not criticizing Mario on the throw either. I mean, he's making a little flat throw when he puts a mark on it, and the guy jumps up, and it's probably two out of ten times. He puts a pall on it, and he just happened to put a Paul on it.

So I don't, nobody's at fault. It's a good play call. I would just almost venture to say, And when I watched it live and watched a replay, I said, oh, geez, even if they completed it, they probably would have got offensive pass interference because I think it was Berks. He blocked the guy. He ran into a moment. It was very obvious.

So even if you completed it, there's a chance you see a late flag, and they pick it up for offensive passenger interference. They didn't flag it, but you're saying that because the play ended so quickly that they didn't throw the flag. But if the play had continued, that maybe they throw the flag. You might have all late one. Yeah. Absolutely. So I wouldn't dwell on it too much. Yeah.

The one thing about the two-point conversion is you let the best player on the field be the free rusher. That was my only issue. I understand that they obviously, you know, they came with everybody and played man coverage on the back end, but that's the best player on the field, Benito, 15. He's the tallest player on the field. He's got the longest arms of anybody on the field. if anybody's going to block or disrupt the pass, it's going to be him, and he was the free rusher.

I get that, but you don't, so the rules are, if you're in this kind of slide protection, you have to take the inside guy. So I went back to the play. If you don't have enough guys to block their guys, then you leave the furthest guy from the quarterback. Understood. And that's the quarterback's guy. Yeah, that will linebacker is coming.

and if Tunso kicks out on Benito and then this this Will linebacker is closer to Mariotta now in hindsight the past probably gets off but that's just the rules you're not going to do that yeah got it yep and it disguises better coming from the backside McNichols on his release if you think he's going to pass protect to the right so that defender's thinking he's got him on the right side

and then when he crosses the formation it's just a different look. I mean, I really like the design of the play. Yeah. If it doesn't get PI offensively, it's easy walk-in two-point. Yeah, there's no doubt. Burks lowers the shoulder, and that's, it's Hufanga. It's the safety.

Yeah. It's Hufanga, who's got McNichols, and he gets completely, you know, derailed. I mean, it gets blocked, yeah. Yeah, no doubt. All right. It may not have worked. What else in terms of takeaways from the game? Anything else?

Overall ones, I mean, I would like to take you on this defensive third down journey if you want to go on it. Yeah. And it's really... Let's do that after we do... We'll do Mario to next. We'll do the defensive journey after that, and then we'll get the bottom three and the top three. We'll start that process right after these words from a few of our sponsors.

This episode's brought to you by prize picks. It's the holiday season, the best time of the year for sports, bowl games, basketball matchups, playoff pushes, it's all happening at once. And while you and I are out here making decisions every day, what gifts to buy, what to eat, which game to watch, there's one place where it feels good to be right, prize picks. Prize picks is fun, it's exciting, it's a game of skill, it's easy to play. Prize picks present you with stat projections, and all you have to do is pick more or less. Example, the big game on Sunday at Lambo between the Packers and the Bears.

Jordan Love, one and a half touchdowns, more or less. That's all it is, more or less on between two and six players and their stat projections. If you get the picks right, you cash in. Prize picks now has early payouts. If your lineup gets off to a hot start, you may now have the option. and to cash out your winnings before the game even finishes. Download the Price Picks app today and use Code Sheehan to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That's Code Sheen to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.

Price Picks, it's good to be right. Hey, guys, it's great to have Harry's as a sponsor on today's show. I've been a customer of Harry's razors for five or six years now, going back to the first time they advertised on the podcast, and I became aware of their product, and I fell in love with their product. It's not only a great shave, but I realized very early on that the blade lasted much longer than my previous razor blade did, and it was very affordable. Harry zones their own world-class blade factory in Germany, no outsourcing, no middleman. They can control the entire process from steel to shelf that keeps costs low.

Why pay $30 for refills when Harries gives you better blades for a fraction of that? Harries has launched their most advanced razor ever, and it's still cheaper than Gillette Fusion 5. If you don't love your shave, Harries will make it right. No questions asked. They offer a risk-free trial, meaning there's zero downside to giving it a shot. Harry's Plus is Harry's heaviest razor handle ever made from metal, never plastic, designed to fit comfortably in your hand. A heavier handle means more control and a luxury feel. Harry's doesn't just make razors.

They've got a full line of grooming essentials from shave gel to deodorant to body wash, all thoughtfully made and priced to stock up. For a limited time, my listeners can get the Harry's Plus trial set, for only $10 at harries.com slash Sheehan. This set includes the all-new Harry's Plus Razor, one refined five-blade cartridge, a two-ounce foaming shave gel, and a travel cover to protect your blades on the go. Just head to harries.com slash sheen to claim this offer,

and after you make your purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them, please support this show and tell them that I sent you. This segment of the show brought to you by Window Nation. If you need new windows, their year-end sale continues through the end of the year. And that means 50% off everything. No matter what you buy from Window Nation, you're going to pay half price for it. And if you choose to finance the purchase, zero percent interest for five years.

No interest until the year 20, 30. Window Nation has over 45,000 five-star reviews. Forbes Magazine ranked them number one among U.S. window installation companies. They've got an A-plus rating from the Better Business Bureau, and 96% of their installs require no follow-up service. I promise you that if you're in the market for new windows, you can't go wrong by giving Windonation at least a shot to come out and give you a free in-home. estimate. Call them at 86690 Nation or head to windownation.com. Mention my name. They'll take really good care of you, I promise. We continue with Steve. Let's, we'll get the defensive journey that you want to take us on shortly, but tell me what you thought of Marcus Marioata's overall game. Markets was awesome. My highest grade of this season

by any player offensively or defensively. Best game, yeah, best game of quarterbacks played, I think, all season, despite his interception still and some other decisions that I have, Mark, that we can take a look at. But he was just really good, man, really solid quarterback play, throwing ball, crazy ball after crazy ball. It seemed like they're at crunch time, fourth quarter, an O.T. Just awesome. I kind of figured this out about him, and I'm like, why did he have that slender play all the time? that takes away from those perfect games and that intercepting he's clearly

trying to throw it away but he's getting hit. And the thing I've come to and I remember the Dallas pick and then I remember a couple other ones where you would think as a veteran quarterback at some point it would sink in that a sack, taking a sack is better than the alternative.

And for some reason it seems like Mario that's just the last thing on his mind. He is going to do everything he can do to not take a sack and it forces him into really crazy decisions even, but it also makes for a great play, right, the overtime where he breaks you tackles and gets the ball off to get the past.

Yeah, incredible. Alive, right? That's incredible play. One of the highest ranked plays of the day because of how awesome it was and with the game on the line. And then you go back, remember the one he got all corks screwed in the end zone and he just tossed it like his. Oh, yeah, the one in Madrid, the one in Madrid, where he saved the safety.

Yeah. Right, save the safety. He's like, whatever I can do. do not to take a sack, he's going to try to do it, and it's gotten him in trouble, and he's a veteran, so it's tough to see that. If you could minimize that one or two plays, a game that he does where he just doesn't take the easy way out, which is the right way out, which is sometimes the hard way out. Mentally, I think it could be even better. But overall, just an awesome game. I mean, I have a, you know, we throw a bad ball to Ertz low and away late in the first

quarter, dinged him on a bad ball there. I mean, her still should have caught it. They hit him in both hands, but it's a bad ball. You got the pick that I mentioned. Let's see. There's another, oh, yeah, this go to 643, 643 left in the second. Is this when he threw it backwards for the minus seven loss to Bates? Yes. Okay, yes. Now, this is a combo play, right? I want you to see a couple things here. Now, it's not an easy block for Bates. I get it. Okay. but let's start there because if Bates gets this block, you got a 30 to 40 yard play. Where is it

by the way? Is this, oh, 643. Yeah, got it. Yep. Okay. 643. Okay, so now Bates is coming across to block what you call their best player. Yeah. Not a great matchup. Yeah. Can't get it. So he misses his block, but if he does,

watch how open Terry's going to be. I mean, Terry is running across the formation. Burks is taking the top off, is taking the top off the coverage and both the safety and quarter run with him. So there's that whole side of the field over there. I mean, this is easy pitch and catch.

Easy. So this is a 30-yard gain that doesn't happen because Bates doesn't get his past protection. And then I don't know why. It wasn't Ertz. It was Berks. You meant to say Berks. Burke. Yeah. I definitely said Berks. Okay. I'm sorry. I heard

it is Ert's. My fault. I heard it isertz. Yeah. Ertz is never going to use it. No, Ertz is never. I'm like, where's taken off the top of the coverage. No, it's Berks. Yeah. And Berks is where, interestingly, it's Berks that they're doubling on this play. Yeah, so, I mean, that corner is obviously going to run with that.

Yeah. And the state just chooses to take it on this play act. So you reach play action, and then he's just, this has like a cover four feel that you would double him, but he's just making a choice. And it's clear as day that he's governed, I mean, Markers would see this because his backs to him. Right.

his eyes would go right to Terry all day on this play. It's an easy 30-yard, and it's him and Sertan on how long it goes, but Bates can't get it done, and then I don't love this decision by Mario that you just eat this sack here. Don't try to compound the problem like I just talked about and make that foolish play. So, you know, ding them that's a mental mistake, but Bates is the reason the play doesn't work. Well, I've got to say this, and I'm curious as to what your response is, Benito's been

wrecking games all year. long. You can't put a tight end on him and ask him to handle one of the best pass rushers in the NFL. There's plenty of plays like that. I agree. So I understand what they're trying to do here. They want to show this read option action and sometimes Bates comes across and he'll loop and leave you on block because you want you to read run. But maybe off this play. So the play action is lazy enough, I think, where maybe they think we need is going to come inside and crash on this

and then they'll give Bates a better angle but I get it it's the play design it's not how else are you going to get to them right yeah this isn't in pure dropback it's a lot easier to make plans for an edge rusher than when you're trying to be a little bit tricky

in your design this is trying to be cute here and you got Debo where maybe it's pool option that's not going to affect Benito at all he's still coming backside like a bandit but this is just like them trying to be cute on the play design, but Devo's not selling anything. Look at him trying out there.

That's not helping nobody. Nonetheless, I mean, he doesn't have to pancake them. You guys just got to get some type of pause on them. Yeah, I love how you went to this play because it also just shows you when they've got, you know, non-practice squad players at wide receiver makes a big difference.

Just in the way they get played. I mean, Sertan's giving Terry room. what's the down and distance on this play it's a first and ten yeah yeah and they're taking a shot and it would have worked yeah i mean he could get 30 yards on this minimum yes and it's not that hard of a throw i mean he'll lay it up over there on the by the he'll probably catch this ball just outside the hash or the numbers and can you break a tackle or do and score i mean it has that type of potential that sounds good of you know just people don't notice one block can make or break a touchdown play at any given point

on the field. Sure. What do you think, Trailer, what do you think Berks ran at the Combine, his 40? Oh, it couldn't have been good. I'd put him at I'd put him at a 4-6. He was 4-5-5. He was 4-5.

Okay, yeah. Yeah, I'm right on the number. I know speed, baby. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. A 4-3 guy knows speed. That's for sure. All right. Keep going on, Mario. Yeah, one minute left in the third is another mental mistake.

Okay. I mean, my note here for one minute left in the third, I was like, Mario, you're tripping. Like, what are you doing here? Okay. I mean, if this ball is anywhere else's picked, you probably might be like overthrows Terry over the middle of field, but it's floppy.

Like, you got no business throwing his ball. What he releases this, You see this 39, one minute in the third quarter? Yeah, and it's... Like, what are you thinking? I think he's very lucky this is it picked off. Do you think he's just trying to unload it so that nobody can catch it? I know.

Got him to pick the first time, stepping up the pocket and try to do one of these cheeky, throw the ball away. I mean, he's so lucky that ball didn't get picked. I'll tell you what. There's some... It's interesting about Mario's game. Sunday night. I really felt the way you did after the game. I thought this guy, he makes a horrible throw in the early portion of the game. And, you know, Quinn referred to the performance as just a warrior performance. And I'm like, this dude was a gunslinger in the fourth quarter in an

overtime. He was, he made so many plays with his arms, so many plays with his legs. He just made so many plays in a game where if they had a run-of-the-mill backup quarter, quarterback, they get beat badly probably in this game. But he was, he really tried to will them to victory. But there were a lot of plays like this one, as you're pointing out, I pointed out the thing debates without noticing how wide open Terry was. I pointed out that, you know, he missed a couple of receivers. He missed, he missed, uh, Terry in the back of the end zone on a, on a player two. But, um, and this one is a terrible decision. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And he had an OT almost through that pick in overtime, if you remember that.

Right. So how did he end up being the highest-rated player for you of the season? I mean, there's so many other good players, like you mentioned. So many other good players. I mean, even the, I mean, how about the dime to Earth from the third and 21 that he dropped? That he could have caught. Yeah. It was a great throw. God, that ball is amazing. That ball is amazing. Yeah. So he had a couple of those balls, really good. I mean, just had so many players. or I'm giving them above an average score throughout the game that he just made the right rate or he made a great throw or he scrambled, got out of the pocket to make another good throw or just get five yards, just really good game.

And I'm just so glad. Like, I guess, you know, I start rooting for these guys and I'm watching. I want Mario to do well. Yeah. And I'm glad this ball that we went over didn't get picked. I'm glad the OT ball didn't get picked because I don't want him to have another stain.

Yeah. because he did so he did so well post the pick you almost forget about it right he had somebody good plays afterwards he forgot he was a bonehead during the first quarter right but he you know

but he's you know he made the he threw the ball in the Dallas game he threw the ball in overtime against Miami he threw this one on a drive in which they were already in field goal range and that's been one of the knocks during Marioada's career was a good knock I mean because God we watch what

five or games together. Yeah. And he has one of them every game. Yeah. One of the things, before you just give me your overall grade on Mario-Ota, which sounds like it was an absolute A, but I felt like, so, you know, I don't know how much you knew about Denver coming in. They were, you know, statistically one of the top ranked, they were top ranked in multiple categories defensively, you know, yards per play, third down defense. They led the league in sacks. They led the league in pressures. I mean, between Denver and Houston, you know, there are a couple of others, Seattle.

I mean, they're just a, they've been a dominant defensive team. And on Friday, sort of previewing the game, I said, this has to be a game where Cliff, you know, they can run the football, and there's a lot of quick game. And then Marioo is going to have to make some plays off schedule. He's going to have to, you know, evade some of that pass rush. And I thought all of those things happened. but I thought Cliff overall, and you mentioned it a little bit in the open, but just the way he set the stage for a lot of what came later with a lot of the quick game and a lot of the run game,

I thought was a major factor for everybody involved, including Mariotta. Totally agree, and the key to that is the five guys up front. It is amazing how good of a play caller you become when your offensive line is handling both past protection and get movement up front when you're running. run the football. I don't want to say you can't just close your eyes and point to your play sheet and pick a play

but if you got both of them working and you're not worried about one or the other not working, you're not scared to drop back and pass because your guys are picking up the front four rushers. You're not getting pressure even when they blitzed. They only brank five or six, you know, a couple of times. You still picked it up. I mean, there was a play

I marked. I don't know if I'd be a way they said, love it. You know, he sets they switch to protection. They see this, Mario, to see the safety blitz come down, right side of the line, they switch protection, they pick it up, and they get a six-yard play out of it. I love seeing that stuff at the line of scrimmage where you're changing

your mic. You thought it was one thing. Then they bring a guy in motion, and the motion triggered the safety to come down. Mario to check the play, pointed the mic to the safety. So he made the safety to the mic, and they slide the line, they pick it up. I love seeing that kind of stuff. So when your guys are doing things that you're calling

in, it makes it easy. But offensive line was awesome. I mean, it was really good. I mean, Conorley's still the lowest-graded offensive line I have, but he was still above average throughout the game. All right, so we'll get to that. So give me your,

I mean, your favorite Mario to plays. I mean, there's so many to choose from. Oh, God. It's probably the ball to hurts. They got dropped 3rd and 21, and then the overtime play to keep it alive. But the ball, the urge, so good. I watched it at least six or seven times,

and every time, like, man, this is such a good ball. The touch he had to have on it to get over that linebacker was crazy. And he did and dropped it right in his hands on a third and 21. Third and 21. I know. They would have picked it up. And they overcame a third and 25 later on in the game.

Yeah. But that was probably my favorite play, even though it wasn't a completion. I was impressed with the physical ability to put the right touch on that football. Ertz had two drops in this game, didn't he? He had the touchdown drop in this one. Yeah. Yeah, and they're going to help the score. He also caught 10 balls for 106 yards.

I can't give you, I don't give credit for a five-yard outs and six, you know, a four-yard curl. You're an NFL tight-in. Turn around and catch the ball. All right. I can't. I can't wait to hear Payne's grade. It seemed to me pain was all over the field as a run-stopper. But we'll get to that when we get to the defense and the defensive journey you take us through.

I'm assuming Mario to, by the way, I thought, I loved the play that you pointed out, which was the game. I mean, it's game over if he doesn't find a way to not get sacked and throw the ball in the general direction of McNichols on Fort Down. I mean, it's over. How does he get that off? It's awesome. Well, one, I mean, physically, well, at least mentally, he had no options. He has to try to break the tackle and extend the play or the game's over. And it got picked, and who cares that it got picked?

I mean, it was, yeah, exactly. It doesn't happen if he doesn't give that effort and does everything he probably can to stand up. And then he does, I mean, he does look up and find him open when he throws the football. So not only does you break the two tackles, but he gets his eyes up and he throws it to an eligible receiver to give himself a chance. I mean, just an awesome play. Awesome. some play. Yeah, that's really close

to the Zaggart's ball. I mean, it's probably time for just a great play. Both of them rank will be passes. And how, my favorite plays of the game? How about the end of, I am curious about your thoughts on the third and three

quarterback draw with no timeouts left at the end of regulation? Crazy. Crazy call. Right? I was watching and saying, I can't believe he called that. I couldn't believe it.

I mean, if you're ready to go, may day, may day, and running a field goal team out, just too risky. I mean, this conversation and somebody being on the hot seat and all that stuff could have happened this morning, you know, the day after the game, if that play gets tackled imbounds,

and then they can't stop the clocker, you'd still go out. That was crazy. I haven't watched the All-22. I'm watching it for the first time this week with you, and I just went to that play. Like, there are 19 seconds left. So a normal quarterback draw,

which goes right up the middle, right? If they felt comfortable that he was going to get three yards, there would have been plenty of time to clock it. And clock it probably was still seven or eight seconds left and a chance to take a shot at the end zone on first and ten. And if for whatever reason he gets stopped on a normal kind of up-the-middle quarterback draw, you have time to rush your field goal team out there. But once he starts going laterally and he extends the time of the play,

that's where it gets really risky because he goes for that sideline and the play ends and you're like thank God he made that effort to go forward so they stop the clock if not thank gosh for Mick Nichols out there yeah that's that's why now he did have the first down he did have the first down but it's a good block like he has to get that block for him to get out of balance he can't get there he's going to get tackled inside if Mick Nichols is half-assed out there he does it I thought one of one of the reasons, you know, sometimes, especially from, you know, call it the 10 to the 15, not the 20-yard line, sometimes a quarterback draws scores, you know, and I was, I'm wondering if they thought

there was a chance it would bust and he'd be able to score. And if he didn't, they'd have plenty of time to clock it. But it's a high-risk play. I mean, there are other plays you can run that are a lot lower risk. That's for sure. I'm pretty sure I said like oh my god he's out of his mind when I watched that live it worked out and then here's the other thing on the very next play I mean it was close to grounding wasn't it yeah it kind of was I was I mean he throws that thing into the first row it nearly lands in the first row yeah this dangerous place I understand the objective yeah we're not throwing a completion at all this is the way we're going to technically meal and then wait until four seconds,

call timeout. We're just going to drop back and throw these passes and run off these eight seconds. But don't make it so risky. Well, the other thing, too, is your heart buzzes and go crazy. Well, I was concerned about it because I thought, you know, the grounding that they had called before when he threw in Terry's direction, I thought was a bad call. That was bullshit. Yeah.

Yeah, and so, and, you know, typically in those situations where they want to kick on the final play, you get them outside of the pocket and let him throw it out of bounds, because then it's not grounding. Yeah. But, yeah, so. A lot of this gut-wrenching plays are at the end, everybody's hard to pound. Yeah. All right. It was a pretty cool finish. High grade for Mario to highest of any player in the game.

We'll get your top three, bottom three offense defense, and you want to take us. on a bit of a defensive journey. We'll do that after these words from a few of our sponsors. You shouldn't have to go out of your way to feel like yourself, and Hymns brings expert care straight to you to ensure that happens, with 100% online access to personalized treatment plans that put your goals first. No hidden fees, no surprise costs, just real personalized care on your schedule. Simple online access to personalized and affordable care for hair loss,

ED, weight loss, and more, visit hymns.com slash sheen. That's hymns.com slash sheen for your free online visit. Hems.com slash sheen. Individual results may vary based on studies of topical and oral monoxidil and phenosteride. Featured products include compounded drug products, which the FDA does not approve or verify for safety. effectiveness or quality. Prescription required. See website for full details, restrictions, and important safety information.

All right. Take us on the defensive journey. You want to take us on. Okay. We're doing that before the grave? Yeah, sure. Okay. Defensive journey. So this is a third down defensive journey. I want to take you on. And this is really just crediting Dan Quinn and his play calling that I just started noticing throughout the game, and especially on third down, just mix up, changing it up, giving Nick's different looks all throughout the day, even though there's zone coverage, bringing different wrinkles of zone coverage, different shells, cover four to cover two, cover six, covers three. And what you're getting is what I think you should always have is a quarterback

and an offensive coordinator guessing, I know he's going to be in zone, but I don't know what zone he's going to be on. So first quarter, first play, first third down is 12. 46. Okay. Okay, 1246, first down, or excuse me, third down. Yep, I'm here. Going to third blade journey, right? So this is a different shell here, and you're going to watch them roll. So now this is what we call cover six. You look like you have covered two up top and you've got to cover four at the bottom, okay? Right. So let's just skip the next one. Next third or down is 1034. Let that one play. Yep. So now you're going to, you're going to get his own coverage again, third or five, but you're going to get a different look. This isn't going to be a cover six.

six play. What is this? This is straight. This is like a cover for flash three match. You got a free safety right. Your free safety is running man on this crossing route across you've got sanders still and Kwan playing cover four

and you got Noah hugged up tight here on the line so this is this is just a totally different look with some man principles so now you got a little shakeup on match coverage there in zone next third down. By the way, don't you on a condensed field in the red zone,

don't you have to play some matching in-zone? Sure. Yeah. But you don't want to do it all the time. Right. You know, you just never want to have tendencies. Okay. And I put Dan Quinn didn't have here.

What's your next one? So the next one is 348 in the first quarter. Okay. 3 and 9. Yep. This might be, yeah, see, this one I like you. I love this one too. They're going to bring, this is going to turn into a

zone coverage, but he's going to blitz Wagner from the mic position, and he's going to drop Louvo. You're still getting zone coverage, and you're still getting a four-man rush, but it's a different look. Bobby Wagner's blitzing. Okay, when I see a middle linebacker blitz, I would think zone, or excuse me, I would think, man, but it's not. It's still zone in the back. And this rolls of cover three. So they bring four, blitz Bobby Wagner, and play cover three behind it. That's a different look. Haven't seen that on any of the third downs. Okay. Go to the next one. Bo next let's see here third and five 11 minute excuse me 11 minutes 46 seconds in the second quarter got it all right what are we going to do here on this third down we've just we've shown you cover six

you've shown you a cover four match is a single high bobby wagner ran cover three now look see this is i love this one because pre-snap they're acting like they're in man coverage you got noah follows the shift they're pointing guys they look press coverage and then the stab at a ball where we're getting we're dropping the invert cover two. Haven't done that yet. Different third down. Wait, who drops? Who drops Reeves?

Oh, yeah. Reeves with Martin. Yep. Yep. So now we're in just, now we're in cover two. And they get the stop here. Yeah. And they get fourth down because he has to check down.

He's confused in the back end. Throwes his little checkdown, short four-yard curl. Come up, make the tackle. Go to fourth. That's a win for Quinn. Second quarter, eight minutes, six seconds, third and eight. the next third down what are you going to give me here now look this is the first time first time you got a standard coverage I still cover two and I stay in covered two

haven't done that before so pre-snap if I'm thinking all right what's not going to be covered to because that's my pre-snap it ends up being post snap covered two and they don't think he's got nowhere to throw and he you know has to start scrambling and he get off the field let's go and we haven't repeated any coverages yet right second down minute 55 third and three what are you going to give me here Dan Quinn if I'm an O's C is this going to be inverted cover two again or not

it looks like it might be based on the one you gave me two plays ago yes so now watch what happens here guess who we blitz again Bobby Wagner we did that on the last coverage but we ran cover three behind it now we're blitzing Bobby Wagner from the middle and we're running inverted cover two and we drop Vaughn Miller now Vaughn screws this up this should be this should be picked not not picked but it shouldn't be completed von runs out to the flat for no reason he has a flat defender it's cover two Jones is the flat defender you're not responsible for that outrout but you're de lineman and you don't play linebacker much he needs to be sitting right

on that hash right and he either kills that guy or nix doesn't even throw it So if I'm Dan Quinn, I'm pissed because I called the right play here. I should be getting off the field, and I'm not. But still, I just gave you a different look. I blitz Bobby dropped Vaughn. Last time I blitz Bobby dropped Louvue, ran cover three. Now I ran in the Inver cover two. I mean, you got no tendencies on me right now if I'm calling plays.

Third quarter, nine minutes, one second, third and eight. Okay. Let's see what we're going to do here. Boenick switches the mic. he thinks he knows what's happening oh my gosh we just blitzed our safety looked like he was in cover three Reeves and now we just bring a safety blitz

first time we've done that now it doesn't work because the rush doesn't isn't well throughout the lanes but still the point is my man's keeping them guessing they called it right Nick somehow saw this move the point to Will Harris so the line's picking up Will on the blitz

and the running back has the extra guy so they dissect this right something tipped them off for it that the blitz is coming right but you got you got me yeah you got me but i gave you a different look you win they're going to win sometimes third down so let's not let's skip the third and one that doesn't right out so let's go to seven 23 in the third quarter got it now this is it what is what is this exactly right that's exactly right that's that's what i want you to see i'm showing you five safeties here yes which You never, you, I haven't seen this all year from them, and I'm sure you haven't either.

So they haven't seen this all year. I'm sure Bo's like, I don't know what's happening. Now he gets the benefit of a really good play calling here, because it just turns into cover three for Washington. And it puts world hair. It's third and 11, all right? They have six DBs on the field. But the alignment is just odd looking, right? Yeah.

I mean, it's just, is that just, five guys at the sticks? That is five guys at the sticks, and I think the intention is for you to not know who's dropping and who's not. And I mean, this is a different look. What would you do if your bow necks under center, you look out and go, ah, okay, I've ever seen this on film all year. You've got to guess.

You've got to read this on the fly. And the problem is you're only rushing three years. Yeah, they rush. Yeah, exactly. They actually, right, they rush three. And it was contain rush. They really weren't going after him. They didn't want them to run.

And that's the big one to Sutton. Yeah. So you get a pass play that takes a long time to develop because Sutton's running a wheel, a deep wheel here. And it works because you don't get any pass rush. So even though Nick's had no idea what coverage it was at the snap of the football, he had no pressure. So he got time to figure it out.

Now, either Sandra still has to pass off that street going down the numbers to Kwan. and he's got to turn on that wheel or will house has to carry him. Most likely it's will's responsibility to carry that wheel. So neither one does it and then that's how you just drop it in the bucket there. I mean, they had

6 dbs on the field. They were all basically at the sticks and you got three receivers and you lose the one. Yeah. Well, I mean, you just, you need a little better pass rush. Yeah. And it's a good play call that took advantage of it. Ended up being covered three.

and they got a cover three beater. So either, I think that's just luck. Okay. They called it, called the right one, and got a chance that they had to play to beat it. All right, what's next? Five minutes, 26 seconds, the next third down. Third and five, yep.

Third and five, let's see what we're going to get. This is maybe the only time we're going to show press man coverage. They haven't seen this all game, and this is the one where Jonathan coves behind the pick here, and they get the big play. but point is we look like two men we go to single high man coverage and we're running press men and luckily maybe they studied this I don't know where they would get this tendency from but they run a man coverage pick route down here yeah they did so maybe maybe he called a check

here the line of scrimmage that you can't tell on tv oh wait a minute you see that I just rewind it. Watch both Nick's after the motion comes back in, the two thumbs down, it gets outside. Yeah. Or he either gives a thumbs up. So he was either going to change the play. They either had man coverage beater, and he likes what he sees, so he gave

the thumbs up, or he changed it with that hand signal. Yep. So, all right, good job. You credit it. You want, but I gave you a different look. You've got to think. Yep. And, I mean, we're going into the fourth quarter here, and he hasn't repeated coverage yet. On a third down. On a third down.

the next one is fourth quarter 14 minutes and 13 seconds this is the Bobby Wagner pick I think Bo next gets confused here he thinks he looks left here and I think he thinks Wags is going to go cover this flat curl route but Noah's

already responsible to flat so Wags doesn't have to go out there and he wants to throw this curl in right behind Bobby he thinks Bobby's going to push out on that curl that's outside right there on the 40 if you see it Yep. But he doesn't move.

That Wags, like, I don't need to go. He probably looked, Nick's probably looked at that flat and thought Wags is going to move with him and he's going to throw it right behind him. But Wags is smart here. He knows he doesn't have that. That ain't him. Noah's got that. Right.

I see it. Derek gets the pick. Now he tricked you. Now, hey, now one for Dan Klin, right? Right. All right. I was just the fumble, 11 minutes, eight seconds in the fourth. Well, it says fumble, but he got it back.

How about this? 11 minutes, 8 seconds in the 4th, 3rd and 3, and what I love about this, 3 and he goes, I don't know what he would call this personnel, lightweights or lights or whatever they would call. Because you're putting Louvo in here over center and Martin, like you kind of have Lou look like you're playing like a deep tackle position, right? On 3rd and 3. Yeah. They're not considering any run here. No.

The personnel is one defensive lineman, really. If you want to look at this, Payne is the only blame on the field. Yeah, well, Martin's out there, but yeah. Yeah, Martin's out there, but I would, he's like a quasi-edge rush

kind of guy. But this is your light package, right? You got Von Miller, Payne, Louvo, and Martin on third and three. So this is a good scouting. You don't account for any type of run here. You run a twist with Martin and Louvo. Martin does a great job on his push.

He's taking the double, and he's getting pushed with it. great hustle by Louisville to come around and get the sack and we haven't even started what's going the back end well Reeves bales he goes to cover two and you got cover four down here so we just show you this three-man rush with a twist and we're back to cover six and this was the first third down that we watched

so this is the first somewhat between coverage in the back end yeah yeah but that's just in the back in the back but with different personnel but with their personnel and a twist up front on third and three. So it took you into 11 minutes and the fourth card to maybe you could call this repeat coverage

but I don't even know if I would. So Dan Quinn was just on it again. I love this. How do you scout this now? When you're watching it now, if you're watching this film, you got two weeks of preparing film from Dan Quinn

and now I got 12 different defenses on 12 consecutive third downs. Pretty cool. Are we going to go to that last third down? That last third and four. which one the third and four with three minutes 12 seconds to go this is where they've got to get off the field to get the ball back down 20 to 17 and this was the one and I'm going to watch it for the first time on all 22 but during the game Wagner basically tells where Martin

should drop to well he's I don't think he's getting the call yep yeah sure go to this because this is we're switching it up right this third down and we haven't seen this all so you see right before Wagner goes up to Martin, he gets a check. He tells he's like double fist pumps or something. Pass it off to Kwan Martin. Kwan tells the secondary. Now I'm on the same page, and then you can see he turn around and forgets. Oh, shit.

I got to let Martin know he's dropping into this zone now. Which is in his ear, you got blah, blah, blah, whatever his call is. Right. So heads up play by Wagner making sure he got Martin on page here. And then they drop the cover two. This is his cover two. And you're dropping Martin in. to another hook zone because you're third and four, and you anticipate all four to five-yard

routes. Yeah. Great, great call, man. Martin's a great call. Yeah. All right. Unbelievable third downs. So, yeah, no, he was awesome.

Did this all, look, Denver and Miami are not Seattle, Detroit, and Kansas City. And Dallas, you know, they had them in that stretch, too. So Quinn took over at the right time. But the thing that's been most obvious over the first two games of Quinn is a lot more zone coverage than man coverage. Not that they weren't playing zone before, but just a lot of zone. And to your point, what you've been most impressed with is that they're just not, you know, making it easy to diagnose which zone they're in. Yep, totally agree. I would say almost exclusively zone coverage.

since he's been taken over, you know, you can sprinkle in that. Maybe five plays in the two games, excluding red zones and goal lines, and he's calling specific man coverage. Even when he blitzed on the game against Denver here, he was running the zone behind it. Maybe the safety blitz was man coverage, but that was the only one. So just doing a really good job. I mean, now, what you said is accurate.

Miami, if the Broncos, they're not, you know, putting up points like that. But I think what you're seeing is the foundation, that they should throw it off of moving forward, in my opinion. Dan Quinn should keep calling plays until somebody puts 50 on them, right? And then from a GM standpoint, this is how I'm building the team. Yeah. See a great zone coverage team because they're there and get four good, four guys that can rush the pass there. Those are always the best event.

Well, I mean, Dan Quinn made, you know, his name with Legion of Boom as a defensive coordinator and a lot of zone coverage. Well, you know what tricks me out And this isn't just specifically Ben Quinn, but it bugged my mind Or bug me ever since I've ever been watching football And you watch such as a guru Of calling plays and becomes head coach

And it doesn't call the plays anymore Or the same thing with the defensive quarter The great defense's quarter It becomes head coach And they don't call the plays anymore I guess I get that you have to become a CEO at that point But that's never really sat well with me Why would you not do what you were good at

That gets you where you are I'm with you on that, and what was interesting is he was asked about that earlier this week, about whether or not this is something that he could see himself doing next year, and he didn't dismiss it. You know, he kept it open as a possibility. All right, let's get to top three, bottom three. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. If you want to bet on tomorrow night's big game between Detroit and Dallas, My recommendation is to do it at My Booky.

The Lions right now, three-point favorites with the highest total of the weekend on the board at 54.5. This is a monster game. The Cowboys have won three in a row. The Lions are reeling. This one will determine a lot in the NFC. My Booky's giving my customers a 50% cash bonus. You need to use my promo code, DC Relo. If you're a new customer, the Kevin Sheeonshow.com.

MyBooky promo code D.C. Reload. If you're an existing customer, log on, password, go to promo code DC Reload. Again, MyBooky offering a 50% cash bonus to all of my listeners. If you deposit, whatever the number is, they'll take half of it and add that to your account. So if you deposit $500, they'll add another $250 into your account. We continue with Steve, and Steve told me during the break. He's got two more plays he wants to mention before we get to the grades. So go ahead. Go to two minutes in the second quarter, 45 seconds. And then I want you to watch

the play and tell me what you see. All right. I'm there. Okay. Tell me what, tell you what I see. Yeah. Just watch the play. Give me your reaction. You don't have to detail the play. Just give me your reaction. All right. Cover two to start. They're showing cover two to start. They're showing cover two to start. If this is another defensive formation thing that you want to show me, it's Wagner in coverage again, like

the overtime play. There you go. That's where I want you to go. Okay. This play is the setup to the overtime play. Evans, on this play, runs a whip. We call this a whip. Engram. Evan Engram.

Engram, yeah. Evan Ingram. Ingram runs a whip. Yep. He's going in towards the line, excuse me, in towards the ball, and then he whips out. That's a whip route. Yep. Okay. Now, that's the setup.

For the overtone. Go to the eight, the big one. Yeah, go to $8.25 in the O.T. Yeah. He fakes the whip and then, yeah. This is called a jerk route. Yeah. Fakes the whip and go back to the inside.

Oh, he. And he's, right? He eats it up because he's like, I just, I saw this whip earlier. and he thinks he's going to break on it because they threw it to Evan on the whip so he wants to be aggressive and make the play and they hit him on the jerk and they set that up in the second quarter

with 45 seconds to go and this jerk route is nasty. I scored probably 30 touchdowns in the Howard County run and shoot running this route. Shout out the Mike Stoner and the barbarians are throwing it to me every time. There you go.

this jerk route is nasty I mean I honestly I don't even know if you need a jerk or a whip route I mean who's gonna who's gonna possibly stay anywhere near you so so yeah right example I found I didn't notice it live when I was watching I might have been doing something right and when touchdown happened and they showed the replay I said oh they got him on a jerk route and then when I watched y'all 22 I saw the whip route

in second core I said oh my gosh they set him up up in the second quarter and broke it out in OT, and it goes for 40. All right. That was a good one. I'm glad you added that because it's also just another reason that next year, as good as Bobby Wagner's been, and as good as he's probably been this year for that coaching staff, because he is the brains of the operation. You just can't allow him to be in coverage next year.

It hasn't worked out well. I'll say that. Yeah. All right. Let's stick with defense. Let's start with defense since we've been talking about it. Top three, bottom three. Top three defense go to Frankie Louisville and then Martin and McGee following. Those are my top three guys. And I would point out everybody in the secondary had a positive grade for me. First time that's ever happened. So they've been somebody's been bad or a couple of been bad all year, all positive grades. But the top three go to Martin, Louisville and McGee. And then my bottom three go to Sheldon Day, Vaughn Miller, and Bobby Wagner. Now, Bobby still has a slightly positive grade, but, you know, we point out some plays,

and he had some bad run fits, and he ends up being the bottom, even though it's a decent game, because they all played really well. Let me ask you a question. Day's getting more snaps than Newton. Do you, they must, Newton was an early second round pick. You watched Johnny Newton in college. He was the defensive player of the year in the big. he didn't play a lot last year because he was coming off an injury when they drafted him

and he never really got you know into any sort of rhythm there were a couple of games but he's not getting the number of snaps you think he would have been getting at this point in the year in his second year why not I would say especially with the injuries too even more eye opening and glaring that he's not getting more snaps I think it's just I don't know if he's quick, quick, twitchy enough in there is get off the ball. I think it's effort. He'll make, he'll flash and make a play or two. And then you're like, well, why didn't you make more plays like that?

And it goes down to effort and want to for most part. That's, that's pain's problem. Pain had a positive grade for me this game. He's usually in the negative because of effort. And it looks like when he decides he wants to be a presence, he can be one but he just too often doesn't care I mean maybe that's unfair to say but he's not giving the effort the other guys are on a consistent basis and I think maybe Newton is the same way or he only has enough stamina to give you one play every eight where

he's showing maximum effort I mean Sheldon Day Newton Goldman they're all the same guy you know what I've known I've said this to you before but I've really noticed this specific to defense more than anything else. You grade the effort high motor guys consistently, maybe even higher than they would deserve because you love the effort. Because your top three guys, Louvo, Martin, and McGee, without question are the three obvious high energy, high motor, high effort guys on defense? And they've been that. I mean, we've seen it with McGee in recent weeks. The dude's flying around the field. We know that Louvre who's got a relentless motor and Martin the same thing.

That's a fair critique of your film breakdown, don't you think? It is, but it's how you play good defense since football was established. Yeah. Effort. I mean, there's only one way to go. I mean, if you're in the right position, if you know where you're supposed to go, that's number one. And then are you giving the effort and exploding and using athletic ability when you know what you're supposed to do.

Or are you just a guy standing there? That's not a skill. Well, maybe effort should be categorized as a skill. And some people just don't have it. And some people that do. And all the best defensive players that have ever lived give effort on every snap. And if not every snap, 80% of their snaps. You don't find snaps where guys look like they don't care and their elite defenders.

That doesn't happen. but I'm watching guys on film looking like they don't care about that play. So in the effort, because effort translates into good play. Yeah, no doubt. I mean, just as a fan, when I watch players that are just

high motor, like the Louvo sack is a high motor relentless sack. And it's in combo with Martin, who's going hard against a double team, trying to help out his teammate. Louvo, he knows he's running the loop. Martin knows he's not going to get the sack there. But if he eats up both those blockers and pushes the pocket back,

then it increases the chances. Louvo is going to get home. So that's even more. That's why I graded that play positive for Martin too, because without Martin Louvre doesn't get there. And that's playing team defense. That's not playing me defense. You know, you mentioned earlier about San Ristull,

and I commented on it after the game. He is not afraid to hit. he will, I mean, as long as he can see it, which he is seeing it playing more zone coverage, I mean, he came up on some of those checkdowns and some of those plays on the sideline, and he laid the wood to those guys, and he's the smallest guy on the field. I wanted to ask you real quickly before we go to the top three, bottom three on offense. I thought Jones played well, 31. He actually sniffed out a nearly had a pick six in the game, and I forget when that was.

I just remember it was a past breakup, and one half step, you know, faster, and it's going the other way. Where was your grade on Jones? Jones, he was until he's my third highest in the secondary, so I think he had a good game, too. It's hard to, so what I want to see now, if we're going to establish whether or not these guys are good corners, and I kind of briefly mentioned earlier, I want to see, you got to see them get attacked outside. zone just because you're in zone doesn't mean you don't have it like say you're in cover three and you're just going to let 10 yard hitches go all day and not break home technically it's not yours the flat defender should get out there to help cover it but you could get eaten up if you're not

doing that so I need to see quarterbacks attack the outside when those guys are in zone so I can evaluate them a little better so far in these first two games they've been pretty um I don't know peaceful out there I guess is the way that they haven't been challenged nobody's gunned, but again, it goes back to you can't just pick on a side if you don't know if the corner is in cover two or cover three or cover four. So it's helping them out. But like the jury's still out, but it's no question they're more comfortable playing in this zone. All right. Let's go to offense.

Top three offense. I'm assuming some offensive linemen. Yeah, we are. So obviously, Mario, the highest on the board for sure. Yep. Second goes to Beiotich. Okay. He's the leader of the line there.

Biaich, and then Cosme is three. Close behind is Terry, really close. And then Tunsel, also really good. But Paul, he had a really good grade, too. Connerley, I'll start that. Connerley is the highest of the lowest three. Connolly's still in the bottom three for me. And then it goes Bates and Ertz.

Why, how can you give Ertz a bottom three grade with 10 catches for 106 yards? I've already asked you that question. But I thought you were going to really ding him, which he deserved to be dinged for the two drops. But he also... The drop in the end zone is all him, right? Of course, yeah. He's getting all that drop.

I didn't even get him a full downgraded drop on the third 21 because I think that's more of also a really good play by that linebacker to punch it right out in the middle of his hands. So I gave him a break on that too. But if he's the primary blocker on run side, forget about it. So you lose points there, right? Forget about it.

His guy's going to make the tackle. Yeah. And then I'm not, you just. Do they have any tight ends that can block? Because Bates was supposed to be a great blocker, and he's been banged up this year. He's been banged up. He started off really good.

Yeah. And then it's been down. However. Can Sin it block? He's okay, too. You know what? I marked a play where I think it was a touchdown, a screen to me, Nichols,

and then it blows the block. I think they had a touchdown if he doesn't. Okay. I mean, that play sticks out into my head. But, I mean, it's hit or miss with those guys right now. What did you think? 12-12 in the third quarter. 12-12 and the third?

Yeah. Okay. If you want to look at it real quick. I do want to look at it. I think it's a touchdown. All right, 12-12, I'm there in the third quarter. Yeah. I think it is a TD.

They catch the Broncos in a blitz and they're running a, what you would call wide receiver screen out to McNichols, who is a wide receiver. Yep. He's got the point block and just whiffs on it. Senate does. Yeah.

Otherwise, this is, I think this is an outlaw. Jesus, God. Come on, Senate. He gets that block. Come on, man. Yeah. It goes for no game. And it's a block away from a touchdown.

You know, I... It goes for no yards. I often think in these bubbles and these wide receiver screens, it's a hard, it's not. not an easy block. By any means, it's not easy. I did this. I was a receiver. No, this is a hard block.

Right. For sure. They're always hard blocks. When these things work, I think it's, I mean, the percentage is less that it works than it than he usually does it because it's hard. It's a long to think about what he does is, what he does can work. I mean, he goes at him hard, hoping he gets initial pop on him. It's going to stun him. But usually you're taught you've got to come under control when the defender comes under control

because there's going to be some lateral play involved here. But he doesn't come under control. He's coming full bore and trying to knock his head off. Well, no corner is going to stand there and take that. He's going to dip around you like he does. Yeah. And that's what makes it hard is that you're trying to block, you know, a corner. Yeah, a shifty dude.

A shifty dude that can just make you miss and then they can blow the play up. Yep. Okay. What about Birx in the catch he made? Oh, man. What a grab. I can't believe we even talk about that. Yeah.

Awesome catch. He looks like a player that. should be on the roster moving forward. I know what I made about him. I know he had that highlight catch. He is a willing blocker in the run game. And I love seeing that. He is down to play.

Each play, even if he's not involved, you just don't see guys want to block. He's a willing blocker. So that's another positive aspect of his game. But the catch, I mean, it's awesome. It's top-tier catch. Now, did I think Mike Toriko hyped it a little bit? Yeah.

It's nothing like Odell Becker. No, it was not. It wasn't even the best catch of the weekend. The puka catch was better. And there was a guy from Ruckers, his name is dust. His catch is better in the weekend, but hell of a grab.

All right. Great job. Appreciate it. They play the Vikings on Sunday. And if they confused Bo Nix a lot, I mean, if it's JJ McCarthy, he's been confused all years. So maybe another good day for the defense, although they're going to be playing, by the way, Brian Flores and

the Vikings defense. And all he does is try to confuse and play a lot of different things defensively. So it'll be an interesting matchup there. All right, thanks. Great job. We'll talk next week. Yep. You're welcome. Steve Souter, everybody. Back tomorrow with Tommy.