Joe Theismann finally got to celebrate a Victory Monday with BMitch and Finlay, and while it wasn’t pretty, it was a record-setting performance for kicker Austin Seibert, who booted a franchise single-game best seven field goals in the 21-18 win.
“Finally, we get to celebrate a Monday and it feels good; a win is a win and you don't get style points, we found a way to win and that was the important thing,” Theismann said. “(Seibert) really is (a hero). When you practice, kickers usually go on to another field and they'll be hanging out and all of a sudden, you know, guys give them a hard time that they just hang around all day and don't do a whole lot – and then all of a sudden you get down to the time in the game where you really need him, and he's everybody's friend if he makes it, and if he misses, it’s like they don’t know you! But that’s just the locker room dynamic.”
Still, only one kicker on NFL history has ever won an MVP award, and it just so happens to be Theismann’s 1982 teammate, Mark Moseley, so Joe knows just how important that kicking game can be even if it’s really only paid attention to in the bad times.
“We would not have won, and wouldn't have been even in the playoffs, had it not been for Mark, so he was vital to our success,” Theismann said. “Once we find our way into the end zone, this is a great way to say, okay, we've got the kicker here, now we have to start putting the ball in the end zone and let him start kicking extra points instead of field goals.”
However it happened, it was the first win in 10 months, the first NFC East win in two years, and first over the Giants since 2021, so there was a lot of bad juju snapped with those seven kicks.
“It feels like a big weight lifted off your shoulders, no matter how you find a way to win,” said Theismann, who remembers starting 0-5 in Joe Gibbs’ first year. “We won that first game in Chicago and once you taste victory, you want more. It’s like a great steak or something – it makes going to work so much more enjoyable. This is such a unique group of guys that have really never experienced it together, so this is their first experience as a team to get that feeling. I’m sure Dan Quinn is saying as he stands in the meetings to remember this feeling, because it’s one we want a lot more of.”
It was Jayden Daniels’ first NFL victory, too, and after the Junkies’ grades of Jayden Daniels were all in the A-minus to B range, where did No. 7 grade No. 5’s Week 2?
“He continues to grow. We’ve talked about how we want to see him make better decisions, hang in the pocket a little longer, and handle pressure. I’d love to see him run out of bounds and protect himself, because that one hit he took on the side, I guarantee his ribs are a little sore today,” Theismann said. “You can't continue to take those kinds of hits. That's why you learn to get the ball out of your hands as quick as you can and make decisions – and I thought Kliff Kingsbury did a masterful job early in that football game to give Jayden a chance to find some comfort.”
And that was why they were able to find success down the field later?
“The first half of that football game, they hardly threw the ball down the field at all,” Theismann said. “A lot of quick screens, threw the ball into the flat and some short stuff, and just really got the ball out of his hands. And so now as everybody works up a sweat and gets into the game, you can expand that a little bit. He makes the big throw down the middle of the football field to the tight end, which really set up the opportunity to win the ball game. That one play makes a world of difference, and I thought, boy, he's really just, spoon-feeding Jayden just to get him more comfortable. I don't think anybody has talked about that part of it, but I thought Kliff did a great job, a masterful job to give him a chance to get more and more comfortable.”
Be patient, Theismann says, and the results will come – and you can listen to his entire visit with JP and Brian above!
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