The Kevin Sheehan Show - Why Not Run It Back?

Episode Date: December 18, 2025

Kevin opened with some follow-up to Jayden’s season shut-down before getting to Steve Suter’s “film” of the Giants game. He was impressed with Ben Sinnott’s busiest game of the season and he broke down Jaylen Layne’s punt return for a touchdown.For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit MatchWant to spruce up your lawn? FastGrowingTrees.com 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 Sheehan Show, here's Kevin. Steve Suter, with a film breakdown today of the Giants game. I'll tease it a bit because we've already recorded it, but there is a player that played the most he's played all season long, and Steve gave this player his second highest offensive grade. I think it will be interesting and maybe even exciting for many of you. The show's presenting sponsor, Window Nation, is always excited to offer my listeners a great deal,

like the one going on right now, 50% off everything and 0% interest for five years. If you're interested in new windows, call them at 86690 Nation or go to Windonation. com. This from Jared to kick off the show. Jared responding to the conversation on the show yesterday that evaluating players this year is nearly impossible because of the amount of time many of these players played. Jared writes, if you can't judge this season, then why not just run it back? That's funny. Everyone thought they were Super Bowl contenders and yet now it's a season. We can't judge, but yet they need to make major improvements? Which is it? First of all, Jared, I'm pretty sure that it wasn't everybody thinking that they were Super Bowl contenders.

I don't have everybody's preseason predictions in front of me, but I would guess that I was one of the only idiots out there predicting that this team would go to the Super Bowl. I picked them to get there. Tommy did too, actually. Tommy picked Washington. to get to the Super Bowl. Now, maybe I bear some responsibility for that because after he heard me make the prediction, he got kind of excited and maybe just went along with me. I don't know.

But yeah, I very clownishly predicted NFC championship back in September. Not close on that one. But to answer your question, Jared, you know, a season that can't be judged and yet they have to make major improvements, which is it, well, it's both. I mean, too much of this year is impossible to evaluate because there's not enough of it to evaluate.

Like I said with Jaden, Jaden has played in three total games start to finish healthy. Three out of 17. How do you reasonably come to any conclusions with that small of a sample size? He played in four other games, it's true, but still it's only seven total in which he played in out of 17 and really in the other four

in three of them he left halfway through or two of them he left halfway through one of them he left you know late in the game the other one he should have left late in the game and in the majority of the games he played in he had JV receivers out there with him but to answer your question I think it's also true after watching this team, especially on defense, that they need better players and a lot of them on defense.

That was an area of the team that was already under the microscope, even for dummies like me who predicted them to go to the Super Bowl. I still thought that the defense was the biggest mystery, the biggest question mark heading into this season. And even though some of the injured players were among their best and most important, players, guys like Dorrance Armstrong and Dietrich Wise, Trey Amos, I think it was apparent even when those guys were out there that it wasn't going to be good enough defensively this year. That's my projection, that if they're, you know, lost players and they were significant ones, even if they had stayed healthy, I don't think they were going to be a good defense. There just wasn't enough talent.

There was some when they were healthy, but not enough. and they weren't very well-coached. You know, the miscommunications over and over again in coverage during the first half of the season led to so many explosive plays, and why did it continue to happen rather than switching to more zone coverage when Quinn took over? I mean, what took them so long to realize that they didn't have the players and they certainly didn't have the pass rush to play a lot of man coverage?

I do think, though, that the losses of Armstrong and Wise, in particular, massively impacted their run defense. I think they were on their way to being an improved run defense from the year before, before they lost not just Armstrong and Wise. They lost their top three defensive ends, and once that happened, they really struggled to stop the run, especially on the edge. Now, I still don't think it would have been a better defense or a good defense. But I think in that one area where they were very weak last year, I think they would have been at least slightly improved had they stayed healthy. So, Jared, I think it's both. Really hard to evaluate a lot of what happened this year.

But I think it was, you know, I think it was pretty obvious that defensively the team still needs a lot. this from Nancy. Nancy writes, Kevin, I love the show. I listen to it with my two sons all the time. When will this team get the kicker right? Jay Moody missed a field goal and kicked the ball out of bounds. Don't you think that the lack of a good kicker has cost them a lot this year? Thank you for that, Nancy. Jake Moody actually missed an extra point and then kicked the ball out of bounds. on back-to-back plays. Not good for sure. Look, I don't think the lack of a kicker

really hurt them this year. I mean, they got blown out so much. I mean, I'm trying to think of a kicker. The close game they played in, they played, well, the Dolphins game, obviously. You know, Matt game missed two kicks in that game that would have been difference makers. Yes, that's true.

Did they miss a kick in the Bears game? because that was the other, you know, super tight game that they played. Yeah, Matt game missed a kick, missed a field goal in the Bears game. So, excuse me. So two games that were close certainly were impacted by the kicker. The Denver game, they missed the two-pointer at the end. And I think that was Jake Moody's first game. And I don't think he missed a kick in that game.

But look, when you lose five games by 21 or more, it's, you know, much more than the kicker. But you are correct, Nancy. They have not gotten the kicker thing right. This from Rome talking about Jaden Daniels and his second season now that it's officially over. Rome writes, Kevin, it's not about talent or regression. It's totally about can we get 16 to 19 games out of this guy a year. He played 20 last year.

three compromised and had three different injuries this year, more worrisome than one major injury. This is the absolute number one concern. Go five steps down for the next one. Yeah, I agree with this. It's not that I am as concerned. I just don't think that this year with Jaden that any conversation about talent or regression is applicable. I just don't. I mean, you're going to hear people talk about it all off season. We talked about this yesterday. People are going to look at his few games and they're going to come to conclusions that

he didn't throw into tight windows, that he scrambled too much, that he didn't protect himself, that he didn't process quickly, you know, all of these different things. And I will tell you, I don't think. think anybody out there is concerned about any of that. I think they believe there is massive context around all of that. For me, and maybe even them, when you have one thing after another for an entire season, and it is true, you know, he was injured last year, even though he didn't miss any games. I love, by the way, the way Rome says, we need to get 16 to 19 games out of this guy a year. Yeah, 19. That means two more than 17. So got to get at least to the second

round of the postseason. But look, I think there's a really good chance this year was an aberration and that next year he plays, you know, 20 games, maybe 21. But more likely than not, you know, 17 or 18, I do think that that, you know, is well within the realm of possibility. Somebody corrected me on this, but they said he played 55 out of 58 in college. I think the scouting report, remember coming in, was 55 out of 57, so injuries didn't, you know,

cause him to miss games in college, and they didn't cause him to miss games in his rookie season, but they caused him to miss a lot of games in his second season. So out of everything, if there's one thing that I'm slightly concerned about, is the frame and will it hold up year and year out over the next 10 plus years enough so that this team can be more often than not a winning team. But as far as Rome, it's not about talent or regression.

I think you're spot on on that. There's just nothing. I think I mentioned this yesterday, but it's like among the three games that he played fully start to finish as a healthy quarterback. The Giants game, the Chargers game, the Bears game. It's not a coincidence that in those three games, first of all, they won two of them. And in two of them, he was outstanding. And in the other one, he was good enough.

The giant game, good enough, not great. You know, it was the opener. Week one's, you know, always a little bit, you know, different. but he was outstanding in the Chargers game and he was really good in the Bears game other than the crushing you know in the rain botched handoff at the end and then this from Hal

Hal writes hey Sheen good flip on Jaden are you on the team's payroll sweet Jesus you're crying for him to play the last month and once Quinn said he's done you're now okay with it? Uh, Hal, come on, man.

This isn't that hard. With four, five, six games left, yeah, play him. And I'd be pissed if they hadn't. And they decided to play him with five left. Brought him back for the Minnesota game. Hell, I wanted him to go back into the game when I heard that he was cleared to go back into the game against Minnesota.

Uh, but five, six games left is different. that in three games left. There's a difference, Hal. And these three games, him not having played against the Giants, it's another restart or reboot. And it's on a short week heading into another short week before a season finale. So while I'm not thrilled with it, what I said yesterday is I'm not totally upset with it now. It's a different circumstance. Three games left. The schedule, the way it breaks out is different than from that. before um but teams payroll come on man i referred to the decision as fearful as succumbing to fear and you know that i don't think that that's something that if you're on the payroll you

accuse the organization of being by the way jaden spoke yesterday he did a nice job i thought towing the company position of not being cleared yet um nothing you know that would indicate that he was, you know, in a confrontation or, you know, in some sort of showdown with the team or that he's really pissed about the decision. So there you go. But I promise you, if the game Saturday against Philadelphia meant something, he'd be playing. Real quickly, before we get to Steve, tomorrow night's Seattle Rams game is really the game of the year in the NFC. It will more than likely determine the NFC way.

champion and the one seed in the NFC playoffs. The weather for the game, potential torrential rains. They've had rains all week long, and they're expecting rain and even mixed snow tomorrow night in Seattle. The total at my bookies dropped from 44 to 42 and a half now. And the Rams are now a one-point underdog. Yesterday, they were a one-point favorite. If you want to bet on this game tomorrow night or any of the NFL games, what a weekend we have.

College football Friday night, biggest game of the year in the NFC tomorrow night. Playoff game number one Friday night, Alabama, Oklahoma, triple header of college games on Saturday, along with Washington, Philly, and then Chicago Green Bay Saturday night, round two, after they played last weekend. By the way, Green Bay favored at Soldier Field by one right now. But if you want to bet on any of these games as we head into the holidays, bowl games every night, including tonight, just go to mybooky.ag or my bookie.com and use my promo code, DC Reload, D-C-R-E-L-A-D, and they'll give you a 50% cash bonus as a listener to this podcast. By the way, somebody asked me about bowl games.

Yes, if I have bowl games as smell test picks, I'll give them to you on the show. And I will tweet them out as well. So follow me at Kevin Sheen, D.C. If there is a bowl game, and we've got bowl games galore for the next few weeks, if there is a bowl game that fits the smell test criteria, I will give it out.

I actually thought about ODU, tonight and the under in that game, but I did not give it out on radio, and I'm not giving it out here. But there are games the rest of the year. And if I have something, I'll give it out. MyBooky.ag or MyBooky.com promo code DC reload. All right, let's get to Steve Souter next after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey guys, it's great to have Harry's as a sponsor on today's show. I've been a customer of Harry's razors for five or six years now, going back to the first time they advertised on the podcast, and I became aware of their product, and I fell in love with their product. It's not only a great shave, but I realized very early on that the blade lasted much longer than my previous razor blade did. And it was very affordable. Harry's owns their own. world-class blade factory in Germany. No outsourcing, no middleman. They control the entire process from steel to shelf that keeps costs low. Why pay $30 for refills when Harries gives you better

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Harries.com slash Sheehan. This set includes the all-new Harry's Plus Razor, one refined five-blade cartridge, a two-ounce foaming shave gel, and a travel cover to protect your blades on the go. Just head to Harries.com slash Sheen to claim this offer, and after you make your purchase, they'll ask you, where you heard about them, please support this show and tell them that I sent you. This segment of the show is brought to you by Window Nation. You've got exactly two weeks, 14 days left of the end of year sale, 50% off everything, and zero percent interest rates if you choose to finance the purchase for five years. You're not going to pay any interest until the year,

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And I promise you, they're not going to pressure you. You can shop the deal, do whatever you want. Window Nation is there for you. If you need them, it starts with a free in-home estimate. 8669D Nation, Windonation.com. It is Steve Suter Film Breakdown Day. and it's good to have Steve back. For those of you who don't know by now,

and many of you do, you continue to send me very nice emails and tweets, which, yes, I pass them along. I do to Steve. Steve Souter's film day has become big for you guys, and it's big for me too because I think it's a learning experience every week. In fact, you know, I was thinking about this, Steve.

Last week was definitely the most interesting, film of the year because of two things. One, you came on and said, you know, I know the defense didn't get many stops, but it wasn't as bad as you thought it was. And then you thought one of the real good plays from Jaden Daniels was the screen that Van Ginkle picked off and ran back where Jaden got hurt on. And people loved some of them. of that stuff. So I am curious to find out what we don't know about Sunday's win finally after eight weeks over the Giants. And the way we do this with Steve is he gives us his overall reaction to the game and then we hone in on the quarterback and then we talk about top

three, bottom three offense and defense. The best, last week, didn't you think like when I told you about the Van Ginkle thing, you were like, well, I didn't. know about Van Ginkle being able to sniff out those screens, but Jaden totally nailed pre-snap and that thing was going to go to the house if Van Ginkle didn't get in the way. I was pretty funny.

I'm not locked in on all the scout reports of all these players in the league. No, no, you're not. I got this. Hold on for one second. Let me just pull it up. I had it up a second ago. From DJC

DJC writes, Souter needs a raise. He is so smart, I would hire him to be a coach. And I've had that's part of the theme every week is where did he coach, when did he coach? We've gone through this. You really haven't

coached even though I think you would have been a good one but tell everybody why you know you didn't go into coaching. I guess this life happened. If I look back on it, it is probably a regret. Probably a career path. I should have pursued the college world while I was in college

and the coaches I was around kind of spoiled that passion for me. I saw the long hours they were putting in, not seeing their families, not always being genuine in having good, I guess, moral path for all the kids. I think it spoiled me a little bit. So that combination with having a pretty serious relationship at the time. I didn't know if I wanted to go Illinois State, then Wyoming, then Texas, Southern, then Bryce, and bounce all around and be moving and living in a suitcase until you finally made it to a spot. So just life happened, man.

Could be a regret I do have. I probably, I mean, I think I would have been effective at it. Maybe I still could be. You know what? I mean, never say never, but you're so right. Like, I can't tell you how many times. You know, I'll read a coach's resume. And in fact, what comes to mind right away is Dan Quinn.

Because I remember the first time I had him on the show after he got hired here is I went through all of the different places he and his family had lived in. Like he was everywhere. Every two years he was moving. You know, sometimes every year he was moving. And, you know, and I asked him things like, you know, what was your favorite place? what was the hardest place to live and then overall did you ever think you know as a married man with a growing family that this wasn't for you and he said no i was just sort of born to be a coach and my wife was in it with me you know she whatever we've got to do we got to do like i just

pulled up his resume right now william and mary de line coach in 94 he went to salisbury by the way um and and spent a lot of time down in ocean city you You know, he's talked about that before. William and Mary, 94, VMI 95 as a D-Line coach, Hofstra, so he's up on Long Island, 96 through 99, 49ers quality control coach, 0102, Miami D-Line Coach 0506, Jets. So he's going to San Francisco to Miami to New York, then to Seattle, where he really made his name, you know, as the defensive coordinator during, you know, those Legion of, boom years. Then he went to college for a year at Florida before coming back to Seattle.

Then Atlanta is the head coach, Dallas is the defensive coordinator, and Washington as a head coach. I mean... Yeah, that's wild. Crazy. You got to be what you got to want to do it. You got to be ready to do it. I mean, when I was done playing in Canada, my career was over because my body just gave up on me.

It would have been easy for me to walk into any GA spot, I would assume, especially in college. All the coaches I played for were pretty aware that I was pretty cerebral in the game and understood everything that I was watching and knew all the players on the team and what they were supposed to do, things of that nature. So I probably could have made an easy phone call, became a GA right after I was done playing and just started climbing that ladder. But like you just read off, man, you've got to be ready and willing to move and go all over the country.

And I don't think I was at the time. It's crazy, the coaching lifestyle for sure. I mean, I would assume Ralph would have hired you immediately, right? Maybe, maybe not. We butted heads a lot. Oh, you did? Tell me about a budding head story with Ralph. We would butt heads really on his coaching style and the way he talked to some of the guys.

And I was always elected team counsel slash captain. I felt like it was my job voted on by the players to stick up for them when they didn't want to stick up for themselves. that kind of thing. I would go to his office and he would have some heated discussions on how I thought he should be treating the players different. And he had his thoughts on it and I had my thoughts on it. Was it resolved? Was it resolved professionally or did you leave angry? Did it impact your relationship? Oh, it impacted the relationship. It did. Yeah. Interesting. I don't think at the end of the day we wanted to have conversations.

faces together. You've never told me that. You know, Ralph Fregeon, for me, as a Terp, is one of my all-time favorite coaches. Of course, I don't know him the way you do. I've had Ralph on the show many times. He's actually an excellent guest because he really does know the game. But he was always one of my favorites, Steve, because I always felt like he was the, you know, he's the, you know, the example of more out of less.

You know, there are certain coaches of your teams over years. You're like, that guy got a lot more out of what we had. And I always felt that way about him. Do you have a similar view or different? Yeah, X's and O's can't take nothing away from. He knew his exos. Most of the football that I know now and the depth that I know is because of his offense that he brought in and coaching.

the coaches to then coach it to us and I think I'm almost positive most of the coaches that left from around him but offensively for sure took pieces of that offense and the knowledge that he coached them and took up with them I'm speaking of Michael Oxley when he was bouncing around I know he took stuff from Coach Ralph

and the same with Franklin same thing taking stuff from Coach Ralph and then we had I can't remember we had several people from that tree that went off and became very successful and I think they were all taking pieces from Coach Ralph. He definitely knew football for sure.

I agree with that 100%. And I would never say otherwise. He just had a personality dispute. Right. All right. Well, let's get to your Giants film breakdown and let's start with

your overall thoughts after, did you watch the game or did you just watch the All-22? Just watched the All-22. It was actually kind of funny. I mean, I was in and out on Red Zone most of the day, and it didn't seem like Red Zone was flashing any of the impactful playoff repercussions of the Washington Giant game, right?

So there's a lot of games on there that they were flapping to, flip it to, and Washington Giants was not one of them. So I kind of watched all 22 blindly. I wasn't aware of I had a big plays. I missed some of the highlights, I guess they flash. It was kind of a different watch for me. And, you know, I'll be honest, like, towards the third and fourth quarter, I was kind of getting nervous just on the next play.

like how did this game get so close? Who's going to blow? Who's making a mistake? Oh no, don't do that. So I was kind of watching the All-22 as a viewer at some point. It was kind of fun. I would say, though, I mean, if I'll jump into overall, really up until the third quarter

from how I've been watching the game and how I in depth in these, you know, the chess matches that you know I like to find and some some really good detail plays that we can describe. I was kind of bored watching into the third quarter, really, halfway through the third. It was just

kind of vanilla film. Giants were very vanilla on defense, running their four-man rush, playing man coverage, and not doing anything fancy that we're at could dissect whether or not Washington was handling it correctly as opposed to the contrast of last week with Minnesota with seven on the line, almost every

play. And you've got to figure out who's coming, who's not coming, who's dropping, how to do protection, all those good things. Pretty straight up for a Mario and a bunch offensively, but what they were looking at And then, offensively, they're not really taking advantage of it until the third quarter. They're kind of moving the ball down the field, but they're really limited. There's no beat passing game well into the second half, right?

They're not taking chunks, not that they were available either, just not getting good looks down the field. So managing a little bit on the run game, and then that would just sputter a little bit. But nothing too exciting for me there from a field breakdown standpoint. And defensively, different Quinn did. He mixed in a lot more

man coverage this game. He's been almost primarily though 95% of time. And I'm not saying he did it a lot

this game, but he did it more than he's done the previous two for sure and even to the previous three. So let's call it

10 or so plays or man coverage, which is, which is triple the production and he's done the past. So putting stuff

on film over the, you know, the previous weeks where it's a lot of zone, a lot of zone. And then I think, I don't think

he was threatened by the Giants wide receivers on the outside, or least he didn't think he was, wanted to, and maybe Jackson Darts struggled on this throughout the season. I haven't really obviously broken them down all game, so that was a little shake-up defensively, but they weren't nothing too exciting. So it was kind of boring film for me for a while. Interesting. I mean, because the Minnesota defense and Brian Flores

and the way he schemes it up, I mean, you know, Brian Schottenheimer after the Cowboys lost to Minnesota on Sunday night football, Dak Prescott had the highest pressure percentage rate he's ever faced at 48%. And Schottenheimer just admitted in his post-game press conference, I got out-coached by Brian Flores because Schottenheimer calls plays offensively. And so you're watching what you watched last week with a Brian Flores defense, with, by the way, good players. And the Giants basically don't do anything.

exotic so it's you know just correct their brain and when they're bringing pressure the Giants pretty easy to see lining you know they would like to spread the the four guys down so they just leave the the A and B excuse me both A gaps on the side of the center they kind of spread them out they're going to bring pressure right up the middle try to isolate be honest on a blitz they put Carter on top of them a couple times which I think he was probably his most effective when he was moving around Carter I wasn't that impressed with him as the first round pick I

Other takeaway is really not impressed with Jackson Dart. He missed some throws where he had all time, maybe not all time, but he had a chance to sit there and make some good throws and make them down the field. So I think they got the secondary from Washington benefited from that, not impressive there. But defensively, as far as the office goes, not much there wasn't many but one or two times where I saw Washington make the wrong

protection call where they got out coached and they got out steam pre-snap. So Kingsbury must have done a good job. But again, it goes with them just not being all that fancy defensively. And it's puzzling to me how you can even be vanilla in an NFL defense. People are too good on offense. People are too smart a quarterback. And if I was a D.C. or if you are an expiring D.C., how are you not watching the floor as a defense and trying to copy a lot of that,

imitate a lot of that, and make it very confusing. And you just mentioned to DAC having the most precious. They hauled and had all that film that they just watched against Washington. I mean, and again, it's so difficult because I can show you the same look. We went over that with the Vikings, where they were in the same look, four plays in a row, but did it different three or four times. How do you know it's coming? If you look the same and it all looks the same, it's very hard offensively.

So this is probably a reason why the – one of the reasons the Giants aren't very good. It just schematically too vanilla on defense, and I think they count too much on that front four while it's good. If they're not getting pressure and you go up against the good offensive line like Washington has, then you're really, you know, trying to, you're playing again, kind of like Washington wants to play right then, but don't break, and I'll try to hold people to field goals. Yeah, just FYI, the Giants fired their head coach several weeks ago, Brian Dable, and then fired a few weeks after that their defensive coordinators.

So they have an interim head coach and an interim defensive coordinator. Did you say that you weren't impressed with Abdul-Carter? Not as much. I mean, he made one or two good rushes, which is, yeah, I mean, that's good, but just throughout the rest of the game, I mean, they were having their way with him in the run game and throwing him around. I mean, Paul was tossing him, you know, when he goes on those big dudes, he was having a hard time struggling. The one time he got isolated with Biotich over the center. He was, he's too quick for Biotich, so he got around him. He had a good speed rush on Connerley once,

twice. So, yeah, I mean, he made an impactful play here and there, but if you're watching all the snaps of him on the field all the time. He's not making that big of the impact. He might turn into a Von Miller kind of guy when he gets to the peak of his career where Vaughn is known for just rushing a passer and it could be a liability in the run game. Speaking of Vaughn, I can't wait to hear what you say about the one series that he literally dominated. You know, one of the things that was obviously different about this game was that Cliff, and I think I mentioned it to you last week, that the Giants were the 31st-ranked rush defense in the NFL. And Washington, with their running backs, not even counting the scrambles

from Mario or even the zone reads, it was the number one rush attempt game of the season for Washington for their running backs. You know, Kroski Merritt, Bill had 18 carries, McNichols had nine, they had 27 carries from their backs. That was the most this year. And the 37 overall rush attempts were the most in a game this year. So, You know, one of the things you didn't know also is Cliff kind of, in a very self-reflective press conference late last week, he took a lot of the blame for the Minnesota game. He said we weren't prepared and didn't deal with the pass rush very well. And certainly he said there were some bad play calls, like down at the goal line, you know,

on that opening drive when they threw the ball three times. And it looked like there was a real emphasis to run the football. Yeah, and as it should be, if it's strength, and then you're going against the weakest team so I didn't know that statistic that they're the weakest in the run even though you told me last week I just forgot out why I was going to film here so I kind of would expect it maybe a little more I mean they did well and well enough to keep the chains moving for the most part

and taking chunks they were they were close to pop in a couple just one missed block where they should have they should have had a lot more yard so it was there for the taking they just didn't take it I mean it worked enough to be effective to win the game yes, but it could have been a lot worse or a lot better. Sorry, if you're watching, it could have been a lot better in the run game. If they just, everybody was on the same page

on those runs, because he had a chance to pop a couple. And if, you know, he takes, I tell you what, I got this one play that we can watch, and this is probably the best adjustment that he did all game, and it was if you want to go to it. Yep.

At second quarter, 11.09. Third quarter, third quarter. So I remembered this from watching the film with the Giants previously early in the season and then this reminded me of the Chargers game too. When they were trying to run boots and stuff and they were just not being able to get around it because the backside, the end, were just coming and having too much pressure. And Burns is one of the guys I remember doing it. So right here, it's like this is a little subtle move that they must have, hey,

last time we tried to run boots against these guys, Burns was just eating this up. So right before the pre-snap here, you got Bates in the slide, right? You got double-tight end. You got thin it out here on the slot, and you got Bates right behind him kind of in a wing position. But right before the snap, they just slide him out. So it gets outside of Burns so that they can run this play-action boot, and Bates can get to them. They were doing this wrong against them last time,

and they weren't getting a chance to let this boot action actually turn out and develop, and never were going to get a chance to get this deep comeback to Terry. so that when I saw that was like oh look at this good job Kingsbury you learn from your mistake maybe not a mistake you learn from the previous experience where if you're doing this in your standard boot action

you're not going to be able to get burns and he's going to get in Mario to his face too quickly and you're not going to be able to have this play runoff so I just like that subtle touch there move baits outside right before the snap so he can pinch burns enough to where Mario can get outside of him and have a chance to hit this deep comeback

Yeah, you know No, I was going to say It's a completely separate question But attached to sort of just bootlegs in general I just think they look so much better And so much more effective From under center Where the quarterback actually turns

And defenders can't see the ball After the play fake Like when you're in shotgun Defenders never lose sight of the ball Pistol they'll lose sight of the ball briefly. But, you know, you're talking about what they did to account for Burns, the edge defender. You know, think about guys, you know, bootlegs, the Shanahan's call them quarterback keepers, but where, you know, you fake the give and you get out on the edge. And typically, you know,

there's one guy or there's nobody and there's a lot of space there and a lot of time for the quarterback. But don't you think this is just a much more effective play under center? I don't know if I can disagree with you or agree with you there I think it comes down to the action here I don't because they do its own read so this action would work and I just I don't know if they sell it enough I think people get too ready to go into their boot

action like Mario does it ride Bill here at all right he doesn't ride him this is a quick pool so if I'm Burns I know this is is pulled right away anyway, even if it's a run, and it's just the zone read, and he's pulling it to run. He's not riding him enough. So now that I'm talking it out, I think that you're talking me into agreeing with you, because if you want to pull this, you can't really ride Bill that good because he's just going to slow you down. So I don't disagree with that, but it's hard to then have this

part of your offense if you don't use it. Right. I mean, you and I have talked about the true rides that you see in college football in the RPO game that you can't see in the NFL because of the one-yard downfield rule. In college, you've got three yards before you're ineligible downfield, and the pros, it's only a yard. But Wake Forest, for a couple of years there, they had the longest sustained mesh, you know, drawing it out. It was amazing. And you'd be like, if you're a defender, what do you do?

Like, why don't you just go tackle both of them? But this is like what you're saying is, yeah, I mean, he can't really, well, you can because it's a throw, so you don't have to worry about downfield. But I think one of the things that I remember Cooley in talking about sort of the, you know, the bootleg in general, what they called quarterback keeper in the Shanahan. system. He's just like, once you turn the football from the defense, from under center, there is a real, you know, there's a real unknown for the defenders. And if the guys, you know, is really good at ball handling and play faking, you can really get them to come up or, you know, and from the shotgun, it's just harder because they never lose sight of the ball. That's all. Right. So, but if we're watching this play, right, if you're still watching,

about that. I am. I mean, the two linebackers, the middle linebacker, and the Sam, you would call him here, they bite. I mean, they go to Bill. The reason it's not more wide open is because of the secondaries in man coverage. If you're not in man coverage here, then maybe you've got an action for Senate, maybe you got action for the Deep Cross, but man

coverage, the secondary doesn't care about the play actions, so they're not biting. So it does effectively affect the linebackers here. Yep, I see it. But it's all responsibility, too, because those linebackers aren't responsible for Mariotta here. You can see the safety.

He's all over. If this is going to be a zone read, I got Mario, and that's, who is that number eight? That's Holland. He's not paying attention to the run at all, and then he starts coming downhill. So that's a scheme, right?

On this play call, the Giants know if you get zone read here in man coverage, Holland's responsible for Marioada, and then the linebackers got to commit to the run, and that's what they do here. And then everybody in the second day, just don't have your eyes in the backfield here in man coverage.

What a great. Catch by Terry. Yeah, good catch. Great ball on the run. Yeah. Great catch. Good ball. You know, both feet down.

Really good catch. All right. You want to get to Mario-Ota, or do you have anything else kind of overall on the game? It'll probably come. Overall, we're good. Okay. We can dive in. All right.

Let's get to Marcus Marioo in his day right after these words from a few of our sponsors. So, guys, I introduced you. to a really good product a while back, and I want to remind everybody, for those of you that have been wearing the same boxer briefs, the same any kind of underwear for a long time now, I've got a better answer for you. I want to tell you about skims for men, something I've discovered recently, the softest underwear I've ever worn. I got a few pairs of the five-inch boxer or briefs, so comfortable. No matter what you're doing, from sitting in a chair in your office to working out, they are so comfortable. They don't bunch up. They were made to recover from

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All right, let's get to the quarterback, Marcus Mariotta against the Giants on Sunday. And Mario da had a Mario today for me. It's been kind of his theme all season when he plays. He is extending plays and getting yards when nothing's there down the field, and that's what makes him a valuable player on the team. And then, I mean, Daniels has that characteristic as well. There's not always a lot open down the field with Washington,

and the quarterback's got to extend plays, and they've got to start moving the ball and get five and six yards strambles, and that's what Mario did. I mean, the second play in the game, he did that stramble for eight young, when he had to keep the chains moving. I really don't have much bad to say. I kept watching the film, like, when is he going to make that Mario to mistake?

And then he finally did at the end of the game when he fumbles, right? But before that, he was reserving the right to punt, which I like to see, actually. We talked about that. I think it's been somewhere along the line in his DNA switch where he just refuses or doesn't want to take a sack. And not that he took a bunch of sacks here or any, really, but he was throw the ball away and not force it.

he had a fake bubble to Debo or to try to take a shot and then he started to scraming around the pocket and I got nervous and oh here it is I was like here it is he's going to force this and then he didn't and he threw it away so I was like oddly proud of him there in that moment

his first really impactful or excuse me play that I have that's negatively impactful was not till the second quarter with eight minutes of 38 seconds left and I think he needs after this scramble step up in the pocket and he needs to see Debo for an easy first down on third down and he doesn't do it if you want to

pull a play up like this isn't right it's third and six you can move the chains here he steps up and i don't hate this he doesn't ever look at debo i mean this is man coverage he knows he's got man coverage you see that with the pre-motion so i'm not sure why debo is not an option right away because they're running a rub pick route right in the middle which you would think is the number one Reed. Like, they are picking intentionally for Debo. But it's one of the times that the Giants ran kind of a shell that Minnesota did. See all the guys up in a line of scrimmage? You would think this is cover zero. I would think this is cover zero, but then the safety drops. So they're trying to run a pick. I understand it's crowded in there, but he has a second

chance. He doesn't hit it right away. Step up in the pocket like he does. I mean, Debo's wide open. I'm not sure why his eyes don't go to him. And then he just chucks a ball up. That's a, that's a touchdown. Do you think to Debo? Yeah. I mean, it's, it's definitely a first down. I mean, because the other defenders have their back to him. If he catches it, he's going to, that's a catch and run. If it's not into the end zone, it's inside the five. Yeah, it's certainly a big play. And the play should have made, because again, it's man coverage. If he's getting this picked up, right? So let's see, does he get nervous? That's Carter there on the

are signed a line of scrimmage. He fails right away, and he runs with Nickles. So Mario just say, oh, I got time here. Because they free-released. So maybe that threw him off, because he probably anticipated Carter Blitzin, and he wants to just dump it to make Nichols on a free release. And that's how they're going to beat this. But once he doesn't, once he doesn't come,

he should be coming back to what I would say. That was his hot route, right? Nichols, if Carter Blitz is, I'm dumped him in Nichols, and we're scoring a TD. If he doesn't come, I should come back to the pick route, which just plays called for. Yeah, he can still throw it to Debo. Hell, I think he can run for the first down.

He could, I mean, he could get more yards, sure. But it's just right there in front of his face. Debo, throw it to Debo, throw to Debo, the whole way. So that is his first negative impactful play from, let's call it, under center, and I don't have another one until he fumbles the ball late in the fourth quarter. Wow. So he did what he's supposed to do. He managed the offense.

He kept the chains moving with his feet. He hit big throws when they were there. The first throw to Noah, like that's really the only play that they do well in the first drive is that big chunk to Noah, the 26-yard or 28-yarder. Yeah. But he does a good job of standing up, scooting up in the pocket,

keeping his eyes down field, and he throws a nice touch ball. I mean, the ball to Terry for the touchdown, it's, I mean, there's nothing special. It's a good, it's a really good call by Kingsbury, really. If you want to go to that, let's do that 1356 in the fourth quarter. Yep. Got it.

Because this is a cover-to route. Terry's going to run a fake little stem to a corner route, and this is only going to work if they're in cover two. And they're in cover two. So this is Kingsbury dialing up a nice little double-moved corner post to a cover-two safety. If they're in cover four, this doesn't work. If they're in cover three, this doesn't work.

If they're in a man in coverage, it probably doesn't work. So Kingberry is calling this for cover two. Technically, this is technically cover six, which is a combination of cover four and cover two. But the side that he wants cover two on, he gets it. It's a really good, subtle corner-looking route by Terry to snap back to those skinny posts. Mariotta stays with it. You just got to put the ball on them, and then Terry does the rest.

So you've got to give a check to Kingsbury. It's a great call, great time. gets the defense he wants, and then you get really good execution by Terry on the route, and Mario to throw on a good ball. I think one of the interesting things about this play is that it's first and 20 and play action works. Well, does it work, though? No, you're right. I'm looking at it right now, but the fact that they run play action,

hoping it'll work on first and 20, you're right. The linebackers don't really move up that much. And the guy you're trying to influence here on this double move as a cover. to safety who care less about a ball fake. So sometimes you do this just to get into your protection, and it really is all for nothing. But, I mean, you see the sly protected from the line. You know, Paul's crashing down on that nose, that shade.

So they're kind of making it look like a run block, but it's really just sly protection. What's good here is you don't get a blitz. You don't get a blitz by that linebacker. I think it is that. Who is that? I don't know. It might be Bobby.

58. Like you're lucky he doesn't come, but Mickles is there. He sees it. He checks him before releases. Sorry, actually, it's Darius. But it's just a, like, when you're a coach and you're calling plays, and you're like, I think they're going to be in cover two here. Let's hit Terry on the corner post. And it's a good stem. And so if you watch Terry's stem, right, he starts at the bottom of the numbers. Right. When we, we, we would run this, not just we, like, everybody runs this. It's a stem seven. So you stem it to the inside of the numbers. You you plant, get vertical, which he does, and then you would bend it back out or cut it back out for a seven round because you're doing that so you can get depth and width so you give yourself

more room on the sideline. So he makes it all look like a normal seven cut. And then it's really just a subtle plant, almost just his eyes and shoulders. It's only one step. Sometimes you see receivers take two steps towards the corner before they break it back. He really takes a half a step, but it works perfectly. And you needed it right there, didn't you? You got You guys are hold on to a lead that you needed that big play. So it's a great call in the moment and then great execution by the team. Yeah, it's nice to have room like that because like you said, even, you know, because I made the same observation that I thought Mariotta just did such a great job

at extending, you know, in the pocket and outside of it when things weren't there. But this is an example of it's there. and there's no pressure. Right. Oh, no, the line was great. Literally, the only play, there may be one other one where he could hit Bates on a little checkdown, but other than that, he didn't miss anybody.

Right. And the guys aren't open, and he's not deciding to throw them. It's just when plays aren't there, he's trying to extend with his legs. He played a really, really good game until he fumbled the football. And you just can't do it. You just can't fumble. You just can't do it.

Yeah, it's third and 12. You're not going to get it. And it's not knocked out of his hands. He just drops it out of his hands. You just got to eat it, but he went back to the Mario, like, I will not take a sack. I'll do everything not to take a sack. There, you've got to take the sack. You just eat it.

Yeah. And you punt the football. Yeah. So he just couldn't get away from having that one bonehead mistake that seems to get in every game. So what was your great? You know, he didn't have dangerous throws here either. I mean, other games where he's kind of gotten away with

some throwing some tight windows. I mean, still above average. He just I thought there was one throw to Debo in the first half. You know, you know what a throw is almost got picked off? Or could have gotten picked off. It was a play action. They came out of their, I want to say it was when they, after the goal line stand,

they go play action, do a deep crow to Terry. I think the Giants guy made a good point. play on it, but he hooks up Terry a little bit, and he gets caught for a PI. I think it was a bad call, but he got away with that, and that guy could have picked that off. But Terry's got to come back to the football a little more aggressively there, and then maybe he could have because he was getting held. But other than that, I don't think I saw really any bad decisions of him throwing the ball into really dangerous windows.

You mentioned a play, and I can't find it, but it was a play in which there was a screen called, there was no way it was going to work. he didn't throw it, and then he worked his way back to like a two-yard gain when it could have easily been a major negative play. Do you know the play I'm talking about? Yeah, that was a double screen. That was not the bubble, the fake screen, the div that was a double screen, and yes, and I wrote down in my note, I don't know if I can,

I don't know if I timestamp it, but I said good decision not throwing the screen here. Right. 100%. Yeah, there's a good man, I gave him points for it. just, those are the plays I'm talking about. And that's just throughout the whole game. Did he have anything? He's really good decisions until he makes the bad one.

They're opening drive. They were faced with third and long, and they weren't in field goal range, and he was able to scramble into field goal range. Do you know the play I'm talking about? I'm trying to find it right now. 10-10, first quarter. So this is third and 20 at the Giant 39. In this direction, they're not in field goal range yet.

Because they actually punted their next drive at the giant 38. So the wind or whatever, the kicker, whatever the reason was for it. These are the plays that are huge for a team. But what I was going to ask you is, did he have anything that he could have gone to? I'm watching it right now. He could have gone to Debo on a checkdown. But yeah, I mean, that gets you into field goal range, and it's three to nothing rather than punting. simple

four-man right like another vanilla defense from well actually this is like Tampa 2 so they call Tampa 2 here a version of it yeah

remember her Tampa you know when they said Tampa 2 the middle lineback would become almost like a third safety so they kind of run it the Giants run an inverted cover 2 here their version of an inverted cover 2 Tampa 2

and they want a deep comebacks here yeah they want a deep curl route here but he's got nothing because they take Noah away. You're not going to get the first down from Noah because he's running a curl into three people. And they're mirror it on the other side. Terry bends is in a little bit, but he's not looking that way anyway. You got, I mean, you just have to check, you have to get out of the pocket.

Yeah, he could have checked it down to Debo. I mean, he could have checked it down to Debo. Yeah, but he got, the same result happened. Yeah, exactly. You point him in Nichols, you'll give me a block. He kind of gives you a little block. He gave him an extra yard. And you know, you're first, but that he's not missing a throw here he's not missing a read here no then this is you do a good thing the mcichols chip right so you got to give mcichols a little bit here before he leaves the pocket if you watch the end of view yeah you watch the ends of view he he puts Carter on his

butt like he helps connolly out and now this whole right side of pockets open so that little chip helps get this 11 yards yeah those are subtle things like that's why I mean, Nichols is great. I mean, other than him putting the football on the ground, which costs him big time. Yeah, you know, I always find it interesting that when you have those third and longs outside of field goal range and all you need is, you know, five to ten yards, four field goal range,

how conservative defenses become. It's like, that's fine, take it. We'll fall behind three to nothing. Rather than trying to keep. them out of field goal range? Yeah, I think when you see that change is when games on the line. First quarter comes out on the line. Yeah,

we're going to give up the three. And I think most defenses in the league think give it up three is a win. Yeah. So if that's the mentality and the coach of stats mentality, then sure. Yeah, I'll play Tampa 2 here on 3rd and 20 as well. And I'm going to, maybe I rally.

Like, maybe that rush is better and they keep Mario in the pocket and he doesn't get a chance to ramble for 11. But Connerly, I mean, do a good job of collapse in the pocket and Mario da field it so he gets outside for what is like an easy 11-yard scramble. But I totally get that mentality of

it's third and 20. I did my job. We're going to hold him the three at worst and we're going to consider it a win. All right. You're great for Mario da again was? He's in the green. It's still a positive grade because he did so many small things

correct and he only had two negative plays for me. But he's not going to them crack the top three, you know, spoiler because that fumble is just so impactful with something you can't do at the end of the game when you're trying to win the ball. You can't give the defense the back to ball on something like that. Just take the sack. Don't try to extend the play and break two tackles in the pocket. Go down, reserve your right to punt like he did most of the game. But other than that, really good quarterback play.

How about the strip sack fumble that Connerly Jr. fell on? That was Carter, right? Yeah, that was Carter. And, I mean, you better get on it. It's your guy that stacked him. Don't know he's darling Carter, right? You gave up the fact. You better get your eyes around and find that football.

Yeah, good point. Good point. But anything that Mariotta could have done to protect the ball better? So he's looking front side. He doesn't have what he wants. He probably could have made the decision to throw it away in the split second. But I didn't. give him any negative points on the play. It's a good play by Carter. All right,

let's get to your top three, bottom three offense defense. We'll do that right after these words from the few of our sponsors. Guys, personal experience with a product that I want to tell you about. It's zbiotics and their product called pre-alcohol. Let's face it, after a nighted drinks, most at our age anyway, don't bounce back the next day like we used to. You either have that choice the night before of do I have a drink or two or do I pass because I don't want to feel badly the next day? Well, there's a surefire way to wake up feeling fresh after drinks with friends. It's with pre-alcohol. Zbiotics pre-alcohol was invented by PhD scientists to tackle rough mornings after drinking. I've noticed a difference the next day after using pre-alcohol.

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and use the code Sheean, S-H-E-E-H-A-N at checkout for 15% off. We continue with Steve. He's got a couple of things to get to before he gets to top three, bottom three offense and defense. And I nearly forgot. But fortunately, we kind of came to it together in a brief conversation before we started to record this part of the show. Yeah, I need to ask him about the punt return for a touchdown. Got to ask one of the all-time greatest punt returners in college football history about Jalen Lane's 63-yard punt returns.

So let's start there. What did you think? You and I hit on this early, and it might have been the first game I watched him. I really like him as a parm return. I like his mentality back there. I like his initial first steps every time. And this is an example of it. This is sticking one foot in the ground.

As soon as he catches it, you can tell he kind of wants to go to the right and notices immediately. He's got color outside of him, sticks his foot in the ground hard, and he's getting outfield. And this is my style of returning kicks. I like guys that want to get north because the majority of the time, The 10 yards is more valuable than you think you're going to be able to get outside and go for 70s. You're going to get a tackle for a loss, so you're only going to go one yard.

So I love his mentality, and I always have all his season. Really good example of this. Burst is good. Reading a blockers up the middle is good. I feel for the kid, really, I wish he would have had a rookie season where this is all he had to concentrate on. He shouldn't have been asked to be trying to play as many snaps offensively early in the season as he was. and it probably took away a little bit from his just focused on this. But if this is enough to keep him on the roster, you know, for the foreseeable's future, he's got a job.

I think he's the guy, especially as a punt returner. I mean, that's why they drafted him. They were in love with him as a punt returner. Yeah, keep him there, man. This is, I would want him all game sitting on the sideline and just stewing about when am I going to get my shot. when am I going to get my shot? When is the defense going to force a punt? That was me, my Richard sophomore year.

I wasn't playing much on offense here and there in the slot, and I would just be on the sideline, just like, can't wait. Like, come on, guys, can't wait. Because your mentality is different. You just, you're like, this is my chance to make a play. I'm not going to just take it lightly, go out there to catch some football, and I don't think that's his mentality. So hopefully he gets more games where he can just solely focus on this,

and then it can become a threat. Yeah. But he already is a legit threat. I mean, you kick, he outkicks his coverage here, just a taste, he's getting a good job by the gunners, and then he makes that first initial cut that's great, and I'll go to this, I mean, I'll go to my grave with this one, like, Reeves is one of the best players on the team, and I'll just say it like that. They love them. He is great on special teams, and he is your best secondary player, and I don't think it's close. if I'm redrafting your Washington team

and you make me take somebody in the secondary out of the guys you got I'm taking Reeves the first one this guy plays on every play and he's smart you can tell he's smart

he's always in the right spot he's never out of position I don't think he's ever making this assignment he's helping other guys communicate how he hasn't been to start in safety all year

like I don't know why Will Harris was starting our rim to start the season he went to the pro bowl you know he's gone to the pro bowl I think twice

as a special teamer. Yeah, I remember you telling me that. And I snap back to, well, why hasn't he been starting at safety? Yeah. He's your best secondary player. He is. And I'll stand on that hill. On the punter here on this play, first of all, did you see what they did in their

formation before the punt? Watch the end zone view. Pre-snap. What are they doing there? This little shift? Yeah. It's fourth and 20. I mean, are they trying to get an office?

sides. I'm on fourth and 20. But somebody asked me, and I'm forgetting who it was. Actually, Chris, Chris asked me to ask you about this. With the Australian punters, you know, where they move to one side, take a couple of steps and kick it the way, you know, pun it the way they punt it. What's the difference for a punt returner, you know, with that kind of punt style versus the traditional one? So it's funny you say that West Virginia was the first school to really do that in college, and it was against us, and we just started calling it at Rugby Point, Rugby Point. So my personal experience with it was I would scoot up because at that time it wasn't an Australian guy that practiced it all the time, so he wasn't as effective at it. My, what my concern was, was it was going to be lower and shorter, and it was going to roll a lot further. So if I let it hit the ground, he's going to get a 38-yard punt that's going to turn into 52.

Right. So that was my concern. Don't let it hit the ground. It's going to roll. It should be shorter and lower. And you can't do that in the NFL. Like, if you're going to do the rugby point, you still got to be doing hang time and getting some depth on it. So I don't think that's the case here.

I mean, this thing's still 10, 20, 30, 40, 40, 40. 47 yards in the air. So he's, it looks like he's doing that style of plan, but he's still getting 47 yards with some hang time. I don't think it's as impactful in the NFL as it was in college when it first showed up. I'm just thinking about something when you brought up West Virginia. Was Pat McAfee at West Virginia when you were at Maryland? I don't think so.

I think he's before me. Before you? But I'm not positive. I don't think he is. Yeah. All right. Otherwise, I would have taken his punt to the house, which would be pretty cool. Jalen Lane, I mean, I think one of the things that will really help next year is, A, what you said, if you can focus on punt returns solely.

B, if the defense forces the other team to punt occasionally, that'll help. Absolutely. That'll help a lot. And it can't be from the 40. The 45. Exactly. which a lot of the punts this year against Washington have been. So, yeah, so there was something else you wanted to mention

before we got into top three, bottom three. I think it had to do with a defensive series with Quinn. Let's go to defense. Okay. It was kind of, let's go to four minutes, 22 seconds in the third quarter. Okay. And so this is, you know, I'm kind of light nerdy about this stuff, but this is where I see, okay, Quinn, we've got things dialed,

up here. This is a big possession, right, 22-14, four minutes left in the third, and Quinn's dialed in here. So 4-4-42, first-and-10. This is first-and-10. Now, hard to see if they had singletary, in the backfield and motioned out here that you don't have that on all 22, but I'm assuming they didn't. They just come out to this formation. And he only rushes three here on first-in-10. I know it's empty. Yeah. But he only rushes three, drops Newton right into this little four-yard hurl, excuse me, curl, that dart clearly wants so he doesn't have it. So now he does scramble get five yards, but this is Quinn

understanding what he thinks is coming on first down, getting it right. So now you go to second down next play, 407. I mean, how many times do you see a three-man rush on first down? That's what I'm saying. He was like, I'm expecting a short pass here. He goes into a cover two and adds a D-Lignment. So now he's got even more guys come. covering that horizontal stretch and a four-yard play. So that's Quinn knowing what's coming. Next play, he's second and five. What do we got here?

So this is a great, he calls Louvre. Right, they're slanting this rush here. Back's opposite. He's getting, like Quinn's telling Louvue, you've got to get inside. You slant inside here on a run. Hamilton does a good job of coming up and showing, so he's got the outside. but this is you know who knows what the call is

it's whatever it is slant left by Louvo Wagner does a good job of reading it over the top but this is he's no one of runs coming on second down calls a calls a play up front where he thinks he's going to get the advantage and he does

yeah that's another good right so we're now 325 very next play very next play 325 yep it's third and three you just stuff the run, but he still thinks runs coming.

Bring the safety down the box. So now we're going cover three here, and we're bringing a safety down into the box. And now, while the box player doesn't make the play, it's clear that... Is that Kwan Martin? Yeah, that's Kwan Martin. But then you get Kinn-law here that just dominates the center. Wow, look at him.

He dominates the left guard. Yeah. Right? He shakes off, and then now you're fourth and one. So all three plays, Dan Quinn knew what was coming. Call to play to stop each one, and they did. Now, they end up getting the fourth. down, but he's still dialed in on this possession.

Yeah. No, I see that. That's interesting. And then it goes to, it goes to oh yeah, you know what I wanted to see from the broadcast? Go to 20 seconds in the third quarter, I was going to ask you this, because it's hard to see from the all-22. And it doesn't impact my grading. I gave them the benefit of the doubt, but

I figured they would have slowed this and the broadcast, does Hamilton break this up? This is where I think this is, honestly. Honestly, they gave Hamilton some credit to me, this is a drop. This has got to be a catch. In fact, he had a couple

of them. I think Slayton. Was that Slayton in the end zone? I forget. Slayton had an earlier drop in the game on what would have been a big play. Yeah, he had a third and four drop that Sanders still gets up and celebrates, like, you can't complete, like you had anything to do of it. Oh, come on, man. They can drop that. I thought But they gave Hamilton because Hamilton was in a lot of, you know, a lot of replays, you know,

because he was in a lot of, you know, one-on-one situations and a lot of past breakup situations. I mean, it seemed that he had a pretty good day. I can't wait to hear what you think. But I felt like, you know, this isn't over the shoulder. You got to grab that. You got to catch that. First of all, this is a terrible ball by car. Right, it is.

This is, and this is, we just talked about credit Kingsbury for the call he dialed up. This call right here is dialed up perfect for this coverage. A dig, this is an in and up. So Slate's run a fake dig. Yeah. And Washington cover four. And Will Harris is a cover for safety. And cover four safeties want to always rob inside breaking routes and cover four.

So they call this up expecting cover four and they get it. So Will's, of course, going to bite this. dig. So he bites a double move on the dig and it does a horrible ball by dart. He's got the entire end zone. End zone. Yeah. Lead him all over the middle. He wants to. Yeah. And he throws over his back charge. So it's a shitty ball by him. But good, I mean, Hamilton is not responsible for this, but it's a really good recovery by him to try to help. And that's why I gave him credit. It's hard to see if he actually, like, hacked his arm. So on, so it's something that's interesting about what you said. So in cover

4, 2nd and 20 Will Harris is dropping and he's got that, you know, come back. He's got that dig. That's his responsibility. And so that's why you get sort of that stop and go

by Slayton, because he bites badly on it. So in cover 4, down in distance second and 20, because that's going to be to the, that's going to be 10 yards short of the first down, but he still has that. His responsibility. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah, I mean, you're in a tough spot. It's that secondary is hard. D.V. is hard. Safety is hard. It's all hard when you got for all those responsibilities. Yeah. You got to hope Slate tips off the run, doesn't run a really good.

It has a lazy dig move, but he doesn't. Will's eager, too, because he wants to jump. But he knows his rules are, you know, if this guy runs a dig, it's on me. But if you run straight, it's on me, too. So what do you do? You got to try to just have, that's what makes. the great's great and he bites on the dig and he just gets ran by Hamilton tries to help come over the top but it's a good play call it's a good

play call you said something earlier and you know it's so early to have you know a strong opinion one way the other but people in New York have been raving about Dart every single time I watch them I'm not blown away no I was not at all yeah and in the part that isn't is the most if you're a giant fan and you're watching the part that would worry me the most are things like this play we just watch. I mean, this is a layup, and now it's not the touchdown. Yeah, maybe you could say Slate should have caught it, but he should have been able to catch it one-handed in his belly

with ease or catch it behind his back. It should be an easy touchdown. NFL quarterback has to make this throw. It's a bad ball, and he had a couple of the fourth down at the end of the game. Terrible ball. It's a deep overrout by Robinson. Oh, yeah. I actually thought initially when I watched that ball. I'm like, wait a minute. Was that Kwan Martin on Slayton on that play? I actually thought, I actually thought, am I going to see a flag fly here?

Because it was so poorly thrown that maybe, you know, he had progress stopped. But no, you're right, because you know, him missing Slayton on what should have been an easy touchdown, two plays later, Coom misses a 51-yard field goal,

and Washington's got great field position, up eight, instead of it being tied maybe or down to or up too yeah I would much rather watch my rookie quarterback make a mistake mentally than when everything's fine and you physically can't make the play then we've got problems I can't coach that I can coach out the mental mistake hopefully eventually as you become a better quarterback but if you can't hit this wide open throw

come on then you know he's also taken he's been in the blue tent this year five times during games he takes too many shots well he is dealing with what jaden and mariotta deal with not much going on down the field did options and now i got to try to make play with my feet right and you know what that brings yeah i thought by the way they some of their screens to the tight end 84 i think it's Johnson were pretty well-designed plays. Yeah, you get caught sometimes. Wagner got caught in the backfield. He's in bad coverage with him, but even when he recognizes it's too late and he got three linemen on you, so even know that you're going to get blocked.

Right. Yeah, I agree. They had a couple. All right. Top three defensive performers. Let's start there since we were just talking defense. All right. Top three go to Jacob Martin.

God, you love Martin. What did Martin do well? See, now that's the thing. He almost picked off his screen. He almost had a Van Ginkle, right? He did. He did. And he recognized it, so he got to float back,

and then Dart had a hard time getting it connected. He still got a first down. But yeah, that's play recognition and making the throw hard than it needed to be for him. And so, I mean, he's just steady, man. He's steady. He doesn't make mistakes. He's always given effort.

He's getting pressure. He's the best pass rusher right now on the front line. and like he's got a play where they put him in two I let me see I'll be 20 okay so go to go to the third quarter it's after the 22nd play so let's see yeah yeah the next play after the 20 so 13 seconds they put like Martin is in here as a two I two I meaning he is lined up as a two

and he's on the inside eye of the guard so Jacobs Zawari undersized at the end. They put him in here at the tackle, almost a nose guard, and he makes the tackle. Yeah, see it. I mean, two technique. He's playing inside,

not used to playing inside. He's just done it everywhere they put him. He tries so hard. Yeah, it's all you need on the events. He's a free agent, unrestricted. He's unrestricted? Yeah. He made himself some money this year

If people are watching the tape And you need a I don't want to go as far saying Like a Swiss Army knife kind of guy around the line But he is I mean he made himself some money this year And he watched him be full It's not to try to bring him back

He's 30 years old I mean he has been everywhere We'll give him a three-year contract And pay him man This is Where you can get some money I'm looking where you can get some money I'm looking right now

Statistically yeah he this is his best year sackwise uh he's got four and a half on the season yeah i mean he's he's setting career highs and everything so it's going to get noticed no doubt he's impactful he's impactful and he would be even better if he had other guys around him that were doing the same things he was doing like wise and Armstrong and part of rotation yeah he was rotating in with wise and armstrong and they're rotating those three could just stay healthy and fresh that would be, you'll be

getting pressure a lot more consistent. Right. All right. He's just a good player, man. So Martin 1. Then you got, yep, then you got Kid Law. Yep. And Hamilton cracked the top three. All those opportunities that you mentioned,

he was coming up, coming up big. I think he's earned a right to start again next week for sure. I have in phase, in phase, in phase. It gives a, you know, she has a penalty. Even with he did have a pass interference or a holding in phase in phase he gets beat on man coverage in the second quarter excuse me third quarter but other than that a lot of opportunities and I think you stood up to the challenge so one two three he has three plays where I gave him a negative grade the rest were right on par or better you know it's correct the top three interesting about you know Hamilton and Martin the conversation about these two is that they're both, you know, journeymen pros.

They're in their 30s. Martin's 30. Hamilton's going to be 33 in January. Yeah, I mean, this is team number one, two, three, four, five, six. Team number six for him. Yeah, that's tough. Yeah, I'm not by any means saying he's a starting corner or your best corner, but he played well.

He's in the top three. All right, bottom three defensively. bottom three go to Noah, Will Harris, and Eddie Goldman. Noah was the worst. That's the order, right? Yeah. Indeed. Eddie Goldman, a week after he was the number one defensive player, I think, last week.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now he's into the bottom three, not impactful on the line, getting pushed on his double teams and not plugging really any holes. No impactful plays. So we went from worst to the bottom three. Real quickly, because in watching some of the stuff here with you today, I've noticed just 94, one of my all-time, you know, what-ifs, what if he actually played hard every game? I noticed a couple of plays where it looked like he was just completely loafing, so I'm

surprised that 94 Duran Payne wasn't in your bottom three. Look, he's, you need that salary back. You just need it back. He would not be on my team next year. No way. If I watched, like I have, every rep, he's gone. I don't know how tackle the salary cap cut or whatever. No, it'd free up a lot of money.

This is the year to cut him. Oh, it's a no-brainer. We're trade him. It's a no-brainer. I don't know who would trade for him. I mean, I'm not sure what you're going to get, a six-round pick, maybe. I mean, he loves a lot, a lot. So much so, I don't, part of me is.

it stops great and I'm like, because I feel like I'm being too, I don't want to come across like I'm being too hard on him. Right. And maybe that subjectively impacts me, but I could probably give him low for poor effort

on 85% of his snaps. 85? I mean, I could be exaggerating a little bit, but it ain't, I'm not far off, man. He is, he would just be gone next year. I mean, I don't know the guy for a minute, Adam, but

you need, the Washington franchise needs that salary back. put it elsewhere. What about Von Miller? He didn't make your top three, but there was that series at the end of the half. It was actually a, you know,

I don't know if you get the flavor of the game when you're just watching all 22, but after the... No, it was impactful. For sure, back-to-back plays. Yeah, back-to-back plays. Yeah, force the point.

He gets good grades for that, but, I mean, you can't decide to rush. Three out of the 35 players in. Right. What else are you doing? and he's got some loaves, too, man. He lobes, too.

It's mind-boggling. What about Sandorstall's pick? Bad throw, right? I don't even know if it's a bad throw. This is more of a great play by Santerstown, in my opinion. He got the highest grade I can give you on a play. And this is probably his best play this season, for sure. This is a, it's a very impact.

It kind of reminded me that sequence with a parm return and then them driving and him picking it off, and he's got a good return, and he gets the field goal. that little section reminded me of the Chargers game where I felt Washington won it with that they didn't get the holding call by Wiley

in the end so they punt penalty that returned it we had to make it a call back and then they go on to score like that little two minutes section before the half I thought won them the game of Chargers and this

I had the same feeling when I watched this now this is Sandra still's best play he's in cover I believe he's in cover four and he bites on this or he breaks on the route good pick and then a good return to set the field goal still not enough to crack the top three because he just gets beat. He can't play man coverage. He gives up

the touchdown to make a 29-21. He gets beat and he just he's just not a starting corner in my opinion. All right, let's go to offense. Top three. Offense. Top three go to Terry leading away. Great job by Terry. Obvious reasons. Make an impactful. plays when they need them on critical downs, leaves away.

Next is Ben, Ben Cinnett. Really? Wow. This is before the big pass that he caught in the fourth quarter. He was still in my top three. He was awesome. Run blocking really good and just impactful in the run game for sure. Not so much of the past game, but impactful run. But that, if you watch the route, it was really nice.

I said, ooh, we, when he caught that 25 yards cover, he's in-man coverage, and he just, he gets the better of him. This, what I, if I'm Ben, I'm going, I'm running routes all summer, all off-season. If he can become a little better as a route runner and a pass catcher, and then I think he's got a bright future, because if he can run block like he did on Saturday consistently, then you got yourself a real two-way tight end. So that would be, if I'm in his corner, I'm running routes. Yeah, I mean, with Ertz out, that was the most he's played, you know, in his career. Yeah, for sure, right. And he benefited with the strong run game or the heavy dose of running, but he blocked really well.

They put him in some spots where his block was key, like, right, he's got to do the kickout block on at the end. He's one-on-one with a linebacker coming in the C-gap, and he doesn't hit the block's not going to work. but he did good and then Chris Paul number three Chris Paul three yeah offensive line was really good obviously he probably led the way for my eyes

but how about when Tunzel went out did you even notice he was out Coleman played well yeah I'm not saying that as a negative on Tuncels sure awesome yeah but I just Coleman's Coleman's good

so far so good and I still would love to see you get a whole game right tackle yeah put him my right time because Connerley is. Connolly's still my lowest lineman. He's still my lowest lineman every week. All right. Let's get to the bottom three offensively.

Bottom three is McNichols, leaves the weight, and it's because of that fumble at the end, almost costs a team to game. You can't put that, you just can't put the ball in the ground. He just didn't have enough good place. He also had a false start, and I think he missed a protection in the third quarter

that I gave to him, so not his best game at all. Well, his worst game of the season, for sure. Then Debo, he came in second, and then, sorry. Yeah, and then Connerley. And then Connolly. He had a whole eternity, not blocking,

getting in the way in the run game. I have a note on. So he's, there it is. Gives me, Nichols, Debo, and Connerley, bottom three. Connerley, how much do you get? know that he gave up the sack strip on Mariotta,

but how much credit do you give for somebody who recovers fumbles on offense? Yeah, I gave him. For the one that wasn't his fault, that was a huge recovery. He got big points for that. All right. Yeah, big points. That was when Bill put the ball on the ground.

Yeah. Yeah, Chris too. We want touch on him, man. He looked good ish. I like him going downhill. I really like him downhill more than zones and stretches. I think he wants to become straight downhill. But then how about when he has a chance to ice it at 3.39 in the 4th, did you see that? Go to 339 in the 4th.

He just got tripped up, right? Well, he tripped himself up. It should be house call. The game should be over. Where am I going? 339 in the 4th. Got it. I mean, you've got, I mean, this is a running back's dream right here.

Yeah, because this would be 86 yards. Bro, watch the block by Senate here, too. He's starting at the fullback. Oh, yeah. Oof. He's got the key block here. He puts Carter on his ass with that cut. Now, initially, good cut by Bill, or good vision by Bill.

He's patient, and he sees Senate put Carter on his ass. And this is what you, I mean, every running back, you can ice the game here. You're going 95. You're going 85. he's just not ready for that third level 101 and we talked about all season he hasn't made this juke or broken this tackle all season no but that should be that should be ballgame yeah i thought i thought that he did a good job after contact pushing the pile like that's not necessarily what we've seen from him but that he's a hard runner yeah he runs hard yeah he runs hard

He just, and see, it goes back to where I said, I just don't think he anticipates getting to that third guy, and he just panics. Yeah. Panics out there, just so like on that. That's a hell of a block by Senate on that play. Isn't it? Yeah. That's a great block.

I mean, that springs to run for sure. Yeah. No doubt. And he was doing it from fullback, from tight end. He was doing it when he was pulling. He had a really good game. Not only that, he got up and made his second block. I mean, Bill's passed.

Like, that's what you need. Like that's the kind of shit You want to see I mean am I wrong? No That's what you want to say Yeah of course So you're going to get points of that

I mean the whole offensive line I mean they just wall this whole thing too Look at everybody I gave everybody points in this Everybody's hitting their double team Get the next level Everything's working I mean you could argue

The only one that doesn't really touch anybody Is Connerley Yeah He's not really coming in that hut You know he's not coming in there To wreck havoc He's just kind of going through the motions there, but it works.

And Bill's got a house call that thing. All right. What else? That's it. We got it. We covered it. All right. Great job. They play the Eagles on Saturday. It's a stand-alone game

right in the middle, by the way. Steve of the college football playoff triple header, which honestly, I'm much more into than our team in a meaningless game against the Eagles. So I will have multiple screens. going on Saturday, but we'll figure out a time to do film breakdown of that game next week. Thanks.

You're welcome. Steve Souter, everybody, does such a good job with this. All right, done for the day, back tomorrow.