00:00Well, the only way our team can make the NFL playoffs this year, it certainly seems like a long shot.
00:07They're not a good football team right now. I think we all understand that.
00:10It doesn't mean that they won't become a better football team.
00:14I think NFL seasons are all about not necessarily figuring it out early, have to figure it out late.
00:23But you've got to win enough games early on so that if you become a good team later on, the
00:29games have meaning.
00:30And that's where Washington is right now. They're not a good football team right now.
00:35They have the worst record in the NFC at 1-4-1.
00:41A win on Sunday night against the Eagles will still put them at 2-4-1.
00:48And that may be better than two or three other teams in the NFC, but it may not, depending on
00:53the results of games this weekend.
00:55It's still going to be one of the worst records in the NFC.
00:59But for them, if this season is going to amount to anything with respect to competitive football, meaningful games,
01:08and a chance, not just mathematically, but practically, of competing for a playoff spot, they have to win on Sunday
01:17night.
01:17And there's one person in the organization, I think, that is sweating this one out more than anybody else is
01:26in the organization.
01:27I think they're all puckered up for this one.
01:30They're going to be tight.
01:32This is really critical to everyone's future in that building, this game Sunday night.
01:39I'm not saying that future games won't also carry similar weight.
01:44But right now, this is must-win.
01:48And the guy that's sweating it out more than anybody else, it's not Dan Quinn.
01:54I think Dan understands what his fate is, barring a big run back into contention,
02:01a 9-7-1 division-winning season, and an upset win at home over the Rams or over the Seahawks
02:09or over the 49ers, Vikings, Bears, Packers, or Lions in the first round of the NFC playoffs.
02:16The guy that is sweating this one out the most is Adam Peters.
02:23Not because Adam Peters' job is on the line.
02:28You know how I feel if you've been listening.
02:30I'm not a believer at this point that Adam Peters has to go.
02:36I'm not a believer that Adam Peters is a great general manager at this point,
02:40but I do not think that based on the results and the context around the results,
02:48I don't personally feel like it's time to move on from Adam Peters.
02:53But this is why he is sweating this game out more than anybody else in the organization.
02:59Because if they win, he can, and the rest of the organization,
03:06can continue to convince themselves and talk themselves into a team
03:14that is developing into an eventual division winner.
03:18That is within reach.
03:20They can do it.
03:23They feel like they're better than 1-4-1.
03:25They feel like their record should be at the very least 2-4.
03:29I mean, the Giant game should have been a win.
03:32But the Eagles game in the opener was right there.
03:34The Cowboys game, had Jaden not gotten hurt, would have been right there.
03:38Marcus Mariota's injury probably cost them the London game against the Colts.
03:44I think they look at their record and say, that's not who we are.
03:48We know what Bill Parcells said a long time ago.
03:50You are what your record says you are.
03:52But we're not.
03:53We don't believe that's what we are.
03:55And we've heard that.
03:56Whether, not necessarily directly, but it's been implied.
04:01That they still feel like they're in this thing.
04:05And, of course, the division race and the fact that the other three teams in the division aren't very good
04:11either gives them that ability to believe in something, even if it is delusional.
04:18But that belief and that conversation ends on Sunday night if they lose to the Eagles.
04:26A team that right now comes in without Barkley, without Devontae Smith, Damian Pierce, the running back that filled in
04:36for Saquon Barkley to the injured reserve.
04:38I have no idea, Max, who their running backs are going to be.
04:41Who is going to run the ball for the Eagles on Sunday night?
04:45They signed Jaden Blue.
04:45Florida legend Damian Pierce.
04:47Damian Pierce just went to the IR.
04:49Well.
04:52Is Tank Bigsby still around?
04:54No, he's on the IR.
04:55Shipley's on the IR.
04:56I love listing names.
04:57Barkley's not going to play more likely than not.
04:59They signed Jaden Blue.
05:01Remember the Cowboys draft pick?
05:03I do.
05:03Brian, do you remember Jaden Blue?
05:05Yeah.
05:07Disappointment.
05:08So, I don't know who's going to run the football.
05:11But here's why Adam Peters has the immediate biggest sweat for this game.
05:20Because they are doing a good job in that building of keeping everybody optimistic.
05:27Guys, we should be better than 1-4-1.
05:29Nobody's running away with this division.
05:31We still have almost two-thirds of our season left.
05:3511 games left.
05:36I got it.
05:36We know what we can be.
05:38What?
05:38It's Eli Mitchell.
05:39I don't know who that is.
05:41He played on the 49ers?
05:43Yes, correct.
05:4449ers.
05:44Okay, I remember.
05:45Yeah.
05:47I didn't see Damian Pierce get hurt in the Monday night game.
05:50I didn't either.
05:51Against the Cowboys.
05:53But what they can do right now, and what Adam Peters can do right now, is say,
06:00no, this season's still in play.
06:02I don't need to trade at the trade deadline all of my, or try to attempt to trade a lot
06:10of my expiring contract players.
06:13I like Stefan Diggs.
06:15I like players like Caleb Onchason.
06:18I like Nick Cross.
06:21Deron's playing pretty well this year.
06:25That's his position right now.
06:27But, Adam Peters, more than anybody else, given the timing of Sunday night, if they lose,
06:35he has to be the big boy in the room.
06:38He's got to be the adult that says, yeah, I know, we should be better than 1-5-1, but
06:46we're not.
06:47And even if we are slightly better than our record says we are, it's pretty much too late
06:54to turn it around.
06:56I see what's ahead.
06:58The Rams, the Bengals, the Jags, the Vikings, a road game against the Giants.
07:06We couldn't beat them at home.
07:07We had to tie them.
07:09I have to be the adult in the room that admits that what I said in August about, yeah, you
07:18guys don't see what we see on the inside of this building.
07:23I actually have to fess up and say, yep, nope, didn't work out.
07:28We were wrong.
07:30And I have to be the guy that tells everybody, sorry, but did you see what the Colts started
07:37to do last week?
07:38I think that's us because my job is to think about and to protect the future of this franchise.
07:46And if I don't do my job, then I'm going to be the one that ends up being cut loose
07:51when
07:52the season ends.
07:53And I don't believe that that's the case with Adam Peters.
07:56You may ask me why I don't think that.
08:00I've given you the reasons.
08:01I've given you the pros and cons of Adam Peters through two years and six games.
08:06I believe there's actually more pros than cons in terms of player acquisition, but some
08:12of the big whiffs have mattered.
08:14Certainly the Marshawn Lattimore trade, certainly the 2024 draft.
08:19I would also say just the idea of what they were going to do with the interior of their
08:24offensive line at center in particular before this season began.
08:28Um, but he's the one that immediately has to make a big decision if they lose on Sunday
08:38night.
08:38And that is to become sellers, to look ahead to beyond 2026.
08:45That's his job.
08:46That's not Quinn's job.
08:49That's not Durante Jones's job.
08:51That's not Steve Wilkes's job.
08:54He'll be on the sidelines Sunday night.
08:56Grant Paulson reported that yesterday.
08:59We'll get into that with Ben when he joins us at 12.
09:02What does that mean?
09:03Let me just interject real quickly.
09:05I don't think it means that Steve Wilkes is going to replace Dan Quinn if things don't
09:11go well and they decide to move on in season from Dan Quinn.
09:15I don't think Dan Quinn's going anywhere in season.
09:18I think that decision will come at the end of the season.
09:22That's not why Steve Wilkes has been brought in.
09:25It's not why Steve Wilkes will be on the sideline.
09:28My opinion, we'll find out what Ben thinks.
09:31My opinion is Durante Jones has actually reached out, wanted help.
09:37They got him help.
09:38I don't know why Dan Quinn can't be the person that's helping, but specifically, I think there
09:43is help needed with the back four, with the secondary, and maybe an overall big picture
09:52when it comes to game planning.
09:54All right.
09:56Enough of that.
09:58Save it for Ben at 12.
10:00Adam Peters is the guy who's got the biggest sweat Sunday night.
10:07Wynn and he and everybody else can continue to look at each other, to look at themselves
10:15in the mirror, and say, we're still in it.
10:18A loss, everybody else will be preparing for the Rams, and that will be their job.
10:25Adam Peters' job will then change from this season is still in play to it's over,
10:32and I need to start planning for 2027 and beyond.
10:38He does not want to do that.
10:40That's why it's such a big sweat.
10:42He doesn't want this season.
10:44None of them do.
10:45But especially, you know, the comments he made in August, and I didn't think that they
10:51were, you know, directly implicating of anybody, the fans or the media, you know, nobody specifically.
11:00But in general, you know, he had this feeling like, hey, man, you guys aren't on the inside
11:05of the building.
11:06You have no idea what you're talking about.
11:08Nick Allegretti can actually play.
11:09The offensive line room loves him.
11:11He's a great communicator.
11:12He's a great guy.
11:13We're going to be okay.
11:15You know, he's got to do an about face and start selling, and he does not want to do that.
11:22No general manager wants to do that seven games into a season.
11:27But he especially does not want to do that.
11:30This, especially if the quarterback plays the entire game and doesn't win again, may
11:39not be his fault.
11:40Most of them haven't been in terms of the losses when he has started.
11:44He's the least of our problems.
11:45I think most of you would agree with that.
11:49But Adam Peters has the biggest sweat Sunday night.
11:53This is, for me, the game in which, man, I wouldn't want to be sitting near him in the
11:59box on Sunday night.
12:01He's going to be tight.
12:03Because if they lose this game, he has to immediately, immediately on Monday morning,
12:10if not before the clock strikes midnight Sunday night, he's got to start lining up his players
12:17for sale.
12:19They've got to get a lot of picks, and they've got to start believing in 27 and 28 and everything
12:26that goes with making those years better years.
12:31Because 26 will be over.
12:35301-230-0980.
12:37301-230-0980.
12:40I'm kind of just calling this in my own mind.
12:43But I guess not just in my own mind, but on the show here for all of you to hear.
12:47I think this is the Adam Peters game.
12:50I think he's got the biggest sweat.
12:53Who do you think's got the biggest sweat Sunday night?
12:56Who's on the line the most?
12:58Who's feeling it the most?
12:59I think everybody's feeling it.
13:01I think Quinn is.
13:02I think Jaden Daniels is.
13:03I think Blau and Durante Jones are.
13:06I think there's a lot of people feeling it and understanding.
13:11We heard the Jaden Daniels answer to the question that J.P.
13:15Finley asked the other day about, was there more weight to Sunday night's game than usual?
13:21He said, sure.
13:22Yeah, sure.
13:23He feels it.
13:26Meek Robertson with his answers to Scott Abraham the other day.
13:31They understand what's at stake here.
13:34You know, this isn't a game against the 49ers on the road on Monday night football.
13:38This is a game at home off a bye week against a team that will limp into Northwest Field Sunday
13:46night without any of the offensive players basically that they were anticipating having before the season began.
13:54A team that's on a five-game losing skid and just went from being a three-and-a-half-point
14:00underdog to a six-and-a-half-point underdog.
14:03That's where it is now.
14:05Oddsmakers adjusting for the situation, also adjusting for all the sharp money that's being laid down on Washington, minus these
14:12points.
14:13Maybe there will be a buyback of Philadelphia if it gets to seven.
14:16Wouldn't surprise me.
14:20Adam Peters will be the guy with the biggest sweat Sunday night.
14:26He desperately needs this game.
14:29He does not want to head back to Ashburn late Sunday night, early Monday morning, and start lining up the
14:38phones for his players.
