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00:00:00
Speaker 1: The commanders have to score a touchdown.
00:00:02
Speaker 2: Up to the line they go.
00:00:03
Speaker 3: Williams goes in motion.
00:00:05
Speaker 2: Diggs is asking for directions.
00:00:06
Speaker 1: They have to get set.
00:00:07
Speaker 2: The Giants aren't set on defense either. Clock at 105.
00:00:11
Speaker 1: James Reddy takes the snap.
00:00:12
Speaker 2: Blitz coming.
00:00:13
Speaker 1: Fires.
00:00:13
Speaker 2: Caught in the middle. Stephon Diggs.
00:00:15
Speaker 3: Infantry defender. He breaks into the clear.
00:00:18
Speaker 2: Touchdown!
00:00:19
Speaker 3: Touchdown, Washington!
00:00:21
Speaker 2: They've come through!
00:00:23
Speaker 1: That was a missile by Jaden Daniels against the Blitz! You live by the Blitz!
00:00:29
Speaker 2: You die by the Blitz!
00:00:30
Speaker 1: What a play!
00:00:31
Speaker 3: What a throw! They died by the Blitz. Great call there by Bram Weinstein and London Fletcher. Our friends from WBIG, the Washington Commanders, finally pull one out late, 24-21 over Big Blue, the New York Giants, in a game that looked done and dusted, Nick Shook, after Jaden Daniels' second interception in the fourth quarter. But what happened? The Giants run the ball three times, and they punt, They lived in their fears and the commanders had a drive that is not overstating it. Save their season because there's nothing more serious shook than a cross off game here on NFL Daily. I was crossing them off for the rest of the season and they saved it with that last ditch effort and then defensive stop after it.
00:01:29
Speaker 2: I felt like this is the way that this game was supposed to end. And I can't exactly tell you why it felt like a game of that shouldn't work, but it did. And even that pasted to digs, it was an accurate throw, but there's no reason he actually should have scored there except two defenders ran into each other. Deontay banks being one of them took each other out. And all of a sudden there was, you know, a bunch of green grass all the way to the end zone. I guess it was fitting for the type of night that it was in which the Giants played a lot of short passing game and the commanders found ways to score, but then also failed to execute in basic things. Maybe I'm just a hater. It was entertaining.
00:02:04
Speaker 3: You are a hater, bro.
00:02:05
Speaker 2: Congratulations to the commanders for keeping themselves alive.
00:02:10
Speaker 3: This was a great Thursday night game. Was it two teams that are competing for the Super Bowl? No. But it's two teams we haven't seen a lot in primetime this year playing about as well as they could have. Back and forth, a ton of big plays. I think the two quarterbacks, for the most part, played well until Jaden Daniels then threw those two interceptions in the fourth quarter. And then it was somehow... Unfair. I thought that JJ McCarthy, that the game did end with him throwing an interception. It will be forgotten because that Stefan Diggs catch was
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so awesome that JJ McCarthy quickly got his team into field goal range with a throw to Malachi Fields. They had their timeouts. They had plenty of time. But when they tried to heat up McCarthy, generally, they got through to him. And that happened on the very last two plays of the game. They hit McCarthy's arm the first time. Razul Douglas did not catch it. They hit him again a second time on a blitz. And here's what happened.
00:03:13
Speaker 1: Third and 10 at the 48. Snap to McCarthy.
00:03:16
Speaker 2: Pressure coming again.
00:03:16
Speaker 3: Hit as he throws again.
00:03:17
Speaker 2: This one just flying up in.
00:03:18
Speaker 3: The air towards.
00:03:19
Speaker 2: There we go! That one, was that picked off? Yes! Yes!
00:03:23
Speaker 3: Yes, it was!
00:03:23
Speaker 2: Yes!
00:03:24
Speaker 3: Picked off!
00:03:25
Speaker 2: Unbelievable! Russell Douglas coming through! Interception, Washington!
00:03:31
Speaker 3: Fool me once, shame on me!
00:03:33
Speaker 1: Fool me twice, shame on you!
00:03:36
Speaker 2: Ha!
00:03:37
Speaker 3: Shame on the Giants, I guess. I mean, there wasn't much between these two teams. It was a very similar blitz to the one that J.J. McCarthy threw one of the best passes of his entire life earlier in the fourth quarter to Isaiah Likely. We'll hear about that play later. But yeah, what did you think about the way the commanders did manage to finish this game at the very end?
00:03:57
Speaker 1: I mean, they.
00:03:58
Speaker 2: wasted two opportunities prior by throwing interceptions. I mean, Jaden Daniels, it's, it's a fake bubble. They send Chico Conco down the sideline and he's got him. He's got to step on the defender. He's got him. Daniels is the ball short. He gets picked off. Daniels goes to the out route, you know, for the 900th time and it's properly read and picked off. And I'm just thinking, man, like they're wasting time. Every opportunity the Giants keep handing them opportunities by not being able to put this game away and Washington's wasting them. And then they're able to come through, you know, on that final possession that they earned because they were able to get that stop. A very curious third down play in which McCarthy is running out to the left before the Giants decide to punt and give the ball back. uh to the commanders it again one of those games where it's like yeah you did this you didn't really execute like i thought you would but they took advantage of that final opportunity and it's funny because i look at these stats i look at the next gen numbers and we talk about them heating up jj mccarthy for most of this game i'm watching them And I'm thinking, okay, they're blitzing a linebacker kind of frequently. They're not really getting home. Both of these quarterbacks had a lot of time to throw. Nearly half of the commander's pressures in this entire game, which was 15, seven of them came in the fourth quarter. It took until the final quarter for them to break through. And if I had to guess, five of those probably came in the last six minutes of the game. So it was a late developing.
00:05:15
Speaker 3: Three in a row to end the game.
00:05:17
Speaker 2: Exactly. So it was a late developing detail in this game that swung it in their favor. I'm just happy that... A team that is arguably one of the worst at end game and end of half scenarios that I've seen in a long time was able to deliver in the clutch. First time, a little bit lucky. Second time, more a result of a good ball by Jaden Daniels. Yes.
00:05:35
Speaker 3: The first half, which we can mention here, ended with them struggling defensively. in short yardage situations. They get down to the goal line. They're trying to answer what was the Giants lead taking touchdown with a couple minutes to go in the first half. And then they get on the goal line and they do this commander's thing where they're almost overcorrecting to pass mistakes. And they'd let the clock, you know, go down under 20 seconds. So then they were sweating out the clock a little bit. And They were in so many short yardage situations all night where you thought, just run the ball. And maybe they are not confident in doing it. But I tell you, when they actually gave it to Austin Eckler a couple of times, the blocking was horrible, but he could break through tackles. And he made a lot of three or four yard runs out of what should have been negative three in the year 2026. I just love that Austin Eckler has still happened. And you're shaking your head.
00:06:28
Speaker 2: I do too. I actually thought his career was over when he blew his Achilles out last year. So I'm happy to see him back. But we talk about how they do this weird overcorrection thing. This is another instance, end of the half, in which there's a minute six when they get down to the New York Giants one-yard line. They call a timeout at 19 seconds. 19, they gave, they took so much time off the clock. They snapped the ball at 106 to play prior. They let it go all the way down to 19. I'm thinking you have three timeouts. You could at least get, you could call a play. Just hand it off to him on first down. Give yourself a chance to score on the ground and then burn the timeout. And as they got to third down, I saw Nikki Javala tweet, what are they doing? What are they doing right now? They're going to blow it. Luckily, they get to throw to Ben Sinnott for the touchdown and take the lead just before halftime.
00:07:17
Speaker 3: So Ben Sinnott, I don't even think was the intended target.
00:07:21
Speaker 2: He wasn't. There's no way he was intended. It was the intended target. Absolutely not.
00:07:26
Speaker 3: It is one of those nights. And you see that was a quick pressure by Abdul Carter on that play. It appeared that Daniels was targeting Stefan Diggs. And that's why I get it. You were not happy with the execution overall. Great job there by our producer, Eric Roberts, and the Amazon Prime crew getting it. all these great replays, which
show it was going to digs. I don't think it would have been complete. So not just kind of stole it. He had a couple of nice catches on this day. And that was the difference of the game because they got that touchdown at the end of the first half, they get the digs, which felt like almost a miracle touchdown at the end of the game. Whereas the giants will be kicking themselves. They did. I think just to my eye look like the slightly better team here tonight and probably should have won it. But yeah, Malik Neighbors fumbles the ball while they're driving at one point in the second half. It was a good defensive play, but they lose a fumble while they're in scoring position. Jvada misses a chip shot 33-yard field goal. So that's minus three points there. They almost gave up their last chance to win the game with a fumble on a kick return. And then I did want to ask what you thought about John Harbaugh's coaching. They... kicked that field goal for Zvada, and I get it. It was 33 yards, but it was fourth and four as early in the game. It's 0-0. Some people would have gone for it there. I get they went for it.
00:08:47
Speaker 2: I'm not going to kill them for that one. That one's fine.
00:08:49
Speaker 3: Okay, but I did not love the punt on fourth and three in the second half in Washington's territory, and that was definitely a moment where all the... All the bots and the surrender index, if you happen to know what that is on Twitter, like the surrender index on that punt was 99.8%. Like that is a place where your offense is playing pretty well there. And I just think you should go for it. Like J.J. McCarthy and for the most part, Scam Scataboo in this running game. was getting it done, and you were in plus position, and instead they hand the ball back over to Washington.
00:09:27
Speaker 2: This is the drive that leads over into the fourth quarter, and they punt from the Washington 46, right? yes okay so next gen has it as a toss-up at fourth and three okay okay i however agree wholeheartedly with you and it made me laugh in the moment because i knew you would bring it up and i was just racked like racking my brain for the exact terminology if it was like a a cowardly punt or a surrender punt or a gutless it was a surrender punt and they well they punted two more times after that they scored a touchdown in in between uh that first punt the next two punts uh but yeah i had the exact same thought in that moment i was like are you sure like are you just and again the last punt was the worst of all just because of the way they handled that situation they just needed a first down or maybe now yeah they only needed one first down.
00:10:16
Speaker 3: Now, in Harbaugh's defense, in the fourth quarter, here's what their defense did. And they've been a great closing defense all season. They turned the Washington Commanders over on downs, where they have a misadventure. They struggle in short yardage. They can't pick up a third and two, I believe, on the ground. And then Jaden Daniels, who, again, was.
00:10:40
Speaker 3: A little less than the sum of his box score tonight is how I'll put it. Like the box score looks pretty good, but he just panics a few times under pressure, but he also has beautiful throws and he does get out of trouble. Like there's a lot of good. And then there's a few things where you just see his lack of experience. And he panics on a fourth and two throw and they turn the ball over. The next two possessions, the Giants defense, which has been great at closing out games, forces interceptions. At that point, you can really blame, I think, the offense for going three and out two straight times and interception to end the game. That's where you need to have a normal running game. And the Giants were a little better running the ball today. 116 yards on the ground, 41% success rate. That's actually good for them because they've been one of the worst running teams in the league. But how about our guys on the ground, the linebackers? And in this case, it's Sonny Stiles. You mentioned that play that they called for J.J. McCarthy. where he goes around the end, and who's there to meet him? Sonny Stiles. He got beat earlier on a similar play, and he was great. I thought he was great in coverage all night, like when these guys were catching the ball.
00:11:48
Speaker 2: Except the likely touchdown. Yeah, but I hear you.
00:11:52
Speaker 3: Okay, let's watch that play. Let's listen to that play, because when it happened, it felt like a real moment. It was Isaiah Likely with a long touchdown to take the lead in the fourth quarter.
00:12:03
Speaker 2: McCarthy out of the gun. They bring a blitz. They don't pick it up. McCarthy fires it over the middle. Completes it to Likely.
00:12:09
Speaker 1: Running down the left side. He's to the 30.
00:12:11
Speaker 2: He's got a block from neighbors. 10, 5, touchdown Giants.
00:12:15
Speaker 1: 66 yards and they're back on front.
00:12:18
Speaker 2: Third and Likely again.
00:12:20
Speaker 3: Okay, let's have you break it down because on the prime vision view, it was an incredible throw. I think the biggest problem with that play was how Nick Cross slowed up on the blitz. But what do you mean about Sonny Stiles in that play? Because he got back there pretty fast. To me, that's just good offense beating pretty good defense. It took a great throw.
00:12:39
Speaker 2: It's not really his fault because he's playing zone coverage. There's a crosser and he's not on the side where the crosser is originating. He's on the other side. And I only say that he wasn't getting covers there just because he was a step late. And when I said that this is a game in which it feels like that shouldn't have worked, but somehow it did. That's the play. Like, yes, we can applaud JJ McCarthy for stepping into a blitz right in his face and getting that ball there. But from the prime vision view, as he threw it, I'm like, oh, pick like there's no that window is closing.
Somehow it gets through. And I only got a gun, man. I only knew that it got through because I heard the crowd pop. before I realized Isaiah likely was off and running with the football. So it's not really on styles, but like you see him kind of flail because he's just a little bit late there. And I don't know if he got targeted as the nearest defender. According to next gen, it would be a tough turnout for him in that play specifically. But overall, yeah, I mean, I thought he had an excellent night. He's a outstanding rookie whose athleticism shines. But I just can't I can't help it when that that passes. I was like, this whole game just feels fraudulent in so many different ways.
00:13:44
Speaker 3: Well, that was the moment where J.J. McCarthy, super fan, our friend Tracy Sandler and all the Giants fans just started to believe like, wow, J.J. McCarthy is a totally different dude. I mean, he even made me send out a positive J.J. McCarthy tweet and I stand by it. And it's and it's this and in the late interception doesn't change my mind. J.J. McCarthy is playing football well enough for them to win games right now. And that's all you can ask of a backup quarterback. I wasn't trying to say that, like, I think he's going to be a franchise quarterback, that they're going to have all these tough decisions. He has to stack more games to prove that. But here's what he's doing well, I think, Shook. He is hitting about three beautiful throws a game. Those corner routes and the out route, you know, throws to the sidelines have been nice. He's running pretty effectively when he needs to, and he's not making the killer mistake. Now he's not doing a lot of quarterbacky things like getting to his second and third read. And I can see pressure could heat him up and all that, but like, he's not killing you. He's given them a chance to win each night, including tonight. Like he is not high on the list of reasons why they lost this game. And I think that's a pretty huge step forward from where he, where he was, and actually a feather in the cap of Matt Nagy and J.J.
00:15:04
Speaker 2: McCarthy this year. Yeah, I can applaud him for playing within himself. They talked about it on the broadcast how John Harbaugh, when they made the trade for McCarthy, he asked Jim Harbaugh, you know, what is his mental makeup like? And they said, JJ wants you to trust him and believe in him. So don't, you know, tell him these are these things that he can't do. Just let him go out there and play and let him know that you have confidence in him to do it. And he'll, he'll do great things. And I think for the most part, that's kind of what we've seen. It's been up and down. There's been some games where you're right. The greatest highlight was just a few really good throws. And then otherwise a lot of it was forgettable. This night, I thought tonight was kind of trending toward. Yeah, he's just kind of managing the game, doing his job. And if you look at his air yards, was that 23 of his 34 attempts were. behind the line of scrimmage or short, you know, zero to nine yards. That's what it felt like. It felt like a lot of, I sense the blitz. I'm going to replace the blitzing linebacker with a quick pass to likely or somebody else underneath, which is what you're supposed to do. That's how you do your job properly. You're right though. He's not somebody who's going to blow the doors off and be like, Oh, he's a superstar. He's a franchise quarterback. I don't think that you even really necessarily start to think about what the conversation is next year at the position right now. But you're right. He's good enough to help them win games. And maybe that's maybe that's why I feel the way I do about this game, because record wise, these teams shouldn't be close. But I think that the record lies to us about the Giants a little bit. And and McCarthy is a bit of a good representation of that, not to say that they're not a good football team. It's that they're probably not a 5-2-1, now 5-3-1 seems a little more realistic football team. And McCarthy is not a franchise quarterback, but he's a serviceable quarterback who's doing a good job. Right.
00:16:37
Speaker 3: That's why I think it was an ethical result. Like, to me, these two teams should be closer. Washington's now 3-5-1. Like I said, their season was just about over if they lost this game. Now, it doesn't get... It's not going to be easy for this team to make a run. We're putting a lot on the Giants collapsing and the Cowboys staying mediocre when we think about Washington staying in the race. They have Cincinnati next week, so they are still very likely to be 3-6-1. After that, you have your division games, and you have four straight games against losing teams. Now, Houston and Atlanta are in there, and they're pretty good, but you also have Arizona and Tennessee. There's a realistic... if I'm doing the math right in my head, it's like I can see them being like 6-8 after that run, 6-8-1, and they're like one game back in the NFC East. I think that's a realistic path for them. I don't necessarily say that's likely, but I think they could be like 6-8-1, and if the Giants collapse, like 6-8-1 might be just about tied for first place if the Giants collapse. Now, I don't know if J.J. McCarthy will. If he stays at this level... I think he'll be okay enough for them to win games. I think they'll be in each one of these games because I do think the defense is good. And I thought Arvel Reese played pretty well in this game too. Like, I love the prime vision in this game because I just watched those two linebackers. Stiles ended up with 13 tackles, three quarterback pressures, was in coverage. A lot of those tackles were like right after a guy underneath made a catch, but ultimately didn't let people go for long. And Arvel Reese ended up with 13 tackles in this game as well. And I just think they're both tough. They're both tough players. And this is a position that's really hard to learn.
The one defense I was going to have for JJ. Sorry for ranting here. He did have two completions of 20 air yards or more. And he had three completions in seven attempts of over 10 air yards or more. And he's hitting 14, 15 yards per attempt. And that's kind of what this Giants offense has been. Like three and outs, some inaccurate throws, but some big plays down the field. And again, I'm viewing him as a backup quarterback that last year was like the worst quarterback in the league.
00:18:49
Speaker 2: If he gives you.
00:18:51
Speaker 3: a different style, but like a level of like Snoop Huntley play, like that's a win. Like you're contending in a year that you thought you weren't because you lost your starting quarterback. So that's all. Like you can keep them in it. That's all I'm saying.
00:19:03
Speaker 2: No, I think it's important to set the expectation though because we can catch ourselves in a scenario and especially in an island game like this in which we see a great throw. Yes. And everyone just starts going, oh, see, that's the McCarthy that was a first round pick. Looks like Kevin O'Connell was the problem in Minnesota. And you know what? Both that could also be true. But let's let's be realistic with ourselves, which I'm glad that's what I'm glad you broke it down that way, because I think it's important when we operate in these island game windows like we are tonight. Yep.
00:19:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a good call. I like some of the Comments we have in the chat right now. Comment that maybe neighbors shouldn't have let that last pass get ripped out of his hands. Neighbors pretty quiet tonight. Five for 44 yards. He had a drop in this game. of drops. Theo Johnson had a drop that did not help JJ McCarthy in this game. And as productive as neighbors has been this year, I, I feel like he's still going to be better next year, like another year away from the ACL.
00:20:03
Speaker 2: That's all.
00:20:04
Speaker 3: It's like, you just, you just hear guys the next year after that's like, Oh, I never fully felt like myself. I think that was the case in this game. Scadaboo goes for 78 yards on the ground, two touchdowns. Our guy Eric Roberts said this is a fun call. It is a great celebration when they all start just flipping. So let's hear the Scadaboo touchdown earlier in the game, his second score.
00:20:25
Speaker 1: Likely in a wing right, Scadaboo to the right of McCarthy.
00:20:30
Speaker 2: Little shovel for Scadaboo. Turns the corner. He's to the 10. He's to the 5. He's in for the touchdown!
00:20:36
Speaker 3: His second in the ballgame!
00:20:37
Speaker 2: Backflip time for Cam! And the Giants have the lead.
00:20:43
Speaker 3: He does a backflip.
00:20:44
Speaker 2: Fields does a backflip. Moody does a backflip. Backflip for all.
00:20:51
Speaker 3: I liked Andrew Thomas, the left tackle, faking that he was about to do a backflip. I'm like, oh, big boy, I don't think you got this in you. And so that was a nice little touch there. That was Bob Papa on WFAN. It was the score that put them up in the second half. You know, frankly, Shook, as much as you're disappointed and you have you know, high expectations of the beautiful football we're going to watch. How many, there's like five lead changes in the second half of this game. There's a team season on the line. Just, just, this was as good as it was.
00:21:21
Speaker 2: Going to get. Oh, we had fun. All right, I'll run through some fun moments. Okay, look, I might be a curmudgeon here. I might be Scrooge. You know, maybe the Grinch. Not quite, you know, Christmas season yet, but all right, I'll allow you to call me that. But we got fun things to talk about.
00:21:35
Speaker 3: Okay, please.
00:21:36
Speaker 2: First off, David Blau, for as much as I was frustrated with some of his play calling in key spots, Schemed up some really nice calls here and there, including a beautiful pass to Antonio Williams, the rookie, for a touchdown, which we have. Let's hear it.
00:21:48
Speaker 1: Jayden's under center.
00:21:49
Speaker 3: Third and inches. Snap. Play action.
00:21:52
Speaker 2: They're going to throw for it. Jayden firing. Wide open. Antonio Williams at the 15. Turns the corner at the 10. Tries to get to the pylon. He does!
00:21:59
Speaker 3: Touchdown!
00:22:00
Speaker 2: Touchdown, Washington! And the commander's answer! Great play, Carl. You get it.
00:22:05
Speaker 1: Under center. Go play action pass and you get Antonio Williams Coming across the field, Jaden finds him for the touchdown. Way to answer that touchdown by the New York Giants.
00:22:17
Speaker 2: I love this play because it's just a classic like build off of the run and they're in a short yardage situation. It very much looks like they're going to run. They get under center, which, you know, is still kind of new to Jaden in some ways. and runs the play actions, just two levels of crossers and a post on the opposite side. And it works to perfection. And Antonio Williams, who's sneaky, one of the most fun rookies to watch when he has the ball in his hands this year is able to get into the end zone. And it was one of a few throws that Jane med made that time. He didn't have to really break the pocket to make it happen. But there's another time where he rolled out to the right and he had Burke's running across her and their man coverage and two giants defenders run into each other and burst separates. And you can see it on the prime vision. You're like, Oh, there it is. It's open. Jane sees it fires a strike to him. first down drive continues. It was those types of players where I'm like, okay, I can see the potential in this. There wasn't a lot of consistency from down to down, but I did like some of that. And then we also, you know, staying on the fun stuff here, we also got one of the greatest cadences in the history of football. And of course it involved Jameis Winston.
00:23:13
Speaker 3: One, two, one, three.
00:23:19
Speaker 2: Who let the dog
down? Roof, roof, roof, roof.
00:23:21
Speaker 3: Roof, roof, roof, roof.
00:23:28
Speaker 2: Shout out to the Baja men. I mean, my goodness. This is the same quarterback who, when he was with the Browns, was like, come on, jump off sides. I know you want to jump. This is way better.
00:23:37
Speaker 3: I think he might have lost John Harbaugh at that moment because they lost this game and that didn't work for them. I think they're going to hear that and be like, are you serious, bro? Are you serious? And they'll give them the look that Sonny Styles gave him after that play. It was a great job by the cameraman catching Sonny Styles, just looking at Jameis Winston. It's like you clown. I love the, that replay. Cause the first time I heard it just live, I didn't catch that. He also did the barking. So no, yeah. Great job by Jameis Winston. How weird is it by the way that they bring in Jameis Winston for the short yardage stuff, even though JJ McCarthy is like a, more physical runner and a great runner. And I don't know. It's weird.
00:24:17
Speaker 2: It's weird to me.
00:24:18
Speaker 3: And also just so you can't run the ball with Cam Scadaboo on fourth and one at 31.
00:24:22
Speaker 2: I mean, we got to think about that. That's the third one that they got stuffed on, which was held up, you know, overturned on review because initially they gave him the first down when he was never going to have the first down. It was never really held that close. And then they line up again. And I honestly, deep down, I wanted them to go for it. And it wasn't until James started breaking it out into the Baja men where I was like, Oh, they're actually not going to snap this ball.
00:24:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, they were at their own 11 yard line. And then we got the weekly corny Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit talking about, oh, back in our day, analytics would never tell you to do this. And they didn't do it in the end. But, you know, if they had gone for it, they probably would have gotten it. They could have killed some more clock there.
00:25:03
Speaker 1: Yep.
00:25:04
Speaker 3: Might have won that ballgame. Might have been a different game.
00:25:07
Speaker 2: How do we feel? How do we feel about the latest John Harbaugh mini collapse? Because this is a mini blown lead. It's not a classic collapse, but it is a mini blown lead.
00:25:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was thinking that he's going to face some tough questions about some of the decisions that he made that I mentioned for maybe the first time in a while. Great call by one of our best Lister Smalls who says Ravens fans are out in force just enjoying Harbaugh blowing a lead just like in previous times. It's funny because when the whole fourth down revolution started, the Bravens were at the front of it. Like they were the team along with the Eagles that were the most ahead of it. And they had a whole analytics department. It's a whole thing. I think that was them telling Harbaugh to be like that. And I found him
to be extremely conservative with this particular Giants team. And I don't know if that's Just because he doesn't trust them. And they're not very good running the ball. So that's part of it. But yeah, it's a little disappointing. Have a little fun with this Giants team. You could have knocked out your rival Commanders. Instead, you didn't get a win over them in either game. You got a tie and a loss.
00:26:15
Speaker 2: Tie and a loss, which could have been two losses. Probably should have been two losses. Well, good job, Commanders. Way to actually finish.
00:26:23
Speaker 3: When I was watching this game, And we could wrap this up soon because, you know, the NFC East. When I was watching this game, I was just like, there's so little difference between these two teams in particular, but also like teams 18 through 26 in the NFL, which I would put them in. And when you go check DVOA total efficiency, the Commanders were actually ahead of the Giants coming into this game. That uses success rate and per play and opponent. And I think it was the Commanders 22, Giants 24. And so despite the Giants record, it does make sense to me that in the end, this NFC East, slop fest is going to be really close. Prove me wrong, Giants fans, but I have a feeling Giants Cowboys, which I believe is either a week 17 or 18 game, is going to possibly decide this division. And who knows, the commanders might even get back into it. We've both been saying, Chuck, that we thought the commanders were like a little better than their record.
00:27:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. They just didn't take care of the details. They didn't take care of the details, which is a sign of a losing team that ends up losing a lot of games. Looking at the Giants schedule, The collapse is possible. They play the Jags next week. They go to Indy. That'll be a win. And then they play the Niners, Seahawks, Browns, and Lions before that Cowboys game that you mentioned. Yep. Road's going to get tough. That record that they have right now, we may be looking at it as legit fool's gold about a month or so from now.
00:27:44
Speaker 3: I think that's a good call. I think both the Commanders and the Cowboys have played more of the tougher games on their schedule, and that's partly why NGS does not have the Giants as some overwhelming favorite. I love the playoff probability because they update it right away after the game. The commanders with that win went up to 19%, which doesn't sound like a ton, but look, if you told me I had a 19% chance of being a millionaire, I'd be pretty excited. Like finding out, you know, um, they would've had a 2% chance by the way, if they had lost this game, their season was basically over the giants on the other hand, uh, in first place, but only have a 50, 50 chance to make the playoffs. Cowboys at 35%. So this was a good day for the Cowboys. Obviously a good day for the commanders. And I think a good day for Nick Shook and for football fans, because they gave us as good a Thursday night game as we could have possibly had.
00:28:38
Speaker 2: I mean, it's better than last week, Joey Fignano and the Ravens against Trevor Lawrence in a rain storm. I mean, yeah, it was close.
00:28:45
Speaker 3: It was back and forth. We really put our producer, Eric Roberts to work. Cause there was about seven different highlights and highlights. and VOs to cut in the last portion of this game. And he, you know, he banged it all out. This is why we lift all them weights, Shook. It's all about expectations in life. You know what I mean? Just set them low and then people, you won't be as disappointed.
00:29:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's actually the key to a happy life is just setting yourself with low expectations throughout. And you're never disappointed.
00:29:11
Speaker 3: And that sounds bad, but I'm a little like that. It's not about low expectations. It's more just like, don't expect... great things to happen that you can't control. Just enjoy the small wins in life, like the commanders and giants being entertaining for three hours.
00:29:28
Speaker 2: That's all. All right, I'll take it. See, I came around. You helped me out. My heart grew three times bigger that day.
00:29:35
Speaker 3: Thank you. Let's get out of here. We will be back in your feed, the two of us. Nick Shook and I, picking games. Week 10. Shook's on a roll. 3-0 last week. We both were on the Niners. Maybe we'll get on them again in Dallas. We'll have to see. Check it out on Friday. We will see you then.
00:29:58
Speaker 2: Thank you.