The Kevin Sheehan Show - Welcome Home?

Episode Date: September 17, 2018

Kevin recaps Redskins/Colts, and talks about the worst crowd for a home opener in decades. He brings on NBCSports Washington's JP Finlay to talk Skins. He goes Around the NFL, including Kirk Cousins' game at Lambeau, and looks at the weekend that was in College Football. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. So what the hell happened in one week? Well, they weren't playing the Cardinals yesterday. That's for sure. And then B, they were outplayed and outwitted all afternoon. Good day to everybody out there listening to my podcast. It's presented by Windonation. I love it that you're listening to my podcast because the more and more of you that listen, the less I will miss working at a radio station with the radio people. Not the people that I worked with closely. I'm talking about management, mostly. Aaron Oster is here with me today. He's producing this show. NBC Sports Washington's J.P. Finley will join me at some point during this show. He's good at what he does. I like him a lot. And he was one of the few, the very few, at the game yesterday at FedEx Field.

Hey, I was at the game. You were too. You were working at the game. I and thousands of others, I was not at the game yesterday. Yesterday was the first acknowledged non-sellout crowd for a Home Redskins game since 1967. The announced paid crowd was 57,013. It's the smallest home opener in FedEx history, and it wasn't close. Talking to many people who were there, Aaron included, really most of you, thought that they were far fewer than 57,000 at the game. You estimated Aaron the crowd to be what?

Probably around 40 would be my guess. So like a Maryland-Towson game. Yeah, around there. This is disturbing, but it's not a shock. The shots of the crowd on television were unflattering to say the least. As a lifelong fan and a former season ticket holder, as an aside, who remembers what it used to be. It is sort of sad, of course, but this has been coming for a while now. Too much losing over the years. Add to that embarrassing at times dysfunction while losing. Too much organizational arrogance, especially from their executives and others in the organization over the years, that for reasonable people, has just been off-putting, to say the least. Too much.

much over-promising under-delivering. The organization has been fooled in recent years into believing that the small fraction of the fan base that shows up for draft day parties and harvest fests in places like Virginia Beach, no disrespect to Virginia Beach and the people that go to these events, they are very loyal fans. But the team has been duped in recent years into believing that they were somehow representative of the fan base as a whole. Those fans that show up for anything that promises just a sniff of burgundy and gold are super loyal and super into it regardless of the results. They are passionate and they're forever going to believe that the organization can do no wrong, but they are far from the majority. The majority have been

beaten down in recent years. I have a lot of friends in this group. I put myself into that group to a certain degree. I still want them to win. I'm still watching games, consuming information about the team, and hoping for a good season with meaningful November and December games. And I think that that's still in play even after yesterday. But much of the fan base haven't been willing to pay for that. They're not willing to pay for that hope. They'll watch, they'll consume, but in person at a stadium that has not been very convenient over the years and overpriced at times to certain reasonable people, it's just too much. Winning will solve most of the problem. Winning combined with a new stadium in D.C. would be a good suggestion, one that I've made. But the trifecta is this. Win,

build a new stadium in D.C. and start exhibiting some self-awareness. and humility as an organization. Of course, winning is the must. And yesterday against the Colts, it wasn't even close. Let's get to it. Pay attention. Here's Kevin's Game Take. All right, what I liked from the game yesterday,

what I didn't like, and more from the skins, hideous 21 to 9 loss to the Colts. I did like a few things, and this may be surprising to many of you. I didn't think the defense was terrible. In particular, I loved what Mason Foster and Zach Brown brought to the game. Speed playmaking ability is what both bring. They're both very good tacklers. Foster had the deflected pass that resulted in the Sweringer first interception in that game. Zach Brown went healthy last year.

I thought at times was the best player on the team. Chris Thompson probably was more consistent. Zach Brown struggled in coverage. was a playmaker when he was healthy last year. Thank goodness they re-signed him. That was a good move. Monta Nicholson, his speed really flashes. He had a great tackle on Mack in the third quarter that saved a big run.

He broke up a pass to Ebron on the play before that. That one was close to pass interference, but I love the way Nicholson covers ground. Chris Thompson had a very interesting day, 13 catches. his 13 catches, sort of remembering back, hearkening back to Roy Hulud Jr. and the 14 catches from John Beck against the 49ers in 2011. A lot of checkdown throws yesterday. You know, I'm hard pressed to put Chris Thompson on the he played well list, but he didn't

play poorly. He's really good. And by the way, with Alex Smith at quarterback, he may catch 100 balls this year. All right. let's get to what I didn't like. And this list is lengthy. And I'll start with the offense. It took them a half to realize that it should be easy to throw against the Colts soft zone coverage,

even without a running game. All right. The Redskins haven't had a running game in three years. Didn't stop them from throwing the football against soft zone coverage over and over again and moving the chains. They didn't see it in the first half, or they just decided not to play pitch and catch. The pitch and catch was there all day starting from the beginning. And I hate to be that guy, but I am that guy.

Kirk Cousins would have thrown for 175 yards in the first half. Seriously. Now, I'm not saying he would have closed out every drive with a touchdown. I'm not even going to say that they would have won the football game. The team couldn't run the ball with their running backs and the O line struggled. There were a lot of issues there. And look, the truth of the matter is Kirk Cousins and Jay Gris, Rudin, even though they didn't like each other, they had a working chemistry. It's going to take

some time for Alex Smith. Alex Smith needs a running game. Be sure of that. He had to have that and playmakers in Kansas City. So you're going to have to give him some of that. And you're also going to have to give him some time to work this new relationship out. It'll evolve. It will. More on that in a moment. The third down defense yesterday was terrible. terrible. It started with the Colts going five for seven on the way to a 14-3 first half lead. It finished with the most important drive of the game when the Redskins had closed the gap to 14 to 9 and Andrew Luck led a 75-yard drive going four for four on third down, including the third and goal touchdown pass to Hilton that gave them basically at that point the score that

ended the game for all intents and purposes. The Redskins still had a chance on their next drive, the one that Jordan Reed fumbled on. But at 21-9, given the lack of offense that the Redskins had really exhibited most of the day, that was a back-breaking drive, four-for-four on third down in that drive. There was confusion at times on third down defensively, starting with some pre-snap secondary confusion. Go back to the third and 12 bubble screen to T.Y. Hilton that went for 22 yards, the one where Ryan Grant trucked, trucked Dunbar and got him out of the way. Look at that play pre-snap.

The secondary is completely confused. That was a shame because they had them backed up to their own three-yard line. Then there was confusion between Swarenger and Dunbar on the third and goal touchdown pass from Luck to Hilton. They both went with the tight end Jack Doyle, left Hilton all by himself. The third down defense wasn't very good. Overall, I thought, and I continue to see some promise with their young talent defense. I think it's the hope for this year that they become a decent defensive team. They were playing Andrew Luck.

He was precise with a lot of those throws, and they consistently got picked by the scheme versus the Redskins' man-to-man scheme. They're going to have to figure that out because they were picked too easily. They didn't switch easily enough. There wasn't good communication, especially on those third downs. Continuing with the list of the things that I didn't like from the game yesterday, The rush offense was non-existent after being dominant a week earlier. Crowder was their leading rusher with 29 yards.

While Peterson, Thompson, and Kelly had 16 total carries for 22 yards, Alex Smith has to have a running game. By the way, most quarterbacks have to have a running game to succeed. Without it, I thought he looked uncomfortable at times in the first half. It didn't help that for whatever reason, and I think it's because it's still early, and Jay and Alex are developing this relationship, seeing things together, adjusting together, and they didn't yesterday adjust in the first half in particular to the deep cover two with the soft zone coverage. It should have been an easy pitch and catch first half. The failure to run was surprising a little bit because they were in Tampa too a lot of the time. and the Bengals ran it pretty easily against the Colts a week ago.

Joe Mixon averaged five and a half yards of carry against the Colts a week ago. Continuing with the things I didn't like from the game, the offensive line had a rough day. The Colts defensive line in particular was difficult to handle. Sheared was good. This guy, Hunt, the 6'8 guy, they were major problems all day long. And the stunts and the twists for whatever, reason the Redskins' offensive line just wasn't getting it.

Some of the post game, by the way, their linebacker, Leonard, the second round pick out of South Carolina State was a beast. It was a monster all day long. Some of the post game, though, centered on the Colts line stunts and twists and the skin's inability to handle that. That's really on the coaching staff. The Colts aren't the only team that runs D-line stunts. The offensive line had a bad day. a bad day. There were injuries too to Brandon Sheriff and Trent Williams both returned to the game. But the Colts really dominated at the line of scrimmage for a lot of the day.

By the way, how did business Friday turn out for that offensive line? Did you see that from the other day? Aaron, did you see that? Yeah, I did see that. The offensive line coming in Friday in business attire, labeling it business Fridays, perhaps overly impressed with their performance over the Cardinals last Sunday? So typical, seriously, of this franchise. I'm not going to make a massive deal of this, but Hogs 2.0, Business Fridays, trying to bring attention to yourselves after a great performance

against what turned out to be another in a long line of sort of premature self-congratulation. Just get ready for the next game and understand the optics of all the other stuff. Business Fridays, the O line got its ass kicked. by the Colts. Start to finish. For the love of God, let's wait until we're 12 and 4 and have a first round by before the next business Friday. I mean, the intent, I'm sure is innocent. I'm not saying that you got to, you know, that it's the reason they lost. It's just, you know, top five offensive line, offensive rush teams in the league, all the bold promises over the years. When are they going to recognize that it's just bad optics when you suck and you're out there doing stuff like that.

Winners can do what you want, but you have to win. Top five rushing attack was last year's training camp, promise. How'd that work out? Business Fridays. And I know some of you are shaking your head is saying, you really think that's the reason they lost? No, I don't think it's the reason they lost. I think one of the reasons they lost is because they stunk along the offensive line. And if you're not going to go out and truly back it up week by week by week and end up a regular season 12 and 4 with a first round buy in a division title. Let's cut out the bad optics of being impressed with yourself and coming up with little gimmick things to have fun. Just play well and win.

Just play well and win. I mean, the lack of understanding when it comes to optics always way too much Lesz-A-fair, Norv, Spurrier, Gruden. Nobody would have had the gall to do business Fridays after one win when Marty Schottenheimer was here in 2001. No one would have. All right, let's get to the other things that I didn't like from the game yesterday. You know what wasn't very good yesterday? They're special teams.

Hopkins missed a 49-yard field goal at the end of the first half, and Tress Way had one of his, did. He had one of his worst. of his career, averaging 36.4 yards per punt and costing the skins valuable, valuable hidden yard opportunities. Gruden and his staff had a bad day. I guess I wanted to save that for last. Let me slip in real quickly that Josh Doxon wasn't very good. The first deep shot that Smith took was a well-thrown ball that Doxon should have caught. And it wasn't just that he dropped it. It was that he barely stretched his hands out and didn't get close to it.

Wide receivers are going to be a problem this year. This is the kind of thing I'm not going to get overly worked up about week two because there's more football to be played and they are one in one, and this league changes week to week. Just look at what's happened here in the first two weeks of the season. But we all as fans thought that they needed to go out and get a wide receiver. Alan Robinson was out there. And they got Paul Richardson.

And they pay Paul Richardson money. Well, Paul Richardson better work out. And the combination of he and Doxon better result in a true stretch the field guy. We saw what happened last year without speed at the wide receiver position. And yet, they still, when Jordan Reed played, which wasn't enough, or Chris Thompson was healthy and played, they still were able to move the football. but it helps when you have a stretch the field guy. Real quickly, Jordan Reed needs to be on the field more than he is.

I looked this up. He played 40 of the 74 offensive snaps. He didn't get his name called until, what, midway through the second quarter? It was really weird through that first quarter, not seeing him at all. I don't know if they're taking them off the field, putting sprinkling for run plays. I saw some of that. Boy, by the way, talk about it, tell that you're going to run the football. You take Jordan Reed out and you put sprinkling.

I need Jordan Reed on the field for more than 40 of 74 snaps. He's your best player. He and Thompson on offense. He's got to be on the field for more snaps. Gruden and staff. This is the last thing I'm going to mention about the list of things that I didn't like from the game. And I've got a few other things that I'll get to that were more observational. The team lacked the urgency it had last week from the jump, and players said it. the Gruden-Smith relationship back to that moment is going to take some time,

but they both missed the easy, easy opportunity that seemed to exist against a Colts defense that was going to bend but not break, and they couldn't even bend them. Minnowski's defense was confused often, as I mentioned before. Gruden did make an error in clock management yesterday. Here's where it happened. And it happened at the end of the first half. Matt Ionitis had a sack with a minute 40 to go, which created a third and 12 for the Colts.

Obviously, the Redskins are in mode of trying to get the ball back with the most amount of time possible on the clock. Cooley and I used to do this thing where it's like, does Jay understand that more time is better than less time if you're trying to score? He still just doesn't get that aspect of the game. And he didn't call a timeout after the second down sack, so 30, 35 seconds ran off the clock. Then the Colts ran their third down play, which ended up short of the sticks.

Then he used his first time out. Typical of Gruden and a ton of other coaches, he's not by himself on this, the biggest clock missed opportunities usually come by not calling advantageous timeouts on defense. The skin's gotten field goal range, but high. Hopkins missed a long one, 49 yards, on what was a second down play after a first down spike. If Gruden had called the right timeout after the second down play and another time out after the third down play, then he would have had more time for his offense to go get in better field goal range,

maybe even in touchdown range. That'll be on the list tomorrow of clock management, score management. A few more things. I like the white pants. I did. Bruce Allen brought back the gold pants in 2010. Somebody must have convinced him to do otherwise yesterday. I'm ready for the championship uniforms, and that is white jerseys at home with burgundy pants, and if you got to wear burgundy on the road, you wear it with white

pants. Those are the championship pants. Bruce, and many of us, and I was with them, had the memories of his dad's teams in the 70s, and they wore burgundy and gold at home. But those aren't the championship uniforms. The skins won the turnover battle yesterday, lost the game. Two interceptions by Swaranger set up six of the skins nine points in the game. The Jordan Reed Fumble ended their chances. That was their one turnover, and they got the two interceptions back.

But Jordan Reed's Fumble cost them a chance to get it to 2116 and then potentially getting the ball back again at the end. They needed two touchdowns there, and they hadn't shown any indication throughout the game that they were capable of driving the ball down the field against Indianapolis and scoring twice in the final five minutes, even though they were on the move in that particular drive. And they did get a little bit better in the second half

at identifying that it was easy pitch and catch opportunities that the Colts were giving them. It's a shame they didn't figure that out in the first half, A couple of other observations real quickly. Who was number 16? Chesson. Jayhu Chesson. He heard him on a third and five.

Failed to come back to catch a ball on the first big drive of the second half. Apparently they signed him Aaron off the practice squad, number 16, this week after the injuries to Quinn and Sims and the existing one to Mo Harris. If you're going to put him on the field, Jay, you better be confident that he can get the job done. And on a big third and five, he waited for a ball that he needed to come back and catch. It was a good throw by Alex Smith and a poor play by the wide receiver there. Morgan Moses had a terrible game yesterday. And he also continues to get away with false starts. He had another one of those plays, and we talked about this all last year, where he seems to jump early

and not get called for it. I thought Pernell McPhee, 96 was his jersey number. I think he was 96. 96 was McPhee. He only played 11 snaps, but I thought when he rushed the passer, he actually looked pretty good doing it. Those are the other observations of the game.

The what I like, the what I didn't like in a few more. The crowd overall, I mentioned it, look, you got to win, you got to get a different stadium downtown, and I do think Brian Lafamina, their new chief operating officer, understands the organizational arrogance of years gone by and wants to change that. I do believe that. Will he be allowed to change it? Let's hope so. Because that really is an underlying, underrated reason for all of it, right? It's one of the reasons that they've lost so much because they've always thought they had it figured out,

but they've never had it figured out. And then this sense, that they've given the fan base, that the fan should be lucky to have the opportunity to be in their stadium on Sundays was just way too off-putting to too many. Too many smart and reasonable people who were die-hards and season ticket holders. They're following the team. They're watching the team. They're sitting back and they're hoping that things work out. But they're not spending the same level on this team. And that's been happening for a long time now. It was an embarrassing crowd for the opener. I know we've seen crowds like that that have been announced sellouts, but most of those have come at the end of the

year when they've been out of it, especially when there's been bad weather. Not in an opener. Not in an opener. Give me some time here to say thank you to somebody and tell you that if you've been thinking about new windows, you must consider window nation. So I'm back doing this podcast and one of the first to reach out to support this new venture were Harley and Aaron from Window Nation. Harley and I have been friends for a while now. We talk, and this is no exaggeration, three to four times a week,

about sports usually, but more often than not about betting on sports. He and Window Nation were with me on 980 for over a decade, and I can't thank them enough for having my back now. If you like this show and you're thinking about buying new windows, I promise you that you'll be thrilled, if you call Window Nation. Window Nation's back to school sale is in full effect right now.

You get one free window for every window you buy, wood or vinyl styles. Buy four get four free, buy eight, get eight free. There's no limit. Get an A plus in savings and receive zero percent interest for five full years. That's like a free ride until 20, 23. Call Windonation now. 86690 Nation. That's 86690 Nation, or go to WindowNation.

and tell them that I told you to call. J.P. Finley is going to join us here momentarily, but Jay Gruden's post-game press conference, I thought was interesting for a couple of reasons. It wasn't that long, for starters. It typically isn't after a loss. The PR people want to shuttle him in and shuttle him out pretty quickly.

But he was asked at one point during the press conference. I think it was by Jerry Brewer of the Washington Post, why they couldn't get the ball down the field. Here's what he said. They were very, very loose in their zones. You know, it's not easy to get down the field in that defense. You're going to have to check the ball down a lot. And we had some shots designed, and they took them away with their linebacker dropping deep.

They're two deep safeties. You know, they played a lot of that and their cover threes with deep safeties, deep corners. And, you know, had to do it all over again. We'd have been more, obviously, probably less ambitious with some of our deep game and more geared towards moving the ball, getting the ball out of our hands, let the playmakers do their thing. But as it turned out, we failed. Yeah, they did fail yesterday with that. It was a major failing in the game yesterday,

among the list of major failings. You know, the last few years, some of you would have just criticized the quarterback for checking it down or playing it safe. But the name of the game is to take what the defense gives you. It was one of the keys, the Skins beat Coltsiff that I went through on Friday. Take what the defense gives you.

All right? You can't for it. balls down the field when you don't have elite talent in this league. The Colts were set up to be had with simple get it out, quick pitch and catch kind of offense. The thing that the last quarterback was really good at, the thing that the coach apparently was frustrated with at times last year, taking what the defense gives you and moving the chains, scoring points.

The last guy didn't always finish. I'll grant you that. although their red zone efficiency last year wasn't terrible. The year before 2016 was the year they really struggled in the red zone. But yesterday, this team needed Jay Gruden to make the adjustments, and he needed somebody like Kirk Cousins, to do the right thing. I'm not down on Alex Smith. This relationship between he and Jay will develop.

It takes time. But because they haven't worked with each other, but for really one real game a week ago, in Arizona. They were out of sync. There was no running game, but again, and I said this earlier, it's not like that's a new thing around here. There hasn't been a running game for three years running. No matter how much Jay didn't love Kirk the guy, they had some chemistry when it came to working together. No running game, no defense the last few years. They still seem to move the ball and score more often than not. There are examples of bad offense of game, horrible offense.

games in the last few years. I understand that. I'm not saying it was every week. But typically those came when there were major pieces missing. Well, all of the pieces were there yesterday, and there was no offensive rhythm. It's going to take time. Alex Smith is a good quarterback. He's not an elite quarterback. He is a top half of the league starter, and that's the best you can say about him. I endorsed the trade, and I think it's going to work out for them. I did not want them to pay Kirk Cousins $30 million. I wanted them to pay him $19 million in 2015. We're going to have to give this some time and understand that the job of Alex Smith and Jay Gruden is to take what's there. It's not to strap the team to Alex Smith's back. He isn't

Brady or Rogers. Indianapolis was stopping the run, playing soft zone and coverage. They could have pitched and caught it five to eight yards at a time down the field. field. Eaton some clock, kept it out of luck's hands, kicked some field goals, been in the game. The coach and the quarterback didn't feel the game on offense. And it's myself as a play caller, really, it's my fault. I couldn't get in any rhythm calling plays. And, you know, the inside zone wasn't working. The outside zone wasn't working. Our read options weren't working very well. And we came one-dimensional and our play passes, we got sacked on two play passes for going to sake. So, you know, they did a nice job.

Credit at the defense, they helped executed us. That was Jay Gruden. He basically admitted that the coach and the quarterback didn't feel the game. They had no chemistry yesterday. That's going to take time. It's going to take time. And you've got to be patient. I think the reason, and I've said this all-off season, and I said it before the opener in Arizona, I was not expecting them to be offensively ready from the jump. the optimism for me is that I think they've got good young talent on defense, and I think that this defense can continue to get better and be the reason they're in games and have chances this year.

I do. The quarterback and the coach, you've got to give it time. Alex Smith talked about the lack of offensive chemistry, especially in the first half. A lot of things, certainly chemistry, rhythm. We didn't have any of that. I didn't think we were great on first and second down. We gave ourselves some tough third downs in the first half,

and then we didn't convert many of them. So it was tough. You know, then in the second half, I thought finally did get in the rhythm. But situationally, you know, we put some drives together, but it would stall out, you know, stalled in the red zone. I think those are the two big things looking at it. Third down, red zone. You know, it's one of those days when we weren't going to have a ton of opportunities,

but we needed to be better down there. A little too much talk about the Red Zone from Alex Smith. They were only there twice yesterday. There were two trips to the Red Zone yesterday, and one of them was barely in the Red Zone. They got it to the 19-yard line. Let's bring in J.P. Finley of NBC Sports, Washington. He was at the game.

We'll get to the crowd in a moment, JP. Who deserved the brunt of the blame for what really was a very ugly game to watch and a loss that I think many weren't expecting? I think everybody, everybody from players to coaches, if you have to pick one side of the football, I think the offense was worse than the defense. The defense gave the Redskins chances to kind of stay in this thing, especially, you know, in that third quarter,

if the skins could have gotten touchdowns instead of field goals, things would have looked a little different. The only person you can't blame is DJ Sweringer. He had two interceptions, played a pretty good game. but outside of that, the O-line didn't block. Alex Smith, Alex Smith looked reluctant to go downfield. Receivers didn't make plays. It's hard to find.

On our podcast, we give out game balls, and there weren't really many to give out. Just about everybody didn't play well, and I don't think the scheme was very smart. Players and coaches said they got outplayed, they got out-hustled. It was a bad effort. It was a bad, bad loss. You can't really give... The brunt of the blame goes to all of them. You know, we have seen many games over the last three years

where they couldn't run the football. You know, last week was really the aberration here over the last three years. Why did they think they had so much trouble running it yesterday against, by the way, a lot of Tampa 2, soft zone coverage, you know, sort of a defense where you should be able to run it, and they couldn't at all.

all. Why did they think they had no success running the football a week after they killed it against Arizona? To me, that's the biggest mystery. And from what we heard and talking with guys last night, you didn't really get an answer. I think they were kind of as stunned as we were. I think a lot of it, you got to credit the Colts. They were very physical up front. They had young players standing up Redskins offensive linemen, a position that's supposed to be a strength for Washington. It's something I want to try to get some specifics on, and it did seem to me that there was, it was a little too gimmicky in spots, and a lot of stuff was focused outside and running out of the shotgun with Adrian Peterson, which just isn't his strength at this point of

his career. I don't think he's going to develop that. A 33-year-old running back, who's kind of been a downhill runner all of his career, is not going to become this spread offense type guy. But But all of that said, James and Crowders are leading Russia. It just doesn't make sense. It was a poor effort. And I think talking with the O line is really where you try to get some answers, but those guys didn't want to talk yesterday. And frankly, I don't blame them.

Today we'll be in the locker room. We'll get another chance to maybe ask some questions. But it didn't make – and Kevin, you're right in that normally this team isn't able to run the ball. But last year, before everybody, started getting hurt. Three out of the first four games, they were able to go over 100 yards rushing.

And one of them was the explosion in L.A. L.A. last year the Rams game. When people were healthy and Jay commits to the run, they got a little pass heavy, especially in the second half, and some of that was you were chasing points, especially in that fourth quarter

when it was just, you know, kind of garbage yards going up and down the field with checkdowns. But I don't have an answer, and I don't think the Redskins do either outside of the Colts. They were so good week one in being physical to line

of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Week two, they didn't do that, period. I mean, they had a difficult time handling that defensive front, which was a surprise to me. I didn't know how good the big dude a hunt would be at 6-8 and how much havoc he would wreak. But here was the thing, J.P., that was frustrating for me.

I'm watching a team that when the Redskins faced a team that played them the way they did yesterday. It was an easy pitch and catch up and down the field. Now, maybe they didn't always finish when they got there. But it was easy underneath stuff, you know, comebacks, you know, you're taking chunks of five to seven, eight yards of pop, you're moving the chains. And it seemed to me, and I put this on just, look, it's going to take time between Alex and Jay to develop some chemistry, you know, for Jay to understand that Alex is also a quarterback that likes to take with the defense, gives, which is the same that the last quarterback liked to do.

But they missed out on an opportunity when they weren't running the football to play, I thought, easy pitch and catch in the first half. Agreed. I think a few things happened. There were a couple bad drops. I think Doxon's drop on, there were a couple of chunk plays where the receivers didn't bring the ball in. Doxon had one. Richardson had one. But Alts also didn't look down the field. if Kirk had the game yesterday that Alex had, a lot of people would be killing Kirk. So I think it's only fair to look at what Alex did.

Late in that game, there were plays where Crowder was open downfield and he wasn't getting the ball. He wasn't getting the looks. And granted Smith was under duress. He was getting – Yeah, he was. We talked about – the Schenzo line had a bad performance from all the – even Trump Williams, I think, had two false start penalty.

I mean, everybody on that O line played well. And I know guys were getting beat up, but it happens in the NFL. So, I mean, Gagrin admitted that he should have gone to kind of the quick underneath passing game earlier. I'm not sure that he ever went to it. But for a little bit in the third quarter, a little bit in the third quarter they got to it. They were playing soft zone, sometimes cover three, and you don't get Jordan Reed involved until midway through the second quarter?

JP, JP, he only played 40 snaps in the game. I know Jay, I know that, I know that, I know Reed doesn't get the full-fledged number of snaps. They take them out on a lot of run sets, which by the way is a tell, you know, half the time. But you can't have your best weapon from a pass receiving standpoint. Play 40 of 74 offensive snaps. Especially when you're not getting anything from your wide outs, when you're not getting much from your wide outs. So that's worth a question if there was something else going on there. And these are the things we'll have to figure out this week.

Green Bay is coming to – I mean, to me, Chris Thompson had the best quote. He was very succinct. He said, they outplayed us. That's all there is to it. And if we don't figure it out, we're going to get embarrassed again next week with Green Bay coming to town. Well, you tweeted this thing out earlier, and I talk about this all the time. If you didn't like your team one week in the NFL, just wait. Because it'll change the following week.

without any sort of logic, you know, sort of pushing or creating or affecting the change. I do want to say this. So, because I said it earlier in this podcast, and this is not a shot at Alex Smith, because I think it's just going to take time for Alex Smith and Jay Gruden to get on the same page. You know, it took three years. Well, it didn't take that long, but it took a little bit more than, you know, eight games for Kirk and Jay Gruden to get on the same page. But yet, Kirk also got to play in 14, too. Yeah, exactly.

Exactly. So there was some time. Yeah, so there was some time there. But I really believe yesterday, and it may have frustrated Jay, and it may have frustrated some of the fans, but I think Kirk would have thrown for a buck 75 in the first half. And I don't know how many points they would have had, but they would have had more than three, and it would have been a more competitive game. And Jay's got to realize that he's got another quarterback that is a quarterback that wants to take

what the defense gives. He's not going to strap the team to his back like Brady or Rogers and start chucking the ball down the field and throwing up 50-50 balls for guys. You know, that's not what they traded for. They traded for a guy that plays a lot like the last guy played like. Yeah, I'm with you. I don't know that Kirk's going to do much of that either, throwing up 50-50 balls out and all that sorts of things. But I think he would know the system, know the quicker read, and just be able to pick up, like you were saying, you get eight, 11 yards at a time. I mean, you cannot, the plan cannot be

to throw to Chris Thompson and hope he beat six guys. 13 times. I mean, 13 times. And he would break down and look up field and see that everything was covered and he had nowhere to go. And he was taking a lot of shots. You know, they've been,

Jordan Reed at 40 steps. Thompson had way more than that. Thompson took a ton of big hits yesterday. He's, I would argue him, he's equally as important as Reed, maybe a little less. but Thompson is a huge part of your game plan, and when you just go to him over and over and over again, without him running wheel routes or screens, just dump off.

I don't know that that helps. By the way, in my head, I can hear all the anti-Kerkers going, Sheen, you're out of your mind again, talking about that he would have carved up the Colts in the first half. Look, just understand this. It's not about Alex. I think Alex Smith can do the same thing. I just think that Smith and Gruden aren't in sync yet. They're not on the same page, and justifiably so.

But, JP, that's one of the reasons, and I know the preseason is way overrated, but I would have preferred to have seen two or three games in the preseason where he threw it 20 times and a half. Rather than just saying, hey, we're good, we're going to be fine when the regular season gets here. But that's another discussion. I want to get to defensively. I agree with you. I thought the defense, and I'm bullish on this defense, I think it's got some young talent.

I think it will evolve. I don't know if they're well-coached at this point. Yesterday they were not well-coached defensively because they could not figure out the pick game and they couldn't figure out third downs and the pick game in third-down situations because in the biggest drive of the game, the Colts were four-for-four, including the third and goal. how much of what happened yesterday is on Minusky and staff versus talent? I think both. They didn't generate pass rush with four down linemen.

They're not getting home with a four-man front, and I think that's on the players. We talk about these guys and how much better they should be up front. You're not getting home against a beat-up coastal line. I think that says something about the talent. But I think schematically, they basically stuck with the same game plan that they had for Arizona, and I think that was a mistake. They weren't particularly aggressive. A few of the linebackers kind of had some questions about things.

DJ Swanger talked about not having the best week of practice. That stuff adds up. And I think there was one play where they had, this is, I think, second quarter, maybe third quarter. They had the Colts backed up inside their own 20. It was probably a third and 12. They ran just a little wide receiver screen to T.Y. Hilton. He picked up the first down. The two Colts receivers in front of him came out and pancakes.

Yeah. Ryan Grant. Right. And blocked Fabian Moreau out of the play. It was an easy pickup. But the problem for me in that situation is your corners are playing 11 yards off the line of scrimmage. There was some confusion there, too, JP. If you look at Swaranger pre-snap, they were, they looked confused.

pre-snap on that play. And I think all that stuff kind of adds up, and it made sense to want to have more guys in space to prevent David Johnson from beating you week one. The Colts didn't have that sort of player. And T.Y. Hilton can beat you. Maybe you start shading towards him and making sure there's safety help in spot.

And like you said about the rub and pick plays that just seem to be having constantly. The secondary guys we talked to said that was an issue communication. Whatever the issue was, it was reoccurring, and you got to expect Green Bay saw it, too. Yeah, and the touchdown catch that made it 21-9, you had Sweringer and Dunbar going to Doyle and Hilton uncovered on that play. And Norman was very frustrated in the end zone. He kind of saw it too late. You got to credit to Colts on that play design. Everything was going one way, and then Hilton kind of came back the other way, but certainly confusion.

It's almost like the Skins defense did a pretty good job despite confusion in the coaching scheme. I think they, which is precisely why I believe that they got to get this figured out from a coaching standpoint, you know, because they if they can't pass off or switch screens as I would describe as a basketball using as a basketball description, then they better play more zone. because that was a disaster at times yesterday. I want to get to the crowd. What did the players and coaches say about a home opening crowd that was by far and away the worst we've seen in the history of FedEx Field?

You know, the only real question, the only real answer that stuck with me on that, and I didn't ask a lot of folks about it. I am firmly in the camp that the Redkins have an issue with the home crowd. But that's like a business front office marketing thing. The home crowds can make a team play better. They can energize a team. I don't think a crowd can hurt a team. I don't think because it was a bad crowd, the Redskins played bad.

These are professional football players. I think if that's the case, you've got to reassess everybody in the locker room, frankly. That said, the one quote that stuck with me was Adrian Peterson saying, I've never been booed in a home opener. And I don't know that fans were. wrong to move them off the field at half time, but they sure did it. Yeah, I think I agree with you. A good crowd can absolutely help.

I don't think a bad crowd hurts. Yeah, it may not hurt, but the home, so I agree with you from that standpoint, that a bad crowd shouldn't hurt a professional football player that should be able to summon his own energy level, appropriate energy level for a game. I think in college that's different, but I think in the pro, the worst crowd I've ever seen at a pro football game ever. And I've been to a lot of different stadiums, seen a lot of different situations. Week 17 Giants last year, it was one degree outside.

It was freezing cold. Two bad teams. The Giants had already fired their coach, fired their general manager, and the Giants came out and kicked the Redskins butt. Now, some of that might have been the skins playing terribly, and Kirk having a bad day. But the Giants got nothing from their home crowd, and they were able to beat the Redskins up and down of you. Yeah, I am, I am curious to know what they're thinking organizationally about yesterday. Bruce Allen came out on TOP, I guess, with George Wallace and predicted a sellout the day before or two days before and thought the, you know, the fans were ginned up about the season.

And you know what? If they had gone out there and they had hung another dominant performance on it on their opponent and they were 2 and O with the Packers coming in, I do believe that it can show. shift very quickly. Totally. And the TV numbers are in from the game yesterday, and they're not overly impressive either. It did a 17.8 locally, which is not a good number locally for a Redskins home game. We've seen worse in recent years, but those numbers have been late in seasons in which the Redskins were out of it. I think the worst number I saw was the Charger game last year.

And the other day – That was a late game, too. They were at 1 o'clock. Right. And that was a late game. But I remember – get what was on opposite of it, but whatever it was was a better game and it almost beat it locally. But, you know, you got to win.

And, you know, the, you got, I mean, a two and oh start. They missed out on an opportunity yesterday is what I'm trying to say. They could have been, they could have been in first place in the division. And I'm with you, I think, had they won yesterday, then FedEx would have been, I don't know if it would have been packed, but I think it would have been close to a sellout or an actual sellout. The thing I found most disturbing for the Redskins organization yesterday, the upper level has been empty for a while, right? The club seats are a bit of a cluster because I don't know if you have to have a contract up there anymore,

but the club seats are always on their own graded, you know, it's a different situation there. Lower levels, lower level tickets. I'm from here, right? I mean, my entire life, lower-level Redskins tickets are a big deal, no matter if they're good or bad or indifferent, the lower level, the end zones were empty. Seeing the lower level like that was shocking. And I think one of the weirdest parts is generally Brian Lafamita,

the new team president, has been the one talking about this stuff. And then some of their new marketing guys, you know, Steve Ziff and Jake Biden, these new guys they brought in from all over the league, These guys have really serious resumes. They are looking to turn this thing around from a business standpoint. And they've been honest that, hey, we've got to do things differently. We've got to give a better fan experience. None of them were talking about a possible sellout, not a single one of them.

Yeah, but Bruce was. Bruce does his first and only interview as far as I heard. Maybe he did other stuff, but I missed that. And he says it's going to sell out. And I think that just created, you know, a punchline, frankly. Boy, it's really, you're so spot on there. There's been a lack of self-awareness when it comes to this organization and an arrogance about it for so long. We all know that.

And this wasn't something that I didn't talk about on 980. We talked about it all the time. And I like Brian. I've had a couple of conversations with Brian. I think Brian recognizes the organizational arrogance, this feeling of, you know, you the consumers should feel lucky to be in our park on Sunday for a home game. He recognizes that that's not the right strategy. And I think that's shifting.

I do, I do too. But part of the shift needs to be, hey, Bruce, if you're going to go on TOP and make these grand proclamations and make us look silly again, tell me now, and I'll go back and work for the league. because he's got to have the autonomy to get this done. Because that was, I didn't hear about it until late Friday. That's embarrassing. You can't go on the, you can't do this. You know, where they're talking about the big crowd that they get for the draft day parties and the harvest fest when they're five and nine.

Can't have that. I do want to ask you two more things real quickly. Williams and Brandon Sheriff, are they okay? Yeah, I mean, they're, both came back in the game yesterday. Yeah, they did. You got to figure there, okay. Now, I mean, I have a feeling, Trent Williams, and Brandon's there for going to get banged up throughout the season. I doubt we've seen the end of that. But I think specific to yesterday there, okay?

We'll get a more, you know, inclusive update from Jay Gruden this afternoon. But I would expect them to both say they're fine and they're going to play through it. And that's that. And the last one is this. Can the first business Friday of the year be the last business Friday of the year after that performance Sunday? I am guessing it will be. You know, those were, the team gave all the players those shirts. So I don't know if you could see it in the pictures.

Those dress shirts had the Redskins logo on kind of where a breast pocket would go. And I think they were kind of just having some fun with the team giving them those shirts. I don't, you know, I know there are fans that get ticked off about wearing those shirts and having a DJ at practice, that kind of stuff. I'm not sure it makes any bit of difference. I think on some level they had a big win in Arizona, thought they were pretty good, maybe didn't properly. I'm not even going to say prepare,

but mentally weren't ready to deal with a very physical front by the Colts. I think that could have happened. I'm not sure that the search mattered, but I am confident we won't see the search. You know, they don't impact whether or not they play well on Sunday. And I talked about this early, JP earlier, it's the optics of it. You know, it's the, we're going to be a top five rushing team in August. And you're one of the worst rushing teams in the NFL.

It's just this thing that we've had over the years where there's a lot of overpromising and under-delivering. And there are a lot of bad optics. And you can't self-congratulate after a win over Arizona. And while I don't necessarily think they were doing that, the optics of it were that they were doing it. So this is where the head coach and the organization needs to say, uh-uh. When we're 12 and 4 and we've got a first round by in January, you guys can come out with Business Friday. That's when we can do it.

When that happens, which would be the first time it's happened in 27 years. I love doing this with you. I hope you'll continue to do it with me. Tell everybody how to listen to yours and Rich's podcast, which is a great listen. Sure. Anywhere you find podcasts, we are Redskins talk. Just search for it. We are there. And Kevin, I love coming on. I'm in every week. You just tell me when and where, dude. Great conversation. J.P. Finley. Thanks, man. Appreciate it. Talk to you. Talk to you soon. All right. Let's go around the NFL. Wow, what a day in the NFL yesterday.

The Vikings Packers game was a game in which once the Redskins game ended, I caught the drama of it at the end, which was, you know, a lot of missed kicks, a lot of bad plays, a lot of bad calls. But I will start with this. Kurt Cousins engineered three touchdown drives in the fourth quarter and converted a two-point conversion to bring Minnesota from down 20 to 7 into a 29-29 overtime game. Their kicker, Daniel Carlson, I think his name is. Carlson, yes. Carlson. Missed three field goals, including two in overtime, including the game winner at the end of overtime from 35 yards out. Kirk Cousins has now been in two ties in the last three seasons in which his kicker has missed

a chip-shot field goal at the end of overtime. Remember Dustin Hopkins in London against the Bengals two years ago. In this game, Cousins went 35 of 48 for 425 years. yards four touchdown passes. He had one interception that was not his fault. Lequan Treadwell dropped three balls, including one right in his hands that deflected up in the air and was picked off by Ha Ha, ha, Clinton Dix. And then one that was his fault that got overruled by a terrible roughing the passer

penalty on Clay Matthews. It might have been the worst I've ever seen. One of the worst calls I have ever seen. If you haven't seen the roughing the passer. penalty called against Clay Matthews Jr. On a hit on Kirk Cousins after Kirk throws a deep ball that gets intercepted that would have ended the game and the Packers would have won 29-21. He hits Kirk simultaneously with the ball being released deep down the field.

Right in the shoulder. Right the shoulder. Form tackle. Textbook form tackle. Game should have ended, but it didn't. It was a terrible. one of the worst I've seen, and Kirk Cousins got another opportunity, and he threw a touchdown pass to Adam Thielen that was really, really sort of lucky and good, and then hit on a two-point conversion

to Diggs, and then drove him down the field on the first drive of overtime where Carlson missed his first overtime kick, and then they got another opportunity, drove him down the field, and Carlson missed the 35-yarder, and the game ended up in a 29-29-9 tie. 0 for 3, his field goal kicker. Boy, the Vikings over the years, whether it was Blair Walsh or now Carlson, they've had issues with field goal kickers. They cut Kai 4-bath, who wasn't that bad last year for them, but they thought that they had a better guy in Carlson.

They should be 2-0, but then again, Green Bay should be 2-0 because that roughing the passer penalty was a terrible, terrible call. All right. Last night in Dallas, the Cowboys beat the Giants 20 to 13 in a game that they dominated. They really dominated this football game with their defense. So you got to look at the Cowboys through two weeks, and you can recognize the limitations they have offensively with not a lot at wide receiver. And the only thing they've got really is Zeke Elliott, who went for, I think, 70, 70. yards on 17 carries last night. Prescott threw it deep early.

The second or third play from scrimmage was a 64-yard touchdown pass to Tavon Austin. Austin's really the only speed they seem to have offensively. Prescott, outside of that 64-yard pass for a touchdown, threw for 96 yards. Now, he ran the ball effectively, especially out of the read option, which it's clear that Dallas has to have that as part of their. attack. Prescott's got to be a runner out of the read option with Elliot for them to move the football. I think the Giants defense is pretty good and will prove to be pretty good this year as well. Both of these teams defensively are going to be pretty good football teams. Both of them

are going to struggle offensively at times. Eli Manning took an absolute beating last night, getting sacked six times in the game. That offensive line, which they thought they had touched up little bit. They thought they had improved a bit was a sieve against Dallas's pass rush. The Cowboys, the final score was not indicative of really how much the Cowboys dominated the game. It was 20 to 3, and the Giants scored and then got an onside kick, scored again. They actually messed up at the end. They should have kicked a field goal earlier to make it 20 to 13. But it really didn't matter. The Cowboys were the better team last night, and the Giants have started off 0 and 2, and the Cowboys are 1 and 1.

Meantime, the Eagles went to Tampa Bay, and Ryan Fitzpatrick... Hey, say his name right, Fitzmaac. Ryan Fitzmaig had a ridiculous game for the second straight week. Yesterday at home, 27 of 33, 402 yards, including another four touchdown passes. Second straight week, Ryan Fitzpatrick's gone for 400 and four touchdowns. He's thrown it deep, too. Second play of the game, maybe the first play of the game. I forget first snap or second snap, deep to Deshawn Jackson for 75 yards and a touchdown.

O.J. Howard caught a 75-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick, Fitzpatrick, as they're calling him now. It's eight touchdowns and 800 passing yards. in two weeks for the 35-year-old who has stepped in for suspended starter, James Winston. The 450-plus-yard touchdown throws in two weeks ties him with Joe Namath for the most through a team's first two games in NFL history, according to ESPN stats and information. The bucks are 2-0. This is why when you look at the schedule in April, May, June, July, and August, you can't

cannot circle wins and losses and be confident about it. The Bucks have been the most impressive team in the first two weeks of the season. And keep in mind, they've done it against the Eagles and the Saints. Two good football teams, one of them the defending Super Bowl champion. The Bucks are 2 and 0. The Eagles dropped to 1-1. Nick Foles threw for 300 plus yards in the game. But the Eagles had trouble running the football.

consistently yesterday. They lost Jay Ajay, and then he came back. Corey Clement from Wisconsin may be their most consistent back right now. The Eagles host Indie next week to try to get to two and one. And we believe that next week will be the week that Carson Wentz returns for the Eagles.

Elsewhere around the league, the game in New Orleans was a wild one. Zane Gonzalez, the kicker, who missed a couple of times, against the Steelers when the Browns had a chance to beat the Steelers in a week one, 21, 21-21-21 tie. Missed two extra points and two field goals in this one. There's zero chance he'll be back kicking for the Browns next week.

I want to just say this about the Cleveland Browns through two games. Their defense is legit. Legit. Miles Garrett is a monster. They have defensive talent. and in the first two games of the season against two very good offensive teams among the best five offensive teams in the NFL, they have dominated the Steelers and the Saints with their defense.

Losing, begets losing, begets losing. But once they win a game or two, once they break through, they're going to be a difficult team to face. They are good defensively, really good defense. defensively. They had a 12-3 lead in this game, and the kicker completely blew it in the game. Drew Breeze and the Saints hold on with 18 fourth quarter points to beat the Browns 21-18. Lutz's kick came with 21 seconds. That's going to be another coaching blunder, clock management error, and this one for Sean Peyton at the end. Cleveland should have never had an opportunity to tie the game,

but they did when Gonzalez missed at the gun from about 52 yards. out. Saints should have had a walk-off field goal in that game, but they didn't get it. More on that tomorrow. The most impressive team, perhaps through the first two weeks, and granted, their opponents haven't been very good. But you have to keep an eye on the L.A. Rams this year. 34 to nothing after pummeling in the second half, the Raiders in the Monday night game, you know, in the NFL, when you play Monday night and you have a short work week, it is the trap of all NFL traps. Usually you don't play well, and they did start off slowly, and Arizona is terrible, really bad. 34-0-0 over the Cardinals. The Rams are 2-0. Meantime, Jacksonville is 2-0, and they

really jumped all over the Patriots yesterday. They had a 24-3 lead. Blake Bortles was outstanding in the game, 29 of 45 for 377 in the game. They ran the ball without Leonard Fournette. Yeldon averaged about six yards per carry in the game. I like some of their other guys, like the kid, Corey Grant, and some of their receivers that you didn't see until late in the season last year in some of those playoff games. This kid Cole had a ridiculous catch in the game. They blasted New England the final in that one, 3120. The best game of the day was likely at Heinz Field where the Steelers lost to the chief. 42 to 37, and Patrick Mahomes had six touchdown passes in the game.

So that's six for Mahomes yesterday. And for this season now, he's got 10 touchdown passes in his first two starts of 2018. He had one start last year, which was the final game of the season. according to Elias Sports Bureau, it's an NFL record for the first three games of an NFL career for him to have thrown 10 touchdown passes, and they all came in the first two weeks of this season. Pittsburgh's defense appears to be a problem right now. Rathlisberger threw for 452 on the day, but Mahomes, and watch him throw it, man. That ball is fired.

He zips it. And this is why Andy Reid was fine with moving on from Alex Smith, because he thought he had something younger and better. And there was this thought, and I was one of those people that thought it. The Kansas City was probably making a move here that Andy Reid was going to be judged on if Mahomes didn't play well, and they blew a roster with playoff talent on it, and they blew it on a first year quarterback, or first year starting quarterback when you had a guy coming off a career year, that Andy Reid would be criticized heavily for that.

Well, so far, Reed looks pretty good for the call. 42 to 37, the final, the Chiefs beat the Steelers. There was a game in San Francisco yesterday where the Lions had a chance with a pick, not a pick six, but a pick at the end of the game that would have set them up for a game-tying field goal or go-ahead touchdown and a big comeback. And there was an interference, or I'm sorry, a defensive holding, a legal use of the hands, defensive holding call on quandary dig. against George Kittle. Terrible call. Terrible call. It was a bad throw by Garapolo. It got picked

and returned down inside the five-yard line, and it was overturned by a call. The 49ers ran the clock out, and they get the first win for Kyle and Jimmy Garoppolo in the 2018 season. They look pretty good. The Lions came back, though, at the end, and the Lions are off to a 2-0 start. an 0-2 start. I do think that they are very capable, though, offensively. I think people will play Detroit this year, and I think that Detroit will have some big offensive games. Let's get to Weekend DVR.

Start with some college football from Saturday. Maryland, who looks so great in their first two games, come home for their true home opener against Temple, who had gotten blasted in their first two games. And this game was never close. Temple dominated, absolutely dominated Maryland at the line of scrimmage. And they beat the Terps 35, 14 in College Park.

Maryland falls to 2-1. The Temple defense owned the line of scrimmage. They had a fake punt for a touchdown that got them off to a 7-0 lead. Maryland's only scores, all right? One of them was a defensive score for 14-7. There we got some horns out on Wisconsin Avenue right now. and Temple held Maryland in the first half to 61 yards and eight yards rushing. It was an ugly game for the Terps.

Anthony McFarlane came in. It was the only way they could actually move the football by running it in the second half. The Terps, I thought, were a lock to win that game and get to 3 and O with Minnesota on the schedule next week with a chance potentially to get to 4-0 going to Michigan, but they were manhandled at the line of scrimmage all day long. Kassim Hill was under siege, and even when he did have time, he did not look good throwing the football. They tried to play Terrell Piggum a little bit more,

but he's not a thrower of the football. It was a disappointing game from Maryland. Look, you could say they weren't ready for the game, that they were a little bit too high on themselves after the first two weeks with a bad opponent or a perceived bad opponent coming into College Park. But really what I think happened is they just got completely owned at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

They really couldn't do much offensively. And defensively, when Temple got rolling, they started to run the ball and wear Maryland down. Terps are two and one and no longer in other teams receiving votes. That was nice while it lasted. Yeah, that was fun. It seemed like they were headed towards. potential ranking before the Michigan game. There were two really good college football games Saturday.

I want to talk about briefly. The first one was the CBS SEC 330 kickoff game between LSU and Auburn. What a football game this was. I mean, this was a hard-hitting week three massive showdown at Auburn. And Auburn was a smell test pick. I thought they were laying too many points, and the public was backing LSU, and I liked Auburn in this game.

And they had a 21-10 lead. But for the first time and a long time, Aaron, I think LSU has a legitimate quarterback in Joe Burrow. He looks comfortable throwing the football. He takes chances. They've got a different offensive coordinator there, the guy that came in to replace Matt Canada. And I thought LSU from the jump looked like a team offensively that has a much better chance than they've had in recent years. And their defense is really good. Both of those teams have great defenses.

They were down 21-10. LSU rallied. They end up winning the game on a walk-off field goal by Cole Tracy, 2221. Look, in the SEC, you have so many opportunities to get it back. You know, so Auburn's not done yet, but LSU jumped up in the rankings. And all of the sudden, LSU, which was the team in the SEC West that nobody was paying attention to. You know, you had Auburn, you had Alabama, you had Mississippi State. A lot of people like Mississippi State.

State, and here's LSU. I think they started the season, ranked 25th, and they crush Miami to start the season. Now, who's got two more impressive road wins than LSU? Nobody. Nobody, not even close. I just think they look different. You know, with LSU, it's always been, can they score? Do they have a quarterback against the tough teams that they will face in the SEC that can actually throw the football? And I think the transfer from Ohio State Joe Burrow can. Yeah, I mean, who's been their best quarterback in recent years? Mettonberger, maybe. It's been a while since they've had a decent quarterback. Etling is on a roster. Belichick drafted him, but he was not a good thrower of the football. Scheme could have had something to do

with it as well. It's a second straight year, by the way, LSU's rallied from two scores down in the fourth quarter to beat Auburn. A huge win for them. And that SEC Westman is loaded. These teams, no one in the country plays defense like these teams play defense. All right. The other game, which was a great football game Saturday night, I have an interest in it because I sent my oldest son to school at TCU. It's a great place. It was a lot of fun to follow the football team there for the last few years, and I'm continuing to follow it this year. And TCU looked like they were up to the challenge. They had a 2113 lead in the first. third quarter against number four Ohio State at Jerry World. Their speed, their pace was off

the charts. Impressive. They've got talent. They've got a quarterback this year at TCU. And I thought, really, when we got to the third quarter, and by the way, Dwayne Haskins from Bullis, he's really good too for Ohio State. He's played well. Should have been at Maryland. Should have been at, well, shouldn't have been at Maryland. They made a coaching change. And he was able to walk from his commitment. But Haskins is good. Bosa's, they got another Bosa there. He got hurt late. He's good. But boy, these were two fast athletic teams playing up-tempo football, and it was a really, really good game. There were a couple of bad calls. There was a defensive touchdown on a Bosa sack earlier that Ohio State recovered a fumble in the end zone. It should have been a safety.

The replay showed that one of the Ohio State defenders was out of bounds while touching the football in the end zone. They missed that. The replay booth was fast asleep during that play. But look, TCU had chances. Ohio State scored two defensive touchdowns in the game. They blocked a punt in the game. And in what was, I think, a game in which we'll see towards the end of this year

that both of these teams are really good. Ohio State in the Big Ten and TCU in the Big 12. It was entertaining to watch. Tommy will be here. tomorrow. Thanks to Aaron for producing the show today. Thanks to Chatter for hosting the show today. Chatters and Friendship Heights on Wisconsin Avenue. Come in. Great food. Great place to watch sports on all of their high-definition televisions. I'm back tomorrow. It's a Tuesday with my old partner, Tom Leverro. So tune in tomorrow.