The Kevin Sheehan Show - Unacceptable Loss

Episode Date: December 8, 2025

Kevin's post-game after Washington's 31-0 loss in Minnesota. For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match Want to spruce up your lawn? FastGrowingTrees.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it, you don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Sheehan Show, here's Kevin. When I told the team, I thought we took a step forward last week, and tonight I thought we took three steps back. And we didn't find our rhythm and let them move into there. So tonight, to me, none of it was acceptable. Unacceptable is one way to put it, Dan Quinn. Another would be embarrassing.

Another would be disastrous, which is exactly what Washington's 2025 season has become. I am in for a quick post game, very quick today, following Washington's 31-0 blowout loss to the Vikings in Minneapolis. The presenting sponsor of this show is always Window Nation, 86690 Nation, Windonation.com. if you need new windows. Let me begin with this, because for me, and I think it should be for all of you, too, this is the lead. Jaden Daniels did get banged up during the game, trying to run down Van Ginkle, Van Ginkle after he threw the interception to him.

Someone mentioned Van Ginkle over and over again on Friday's show, but Dan Quinn did say following the game that he could have returned to the game, but it was his, Quinn's decision, to sit him the rest of the way. I'm fine with that decision because while he wasn't apparently injured, he definitely looked banged up. It appeared to be the non-throwing elbow again when he got blasted on a block trying to chase down Van Ginkle. So at 17-0, and at that point midway through the third quarter, that was probably the right call, even if maybe a bit conservative. look, if that was a game they needed to have, I think he comes back into that game.

But I'm okay with the Quinn decision. Let me be clear on this. Nothing any of you say is going to change my mind that Jaden playing today was the right thing. And that Jaden playing next week against the Giants, if cleared and if healthy, 100% healthy, will also be the right thing. Dan Quinn did seem to imply after the game that Jaden is going to play. He's going to continue to play if he's healthy. And I agree 100% that he should play, again, assuming he is 100% healthy.

I hope he's good and I hope he's ready to bounce back next week against the Giants and hopefully get the chance to play more football than he did today. Just four drives total for him in his first game back. Look, my position isn't stubbornness. I'll gladly request right now that he sit out the season finale against the Eagles in Philadelphia in early January, especially if the game is meaningless for the Eagles. But not the next three, not if he's healthy. If he's healthy, he plays against the Giants, Eagles, and then Cowboys on Christmas Day.

He needs it. He has played now six total football games, if you consider four drives, even a half of a football game. Now, with that out of the way, today's loss to that team was the worst loss of the season, and there are plenty to choose from. Minnesota came into this game as one of the worst offensive teams in the league, and really struggling on offense recently, having scored just six. six total points in their last two games. They got shut out last week by Seattle, and they scored just six against Green Bay the week before. They have been bad on offense, and J.J. McCarthy has really had issues trying to figure

things out here early in his career. But not today, not against our defense. The 31st-ranked offensive team on third down converted six of their state. first seven on third down and then with the game long out of reach and really the goal to be just run out the clock for Minnesota they missed a few but then converted two for two on fourth down Minnesota in this game had a 19 play 98 yard 12 minute drive after debo dropped that fourth and goal touchdown pass in the back of the end zone on Washington's first offensive drive of the game. It was Minnesota's

longest drive of the century. McCarthy had his best passer rating of his young career. It was, by the way, 31 points higher than his previous high. His QBR

was the highest it's ever been in a game. It was 25 points higher than his previous best. He had career highs and completion percentage, touchdowns, and and it was his second highest passing yards total in a game. Oh, all the while, the Vikings rushed for 162 yards with their running backs going just over five yards per carry.

Washington's defense this season has been all time bad. I don't know where it's going to land in terms of their franchise records. Maybe there will be other teams that were worse, but we've seen this. the view of it looks like the worst we've ever seen. And today was a special kind of awful. The offseason starts with the search for at least five new starters minimum on defense and a new defensive coordinator who knows how to defend a Shanahan-style offensive football team. The Shanahan-style teams Washington has faced this year have scored in or

Lafleur, Packers, week two, 27 points. Zach Robinson with the Falcons, week four, 34 points. Clint Kubiak, Seattle, 38 points. Mike McDaniel, Miami, just 16 points, but they got to the red zone five times in that game. And then today, Kevin O'Connell, with a miserable offensive football team, 31 points. We know that Quinn struggled with Shanahan-style offenses as the defensive coordinator in Dallas, and they've got to find a defensive coordinator in this offseason that knows how to defend Shanahan-style offenses. Now, the defense, as bad as it was,

was not alone in its miserable performance. I thought the offense looked completely unprepared for a Brian Flores defense, and the kind of and the number of pressures he dials up. Maybe that's Cliff, maybe that's Jaden, who didn't execute pre-snap. Maybe that's Mariotta who didn't execute pre-snap. Maybe it's Tyler Biotish, who didn't call out the right protections. But Minnesota blitzes, it's what they do. They lead the league in blitz percentage, their third in the league in hurry percentage. And even though the skins move the football on their opening drive of the game

in the opening drive of the third quarter, they never appeared to have a handle on Minnesota's pass rush. And that leads me to this, to this. On the opening drive of the game, Chris Rodriguez and Jeremy McNichols, he had one carry Mick Nichols did on the opening drive. They rushed the ball five times for 39 yards. That's just less, I can do the math, just less than eight yards per carry. And after it became second and goal at the Minnesota 2 with Washington

going right down the field, there was one more rushing attempt for a running back, the rest of the half. Now, the rest of the half was just three plays after the first and goal rush and then two more drives. Okay, I get that. There just weren't many opportunities with the football. But from second and goal at the two, at nearly eight yards per carry, three passes, three in completions, to end that drive and then one more attempted running back rush on the final two drives of the half. For those that have been frustrated with Cliff at times, I'm a Cliff guy. But against that pass rush and you're having success running the ball, what are we doing? I'll give you my thoughts on how Jaden played in his first game back when we get to the game take, but it was not his best. That's for

sure. He wasn't anywhere near the worst of it today. But if I'm right, and I'm not sure that I am, so bear with me. But it looked like the fourth and three interception on the opening drive of the first half, where you know, you're down 14-0. If you can get something going here and get in the end zone, I doubt you're going to get a stop the rest of the way, but at least, you know, it's close. In fact, I'm not sure I wouldn't have kicked the field goal there, but whatever. Who cares? Fourth and three, that interception was, if I am right, it looked like he checked to that play at the line of scrimmage. He checked to the screen. And if I'm right about that, somebody should have listened to this podcast on

Friday. When I obsessed over Van Ginkle, and then Jay Gruden came on and said, keep the ball away from number 43 Van Ginkle. If the preparation didn't include, keep the ball away from Van Ginkle, shame on them. Shame on them. I said multiple times on Friday, no screens in his direction, no flat passes in his direction. The whole league knows how great he is at doing this. He is the absolute best when it comes to feel and anticipation for picking off those plays and disrupting those plays. He's the best in the league at it. So if Jaden checked to a screen to Van Ginkle's side on that fourth and three, terrible decision.

the fact that it was even the check is a terrible check um Jesus 31 to nothing wow three and ten eight straight losses my game take next guys I introduced you to gold belly about a year ago it's an amazing site that I order from now all the time it's a place where you can get the most iconic famous foods from restaurants all across the country. They'll ship it to you no matter where you are. Goldbelly ships you iconic Chicago deep dish pizza from Lou Malnoughties or New York's most famous cheesecake from juniors. If you're craving barbecue, they'll ship it from Franklin's barbecue,

the legendary Texas barbecue straight to your door. And you've got to try the one and only world-renowned, stone crab delivered from Joe's in Miami, whether it's a dish from that one-of-a-kind restaurant or meals from world-famous chefs like Jose Andres, Goldbelly has you covered. If you're looking for that perfect gift or want to impress your friends and family with an epic meal the next time you host, go to goldbelly.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code Sheen. That's goldbelly.com code Sheen for 20% off your first order.

Hey guys, taking care of your mental health shouldn't be harder than taking care of your physical health. If you pull a muscle, you go see a doctor. But when it comes to finding the right therapist, suddenly it can be frustrating. You've got long wait lists. You're staring down huge out-of-pocket costs. That's what usually stops people from getting help. And that's where Rula comes in. Rula makes therapy simple, affordable, and fast. They work with most major insurance plans, and the average session co-pay is just $15. It's basically the cost of lunch, but instead of a sandwich, you're investing in your own headspace. And with Rula, you're not just matched and left to figure it out on your own. They check in and make sure you're actually

making progress. Every therapist on the platform is licensed, vetted, and pick up. And picked for their expertise so you know you're talking to someone legit, not just whoever happens to be available. Getting started couldn't be easier. You answer a few quick questions about what matters to you, and Rula connects you with an in-network provider who actually fits your needs. You pick the time, and you could be talking to a therapist as soon as the next day. No weeks of waiting, no endless back and forth. Thousands of guys have already used Rula. A finally get the care they need. Don't keep putting it off. Go to Rula.com slash sheen to get started today. That's RULA.L.A.com slash

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

more or less. That's all it is, more or less on between two and six players and their stat projections. If you get the picks right, you cash in. Prize picks now has early payouts. If your lineup gets off to a hot start, you may now have the option to cash out your winnings before the game even finishes. Download the Price Picks app today and use code Sheehan to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That's Code Sheehan to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Price picks, it's good to be right. That play was a disaster from the jump. I just went and watched it again, Andrew Van Ginkle, gets the pick, chased by McLaurin, and down inside the 30-yard line. That play was a disaster from the jump. I just went and watched it again right before

starting this segment, from the moment they broke the huddle until the end of the play. I don't think there's any doubt that Jaden checked to the screen. And I'll tell you this, even if Van Ginkle doesn't get his pause on it, this play had no chance. It's a bubble for Terry and Zach Ertz and Zach got hurt in this game and maybe seriously hurt. The concern right now is an ACL with Zach Ertz. I thought that was a bit of a dirty hit as well, but more on that coming up. But he misses a block, and this play has no chance, even if it's not picked. So Minnesota would have taken over from their own 17-18-yard line anyway.

This segment of the show brought to you by Window Nation if you need new windows. My recommendation is to give Window Nation a shout 86690 Nation or Window Nation.com for right now, 50% off everything, all Windows, all Windows styles, and 0% financing, if you choose to finance the purchase, 0% interest, excuse me, for five years. You can't beat that, you can't beat the company, you can't beat the product. If you've been thinking about it, just do me a favor and give them a chance to come out and give you a free estimate. It doesn't cost you a thing, and I promise you, they won't pressure you, they won't obligate you to anything, they'll leave you with the quote, you can make the call.

86690 Nation, windownation.com. All right, let's get to my Game Take. Pay attention. Here's Kevin's Game Take. All right, the list of things I liked, and that list isn't very long, a list of things I did not like, and a few other observations. If it's worth updating tomorrow, I'll do that on a Monday show, but this is kind of first blush.

I'm going to run through it pretty quickly. On the list of good, well, let's just start with it. This, that had to be one of the fastest football games of the year. It was over in about two hours and 38 minutes, roughly. Washington only ran 49 offensive plays. Minnesota only ran 61, which, considering the time of possession advantage they had in the game, that's not that many plays. I actually thought the play differential was going to be much greater,

but really they didn't have any incentive to go quickly, and Washington decided to go slowly after it became an end. absolute bludgeoning at 31 to nothing. But that's number one on the list of things that I liked. The fact that it went quickly and we weren't put through the ringer for three hours plus. They ended it quickly so it was a short-lived painful experience. Also on the good list, the running backs. Chris Rodriguez is a good back. Jacori Croski Merritt had some good carries in this game. By the way, I think I got it wrong. in the opening segment. I said that McNichols had a carry on that opening drive. He did not.

It was listed that way in the play-by-play, but Rodriguez had all of the carries from the running back position on that drive. He finished 10 carries, 52 yards, 5.2 yards per carry. Kroski Merritt 7 for 32, 4.6 yards per carry. Not bad. 17 carries, 84 yards. I thought both of them were outstanding. I don't know if Chris Rodriguez is a true lead back, you know, a guy that could, you know, rush for 1,200 yards in his season. But I like everything about him. I think he's got good vision. I think he's decisive and he's clearly powerful. I love that he has turned out to be a guy that I think all of us from the moment we saw him in a preseason game, his rookie year thought he's pretty good. I think he had issues the last couple of years, just

staying in shape, which is why, you know, he went from being released to practice squad to regular squad. But you knew that they thought something about him in the off season because he was a restricted free agent and they tendered him. They wanted him back. And now they'll have the opportunity to perhaps sign him to a longer term deal. I thought, I thought Bill, you know, ran the ball well when he was in there as well. You know, their backs along with McNichols, that's the least of their issues this year. Offensive line and running backs have been the least of their issues. Of course they missed Echler's contribution to the team,

but it was also one of those things before the year started that you could have predicted, based on him missing games last year. It sucks that he got injured as seriously as he did, and he lost the entire season or 15 to the 17 games, because Echler made them a more dynamic offense last year when he was out there. They still have to search for a back in the off season, but I like their backs. I like Rodriguez.

I think Kroski Merritt's got good instincts as well, but I really like Rodriguez's combination of vision, feel, and then power. That's on the good list, the running backs. I'll tell you what I didn't have a problem with here. It's on the list of things that, you know, I barely liked, is after, you know, a first half, in which I was pulling my hair out with some of the past protection issues they were having and then moving away from the run after they were so successful in the opening drive. And again, they barely had the football.

They had three drives in the first half. And the fourth drive was the 12-play 58-yard drive to start the third quarter that ended in a fourth and three interceptions. So it's not like there were a lot of opportunities, but what they did do at halftime, what Cliff did do at halftime, down 14-0. as he came out with some of those heavy packages, and they started to run the football. I mean, Rodriguez for four. And then Rodriguez for four more. I mean, Rodriguez had three, four, let me just see.

And then cross-commere at five, six, six carries on that first 12-play drive to open up the third quarter with some under-center and heavy personnel. I liked it. I like more under-center. I like the, look, I don't mind Cliff. I like Cliff. I think there are lots of different ways to do this. And clearly last year, three non-under-center teams were in the final four, Kansas City, Philadelphia, and Washington. All right, let's not forget that three of the final four last year were not under-center teams.

They were primarily not under-center teams. We've seen more of a move even this year to more under-center, and I do think it gives them more options. And when you have that kind of pass rush that you're facing, like Minnesota's today, running the football and then some play action where they don't see the football, I think makes some sense. So on the good list, I mean, this is, you know, this is a lukewarm good. But at halftime, it seemed like Cliff decided we're going to come out under center, go heavy personnel and try to run the football a little bit. That's it from the good list. I can't think of anything on defense that was good. I mean, there were a couple of good pass rush pressures.

Kwan Martin, on the Vikings' second drive when they took over from their own two-yard line after the fourth and goal miss, they had that third and six, and Kwan Martin just missed getting to J.J. McCarthy for what may have been a safety or certainly would have been a third down stop, which they didn't have any of in the first half. and McCarthy scrambled for seven yards. I mean, there were a couple of pressures, but McCarthy holds onto the ball too long, that's for sure. How many sacks did they have in the game? Four, I think three of them were legitimate, right? Because I think maybe he just barely missed getting back to the line of scrimmage on a scramble or two.

Let's see who got credit for the sacks. I know Von Miller had one when they finally got a stop. Wagner had one, right. and then Will Harrison Payne, yeah, I know Payne had a couple of pressures, but yeah, I mean, a couple of pass rush pressures on McCarthy, maybe on the good list. Let's get to the bad. You start with defense. I mean, I don't know how you start with anything else. It was truly embarrassing. It was gutless in many ways. Minnesota did everything well. They rushed the football well, 34 carries, 162 yards.

There are three running backs that played were 28 carries for, let's see, 753 yards. That was Aaron Jones, Jordan Mason, and then the kid, the rookie Xavier Scott that got in. He played at Maine last year. So Washington's rush defense stunk. They're past defense. Anytime you give up career best to J.J. McCarthy, who couldn't hit the ocean from a boat coming in. He was 16 of 23. His best completion percentage of his career. Three touchdown passes. Best completion touchdown number of his career. 75.3 QBR by far the best QBR of his career, only eight games. Passer rating 129.2 best of his career by a lot. The passer ratings and the quarterback QBRs against this defense this year, there's got to be a stat. I'll find it this week.

I've got to think that Washington's dead last or maybe 31st to Cincinnati's 32nd in passer rating and passing QBR for the opponent. Minnesota was five for their first five on third down. They were six for seven before going six for 11, but they converted two fourth downs. So rush defense, horrible. past defense, terrible. Third down defense, the worst. Red zone defense, not too good. Five and 11, not too good.

They gave up four for four in the red zone on defense. They couldn't stop the run with anybody. They didn't tackle well. There was a player where Aaron Jones looked like he was down. They broke four or five tackles. It was just an absolute shit show defense. and I say that with great emphasis because this was Minnesota. This wasn't Seattle. This wasn't Detroit. This wasn't even, you know, Miami or Kansas City, Dallas. This wasn't any of those

teams. This was one of the worst defensive football teams in the league and playing the worst of any offensive team in the league. 25 first downs they had in the game on 61 plays. Defense, number one. Number two, talked about this in the opening segment. I just, you know, at 7 to nothing, and you're, you take the opening drive, 15 plays, 83 yards, you know, it looks sharp in some spots, a little bit, you know, haggard and others. I'm not going to say it looked great the entire time. They were not dealing with pass rush pressure very well. Again, I don't know if that's on Cliff.

I don't know if that's on Jaden. I don't know if that's on Biotish. I don't know. But they get all the way down the field, and you got first in goal at the four. Rodriguez goes two yards. It's second in goal, and you try to throw the tackle eligible.

That's incomplete. You try to throw something short underneath, and everybody's covered on that third and goal. And then on fourth and goal from the two, I mean, Jaden hangs in there, throws a ball that Samuel's got to pull in. It's a catchable football. You've got to make that catch.

You could see him on the sideline how upset he was. Is it a perfect throw? Is it just a flat out, like hit his chest? No, but he's got his hands on it, both of them. You got to pull that in. And instead, you know, they turn it over right there. And then, I mean, from second and goal, they ran the ball one more time in the first half. Okay, I understand the next drive took 12 minutes.

Like Washington, after failing on fourth and goal at the two, with 242 to go, in the first quarter. They did not touch the ball again until there were five minutes and 41 seconds left in the second quarter. That's unbelievable. And then, you know, that last drive, they did take over with a minute 45 left, two timeouts from their own 33. I don't think they needed to abandon the run. I don't. You know, it's 14-0. You're going to get the ball to start the second half. Let's make sure we don't give the ball back to Minnesota. They, you know, with two timeouts left in the field position at the 33, I think, you know, running it one time, maybe, a draw, something. You know, they got the first down on the third and four to Terry.

They got the, no, that was on the first drive of the third quarter. But one more running back run after they got to second and goal on the opening drive. I just, that just didn't seem right to me at nearly eight yards per carry. Again, with the pass rush pressure, just didn't seem to have very good, a very good plan. And again, I don't know who that's on. That could be on the quarterback. It could be. Next up on the list of bad after Cliff, especially in the first half, is turnovers.

Washington had three. Minnesota had none. Now, you know, the last one doesn't really matter at that point. The score is 24-0. The first one, we've already gone over it. If that check, you can't check to a throw, a bubble screen on fourth and three in number 43's direction. I mean, we, at nauseam Friday, you know, you probably got sick of me saying, beware of Van Ginkle. And then Gruden comes on right afterwards and says, Van Ginkle, he's a problem.

Yeah. apparently they didn't know that, or Jaden didn't know that. And then, I mean, Mariotta was so good on Sunday night against Denver. And when you come in and it's already, you know, 17-0-0-0. It's not easy. Okay, we understand that. You know, it's 17-0 midway through the third quarter. With that said, he looked ill-prepared for the pressure,

which kind of tells me, because Mario-Ota's been playing, that they didn't have a great plan for the pressure. could have been the two quarterbacks. It could have been, but Mariotta throws a terrible pick, then takes a bad sack, and then fumbles after he was scrambling. So it was not a stellar effort for Mariotta who's played well, you know, really well. Again, hard to come into that spot down 17-0. But, you know, if you were thinking, hey, now we have a chance. Yeah, not really. kind of like the Dallas game. They didn't have a good plan

for the pressure in the Dallas game either. Remember that? So, yeah, turnovers. What else is on the list of things that I did not like? You know, the drop pass. That's a drop by Debo. So I put that in there.

They weren't, you know, penalty, you know, the penalties weren't that big of an issue. There were like two or three offsetting. penalty situations. Washington ended up with four for 34, so I guess without the offsetting, they probably committed another three. I thought they hit on Ertz was dirty. Now, Mariotta's throw was high, and so Ertz went up for it. I mean, and it's so funny because right when I saw that throw, I wrote down on my notes, Marioita just nearly got Ertz killed. And I didn't realize that he had been hurt that seriously, but it would appear to be an ACL.

what else is on the list of not good I'm going to save Jaden for kind of the other to kind of go through his performance yeah that's it we'll finish up with a few other observations including just going through Jaden's four drives before he got hurt right after these words from a few of our sponsors

Hey guys it's great to have Harry's as a sponsor on today's show. I've been a customer of Harry's razors for five or six years now, going back to the first time they advertised on the podcast, and I became aware of their product, and I fell in love with their product. It's not only a great shave, but I realized very early on that the blade lasted much longer

than my previous razor blade did, and it was very affordable. Harry's owns their own world-class blade factory in Germany, No outsourcing, no middleman. They control the entire process from steel to shelf that keeps costs low. Why pay $30 for refills when Harries gives you better blades for a fraction of that? Harries has launched their most advanced razor ever, and it's still cheaper than Gillette Fusion 5. If you don't love your shave, Harries will make it right.

No questions asked. They offer a risk-free trial, meaning there's zero downside. to giving it a shot. Harry's plus is Harry's heaviest razor handle ever made from metal, never plastic, designed to fit comfortably in your hand. A heavier handle means more control and a luxury feel. Harry's doesn't just make razors. They've got a full line of grooming essentials from shave gel to deodorant to body wash all thoughtfully made and priced to stock up. For a limited time, my listeners can get the Harry's Plus trial set for only $10 at harries.com slash Sheehan. This set includes the all-new Harry's Plus Razor, one refined five-blade cartridge, a two-ounce

foaming shave gel, and a travel cover to protect your blades on the go. Just head to harries.com slash sheen to claim this offer. And after you make your purchase, they'll ask you where you heard about them, please support this show and tell them that I sent you. You shouldn't have to go out of your way to feel like yourself and Hymns brings expert care straight to you to ensure that happens with 100% online access to personalized treatment plans that put your goals first. No hidden fees, no surprise costs, just real personalized care on your schedule. For simple online access. to personalized and affordable care for hair loss,

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

He looked at on Jayden. He fell on his elbow. It was questionable to return and could have. It was my decision to sit them out. Just, you know, as a team at this point, we were off and felt like that was the right call. Yeah, nothing was really on today, Dan Quinn. Everything was off, including Jaden in spots, although there were other spots in which he was on. I'm going to get to his game coming up here in a moment. This final segment of this postgame podcast is brought to you by MyBooky. If you want to bet on sports, that's my recommendation. Go to MyBooky. If you're a new customer, go to the Kevin Sheeonshow.com slash MyBooky and use DC Reload as the promo code. You'll get a 50% cash bonus. Now, if you're already an existing customer of MyBooky, you too can get access to a

50% cash bonus. When you log on and you make a new deposit, promo code will pop up, type in DC Reload, and you'll get a 50% cash bonus as well. They've got all the college football playoff games up and all of the rest of the NFL weekend up. MyBooky offers fair point spreads, fair totals, fair money lines, fair prop bet, not only numbers, but pricing. You're not going to get gouged like you do at some of these newer places. My bookie is old school. You're going to pay minus 110 on a straight bet loss, not minus 133 or minus 122. It adds up. You want to go somewhere where they do it right and they do it fairly. My bookie is one of those places. Use my promo code. reload. All right. Other observations from the game, I'm going to break down Jaden's game because I took copious notes on pretty much every play from his game. So let's just start with this. Bottom line, not great. It's important to note that it was just four offensive drives, and they did move the ball into the red zone on two of those four drives. One of those four drives was an end of half.

drive, just four offensive drives and 36 total offensive snaps with Jaden in the game. That was it. Why? Well, because they couldn't take the ball away or force Minnesota to give up the ball when they had it. Minnesota had one hellaciously long drive after another. I mean, the opening drive of the game wasn't, you know, 12 minutes, but it was seven plays, 61 yards, four minutes, and then the 19 play 98-yard, 12-minute, one-second drive. Yeah, so that they took up a lot of the time with the football. So four total drives, important to mention that because it wasn't, you know, a lot of football, although on two of those drives, they possessed the football for a while.

There was really a mix in terms of the results of the plays, some good, some bad, some really good and some really bad. I think the one thing the offense in general didn't do a good job with is that Minnesota's pressures and even faux pressures were disruptive and they were confusing. Again, I'm not sure who's at fault for it if they just didn't plan properly. If it was Jaden and then Mariotta, who didn't handle them well either. Brian Flores is one of the best. You know, they shut down Sam Darnold and Jackson Smith Nijigba last week in Seattle.

They just couldn't do anything on offense. You know, they were third in the league on third downs coming in, top five to top 10 in just about every other defensive category you can think of. But, you know, the one thing you know about Brian Flores' defense, he's going to come after you. And when he doesn't, it's going to look like he's coming after you. So from that perspective, and I talked about this last week, you know, I thought, this was a good test for Jaden in his first game back with a healthy supporting cast to get tested, and they did. Again, four drives. So I'm going to go through the good, I'm going to go through the bad, and then I'm going to go through with, I'm not sure I really couldn't decipher

if it was good or bad. We'll start with the good because there were some good plays made by Jaden in this game. The first second and sixth throw to Terry McClureen for 28 yards. Nice to have Terry finding a spot down field with some separation. 28 yards. That was no blitz pressure on that one and decent protection. Really good throw. They're off to the races on the opening drive of the game. First drive, they've got that third and two and he scrambles for a first down. I don't think he had much. They didn't blitz on that one either. They acted like they were. going to, but they dropped seven into coverage. So I thought that was a good play by Jaden there to move the sticks. Then they had the holding penalty on that first drive on Bates, which backed them up,

and they had a second 19 versus the blitz, and it is immediate. But he makes a really good move to avoid the sack, and he picks up six, seven yards to set up a third and 14 instead of getting sacked and being out of field goal range with like a third and 28. That was a big difference there on that play, and it gave him the opportunity to keep the football, because on 3rd and 14, this was one of the checks it looked like he made to a really good play. He sees they're going to drop into zone coverage,

and he hits Samuels in the flat on a screen. The blocking was really good, Terry in particular, and Samuels makes a really good run-after catch to move the chains, but it looked like Jaden checked to that play. You know, I'm assuming that. I'm assuming it looked like. like they gave him some responsibility. Because of the floor is defense, I'm sure. It's like you can't go and not have a chance to get out of a bad play against that defense. The next play, I think,

was a check also. I don't know if it was a check from a pass to a run or flipping the run from one side to the other, but it's Chris Rodriguez for 15 yards. But you can see Jaden check at the line of scrimmage as he gets under center to say, to tell B.I. and to tell everybody else what the play was. So I'm assuming that that was a can or, you know, a second play. He went to the second play. And Rodriguez ripped off that 15-yard run down to the four-yard line where they had the first and goal. And then, to be honest with you, on the first and goal, I think they may have had a pass called.

And he checked to the run, and Rodriguez got the ball down to the two-yard line on a two-yard run. It was kind of a read-option presentation. it didn't look like Jaden was going to keep it. It looked like it was run all the way, but it looked like Zone Reed. But again, I think he had a lot of responsibility at the line of scrimmage. That's what it looked like.

I could be wrong. But he did a lot of, you know, what appeared to be pre-snap, you know, communication to offensive line receivers and backs. And then, by the way, the third goal, when they threw it, Ertz gets held on that play. No call. And it was Van Ginkle that actually held them.

Nobody's open. Jaden's got to throw it away, but he does a nice job of extending and extending and then throwing it away. I didn't think anybody was open on that. They showed it from the end zone view. And again, I think Minnesota got away with a hold that would have created a first and goal on that. And then on the fourth and goal, so it's a four-man rush. I don't think anything's really open until Debo on that back end line has a chance. and the ball is, I thought, placed pretty nicely, and it's catchable.

You know, Debo starts to stumble a little bit. Instead of getting taller, he sort of stumbles a bit, but that's a ball you've got to catch on that fourth and goal. I did not have a problem with them going for the fourth and goal. I mean, you know, that's how they lived last year. It's fourth and goal at the two. If you miss, you're going to give J.J. McCarthy the ball first and 10 at his own two-yard line. And at that point in the game, you still got to feel fairly comfortable with that.

As it turns out, you shouldn't have felt very comfortable with that. Third drive, end of half. Good, decisive, accurate throw to Terry for six yards to the sideline on a first and 10. And then on a third and four on that third and drive, you know, less than two minutes to go. Really good throw to Terry again on. third and four. It's a low throw where it has to be, and Terry makes an excellent catch. And then third quarter, the fourth and one, he's under center. And that may have been his best. I mean, in terms of the down in distance, it's fourth and one, he's under center. They've got a three tight end bunch on that play.

Good design, play action. He's super decisive, super accurate, right to Ertz quickly. with anticipation move the sticks. So he had some good plays. I mean, I just rambled off eight, nine, ten plays that were solid. Again, he only had 36 snaps in the game. Now, the bad. Third drive, first half, the two-minute drive. Second and four, this is after his quick out to Terry for six yards.

There's an all-out blitz, and they don't seem prepared for it, and it's right in his face. But he does a good job to unload the ball to avoid the sack and avoid the sack and avoid a grounding penalty because Terry's in the general area. And he basically throws it into the ground near Terry. In fact, the announcing crew on Fox gave him credit for, you know, knowing where his receivers were to avoid a negative play. But I went back and looked at this play at halftime. Ertz is wide open.

It's a hot route versus an all-out blitz. Ertz is there. How many times does he hit Ertz decisively versus the blitz? He doesn't even look at Ertz. Now, is it possible they got in his vision and he didn't see it? Maybe, but that's the kind of play where if they're, you know, prepped up and planned up for that kind of a blitz, Ertz clearly was prepared.

He turns around after three yards, wide open. Nobody near him, uncovered. I think that's the throw. And I think he's got to make that throw. Now, maybe it wasn't something he could see based on where the pressure was coming from. But, you know, I didn't think that that was as great of a decision to avoid a bad play as the announcing crew did. Same drive. End of first half. Third drive of the game offensively for Washington. Second and 10. Minnesota shows blitz on this play, but they don't. And he

thinks it is. And he rushes it and he checks it down to Debo for a one-yard loss. I didn't like that play. I thought he could have hung in the pocket a bit longer. Now, that play followed a first in 10 in which they did come after him and he had to throw it away. He was lucky to get it off and throw it over Terry's head on an out route. He thought the pressure was coming again. It wasn't. He got fidgety. He got a little panicky and he checked it down to Debo for minus one. Now, only the all 22 will reflect whether or not there was going to be anybody open had he hung in there. He really couldn't run on that one, but I didn't think that he, you know, gave it enough time. Third quarter, the only drive they had, or that he was in on. It's a third and six four-man

rush. There's a pocket and he leaves early. I can't tell if anyone's open again until you see the all-22. Now, this is the play in which he scrambles for five yards to set up the fourth and one in which he converts by throwing to Ertz. But there's a missed opportunity on this play. First of all, I thought he left the pocket too quickly. Yes, there's an opportunity, I think, for him to flush and pick up the first down or get it close enough. But I think he didn't keep his eyes down the field because as he's running towards

the line of scrimmage, the guy that's covering Debo Samuel runs to try to tackle Jaden, and Jaden could have flipped it to a Debo easily for a big play. and he didn't. Instead, he ran, got five, set up fourth and one on a third and six, but I thought he missed a big opportunity to Debo off schedule with eyes remaining downfield. I mean, these are plays he made all last year. He's made some this year. That was not, that was a missed opportunity, I thought. And then the last two bad plays, and they were the worst for him. Third quarter, first drive, only drive third and three, before the fourth and three,

Van Ginkle interception. It looks like pressure, but it isn't, and he misses Noah Brown on the outthrow. Not sure if Brown would have gotten it, not sure if the Reed was right, but it was just not a good-looking third and three, and I think he had Terry opened. Noah Brown, it would have been if he had he caught it, and it was not a great throw. It was one of, Jaden threw the ball, okay. That was the throw he made that was not good. It was high. It was off, and I thought Terry was open. So that was, to me, the second worst play for him before the next play and the final play, the fourth and three pick, where he checks and he checks to the side of Van Ginkle. And it's just, you can't do that.

You can't do that. You know, I just don't know why that play was going to get blown up anyway. If it doesn't get picked, it's got no chance because Ertz misses the block on the Terry screen. I don't know, 14-0, 4th and 3 at that point. You know, you move the ball on your opening drive, you move the ball on your third drive, but didn't get into scoring position even though you crossed midfield. And then you're in the red zone on your fourth drive. You've got to come away with points.

Maybe you kick the field goal in 4th and 3. You know, especially against this Minnesota defense, which I think confused them a bit at times and him a bit at times. Still think they should have run the ball even more, even though they came out in heavy personnel and ran it more in the third quarter, you know, the first time they'd run it since the first drive. But, you know, Van Ginkle makes a great play. You just can't check in his direction. All right, I've got three or four other Jaden. plays that I'm not really sure if they're good or bad. So let me just go through them. First drive, second and goal after Rodriguez gets it down to the two. They try to tackle eligible

throw to Coleman. Coleman's open. And it looks like Jaden's got a chance if he throws it quickly to Coleman. It's a touchdown. With that said, Eric Wilson was right in his face, number 55. And so I don't think he can see him. And I think that's the issue. Now, maybe he could and maybe he should have unloaded it. Maybe he should have thrown with anticipation over Eric Wilson. I don't know. It's second goal from the two.

I think that the play design was a good one. I think Eric Wilson makes a really good play number 55 to disrupt it. It's hard for me to really kill Jaden for that play because I'm not sure how much. much his vision was impacted by the immediate pressure by Wilson. Third and five on their second drive, all right? Connerly Jr. gets beat badly and immediately, and Jaden scrambles, but I thought he scrambled almost in too protective mode. It was the one where he got three yards out of bounds and then they ended up punning on their

second drive. Harrison Smith is coming up to make the hit. I think he made a business decision there. Now, I'm not knocking it because we all want him to protect himself. And third and five in the second quarter isn't, you know, fourth and five in overtime. But it was third and five down 14. Nothing. So I think he could have really with great effort. And taking a hit could have gotten the first down, but he didn't. He avoided the hit and got out of bounds two yards short of the sticks. There's a third and one on the first drive of the third quarter. The play where Minnesota had 12 men on the field, I don't know if he saw it or not.

I have a feeling he didn't see it. But the pressure is immediate, and he gets hit, and he tries to wind up and throw it, and the ball is loose, and they recovered it. Twelve men on the field, they ended up getting a first down. again third and one first drive third quarter how about let's give the ball to rodriguez um but uh i i don't know if he was taking a shot downfield because he knew there were 12 men on the field but i'm not sure he saw it um one other play third quarter um the one drive of the third quarter when he threw to debo on a screen and debo wasn't expecting the screen and it was incomplete they were not on the same page on that particular play

so some good from jaden some bad from jaden some i'm not sure from jaden i'd call it a c performance it certainly wasn't terrible i mean he made some good plays um you just you need to get it into the end zone on that opening drive that changes the context of the game after you don't get it in first in ten from their own two kwan martin on that blitz has to tackle mccarthy before he scrambles for the first down, which, you know, launched this 98-yard drive. And then you can't check to a bubble screen on fourth and three where number 43 is. So, yeah, I would say overall it's a C performance. Again, you know, not a lot of snaps, four drives, two of them, they move it into the red zone,

but they don't, you know, perform in the red zone. And he had some bad plays in the red zone, especially on that. first drive of the third quarter. What else is on my other observation list? Noah Brown drew another defensive pass interference penalty, led the league last year in it, and it was Fabian Moreau, who actually got called for the defensive pass interference.

Remember him? What else did I have on this? I don't know, man. I did make one note that, look, nobody played well on defense. Nobody. But I thought Will Harris had a couple of plays in which he was in the general area. There was a bubble screen with Jefferson that he read and made a really good play on.

I think Sanra still made a good play on that one as well. Yeah, that's going to be hard, man. I'll tell you one thing. They did not, you know, they gave up a pretty big kickoff return today, which is not the norm for them. they did not have good kickoff returns themselves with Debo. So it wasn't even like a great day for the special teams. 31-0, what can you say? Embarrassing, especially to that team.

I think it's the worst loss of the year. I mean, there are several to choose from. The Detroit game was obviously really, really bad. I mean, that looked like seven-on-seven, you know, with the quarterback wearing the red jersey. The Seattle game was hideous, but this one considering the opponent was the worst, and they are at a spot at 3 and 10 where this season is lost, but you've got to take advantage of these, at least the next three. If you want to sit everybody for the finale, we get to that point, but we need to see some good against these division opponents.

And the Giants, you know, I don't even know what to say about the Giants. I haven't looked at them closely. When I started looking at Minnesota last week, I knew they were good defensively, just like Denver was good defensively. And Seattle was. They played a lot of good defenses this year, and they're going to play more.

The Eagles twice, or at least once. Anyway, I don't know. That's it, right? On tomorrow's show, we'll do some other NFL and some college football playoff man. I'll tell you what, coming in here, I heard about Notre Dame passing on a bowl bid. I think that is sour grapes, big-time sour grapes.

It was a debatable decision between Miami and Notre Dame. It wasn't like they got screwed. Anyway, all right, that's it. Back tomorrow. It's four division games in our season, and it is an absolute must that we recapture that forward progress that I saw in the last week, because we absolutely did not have that.

tonight in all three phases all the way through it.