The Kevin Sheehan Show - Washington Falls in Baltimore 30-23

Episode Date: October 14, 2024

Kevin with a quick recap of the Commanders' 30-23 loss to the Ravens in Baltimore. His overall big takeaway followed by a detailed "game-take" of things he liked, didn't like, and more.  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 Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. He blitzes you throw it here. If he pops out, give it to him. Here it is. To the end zone.

It is caught. Touchdown. The timing was to perfection. McCoran with the grab. How about that throw and catch? Fourth and goal, early fourth quarter, Jaden DeTerry. What a catch. great coverage on that play as well.

That got Washington to within seven with just over 12 minutes to go, but the defense was just outmatched today by a Baltimore offense led by a two-time MVP who might just be playing the best football of his career. I'm in for a fast recap after the 30 to 23 loss in Baltimore earlier this afternoon. Windonation is the presenting sponsor of this podcast. them at 86690 Nation or head to windownation.com if you need new windows. I'll have my game take coming up in the next segment. Look, they were in it for much of it. They just couldn't get a stop on defense. From early in the second quarter until the Ravens need out the clock to end

the game, Baltimore just kept the ball. Washington's last stop defensively came at the end of the first quarter, and they didn't get another one the rest of the day. I didn't talk last week about the possibility of, you know, a close loss to the Ravens being a good thing or being fine because they weren't expected to win or this would have been, you know, if they had won, it would have just been icing on the early season cake. I didn't speak that way because I really did think they had a chance to win. They didn't. So let's deal with that reality.

right now. I thought today was a measuring stick game. I did mention that. And you know what? They measured up pretty damn well on offense. Better than pretty damn well, actually. They played great offensively. Actually, let me be more specific. The quarterback played great today. They've played very well offensively, and he's obviously played very well for five weeks running. The offense led this team to four straight wins coming in, and it played well enough to beat Baltimore today. But the defense did not measure up very well. The competition was top-notch. My God, Lamar Jackson is playing at an incredible level right now. But the defense, after showing some life against, you know, two bad offensive teams in Arizona and then last week against Cleveland,

And, you know, they just weren't good enough today. It wasn't anywhere near good enough. And right now, the defense is the thing keeping a lid on team expectations for 2024. I'll get to the rough day defensively when I get to the game take. But the big positive takeaway from the game is what I'm going to focus on here in the opening segment of the show. And that is Jaden Daniels, once again, convinced anyone who was watching that he's the real deal. And today, he proved it in a way that he hadn't really proven it

in the previous four games. In control, poised per usual, he threw the ball at a high level against a team that made his offense completely one-dimensional. The Ravens were outstanding against the run coming into this game. So with no Brian Robinson Jr. today, Washington didn't try, to run it that much. When they did, they didn't have much success. So it really came down to whether or not Jaden Daniels could drop back and keep his team in the game throwing the football. Baltimore played contain rush. They didn't let him get out of the pocket that much to make

a ton of plays off schedule. So the chance the team had was him slinging it from mostly in the pocket. and he did it at an extremely high level. The team only had nine drives in the game. They scored on five of them and had a chance to score on a sixth, but they got a field goal blocked at the end of the first half. He went 24 of 35 for 269 and two touchdowns, no interceptions. Now, this was absolutely the way to attack Baltimore. They had struggled defensively against the pass coming in,

but they were excellent against the run coming in. Jaden still had to do it through the air. Josh Allen couldn't do what Jaden did today against Baltimore a few weeks ago. Alan really struggled in the Bills' 35 to 10 loss to the Ravens two weeks ago Sunday night tonight. Dak Prescott got hot late against Baltimore in week three, but the Ravens had taken their foot off the pedal at that point with a 22-point lead in the fourth quarter. Daniels was better than a lot of people have been against Baltimore's porous pass defense. And he was because he can throw it from the pocket.

He usually sees it pre-snap. He usually sees it post-snap. And he almost always delivers the ball on time and accurately. He's so football smart, savvy. There's a play he made at the end of the first half. that was next level in-game management quarterbacking. I'll get to that when I get to the game take. He did his part today.

They had no chance without him. He kept them in the game for the most part. The other players on offense, Terry McClure in particular, did their part too, but he's the guy that makes it all go. Lamar Jackson was so good today. He is playing at such a high level. No doubt there is a good chance he will win a third MVP this year. But you know what? Jaden wasn't that far behind. He's just not playing on a team

that's quite the same as Baltimore overall is right now. Lamar Jackson after the game said, quote, I believe Jaden Daniels deserves all the hype he's getting. He played a tremendous game out there. They just came up short. He's been proving it. His rookie season, first six games. He's been playing amazing, closed quote. From Baltimore linebacker, Roquan Smith, quote, Washington is in good hands with Daniels. I think the guy is, he's the truth, for sure. He can run it, he can throw it, whatever you want, and for him to come into a hostile environment and perform the way he did, I've got much respect for him. He took some licks, too, so the guy I heard he was tough his nails anyway, and even after from watching him in college

at a couple of games, he had shown that. So much respect and love for that guy. And yes, Washington is in good hands, closed. Six games into his rookie season now. I'm sold. Now, you guys know I was sold before the season began, but he has exceeded anything anybody could have hoped for. Good health, knock on wood, is the thing you just have to hope for. He took some shots today.

He got, you know, twisted around a few times. Too bad they couldn't have gotten something, from the defense today after the first quarter. They didn't need a lot, but it did next to nothing. The defense did next to nothing after an early interception off one of the only poorly thrown balls by Lamar all day. And I don't want to hear about the officiating. I saw that on social media. Were there a couple of calls that hurt, I'm sure there were. But when you give up seven and a half yards per play and 484 yards overall on basically nine, drives, it's hard to blame the refs for a bad call or two. We'll get to some of that in the game take, but the bottom line is the quarterback played at a high level once again. He gave

the team a chance in a game in which the defense was dominated. This will be the battle all year long. You know, the good news is you don't have to face Lamar and Derek Henry again. I mean, that combo along with the tight ends and Zayflowers, the Ravens, the Ravens, are going to be there in late January with a chance to go to the Super Bowl again. So Washington leaves Baltimore with a loss, yes. I also think in addition to witnessing the loss, I think we're seeing a picture come into focus a little bit more. Six games in, I think we're starting to see what this team is and will likely be for the majority of the remainder of the season. They're a team led by a high-level

quarterback who gives them a chance week in and week out to win. But they're also a team limited by a defense that just doesn't have enough talent to bang it out with the better offensive teams. They're going to look good against bad offensive teams, maybe the one coming to town next week, the Carolina Panthers, but they can't really hold up against, you know, Baltimore. Or maybe teams they may see, let's just say, in a playoff situation, a team like Detroit, but, you know, a team like San Francisco if they're healthy. Long way to go, of course, and things can change, and maybe some of their younger players will develop into, you know,

monster game changers before the end of the year. Johnny Newton, Sanra still, you know, as examples. But for now, Washington's a team whose hopes of a playoff type of season rest on a rookie quarterback's shoulders, and it's become pretty clear that he can handle it. Going to be fun the rest of the way. Today, just one game, still four and two, with the one and five Panthers coming to town. Five and two is in sight.

Rate us and review us if you get a chance on Apple and Spotify. Follow us as well. That's a big help for us. My game take next after these words from a few of our sponsors. Out of all the things we do to maintain and protect our homes, getting up on a ladder to clean out the gutters is the last thing anybody wants to do. whether you're tired of unclogging gutters or you don't even know what your gutters look like from above, it's time to upgrade to a permanent solution with Leaf Filter. Right now you can save up to 30% off your

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your way. Second and goal from six yards away. Daniels, back at the end zone. McCloran has it for the Washington touchdown. That was the first of two Terry McLaren touchdown catches from Jaden Daniels. That one tied the game at 10 with just over four minutes to go in the second quarter. The game takes coming up, but this segment is brought to you by Window Nation. Call them at 86690 Nation or head to Window Nation.com. If you need new windows, Window Nation will give you two free windows with every two purchased with no money down, no payments, and no interest for two full years. Mention my name. They'll come out. They'll give you a free estimate. You've got nothing to lose. Get those windows in before the cold weather arrives. 86690 Nation, windownation.com.

Washington gets Carolina next week at home. That is a 405 start time next week. And Washington is, get this, an eight-point favorite next week. If they go off as an eight-point favorite or more, it'll be the most they've been favored by in a game since 2017, when early in the season they were a 12-point favorite over the San Francisco 49ers. That's crazy. I went and looked this up right before I started to record this when I saw the line for next week,

and I'm like, I don't think that they've been this big of a favorite in a long time. And based on the quick research I did, it looks like they haven't been favored by eight or more since October of 2012. They were a 12 point, excuse me, of 2017. They were a 12 point favorite over the 49ers, and they won 26, 24. That was Kyle Shanahan. I believe Kyle Shanahan's first year as the head coach of the 49ers. All right, let's get to the game take. Pay attention.

Here's Kevin's Game Take. All right, what I liked, what I didn't like, and a few other observations. Let's start with the things that I liked in number one on that. list is Jaden Daniels. Without him, no chance. Already mentioned 24 of 35 for 269, two touchdowns, no picks, as essentially a dropback passer in a one-dimensional attack today. He got sacked three times, but considering no run game, one-dimensional offensively, 38 dropbacks, that's not bad. Let's go through the good plays for Jaden. There are plenty of them.

Third drive of the first half, third and five, he's bumped around a little bit under pressure, gets out, scrambles for six yards, gets out of bounds first down. Fourth drive, it's 10 to 3 Baltimore. They've got to answer here. They've got to answer here early in the game. There's a first and 10.

He rolls right and throws across the middle of the field to Noah Brown for 15 yards. They needed a tone-setting play. to start that drive. He took a big shot from Kyle Hamilton. I thought it should have been a 15-yard penalty for a shot to the head. If it wasn't directly helmet-to-helmet, it certainly seemed late and vicious, but a really good throw.

Third and six, same drive. He's got to deliver in drop-back mode. He's back in the pocket. It's third and mid-to-borderline long, and he delivers a dime to Terry McCorn, who's covered well. The ball's got to be low into the outside so that only Terry can catch it, and he did first down. Next play was that flea flicker attempt where McNichols takes the hand off and pitches it back to Jaden. It's not a good pitchback. And Jaden, you know, very athletically and calmly, is able to tip it into his hand. And then in the same motion, he gets it off to Echler,

who takes off for 25 yards. Usually, by the way, on those flea flickers, you look deep. That's not how they set this one up. Really interesting play, great design, just nearly ruined by the bad pitchback. A few plays later, he hits McCaffrey down to the two-yard line on a slant. And then, you know, after a false start, it's second and goal and he makes that touchdown throw to Terry. Look, he looks at Zakias on one of those in-and-out routes. He's not open. He comes back. He processes so quickly. and he throws to Terry in the back of the end zone over the head of Marcus Williams, who's got his back turned. Ball's perfectly thrown.

Terry does a great job of catching it and getting both feet down to score and tie the game. Fifth drive, this is the end of the half, all right? This is when they've got a chance to try to get points down 17, 10. They take over first and 10 with 53 seconds left after the Baltimore touchdown made it 17 to 10. he immediately gets pressure on that first and 10, and he runs right up the A gap for a nine-yard scramble, slides. It's second and one at that point, and then he throws to Noah Brown on the sideline for 11 yards.

That's a good throw. It stays out of harm's way. Brown makes an excellent catch, great catch. They rule them in bounds. I actually thought it was close there. Washington didn't call time out there. They let the clock running. More on that coming up. But here's where I think this guy's playing, you know, already six games into his career, high-level chess for a quarterback, in-game situation. So the clock's running. They do have a timeout left. I think they probably should have used it once he realized Noah Brown was called inbound on that catch with about 30 seconds to go. But they, he drops back, nothing's open. He's got. Echler on a checkdown, and instead of throwing it to Echler, he basically throws it in the dirt.

Why? Because if Echler catches it, it's a two-yard gain. He gets tackled inbound. You've got to use your last time out. That was high-level, in-game thinking by Jaden Daniels. Wow. Then two good throws to Zakeas. Zakeas did a good job of getting out of bounds. and then Washington, without using that last time out, brings on Cybert for a 52-yarder that got blocked at the end of the half. Second half, first drive, second and 10, good design. He's on time to Noah Brown over the middle of the field on play action for 28 yards. Second drive, they're down 20 to 13. Another real nice design.

First 10 play action hits Ertz for 21 yards. Third drive, the second half. This is versus big time pressure. Second down in five, Roquan Smith in his face, and he throws to Ertz for 24 yards. That same drive, the third drive of the second half. There's a third and ten. It's pure dropback now. Third and ten, this is where you got to deliver. There's some pressure. He's in the pocket. The release is super quick to Ertz. He makes the catch down to the one-yard line. And that, you know, set up the scenario in which they had the fourth and goal touchdown throw to Terry. Look, that's a play in which he's working Terry the whole way. It looks like

Terry's going to run a fade to the corner, but it wasn't. He throws a back shoulder to Terry after double pumping the throw. Really good throw, an exceptional catch by Terry McCorn, who had a great day. The fourth and final drive. down 30 to 20. There's a first and 10 play action throw over the middle to Terry. That was max protect. Covered, kind of, but it's just a perfect throw in between coverage. I hope after six games, the people that said, yeah, he doesn't really like to throw over the middle.

I hope their opinion has changed on that. And then, look, fourth and 12, you know, deep shot to Noah Brown. It's a great throw. They throw the flag, which I think it was the right call, no doubt. The ball actually was catchable. It was a really good ball. And the arc on his throws and the touch in which he throws that deep ball, that really kind of created, I think, the situation for Noah Brown to be interfered with. Some of the plays, not great.

First drive of the game, he takes a sack on third and seven, you know, before that first field goal. I think Terry may have been open. I got to see the all 22, but I think Terry ran by everybody into the left part of the end zone. I'll have to look at that one again. Second drive of the second half, they're down 20 to 13 and at midfield. They've got to turn this drive into points. It's third and six. This was after the play where he had a pass batted down at the line of scrimmage.

There's a stunt on a four-man rush where, in guise. Rockway just slips past Brandon Coleman and flushes Jaden quickly out of the pocket, and Jaden unloads it downfield, misses Noah Brown by a lot, and number 29 for Baltimore just drops an interception. Honestly, I can't find many other plays that were that bad. You know, you had a one-dimensional offense today, which I think was probably the right way to go. You had a lot of pocket throws. You had contained rush by the Ravens. And he just, he kept delivering over and over again. I mean, the bottom line is, you know, once again, they moved the football. They moved it, you know, on five of the nine drives they had for points. It could have been six

out of nine. That's unbelievable had they made the field goal at the end of the first half. And they did it today as a one-dimensional football team. They did not run the football. They didn't really try to run the football. I'm okay with what the plan was. I am. I don't think they would have been very successful and they did, you know, try occasionally and they weren't successful. But they asked their quarterback today to deliver from the pocket as a one dimensional offense and a team that was playing very much contain rush. So he had to deliver over and over again from the pocket. It was an A performance for Jaden Daniels. up on the list of things that I liked. I thought the wide receivers, the past catchers overall

had good days, all of them. But Terry, Noah Brown, and Zekees in particular stood out to me. So much production and so many good contested catches. Terry McLorne was great today. So damn good. With the touchdown catch in the first half getting both feet in, after the catch in the back of the end zone, the other touchdown catch, incredible back shoulder had to catch it, go low for it, cradle it, stay in bounds. He had six catches for 53 yards. It's not like a massive day statistically, but on seven targets with two touchdowns. I just thought he was great.

I thought Noah Brown, four catches, 58 yards, a couple of contested catches, including that really good catch at the end of the first half on the sideline. I thought he got interfered with at one point two that didn't get called. I'll get to that and kind of the other things that didn't make either. one of these two lists. Zakeas did a really nice job at the end of the first half, catches, yards after the catch, getting out of bounds. He did have a huge drop in the game. That's going to make my list of things that I did not like. But look, it was an excellent day for the past catchers. You know, McCaffrey had that one. Echler and Ertz were outstanding,

too. Really good day for all of Washington's past catchers. Kingsbury. offenses on the list of things that I liked. First of all, people get open. Secondly, they protect him for the most part. Thirdly, they can go up tempo, they can go mid-tempo, they can huddle. They've got formations, lots of them, some of them interesting. I love the kind of offset eye formation, and then you get motion from one of the backs. They've used that as sort of an inside handoff in previous games. The quarterback's obviously a part of the run game. Cliff's got quick game. He's got deep shots. He's got lots of play action, sort of mid-level, you know, second-level shots. I just like everything that they're doing offensively. I think Cliff Kingsbury is doing a very

good job. Also on the list of things that I liked, look, the defense is going to be number one in the list of things that I did not like, but I thought Fowler Jr. had a good game. I thought Baptiste had a decent game. Sanristil's pick was nice. It was Lamar's worst throw of the day. It was off. It was deflected, but good job by Sanristil to pick it off and then a good return of, I think, 38 yards. Other than that, I'd have to look at the All-22 to see if anybody else played well defensively. Austin Seibert, you know, he did have one blocked, but he was three for four, and he had a 55-yarder, which was the longest of his career. So he's done a great job. since becoming a part of the team.

All right, that is here on quick glance what I've got on the things that I like list. I'll get to the things that I did not like right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey guys, I feel healthier, younger, and full of energy, all things being said about mitopure, the newest sponsor on the podcast, and the first product to offer a precise dose of urolithine. What's urolithin A? It's a postbiotic. It's good for your gut. It's been clinically shown to energize cells, increase muscle strength, and improve endurance. And that's just the beginning. Do you want to get older and still run, hike, play with your kids, your grandkids? Urolithine is an answer, and it's nearly impossible to get from your diet alone. Timeline is the Swiss-based life science company that came up with Mitopure. They're a global leader in urolithin A. and they spent 10 years doing research to bring this product to market. One way to think of mitopure is that they are little packmen in your cells, chomping up the damaged ones that make you feel old and tired,

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His second touchdown of the game. Derek Henry, big second half. That was the touchdown that gave Baltimore a 27-13 lead late third quarter. Not a lot of interested parties in terms of getting in his way once he got some forward momentum started. This segment of the show is brought to you by MyBooky. Go to MyBooky. AG, use my promo code, Kevin D.C. They'll give you up to a $1,000 cash bonus on your initial deposit.

You've got to use my promo code exactly the way I've described it, Kevin, D.C. They've got the Monday night game. The line's down to two now. The bill's just two-point favorites over the Jets tomorrow night. And they, too, have the early line, Washington minus eight against Carolina next Sunday afternoon. My bookie's got everything you need for the MLB playoffs, for the NFL, for all the college games, and we got some good college games coming up next weekend. How about Bama, Tennessee, followed by Georgia and Texas?

MyBooky.ag promo code, Kevin, D.C. All right, let's continue with the things that I did not like and a few other observations from the game. And then we'll wrap it up for this evening and then I'll be back tomorrow. Look, number one on the list, easy, is the defense. It was just nowhere near good enough. And it hasn't been really with the exception of the game against Cleveland, the worst offensive team in the league, and the game against Arizona, as I mentioned all last week in the week before, inexplicably, Arizona decided not to run their quarterback at all against Washington.

It probably wouldn't have mattered. Washington was so dominant in that game offensively. But look, the plan coming in to the game was made very clear in the first half, and even the second half, they didn't deviate that much from loading the box up to stop the run. And in the first half, you know, they rushed Baltimore did for 51 yards. Derek Henry had 38 yards on nine carries, but they gave up big yardage through the air. Jackson in the first half, 14 of 19 for 208 yards, the touchdown and the one pick off the deflection on the worst throw that he had. They just got shredded through the air.

I mean, they loaded up the box and Baltimore went play action early and often, and even if it wasn't play action, they were finding people open off pure dropout. This was a disaster defensively. Now, a lot of teams are going to have this issue with Baltimore. Baltimore is exceptional, and the quarterback is playing at such a high level. But it was load the box, stop the run in the first half. Baltimore goes play action. They throw it against the heavy box.

In the second half, even against a loaded box, Baltimore decided to pitch, sweep a bunch to Derek Henry and have him get to the outside. and that worked against a loaded up box. The Ravens amassed 484 yards on nine offensive possessions. That's it. They were six for ten on third down. They dominated time of possession, 36 minutes, eight seconds, to 23 minutes, 52 seconds. Flowers, by the way, in the first half, wide open all over the field, nine catches, 132 yards.

He didn't catch a ball in the second half, but it didn't mean. matter because Derek Henry had 94 yards rushing in the second half. The Ravens average 7.4 yards per play. Washington couldn't cover. They got penalized when they did cover. Two DPIs, by the way, for St. Juice on third downs on touchdown drives for Baltimore. They couldn't stop the run, especially in the second half. They did get some pressure at times, but not enough to get Baltimore off the field because after the punt on Baltimore's second drive of the game, they didn't stop them again. Three quarters, Baltimore had five straight scoring drives and then a runout the clock drive at the end. They scored in the game on six of eight drives. It would have been seven of nine

if they weren't neying out the game at the end. Three of four in the red zone. We talked about, They needed more red zone stops in this game. It was just a bad day for the defense. Again, albeit against maybe the best offensive team, certainly the most versatile offensive team. And again, not to beat a dead horse. My God, Lamar Jackson is just developing and getting better and better and better. And he can beat you in just so many different ways.

So the good news is they're not playing them anymore. That's the good news. More on the list of things that I didn't like. Look, they had the takeaway on a bad throw and a deflection. Good job by Sanra still on the deflection and then a good return. But this defense is going to have to get more takeaways against the better teams they play to offset getting torched in so many ways. I think the bottom line is it's not a takeaway defense right now,

and it needs to become that. If they're going to win, say, double-digit games and have a chance in the postseason, I don't see a team that ends up becoming consistently really good on defense. But you can offset some talent deficiencies, especially in coverage, by making place, by getting takeaways. It's supposed to be what Quinn and Witt Jr. are good at. They haven't been so far this year. That was the first interception of the season in game six,

and it took place because it was not a great throw. He just led the tight end too much. It got deflected up into the air, and it was a good play. Also on the list of things that I did not like. So there's a play in the first half that I think was a significant play in the game. I'm not about to tell you that I think that if the play was made, Washington goes on to win the game. I don't feel that. I think Baltimore's offense versus Washington's defense was such a mismatch that the Ravens would have ended up getting whatever they needed to get offensively to score enough to win the game.

But in terms of the context of the game on the scoreboard, there was an opportunity for Washington to grab a second quarter lead. It was after the only punt they forced. in the game. Fowler had a sack of Jackson towards the end of the first quarter. They punted it. Zakias had a good return, and Washington started at Baltimore's 50-yard line second quarter in a three-to-three football game. They got a first down on Jaden's scramble on third and five, and then on a second and 12 after Echler lost two yards on a first down run. Jaden Daniels puts a ball right into the midst of Olamedi Zichias at the Ravens 25-yard line. And instead of securing the ball, he turns to run and he drops the football.

That was a big drop in a game in which you just weren't going to be able to overcome lost opportunities like that one to score because Baltimore was going to keep scoring. And at that point, they hadn't understood. They started with an interception, then they got to feel. goal and then they punted. But, you know, that was the number one offense coming in. You had great field position. The game's 3-3.

It's early in the second quarter, and Jaden delivers a dime to Zekees. And he drops it. And it would have been first in 10. You would have had a chance, worst case, to kick a go-ahead field goal with a couple of more minutes gone in the second quarter for a six-to-three lead. Who knows, maybe you end up scoring a touchdown to take a 10-to-3 lead. And I'll tell you, a score context in game. games like this. It means a lot. It adds a little bit of pressure to that next possession for

the other team when they're down a touchdown. And Baltimore never was faced with legitimate game pressure in this game. That was the chance to put it on Baltimore, to put some game pressure on Baltimore, but Zekees dropped the football. So that was on the list of things that I didn't like. I actually thought he had a good game, though, overall, with the exception of that. Other observations from the game. I didn't have a problem with not trying to run the football more. I really didn't. I thought it was going to be hard to run the football against Baltimore to begin with.

And then with no Brian Robinson Jr., it was going to be extra hard. And when they tried it, they just couldn't get it done. Echler on nine carries average 2.3 yards per carry. Jaden's, you know, runs were, effective runs were scrambles. Zone Reed pools didn't generate much at all. Baltimore did a good job on the Zone Reed keepers. So I did not have an issue with Kingsbury saying, look, we got to move the football in this drive. We can't punt it back.

We're down seven. We're down 14 at one point. Yeah, I just, whatever it took in this game to move the football and give yourself a chance to score points, you had to do it. And the way to do it today was to drop Jaden back a lot and have them throw the football down field. And they made a bunch of plays. And again, ultimately, they produced 23 points, five scores on nine drives and had a chance for three more at the end of the first half. Five out of nine is pretty damn good in terms of scores on drives, points per drive, and six out of nine would have been spectacular.

On the list of other things that didn't fit into either the liked or didn't like category, two key injuries are important. John Allen, Peck injury, we'll see if it's serious. They lost Dorrance or Armstrong in this game to a rib injury. And then I think Baptiste, who I thought played pretty well. There were reports that he was limping around towards the end of the game and maybe in the locker room as well. All right, here's a thing that almost made it onto the didn't like list, but I think I'm going to keep it in sort of the other category. End of first half. First of all,

I love that Washington's calling timeouts on defense, trying to get the ball back, trying to get an extra possession. They did a good job with it. They got the ball back with 53 seconds to go. Let me just mention Baltimore, poor job. They went quickly at the end of the first half offensively, and they shouldn't have. They took snaps with 24 seconds and 28 seconds left on the play clock. That gave Washington that final opportunity. Now, they might say, well, we liked going quickly. We thought it gave us our best chance to score. And they did end up scoring a touchdown on the Andrews catch in the back of the end zone. But if they hadn't gone quickly, they probably would have left Washington with a lot less time and more likely than not,

Washington doesn't have enough time to go down and even get in field goal range. Now, Dan Quick, Dan Quinn took two timeouts on defense when Baltimore was driving at the end of the first half. Love that. When Baltimore got a first down, he didn't use another on defense. and I thought he could have after a first down two-yard run with a minute 20 left. That's where I would have taken that third timeout. If he had done that, ultimately the next play was incomplete. The third down play was a touchdown. You would have gotten the ball back with about a minute 10.

No timeouts, but another 17 seconds worth of time. But then I think the mistake that Quinn made was not calling a timeout with 30 seconds left after the Noah Brown catch on the sideline. Maybe he thought the clock was going to be stopped, maybe. But if they had taken the timeout there, the last time out, they would have had an opportunity to get in better field goal range, which may have meant a made field goal rather than a 52-yard attempt that got blocked. So they took a time out with him into the locker room.

You know, he had another timeout. in his pocket and he didn't use it. So the reason I didn't put it on the list of things that I didn't like is I love that they got the extra possession, that they used their timeouts on defense, that they were aggressive trying to get points, even though they were going to get the ball to start the second half down 1710. You know, if they hadn't been aggressive, if they had run at Baltimore still had three timeouts, they may have tried to get the ball back.

So I loved the aggression to get an extra possession to try to score more to go back to back with maybe a field goal and then to start the second half with the ball, but I didn't like that Dan Quinn took a time out with him into the locker room. Could have used it on defense with a minute 20 left and probably should have used it with 30 seconds to go after the Noah Brown catch on the sideline out by midfield. They would have had more shots. They could have thrown the ball over the middle of the field, spiked it. They would have been fine. Also on the other list, how about Davis, Jamon and Emmanuel Forbes inactive for the game. Both of them. You know, draft choices number one in 2023 and in 2021, both of those players inactive for the Ravens game. Cleland Farrell was back. That

explains the Davis thing. Clearly, they're not big fans of Forbes right now. Thank you, Ron Rivera. The ref stuff, look, they missed the Hamilton hit on Jaden. I thought Noah Brown got held on a third and five before the 55-yard field goal. The rest of it, it's kind of sour grapes to me. Did Washington get called for more penalties in the game? They did. Would it have made a difference? I don't think it would have.

I think Baltimore was just too good offensively and Washington was too bad defensively. How about CBS, this Nance, Romo, and even some of the graphics. Battle of the DMV, Battle of the Beltway. No, it's not. God, why isn't somebody at CBS know that these are two totally different markets in cities? Baltimore is not part of the DMV? Yes, M stands for Maryland, but not Baltimore, Maryland. Stands for Montgomery, PG, Frederick, and maybe some of Howard.

Come on, somebody at CBS had to know that. Does anybody know anything about our market? And we don't share a Beltway with Baltimore. We share a Parkway with Baltimore. If you wanted to call it the Battle of the Parkway, you know, that would have at least been factually correct. But the battle of anything was kind of ridiculous. And the fact that they butchered it so badly,

the DMV battle of the DMV, the Battle of the Beltway. Also, I thought they did a poor job of showing some replays some key plays. The one that stood out, St. Juice's first defensive pass interference penalty, never got a second look at that. Never got any thought on that. I didn't think the job of the A team for CBS was done very well yesterday. Lastly, Washington, two and one against the AFC North now. They played three of their first six games against the AFC North. They got their last one against Pittsburgh. That game will come on November 10th. And then they do have one other AFC game. They play the AFC South team, the Titans who finished in the same spot that they did

last year, which was last place. They have the Titans at home on December 1st. As mentioned, the Panthers next week, the Panthers just lost to the Falcons 35 to 20. They come in 1 in 5. I will tell you this, Chuba Hubbard can run the football. Dalton is a veteran quarterback. I'm going to be worried against any team with a halfway capable running game and a halfway competent quarterback each and every week. With that said, Washington should be able to move the football and score a bunch against Carolina next week. That's one of those games that you look at and you're like,

You got to get that one. You know, that would put them at five and two. And then the next game, the Bears with Caleb Williams now starting to play really well. They destroyed Jacksonville today. The smell test, not doing very well today right now with the NFL. I have the Giants tonight, but these four o'clock games are a disaster. College was good yesterday. So there you go for all of you people that don't want me to give out college picks.

It's a good thing you had them this weekend. Okay. That is it for now. I will be back with another episode with more thought, the opportunity to digest everything. Listen to Dan Quinn's post-game press conference and probably get a guest on as well. All right, four and two, you know, a loss, a winnable game,

but not playing that kind of defense. All right, back tomorrow.