The Kevin Sheehan Show - Upon Further Review: It's A Win

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

Kevin today with much more on the Commanders 20-19 win in New Orleans. It wasn't pretty but Kevin believes it doesn't mean it's a predictor of things to come. Clinton Portis jumped on with thoughts on the team as well.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheyenne Show. Here's Kevin. Clinton Portis is going to be on the show with me today. It's been a while since we've had Clinton on the show. Looking forward to that.

He'll join me beginning in the next segment. He's been following the team. I talked to him last week. And I am pretty sure he watched the game yesterday. But he has some thoughts on this year's team. And their prospects. moving ahead into hopefully the postseason. So Clinton will jump on with me in the next segment.

The show's presenting sponsor is Wind Donation. If you need new windows, call them. 86690 Nation or head to Windonation.com. When you mentioned my name and you heard about Windonation on this podcast, they will take really good care of you. I've got a second stab on the game yesterday, a second game take, a much more complete one. than I had on the post-game podcast that I did last evening.

If you missed it, Duran Payne joined me from the locker room in New Orleans after the game. But I'll have a lot more on the one-point win in New Orleans in just a few minutes. I wanted to start with this, two things that really have nothing to do with yesterday's game. In the NFL yesterday, there were two rare events. First, in the Eagles win over the Steelers, and they pounded Pittsburgh 27 to 13, the game actually wasn't even as close as the score indicated, and it didn't indicate that it was that close. But in the second half of that game, the Steelers had the ball for just two possessions. two times in the second half they possessed the football. That's it.

That is the first time that's happened since 2009. Listen to this. The Eagles took the second half kickoff. They drove 13 plays, took seven minutes and four seconds off the clock, kicked a field goal. Pittsburgh then returned the ensuing kickoff and fumbled after four offensive snaps. The Eagles then took the ball and went on a 13 play drive that ate up six minutes and 33 seconds of the clock and scored a touchdown. Then Pittsburgh got their second and only possession of the second half and it ended in a punt after seven plays.

And then Philly took over with 10 minutes and 29 seconds left in the game and ran out the clock. a 21-play drive with Jalen Hertz at the end, taking three knees to cap it off. In the second half alone, Philadelphia had the ball for 24 minutes and 10 seconds, Pittsburgh for five minutes and 40 seconds. Just two possessions in the second half. That is the first time that's happened in 15 years. For the game, by the way, the Eagles ran 36 more offensive plays and had a 40 to 20 time of possession advantage. By the way, similar to Washington's time of possession advantage yesterday over New Orleans.

And then the other thing that I wanted to mention from the Cincinnati Tennessee game in Nashville, the Titans had six turnovers in the game, the Bengals had four, the combined. 10 turnovers in that football game won by Cincinnati, 37 to 27. The Titans were one of my two losers in the Smeltest. Smell test, 4 and 2 on the weekend with another game coming up here in a moment. But that 10 combined turnovers, the most in an NFL game in 17 years. Minnesota and Detroit had 10 in an overtime game back in 2000. and seven. Ten turnovers is a lot. There was a time way back in the day where it wasn't that unusual, but you've got to go back now 30, 40 years to when possessing the ball and protecting

the ball maybe wasn't as important for some reason. Nowadays, it's hard, although there have been a lot of takeaways this year. A lot of interceptions actually, I think, compared to the last couple of years. Meantime, in New Orleans, Jaden Daniels became the first rookie and the fifth player in NFL history overall with four games with a completion percentage of 80 or higher, with a minimum of 20 pass attempts in each game in a season. He joins Drew Breeze, Kirk Cousins, Trevor Lawrence, and Dak Prescott. But he's the first rookie to ever have four games of 80% completion or better. Fifth in NFL history to do it in the same season. He also now has 3,0455 passing yards and 656 rushing yards on the season. He became the fourth

rookie quarterback in NFL history with at least 3,000 passing yards and 500 rushing yards joining RG3, Kyler Murray, and Cam Newton. His 656 rushing yards are the fourth most ever by a rookie quarterback. He trails only RG3, Cam Newton, and Lamar Jackson. He's almost a lock to pass Jackson and Newton. He is 160 yards away from RG3's rookie quarterback record for rushing yards. He's got three games to do it, needs to average just over 53 yards per game. It's doable.

He had 66 yesterday. Real quickly, before I go back and give you more from a lot more from yesterday's game than I gave you last night, I do want to add a game to this weekend's smell test. I mentioned on Friday show that I might do it. Chicago Plus 7 tonight against the Vikings. The Bears are a major against the public play. Bears plus seven. I like the under in that game, too.

I think it's 43, but that's not an official play. But Chicago plus the seven is, don't forget, if you don't have a place to bet football and you want to bet football, I recommend MyBooky. Go to MyBooky.orgie.orgie. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. And the first thing they'll do is they'll double your money on your deposit. whatever you deposit, they'll double that amount, put it into your account. That is a 100% cash bonus on your initial sign-up. MyBooky's got fair numbers across the board, fair point

spreads, totals, money lines, prop bet pricing, and their overall pricing is fair. MyBooky.orgie.org, take the free money, use my promo code exactly the way I described it, Kevin D.C. And if If there's something already written in the promo code, just erase it and write Kevin D.C. All right, let's get to my second and much more complete version of the Game Take. Pay attention. Here's Kevin's Game Take. All right, what I liked, what I didn't like in a lot of other observations from yesterday's game that was just kind of, you know, sailing along very smoothly and headed towards a one-size. Washington win with not a lot to be said about it, really?

And then all of the sudden, the final 25 minutes of the game showed up. Look, what I liked, I'm going to start with this. They won the game. You know, it's been a long time since our teams won a game, and the fan base and people like me didn't seem overly thrilled. Yeah, I wanted more, you know, but they won a game that gets one. won in the NFL all the time. They won ugly. And if they win another game or two and do it more impressively, we'll forget about this one. They're nine and five for the first time in 32 years.

They are guaranteed their first winning record in eight years. And they are still in a very good position as it relates to qualifying for a playoff berth. It wasn't a feel-good win for us yesterday because the eight wins they had prior to this one, all were. They were feel good. You know, they beat the Giants in week two and didn't punt. They hung 38 on the Bengals in week three on the road on Monday night football for their second win. They blasted Arizona in the desert 42 to 14 for their third win. They annihilated Cleveland 34 to 13 for their fourth win.

They crushed Carolina 40 to 7. for their fifth win. They beat the Bears on an all-time memorable moment. The Hail Mary, the deflection to Noah Brown, at the gun for their sixth win. Jaden had one of his best games of his rookie season to beat the Giants in Jersey for the team's seventh win, and their eighth win came in a total beatdown of the Titans

two weeks ago, 42 to 19. So yesterday's win, a one-point win after nearly blowing a 17-to-nothing lead against a not-very-good team that had to play their second and third-string quarterbacks, it just didn't feel the same. It wasn't nearly as impressive. But so what? Really, the NFL changes so quickly. The Eagles, remember this, the Eagles barely beat the Panthers last week and bounced back with a dominant. win yesterday over Pittsburgh. By the way, the Eagles also did something about a month and a half ago, remember, in Philadelphia, where they blew a big lead nearly lost to Jacksonville. That was an

ugly wins. So many examples of ugly wins by good teams. You know, even lucky wins. The Chiefs, not that I'm comparing our team to them, but their four wins prior to yesterday's 21 to 7, win over Cleveland. Therefore, wins prior to yesterday were by two points, three points, two points, and two points. Against, for the most part, not very good teams. They had to block a field goal to beat the Broncos. They had a game-winning field goal at the gun to beat the Panthers, and they doint in a field goal last week to beat the Chargers. Yesterday wasn't all bad either, because Washington's best players, Jaden Daniels and Terry McClorn, played well, played really well.

If everyone else can just join them Sunday against Philadelphia, then we'll be in better shape. And this will be not even really a memory other than the way it nearly ended with that clock stoppage, much more coming up on that. So number one on the list of things that I liked is they, won the game. They're nine and five. This could have been and was one play away from being a far different conversation. I'm glad that we're not having that one. Terry McLaren is on the list of things that I liked. He's just outstanding this year. And of course it's because he's got a

quarterback. This is something that I'm sure I'll end up talking to Clinton Portis about, because when he and I talked last week, he said, I told you, I told you that once Terry got a quarterback, he would be an elite receiver. Look, I still don't know if he's an elite receiver, but he is a very, very good number one receiver. And he is climbing. By the way, he's a lot to be a pro bowler.

And I think at this point, he is a lock to be an all pro to make his first all pro team. Three receivers make the first team. It'll be Chase and Jefferson. Terry might be the third. If he's not, and say, Amon Ross St. Brown or C.D. Lamb or A.J. Brown R. He'll make the second team. He'll be a second team all pro player for the first time in his career. But seven catches, 73 yards.

That first one, you know, Jaden makes an unbelievable play. But Terry comes out of nowhere to catch it. As he's catching it, he's getting hit. by not only a defender, but his own man in the end zone. Now, he did drop one of the three deep shots. You know, those three deep shots, Jaden overthrew the first one. The second one, Terry kind of hesitated. I don't know why he slowed down on that route,

but it was still there on his fingertips. It should have been caught. The third one was underthrown, and I thought Terry got interfered with when I went back and watched it again. But seven catches, ten targets total. He was seven for. seven until those last three passes. Two touchdowns. He's got 11 on the season second in the league to Jamar Chase. That catch was a good one. The one in the hole against the zone for 25 yards.

Excellent. He's such a good contested catch guy. Terry McLaurin, number one on my list. Number two is Jaden Daniels. And really, the two of them yesterday pretty much carried the team. They just made so many plays, and Jaden made even more because the balls in his hands a lot more. And that's why yesterday was a win instead of being one of those really bad losses that we used to, you know, that we had gotten used to for a long period of time. I'm going to go through Jaden's best plays and then, you know, a couple of the misses. So the first touchdown throw to Terry is absurd. I mean, flushed, rolling left, comes back, hits the ground, the knee hits the ground, gets back up, stops, fires it into the end zone.

Look, I've got calls today, and I've heard from some of you that said that that was a stupid throw. No, it wasn't. It was a phenomenal extension of the play. it's Josh Allen, it's Patrick Mahomes, it's Lamar Jackson, and then he's throwing in the direction of his best receiver. Yeah, it was into traffic, but sometimes you take those shots. And look, on a condensed field in the red zone, extending pass plays is nearly a given

if you're going to score touchdowns in the red zone. It just doesn't happen typically in the rhythm of the play, except if you're running the ball in. More on that, on that first. drive of this second half. There was a third and three on their second drive where he's got an easy throw in timing to Terry on third and three. That was one of those plays where Terry was in motion.

Terry formationally lined up in different spots. He was used more in motion. It seemed like yesterday. Jaden on a second and 20, man, second and 20 doesn't mean anything to this team. He goes to Diami Brown for 12 yards. Third and eight, the throat of Crowder. He just ripped that in timing. Crowder came up with it, bobbled it a little bit, but an excellent throw for a first down. Same drive, third drive first half, third and two.

This is the one where he scrambles on third and two, and he's got a juke a defender to get to the sideline and then stretches the ball out for the first down. phenomenal play. Third and three was the throw to Ertz on that drive. It's not actually a blitz. I think I said last night that he was blitzed. It was actually just kind of a dialed up exotic pressure that ended up being four rushing. But Jaden thought they were coming and the ball's out quickly and he leads Ertz. Maybe a tad too much, but Ertz pulls it in with one hand. That's the play. He got concussed on. He's in concussion protocol, by the way, Quinn mentioned that today. So is Jeremy Chin. There's a, the second touchdown pass to Terry. I love the way that I think he knows.

he's going to Terry. But his eyes never go there. They are moving right to left, and he is working and manipulating that field, waiting for Terry to get to that spot where he just rips it. Great throw touchdown. Fourth drive, first half, there's a second, nine, an immediate pressure, and Jaden does a good job of kind of jumping into the air to get over an immediate interior pressure and throwing it to Brian Robinson, Jr. I thought Brian Robinson Jr. actually turned and got the down. They marked him short of it. Next play, play action, immediate pressure, and Granderson, who I thought was really outstanding in the game, he has Jaden. He's got his jersey, and Jaden breaks free and scrambles for the first down. Just an incredible play. First drive, third quarter,

which I actually thought was their best drive, or their most, in rhythm drive offensively of the game because they came out, they were throwing quick game, Jaden was running it, and then at the end of that drive, you got Brian Robinson Jr. running it, but he had a scramble for six yards, a third and inches, a read option keeper for five or six yards, a first and ten quick game throw to Zakias for 14. And then came a play, which actually was registered as a run. It's a quick game throwout. into the flat to Brian Robinson, Jr. Brian Robinson Jr. is behind Jaden. Jaden's got to throw it kind of backwards to avoid, I think it was Chase Young. May have been Cam Jordan, but I think it was

Chase Young. And it was called a lateral. It was a 20-yard play, which, you know, I'll get to this when I get to the list of things that I didn't like. But Brian Robinson, Jr. was credited for 20 yards on a rush when actually that was really intended, I don't know, maybe it was intended to go backwards, but it was a flat pass, you know, a quick game pass out into the flat. It wasn't a touch pass, you know, it was a throw. And it picked up 20. And then on second nine on that drive, Jaden had a really good scramble for 15 yards. Everything looked covered. I've seen a lot of the all 22. Some of, I'm going to go through his sacks. but, you know, without Noah Brown, and, you know, we can go through some of the receivers that played,

because I thought some of them played well, but it was hard to get people open consistently yesterday for some reason. We go to the second drive of the second half. He's got that really good throw versus zone coverage to Terry for 25 yards. He's got the third and 14, the incredible scramble for 24 yards. That may have been his best run. Well, it was. I was going to say it may have been the best play of the game for him, but it was such an incredible scramble.

He is boxed in, somehow escapes. That's such a Jaden Daniels play from LSU, 24-yard run. The fourth and one that they went for from their own 45 in the fourth quarter, I mean, what a great job to get that first down, because they read, they were up on the line of scrimmage, they ran zone read, he kept it, it got hemmed in, and he dove for the first down. That ball came out, but it was definitely out based on the ball hitting the ground, in the ground causing the fumble. Their fourth drive, he's got the third and three to Bates, real good, quick release,

identifying, you know, the pick route that they're running and that it's going to come free. he had the big time throw to Zekees for 13 yards on 2nd and 12. And then of course he had the big throw to Diami Brown, but Allegretti got called for holding on that one. And I thought that call was actually a good call. So just some incredible runs, incredible throws. The things that, you know, he gets dinged for, in my opinion, Number one is the opening drive when he's down on the pile but not down on the field on a first and goal run.

I hate that play. I hate quarterback counter. I just don't like running him into a pile. But they insist on running him on quarterback counters occasionally. And we've seen it a lot in the red zone, especially when we get inside the 10. Remember, he scored on a similar play against Arizona. But man, he's in a pile. He's lying on the top of a pile.

and he extends the ball out. That's not a smart play on first and goal. And it got knocked out. McNichols did a great job of hustling to recover it, or they would have lost the football. And then you got to ding him for two of those deep shots. He's a really good deep ball thrower. He certainly was in college.

We've seen it at times this year without any doubt. And he missed Terry. He overthrew him in the first one, you know, badly overthrew him, really. and then the third one was a bit underthrown. And I do think it was defensive pass interference. And then he had the one that was dropped. But I think, you know, he gets dinged a little bit for those plays. But for me, it's still, you know, it's an A-minus B-plus performance for Jaden.

I mean, without it, any other quarterback would have been sacked more times than he was. He was sacked eight times in the game. I'm going to get to that when I get to the list of things that I didn't like. and some of them were on him. So all the good runs he made, scrambles he made, throws he made, he missed Terry Deep twice, he stretched out the ball near the goal line and nearly lost it, and probably three or four of those sacks, three of them anyway, definitely two of them seemed like he could have gotten rid of the football

or stepped up in a different way in the pocket. But still, another really, really good performance from Jaden Daniels in his rookie year. Also on the list of things that I liked from the game. I thought Diami Brown was solid in this game. Three catches, 30 yards, two of them were, you know, touch passes behind the line of scrimmage. He had the bubble. He had the big catch that got nullified by the Allegretti hold, but that's a big-time contested catch, which would have ended the game.

I think Diami's been playing really well, and it's very clear that Diami Brown and, of course, Zakias and even Crowder are really the replacements, along with some 12 personnel extra tight ends for Noah Brown more than Luke McCaffrey is. Luke McCaffrey had 12 snaps in the game, the fewest in a game for him this year. Crowder had 21 snaps. Zakias 38 and Diami 61. Diami is also a good blocker. Noah Brown was a solid blocker. Diami's been a solid blocker for a big part of the year. Put it this way. He's a willing blocker more times than not.

But it looks like Luke McCaffrey, you know, Senate, Luke McCaffrey, Senate was in the game yesterday for a bunch of snaps because Ertz got hurt, you know, got concussed and was knocked out of the game. But he really hasn't done much this year. And, you know, for two of their night two picks, love to see more. And I'm sure we will in the future. I just thought the loss of Noah Brown might mean more for McCaffrey. Offensively on third down, also on my list of things that I liked. They were nine for 17. I also thought Zach Ertz played well before being concussed. Marshawn Latimore.

How about this? He was in the game. First of all, he played 53 of the 55 snaps in the game, in his first game against his former team. According to NFL next-gen stats, I got this from Sam 40A's column. He was in on 35, 35 of his 53 snaps were coverage snaps, all right, against throws. And he was not targeted once. Not once. That's impressive. I can't remember

the last time Washington had a corner that the other team completely ignored. Now, will Philadelphia and Atlanta and Dallas with C.D. Lamb and Drake London and A.J. Brown and DeVante Smith, are they going to ignore them? Are they going to throw away from him? I don't know if he's that kind of corner. He's a good corner. The Saints have. their backup and their third string quarterback playing yesterday without much to throw to. So, yeah, Marshawn Latimore in his first game not being thrown at, essentially taking half the field away, that's impactful. He's on the list of things that I liked. Other players that stood out to me, I love Dorrance Armstrong in some games. You know, other games, not so much.

I thought his motor was high. He chased down and nailed somebody on his screen. He had good pressures. I like Dorrance Armstrong in this season in general. I think he was a solid addition. Sanra still had a pick. I mean, look, Hainer threw it right to him. This guy was terrible, Hainer. And a lot of the defensive numbers in the first half, look, a lot of the defensive numbers that have been improving, you know, this year, I'm not, I'm just not buying it. They played Will Levis. They played two backup quarterbacks. I mean, Cooper Rush lit them up for the most part. You know, they had, you know, the Giants and Caleb struggling for most of the game.

And Andy Dalton, you know, in that game. They just, they played three backups and now four, really, when you count the two in the game yesterday. I don't think anybody was as bad as Hainer was yesterday. although Deshawn Watson, remember in week five, was pretty damn close. But I thought Sanra still, you know, he's still got to make the catch, you still got to be there. And he also had a near second pick. Other guys that stood out, I thought Duran had a good game.

I thought Wagner as a pass rusher man, when they stunt him or they blitz him, he is so crafty and just continues to get pressure. I also thought Newton made a couple plays, had a tip ball. On the big completion that Rattler had to Valdez Scantling on their first touchdown drive, that was an incredible throw. Johnny Newton hit his hand, and I don't know how the ball ended up getting DeValdes Scantling or even getting caught. It looked like Chin and Juan Martin had opportunities.

That was really the play that got the Saints going. The next play was the double pass to Camara for the touchdown that made it 17 to 7. But defensively, Lattimore, Armstrong, Sanristil, Newton, Payne Wagner. On a day in which great results in the first half, but I chalked that up to the opponent and the quarterback, and not such great results in the second half. Also, I think the kick coverage and the punt coverage was solid. again. All right, what I didn't like, and it includes a lot more from what I had last night, and several other kind of observations, including which I will get to the Sean Hockely statement

on the clock stoppage with nine seconds to go. We'll do all of that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey guys, prize picks is the place to go to for daily fantasy sports. I have the prize picks app. I'm one of the over 10 million members at prize picks where billions of dollars are awarded in winnings. Prize picks has made daily fantasy sports accessible to everybody. You just pick more or less on at least two players and their projected stats for a shot to win up to a thousand times your cash. Run your game all season long on prize picks, America's number one daily fantasy sports app. Make your holidays bigger and brighter with prize picks the best place to get real money action while watching your favorite sports. You can now win up to a thousand times your money on prize picks. Prize picks now offers MasterCard for quick and easy deposits into your account this sports season. Join now because this holiday season, Prize Picks is giving away two free picks in December and they're giving away $30 plus million. in rewards during PICMIS.

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with eight minutes or so to go in the third quarter, down 17-0. Four drives. Four drives, four scores. They weren't that good against the run. They weren't that good against the pass. The Saints had nine plays in the second half of 12 yards or more. Nine in a half. 207 total yards. Remember, they had a lot more in penalty yardage, too, which shouldn't have happened. They averaged nearly six and a half yards per play in the second half, not counting penalty yardage. that's not a good half against Spencer Rattler in that group that they were facing yesterday. The big difference between Rattler and Hainer is that Rattler, I thought, was really decisive. Hainer couldn't figure out where to set up in the pocket.

His eyes were coming down with pressure. Never saw a checkdown. Now, he had a couple balls dropped by Valdez Scantling, including what would have been a big play. And Rattler had one or two dropped. But it just was not a great half of football. I mean, at the end of the day, they had the ball for, you know, 19 minutes and 50 seconds in the game. Washington had it for 40 minutes and 50 seconds. Washington had 24 or 25 more offensive snaps, and they were within a point.

They were within a play of winning the game. And the single biggest reason, more than any other, is that defensively they really point. weren't good at all against a team that they should have been able to shut down regardless of who was playing quarterback. But four drives, four scores, 19 points, and a two-point conversion away from winning the game, six and a half yards per play, 207 yards and nine plays of 12 yards or more. In the second half, they also had one in the first half. Yeah. Second on the list. They didn't rush the ball in this game.

Brian Robinson, I mentioned the backwards lateral 20-yard gain that was given to him as a rushing play. He ended up 21 for 65, but he was really 20 for 45. You know, Jaden should have had 20 more passing years. They shouldn't have had, he should have gotten credit for it because it was a lateral. It was not a forward pass, but it was a flat lateral out into the flat, you know. But really what he had as a runner was a 20 for 45 day. That's 2.25 yards per carry. And he had multiple TFLs in the back field, getting caught for, I think, three or four tackles for loss in the back of field.

Look, part of that is Dieter in for Beiotish, Beiotish not being there. Maybe a lot of the pass pressure was Dieter as well. So that was probably a part of it, but they just didn't run the ball well at all. And by the way, when they did on the first drive at the end of the third quarter, at the beginning of the third quarter, excuse me, that first drive, which was my favorite drive of the game for them, you know, quick game, some good runs by Jaden. And then they got into the goal to go situation. and Robinson pounded it twice down to the one-yard line. And then they ran under center a naked boot with, you know, I think McCaffrey's supposed to be in the flat after he was supposed to chip Cam Jordan,

and it got blown up, completely blown up in the backfield. Why not after Robinson finally got into a little bit of a rhythm there? Why not? Actually, yeah, it was Cam Jordan. I was going to say, did I say Cam Jordan? it was Cam Jordan that blew that play up. It wasn't Granderson, I don't think. Granderson was outstanding in the game. So was Demario Davis. They actually had some really good defensive players on the field in Chase Young, Jordan,

Davis, Granderson, to name a few. But I didn't like that third and one. I would have just run it twice. You know, they got, look, Jaden on a bootleg is usually unstoppable. McCaffrey was in there and was supposed to chip Jordan, and it was not a very. very good effort at all. So, yeah, they didn't run the ball well. Second half defense, not good. And now we get to pass protection. There were eight sacks, but I think three of them essentially were plays in which Jaden scrambled back to the line of scrimmage or just barely behind it. Remember during the offseason when I said, look, this pressure to sack percentage, there's a lot there, including the fact that a lot of the sacks are like, you know, zero-yard gains

and one-yard losses and two-yard losses. He'll turn, you know, a six or seven-yard sack into a one or two-yard sack. He did that three times yesterday. So there were really five sacks, but there were so many pressures in the game. They just did not hold up. And maybe it was, you know, all Beiotish's absence. That could have been a big part of it just from a past protection you know, call standpoint. But Jaden was under pressure. Jaden got sacked. Jaden was on the run. I mean, how many of those sacks, how many of those pressures would have been sacks had it not been him? The first sack of the game, early second quarter, I thought Crowder was open in the flat. He didn't look in that direction. I thought that was available. Chase Young had that sack.

I don't know if it's totally on Jaden necessarily, but there was an opportunity to unload it. Early second quarter was the second sack. It was a third and 16. And here's one of the things we're starting to see. Not starting to see. We've been seeing it all year. On third and long, he's trying to get a first down.

He's not trying to check it down, unless the checkdown is for a fourth down conversion or for field goal range. You know, he's trying to make a play. And because of it, that's why. he takes some of the big ones that he takes. Chase Young, Cam Jordan came on a stunt. You know, Robinson was open on a checkdown. Nothing else was open.

I don't know who you blame for that one. He held it too long, floated a little bit back and got sacked for a big loss. He's not checking it down on 3rd and 16. I think he should start checking it down on 3rd and 16 occasionally if nothing is available. The next sack came with about a minute 25 to go in the first half. No, I'm sorry, about 1125, not 1.25. 1125 left in the second quarter. He scrambled back to near the line of scrimmage.

It's not really a sack, but it is a pressure. And then the fourth sack came with two minutes to go in the first half, and it's another one of those pressure scramble out of bounds for zero or minus one. so that's not really a legitimate sack. And then there's one more late second quarter, under two to go, third and nine. This was one I think was on him. Nobody's open necessarily, but he's kind of casual, and he drifts backwards. And I thought there was an opportunity for him to step up.

Sack number six, second and 14 in the third quarter, Chase Young gets to him. I thought he needed to step up into the pocket sooner. I'm not sure there was a lot there. The seventh sack was a third and eight in the fourth quarter. He scrambles up and goes right and there was an exit to the left or just, you know, left center that he didn't see and he took a sack. I know he got sacked eight times. I think there was another one that I couldn't find that must have been just a scramble back to the line of scrimmage that was called a sack. So there may have been four of those.

One, two, yeah, three of those, I think five regular sack. but too much pressure, too much of him taking some shots. And, you know, this is a perfect time for me to mention this. I was going to mention it and kind of other observations. I don't love right now their play action game. And it's not that I don't think that they should be running play action, but from shotgun and from pistol in particular, they're not selling it well.

this could be really something that a coach out there would say, no, this is the reason we're doing it. You know what a really good solid play action fake looks like. The ball, you know, or a hand goes into the gut and there's kind of a duck down like you're handing it off. And, you know, especially when you're under center, not when you're up in the pistol or in the shotgun, but you actually turn your back to the defense.

Jaden gives a very quick fake and then is looking downfield. ready to make the throw. I just don't think it's holding anybody. I mean, he's still making big-time throws, but I don't love the play action. I think he's a really good ball handler most of the time, but it seemed, and maybe yesterday it was really quick because he knew he was going to get pressured quickly. All right, that's on the list of things I didn't like, pass protection, and just went through the sacks with you. Penalties. And, And of course, some of these penalties included some bad calls. So the two roughing the passer penalties on Fowler Jr., I think were both horrendous calls, period.

Now, what's also true is they didn't, you know, extend drives. One of them was a first and 10, 19-yard completion to Moreau. The other one was a second downplay. They would have had a third down to try to get the first down. But it's still 30-free yards, you know? it's 30 yards that the Saints wouldn't have had, and neither one of them was a good call. The second one's ridiculous. It is a normal hit right after the ball is unloaded, and there's no body weight landing on Rattler.

The first one, does he graze Rattler's helmet with his hand? Yes, but it's not a shot to the head. I thought those were two bullshit calls on Fowler Jr. I also think that Terry got interfered with on that third deep shot. I thought that there was contact before the ball got there. A couple of others that I think were the right calls. I think the Allegretti hold was a good call on the throat of Diami that would have ended the game for all intents and purposes.

Poor Benjamin St. Juice plays three snaps, and on one of them he gets called for hands to the face. That did extend a drive. Zichias was on a Zichias touchdown on that opening drive. They ended up getting the touchdown anyway. but there was an illegal shift that was a good call. And I thought the hold on Diami Brown on that third down conversion to Terry was a good call as well. I'll tell you what, they missed one against Washington at the very end.

Armstrong was in the neutral zone. It certainly looked that way to me on the third down and three. That was the one where Rattlers pressured. He flushes left, throws into the end zone for Pettus, and Noah I is covering him. Saints fans wanted a hold or defensive pass interference. I didn't think that Noah Igben O'Genni did anything that warranted that. But it did look like Armstrong jumped and was in the neutral zone before the ball was snapped,

which would have been a five-yard penalty first down with about 20-something seconds to go. So, you know, for all of the hand-wringing over the officiating, that would have been a massive call. and I think they missed it. But yeah, I mean, the two penalties against Fowler Jr. in particular were absurd. Just bad penalties. And then we have the clock stoppage. So let me net it out for you. You guys have all seen the play now.

The clock stopped on the throat of Moreau on fourth and three for the first down, down to the one-yard line with nine seconds left in the clock. So early this morning, I just went back in time. And I didn't time it from the time it hit nine seconds and stopped until it started again. I timed the entire play from the snap with 17 seconds until Rattler clocked the ball with three seconds to go. It took, on average, I timed it like three times. On average, it was 16 and a half seconds. Okay, so anybody telling you that the clock was stopped for four seconds or five seconds, they're just exaggerating.

The clock was stopped for roughly two and a half seconds, right? Because there were three seconds left on the clock, and it was 16 and a half seconds. So, yeah, I think that two things are possible here. One, that the clock would have run out had it not stopped with nine seconds. And two, if the clock hadn't stopped, maybe New Orleans would have gone faster and spiked it faster. Now, maybe they would have risked not being aligned properly. You know, most coaches, and I remember Tom Brady talking about this in New England, but they'll tell you you need about 15 seconds to throw the ball over the middle of the field

or in the field of play with no timeouts left, as long as it's not a bomb downfield, and you should have enough time to get to the line of scrimmage if you do everything correctly and clock the ball. Well, they started that play with. 17 seconds. Now, he held it a little bit before he threw it to Moreau. Moro was more of a checkdown throw for the first down. And then there wasn't, you know, a perfect operation in getting to the line of scrimmage to clock it. It was really close, really close. And, you know, maybe there would have been a second left. Maybe that last second would have ticked off. I think it would probably

would have ticked off. But maybe the Saints would have picked up a second when Rattler looked at the clock and saw instead of five, four, three, he saw three, two, you know, and maybe he would have, you know, had more, even more urgency in that moment. The good news is it didn't cost in the game because the two-point conversion was missed with decent coverage on that play. Last thing on the list of things that I didn't like, I didn't like the end of the first half. I mentioned that on the pod last night. I just don't get up 14-0-0 in the context of the game being that your opponent cannot score without you helping them. Now, did they know that Rattler was coming in in the second half? Was he warming up on the sideline? Did they fear Rattler? Did they think New Orleans

made a mistake in starting Hainer? They did, clearly, yesterday anyway, and they felt they needed more points because Rattler was going to come out and light them up in the second half? I doubt it. think from your own two-yard line with one timeout left in a 14-0-0 game against a team that can't score, you run the ball like they did with McNichols for five yards. If he rips off a nice run, 10, 12, 14, 15 yards, fine. Let's go take a shot. But after he picks up five, I'm not calling a time out there. I think I'm letting the clock go to zeros. I'm going into the locker room up 14-0, and I'm getting the ball to start the second half. And the reason I'm doing that also,

the other part of that context is they're rushing my passer consistently. And I don't want to sack, I don't want to turnover, I don't want a bad play. Injuries, chin and hurts, I mentioned, are in concussion protocol. Beaudish was sick, so he should be fine for the Eagles game. Zane Gonzalez, Quinn, said,

just moments ago was close to playing, but there were enough questions with his plant foot, and that's why they went with Greg Joseph. Look, Ertz Echler, Noah Brown, all being out, maybe, they got, you know, the number of pass-catching and play-making options is decreasing, although I do think Diami Brown's really starting to show us something.

All right, on the other list, and then I'll get to Clinton Portis. So a lot of others. Let me just start with this. I think Dan kicking the field goal from 54 yards out was the right decision. It's a debatable decision. At 20 to 13, you've got a kicker with a big leg. He's made multiple kicks of longer than 54. He's got a 61-yard or to his credit in Minnesota.

He's also a kicker that's incredibly inconsistent. consistent and was that way in Minnesota, and it's why he keeps going from team to team. And he had missed one, you know, which didn't count at the end of the third quarter. I'm not sure why they thought it should have counted that the clock hit zeros at the end of the third quarter for about three seconds and they let him kick it anyway. But I would have kicked it there. I wouldn't have punted it, even if, you know, with Tressaway, you could get it down to the 12, 10-yard line and you put it on Spencer Rattler to take it 90 yards or 85 yards or even

yards if the punt goes into the end zone with one time out left. I understand that argument. For me, I'm going to end the game right there because my defense has not been able to get off the field in the second half. They're three for three driving the football. And I, indoors, 54 is, you know, 10 years ago is the 44-yard kick. We've seen all these kicks. Distance was not an issue. It was not a good snap. Tyler Ott's had some issues with some of these snaps. He did in the Dallas game, did yesterday, and he missed the kick, unfortunately. Speaking of snaps, Deeter had trouble snapping the ball to Jaden in the shotgun and in the pistol. There was a snap on the opening drive that was way off that ruined a play. Basically busted a

play. It was supposed to be a zone read with Brian Robinson Jr. And Jaden never got the ball in time to put it in his gut to either hand it to him or keep. it. He ended up keeping it. He ran for a yard, but it was a terrible snap, and Jaden was just lucky to be able to pull it in. There were a couple of others that were off a bit, which, by the way, also could have led to some of the play action, I thought, casualness. And maybe it was more that Jaden was just focused on getting the snap and not, you know, turning with a real strong playfake because the snaps were coming inconsistently, and the pressure was coming behind it. The opening drive of the game was a strange drive with the penalties,

with the penalty against New Orleans on the made field goal, which gave Washington a chance to continue that drive in which they scored a touchdown on. By the way, that was a penalty that, you know, they went away for a break, and you came back and Washington had the ball, and Pereira said it was the right. call that there was some contact on Tyler Ott's head. But on the very first play of that first drive, Jaden is on a bootleg and nobody's there in the flat. It's a weird play. If you go back and watch the very first offensive play from Scrimmage, it's a play in which made the whole, the drive was strange, including the touchdown pasted Terry was a crazy play. But that first

play, it looks like it's a bootleg. We always. know what a bootleg looks like. You know, you fake the ball to the running back going in one direction and you're coming back. You know, the Shanahan's called quarterback keepers and you got a receiver in the flat. It's a tight end or it's a fullback. We don't have a fullback. You got another receiver that's, you know, the next level down. There was nobody there for him to throw the ball to. And so he had to basically run it ended up going out of bounds for like a yard. I don't know if they just didn't get the play in correctly, or if it wasn't called correctly, or Jaden screwed it up, or someone else screwed it up. But that play didn't make any sense to me. What else is on my other list?

Frankie Louvre should have had an interception. That would have been big. Right in his hands. It was 20 to 10 in the fourth quarter. Really would have been a nice one to get. I like Crowder on punt returns. I think Jameson Crowder is decisive. He doesn't drop or fumble the ball, knock on wood. And I thought McCaffrey did a good job on kickoff returns. He was back there with McNichols and he got a couple of opportunities. You know, they kick it into that landing zone on kickoffs,

even with a guy like Greg Joseph who can pound it through the back of the end zone if he had wanted to. they just like covering kicks and they've been pretty good at it all season long with the exception of the Cavante Turpin kickoff return. And what else do I have here? I mentioned I didn't have a problem with him kicking that field goal. Yeah, I mean, that's pretty much it. Oh, one more thing, because I wanted to read the Sean Hockeley, the head referee,

a Q&A with the pool reporter after the game about the clock stoppage with nine seconds to go. And I'll just summarize it, actually. Hocularly being interviewed by the pool reporter. Remember, I actually talked about this after the Pittsburgh game

with the Ertz spot of the ball. Every local team has a beat reporter assigned as the person that can request an interview with the head referee in the event that there's something, you know, like what happened yesterday. And Luke Johnson is that reporter in New Orleans. He interviewed Sean Hoculay about the clock stopping.

And Hoculie said that the covering official mistakenly stopped the clock in that situation the clock should not have stopped. We had that referee. I think his name was Jim Quirk, number five, come in, crossing his hands to stop the clock like it was a college game. And then the pool reporter asked, was there any consideration of reviewing the stoppage? Was there anything that you could have done after the fact? And Hoculi said, no, it's not a situation that is reviewable. And then there was the question, when were you all aware of the mistake? And Hoculie said, that's all I have for you, Luke. The covering official mistakenly stopped the clock at nine seconds, and it is not reviewable. A little surly there at the end.

And, you know, that's a tough play to review. I mean, what do you do? You realize that the clock stopped. You realize that it stopped for two, two and a half seconds. Do you put a second on the clock? Do you put a half second? They don't have tenths of seconds in the NFL. Do you take it down to zero?

How is that fair to New Orleans? They were going based on looking at the clock. They didn't realize in live time that it had stopped. Washington was aggrieved. New Orleans didn't have the opportunity to respond to a normal running clock. So I kind of get why it's not reviewable, but still, they butchered that end. And thankfully, Washington still won the game. Because if that had cost them the game, if they had converted the two-point conversion,

then you're talking about major controversy because Washington's sitting here at 8 and 6 and in much worse position for the postseason. All right, Clinton Portis, after these words from a few of our sponsors. Euro step around that hot take and make a play today with Robin Hood. With a 3% boost on your annual IRA contributions with Robin Hood gold, your money starts working for you. That's an easy assist without the flagrant fouls. Official brokerage in Jersey patch partner of the Washington Wizards.

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They'll be in and out of your home in an hour or less. And if you get it done before the end of the month, you'll get access to their holiday end-of-year sale. That includes 50% off all windows, zero percent interest for six years, and another 10% off. So 60% off when you mentioned that you heard about when Donations offer on this podcast. Give them a call. 866-90 Nation. or head towindonation.com. All right. Joining me right now is Clinton Portis, number 26, who is, I don't know what you're doing these days.

I haven't talked to you in a while on the air. I talked to you last week. We got caught up a little bit, but it's been a while since you've been on the show. Tell everybody what you're up to and tell everybody about Camden, your son, committing to Miami. Man, that's what I've been doing, keeping busy running around with kids. We've got a youth program, actually myself, London Fletcher, Nate Clements, Antoine, but they're here in the Carolinas that we're helping kids get into school. So we have about 20 to 22 kids that we're helping get to college.

And my kid is one of them. Fortunate for us, he already committed to the University of Miami. but we got some young overlooked dogs on the way. You know, Fletch son is in our organization as well, and he's going to be up next. So we got some young kids that's really cutting up out here in the sports world. And I think we're doing a good thing, service in the community.

So it's kind of just been running with these kids out of the way, man. So Camden, three-star, four-star corner out of Charlotte, commits to Miami, got offers from everywhere. Ohio State, Penn State, all the big guys, and ended up at your alma mater. First, just tell me real quickly, is he as good as you were? A different position, but is he as good an athlete? That's hard to say, man. You know, I think today's kids are totally different.

The one thing that I think I had where it was advantage was the heart in the competitor. you know, in today's sports, the competitor is kind of missing, you know, kids won't give and, like, oh, no, you got to give this to me instead of going out, taking it, you know, really going through challenges. It's not enough kids on one team anymore that you got dogs that you compete with. You know, the situation I was in in college to have a Willis McGaheyer, Frank Gore, Najee Davenport, Jerry, Payne, James Jackson, I don't think that. can happen in today's world.

You know, that competition that every day you walk in here is somebody trying to take your position, I think is missing. So for him, and he's only 16, you know, so he still has a lot of growing to do. But just the competition, I grew up in Florida. He grew up in Carolinas. You know, it's a different competition. You know, it's some skilled kids, some good kids here in the Carolinas. We got a lot of young dogs on.

on our youth team, but just the overall competition, and then you don't get that offense, defense. You don't play both ways. You know, a lot of coaches kind of, they don't know how to deal with that. They don't know how to exploit that. So for me, I grew, I'd never left the field. So I think that was an advantage for me. But I think Cam is coming into his own.

I have another son, Chad, who's going to cut up as well. So he was actually leading this team and receptions, receiving yards, and touchdowns before going down. He fractured his collarbone. So we're going to bounce back, man, and I think it's just been a good journey. It's been great to see Cam get the credit and the attention he deserves. Great to get that offer from the University of Miami. I'll tell you, the landscape has changed so much in college football. because for me, I've been having an attitude with Ohio State since 2002

when they got us in the Fiesta Bowl when they cheated us. And I damn never came a fan. I damn never came a fan on this recruiting trail. I almost committed to Ohio State. I want to just, hey, Cam, listen, man, think about this. You know, I think the tools and what they present, what these schools are offering, just the facility, just the atmosphere. Like, it's crazy. It puts a lot of pressure on you.

So I think just having the opportunity to experience or explore that with my kids, it's been great. It keeps you busy, keeps you broke. But it's all good, man. It's a good thing. Did you just say that you almost committed him to Ohio State instead of your alma mater? Hey, I almost committed me to Ohio State. The hell of what he was doing. Well, did you guide him in any direction?

I didn't guide him in any direction. You know, most of my conversation, most of my advice is, you know, know what you're looking for. Make sure you don't get even to my. And I said, hey, make sure you don't cheat my son in this process. Like, don't think because I went here, I'm putting, hey, no, no, go to you will. No, you're going to go through the full process, recruit my kid, get a relationship with my kid, because that's who's going to be there. You're not getting a relationship with me, and I made sure he understood that.

Like, you got to know, you got to like, and mainly you got to love whoever your position coach is. I know it's a lot of coaches calling you, but once you get on that cancer, once you put your name on the dotted line, it's your position coach that you're going to be with and your DC who voice you're going to hear. So you better make sure that you got a relationship with them. I know you're like, oh, the head coach is calling me and this is cool. Once you get on that campus, hey, the head coach has got to call somebody else. All that, this is my boy, this is my buddy.

No, that's not going to happen. So you make sure you got a relationship with that DB coach. And, you know, I think a lot of the schools did a great job. And it just came down to his mom with the UM as well. She ran track at UM. So he grew up at UM. And I always told, I said, when you get in the locker room, you'll know where you're supposed to be. Like you'll know it's going to be a natural vibe.

You're going to hit it off with the guys. Like, that's where you're supposed to be. And I never said in Miami locker room. So when he made a decision, you know, it's just one of those, man, think about it. You know, there's a lot of pressure that I know you, you want to create your own lane and you're trying to do your own thing. But when you give him some footsteps the following going to the University of Miami, and I made sure to be clear with him on that.

He wanted to blaze his own trail. I said, listen, if you want to start your own thing, you probably need to go anywhere besides Miami. So you make sure that's what you want to do because when you step on that campus, I'm a big dog down there, you know. So if you want to get out my shadow, I don't know if that's the purpose. you want to go. You know, let me just repeat for those that are listening. Clinton's son Camden chose Miami over Ohio State, Penn State, Tennessee, Auburn, had offers from Ole Miss, Missouri, Carolina, NC State, big-time corner prospect. You said that, you know, you told Miami,

you got to recruit him like he's not my son, like I want him to get the full recruitment. Did schools in their process of recruiting cam, did they try, did you have a lot of conversations with, say, Ohio State or James Franklin at Penn State or anybody, were they trying to kind of recruit you too to convince your son to go? How does that work when you are the father of a son who's a big time recruit? And as the father, you played professional football and was, you know, a national champion in college? Well, I mean, Ohio State still, they still reach down. You know, if they haven't stopped with truth, they still sending sex and keeping in touch. So when you look at it, you know, just going through that landscape is kind of, and I'll share it with them. You know, of course, talk to me, whatever, talk to mom, cool, but it's Cam you got to convince.

Like, I don't want to, I'm not pushing him anyway. And you realize on that landscape, you have a lot of relationships. You have a lot of people that you know that you didn't realize like, what? You did it? Yeah. What the hell? Yeah. So it's one of those situations where you already have a lot of connections on a lot of these staffs.

And it's that reunite and, hey, I can tell them you're a great dude, but you got to recruit my kid. Like, you've got to convince him. I'm not going to be the one that I'm going to be here, but I'm not the one playing. and I'm not the one you got to make comfortable. So it's going to be his decision, and I wanted to make sure that it was his decision, not mine. Like, hey, you come talk to me, like, let's have this discussion, the way the pros and cons, what you like about it, what you don't like about it,

what you're looking for, like what you think could be at it, and that's the approach we took. So, again, he still, every time he got to Miami, it was just like he was lighting up to a lot of the kids that he grew up with, because we were in Miami first before we moved to Carolina. So a lot of the kids that he grew up with are making those decisions as well. So you see a lot of those kids on the visits as well. So it was just one of those.

That's where he felt comfortable. That's where he felt like his fit was, and we shall see. But it sounds like you wanted to go to Ohio State, that Columbus and the way they were. I'm kidding. I'm kidding, but that you were very impressed. with Ohio State, clearly. Yeah, I honestly was impressed with Ohio State. I was impressed with Old Miss.

I love what Lane is doing. I thought Tennessee with Coach Heiple, out in Missouri, you know, they took a charge, Ray, Auburn, Coach Climb. So, bro, it's a lot of people. You realize there's a lot of relationships you have that you need to tacking to. You know, UNC, their coach and staff, you know,

turned over, but even UNC, like, all the late pressure that was coming. So it was just one of those Universal Florida, you know, when their coaching situation finally got settled for the University of Florida and jump on board, you're like, damn, well, I wouldn't high school in games with it. You know, and I think Florida is doing the good thing. So it's a lot, that landscape just to navigate it when you're saying, like, boy, I feel good about my kid going to this school.

Like, I feel good. I feel good about this town. I feel good about this atmosphere. like it's a lot, you know, and you just got to make sure that kid understands because I don't want to be bouncing around in no portal. You know, we changed high schools and I hate like that. It bothers me that we had to change high schools in this process. You know, like I hate that we change high schools because I don't want to be their parent or that kid that's bouncing like we're looking for opportunity. You know, it just wasn't a good fit.

and we needed to showcase our talent, so we had to make a business decision. So therefore, even when it comes down to going to college, I'm like, you know, everybody's jumping in the portal. Now, a lot of these kids get lost in the shuffle. Where you go, you got to think we thugging it out. Like, we got to make this work, you know? Right. Yeah, I mean, it's a really good point.

I mean, nowadays these players have basically annual. unrestricted free agency. They can transfer wherever they want, and there's no real contract with NIL. I mean, there are occasions where guys, you know, commit for more than a year. And the landscape of college sports is changing even further where, you know, there's going to be a salary cap. There's going to be a lot of stuff going on. You said something that I want to just go back to, and we will get to Washington and

their, you know, close win yesterday over New Orleans. Clinton's been following the team all year long. But you said that, and I think everybody listening knows what kind of player you were. You were one of those dogs. You were one of those killer competitors game day. It didn't matter if you had the ball in your hands or you didn't. And you said about the way players are today. I mean, you know, Doc always talks about that.

One of Doc's favorite lines is, I would never really. recruit a kid that had air conditioning in his home. I'd never, I'd never recruit a kid that had, you know, a two-door garage. But, you know, don't you think a lot of that inner, tough, competitiveness is innate more than it is learned? Yeah, I do. You know, it was like, I seen the interview with Michael Irving one time talking about this kid rapping, and him saying, like, bro, you grew up in a gated community, you know, and we call out crew like the coldestack kids. When you look at London Fletcher's son, you know, Stil Fletcher, he's a dog,

but, man, you live on the golf course. You know, when you look at my kid, like, bro, y'all never went through. You didn't have to fight on the bus. You didn't have to hold up for yourself. Like at school, you are ready to be. You know, like, you all didn't have to experience the things that made us tough. You know, in P.E., it was personal if I wasn't the first pick. Like, that carries throughout the day before school when we meet to play basketball

and somebody, oh, I'm the Catholic. You don't pick me first. Me and you kind of act eyes. I'm out here to prove to you. You are wrong. You see what I'm saying? So they don't have that. They have this.

I'm friends. And me and my friends playing together, although I was picked fourth or fifth, like it's still cool, the ha, ha, ha, ha, we're on the same team. No, that's not the way I look at things, you know. But for them, it works. For us, you know, and me and Fletch, we argue all the time and we laugh about, you know, what we think a dog is or being a dog. And you look at these kids, they're so soft in our eyes. But, you know, to the world, it's like, oh. Oh, this kid got it.

Like, man, I would make a lot of these kids tap out. Like, if I was playing with these kids, oh, man, you're out of the game. Like, I'm crushing you, you know. So this is one of those. Again, he's 16. So when you instill it in them, you're hoping, like, that light click. Like, I would love when he gets to college and you come to that realization and you're around other dogs because they compete with who they see.

They don't compete with that kid that don't have. have air condition. They don't know anything about that kid. The school they went to didn't have those kids, you see? So they don't compete for us, me growing up, in a shotgun, how, you know, shit, I can lay in my bed and open the front door, the living room door down there with GoGo Gadget on. But they don't experience that. They, you know, it's multiple levels in their house. Everything clean, if the cleaning lady comes, you know, like, they just have that. Yeah, no, I get it. I totally understand what you're saying, and I think everybody does.

I always find it interesting, and, you know, I've coached a long time basketball on and off for 30 plus years, and it's always interesting to me to see a kid that grew up with everything, but has that edge, that has that hate to lose competitiveness. And I love to see it, but I often think that that is. something that's really hard to teach. You either have it when you're young or you don't. It's hard to coach that part of, you know, it's hard to coach that up. That's all, I mean, that's my experience. Yours, I think everybody understands you came from a much different upbringing than your son did. And everybody understands that and everybody understands the kind

of player you are. By the way, you told me once that you were, basically about to commit to Maryland, right? I was. And what happened again? Well, my best friend was at Maryland already. So my best friend was at Maryland playing safety, Rod Little. Vermont John was there, Chris Jenkins was there. When I came on my visit, it was one of those.

Like, day one, Steve Francis was still there. I think they had just beat Duke or something. Yeah. We went to the game. So when I came on my visit, it was like day one, I was man on Maryland campus. And we had a rock star time, you know, because everybody had already knew me. Everybody had kind of already talked to me because my best friend was there. So I knew the guys, Calvin McCall, who I just ran.

Sure. Had came from Orlando from Dr. Phillips. He was playing basketball in football. Yep. So I just ran into Cal down in Daytona. over the summer doing a speaking engagement. So I kind of knew all the guys already. They were looking forward to me coming, and the coach and staff,

Locke was there, locks was recruiting. So it was just one of those to feel like, yeah, boy, I'm supposed to be here. And then I went to Miami. And it was old, you know, like it just, it came to an end in two weeks. It was the buildup, the build up. I went to Maryland. That was my first visit. Miami was my third visit. And, hey, Maryland, it ain't going to work out between her. Well, Calvin McCall was part of the national championship team at Maryland. And you, I'm assuming that it was Vanderlinden, who was the head coach, not Ralph Regan, that recruited you. Because that was like, you're talking to Steve Francis. That's 98-99. Yeah, Frisian came after that. I came out of school in 99.

Right, exactly. Were you, how highly recruited were you? Were you a five-star running back? No, we didn't have star. Like, I think that star system was just starting out. I was, you know, I was up for Mr. Football in Florida, and William Green beat me. So they went to the University of Florida. Willie Green, not William Green, Willie Green.

Okay, Willie Green. The other one went to Syracuse, right? No, the other one went to Boston. College. And that Boston College, right. Yeah. William Green got drafted in front of me in the 01 draft, you know. Oh, boy.

You got that list. Yeah, that Willie Green and William Green. So, uh, but yeah, we didn't have that in Florida. It was just, as you've seen yourself on Sports South and they had that highlight real lady. You like, she out of made it. Like I'm the main. I mean, we didn't know about all that, uh, California.

Texas, Louisiana. It was just, I'm the man in Florida. And for a long time, if you were the man in Florida, then nationally, you had some rank somewhere. So we didn't have all that start right now. Two other running backs, in addition to William Green, were taken before you. Who were they?

I know you know the answer. Yeah, T.J. Duckett and Deshaun. Foster. Foster. Yep. Yep. You've never forgotten it. And when Mike did pick you, you said, well, why didn't you pick me in the first round?

Hey, that's what I said. He told me here, he was like, yeah, man, we thought he was the best back. Well, why you didn't already drive me? He took me in the first. He's like, man, kids, this is behalf of we drafted you. Right. All right. Let's talk about our team here.

Let's start with just yesterday's game, them barely hanging on a two-point conversion missed with no time. It wasn't a pretty win, but it was a win. What did you think in watching it? You always want a W. You'll rather have an ugly win than a pretty loss. So next week, nobody cares. You know, if you go and look at Dallas, when Dallas beat us at, when Dallas beat us, you would rather have that W than that L.

So just to be able to pull it off, nobody knows the scores. Did you win or did you lose? So to walk away with that W is a good thing. Now it makes practice easier, but you know what you need to focus on because if they just kick the extra point, you're going into overtime in a game that you basically dominated. You know, they're pulling the quarterback. They switch quarterbacks on you.

and you kind of gave up offensively. You're looking at three plays, three or four big plays on offense, were a 20-yard plays that kept you in the game. Other than that, that defense was common. You know, if you remove those three 20-yard plays, which Robinson had a 20-yard run, Daniels had a 24-yard run, and Terry had the 25-yard kids.

If you remove those three plays, bro, we average two and a half yards of care. Yeah. The rest of the game. We have two and a half yards of care. Well, the 20-yard run really wasn't even a run. It was a swing pass that Jaden had to throw backwards to avoid it being deflected, and they called it a run because it was a backwards pass. But it was, you know, it was, you know, Robinson out on the, you know, on the, you know,

on the edge catching a pass. So it really was 2.5 yards, 2.25 yards for him per carry, if you take away that really should have been a catch. Exactly. So when you look at that game, even when you look at Danes, if you take his 24-yard scramble away, it's the same. You know, like you take that play, he got 10 carriers for 42, I mean, he got 10 carries for 42 yards. So I won't say it's a red flag because we already know the same defense is tough.

We've been there before in this situation years ago, so that's just a tough place to play. But you've got to get it together to close out if you're trying to get to the playoffs. And again, you take an ugly win over a pretty long. Latimore made his debut. They didn't even throw at him. He was out there for 53 of the 55 defensive snaps. They didn't throw at him once, not one target in his direction. Is he worthy of that kind of, you know, avoidance by an offense?

I mean, look at who the quarterbacks were. True. So if I'm an offensive coordinator and I'm playing with those quarterbacks, I know if I make a mistake going at Lattermore, it could be a problem. So I would tell my quarterback, hey, don't worry about it. Don't go over there. If you see him on that side,

stay away from him because we know he can make a play. This is first game back. We just traded him, and he's back here making his debut? Oh, no. Like, let's stay away from him. Now, down the line, the equals going to try. When you line up against AJ Brown, they come in your way. You know, the saints don't have a dog right now.

So I wouldn't per se, oh, I'm taking Valdez Scantlin against that or more, you know. So this is one of those situations. Look at the quarterback. This guy know our offense. He kind of knows what's going on here through alignment. He's been playing against these guys. So, yeah, let's just be safe and not go ahead. So that's going to be it for Clinton today.

We went on for a while longer. He had a lot to say about Terry. McClorn. It developed into a conversation about receivers and a lot more. He also had some thoughts on the college football playoff that's coming up this weekend. So I'm going to save that portion of my conversation with Clinton and have it on Wednesday's show. It's not going to be dated. It's not going to be too old. And I think you will enjoy that part of the conversation as well. But if I had left it in there for today. The show would have just been far too long. So that is it for the day. Back tomorrow with Tommy.