The Kevin Sheehan Show - Wrecked By Dallas D

Episode Date: December 13, 2021

Kevin solo today with his recap and analysis of Washington's 27-20 loss to Dallas. Also, the latest on WFT's current playoff positioning and just how many games Kevin thinks Washington needs to secure an NFC Wildcard spot. Kevin finished up the show with thoughts on the rest of the NFL games on Sunday, Maryland's win over Florida, 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 Cheon Show. Here's Kevin. Fempty backfield, pressure, Heineke, is decked. Down he goes. The bowl is loose.

It's picked up by Dallas and Armstrong. He's got a convoy. That guy, Micah Parsons, is a bad man. All right? He wrecked the game almost single-handedly in the first half. And there was a chance there at the end for the home. team, which was really incredible that they had a chance. But Dallas goes on to win the game 27 to 20. Washington's still very much, very much in the wild card race, but their division

hopes basically shattered now with the loss yesterday to Dallas. All right, my game take coming up, what I liked, what I didn't like, and a lot more in terms of observations. We'll talk about a little bit about what went on in the league. And then we'll finish up with some other things, sports related from the weekend. Pretty good weekend for a couple of the locals and not so good for a few of the others. I want to start with this. First of all, one of the things I enjoyed leading up to the game yesterday was kind of this attempt, both locally and nationally, to resuscitate the rivalry.

I'm a sucker for the Washington Dallas rivalry. It's just been so much a part of, I think for a lot of us, our Washington football team rooting DNA. So it was nice for at least a brief leading moment to see it back in the national spotlight, which it was. I mean, it was a big focus of all of the pregame shows. I rarely sit there on Sunday mornings and watch a lot. of these pregame shows, which seemingly started like 7 a.m. on NFL network and then, you know, 8, 9, 10 a.m. on different channels. But man, was Washington, Dallas, a big focus of the day and the rivalry being a big part of the day? In fact, I watched a lot of the Dallas post-game stuff,

which was posted online, listening to McCarthy, listening to Zeke, listening to Dak, listening to DeMarcus Lawrence, Randy Gregory, Micah Parsons, each and every one of those players said they knew that it was a division game, it was a big-time rivalry game, the atmosphere, which we'll get to here in a moment, made it feel like a big game. I liked that part of it. Unfortunately, the game itself didn't come close to living up to what I thought was a very winnable game on Friday. I was wrong. They were not up to the occasion. It was a

disappointing game in so many ways. You know, the build-up for this, the sudden re-emergence of a late-season game with stakes against an all-time rivalry, big in the standings, chance to get back into the division race. And the home team didn't play well. They didn't start the game. game well. They didn't play the middle of the game well. And while they had a chance at the very end of the game, none of what transpired over 60 minutes for Washington was very good at all. The designated road team, Dallas was the designated road game, road team, by the way, if you didn't notice watching on TV or if you were there, it was hard to notice that they were the road team. Look, we told you this going in last week. When Dallas got

off to a six and one start, and nobody was showing up for the games anyway, with Washington being two and six. And then Washington all the sudden getting onto this four game run, and then there was demand. There just weren't many tickets left. They had been swapped up by the cowboy fans. We mentioned it last week. I was interested to see what it was disparity-wise from several people at the game, several social media posts. You probably saw them. And your own personal observation, whether you were there or watching on TV, it was somewhere between worst case, 60% Dallas fans. You know, maybe 75% to 80% some people had it.

It was a road environment for the most part for Washington, but they have faced that. You know, it's not a first. If you were optimistic, like one of my friends who was there, it was 50-50, you just heard the Dallas fans because they had a lot more to cheer for. Anyway, that's not the surprise. And look, they've got one more home game this year,

and it could be a massive home game on January 2nd against Philadelphia, and there are a lot of tickets available I've been told for that particular game on the day after New Year's. That game could be, could be for the seven spot in the NFC playoffs. Of course, they've got their first of two with Philly coming up this week. But, you know, enough about the crowd, okay? Dallas started fast, looked like they were in total control of the game, because they were. And then suddenly, suddenly, and I talked about this on the radio show this morning, it seems like, you know, suddenly is an adverb, right, that we've been using a lot over the last month.

You know, two and six and six, and then suddenly they're six and six. Or suddenly they're five and six, and they got this big game against the Raiders, which would then suddenly put them into the division race. Yesterday was another end of the game all of the sudden. Here they are with a chance. Down seven with the ball and a bomb to D'Andre Carter that Kyle Allen lays right into his hands and he drops. But the truth is, despite the near what would have been shocking comeback,

It really was a disappointing day all around. In one of the biggest games Washington's had in December in many years at FedEx Field, by the way, a friend of mine sent me this on Friday. I didn't know this. He sent me this. I'm assuming he's right because he's kind of like me. He looks these things up and is usually right when it comes to kind of numbers and head to heads and all that stuff.

He said it was just the third home game in December in 13 years where Washington was 500 or better. Wow. That is a troubling number, but not necessarily surprising, but still an unbelievable number. But in the biggest home game they've had in December in recent years against, you know, the traditional rival, they just didn't seem up to it. You know, they've been they've been up to everything, every account. occasion over the last month, but yesterday they just were off from the jump, you know, slow start, sloppy start. They weren't really as energetic, as flying around, as smart as disciplined.

I know they were banged up before the game. I know the COVID issues started coming, and it was James Smith Williams added to Montes, sweat, et cetera, you know, on Saturday, and then it was Casey Two Hill before the game, and then they were injured a lot during the game. but they just were kind of out of it. They really were from the jump. And, you know, they missed taking advantage of a Dallas team that offensively was not very good either and didn't necessarily seem up to it.

This game came down to, and I'll get into it in more detail in my game take. Washington's offense, not being able to move the ball and stay balanced as they have been, against a Dallas defense that has true game wrecking stars. Micah Parsons, Randy Gregory was back. We talked about that. They wrecked the game on multiple occasions. And ultimately, the fact that Washington had a chance to recover from that was a miracle.

Okay, so I hate saying that the division is essentially done. because every time I've counted this group out, they've had a habit of proving everybody wrong. But they're three back of Dallas with four to go. So it's pretty much over the division race. Dallas has the Giants this week, which would get them to 10 wins, which is the most Washington can get to by winning their last four.

Dallas is going to win the division, okay? Barring an absolute collapse. And with the way they played offensively, And with the way they've been playing offensively, you know, they don't look like a juggernaut necessarily heading towards a division title. But the division title is pretty much out of reach right now. But the wild card race is right there. They are currently the seven seed after San Francisco's winner over Cincinnati in overtime yesterday. So the Rams of the five, the 49ers of the six.

And Washington is the six and seven team who wins all of the tie break. against the other four six and seven teams with four games left. But they're right there. You know, they control their own destiny in terms of getting in to the postseason tournament. Tournament is the way everybody seems to be describing it these days. It used to be, we've got to make it to the playoffs. The tournament is more of a college basketball thing. But anyway, as far as the wild card race goes, it's the focus for Washington.

the focus for many teams with basically all of the division races, with the exception of the NFC West in the NFC being decided. Dallas is going to win the NFC East. The Packers are going to win the NFC North. And the Cardinals certainly have a pretty good chance with a two-game lead. Now, tonight will have, you know, could put the Rams back into the mix. But the Buccaneers also, you know, firmly in control. I mean, the Bucks, Packers, and Cowboys can all. clinch the divisions this coming weekend. Far different in the AFC where all four division races really are in play for the most part.

But this is now about getting into the playoffs via the wild card route. And the Washington football team is currently still in good position. Their next game is Sunday in Philadelphia. It's a massive game. In many ways, it's a bigger game than the one they just played. The Eagles are 6 and 7. They're coming off their by. Jalen Hertz is expected to be back in the starting lineup,

despite how good Gardner Minshu was last week. The Eagles are the number one rush offense in the NFL. A ton of those yards on the ground being generated by their quarterback, Jalen Hertz. He's their leading rusher. He's rushed for eight touchdowns, nearly 700 yards on the season. it's going to be a far different kind of game Sunday at the Link than the game they just played against a team with banged up running backs who didn't really have the ability to run the ball that well. It's also going to be a true road game for Washington. Yesterday felt like a road game. I understand that, but it wasn't a true road game. Philadelphia is very much in this wild card race. That place will be packed at the Link. It'll be a road game for them. I was thinking about this. They haven't really played.

in, you know, super hostile environments this year since the Buffalo game. You know, they, I guess Lambo to a certain extent, but that game was never in doubt. Denver, I guess. But the Carolina game recently, the Raiders game recently held, there were more Redskinned fans at the Raider game than maybe were there yesterday. But Sunday's going to be far different. The next two weeks at Eagles, at Cowboys are, you know, obviously games. they've got to figure out how to get one of them for sure to remain in that wild card hunt and have a chance over the final two weeks.

But hostile environment, different kind of game. The Eagles are four-point favorites, if you're wondering. And this is a huge, huge game in the wild card race in the NFC. Now, if they lose, they're not out mathematically, but they need this one. Right now, with the 49ers in the 6th spot, you know, behind the Rams who are in the 5 spot, you have 5, 6, and 7 teams vying for that 7th wildcard spot. Washington right now owns the tiebreakers over the other 4. That's why they're currently in that 7 spot.

There are also, by the way, 2 5 and 8 teams. One of them, Seattle, who we saw here a couple of weeks ago, has all of the sudden suddenly become Seattle again. Russell Wilson's gotten hot. They beat San Francisco last week, and they hammered the Texans on the road yesterday, and they are five and eight, and now they think they're back into it. Look, the playoff races are insanity in both conferences. With four weeks left, only four teams have been mathematically eliminated. Legitimately, 26 of the 32 teams are still in contention. Mathematic, 28 of the 32, 26 of the 32, you could say, hey, if we can get hot, we're going to be in.

By the way, one of the first massive games, there are going to be so many of them down the stretch. Thursday night, the Chargers hosting the Chiefs on Thursday night football for the AFC West lead. If the Chargers win, they're in first place and they will have swept the Chiefs, if the Chiefs win, that'll be seven wins in a row, and they will be two games up. on the Chargers. Big game, lots of big games coming up over the final month of this season. And of course, Washington's next three, Eagles on the road, Cowboys on the road, and then the Eagles at home. Somehow they've got to figure out how to get two of those three, and then that giant game to get to nine and eight would probably be for a spot. That's really what it comes down to.

If they can get two of the next three, you know, and Dallas on the road, I don't know, the way that Dallas played offensively yesterday, who the hell knows? But I think really eight and nine, they would have a chance by winning just two of their final four. But I really think it's going to take with all of these teams in the mix more likely than not three of their final four to get to nine and eight. And three of their final eight four would also give them a really strong conference record compared to some of the others vying for that spot. And it would give them a really good chance to be in the wild card round as probably the seven seed playing the two seed, which who knows who that's going to be at this point. Season's not over. Now they limped out of that game.

There were a lot of injuries in that game yesterday. but the season is far from over, despite how poorly they played yesterday, really on offense in particular. Okay, coming up, my overall game take, the things I liked from the game, the things that I didn't like, and several observations from the game, a couple of big calls that were made that I thought were interesting. Not that I will be highly critical of any of them, but I thought they were interesting decisions made by both teams. We'll get to all of that next right after these words from a few of our sponsors. On the fake, Prescott, bumps, throws, intercepted. Holcomb's got it.

This game just changed dramatically. A picks. That play really was one of those stand up and yell as loud as you can moments, because the game just seemingly was headed towards, you know, a very banana. ending. I kind of felt Dallas was playing the fourth quarter like it was almost a preseason game. Both teams had a bunch of reserves in the game. It seemed like they were playing out the string in many ways. It seemed like Dallas was just kind of working on things. What a horrible throw by Prescott on a bootleg. And all of the sudden, out of nowhere, suddenly it was a one-score game. And by the way, the missed PAT was huge. if you were holding a Washington plus six ticket. That game went to six, six and a half in most spots. If it went to six and a half and you bought it to seven, good for you.

You pushed, but another block kick. That might be on my list of things that I did not like. Let me remind everybody if you haven't subscribed to the podcast. It's so helpful if you do. It doesn't cost you a thing. And rate us and review us wherever you can, especially on Apple and Spotify. A quick five-star rating and a one-to-two-two-sentence review.

You could pause this right now and do it if you haven't done it before. It really makes it easier for us to sell the podcast to sponsors, which is crucial for us. Those ratings and reviews are important. The number of downloads we get are important. And that part has been great. If those of you who haven't rated and reviewed the show did so today, day, it would be huge for us. All right, let me get to my game take. Pay attention. Here's Kevin's Game Take.

All right, the things I liked, the things I did not like, and a few other observations, actually several observations from the game. Let me start with the list of things that I liked, and I'll start with they didn't quit, but I kind of put a question mark on my own notes of didn't quit because it's not that they quit because they haven't. And they, I don't think they will under this coaching staff. I think that's the one thing they've proven. But I do think that the description, which Ron had and some others had, about this being a tale of two halves was a bit of a reach. It's not like Washington came out gangbusters in the second half and dominated the second half. You know, the ending of the game was sort of cover for what really was a blowout and a one-sided game.

I mean, the score was 27 to 8 when Washington was on this long drive, which didn't end until five minutes to go in the game. And it was kind of a drive where it was like there were reserves in the game and Dallas had some reserves in the game. And it really looked like both teams were kind of playing out the string a little bit. And then all of a sudden they score on a fourth and goal and then you get the pick six and, whoa, we've got a ball game all of a sudden. But, you know, it was 24-0 nothing at halftime, and the final score was 27 to 20. And I give Washington credit for just kind of hanging in there and allowing for a potential miracle to happen. I mean, when Holcomb picked that off, and then they got the stop on the third and down, third and three to Gallup, which Fuller broke up, it really was starting to, in that brief moment, feel like some of the games that these teams have played against each other in the past.

I mean, the crazy finishes, the Monday night miracle when the game was a one-sided, 13-0-0 beat down for 57 of the 60 minutes, and then all of a sudden, a fourth and, you know, forever, and then a bomb to Moss, and then they get a three-and-out stop, and then another bomb from Brunel to Santana Moss, and all of a sudden they're up 14 to 13, Monday Night Miracle. You know, the Sean Taylor blocked field goal return. You know, Dallas is on the verge of lining up to kick a game-winning field goal, and now all of a sudden Troy Vincent blocks it, he returns it, he gets face masks, leads to an untimed kick by Nick Novak.

Miracle, you know, there's been so many of them in the history of these two teams, as we know, games that were just over by. You know, the Clint Longley game, the 1979 game. They opened the 83 season. Washington's got a 20-point lead. They lose the game. Troy Aikman to Rocket Ishmael when they were down 35 to 14. I mean, it just seems like over the years we've had so many of these.

And yesterday would have been added to one of the all-time, you know, improbable, stunning comebacks. Because really, there was nothing about the game that was spectacular. on either side with the exception of Dallas's defensive playmakers. Micah Parsons and Randy Gregory were the stars of this game. But I give them credit for not going quietly into the afternoon in what could have been a blowout on the scoreboard. They had down 27 to 20,

D'Andre Carter running free down the sideline and Kyle Allen put the ball right in his hands and he dropped it. And then the next play, Alan gets sacked and fumbles the ball. And yeah, by the way, I agreed with that call. Neither of the two knees were down. The ball was not in his hand when his hand came forward. You know, personally, I knew they weren't going to overturn it because it was called a fumble on the field.

And I actually believe that if it had been called an incomplete pass on the field with a clear recovery, it would have been, overturned and given to Dallas on a fumble anyway. On the list of things that I liked, they hung in there. They didn't quit. It's kind of been the M.O. of them. Number two, the defense played well enough for them to win the game. However, I want to make sure that I don't go overboard on the defensive day because it was

a sloppy game defensively. However, they did a nice job against the run most of the day. They got pressure on Prescott most of the day. They tackled well most of the day. They covered well for much of the day. I thought that the defense gave them a chance to win the game. I didn't think it was the best defensive game, and I think Dallas's offense had something to do with it.

But they held Dallas to one for six in the red zone, They had, you know, multiple plays. Landing Collins had an interception. Cole Holcomb had the pick six. Kendall Fuller had a near interception on the opening drive of the game. Jamon Davis had a near interception in the game. You know, overall, the defense did enough and made enough plays, even if Dallas participated in some of their own demise offensively.

You know, it was a good game. They had three off-sides penalties, though, in the game. sloppy, sloppy, but in a game that didn't have a lot of positive, I'll put the defense's performance for the most part in there. Specifically, I thought Cameron Curl was really good. He's really developed into a good player. I thought Fuller was pretty good in the game. I thought Jackson was pretty good in the game.

I thought the defensive pass interference call against him was probably, you know, he did grab the arm right before the ball got there, but we've seen a lot more jostling for positioning, not called. It's these PIs, man, so subjective. But I thought for the most part Jackson played well. Holcomb played well. Yeah, so those were the things that I liked. I would throw in, by the way, the two running backs that came in for Gibson, Patterson, and Williams. I've liked Patterson since preseason game number one. I like Patterson when they signed him as an undrafted free agent. I thought he should have been a drafted player. And then Jonathan Williams, who was just called up for this game because of all the different situations they had, McKissick was down with the concussion. I thought he ran with some really good vision,

had a catch and a good run as well. So there you go. There's the list of things that I liked, not a long list, obviously. The list of things that I did not like is much longer. Let's get to that. I think the biggest issue in this game is that the key to the four-game win streak was really what they were doing offensively. They were able to run the football, stay balanced, take the pressure off Taylor Heineke. Not that Taylor Heineke wasn't delivering in some big spots, you know, with his arm and his legs in combination on some big third downs and some big drives during the four-game win-street. but the game context was always one score either way. There wasn't the pressure of being down and being asked to drop back. Their inability to run the football early in the game was a massive part of this game

because they couldn't stay balanced, which meant they couldn't stay on the field, and it also turned the best playmakers in the game loose on a quarterback that just really isn't a drop-back, you know, exclusive quarterback. You know, even I think the most passionate of Taylor Heinecke's supporters would admit, it's got to be a complementary game for him to succeed. They've got to be able to run the football, stay balanced, keep them protected, you know, and they were able to turn the best players in this game loose. And the best players in this game yesterday were Micah Parsons and Randy Gregory.

We talked about this last week that Parsons and Gregory were back with Lawrence for the first time this year. You know, you throw in digs and Leighton Vanderesh and Gallimore was back. You know, Dallas has some playmaking ability on defense. They really do. Like if they can get their offense back to where it was, I think they would be a really dangerous team because they turn people over. You know, they have been a team with their defensive playmakers. And again, they haven't even had them all on the field together at like any time this year, first time for all of them.

But they have really been a team that has forced takeaways. They've got 27 on the year. Second best in the league. And they got four more yesterday. And the two early, the Gregory interception on what was a very well, I thought, set up bubble on a play that had a chance to be a big play. But Heineke had it tipped right off his hand, and then Randy Gregory makes that incredible play

where he is able to shed the cut block by Leno, get up in the air, knock the ball up into the air, catch it for the interception. That sets up a score, and then obviously the Parsons on the fourth and three. My God. Somebody said this morning, and they called this morning and said, that was not, that should have been a penalty, play because he landed with full weight on Heineke. I guess so. Man, I like that kind of football.

Not when it's against my own team, but I would have hated for that to be called if I was a cowboy fan. What a play. I mean, he ran roughshod. They didn't have a chance on that play. I thought he got held on the play, too, coming through. But not being able to take that pressure off and turning the Dallas playmakers loose. And Dan Quinn came after. him with some exotic looks, sometimes extra man pressure, sometimes plays that looked like extra man pressure, but they weren't. I mean, Parsons dropped in coverage a ton too, and he was phenomenal dropping in coverage. Number one on the list of things I didn't like was their inability to run the football, which meant they didn't have the ability to stay balanced,

and that was going to be a major problem against that team with those playmakers. Number two, I was disappointed, and I think I felt this way more after the game than necessarily during it. They weren't able to take advantage of a Dallas team that offensively wasn't very good. Even in the first half when Dallas had 214 yards of offense and they went five of nine on third down, they just seemed out of sync. There was a near interception to Fuller on the opening drive. There was the interception to Collins. there was the near interception to Jamie Davis.

They were one for six in the red zone. There was a ball that was on the ground after a snap and a bad hand off to Zeke. Prescott didn't seem to be mobile. And at one time when he took off to run, tripped over his own feet on a play that I think would have been a first down. They had 78 offensive plays

and only 323 yards in the game. I mean, Dallas offensively, sucked. And Washington wasn't able to take advantage of that. That's kind of disappointing. Dallas on the day averaged 4.1 yards per play on 78 plays. On 78 plays, they ended up with 323 yards and 19 first downs. And really, overall, I guess, offensively 19 points, right? Because they had a defensive touchdown. They had the two-point conversion after the penalty. I thought it was disappointing. As we were going through the game, I was more concerned with their inability to move the football offensively, because that's what I was most confident in.

And just watching Parsons and Gregory, I'm like, oh my God, if they don't start running the football, this is going to be a turnover fest. And it really should have been. I mean, Heineke had one interception and one fumble, but my God, I mean, there were four balls put up for grabs. But I thought the inability to take advantage of a Dallas team that wasn't very good offensively was disappointing. Number three on the list of things that I didn't like, four turnovers could have been a lot more too. And Dallas could have had more turnovers in the game. You know, to be fair. I mean, Washington had four turnovers. The Cowboys had two, but Dak had two or three interceptions dropped as well. I think Dallas had, I mean,

with Heineke, there were three or four balls right there. Anthony Brown had an opportunity for two picks minimum. There were balls bouncing up in the air that were poorly thrown. There were balls that were late. There were balls that were inaccurate. Washington really lucky that it was just the four turnovers in the game. Gregory makes a great play on one of them. Parsons makes a phenomenal play. Gibson's got to stop fumbling. It's 24 to 8. They get the ball back. It's still third quarter, and he fumbles. And then Kyle Allen's got to figure out a way to get that ball out of his hands before, you know, he goes down or at least tuck it away and protect it and live to fight another down. But really, you've got to be able to throw that ball away and have a fourth and three

opportunity there. The turnovers were obviously very impactful to the game. Penalties, seven for 65, three off-sides penalties. Wow, a couple of lining up in the neutral zones. There were drops throughout the day. I counted, hold on, where's my list? I counted four, okay, Seals Jones two, Humphreys one, Dianne Carter had the big one. Three of those were on Allen throws. I think one of the

Seals Jones drops was a Heineke throw. The DeAndre Carter drop was big. I mean, they were suddenly back in the game. And Kyle Allen drops it right in there. And they're, you know, by the way, I thought if they

scored at the end, they were going to go for two. After the blocked PAT, I just thought there's a chance they're going to go for two if they score here. And Carter had a chance, and the next play was the fumble, game over, although Dallas still had to make a first down, although they were in field goal range. So even if they didn't get the first down on that bootkeeper by DAC at the end, they could have kicked a field goal to take a 30 to 20 lead.

So, yeah, there were dropped passes in the game as well. The miss PAT, another block. kick. That's four on the year, right? Four or five on the year? Whatever it is? I mean, what's the record in modern football for blocked kicks in a year? That was a killer. 27-21's even more pressure on the Cowboys. The injuries were obviously a big deal coming into the game and then during the game. You know, we had, you know, from earlier in the week we had Montez sweat with the COVID test as an unvaccinated player. McKissick was ruled out with a concussion. James Smith Williams COVID on Saturday.

Casey Two Hill COVID yesterday morning. That left the defensive end room in terms of the players that were up. Shaka Tony, Boone Me Routimi, Daniel Wise, and William Bradley King, who had that dust up with DAC and then Collins, who got booted on the sideline. During the game, Larson apparently a ruptured Achilles. Lennelho goes out with the back, came back. McLorne and Samus Reyes both with concussions. The throat to McLaurin was a rough one for Taylor because it was late and Samuel was wide open on the play.

And Heineke was injured, although apparently not seriously. And that's where I wanted to end this section of the things that I didn't like list. Because it also leads to a conversation that I'm sure some of you have had already. And I won't bury the lead. If Taylor Heineke is healthy, he starts at Philadelphia. If he's healthy and is able to take all the reps starting on Wednesday, he is your starter at Philadelphia. He has earned that. He had a bad game yesterday. It was his worst game. There were a lot of reasons for it. I mean, the offensive line wasn't very good. It was overrun by Dallas's defensive front seven.

And two of the better playmakers in the league right now, Michael Parsons, who is going to be the defensive rookie of the year and maybe the defensive player of the year as a rookie. They couldn't keep him or Gregory or Lawrence or a lot of the guys. Even Gallimore's push on Larson was the play that got Hineke injured again and Larson injured. I mean, Hinekeyeke had a great throw to Cam Sims escaping pressure. He escaped pressure multiple times in the game. That's what he does well. You know, he does that so well.

He had the two-point conversion run, but man, did he have a lot of poor throws in the game? game, pressure or no pressure, and he was under pressure. He was. Okay, I'm not, you know, and there was no running game to help him. I understand all of that. Understand all of that. There was a second Nate on their first drive, inaccurate throw to Curtis Samuel, who was wide open. On their third drive versus the blitz, he throws a high floater that's broken up in the air. It needed to be lower and with velocity. Diggs broke up the throw, I think it was to Humphreys. The one of the plays, I think, on their fourth drive, he escapes the pressure and nearly throws an interception to Anthony Brown. Anthony Brown should have had two picks in the game. He

had a really bad throw in their fifth drive, third and six to Adam Humphreys in the game. Look, in the first half, I mean, you don't hear of numbers like this. Washington had 29 yards of offense, 0 for 6 on third down, zero points, and their quarterback was two for 12 for 19 yards, one interception, and it could have been three or four at that point. The only guy with a catch in the first half was Adam Humphreys. He had both of the catches, two for 19. But a lot of it was because Gibson couldn't run the ball. It carries 17 yards. And we know how important. that is. It was a D-minus game for Taylor Heineke. It was an F-game for the offense altogether, so I'm not putting it solely on him. The offense was an F in the game. It was a terrible offensive day that somehow managed to score, you know, ultimately 14 points of offense before

the pick six. they didn't really earn much of anything offensively. It was a rough, rough day. So D-minus for Heineke in the game, I don't give a shit. You want to give him a C-minus D-D-Minesis. It certainly was his worst game of the year. He's had a couple of bad ones. Let's not try to act like this was the only one.

And he's had a lot of good ones. The good ones come when they are able to stay. They balanced, take the pressure off him. And when I say the pressure off him, it's not like he hasn't delivered in pressure situations. He has. But also the pressure of the score, too, is big. Because when he's delivered, these have been tight games. But he's delivered big.

You know, the Atlanta game, the Tampa game, the Carolina game, the Seattle game, the Vegas game. He, his quarterback rating yesterday was a 4.9. You know, there have been other games that weren't very good. The New Orleans game was not good. And there were a few others that weren't very good this year. The Green Bay game obviously wasn't good. The Denver game wasn't very good at all. In the game yesterday, just as a side note,

The three quarterbacks in the game had, for Washington, Heineke's QBR was 4.9 on a scale of 100. Kyle Allen's QBR was 5.8. Dak Prescott's QBR in the game was 9.9. His worst game of the year. He had a terrible game at Arrowhead against Chiefs. He was awful. Wasn't he? If I'm a Dallas fan, I'm really concerned about where my offense has gone since he got hurt and maybe he's still not back.

And, you know, they got everybody back healthy, you know, offensively at wide receiver, but then they were without Tony Pollard and Zeke was at 80%. But that was not a good offensive team they faced yesterday. And it's got the capability of being one of the most explosive offensive teams in the league. I do not think that Kyle Allen will even get any conversation this week about starting at Philadelphia. Even though I think Ron and Scott believe in Kyle Allen, they've ridden Taylor Heineckee and Taylor Heineke has had a significant influence, significant influence on the outcome of all of the games they have won this year. Oh, of course, one last thing on the list of things that I didn't like.

Antonio Gibson's got to stop fumbling clearly. With that said, I can't betch Antonio Gibson. I can't, you know, split his carries with Jared Patterson. You know, I like J.D. McKissick, and they've missed him the last two weeks dearly. And if J.D. McKissick's back for the Philadelphia game, it'll be a big deal for them. And they can use McKissick in a lot of those spots instead of Gibson. but Gibson's fumbling is a problem. Definitely, obviously. With that said, like with Heineke, they don't win four games in a row without Gibson's impact on all those games.

And he didn't have any impact on the game and he had a negative impact on the game. There wasn't any running room. And then on a play in which there was just brief, you know, a brief moment of, hey, we're about to get back into this after we scored and got a two-point conversion to make it 24-4. eight, he fumbled the football again. Six fumbles, leads the NFL, four lost is just not good enough. But what are you going to do? Are you really going to bench him? I don't think he can bench him. I think he's too important. You just got to hope he doesn't fumble away your playoff chances. Because I don't know that your playoff chances are, you know, I think they're decreased without them. All right. Some other observations from the game. Let me get my list of that.

Cam Sims, you know, he just gets the job done. By the way, he gets the job done on special teams. What a catch that was for a touchdown. Great Escape. That's what Taylor does well. And what a catch that was definitely a catch, you know, that one hip down equals two feet. Cam Sims has been a big time performer in some of their biggest games over the last two years. I really like him. And obviously he was in there for 40 snaps of the game.

McLaren went down, obviously. So that's big two this week to make sure of. There was a situation on Dallas's third drive in the game. I'm not being critical of this at all. I just was curious because Ron had the opportunity to have Dallas have a third down in five after an illegal formation penalty on a second and five in completion at the Washington seven-yard line. This was prior to the Amari Cooper wide open touchdown catch that made it at that point 11 to nothing because they went for the two points after the penalty on the touchdown pass. So it was second in 10, a second and five, they threw incomplete, a legal formation. He had the option of second and 10 from the 12 or third and five from the seven.

He chose second and ten from the 12. I think he's just like third and five is makeable for them, but it's on a condensed field at the seven-yard line. I thought third and five was the better option there. Bottom line is the second and ten was an incomplete pass, and they ended up with a third and ten. So third and ten was better than the third and five that I would have proposed, but they did score on the third and ten on a less condensed field

from the 12-yard line where Cooper got, wide open in the end zone. So hold on here for a second. The next thing that I thought was interesting. I know by rule trestways legs got to still be up in the air,

but he took a big hit on that running into the kicker play. I thought that that was roughing. You know, I guess Olson and Burkhart did a decent job of explaining why it wasn't, but whether he's in a prone position or not, if you get barreled into at full speed and it's a pretty good hit, it's got to be roughing. I thought it should have been roughing. I thought Dallas made some big mistakes in this game as related to the clock. They had a first and 15 before the two-minute warning at the end of the first half on a drive that ended in a field goal. first and 15, they're already up 21 to nothing.

What are they taking a snap for with two minutes and one second left in the half with the clock running? That was just stupid. I mean, the goal should be if you're the Cowboys there, you're at your own 18-yard line. You're thinking about you're going to get yourself into more downs here after the two-minute warning and give Washington another chance. Now, ultimately they went down the field and they kicked a field goal, but it was that. And on the interception, by the way, they're up 27 to 14. You're approaching the four-minute mark, and on a second and six from their own 26, they snapped the ball. I think I made note there were still 12 seconds left on the play clock.

It was really weird. It was as if Dallas was working on things. Like, hey, this game's over. Let's work on some things. Let's work on our tempo offense with a 13-point lead. I thought that was weird. How about the moment that Taylor Heineke when he got hurt, along with Larson getting hurt, he was able to go off the field pretty much on his own,

and there were scissors lying on the field. Did you guys catch that? Scissors were on the field at the end of that game. He picked up the scissors. Taylor He does it all. Lastly, on the opportunity when Washington got the ball back after the Holcomb interception and the three and out, which, by the way, Fuller made a really good play on Gallup. Dallas lines up to punt from their own 20-yard line.

I thought that DeAndre Carter needed to get up and field that punt. I think he cost them five, maybe eight yards of field position, and I felt like that happened another time during the game as well. You know, D'Andre Carter, even though he dropped that last pass, I want him touching the ball more. I want more kickoff returns with D'Andre Carter. I kind of feel like, you know, there are a couple of kickoffs there that weren't so deep into the end zone that he could have returned that he let just, you know, bounce. And I'm sure he's getting direction that says, no, we want this one at the 25. But I like D'Andre Carter with the ball in his hands, and I don't think he's got the ball in his hands enough in these games.

and I thought that he did a poor job on that punt return in particular. I thought he had a chance to get up there and field that punt and save them more field position. They still started that drive, that final drive where Carter dropped the pass and then Kyle Allen fumbled from their own 30. But I think it could have been, you know, from like the 38, 39, 40-yard line because he just didn't field the punt perfectly. Anyway, let it bounce. The only other observation was another Antonio Gibson observation. I think that Gibson, when he doesn't get into a rhythm running the football, I think some of the other parts of his game suffers a little bit.

I think he was really bad and past pro at times yesterday. Heineke ended up being sacked, what, four times for the game? and I think on two of them, Gibson totally was unable to help Heineke out. It wasn't just the offensive line in terms of the pass protection. I thought Gibson whiffed a couple times. Look, one of the times he whiffed on Parsons, okay? I mean, you know, it's going to be tough to stop that dude anyway. But it just wasn't a good game for anybody on offense,

with the exception of maybe Cam Sims. Anyway, bottom line is Dallas had a couple of players defensively that basically won the game for them early with game-changing defensive plays, and Washington wasn't good enough to get behind and come back. And they really haven't been. I mean, if you want to count the Atlanta game when they were down 10-0 as a double-digit comeback, of course it counts, but they had the entirety of the game to make it happen against a not-so-good. Atlanta football team in that game as well. They're not out of it. Six and seven. Massive game against the Eagles on Sunday. Well, plenty of time to talk about that the rest of the week. There is your game

take. When we come back, we'll finish up with a couple of things that happened in the NFL yesterday and a few things that happened from around the world of sports, including some local teams who had good weekends and a couple who did not. We'll get to that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Pirate Jones will end out it. It's Appleby. There we go. Tyree Appleby. Step back three for the win and a little too much and Maryland escapes. And Danny Manning, his first win as interim head coach. Really good win for Maryland yesterday. So happy for that. 70 to 68 over the 20th ranked team in the country, Florida at Barclays in Brooklyn.

More on that coming up in a moment. This segment is brought to you by, my good friends at My Bookie. Wilder versus Fury, Mayweather versus Pachial, electric personalities that produced big fights and even bigger betting opportunities. This Saturday, Jake Paul and Tyron Woodley will be no difference. So don't miss out on the action. and bet the fight with My Bookie. My bookie's got the best odds and prop bets for Paul Woodley, too,

and you can start by doubling your initial deposit all the way up to $1,000 using my promo code, Kevin D.C. Now, bowl week starts this week as well, bowl season, that is. That means pretty much games starting on the 17th right through early January. Every single day, every single night, bowl games. It is one of the best times of the year to be a better. That, of course, combined with the exciting final four weeks of the NFL season. MyBooky works. It's safe.

It's fair. Plus, they're giving you free money to wager with. They'll double your initial deposit up to $1,000. Take my promo code, Kevin D.C., and make sure it's written in the promo code section when you sign up. bet anything anytime anywhere with my bookie. It was a good win for Maryland yesterday. Now, Florida was ranked 20th, but they were on the verge of being unranked.

They lost a game earlier in the week to Texas Southern. But that notwithstanding, Maryland was on the verge of their first four-game losing streak since 2004-2005, and they came through with a big win as a five-point underdog on a neutral court that had a lot of Maryland fans. You could tell, and there are a lot of Maryland alum in New York, and it certainly seemed at least on television that they turned out. But I heard that stat during the game or that number that they were on the verge of their first four-game losing streak since 2004, 2005. And it would have been, by the way, just their second four-game losing skid had they lost yesterday in nearly 30 years.

I heard that during the game, and for me it reinforced, as I've mentioned many times, just how stable Maryland basketball has been over a long period of time. They've never cratered. You know, they haven't cratered once in a season since the probation years or the year after probation, which was 92, 93. literally one of the only programs in America to not have the occasional really bad season. Since that first year of probation, 92, 93, Maryland went 12 and 16 on that first year after probation as Gary was trying to resuscitate the program. Maryland basketball has had 28 seasons.

They've been in the NCAA tournament 20 of those 28 seasons. in the eight that they didn't make the tournament, five of those seasons literally came down to the last game of the year with them as a bubble team, so with a chance to make the tournament. And only three of the 28 seasons were seasons where they legit weren't a tournament team, and they weren't even a bubble team. 25 of 28 years, they've either been in the tournament, 20 of the 28,

or they've had a chance going to. into their conference tournament to win a game or two as they were on the bubble to get into the big dance. Only three seasons out of the last 28 were they not in contention for the NCAA tournament. And by the way, none of those seasons were losing seasons. They still had winning records. I just figured that a four-game losing streak, given the leagues, the ACC and the Big Ten that they've been in would have happened more often. Yesterday, their best players came through. Eric Iala, Hakeem Hart, Dante Scott, Fats Russell. All of them came through with some big shots, some big shot making. They combined for 61 of the team's 70 points. They combined to

go 50% from the floor, 21 of 42, and they combined to go 8 of 13 from behind the arc against a very good very aggressive defensive team in Florida. It wasn't always pretty. They struggled with Florida's pressure, 15 turnovers, and it seemed on the verge of being much more than the 15 at times, but they played with great energy, desperation, and that combined with some of the big-time shot making, got them their first win since Thanksgiving night against Richmond in the Bahamas.

It's a good resume win if we get to that point sometimes, down the road. We'll see on that, but it legitimizes for them that they are now moving forward without looking back to the loss of their coach and all that came with that. And by the way, there was more on that from various people over the weekend. I will touch on that in a moment, but I wanted to just be critical of something that I have been critical in the past. And that is Maryland's scheduling. I don't know if any of you looked at this. They had a weekend between the game yesterday and their last game against Northwestern, which was a week ago Sunday. And now with final exams scheduled, they are off for the next 16 days.

They don't play again until December 28th against Loyola. No team in the Big Ten has that long of a layoff. This is not the first time this has happened. And they're missing, to me, big chances, while college football hasn't really ramped up quite yet into bowl season. they're missing some chances to play some big games. They played a big game yesterday, you know, at the Barclay Center. Playing Florida is a good non-conference scheduled game,

but Maryland's going to end up having one game over a three-week period. I don't get that. I was taking like nine days for their finals, Indiana, 6, Purdue, 6, Illinois, 7, Michigan 7, Michigan State 10. Maryland's 16 days between games. Anyway, good win yesterday. Happy for everyone, including Danny Manning, Matt Brady, and company, the coaching staff. Now, back to what I just alluded to moments ago. Over the weekend, many of you made me aware of some comments from people like Mark Few and Dick Vital.

And a few others. There were others. But Mark Few, the head coach of Gonzaga, came out publicly in defense. of Mark Turgeon, and he attacked Maryland's fan base. He said, literally, that fan base just made it so miserable that it wasn't worth it anymore. I'm one of those guys. I don't believe a college team should ever be booed. I'm sorry, not at home, closed quote.

Hey, Mark, you're a great coach with a great program. You coach in Spokane, Washington. A little bit different personality-wise than here on the East Coast. college teams get booed all the time in a lot of different places, not just Maryland. Dick Vital over the weekend tweeted out, I've been around the game as a coach and ESPN hoops analyst for over six decades, and I can tell you flat out, baby, Mark Turgeon is a very good coach in all capital letters. Mark deserved better treatment from the fan base, so sad. in capital letters how they responded to him. Dick, I hope you're doing well. Dick's been

battling cancer and he's a treasure, so we certainly want and wish the best for him. Dick, you know better. You know better than that. You've been in the building. You know what this fan base is. You know how great and passionate it is. More on you in a moment, or more on what you said in a moment. Seth Davis, I guess this was last week, tweeted, is there any Maryland fan out there who's willing to stand up against the abuse heaped on Turgeon? Can't you say you don't want him as your coach and also call out those who act like this? What kind of person curses at a man as he's walking off the court? Well, I kind of agree.

I'm not the guy that's going to be motherfucking a coach on his way out, no matter how angry I am. But it happens all the time. I mean, maybe not at Duke, Seth, okay? But it happens all the time. Gary got MFed off the court against Florida State in 2001. I was there. He tried to go up after the fan that was cursing at him,

and Gary ended up going to the final four that year. So, bottom line for me, enough is enough. Mark Turgeon was a good coach. as most of you know, I have been a Turgeon supporter. And I agree with the coaches that have reached out and have said, hey, he's a really good coach. I know several coaches who reached out, as I mentioned last week, to my very good friend Scott, Van Pelt, who, you know, when the news came out about Turgeon, Scott has a lot of people who he's friendly with in the coaching industry that all reached out to say, wow, you guys are making them. a mistake or he's making a mistake or whatever, he's a really good coach. I've been certainly in that camp for a while now. I think I know a little bit about basketball. I have coached basketball for

30 years, and I think he's a good coach. So those who have supported Mark publicly as a good coach, I agree with that. But that's different than attacking the fan base and blaming them for Mark's departure. First of all, whenever a coach is out, it's almost always because the customers weren't happy with the results and therefore weren't spending as much money on the product. So from that standpoint, okay, but Maryland's demanding fan base isn't any more demanding than much larger and much more demanding college sports fan bases. Do you think it's any more demanding at Maryland than it is at. LSU where their football coach won a national title two years ago and is out?

What about like the real massively passionate large volume fan bases in places like Columbus? Do you have any idea what they used to do to that poor guy John Cooper in the 80s and 90s when he couldn't beat Michigan? How about this one? I kind of vaguely remembered this story, but I went up and looked up the details. Tubby Smith and his his first year Kentucky won the national championship. Six years later, fans were putting for sale signs on his front yard. He never got back to a final four. Kentucky fans were putting for sale signs on his front lawn a few years after winning the national championship

and calling in on local sports talk radio every day and night for his firing. He finally left less than a decade after winning it all with, by the way, three more elite eights and a 760 winning percentage. He went 263 and 83 at Kentucky, and they ran them out of there. So let's get one thing straight. Maryland isn't Ohio State football. It's not Kentucky basketball. It is a passionate and demanding fan base. But the comments from friends or colleagues or contemporaries implying that the fans are the main reason,

Turgeon is out, it's actually not helping the situation. I don't know what the purpose of it is. It's actually making Mark look bad. He's out because he went to one sweet 16 in 10 years, and he had lost support from those in the athletic department and at the university, more than anything else. Did he deserve to be out? Well, we've gone through that, okay?

I thought he was a good coach, a coach that was getting better, who didn't get a shot with his best team in 2020 because of COVID, and I advocated for a contract extension after last year. I also have a problem with many of you who have screamed, he needs to be out because he sucks as a coach. That's inaccurate. I have a problem with those of you who have

screamed, he doesn't develop players. Well, that's inaccurate. I've had a problem with those of you who have said, we suck, we're not relevant. Well, we finished in the top three, four times in the toughest conference in the land. We've been to the tournament six out of the last seven years. I also have said simultaneously, I want better results. And those of you that have said all along, it isn't, it's just too stale. It's gotten stale. The one sweet 16 in 10 years, let's try something new. That's been, and I've said this all along, a totally reasonable approach and a reasonable

opinion. By the way, that you can support with a real accurate data, one sweet 16 in 10 seasons. I have a problem with those who want to make our fan base out to be a bunch of animals. You know, I can't, I don't, I did not like what I was hearing this weekend from people who know better, especially guys like Vital and Seth Davis, who have been in the building and know what it's about. You know, we're not a bunch of animals. You know, those who wanted turge out had legitimate. concerns over the results in March and because of it desired something new. We didn't win the

national championship two years ago like LSU did and then start screaming for something new. It's been a decade. Dick Vital and Seth Davis in particular and those that have expressed similar sentiment that know, and Mark Few knows the Maryland program, but it's not like he has spent a lot of time at Xfinity or Cole. In fact, I don't think Gonzag has ever played a road game at Maryland, and I don't think Maryland's ever played a road game in Spokane. Maryland and Gonzaga have played in the NCAA tournament before. Gary beat Gonzaga, not a Mark Fute, a Gonzaga team, beat him in an NCAA tournament in the first round and then beat Texas on their way to a Sweet 16.

I know Maryland and Gonzaga have played in, like, holiday tournaments, maybe Maui, I forget exactly where. but Dick Vital and Seth Davis and anybody else out there that has experienced Cole or Xfinity on its really good days knows, knows how awesome the experience is and how incredibly passionate this fan base has been. I've said it for years, and many of you have pushed back, oh, it's because you're, you know, you're a terp, whatever. There's no better live sports environment in this city and hasn't been for a long time. than a big-time game at Cole years ago, but in the last 20 years now, Xfinity Center. It's been a little bit different. I will concede that since joining the Big Ten.

And the move to the Big Ten deserves some of the blame for the decreased or lessened interest in recent years. But 2020 was awesome, and you could feel it that year. You could feel what that building was like. it was starting to almost feel like the ACC days. But no 2020 tournament, a 2021 season that was actually a surprise in terms of being much better than we thought, but still out before the second weekend of the tournament. And then a rough start to this season meant Turg's days were numbered. The fan base might be wrong about a few things when it comes to Mark Turgen, the coach,

in my opinion. But our passion for the team to be great, our passion for our program to be prominent on the national stage, our desire to play in the highest profile games in March, you know, when the fields narrowed to 16 to 8 to 4, you know, that's what we all share. Those over the years that referred to our fan base as, and I'm talking about really more the ACC days, oh, it's too rough, it's too vile. You know, you can't go to a Maryland game in college park if you're a Duke or a Carolina fan. It's too dangerous. We took and we still do take pride in that,

in our place being one of the best and harshest buildings in the country. We're not Carolina, we're not Michigan, we're not the Duke fan base. There's a northeast element, a northeast toughness that's always been a part of who we are, and it should never change. And if that means you get criticized every once in a while by an opposing fan base or an opposing coach, or an opposing media member that's upset that something got thrown at Mrs. Boozer, or somebody said something foul at JJ Reddick. Well, get over it.

It's time really for everybody to just shut up about the past. I like Mark a lot. Okay, most of you know that. I know he's a good coach. And there's a chance we might not do that much better without him. You know, there's a chance the next hire won't be as good as Mark. This has happened many times with prominent programs in recent years, but it doesn't matter anymore. We can't be in the blame mode anymore.

We've got to be in the solution business now. And the first part of the solution business is for this year's team to be supported and rooted on. This team doesn't suck. It's got some pieces. It's, you know, after watching the first 10 games, it's not. an upper echelon big 10 team that I thought it might be before the season started. But who knows? They've got some guys that have won a lot of games on that team. Supporting the team means showing up at the games, you know, especially for those of you who

promised me. You know, if he's gone, I'll start going to the games. The Northwestern crowd last week sucked. Now, I know it was an NFL Sunday, but we know from the past, even with teams that haven't been our best. We've had some teams that have just been okay, but we know it is always tough to win in College Park. And they're going to play six to seven, probably estimated six to seven ranked teams at home this year. I hope this season isn't a lost one.

There's no better time of the year, especially when football season ends, than some of those nights when it's frigid outside and you walk into Xfinity Center and it's red everywhere or it's white everywhere because it's a white out or it's a gold rush game and the electricity is unlike anything you can experience in this town if it's a big game. Now I will admit I think some of the Caps playoff games feel that way. It's the same kind of feeling. So I don't want to diminish that as a tremendous experience because it is.

But those are the two. Huge Maryland game at Xfinity. The game against Michigan State in 2020 at the end of the year. I don't think, I mean, that was the first time since, you know, the ACC years that the building literally 40 minutes before tip off was packed at capacity, amped beyond description. I don't want to wait another year for that. I hope there are some of those moments this year.

They've got some players. Ayala can do some stuff. I don't know if he's a number one lead. Scott's got to stop putting the ball on the floor so much. Fats has to continue to attack, I think, more than anything. And, you know, they're going to have some wins. They're going to have some big wins this year. They're not the best team in the Big Ten by a long shot. And my preseason analysis of them being, you know, an upper echelon top four, you know, and they were favorite to finish in the big ten. the top four or five in the Big Ten. I don't see that with this group, but we'll see. Things changed. Last year at this time, looked bleak, looked really bleak last year at this time. Last year at this time, Maryland was like six in six or six and five or something like that. They had lost pretty much to everybody in the Big Ten to start. I think they went 0 in five. Didn't they go oh? No, no, no. They beat Wisconsin, I think was the one game they got. And then they turned it around that. in Champaign against Illinois when they went in there against, I think the number 10 team in

the country and shocked them. And then they got, started rolling a little bit. Anyway, look, I hope Vital's healthy. He knows better than to bash this fan base. People like him, when they've been in the building, when it's been great, they've looked around and said, whoa, this is as good as it gets. Is it sometimes a little bit too, you know, bloodthirsty? Not for me. I love that. I love that. But anyway, I don't want this to continue because I think it's an absolute 100% undeserved rep. I think some of our fans are delusional in terms of what they think they know and what they are watching, but that's different. That's not passion level. The passion level, I hope, never changes. I hope it gets amped up. Remember, many of you, and I've agreed to a certain extent that things had gotten a little bit stale. I think the Big Ten has a lot to do with that, moving to the Big Ten. But hopefully this team does well. And then hopefully guys like Bruce Pearl and Ed Cooley and Kevin Willard and many others, names I'm hearing. I'm hearing Cooley's probably

in, though. Apparently his situation of Providence is outstanding. By the way, congrats to Georgetown. They beat Syracuse. They continue to play that rivalry game, which I give both of those schools so much credit for that. The fact that Syracuse and Georgetown, Syracuse left the Big East after all those years to join the ACC, and Georgetown and Syracuse have kept their thing going. That is kudos to Jim Beheim, and of course, Big John, who by the way, the court was named after him on Saturday. and Georgetown got to win 7975 over Syracuse. Syracuse isn't that good, but that's a big time win for Patrick Ewing and Georgetown. I wanted to also mention the Army Navy game is such a spectacle. I love watching that game. It was so awesome that game on Saturday.

It never gets old to me watching it. I don't know if this is one of those progressive commercial things, but whenever it's on, I just start texting my boys, please turn on Army Navy, and then I'll send them like the CBS Open, which was just this beautiful three-minute open about commitment to military, about commitment to team, the whole thing. I'm sure there's a lot of, okay, Dad, yeah, it's Army versus Navy, no thanks. Tell me, tell me when we get Bama against Cincinnati for the semifinal games. but I do love the Army-Navy thing.

The Wizards had a rough weekend. They got destroyed by the Jazz 123 to 98. They are in Denver tonight, not easy. And then the Caps lost to their rivals. I mean, it was, God, when you think about it, caps, pens this weekend, right? Cowboys Skins this weekend. Army Navy this weekend.

Georgetown Syracuse? they lost to the pens then beat the sabers over the weekend. Let's finish up with the other NFL. The biggest plays and the clutch moment. It's time to go around the NFL. Here he is on third and three from the pocket. Connecting as Perriman taking it all the way to the win. That touchdown in overtime, Brady to Perriman,

meant that Tampa Bay covered, and Buffalo plus three and a smell test pick. And my God, did the bills get hosed at the end of regulation and in overtime? First of all, they were down 24-3 in that game. Give them credit. Man, Josh Allen was something else in the second half. He ended up accounting for 417 yards of offense. He threw for 308. He rushed for 109 yards.

He also left the building in a boot. We'll see what kind of injury Josh Allen has, but Tampa Bay wins it in overtime. 3327. By the way, Buffalo, a team that many thought had a chance to get to the Super Bowl and win the Super Bowl, they're in deep doo-do as far as the playoffs are concerned.

They're sitting there along with five, seven, and six teams vying for two spots. Now, the Chargers and the Chiefs play, as I mentioned earlier in the show on Thursday night, and whomever loses that game will be in the five spot and looking at Wildcard, while the winner will have the inside track to the division. In fact, if the Chiefs win on Thursday night in L.A.,

they're more likely than not going to win the division. They'll have a two-game lead over the Chargers with three to go. But the Bills, man, the Buffalo Bills, you know, they have lost three of their last four. They lose a game in which they were getting pounded, but they came back and had a chance. The real controversy to me was on a third and goal from the two with 20-something seconds left in regulation down 27-24,

Josh Allen throws a pass to Stefan Diggs, and he gets mauled in the end zone, and there's no call. That has to be one where the league sends, or Buffalo sends the play in and the league says, yeah, we missed that one. And then Buffalo won the toss, and they're driving on the first drive of overtime, and on a third down throw to Diggs, He gets held so obviously no call.

Really, really rough officiated calls. But look, the bills have the Panthers, the Falcons, and the Jets in three of their final four. They also have to play in Foxborough against the Patriots. And the Josh Allen injury could be an issue for sure. Bottom line is it's a struggle for them to make the postseason. in the AFC. Meantime, Cincinnati, in this other game that was going on simultaneously in that late window yesterday, Cincinnati rallies from a 20 to 6 deficit, forces overtime, kicks a field goal in the opening drive of overtime, and they're on the verge of taking over first place

in a super crowded AFC north, where all four teams are all right there. And San Francisco drives 75 yards. And in what really was one of the first. the better individual performances by any player this year. George Kittle 13 catches 151 yards and a touchdown in the game. On that drive, he finds Kittle on a third and five at the Cincinnati 21 for nine yards. I don't know how they couldn't cover Kittle. They tried all day long. And then Brandon Ayuk won it with a 12-yard touchdown.

catch from Garapolo. And overtime, and that moves the 49ers to 7 and 6 overall, and it drops the Cincinnati Bengals to 7 and 6. They would have been in first place. That's a fascinating race the rest of the way. The 49ers very much on a roll. Right now, that's a team, and I know Jimmy Garoppolo is the quarterback, but healthy, if they're healthy on defense and on offense, man, do they have the supporting cast to make a

I don't know that they've got the quarterback to make a deep run, but they did a couple of years ago when they got to the big game. That's a team with Kittle and Samuel, massive weapons offensively. I think Ayuk's good, too. And then defensively, they are really starting to step up in the game. Nick Bosa yesterday, two sacks of Joe Burrow, who got sacked five times in the game. In the game, by the way, Jamar Chase was a monster for the Bengals. The Ravens in their game to the Browns, they were down 24-6. They lost Lamar Jackson. I have no idea how serious it is.

But they came back with Tyler Huntley, and they recovered an onside kick and had a chance at the end of the game down too, but they could not get into field goal range. They lose 24-22. The Chiefs are interesting, right? They've won six games in a row. But there are only two games in which they've looked like the Chief's offensive. and it's both of the games against the Raiders. They rolled the Raiders 48 to 9 yesterday.

They beat the Raiders in Vegas a few weeks back, 41 to 14. So the Vouts scored him 89 to 23 in two games. Meantime against the Broncos, Cowboys, Packers, and Giants, they've been very pedestrian offensively. I know people are pointing at Kansas City, excuse me, and saying, well, here they go. Mahomes, you know, 20 at 24 and Tareke Hill and Travis, Kelsey and they've got Edwards a layerback. Okay, but against better defensive teams, they haven't

been that great. They play the Chargers Thursday night in one of the real big games of December. You know who's rolling all of a sudden? Seattle. They beat San Francisco last week, a San Francisco team that's playing well. I know that they were playing Houston yesterday, and Davis Mills was the quarterback. By the way, he threw for 331. But very, very slowly, but surely. Russell Wilson's getting healthier. Rashad Penny, by the way, was back, went for 140 in the game. And the Seahawks have won two games in a row.

They are five and eight. They still have games against the Bears and the Lions on their schedule. They finish at Arizona. That could be a game that doesn't matter to Arizona. Who knows? Seattle, working their way back, into the conversation as they have gotten much better offensively than what we saw here in Washington a couple of weeks ago. And then the last game I wanted to touch on was last night's game

between the Bears and the Packers. You know, the Bears are, I mean, there's something about watching them. I know that Matt Nagy's out. First of all, I'm convinced Justin Fields is going to be pretty good. I'm rooting for him. He was one of the guys that I would not have mind had Washington moved up. and taken. They led this game at Lambo, 27 to 21 at halftime. Wow. The guy Grant Senior, Jakeem Grant Sr., the kid from Texas Tech, had a touchdown catch for 46 yards and a 97-yard punt return in the game. That was a smell test pick, the Bears. They're up 27, 21 at halftime, getting 12. They lost 45 to 30, one of the lowest totals of the day. was 42 and a half, 43, and there are 75 points in the game. By the way, if you count Thursday night,

this was a big comeback weekend for the public. Favorites 10 and 2 this weekend, 10 and 2. My smell test after a sizzling four-week run, O in 3. I had Houston, they were close against Seattle and got blown out late. I had Buffalo, should have won, had Chicago, thought it was going to win, and I have the Rams tonight plus three, and I'm actually starting to second guess that a little bit. But we'll see what happens. Okay, that's it for the day. Tough loss against the Cowboys, for sure.

The Cowboys were better. They dominated the line of scrimmage. Their best players on defense were the best players in the game, and Washington now has to be focused on a wild card path that is very, very doable. They still control their own fate. They don't need anybody to lose. You know, if they win their final four games, they're in. I would suggest that if they win three of their final four, they are also in the postseason.

Two out of four, eight and nine. That's going to take some work with other teams losing a bunch of games. But I think if they win three of their final four, they are in. I think Sunday, though, is going to be a very, very tough game against a rest of at Eagles team, and obviously all week long, we will have more information as to who's going to be available for the Philadelphia game. That'll be a huge storyline this week. All right, that's it for today. Back tomorrow with Tommy.