00:00Good morning, Max is with me. 20-13 was the final against the Rams yesterday.
00:05Look, if you were watching this game without bias, without a real rooting interest,
00:12and you like watching the best players in the NFL on the defensive side of the ball,
00:20it would have been one hell of a watch.
00:22There's a lot that our team didn't do well in the game yesterday, especially on offense.
00:28I'll get to all of that.
00:30But the story of this game was the return of Myles Garrett.
00:34If you didn't have a rooting interest, if you didn't have bias,
00:36and you were watching objectively as an NFL fan,
00:39the story of this game was the return of Myles Garrett.
00:44He dominated the football game, as Hall of Famers tend to do, future Hall of Famers.
00:51The irony, the additive to this is that he wasn't the only Hall of Famer,
00:57future Hall of Famer on the day that dominated the game.
01:01His running mate, Aaron Donald, had a ridiculously dominant performance,
01:05as did Puka Nakua on the other side of the ball.
01:09We're going to get into all of the things that went wrong offensively.
01:13I'm not shying away from the fact that that last throw,
01:19yeah, I would have preferred that it had gone somewhere near the end zone,
01:23like in the end zone.
01:25Yes, I would have preferred that.
01:27I would have preferred on the next to last play,
01:30Jaden not throw the ball down the middle of the field.
01:32I think Diggs did the right thing and didn't catch it,
01:35because the game would have ended right there.
01:37I would have preferred that they had, in the offseason,
01:42addressed the center position differently.
01:44Yes, I would have.
01:46But if you're being fair, if you're being objective,
01:50and you're an NFL fan beyond just a fan of our team,
01:53that was one of the most dominant performances by a defensive player this year.
01:58I mentioned on my post-game podcast last night that I cannot imagine
02:03any player in the league was a higher-rated player,
02:07defensively anyway, than Miles Garrett, maybe not even Aaron Donald.
02:12Ben told me, because he has a subscription to PFF,
02:15he told me this morning that Aaron Donald,
02:18PFF announced that Aaron Donald and Miles Garrett
02:21were the two highest-rated defensive players on the day.
02:26They had grades in the 90s.
02:28Puka Nakua was outstanding as well.
02:31That's why they lost more than anything else.
02:34The other team came in as the better team,
02:37and then the return of this century's best defensive player
02:42happened yesterday, unfortunately, for Washington.
02:47Doesn't take Washington off the hook for some of the mistakes they made,
02:51some of the opportunities they let go,
02:53but both things are true.
02:55This one was not a surprise.
02:58It felt that way in my group texts that I'm a part of on game day,
03:03which I've now gotten to the point where I don't look at these text threads
03:07until well after the game.
03:09People wanted everybody fired.
03:11Like Peter.
03:12Peter wants Jaden Daniels benched.
03:15Yeah, I don't think that dog will hunt, as they say down south, Peter Jay.
03:19But have at it if you want.
03:21But they weren't supposed to win this game.
03:24They were the underdog in this game.
03:27But that's what makes it frustrating for me because this one was winnable.
03:32It was a winnable football game.
03:35Certainly in the first half, when they took a 10-3 lead and had two possessions
03:40with a one-score lead at 10-3 with good field position.
03:44Now, the first one after a three-and-out punt, they started from their own 18.
03:48But Eckler ripped off a seven-yard run.
03:51There was a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty.
03:53In one play, they were at the 40.
03:55And then after the Calavon chase-on punch-out of Nakua,
03:59they had it at the Rams 40, up 10-3.
04:02This game in the first half, they just didn't get enough out of it.
04:06You know, the Rams were off.
04:09They were out of sync offensively.
04:11No doubt about that.
04:12I don't know that Stafford was ever in sync offensively all day long.
04:17They had a chance in the first half.
04:19And against a better team, who yesterday became a much better team
04:25because of the return of No. 95 defensively,
04:29they had a chance to go up two scores, and they didn't take advantage of it.
04:35And there are reasons for it, and I'll get into all of the reasons,
04:38but those were missed opportunities.
04:41Because I'll tell you this, I don't care what the final numbers say.
04:45You know, the 125 yards rushing, Puka Nakua's 14 catches for $1.50.
04:51The defense did its job yesterday, especially in the first half.
04:57The Rams were held to two field goals, two three-and-out punts,
05:00and there was a forced fumble defensively against that Rams offense.
05:04The Rams, maybe it's the 1 o'clock start, west coast to east coast,
05:08whatever it was, they were out of sync,
05:10and our defense played very well in the first half.
05:14I think overall, it played a solid football game,
05:18just ended up being on the field too much in the second half.
05:23The offense was the problem.
05:26But again, if you eliminate from your mind that the other team was on the field
05:32with two Hall of Famers playing at a Hall of Fame level,
05:37then I don't think you catch the entire context.
05:41The offense wasn't smooth.
05:43It was out of sync.
05:44It had opportunities to do things, and it didn't.
05:48There were missed opportunities.
05:50I didn't think Jaden played anywhere near his best football.
05:54I think the game changed to a certain degree when Lucas Patrick was concussed
05:59and they came in with Gulbin, not Nick Allegretti.
06:01But the sixth-round rookie, Matt Gulbin,
06:06ended up being a center trying to block Miles Garrett on a third and nine.
06:12Or third, I'm sorry, third and seven, turned into a fourth and 17.
06:17That defense, though, played good football.
06:21That defense has improved significantly during the course of the season,
06:26and it's the one thing that I think with the opponents coming up,
06:32you give them a chance to be competitive in these games unless they decide
06:37that their season's over before Thursday night and they hang it up.
06:40I don't see that happening.
06:43Yeah.
06:44I think my overarching theme coming out of this game and on this show this morning,
06:52and I'm going to give you guys plenty of chances to weigh in,
06:55is that yesterday wasn't a great game offensively.
07:00There were multiple things about that game offensively that weren't good.
07:05Daniels was a bit off and not necessarily aware of certain things.
07:10There were some penalties, three offensive penalties on the day.
07:14Certainly not a lot of penalties,
07:16but there were some penalties that were drive impactors,
07:19like the Cosme hold on the Rashad White run after the fumble
07:23that Caleb on chase on forced.
07:26There were some play calls that I didn't like.
07:28There was an end-of-game situation that I didn't like.
07:31But two things are absolutely true simultaneously.
07:35The offense was a bit awkward, out of sync, not great.
07:39In a number of ways, but the Rams' defense, one player in particular, was great.
07:47Miles Garrett dominated the football game.
07:50Aaron Donald, to a certain extent, dominated it,
07:53even though you wouldn't see that statistically.
07:55But if you watched the game, you know how dominant he was.
08:00Miles Garrett, though, one of the greatest defensive players of all time,
08:04in his first game back after injury, was legitimate a monster in the game.
08:11Three sacks, a forced fumble.
08:13I don't know how many snaps he had.
08:15I meant to check that.
08:16I guessed like 30 snaps in the game.
08:19I'll look that up when we get to a break.
08:22But like I said, there weren't many players.
08:25In fact, according to PFF, for whatever it's worth,
08:28there wasn't a player in the league yesterday that had a higher rating than Miles Garrett.
08:34That team was outstanding defensively against a team that was obviously limited offensively.
08:42No stretch the field, you know, wide receiver.
08:44You know, no Terry, obviously.
08:46No Trelon Burks.
08:47De'Ami Brown to injured reserve.
08:49So they were working with a shell of their receiving core.
08:52And then they had a major injury during the game.
08:55Major because the backup center is a rookie.
08:59Not that Lucas Patrick was going to handle Miles Garrett.
09:02No center in the league yesterday.
09:04No center in the history of the game.
09:06Dwight Stevenson, Mike Webster, name the list, can block Miles Garrett
09:10when the defensive coordinator, Chris Shula, lines him up over the center.
09:15You need lots of help in that situation.
09:19The Rams won yesterday with Hall of Fame performances by future Hall of Famers.
09:25More than anything, our team did or didn't do.
09:29And it wasn't enough.
09:30And I'll get to it.
09:31But more than anything else, the reason Washington lost to the Rams yesterday
09:36is because they were up against a better team
09:39and a team that was significantly better
09:43because of the return of Miles Garrett to the lineup.
09:50Washington's now 2-5-1.
09:52The Giants beat the Eagles yesterday to move to 5-2-1.
09:57The trade deadline is tomorrow at 4 o'clock.
09:59Obviously, Washington's decisions here are going to be interesting.
10:04My sense of it is that they're not going to be major sellers,
10:09that they still are believers in their team being alive in the division race,
10:15at least until Thursday night at about 11-15, 11-30.
10:20Because if they lose that game, their season is over.
10:23Not mathematically, but practically speaking, their season would then be over
10:28because they would be four games behind the division leader
10:31and they'd lose the tiebreaker against the division leader.
10:35So that game, like the Philadelphia game last Sunday night,
10:41is an absolute code red must win if you're into those things at this point in the season.
10:46Because it is very obvious.
10:48I'm not suggesting, please, that our team is a good team.
10:52I don't think it's a good team right now.
10:54I don't think it's even close to a good team right now.
10:57I don't think it's particularly well-coached, well-schemed,
11:01and they are missing players in a lot of spots.
11:05Some because of injuries, some because they just didn't have good enough players to begin with.
11:11But the way they'll view it is they get a win Thursday night against the Giants.
11:17They're two games back with still half the season left,
11:21and they own the tiebreaker at the end of the season.
11:24And if you want to look at the schedule and play the schedule game,
11:27it's very dangerous to do that.
11:29Finally, the schedule relents a bit for them.
11:32Not the immediate next game because they'll have to face the Cincinnati Bengals on a Monday night,
11:38but afterwards teams like the Cardinals, the Titans, the Falcons, etc.
11:43being on the schedule.
11:44So we'll see.
11:45I don't think we're going to see a major sell-off by 4 p.m. tomorrow.
11:51That's my guess.
11:52Could we see a one-off here or there, you know,
11:55with a player that they don't feel that they absolutely have to have for a day three pick?
12:00Maybe.
12:02Do I think they're going to be buyers?
12:04I don't think they'll be buyers either.
12:07We'll see what happens.
12:09I think the activity is going to take place before 4 p.m. tomorrow
12:12with a lot of other teams around the league.
12:15Should be a very exciting trade deadline if you're just following the league.
12:19I don't think our team's going to be a major participant.
12:21I could be wrong.
12:23But needless to say, Thursday night is the season.
12:27I think Jaden Daniels even said it yesterday in his presser after the game that it's must win.
12:33Yeah, if you don't beat the Giants, your season's done.
12:36Quinn is then officially a lame duck head coach the rest of the way.
12:41Adam Peters then becomes on watch to a certain degree.
12:44But trust me, I don't think anything is happening with Adam Peters.
12:48I really don't.
12:49And then you are talking about playing out the string instead of playing for stakes.
12:55And that's not what they anticipated.
12:58And I can tell you this, they still don't anticipate playing out the string.
13:02They are a one-and-a-half-point underdog Thursday night in the Meadowlands against the Giants.
13:07That's it.
13:08The division-leading Giants with a three-game lead on their opponent Thursday night.
13:13A mere one-and-a-half-point favorite against Washington.
13:17There are encouraging things about this team.
13:21I think the defense in particular is so much better than it was last year.
13:28It's still not a great defense, but it is so much better.
13:32And I think in some ways as they've gotten some players back, like Amos and Cross in particular,
13:38losing Kinlaw and Payne doesn't help.
13:41But even a guy like Johnny Newton stepped up and had a pretty good football game yesterday.
13:45They're average defensively, which is a big jump from where they were last year.
13:54And that, I think, is something that's going to have to be a big part of a Thursday night win
14:00if J.J. McCarthy in particular is the quarterback
14:03because he doesn't necessarily see the pressure or handle the pressure well.
14:09They won that game yesterday against the Eagles.
14:11I don't know if you saw this.
14:12McCarthy went out of the game.
14:13Jameis Winston came in and led them on the go-ahead touchdown drive.
14:18He threw the touchdown pass that gave them the lead.
14:22So, look, not a good football team.
14:25Get it.
14:26Totally agree with all of you that say that this is not a good football team.
14:30Obviously, it's not a good football team.
14:33Nevertheless, they're one win away from being in the mix in the division on Thursday night.
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