The Kevin Sheehan Show - WFT: Just Not Good Enough

Episode Date: January 3, 2022

Kevin today with his recap of Washington's 20-16 loss to Philly and more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheyenne Show. Here's Kevin. First and 10 from the 20. Nike, looking in-zone, and it is intercepted by Rodney McLeod. And that was it.

The last gasp of playoff hope thrown to the other team. Rodney McLeod, by the way, really good interception in the end zone. And would Bates have had a chance had he not? gotten his feet tangled up with Jenkins. I have no idea. But the competitive portion, the meaningful portion of the 2021-2020 season is now officially over. I declared it over on Halloween, but after yesterday, it is officially over. They've got the one meaningless game next week, Sunday afternoon, 1 p.m. in the Meadowlands against the New York football. Giant. This is going to be a short podcast, and it's getting out late because we had and have had major power outages because of the snowstorm here in the D.C. area. I love the snow. I love snow storms. This one really was kind of cool to see it develop on the models over the weekend. For those of you that know, I'm really into winter storms and following them on the various weather models. And I get into it. And this one really blizzard.

blossomed. And really, this time on Friday, last podcast I did, this was really not that much of a possibility in terms of a major snowstorm. But we have already had now, as I'm recording it, five to six inches with another two to three possible. And there have been massive power outages in the area. The power is back up. I'm going to try to get the recap of the game and anything else I can fit in here and get this thing published here. on this Monday, January 3rd. 2022, the first show of the new year. Six in 10 is what Washington is after the loss yesterday to the Philadelphia Eagles.

If you are into the draft positioning conversation, go ahead and have it now. You could have had it before, but for me, I'm not interested in that conversation when the playoffs are still a possibility. They're currently, for those of you wondering, they're currently where they are now, set to pick ninth in the first round of the 2022 draft. They could move up a few spots with a loss to the Giants. They could move down a few spots with a win over the Giants.

They are six and a half point favorites against the Giants. The Giants may be right now the worst team in the NFL. They may be worse than the Jacksonville Jaguars. Mike Glennon yesterday in a game in which they were blown out by the Bears, 29 to 3, and they were blown out early. Like it was 14-0 quickly. He threw only 11 passes, completing only 4, for 24 yards. Let me repeat that.

The Giants played one quarterback yesterday, Mike Glennon, who is horrible. He threw 11 passes in a 26-point loss, completed four of them for 24 yards. Two of his six completions were to the other team. He had four to his own team, two to the other team. He took four sacks and fumbled four times losing two of them. Now, maybe they're just trying to tank. Maybe they didn't want to win the game. but Glennon in the last two games, the Giants trying to throw the football,

have been absolutely horrible against the Eagles last week. I may have mentioned this to you. The Giants threw for 108 total yards on 44 attempts. They are horrible. If Washington tries to lose the game Sunday in the Meadowlands, they may not be able to do it. The Giants are that bad. Anyway, have at the conversation about draft positioning.

As far as the game goes yesterday, it was really in many ways kind of a microcosm of what the year was. It was a team that just wasn't good enough against a good team. Philadelphia is a good team. They are a good team playing well. They're not an elite team, but then again, how many elite teams are there really in the NFL right now? They're hard to identify. You know, but Philly clinched a playoff berth last night when Minnesota lost to Green Bay. They're in the playoffs, and they've won seven of their last nine, and they deserve to be there,

and they are better than Washington. They weren't just better in yesterday's game. They've been better all year long. The Eagles are a better team than Washington. I think a lot of you had a difficult time admitting that during portions of the season. They're just better. Dallas is just better. This final five games, which has been racked by COVID and injuries and tragedy and all of that is true.

But this final five games just get us to the division games haven't gone very well, have they? Oh and four. Washington wasn't good enough on offense yesterday or this year. They certainly weren't good enough on defense this year or yesterday. And for much of the year, they haven't been very good on special teams. They have given up more, they've had more field goals blocked than any team in the league. And they had a punt blocked last week in Dallas. They just weren't very good.

And the difference and the problem, I guess, if you even view it that way, but there's a difference from this time last year, or, you know, after they had lost the playoff game to Tampa Bay. And that is that the glass half full conversation, which really was the primary conversation after the loss to Tampa in the playoffs last year as a division champion, even at 7 and 9, there was a lot of glass half full talk. You know, the defense, Chase Young in particular coming off a defensive rookie of the year season, the coach who didn't let them fold up their tents at 2 and 7 or 1 in 5. the playoff game against Tampa, many of you described it as the toughest game,

the eventual Super Bowl champions had to win on their way to a Super Bowl, even though that wasn't true. The problem is last year, glass half full. This year, not much worthy right now of a glass half full offseason conversation. What are we looking at right now that is truly worth being optimistic about? the four-game winning streak, you know, in November into the first week of this weekend of December. You know, if you really look at it and we're really being honest with ourselves about that four-game win streak, you know, that's not what they were as a team during the year. You know, they had 12, they've had 12 other games, and those four games were really not what they were in aggregate during the course of the year.

And those four games, again, if we're being really honest, the Carolina game, which was a six-point win, that's the closest Carolinas come to a win in over the last month and a half. Their average margin of defeat since the Washington game, 16 and a half points. And they had a chance to win the game against Washington. The win over Tampa Bay that started that four-game winning streak, you know, if we're being fair, Tampa has since been shut out in a game by the New Orleans Saints and nearly lost to the New York Jets in the Meadowlands yesterday. They've been sleepwalking a bit during this regular season. The other wins were a pair of identical score 1715 wins over the Seahawks and the Raiders. They were very fortunate to beat the Raiders. Raiders, Trayvon Morrig, the safety, had the ball in his hands on a terrible throw at the end of the game that would have locked that one up for the Raiders.

And by the way, the Raiders would be in the playoffs if they had somehow beaten Washington that day. And the Seattle game was in doubt until the very end, even though really Washington didn't play a great game, but they were better than Seattle. The four-game win streak was not a reflection of a good team or even a team playing well necessarily in hindsight. What it was a reflection of is that they are a team that doesn't seem capable through the first two seasons of Ron Rivera, of bailing, of totally imploding, of throwing in the towel. You know, for the second straight year, the team wasn't very good, and perhaps in many ways, their record in both seasons could have been worse. Both seasons could have gone sideways

in a much bigger way, but neither did. So there is that. There is the head coach who has a team of feisty, plucky, never give uppers. And yesterday's game was probably that as much as anything else. You know, I told you all last week.

They got their ass, kicked by Dallas, 56 to 14. Lots of stuff going on leading up to that game. And I expected them to bounce back with a try hard effort. And that's what we got. You know, there are no moral victories in pro sports, in college sports, high school sports, depending on how you coach them up and how you teach him. But the team has right now an honorable coach who gets his players to play hard, but it just isn't a very good team, and it needs a lot to become a good team, starting with a legitimate NFL 17 games starting quarterback. That's what they need right now.

That is priority number one. Football operation off-season, I guarantee you that their number one priority is to do their best to find a legitimate 17-game NFL starting quarterback. You know, the building it one block at a time was kind of just a convenient description after they didn't get Matt Stafford, after they didn't get a couple of other guys that they may have had interest in,

and they ended up with Ryan Fitzpatrick. That's when we got from Ron Rivera. You know, we've got to build the whole thing. We've got to build it from the inside out. Except that really didn't, Matt, match up with the reality, which was they tried to trade and go big for Matt Stafford. The building it one block at a time or from the inside out is a 20th century NFL concept. Washington is very similar to like half the teams in the league.

It has no chance to be in the mix for anything important during these football seasons until it solves its biggest problem. actually its second biggest problem, the quarterback position problem. The biggest problem is ownership. But that dumpster fire isn't going to be put out anytime soon. That is what it is. You know, the constant meddling, constant toxicity, constant thorn in the side of all current and future attempts to be good on the field

is going to be there. There's nothing we can do about it. hopefully somebody else will take care of that. But they have to try to get a quarterback. If somehow they were to land in the draft on the next Joe Burrow, or the next Justin Herbert with Kenny Pickett, let's just say, then maybe they can get back into the mix. In the end, with one more game to go,

so it's not exactly the end. Washington is just, and has been this year, kind of a feisty, try-hard, 6-10 team. You know, a 6-10 team on the way to being either 7 and 10 or 6 and 11. It doesn't matter pretty much the same thing. It's a record that really matches almost perfectly what they are. And again, the big difference between last year and this year is that this year's under 500 record isn't going to lead to a playoff game, and it's not going to lead to much optimistic off-season discussion. It isn't. The conversation in the off-season, once we find out

who's staying and who's going, is the quarterback plan. They've got to go find a legit quarterback. They have to swing big, they have to aim high, and they may have to swing a couple of times. It may be that they have to sign a veteran and then they have to draft somebody too. All right, my game take. What I liked, what I didn't like, and a few other observations coming up next right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Pay attention. Here's Kevin's Game Take. Hey, don't forget to subscribe if you haven't subscribed to the podcast that really helps us, doesn't cost you a thing. And just a plea here to rate us and review us if you haven't done that. We haven't, we've mentioned it, you know, here recently,

but I haven't mentioned it with some urgency. We're at the beginning of the year, first quarter kind of sales opportunities are out there, and it would really help if you guys rated and reviewed us on Apple and Spotify. Rate us five stars that really helps no worse than four, please, and just a quick one-sentence review about how much you like. the podcast. It can be more than one sentence, but it will take you all of 60 seconds to do it. If you haven't done it, it just really helps us. What it does, I've mentioned this before, it just is something that reflects the loyalty of the listener to the podcast and how much the people that listen to the podcast like it. And that is important to sponsors. And we're making a push for a

couple of sponsorships right now. So getting rated and reviewed this week and next would really help if you haven't done it. So thank you for that. All right. Let's get to my game take. My game take starts with the things that I liked. And I kind of mentioned this first one in the open. They showed up. They showed up and had a chance. There's no prize for a loss, you know, a close loss, but given what they've been through the last two and a half weeks, they had a chance in the game, a good chance, a really good chance in the game to win it. They covered, the line went off at plus six yesterday with, you know, the issues that they had with more COVID cases, with people not being activated and more missing pieces from the team.

But I expected this, you know, we talked about it. I thought that they would have a chance to win this game. I picked them to win the game, although I backed off that a little bit on Friday when we had, you know, more of the COVID cases and more players that were going to be missing from this game. But I really thought the effort would be there. It was, you know, they've been a resilient group under Ron Rivera. You can roll your eyes. You can scoff at that all you want.

but we've seen more times than not with this particular franchise over the last 22 plus years. The season really tends to unravel in bad years, and it hasn't. And it didn't yesterday. And they really could have won the game. Whatever. Let me move on to the thing that I really liked yesterday. The first half offense yesterday is really the number one thing on the list of things. that I liked from the game. It was near perfect. They had four drives, four scores, 231 yards,

on 34 plays. They were balanced, 15 runs, 18 throws, but really that was 15 runs 16 throws because they clocked it once. That counts as an incompletion. And then on that very last pass at the end of the half, Heineke threw it out of bounds to eat a little bit more of the clock. It was really very balanced. It was clean. There were no penalties, no turnovers in the first half. They were five of eight on third down. Why were they five of eight on third down? Well, their average third down need was third and three and a half, and their average third down make was third and two. Third and two. That is called staying on schedule. That's what they did during their four game win streak. This was the offense of their four game win streak. This was the offense of their four game

win streak in the first half. Be balanced. Protect your quarterback from too much dropback. You know, stay balanced, stay in good down-and-distance situations. They move the football up and down the field. Four drives, four scores. I thought the usage of a lot of their action in the back field with Carter and others kept Philly off balance. They rushed for 61 yards in the half. Patterson averaged five and a half yards per carry. He had a good half. Heineke was 14 of 17 for 170 yards, but really he was 14 to 15 because of those last two. He had a scramble in there as well. So when I said 15 runs, 18 throws, it was 15 runs, 18 called passes. He had a scramble in there. In terms of pass attempts, 17, 14 completions, but again, really 14 to 15.

I mean, the ball barely hit the ground in the first half. You know, they, you couldn't have asked for more from the offense in the first half, with the exception, the lone exception being, they were one for three in the red zone. You know, the first red zone miss, their second drive, they try to fly sweep to Milne to Dax Milne on a second and nine that didn't amount to much. And because of it, they were forced to convert a third and eight, which is not ideal for this team. Their second red zone miss, when they were going, when they were in the red zone, they tried to take a first down shot and they totally broke down up front and Heineke took a bum rushed sack, loss of seven, and they can't overcome second and 17. You know, or it's harder for them too. Everybody on that

play got beat and Heineke had no chance. But other than the two red zone field goals in the first half, it was a really good job. And I've heard literally since the game ended yesterday, all of this criticism of Scott Turner in particular. And I'm like, did you watch the first half? We'll talk about the second half here shortly. But they had the ball four times, and they produced four scores. And Philly was completely kept off balance. They were running it when they thought they were going to throw it. They were throwing it when they thought they were going to run it. They stayed balanced. They stayed on schedule. They had makeable throws, people were schemed open.

I don't know what game you guys were fucking watching. Those of you that are crushing Scott Turner. Now look, I'm not sitting here telling you that Scott Turner is his father. I'm not even telling you that I am sold on Scott Turner being an elite offensive coordinator. I am sold that he is an NFL offensive coordinator. I am sold on that. Could you do better? Maybe.

If anybody actually really believes that yesterday the fault of the loss was Scott Turner's, I can't help you. We'll get to the second half and there's some room for nitpicking a little bit. But my God, in the first half, are you kidding me? By the way, Joe Banner, somebody sent me this and I actually responded to it. He's the former team president of the Eagles. He's been on the podcast before. I actually like him. I think he's a really smart dude.

But he tweeted out, I guess, that he thought the reason the Eagles won the game was Scott Turner's play calling because they were throwing it in the first half and it was working. And then in the second half, they kept running it on first down. Well, he might have a point if any of that was true, you know? Like, it's not hard to go back and look this stuff up. When I read it, I'm like, did they really just? just try to run it in the second half on first down? Was that really what they did?

No, they didn't do that. In fact, what they did in the first half that led to all of their success was they stayed balanced. They ran the football and they threw the football. As I mentioned, 15 called runs, 16 called dropbacks. Two of them don't count because it was a clocked, you know, throw and a, you know, an out of bounds throw at the end of the first half. second half got sideways because they went with 23 drop packs and five runs.

And out of the 12 first down plays, they only ran on two of them. I'll get to that in a moment. Look, if you're going to criticize, you know, if you're going to be constructively critical of something that you're absolutely sure was a reason why a team either lost or their opponent won, you got to at least, you know, have the real, have real reasons based on the actual data from the game. I thought the first half offense was outstanding, and I thought it was outstanding because I thought Scott Turner called a good first half, and I thought they executed, clearly. You know, they were staying on schedule by being balanced and making plays in the run game and in the past game.

On the list of things that I liked, I liked the end of the first half drive. You know, that was a tricky situation. They're up 13-7. There's a punt that goes to the six-yard line. So there's two minutes and six seconds left, and they're starting from their own six-yard line after the punt. You know, most teams, given this team's inability to really throw the ball down the field, you know, they're going to play it super conservative, pun it, and, you know, maybe make the other team burn some timeouts.

But, you know, that's not what Washington did. Washington felt the drive out. They ran it on the first play, and it was Patterson for eight yards. but they didn't show run. And then on the second downplay, after the two-minute warning, they ran, they had small wood in, showing perhaps that they were going to be a little bit more aggressive, a little bit more aggressive.

They ran him, but he didn't get it. So then they kept him in the game, they ran him again, and he got the first down. Now they were into a little bit more of maybe we can get aggressive here. And Heineke hit Smallwood for a six-yard game, and then they run smallwood for three yards, and then they've got a third and one from their own 28 with 34 seconds to go. Patterson rips off after an Eagles timeout.

Patterson rips off an eight-yard run, and now they've got it out to the 36-yard line with 30 seconds to go, and now they're in position to be aggressive. They didn't go into a shell. They showed formations that may have led you to believe they were going to throw it, but they ran it, and then when they looked like they were going to throw, run it, they threw it a little bit.

They threw it to their backs. They were conservative, but if they got one of those plays to break, they were going to be more aggressive. You know, they didn't take knees. They didn't just line up and run the ball with inside zone or outside zone. It's not really what they were doing. They were feeling it out. So was Philadelphia defensively.

And then first and 10 from the 36, they take a shot down the middle of the field in the hill. hits Cam Sims for 18 yards. Timeout, third time out, Washington. Then he hits McClorn for nine, and now they're in field goal range with 11 seconds to go. Now, I thought that the one opportunity at the end of the first half, when you saw the way Philadelphia aligned defensively,

which was with very little pass rush, and everybody dropping in a way in which they didn't want anything to the sideline with significant yardage, weren't going to give up a Hail Mary. I thought there was an opportunity for Heineke to roll and either run it for three or four yards out of bounds or to throw it real quickly for another three or four or five yards and out of bounds. But that's not what they did.

He went back and he chucked it deep and out of bounds over the head of a receiver. They just wanted to take a few more seconds off the clock, which was smart in the event that they missed the field goal. Because if they missed the long field goal, the ball's nearly at midfield. and Philadelphia would have a snap or two. So that was smart management there as well. I just thought that maybe they could have taken that opportunity and gotten a few yards.

And they didn't, but it didn't matter because Sly made the field goal from 55 yards out and Washington had a 16 to 7 lead at halftime. I liked the way they handled that last drive. Their own six-yard line, two minutes and six seconds left, Philadelphia really thinking we can get it back and in really good field position, but they executed, they dipped their toes early in the drive, and then when things opened up, they went for it. Also on the things that I liked list, Joey Sly, three for three on field goals, including that 55-yarder,

made his only extra point. And then lastly, and I'm keeping it for last because I want to go through some of his plays. On the list of things that I liked from the game yesterday was the quarterback, Taylor Heineke. You know, I can like his performance in a game and then also not think that he is the long-term 17 games starter answer. Both of those things are true. I thought that he gave him a chance yesterday. And we'll get to the second half and we'll get to a couple of the bad plays. He didn't have a perfect day by any stretch of the imagination.

He made some mistakes. But I thought he gave them a chance offensively. If you go through the plays, the good plays. He had a third and four on the opening drive to Cam Sims for 12 yards. Really good throw. It was a little bit high, but a little bit under pressure. He was under pressure a lot yesterday. On that drive also, there's a real step up in the pocket,

sidearm throw to Adam Humphreys for 10 yards. He had an unbelievable play on third and one when they went hurry up on their second drive. and he literally is under pressure. I don't know how he got the ball off, but it's almost like he shot putted it to Ricky Seals Jones for a first down. He had a really nice throw to Diami Brown on a big play down the middle,

the deepest that they stretched the field the entire game. He had a good throw on that drive, the second drive to Terry McLorn. He had a really good play on a bootleg. I love how many of you say, why don't they run bootlegs? They run a couple of bootlegs a game. There was a bootleg that Fletcher Cox literally blew up and somehow he was able to avoid Cox and get into a scramble mode where he gained like four yards to set up a third and three instead of taking a big sack there. That was a really good play by him. He had a really nice

patience in the first half, checking it down to Patterson once for 12 yards. They had a planned little swing pass to Jonathan Williams for 11 yards that was well thrown. I don't know how he escaped. I'm using the word and the verb escape because that's what he does. I mean, it's really the thing he does better than anything else. His athleticism and his escapability are top of the list of attributes for Taylor Heineke. On that third and 11 before the field goal that made it 13 to 7, he escaped somehow and threw the ball into the end zone. It was the play that Ricky Seals Jones got hurt on.

I don't know how he got out of that. I don't know how he got out of it. He made a throw that was almost, you know, the defender had a better chance at it, but really it would have been out of bounds had the defender come down with it. He didn't really put the ball in Major League harm's way. I just don't know how he escaped out of that situation that he was in. It was incredible the way he did that. He had some really good plays in the game.

Unfortunately, almost all of them came in the first half. The second half, they really got dominated at the line of scrimmage, and I'll talk about that in a little bit. I wanted to mention one other thing on the positive before I get to his negative plays. I think Taylor Heineke, he's played a lot of football and a lot of, you know, obviously a lot of quarterback. I think he really understands game situation, clock situation, score situation. I think he's really good at that. I'm not saying that he makes great decisions all the time, but I think he really understands what's going on at the end of the half.

He's not a guy that sits there and needs to take direction through his helmet earpiece from, from Scott Turner about, hey, we got to clock it here or we only have the, I think he knows what's going on. Remember when they didn't go for the extra point and they knelt down in the Tampa game, because really the only way Tampa could get back into the game was to block an extra point and return it for two. And he had to explain it to everybody. You know, obviously he's a math guy, you know, from all of the classes that he was taking when Washington signed him. I just think he's smart and really understands all of that. There were some plays that weren't so good, obviously, in this game from him.

First of all, the interception that was not an interception because there was a legal contact. Now, I don't know until I see the All-22 if the illegal contact caused the interception. I know this, that it was a dangerous kind of Taylor-esque kind of throw. where he put it in a bad spot. You know, the flags were down and the play didn't count and they got an automatic first down out of it. And maybe upon further review, it'll show that, you know, Terry McLorren

or whomever got held on that particular play would have been where the ball was going. But I think it was a poor decision more likely than not. And I think Rivera said the same thing. there were a couple of other plays that weren't very good. I'll get to those here. Yeah. So in the second half on their third drive, he threw one of those floaters to Terry McLaren.

Maddox got called for defensive pass interference. I thought it was a bad call. And then the fourth and five, fourth and four and a half were Rivera. went for it and we'll get to that decision here in a moment. See, that's the throw. That's the one that you'd probably point to as much as any other that tells you, yeah, that's not a high-level starting quarterback in the NFL. If you're going to start and you're going to be good at the position over 17 games, you've got to be decisive on a timing route and then you've got to have the arm strength to get it there on a rope. If you go back to that play, first of all, I don't like

the call, and I'll nitpick Scott Turner a little bit for a second half here in a moment, but it's a timing out pattern to Milne, and it's not what he throws well. You know, that ball is out late, it floats, and that ball's got to be out in timing on a rope, you know, so that Milne has a chance to catch and then turn up field. That ball floats. He doesn't step into it. It's a little bit late. It's a timing throw. It's a lousy throw from Heineke. And we've seen a lot of those kinds of throws this year. I didn't love the call. I mean, I want him to have the whole field. And maybe that wasn't the read. Maybe that was the read based on what he was seeing defensively, but maybe they thought they could get to something else. I don't know. But that was not a good throw in the game.

Lastly, the interception, you know, they're in a situation where at that point they're out of timeouts. So they have got to start taking, they've got to get a couple of chunk plays down the middle of the field. The middle of the field is open because there's still time. You know, there's 30 seconds to go. And they took a shot to Bates. I mean, again, the all 22 may reveal that he should have gone somewhere else. with the ball. Bates got tangled up obviously with Jenkins, and so he never had a chance. That was not defensive pass interference. That's unfortunately, you know, feet getting tangled up.

And McLeod makes a really good interception in the end zone. Was it overthrown? It appeared to be overthrown, even if Bates doesn't get tangled. Does it get intercepted if Bates has more of a chance to make a play on it? I don't know. It was an unfortunate way for the game to end because Philly was playing a little bit softer on that final drive, which allowed them to get into some dropback, which they had to do. They were still getting pressure, by the way, with four. And Taylor did a nice job of getting them down to the Philadelphia 20-yard line. You know, you're down there with 30 seconds to go 20-yard line. You got a legit chance. Legit chance to win the game 23-20. But they didn't. You know, that ball got picked. Another half. inch. Maybe it doesn't get caught, and then you've got a second in 10. But the ball floated a little bit.

It was probably going to be a little bit high. It was going to probably be a little bit overthrown, but still, probably Bates gets at least into the mix for it, so maybe it doesn't get intercepted. Who knows? I gave Taylor Heineke a B, which is why he's on the things that I like list. I think in the first half, it was one of the best halves he's played all year. I still will that they would use him in the run game more, but it's just not what they do. I wish there were more read option style plays with him. I wish, you know, there were more decisive scrambles from him under pressure, and there was plenty of it yesterday. But I thought he was a solid B in the game. He finished 27 of 36 for 247 yards, had the interception at the end, took three sacks.

But the first half where he essentially, for all intents and purposes, was 14 to 15 for a buck 70 was pretty impressive. You know, they didn't have a lot of opportunities in this game. This game was a very short game. Washington had four possessions in the first half and four in the second half, eight total. Philly only had three possessions in the first half and four in the second. They only had seven legitimate possessions. The other two were kneel downs. I mean, that is a short.

fast-moving, you know, game. And, you know, there weren't a lot of penalties called in the game. There weren't a lot of big chunk plays. There were a lot of third downs for a game that was this short. Washington had 15 third downs. They converted nine of them. Philly had 12 third down. So you're getting the clock running on first, second, third downs. You're getting longer drives. Philly converted three of four on fourth down. It was one of those fast-moving, low-possession games. The bottom line is Washington offensively was really good in the first half and just wasn't in the second half. But there were reasons for that.

And that gets me to the list of things that I didn't like. We start with this. They were just dominated by a better team at the line of scrimmage in the second half. That's what I saw more than anything. I'll nitpick a little bit here on Scott Turner in the second half. But they were really dominated at the line of scrimmage on offense. Philly just, and by the way, Philly's done it to a lot of teams over the last two months.

They are really good up front on both sides of the ball. Washington could not block on any of the dropbacks. So they, you know, the adjustment, if you're looking for, What adjustments did he make? Well, he tried some screens, but the screens were called to offset the trouble they were having with the pass rush. They were having problems with the pass rush too because they could not gain any yardage trying to run the ball.

They also didn't have many opportunities in the second half, so you get zero on first down, you're into second and 10, and now you're drop back and you're getting smothered. It was just a bad cocktail of ingredients in the second half, which was they weren't successful on first down. They weren't successful on creating more advantageous down in distances. And they couldn't block at the line of scrimmage. They were absolutely bum rushed at every opportunity. The adjustment, the one that I noticed was he called a couple of screens to try to offset it.

the screens got swarmed. There was nowhere to run. And again, because of that, they didn't try much to run in the second half. And that's where I would say, if you want to nitpick a little bit on Scott Turner, really hard to do it in the first half. Okay? I mean, unless you want to nitpick the fly sweep to Dax Milne when they were in the red zone that one time. But they had them completely off balance in the first half. If you want to nitpick them for anything, It would actually be the opposite of what Joe Banner said. They just gave up on the run completely, you know, in the second half. You know, they couldn't run it, but he gave up on trying to run it. 23 dropbacks, five called runs in the second half. If you take out the final drive where they had to throw the football, it was still 12 called throws and five called runs, not the balance that they had in the first half.

Now, the problem was down in distance in the second half. They weren't doing anything on first down. They couldn't run it on first down when they tried. They couldn't throw it on first down when they tried. This is a team that offensively, as we know, straddles that line of needing to stay on schedule or they're in big trouble. Their quarterback and their offense isn't going to overcome second and 10, second and 14, third and 9, third and 12.

They've got to be ahead of the chains. And they were in the first half, they were not in the second half. Personally, I give Philly's defense a lot of credit. They're better than Washington was up front, you know, with a fourth string center and some backup players in other spots. And they just got swarmed. Philadelphia owned the line of scrimmage in the second half. They didn't in the first half.

So again, why didn't he adjust? well, they tried some screens and that didn't work. I think maybe he could have stuck with giving the run a little bit more of an opportunity, but clearly he did not think he could run the ball in the second half. And, you know, the other part was they didn't really have the ball, you know. Philly kept it for nearly eight minutes to open the second half. They had the ball for 18 minutes and 31 seconds of the second half. They ran 38 plays to Washington's 27.

It was 38 to 16 in play count before Washington's final drive. And the reason the defense couldn't get off the field is Jalen Hertz. Jalen Hertz was really good yesterday. He was exceptional in playmaking. You know, in the second half, Jalen Hertz, he was 11 of 14 in the first half. In the second half, he only completed eight passes in the second half. But the eight completions were for 99 yards. So over 12 yards per completion.

And they did it a lot on play extensions. He hit Ward on one of those plays where I don't know how he got out of it, but he did. And then he made the throw down the field. You know, and then when they were up 16, up 17 to 16, they ran it right down Washington's throat. Washington defensively didn't get gutted like they did, you know, in the last game.

against Philly or like they did last week against Dallas. But Philly ran it eight straight plays after the fourth down fail at midfield, ate up a shitload of clock, got in field goal range, and kicked a field goal for a 20 to 16 lead. Philly was three for four on fourth downs for the game, two for two in the second half. I, um, oh, they did not appear defensively to be ready for that hurry up on the fourth and goal after they had three of their best defensive plays of the game and holding Philadelphia out of the end zone on three straight runs. And then Philly went hurry up in Boston Scott, scored.

Washington didn't appear to be set and ready for that play. By the way, that play was a near disaster for the Eagles. Hertz trips over his center and still makes a perfect pitch back to Boston Scott. I thought Jalen Hertz was outstanding in the game. You know, sometimes it's, okay instead of just saying our team sucked or our coaches sucked to say the other team is just better. The other quarterback is just better. The other offensive line is just better. They were missing pieces at running back. They were missing Miles Sanders. Jordan Howard played,

but he wasn't 100%. They were better on defense than we were. They were the better team. And Jalen Hertz was the better quarterback yesterday. It's funny because I really felt like he had a really good game watching it. And then as I was going through my notes at the end of the game and I looked up, you know, what he was statistically. He was like he was 17 of 26 for 214 yards. He had seven carries for 44 yards. It wasn't his best rushing day. Wasn't his best passing day.

But I'm like, yeah, but man, he just made play after play. Well, the QBR came out this morning in 80.1 ESPN QBR 4. the game. That's outstanding. He was outstanding in the game. Um, so on the list of things that I did not like in the game, uh, certainly the second half they were dominated, uh, at the line of scrimmage, especially offensively, Washington was dominated by Philadelphia's defense at the line of scrimmage. Pass protection was a problem, certainly in the second half. They could not block Josh sweat. And then we get to, I put this on the list of things that I didn't like, but really, it wasn't that I hated it, but let me just walk through it. The big decision that Ron Rivera made

from his own 49-yard line with seven and a half minutes to go, down 17 to 16, fourth and a little bit less than five. Overall, in the moment, I thought, pun it, please pun it, you're not going to get it, just pun it. But I wasn't convinced. that when he kept the offense out there, that it was the wrong decision either. I mean, I guess it was kind of a six and one half dozen the other for me. And it's a one-point game, which means, you know, if they don't make it, then Philadelphia, the best they can do is extend their lead to eight, which you still then have a chance with the football down eight,

or extend the lead to four, which you then still have a chance, or you get a stop and you get the ball back at midfield. The advantage to Philadelphia starting at midfield with seven and a half minutes to go, considering that they had a long drive to start the game, is that they can't run the clock out. I don't know if Ron Rivera is thinking my defense, I don't want to put Philadelphia inside the 10-yard line because Philadelphia will just eat the rest of the clock, the rest of the game.

I don't think he's thinking that. But the point is, in a one-point game at midfield, it makes more sense to take the risk there because your downside is you're going to get the ball back, and the worst thing, the worst case would be getting the ball back down eight. By the way, too, I don't think this enters into his mind, but it enters into mine. You're not playing in a home field arena. and in most situations, if you've got an intense home crowd, right? Which you didn't yesterday. It was a majority Philadelphia fan crowd and was not a big crowd at the game yesterday.

If you are in one of those situations where you've got a legitimate home crowd and you can punt them inside their 10-yard line. And then they've got a one-point lead, seven and a half minutes to go, and now they're going to be facing unbelievable. raucous noise, energy that may, you know, get, you know, result in a false start. Sometimes you're thinking could be different there, you know, but really you're in a neutral to road environment. And you're not going to get the benefit of a hostile home crowd making it difficult when Philadelphia gets the ball back, hopefully inside their, you know, 15-yard line inside their 10 after a punt from midfield. The play call itself, again, you know, nitpicking Turner a little bit, I just would not put Heineke into a position where his read is to throw a short out to Dax Milne.

He doesn't make that throw well. The better thing is to put him into a situation, and I know that there was some concern. Certainly he was being pressured significantly in the second half and a pure dropback on fourth and five. I don't know that Scott Turner thought that they could hold up. He's not going to throw another screen. He's not going to look for the checkdown. But keeping more of the field open to him and the ability for him to scramble potentially for,

especially if it's against man coverage, I don't know. I didn't love that call. I don't think it's what Taylor Heineke does well. I don't think he throws a timing out pattern that requires excellent timing and a stronger arm. I just don't think that that's the play call. I think that's kind of a meh play call.

It's not his best throw. It's not what he does well. So, again, I thought Taylor Heineke was a B. I don't think that he was anywhere near the top of the list as to why they lost the game. I don't think the play calling was near the top of the list offensively for why they lost the game. I think they lost the game because Philadelphia really played a great second half, especially

dominating the line of scrimmage, especially Washington's offensive line in particular, and they were the better team. And they just were the better team. That's why I think they lost the game. I don't think Washington blew it because they're the better team and they should have won this game. I thought that they played a real solid first half, a really solid first half and just couldn't hold on. And Hertz made a lot of big time plays. Goddard made a lot of big time plays. And their defense made a lot of big time plays. A couple of other quick observations. Again, I thought Jalen Hertz was outstanding. I thought that the defense for Washington, they only had two legitimately really good moments. The fourth downstop on Philly's opening

drive was huge. Matt Ionitis made a really good play. And then before Boston Scott scored on the fourth and goal, I thought that their defense there in the goal line situation was pretty solid. You know, Philly had a first and goal at the four. They stopped Jordan Howard twice, and then they stopped Boston Scott. Cole Holcomb made a couple of really good plays down there. And then it looked like they were a little bit unprepared for the hurry up fourth and goal go for it. John Allen on the sideline after that was pretty heated. Not at one of his players, but it looked like he was pretty heated with his position coach, Sam Mills. Yeah. So there was one other thing that I had on my list. Oh, I thought Philadelphia in the

second half was really good, but I thought their play calling in one series, their second series, made no sense. You know, on the 14 play drive, they went down the field, pass, run, pass, pass, pass, run, pass, run, pass, run, pass, run. And then they ended up, you know, scoring with run, run, run, run. Like, they were balanced on that drive. And they were starting to do what they do well, which is run the football. You know, they had, they had a good run early in that drive on the, on a Jordan Howard run for like seven yards, which set up, you know, a third and three, which hurts hit Goddard on. And then on their second drive of the second half, after they stopped Washington on

Washington's first punt of the day in the second half, Boston Scott rips off a 14-yard run, and then they go throw, throw, throw, throw punt in Washington territory. I thought that's when they were going to really lay the wood to Washington with the number one rush attack in the league. And yes, there were a couple of plays that hurt. Hertz just missed on, and Corn Elder, you know, number 37, I believe it was, made a really good play to close the gap on a throat of Devante Smith that would have been a big play on that drive, and he knocked it away at the last second. But I thought that Philadelphia was really good

in the second half except for that particular stretch. So there you go. 20 to 16. Washington hasn't scored more than 20 since that win over the Panthers. And they've got a lot of, you know, starting with that Chiefs game, which was, you know, 11 games or 10 games ago, an 11 game stretch where Washington scored over 20 just twice. That ain't going to do it. But there are a lot of reasons for that, and not all of them have to do with the coordinator. You know, they're limited. They're limited offensively like they were last year.

You know, who knows what Ryan Fitzpatrick would have provided this year? I have no idea. But anyway, six and ten on their way to probably seven and ten. I don't know how they could lose to the Giants, even if they try to lose to the Giants. The Giants right now are trash. I mean, they're the worst team in the league. I think Jacksonville would beat the Giants. by two scores if they played this week. And by the way, did you see what Joe Judge, big tough guy coach,

Joe Judge said, I think this was after the game yesterday in Chicago where they got blown out 29 to 3 and passed for 24 yards in the game? Listen to this. Listen to the shot he took at Washington. He was defending his team and pointing to players that have continued to work hard. He said, we've got a number of things going in the right direction. And then he said, quote, this ain't a team that's having fistfights on the sidelines. This ain't some clown show organization or something else, okay? Close quote. That's a shot at Washington, obviously.

I mean, Washington's a clown show organization. We understand that. But the giants are a massive dumpster fire right now. And this tough guy act, I don't know if he's a good coach or a bad coach. I have no idea. I know this, they suck right now. They look like they are poorly coached. They look like they've given up on the year.

I mean, who's down 29 to 3 in a game and only throws 11 passes? Who's down double digits the whole way and only attempts 11 throws? I know Mike Glennon sucks, but you got to try to win the game, don't you? I mean, wow, Joe Judge. I mean, as if, like, working for Belichick makes you Belichick. Dude, you're 4 and 12, your team is god-awful. And your organization has been god-awful for several years now. Ever since Coughlin left, the organization has been an absolute shit show.

All right. A few more things when we come back right after these words from a few of our sponsors. It's Joe, wide open. It's Chase. Chase, there is no Chase. It's a touchdown. Nobody's going to catch him in the open field. 69 yards to go with a 72-yarder in the first quarter.

Well, that was your performance of the day. Joe Burrow to Jamar Chase, 11 times in the game. for 266 yards, three of those 11 catches being touchdowns. Jamar Chase yesterday shattered the Cincinnati team records for passing yardage in a game. And, by the way, set a new NFL rookie record breaking Jerry Butler's record of 255 yards for Buffalo set back in 1979. Jamar Chase also set a record for receiving yards in a season by a rookie. He exceeded Justin Jefferson's mark from last year.

11 catches, 266 yards yesterday for the rookie from LSU and three touchdowns. But how about Joe Burrow? Cincinnati won this game 34 to 31. We're going to talk about the end of the game here in a moment. Joe Burrow in the two biggest games of his career. Last week against the Ravens at home and yesterday against the Chiefs at home. Two biggest games of his very young career. Last week, 525 passing yards, four touchdowns, no picks. Yesterday, 446 passing yards, four touchdowns, no picks. The dude in two weeks in the two biggest games for the Bengals in a long, long time. They are AFC North champions after winning both of these. games. He threw for 9701 yards, eight touchdowns, no interceptions, with an 80% completion percentage. I think Cincinnati got it right at quarterback, and then I think they got it right this year at wide receiver. And that's what you have to hope. You know, when you're a Washington,

you know, or you're a New York Giants, if you're bottom feeding franchises without an answer at quarterback, you got to hope that you can stumble on to Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase. Now, they had number one overall and number five overall, so they didn't stumble on to anything. But what a performance by the two of them yesterday in the 3431 comeback win, comeback win over the Chiefs. In this game, the Chiefs actually had a 14-point lead in the first half. They had an 11-point lead at halftime, and they had a four-point lead going into the fourth quarter. The end-of-game sequence was amazing. Cincinnati, Kansas City, tied at 3131. The Bengals are in the midst of a 15-place, six-minute drive at the end of the game. They have it first in goal at the Kansas City one-yard

line following the two-minute warning in a 3-1-31 game. You know, that alone sets up a lot of thought, Right? It's like, okay, it's Mahomes on the other side. We want to score a touchdown here, but we don't want to do it right away. So they did not score on the first and goal from the one on a Burroughs sneak. Then Burrow tried to sneak it in on second a goal they didn't score. Kansas City burned their final timeout. So it's now third in goal at the Kansas City one with a minute 46 left. And Joe Mixen didn't score. He got stopped. Now it's fourth in goal at the one. And Cincinnati lets the clock roll down to 58 seconds, and they call their final timeout. Yeah, they call their final timeout. So now they're 58 seconds left. Well, you're going to kick the field goal here, right? Like you've been stopped on three straight plays.

You're not going to go for it and then get stopped again and have it be 31, 31, and then you're going to overtime because Mahomes is just going to sneak it out. They're not going to probably try anything at that point. You're going to go to overtime at 3131. Aren't you going to kick the field goal? Uh-uh. They kept the offense on the field because they're not going to try.

They didn't want to give Mahomes the ball back with 50 seconds to go in a three-point game. I kind of understand that. And in most situations, I'd say you've got to go for the touchdown, but they had failed three times from the one yard line. Fourth and goal from the one burrow throws to Mixing in the end zone. Incomplete, we're tied up. Well, they're flags down. Two flags, offsetting penalties. They get another shot.

And after failing on that fourth and goal, they get one more shot from fourth and goal. And they kept the offense out there again, burrow through another incompletion. But this time, there was a defensive hold, automatic first down. They took a couple of knees and kicked a game-winning walk-off field goal. They went at 34-31 and with it, the AFC North title. It'll be fun to see Cincinnati with a home playoff game in the AFC playoffs. And the Chiefs who had been rolling but really hadn't played the best team they played, The best team they played was probably the Chargers, and they won that game in overtime crazy game.

They played the Cowboys at Arrowhead, remember, and won a low-scoring game. The Chiefs look right offensively again, but the Bengals got them. You know, that snapped their eight-game win streak. And now, Tennessee, after demolishing Miami and eliminating Miami yesterday, Tennessee is the one seat in the AFC. because they beat the Chiefs. Tennessee closes with the Texans on Sunday. So they got to win that game to nail down the one seed overall. But the AFC playoff picture is really pretty simple. Right now, the division in the AFC East comes down to the final week.

Buffalo in New England, tied for first. Buffalo's got the jets. New England's got Miami. Buffalo wins. They're in if they win. New England needs a Buffalo loss, excuse me, and they went over Miami. The AFC North goes to Cincinnati, the AFC South to Tennessee, the AFC West was already clinched by Kansas City. The wild cards right now are still up for grabs. New England has one of them or Buffalo.

They've clinched playoff spots. The non-division winner will be a wild card. And then the final wildcars. cards come down to the Raiders and Chargers who play each other in the season finale next week. The winner is in as a wild card. The loser is out. By the way, the game's in Vegas. The Chargers are three-point favorites.

That's your last Sunday night game of the year. Also still in the hunt. Indianapolis, all they need is a win over Jacksonville, and they are in. If Indianapolis were to lose to Jacksonville, then Baltimore, could get in by beating Pittsburgh on Sunday. So the Ravens aren't completely dead, a win over Pittsburgh on Sunday, and an Indianapolis lost to Jacksonville, and the Ravens would go in, but I don't see Indianapolis losing to Jacksonville. The Raiders are the amazing story, right, because the Raiders really with the Gruden stuff,

with the rug stuff, you know, they seem to be dead. They lost to Washington at home after beating the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day. then they got absolutely blown out by Kansas City. And then they beat the Browns on that rescheduled game. They beat the Broncos last week and they beat the Colts. They've got a two-point win, a four-point win and a three-point win in their last three. And that gives them the opportunity for a home game Sunday night against Justin Herbert and the Chargers to snag a wild card spot. In the NFC, the Cowboys lost to the Cardinals, 25 to 22.

Yes, that was a fumble, but no, it was not challengeable because the Dallas Cowboys were out of timeouts, and it wasn't under two minutes, so it didn't go to the booth. I'll tell you, in the NFC right now, Green Bay locked up home field advantage last night. I just don't see anybody on the Rogers Devonte Adams level right now. And I know last year they had home field advantage throughout as well. Tampa obviously has kind of slept walk a little bit through the regular season. They had to come back to beat the Jets. They had the Antonio Brown situation yesterday.

And, you know, I don't think Antonio Brown's going to get another shot this time. I mean, my God, talent usually means and dictates that somebody will give him a shot. But I just think, you know, the guy needs help at this point. You know, there's a lot of discussion going around that he was injured. He didn't want to go into the game because he was injured. Ariens said, get into the game or you're out of here. He wouldn't go into the game. there's a lot of different reporting on what actually happened on the sideline.

Bottom line is, I mean, go back to when he flew in on the balloon to the Raiders training camp, recorded John Gruden secretly, had the big issue with the helmet, had the feet that nearly froze off with the cryotherapy, you know, posted fine letters, threatened Mike Mayock. I mean, all those things were just, you know, major red flags. Not to mention, remember his last game in Pittsburgh, you went AWOL. In the biggest game of the year, I just think that he needs help, and the league in teams and owners and coaches are going to recognize that this guy needs to get help, personal help.

I don't think that he'll get another chance. I don't. So the Cowboys lose that game. The Bucks are there. The Packers blew out the Vikings. Let me just mention this about Kirk Cousins, testing positive for COVID and costing his team dearly. They had no chance without them last night. I actually thought Sean Mannion would provide a little bit more.

They were utterly impotent offensively without cousins. They had put up nearly 500 yards and 35 points in their last game against Green Bay. And last night, at halftime, I think, or with like a minute to go on the first half, they had 28 yards and no points. It was ugly, really ugly. I am not going to sit here and make a sense. statement about the vaccination. I'm vaccinated, I'm boosted, you know, everybody in my family is. There's no religious convictions against vaccines for me. There's no reason that I would be

anti-vaccination if the vaccination were deemed to be safe, which I believe from my vantage point, it is. I know Kirk Cousins has religious reasons for not being vaccinated. With that said, sorry, you have too many people that rely on you. Their livelihoods depend on you playing for the team. And he let that team down. You know, there are a lot of positions. Dalvin Cook wasn't vaccinated. He missed the game and it was hurtful, you know, to not have him in a huge game last week against the Rams. I think the Vikings have more players that aren't vaccinated than any other team in the league. I don't think Adam Thielen's vaccinated. He missed the game because of injury. Most of you know, I'm a Kirk Cousins fan. I think he's a really good quarterback. Don't think he's an elite quarterback. I know that they would have had a chance with him last night to stay alive for a playoff berth. And he wasn't there for them because he didn't get the vaccination. Sorry. But that is in a team sport when the livelihoods of many, not only on your team, but throughout your organization, depend on. on you, that is, you know, even if it's against his religious beliefs, there's a certain

level of selfishness in that act. He's the quarterback. He's not the left guard. He's a quarterback with no other quarterback on the team capable of giving them a chance. He was phenomenal in their last game against the Packers. He has played well against the Packers. They would have had a chance with him against the Packers. And, you know, at the same time, by the way, I don't think they should be testing. I think all these players should be playing, period. If you're symptomatic, then you get tested, and if you test positive with symptoms, you don't play.

But if you're asymptomatic, then all these players should be playing. That's been my view for a few months. I said a couple of months ago, I think they should either limit or eliminate altogether testing. And I know some players have gotten really bad colds, really bad flu symptoms from COVID. You know, Kyle Allen apparently was really, really sick for four or five days, not hospitalized sick. Dakota Dozier, the guard for Minnesota is about the only player I think that's been hospitalized this year. If I'm wrong, you can tweet me for sure.

But I just, you know, that's one of those things where biggest game of the year, last week, Cook wasn't there because he wasn't vaccinated and your quarterback wasn't there last night in a game they had to have. Too many people depend on you. Too many people financially depend on you. He should have been vaccinated in my view. Elsewhere in the NFL just real quickly was the Rams and Ravens game. You know, Matt Stafford, I think I started to say this and I got sidetracked. In the NFC, I don't like any of the teams other than the Packers. I guess I can't give up on Tampa and they'll probably get it together for the postseason. But the Rams are not, you know, impressive to me right now.

And I'm a Matt Stafford fan. And I think that they, and I'm a big Sean McVeigh fan. I don't think they're anywhere near as good as the Packers are. I don't think the Cowboys are anywhere near as good as the Packers are. I don't think the Cardinals are anywhere near as good as the Packers are. I think the NFC is probably the Packers, and probably ultimately the Buccaneers will figure out a way to win two games to get to that NFC title game against Green Bay.

And as long as they're not playing in the divisional round, there's still a chance, a chance, I think, that the Rams could be the two-seed and the Buccaneers could be the three. and I think the Cowboys' chances that the Two Seed might be gone unless there's a three-way tie, I forget. But anyway, I guess that's it on the NFL. I just wanted to mention a couple of other things

real quickly, and then we'll end the show. My favorite moments of the weekend were DeMarre de Rosen's two game winners. If you didn't see his game winner against Indiana on Friday night, I can't get enough of the highlight. He's always been one of my favorite players. In the same way that I'm a big Kauai Leonard fan,

there's just something about their styles of play that I just find so intriguing. They just get buckets and they get them in a very unique, patient way. DeRosen, if you recall, a couple of years ago, came out as one of the first, you know, athletes to admit that he was suffering from depression and panic attack syndrome. Anxiety, major anxiety. Kevin Love came out after that.

I've just always been a Demar DeRosen fan, and I'm really rooting for him. The game winner that he hit against Indiana on Friday night was just so incredible. It's like, hello, you better hurry up. Nope, he's patient. And then he just hits this kind of running off his left foot three-pointer to beat him at the buzzer. And then Saturday night, the game against the Wizards was a spectacular basketball game. Spectacular.

And I hated that the Wizards lost at the buzzer, but DeRosen hits a corner three. And he was so patient like he let one defender sort of. slide to the side and it's like, is he going to get it off in time? Yep, he got it off in time, and he knocked it down. First player, back-to-back nights to have three-pointers for game winners in NBA history. He's got an MVP kind of season going. The Bulls are really, really good. The Wizards played really well. They played really well in the follow-up to beating the Cavaliers the other night. So, you know, it just sucks that they lost. The game, they play Charlotte tonight at home, but it was a hell of a basketball game.

Lastly, the two college semifinal games really sucked. Michigan had no chance. That was one of those games at the line of scrimmage. You knew they were in deep trouble early in the game. Georgia just, how did Georgia give up 41 to Bama? I have no idea. They're so good defensively. And then the Cincinnati, I thought Cincinnati accounted for themselves, you know,

defensively pretty well. They just had no chance offensively against Bama. So we get Bama and Georgia. Georgia's a three-point favorite. My early lean would be Georgia. My only college smell test was the Rose Bowl. I gave out Utah plus four. And it came through. I don't know how it came through because Kyle Whittingham didn't use any of his final time, any of his three timeouts at the end of the game as Ohio State was in field goal range. And I have a theory as to why he didn't. I'll save it for tomorrow's show. I'm making a note to talk to Tommy about the Rose Bowl ending. But Ohio State ended up kicking a field goal and winning the game. Classic Rose Bowl 48 to 45. The rest of the bowl games that day, well, the Notre Dame Oklahoma State game was really, really good. That was a really good game. All right. I think that's it for the day. That's it. Back tomorrow with Tommy.