00:03Oh. Ah, yes, indeed. Al Michaels on the call on Prime Video. Al wasn't sure. Had to make
00:12sure. That's a far distance away for 80-something-year-old Al Michaels. I think we all knew it was
00:20an
00:20interception, but just want to make sure when you're the play-by-play guy on national television
00:26as the Commanders get a somewhat unlikely win on this feel-good football victory Friday
00:37because you know how you're going to feel this Sunday. You're going to feel great this Sunday.
00:44You're going to watch football stress-free. The Commanders can't lose. You know why?
00:50Because they already won. They beat the New York Giants in come-from-behind fashion. And I'll
00:59admit, just like all of you, and if you didn't think the game was pretty much over after Jaden
01:05Daniels' second interception, you're just not paying attention. And you're beyond wearing
01:11rose-colored glasses because we all thought it was over. We all thought it was over, so
01:17don't give me any of that nonsense. We all thought it was over. With that being said,
01:23a good Friday afternoon to you. It is Friday the 13th for whatever that means. If you're
01:32of the superstitious kind and nature, all I know is traffic was bad because it was a day
01:40that ends in Y. That's all. And I had to play dodgeball trying to get to the studio.
01:50Anthony Haney is with us. Super producer Anthony Haney. You will be with us at 301-230-0980.
01:56Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Don't call yet. You call in a few minutes. We're not going to,
02:02you know, we're not just going to like load up the phone lines and then not be able to take
02:07you and keep it on hold, you know, for 45 minutes or an hour because we have so much
02:11to do and cover. But we will get to you shortly. Okay. 301-230-0980 at that number. Anthony
02:20Haney was right. I was wrong. I was looking great and so smart at 21. What did I say? I
02:35said
02:3620-17 at 21-17 and I almost texted you and I said, I almost texted you, look at what
02:45the
02:45score was. Remember who picked 20-17 Giants to cover the one and a half on the show and
02:52you were so mad at me as of course, same with Commander Nation. I almost had it right because
03:00it was 21-17 for a good while there. And then the commanders, even after two interceptions
03:11thrown by Jaden Daniels and not the good kind, even with the busted coverage on Isaiah Likely
03:22on the all-out blitz, even with letting J.J. McCarthy at times carve them up like a Thanksgiving
03:31turkey, even at times making themselves look foolish, a delay of game after a 14-yard sack
03:41loss inside your own 10-yard line, which gives the Giants the ball at midfield and five plays
03:48later there into the end zone. And every ounce of momentum that you built towards the end of the
03:54first half is gone in a flash. Snap of a finger. Even with all of that, the commanders somehow found
04:03a way, boys and girls. Somehow found a way. Unbelievable. It is unbelievable.
04:13Listen, again, I know a lot of you think I hate the commanders. Nothing could be further from the
04:19truth. My life depends on the commanders. Okay? I've been a victim of theirs for a long, long,
04:28long, long time. So have you. Our lives, lives, our well-being, our mental sanity, our jobs in some
04:42cases, certainly for us, depend largely on the Washington commanders. It would be absolutely
04:51certifiably insane for me to want them to lose. To think that the show is going to be better long
05:05-term,
05:06short-term maybe, long-term for them to lose and for them to be essentially and realistically
05:16eliminated before the middle of November. If anybody out there, and I know there's a lot of
05:22you nitwits out there, especially on Twitter and social media and maybe in the chat on YouTube.
05:29So if you're one of these nitwits, raise your right hand or put your left hand up. We can meet
05:34in the
05:34middle and I'll tell you how dumb you are. If anybody thinks that I was rooting for the commanders
05:41to lose last night and for it to be a carnival poop show around here for the rest of the
05:48football season,
05:49because we're not talking one week, we're not talking one extended by long wraparound week until the next
05:57stupid primetime game. We're talking about the next two months are dead. DOA, dead on arrival.
06:07If anybody thinks I was rooting for that or when I uttered, we're never going to get to talk about
06:14a
06:14good football team again, which was immediately after Jaden Daniels' second interception back-to-back
06:21with just a couple of minutes left. And why would anyone, anyone have any faith that this team was
06:30going to get a defensive stop and score the game-winning touchdown after all we've been
06:36through in the last year and a half? Now, maybe in 2024, you would have thought that. That was a
06:43long
06:43time ago. And yet, some of that magic, if you will, for at least one night and in one sequence
06:54was bottled up and then allowed to spray free, right? You didn't think the Commanders were going to win that
07:06game, did you? When Jaden throws that second interception. How could you have? How could you have?
07:17Just be honest. You didn't. And you're just mad at me because I said, we're never going to get to
07:24talk about a good football team again. And listen, I don't apologize. They're not a good football team.
07:33Let me repeat. Let me look in the camera for this one, just because everybody loves when I look into
07:38the camera. And you can see on YouTube, subscribe to the team 980 at the team 980. They're not a
07:47good
07:47football team. They're three, five, and one. They're not a good football team. They won a game that they
07:57desperately had to have. That's one layer of an eight-layer-ish, I guess, buildup that you have to
08:15remove. They won one football game on the road in the division by the thinnest of margins, for the most
08:25point. And I know, obviously, the thinnest of margins would be a one-point win, but you get the
08:32point. 24-21, you know, it's a very thin margin. There wasn't a lot of room for error there.
08:41They won one football game on the road in the division against a 5-2-1 team. That does not
08:48make
08:48you a good football team. That saved your season. That's what that did. It does not, let me repeat,
08:56does not make you a good football team. You've accomplished nothing. You've staved off the Lions.
09:05You throw a T-bone to the Tiger, right? They're satiated for a little while.
09:11Well, let's see you in 11 days, because that's all that matters. And then when you get done with that,
09:17if you somehow beat Joe Burrow in the Bengals offense, then on a five-day week with Thanksgiving
09:25in between and a cross-country out to the mostly West Coast airplane trip the day after Thanksgiving
09:34and a shortened work week and recovery and this and that and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
09:39You got to take on the Arizona Cardinals, who everybody's going to pick you to beat
09:43because they're starting their third-string quarterback. And because Jeremiah Love's
09:48probably not playing in that game because he's still on IR. And because they lost their two top
09:52receivers. And they're right, you should win that game. But we've got a lot to go before we get to
09:59that. But they are not a good football team yet, because they won last night. It was a good win.
10:07There's a difference. That's the good. They are not a good football team yet.
10:14Does that make sense? I hope that makes sense, because that's the God's honest truth.
10:19And none of you thought, none of you thought, even the most optimistic, rose-colored glasses,
10:28burgundy and gold pom-poms, squarely and surgically attached to your ass-cheek fans,
10:34none of you thought, oh, we're going to win this game when Jaden threw that second interception.
10:43But they did. And that's what makes it a good win. Not a great win. A good win.
10:50A very satisfying, much-needed, must-have, dire urgency win.
10:59Now, how did they accomplish it? Let's get into three and out. The three biggest reasons why the
11:04commanders lost. One. One. 24-21 last night over the New York Giants. And you can get aboard 301-230
11:15-0980,
11:16301-230-0980. Or you can yell at me, as many of you have, on X, Twitter, at Russellmania621,
11:24at Russellmania621. Or you can join the chat right now on YouTube and yell at me that way.
11:30But there's really nothing to yell about, because all I do is speak the truth.
11:35The truth is a lot of times hard for people to handle.
11:40Especially when they're fans. Right? The truth.
11:44Sometimes you recognize the truth.
11:47And you're smart. And you use common sense.
11:49And you know what the situation is.
11:53A lot of times, you just attack the lowest-hanging fruit.
11:56Whether it be the head coach.
11:58Whether it be the coordinator of du jour.
12:01Whether it be the radio host at afternoon drive.
12:06That tells you honestly, with passion and fury,
12:10why this team is not a good football team,
12:14but just won a very important football game.
12:18And it is a good win.
12:20And why there is a difference.
12:22Right?
12:23I think we're all smart enough to understand
12:25that at 3-5-1, you're not a good football team.
12:27But you had a good win.
12:29And you saved your season for at least the next 10 days.
12:34And realistically, the next couple of weeks,
12:36because even if they lose to the Bengals,
12:39while that's not good, you're 3-6-1.
12:43While that's not good,
12:45you can get away with it mentally and emotionally,
12:49because it's not in the conference and it's not in the division.
12:53And because you're...
12:54Not because Vegas says anything.
12:56Vegas doesn't know anything.
12:59But because realistically,
13:02you're not supposed to beat Joe Burrow and the Bengals.
13:05Realistically.
13:07Now, a lot of things can change.
13:08And a lot of things can happen.
13:11But what you bought last night
13:13was a potential tiebreaker.
13:18You bought at least two weeks of space.
13:24Realistically.
13:25In terms of chasing the NFC East title.
13:30Realistically, the most direct way you can get to the playoffs.
13:35That's what you bought last night.
13:37And that's great.
13:38That's great for business.
13:39Love it.
13:40Happy about it.
13:41I hope you are.
13:42But I hope you're also realistic.
13:45In that...
13:47You don't have to beat the Bengals
13:49in order for last night to matter.
13:54That's not what we're talking about here.
13:58But...
13:59That sure would go a long way
14:01to solidifying what we saw last night.
14:05And what we saw last night...
