The Kevin Sheehan Show - Suter "Film" On Dallas Game

Episode Date: September 24, 2026

Kevin opened with the injury news from Dan Quinn today which included the latest on Jayden Daniels. Kevin also shared some interesting oddsmaker information on the point-spread different between Jayde...n Daniels vs Marcus Mariota. Steve Suter is back with his "film" breakdown this year. The greatest punt returner in College Football history was prepped and ready with a several major reveals especially about the final three plays of the first half in Dallas. Exclusive High Roller bonus designed for bettors who want more firepower for this season. Double your money all the way up to $5000. Minimum deposit $1500. Use my promo code “DCVIP” at https://www.mybookie.ag/signup/?affid=3910. Download the app today and use code SHEEHAN to get $150 instantly in Lineups if you win your first $5 Lineup! “PrizePicks. Run Your Game.” Join Thrive Market today during their 25% off Healthy Reset Sale now through September 19th! PLUSget $30 off your first 2 orders when you use my link ThriveMarket.com/sheehan. Join the millions who are already banking fee free with America’s #1 Choice forBanking. Head to Chime.com/sheehan. If you want to try Momentous Signature Spec Creatine, head to livemomentous.com and use codeSHEEHAN for up to 35% off your entire first order. Get 20% off your first order at www.FastGrowingTrees.com with code [Sheehan]. For the best tacos in town eat https://surfsidedc.com/. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:02 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 is back with a film breakdown on the show today of the game Sunday in Dallas. The show's presenting sponsor, as always, Window Nation. If you need new Windows, I highly recommend calling Window Nation at 86690 Nation. You can also go to Window Nation.
Starting point is 00:00:32 Yes, Steve is back. He's committed to doing this all year long. It's quite the task. He has to review and analyze every player on every play, but it's so good to have him back doing it. He did not do it last week. We'll try to get him to do the Philadelphia game at some point. But I'm going to tell you right now, I've already recorded the segment with Steve. And it is really good. They're I think two or three reveals about the game that I haven't shared with you. I don't know if anybody else has shared them with you, but just the conversation about the final three plays of the first half, including the play in which Jaden got injured on,
Starting point is 00:01:21 is worth it. Steve coming up really quickly, because we're not going to spend a lot of time here in the opening segment. I'm not going to make you wait to get to it. By the way, the team plays, of course, Sunday at home against Seattle, and today was the first day of serious prep for a team that is loaded, man. The Seahawks are right now as good as anybody in the league defensively through two games, and Drew Locke is playing at a high level.
Starting point is 00:01:54 And Sam Darnold is still a possibility for Sunday, as we speak now. I'm guessing, though, that Drew Locke has played good enough football in relief of Darnold in the opener against New England, and then as a starter this past Sunday in Arizona, I don't know why they'd feel like they need to rush Sam Darnold back, especially facing Washington without Jaden Daniels. Dan Quinn spoke today before practice, and he did not. have any information on Jaden Daniels saying that there was no update because Jaden is still and was
Starting point is 00:02:36 still today in the midst of meeting with specialists. We'll see what happens. I think it's one of two things, right? It's either he's going to get surgery and he's going to miss either the bulk of the year or the entire year or he's going to put a brace on it and he's going to play. My preference would be. I think if he were my son, I'd say let's play the long game here and let's get surgery and not risk it. But as a fan of the team and as someone who does not want to see this season die out early, Kurt Warner wore a brace the next week. I wouldn't mind seeing Jaden take a shot at the brace. I will say this. And a caller pointed this out on the radio show. It's very possible that because there's a healing process regardless of whether or not he plays with a brace or get surgery,
Starting point is 00:03:33 it's very possible that they can wait this out. Like they don't have to make a decision or collectively they don't have to make a decision until they find out how they do in these next few games. Because if he's going to be out, let's just say, the same amount of time that he was out last year, which was three games missed four weeks because there was a bye week coming off the game. game in Madrid. If that's the case here, you know, and we're talking about four weeks, which would be another four games, the game this Sunday against Seattle, the game in London against the Colts, the game the following week against the Giants, and then the game eight
Starting point is 00:04:12 days later on a Monday night in San Francisco before Washington gets their buy week, if it is another four games until this thing is healed up enough so he can play with a brace, why make the decision today on brace or surgery, if those are the two likely choices here? Find out what the record is. I don't know that delaying the surgery. If the surgery is the way they want to go, but there's still a possibility of the brace, as long as the doctors say 30 days isn't going to matter, if you get the surgery in mid-October or late October versus late September, it really doesn't matter. The recovery is going to be. you know, call it six months, you're going to be back in plenty of time before training camp
Starting point is 00:05:00 begins, or even before offseason, begins in 2027. It's very possible they'll wait. And if they are two and four, if they can win two in the next four before the buy week, then maybe brace is the way to go to come back for those final 11 games, where at that point you'd have to win, you know, seven or eight of the final 11 to be legitimately in playoff contention and if they're 1 in 5 or 0 and 6 what's the point, right?
Starting point is 00:05:32 Then maybe opt for surgery. Anyway, no update on Daniels today. We'll find out maybe tomorrow or Friday after he's met with all of the specialists the direction they're going to go. But again, maybe
Starting point is 00:05:49 it's possible they wait. until, you know, three or four weeks from now when we know better what the season is at that point, record-wise. It was also announced by Quinn today that Nick Cross has been ruled out of Sunday's game because of an internal injury that he suffered in the game Sunday in Dallas, which kept him in Dallas overnight in a hospital. He couldn't fly back with the team. They have not been specific as to what that internal injury was. But he has been ruled out with Jaden.
Starting point is 00:06:30 And then Frankie Louvue, Chig Akonkwo, and Javon Kinlaw are kind of in wait and sea mode, as is Sam Cosmy, who's in concussion protocols. So look, they are banged up across the board in addition to Jaden Daniels, which is not a great position to be in against the C. Seattle Seahawks who come to town as a 2-0 football team without their starting quarterback, but with Drew Locke playing at a high level, there was talk that Sam Darnold could be available for Sunday and might practice today. They're three hours behind us, so we'll get a report on that later as to whether or not he practiced.
Starting point is 00:07:12 But I would guess we're going to see Drew Locke because he's played well enough, and why rush Sam Darnold back against a Washington team? without Jaden Daniels. They have been so good defensively. And how about this note? I think I got this right because it's based on my research. But when the schedule came out, I said, you know, it's a benefit to have the two best teams on their schedule, possibly,
Starting point is 00:07:41 in the Rams and the Seahawks playing here on Sundays at 1 o'clock. West Coast teams going into the Eastern Time Zone for an, early start, you know, there is a history of those West Coast teams struggling, playing an early start on the East Coast. Mike McDonald's Seahawks, over the first two seasons, he has not played an Eastern Time Zone game yet, but he will on Sunday. But 2024, 2025, by my count, his teams playing games in the Eastern Time Zone at 1 p.m. on Sundays, they are 8 and 0. Now they haven't lost many games on the road, period. But 8 and 0 in the Eastern time zone for games that begin at 1 p.m.
Starting point is 00:08:34 Yeah, that's a good football team coming in to Landover on Sunday. Washington currently still a 6.5 point favorite, although I do see some 7s out there. MyBooky currently has it at six and a half with the lowest total on the board at 40 and a half. Use my promo code Kevin DC for a $500 betback bonus, which means you essentially have a risk-free $500 first wager at MyBooky when you use my promo code, Kevin DC. You wager $500 on a game. if you win, you get paid, if you lose, they credit your account back $500. Why wouldn't you do that?
Starting point is 00:09:23 That promo code is Kevin D.C. And then they also have a high roller bonus, which is a match of 100% on any deposit from $1,500 to $5,000. They'll match it. So if you deposit $2,000, you'll have $4,000 in your account. Again, if you're wagering on football and you wager at a high enough level, why wouldn't you take a 100% match? That promo code is DCVIP, DCVIP for the high roller bonus at mybooky.com and mybooky.orgie.orgie. I got this from Chuck. Chuck wrote, Kevin, no one mentioned this.
Starting point is 00:10:15 in your call segment on Jaden Daniels today. And my call segment on radio was, what would be your preference, surgery and essentially miss the season, or a brace and you're back in a few weeks? By the way, brace is the leader in the clubhouse at about 65 to 35% for our ex-pole of the day on the radio show. But Chuck wrote,
Starting point is 00:10:43 no one mentioned this in your call. segment. The team has motive to push for surgery and shutting him down. It buys them more time, especially Quinn. Defense looked mediocre at best, and the offense will struggle without number five. A two to five win season means DQ is gone, but maybe not if five, Jaden Daniels, doesn't play. Yeah, I thought about that to a certain degree. You know, even from a Jaden Daniels standpoint, the surgery option could perhaps make it so that no one really questions whether or not he should get paid, the big contract extension,
Starting point is 00:11:33 which he's eligible for at the end of this season, because you can point to the primary injury, which is kind of a flukeish injury that has kept him out of the most games, this dislocated elbow issue. And if he gets it corrected with surgery, apparently the prognosis is he's not going to do it again. So there could be some benefit for him. I think Josh Harris,
Starting point is 00:11:57 I'm not a believer that, let's say they're one in five without Jaden Daniels at the biweek. I'm not a believer that he would get fired. There's context around everything, but I don't think it would happen personally. I don't, you know, I think that he'd give him the entire year. and it could be problematic for Quinn,
Starting point is 00:12:16 but if you don't have your starting quarterback essentially two years in a row, how can you really blame it on the head coach? I think, though, the way they play defensively with or without Jaden Daniels is going to be very important for Quinn. A defensive head coach, if there are three consecutive seasons with bad defense,
Starting point is 00:12:38 and he's picked two coordinators on his own, and neither one of them get it done. I think that could be the biggest problem for Quinn, regardless of what the record is, as long as it's a losing record. Real quickly, before we get to Souter, this from Ben Fox. Ben is the sports betting analyst at Yahoo Sports.
Starting point is 00:13:04 I saw him tweet this out. And this is for the three teams that lost their quarterbacks over the weekend and will be without. their quarterbacks, at least this week, Chicago, Washington, and the Giants. He writes that the point spread difference between the starting quarterback and the backup quarterback. So, like, in Washington, that would be Jaden Daniels and Marcus Mariotta, Caleb Williams, Tyson, Badgant in Chicago, Jackson, Dart, James Winston in New York. So the point spread difference, according to 11 odds makers.
Starting point is 00:13:42 that Ben Fox from Yahoo Sports asked. The difference between Jaden Daniels and Marcus Mariotta is five points. So as an example, right now there's six and a half point underdogs against Seattle. If Jaden were healthy and playing, they'd be a one and a half point underdog. The difference between Caleb Williams and Tyson Badgant is 4.84 points. and the difference between Jackson, DART, and James Winston is 2.45 points. So for the boys in the desert, the odds makers, the biggest difference, and by the way, I think you could argue that Marcus Marioita is the best of those three backup quarterbacks,
Starting point is 00:14:28 which means the odds makers value Jaden more than they value Caleb Williams, and certainly more than Jackson Dart. I thought that that was interesting. I also, just real quickly, I got this from Danny B&G. He writes, Kevin, what's the early, the NFL is so stupid pick for this week? I think what he was trying to say was, what's the game that is going to be a smell test special, but also is going to baffle NFL fans in terms of the result? It's funny because I went and looked at the board right after,
Starting point is 00:15:09 I read that. And there was one that stuck out immediately. Washington, Seattle kind of sticks out. But the one that really stuck out to me is chargers at bills. The chargers are thought now to be a terrible team, and the bills are thought to be maybe the best team in the NFL. Yes, I'm pretty sure I'm going to have the chargers in the smell test, more likely than not.
Starting point is 00:15:34 And I think there's a chance they just win the game outright, because that's kind of the way the NFL. FL works. All right, let's get to Steve Souter right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Isn't it nice that football's finally back and prize picks knows it? They've brought out their best offer yet. New users who sign up will get $150 in lineups if you win your first $5 lineup. That's right.
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Starting point is 00:19:13 Let's grow together. Use Sheehan to save today. Offers valid for limited time. Terms and conditions may apply. Back by popular demand. Overwhelming popular demand. Steve Souter to do another season of film breakdown. Starting in week two, which by the way is exactly
Starting point is 00:19:37 when he started last year. And Steve's film breakdown on this show all season long is brought to you by Surfside Taco Stand. You guys are probably familiar with Surfside. There are several of them around town, one of my favorite places. But we thank everybody at Surfside for coming on board. They are big fans of Steve's film breakdown.
Starting point is 00:20:05 And we get started. You know, I was thinking of, about this. You didn't do week one of last year either because I didn't reach out to you until after the opener when our mutual friend, the baseball
Starting point is 00:20:19 coach at Maryland, Matt Swope said you ought to have Steve Souter do film breakdown and you started the first game was the Green Bay game in week two, right? That's correct. That was the first one, man. Yeah, first one and it wasn't a good one, if I recall.
Starting point is 00:20:36 I became a big fan of Jordan Love after that game. He was a very good quarterback out of that. What's turned out is most quarterbacks that's gone against Washington secondary have looked really good to me. Yes, yes. And I have a feeling we may be headed in that direction today. So here's what we're going to do every Wednesday with Steve, if you don't remember the format. He's going to give us an overview of the game. He's going to focus on key plays, key C,
Starting point is 00:21:06 sequences, key moments, and then he'll give us his top three graded offensive players and defensive players, and then his bottom three graded offensive players and defensive players. So let's get it rolling. What did you think of the game? Obviously, there was a big story. Yeah. Yeah, huge story. I don't need to touch on that.
Starting point is 00:21:31 You're handling that all week, and then weeks to come. But a big blow, sure, I'm watching the game. I'm feeling the same pain and everybody else was very upset because I was really looking forward to seeing if I was going to get a whole season of being able to break down Jaden because I didn't get to see that
Starting point is 00:21:46 from a real attention to detail type perspective that rookie season is where based off all our accounts that you've talked to me, he was all world and just a special player. So I was hoping I'd get a healthy Jaden for a while. Unfortunately not the case.
Starting point is 00:21:59 I got a half of him this year and we'll see how long until he comes out. However, I mean, he was playing well, overreel of the offense. if you want to go that route, I thought he was playing well, well into that, going into the injury offensively, immediately what sticks out to me is the Y receiver core, I think, is in a much better spot than it was last year off the break.
Starting point is 00:22:18 Really good additions. It looks like Hamilton looks like a player. Brown looks like a player, and I haven't seen any filming him, but he looks good. The addition to Diggs, I like the little forehead. If you want to call it a four-headed monster McClorin-Diggs, Hamilton, and Brown, right off of one game, I think you're in a better spot outside, which was shocking to me because you were in a real bad spot last year and going into the season. I think Connerly, through one game, has shown a lot of improvement from my worst performing lineman by far last year. He didn't come out that grade through one game.
Starting point is 00:22:54 So that's a good step up from your rookie right tackle to be playing better. It looks like he's making quicker decisions and identifying what he wants to do on the offensive line quicker. and a couple key points would be when the Dallas would have their D.N. Not rush to pass her, but he'd break off the coverage. Him noticing and seeing it so in his first drop step and knowing where you would go after that was just really glaring to me. So mentally looks like he's prepared and maybe things are slowing down for him, but that's good news.
Starting point is 00:23:24 Rashab White, I'm a fan of his over Bill already. I think he needs to be on the field more, excuse me, He needs to be on the field more and getting more carries, whether that be in the past game or in the running game. Actually, in the run game, I think he's just seeing the hole better presses-line scrimmage in a different way. He's more patient, which makes the run more effective. And it kind of goes back to what I saw film with Bill last year. I think he's too fast as a whole, too angry when he gets the handoff, too aggressive. And I think it costs them on missing holes and missing potential big plays.
Starting point is 00:23:58 And it doesn't look like through one game he's got that corrective. or change that. From the tight-end standpoint, you need jigback out there. Obviously, I haven't broke this film down yet and seen him in the league, but there's just no threat from the tight-end position in the past game at all right now while he's out, so hopefully you can get him back. And then from an offensive standpoint, from the line perspective, certainly you still, in a perfect world, you still have Beatty's out there with one of my lower-graded linemen.
Starting point is 00:24:28 You miss him. and Cosme didn't have a great game in my opinion either. I'm not sure if that's because Al Gray is next to him. He's not used to that, and they're getting used to that dynamic, but they didn't play overall well together. Although from a scheme standpoint, I thought play call was decent. They stayed ahead of change for most of the game, not really in trouble, not behind the sticks.
Starting point is 00:24:49 Like I think we saw a lot last season. So doing a good job from a penalty standpoint, discipline standpoint, and then staying ahead of change. Well, that was Daniels making good reads in the pocket and getting out and extending plays and getting positive yards with his feet or even when Marioo was in there. He's a little bit of a different type player.
Starting point is 00:25:06 He's going to stay in the pocket a little longer, but also has that ability to create. And he's a little quicker. Mentally, Marioita is in the pocket where he wants to go with the football most of the time, so he was getting the ball up quick too. So I thought, offensively, decent game plan. Dallas is in World Beers on defense by any means.
Starting point is 00:25:22 But the offensive line held up on edge rush. Interior, I would say Quinn Williams, probably got the better of them throughout the game. But I think the play calling from a new OC standpoint looked promising from the first game that I was watching. Switch over defense here, defensively had a lot of problems, right? Gave up a lot of points, couldn't stop them at all. I was really shocked at the Cowboys.
Starting point is 00:25:50 Well, I'd say shock, but maybe I shouldn't have been. They're a way of attacking a defense. the run to pass ratio was really crazy and really evident in the first half. I think I went through the film the first half and I couldn't even, I mean, I'm being a little bit overboard here, but I couldn't even remember any run plays. It was shocking how they decided they were going to take advantage of Washington the secondary, and that's all they need to do, and that's what they were going to do. And disappointing part of that in watching is no real pressure up front from the D-line.
Starting point is 00:26:22 So they, all the D-line adjustments in addition that they made, O-Way was a non-factor to me in the pass-rush aspect of the defense. He made some plays defensively, but he was not a factor of rushing a passer, nor was anyone for that matter. When they tried to change it up and trick DAC and offensive defense, excuse me, offense with some zone coverage schemes and things that nature and only rush four, they couldn't get any pressure. So it just exposed them on the back end.
Starting point is 00:26:52 those big chunks, those big 15s and 16 to 17-yard games that they were doing when Washington was going to cover two and playing his own trying to trick them, but they couldn't get any pass rush out of the four rushers. So it just took too much time. There's too much space when that's
Starting point is 00:27:08 the case. The front four was letting down the back end for a majority of the game. Dak looked like he looked like he played a falloff game. He couldn't make a mistake. I have one play. I literally only charted one play. Maybe two, if you want to say he threw in a cover two, a second time, but they still
Starting point is 00:27:27 complete the pass. But they had one play where they tricked him, and I'll show it to you. But defensively couldn't trick him. He knew where they were in a man. He knew when they were in the zone. He knew where the blitz was coming. He was calling an audible catch him in the screen. So he just was ahead of the game, and he played really well.
Starting point is 00:27:43 Other things I have defensively would be Nick across. Now, while he is very effective in the run game in the box. off of one game of film, he's making me pretty nervous about coverage and in the secondary. Man coverage beat quite a few times. You didn't see it on the broadcast because he didn't throw the ball his way, but he probably had two touchdowns that he's lucky didn't come his route. And then just looked like a little bit confused in the secondary from that same way. So it's going to be tricky, I think, all season.
Starting point is 00:28:16 And again, we're talking on one game sample size here, but how's Jones going to use them and how our defense is going to game plan against him or game plan for him because he was down in the box a lot, and I get it. He's a tweeter. He's a small linebacker and a big safety, and he's going to be effective in the box, and he saw him in the backfield, he's the TFLs, but that's because he's getting called
Starting point is 00:28:42 and designed run blitzes or just regular blitz in general. So he's not making those decisions on his own. He's getting called to do that, so you go do that. And I think teams are going to take advantage of that. And you saw Dallas do it for one play. They saw cross on the line of scrimmage. Jack, it looked like he made an audible, but it might not have been.
Starting point is 00:29:01 Might have just been the play call. They knew they were anticipating blitz on the right. And they threw a screen. And luckily, it's Chazon, right? Chazon solid. And he got out there and saved a touchdown. But that's going to be something that they're going to have to deal with. I think I'll see it unless Nick can make myself and the secondary more comfortable,
Starting point is 00:29:19 we'll leave them in the secondary pass-a-game scheme and not blithing them all the time. Although it is an asset, like I said, to put him in the box and do it that way. Yeah, he's an excellent, he's an excellent tackler. Yeah. Don't you think? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, for sure. Now, he's going to be a definite accident in the run game.
Starting point is 00:29:36 He's just, can you avoid some of the mistakes on the back end? But by the way, he stayed in Dallas on Sunday night with an internal injury. He did not fly home with the team. There was a brief report that he may have had some surgery, but that report kind of got pulled, but something was not right with him where he couldn't fly home with the team. He flew home the next day,
Starting point is 00:30:05 and he's already been ruled out of Sunday's game against Seattle. Wow. Okay. I don't know what happened or when it happened, but... I didn't see it. Yeah. So you'll must tell. You'll be Kwan Martin again. We'll be coming in there and Reeves and...
Starting point is 00:30:24 Right. Guys are already banged up, it looks like, early on this season. I mean, they've got... I mean, hopefully this will end. But, you know, they lost Tunsell in training camp. So, you know, he's already out for basically the year. They lost Johnny Newton in training camp. They lost Jordan McGee in the first week, I guess.
Starting point is 00:30:47 and there are a bunch of guys banged up. Jaden's already been ruled out. Cross has already been ruled out. And we'll find out about Chig and Louvre later on in the weekend, Kinlaw. But Chig and Louvre were both out Sunday against Dallas. And you didn't see the Philadelphia game. Maybe we'll do that as like a holiday special down the road where Steve will go back and do the film breakdown of the opener. Let's hope it's not the only fun game we get to.
Starting point is 00:31:17 to watch. They didn't win the game, but it was very exciting. Right. But, yeah, no, they're banged up across the board, and Cosmy's got a concussion. He's in concussion protocol. He took on friendly fire at the end of the game. So, yeah. He whiffed on that block. You don't whip on the block and you don't catch the friendly fire.
Starting point is 00:31:37 So maybe, you know, do a better job at that point. Right. Unfortunately. I did say, let's go to, I mean, let's throw a segment up here on defense. and I was right, because Jones is a Florida's guy, right? Came from Vikings and I came to that, correct? Oh, yeah. Yeah, so I was waiting to see that, and I didn't see any of it, honestly,
Starting point is 00:31:59 until their first drive of the third quarter, the Cowboys. So the first drive of the third quarter is when I finally, it even just clicked on my head. I was, oh, my gosh, it's right, his floor, because I'm finally seeing some of that. And it's 1242, so 1242, their first play in the third quarter. and this was like the first time that they lined up. Remember we watched that game last year when I broke it down.
Starting point is 00:32:22 Oh, you loved Florence. Yeah. Yeah, Minnesota was on the line of scrimmage, eight guys that seemed like almost every play, just making it really hard to decipher. So, look, here's an example. It's first and ten here. This isn't quite the Florida's,
Starting point is 00:32:38 but this is what started the drive. And you're getting an example of Nick Cross here, right? He's in the box. He's over. He is over the bunch that's tight to formation. Now, if I was an offense here when I'm going against the commanders, I wouldn't give the commanders a chance to do this where you get Nick Cross so close to the tackle box and the formation.
Starting point is 00:32:57 I'd move this bunch out a little bit, so you could get a little bit more piece of the puzzle and not letting Nick come off the edge are so fast, and you don't really see it because of all this clutter. But here's an example of Nick Cross coming off the edge here. So this is Jones bringing pressure and being aggressive on first down, coming out of halftime because he wants to, you know, try to start making an impact.
Starting point is 00:33:18 And Nick Cross makes the play, right? You're unblocked. You come make the play. What I want you to see here too, though, and this is a shame. This is one of the, and this is, right, we're into the third quarter. This is watch Sunny style. This is one of the only plays in the run game where he is not getting blocked, where the double team doesn't just release off of the D-Lyman and come get him.
Starting point is 00:33:38 So he basically had a body on him all game. Stiles, did it. Yeah, style is. So he has to keep fighting off linemen after lineman after lineman. And as a middle linebacker, yeah, that's going to be part of your job. But you also won every now and then your front four to take on that double team so they can't get to you. So then you can be instinctive and speed. And look, I mean, if you watch him, he's reading this quick.
Starting point is 00:34:04 Yeah. He's breaking around the edge. I mean, if Nick Cross doesn't get him, Sonny's going to get him. And it's going to be a tackle for a loss too. But I think you're just seeing an example of what Sonny can be. Because he's coming around at edge quick and he's hugging it tight so he doesn't give up the inside and he's still going to be able to bounce outside to make the play there. All right, it's small, but it's meaningful. If you can keep bodies off of him, he's going to be able to make some of these plays.
Starting point is 00:34:29 Yeah, by the way, the play resulted, if you guys are wondering, in a one-yard loss. It was a TFL on Giovante Williams, Cross made the play. Stiles, as Steve said, would have made the play, had Cross not gotten there. And I just wanted to take this moment to tell you that against Philadelphia, they had 10 TFLs in the game defensively. Well, there were three sacks and the other seven, I'm going to guess six of them were five to six of them were on runs. There may have been a swing pass. There may have been a bubble that got stopped for TFL. There were three sacks out of the other seven, I would guess that five of them were runs.
Starting point is 00:35:11 and Cross was involved in a couple of them. Stiles was used as like an early down run blitzer. He was involved, but it was a completely different-looking performance. Philadelphia is nowhere near as good as Dallas offensively right now anyway. But they... Well, that makes sense of why Dallas said we're going to just come out and throw the ball. We don't even need to mess around with this run game. We're better than you outside.
Starting point is 00:35:38 We saw what you did to Philly on first and second down running the football. football. Let's not put ourselves in that position. Let's see how we handle you guys in the past game. And what Dallas did a lot was play action. In the second possession in the third order, their play action game was really good, which was shocking because they weren't running the football. But it was almost a way for them to ensure that they weren't going to get any pass rush either.
Starting point is 00:36:01 It was play action after play action. And I think, based on film, and I made this note, I'm watching Sonny and some of the other linebackers, it looked like it took them out of their game. from instincts and read or react, and they were a little tentative because they didn't want to just, you know, come full bore wherever they thought the ball was going because they were getting tricks so much in the play-action game. So I think it's like one of those, you know, you jab a guy, you jab a guy, you jab a guy, and you take away your stinging right hook and his stinging left hook because you just kept jabbing them,
Starting point is 00:36:31 now they're tentative. They don't want to throw those aimmakers. So it's kind of, you know, an analogy to the defense where they didn't want to be wrong, going fast and being wrong, where sometimes that's okay. as long as your other players are backing you up there. So it kind of took them, and you've had them playing a little bit on the heels. I don't say soft because that's not the right word,
Starting point is 00:36:50 but just tentative and not confident in what they were seeing because of all the play action misdirection. And that probably stemmed from what you said. The game film, Dallas studied it, realized maybe they didn't have an advantage up front running the football. So let's just throw it. Yeah, I mean, Philly, there was one run in the game. Saquan had a 42-yard run.
Starting point is 00:37:09 every other run he averaged less than three yards per carry. So they did a good job against the run. But I wanted to ask you something, and I bet we've talked about this before, but Cooley used to say, you actually don't really need to run the football well for play action to work. If you sell it,
Starting point is 00:37:30 it doesn't matter if you've been chunking, you know, the defense for four or five yards of carry. The instinct on play action is to, pause, and it works a lot of the time even without a running game. Do you agree with that? I do agree with that. Unless the linebackers, the only way I would count of that, he's right. If you're play action, action, you're doing everything right to make it look like a run,
Starting point is 00:37:58 then I'm on the defense. Regardless if you run the ball or not, I should still think it's a run. If you're performing the action, the way it should look, yes, you should all, you're always probably going to get a little benefit of that. The only way I would say it wouldn't work is if I'm a linebacker and I'm so confident in my front four that they've just been dominated up front, I don't have to be, you know, that quick to the ball on a run play because I'm that confident. Now, that probably doesn't have it that much in the league because front sports not going to dominate an NFL alignment like that. But that would be the only scenario I would say they're not going to be worried about that play.
Starting point is 00:38:33 Go ahead run the ball. I don't care if my guys are dominating up front. I can be a second late and we'll still make the play. Right. But all in all, yes. And they were doing that. I mean, they just, they weren't play action to, man, how to how to describe it, they were just doing it, I think, to help with the protection.
Starting point is 00:38:51 Right. Just making it easier for their matchups and leverage and things of that nature where if I can just get you going to the left and I don't need you going to the left and I'm already in a good position. So they were manipulating it from that standpoint, too, just from the protection standpoint. All right. So go to the next play, second and 11, 12. Now, this is the first time, all game, right? We're third quarter.
Starting point is 00:39:13 This is the first time they line up. This is familiar, right? That's what Minnesota did a lot last year. There's seven on the line of scrimmage, and you got four in the back field. This looks like cover zero. You think it's cover zero. Let's see, and you see what happens. And they, DAC throws hot, throws the pick-ins.
Starting point is 00:39:31 Really good job at Robertson here coming up and making the play for a two-yard game. Right. That's a big-time tackle there. That's wide open field. Pickens could easily break anybody who's tackling the league right there and go 60. So that's a good job there. Now, what I would be concerned is his little counter Jones is to drop Ron Payne out here and try to man-coverage Ferguson here, the tight end.
Starting point is 00:39:53 That is never going to work. I'm watching that, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That is not going to work. If you're going to pop pain out, I get popping him out, but it's got to be just you're popping him out to try to pick off a quick pop-pass or a slant. He's not going to run man coverage of this.
Starting point is 00:40:08 Oh, my God. He's out there covering Ferguson. Yeah, so that I would... But the pressure came so quickly that Dack had to unload it. Correct. So my coaching point of pain would be, you don't need to pop out here and really find Ferguson. You need to pop out find Dax eyes and just try to jump in front. If it's going to be a quick pop pass, you've got to just try to throw your hands up and get it. Right.
Starting point is 00:40:33 If it's Ferguson on the slant over the middle, then you just reading his eyes. but turning your back, popping out, turning your back, and trying to run man for him. Oh, boy. That ain't going to work. But that does look like a Brian Flores, pre-snap and post-snap situation, because you don't know who's dropping and who's coming ever. Correct. So they tried to trick him.
Starting point is 00:40:56 They didn't necessarily trick him because he just threw to his hot route. I'm not going to call him getting tricked because he did get blitz. You know, they do have their uncounted four commanders coming off the left edge. but Dax got to get rid of this. So, all right, you identified our defense and you threw a hot, but we identified your offense, and we tackled your hot. So good for us. Next play, 1126.
Starting point is 00:41:18 This one is really Minnesota, and I'm going to point out Reeves here. Reeves, if you remember, think Harrison Smith, and I remember this play from last year, where Harrison Smith would be up in the line of scrimmages, the Minnesota Vikings safety, and he ends up being the deep third safety. Right, sure. stab of the ball.
Starting point is 00:41:37 Yeah. So this, I mean, he took this right from Flores, unless maybe it was, maybe it's Flores, or excuse me, it's Joe's DeVend, Flores took it from him. But you see Reeves, he's getting nervous. He doesn't stay, he doesn't stay as long as Smith would have because he can tell he's not comfortable doing this, making sure he gets all the way back. So he gets all the way back. Now, here's an example of them trying to trick Dak, to play zone, but they put all these
Starting point is 00:42:03 line the scrimmage up, but they're still pulling. playing zone and they're only rushing four. The problem is Nick Cross is one of the rushers over the center and he just gets tossed by two 300-pounders. Sonny Stiles is the other guy. He's on their side here, but he's going up against
Starting point is 00:42:20 a guard and he's trying to... So Nick is trying to run through the center and the left guard to pick him so that Sunny can come... Sonny comes around. Three on the little cross. Yeah, the cross. I mean, Sunny gets, I would say, depth here, but I
Starting point is 00:42:36 wouldn't necessarily call it pressure. This is an easy step up by back, right? He's going to step up easy. There's nobody in the front because Nick crosses on his butt. And so here's an example of you trying to put seven in coverage and you just can't get any type of pressure that you need from the front floor that you rush. And it's an easy, and this is an example of that the secondary
Starting point is 00:42:57 is getting so much depth because the play is taken so long that all he needs to throw is an eight-yard checkdown to Ferguson and he's going to get 15 yards and a first down. You know, already you've shown two plays that are very interesting because Duran Payne was in coverage against a tight end, and on this play, Dorrance Armstrong's dropping into, you know, a shallow zone. No one is in the zone, but he's in coverage. Now, we saw Armstrong last year occasionally in coverage,
Starting point is 00:43:29 but he was really their best pass rusher before he got hurt. Yes, agreed. And I think he's a couple months away, man, until he's back. He's still playing hard. He's always played hard. Yeah. ACL's, man. ACL's an ACL.
Starting point is 00:43:45 Right. You just feel bad for him. Yep. All right. Then next flex, 1047. 1047, here we go. First and 10. Now, this is small stuff here, but this stuff matters.
Starting point is 00:44:01 Because you don't, this is how you give us. up seven yards when it probably shouldn't have gone for seven yards. Look at the end zone view here. Okay, this is first and ten. I'll see if I can wait to you. Let me know. I'm here. I'm here.
Starting point is 00:44:12 Okay. So you're on the end of you. Now watch for on Payne and Sonny and Sand is still on the right side. So if you're going to play run fits here, he's going to get the right tackle 78, right? Right tackle is going to, he's going to trap block inside pain. So you've got to, if you're paying, you know the tackle is going to your right. is left. So the run is trying to go to your right.
Starting point is 00:44:37 Sonny's going to take on the tackle in the gap. You can't, you can't guess and try to rip outside. You got to, if you're going to shed, you got to rip inside. You're talking about pain. Pain, yes. Pain's making
Starting point is 00:44:52 the hole here. Are we going to, are we starting in on pain again? Is this going to be another bottom three? I mean, he wasn't in the bottom. He wasn't in the bottom. Okay. I mean, he definitely doesn't, he definitely doesn't play as hard as everybody else. Yeah, that's a fact. Yeah, let me just give everybody a heads up on Souter's film breakdown style.
Starting point is 00:45:14 He grades, I mean, very, very strictly on effort. If you are loafing on a play, it doesn't matter if you've got two picks and three sacks. You're not going to grade out high if you loafed on a couple of plays. and 94 Duran Payne last year Lofted on way too many plays. Way too many plays. And I'm not also, if you're on the field for 11 plays
Starting point is 00:45:42 and I can see your tank's empty, I'm not going to dock you for that. I get it. But we're three plays into this drive, maybe four. Yeah. Come on now. And this isn't a loaf play. This is a bad decision.
Starting point is 00:45:54 Yeah, I know. I got it. Giving effort, he's just doing it mentally wrong. And if he just stands his ground here or sheds the other way, Pete, then William has to bounce out to the right, and Sandra still's unblocked, and that's like what run fits are. Sonny's taking an L here, he's taken on tackle, but he's not giving up the hole one way or the
Starting point is 00:46:12 other. The only one giving up the whole way here is paint, so that these are small things, that that's how that run turns to seven yards, and it's second at three, when it should be seconding seven. Right. Can't have that. Okay, next play. Got it.
Starting point is 00:46:28 Where are we at? Are we at? Actually, go to 927. we'll skip one. Okay. To look at. 927. First and 10 again.
Starting point is 00:46:37 But this is, like, the defense had a chance. They just couldn't keep making the right play here. Now, this is, this is the touchdown saver by Chase on that I was talking about. Look, again, they got Nick Cross up on the line of scrimmage, acting like he's pressing, that slot receiver. I think you're going to see a lot of this this year by Washington's defense because they want Nick to act as a box player. you see, Dak, he brings lamb in motion here, he gets a shift,
Starting point is 00:47:05 and now he's looking at his chops because he knows Nick crosses Blitzham. And they've got a screen to the right side. He looks everybody off, throws the screen out, and if Chasun isn't paying attention here and sees this and beats that right tackle steel to this, to this football, I mean, that's going to probably be a touchdown. And instead, it's six yards. Yeah, right. So it's a really good play by Chason, but I just want to be.
Starting point is 00:47:30 to point out that Dallas already game planned for Nick being on the line of scrimmage and anticipating him come with pressure. And they guessed right. Did they guess? Sure. Maybe they just called his play and they got lucky. But I think you'll see a lot of teams try to guess this correctly because it looks like Nick's going to be blitzing more than he isn't already through one game.
Starting point is 00:47:52 Yeah. I mean, he was on the, I mean, I'd have to go back or you'd have to go back when you get to the Philly game at some point in a couple months down the road. But he was on the line of scrimmage and in the box a ton last week. He is not a free safety. He is an in-the-box safety is what you're saying. Even though I do feel like, because you broke down his film when they signed him and you came on the show and talked about him and you really liked Cross.
Starting point is 00:48:19 And you got a chance to see him play at Maryland as well. I thought he was okay as a deep cover safety when he was in that position in Indianapolis. I'm just one game into it. I know. Get my one game thoughts. Yep. He got beat in coverage this game pretty good. Okay.
Starting point is 00:48:39 So maybe correct. Get it on film, correct it, and move on. All right. So here, let's go last play of this drive, and this is the only play that goes eight minutes, four seconds. Yep. The sack. And this is, this is the second.
Starting point is 00:48:54 This is the only time they trick him. They show man coverage. and they are actually in cover too. And this is the first time Dax gets confused. Douglas follows Lamb across. He starts on the right side of formation, motions all the way to the left side of the formation. Douglas follows them,
Starting point is 00:49:11 which is a key indicator of man coverage is coming. Man coverage is coming. But it's not. So they did it. They finally tricked him. And Dack is looking at that left side of formation where he has three receivers. He thinks he's going to get some bunch of rub routes.
Starting point is 00:49:25 The commanders don't care about it because they're sitting in their zones. and Dax frozen. He's like, oh, man. But he doesn't throw into it. I mean, still poised by Dax, taking the sack here is better than throwing a pick. And then you get good hustle by chasing. He's not given up on his rush. And this is the first time your front four get home.
Starting point is 00:49:44 But they get home really because of the play called defensively and the disguise of the secondary. So that's just complimentary defense where it finally worked for the front four. But that was really the only play that they got four. So I did notice last week, and Douglas in particular, when he was on the field, he followed motion at least twice, and they dropped back into zone. Okay, good. That might be a bit of what, now, I mean, the other teams are going to figure this out, too. So maybe this week they actually play man behind it.
Starting point is 00:50:17 We'll see. Yeah. If you're going to call it three times, if you're going to say you call it four times in a game, this cover two, then you need to, go in motion twice and don't go in motion twice. You can't be stagnant where somebody can just read your Tennessee's like that and make it that easy. So hopefully they'll do that. Let me do one more play on defense.
Starting point is 00:50:37 Okay. We can jump over the offense. And this is 641 in the first quarter. And the two things here. This might be the best defensive play of the day by any commander, and it was by O way. And then on the play, you get to see a flash of sunny styles of what he could look like on the first.
Starting point is 00:50:56 field at all times. He looks like the fastest player on the field. So what's going to happen here is you're going to get a motion by the tight end, 89, span for it's going to come across. And it's all pre-snap to me for the most part. Oway, widened in stance a little bit. He's, he is now alert for the crack. He's thinking crack here because the guy's motion stops just outside his shoulder. And this is just real quick reaction by Oway. He sees crack and he knows he's contained on a toss coming his way. So he starts fighting his ass off to get over top. He takes on
Starting point is 00:51:29 a double. He still fights over top. And he ended up making the tackle and there's a third guy there in his way. Individually, that's the best play of the day for any commander. Now, go back and watch Sonny Stiles and Mike Linebacker. He identifies his pitch fast
Starting point is 00:51:44 and he runs 4-4 at it. And nobody gets to him. Nobody touches him. And he's right there to make the tackle too. So Williams can't cut back the sun he's coming. But he just looks, like look how he knifes through that crowd. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:52:00 And that's what he can do. Yeah, if they don't, if they can keep guys off of him, he can be doing this kind of thing. Yeah, this was a no-gain run for Javante Williams. Pitch, you know, sweep. And to your point, man, Oway really gets out there because he can't let anybody get outside. He's got to play contain. Yeah. If he gets reached, then there will be a problem.
Starting point is 00:52:21 I mean, I'll get five, six yards, maybe more. Right. But that's taking, that's doing, I mean, he got paid a lot of money to come in a rush the passer. This isn't rushing the passer. And that's what, if I was his teammate, you know, this would be the play that I would be dabbing him up the most on after filling my damn away.
Starting point is 00:52:38 That was a hell of a play. Right. You took on almost three people. You strong it out. You have Sonny come and pursued. Everybody comes up. So that one stood out to me. I wanted to show you to you.
Starting point is 00:52:50 That's a good one. All right. Let's take a break. And when we come back, I know you've got a couple of offensive plays you want to go through. And I think we have to go through, of course, the last play of the first half to get your thoughts or even the last sequence of the first half. And then we'll get to Steve's grades as well. We'll get to all of that more after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey, guys, I want to welcome a new sponsor to the podcast.
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Starting point is 00:56:15 Terms and limits apply. Go to chime.com slash disclosures for details. A few emails and tweets to read before we continue with Steve. This from Barry T. Barry T. writes, Kevin, please get Souter to do his film analysis again this year. It was my favorite segment on your show last year except for the smell test. Thank you for that. Barry. From Witt in Bethesdo. Witt writes, where was Steve Souter's film last week?
Starting point is 00:56:47 Did I miss it? I need it again. It made last year's disastrous season somewhat tolerable. And then I got this from Lee S. Lee S writes, Kevin, step up and do whatever you need to do to get Steve Suter's film review back on the show. It was coolie-esque. Doc says, and Lee is referring to one Doc Walker, Doc says, you are a man of great means. So get it done for all of us who aren't as full.
Starting point is 00:57:17 That's a good one, Lee. Doc exaggerates, as many of you know, my means to kind of mask the fact that he is of great means. He's usually a guest on this program sitting on his 80-foot yacht. If you hear him do the post-game show on radio, he is usually in the comfort of his large, large boat somewhere on. the Chesapeake Bay or maybe even on the Potomac. Who knows? Yes, everybody, Steve is back and both of us are thrilled to have Surfside Taco Stand as the sponsor for Steve's film breakdown. Surfside without a doubt has been and is one of my favorite places in the DMV. Many of you know the Surfside brand. It's an award-winning local spot with great tacos, casadillas, fajitas, incredible margaritas. It's one of those places that always feels like a little escape in the middle of DC. The locations are all around town from Tenley Town to the wharf, and the one in DuPont is open 24 hours a day. They're also bringing that same surfside feeling to Virginia for the first
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Starting point is 01:00:16 in between, there's always a surfside with the lights on. All right, we continue with Steve. He's going to go through a few offensive plays. We'll get to the final sequence of the first half, and then we will get to his top three, bottom three graded players on offense and defense. So where do you want to start offensively? Offensively, let's just, I mean, let's go, Jaden, right? He's a polarizing guy.
Starting point is 01:00:42 I have a couple plays where it's going to be odd because it's, It's plays that he scrambled, and he got positive yards, and it was productive, and he looked great, where he looks athletic, he storms out of the pocket. But par of me is in my mind thinking, man, I think you should have sat in that pocket there and delivered this football. And I'll tell you why, because it's not, I don't want to say instinct isn't the right word. Let's go. I'll just show you what I'm talking about.
Starting point is 01:01:06 I'll go to 9-12 in the second quarter. Okay. Okay, I'm there. So 9-12 in the second quarter. Now, so let me see this up here because this one, I don't want, This one probably frustrated me the most here. The play is, for all the tens of versus max protection, they're going to come off play action.
Starting point is 01:01:25 Both tight ends are staying in the block. Bill is going to leak out of the backfield, but let's call this max protection other than Bill. This is a two-man route. This is Diggs and Terry on the right side of the formation. Diggs is going to be a little bit outside the hash. Terry's going to cut split, and Diggs is going to run an 18-yard, 15-18-yard stop route
Starting point is 01:01:44 right over the football, right in front of Jayden's face. This is the read. There is no other read. So I'm confused of why. Now I get that a little bit of pressure comes on his right side. Right.
Starting point is 01:01:58 But this is a textbook pocket, right? This guy crosses his face from the left guard position. This is a textbook pocket where you just step up in the pocket. It's two steps up and you deliver a strike
Starting point is 01:02:08 to dig who's wide open at the 50-yard line. It's a 15-yard gain and move the chains and Jane is not in trouble. and it's really evident from the end zone view. I mean, you see this drill on every quarterback at almost every level, right where a guy is throwing a bag at their feet or slapping them with the pads
Starting point is 01:02:30 and they're just stepping up and weave them between cones. You see from the end zone angle, I don't know these guy comes around wide, but he's not a threat. Maybe Jayden feels it, but it's not a thing. You step up in the pocket and you just deliver a strike. I mean, that's basically pitch and catch. Diggs is wide open. There's also nothing but green grass in front of them as a runner.
Starting point is 01:02:52 Agreed. But so here it is. It's instincts versus the, I wouldn't care that much. And again, I don't care care that much because he gets good positive yards. But the play is designed for Diggs. He's the number one read and he's wide open and he's right in front of you. If he was off to the side, and he's got to look on the corner,
Starting point is 01:03:15 he's looking down in the hash, or he's looking at the numbers to find him, then I can understand this little color passing the space spooks him, and he's got to go. But this is, even your point of its wide open in front of him makes it even clearer
Starting point is 01:03:28 that Diggs is wide open. Look at Diggs' reaction to the sideline. Do you see that? Yeah. He's like, what are we waiting on? He's like, why aren't you going to go in his ball?
Starting point is 01:03:37 Exactly. I'm the number one read. We block all these people so I can get open here. and we want a chunk play here, and I'm here for the chunk. And the best thing I can say is just, Janie, get spooked. Because you shouldn't get spooked here. You should just step up and deliver that football.
Starting point is 01:03:55 Yeah, I mean. Put yourself in a position to get hurt. I have a question here. And I've noticed this with the under-center stuff. They did not, the amount of play action in the opener was nowhere near what I thought it would be, but that may have been because of the opponent and Philadelphia. and just that defense in general, the Vic Fangio defense with all that talent. But do you think this is a good play action fake to Kroski-Mert?
Starting point is 01:04:24 You know what I will tell? You know what I will tell? Watch the linebackers. That's how you tell. Yeah. Kroski-Mert doesn't sell it at all. Yeah, if the linebackers don't bite it, it don't matter if I bite it, right? Or you or I bite it.
Starting point is 01:04:37 Like number 50, their right guy, who's that, that's Samar James. Yeah. He doesn't bite it at all. It doesn't come downhill at all. So whose fault is this? It's probably, well, so let's watch this mesh. I mean, it's just not a good mesh. Jay just not really selling it.
Starting point is 01:04:56 He's not selling it. They're too far apart. Oh, yeah, the fake looks terrible. I'm sorry. Bill's animations are just too. Nobody takes the handoff like that. No. And these people have seen,
Starting point is 01:05:09 these linebackers have watched running back to take handoff 10,000 times. So if you doesn't look like a real one, they're picking off. Yeah, so it's a bad play fake. Irregardless. Yeah, no, you're right. To throw the ball to digs.
Starting point is 01:05:22 Right. Just step up and throw the ball to digs. Because you're right off the snap. That's all you're looking at is dig. He's even looking at him. He did get 20 on the scramble. And I bet you, and I bet you the throated diggs probably gets 15. Right.
Starting point is 01:05:37 Yeah. Right. So I have it down. I did ding him a little bit because only because. No, I get it. because I'm like, what are you doing? If you're not going to throw that there, then you're not going to throw it under pressure.
Starting point is 01:05:46 Right. Then we'll do another one, kind of like that. Go to 251, similar situation, 251 second quarter. Got it. And this again, I get it, but this is an NFL pocket. Body's going to come.
Starting point is 01:06:00 Now, Bill hurts us a little bit here because he takes a step to the right, and so he's late coming over to pick up this blitzer. Now he picks him up, but it's just a little late, and it probably spooks Jaden a little bit. But again, this is a really good pocket to just step up in. And you got Hamilton. Hamilton is coming open.
Starting point is 01:06:23 Hamilton is coming across the field open with nobody. You mean Williams, Antonio Williams? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry. Williams. Yep.
Starting point is 01:06:31 He's come, I mean, that's going to be 15 yard or two, and you're not going to have to scramble. So it's like Marriota throws this ball probably. But Jaden knows he's a four-three guy and says, I'm going to take off. So right or wrong, I'm not really judging that right here. Instincts, but you just don't see him take, what's the word I'm looking, take the chance on getting hit in the pocket here to deliver the football as much as other quarterbacks. Right. Well, I don't like Horribes can't do this.
Starting point is 01:07:07 So I get that. You know, I'll also just add, because Steve isn't paying attention over the summer to training camp because he knows how worthless training camp is and preseason is. But there was a lot of doomsday conversation about what the O line was going to be this year because of a couple of snaps in a preseason game. And, well, Aligretti didn't play it all over the summer. He was hurt. He had a calf injury.
Starting point is 01:07:36 Didn't play in the preseason, didn't play in any of the joint practices. But I have felt in these first two games, especially from a past pro standpoint, that the offensive line's done a pretty good job. And you're pointing out two examples where they did, even though Jaden ran. Yes, correct. I was a – I'm sure – I don't know if you remember, but I was a fan of putting Coleman in at tackle for Connerley last year because Connery was playing so poorly. and Coleman was in, periodically, he looked like a serviceable lineman. And I said, if you truly want to put your best five on the field, you'd move Coleman over the right tackle and you'd let kindly sit down.
Starting point is 01:08:15 Now I get stunning his growth and all that stuff, and he's a first-round pick, and I get it. So politics probably play a role. But when Tunsel went out, I wasn't, I'm concerned as is the wrong word, or, sorry, relieved it by the wrong, because I'm like, oh, good, Coleman will be fine. but Coleman is kind of fine. He's not tonsill where he's locking down that left edge every play, and nobody's getting around him. He had a couple bad plays that I mark them down on,
Starting point is 01:08:42 but for the most part, serviceable left tackle. Paul is, Paul was really good last year. Seems like he's going to be fine this year. You've always, and well, when Cosmy came on half, around half of the year last year, right? He seemed good. Allegretti is going to be a weak spot now moving forward for me. He's slower than Biotich was.
Starting point is 01:09:04 He plays higher than Biotich does. He's going to get taken advantage of more than the other four. And that's just what you're going to deal with because you made your bed there. You let Biotrush walk. You didn't sign anybody else there and you try to convert a guard that I thought was a backup guard into center. And I've talked to my linemen buddies and I thought to myself, if you're going to hide the linemen, is it easier to hide him at guard, tackle, or center? And the answer is center.
Starting point is 01:09:31 You can hide a line in there better because he's probably going to get a double team in the run game for the most part, every play. So that's going to help you in the run game. And you're not really taking on that dynamic of pass rushers in the NFL and the interior. You're just taking like big, big guys. So his quickness or lack thereof, you may not get exposed that much. But that, I mean, still, he's not as good to be honest after one week for sure. Well, you know, what they said, and this is sort of public, but also behind the scenes, is that he's a much better communicator and much better sort of pre-snap getting him into whatever they want to get him into than Biotish was,
Starting point is 01:10:17 even if he isn't physically what Biotish was. Okay. Sounds like a way to cover it up to make you stuff out, but I'll go away. All right. So should we go to the final three plays of the first half? Sure, we can go to the final three, yeah. All right. The first and goal at the one with 12 seconds to go. Yeah, so got to be in the end zone, right? No timeouts. We can't risk a run here. And this is an absolute speed by Jaden. I mean, this is really good.
Starting point is 01:10:46 This is a drop in my opinion. This is, if this was a $8 million receiver, maybe I'll say Jaden put too much heat on that. This is a $30 million guy. this is your number one guy and it's a critical point in the game they got to step up and make this this is a drop by Terry for me but it's an absolute dart by Jaden I think it's a great throw
Starting point is 01:11:09 it has to come fast and it has to go quick because if you soft play that you could get you have some guy interfere from the right side and then the DB can make it play on so you've got to throw this thing you know it's interesting you're like you know the 15th person that's
Starting point is 01:11:25 mentioned this to me and I did not harp on this. And I, you know, people accuse me of picking on Terry because I don't think he's an elite receiver. I think he's a very good receiver. I don't think he's an elite receiver. But in the moment watching it, I thought
Starting point is 01:11:40 it was just too hot as a throw. You're right, as I'm watching it on the All-22. It's the only throw he can make and it goes right through his hands. But I didn't personally view it as like an obvious drop. But you do.
Starting point is 01:11:56 only because of the situation. I mean, you have to step up and make the play here. There's no other option. He put the ball in your hands. You're the number one guy. You've got to catch it. And Terry's going to say he's got to catch. Ain't a way he's going to come off this field and say,
Starting point is 01:12:14 you threw it too fast for me. Heck no. Now, what could have helped him a little bit? And this is going to be hard. I mean, this is hard to, but if Diggs is running a little, his routes, he doesn't get. get as jammed on his crossing route, probably cleans the picture up for Terry a little bit,
Starting point is 01:12:32 because it did actually throw the hand up at the ball, which probably just adds to the distraction, I guess you could say. But that doesn't affect anything either. You can't anticipate this ballgame tips. You just kind of come down with it. I mean, you've got to catch a ball. Now, broadcast-wise, I don't know if they zoomed in on this, and the DB actually touched this.
Starting point is 01:12:50 I don't know. I don't think the DB touched it. Yeah, I think that's a drop-in to me. You got to make that play. All right. Second and goal with the one with eight seconds to go. Yeah. This is a good.
Starting point is 01:13:04 I docked Jaden for this. This is a miss. This is a touchdown to Brown. You got to make a better throw. It's a touchdown or you at least got to give him a chance to catch it. Like he doesn't even, Brown doesn't even get an opportunity to make a play on this ball. And I'm shot.
Starting point is 01:13:19 I just, it's poor mechanics. He's how he fades away on the throat. Watch him fade away. He doesn't step into this. he like fades off because he doesn't want to take a hit from 91 and he airmails it. That's this, this should, I'm not going to say Brown's going to catch the ball, but he's got position. He's boxing out, essentially. If he puts this low and on his body, I think it's a touchdown.
Starting point is 01:13:45 What about Bates? He seems to come open. You see, I don't even know if I track Bates on this and track him. Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm. Okay. Now, the only thing I'm going to say about that is, let me see here. Because I'm looking through Jaden's progressions here.
Starting point is 01:14:07 What's his first read? He's faking to play action. He doesn't have the flat. I think he's now. He's going to check Terry coming across, which I would argue he has Terry too. Except that 91's right in his face, but yeah, right. I mean, you've just got to lay this up over the core. Now, 42 might be a problem because then it turns off, turns up the field.
Starting point is 01:14:29 bring his guy in into it, but he could sting this ball to carry. He would catch it right around the top of the sea in Cowboys. Yep, I got it. That would be open, and the Brown's open too. I mean, he had two options there. I think Bates is a last resort guy. He's not the first, read, second, or third read. Right, got it.
Starting point is 01:14:51 Okay. He's by there for an emergency if he starts scrambling. And now we're down to the last. So, I mean, this is why I love you doing this, because you think there were opportunities for Jaden to throw touchdown passes on the first two snaps. Terry drops the first one, and the second one, you think he can get it to Diami with a better throw for a touchdown. Easily. That's a layup throw.
Starting point is 01:15:22 I mean, it's going to have to come low and hard, but there's nobody interfering. There's no linebacker level. he has to go over. That's an open big route. You've got to put the ball on that guy's chest. All right. He dropped it. He dropped it. Let's talk about the play that could be the last for him for a while. I've shared with everybody sort of the back and forth on this play with you thinking that Quinn is being a bit deceptive saying it was a sprint option.
Starting point is 01:15:49 So I'll just let you take it over and then I'll jump in at the end. Yeah. I'm 98.5% convinced that there was a pass attached to this. this play for sure. It just doesn't make any sense otherwise. And there's a couple clues, right? There's clues that I'm looking at. I'll start with Wiley being my first clue. Wiley checks in the game. He's a second tackle. He's a tackle eligible, yet he doesn't report. Why would you not report if you're eligible and it's going to be a pass play? Well, you wouldn't do that because you don't want to tip off the defense that you're eligible, and it is going to be a past play. So if you come in the game, you don't report. Now, the defense
Starting point is 01:16:27 should already notice you come in. They should already notice that you're eligible, but let's not do their job for them, right? So let's not report, and maybe your trick stays a little secret for a little longer. So he tipped me off there before the play. Now, during the play, he is clearly making an attempt not to go down the field. He does not want to touch that goal line, because in the NFL, linemen outfield is like a yard and a half, which would be the end zone here. So he doesn't touch that white line. is playing in a pass-protect situation. Now he's stepped off the ball, and he's almost, I mean, you can just see, he's not going
Starting point is 01:17:04 down field. So then when that happened, I checked all the other landmen. Nobody's in the end of now. They're doing more of run action, and it's easy to get away with because everybody's nose-diving in the bottom of the pile like they're stopping to sneak. So it's easier for them to disguise that they don't want to go downfield. second thing is white's what do you call his pitch phase right his pitch phase he's going flat right off of the snap and he never gains he doesn't like bow you know how you would bow to then try to be running with momentum
Starting point is 01:17:41 towards the line of scrimmage when he catch the pitch that never happens and he almost it's hard to tell if he completely flattens out because he sees jane and stumble or because this is his how it's supposed to go. I agree. When he turns, he, you said this to me, he is looking for a lateral. Yes, which a pitch would be in option. Of course, of course. He's looking for a different type of lateral.
Starting point is 01:18:07 100%. I agree with that. Unless, like you just said, he's reacting to Jaden stumbling and bumbling, but I don't think so. I don't either because he does. I don't think he sees it right away. Yeah. He's already looking to the right. Right.
Starting point is 01:18:21 Now, the thing that throws me off. here a little bit. Why don't you want to say it throws me out? They don't block nine the on purpose. Okay, Bullard, the D-N, which you would read in the option. On the option, true. But Jaden reverse pitches, so in a
Starting point is 01:18:36 traditional speed option, which a lot of teams doing a goal line is really good. You just, you're hiking, you come right down the line of scrimmage, and you put that the end or whoever you decide to be your pitch key, you put them in a bind, and you put them in quickly because it's a speed, you hike, and you go right down the line of scrimmage,
Starting point is 01:18:51 you make a mega play and you hope you make them wrong. You're running or you pitch it. So the reverse out of center and then leaving the backside end on block means this is a pitch 100% all day because Jaden, they're not even giving Jaden a chance to read him because he's turning his back to him. Right. So as soon as Jaden spins, that 90 is going to be in his grill and it's going to be a pitch. So like that's already determined.
Starting point is 01:19:19 They've already determined we're going to, we're going to, we're going to, a reverse pitch, excuse me, reverse pivot out of center, pitch to white. And now there's no eligible receiver. This is my, this is the problem with your theory is, who's he going to throw it to? Hold on. Okay. Hold on. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:19:36 So the only other, there's two options in my opinion of a receiver. One is Bates, and it's going to be, once White gets the football, he may elect the press the line of scrimmage, and then at last second, bait can just pop off, and he just like, like, no, dumps it over the top, and he's open. or the only eligible receiver is the guy on the ground with the dislocated elbow, and he could have done any number of things. He could have rolled out the back, and this could be a throwback to Jaden in the back on the end zone.
Starting point is 01:20:04 Maybe it's highly unlikely, call me crazy, but where else is the receiver coming from? And then the last key is, and this is where Jaden's a dog here, I mean, this dude's tough as now. He dislocates his elbow, and where does he chuck this ball? If this is a true run, why would you chuck it in the end zone?
Starting point is 01:20:23 Nobody is even allowed to catch it. But he knows that the end of this play is somewhere over there and maybe Bates is paying attention at this point and maybe he catches it. Because he could see White here. He could easily, sorry, easily is the wrong word, his elbow dislocated. But he could certainly pitch this more in the direction to White
Starting point is 01:20:45 than he does. I don't know. that's being nipig because a lot of things happen there. His elbows touching his back with his head, and he's just trying to keep the play alive. But he's clearly throwing it, in my opinion, towards, like, where some receivers might be. So there are some interesting aspects to this.
Starting point is 01:21:07 Number one is we saw a double pass, and we saw, you know, a backwards bubble lateral throw across the field from Diami. So last week we saw flea flicker. on the opening drive of the game. He comes from Ben Johnson, who likes a lot of trick-pip plays. That's number one.
Starting point is 01:21:28 Number two is, has Rashad White thrown any half-back options in his career? I can't find that data anywhere. I have no idea. I have a feeling if he has thrown a half-back option in his career, it would be on his pro football reference page. I don't see it there. But the third part, getting back to if the play is a lateral to white, I don't see the Bates option.
Starting point is 01:21:59 Bates never even contemplates releasing as a receiver into the end zone, which to me means that after Jaden, had he not stumbled, laterals, he's going back out the backside, nobody's covering him, and White's going to throw it across the field to Jaden for an easy. walk in or catch in the end zone touchdown. Look, this is a, this, we're playing clue here,
Starting point is 01:22:28 okay, and you're got the candlestick in the room and the library, and I'm trying to do the same. Bates off the ball, though, that's not, that's not,
Starting point is 01:22:37 we're running. There's something going on here. Well, the thing that's going on here is that nobody, nobody wants to, if it's a sprint option, the white's depth and everything about what he's doing looks off.
Starting point is 01:22:56 Secondly, by the way, how many sprint options do you see from under center? Not many. I just, there's something going on here. It's not a true run. I don't believe it. Yeah. And Quinn, of course, would never, Quinn would never tell you.
Starting point is 01:23:13 If it didn't happen, yeah, we might use it later because Mariotic can run it too. So we'll come back to this. But I just don't see that type of play being your, you know, all the marbles on the table type play. I mean, do you agree, though? You see a lot more sprint option, obviously, in college than you do in the NFL, but you don't see it from under center much. Well, you don't have the amount of quarterbacks that can do it, like the guys in college level and the NFL level. Unless you really have a handful.
Starting point is 01:23:47 Yeah, unless you're at all. one of the academies. You're not running a lot of option from under center. You're running it from pistol and shotgun. Probably just ran a sneak here. I'm watching, I mean, probably just snuck and got in. You know, okay, I haven't asked you this. So, you know, 1710, Dallas is moving the ball up and down the field.
Starting point is 01:24:12 So are you. Quinn said afterwards, there was no thought of kicking the field goal. He said, we needed to score touchdowns in this game. What would you have done? Now, hold on a sec. Who get the ball out of halftime? Washington. So I'll stick to my guns, and I don't want to say they're the same game.
Starting point is 01:24:31 But when the Terps two Saturdays ago had a 15-play drive at the end of half with Yukon, it was off the back of another 12-play drive, I said, this drive is too good to come away with no points. And I was just hoping that Coach Lockheed would elect to kick the field goal because he used it goes for. So I'm going to stick to my guns here. This drive was also really good, and I think it deserves points. And the only way you lose momentum here is not kicking and not getting points. You're not going to have the guys rumbling and cussing under their breath jogging off the sidelines saying we should have win for that much. Maybe a couple say it, but you'll still have momentum because you have points.
Starting point is 01:25:12 Especially if I'm getting the ballback coming out, I'm kicking this. Look, I have said this all week long. My inclination in the moment was I want a touchdown. I feel like we need touchdowns in this game. I don't think we're going to stop them. They've been on the field for 15 plays, third straight drive that the defense has been on the field, and number five is playing at a ridiculously high level as a playmaker,
Starting point is 01:25:38 and I want a touchdown. But I also, if he had kicked the field goal, I would have been fine with that too, and I would have understood it. He's been mad for five seconds, and then you would have got over it. Yeah. Now, you know, at the same time, if they come out in the second half, right, and they end up with a field goal or they're forced upon it, and the next time you get the ball, you know, after that is you're down 2413, that's where, you know, you got to be like, we got to, we got to score touchdowns in the game. But the other thing, too, and I think about this all the time in these situations when you have no timeouts, I do think that if you run the ball on one of those downs when, of course, they, or expecting you to throw because you're not going to run the ball and take the chance of getting stopped and having the clock run out.
Starting point is 01:26:25 So if they had spread the field and run the ball like a quarterback draw on second and goal or a zone read with Rashad White, I have a feeling that's a 90% touchdown probability. Yeah, you just got ball to steal, not just you, but the coach, whoever would do that, and you have to be able to justify it. So everything you said, you said nothing wrong, right? Your coaching style, your preference would have been to go for it, and you probably have 50% on your side,
Starting point is 01:26:56 and 50% would have said kick it, and that's the beauty of debate. What everyone that needs to involve in the debate needs to try to do is eliminate the Jaden getting hurt aspect. Take that emotional piece out of it. Say this is just a stupid run and then incompletion they don't score. Right. Do you still feel the same way?
Starting point is 01:27:16 Right. You can't let that affect. how you would make the coaching decision. Now, your point, if you know you're the type of coach where you're going to put yourself in this situation and you have no timeouts and you're on the one yard line and you're going to go for it and you're willing to not get any points that way,
Starting point is 01:27:32 then to your point, you should be willing to not get any points on first down and try and trick them with the run. And if it doesn't work, you're going to the halftime 1710 just like you're willing to do when you've got the third down. I think that's when you can make that coaching gambling decision, sure. I wouldn't do it on first down. I would do it. If I got three plays, I do it on the next or four plays.
Starting point is 01:27:57 I do it on the next to last play. I'm going to take as many opportunities before I take that risk. Understood. But if I'm studying, and I don't know if there's data is out there somewhere, if there's a coach willing to gamble for that run play, I bet you it is on the second or third one. So if you truly want to put the percentages in your favor, do it on first. Well, you know what?
Starting point is 01:28:18 The truth is, with 12 seconds to go, if you run, let's just say a zone read and it doesn't get in, you probably, because it's a run play on a condensed field, you can probably line up and run one more play. That would be dicey. I don't know if I would count on that. 12 seconds, receivers aren't downfield. They don't have to get back to the line of scrimmage. Everybody's basically at the line of scrimmage. You got, there's going to be eight people on the pile for sure.
Starting point is 01:28:49 Yeah, you're right, you're right, you're right. They're not going to get the ball back for another seven seconds to the referee. All right. That was spicy, but I like your gumption, though. All right, let's get to your top threes and bottom threes. We'll do that after these words from a few of our sponsors. Think about the last time you called a business and nobody picked up. What did you do?
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Starting point is 01:29:56 No IT, no hassle. Money is on the line. Always say hello with Quo. Try Quo for free. Plus, get 20% off your first six months when you go to Quo.com slash sheen. That's QUO.com. We continue with Steve, and we will do top three graded offensive players, bottom three graded offensive players, and then we'll do the same for the defensive side of the ball.
Starting point is 01:30:30 Give me your top three on offense. Top through an offense go to Marriota, Rashad White, and then Jaden. Wow. Marioads won. Yep. All right. And did nothing wrong. made plays.
Starting point is 01:30:47 So tell me about his performance. Yeah, I mean, I think he did what he does. And he, you know what he didn't have? He didn't have a full game to make that bonehead play that he usually makes. Right. I tried to, I was having that conversation with some buddies of mine saying that I think, you know, we were talking about the injury. And I said, Mariotte's probably the best, and I said this last year, he's probably
Starting point is 01:31:07 the best backup in the league. His only issue of all the games I watch when I grade him or watch him is plays solid for three and a half quarters. and you make one, bonus vision, or two, gets that critical fumble or that critical pick, and that's what's, like, really holding back probably his whole career. But he didn't have three quarters to do that. He had two, and he came in and did really good.
Starting point is 01:31:29 So Marriott goes one. Rashad White, really good game. You need more of him on the field. You need a ball in his hands more. And then Daniels. Daniels would have been a little higher. I took quite a few points off, of missing
Starting point is 01:31:46 Burs in that end zone. That's got to be a layup though. Burks was moving on that too, wasn't he? He looked fast. He looked bad. They were talking about his speed in the off season and I'm like, well, that's not been what we've watched since he got picked in the first round by Tennessee.
Starting point is 01:32:03 Yeah. But yeah, no, you're right. And Jaden just barely missed that one. Oh, I wanted to ask you, the pitch to Kroski Merritt that cost him on that first scoring drive, was that depth from Kroski Merritt, or was it a bad pitch? Really hard, really hard to, I watched it several times.
Starting point is 01:32:23 And what I came to in my conclusion was, I shouldn't have to watch this that many times to figure out whose fault it was. It's Daniel's fault because he shouldn't even make a pitch where it's questionable that it was Bill's fault or not, if that makes sense. Put it on the frame of his body, and then you don't even have to have this debate who's fault it was. So I did knock him a lot on it because it is seems kind of the borderline,
Starting point is 01:32:48 but in the end, quarterback's responsibility to make a good pitch there. So I did give it to Daniel. Daniel, sorry. Mario da, the throw to Diami Brown that was absolutely, I don't know if you follow this because you're watching the all-22,
Starting point is 01:33:04 but this was one of the worst replay results I've seen in a while. Washington obviously challenged it. It should have been a touchdown, and it wasn't. Yes. Agreed. I'm on the same page.
Starting point is 01:33:19 And I didn't give him any bonus point for it when I could have because it's what a ball. I mean, just a dime. And I would have, and I would have, I think I did give him a little bonus point because I had to catch him. I'm a brown. Great play. It's a great ball. It's a great play. It should have been touchdown.
Starting point is 01:33:38 They got robbed on that for sure. You said at the very beginning, you didn't see Diami Brown here in 2024, but you liked what you saw. He did have a fumble in the game. Yep. That's why he's in the bottom because of that fumble. It's just too critical. You're down seven, and you can't make that mistake. But other than that, yes, I think I liked what I saw from him.
Starting point is 01:34:03 Okay. Rashad White, what's interesting is last week against Philadelphia, he looked slow. couldn't make anybody miss. And it was a different player this week. I actually liked him in Tampa. I thought he's got good vision in that zone run scheme, especially. They like him because he's a veteran player that can catch the ball, that can pass block. So overall, tell me what you liked about White's performance.
Starting point is 01:34:30 Yeah, really, I got nothing negative to say. Maybe if I was being nitpicky, a little bit gun-shy on picking up the blitz and third down, but he still picked it up. but it wasn't like he wanted to stonewall, the linebacker, if that makes sense. Maybe turn his head a little bit. I'm being real nitpig there. But handing him the football, he just ran better, smoother, his vision was better. He set the blocks better, and it just looked like a better option.
Starting point is 01:34:57 He handed him to football than was Bill, and then he's reliable out of the back. He just didn't have any bad plays. That's why he's in the top. If you don't, if you come out and you play a game or you don't have negative plays, from a scoring standpoint, you're probably going to end up in the top. And that's what he did. All right. Bottom three offensively.
Starting point is 01:35:14 And start it with the third to last, second to last, and then last. Okay. So I got a tie with Alex Grety and Coleman, third to last. Then because of that fumble at that costly time, Brown goes the second of last and builds my bottom guy. You know, you were critical of him last year. Early on, you didn't like how he couldn't get to that third level on some of the plays where he had a chance to really take it the distance. He finally did it against Dallas. You never did a Dallas film breakdown because it was Christmas Day and you were away, remember?
Starting point is 01:35:54 Yeah. You went away. And he finally did against the Cowboys on Christmas Day take one 70-something yards for a touchdown. But tell me and tell everybody why he was. was your lowest rated offensive player? I think he's missing the holes when they're called, and he's costing the team big play, run potential. I mean, the third play of the game,
Starting point is 01:36:21 I think he's got a big run, and he cuts it back. And I know maybe it's designed that way because the tight end's called like a WAM block, and he's pressing it front side, and he's following the tight end back. But when you press it front side and there's eight yards there, you've got to go get them.
Starting point is 01:36:36 he just is just it's too much too aggressive too fast at the line of scrimmage if he even gets a chance to get to the second level because I feel like his head's going to be down most of the time because he's going to run into people he's not even going to be in a position balanced or head up and poised to make that third guy miss it's just something about him I I'm sorry if it sounds biased and just don't love his running style in when like from the first six six yards he has the football ball. And those are the most critical ones. If you want to get to the third level, you got to do really good in the first two levels. And when something goes to block and shore, but I'm just not a fan of his running style in between the tackles early on when he has the ball in his hand. And then he really frustrated me on one scramble for Mario Zona's own is in the game. And he's out in the flat and a scramble drill.
Starting point is 01:37:30 I don't know if you want to go. No, you just tell me about it. Yeah. Yeah, he just has no awareness. of where he should go in the scramble drill. And in doing so, he goes the complete wrong direction. He should have been the easy outlet for Marriota. He probably would have got 20 yards,
Starting point is 01:37:49 but instead he just ran down the hash market. It was just very, very poor from an awareness standpoint. So I knocked them on that, and then that's how you go to the bottom. Well, I'll tell you what, I think they agree with you because Rashad White was in on 52% of the snaps and Bill was in on 37% of the same. snaps. I had a feeling over the summer based on some of the things that I heard that they were saying about white and how they really trusted him that at least early in the season we were
Starting point is 01:38:18 going to see more white than Bill. All right, defensively, top three. I got Armstrong coming in third from the top. Sunny's coming in second from the top. And then Kinlaw is top performer. He got banged up too. You really liked Ken Law last year, so tell me what you saw from him. I mean, what is not to like? The guy loves football, and he loves playing football, and you can see it on film every game, and he wants to make the play. He is not complacent from getting blocked, even if it's a double team.
Starting point is 01:38:56 He is going to try to get off. It's just, I mean, he is what you want in a D-tackle, and are an interior lineman. somebody that wants to screw the play up for the other team without screwing the play up for his team. And as long as he's doing that, he's going to be in the top every game because nobody puts out that kind of effort like he does in the front four. It's just so obvious every time. And it's not just like I'm running around like my head cut off. It has purpose.
Starting point is 01:39:24 It has meaning. And it's effective. Yeah, I actually just pulled up a play because I think it was a play that I had marked down myself for Kinlaw. and it's first and goal at the three on the opening drive of the game, and he stops Javante Williams in his tracks for no game. He really, he's a strong, strong player physically. Yeah. All right.
Starting point is 01:39:49 What about Stiles did you like in this game? So, Sonny, while I even went back this, I did the calculations, right? I put it in the spreadsheet and the tallies come up, and I was shocked that he was second, actually. and I went back to make sure I didn't have any grades in the wrong cells of the sheet because I was like, wait a minute, he's second for me. And then I feel like he didn't have that splashful impact to be number two on the team in score. But then I went through it and I looked through it and I realized what he's not doing
Starting point is 01:40:18 is making negative plays. So while maybe he's not making a huge impact on splash plays, he's not making the negative plays or impacting, excuse me, impacting defense negatively. So every time he does something that I liked and you get credit for it and then you're not doing anything that's harmful and then your grade just starts to climb. So he just, I think he's just like tip of the iceberg right now, right? It's only the second game. He looks like a linebacker who is a rookie that is playing inside for every snap for the very first time in his career. And he's just trying to get his confidence in his reads and his reactions.
Starting point is 01:40:58 and I think once he does, and he kind of just takes the governor off himself, I think you're going to see a lot of good things from him. And there's a couple of times he leave them in one-on-one. He covered Ferguson all the way to the back of the ends of one play. And I thought to myself, well, they couldn't have done that last year with Wagner. So now they got another option here. He played in coverage.
Starting point is 01:41:17 I don't think he was responsible for any of those touchdowns to the tight end. Those were all Leo to me. So he wasn't in the wrong in zone coverage ever. So be the right place at the right time. do your job, don't make mistakes. And that's how you make good plays. You missed last week. He had a couple of truly
Starting point is 01:41:36 memorable plays, including a play. It's all the highlight. You know, like running Barclay over. Exactly. Yeah. All right. And then Armstrong came in third, even though you said he's not back to where he was physically. You don't think, but you liked. Look, I mean,
Starting point is 01:41:52 it was probably hard to come up with three defensive players at the top in this game. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not seeing their scores are overwhelming. Yeah, right. Right. All right.
Starting point is 01:42:02 Give me the bottom three, the third worst to the worst in that order. Sandrystill, third, then Nick Cross, then Douglas. Okay. I think I had on my list one last question, and I'll just ask it now. Sandra Still has really had a rough start to the season. last week he was an absolute mess against Antavian Wicks on two, you know, key plays, a 64-yarder and a touchdown pass. Even Quinn, who never publicly, you know, criticizes players.
Starting point is 01:42:39 He did it last week. Durante Jones sort of did it last week. Durante Jones was caught yelling at him at one point during the game. He had a rough year last year, but they didn't have a lot of players on the field. So just I know people want to know what you think of Sanra still and understand everybody. This is just the Dallas game. So if you want me to exclude all of last year where I was obviously not a fan of him as a starting corner, I don't think he's a starting corner in the league, at least not on this team,
Starting point is 01:43:14 because they don't know how to utilize him. So I was pretty surprised that he was still on the roster, from being honest. And if you wanted to be on the roster, cool, but not as a starting corner. coming into the season, you had him listen to the starter. I said, I don't know what they're watching on some. What are they saying? What do they think they can do to change him from last year this year? So I am not surprised at all over the first two weeks of the season.
Starting point is 01:43:35 If he's not getting beat physically, he's getting beat mentally, whether that's his own doing or the offensive court area of the other side, putting in a position to trick him. But he misses out on zone coverage too much. He gets crossed up in manned garbage too much and he, when he is in position, really doesn't make any plays physically.
Starting point is 01:43:56 So I don't know what you got going for you, but where do you impact the game at the corner position positive? What is your attribute that you can help? And I kind of feel bad for him. They're putting them on an island
Starting point is 01:44:12 in a position that he's not based off the 15, 17 games I've watched capable. playing. Yeah, you know, Trey Amos is down for the first four weeks, and he was out for the second half of the season last year. So I think they kind of felt like he would be their number one outside corner, and Amic Robertson would be their nickel, and then Sanra still obviously was going to line up and play on the outside again. When you say, what do you think they think his attribute is, I'll go back to what Nick Sabin said on draft night 2024. He thought he was the best pound-for-pound defensive player or
Starting point is 01:44:47 playmaker in the draft because at Michigan, there was just constant pressure and he had a real good anticipatory talent for jumping balls and making big plays. But this team didn't have a takeaway Sunday. They didn't have a takeaway last week. They were second to last in the NFL last year in takeaways. You got to get pressure on the quarterback to get him a ball that he might be able to jump and make a play on. So over the summer, when I,
Starting point is 01:45:23 when I, your face came across my TikTok and you threw out your hot take, oh, see, I just still lead the league of picks. I know, I did. That was my, that was my bold prediction, because that's what he did at Michigan. And by the way, do you know how many, he was, he was tied. He was in the top six last year in picks on a terrible defense. He had four picks last year. Yeah, we watched the games, though.
Starting point is 01:45:48 I mean, I broke it all down. Only maybe one of those picks, you could say he initiated the pick. Like, only one. The rest. We're Jacob Martin. Yeah. Yeah, right. With pressure.
Starting point is 01:46:00 With pressure. force in it and they're just throwing it up and he's there. Maybe one, I think maybe, no, not even the Atlanta game. I remember that pick. I was like, where is Pennix throwing that football? That's a terrible decision. And Sanders still is a beneficiary of that. I don't, he doesn't self-generate his own picks.
Starting point is 01:46:16 So that's a terrible bold prediction. It's one that's, that's why it's bold. That's why it was bold. All right. So why would. You've already talked a lot about Cross. Why Douglas is your lowest graded. player.
Starting point is 01:46:31 Just not, man coverage was getting shook up, not making the plays. You got, I mean, it's a little bit unfortunate. If you're not getting pressure up at front and your secondary is going to be vulnerable, then most likely your corners are going to be the guys that are going to look like they're having the worst day. It's just how it is. He didn't make any plays. I think it was like the first and second play in the game.
Starting point is 01:46:52 He's not paying attention, and he does. He's late to get lined up, and they hit him on a quick four yard out for a first down, and that's how you start a drive, and that's how momentum starts. and that's a small thing, but you've got to get knocked for that. Be ready, be in position. Don't give up cheesy plays like that, because those things all add together, and then you end up on 12-play drive for a touchdown.
Starting point is 01:47:12 So now you got CD-LAM, tough cover. But you're in the NFL, man. You've got to make a play every now and then. All right. Anything else on your notes that you want to get out, or are we done? No, I think we covered it, brother. Nice job. Well done.
Starting point is 01:47:30 They get Seattle on Sunday. Maybe the best defense in the NFL. Dallas, not so much defensively, it looks like. But we will have Steve back next Wednesday to break down the Seahawks game. Appreciate it. Yeah, man. You got it. Steve Souter's film breakdown, everybody, every Wednesday on this show,
Starting point is 01:47:54 brought to you by Surfside Taco Stand. All right, that'll do it for today. Back tomorrow.

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