The Kevin Sheehan Show - Washington 27-22 For 7-2!

Episode Date: November 4, 2024

Kevin in for a quick recap of the Commanders 27-22 win over the Giants to move their record to 7-2 for the first time since 1996. What he liked, didn't like, and a lot more from another outstanding offensive/Jayden Daniels' performance.  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 Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. McCorrent's on top of your screen. Looking that way, the throw. And Terry McClure has his second touchdown catch of the day with a head shaker against Deontay Banks. What a dagger.

Do you think Jaden Daniels and Terry McLorn have developed some pretty good chemistry with each other? that gave Washington a 21 to 7 half-time lead. You know you're pretty good when you're not even trying to score a touchdown, and you do anyway. 27, 22, the final. The skins are 7 and 2 for the first time in 28 years. I'm in to do a quick recap, hopeful of getting a guest for the final segment from the Meadowlands up in New Jersey. My game take coming up in just a few minutes. Window Nation is, as always, the presenting sponsor of this podcast, 86690 Nation or WindowNation.com, if you're interested in new windows. Washington now 7 and 2. They remain atop the NFC East. Philly playing right now against Jacksonville. You'll likely know the result by the time you listen to this. And Eagles win and they'll remain a half game behind Washington at 6 and 2. Washington, not just 7 and 2 overall, but also

2-0 in the division with their now completed sweep of the giants who fall to 2 and 7. The win was impressive for the most part, but there were some flaws, weaknesses exposed today that we didn't see for much of last week or the week before. Those are on defense. They're far from perfect on that side of the ball, and it will matter at some point. But make no mistake. Washington with Jaden Daniels is so good on offense that they don't have to be perfect on defense. This is 2024.

When you're this good on offense, you're going to win a hell of a lot of games, a lot of games. And that is what's happening right now. Washington had eight possessions today in what was kind of a low possession, fast-moving game. They scored on five of them. And then on their final drive, the eighth drive of the game, they ran the clock out. It seems almost flukish at this point when they punt. They lead the league in the fewest punts per game. And it's not because they're turning the ball over or they're getting stopped on fourth down.

You know, two more fourth down conversions today. They're now 11 for 11 on fourth down this season. They also lead the league with the fewest turnovers, just three in nine games. They just don't get stopped very much. And the reason for that more than any other is, of course, the quarterback. It's a broken record now every week, but another excellent day for Jaden Daniels. 15 of 22 for 209 yards, two touchdowns, both to Terry, no interceptions, no sacks against one of the real good sack and pressure teams in the league.

I'll get to his game in more detail when I get to his game. to my game take, but his ability to kind of take it when it's there and then create something good when it isn't there is elite. Mahomes, Lamar, Alan, Jaden. That's the list right now. That's the top four QBs in the league right now. You're not wrong if you put Jaden as high as number three ahead of Allen, you know, and behind Mahomes and Jackson, and I'm not going to push back on somebody that says, you know what, I have him just behind Mahomes. I have him ahead of Jackson and Allen.

I realize, by the way, Mahomes is not having a great season statistically, but, you know, stats lie all the time. And if you've watched him this year, when they've needed him to make a throw or make a play with his legs with the game on the line, he's done it. He's number one. Okay, Pat Mahomes is number one. The next tier is Jackson Allen Daniels.

That's the next tier. They're the very best in the league at doing what I described, taking it when it's there at a very high level, and when it isn't making something good happen with creativity and mobility. Daniels might be the best scrambler of the four. Hard to say that with Lamar, understood, but I think Jaden's vision, quickness, speed, they're different, quickness and speed, and his decision-making is bordering on right there with some of the best we've ever

seen in terms of scramblers. Young, Vic, Randall, Lamar. You know, Jaden led the league in scrambling yards coming in to this weekend. The designed runs, the option runs are all. also a big part of what he does, but he is so elusive when there's pressure. The Giants were ninth in the league coming in to today's game and pressure rate, and they didn't get him once. Got him five times, remember week two, bit different now this quarterback. His decision making is so ridiculously good for a rookie quarterback. He has two interceptions

in nine games, and it's not because he's getting lucky, you know, with near interception, He was near the top of the league coming into this weekend with the fewest turnover-worthy throws. You know, that's a PFF stat turnover-worthy throws. We've talked about that stat a lot in recent years with Sam Hal and Taylor Heineke. He was, I think there were three quarterbacks. I think there were two or three that had thrown fewer turnover-worthy plays, but he was in the top four, I'm pretty sure, coming into this weekend. He just doesn't make bad throws.

He doesn't make bad decisions. And that's in, by the way, either situation from the pocket or when he's on the move outside of it. Hey, everybody, you know, sarcastic newsflash, Jaden Daniels is great already. We didn't have to wait for it. He's one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, which gives every other part of the team margin for error. When you're great at that position, the rest of the team doesn't have to be great.

You know, it doesn't give them margin for error in every game, but in most of them. It does. Like today, not a great day on defense. That's okay. You can still win two against the Giants if you're not great on defense. You can still beat the Bengals on the road if you're not great on defense. You can still hang in there with,

Maybe the best team in the league, the Ravens on the road if you're not great on defense. If you're evaluating this team and let's just say, you know, you save the evaluation of the quarterback for last, and you go through the rest of the team, and maybe you start on the defensive side of the ball and you look at him and you say, man, they play really hard, but it's really not that good of a defense. And then you get to the offensive side of the ball and you're like, wow, that receiver number 17, Terry McLorn, he is excellent. and they got another, you know, one or two guys in the backfield in particular. But overall, this team is, you know, a game or two below 500, maybe 500. I haven't seen the quarterback yet.

I'm going to get to him here in a moment. But this is, you know, this is a 500 or just below 500 kind of a team, in part because they play so hard and they're well-coached. And then you get to the quarterback. And after you pick your jaw up off the ground, you say, yeah, this is no one-year-one. game or two games under 500 team. You know, Chief Brody, this was no boating accident. This is a double digit win playoff team that will be held to deal with because of him. And that's where we are right now. You know, one game at a time, obviously, but this team with him at quarterback is dangerous,

and they're going to be hell to deal with the rest of the way. I mean, wrap your brain around this right now. It's hard because it's been so distant for us for so long. But this team is really good. It's true. Not because they beat a bad team in the Giants today. It's the quarterback. It's the offense. He's having one of the greatest rookie seasons, if not the greatest rookie season, in the history of the league at the position. He's so damn good. And he's elevating every and everybody around him. And we might as well let him elevate us too. This is real.

Seven and two. It's almost impossible at this point after nine games to imagine them playing poorly on offense. It's impossible to fathom that he won't play well in the next game, in the game after that. Next game is a test, the biggest test that they've had since the Baltimore game. They play the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday in Landover 1 o'clock. Pittsburgh's coming off a buy. They're 6 and 2 and playing well. This is the biggest game on the NFL card next weekend.

I'm looking at a point spread right now. It looks like it opened before the game started today at Washington minus 1.1. and a half, a one and a half point favorite. Rate us, review us if you get a chance, especially on Apple and Spotify. Follow the podcast as well. That's a big help for us. My game take next after these words from a few of our sponsors. Is there anything better when you're a football fan than this time of year?

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Pay attention. Here's Kevin's Game Take. All right, the Game Take is brought to you by Window Nation. Wind Donation's got a great deal during the month of November. 50% off all windows, all Windows styles, plus 0% financing for five years. Give them a call at 86690 Nation or head to Window Nation. When you mention my name, you'll get a free, no risk, no obligation. in-home estimate. All right, what I liked, what I didn't like, and a few other observations

from the game. First blush here, as I am doing this, just moments following the game. I did just get a text. It does not look like we're going to get a guest today. They are swamped up there, and they're trying to get out of Dodge, so we will likely not have a guest unless they reach back out between now and the end of the show and tell me that they got me somebody. All right, let's start with the things that I liked. I'll start with just the offense overall. You know, no Brian Robinson Jr. today, not a big deal. It wasn't perfect today by a long shot, but it was very effective. I want to start with this. Both teams today, you saw the benefits to an offense when the quarterback is a legit threat to run in the Reed Option game in particular. And when used properly,

and when that quarterback is a good runner, a good ball handler, a good decision maker, it just makes everything else offensively that you do so much easier. So many of the snaps today looked from the beginning of the play that Jaden was a potential run threat in read-option style football. You know, when he gives it to the running back, a lot of times he is just reading the defensive end or the outside linebacker. That is an option play. I think we've talked about this for years now,

and I think most of you know that he doesn't have to run it for it to be a read option play. A lot of the yards at Echler and Rodriguez and Brian Robinson, Jr., you know, prior to today, that they get comes from him making the right decision in the read option game. It just, you know, benefits everybody, the backs benefit, The play action passing game really benefits. That means that the receivers are getting behind that first, you know, that second layer of the defense that moves up because there's a potential quarterback run. That means the pass rush, you know, hesitates a bit. That helps the offensive line.

It just keeps the defense, especially, you know, everything behind the defensive front in constant conflict. Washington struggled with the Giants today, and their quarterback, Daniel Jones, who was a run threat on many of their snaps. Washington offensively, though, man, when they have this kind of attack, and it's a big part of what they do every week, it really, really elevates everything else offensively. Now, they didn't quite get to their average points per game today. They didn't quite get to their average yards per game, in part because they really only had 57 snaps in the game, eight drives in the game, including the last one in which they didn't need to score, and they took three knees at the giant one yard line at the end of the game.

But 27 points, 358 yards, 5 for 12 on third down, two for two on fourth down. They haven't missed on fourth down, 11 for 11 now on the season. And as mentioned, scores on five of the eight total drives, but that last drive was just a clock eater and then they need out the clock. It would have been had they needed to score six of nine. I mean, they drove it 69 yards, nine plays to run the clock out. The points per drive efficiency so far this year is so good. It's way ahead of the rest of the league. They just rarely come off the field after they take it without points.

You know, even without Brian Robinson Jr. today, they ran the ball effectively. Again, you know, watching Brian Burns, old Jolari, these guys and others, you know, play Jaden as an option runner, as Echler or Rodriguez rip off, you know, big chunk runs. You just can't put a high enough value on his run threat ability in what it does to a defense. They were so much improved today in the red zone than they were in the second game of the year against the Giants when they were. were 0 for 6. They were 3 for 6 officially, really 3 for 5, because again, they were in the red zone didn't score at the end because they need out the clock. But 3 for 5, excellent. Yeah, offensively, a good day. Specifically, let's get to some players. We'll start with Jaden. 15 of 22, 209 yards, 2 TDs, no picks, no sacks. He rushed it effectively. If you take the

three knees at the end of the game out, it was five times for 37 yards. For the most part, really good decisions on the read option stuff. There was one play. Their third drive in the first half, it was a second and one. It was down in the red zone. And he kept it on a read option keeper, lost a yard. And I think it was Burns, who played it really well. He usually makes good decisions.

There have been a couple here and there during the course of the season when he's pulled it and he shouldn't have. and probably a couple where he's given it and he should have kept it. That one was not the right call because the linebacker, outside linebacker was just waiting for him, but he usually has a really good feel for those. There were a few throws he'd like to have back. One in particular stood out.

First half, it was a first and 10 completed ball to Noah Brown for 16 yards, but it was not a great throw. It was a little bit late, a little bit off, but Noah Brown made a really nice catch. He had another one on one of the third downs that they actually didn't convert where they punted. But, you know, overall, so much more good than bad. Let's start, you know, with their second drive. The deep shot to Noah Brown, you know, a 25-yard, you know, pass interference penalty.

You know, he's always willing to take shots. I think he really likes Noah Brown. I think Noah Brown actually is his second favorite target after Terry. I mean, it's close. Ertz is right there as well. The second and goal touchdown pass to Terry, you can't throw that any better. I mean, that's exactly where it's supposed to be. It's supposed to be low.

Only the receiver can catch it. If he doesn't, it's incomplete. The ball was out quickly. It was there accurately. It was there exactly where it was supposed to be. And Terry just never drops those balls. Third drive. Read option keeper for nine yards and a quick slide.

an awkward slide. There's a first, there's a, I'm sorry, that was the drive where he had the throw to Noah Brown that was a bit off. On that drive, fourth and one, man, you get him on the move, you know, on kind of a rollout option throw, run. Forget about it. Seriously. I mean, him on the edge on a fourth and one on a boot with an option to throw a run,

it's stealing. It's so easy. There's a second and 11 deep shot on their fourth drive. Really good throw to Noah Brown for 31 yards. And then, you know, what can you say about the touchdown pass to Terry? It's perfection. You know, they've got 11 seconds left. They're at the 18-yard line.

They can't get stopped in bounds. The throw has to go to the end zone. Terry makes those catches. He is really having himself a season, even though statistically not a great day today, although two touchdown catches. but what a throw. And they threw it, by the way, at Deonti Banks,

who has really struggled in recent weeks. Let's move to the second half. I mean, there is a safety blitz on their second drive. And he just, I mean, just one quick wiggle, boom, guys right by him, can't get, you can't even put a hand on him. He runs for 16 yards. That was the one where it was a bit of an awkward get down.

There's a third and one play action where he's under center and he goes to, sin it for 12 yards. That's easy. I'll tell you, some of the bootleg stuff with him under center or with him in the shotgun, when he gets the defense going one way and he's coming back the other way, I mean, that's really tough to defend. He had a couple of throwaways that were the right plays in the red zone before field goals. The third and four on their second drive of the second half, there was nothing there.

I mean, maybe the all-22 will show something, but I didn't think there was anything. He also had a third and goal play action before the field goal that made it 27 to 16, and he threw that one away. The third and nine, when, look, we got a ball game, right? It's 24 to 16, and Washington's got to answer, and they've got a third and nine with, you know, close to nine minutes left in the game. And he drops back and he drifts, and he drifts because he's waiting for Echler to clear. I don't know how Eckler was that wide open, but Echler's a good route runner too, but there was nobody with him. And, you know, under some level of pressure, he's still even moving backwards, able to put it right on Echler, 28 yards. And here they are from their own 36, maybe on the verge of punting, to now field goal territory, where a field goal puts it back to a two-score game.

And then, yeah. Oh, well, the throw before the two-minute warning, and I'm going to include this in my other observations. But, you know, the Giants, I think, made a massive mistake. And I'll get to that when I get to my kind of other observations. But, you know, they had the play right before the two-minute warning. It was a second nine. They were at their own 31, and the Giants aren't calling any of their time.

timeouts after a Rodriguez one-yard run on first down. Big mistake, more than that coming up. But Daniels takes the opportunity and he throws, you know, on a play action comeback to, you know, throw down the field to Zekees. Not a comeback, but just he's wide open. It's a 42-yard play. What are the Giants doing defensively on that? Yeah. I mean, what do you say? after, you know, another one of these games. Like, I give him an A every week. I mean, do I give him an A minus today? Because why would I even give him an A minus?

Because he made a bad decision on one read option keeper because he missed maybe two or three throws. Every quarterback misses a couple of throws every game. The offense does not come off the field without points much of the time, the significant majority of the time. And almost always it's because of him. Even when they're running the football, the zone read presentation is one of the reasons they're running it well. Look, they're doing a great job up front too.

They're doing a great job up front. I'm going to give him another A today. I don't know, A minus. It's not B territory yet. I have no idea what his, let me see what his passer rating, 128.8 passer rating. His QBR is not up yet, but it's going to be in the 80s again. I mean, he's just, he's great. He makes every right decision.

He doesn't put the ball in harm's away. I mean, there's just, you know, Quinn said a couple of weeks ago, and I played that sound, that he just isn't throwing it or running it. He's playing quarterback. He's playing the position at such a high cerebral level. I mean, he's that. he's him, as the kids say.

I mean, solid A today. Solid A. I don't, it's almost hard for me to envision him not being an A. Other players, look, Terry only had two catches, both of them for touchdowns. Terry is having himself a season. Look, two catches, 19 yards is not necessarily going to move the needle statistically, but two more touchdowns for Terry Morne. Terry McLaurin now on the season.

has, what does he have now? Is it six touchdowns on the season? Let me just look this up real quickly, two, four. He's got six on the season through nine games. His career best was seven as a rookie. So he's clearly going to exceed that. Through nine games, he's very much on pace to go for over a thousand yards again. His 14.2 yards per reception coming in today to today's game would be third best. helps when you have a really good quarterback. I don't want to have the conversation about where he ranks. He's having a pro bowl season, that's for sure. There are a lot of great receivers. You guys all know that. How about Chris Rodriguez? I have liked Chris Rodriguez going back to last year. I just think he has

terrific vision. I think he can really run. And he got the opportunity today because Brian Robinson, Jr. I was a bit surprised. I don't know if you guys were. I knew that, you know, he's questionable, but I thought he would play. 11 carries 52 yards. Man, he is strong. He makes people miss. He runs people over. Good job by number 23 in there. I mean, they got another guy if they need him. Echler, I thought, was outstanding all day, not only as a runner, but as a pass catcher. Three catches for 41 yards. 11 carries for 42 yards. And he had a kickoff return there at the end for He's just so, so valuable. Other players offensively.

Receiver-wise, I think Noah Brown's, you know, just been a great ad. And he's clearly a guy that gets separation and Jaden really trusts. Zakias, you know, that last one, but he's wide open. He should make the catch. I have to put Diami Brown in here. Diami Brown's catch and yards after catch. the end of the first half is why they had a chance to score a touchdown. That play was to get better field goal position. Now, it was bad tackling by the Giants, but he threw out a vicious stiff arm,

and he did a phenomenal job on a third and 18, 24-yard pretty much after-catch play. Really good job by Diami Brown. That was his only touch on the day. All right. Other things that I liked from the game. Defensively, there were a few players on what was not a great day defensively that stood out. Fowler Jr., you know, made that play early. Man, he's got a really good first step as a pass rusher. Two sacks on the day, a forced fumble that stopped the opening or second drive, as the Giants were just ramming it down their throat.

And then they decided to go play action and dump it off. And Daniel Jones got hit before the ball came out. and more on that play coming up. But he was outstanding. I thought Jeremy Chin really stood out. He can really run, man. He can run. He's another one of those relentless motor hustle guys.

He sniffs out screens, you know, whacked Wondale Robinson on one of them for like minus six. I thought Armstrong looked decent. He had that headshot to Daniel Jones that got flagged and justifiably so. But I thought he stood out on a number of plays. St. Juice was in the crosshairs. a bunch today, but he made a few good plays as well. I mean, he may not grate out well, but that early third down bootleg throw to the tight end that he was big on, stopped them short of the sticks. Just looking through my notes, anything else defensively. On the list of

things that I liked, man, special teams, Washington's special teams unit, all of their coverage units outstanding, the kicker rarely misses, the punter is good, the return, game is solid with Echler and Zekees. I think I mentioned that special teams-wise, their rank coming into this weekend was really high. It was seventh in the league per DVOA coming into this weekend. They're an excellent, they've got multiple players that are excellent on special teams. Tyler Owens, Walker, Belor, Reeves, I'm sure I'm forgetting one or two.

The Giants had one decent kickoff return by the guy Gray. That was it. I mean, Washington's special teams are first rate. They really are. Lastly, on the things that I liked the list, you know, after last week, today was definitely ripe for letdown game, trap game, whatever you want to call it. And they were ready for the most part. Defensively, not a great day I'll get to that, but they won the game.

You know, the opponent can't get out of the game. their way, this one that they face today, the Giants. But still, a lot of teams give one right back after an emotional win like last weeks over Chicago. All right, I'll get to the list of things that I did not like and a few other observations after these words from a few of our sponsors. So guys, if you're like me and you've basically been buying and wearing this same type of underwear for years, in my case, boxer briefs, same brand, same type for a long time. Well, not anymore for me. I want to tell you about skims for men,

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in the drop-down menu that follows. All right, let's finish up the game take with what I didn't like and a few other observations from the game. This part of the game take is brought to you by MyBooky. go to myBooky.ag. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. And MyBooky will give you a 100% cash bonus deposit match on your initial deposit. You've got to use my promo code, Kevin D.C.

By the way, the smell test, two and one on the day with the Colts pending tonight. That's 8 and 5 on the weekend. So working my way back to 500, maybe above it. But yeah, my bookie's the place. to wager on sports. Wager on the election. They've got all the odds for Tuesday's election. Just go to my bookie.orgie.ag use my promo code, Kevin, D.C. All right, what I did not like, we start with the defense. It was not a good day defensively. They play hard. They do. I actually think they're a much better tackling team than they were earlier in the year.

But man, did they get run on, especially in the first half. and this is their major overall flaw. Because they can pressure the quarterback. You know, they've schemed up pressure well in recent weeks. They've got some players like Fowler Jr. Who are pretty good rushing the passer. But the Giants ran it down their throat in the first half. I mean, if the Giants had not attempted a pass at all in the first half,

the game would have been much closer than 21 to 7. Because the Giants just, they rushed it for 142 yards. on 21 carries in the first half. That's 6.8 yards per carry. Part of that's the quarterback. Yeah, he's a part of their run game, just like Jaden is, just like Jalen Hertz will be twice before the end of the season. But if they hadn't dropped him back on that drive in which he fumbled, they would have been on their way to the potential first score of the game. But it's just not enough right now. You know, their gap misses, they're getting beat sometimes by some good runners by a quarterback today as well, but, you know, Tracy and Singletary have good vision, so you're not

always able to square them up in the hole. It looked like the Giants were running at times against a loaded box. I mean, we saw safeties, whether it was Martin, I think, or chin, you know, stepping down into the box pre-snap. I mean, there were eight in the box at times and they were getting run on. Daniel Jones was four for six for zero yards passing in the first half and a touchdown. I wonder if that's ever happened. Zero yards passing, but a touchdown. In the second half, I thought Brian Daibald did a good job adjusting. He knew Washington would be doing everything they could do to slow down the run, which they did. And that set up play action and bootleg and some good throws by Jones in the second half.

You know, some of them under pressure, decent pressure, but the coverage on the back end and then struggled a little bit in this second half. Jones threw for 174 yards in the second half. And trust me, you go back and look at it, not all those yards are garbage yards because they're down to scores. It's not what that was.

You know, they were in that game when they got it to 24 to 16. At 2110, they're still in it with a lot of time left. in the third quarter. The Giants were six for 11 on third down. They were two for two on fourth down, although one of those should not have counted. Washington never had the Giants in that one-dimensional mode until the game got late and they were down two scores and they were trying to get it from 2716 to 2722. If you want to say there were some garbage yards in there, yes, but they scored with a lot of times still left on the clock and three timeouts.

But let's be real here. You know, the giant defense was a third and eight stop away from getting the ball back with a chance to take the lead and perhaps win the game. If the Giants had gotten the ball back, would you have felt good about it after watching that game? They should have been only down three. We'll get to the, you know, two-point conversions. Oh, man, analytics and these two-point analytics, you got to take some of this into context. Anyway, the Giants had the ball, by the way, just three times in the second half.

That was it. They scored two touchdowns and kicked a field goal. The defense today was a C-minus D-plus in that area. The turnover was huge. They had a fourth-down stop that should have been challenged, and it would have been overturned. But, you know, they were a little bit slow to the punch on that. The Giants, you know, the Giants have scored, listen to this. three touchdowns in a game this year, just three times, two of those against Washington.

The defense, this is why I've been reluctant. I'm not ready to sign off on, okay, pretty good defense, average defense. We got a chance to win the Super Bowl. I still think it's the Achilles heel, and I think run-stopping specifically is the Achilles heel, especially when you have a quarterback who is a run threat. The other thing on the list of things that I didn't like is that missed challenge. The Giants first drive, second half, fourth, and two. The ball never even gets close to be on the marker.

It was a terrible spot on the field. And the Giants did a good job of getting to the line of scrimmage and getting a snap off before Washington could challenge it. By the way, I thought they got hosed later on in that drive. That was the drive that they kicked a field goal on that made it 21 to 10 in the third quarter because I did not think that Slayton committed offensive pass interference on that touchdown pass on fourth and one. But still, they shouldn't have been there. Washington should have challenged the spot. They would have won that challenge. And the call on the field would have been overturned.

So other observations from the game. Let's start with the first fumble. Okay, it's clearly a fumble when we saw it on replay. It looked like an incomplete pass, you know, when Daniel Jones was pressured by Fowler Jr. But Fowler Jr. gets a hand on that ball before it is ever even remotely coming forward. And they blew the play dead. Now, some of the Giants stopped on that play, too. And I actually, when we came back from commercial and Washington had the ball where they had the ball, I was a little bit surprised.

You know, Bobby Wagner hustled down, recovered the fumble. That was a great job by him not stopping on the play. And look, if that whistle doesn't blow, I don't know, maybe the Giants are running after it in the same vein. Maybe he scores. Maybe he doesn't. I don't know. But I was surprised that when we came back from that TV timeout, it was first and ten at the 31. Because the actual fumble was a snap at the Washington 29-yard line.

And I thought that the fumble, if it was ruled dead, the clear recovery, I understand where that happened, but I thought that came after the play was dead. So I thought it was either, you know, going to be giant ball because there was no clear recovery when the whistle blew, or somehow they were going to go back to, I guess they couldn't go back to where the line, the fumble happened because there wasn't a clear recovery. there. Strange play, because they got to let those plays run. This has been an emphasis for a lot of years now. Let those plays play out in the event it wasn't an incomplete pass and it was a fumble. Because Washington probably ends up with a defensive score, certainly, you know, recovery. But again,

you watch that play a couple times and I think some of the giant players may have slowed down because the play was whistled dead as well. Weird play, for sure. Definitely a fumble, bad job by the referees, you know, like they did with the spot on the neighbor's catch. These two-point analytics on the down-14 score go for two to make it a six-point lead. It just seems like many more times than not it ends up being an eight-point lead. Now, for those of you that don't understand what's going on there, the two-point analytics people, based on essentially the idea that a two-point conversion is converted 50% of the time, which is not true overall. It's less than 50%.

But if you assume that you'll get one out of two, you try to get it on the first attempt so that you're then in position with the next touchdown to win the game in regulation. The idea is don't play for overtime. Play to win the game in regulation. If you miss it, you'll have a second chance on that second touchdown to tie it. And if the analytics people were actually right about this, one out of two, then you would tie it on that second go round. But here's the thing.

Not everybody's two-point conversion percentage is the same. And context matters. And if you're going to ask Daniel Jones to convert a two-point play on a throw, which they did twice, I'm surprised they didn't spread it and run it. That would have been a much better opportunity. Washington played both of those two-point conversions well, but the score should have been 27-24,

and by the way, I would have gotten the cover with the Giants plus the four. But I hate that. I mean, it's one thing if you really feel like you've got two-point plays that can't be stopped, that you feel really good about them, you've got a team on its heels. But I'll tell you what, when you miss that first one, tends to be a little deflating. They had a backup kicker,

and by the way, the field goal that he made was not pretty. I think one of the extra points wasn't very pretty either, so maybe they had that concern as well. But, man, those two-point analytics on the down 14, I think, you know, with a team like the Giants, I'm either using Daniel Jones' legs as a runner, or I'm kicking, because throwing the ball in a condensed field with him,

nah. There's a pretty good chance that your two-point conversion percentage is a lot less than 50%. So I wanted to mention this one scenario at the end of the game. So first of all, right before the two-minute warning when Washington was driving, the Giants made a big mistake after the kickoff when it was 27-22. is gets a one-yard run. You've got to use your timeouts before the two-minute warning.

How do coaches not know this at this point? You use your timeouts on defense before the two-minute warning, okay? Because you'll have more time if you get a stop. If you start using them after the two-minute warning, you won't have as much time. You know, it may be the difference of six, seven seconds, but those are valuable seconds. But they didn't use a timeout after Rodriguez's one-yard run. Washington then was in position on second and nine. Giants had not yet used their first time out defensively. Because the play clock and the game clock were pretty close, there was like a four or five, six second differential, whatever it was. Washington was essentially given by the Giants' free license to throw the football because the snap before the two-minute

warning came at about 205, 206, something like that. And that was the play where Daniels hit Zakias for 42 yards. In essence, a backbreaking, you know, almost game ending play. I mean, Giants still have three timeouts, but the two-minute warning then came after that play. The Giants, by not using their timeouts, if Washington, you know, checked to a throw because they understood there was no downside to throwing the football because in an incomplete pass, the clock was going to stop anyway because of the two-minute warning, then kudos to Cliff Kingsbury for understanding the value of a team not using their timeouts as you approach the two-minute warning or using your timeouts too close to the two-minute warning.

That's also a mistake. You don't want to give the offensive team free license to throw the football without any punishment because an incomplete stopping the clock doesn't matter if you've already reached the two-minute warning. So Giants screwed up. Washington took advantage through a 42-yard pass. And then there was one other interesting scenario. Washington had a first intent at the giant 27-yard line after the two-minute warning. And Rodriguez goes for about five or six yards down to the 22-21-yard line. And there was a face mask penalty. Now, Washington did the right thing by accepting the face mask penalty.

But if the run had been for like seven, eight, or nine yards, they actually would have been better off declining the penalty. Because the Giants then took their first time out after a first down play. Rodriguez ran for five yards down to the six yard line, and then he went for four yards down to the two-yard line, and then he got the first down, and it was game over, three knees after the giant. third time out. But, you know, on that run, I didn't consider that they should decline it, but I just made a note that had Rodriguez ripped off, say, a seven-yard run, and it was second

and three, it actually would have been more advantageous to decline the penalty. I know that sounds weird, but you, you know, you're likely to get a first down and then knee out the game because the Giants will have used two timeouts at that point. But, probably in that situation are going for the knockout, blowing the touchdown anyway. And look, the Giants had he ripped off seven or eight yards, and they had declined the penalty. They could have jumped off sides, which you see teams do now to get a first and 10, so that you got a better shot with the timeouts of getting a stop.

Anyway, yeah, I would not have declined the penalty. I'm just saying seven, eight, nine-yard run. You actually think about it. Although half the distance of the goal put the ball at the giant 11 yard line. See, part of it is the score. It's 27, 22. If they hold them to a field goal, the Giants still have a chance to go down, score, and maybe make a two-point conversion to tie the game,

although they probably weren't going to make a two-point conversion. All right, I think that's it. That's it. If I've got more, it'll be on tomorrow's show. But that's it. How about 7 and 2? How about Pittsburgh coming to town? How about the next two games?

Philly's up here early, so they're probably going to beat Jacksonville and be at six and two. And they have the Cowboys next week who lost to the Falcons. And by the way, Dak got hurt in that game. And Cooper Rush came in for the Cowboys. So the Eagles, you know, probably looking at being favored against the Cowboys next week. I think that's in Dallas. And if they win today, they're six and two, seven and two. Washington's got Pittsburgh.

Wow, that game Thursday, November 14th, massive, massive game. But a big, big game before that. I mean, you've got some massive games coming up when you're seven and two. You know, when you're playing teams the next two weeks are six and two, and, you know, the Eagles might be seven and two by the time you play them. All right, that's it. Back tomorrow. Thank you.