- 2 days ago
Kevin Sheehan uses Washington’s Week 7 bye to survey a rapidly shifting NFC East landscape, breaking down how the New York Giants surged into division favorites, pushing back on fan panic that Jayden Daniels is falling behind his 2024 quarterback draft classmates, dissecting league-wide trends like the "hitch-and-pitch" on 3rd-and-long, and addressing the state of NFL officiating.
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00:01What did you learn from this past weekend? You had a chance to kick back, watch the rest of the
00:05league with our team on a bye week.
00:08What did you learn? 301-230-0980, 301-230-0980.
00:16The Giants are now officially, just for everybody out there that may be wondering,
00:22they are officially, after their win over Houston yesterday, the division favorite.
00:27I just did a back-of-the-envelope quick consensus of six different shops.
00:33They're basically at even money to win the division. Dallas at basically plus 150.
00:39Then Washington is at plus 720, and the Eagles are at plus 900.
00:45They're actually the last pick to win the division.
00:50All right, I'm going to give you a couple of things, because there were a couple of things during the
00:54break that I wanted to add to this,
00:55and I'll get to your calls. I'll save maybe a couple if the calls don't get to them.
00:58Number one, I think I learned yesterday that right now, the Giants are not only the favorite, but they deserve
01:04to be the favorite.
01:05Now, the quarterback is, of course, an absolute big issue, but they have an identity.
01:12They are a physical, disciplined, well-coached football team.
01:18John Harbaugh is the best head coach in the division. Is that even debatable?
01:22I know Nick Sirianni has a Super Bowl. He's been to two. There is that, but John Harbaugh's got a
01:27Super Bowl as well,
01:29and a lot of playoff success over the years.
01:33The Giants are well-coached. They're disciplined. They are tough.
01:37They are physical at the line of scrimmage and with their running game, and the truth is they've got good
01:43players.
01:43We've kind of known that going back the last year or two.
01:46You know, on defense, obviously, with, you know, Abdul Carter and Thibodeau, they're doing this without Brian Burns.
01:53They're secondary. Guys like Phillips and Banks are playing well.
01:59Their rookie, Arvel Reese, has been outstanding.
02:0241, Micah McFadden, I've always been a fan of. He was great in the game yesterday.
02:09They ran the football yesterday. Cam Scadaboo, 17 carries, 124 yards.
02:14I don't know how long of a career he has playing the way he plays, but right now it's not
02:21an issue.
02:22He got flagged yesterday for lowering his helmet into another player's helmet.
02:30You just can't call that in the NFL.
02:32You cannot call these helmet-to-helmets on running games in close quarters.
02:37How are you going to avoid that?
02:40But the Giants, number one on my takeaways from the weekend on what I learned, I learned not only should
02:48they be the favorite,
02:49in my mind, they are the favorite, not just because of the record, but because of what I said.
02:55Best coach team, and they've got an identity, and it's a winning identity.
03:00Being physical at both lines of scrimmages, and being able to run the football.
03:07J.J. McCarthy's the wild card, but man, he played the best game of his career yesterday.
03:12He was poised.
03:14He can really throw it.
03:16There's no doubt about his arm strength.
03:19And he picked apart Houston.
03:21Houston, great receivers, obviously, and neighbors, and maybe another budding big-time receiver,
03:28and big old Malachi Fields is a rookie with a pass-catching tight end.
03:32And, by the way, backs who can catch the ball, like Tracy and Singletary.
03:37The Giants get their bye week, and then they come back, and those two games against Philly on the road
03:44on November 8th, and four nights later on Thursday Night Football against Washington,
03:50they could, at 6-2-1, I can't imagine that their lead would be any less than two-and-a
03:57-half
03:57to potentially three-and-a-half games.
04:01The Giants, really impressed with.
04:05There are a couple of other things that I learned that I'm just going to touch on real quickly.
04:09The more and more, as you watch this season, and we saw some of this last year,
04:15a lot of teams, and I don't think our team has it in the playbook.
04:18I have not seen it.
04:19Somebody may correct me if I'm wrong on this.
04:22The super third-and-long, like call it third-and-17-or-longer play,
04:27is now a two-part play.
04:30It is a throw underneath and then a pitch to somebody else.
04:35As the defense converges on the check-down throw, the throw underneath,
04:40there's a pitch opportunity.
04:42I saw that play three times yesterday in the game, in action.
04:48It's the new third-and-long.
04:50Nope, we can't convert third-and-18 with a normal drop-back-and-throw,
04:56but the trick is a throw underneath, get the defense to converge,
05:01and then you've got a trailer in a hitch-and-pitch situation.
05:05Now, teams are going to have to start playing for that because it has a chance.
05:09Yes, Bijan took a pitch off a throw underneath.
05:12I think it was to Dotson in the game.
05:15He actually didn't get the first down, but he was a yard short.
05:18Should have gotten the first down.
05:21That's going to have to be a play that you now plan for defensively.
05:25I said this two years ago for the first time.
05:28The more and more I watch tush-pushes, whether it's with the quarterback
05:32or whether it's with a tight end, with offensive linemen pushing,
05:36we're seeing many more.
05:38We're seeing this play actually called in a way in which it's flagged a lot on the offense.
05:46The Raiders themselves have been flagged on four tush-pushes this year.
05:50Four.
05:51I saw it yesterday.
05:53Offenses get flagged multiple times.
05:55Sometimes somebody like a Bill Barnwell type, they need to do a study.
06:01I'm not going to do this.
06:02About the lost opportunity offensively not running a third and short
06:09or fourth and short regular play.
06:12Because some of the biggest plays you see offensively are in super short yardage situations.
06:19Now, second down, there's no risk.
06:20Third and one, fourth and one, there's more of a risk.
06:23But how many big runs are we missing out on?
06:27How many big play-action throws?
06:32Certainly the reward is staying on the field.
06:35If you convert, and now this play is being called very closely now.
06:41Lots of offensive penalties, for sure.
06:44And by the way, more stops than I think we've seen.
06:48It's not about the conversion rate, which is still very high, to stay on the field.
06:53I understand the value in that.
06:55I just want it weighed.
06:57I want somebody to weigh it against the lost opportunity of not running a regular play
07:03in a short yardage situation.
07:05And the chunk plays that you are leaving off your stat sheet and off your drive sheet.
07:13I think there are just too many of those big offensive plays that are being passed on
07:20for, yes, a higher probability of staying on the field than not.
07:25But there's a balance there.
07:29And then I noticed something yesterday, and I'll share this with you after we get to some calls.
07:35It looks like the beginning of a new strategy as it relates to the kickoffs.
07:42I'll get to that in a bit.
07:43But what did you learn from this past weekend, or really yesterday?
07:48You can go back to Thursday night.
07:50But you had a chance to sit back, not worry about our team playing a game.
07:55Sam and Sterling, go ahead.
07:58Hey, Kevin.
08:00I guess I was more interested in watching the Giants game yesterday, just like you.
08:05I had the Giants game and the Falcons game side by side.
08:09And just watching those teams.
08:11And then also, just to note, watching the Thursday night game, the other night between May and
08:16Williams, it just hammers home how far away our team is talent-wise from those teams.
08:21You know, something that I heard on Friday when they were talking about the Patriots-Bears
08:29game is that they kind of think that May and Williams will be DB guys going forward, like
08:35the new rivalry.
08:37So, you know, with what our team is going through, you know, just talent-wise and also coaching-wise,
08:43you know, we've kind of missed our opportunity, I think.
08:45You know, I think we're probably going to be sellers, you know, soon, you know, as far as
08:51the trade deadline.
08:52You know, I don't think this team is talented enough to make a run, but even talent-wise,
08:58you know, we've seen teams before that have not been that talented, you know, make a run
09:03because of coaching, you know.
09:05And our coaching is probably the worst in the NFL right now.
09:07No, it's not.
09:08When you think about it, our coaching is probably the worst in the NFL.
09:11Well, I mean, it's down there.
09:12Like, I don't have any confidence in making a run, but it's more coaching than talent.
09:18The Jets, you tell me you think that that staff is a better coach than our staff.
09:24The Jets are terrible, too.
09:25Yeah, and Glenn is terrible, too.
09:28I completely see that, too.
09:29But I just don't have any confidence in making a run.
09:32I think they're probably going to be sellers at the deadline.
09:36To me, it's just they're so far away from those other teams, you know, especially in
09:42that talent, in that draft class.
09:44And soon enough, I think Jaden's going to be, you know, kind of an afterthought, not
09:48because he's not talented, but because, you know, those teams are going to be competing
09:52for divisions and, you know, playoff, you know, going forward.
09:57And Jaden's team won't be, so.
10:00Yeah, I mean, I think that, first of all, there's a little hyperbole in what you said.
10:07And there's definitely, it's, for me, in my opinion, it's way too premature.
10:14I mean, let's not forget, last year in that Monday night game against Chicago, the buildup
10:19was, here we go, a decade plus of Caleb Williams versus Jaden Daniels.
10:25The rivalry, you know, that's going to develop here between these two quarterbacks over the
10:30next decade.
10:31Um, Drake May went from near MVP candidate to, should he start in week three or week
10:37four of just this season?
10:39Uh, the towel's already been thrown in on both Penix and JJ McCarthy, but multiple times,
10:47both of those guys were outstanding yesterday.
10:50And it's very clear that Atlanta is a good team with Penix Jr.
10:55and not without him.
10:57Um, so I just think all of these things are way too early, especially when it comes to
11:02quarterbacks.
11:02The one thing that you're a hundred percent right about is right now, the Patriots, the
11:08Bears, the Falcons, the Broncos, um, hold on.
11:14I'm just trying to think about the, hold on.
11:16The Bears, uh, the Patriots, the Falcons, the, well, the Vikings were the other team that
11:24took JJ McCarthy and, and those teams all have better overall supporting casts, by the
11:30way, not just on offense, but on defense as well for their quarterbacks.
11:35So yeah.
11:36And Washington has to get better on that end.
11:38No doubt.
11:39Thank you, Sam.
11:40Let's go to Mo in DC.
11:42Mo, what'd you learn from the NFL weekend?
11:46Uh, I learned just by just by just like a synopsis of just by watching that Detroit
11:52Lions and Green Bay Packers game, that the most objective call in the NFL is rough in
11:57the past or the 15 yard penalties.
12:00The last, the last quarter of that game, Kevin was crazy.
12:03Did you see it?
12:04The worst, the worst.
12:06It's just painful.
12:07Every, every play now, this is the, I think we say this every year, but I really feel like
12:14this is the worst year.
12:15And there have been, you know, some, some, uh, stories put together about how there is
12:20an increase in, in penalties, but it's like every play, every big play.
12:25I just look immediately to the score, Kyron, on, on the TV to see if that yellow 50-50.
12:36The, on goalie, do that is, teach, take, tackle.
12:44Teach, take, tackle.
12:45Blandino said.
12:47Yes, and they gave him a 15 yard penalty.
12:49I'm watching the, uh, game in Paris.
12:52Uh, the old lineman, he's doing his job.
12:55The, the, the, the, tackle falls down.
12:57He does what you're taught to do as an old lineman.
12:59Right.
12:59Laying on top of, it was a 15 yard penalty.
13:02It was crazy.
13:03Crazy.
13:04It's crazy.
13:05It's, it's, it's worse than balls and strikes.
13:07I don't, I don't know what they're going to do about it, but it is really making the
13:11game too unphysical, if that's a word.
13:14Like it's making it, uh, cupcake-ish, you know, not, not what we grew up with.
13:20And, um, I, that's what I learned.
13:21Mo, you, we've been saying this for many, many years, but it does feel like it's been
13:27much worse than normal.
13:29And there have been an increase in penalties.
13:32Look, I'm not for replay on, on everything, but these just devastating 15 yard penalties
13:41that continue drives or end drives, they've got to be reviewable.
13:46This has to be a, a quick, you know, New York.
13:50Hey, no, that was not, that was not roughing the passer.
13:53That was teach tape in the off season for how to hit a quarterback and not land on him
13:59right after the ball's been released.
14:01That is such a bad call.
14:03And we're getting some officials, you know, we saw the exchange between Trey McBride and
14:08the one official a few weeks ago.
14:10That official is on his back that throws the flag for the late hit, the unnecessary roughness
14:16on Amon Ra St. Brown.
14:18Amon Ra was up and running.
14:20The, the, the, the play, the play was not whistle dead.
14:23It's just absurd, absurd, the officiating.
14:28I don't know how, what we're going to do.
14:30I mean, you want replay for roughing the quarterback.
14:33You want replay.
14:35I think roughing the quarterback is actually less subjective than pass interference.
14:41I think pass interference, there's a, there are many more, um, you know, I think, I think
14:49pass interference is very hard.
14:52We complain a lot about it.
14:54I think illegal contact, defensive holding, that's a devastating penalty on a third and
14:58long when you get an illegal contact away from the ball and it's an automatic first.
15:02They could immediately change illegal contact in defensive holding from non-automatic first
15:09down penalties to instead of five yard penalties, making them 10 yard penalties.
15:14That would make the third and 14, you know, when a quarterback is literally throwing a
15:20check down for five to six yards, um, that could make that a non first down and force them
15:26to convert another third down.
15:28I would do that immediately in the off season.
15:31I would immediately make defensive holding and illegal contact, a non-automatic first down
15:36penalty.
15:37Uh, and I know in, in college, I mean, in the pros, you may get a receiver that gets beaten,
15:42just reaches out and grabs a receiver.
15:44So be it.
15:45Uh, the pass interference to me is less frustrating than late hits and unnecessary roughness penalties.
15:57Dean in Hagerstown.
15:59Go ahead.
16:01Kevin, love the show.
16:03First time, long time.
16:04Thanks, Dean.
16:06Hey, something that resonates with me is two things that you said on the first two or three
16:11callers, um, I told the caller screener that you probably will try to, uh, I don't know
16:19the word I'm looking for, but the bottom line is I truly believe that the NFL likes parody
16:25and they like mediocrity.
16:27They like everyone to be right in there in a bunch.
16:31Like you keep talking about the NFC East, everyone's there.
16:35Everyone still has a chance, no matter what the coaching or the bag calls.
16:39But the two things that you hit on as a lifelong gambler, uh, of all sports, it seems like that
16:47refereeing and big times of the game, throw a flag.
16:52They have replay assists that they hit right away, or they have a replay from New York.
16:58It just seems like every other time that you turn around a commercial, you talk about it.
17:05Everyone talks about it.
17:06Hell, there's a segment, bad beats that Van Pelt and Stanford Steve talk about it.
17:12Don't think that a billion dollar industry with tons of millionaires that, that are in
17:19Vegas and, and, and FanDuel and then MGM, we could go on and on and on that.
17:25Some of these games aren't compromised.
17:26You're not going to tell me that they're not, there are too many things that are just,
17:30just head scratchers and we see it each and every week and people say, man, did you see
17:35that?
17:36Yeah, I saw it.
17:37So I'll hang up and I'll see what you have.
17:40Look, Dean, there are a couple of things.
17:42Number one, um, that level of, of conspiracy to, you know, essentially, um, you know, compromise
17:51the integrity of the game.
17:53You just can't keep it quiet after all of these years, uh, there would have been, you
17:58know, there would have been an NBA referee kind of, of, of a situation.
18:01Number two is they don't need to do that.
18:03They don't need it.
18:04This league, even with all of the penalties and all of the so-called parody.
18:11And I'll, I'll, I'll push back a little bit on that here in a moment.
18:13It just, the number of eyeballs just keeps increasing to the level that no other form
18:19of entertainment can match, um, which keeps the revenues, you know, skyrocketing from
18:2410 billion, 10 years ago to whatever it's going to be this year, $30 billion close to
18:29it.
18:29Um, lastly, you know, the parody thing is an interesting conversation because yes, the league
18:34is designed for parody.
18:37You know, we have a draft where you pick based on your record.
18:40We have, you know, pickups in off waiver wires based on record.
18:45Um, we have scheduling based off of record, but, but we've had a century here, a quarter
18:55century of one dynasty after another, new England, number one, new England, number two, Kansas
19:02city, many dynasty at the very least number one.
19:06So we've still seen that at the end of the day in a league designed for everybody to have
19:13a chance, which by the way, plays out weekend and week out.
19:16I've been, I've been, I've been describing this league as a week to week league for 20 years
19:20now.
19:21And only you Dean would understand what I understand as a better of the sport, how truly everything's
19:27in play every single week.
19:29As I, I'll, I'll go back through my list of just every big double digit or the biggest
19:36underdog every single week.
19:38This season has either covered or one outright, the biggest underdog in every, every NFL weekend
19:44so far.
19:45And that's the nature of the game.
19:47Um, but if you have a really good organization, like the chiefs currently have like the Patriots
19:54had for all those years, and you have an elite level hall of fame quarterback, you are, that
20:02separates you from the masses.
20:04And that's the one thing that parody and the design for mediocrity can't, you know, undo
20:13your well-run and you've got hall of fame quarterback.
20:18If you've got those two things, you're going to win a lot more games than you lose.
20:23And you're probably going to win Super Bowls, plural.