The Kevin Sheehan Show - Yo Adrian! Skins Smother Giants

Episode Date: October 29, 2018

Redskins just won their third straight, and Kevin once again praises Doug Williams for bringing in Adrian Peterson. He goes through his game takes, including thoughts on another great performance by the defense and what he thought of Alex Smith's outing. JP Finlay joins the show after his day in New York to give his thoughts on the Redskins win. Kevin then highlights some quotes after the game that he particularly liked. He goes Around the NFL, featuring the Saints win over the Vikings, the Rams win over the Packers, and the Eagles win in London. He wraps up the show with Weekend DVR where he looks at the Red Sox winning the World Series and Dave Roberts decision-making over the weekend, the Wizards loss to the Clippers, Maryland's win and the rest of the college football slate, and his thoughts on what Scott Boras said about Bryce Harper. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now, here's Kevin. Suck it down in six. 3.20. 20 o'clock at two.

I need a. Let's go. It's Peterson. Bigel. Still got 60. Wow. How about Doug Williams? Can we get a big hand for Doug Williams who said, you know what?

I'm going to bring Adrian. Adrian Peterson in for a workout. Our second round pick is out for the year. Let me see if Adrian Peterson's available to come in for a workout. And he thought about asking the higher-ups, but he made a better decision not to even let him know. He's the MVP through seven games, although I would say there are a couple of players on defense in particular that are starting to push him on that.

Good morning, everybody. I'm here. Aaron's here. This show's presented by Window Nation. you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to windownation.com and tell them we told you to call. A happy Monday to all of you who are listening. J.P. Finley from NBC Sports, Washington's coming up shortly. You'll hear what Jay Gruden said after the game about why he thinks his team is five and two. And you're also going to hear what DJ Swaranger said about what he'll tell

his teammates who are getting too big-headed about this three-game winning streak. The Redskins are five and two for the first time since 2008, that first Jim Zorn a year. And for just the second time since 1995, the Redskins have won their first two division games in a season. Let's get to the Game Take. Pay attention. Here's Kevin's Game Take. All right, a few big takeaways before we get to the good, bad, and a bunch of other observations from the 20 to 13 win in the Meadowland. over the dreadful New York Giants.

First, let me just start with this. This was a very good win. Winning on the road after last week, an emotionally draining win over your arch rival, without any hint of letdown yesterday, no hint of letdown. To do that, that's significant. Many, many teams, all right?

More than half the teams in the league would have gone on the road against a desperate team after a big win the previous week, and they would have laid an egg. The Redskins didn't. I told you on Friday the only reason I don't have them in the smell test is it seemed like it was telegraphed. And thank God I didn't put him in the smell test. The smell test would have been even worse this week. I think right now I am four and six with Buffalo pending tonight.

try to get to five and six. Still up for the year, though, no matter what happens tonight. But piling up wins is the most important thing this team is doing, but there's something else, something else equally as interesting, if you will. And I'm not going to sit here and hit you with platitudes or coach speak or even columnists speak, but they're beginning to develop an identity, an identity. You always hear that. What's their identity?

What's a team's identity? You know what their identity is right now? Well, they're five and two and in first place. But their identity is they stop the run and they run the football. That's what they do. And this kind of identity is a winning NFL identity in most cases. The fact that it happens to be the Redskins identity right now is really getting interesting and it's truly unique

because what haven't they been able to do now for years? Here's. Stop the run and run the football. Now, next week may require more offense than they've produced. We'll worry about that later in the week. Let's enjoy this week and yesterday for now. Takeaway number two, sort of a high-level takeaway, and I'll get to the good, bad, and the other, but just a couple of quick overarching themes, if you will.

Defense travels. Defense gives you a chance always. The Giants offensive line is bad. But the Redskins defensive line dominated the line of scrimmage from the jump. Their run defense right now is one of the better run defenses in the league with Payne, Allen, and Ionitis. I can't even figure out which of the three is better because they're all really good right now. They've also got active linebackers. I think Mason Foster is off to an incredible start.

If they had had Allen and Foster and Ionitis healthy last year, I think you would have seen a much better defense. defensive result. Their safeties are involved in the run game. The defense is giving them a chance right now while the offense, let's just say, is limited because it is. The third takeaway

from the win over the game is just Adrian Peterson. I don't even think I need to go into deep explanation, but the value that he has provided this team after they lost Darius Geiss, and we don't even know what Geiss would have turned out to be. But if you're going back and forth,

Fat Rob and Samajé P-Rine, are you getting the same results right now? I don't think so. I don't think they'd be a five-and-two football team right now. Adrian Peterson, the acquisition of Peterson, is already the number one off-season move for this football team. And right now, one of the star acquisitions, one of the smartest acquisitions by any team in the league,

any team in the league, what he's given this team, through seven games. Also, one last thing, and that is, this one doesn't need, it's the same as last week, it doesn't need any kind of an apology. If you're going to give me that, yeah, they're five and two, and they beat the Giants, and the Giants stink, and it was one score, it was seven to three midway through the third quarter, and you're not going to recognize a lot of the good they're doing. I'm not naive to think that this is like sustainable against the Saints of the Rams. All right? I'm not thinking in terms of Super Bowl at this point for this team.

But if you think that this kind of winning needs an apology, you've got a problem. You got a problem. It's a good formula for winning. And that's where I'll start right now. The good. This is my list. I'll start with the formula. You run it, you stop the run, you win the time.

turnover battle, you make some plays on special teams. And oh, by the way, how about the day Tress Way had? He punted it great. Coverage was great. Hopkins missed one early, then hit a huge 53-yard field goal to give them a 10-3-7 point third quarter lead. When you play the way they've played and you let the other team self-destruct, rather than you self-destructing, Giants turned it over twice, they committed 11 penalties, they ran into the punitive, and which gave the Redskins a first down. They had multiple drops in the game. The fourth and three dropped by Engram.

It was a 10-3 game at that point in the fourth quarter. That was a massive mistake by the Giants. The skins are plus six in the turnover margin in the last three games. That's not the only reason. The other things I've mentioned are important because it's not like they're turning these turnovers into points at a furious pace. But plus six over three games has given them a huge advantage. but what's really been obvious in these three games

is the dominance at the line of scrimmage. Defensively, so good. The return of the full offensive line last week really helped, even though they had lost and they did lose some offensive linemen today, Trent Williams with a dislocated thumb, the last JP, about his status. But the offensive line was very good for most of the game. They're dominating the line of scrimmage here,

the last three weeks. The formula, run it, stop the run, win the turnover battle, make some plays on special teams, win field position. They didn't win it necessarily today, but in key spots they backed the Giants up. Make the other team lose the game or allow the other team to lose the game. The run defense was spectacular. The Giants rushed for 37 yards on 14 carries. Barkley had 38 on 13 carries, 2.9 yards per carry for Sequin Barclay. It's Allen, it's pain, it's ionitis, everyone else behind them from the worst rush defense in the league a year ago to one of, if not right now, the best. Remember again, it was a good year early before the injuries to Allen, ionitis, and Foster. I think they would have been a much better defense

last year without the injuries. That's why I always say to the people who say stop using them as excuses. No, there are reasons. You can see this year. Now, Payne's the new edition, but Allen, Ionitis, and Foster, if they were on that defense a year ago, you would have ended up with another two wins at least.

The pass rush yesterday was dominant. Seven sacks against an albeit terrible offensive line. I'll grant you that. But the Redskins made the Giants one-dimensional, and then they got interior pressure consistently, and then they came from the edges too. Kerrigan looked strong. I think Preston Smith, even though he's not getting the numbers, looks good. Ionitis's strength is ridiculous.

He had two and a half sacks. Matt Ionitis had two and a half sacks. Kerrigan was credited with a sack and a half. It really didn't matter who got the credit for the sacks or who got the sacks. They were all there with a chance. The sacks were basically doubled by the pressures and hits. At least it seemed that way. Next on the good list is Adrian Peterson.

And the rush offense as a whole. The 64-yard TD run to ice the game was great. Great blocking by Sheriff in particular. But their balance even before that run was a credit to their ability to mix in a ton of different runs. Peterson and Thompson runs from the gun. Peterson, a few runs on that pound draw with Alex Smith under center. There was read option in this game. There was speed option in the game.

Smith was involved in the run game today. Thought he could have kept it on a couple of those zone reads if they were actually zone reads. The skins ran it 33 times for 182 yards, and Peterson went for a buck 49 on 26. He carried it more than in any game. game this year, primarily because Thompson wasn't completely healthy. You could see that. Bibs got banged up too, and Samajé P. Rine was inactive. 33 runs on the day, 32 passes. I would call that

balance, ladies and gentlemen, and it's exactly what they are right now. They are a balanced offensive team. They need to be better when they throw it. More on that coming up. One more thing, too, on Peterson. His touchdown catch, nobody can tackle him. if they're by themselves. Nobody. On the good list, plus one in the turnover margin, the Sweringer I&T in the Red Zone was one of the plays of the game. He felt Beckham coming underneath after Engram had cleared towards the end zone,

and he made a great combined instinctual, but I would call it a preparation play. That's one of those things where you've studied what they're going to do in the Red Zone on that kind of play. And Sweringer is a film watcher. that was a great play and a massive play in the game. The special teams, look, Hopkins missed an early field goal, but the 53-yard field goal that he made was one of the big plays of the game also

because they were up 7-3. It gave him a 10-3-lead if he misses it. Now, the Giants aren't doing much, but they start at the 43-yard line, down 7-3-3. He banged that thing in off the upright. How about Tressway? 49.2 yards per punt, three of his five punts inside the 20. His best punt, if you recall, was after he had gotten run into,

which gave the skins another set of downs. He appeared to be hurt. It didn't look like he was going to come back in when they had to punt it after the next series. Hopkins went out there for the punt, and then Wei said, no, uh, I'm back in, and that was his best punt of the day. It was a 59-yard punt with no return.

It was a huge field flip. Individually, I mean, Peterson, despite the fumble, was just unbelievable. Sweringer, again, with the play of the day, or certainly one of the plays of the day with that interception, Sweringer was really good elsewhere, too, not just that play. He had the other interception on sort of a play that looked like the Giants were throwing it up for grabs and figuring, you know what, it's just as good as a punt if it gets picked off, except that Swaranger had a great return. He had another two to three exceptional plays in coverage.

The third and goal throw to Barclay before the field goal that made it 13 to 6 he broke up. He had excellent tackles, including one on Engram in the open field. I don't even know where to start in terms of individual excellence along the defensive front. Again, I'm not sure who's better. Ionitis, Allen, or Payne right now. Foster's really good, nearly had a pick six. I thought Norman made some plays. Stroman got beat but also made a great play on that deep ball to Shepard

where he yanked it out of his hands. Brandon Sheriff was outstanding. Reed was targeted a bunch. He was missed too many times. We'll get to that with the quarterback in a bit. Tressway, as I mentioned, incredible. You wouldn't think a 20 to 13 win over a 1 and 6 football team where your lead was 7 to 3 for much of the game

would generate so much positivity. But you're nuts if you don't recognize this as overcoming what would have been in the past, a game where they would have shown up fat and happy and laid a big turd. They would have in the past. The giants are terrible in most spots, but God is their offensive line horrendous.

It's an embarrassment, really. I can't even believe the people that put this all. on Eli. Are you watching this offensive line the last few weeks for the Giants? I'm not about to anoint the skins defensive front as sort of the purple people eaters of the 70s. It's not, not quite yet anyway. It's young though, and it's good, and it seems to be getting better. Look, Atlanta next week is going to be the first team since New Orleans that can really throw it and can really score. So next week's game is sort of a retake. of the test that they failed miserably in New Orleans,

they get to take it again. It's also a game that will put more pressure, I think, on the offense to do more as well. Let's get to the things that I didn't love. Not enough scoring. Look, I'm fine with winning the last three games, averaging 18 and a half points on offense. Perhaps if they were forced to score more,

they could, although it doesn't really look like it. I'm not burying my head in the sand and ignoring the biggest issue on this team right now, which is the play of Alex Smith. And I'm going to get to that in more detail. I'm thrilled that he isn't turning the ball over. And yes, given the nature of these last three games, turnovers would have been deadly,

certainly against Carolina or Dallas, maybe not yesterday. The Giants weren't going to move the ball. They weren't going to score a lot of points no matter where they started from. Bottom line, this kind of football gives you a chance to win most weeks. against really good teams that can score. You're going to be in a spot here next week maybe

where you need an inside straight to sort of win with just this formula without doing much more. At some point along the way, usually in the postseason, unless you have a special defense, and I'm not sure it's that quite yet. You have to make some plays on offense. You've got to score more points. The Redskins have had short field opportunities

and haven't been able to really make their opponent, pay for it. Next week, I do. I think they're going to have to do more offensively. Against Houston, they may have to do more offensively. Against the Eagles in December, twice, they may have to do more offensively. Not enough scoring right now would be the number one list on the things that I don't love right now.

But again, you know, they're not taking a lot of chances either because of the kind of games they've been in. Another thing I didn't like from yesterday. Why was Stroman on Beckham Jr. on 3rd and 17? Somebody explained that one to me. Let's try to not have that happen. Now, next week, you know, you've got a similar situation with a much better offensive line and a better quarterback

in terms of the receivers. You got Julio Jones, you've got Calvin Ridley, you've got Mohamed Sunou. Strowman's going to have to cover somebody. But I wouldn't on 3rd and 17 have him, up against Tullio Jones next week. I wouldn't. I'll throw in one other sort of

didn't love yesterday. He had one catch on sort of a quick bootleg, Vernon Davis did, but he had an offensive PI that was sort of obvious and dropped a pass on a bootleg late. You notice that I didn't put Alex Smith on this list because that's the end of the things I didn't like

list. He was on the list last week. I wasn't thrilled with him, but I didn't think it was a C-minus D performance like last weeks. And I'm going to get to that with sort of some additional observations here. All right, let me start with Alex Smith. I thought he was better this week at some things. I thought he was more patient against the pressure, which was a good thing.

But I also thought he was really inaccurate at times, like he's been this season. Look, the good things, better patience, not bailing too quickly with pressure. he made a great third and nine throw to Doxon after avoiding pocket pressure stepping up, getting it out under duress. The third and six early third quarter to Richardson against the Blitz for 25 yards. That was the biggest pass play of the day.

There were a couple of others, but there were too many misses. The third and one to read in the fourth quarter was really awful. I mean, you've got to be able to convert third and one to a wide open. Your number one target in that situation is wide open. and you airmailed it.

The deep throw to Richardson that went deep left while Richardson was like right of center was about as ugly a throw as you'll ever see. Should have been picked because it was thrown badly. It was thrown so badly, though, that it really didn't give the defensive back a chance because he was too far away from it.

The second play from scrimmage in the game was a throw that was off, could have been picked. He had a third and down, He had a third and ten checkdown before the missed field goal in the first half that was too quick to check it down to read, I thought. Looked like they may have just been trying to get better field goal position. So if he was told, look, don't take a sack and get knocked out of field goal range, check it down quickly, fine. He threw one early on a third and five in the third quarter to read that bounced off Reed's helmet. It was early in the third.

That's what I meant to say. He was early in the third quarter, third and five, and he threw it too quickly to read. Could have been caught, but thrown sort of too early. Maybe he panicked a little bit too early, got rid of it too early. He also had the deep shot to read before the 53-yard field goal. Never even gave Reed a shot on that. You know, as I'm going through this and going through my list of Alex Smith things, I may want to throw him on the list of bad for the week.

I just sort of felt like we saw some things that were improved from a week ago. Like if, I think last week I gave him a C minus. I think this week I'd give him a C. So he moved up half a grade. I just didn't. The patience in the pocket and versus the pressure, that was a big improvement. Or at least it was a moderate improvement this week. I want to give some credit to the Redskins Player Acquisition Department here.

Because you know what? The acquisition of Peterson. is an A-plus, and it is very, very, it's a very big reason, maybe the number one reason right now, certainly in the top two or three reasons that they are five and two. They added Sweringer last year, he's becoming a very good safety, very good safety. They have added young defensive talent up front,

and let's not forget some young talent along the offensive line recently. These are two areas of the team that for basically a decade and a half they ignored. They didn't realize that winning in the trenches meant you had to actually draft offensive and defensive linemen. And the Redskins have done that over the last few years, and it's starting to pay off. They have a really good young defensive front. That is so encouraging. Imagine this team if they can add in the offseason.

an outside pass rusher, edge pass rusher with some speed, and another corner. The field position, you know, I've raved about that the last couple of weeks. They actually didn't win the field position battle. Literally, if you go by the numbers, the Giants actually had a starting average field position of their own 27-yard line, and the Redskins was their own 24, but it was still a good day for the Redskins. They made the Giants have to go long distances every time they didn't move the ball and score points, which was most of the time. And they made the Giants.

They realized that if they backed the Giants up, even if it's 25, 20-yard line, the Giants just weren't going to go those long distances, not with that offensive line. I like the attempt early to get Jordan Reed the ball, even though his five catches in the first half amounted to 24 yards. He ended up with seven catches on 12 targets for 38 yards. It could have been a bigger day for Jordan Reed, but Smith missed him on some of those targets, including that third and one that I just mentioned a little while ago in the fourth quarter. I don't like Jordan Reed lining up in the backfield,

allowing the Giants to blitz, which forced him in to block. I want Jordan Reed out. I don't want him blocking. A couple of other things. Jay Gruden, end of first half clock management was excellent. I don't care what you people say. When he used those timeouts at the end of the half on defense, which got his team the ball back,

I know they didn't do anything with it. And because of that, they gave the giants the ball back. But I like Jay Gruden thinking in terms of extra possessions. it's like a lot of these coaches don't use their timeouts on defense to get extra possessions and somebody must have gotten through to him because he used it at a minute 22 and then after the next play as well and they had plenty of time they just couldn't make a play I actually was surprised the Giants just let the clock roll off after a first down sack at the end of the first half I thought they might be more aggressive from their own 29, 30 yard line

A couple of other things. How about Josh Doxon? Five catches on five targets. How about the return of Richardson? That helps and it'll help more. His speed is a difference maker on this team, even if Alex Smith doesn't always find him. Olivier Vernon, I just wanted to mention he's excellent.

Man, if they had a pass, If they had a defensive end pass rusher like Vernon to go side by side with Allen or pain, wow. And I think Preston Smith and Ryan Carrigan are playing well. Don't get me wrong. I think Smith is playing well, even though his numbers aren't necessarily there. The injuries, Trent with a thumb dislocation,

Bibs with a shoulder dislocation, Ryan Anderson with an MCL sprain, and then you've got Quentin Dunbar, and I don't know what his situation is. Trade deadlines this week. Will they make a move? I bet they don't. Wouldn't bother me if they did for a defensive player. And if you told me that I had a choice right now of a pass rusher or a corner,

first of all, you have to tell me about Quentin Dunbar and what his injury is and how long he's going to be out, but I still think I'd take the pass rusher. And Chandler Jones in Arizona, according to reports, could be available. I'd take him. Well, I wouldn't take him because they're not. not going to give him to me. But if he comes at a reasonable cost and you get your edge pass rusher, you get a top

three pass rusher, because that's what Chandler Jones is, top three to five anyway, in the NFL. And you add that to this defense, wow. And I don't even know what this defense is at this point. We're going to have a better sense of how far it's come since the New Orleans debacle when we see it against Atlanta on Sunday. but we know one thing. It's a good run defense. It's a really good run-stopping defense.

And that's how you have to start defensively. You've got to stop the run. I'd love the pass rush to be better. You faced a terrible offensive line when you got your seven sacks yesterday. I'd love one more pass-rusher. I still, if I had to bet, I would bet that the Redskins do not make a trade deadline deal.

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Who's better right now? Alan, pain, or ionitis? I can't figure it out because they're all three incredibly effective right now up front. I just wrote a story about them for our website. They're crazy good what they're doing right now. But honestly, I think it's pain. And maybe that's crazy because he's the rookie. But he's the best of the three in run defense. And he's still piling up to sacks like the other two are. So, I mean, you know, at the time we were debating Vita Vaya or Duran Payne. Yeah, right. The skins, I think he's got to seriously be in the defensive rookie of the year conversation. And I know there's a lot of football left, but he's a special, special player. And he's young, man. I mean, I don't even think he has to shave. When I see him, I can't believe how young he looks, but how crazy strong he is. You know, the other.

thing too is we have focused here over the last three weeks on the front sort of three in particular and even the outside linebackers who have provided more edge rush here over the last two weeks in particular. But I think Mason Foster once again is having a very good season. I thought he was having a very good season last year before he got hurt. He's a tackling machine, but he also, I think JP has great instincts. He almost had to pick six yesterday, and we saw last year a couple of times where he was always seemingly in the right place at the right time. Absolutely. And he's a, you know, he's a vocal leader for that defense as well. And he and Zach Brown are really a really good pair because Mason is so smart and instinctive, like you said, where ZB is just this physical,

crazy stud with this crazy speed. And they team up well. I don't know if you notice how much more Josh Harvey Clemens is starting to play, and Mason's the one never coming off the field. Certainly, he's been really good for them. Having those guys in front of him lets him be much better as well. Because, you know, I picked pain, but Alan and I, Anitis are all playing really, really, at a very high level. And it's, you know, this was the conversation we had on my podcast because last week,

And I guess I'm still optimistic in some capacity that the past game will improve, just because it almost has to, right? But how good is this defense? Is this a truly elite defense that could maybe carry them in January? Like we've seen some really truly elite defenses? I don't know that they're there yet, but you've got playmakers at every level. I mean, what Sweringer is doing, he's the best safety in football right now. we talked about the D-Line, and then Zach and Mason in the middle are exactly what you want them to be.

Yeah, I think the only thing, you know, we have to be careful of is we just have to recognize the last two opponents offensively. You know, limited in some respects. And the last real good offensive team they played was New Orleans. And we know how that went. Yeah, so we know how that went. Although, you know, Carolina, they did a pretty good job against as well. And you mentioned Harvey Clemens. He's clearly coming in for Zach Brown in some of these past situations against some of these backs that they're concerned about.

And he's done a pretty good job against the McCaffreys and yesterday in Berkeley. You mentioned Mason Foster. And it actually dovetails perfectly into my next question, which was going to be, you know, over the last few years, there's always been sort of a lack of obvious leadership on this team, Trent Williams. James has always been one. Yeah, Trent's always been one. Are there new players emerging as leaders? Because I sort of get this sense that DJ Swaranger is one. Certainly, but I would say John Allen is. It's been impressive to watch kind of the vocal, and he's not a, he doesn't say a lot, but what he does say is important, and I think it carries weight. Swaranger, absolutely, but like,

that's kind of obvious. You know, I mean, he's, he's, a vocal guy, he's always kind of doing the hype speeches, all that sort of stuff. But, you know, one person who really since that Saints game has seemed different to his teammates, I tweeted this out after the win. Josh Norman, when, so I'm in the tunnel where all those guys are coming off the field after the game, and most of the guys are in pretty good spirits, smiling. You know, they've won three in a row. They've won two in the division already. But Josh Norman was furious. He was furious, angry, and he was yelling and seething with anger. And we were all trying to figure out, you know, what is going on here? What's he so mad about? It was the kind of

thing where I thought he must have gotten like cheap shot at late in the game or something. Ends up, he was just so mad about that garbage time touchdown that the Giants scored. And I tweeted out his quote, he said, you know, I'll take accountability on that. It was my fault. I'm so mad about it. You can't give up even in those situations. And hearing Norman say that and act like that, I think that carries a lot of weight in that room as well. I mean, Norman is still playing at a very high level, and he's a star. You know, he's one of the few guys on this team that has commercials and all that sort of stuff. So for Norman to be all the way in shows they got something special brewing with that defense.

I don't know, especially with the Quentin Dunbar situation, just how good they can be. But there's a different feel, especially defensively this season, than I've seen with Redskins in a long time. Yeah, it's, look, they said all of them said all of the right things about not being satisfied. at this point at 5 and 2, not getting overconfident. You know, this is a team in the past when there's been limited amounts of success. It has, at times, sort of gone to their head. And you've got guys, you've already mentioned a few of them that are all clearly trying to stay focused and realize, you know, the opportunity at hand.

And I know it's so cliche, but it really is about, you know, moving on to the next one and playing the next one regardless of... Yeah, go ahead. I think, I'm sorry. No, I think we talked about this last week. I still think the Falcons are a tremendous test because the Giants are just terrible. You know, I mean, let's be honest. They have explosive weapons in Sequin and Odell, but that's a bad football team. The Cowboys run the ball well, but that's exactly what the Redskins are built to stop. So that, you know, in a way, even though the Cowboys and the Panthers are good teams, that is a good matchup for Washington. I don't know that the Falcons are a good matchup because of the aerial attack. You know, Julio and Ridley and Mohamed Sunu, they're going to try to air it out on you. And especially if Dunbar is not back, I think it's a very different challenge, and it'll be good to see. It's a good test to see if the skin's defense is really that good or if they're really good playing one style.

Yeah, I mean, I said earlier, I said essentially they get to retake the test that they failed. New Orleans and it's this Sunday against Atlanta. And you know what? If you look at what they have, you know, over the next few weeks, this really is, you know, the test because they've got so many weapons, they can really throw the ball. They can run the ball even without Devante Freeman when they want to with Tavon Coleman. So it's going to be a test. I want to flip it to the other side of the ball because we haven't talked enough here

offensively. How would you, J.P, describe Jay Gruden's feelings right now on his offense? I think he's quite happy with how they're running the football, obviously. I think he's happy with his offensive line. I think he's unhappy with his quarterback, and he's not going to say that, and Alex isn't turning the ball over, and that's important. They are, I believe they're plus eight in turnover differential, which is going to, I mean, they're probably top three in the league,

something like that. They were tied for fourth in the league and turnover differential going in the giant. So they were plus one. It's not going to get any worse. Right, right, exactly. And I think Peterson had the fumble, right? No, yeah, they were plus one. Yeah. I think Gruden is obviously frustrated with Alex. Alex's leaving plays on the field. And I think Alex is probably frustrated too. He was back out there today. He had, they very clearly made an effort to go to Jordan Reed early and often.

I think Jay did a good job on Sunday of trying to force the ball to playmakers. I mean, that, you know, kind of funky end around to Paul Richardson was about getting him a touch. And, you know, Gruden's off, you can say a lot of things that, you know, maybe he doesn't have the receivers or whatever, but Gruden's offense has proven that you can pile up yardage, kind of no matter what. Even if you go back to 2014, when all three of RG3, Colt and Kirk all started games, even go back to that year, which was a really train wreck season for the Redkins. It was Gruden's first year. They were rebuilding those three guys combined for more than 4,000 pass yards. So 4,000 should really be kind of the standard for this offense. And I mean,

if you extrapolate Alex's numbers right now, he's going to get nowhere close. Three games in a row, he's at under 200 pass yards. That's a problem. It is. It is a problem. But, you know, the other three quarterbacks that, you know, had, well, two of the three anyway, that had some success with Jay didn't have a running game. and didn't have a defense to sort of rely on. I think they can win games this way. I do too. I'm not saying, but I think, you know, if you get some truth serum,

Jay wants to be able to, I think what's separating them, and I think probably a reason, I think a fair amount of fans are still pretty skeptical, I think a big part of that skepticism is that they're so limited offensively. And that's why the Falcons, again, I mean, you're going to have to score some points to beat these teams and can the Redskins do it. And if they show they're able to, I mean, the real breakout we saw is the first half of that Packers game, right? If they can replicate that in some capacity, then I think you start talking about how good can this team be. I think clearly the Rams and the Saints are the class of the NFC, but maybe are the skins right there after them? Those are the conversations you start having if they can get the past game going.

Look, I don't think either one of us has given him, you know, an overly amount of benefit of doubt, Alex Smith I'm talking about. But the one thing I would also say is, you know, they've played some pretty good defensive teams, at least talent-wise here, over this stretch as well. And again, the teams they faced also were limited offensively, so they didn't have to do a lot offensively. I want to see this coming Sunday when they may be forced to sort of keep pace with the opponent. And maybe the defense is so much better than we even think that they'll shut down the Falcons. But they certainly didn't do it against the Saints and we'll see. You're right about one thing. And people can bitch and scream all they want about Jay Gruden.

And personally, I think he's a very middling, you know, average overall head coach. But he gets people open, period. And he's done it since he got here. He is able, through his past schemes and designs, he's able to get people open. I wanted to ask you real quickly about a couple of players. One, Josh Doxon sort of quietly, I would guess. Although Redskine fans have noticed, certainly. But he's been targeted more.

Hell, he was targeted five times and caught all five balls that he was targeted on in the game against the Giants. a career high in what? Receptions or percentage? They never had a five-catch game. Isn't that crazy? Oh, my God, I had no idea. And this year you can say, you know, Alex isn't throwing the ball to him or well, but, you know, he played with Kirk all last year too and never had a five-catch game. It's pretty wild. Yeah, I mean, it's not like they're getting huge plays out of them,

but they've moved the sticks with a couple of them. And the bottom line is he's caught everything and caught some of that stuff. in traffic too. We're, you know, remember the last couple of years, you know, we had some short-arm situations with Josh. But, I mean, look, I still see it. He's played physical and he hasn't before two weeks in a row. He's been a really good blocker. Yes. Doxon is playing well, that period. The one thing I noticed with him, I agree that he's been a physical player and seemingly a more confident player. But you don't see a ton of separation with Doxon, or am I imagining that?

No. Because even on the, you know, I think we talked about this last week, and I admit that this is mostly just anecdotal. The one part of the passing game that I think Alex deserves some credit is that he tends to be good on third down. They go on these really long, ugly offensive drives that don't always, you know, you even result in points, but they possess the ball for a while, and some of that is picking up first down.

But you're right, I mean, they're running docks on these slants and this over-the-middle stuff where he's getting hit, and it seems like the corners are on him. Yeah. But he's able to come down with the ball. Yeah, tight windows and not a lot of separation where Jay's design usually gets separation. What did you make of the attempt early? I think it was sort of a dual attempt to get Jordan Reed going early and also to get Alex maybe some confidence early with the early throws to read.

I think they did it on purpose and I think it was smart and it's great. Jordan Reed, I think he had seven catches in the game, but seven catches for less than 50 yards. 38 yards, yeah. He's getting what, five yards to catch? That is tough sledding, man. And then the third down, the third and won is when he sailed it over here. Yeah, I mean, that's an easy pitch and catch move to chains. I mean, well, that's the thing, right?

And I'm talking about that he's good on third down. Right. Well, what's ironic is he's made some plays. He hasn't been an F in any of these games, but the surprising thing to me is his inaccuracy because I don't remember when he was, when he had it going to a certain extent in Kansas City and even in San Francisco, they were confident, they were confident, confident throws and they were accurate throws. He's been inaccurate for three consecutive weeks. Well, and one of the things that I've found especially odd in New York was against the Panthers

and against the Cowboys, he just didn't seem settled in the pocket. He, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, He was moving his feet too early. A lot of times he was scrambling when he didn't need to. Right. I thought we saw less of that. Me too, I agree. But he was still inaccurate, which is just, you know, it wasn't about keeping his eyes down the field. It was, it just, he was just sailing the ball.

And, I mean, the deep shot to Richardson, I assume that he thought he was breaking that route inside or so I don't know. But that ball was bad. That was a legit. bad throw. That was a horrible throw, but back to being or adding to what you were trying to say in terms of something positive about him, I actually thought his patience against pressure was much better this week than it was last week, even though they didn't convert always. All right, before I let you run. I ask you one thing. Sure. So on our podcast, we do a segment after the game, game balls and goats. So game balls if you played well, and we call you a goat if you played bad.

We had like a 10-minute debate if Alex is a goat in that game. No, less so this week than last week. Last week I thought was it wasn't a tragic performance, but it was certainly C-minus D territory. Today I would probably put it slightly better. He made some plays today. He actually stepped up a couple of couple of times and made some throws. You know, the third and six early third quarter to Richardson, you know, that was against the blitz, I believe, for 25 yards. He dropped that over the linebacker, I think. Yeah, had a third and nine throw to Doxon where he sort of avoided some pressure in the pocket, stepped up, got it out under duress. You know, he made some plays. And look,

right now, given the way they stopped the run and the way they run the football, you're okay, you know, with a first down, maybe two of them in a punt, if that's what happens on the drive versus him trying to force something right now because they don't need it. They may need it Sunday, though. Well, and they don't have the margins for a turnover. In the current framework of how they're winning games, they cannot afford an I&T, you know?

And he's not doing that. So I agree. We did not give him one, but, you know, he also didn't get a game ball either. I think yesterday was the first day I would have felt like even if they had turned it over or made a big mistake that the defense may have gotten to stop, because that giant offensive line is honestly the worst I've seen in the NFL in years, really in years. Bad, bad, bad.

All right, real quickly. Trent Williams has the fractured thumb or dislocated thumb. That's not going to stop them from playing, will it? I don't know. talk to him in the locker room for a few minutes after the game, and he seemed to be okay, but when you ask Trent, like, oh, are you going to be able to play? He kind of gives you this look like, man, of course, I always play. And he didn't give me that look. He had a different kind of response. He's like, you know, I try to play through everything, but when defensive

guys get a hand injury, they can play through it because they just make it a club. But offensive guys, like, I need my hands to keep. guys out of the backfield. And the thumb looked bad. It looked like a bad injury. So I don't know. We'll know more by next week. But it's remarkable because nobody can replace Trent Williams. But Ty and Secky, for everything, people want him to play guard, people want him to play. He's a tackle. He's a tackle. Not only is he a tackle. He's a left tackle. But he's a left tackle. That's where he's best suited to play.

Yeah, I tend to agree with you. He's not Trent, but he can be pretty good. Atlanta has struggled at times defensively. They've had some injuries. They do, however, have some really good edge rushers. In Beasley in particular, who's really developed into a good player. You know, they still have, I think they still have Brooks Reed and the rookie from, or not the rookie, the second year guy from UCLA, McKinley.

they've got some pass rushers so it would be nice to have Trent but you only want them completely healthy and you mentioned Dunbar just real quickly again for the second time before I let you run is Dunbar in trouble of missing a lot of games with this nerve injury what's this injury about it's a nerve in his shin

that's just not responding and in turn he can't run and he needs to be able to run So the fact that they didn't rule him out on Friday, that he traveled with the team. He was in New York. I talked to him for a few minutes. You know, I think with nerves, you just have to let it rest and hope that it kind of regenerates. But it's a trick.

The fact that he was listed as questionable and they brought him up here means maybe they were hoping it could work and he could play on Sunday, which is a good sign. but from everything I've seen of him at the practice field and the facility, I think it's a real question mark to the point where if they are having conversations around the trade deadline, I would say corner is the number one spot they should be looking at. Will they be looking at Janoris Jenkins, a guy who had two penalties on one play yesterday? I don't know. The stuff between the skins and the Giants, I'd be hard to believe. I hear you.

But what other corners are really available that could really help them? I mean, I'd love to think that. I think you look at Denver. You look at the Broncos, who reportedly are having discussions on lots of things. And, you know, if you can get a guy like Chris Harris or something, you're talking about somebody that can, if they, this team is five. to first place in the NSE East. You know, just run the numbers.

They look like they're going to make the playoffs. If you think you are a team that can make noise in the playoffs, but you're missing a corner, I think this is the time to be aggressive. I don't know that they will, and I don't know that they should. But if you line all those, a lot of it will depend on what their medical team is telling them about Dunbar. And I just don't think they have the answer right now because Dunbar is a good player when he's on the field.

I agree. I was thinking about this earlier about a trade deadline move, and I read early this morning that potentially that Arizona would be willing to move Chandler Jones. And if you told me right now, even with the injury to Dunbar, would you take, you know, an elite pass rusher over, you know, Dunbar coming back as an example, or replacing him with a new corner, give me the elite pass rusher right now? always. If they had one on this team, wow. Because they still don't have that exceptional speed edge rusher. And I think Kerrigan and Preston Smith are playing great. A lot of that is, you know, interior sort of influenced as well. Yeah. I'm glad you said Preston, too, because he's not putting the numbers up right now, but he is playing well. And I think it's important for fans to know that. Thanks for doing this. Redskins Talk podcast for JP. You can find that anywhere you find podcasts.

Plus just go to NBCSports.com, you know, Washington slash Washington, and you can find it there as well. Have a great day. We'll catch up next week, hopefully after another win. Five and two is amazing. I don't know that anybody saw this coming after New Orleans. And, you know, Gruden had a really good quote in post game, just that after that Saints game, you know,

we had to figure out who we were going to be, and the leaders on this team stepped up, and we've decided we're fighting back. Something to that effect. He's right. I mean, that same game was as embarrassing a loss as this team's had in a decade, and they've responded. Thanks, JP. Appreciate it as always. Thanks, Kevin. Take care, buddy. J.P. Finley, again, that Redskins Talk podcast, listen to that, and J.P.'s been joining us on the days after games this year, and hopefully that will continue. I love the conversation with him on the day after the game. Ferris, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Fairfax.

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They're located right there in Fairfax Circle. Ask for Ralph when you get there. Tell them I sent you. You can also find out everything Farish has right now, live inventory, live pricing at ferrish cars. We'll go around the NFL here shortly. There were some games yesterday of note. The Eagles getting a win to get back to 500 with their win in London. They've got a buy week next week.

the Cowboys were off. We'll get to all of that shortly. But I wanted to play a couple of sound bites from the post-game press conference conferences yesterday in the Meadowlands. First, this was Jay Gruden when he was sort of asked about the team's identity right now being its defense. In this division, you got to play great defense, in my opinion. This is critical for our success until we get going offensively. We have to win games like this, and there's nothing wrong with that. That's the same in a win column, and we'll take it. That was Jay Gruden, all right, talking about what we all recognize right now, that the defense is leading the way.

The running game is a big part of this, too, but the defense is leading the way. And, you know, I think he's frustrated with the pass offense in particular. I know he believes there's more out there that's getable offensively, but I like the fact that right now there's recognizing. that it's okay. You know, it's okay to be winning this way. This is a guy that is offensive-minded. This is a guy, my co-host here for two days a week,

thinks is in pain winning this way. I don't think that's true at all. I think there's an edge to Jay Gruden this year. And they've done a good job as an organization, adding some pieces to this defense here. He recognizes what it is, and they're going to have an opportunity. I think Sunday against Atlanta to get more in the pass offense.

They've played three decent defensive teams in a row here in Carolina, Dallas, and the Giants. I know the Giants traded away Eli Apple. He's terrible. I mean, did you see him last night for the Saints against the Vikings? He's not any good, you know, at this point there. And I think the Giants still have some talent defensively. Atlanta's a little bit, you know, right now undermanned because of some of the the, some of the injuries they've had defensively. So I think Gruden's confident that it'll come

around, but winning this way, no apologies necessary. This was Alex Smith. I wanted to pull this one, Alex Smith soundbite, because I thought it was very interesting. He was asked about his involvement in the running game as a runner and was asked specifically if these were designed running plays or sort of options that he had to run it? We saw a couple of times where you took off on the option. It looks like he was predetermined maybe or are you deciding at the moment you're going to do it? Can't tell you.

Top trade secrets. Very often, though. Yeah, I love it. I love to be involved in the run game. I feel like it's something I still can do. I still enjoy doing. You got to be smart with it as a quarterback when you do get out of there. but it's like I said, I have something I really enjoy doing.

And like I said, like being involved in the run game. I love that he loves it because he needs to be a part of it. He was in Kansas City. He was in San Francisco. Him being a part of the run game is helping the run game. You don't necessarily see it on every single run. I'm not suggesting that every single run that Adrian Peterson has is sort of influenced by Alex Smith as a part.

possible runner. Obviously when he's under center, not necessarily the case. But when they are meshing out of the shotgun and some of that zone read stuff, it does make the defense hesitate because he is capable of pulling it. I actually thought that he could have pulled it on one or two more occasions in the game yesterday, although some of these may have been sort of to look like read options, but they perhaps were not. This last soundbite that I pulled that I wanted to to play for you is DJ Swaranger, who I think is emerging, you know, as a leader. And we talked to JP about some of the leaders defensively. He said, John Allen's really emerging as a big leader, Mason Foster is. But this was DJ Swaranger, just talking about keeping the team focused and not

getting too overconfident. Well, you know, when we get back, we got to get on to Atlanta. You know, we're supposed to win this game. You know, we're supposed to be the team that's one and seven. We're supposed to blow him out, truthfully. But, you know, we're supposed to blow him out, truthfully. You know, we got the W, that's all that matters. When we come in next week, you know, it's all focused. We're not happy. We're not, you know, it's all focused, man. It need to be all focused, attention to details.

We still haven't did nothing around here. You know, we lead them, but we haven't won the division. We haven't won the championship. We haven't won the Super Bowl. So there's no room for lack of days ago. There's no room to come around thinking like we did something. We ain't did nothing yet. You know, we're just getting started.

We just, we're just putting, we just turning the stove on, man. We ain't even put the grease in yet. So we just got to keep it rolling. I haven't even put the grease in yet even though the stove is on. Look, they've got three of their next four on the road, five of their next seven on the road. You can throw up that number that was thrown up, I think, at the end of the telecast of the game today,

about only one team remaining on their schedule has a winning record, and that's Houston. But you can't look at that schedule and think you're playing a bunch of teams that you're going to be favored again. Now, they are a slight favorite, believe it or not, over Atlanta. They're a one and a half point favorite at home over Atlanta. But with Philly twice in December and Houston and at Tampa, a capable offensive team,

even if it's with Ryan Fitzpatrick, there are no easy games left. And I like Swaranger and I love his attitude. And by the way, right now, I think he's one of the five best players on the team right now. You take Adrian Peterson, you take any one of those. three defensive linemen, maybe all three of them, Sweringer and maybe Sheriff, you know, there's the list right now, the players that are really, really influencing the outcome of these games. All right, let's go around the NFL. The biggest plays and the clutch moment. It's time to go around the NFL.

All right, let's start with the game from yesterday morning in London. Philly beat Jacksonville 24 to 18. There was a lot going on in this game, a lot going on. Let me just start with this. Jacksonville really, really killed themselves at the end of that first half. They were up six three. They were driving for more likely than not a 9 to 3 halftime lead. And Cole, the receiver, makes the catch.

And there's a weak hit, not a really big time hit. He just coughed it up. I mean, really, without it being forced. And Philly turned around, went the distance, scored a touchdown right before the half. Instead of being down 9 to 3 at halftime, they're up 10 to 6 at halftime. That's one of those plays. There were a couple of plays in games that I watched other than the Redskin game where one play at the end of the first half really turned sort of the game on its backside.

And that going in 9-3, Jack. Jacksonville would have had a much better chance to win the game. As it turned out, they still had a chance to win the game. Look, Bortles, you know, let me just tell you that Doug Morone afterwards said he thought Blake Bortle Bortles played well. And most of you probably thought he sucked the entire game. He sacked four times. He was 24, 41 for 286 yards. He had a terrible throw on a fourth and two, a no-chance throw with the tight end wide open over the middle. And he went to the back instead. And that was at 24 to 18 late.

I actually don't completely disagree with Doug Marone. I thought he got sort of hot in the second half. As much as Blake Bortles can get hot, throwing checkdowns, throwing underneath mid-rary, you know, sort of the underneath stuff, they were in this game. They were in this game, they had a legit chance. And the overturn on the Josh Adams fumble. by Philadelphia that was called a fumble in that game. I couldn't believe that that one got overturned on replay.

I just didn't think that there was enough there on replay that was conclusive. It's like Philadelphia's gotten two really good overturns in the last two weeks. Last week they couldn't take advantage of it. This week they did. And it really helped them. Really helped them. Philly lost some offensive linemen in this game. I think Lane Johnson got hurt.

the game. I don't know how seriously. But they win the game. 2418 wasn't pretty. You know, if you watch this game start to finish, Jacksonville had a chance to win this game. I mean, there were opportunities for Jacksonville to win this game. Philly survives 24 to 18. They get their bye week, but they're four and four, all right?

At the by week, they come back off the by, and they play Dallas on a Sunday night. Let's go to the Sunday night game because I know many of you are waiting for me to weigh in on that just terrible stat stuffing Kirk Cousins. Man, he's just a stat stuff for Edney. First of all, this is another game that completely turned on one play at the end of the first half. The Vikings are in control.

They're up 13.10. They're about to go up 20 to 10. Worst case, 16 to 10 at halftime. Kirk hits his favorite receiver, and he's got to, a couple of them and digs in Thielen. Thielen makes the catch and he chucks it to the ground. He coughed it up, gets returned, and then there's a penalty on the return, and all the sudden, instead of it being 20 to 10 at halftime, worst case, 16 to 10 at halftime,

they're down 17, 13 at halftime. If you really watched that game last night and you think that loss is on Kirk Cousins because the interception return in the third quarter. And you don't recognize the significance of that Adam Thielen fumble at the end of the first half? I'm not saying that they can't overcome it. They could have and they didn't. I'll grant you that. But if you don't recognize how significant that play was and how it turned the game on a dime,

you're an idiot. You're an idiot. A complete and utter idiot. Some of you just stat stuffing? Yeah, at the very end of the game, he was stat stuffing. You know when he wasn't stat stuffing? And the first half when he had thrown for 179 yards in a touchdown. That interception returned, by the way, did you listen to Collinsworth and his explanation?

That was on Stefan Diggs. He stopped. Stop dead in his tracks. Kirk didn't expect it in man coverage for him to sit down when it was man coverage. I didn't think that Cousins was great last night. I will grant you that. The pressure was heavy. He ate some that he probably should have gotten rid of.

They're really struggling to protect him. And last night was one of those nights where they actually ran the ball a little bit for the first time, or only the second time, I think, this year. But really where the problem was for Minnesota is they couldn't really get New Orleans off the field. They couldn't stop them. I mean, New Orleans put up 23 points. You take that interception return. out of it.

They just couldn't get them off the field when they needed to get them off the field and get stops in the second half. New Orleans is really good. They're really good. You know, the interesting thing about that box score, if you look at the box score in that game, and I didn't realize it until the very end of the game. They won the game 30 to 20. The Thielen play was the biggest play in the game by far.

Drew Breeze only threw for 120 yards. That was it. I mean, Alvin Camara and Mark Ingram, you know, ran the ball pretty much it will right down their throats. The Vikings run defense this year, just not what it was last year when it was number one. I think number one in the league last year. Let's go to the Packers Rams out in the Coliseum. It was a home game for the Packers. If you watch this game, the 425 Fox game, my God, was that a Green Bay crowd?

It was like Lambo was basically picked up and moved to the Coliseum. It was a really good football game, a really good football game. There were multiple turning points, but I'll jump to the end in which the Rams, I was very surprised down 27, 26. They almost played for the field goal there. I know that they had a penalty that knocked them back, but I really felt in the moment they were going to have to score or touch. and make a two-point conversion to win this game or to have a chance to win the game. And they got, you know, there was a holding penalty at the Green Bay 13 that set up a second and 20. Then they ran Gurley twice.

They didn't throw the ball, second and 20 at the Green Bay 23. They ran Gurley for four. They ran Todd Gurley again for three and they kicked the damn field goal. I thought that that was a losing strategy and I thought, my God, Aaron Rogers, He's down two. Are you kidding me? This is going to be a walk-off field goal on the other end. But it wasn't because Ty Montgomery made the biggest mistake of the day.

I don't know who you put this on. For all I know, Mike McCarthy told Ty Montgomery, look, the kick goes into the end zone. You let it go or you catch it and you take a knee. We're giving Aaron the ball at the 25-yard line down two with two minutes to go. Why would we want to do that? Well, because we'll win the game. In fact, I was trying to, and I was having a conversation with one of my sons in that moment, and he said, this is a 95% chance that Green Bay is going to go down the field and kick a field goal and win. And I said, I don't know if it's 95, but it's 75.

It's a three out of four situation. And Ty Montgomery returned the kickoff, got hit, fumbled. It was a great hit and a great strip. And with that, that basically ended the game. I mean, they ran plays and Gurley picked up a first down. And for anybody that had the Rams laying seven and a half or eight, the number went down to seven, seven and a half, eight. I gave the Rams out smell test on Friday minus nine and a half.

The line came down. But if you had them like I did yesterday when I played them laying seven because I bought the half point, you just looked at Gurley and you said, hey, you did the right thing for your team, but please go in and, score. Swung a fantasy matchup in my league. Yeah, if you had Gurley and Fantasy, but he did the right thing. Rams are 8-0, and the Rams go to New Orleans next Sunday afternoon, 425 on Fox. How about that

one? How about the Rams with the Packers and then the Saints? One question about the you mentioned the crowd at the beginning. Do you think this is going to be a problem in January? Oh, yeah. Well, it was a problem last year. I mean a problem. for them. The road goes, the road to the NFC goes through that stadium. Is that going to be a problem for them? Sure it is. Because if you get, look, when Minnesota was there for that Thursday night game, it sounded like a big Minnesota crowd. If Green Bay is there, it's going to be a problem. You're talking about fan bases in Green Bay in particular, but even Minnesota to a certain extent, as compared to, say, Atlanta or New Orleans. New Orleans will travel a little bit. Atlanta won't. Remember, Atlanta was the team that went to Los Angeles and won the playoff game last year. But, you know, you know, Yes, it's an excellent point. They're not going to have a massive home field advantage, even though they will, at this point, they would be the team you think will end up being the number one seed,

but New Orleans is going to have something to say about that because they get them next week at home, and New Orleans right now is 6 and 1. But that was a really good football game. And, man, I give Jared Gough a lot of credit because he looked shaky early. He came back in the second half and made some big, big throws. in that game. It was probably one of his worst completion percentage games of the season,

but he still threw three touchdown passes. And Gurley right now has to be one of the front runners for the MVP, 114 on the ground, 81 through the air. And another touchdown and could have had a second one there at the end. Yeah, I'm pretty sure him and the homes are one and two. Yeah, that would be the, that's the short list right now as we, as we've now, you know, to go on to week, well, we'll go to week nine after tonight's game. A couple of other games I want to mention real quickly. The Ravens got hammered at Carolina, and I'm not backing off the Ravens if you're expecting me to back off the Ravens, but I will say this.

They get three straight home games coming up. Their schedule is brutal. I mean, it has been brutal. Saints last week, Panthers this week, they go back to back with the Steelers and the Bengals at home. Then they get the Raiders at home. The Steelers would be a. win at home to complete the sweep.

The Bengals to avoid the sweep, and then they get the Raiders. They still have games in Atlanta at Arrowhead and in Los Angeles against the Chargers. It's a brutal schedule. Yesterday, there's some flukish stuff early with Carolina to get the lead, but then I didn't, obviously, this was a one o'clock game, so I didn't see a lot of it. But Baltimore's defense, after really doing an incredible job against New Orleans for three quarters. Since that fourth quarter, they've been lit up. Carolina went for 154 on the ground. Cam Newton had 52 yards rushing and Cam threw for another 232. Flacco threw two picks in the game.

Plus Alex Collins fumbled so they had three turnovers in the game. That didn't help matters. The Ravens fall to four and four. I still like their team and I still think they would be dangerous in January if they can get there. But getting there is going to be the issue now at four and four. Pittsburgh now all of a sudden at 4-2-1 after their win over Cleveland yesterday, 33 to 18, they're in first place in the AFC North. The Bengals, however, had a chance were on the verge of blowing a big big, well, they did blow the big lead. They had a 21-0 lead at one point, a 34 to 16 lead at one point, and after throwing his fourth interception, which was a pick six,

James Winston got benched, and in came Ryan Fitzpatrick. And Fitzpatrick threw four in a quarter and a half, 194 yards and two touchdowns, and led them back to a game-tying touchdown with the two-point conversion, but Cincinnati got in field goal range and kicked a walk-off game winner, and the Bengals now are five and three. They are in second place, I guess technically, in that division behind the Steelers at four, two, and one.

You want to hear about an impressive win that probably none of you saw, because we were all watching the Redskins game. How about just how quietly Seattle's going about their business? They won at Detroit, another team I touted last week. Hey, I tout Houston also, but I did tout Detroit. I thought Detroit would win this game. Russell Wilson, 14 of 17, 14 of 17. He only threw 17 times in the game.

248 yards, three touchdowns. They rushed for a buck 76. How about this? They ran it 40. two times and they threw it 17 times. Russell Wilson, three touchdowns for the third straight game. A perfect passer rating. Russell Wilson yesterday at 158.3 with the three touchdowns.

He also ran it for 15 yards and Chris Carson went over 100 yards on the day. You still may say, well, who are their receivers and who are their playmakers? Well, their playmaker is their quarterback. That's who their playmaker is. and the Seahawks are four and three. And keep in mind, you know, they lost a close game, super close game to Denver. They lost a Monday night game at Chicago, and they lost a really tight one at home against the Rams,

a game that was certainly there for the taking. They've got an interesting game next week against the Chargers in Seattle. A couple of other games real quickly. The Chiefs, 7 and 1. They beat the Broncos 30 to 23. four more touchdown passes for Patrick Mahomes. Ridiculous, the pace that he is on. And there was one other game I wanted to get to.

The Bears beat the Jets 24-10. An NFC win. Man, the Jet Defense is good. Really, it is very good. And the Bears had to work for everything they got. In that game, you had a rough day for Sam Darnold, who, you know, right now, is very much, I think he's going to get there.

I think Sam Darnold's going to be a good quarterback, but he had a tough day against the Chicago defense. The Jets have a good defense as well, but the Bears are sitting there at four and three. And the NFC, you know, there are a lot of teams in the mix. And the Redskins right now, you know, have wins over Carolina and Green Bay in the NFC. Their NFC record is 5 and 1.

So we're thinking division. Don't get me wrong, but you still have two games with Philadelphia in December. You still have to play the Cowboys on Thanksgiving on the road. But you're in a good spot right now with respect to the wild card. This game against Atlanta will be a big one from that standpoint. All right, let me just mention a couple of things real quickly, and then we'll finish up with a little weekend DVR, talk about the World Series, the Wizards, oh God,

and a couple of other college football notes, and then we'll wrap it up for the day. but if you are listening to this podcast and you haven't rated it yet, if you could do that for me, that would be great. Rating it really helps us out. A quick review of it really helps us out as well. And anybody that you know that listened to the radio shows that I was involved in that you think would be interested in listening to this, but they don't really do podcasts, just tell them to listen by going to the Kevin Sheehan Show.com.

We're on Facebook now. We're on Instagram now. We've got a Twitter page as well for the show, but you can also follow me on Twitter at Kevin Shand-D-C. And I put out a lot, look, you know, if you followed me on Twitter over the years, I don't tweet a lot about, you know, what I just found at Whole Foods or the restaurant that I just went to or an incredible thing that one of my children just did. I've never done that. I just don't think anybody gives a shit about that stuff. but I do promote things that are coming up on the show or promote things that in this particular case, we did on the show.

And it just gives you more opportunities to sort of get to time marks. I'll put out tweets that'll say, for the conversation that J.P. Finley and I had today on the show, you go to, you know, this certain time mark, like, you know, it's 28 minutes into the show. So hopefully that's helping as well. All right, let's finish up the show with a little weekend. DVR. Did you have a busy weekend? Don't worry.

We've got you covered. It's time for weekend DVR. All right, so the Red Sox won the World Series last night, beating the Dodgers 5 to 1. Another ridiculous performance from Pierce, who really in these last two games, it's just ridiculous what Steve Pierce has done. If you miss the games over the weekend, first of all, we'll just start with this. The game Friday night, I stayed up and watched the entire game. I was up until 3.30 in the morning watching that 18-inning affair, which was really spectacular.

I don't know how I made it. There's something, and I've said this before, about postseason baseball and the drama of pitch to pitch, you know, batter to batter, especially in a close game like that. I wanted the Dodgers to win. I wanted them to make it a series, and they did win it. and then they had a 4-0-0 lead in game 4 on Saturday night. And it was all going well until Dave Roberts pulled Rich Hill. And I know all the analytics people and all of the people are saying,

hey, you got to pull him before he gets in trouble. Well, unfortunately, their bullpen didn't really help old Rich out. In theory it works. When Ryan Madsen's the guy you're going to, it doesn't work. You know, it was, it was, when Pueg hit the home run to give them basically the big lead, and it was a three-run shot in the sixth. It was in the sixth inning on Saturday night, and they're up for nothing. I'm like, we're going to get Kershaw on a 2-2 series Sunday night to give him a chance to go up

3-2 to move this series back to Fenway. And then let me just say this. I was upset that Rich Hill got, I don't understand how you pull a starter in the midst of a one-hitter when he just struck out a batter. But Rich Hill apparently indicated to Dave Roberts that he wanted to be watched closely. Like he was already concerned when he went out for the sixth, that he was going to, or when he went out for the seventh,

excuse me, that he was going to be maybe a bit tired and he should be watched as if, go ahead and pull me. I'll tell you what, a badass competitor, can you imagine Scher saying, hey, keep an eye on me. To be fair, Scherzer's not 38 and a journeyman. That's true, but Rich Hill pitched a gem, a gem, and he had just struck out a batter. And by the way, there was a lefty coming up. I would have let him at least pitch to the lefty.

Instead, they brought Alexander in. He promptly walked a batter, and then all hell broke loose the rest of the way. Morland homered, it's four three at the end of that inning. Pierce hits a home run in the eighth. Pierce doubles to deep right center to drive in three runs in the ninth that put that game away. And then last night, Pierce did it again with another home run. And he's your MVP. Yeah, I'm sure all the Orioles fans saw World Series MVP coming when he was on the Orioles.

Yeah. Boston wins the series four games to one. Pierce is your MVP. They had great performances by a lot of people. Ben Intendi had a really good series. and how about David Price? How about the price, you know, basically ending up with a two-and-o record in the World Series? He got the start last night.

It was a bit of a surprise because a lot of people thought Sale was going to pitch last night. Price goes seven complete, allows one run on three hits. The guy that had never won a post-season game won his last three in this post-season. Let's get to the Wizards. They got beat last night. 136 to 104. In L.A. against the Clippers, it was a non-competitive effort, a non-competitive game, and there is going to be some discussion here shortly if it's not already happening

about Scott Brooks and about others in that organization. The Wizards are off to a 1-5 start. This was supposed to be a season, and Dwight Howard hasn't played. And by the way, I don't think anything's going to happen because Ted is super, patient. And here's the problem is that Friday night after the loss to Sacramento, a game in which they turned the ball over three times in their final four possessions and had a chance to take a lead late instead lost the game 116, 112. Bradley Beale started talking about players who need to keep their mouths shut about getting too many shots. And John Wall sort of said the same thing.

and this group that just has not, for whatever reason, matured at any point here. And it hasn't been off the field, you know, shenanigans and getting into trouble, but there's just an on-court immaturity. And this is going south in a hurry, much faster than anybody would have anticipated. This road trip, this early road trip is killing them. I mean, they had the painful loss to Miami in the opener. another painful loss to Toronto. They got that overtime win barely against Portland,

and they didn't do a lot of great things. You know, John Wall banked in a shot on a key possession late, which was a bad possession, and he banked in it, and it was lucky. They got blown out against Golden State. They lose a tight one to Sacramento, and last night, wow. You come off those comments Friday night in Sacramento, and you get beat by 32 points on the road. going to be interesting in Wizardland this week.

They have one more game on their road trip. It's at Memphis on Tuesday night, tomorrow night. Let's get to some college football real quickly. Maryland won 63 to 33. My God. They had over 700 yards of offense. Over 700 yards of offense against Illinois. I so wanted to give them out as a smell test pick.

They were laying 18 in this game, and I don't know why I backed off it. But they, you know, that was a win they had to have. They had to have that win. And now they're going to have to get one from either Indiana or Michigan State to be bowl eligible. Do you see the line for next week's game? No. It's only three. Michigan State at home?

They're at Maryland. Michigan State's favored by three. I'm saying they're playing Michigan State at home. Yeah, they're playing Michigan State and Michigan State's only favored by three. It's a winnable game for Maryland, believe it or not, against Michigan State next week. They've beaten Michigan State at home. They did it two years ago. Yes.

The big games of the day, first of all, Clemson annihilated Florida State. Willie Taggart said his team quit in that game. Clemson's defense is just nasty. I mean, Florida State early in the game, listen to these final numbers. Now, quarterback sacks count in terms of rushing yardage when they lose yardage. Florida State had 35. rushes for minus 21 yards in the game. Now, if you want to know what they're running backs did, four carries one yards, seven carries

17 yards, and then 11 carries for seven yards. Clemson's defensive front seven is ridiculous. Meantime, Trevor Lawrence is starting to prove that he is really the real deal. He looks the part. He looks like an NFL quarterback to me at his side. size. Clemsons 8-0. They're not going to lose until the, I mean, they're in the final four.

This is the biggest lock out of all of them. I mean, they play Louisville, they play Boston College, they play Duke, they play South Carolina at home, and then they'll have an ACC championship game, maybe against Virginia. I mean, it could end up being against Virginia who won this weekend against North Carolina. And the calves are four and one in the coastal division. I wanted to mention real quickly the game that I was. had talked about a lot on Friday, and that was Florida, Georgia. Too many turnovers in that game, and Florida lost their two top corners,

lost their top corner to go with the other corner that was already down. That really hurt them because they were able to really stop the run for most of the day. What they couldn't do is they couldn't stop Jake Fromm from having maybe the best and most impressive day of the year. for him. He was outstanding. And I like both of these teams. Georgia was the better team, in part because they were able to throw the football from through it for 240 yards and through three touchdown passes. So George is now in it. Florida is out of it.

And now next week in the SEC, you get a double header that basically will decide the SEC championship game. You get Kentucky who went to Missouri and won. luckily for them. There was a PI call in the end zone on what should have been the last play of the game that was a terrible call. Should have been offensive pass interference. Instead, they got

an untimed down and won it on a walk-off touchdown pass at Missouri 15 to 14. So now Kentucky hosts Georgia next week. The winner of that one will win the SEC East more likely than not. And you get Alabama LSU

on Saturday night. And LSU is a 14 and a half point Underdog in Death Valley on Saturday night. The biggest underdog at home, they've been since 1999. A lot of coaching blunders this week, and the Coach Patrol was on it this weekend because I got 50 tweets from you guys, minimum, about different mistakes that coaches made over the weekend. So we'll get to that tomorrow. Tommy will be in tomorrow.

I had some other things from Weekend DVR. I'm just trying to look through my list to see. I guess I got it. Oh, the report about Bryce Harper. The report that Scott Boris essentially said the decision's already been made. He has clarified this, by the way. Okay. It was a joke.

Boris said it was a joke. Boris said Chelsea Janes reached out and it was a joke. If you listen to it, it seemed like, I mean, he doesn't do jokes very well, but it definitely seemed like something a little out of character for him. Apparently Chelsea James reached out and said it was a joke. Okay. I read the comments on Twitter. Was it a newspaper?

What was the interview? I believe it was Michael Kay. Oh, he was on the Michael Kay Show. Yes, I believe that was where it was. And so basically on the Michael Kaye show in New York, Scott Boris said that a deal is already done and in place with Bryce Harper's new team. Let me just say this. I think he's going to resign with the Nats.

I don't think he was saying this. I don't think he was joking. I'm not reporting anything. All right. Let me just be really clear. I've heard various things, but I'm not reporting anything. But I think Scott Boris may have been telling the truth.

I don't know that a deal is actually in place, like technically contracts signed, because I don't even think they can at this point, or maybe they can because he's an existing player. But I think Bryce Harper is staying in Washington. And that's how we'll end the podcast today. Tommy will be back with me tomorrow. We'll get his thoughts on the Redskins win over the Giants.

The Redskins are one and a half point favorites over Atlanta. Atlanta's coming in off a byweek. It's a chance for the Falcons to win their third in a row, get back to 500 and get right back into feeling like they're in a playoff race. They're not a good defensive team, although they've got some speed like Beasley and some pass. but they're injured defensively, but they are a very good offensive team with the ability to light teams up with Matt Ryan and one of, if not the best overall pass receiving core

in the league. I would think that Sunday at FedEx Field has a chance to be the best home crowd of the year with the Redskins on a three-game winning streak in at five and two and comfortably right now in first place. Now, Philly winning yesterday, you know, has Philly one game out in the win column, you know, at 4 and 4. There's still two out in the loss column. Philly's got the buy this week, but this should be a FedEx crowd that's amped up and ready to go for a 1 o'clock game at FedEx next week with a chance to match Jim Zorn's 2008 Redskins that started off 6 and 2. Thanks to J.P. Finley, thanks to Aaron, who always does a phenomenal job. Tom's in tomorrow, 5 and 2.

still a long way to go though. Take care. Have a great day.