The Kevin Sheehan Show - We Know Who They Are

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

Kevin solo today with a follow-up to the regular season finale in Dallas including an explanation on the Dallas kickoff out-of-bounds that resulted in Washington starting a drive at their own 25 yard line. Lots on the playoff game in Tampa including an understanding of who and what the Commanders are after 17 games and how they pull off their first playoff win in 19 years. Washington's 2025 schedule of opponents is set and Kevin had some early thoughts on Wild-Card Weekend.  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. How much of the concern is Jayden's leg soreness? Going into this week, but also, you know, just in terms of him being able to do everything that he can on the field. I'm not concerned, Nikki.

I'm feeling good going in to the week, and I'm actually feeling good on the team's health. So that's a good thing, you know, when you get to this time of year, you know, heading into the guys. and hopefully having some guys back too. That sounds like pretty good news. Dan Quinn earlier today answering a question from Nikki Javala from the Washington Post. He's not concerned about Jaden's health, and he feels good about the team's overall health.

They've got to be healthy Sunday night. They've got to have all of their best players playing Sunday night in that playoff game against the Bucks. The show's presenting sponsor, as always. is Window Nation. If you need new windows, call them at 86690 Nation or head towindonation.com. Mention my name. They'll come out and give you a free in-home, no obligation, no pressure estimate. This is going to be a quick solo pod today. Tommy will be with me tomorrow and I will likely have a player on the show on Wednesday. If you missed my post-game podcast, I put it out late yesterday. after the 4 o'clock games were over.

It's got my game take, what I liked, didn't like, et cetera, on that show. So yesterday's show, the January 5th show, is the postgame show from the Dallas game. No real changes to my overall post-game take, although I'm going to start with something that I didn't mention in my game take. And let me get to that right off the bat by reading this. this, it comes from J.C. J.C. writes, Kevin, I was surprised you didn't mention the Duran Payne penalty and why we started the drive afterwards from our own 20-yard line. When the ball went out of bounds, I thought you get the ball at the 40.

JC, thanks for that. They actually got the ball at the 25-yard line, not the 20-yard line. after that kickoff. But you're right. I did not mention that last night, my fault. So let's do it now. Let's address what happened in that circumstance. If you don't remember the circumstance, this was after Dallas's second field goal that made the score 6-0 in the second quarter. On that field goal attempt, Duran Payne got called for a 15-yard penalty. He took a stupid swing. at a Dallas player, dumb play, 15 yards it cost them on the ensuing kickoff. It was a post-field goal, post-play penalty. Dallas couldn't take the penalty and a first down. It was post-Aubrey making

the field goal. So, Aubrey lined up on the kickoff from the 50-yard line instead of the normal 35-yard line. By the way, what I'm about to explain has not. nothing to do with the new kickoff rules. If we were playing this game last year and there was a 15-yard penalty after a made field goal, the kickoff would have been moved to the 50-yard line from the 35-yard line. So Brandon Aubrey, after the penalty, post-field goal penalty, lined up to kick-off from the 50-yard line. And what he did was very interesting, and, J-C., I appreciate you reminding me of this. He intentionally kicked the ball out of bounds.

As J.C. said, why didn't we get the ball at the 40? We didn't. We got the ball at the 25. Yeah, he kicked the ball out of bounds from the 50-yard line intentionally. You know, if you don't think he did, watch it again. He gives a thumbs up to the coaches as he walks off the sideline. By the way, that was the kickoff that hit the cheerleader in the face. You know, you got that shot.

on the sideline and the cheerleader being upset. She was crying. Tressaway went over to check on her. That was the kickoff. That was Brandon Aubrey intentionally kicking the ball out of bounds, which resulted in Washington getting the ball at their own 25, not the 40-yard line. So why? So here's the answer, J.C.

the rule on a kickoff that goes out of bounds is not, well, the returning team gets the ball at the 40. That's not the rule. The rule is the returning team gets the ball 25 yards from where it was kicked off. So if it's kicked off from the 35-yard line, you get the ball at the 40. That's 25 yards from the kickoff spot. So on a normal kickoff, if somebody kicks the ball out of bounds, You get the ball 25 yards from the kickoff spot. That's the 40-yard line.

The rule isn't you get the ball at the 40. The rule is you get it 25 yards from the kickoff spot. So understanding that, he kicked off from the 50 after the penalty. It went out of bounds. Washington got the ball at their own 25-yard line, 25 yards, from where Aubrey kicked off the ball. Why did he kick it out of bounds intentionally? Well, to gain five yards of field position.

Dallas with Aubrey's big leg consistently kicks it out of the end zone and just gives teams the ball at the 30-yard line. Well, if he kicked it out of the end zone, they would have gotten the ball at the 30. Kicking it out of bounds, 25 yards from the kickoff, Washington started from their own 25. Pretty smart on Dallas's part. Although you could make the case that from the 50 and with the new kickoff rules that maybe he could have tried to power one into the crowd of players and maybe it hits one of Washington's players and bounces around and maybe it lands at the 25 or the 30, whatever.

They decided to take five yards of field position and kick the ball out of bounce. Pretty clever. However, part of the rule, and I look this up today, part of the rule gives the returning team an option when the ball is kicked out of bounds to make the kicking team re-kick it five yards back. How about that? I never knew that. Part of the kicking the ball out of bounds penalty is the returning team has two options. 25 yards from where the ball's kicked off, or walk it back five yards and make them re-kick it again.

Well, if they had re-kicked it from the 45, well, then an out-of-bounds kickoff would have given Washington the ball at the 30. Dallas would have just powered it through the end zone. Washington would have gotten the ball at the 30-yard line. So Washington did not take advantage of an opportunity to force Dallas to kick the ball off from the 45, and then more likely than not, the ensuing result would have been Aubrey kicking it through the end zone, and they would have gotten the ball at the 30 instead of the 25. So chalked that up for Dallas in terms of understanding the rules, and Washington, you know,

not understanding what one of their options was in that particular situation. Interesting. And I thank you, J.C., for bringing that up because I do remember the play, and I had it somewhere in my notes, but I didn't address it in the postgame pod last night, and I didn't address it on radio today either. So I'm glad that I was able to address it, and it forced me to go look up the rule because I knew, I did actually have a sense that it was yardage-based, not just at the 40. but I didn't know and had no idea that the returning team had the option of forcing the kickoff team to re-kick five yards back. That's what Washington should have done in that situation. By the way, speaking of special teams plays from the game yesterday, I also forgot to mention in my post-game recap the final play of the game.

Three seconds to go, Washington's up 23 to 19. and you know what they did? They kicked the ball off to Turpin again. Now, Zane Gonzalez tried to drive it into the end zone, and he drove Turpin five yards, six yards deep into the end zone. Apparently still they don't have a guy that can drive it out of the back of the end zone, indoors, even. So Turpin got his hands on the football. Well, we know what happened in Washington when Turpin,

Purpin got his hands on the football. The last guy that you wanted to see with the ball in his hands with one play was Turpin. But he had it in his hands. And then, inexplicably, he just ran out of bounds and ran the clock out and they lost. He didn't even try to make a play. They didn't have any sort of pitch around it didn't look like play planned. I don't know. part of me wonders if they had said, look, if the ball goes into the end zone, we're going to take it at the 30, and we're going to run our pitch around play with our offense on the field.

And Turpin will be a part of that because he'll be on the field offensively. We don't want to run it with our special teams players. And maybe Turpin just said to hell with it, I'm going to try to make something happen, didn't see a crease and ran out of bounds and with it any chance of a miracle finish. but strange the way that game ended. Kicking the ball off to Turpin at any, you know, at any point or part of the end zone was a bit dangerous. In fact, you know what Washington probably could have done is kick the ball out of bounds and give Dallas the ball at the 40. Now they would have had, you know, a Hail Mary opportunity. So you shouldn't have done that either.

You don't want to give them the ball at the 40 with three-seller. seconds to go because also you could end up with an untimed down kind of a play where maybe they get a little closer and they can attempt a Hail Mary. Anyway, that's how I'm starting this show. Two special teams plays not addressed on the post game recap. So 24 hours after the fact, I am feeling great about the 12 and 5 season, and I am super excited and can't wait and really anticipating Sunday night. I like the Sunday night spot. The weather's supposed to be nice in Tampa on Sunday night as of now. I thought there was a chance. I knew that Monday night wasn't going to be it. Said on the show yesterday that I thought it would be the Rams versus either Minnesota or Detroit,

the loser of last night's game. By the way, how great was Detroit in that game defensively? Aaron Glenn, with the number of players he's lost to put on that kind of defensive performance in the biggest game of the year, wow, maybe the best job by a coordinator yesterday and one of the best jobs all season long. They had darnled a complete mess in that game last night. I digress. 24 hours later, feeling great about the season, really excited about the playoff game Sunday night. But I am still not feeling great about the way they played yesterday. You know, we have seen a team over the last month that hasn't necessarily played winning football for 60 minutes. Nonetheless, they keep winning.

You know, it's like they've been far from perfect, but they have overreve. overcome that, and they've won five in a row. You can't ignore, you know, what's that saying? You can't ignore process over outcome, that thing. Bottom line is that they let a Dallas team led by Trey Lance run 20 plus more offensive plays, control the ball for 14 plus more minutes in time of possession, and really, if not for their own dysfunction, Dallas's dysfunction I'm speaking of, 11 penalties, a couple of missed touchdown passes that were easy. I mean, the one at the end of the first half to dowdle was wide open, no pressure, and Lance just pulled the string on it.

But they were right there with a chance to win the game. Obviously, with six seconds to go, they led in the game. You know, last week, Rahim Morris's clock management was a big reason for the outcome, Washington winning the game. The week before that, Devante Smith dropped a wide open first down pass that would have ended the game. And the week before that, the Saints had a two-point conversion with Spencer Rattler to win the game with no time left. Now, does any of this mean anything heading into Tampa? You know, are they capable of playing better, playing cleaner? Yeah, they are. But better, you know, cleaner isn't perfect, isn't all around.

You know, I think they can win the game Sunday night. I do. But I think the thing that's true about our team heading into the postseason is they don't have a lot of ways to win. They have one way in particular to win games. And I'll get to that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey guys, no man wants to lose his hair, but for men, it's actually very common. And now with Hymns, the solution is simple. Try Hymns hair loss solutions. You'll be joining hundreds of

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They've played an entire season. It doesn't mean that there's not room for improvement, you know, starting Sunday night, maybe beyond Sunday night. It doesn't mean that the game on Sunday won't be something completely different than what we're expecting. The NFL does that to you, you know? You think you've got it figured out. two good offensive teams Sunday night. Not great defensive teams should be a 34, 31 kind of a game, and somehow it ends up 13 to 10. That happens all the time in the NFL.

By the way, the total in the game is 50 and a half now, the highest over-under number of the six wildcard weekend games. So the odds makers are expecting a shootout. But we know sometimes it doesn't play out. way you expect it to. Still, I think we know most of what Washington is at this point. They are a very good offensive team, and they're not so good on defense. And there is a formula for them, a specific formula for winning games, especially against a team like Tampa Bay. And that specific formula, that specific way is to keep the defense on the sideline as much as they can. The offense has to win the game Sunday night.

They don't have many other ways to win against a good team. You know, the defense has played the following quarterbacks here over the last six games. Cooper Rush, Will Levis, Spencer Rattler, Kenny Pickett, Michael Pennix, Jr. in his second start as a pro. and Trey Lance. And while the team won five of those games, you know, they lost to Cooper Rush, they won four of them by a grand total of 14 points.

Translation, they barely won four of the five games. You know, the quarterbacks that I mentioned and the offenses they led all had some success against Washington's defense. Even the one game in which Washington, dominated beating Tennessee 42 to 19. Will Levis in the middle of that game led three straight scoring drives that cut a 28-0-0 lead to 28-13. You know, remember there was a moment in that game. You're like, are you serious? Can we not make this a game? Washington's defense just isn't good.

It hasn't been good. There are good players, something that I've mentioned all season long. I think Frankie Louvo is really good. I think Wagner's had a hell of a season. I really like Chin. I think Juan Martin is good. He was missed yesterday. And hopefully they'll get a high-level performance from Marshawn Latimore on Sunday night in his return. But the defense, after facing the quarterbacks they've faced over the final six games,

it's a totally different situation Sunday night against Tampa Bay and Baker Mayfield. Baker Mayfield's thrown for 4,500 yards this year, third best in the NFL. Baker Mayfield's thrown 41 touchdown passes, tied for second in the league. He's got a completion percentage of 71.4 percent, fifth best in the NFL. The Bucks have a Hall of Fame wide receiver in Mike Evans. They've got an emerging star at running back in Bucky Irving. And they've got a very good offensive line. They've got a very good offensive coordinator.

And Liam Cohen. He's done a very, very good job here in his first year as OC for Todd Bowles in Tampa. They finished as the fourth highest scoring team in the NFL, 29 and a half points per game. They finished the regular season as the seventh best offense per DVOA, third overall in the traditional yards per game. Tampa's not Dallas with Cooper Rush and Trey Lance. They're not Tennessee with Levis or New Orleans with Spencer Rattler, even Philadelphia with Kenny Pickett. They're the real deal offensively. And by the way, they've played their best football over the last month and a half on offense. You know, they won six of their final seven games to win the

NFC South. They chased Atlanta down. They won the NFC South with a 10 and 7 record. They were six and one over their last seven. Over their last seven, they averaged 32 points per game. They averaged 454 yards of offense per game twice during that seven game run. They had over 500 yards of offense. Listen to this one. They went 48 of 92 on third down. That's 52.1%. By the way, they finished number one in the league on third downs. They had a season conversion third down percentage of 50.9%. Over their last two games, they were 20 of 30 on third down. That's 66.6% on is facing a challenge on Sunday night to say the least. Because Tampa can run it, they can throw it,

and their quarterback is fearless and makes plays. Now, Baker Mayfield also makes mistakes, and that's what you hope for. You know, the best shot defensively, if they are on the field too much, is that Baker Mayfield makes mistakes. He threw 16 interceptions this year, tied for the most in the league.

Tied with, by the way, you know who. Baker Mayfield will take chances. Sometimes actually he gets impatient and almost acts impulsively. He gets very impatient, frustrated, and he'll just try to make a play, and it doesn't turn out well. That's the best chance Washington has defensively, that he puts two or three up for grabs, and we catch them. He was number one in the league this year in turnover worthy throws per PFF.

Number one, that's the chance for the skins on defense. That's it. They don't have another path defensively for being competitive Sunday night against that offense. If he doesn't throw picks, if they don't turn Baker Mayfield and the bucks over and Washington's not been a takeaway team this year, Tampa's going to score 30 plus on Sunday night. So how do they win the game? We know who they are.

They're really good on offense, really capable of being great on offense, and they're not very good on defense. So they win this game on Sunday night with offense. They win this game by keeping possession of the football. They win this game. by staying in good down and distance and having a high conversion on third down or not having many third downs. They win this game on Sunday night by having, say, nine, ten possessions

in the game and scoring on six of them. Six. You know, even if it's three touchdowns, three field goals, that gets them to 30 and they're in the game. We know who they are at this point. And I know that, you know, I'm sitting here emphasizing we know who they are. And somehow, some way, the defense will get three turnovers and hold Tampa to 16 points. And the offense won't play well, but we'll win a 17-16 game or lose a 16 to 14 game. It's the way the NFL typically works. But if we take everything that we have watched over 17 games, we know that Washington is very capable offensive. those numbers that I gave for Tampa, Washington's either just ahead of them or just behind them in almost all of those categories.

Washington's been a top five offensive team this year. So has Tampa Bay. This has in the 30s for both teams written all over it. Unless one team, and let's hope it's our team, possesses the ball, eats the clock, turns it into a low possession game, but is highly productive in paying those possessions off with scores and touchdowns. Much more, obviously, on the game Sunday night. But, you know, you think about our team. And look, they played who they had on the schedule. You know, there's nothing you can do to change the schedule once it's out.

and the bottom line is they didn't play many playoff teams. They played the Buccaneers, they played the Ravens, they played the Steelers, and the Eagles. Those teams, and the Eagles two games, they played five games at a 17 against teams in the playoffs, and they won one of those games, and that was the Philadelphia game when Jalen Hertz left the game. You know, the other teams and the other quarterbacks, man, right? I mean, Daniel Jones, I mean, Kyler Murray probably was the last legit starting quarterback that they beat because they lost to Lamar Jackson. They lost to, if you want to count Russell Wilson, and they lost to Jalen Hertz. and they get Baker Mayfield Sunday night.

The good news is, in those losses, they had chances against Baltimore, against Pittsburgh, against Philadelphia. And they absolutely blew out Arizona, but that was a long time ago. Obviously, they faced the Buccaneers in the opener. I'll tell you what, I think looking back at that game doesn't make a lot of sense. Washington is completely different. You know who's completely different? the quarterback who remember in that opener, what was the number one takeaway on Jaden Daniels coming out of that opener? It was he ran 16 times for 88 yards. Oh my God, what a runner, what an athlete,

what a playmaker. But everybody out there said he's got to look to throw when he extends. and he almost started to look to throw the very next week against the Giants, when he went 23 of 29 for 2.30, and they didn't punt in that game against New York. All right, finish it up with some of the other NFL, which I did not have a chance to get to, and Washington's 2025 schedule in terms of the opponents they play is now, completely set. We'll get to that after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey guys, prize picks is the place to go to for Daily Fantasy Sports. I have the prize picks app. I'm one of the over 10 million members at PrizePix where billions of dollars

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and they're giving away $30-plus million in rewards during pick miss. Download the app and use my code Sheehan to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. Again, download the app today and use my code, Sheean, S-H-E-H-E-H-A-N, to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5.5. lineup. Prize picks, run your game. This final segment of the show is brought to you by MyBooky. Go to mybooky.orgie. Go to my bookie.com.com. Kevin D.C. and MyBooky will give you a 50% cash bonus. All the football we have coming up this week. We've got two semi-final games in college football on Thursday and Friday night. The Thursday night game, Notre Dame is a two-point favorite in the

Orange Bowl over Penn State. And then and in the Cotton Bowl on Friday night, Ohio State's a six-point favorite over Texas. And then, of course, we get three straight days of NFL playoff football. Saturday the Chargers are three-point favorites over Houston, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore, which, by the way, could be a game played in a snowstorm. I mentioned during my Windonation spot in the last segment. there's a potential second big storm this week over the weekend. That could change between now and then, but it would hit probably Saturday and Saturday night.

Baltimore hosting the Saturday night game. They are currently a 10-point favorite over the Steelers. Sunday, the bills are nine-point favorites over Denver. Philly is a four-and-a-half point favorite over Green Bay. That's up from three and a half yesterday. I wonder what the status of Jalen Hertz is. It has not been announced yet. That concussion here in Washington, I think, was more serious than anybody thought at the time.

Washington, a three-point dog at Tampa, the total 50 and a half. Again, that's the largest over-under of any of the six wild card games. And then the Monday night game, the Rams at home against Minnesota, the Vikings are one and a half-point favorites in that game. The two teams played earlier this year on Thursday night out of. so-fi and the Rams won that game 30 to 20. In fact, I think that was Minnesota's second loss. They had back-to-back losses. Ended up losing last night. They lost twice to the lines and once to the Rams. They'll get another shot at the Rams and so-fi on Monday night.

MyBooky.ag, for all of your postseason football right through the big one in New Orleans in early February. Use my promo code, Kevin D.C. I did want to just mention some of the other games from yesterday because I didn't have a chance to do that. The game last night, what a job by Aaron Glenn. The way he got after Sam Darnold and had him completely befuddled, this is a Detroit team that's lost 14 players on defense, and they got more injured last night during the game. And somehow they held Minnesota to nine points. More importantly, in the red zone, the Vikings owe for four. They kept getting down there.

And by the way, Kevin O'Connell was scheming people open. But Darnold was so flustered. You know, I've been a Darnold fan and have said, you know, going back to when he got drafted, he's just got to get in the right spot. And Kevin O'Connell's the right spot. But in watching him this year, he's got a major flaw. He holds on to the ball too long. And because of that, he's been sacked a bunch.

And then he doesn't see it as quickly. And they had multiple opportunities in the red zone. People were wide open. He had some balls dropped in the game, no doubt. But I thought Aaron Glenn getting after him and choosing, you know, you basically with the players that Detroit has on defense, you're picking your poison, man. going down swinging or you're going down in kind of a bend don't break mode. He went down swinging last night. It was impressive. And Detroit had certainly enough offensively. Jamir Gibbs was incredible.

And they pounded the Vikings 31 to 9. Detroit, I mean, 15 and 2. And they had to win the season finale to win the division and win the one seed. And with the loss, Minnesota drops to the five and they got to go to LA. If Washington beats Tampa, and let's just say it's the only upset of the first round in the NFC, Washington would go to Detroit the following weekend. You know, as the six, you know, most of you understand this. But we've, you know, it's been a while since we've been in the playoffs. It's been a long time since we've been in the playoffs with actually some hope.

And so, you know, it gets receded after each, you know, after the wild card round. So, you know, you would end up potentially in Detroit. Now, if Green Bay upset Philly, Washington would end up going to the winner of L.A. Minnesota. I don't know. I thought Detroit proved a lot to me last night. I still think they're vulnerable because defensively, they're not great and you can move the ball on them. But, man, they are well-coached with Aaron Glenn. What a job he did last night.

By the way, did you know that in the Tampa New Orleans game yesterday, which the Bucks did not play well? They were down 10 at halftime, down six going into the fourth quarter as a 15-point favorite. Now, they are dynamic offensively, but one of the things that Washington will look at, Spencer Rattler and company, through the football against Tampa. Tampa, you can throw the football against. hard to run against, but you can throw the football against them. Spencer Rattler was 26 of 42 for 240 in the game. One touchdown, no picks. The tight end, Joanne Johnson, six catches, 80 yards.

This could be a big game for Ertz on Sunday. Valdez Scantling caught some balls. They had like nine or ten receivers in the game that caught balls. But it's hard to run the football against Vita Vaya and company. but you can throw it against them. But in that game, okay, this is pretty wild if you didn't catch this. I didn't know it until I had a guest on from Tampa on radio this morning. So Tampa roars back, two long drives in the fourth quarter.

They go from a 19-13 deficit to a 27-19 lead. New Orleans has a fourth and five with 40 seconds to go. They don't pick it up. And Tampa takes over from their own 32-yard line up, 27 to 19, New Orleans has one timeout, so it's a knee-the-game-out situation. You know what they did? They threw the ball to Mike Evans so that he could go over 1,000 yards for another year in his career. He's never not gone over 1,000 yards in his career.

But I want you to understand the significance of this. First of all, you know, lock hall of famer, and that is, you know, 11 seasons. of over 1,000 yards. This guy is a lock 12,684 career reception yards for the great Mike Evans. But they threw the ball instead of neeing out the game. What if Baker throws a pick? What if he throws it incomplete? They decide to do it again on second down, throws it incomplete,

and now New Orleans calls their last time out on third down and gets the ball back. They were only up eight, and they had the division to win. Now, as it turns out, Atlanta lost in overtime anyway, but that game wasn't over yet. It was tied up when they threw that ball to Mike Evans. That's pretty nuts. That is Todd Bowles, too.

He's so conservative to have trust in his quarterback and his receiver and his offensive coordinator in a game in which all you got to do is knee it out. can you imagine if the ball got picked off and New Orleans ends up scoring, converting a two-point conversion, winning the game, and Tampa doesn't win the division because Atlanta wins. Now, Atlanta ended up losing, so Tampa would have won the division anyway. But I thought that was kind of insane. But the celebration of Mike Evans after he got that was really cool to see, but that is a risk in that spot. I thought it was incredible considering the head coach who's really conservative.

I like Todd Bowles a lot, as I think most of you know. Other results in the NFL from yesterday, the Broncos, super impressive. I give them a chance at Buffalo Sunday. I do. Weather could be an issue there as well. And then in the other significant games of the weekend, you really go back to Saturday where the Bengals stayed alive. You know, Miami ended up losing, but Denver won, so they were eliminated.

Nobody in the AFC wants to see Cincinnati. Joe Burrow and Company beat the Steelers 1917. Steelers got a nice little cover there with a field goal with about three plus minutes left down 1914. The Ravens, that was pretty pretty. entertaining too from a point spread standpoint. They were not going to cover that 20 and a half. And then Derek Henry ripped off a long run to give him the cover. And then they got that interception at the end. I'm sure you've seen it at this point. The interception by Michael Pierce, all 365 pounds of him. The Ravens look really good. They play the Steelers in Baltimore on Saturday

night. Again, weather could be a major factor in that game, but they are the biggest favorite of the weekend. In terms of the wild card weekend bracket, I give some underdogs legitimate chances. I think all three underdogs in the NFC, the Rams at home, Washington on the road, and even the Packers on the road all have chances to win. I give the Broncos probably a better chance than some. And Houston's an underdog. at home, I actually give them a chance at home over the Chargers. I don't give the Steelers much of a chance against Baltimore with the way they've been playing offensively.

But again, who knows if weather ends up being a major factor in the game. The schedule for next year, the opponents that Washington will face, that is now finalized with the end of the regular season. This is a bit anti-climactic because 14 of the 17 games are known. There are three that have to get figured out based on where you finished in the standings. But let me give you the 2025 Washington opponents. By the way, I would expect Washington next year to get a full slate of prime time and major high-profile games, holiday games, etc. By the way, the NFC next year, they play eight at home, nine on the road. This year,

they played nine at home, eight on the road. We didn't really talk about that as kind of a factor in the record that Washington had. They went seven and two at home, right? They lost to Dallas and Pittsburgh and won the other seven. But it switches each year. So next year, NFC teams get eight home games, nine on the road. Maybe one of the road games will be an international. game. Who knows? But here are the games. At home next year, the division teams, Dallas, Philly, and New York. They play the NFC North, the NFC East does. And the two teams in the NFC North that they have at home are Chicago. They played them this year at home. We know what happened in that one. And Detroit at home next year. They play the AFC West, the NFC East does. The two AFC West, the two

AFC West teams, excuse me, that they play at home, Denver and Vegas, the Raiders. And then the one game at home that needed to be figured out, based on the standings, they play Seattle at home next year. Seattle finished as the second best team in the NFC West, Washington, the second best team in the NFC East. On the road, Dallas, Philly, New York, and then the NFC North teams they play on the road. They'll be at Lambeau next year and at Minnesota, two very two. tough road games. The AFC West opponents at Arrowhead against the Chiefs, at SoFi against the

Chargers. And then the two games that were finalized with the final standings, they'll play the Dolphins who finished in second place in the AFC East on the road, and they'll play Atlanta on the road next year. They finished second in the NFC South. So Dallas, Philly Giants, home and away. Also at home, Bears, Lions, Broncos, Raiders, Seahawks on the road, tough road venues, Green Bay, Minnesota, Kansas City, Miami, Atlanta, and the Chargers. I mean, you can see some of those matchups being big-time high-profile matchups. You know, like right now, a game against Detroit at home has a good chance of being something, a game on the road against the Vikings or the Packers or the Chiefs

and certainly division games against Philadelphia next year in particular. I would bet right now they either play on Thanksgiving or Christmas next year. You know, you'll end up with a doubleheader on Christmas Day on Netflix, I'm sure, again next year. Christmas is on Thursday next year. they'll either play on Thanksgiving or on Christmas. You know, the one thing about those games is that you don't really need great matchups to draw great audiences, but with Netflix and the amount of money that they paid, the NFL this year gave them good matchups, at least thought to be good matchups,

heading into the regular season. They might do the same for them next year. All right. That's it for the day. Actually, one other thing. I'm sure you guys maybe saw this. But how about Josh Harris and Mayor Bowser trudging through the snow to the White House to watch President Biden sign the RFK bill into law today? That was nice and sort of good optics in terms of what may be ahead. Back tomorrow with Tommy.