On the latest audio edition of “Listen In With KNN” sports talk podcast and radio show with host Kelsey Nicole Nelson, special guest Douglass Sloan joined the show to recap week one of the 2024 NFL season.
Sloan, a native Washingtonian, is a senior political analyst at National Capitol Strategy Group. Though he has Washington roots, Sloan readily shares he is a Dallas Cowboys fan, which is not unique to the area as D.C. has a large contingency of Cowboys fans.
Nelson, considering Sloan’s status as a Cowboys fan, began by asking his thoughts on Dak Prescott’s recent four-year contract extension of upwards $240 million.
“Oh, I think it is fantastic. I love it. Dak is one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the game,” Sloan said.
Prescott was runner up in MVP voting for the 2023 season and outperformed Lamar Jackson in passing yards and touchdowns.
Sloan continued, “We’re really looking for Dak Prescott and the Cowboys to make a deep postseason run this year. The real only weak spot on that team is in the running game.”
Nelson then brought up the Cleveland Browns and Cowboys game and asked Sloan if fans were over reacting to Deshaun Watson’s performance, as Watson is another high profile quarterback facing scrutiny.
“I think so. I do believe that fans are overreacting. Although, Watson, Deshaun Watson, really looked overwhelmed and confused against that Dallas defense,” Sloan said.
Watson was 1-11 on completions when pressured by the Cowboys defense run by Defensive Coordinator Mike Zimmer.
“Mike Zimmer is a mad scientist here and he’s never had this much talent before,” Sloan added.
Nelson went on to mention the Cowboys and the NFL rivalries that have diminished in recent years.
“I want rivalries back within the NFC. And again, I think the Cowboys and the one here in Washington is the most fun,” she said.
The two also spoke about the budding rivalry between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC, and the recent game between the two in the NFL season opener at Arrowhead stadium. The duo dived into the larger conversation of the numerous penalties called.
“I didn’t see any illegal formation penalties called like they did in that first game through the rest of the week. That was crazy,” Sloan said.
They two continued to talk about the Ravens with Sloan mentioning tough divisional opponents for the team such as the Pittsburgh Steelers who beat the Atlanta Falcons 18-10. The Steelers continue to surprise many as many though the revolving quarterback situation would hold the team back.
“That defense, man, that pass rush against Kirk Cousins yesterday, that looked like a fire sale,” Sloan said.
Speaking of wins, Nelson brought up the first win by a Jim Harbaugh led Los Angeles Chargers team with running back J.K. Dobbins leading the team with 135 rushing yards.
“It’s good to see him at his best. So excited to see him shine,” Nelson said. Nelson had covered Dobbins during his time in Baltimore with the Ravens.
Switching from West Coast to East, Nelson brought up one of the biggest breaking news stories in sports which was the altercation of Miami Dolphins running back Tyreek Hill being detained by Miami-Dade police before the start of the Dolphins first home game of the NFL regular season.
“First we hear, you know, it was for a minor incident, essentially. Then we hear it’s for a traffic violation. But all of a sudden we see him handcuffed on the ground, you know, and a police officer’s knee on him,” Nelson said.
After the incident the Miami-Dade police ended up putting one of the officers involved in the controversial incident on administrative leave and the Dolphins still managed to win their first game of the season.
“It really was crazy that the Dolphins were able to put a potentially traumatic situation behind them and compartmentalize it and make a comeback and actually win that game,” Sloan said.
The two continued to speak about Hill’s situation not being a one off incident.
“Tyreek Hill’s quote stuck with me when he said, ‘what if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill?’ And then essentially he got this treatment, even though he was Tyreek Hill,” Nelson added.
Douglas also made a final remark about the Tyreek Hill situation.
“I would hope that he looks to take this a little further, maybe works with the NAACP to try and address some of the issues of Black males that are faced with police officers in that area, you know, and maybe sit down and have a conversation and try to work with the mayor, with the governor, to try to address these issues of systemic racism within the police department because it’s gone on far too long.”
Listen to the full show below.
