The Kevin Sheehan Show - Washington-KC Wrap

Episode Date: August 22, 2022

Kevin and Thom today with a recap of Washington's 24-14 preseason loss in KC on Saturday. Kevin's "GameTake" and more on the show including an interesting gift Thom's granddaughter left for him. 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. Tommy's here with me on this Monday. I am here, obviously. We have not done anything on the game from Saturday.

So we will focus a lot on the 24 to 14 preseason loss to the Chiefs on Saturday at Arrowhead. I'll give you a list of the things I liked. Some of the things I didn't like, Tommy will do the same. But my God, Tommy, there are people who take the preseason so seriously. It's not that I forget this every year, but there is a small percentage of people that really believe like all of this stuff is incredibly telling. Like people have already made up their minds on Carson Wentz after like six total offensive series in preseason games. People have already said the defense is going to suck again because, of course, I mean, they just face Patrick Mahomes, the best quarterback on the planet you could debate in a preseason game. I got this from Jake. Jake tweeted me two preseason games in the, no, hold on, where is it?

Kevin, this looks very familiar, bad on third down, not enough scoring, same bad decision making by a starting quarterback, injuries missing players galore. looks like 6 to 7 wins for me. Not much has changed. Please put Rivera on the hot seat right now, Kevin. It's time. You ready to put Rivera on the hot seat after two preseason games, Tommy? This is what's so maddening about preseason football. Look, I sympathize with people because they're watching football, you know?

And they're supposed to watch football with like with one eye closed in preseason as if not to really pay attention to what they're seeing. And I'm sure it's frustrating, especially if you've rooted for a team that had sucked for years. You know, there's a human element that I understand to this, but preseason football is as lacks total credibility. You're not, I mean, you didn't see any long game, for the most part, with Carson Wentz in preseason.

It was all about getting in and getting out without any disasters. You know, with this guy with this arm and with the weapons that they have, they've got to have a series of plays that are going to stretch the field. A lot of them. You know, they're not going to show you that in preseason. So, yeah, to judge Carson Wentz, of all things, on the preseason, based on his performance, the best you can say about him. And you should feel good about this if you're a commander's fan,

is that he didn't really look bad. I mean, you know, if he was fumbling saps, you know, getting sacked three or four times, that would be troublesome. But that didn't happen. So you should feel relative. Nothing happened with Carson Wend's preseason that should make you change your mind if you felt bullish about him. I don't get it, but if you felt that way, you should.

Now, I got to tell you, I'm with them on the defense. I don't see, I mean, the defense, I know they're playing, I mean, they didn't look particularly good against Carolina either. You know, I mean, they weren't playing Kansas City the week before, and the same problems keep cropping up. And I didn't see in the offseason how this defense got better personnel-wise. Did you not just render the first part of your conversation completely irrelevant with you really are concerned about the defense? There's an exception to every, there's an exception to every rule.

And given this defense's performance last year and the fact that they really did not add anybody in this off season, that you should feel particularly good about defensively and are missing, you know, arguably one of their best defensive players going into the start of the season and Chase Young, I don't know why anyone would feel this defense is going to play any differently this year than they did last year. What? Because they're going to be better coached? Well, no. There's going to be more, quote, communication? Well, you can feel that way, but it's not because of,

of the results of the two preseason games. You might be right to feel that way, and that may be the way you felt in the offseason, and you're right. They didn't do a lot. They lost more on defense and they gained. With Chase Young, who knows how long he's going to be out, that's a problem.

You may have made up your mind on Jack Del Rio, but the two preseason games shouldn't be the reason for that. The same thing. The same thing I said about Carson Went, you could say about defense. If you didn't feel good about this defense going into the season, nothing happened in preseason to change your mind. There weren't five sacks, six sacks a game.

Nothing should have happened in preseason to change your mind. That's my point. If they had played great, you shouldn't have changed your mind. Talent can emerge in preseason. On defense, we didn't see any of that. You know, part of this. is a recurring theme for me this time a year doing what we've been doing, you know, together and even apart for a long period of time. I just don't get worked up other than things like

injuries, serious injuries. Or if I see, if a coach, like I've said, coach is saying things or, and I'm going to give you the one big takeaway that actually is a learned thing from, from Saturday, in my opinion. But I felt this way, as you know, for years about the preseason, even though we have this obligation, if you will, to talk about the football team and their preseason games. But we talk about them honestly. I think even now, like now it's even less relevant.

If you look around the league the way a lot of teams are treating these preseason games, They're not playing anybody. I mean, I went through projected starting quarterbacks. Three, six, ten, seven, ten, thirteen. It would appear to me as if 14 projected starting quarterbacks have not taken one snap yet in preseason. A couple of them because of injury. And they're expected to be ready for opening day. But Justin Herbert, Dat Prescott, guys that, you know, whatever.

I mean, not a snap. Now, maybe they will take snaps in the final preseason game this weekend, but many teams have approached it as, yeah, this doesn't matter. By the way, let me make this point. Teams that have had scrimmages with other teams leading into a preseason game really aren't playing anybody. San Francisco and Minnesota played the other night. They didn't play anybody. Nobody played because they had scrimmaged against each other for two days. The preseason is going to eventually have to end.

It is a, it's just the worst. It is, it means nothing. You're not seeing anything. You can evaluate some of these new players that you haven't seen before. And you can, you know, obviously injuries are a real thing. And what coaches say and what players say sometimes can, you know, you can read between the lines and sometimes you don't even need to read between the lines. But I think even more today than even in the past. This stuff is ridiculous.

It doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean that the guy that's all worked up like Jake about the defense, you know, giving up five for five on third down to Patrick Mahomes. And they've given up 20 of 33 on third down in the two games. It doesn't mean that he's going to be wrong about the third down defense. In fact, I'm concerned about the defense too. But I'm not concerned because of what I saw on Saturday. I'm not concerned at all. You don't even know who's in the game for the opposition in terms of starters.

They're not game planning at all. They're trying to evaluate players. And in some of these games, you are playing primarily half the game or more, in some cases, the entire game against a group of players, 75% of whom won't be in the league in two and a half weeks. So I can't really, I'm going to sit here and I'm going to give you a list of things that I liked and the things that I didn't like, but they're really going to be reflective of more of like player evaluations. And, you know, something Wentz did in the game that bothered me a little bit because I think it speaks to sometimes his decision making.

But they're all observations. They're not conclusions. Because if you're, if you've got a conclusion other than, oh, he talks. tore his ACL and he's out, or the coach announced that that player's benched, you're really going to fool yourself into believing that this is a worthwhile exercise. Tommy, I swear to you. I just, I talked to Cooley earlier this morning for a while, because he just called and he was like, so how are they doing? I'm like, you're not watching. He goes, I'm not watching. I pay attention a little bit like to the score, you know, but I'm not watching. He goes, but you have to

watch. Are you watching the whole game? games. I said, well, I watched the whole game last week and this week, primarily because of Doc Walker. That's been the draw to these games. But if I didn't have to come in here and do content, as much as I love football and I love football, I don't think I'd watch these games at all. I might watch the first quarter, but once the starters exit, I'm going to better call Saul. I'm going to but I've made some inroads on that. You know, I haven't watched the whole series. I've watched a lot of it now.

I'm going to watch House of Dragon, which I didn't watch last night, but I have recorded. I'm going to do, I'll tell you one thing on Saturday. Saturday, I stuck with it, but I was flipping back and forth with the golf, which was very exciting all weekend long.

I know you don't care about it, but it was very exciting to watch. Like things that are real competitions. These are not real competitions. These are, I don't even think, you can't even call them an exhibition. They're glorified like practices. Tommy, teams, coaches, there are several coaches now that have said, nope, not doing it. Brandon Staley Chargers, nope, not putting any player that is meaningful at risk.

Okay, you're getting a little bit too worked up about this. You're not taking into account that it's human nature. if you watch something unfold to make judgments about it. It's not human nature to watch something that you've been told, you know, has a purpose like this and just dismiss it totally in football. So I sympathize with people who come away with conclusions based on this. It's foolish, yes. But you're getting way too worked up about this.

Here's why I'm getting too worked up about it, Because most of the people that are listening to this show totally agree with me. And they're like, yeah, we get it. We're with you. It's a small percentage of people that get worked up about it. And I guess what I'm trying to do is just say to those small percentage of people that you are somehow empathizing with or sympathizing with. Get over it.

Don't even watch it. Now, it's football on TV, and there's a comfort of having football on TV. But spend your last couple of weekends of the summer and do all. all of the things that your wife or your girlfriend are going to want you to do beginning with the regular season. Try to get all that stuff in right now. I always think about that, you know, in August. Well, check this out.

What? I'm going to their last preseason game. Not only am I going to watch it. I'm going to it. Oh, my God. You couldn't pay me to go to an NFL preseason game. I mean, honestly, in the future? I'll be at M&T Bank Stadium watching the last preseason game.

All right. Have at it. Lamar Jackson hasn't taken a snap in the preseason. Actually, I think the more interesting stories from that game will be the Baltimore situation. Lamar Jackson, fifth year, you know, rookie year deal, no contract extension. Tyler Huntley last night apparently was like 13 or 14 or something like that. You know, so people are going nuts over him. He's been that way in both preseason games.

I mean, his quarterback rating is like 135 or something like that. That's interesting. It's astronomical. And you know what? Forget about his preseason games, if that's really his performance so far. He played well when he had the opportunity playing for Lamar Jackson last year. He kept them competitive in some of those games. He did.

I've told you there are Ravens fans I know who think with their running game healthy that they don't need Lamar Jackson to win, that they just need a quarterback who can get the third down, the third down completion. That's what Rocco thinks? No, that's not what Rocco thinks. Rocco, that's a good care less. He just likes to go to the games to drink and party. All right.

I do want to get to some of the things, some of the observations that I made from the game on Saturday, after all with that discussion. Look at you. And there was one massive, massive takeaway, which was also the big takeaway from last week, except now we've got a big old billboard, you know, basically screaming that this is the way it's going to be in the regular season. We'll get to that next right after these words from a few of our sponsors. On the ground, it's Robinson, and Robinson picks up nine yards on the carry to bring up second short. One of two really good runs from Brian Robinson, Jr. He had two nine-yard runs in the game. Ended up eight carries for 31 yards in the game as the teams starting running back. Yeah, all of what we saw last week, and we talked about Antonio Gibson's fumble, which was a real thing, even though it was a preseason game.

All of the signs that he was being given notice, put on notice, doing a lot of special teams work during practice last week, taking reps with second and third teamers. Well, Antonio Gibson returned the opening kickoff, and then Brian Robinson, Jr. was the starting running back. I'm pretty sure that the biggest takeaway for me out of the game on Saturday is we now know, and many of you predicted this, congratulations, many of you said, well, now it's not going to be a surprise after last week. I still on Friday was thinking that Gibson will get the opportunities, and he'll end up being the starting back, but obviously he's on a short leash. No, when you do what Ron did on Saturday, you are basically telegram. against Jacksonville on September 11th,

Brian Robinson Jr. is going to be the guy that is their starting running back, or RB1, as a lot of people now like to refer to, you know, starters. It used to be just starters, backups, you know, first string, second, string, third string. Now over the last like two or three years, it's become real trendy to say, you know, he's our RB1, he's our RB1, QB2. I'll just stick with Brian Robinson, Jr. is right now, I'd be surprised if this changes. He's the starting running back.

And what makes it really clear is the emphasis with Gibson in the second quarter with Taylor Heineke to be used as primarily a receiver. Now, they were in their two-minute drill. But the Brian Robinson, Jr. was, you know, a major highlight. So let me, Tommy, actually, respond to that. the Brian Robinson, Jr. Antonio Gibson thing, and then I'll get to the list of things I liked and didn't like. Well, I'm going to respond to the result of that. I'd like that they use Antonio Gibson more as receiver. I like the fact that they get him out in the open field more and get him the ball. After all,

that's just with his position in college. So if they figured our way to salvage Antonio Gibson by a other way to use him, I think that's a good thing. So I think that's good for the offense if they continue to do that. I still like Gibson in every form. I certainly like him more in space. You know, that's a given. But I still think he can be a very good, you know, carry the load running back. I do think that. I also have been very impressed with, Ryan Robinson, Jr., just in evaluating the way he runs. Brian Robinson, Jr. was one of the backs that I liked in the draft, but there were other backs I liked more.

I'm a big Kenneth Walker Jr. fan. He's in Seattle. I like Brees Hall a lot. Let me just mention, because I talked about this leading into, I think, day two of the draft. I think the team would have taken Davis Price, Tyrion Davis Price out of LSU had he fallen to them in the third round. But he was taken four or five spots ahead of Washington by the 49ers. I think that's who they liked. I think they liked Robinson Jr. as well. But I think they had Davis Price a little bit ahead of Robinson and would have taken him there. But they got a player that

they really evaluated, loved. You know, one of the things about Robinson is he is a running back. He is a physical runner and he doesn't fumble. But it's really obvious now. And I'm not saying that there wasn't clear signs when they drafted a running back in the third round that they weren't thrilled with Antonio Gibson. You don't draft a running back that high with the intention of him just being kind of a long shot to make the team. You see him as a significant contributor. And by the way, when it's a running back right away.

And, you know, again, maybe I'm sure they're right. They are, they have, they're the pros. And certainly Robinson Jr. looks like a better overall runner. And I'll get to that here in a moment. But he, unless they were just trying to give Gibson one more, all right, dude, you saw what he did. We're going to give you the start against Jacksonville. But you're on a short leash. I don't think that's what's going on.

I think Gibson might be back there on the opening kickoff if they're receiving on opening day. And then I think it's Robinson. And then it's going to be Scott Turner's job to figure out with Gibson, with Samuel, with Dotson, with all of these playmakers that they have. If everybody's healthy. And by the way, good news, Logan Paulson today. Not Logan Paulson. Logan Thomas.

I love Logan Thomas. Logan Thomas off the pup list. Okay. On August 22nd, we still have 20 days. until the opener. That's great news. But I think the biggest takeaway for me yesterday or from Saturday is we're going to have a rookie running back and he's going to wear number eight, which is kind of cool. And he's got some real ability, too.

You can see it. And obviously you saw it in Chicago, at Alabama as well. All right. Let me get to my game take. Pay attention. Here's Kevin's Game Day. Just a list of things that I liked from the game, a list of things that I didn't like from the game.

I'll start with just Robinson Jr. So in the two preseason games, what's been noticeable in sort of a player evaluation, and it's obviously why Scott Turner and why the organization liked him. He's got excellent vision, he's got very quick feed, he's decisive, and he leans forward.

Like, he is going to finish, runs and the pile is going to move in the direction in which he is moving. He, you know, is the starting running back, I think, on this team opening day. I've been impressed. The team has been impressed. The message all last week was clear. And the message on Saturday with Gibson returning the opening kickoff and then Robinson getting eight of the team's first nine carries was made, you know,

crystal clear. Is there any other kind? He's the guy, and I really do like him as a runner. I really am a big Gibson fan too, but it's going to be Robinson, I think, to start. And I thought he was impressive again against Kansas City. Kendall Fuller to me gave up a touchdown pass early to the big tight end number 88, and then I thought that he was highly competitive, made a great play breaking up a shot to Sky Moore, who I really like from Western Michigan. I mean, he's not to re-kill for Kansas City, but Kansas City is going to be just fine. Kansas City's biggest issue is not that they're going to fall off dramatically, not having to re-kill, but that the division is so loaded top to bottom with Russell Wilson

in Denver and Justin Herbert and the Chargers having improved so much. And Derek Carr is the worst starting quarterback in the division. but I thought Kendall Fuller really bounced back. And he really is a good player and a talented player. I thought he flashed. I thought Montez Sweat really flashed at times. He almost had Mahomes on that first third down. He looks explosive to me.

And I know last year, especially early, he didn't. But I just right now sweat talent-wise on defense, without Chase Young in the lineup is probably their most talented player defensively. I'm not saying he's their best. I think John Allen is their best player. But I thought sweat really looked good at times. I loved that they got Jahan Dotson a couple of touches in this game. You can see his speed and how elusive he can be.

I really believe Dotson's going to be an excellent player for this team. And the more and more from these first two games, I think about it and watching Carson Wentz, and I don't have a real meaningful evaluation of Carson Wentz. It's just impossible to truly evaluate six possessions with no game plan, with, by the way, the only really solid possession last week against Carolina being against their number twos. I'm just not ready to do it. But I do have this sense that offensively what they're going to focus on more than anything else, Scott Turner, is not putting the pressure on. Carson Wentz. You know, it's the Taylor Heineke model. It is the model for all quarterbacks that have some ability, but they're not great. You know, they're not Aaron

Rogers, they're not Patrick Mahomes, they're not Josh Allen, et cetera. You've got to surround them with people that can really elevate them. They're not necessarily doing the elevating. And Scott Turner's challenge this year is to make it easy for Carson Wentz, not put him into a position where he's got to do it by himself. Because that's not who he is. And it shouldn't need to be who he is this year. Get the ball out. You saw some tunnel screens to McLorne to Jahan, to Jahan Dotson.

Samuels a playmaker. Gibson and McKissick are playmakers. You got a guy, you know, as a runner who could really keep him ahead of the chains. I just, in watching Dotson on the tunnel and McLorn, I think that's what we're going to see a lot. of. We're going to see a lot of Scott Turner just figuring out how do I get the ball into the hands of my best playmakers using the other playmakers on a given play as decoys or blockers or whatever and let them make the plays and not put the pressure on Carson Wentz. Tommy,

I know that that isn't what everybody thinks Carson Wentz can be, but I believe that Scott Turner is in the reason they drafted Dodson. And the reason, you know, they signed Curtis Samuel last year, wasn't necessarily for Wentz this year, but it was for Fitzpatrick last year, is they want to take the pressure off their quarterback. And if they can do that, they feel like they can be successful. And they do have some weapons.

I thought the last drive of the first half with Taylor Heineke in the game was just another indication to me of why I love him as a backup, and that's what he is, people. He's a backup. He just is ready to go. Like, think about backups in any sport, especially quarterback. When they come into a game in the middle of a game, they look tight, they look cold, they look a little bit, you know, skittish. You know, they're trying automatically, the coaching staff is, we got to give them something that, you know, gets his confidence going. I don't think Taylor Heineke's ever not believed in himself.

and I think it's his greatest, you know, psychological strength, his mental toughness of being able to come in and automatically believe he belongs on the field. And then he's got this great ability to extend plays and to make plays with his feet. I thought he and Cam Sims and then Gibson on that drive before the end of the first half against Kansas City's twos. I just thought that they all really seemed cohesive. and seemed in sync. And I thought, you know, it was another reminder that they've got a really solid backup quarterback situation.

Would you like to weigh in on Taylor Heineke quickly? No, I've already weighed in on Taylor Heineke and how this season is going to unfold. You know, the thing is, they don't want to rely on Carson Wentz as being the guy to win games for them. That's what you're saying, right? Yeah, definitely. Okay. That's a lot of money to pay for a quarterback who they expect, you know, just not to lose games, you know. Actually, there's several quarterbacks that are in that boat and making a lot of money. Kirk Cousins is the perfect example of a quarterback that's getting paid an awful lot of money, but you've got to put a good team around him. Derek Carr is a good example of a quarterback who's

making really good money. You've got to have a good team around them. They're only a handful of guys that you can say elevate the rest of the team and pretty much can by themselves ensure that you're in playoff contention. And we know who those guys are. Those guys you mentioned when you put the people around them, they win games. You're still saying that you can't count on this guy to win the game. No, what I'm saying is you can't count on the guy to win the game by himself. He's not an elite quarterback that is going to elevate the rest of the team. He's not Rogers.

He's not Mahomes. He's not Josh Allen. You know, he's not some of these truly elite quarterbacks, Brady, that are going to elevate the rest of the team. He is more like Jared Gough. He's more like Kurt Cousins. You know, Matt Stafford, I think, has the ability at times to really elevate a team. But the truth is, because he didn't do it in Detroit, right? We didn't see him win until they put a really good team.

And by the way, an excellent coaching staff around him. I think Wentz had some things around him. He had the best running back in the game last year. He had a decent offensive line that was banged up. Not the best of receivers. They didn't have enough around him. Good coach, though. Good play caller.

Yeah, no, I think that that's, I think what they've really focused on is adding enough around last year. They started with Ryan Fitzpatrick. This year they're continuing with Carson Wentz. They can't put the game on him. But I really, back to the end of the first half, I just, even though I'm on record for a long time, I don't believe that Taylor Heineke is a starting quarterback in the NFL

for a number of reasons. I do think he has proven that he is, a backup quarterback for a long time in the NFL, and he might be in the top 10 backups in the NFL. And the best part about him is he can come in and he's energetic and he's confident, and he's going to give you, you know, he's going to make plays for you. He's going to give you a chance. Whereas when many backup quarterbacks come into games, you're like, it's over. I liked Armani Rogers again, the tight end. And getting Logan Thomas back is huge. I'm excited. excited about that. But the guy that was the quarterback at Ohio University that they brought in,

I don't know, a few weeks ago, that looked impressive last week. To me, just looks the part. He's that quarterback with the vision, with the hands, with the feel. And he's also 6'5 and 240, you know, and I think Armani Rogers is going to make the team as the fourth tight end. Also, I just want to mention this guy, because I mentioned him last week, and I think I mentioned him with Doc on the podcast. I'm a Shaka Tony fan. I know he went to Penn State, and my son went to Penn State.

That's not the reason. Shaka Tony has one, he may be a one-trick pony, but the one trick, I think he has a chance to develop into a really good trick, and that is as a pure pass-rushing specialist. He may be the most explosive pass rusher they have in terms of being a speed rusher, quick twitch, first step, the whole thing. He had a sack and a half. He had some pressures last week. He's been a guy that a lot of the

beat people think is kind of on the bubble because they have some ends. You know, with Chase Young out. Now, if he starts the season on the Pupplist, that probably means Tony is in. They lost that guy, Routimi, I think, was put on injured reserve. James Smith Williams, they like. They like Casey 2 Hill to a certain degree. William Bradley King. I like Shaka Tony. I like him as just, you know, a third down pass rushing specialist. He is really quick. So that's the list of things that I like. The things that I didn't like from the game, I'm just going to put down here third down defense because the starting quarterbacks against them, all right, starters against starters, the last two weeks, they played Carolina who played their starters.

They played the Chiefs who played their starters. They might play Baltimore, and Baltimore may not play any starters. Washington may not play any starters. But it was the first team D against the Chief's first team O. It was the first team D a week ago against Carolina's first team O. And Baker Mayfield was three for his first three on third down. And Patrick Mahomes was five of a. first five on third down. But Patrick Mahomes is ridiculous, people. Patrick Mahomes does this against

everybody. He's been doing it against everybody. The irony of the bitching about the third down defense is I think they got pretty good pressure. They also forced Kansas City into some third and longs, which is really hard to do. Kansas City doesn't get stopped. a lot. You know, it's actually an interesting stat. I want to look it up real quickly. I want to see how many third downs they had last year overall, because it wouldn't surprise me if the number of third down attempts that they had was, yeah, here it is. Fourth lowest in the league, okay, last year, in just attempted third downs. They don't have many third downs because it's It's hard to stop them on first and second.

The Packers and the 49ers and the Rams and the Chiefs and the Seahawks somehow. But Washington forced a lot of third downs against their first team offense. So I actually think if you want to look for something from the game itself from a statistical thing, I wouldn't get worked up. They got pressure on those third downs, and there went Patrick Mahomes, flush from the pocket, nearly sacked. but he evades it. He contorts himself. He throws some sidearm chuck under, you know, three defenders across the field. And it's completed. He's amazing. He's really, really amazing.

You know, so I can't sit here and tell you that I'm like, all of a sudden, just terrified of their third down defense. Not because Patrick Mahomes made five incredible plays, no. That's not. You know what? I love the fact that they got the work against the Chiefs. I'm so glad the Chiefs played their first team offense. This was great for them. They're not going to face that against Trevor Lawrence or Jared Gough in their first two games.

You know, this is more of a continuation of everything they faced last year. Josh Allen, Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rogers. I mean, they don't have that on this schedule. necessarily this year. Am I concerned about their defense? I am. Am I concerned about their third down defense? After last year, I am.

But nothing that Patrick Mahomes did Saturday made me more concerned. He's great. Another thing I didn't like. Wence hasn't been great with situational football. This is what drove people nuts in Indianapolis. He just made total head-scratching decisions at times. And the last drive he was in the game, which was their best drive, and by the way, offensively, they did move the ball a little bit, and then they bogged down.

But their first drive, I think they had it for eight plays. Their second drive, they made a first down. Their third drive, they made a few first downs. And on third and ten, after a Sam Cosmi false start on third and five, Wentz took a sack and it knocked him out of field goal range. that's just one of those things where, and by the way, he had a chance to unload it because he quickly escaped the pocket but then held onto the ball too long and he got sacked and it cost him a chance for three points.

Now, who cares? It's not a regular season game and the final score doesn't matter. But it is, you know, something that he's had an issue with, which is decision-making. And, you know, even though it was a pre-season game, the veteran good decision-making quarterback is going to chuck that thing out of bounds when he gets outside the pocket and give his team his team a chance to kick a field goal. By the way, the guy that got this sack, Karloftus, was one of my favorite players in the Big Ten last year.

He was Kansas City's first round pick out of Purdue. He looked really good in that game. On the other hand, if you're Carson Wentz, don't you want to try to see if you can extend to play in a preseason game? Well, considering that they've kind of been super conservative and they've like, you know, had them checking down and having them quick throws and not wanting. And by the way, do I want them to try to extend it and make a play there?

If my coach told me that we're going to go for it on fourth down and to do it, yes. Other than that, there wasn't anything there. And look, what you're saying. saying has some validity. What you're saying is if he said, yeah, there's some things I just want to try in preseason, in the regular season, I would have known to get rid of it. He actually didn't say that, by the way. His response was, I know I need to get rid of the ball in that spot. Right. Yeah. I just think that that's going to be something we watch closely, you know, during this season, is how many of those plays he makes where you're just like, you've got to be. You've got to

kidding me. Because you've got to be kidding me was at least twice a game from Colts fans last year. Yeah. And so the other thing I didn't like is something I think I hinted towards Friday, or maybe it was Thursday's podcast. I forget which. And that is, you know, this is a somewhat educated hunch. I don't know what it will lead to. But I don't don't think Diami Brown is what they thought he would be when they drafted him. I know that Scott Turner really liked Diami Brown in the 2021 draft. Now, the receiver he really liked was Elijah Moore, who went to the Jets, but he was gone by the time they got to the position where they were thinking about taking a receiver. You know, last year, adding Curtis Samuel and then drafting

Diami Brown in the third round, was an attempt to give Ryan Fitzpatrick more weapons, because like with Wentz, they felt the same way about Ryan Fitzpatrick. We can't put it all on him. This year, they drafted, they didn't wait. They drafted Dotson in the first round. Diami Brown, you know, last year never really got off at all because of injuries and whatever. He doesn't look natural to me as a receiver, as a route runner, as a guy making plays on balls that are in the air. spatially, I think sometimes he seems a little bit off.

Now, what he can do is he can really run. And he can run a go route. And he can beat somebody. And if the ball's there, I have no doubt that he can make a big play on, you know, a deep shot. But I'm going to be really interested to see how the final group of receivers plays out. I mentioned also as part of this last week when I hinted towards this, that they really like Kelvin Harmon, the sixth round pick out of NC State from the 2019 draft.

And Harmon is a guy that just has kind of hung around. He's been released a couple times, practice squad, a couple, you know, and he's just there. And they like him. They also like Dax Milne. And, but, you know, Diami Brown was a third round pick. and he didn't have the chances last year. But now he's had an offseason.

He's had a training camp. And look, Terry McClorn, Jehan Dodson, Curtis Samuel, and Cam Sims are locks right now. And I think a week and a half ago, I think I would have said Diami Brown's a lock. Those are five. And now the sixth will come from either Milne or Erickson, whomever they choose to return punts if it's not Dodson. Now, if Diami Brown got released, it would not shock me. I think more likely is Diami Brown ends up being one of those players that's inactive early in the season. If everybody's healthy.

You know, if McCorn, Dotson, Samuel, Sims, and let's just say, Milner Erickson. And I don't know what they're going to do with Harmon. They got him some snaps. I know he's been impressive to them in practice. Doc reiterated the same thing to me on Friday. Something just to watch. The receiver thing is going to be interesting when they get to final cuts. And if you're wondering, well, can't they get anything for Diomi Brown?

I don't think so. I think, you know, with a third round pick, if after year two, you've decided to deal him, the best is like conditional seventh round, something like that. But more or less, no, they're just going to wait for you to release him. I'm not, by the way, I'm not predicting that. I actually, my prediction would be, I want to be clear on this, that he makes the team, but he ends up being an inactive player. I still think that Scott Turner believes in his potential.

And there are moments with his speed where he definitely flashes in practice. But I just see a guy that isn't confident right now. So anyway, just we'll see what happens. If he gets released, it wouldn't shock me, but I'm not predicting it. I think he'll make the team. He'll be one of the six or seven, but it'll probably be one of those guys that is inactive until people get injured. Right.

The only other thing that I didn't like, and this is really nitpicking because they scored a touchdown at the end of the first half on that drive that I thought both Heineke all three Sims, Heineke and Gibson all looked good on. I was getting ready to write this down, you know, because you know that I think Rivera isn't great at clock management. I don't think he's the worst. I've seen much worse. And I think, you know, it's something, he's probably like in the middle of the pack.

And it's a preseason game, and I don't know what they were doing. They definitely, Taylor Heineke knew what was going on. He was in total control. but they had a play at the Kansas City 12-yard line that was a completed pass in bounds, and they had three timeouts left. And Chad Henny at that point, not Chad Henney, Shane Bouchel, their backup quarterback, who, by the way, I loved at SMU in Texas. Before that, he transferred from Texas to SMU.

He's not their backup. He's their third-string guy. I thought he looked really good for Kansas City. he's a really good athlete. But Ron Rivera just let the clock roll and roll and roll. And the only reason I bring it up is because on the touchdown pass to Cam Sims, it was third and seven at the Kansas City nine-yard line. They had not used a timeout left.

If they completed a ball short of the goal line, but it was a first down throw, let's just say to the two-yard line, and it was a first down, they wouldn't have had enough time to run three or four plays. or three plays and kick a field goal or two plays and go forward on third down. And I just think I thought he should have used at least one of his timeouts so that you make sure that if you get a first down without scoring a touchdown, you have a chance to snap the ball four times if that's what you want to do, including if the fourth one is a field goal attempt.

But they scored a touchdown and it was a really good throw from Heineke to Sims. Cam Sims, do you know, I went back and looked at this. because I've talked about this before. Cam Sims, every single time he has an opportunity, he delivers. I'm talking about in the regular season. When you go back to 2020, he had a massive game against that game against the Steelers on that Tuesday afternoon, nine catches, 92 yards when they came from behind with Alex Smith and the quarterback in the second half.

Alex Smith as the quarterback, and they ended Pittsburgh's run at a perfect season. season. In that season finale where they had to beat the Eagles, he had a huge game. Every time he gets a chance, he really delivers. He's a big dude. He can catch. By the way, he gives a quarterback a big catch radius. I like Cam Sims as a player a lot. And for those that don't know this, he's the senior member on the offense. He's been around longer than anybody on the offensive side. ball. Didn't he come in the same year as McClarn?

2018. Oh, 18? Wow. Yeah, that would make him the senior guy in offense. Yes, it would. You know, the other thing, I think remember, you know, when they were drafting and trying to sign as many Alabama players and they did it again this year with Brian Robinson, Jr. People forget that Cam Simpson played for Alabama and won a national championship.

But there were just so many great receivers at Bama that were in front of them. Unless you were really a hardcore college football fan or Bama fan, you knew that Cam Sims was a part of what they were doing, but he wasn't the significant part. But that just goes to show you just how loaded they are. By the way, speaking of what you just said, I took a – I wrote this down because I freeze-framed it. I paused it when this graphic.

went up during the game on Saturday. There was a graphic that NBC Sports Washington put up. Of the players that are still here, but were not acquired by Rivera. So they're the holdovers from pre- Rivera, and there are only 11 players left. That's not unusual. You go into a third year after a team has been so bad with a new coach, and they've turned over the roster. And he's really turned over the roster. I bring it up because here's the list of 11 players who were here when Ron Rivera arrived. Terry McClorn, Kelvin Harmon, Cam Sims, Chase Ruiye, John Allen, Duran Payne, Montez Sweat, Cole Holcomb, Tressway, Danny Johnson, and Jeremy Reeves. You could literally make the case outside of Chase Young that the best, the best

players on the team were acquired by the previous group. Terry McLaurin, all right, John Allen, sweat and pain, tress away, definitely. Holcomb's a player. By the way, a total Jay Gruden player. Jake Rudin's the one that said that they were down there working other players out at Carolina and he's like, I want that guy. You know, now is that unusual because these are older players to and a lot of the players they've acquired or younger players? Maybe not. I mean, Kendall Fuller's really good. They brought him back. McKissick and Gibson and Cosmy and Leno Jr. You know, and who knows about Brian Robinson, Jr. and Dodson.

But I'm just pointing out that the best players on the team currently were not drafted or acquired by this group. This group going into year three. And if Trent Williams were still on the team, that would be even more of the case. Yes. Yes. Okay. We have... Any other thoughts from you on the game? No, no other thoughts, except I have a feeling if they're going to be successful this year,

they're going to have to score a lot of points to do it. I'll tell you what, their opening game against Jacksonville, I've got some information on when we come back, and we've got a couple of other things, you've got a couple of things that you want to get to as well. We'll do all of that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Five stars from JN. Down Under, Tommy. We've got a fan from Australia.

It's amazing as we read a lot of these Apple reviews. Please rate us and review us, especially on Apple and Spotify. It's a huge help. Five stars is great. A quick one to two sentence review. Hi, Kev, hi Tom, longtime listener. absolutely love the podcast all the way from Australia. I got on to your show when you went on Tony Kornheiser's show.

I never miss a show and enjoy the insights you and Tom. Share, in particular, I love it when you and Tom go head-to-head arguing it's pure gold. Keep up the amazing work. It really is amazing to me how many, and I know the data of percentage of people that listen from outside the DMV versus inside. And it's kind of in the 50-50 range. And I think the reason for that is it's a transient area, and you've got a lot of, you know, D.C. sports fans,

skins fans in particular that have ended up moving on. But thank you for that. And by the way, Tommy, I've been to Australia. You've been, right? Of course you went, well, you went and sat in a bar in Sydney during the Olympics and wrote from there as if you were... Well, it was just the opening ceremony. That's not exaggerate here.

I know. I loved my trip to... Australia. Loved it. I was in Sydney, too. I think Australia is awesome. I loved it, too, but that's the continent where there's more things that can kill you than any other place on the earth. Yeah, but you know what?

It's also the continent that just seems very kind of distant from everything else that is happening in the world. But, yeah, there are some poisonous spiders and a lot of sharks and a lot of different things in Australia, but it's a great place. Thank you, John from down under for that. MyBooky.com, mybooky.ag, ag for all of your football betting needs. We have a real football weekend coming up, real college games this weekend. It's a very limited number of games, but there are games on Saturday. And then the first full-fledged college football weekend starts Labor Day weekend. But, you know, Nebraska's playing Northwestern.

There are a couple of Big Ten teams playing. Illinois and Wyoming in a game this weekend. Yeah, those are the games this weekend. Is that? Yeah. Yes, that's this weekend game, I believe, Wyoming and Illinois. I'm just looking through my booking. I'm scrolling through some of these lines to see if there's anything I like right now.

I don't think I'll have a smell test for the upcoming weekend. Will for Labor Day weekend. That's for sure. Anyway, mybooky.com, mybooky.ag. They'll double your first deposit all the way up to $1,000. They have all of the NFL prop bets that you'd want. The NFC East Division odds updated on MyBooky as of yesterday. The Cowboys are the favorites at plus 115.

The Eagles are plus 180. And then it's Washington at plus 500 and the Giants at plus 800. So Washington's a bit of a long shot, but five to one to win the division. The Eagles and Cowboys, Cowboys the favorites, man, I like this Philadelphia team this year. I really do. That will be one of my preseason prop bets for sure, playing them over nine and a half wins. All right, I wanted to mention something before you get to some of the things that you want to get to. Doug Peterson said something about Trevor Lawrence after their preseason game against Pittsburgh on Friday night,

a preseason game in which Jacksonville moved the ball on almost every drive with their first team offense. This was their third preseason game because they played in the Hall of Fame game, and they didn't play any of their starters in the opener, but they played their starters a lot. and Trevor Lawrence played the first half against Pittsburgh on Friday night, Jacksonville being Washington's week one opponent, Washington a three and a half point favorite. Trevor Lawrence, you know, moved the team up and down the field four times, and there were, you know, there was a missed field goal, there was a missed fourth down. They only scored six points, but, you know, they converted on five of nine on third down.

He threw for 133 yards, 14 to 21 in the first half. And I was watching because that game was on NFL Network. I watched just a little of it because that's going to be their week one opponent. And I'm like, he looks more comfortable, man, looks a lot more comfortable with Doug Peterson. And, you know, Jacksonville's got some weapons. You know, they're going to get Robinson back. They've already got Travis ETN back. They've got, you know, they've got the receiver that they signed in free agency.

The first receiver to sign big money. Christian Kirk, who had like five catches for 50-some yards. the other night. They've got some talent. What are you doing here? What are you doing? What I'm doing is I'm telling you that Jacksonville is going to be a tough week one opponent. Okay.

Okay. Listen, this is a toss-up game. If they lose to Jacksonville at home on week one, it's a nuclear disaster. I didn't say that it would be fun. I'm just telling you this is a loseable game. It's a bit of a toss-up game, I think, going into it. But it was funny because Doug Peterson, who is a player's coach, a quarterback's guy, said about Trevor Lawrence after the other night. He said, quote, we've just got to get him to calm down early in the football game and settle in.

There were some throws that were missed that I know he would want back, and we've seen him make those throws in practice, so we know he's capable of it. It's just a matter of just taking a deep breath as he starts the game and settles in, but those are all. all the things that we'll continue to work on and we'll get better. Tommy, Trevor Lawrence is an outrageous talent. The Urban Meyer year in Jacksonville was such a disaster for the players. Yes, it was. I mean, it just, and I wonder what he did to Trevor Lawrence. Have I noticed Trevor Lawrence last year when he was playing being a little bit hyped up and nervous? Yeah, I think I, Cooley and I commented on that one week. It's like he just, just looks totally unsure of himself and looks so afraid of making mistakes.

It's not the way he played at Clemson. And, you know, Doug Peterson, I think is, I think basically Doug Peterson is head coach, uh, offensive play caller and Trevor Lawrence is shrink right now. He's trying to get him to believe in himself again. He's got so much talent. But man, the number that Urban Meyer did on that franchise last year. year. The players couldn't stand him. But long way to get to, I'm telling you one thing, do not play Washington and lay the three and a half in the opener. That's not going to be the

right side. Not saying they're going to lose the game. I'm just saying this is going to be a tough opening game at home against Jacksonville. And remember, Washington's a three and a half point favorite, but they're one of the few teams in the league that does not get the full-fledged three points when they're at home from the bookmakers. They do not consider Washington to have, you know, a meaningful home field advantage. Obviously, we know that. Even, you mean even under the new Jason Wright era? Even.

You mean with the ghost of Christmas pass in the background? Even with the ghost. And with all the NFL teams calling up the commanders for tips on how to improve their attendance? Even with that, the bookmakers have not been swayed by their outstanding HR department. They have not been swayed by the fact that they're just up against the ghosts of Christmas's past, even though the past on Friday was Ryan Vermillion, who wasn't even a year ago. He was 10 months ago with that situation.

But anyway, I know you had some things for this final segment of the show, so go ahead. Well, first of all, I'd be remiss if I didn't congratulate Al Gore. Oh, right. our friend, and beat me in the final contest for the D.C. sports media personality competition. Congratulations to Galdi. Nobody works harder in this business than Al Galdi. I know that for a fact. So congratulations to him. I got to tell you, Kevin, you know, I didn't really care about this thing. until I had a chance to win. Then I cared about it.

I, you know, I think we should, I think you should have come on the show Friday, and I think we should have really pushed it on Friday one more time. We probably should have. And maybe we could have gotten it. But you know, I feel the same way about Galdi that you do. And I'm thrilled that Zabe was in the other semi-final as well. and Buck as well, but it ended up being Galdi against Leverro in the final, and it was a close final.

I really thought if you could have just, I didn't think you defended well enough in the second half against Galdi, and he got some easy layups on you, and it was enough for him to eke out a six-point percentage win 53 to 47. Listen, I did the podcast proud. I'm not the one who got bounced out in the first round. I know. By a hockey announcer. Well, he's not just any hockey announcer, but yes. Okay. You're right.

I'm the one that carried the podcast to the final. You did. You did. And as much as I love me some Albert Galdi, of course, I was rooting for you to win in the final. But I am thrilled. This is like when, you know, you've got your favorite team and they're playing a team. You just, you also respect and like a lot. And you want to win.

And I wanted you to win, but it's not a bad consolation prize with Galdi. No, it is. If I'm going to lose to somebody, I'm happy to lose now, Galdi. Yeah. Good job by Todd. Next year, Todd, make us aware of what you're doing well in advance of what you're doing. And then we'll talk about it from the jump. We picked this thing up in the quarterfinals in the round of eight.

Yeah. You know, we'll hire a PR firm to make our case for it. Well, we've got the DC Sports Podcast Association behind us. That's right. Maybe we can, you know, maybe they can help out. What else you got? Yes. Well, there was a heavyweight title fight over the weekend. Most people don't know that. It was Anthony Joshua against Oleg Yucke.

And Yusick won a split decision. to basically win the IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles. He was already the WBA champion. Is he a Russian? Okay. I think he's Ukrainian. Oh, okay. And, I mean, you know, I mean, nobody cares.

Over in Europe, they care a lot. It's a big deal over in England and throughout Europe. It still is, isn't it? Boxing, yes, it is. Yes, it is. and particularly heavyweight boxing over there, because there are no American heavyweight for the door.

We saw, we've seen that. But I think I've told this story before, but it's worth repeating now that he is the heavyweight champion of the world. I know Oleg Eusek a little bit because he sat with my wife Liz and my son Rocco and I at the boxing writer's dinner in 2019 in New York,

when I won the award for a lifetime achievement. Oh, really? He sat with you? He sat at our table, and he was a memorable figure because it's the first time I sat at a table with somebody who took their tea bag and floss their teeth right in front of us. While we were sitting right next to him, he took the string from his tea bag and flossed his teeth.

Did he get what he was trying to get? He got to go to the bathroom to do that, you know, sat right next to us and did it. Lovely. So we've never forgot him. He's one of our favorite fighters. And so he won the title. Was it a good fight?

Yes, he did. Do you have any idea if it was a good fight? I didn't watch the fight. It was a competitive fight, I guess. It was a close fight. It was a split decision. Now Tyson Fury, who had announced before he's going to retire, there's a big, you know, he'll probably come out of his retirement to fight use it

because there's a ton of money to be made worldwide for these fights on pay-per-view. So, and I got one more thing for you. One more. Go ahead. Turns out, by the way, I didn't, I didn't mean to say you only have one more. I was just announcing that you've got one more. But if you have more than one more, have at it. Go ahead. Yes. You know, I forgot to tell you about this before.

I don't know how I could have forgotten about it. But our granddaughter, our 12-year-old granddaughter, you know, she went back to back home after we had to vacation at the beach. Well, it turns out she left a little present for us. Oh, can I guess? Go ahead. It wasn't a present for you and Liz necessarily. Not necessarily. Yeah. How old is she? She's 12?

12. Oh, well, I was going to guess that she left behind, like, weed or something like that. Yeah. Okay. No, this is something that is frighteningly repulsive, yet also creatively humorous. Okay. And there's a big part of me that admires her for doing this. In the bathroom. Are you going to embarrass her here?

I don't want you to embarrass her on this podcast, which is listened to by tens of thousands of people every day. Let me continue. Okay. On the, we have two full baths, and usually I move out of mine and into my wife, so whoever is staying us can have the full use of a bathroom. Right. But for some reason, she took a shower one time in my wife's bathroom. Okay. And I noticed this after she left when I took a shower in there, because all my stuff was still in there.

I came out, and the mirrors are all steamed, except for a drawing that emerged from the steam of a penis with the appropriate appendage on the bottom of it. She somehow put that in the mirror so it would come out When a mirror was steamed up Yes Really? Well So it was just a drawing of a penis When you said an appropriate appendage You mean the boys

Okay, that's what I thought you were meant Oh my God, that's hysterical Now you said Didn't you tell me that she is kind of artistic? Oh. No, no, no. I didn't tell you that. You told me that she dresses very sort of like gothic, you know, gothically, like goths, like all blouse. Although less so this time and previously. But that was her parting gift. A 12-year-old granddaughter, that was her parting gift. But do you think that she really anticipated that the steam that you guys would see it,

Or maybe it was steamed up and she drew it when it was steamed up thinking it was funny and just forgot to erase it? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because it wasn't when I went in there when I went to take the shower. There was no steam on the mirror when I went to take the shower. I know that. When I got out of the shower and when mirror was all steamed up, that's when it emerged. And you know what? We had a hard time getting it off.

It kept showing up. Every time, like my life would take a shower. shower, it would still be there. Well, she just drew it with her finger, right? I don't think so. What do you think she used? I don't know what she is. We haven't questioned her yet. Are you going to

question her? I don't care. I thought it was pretty funny myself. What did Liz think? She didn't think it was quite as funny. Was it well-drawn? Yes. Oh, my God. That's pretty

funny. Something you see on something you see spray painted in a New York City subway. I mean, is it a little bit... That's what it looked like. Do you think she was trying to be funny, or was it a little bit of a middle finger to both of you guys? No, I think she was trying to be funny. Okay.

Was it fun having her there? Did she have a good time? Yes, she had a good time, and she was much more enjoyable than she had been in the past. She'd gained some of the jury. Oh, my God. That's pretty funny. That is really... I've really, let this by her parting gift.

Yeah, a little bit of a parting gift. Yeah. What does she call you? Grandpa. Okay. I mean, she probably, I hope it was one of those. Oh, I hope grandpa's the first one to come to take a shower. Well, I was.

All right. On that note, that's it for the day. We'll be back. It's going to be, by the way, the next two weeks, just to give you a heads up. I've got some vacation time, starting on Wednesday through the end of next week. We're going to do a lot of podcasts. Don't get me wrong.

But there could be a day or two where I am indisposed, more likely than not on a golf course somewhere in a nice climate. But we will be back tomorrow. So until tomorrow, enjoy the show today and enjoy the image that Tommy left you with. Thank you.