The Kevin Sheehan Show - Suter Film: How Different Was Quinn's Defense?

Episode Date: November 20, 2025

Kevin opened with what may be huge Maryland Basketball recruiting news. Also, Kevin responded to an email looking for a quick Commanders' off-season to-do list. Steve Suter joined the show with his "film breakdown" of the Dolphins game and an analysis of how different Dan Quinn's defense was vs Joe Whitt Jr's. 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. Window Nation is the presenting sponsor of this podcast, 86690 Nation or WindowNation.com. If you need new windows, mention my name, they'll come out and give you a free in-home estimate. Steve Souter today with a film breakdown of the Miami game in Madrid. I know he's looking forward to this film breakdown. He mentioned to us last week that it would be interesting to see how differently the defense gets called with Dan Quinn at the helm

versus Joe Witt Jr. So we will learn what Steve learned coming up. Tonight, locally in sports, there is a huge announcement. Most of you have no idea what I'm talking about and probably don't even care. We don't do a lot of college basketball recruiting talk. or college football recruiting talk, for that matter, on this podcast. If you're into recruiting, your recruiting talk needs are better served in other spots.

Now, I am into Maryland's recruiting, basketball in particular, and tonight could be a huge night for Maryland basketball. So why? Well, one of the top five to top ten players in the country. His name is Baba, a lot of ton. I don't even know if I pronounced his last name correctly. I've heard about four to five different pronunciations. But Baba plays high school basketball in Silver Spring at Blake High School. It's actually a public Montgomery County High School.

He is making his decision tonight on where he will play next year. The four finalists are Kentucky, Arkansas, Georgetown, and Maryland, and based on what I've heard all day long, I think there's a really good chance that Maryland's going to be his selection. Now, I may look stupid saying that, because by the time you listen to this podcast, he may have already made his decision. But if he chooses Maryland, this is a huge get for Buzz Williams and the Terps. Huge. Baba is a 6-9 Kevin Durant clone. Everybody says he plays just like Kevin Durant. I mean, that's a

heady comparison, obviously. But that's who he's been compared to stylistically. He's already a projected top three to top five NBA draft pick in 27. If he chooses Maryland,

Maryland's 2026 class gets launched into top five territory. They've already signed a four-star player, Caden House. It would mark, by the way, the third straight year, Maryland has landed a five-star prospect. Derek Queen in 2024, Darius Adams this past spring, and if Baba commits, he'll be the third straight, third straight year. Maryland's landed a top five guy.

By the way, he was the number one prospect in the 2027 class, but he reclassed a few months ago into this year's pool, and again, is a consensus top five to top 10 player. For Maryland basketball in this century, he'll be either the highest rated recruit they've ever signed if Diamond Stone isn't. Diamond Stone was signed by Mark Turgeon in 2015. He was top five to top 10 as well. Derek Queen was more like top 10 to top 15. Jalen Stick Smith, was like top 15, top 20. Mike Jones back in the, you know, mid-2000s, Gary signed him. He was top 20-ish. But if they get Baba tonight, and again, I think they will, he'll become their highest-rated recruit in this century alongside Diamondstone. I mean, depending on which recruiting service

you look at, he'll either be the highest rated ever or the second highest-rated. over this century, because if you know anything about Maryland basketball, and if you don't, I'm here to share some knowledge with you. During the 70s, when lefty Dressel was the coach, Maryland, on four different occasions, signed the number one high school player in the country. Four different times in one decade, Maryland was essentially the Kentucky and Duke of the 1970s. Lefty signed Tom McMillan, when McMillan was the number one player. player in America. He signed Moses Malone when Moses Malone was the number one player in America,

even though Moses never played for Maryland. He showed up for about two days' worth of classes, and then he signed with the Utah stars of the ABA. Albert King was the number one player in the country in 1977. And Reggie Jackson from Roman Catholic in Philadelphia, that's the one that people never get. Maryland basketball fans never get. He was the number one player in the country in 1978. Maryland signed him as well. But recent vintage, Baba is going to be at or very near the top of the list of basketball recruits.

And again, if they get the commitment that I think is coming this evening, it'll launch the 2026 class, Buzz Williams' second class, into top three to top five territory for next year. It would be just a massive get for Buzz Williams and the Terps. By the way, Jordan Smith, who plays at PVI, Paul the 6th, is also kind of a top five-ish recruit.

He's got Georgetown on his final list as well. I think Duke, Syracuse, Kentucky, Indiana, and Arkansas are all on that list as well. I have seen Jordan Smith play a few times. He is so good. This area is just loaded. Three of ESPN's top 10 for this upcoming class, 2026, are all from the DMV. Switching subjects. This from Sam.

Sam writes, Kevin, I know you want to wait to do this, and I'm not looking for draft talk yet. but who do you think we'll be back next year and who do you think they should let leave? All right, so we're not going to do full-fledged, you know, draft talk at this point. They are three and eight, and it's coming sooner than we wanted. But I did take 15 minutes before the show after reading Sam's email to just go through like their list of free agents and their list of players that perhaps need to get extended or a decision. decision needs to be made on whether or not to keep them for their last year. They've got a ton of free agents. We all know that because of a lot of the one-year deals and even some of the two-year deals that are coming to an end. So here's what I did, Sam. I put together sort of a quick

priority list in terms of, you know, a to-do list in chronological order. They've got to hire a defensive coordinator. That's number one. You know, I had Ryan Fowler on the show. today. Ryan's covered the league for a while. He actually used to cover Washington's team for the team's website. He mentioned, by the way, a couple of names, Al Harris, who's got some ties, obviously, to Dan Quinn and Jeff Howard, who was on Mike McDonald's staff in Seattle. You know, I've mentioned Jim Schwartz, you know, a guy like Jonathan Gannon, if he gets fired in Arizona could be interesting. Schwartz would be available if Kevin Stefansky gets fired in Cleveland. So number of one overall is they've got to find a defensive coordinator. I don't think Dan Quinn wants to call

defensive plays next year, but even if he does, he still needs a DC. They've got to find one that's really, you know, kind of first rate. All right. Now, to specifically, Sam, what you wanted to know. So I'm going to give you five different things. I'm going to tell you who I think they should sign back in terms of their pending unrestricted free agents, who they should extend, who they should let go of pending free agents, meaning don't worry about trying to resign, let them go without making an effort to keep them. And then a couple of players who I think they should turn loose or even try to trade. So first, on the list of who they should bring back in terms of people,

pending free agents. Number one is Marcus Mariotta. You've got to re-sign Marcus Marietta. He is an outstanding backup quarterback perfect for this system in this group. Even if Cliff Kingsbury leaves, because Jaden is the quarterback, he's going to get a system that fits him because he plays stylistically very similar to the way Jaden plays. You've got to bring Mariota back. If he wants to come back, is a back.

backup. Now, if he decides I want a chance to be a starter, well, you might lose him. But I would prioritize Marcus Marietta, Chris Paul, who's an unrestricted free agent when this season ends, Jacob Martin, Souter's favorite, who is a, who's going to become an unrestricted free agent. Jeremy McNichols, I would. I'd bring him back. He's too good all around. And by the way, a terrific locker room guy. I would bring back Chris Rodriguez. Now, he's a restricted free agent, but I'd bring him back. Remember, they did that in the offseason this year with him being a restricted free agent.

Tress Way is a unrestricted free agent. I mean, punters, he's got a couple of years left as a really good punter. And then I would bring Debo Samuel back. Now, you know, what the price is, I don't know. I don't know if he is in the midst of having the kind of season where there's going to be a massive market for him next year or not. But I would definitely consider bringing Debo back. I think Debo's played well.

I think he's a good fit for the system, a good fit for Jaden Daniels. We just haven't seen Debo with Terry and, you know, potentially another number two receiver. And I think they're going to have to go after a legitimate weapon. or number two receiver, number one receiver, really, in the off-season. But that's the list I came up with. Mariotta, Paul, Martin, Jacob Martin, McNichols, Rodriguez, Tressway, and I think Debo Samuel.

I think Debo should be on the priority list. I don't think you outrageously overpay them. Washington's got top five cap space, you know, for 2026. So, but I would definitely consider bringing Debo back. Now, there are two players you have to extend in this offseason, in my opinion. Laramie Tunsell, who is under contract for just one more season after this one, 2026. You cannot get let him get to the end of 2026, no matter what his age is, 32 years old at that point going on 33. You cannot allow him to get to that as an unrestricted free agent.

The market for him would be huge. You've got to extend him in this upcoming off season, and you've got to extend him. the cap space to do it. I think you also have to do it with Frankie Louvo. I know that some of you are disappointed with the season Louvoo's had. Like I've said, I think it's impossible or near impossible to evaluate much of anything from this year, especially when you consider he is playing linebacker behind an absolute ravaged defensive front. No defensive ends left that were going to be a part of the rotation. Armstrong, Wise, John Baptiste. I just don't, I think Frankie Louvo is a talent, and I think you've got to extend him rather than letting him play out the 2026 season.

Now, I'm not talking about a massive deal, but I'm talking about getting to a point before he plays next year with, let's assume a healthier team, it'd be hard to be more injured than they've been, and ends up blowing up and having a big year, you know, with people healthy in front of them and maybe additions that end up. improving the defense. So I'd think about Louvo as an extension. You definitely have to extend Tunsell. Now, the unrestricted free agents that I would say goodbye to, Bobby Wagner, Zach Ertz, Austin Echler, Noah Brown, Wiley. And I think Dietrich Wise, who's going to turn 32 years old coming off a serious injury, I think he was so important to this team, this year. I think the reason they signed him was to team him with Doran's Armstrong along with a guy behind him like Frankie Louvre and then Kinlan Payne in the middle to be much more formidable against the run. I just don't know. I mean, maybe it's a cheap one-year deal with Wise,

but it would depend on the injury. It would depend on what you think of him at the age that he's turning. But I don't think you bring Wagner Ertz back. Echler, of course not, too injury prone. Noah Brown, no, too injury prone. Wiley, I thought about maybe you bring Wiley back. He's so versatile, but I think you get that with Coleman and you get that maybe even with maybe less so with Trent Scott. But Scott's another guy. I think you should think about bringing him back. Like Wiley is more versatile. That leads me, by the way, to the list of guys that I am going to cut to save money or I'm going to try to trade. Well, Lattimore is number one on that list.

It's about a $19 to $20 million based on my math cap savings per spot rack. So Lattimore is going to get cut. You can't trade him with that contract. Duran Payne, I think you try to trade him, but with his contract, it may be difficult. He would save you another $17 to $18 million by. letting him go or trading him. And then I think Aligretti is not coming back, but he is under contract, and he saves you, I think, five and a half million dollars.

So I'd think about cutting Aligretti. I mean, I think they will. I think the toughest call will be what to do with pain, what to do with wise, potentially, whether or not you prioritize resigning him, and maybe Debo. Other than that, I think everything's pretty cut and dried, straightforward. Mariotta, you have to bring back. You have to try to. Chris Paul, the same. He's a starter. Jacob Martin is a rotational guy at worst along your defensive end group, in your defensive end group. McNichols has been too valuable as a third down back as a special team or et cetera.

Rodriguez might be your starting back next year for all we know. Tressway, you need a punter. Debo, I would think about, basically, on the money being right, bringing them back for at least another year. Somebody may give him a multi-year deal, though. Extending Tunsel and Louvo. Tunsel's a given. And, yeah, Wagner, Ert, Sackler, Noah Brown, Wiley, Wise, probably not bring him back. The pain thing is the interesting one.

Wise, Debo, yeah, I'm being repetitive. All right, let's get to Steve Suter and his film breakdown right. after these words from a few of our sponsors. So guys, I introduced you to a really good product a while back, and I want to remind everybody, for those of you that have been wearing the same boxer briefs, the same any kind of underwear for a long time now, I've got a better answer for you. 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.

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Steve mentioned to me last week, he goes, what stinks about this is you're not going to want me to do it. No, no, no, no. See, something that happens in seasons that are lost is that people actually, we wallowed together, Steve, in the few joys we've had as a fan base over the last quarter century. And we also commiserate in all of the

misery that we've had. And this is part of the misery, although at least we had a game on Sunday that was competitive to watch. But everybody's looking forward to it. I wanted to read this quick email. It comes from John. Johnson says some

nice things about this show, and then he said, I wanted to share an idea regarding Steve Souter. His weekly breakdowns are outstanding, and the way he teaches the why behind the tape is special. He makes Redskins fans, smarter every time he's on.

As a youth football coach, his approach has genuinely influenced how I teach the game to my players. I think it would make a fantastic end-of-season segment to have Steve break down his process. Not a game, but how he prepares to do what he does, how he studies the film, what he looks for first, how he organizes his notes,

how he simplifies his concepts for fans. The behind the curtain look would be gold for your audience. He also would love the chance to connect with you at some point, as many people have reached out to say. I mean, we had the emailer from Indy or guy Tim from Indy who said, you know, best steakhouse in Indy on him if you're ever out there, best golf on him if you're ever out there. And others have suggested some of the same things. And I've gotten a lot from coaches in town who love Steve's film break. down. Steve is a former, you know, world-class college football punt returner, one of the greatest to ever do it. And he calls Maryland football games with Johnny Holiday. And whether he's

been calling Maryland games or breaking down film of Washington Commander's games, it has not been pleasant over the last month and a half. Anyway, the way we do this is we get Steve to give us an overarching kind of view of the game. His big takeaways. then we break down the quarterback, and then we do the top three, bottom three performers on both offense and defense. But I think that's a pretty good idea. We can do that towards the end of the year. You can kind of give us your process, right? Certainly.

That sounds like a lot of work, but not that I'm afraid to do it. Actually, that's less work. That's less work. You just tell us how you do it. Yeah, all right. Yeah, I'm in. You can figure it out for sure. But let me just tell you, and all of you listening, this is not easy work that Steve is doing for this show.

Cooley used to tell me all the time, oh my God, it's, you know, I'm two hours in and I'm nowhere near done. We're going to have to, you know, we're going to have to record it a little bit later. You've been on time and prepared. You know what I thought was when they went, you know, when they went to OT, I said, oh, my God, four plays. fortunately it wasn't that many you know yeah yeah we only had we had four i think it was four snaps before the game winning field goal um yeah yeah that's that's funny it's like you know film breakdown you know film breakdown guys are like please no o t no o t all right uh give me your big takeaways from the game sunday in madrid well i don't think i'm shocking my saying it's

certainly a game that washington should have won and could have won They put themselves in position to win, and then it just came down to a few plays where playmakers need to make plays, and they didn't. So that's really the end-all deal of the game. However, looking offensively, I like the insertion of Coleman. We talked about that last week. Bringing the sixth lineman, if you want to run the football and you think this three tight-end package makes it covert that you're going to run the football and you still have the ability to pass, well, that's not working. And I know maybe someone that has to do with Cinnett being injured, I believe he was. But still, if you're going to run the football, put in Coleman and you've had success with it,

I thought they had success with it against Miami, too. So I was glad to see them go back to that in certain situations. Also early on, Miami did a lot of walking up on the line of scrimmage and bringing five people with those two ends they have with Chubb and Judon. So those play actions that they were running early on where Mariotas turned is back to one of them, leaving them unblocked, weren't really effective. So I made a note of that. I wouldn't have continued doing those, but they didn't. I think they saw the same thing I saw on film,

whether during the game in the first second quarter or during review or an half time, made that adjustment. Those were wasted plays because Mario just wasn't going to have time after he's turning his back to one of them, either Chub or Junon, they're bringing pressure. So that was a good adjustment that I saw on a game that they made that they stopped doing.

So you can see that they're watching the film and learning. Offensively, I'm probably going to be a broken record for most of this with Marriota, just a really solid performance from him start from the top other than the very we'll get into the pick at the end which just puts a real stain on his game but other than that

he's doing what he's supposed to do he's making the right reach for you know majority of the snaps and he just doesn't have the playmakers outside plays that are busted if he's not throwing the football aren't his fault just guys aren't open there's nowhere to go and sometimes that's coverage sometimes the defense just wins on the play

they call the play that counters the offensive scheme that you're looking for and that happens. So Mario does a good job in those aspects. I think the football running game was good. Rodriguez is a good fit. He looked great throughout the game. He had the one penalty that was a fourth down, hurt him a little bit.

But other than that, ran the football well. Pass blocking was also good. I have a note now thinking about the running game, and I'm curious, I don't know the data on it. But when you look at Kroski-Marrett, I would be real intrigued to see what is the percentage of when he's in the game and when they run the football. I think it's telling.

I think defenses are keying on and out. They don't expect him to be in a past block situation. So when he's in the game, they expect the run. Most of the guys are coming downhill. So you're putting your offense a little bit behind the eight ball there. If you're not changing those tendencies, so I'd be curious to see the exact figures on those and hopefully Washington's looking into that.

And if you're not ready to call passes with him in the game, then you might not want to be putting them in as frequently. But with that being said, I was shocked there in the second quarter not necessarily a two-minute drill, but Washington's looking to run out the remainder of that clock and put points on the board there at the end. And McNichols is not in the game,

and Bill is. So that was curious to me. I'm not sure why you would do that from a personnel standpoint. McIntyles is the guy that should be in there during that situation because you're probably going to be passing.

You're probably going to have checkdowns and you're going to have blitz situations, and he's really good at that. So I was curious of that coaching decision. But other than that, offensively, kind of did what they wanted to do, right? The best prevention of a poor defense is to control the ball in offense. And they did that.

So they did a good job offensively of keeping their defense off the field. They just couldn't punch it in there when they got inside the red zone, but did a good job of maintaining the run game, staying ahead of the change. They didn't do much to hurt themselves by the way of penalties, holding calls, etc. They didn't have many negative first down plays. So you're doing well from an offense. you can keep your play caller in Kingsbury in rhythm if you're getting production on first down

so they did a decent job with that. I just unfortunately couldn't cap those off with touchdown. So offensively did what they had to do to win the football game until a couple of the key players where they didn't make. And then defensively thoughts are, I know we talked last week

and I'll start with it because it was what I was really interested in watching is just a difference in play calling. Would I notice a difference from Dan Quinn? Would there be different play calling situations? that I could specifically point my finger to do and say, yeah, that's different. They wouldn't do that. And the short answer to that question is, yes, it was absolutely evident that a different

player caller was calling plays to me. And you can start by just the simple of man or zone. Washington, and I'll say Dan Quinn specifically, he called no-man coverage plays. Almost none. I'm exaggerating a little bit. The first man-coverage play he called didn't show up until the second quarter in the second drive, 13 minutes and 37 seconds into the second quarter. So the entire first drive, you're in zone coverage, and it wasn't just the same zone.

He switched it up, cover four, cover six, cover three, cover two, cover two, invert. So he was given Miami a dose of zone, but giving them a lot of different looks, so they couldn't really pinpoint it. I thought it was pretty clever. It was working from the passing game. Now, obviously, they had trouble stopping the run, but when passing situations, Dan Gwyn was shaking it up. He wasn't putting his guys who I think are a little behind in the secondary of handling man coverage

and handling the switching. You talked about that for weeks. So kept them in zone, kept it easier for them to at least be in the right place, so you're giving yourself an opportunity to maybe be able to make a play, depending on if he's calling the right zone coverage for you in that situation. There were a couple other zone, excuse me, man coverages that showed up, but there was a wrong goal line situations where he's trying to, you know, bring this red zone, excuse me, run blitzes with linebackers,

trying to plug gaps in the short yard. So I don't necessarily count those as a zone or man, coverage, but those were the only ones that were there. So it was predominantly man coverage, 90... Primarily zone coverage, you mean? Yep. Yeah, I'm sorry, yeah. Primary zone coverage is 90-95% zone, and that was not the case with Witt.

There was a lot of man coverage, which caused a lot of mistakes. So it looked like Dan Quinn says, look, I'm going to eliminate those situations where my guys get crossed up in the secondary and we just blow the coverage and we're going to play zone. And they did it definitely, too. The cover two invert were some different looks. they had Reeves walk up on the line of scrimmage from a safety, looks like a safety

blitz is coming, then the snap the ball. He goes out to be the flat defender, and they were dropping, like, Noah would go to the safety, or what Stanstrow would be the safety, and that cover two invert. That was a different look that I'd see. The Jonathan Jones sack. Right to corner blitz. Yeah.

That was cover two invert. They ran cover two invert there, blitzing the corner. That's the first time they've done that all year, and that was on third down. So I know Dan Quinn was loving it. They probably installed that this week. We're going to run the cover two invert here, but we're going to blitz the corner.

He's not going to see it coming. They're not going to expect it. And if they do pick up the blitz, they're not going to think it's cover two invert behind it. Very clever from his part. Probably installed this week. Calls it on a third down and it works. You got to know you had to be hype about that. So just different looks.

It was a different scheme. They obviously installed a couple wrinkles there that I'm mentioning from rolling the coverages. So it was very obvious. I wasn't sure if it was going to be or not, but it certainly was. I think Sandra still looks more comfortable outside. I know it's a small sample here, but he looks more comfortable outside. He's in zone primarily. Like I just said, they were brand zone 95% of the time.

So not as easy to make a mistake, so you're putting him in a situation where he's more comfortable. I thought no, it looked good in the nickel. Again, not being asked to play man coverage, not being asked to cover body on press or anything like that. He's getting to sit in his own, so I think it just makes guys feel better and more confident in their assignments out there, and I think that was just evident from body language.

I mean, Sanders still is not without making mistakes. He should have caught that interception, right? That hurts, and he's got other mistakes on the field where he's not making the plays you want, but looked confident. I like to know when the nickel. You might have stumbled it. I mean, it

sucks that you had to go through all the injuries to get here. Well, that's sort of what It was last year. Santer was still on the outside. Noah I, you know, was the nickel, was the slot corner. Right. So I'm curious to me why they thought bringing in Latimore and put him outside with Amos and move to San Francisco that nickel was the best fit for the team.

Again, one game sample size, so maybe in three weeks we're going to be like, yeah, they don't look good out there anymore. But for this game, looked good, look comfortable. I would have been experimented with it. Maybe some experience because you said that that's how they played last year. I would have been switching it up throughout this. season, the way Lattimore was struggling, and the way Sandra Still was struggling in the nickel made no sense to just keep them there as long as they did. So I'm, you know, I guess

you obviously can blame coaching there, but from a standpoint of putting players in a position to be successful, sure. I think it made more sense. They looked better, look more confident. Zone coverage was working. The issues were up front with the run, and specifically on the edges. And Dan Quinn, even I saw his little halftime. He said they can't set the edge. Nope. They couldn't set the edge. They couldn't set it last week. You run away from Martin. Even Martin's, you know, occasional get caught on not setting edge. Like, usually you run away from Martin, and that would have been Holmes, for the most part.

Holmes couldn't set the edge early. And then when he was inside, wasn't really a factor at D-Tackle. So the run game suffered. I thought Bobby Wagner looked a little slow. Now his step was a little slow, especially when you're moving him east to west, not as effective. He's more between the tackles linebacker these days, so he wasn't providing any assistance on those off-tackles and sweeps. So the run-game struggle, that's really where you give it up most of your production to Miami's offense. But all in all, both sides of the ball, pretty good scores from my grading standpoint,

not a bunch of glaring guys that were just not productive and not doing anything, but not also in your hand, not a bunch of guys making outstanding plays either that were flashing on screen. So, you know, it wraps down to over and overall, you're right there at the end of the game. you get in an OT, I think you should have went. I mean, we could talk probably for 20 minutes specifically on why Sanders still is back there catching a punt. So I don't know the depth threat. I don't know who is the backup punt returner.

Well, Jalen Lane got hurt, which is why he wasn't back there. So he was obviously the backup punt returner. Right. I would assume, though, McCaffrey is probably the number two in that position. He's hurt too, so now you're looking at your third string. And maybe that is Sanders still. And maybe you have watched them catch punch and practice for this whole season. But I'm a firm believer, unless the guy is special, I'm talking special, you don't put a defender back at returner, either kick returner or partner returner.

You have somebody that's comfortable that catches, passes all day long. Every day in practice, just used to operating with the football, and it's going to be more comfortable back there. So that blew my mind that he was back there. I mean, Diba would have been a better option for me. He's a body catcher anyway. I'm sure he can catch a punch. And you just want to tell somebody in that situation, because you're going to get the ball around the 50.

This is go out and fair catch the football. You don't even have to worry about making a return. And I bet that's what they told him. And he was still out of position. So he looked uncomfortable. I think that's a coach mistake on the special team's coach and maybe ultimately up to Jan Quinn. But you don't put defenders back there, in my opinion,

lester special. Interesting. That's really interesting. Like I'm thinking about defenders from this team, Dee Hall was back there a bunch, DeAngelo Hall back in the day. You know, I think you're probably right. It would have been McCaffrey. And if we had had Echler on the roster, I think Echler would have been one of those options.

Chase Edmonds was the kickoff returner in this game, you know, a new name, you know, among all the new names this year. Maybe I wonder if he could have done it. But interesting, yeah, it was a devastating play. They didn't give up points, but they, They didn't get the field position in a tie game, you know, with four minutes to go. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you're winning the game there essentially.

I mean, you have a – I mean, I should say to win the game in definitely. But your percentages go way up. Sure. You're 80% to get the field goal attempt at worst. And if you're any type of competent, which the offense looked to be on that day, you're probably taking that down a low time on the clock, and you're executing that field go to win the game. It's not better and getting to touch you. shirt. That's what I mean about players making

plays that just weren't there when you need them. I mean, and on the offense, I mean, Chris Moore, come on, that's the winning game. And you drop that pass. Oh, my God. For Mario-O-Doh. I'm so glad you brought it up. I'm so, because I said right after the game, I'm like, Kenny Albert and Jonathan Vilma on the

call, they totally whiffed on the fact that that is a drop in the bucket throw and he's trying to one-hand it for some reason. Ridiculous. I can see the defender's has a little light grab on his left wrist, but come on, man, you have to fight through contact, get that hand up and make the play. And if worse, if the defender is grabbing your

wrist to where it prevents you from your arm going up, then you're going to get the PI. So it was just a really unathletic, negative ball skill play that was to win the game. I mean, Mario does take a shot here. He's not settling for a field goal, and he dropped a dime on Chris Moore, and it just was a very unathletic play. Mentally made the wrong decision, like you just mentioned. You don't go up with one hand over that. You do everything in your power to put two hands on that football. And again, if you can't get two hands on it, it's going to be obvious.

There was a reason why you couldn't, and you're going to get the P.I. You're going to have a ball in a two for a chip shot. So that was real disappointing. Oh, my God. I thought it was the best throw he made all day. And here's another example of the injuries, because Terry McClorn isn't a separation guy. but he's a contested catch guy. That's the catch he makes all the time.

Now, I would ask you, because this final drive and regulation, which, by the way, I didn't have much of a problem with any of it in the way they managed it, they just didn't get that other, they needed another five to ten yards. You know, they ran the ball in first down there and it didn't bust. A lot of times, especially against nickel in that spot, you know, you run the ball and you get five, six, seven yards.

That would have been, you know, less than 50 on the field goal attempt, which is what you're looking at. for the second down pass nearly got picked on that corner blitz where he almost got hit. Was there anything open underneath on that play where he went deep? Do you remember? No, I think it was the right play. I mean, he's open. He's got to step on the front.

It is to win the game. No, I didn't see like a dink off there that could get four or five yards. He should took conservatively to make the field go shorter. That was the ball. It was either that or it was probably trying to scramble and get a couple. But again, the dude's open. It's the game-winning ball. I love that he took that shot.

And it's no secret. Your kicker has been struggling. Don't get it as close as possible. I mean, that's the win-the-game moment. I would love to be a receiver. And you would think any receiver would want to be in that position to get a chance to win the game. And he couldn't have thrown the ball any better.

You got to catch that. And he just had a brain lapse where he thought he could go over one hand, just a foolish attempt to try to catch the football. Now, they should have won the game in regulation. the play before we'll circle back to that when we go through mariotta um but yeah i mean i it was i think it was because the kicker came on and missed from 56 and it went to overtime the crew that was calling the game just like completely overlooked the fact that that ball was literally dropped in the bucket and they would have had plenty of time to go down there clock it with two seconds

three seconds to go and kick the walk off uh field rule meantime the field goal kicker missed They waved him this week, and they brought in another kicker. I did. Yeah. I wanted to ask you real quickly in your defensive sort of takeaway. You know, in all of that zone coverage, and then with the way they really stood up big time in the red zone and had two, you know, fourth and goal stops, and, you know, they got a little bit lucky.

There was a false start, you know, on the opening drive. There was a wide open, tight end that, that, that, Tua missed, or maybe the tight end ran the wrong route, I don't know. But do you think overall it was a Ben Don't Break strategy and let's try to make it happen in the red zone against Tua, who is not, you know, Jared Goff and the Lions or Sam Darnold with, you know, JSN, et cetera. Yeah, so I can probably answer that a couple ways. I will say not very impressed from an offensive standpoint of the Dolphins, not dynamic,

nothing really tricky I think 85% of his past attempts were all play action so they relied on the run and they went to play action and it just kind of seemed vanilla I was looking forward to watching

that film thinking that you know that the head coach is kind of creative the young gun going to draw these real dynamic plays but I didn't see that so kind of vanilla offensively so that fits when you're trying to be vanilla on defensively

the limit mistakes I don't want to it was a bend by don't break maybe a better way to say that it was he's just playing a percentage, Dan Quinn, of let my players at least be in the right positions to help them make plays versus I'm taking a gamble in man coverage

because every man coverage player that Washington's run all season has somewhat been a gamble. You don't know, A, if you guys are going to cover the guy because they've struggled in man coverage, or B, if they're going to provide any type of switching with accuracy and then maintain coverage. So I think it's taking a look at what I got, let me put my guys in position

and then the way he did it so he's running zone he's playing safe but he's doing it from different looks and he's given different pre-snap looks to and different alignments and he still ended up in the cover two and that's what I've always wanted and what defensive coordinators to do

I don't care if you want to run cover two eight times in a row just show it from a different look so that it looks different it doesn't look the same you can't let quarterbacks at the NFL level come up pre-snap diagnose the defense, pre-snap, and then post-nap, it's the same. I think they're just too good mentally, and then you're putting yourself in a bad spot,

and they were doing that. Washington was too often, too frequently prior to Dan Quinn and calling this game. So I'm going to be, again, I'm excited to watch the film next week. Is this going to, was this just for Miami? Or was this because he thinks this is the best way to be productive on defense? So time will tell if he's calling zone all again next week. Now you've got to know, the next man, the next team just watch you call 95% zone coverages.

Now they're going to prep for zone coverage. Now do you sprinkle in man's on third down when they think you're running zone? And then maybe you win on that time too. So now you get the chess match again, right? The film is going to determine how these guys prepare. But for Dan Quinny, it did a hell of a job. I thought preparing for this game and putting his secondary specifically in positions to be successful. And it worked for the most part that they were just more stout up front.

it could have been an even more glaring, better performance defensively. Last week you said about the Lions that you said partly tongue-in-cheek, but that if they didn't call one pass in the game, they still would have scored 24 points in one if they had just run Gibbs, you know, and it just run the ball. And you described his 44-yard touchdown run as like a walk-through play. I was surprised after A. Chan had 50 yards on five carries averaging 10 yards of carry in the first quarter, that they kind of went away from that

until the fourth quarter and then in the overtime. Did you think that this was potentially another game in which if Miami had been primarily, you know, 80% run with A. Chan and Gordon, they averaged, you know, as a team, five and a half yards per carry. Those guys averaged, you know, 5.35 or whatever yards per carry between the two of them. Would Washington have struggled to get the ball back? Yeah, I do. I think it's changed. It's tough because Washington's strength and defense has changed throughout the season.

They were weak in the secondary, and then through all these injuries up front, now they're weak in the run game. And maybe now if they're going to play the zone, they're going to be stronger in pass than they are against the run. So I do think they're weakest against the run, specifically on the, well, the whole front. Yeah, exactly. Depending on where Kinlaw is at, right? If you're putting Kinlaw in the middle,

then they're a little stouter up between A and B gaps. But when you got him out of the ball game, you got Newton and Goldman in there, and then you're putting Holmes there at end, or you bring in Preston Smith at end. Even Von Mellie, you're just, you can't set the edge there with those guys, and then you're vulnerable in the A's gaps

because Kinlo is getting a blow, and it's occasionally going to get a play from Newton or occasionally going to get a play from Goldman, but it's not as consistent as when Kinlau is in there. So you're vulnerable there. I would, if I was an O.C., yeah, I'm running the ball so you convince me I can't against Washington for sure. And then just like aside, to go back to the goal line stand,

I mean, is there a better sequence of plays in an NFL game than a goal line stand if you're the fan of the team that got it? I mean, those things are, those are fun to watch. It's emotional. I love seeing defenses, you know, come up with the four plays in a row. They're on a goal line. It's a pretty cool sequence of events. Yeah, I mean.

And you got two of them. There's been a bit of a debate, you know, in that I think Mike McDaniel should have kicked the field goal with 144 left on the fourth and goal from the one. Now, there are times where I would have thought they should go for it, but in context, they had just stuffed three plays in a row, and they had already been stopped in the play before Kinlaw completely blew up. And so I just thought that they should kick because Washington had one total touchdown on the day. day, so they weren't going to lose in regulation. They might get tied in regulation. You know, others could say, yeah, but if they miss, they'd rather have Washington start from their own one-yard line or two-yard line.

But, yeah, that particular goal-line stand where, I mean, they almost botched the pitch on first or second down. Yeah, I mean, it was awesome. It was really good. I'm on both sides of the fence there. If you want to be, I don't know, real conservative and kick the field goal, I mean, I'm the football player in me wants to go for it in that situation

and you just, like you just mentioned, you just got to stop three times if I'm the coach, the Dolphins and I, you know, I have pride too, and I don't want to get stopped on four plays in a row, so it's kind of a pride situation with my man up on. Let's just go. Let's go mono-e-mono for the fourth down and best man win. Now that's maybe a Neanderer's a way of thinking

and it's the right way. Yeah, but that's you. Sometimes emotions just take on, and you just say, let's do it, man. That's staying toe to toe and see what happened here. So real quickly, the last one before we get to kind of quarterback at top three, bottom three, Kwan Martin got benched in this game, just flat out benched. Did he deserve it? I can't say that I saw that any reason for that.

Do you have intel on it? I mean, I only have him down here. I'll go to Kwan here. one so I'm not exactly sure how many snaps he played but I only knocked him really one for one play that would give him above a normal grade is savage better I so I mean I didn't he did flash but really only a couple play I know okay so let me it's I was just curious if that's if that was something you were going to say yeah I totally agree with now okay no I would say they're the same player so if Kwan made some mental mistakes out there that I didn't notice that's

could be possible. That's why he got benched, but I would call them the same guy. Okay. All right. Let's get to the quarterback breakdown, and we will do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Guys, everybody understands that from time to time, we have personal finance issues, banking relationship issues that include things like overdraft fees, missed payments, wishing you had ways to save more on what you earn, will chime. understands this. They understand that every dollar counts, and that's why when you set up direct deposit through Chime, you get access to fee-free features, like free overdraft coverage, like getting paid up to two days early with direct deposit, and a lot more. Chime is banking done right. You can

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so give us the Marioada breakdown I'll start by saying it of the roster moves and roster construction that you have on the team and I know there's a lot of back and forth going on with the GM now and the movies made if they're right or not I mean you you can make

a case that the best movie's made is to have Mario as a backup he probably is the best backup in the league is there a better one? I don't know because I'm not watching their tape and they might not even be playing yet but I think you have the best backup in the league

he plays so consistent and he's doing well with limited tools in the toolbox and I'm not talking about his tools I'm talking about around him he started off the game right decisive getting in rhythm with quick hitting throws four or five yards get things moving

the go to the I love the 612 first quarter six minutes and 12 seconds this is the overpass to lane where he makes a good catch when he gives contact, but I just, I love this from an execution from an offensive standpoint with everybody involved, and it starts

with Rodriguez, okay, so they're running play action here. But as a running back, if you're involved in a play action and your blitz responsibility comes, you abort the play action, and then you go block your guy that you're supposed to. So Rodriguez does that. He notifies

the blitz off the edge, so he doesn't fill out that play action fake, Ariota, being the quarterback, realized, okay, Rodriguez isn't coming across for this fake. I know I'm getting pressure. So I think he adjusts his set to get the ball out quicker because he knows pressure's coming and then delivers a decent ball to Lane who makes a good catch and traffic there and takes a hit. You like when offense from every level is in sync. They're all making the right decision.

This was the play that Lane got hurt on, right? I don't think so. He did come back in the game, so maybe this banged him up and he tried to come back. Okay. Because he still caught a pun after this. And then maybe he just said, I can't handle it for, I don't know if there's a rib injury or what, if it's off of that hit. Okay. But that's just a good play of your offense in sync and doing what they're supposed to.

Everybody's on the same page. Then you have, let's see, the only, like if I'm going on negatives, right, he missed Debo in a little five-yard, quick sit route on a second and ten. The high, the one that was high? Yeah, so that's high. Bad ball by him. It's going to get negated anyway because Chris Moore gets the illegal shit. shift because he goes towards the line of scrimmage and motion like he's known

he shouldn't do since he's eight years old but he does it anyway so that's being called back but I still knock Mario before that yeah okay and that's so frustrating as a coach like come on man you've been doing this motion you've seen motion to play football for 25 years and you're still you're still doing that

if you go to the next play at 820 like I'll just show an example this is 820 where second quarter second quarter second quarter okay yeah so you go to 820 year second quarter. Oh, yeah. So you got two, you got two man here. So he's going to take a sack here, but this isn't his fault. Dolphins are in two man, and he's only got two man routes. He's got, or he's got, I believe it's Lane up top, actually. They don't win.

So what do you, I got two men, so I have two man coverage beaters. They're on the top of the formation. Debo's chipping, so he's not in the route or in the concept. And so Erch doesn't win at all, and Lane doesn't win at all. So, what does he got? He's got to scramble and he takes the sack. So that's just another example of guys not getting open into two-man. And they spied him, right? So if you watch the end zone here, they rush three. They have four in the line of scrimmits, but they're going to run two men. And the reason you spy, what is susceptible to two-man are screens and quarterback draws or a quarterback scramble because you have a majority of your guys in man

coverage, so they're not watching the quarterback. They're watching their man. So they're not going to see a running back out of the backfield. If you can block that guy with your linemen on the screen and then the two guys that are watching the quarterback are the safeties and they're dropping 20 yards deep. So Miami knows this and they know Marioo can run. So they run two man here. They only rush three and they drop Dodson as the spy. So if you watch Dodson, he despise, he's not rushing. And then when Mario doesn't have anything because his guys didn't win in man coverage, as soon as he steps up in the last scrimmage, then Dodson just breaks and makes the tackle here. So this is a good job by the dolphins, calling the right defense and executing

and it's just mariotta with no option so he's got to eat it here's what here's what my only constructive criticism of mariotta on this play is game management right you are in a third and 10 you're in solid field goal range you can't give up you know a big sack to knock you you know the six yard loss basically cost them three points the field goal was literally missed by about a half a yard wide right and i think in watching this for the first time because I have not watched it until you just brought it up. He's got to, once he breaks outside, he's just got to unload it in McNichols area, even if it's, even if it's dirted and he's outside the tackle box so that they can kick the

field goal and have a better field goal. Certainly don't. Yeah, I don't disagree with that at all. If you watch right before, so Chub comes in on that inside boo, and then you got tonsil and Paul trying to deal with him. And then when Mario decides to talk to this, and I'm just putting myself in his shoes, I don't, he doesn't see. Dodson at all, because he's behind there. So once he breaks out, he probably's like, I'm getting six, and then, uh-oh.

Yeah. He is like, Dots is right in front of him. Could he have flicked it? Sure, I'd rather you take the sack there than the intentional grounding, though, if it's not going to work. Right. Yeah. If he's not an athletic position to throw the football. I think you're right. I think he's surprised with Dodson being a spy there. Yeah, he didn't know.

He probably thought he had a chance to go get it. But that's just like, that cost him three points in a game in which field goals actually mattered. Understood. Yeah. Go to second quarter 456. This is where

you get lucky for this phantom pass interference by Miami. Terrible call. That's a horrible call.

But I don't love to read by Mario this isn't going to get completed at all. If he throws a ball to where Devo could actually catch it, it's picked.

Divo is either getting killed or he was getting picked. Yeah. So you're lucky it's a bad ball, so it's just a bad read by him.

he does but he doesn't have this is basic well I was going to say they're going max protect there but it's not but it's the play action this is where I knocked him the most because I was debating I'm like do I dock it for this throw I wanted to say yes but I'm like I don't know maybe he can win

on that dig maybe this is right week but what I don't like is the action the play action the start let me say this if I can say this correctly the action of the play action is so laxadaisical none of the line backers from the Dolphins bite it at all.

They don't, because it just doesn't look real. So he doesn't get the separation from that level, the second level, to the third level for Debo's dig to come over, open a little more, which makes him throw the ball high because I think he's trying to throw over these linebackers. You think he's intentionally throwing it away high because of the pressure inside and he's in the end zone? I mean, I don't think so.

I'm trying to give him a little bit of credit there because it's such a bad miss. like it's nowhere near. Yeah, I mean, if he is, it's savvy, and it's a savvy play. Yeah. It has to look like it's going there because he's in the pocket,

and he's in the end zone, so it's going to be a safety. Right. If they'd otherwise, I mean, it's a terrible call. First of all, it was not defensive pass interference. Secondly, it wasn't catchable.

It wasn't a catchable ball. That was a big gift for the officials, for sure. Yeah. So knocked him there. I didn't love that, Reed. And then let's go to, yeah, so 521 in the third quarter. Got it. 521 and third quarter, I think he tries to take too much here.

You've got Debo. Just take the three yards here. You're backed up, your second and nine. Oh, yeah, yeah, right. And he's looking there. He's looking on that side. Just take it. He goes there, take the three yards and make it third and six.

I don't know why he didn't want to pull the trigger there. That one got flat. but they picked it up because it was, you know, not a catchable ball in bounds. Yes, correct. Yeah. But take the three yards there. So especially since he's working play side, if you're calling out the play side there to the right, I'm not sure what he's waiting on.

Devo's the first read. He's running a three yard out. He's open, give it to him. If you're waiting for urge, that's not happening. Right. So just take it. Yep. So they take it.

And now, I mean, that's, I think, Maybe do I have one more? Oh, yeah, so then I have one more. It would be the ball to Chosen there at the end and we kind of talked about before the end of the game. Yeah. That was so risky of a throw. I know he's kind of getting hit,

but even if he's not getting hit, Chosen's not close to open. Right. So I would not be risking that ball in that situation. This is before the deep shot to Moore on the final play before the 56-yard field goal where there was a, I think it was a corner blitz. I haven't looked at it yet. Hold on.

I'm going to look at it right here. On the backside, it's definitely secondary pressure. Yeah. coming. But when he cut it loose, I think my heart's saying, I said, oh, gosh. And I was like, you are lucky to get away with that one, Marriota. Yeah. But other than that, and then the pick, I mean, so what I'm pointing out are really minor flaws, right, nothing was catastrophic. Until the pick. And then until the pick, man. All right, so tell us about the pick. I don't know what he's thinking. I just don't. I know it looks like Erch is coming over across the

middle, but Ertz is not running a man route. I think Ertz, So they're in zone coverage, Miami, and Erch thinks it's zone coverage. So he's kind of drifting across between those two, excuse me, those backers in the middle over the ball. But if he doesn't see that corner that's pushing hard, Mariotta must not see him. You can't double pump in that situation. You got to there's where you throw it away or you eat it. I can't even get into Mario's head to what he was thinking there. He was working more first, right, on the comeback?

Yeah, right? I just think he just, in that situation, first play overtime, does want to take a negative play. It's greedy, tries to get real greedy, and take that little four yards. It's just like I'm putting myself in his eyes and I don't see what he sees. If he thinks Earth is open, it's for a millisecond and it's a yard, it's just a bad overall decision, one that he probably hasn't slept in the last three days that he did it. And that's, unfortunately, what you're going to remember. So you got a quarterback that played a really good game, managed it well,

kept the chains moving. The time they really scored points, I wouldn't put them on them. I mean, you mentioned maybe taking that sack caught off three points on that one drive, but other than that, he wasn't the reason they weren't scoring, in my opinion. And then to lead the game at that play, that's a hell of a sting for sure. How about the play in which he saved the safety by unloading it, you know, underhand Chuck? Yes. That was amazing.

So savvy and athletic. I gave him a lot of points for that. That was impressive for sure. And that's just a veteran quarterback making a play. You wouldn't, I mean, that's probably, so that play and the ball or more, so I have three plays that I scored very highly for them, that's one of them. I mean, that saved points, and it's an incomplete pass, and it's one of his highest plays I grade the other day. That's how much I loved it.

It was awesome. It was amazing that he was able to pull it off. Which would really do my point about Connerley, and I have a note here. I want to see Coleman at right tackle for an entire game. I would like to grade Coleman at right tackle for an entire game. Will it happen? Probably not, because they're not going to put him in for your first round pick. but I think Coleman has played well enough in the plays that I've seen that you as an organization

owe yourself the 52 plays of the next game to grade him at right tackle and see what you have there. That would be my opinion. That's what I would do. I don't have any. So you weren't a big fan of Connerley Jr. in this game? Not necessarily this game, just all season. I think he's usually one of the lower graded linemen every week for me. If he's not at the bottom, he's in like second from the bottom. I know there's only five guys involved,

but still, he's never at the top. And I think Coleman, who played well when he was in today, or excuse me, when he was in Sunday, and when he's had other plays, has played well.

I just think it's worth checking out. I would do it. I mean, what was Coleman in college? I don't know. Was he tackled? So at TCU, he played both. He played both.

He played tackle and guard? He did. Or right and left? No, he played tackle and guard. Okay, yeah. It's worth trying. I think he looks good out there. Now, he's promontory running blocking when he's in.

So that's why I'd like to see him in past block situations at right tackle. He did well. Might have been two games ago. When Tunsel got hurt, I forget what game that was, but he looked good at left tackle when he came in. in support him. I think it's worth evaluating. What else

are you playing for right now? Do you want to see if the guy can play on your roster or not? Let's put him out a rat tackle and see if he should be, because there's nothing wrong with signing him long term to be a backup tackle for either position. Even if you don't think he's better than Connolly or you're not going to do the, we did the first round drafts so we're not

going to start him in front of him, it'd be nice to know that you have a solid backup tackle for when Tunzel gets nicked up or Connolly he gets nicked up. I think it's worth it. Two quick things on Mariotta. How about the 43-yard scramble on 3rd and 8? Yeah, that was great. He's still an athlete at 32 years old.

And it's his only, it's not like he did it because he gave up on the play. The play wasn't going to open up for him. He saw that right side, right off tackle open up and took off. Yeah, the dude is good. It's the same that he has a couple of plays here and there that kind of staying in the cowboy game at that brings a bell in my head right now. That pick you through that pick six. Well, it's kind of what he's done during, it's kind of what he's done during the course of his career. You know, even when he was a starter in Tennessee is the occasional horrible decision, horrible play that ended up being a backbreaking play.

You know, I made a note of this during the game. I think his best throws aren't on the outside. they're the seam balls. I think that's where he, when he's in rhythm and it's sort of quick off play action and he's able to throw between the hat, you know, just inside the hashes or just outside the hashes and the seam, I think that's his best throw. What do you think? I would say I probably don't have enough data of seeing all the throws like you have and watched them. I don't know if I would wreck. Maybe you can make a case his arm isn't that strong. So those down, you know, like deep outs and stuff

where probably is Achilles heel or just not where he might excel. But I think he's got good touch. So I certainly, and those seam balls can involve touch as well. I mean, I love the quick re where he hit Zach Earts on that little seam bending side right behind the linebacker. I mean, that's, that's savvy, that's known exactly pre-snap. What postnap do you want to get? If you get it, him and Zach be on the same page, that Zach just bends him on that lineback. I mean, that's a good

little seam touch ball for sure. it's just I think he's mentally sound and obviously physically talented and then like to your point you just got to get rid of that that one play that tarnishes the game all right let's get to you even did it in the raiders game when he was awesome when he had that 30 yards spamper and he fumbled right still had a turnover there but he played really good outside of that so you just you've got to figure out a way not to turn the ball over yeah look Miami and the Raiders were hardly the best defensive teams they've faced. I mean, you know, Detroit and Seattle and Kansas City,

much different in terms of the defensive teams. In Denver, by the way, who he will probably start against a week from Sunday night if Jaden's not cleared, it might be the best defense he's faced and this team's faced all year long. We'll see. All right, let's get to your top three, bottom three offense defense. We'll do that right 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.

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We continue with Steve and we finish up with top three, bottom three. Let's go offense first. Top three performers were? Top three go two. Laramie Tunsel led the way. Really good game from him. He has been getting better and better. as a season is going on.

And from when I first watch, I wasn't sold on him that first Packer game than I did. And he has just continually improved him. So a solid left tackle, anchor on the line. He led the way. Max Rodriguez, really good job from the running back there. I like what I saw running the football.

He was picking up the blitz as well. Other than the penalty that he had, he probably would have been tied with Tunzel if he didn't have that fourth down penalty. Right. That fourth time took away that. Yeah, opening garage. Yep.

So he, I mean, he looks good. You got three good running backs there that at any given time can get hot other than we already kind of went into it, but they need to look into the percentage they hand the ball to the bill when he's in. I think it's a good way. So in the game, so 30 snaps for Rodriguez, 15 runs, Kroski Merritt, 18 snaps, nine runs. Now, I don't know how many of the other plays were called passes

versus maybe a Mariota QB draw or something or a Debo carry. He had one in there. But I'm assuming that essentially for both of them, it's basically 50% of the time in on Sunday, they got the ball.

I think the way you said it, you thought it would be higher for Kroski Merck. I did. And you know why it's probably 50-50 though? It's because he was in on that, call it two-minute drill second quarter drive

where they were throwing. in the football. I don't think it would have been, you know, the percentage would have been more in the run favorite, but it's just something I've been noticing. No, what you just said makes total sense, because that's probably, I'm going to look it up right now, that's probably four or five called pass plays in two minutes, which you really don't want to put into this conversation. Yeah. Yeah. Nonetheless, they'll look into. So Rodriguez second, and then I got Mario and Bates, the next. Mario is still up there because he just does so much good and he has a ball in his

hand. And even with the lowest grade I give any player on any possession or play, he still was third there on the list. And Bates was back to being much more effective in the run game than he had been in the past couple weeks. Okay. And then he got a couple, I mean, Debo, Brandon Coleman, Chris Paul, all tied again for the same score. Didn't crack the top of me, but they're right there on the heels. So offensively, it was a pretty solid football game from the front and Marriota and the running and the running. You didn't mention Debo.

I thought Debo played well. Yeah, I mean, he's got a good, he's above average score. It's a positive score for me. I don't have, let's see, if I can flash him here. Let's see if I can point out something negative. Oh, so he did have a penalty. That's what cost him out being the top three. he had a penalty and I'm not I can't remember it was right before half time

was it the illegal shift or the OPI sorry no sorry it was the OPI yeah OPI right yeah okay and I don't think the play even counted but it's still he committed the penalty so I did not get my my normal penalty deduction because the play wasn't going to happen but nonetheless you did it you messed up but good game he's in the green right if you're if you're going by color he's in the green. Bottom three. I'm going to assume Chris Moore's in your bottom three. Yeah, Chris Moore's in the bottom three. That play is just can't drop that play to win the game. That's going to hurt you. Was it not effective in the run game either when he was blocking. So he didn't play a ton,

but that's going to hurt you, right? Your percentage, if you're not in a whole lot, and then when you're in, you're making a mistake, then that ratio is not in your favor. So yeah, Chris Moore's in the bottom. Then you got Zach Ertz, and then you got Beiotich. Again, he just has too many plays in the run game where he is shutting the run down, essentially, or his guy's making a tackle because he's not giving the effort. Or I don't know if it's effort at that point. He's just not athletic enough to block. Then he had the penalty too.

So, Zach in the bottom. And then biotic, shockingly, he's, I might be back-to-back weeks. He's in the bottom. What did he do poorly? He's not making mental mistakes. he's just getting beat physically. He's whiffing on a couple blocks on run plays. Guys are swim moving or slam down when he's going,

slaying to the right, when he's going to the left, and he's just not getting hands on him. So it's more run-block situation where he's not effective or his guys essentially making it. The first QB power, I mean, he gets blown up. He blows that out. It's going to be a good run, but he loses his matchup, and then it goes for one yard.

So he, in the run game is where he struggled. Yeah, that rounds out the bottom three. Yeah, that first, God, man, I don't mind Mario Dota running the QB power, but I hate when Jaden runs it. It just seems like they get mangled too much. All right, let's go to defense, top three defensive performers from the game. Top three to go to Kinlaw, no shocker there, consistent. He's really good deep tackle. He led the way, Jacob Martin, again in my top with Jordan McGee, played fast and aggressive, made plays, didn't see any.

alignment errors that I saw last week. He's effective when he's in. Those ran out the top three on defense. What do you think McGee is future? I mean, they drafted him to potentially replace Bobby Wagner as a middle linebacker. Do you see it? Interesting.

I would have said he'd be more of a young Loo, though. Yeah. I think he's got more of that potential, although, I mean, that's like I say, put him in, man. Let me see him in the middle linebacker. why will they not give Bobby Wagner a breather? This is crazy. This is Iron Man stuff.

He's going to play every snap of every game. Pretty much. That's crazy. Why don't you put McGee in for Wagner for a series? Yeah. And that Louvre will be where he's at and just see what happens. When you're, especially, I guess I don't know his past coverage skills yet. And we don't know his mental coverage skills in zone and or, man,

yet, but my gut just said why he should be in in a two-minute situation. If the offense is going on two minutes, it's going to be passing. He's faster. You would think he's got better agility. Maybe he's a better pass-cover guy than Wagner. But if

they're not doing it, I'm assuming he's blowing assignments in practice, and that's why they don't trust it. But that's where I would try it. He blew in the game. Take Bobby out in a two-minute situation. Throw McGee in there at middle-lineberger. That's where you say he's going to play. and then you get to keep your nickel package in there with Noah

because right now he's only coming in when they're taking Noah out and he's playing the will. Yeah. What do you think of... It's just not enough snaps. It was a more snap. What do you think of Jonathan Jones as a corner? I didn't hate him here.

He's in his own. I mean, he gave up a couple catches, but I did kind of like his technique. I was watching it over again. I'm like, man, should I even... You know, he had that big 18-yard out route that they, on a third and one of the third downs, I mean, yeah,

he gave up the catch, but I kind of liked his technique. He just got beat. They ran that with a three-man rush from Washington, so it's a long cover to have. The jury's still out on him. I'm not going to say he's a starter after one game, but I'm not going to say he's terrible because he wasn't.

So I'm intrigued. I think this is a valuable stuff. I mean, it sucks. You've got to throw a season away, but if you're going to give value information on evaluating these guys that weren't going to play these significant downs, they're just going to sit on your bench, and now you're going to get to see them, and now you get to actually decide

whether or not you think you can play at this level and be a contributor. So you're going to get to evaluate this defense. As much as you didn't want to do it this way, you're getting forced to really evaluate your backups to see how much depth you have or where you've got to change, what moves you need to make. All right, bottom three defensive players.

So as I say that, so Jalen Holmes, and Sandor still's in the bottom regardless if you count the punt or not. If you count the punt that he muffed, he leads the way because that's just a play ending. You know, he costs the game there, essentially. Then Jalen Holmes, not effective,

couldn't set the edge when they ran his way, and when he was inside, not providing any real run support or help when he was playing a three technique. And then it is actually Jonathan Jones. But it's hard. This was a tough game to score on D.C. not from my side I scored the way I scored but everybody was like okay everybody was decent there weren't like glaring guys around a position and making mental mistakes and those

miscus that are easy and those build up and then you're always going to be in the bottom and it goes back to I think Dan Quinn simplifying it from their perspective but while still making it tricky on the offense so it was really that was really cool to watch where did you have johnny Newton in this game? Newton was, he's above, so he's just slightly in the green, just slightly. Okay. Not many negative

plays, but only showing up occasionally. All right. Where I would grade the play as, like, you did something you weren't expected to do. Right? So if I do a quick look in on how I grade, it's

A, did you do your assignment? Did you do what your supposed to do, did you do it or not, and so like that's the baseline. I'm supposed to do this and I did that. Like for Newton, for example, most of the time you're trying to front those linemen, like the guard. You're trying to front the guard. You're responsible for the A or the B gap. You want to head those guys up, lock those guys out. If the run comes to the A gap, you shed it, you make the tackle, or at least, or you shed it and you make the tackle on the B gap. Or if you're on a double team, you eat up the double team to where Ben Bobby Wagner or Louvue or

or McGee, wherever the linebacker, they're free. So are you doing that? So if you're getting double team, are you eating it up to allow your linebacker to make a play? Or if you're singled, are you in a position where you can make a tackle one way or the other and you're playing the gap? That is what you're supposed to do. So if you do that, then you just get a normal, you do what you're supposed to do great. If you get blown off the ball, you're supposed to guard the A or B gap, and now you're

in the C gap because you're getting mush, you're going to get a negative great. If you take on a double team and you don't do it well, so they, they, block you, then they peel off and get to the second level, and now they're on their linebackers, that's on you too. So you didn't do what you're supposed to. Now I'm going to dock you for that. But on the same end, like say you split a double team and you make the play,

I'm giving you bonus points. Or if you just blow up the double team and you allow the linebacker to come free, I'm going to give you bonus points because you did your job and you did it better than expected. So those are a little bit of a window peek and do what I'm looking at. On the line

anyway. That was good stuff. All right. Anything else? I don't know. I think we do a good job of covering it. At least it was a game. It was a game. They're right there, man. I know it's like 13, 13, and you're like, oh, we didn't do this, we didn't do that, but you did exactly what you should do to win that game. You kept them all out of the end zone. You played sound defense in the secondary,

which was the key. You didn't give up easy, cheap touchdowns. You limited their explosive plays to only be in the run game. You clean it up a little bit. You're there, but I wouldn't expect them to be able to stop the run. I don't expect them to stop the run. They don't got the dogs up there right now. So you managed it, and you have it a 13-point ball game.

And your offense is moving the ball, too. They just couldn't punch it in, and you're missing field goals. I think games like the last two, Detroit and Seattle, you know, after basically the first half, it gets tough because, you know, the other team's motivations when they're up four touchdowns aren't the same. Everybody, you know, on the team that's getting their ass kicked, you know, you love to see the fight, you know, and the compete, you know, if you notice it, they didn't have much of it at all against Detroit.

But it just, when you have a game where the score is a competitive one, then you know you're getting everybody's best throughout. Totally agree. It was a my, from watching from my side, and now I'm, I guess I'm somewhat invested now that I'm doing this with you, and I'm watching the game,

and maybe my feelings are coming back a little bit, but I'm less emotionally attached to anybody watch, so I'm watching a good football game. You know, it's over, they lose, and I didn't lose any sleep over it, but I could see, you know, how emotionally attached it would be. Just a good football game.

And it, well, I'll say, good football game, for the plate. I don't like watching games where you watch Sandersville drop a punt there. He has a chance to just catch that football and watch it win the game. And instead now, like, he looks like the scapegoat

and then more doesn't catch that pass. You're like, I like watching games that are good games that end up game winning plays. Yeah. This was, everybody does. These are two right now not very good teams. In Washington's case, obviously, a horrendous

defensive team for the most part. and you know like in these games you know this you call games every week the team that makes the most mistakes and typically the biggest mistake is going to end up losing and they had two you know catastrophic mistakes the fumbled punt and then the interception and overtime and those were bigger mistakes and they were closer to the end mistakes that cost them the most yeah so there you go Yeah, I'm just watching this Sanra still, you know, punt from the sideline because it's tougher from the end zone, but he's just, there's too much of a dead sprint. He almost should have just

gotten a hell away from it. Yeah, doesn't Nick, doesn't have a good break off the foot of the ball? Just looks uncomfortable the whole way going towards it. That's on the coaches for me, man. Unless he's caught punts every day in practice

and he never dropped them. Well, don't you think that has to be the case in terms of preparation for who your backup butt returner is? Doesn't he have to prove in practice? You would think so. But again, it probably wasn't him. He was probably third string, so there's a chance. He didn't start practicing until McCaffrey went out.

So maybe he's only had a couple weeks again, catching points. It's just been laying in McCaffrey back. And, again, I'm making an assumption. I don't know who the backup is. Maybe he's been standing still the whole time. But I would bet it wasn't. It was somebody else on offense. and I would go right to McCaffrey

as somebody who's short-handed and can judge a football. He would have been my guess if he's the number two. So you lost him. But then I would go right to Devo. That would be my third. I wouldn't even have to think about it.

There's no way I'm putting Sanchez-Sill back there. I wouldn't put anybody on defense back there. It wouldn't do it. They're not special. You named, like, DeAngel Hall, yes, that dude was elite. Chan Bailey used to do it. He's elite. Like, those are elite dudes.

Yeah, who are the greatest punt returners? that were defensive players in NFL history. I'm trying to think off the top of my head. I mean, if you want to call Devin Hester, the corner... No, he was a receiver. Well, he was. He was a corner in college, so that's why I'm keeping up on a corner. But he was like, okay, so let's call him a tweena, right?

Yeah. I know, you got to think about it. I'd have to see a list, and then... I'm looking through... I'm looking just kind of through some of the great punt return. Dion. Well, of course, Dion. Yeah, right. Deion, of course, Ed Reed was really good when he did it, but he wasn't consistent.

Not consistent. They just didn't throw him back there consistently, but I just don't think it makes long-term sense. You just put somebody back there that's used to it unless they're special. They're special. Great. Go back there and take that sand to still punt to the crib. Who's the, for a guy that knows punt returners, who's the greatest punt returner in the history of the game? Yeah, I'm going. So Hester. Dante Hall, or my top two. Dante Hall, yeah, God, he was special. Donne Hall was so good, man. Yeah.

And it's totally different from me. I could see more of me in Hester, and this is just why they became my favorites right, because you're watching them. Yeah. I could see a little bit more of me in Hester, not that I'm anywhere near that guy. I don't take that that way.

But I had no type of shake like Dante Hall, so I loved watching him break some ankles in there. He was special. Yeah, you were, I mean, once you got into that, straight line right up the field, like your speed just took over. I'm more of a, I was more of like break a tackle, use my vision, then let the speed kick in.

And that's more of what Hester was like to always love that. Now he was, right, he was, might be the best ever. But it was fun to watch on to y'all because I'm like, that's when you're idolathe somebody. You're like, damn, I couldn't never do what he just did right there. But you were a huge Brian Mitchell fan because you were skin-sman. Oh, my God. He's in my top five all time for sure, just grow.

watching him and love the way he played. I mean, if you want to talk about athletic, I have more straightway speed than he did, but our games were very similar from Fearless. Yeah, fearless. Yeah. Devin Hester, to me,

you know, he's basically the first punt returner, you know, kickoff returner to go into the Hall of Fame. There was a difference with him. Like he, like there was no doubt during his career who the best at it in the league was, it was him. No doubt.

There's very few, yeah, there's been a few where when you punt it or you kick it, like it's must watch because it could go to the crib every time. And that was him and Dodger. I remember, gosh, that one season, Dante all had, it seemed like every time he touched it. It was a touchdown. That was a... I felt that way with Dion, though. I felt that way with Dion every time he went back there.

Oh, for sure. Yeah, for sure. Um, all right. Uh, thanks as always, uh, no game this week. They're in a bye week. Uh, so the next. Oh, man. Oh, you didn't know that? What am I going to do with these six hours left over time? Well, it's perfect because it's Thanksgiving week, you know, next week. So first of all, happy Thanksgiving. Um, you too, sir. We are thankful for all that you have provided, uh, to us this year. And yeah, they play Denver on Sunday night football, uh, on the day. Uh, on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. So that's their next game. And right now, it looks like Jaden won't be back for that one. That's my guess. There's

been no official word on that, but maybe the following week against Minnesota for the final five games. So we'll see. All right. I'll see then. All right. Appreciate it. Yep. See you. Steve Souter, everybody.

All right, that's it. Until tomorrow, Tom, you'll be with me then. Thank you.