00:00Good morning, everybody. It is a football Friday, and Washington has quite the challenge Sunday
00:06against the Rams. But it's the NFL, and anything can happen. We know that. I've already mentioned
00:12this, but going into last night's game, which was a big favorite covering and covering easily,
00:19Jacksonville winning 33-10 against the Ravens. Going into that game last night, there had been
00:25nine games this year in the NFL with a point spread of nine points or greater, and five of
00:30those underdogs won outright. Eight of those underdogs covered, and only one favorite had
00:36covered and won until last night. Washington's not a nine-point underdog. In fact, that number now is
00:42down to four and a half from five and a half. Yeah, there is some sharp money on Washington at
00:50home.
00:50A lot of it has to do with just the nature of these West Coast teams that come east and
00:57play an
00:58early game. But the other part of it is the Rams have not been an impressive football team really
01:03at any point this year. There hasn't been one game in which you have said that looks like the Super
01:10Bowl
01:10favorite, which they were for the first month of the season and during the entire offseason. You even
01:16go back to last week. They won handily against the Chargers 24-9, but they had on their first
01:24five possessions, interception, punt, field goal, by the way, after a four-play eight-yard drive,
01:32meaning no first down following a Chargers interception, then punt, punt. That was how they
01:37started the game against the Chargers defense. The Chargers just were so inept offensively.
01:44Herbert threw two picks and that ended up being the big difference in the game, which is why the
01:49Rams won 24-9. The week before that was probably their most impressive win of the year. Offensively,
01:56they were able to run the ball, but everybody has run the ball against the Raiders. And in that game,
02:02Kyron Williams and Blake Corum combined to go 33 carries, 192 yards. So that's the kind of thing you
02:09can't let happen. I'll get to my keys this hour to a win over the Rams. But the LA Rams
02:16at 4-4 on a
02:17two-game winning streak, and I think there is now some belief, oh, this is the Rams team we thought
02:23we
02:23were going to get. The truth is they have not been overly impressive at any point this year. Not in
02:30terms
02:31of a complete football game. Maybe that comes Sunday. Maybe it comes Sunday. But it wasn't last
02:37Sunday. The week before, they gave up a lot offensively to the Raiders, or gave up a lot
02:43defensively against the Raiders' offense. We are just, on Sunday afternoon, we are going to be
02:50three weeks removed from the Cardinals beating them at SoFi, 18-16. I mean, look, the Cardinals have
02:59had some impressive wins, including the comeback win over the Cowboys. But the Cardinals moved the
03:04football against the Rams. It wasn't like they got a bunch of turnovers and won the game. That's not
03:10what happened. The Rams just weren't very good. They haven't been great all year long. It's a long
03:16season. They have the players and the coaching staff to become a great football team at some point during
03:23this year. I don't think anybody would be surprised if we fast-forwarded to late January and the Rams were
03:29still alive and they were playing in the NFC Championship game against the Bears or the Niners to go to
03:34the
03:34Super Bowl. But as of now, through eight weeks of the NFL season, they've been anything but impressive.
03:42You know, in the NFC alone, in their division, San Francisco has been better. Seattle's...
03:49Now, Seattle's been better. The Bears have been better. The Vikings have been better. The Lions
03:54have been better. You could argue the Packers have been better. I'm getting to... This is a winnable
04:02game Sunday. And I have a feeling most of you think it isn't. It's like they got the one they
04:09had to get
04:10against the Eagles. That kind of keeps everything in play. And then they're just going to have to beat
04:15the Giants on Thursday night. They're going to have to beat the Giants on Thursday night, regardless
04:19of whether or not they win. Because that will be a crucial game in the NFC East if, if, and
04:25it's a big
04:25if, if Washington and the Giants end up being the two teams that are vying it out. And obviously, at
04:32this
04:32point, Washington isn't considered that, but could be, could be within a week.
04:39I think they've got a shot Sunday against the Rams. I think this is a Rams team that is still
04:44trying to figure it out. They've had injuries. Devontae Adams lost, as we know. They haven't
04:50had Miles Garrett all year. We don't know if they'll get him back. Jalen Watson, their corner,
04:55who's played so well. He's out on Sunday at this point. So there are some things that
05:03in the NFL feel, week to week, feel like this could be one of those close games where
05:14the underdog has a chance to win outright. Of course, Washington's banged up as well. And
05:19Traylon Burks right now is iffy for Sunday. Ben will join us at 12 and we'll get the full
05:25rundown on who's in and who's out. Obviously, we know Kinlaw Payne and Jeremy McNichols have been
05:32added to the injured reserve. And they'll have, you know, as of now, three running backs. That's it,
05:37including an undrafted free agent rookie who has not played an NFL down in the regular season yet,
05:43Robert Henry Jr., I would assume would be up and active on Sunday afternoon. All right. You know,
05:52just looking ahead for our team, like if they can get, you know, and it's crucial that here over
06:00the next three with two good teams, the Rams and the Bengals, and maybe a decent team in the Giants
06:06to actually have a legitimate chance, they're going to have to win two, a two or three.
06:11And one of them is going to have to be against New York because their only path to the postseason
06:16obviously will be the division at this point. They're not going to, I mean, I guess they could
06:21run the table and finish 11, four and one or 10, five and one and maybe snag a wild card,
06:27but that's not going to happen. And I think you're going to need 11 in the NFC this year anyway,
06:32but you got to beat the Giants have to be one of them. So you would then own the tiebreaker
06:37advantage with a tie and a win over the Giants, but they've got to, they got to beat the Rams
06:42or
06:42the Bengals. They've got to be sitting there no worse than when they go into that part of the
06:46schedule that looks somewhat favorable today, certainly subject to change, but they've got to
06:52be at four, five and one worst case through 10 with seven to go, because then they've got the
06:59Cardinals and the Titans. Those are road games, but back-to-back games in which you would view those
07:05games as winnable Texans, Falcons at home. You know, you would feel like we'll see what Houston
07:11is at that point, but that stretch right now, the way it looks Cardinals, Titans, Texans, Falcons,
07:18if you can enter that stretch four or five and one, you know, it's one week at a time. Every
07:23week is
07:24its own entity for sure in this league, but that's where you would really have glass half full capability.
07:31You don't have it yet as they beat the Eagles that just kept the glass on the table for the
07:38time
07:38being, rather than having it shattered. But glass half full happens if they win two of the next three
07:46and the Rams are an opportunity because it's a home game. It's a one o'clock game. And I do
07:51think
07:52like this is one of those games when our franchise was good and a legitimate NFL upper tier franchise,
08:01which it has not been for 30 years, you know, certainly 25 years. This was one where you didn't
08:09have to sell it. You did not have to, you know, make sure that everybody understood the importance.
08:16The stadium would be packed and it would be ready and raucous to be a factor in the game.
08:24And it's the kind of game that you gotta have the home field be a factor. This can't be a
08:31split 50
08:3150 crowd where there are a bunch of Ram fans and Ram fans don't travel typically anyway. You know,
08:37you're not going to get a whole lot of, I don't think what you typically get, whether it's the Eagles,
08:42Giants, Cowboys, or some of the teams that travel well, you know, the good news is the remaining
08:48home games for this team. Typically, you're not going to be invaded until the finale against the
08:54Cowboys. That's always possible. But this is one of those early November games. You're into the season
09:01now. You're approaching the halfway point of the season. You know, typically, you know, a chilly fall
09:09day. You gotta be, this has to be one of those games where the home crowd is a factor. And
09:17I thought
09:18at times in 2024, for really the first time in nearly a decade, you had a home crowd advantage.
09:28It's pretty pathetic to say because some of us know what Washington used to mean to the rest of the
09:37league when you had to play a road game. You know, you rewind the clock 30 years and the Rams
09:42are like,
09:43you know, the crowd's getting an actual benefit from the odds makers because the crowd's going to
09:51be a factor. We haven't had that in forever. We had it briefly in 24. There were some really good
09:58moments in 24. It felt new. It felt like it was back. Last year, not so much. This year,
10:05not so much. It's gotta be that way Sunday. This is an opportunity where it can't just be them
10:12against the Rams. Though some of you are rolling your eyes, others know exactly what I'm talking
10:18about. A big opponent coming into this building for a meaningful football game for our team right now
10:26and for them in November. Gotta win two out of the next three and I think Sunday's a game that
10:33they've got to get somehow. I like their chances. I really like their chances. I don't like that if
10:40Traylon Burks is out as much. They need him.
