December 16, 2025 • 37 mins
All Hugh in this hour as he shares his thoughts on the Seahawks facing Philip Rivers, and for a 44-year old QB, he looked okay, albeit he couldn't throw the ball more than 30 yards. Hugh also shares his thoughts about the offensive struggles including the offensive line, and him and MJ wrap their conversation discussing UW Huskies football.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And on a scale of one to ten, with ten
being the most in terms of surprise or maybe even
shocked that a forty four year old man was able
to come out of retirement after five years and stay
on the field with what is one of the, if
not the best team in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
How surprised or shocked were you?
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Yeah, I was surprised. I thought that it'd be more
of a disaster for the Colts. I thought there'd be
more sacks, that would be probably foremost. I thought there'd
just be more pressures, more hits on him. You know,
I guess I have to choose my words carefully because
it's been misconstrued. I want you to think of it
like a coin. Right, If you look at the one
(00:45):
side of the heads, there's all kinds of attributes. You
could describe the heads, and then you flip it over
and you could describe the tails. Right, They're totally different,
but they're connected together. Right, So if Philip Rivers game
against they was like a coin. If you just asked me,
don't say his name, Philip Rivers, don't tell me his ages.
(01:05):
The quarterback for the Colts, through for one hundred and
twenty yards, had a seventy three passer rating. His air
yards per completion was one point four yards. On passes
where the ball went more than five yards from the
line of scrimmage, he was two for nine, and his
(01:25):
offense that as of nine days before had been the
number one scoring offense in the NFL. That they scored
sixteen points. I would tell you that the quarterback for
the Colts objectively and factually had a very very subpar game.
Now you flip the coin over and you say the
(01:46):
guy was forty four years old and hadn't played in
five years. Yes, I'm just as as odd by that.
Pick whatever adjective you want. It was incredible that he
could just even function. So I think can be uh,
you know there to describe what happened with Philip Rivers.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, and you know, Hugh watching this, what was this
was the stat you said, two of nine?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
What was that again?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Uh? On all passes what's called air yards the NFL
air yards greater than five yards. Okay, I think beyond
five yards. He completed two of nine passes. Oh, I
think I think the other completions were at five yards
or less or behind the line of scrimmage. So when
(02:36):
we say that Philip Rivers didn't throw the ball down
the field. Philip Rivers really did not throw the ball
down the field, at least not with any consistency. Now
he had the he had the a great throw to
tywarn On a on a little seam route, a bender
in uh on the middle of the field, and then
he had that back shoulder of fate. And so those
(02:57):
were your two balls that were his best throws, and
they were the ones that were the completions beyond five yards.
But other than that, I mean, Philip Rivers wasn't the
reason why the Seahawks were biting their nails into the
fifty ninth minute.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
No, no, And I'd seen something more than ten yards.
I think he was two of six to that extent,
So more than five two of nine. Oh boy, yeah,
that which begs the question. And the Seahawks defense, you
only gave up two hundred and seventeen total yards one
hundred and twenty seven to Philip Rivers. Was like you said,
most of them, you know, weren't passes, you know, more
(03:34):
than five to ten yards.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Like, how were they able to stay in the game
for four quarters?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Well, it's all a misfunction of the offense and now
in the red zone. Technically, you say, well, they they
kicked six field goals, they must have been in the
red zone six times. No, they were only in the
red zone twice, right, and they had six plays from scrimmage.
They went three and outs. Now the out happened to
(04:02):
be field goals. But of those six, when measured by
what's called successful play, this is not my metric, this
is kind of universal to the league. Forty percent of
the needed yards on first down, sixty percent of the
needed yards on second down, or all of the needed
yards on third and fourth down. Of the six snaps
(04:24):
in the red zone, Seattle was zero for six, not
one successful play by that measure, and obviously no touchdowns.
And then the red zone fringe. This is kind of
an emerging problem for the Seahawks in weeks in weeks
one through nine, the Seahawks when they got it, and
(04:47):
red zone fringe is very simple, just when you cross
the opponent's forty yard line, right like red zone is
inside their twenty, red zone fringes inside their forty Okay,
In weeks one through nine, the Seahawks when they when
they got into the red zone fringe, they kicked field
goals on twenty nine percent. At the time, that was
(05:07):
nineteenth in the league. You don't really want to lead
the league in that right, So nineteenth is about where
you want to be because you know that they were
a touchdown to forty eight percent. They were twelfth in
terms of touchdowns, so not great. But in the left
in weeks ten through fifteen, they've taken that field goal
percentage from twenty nine percent to seventy seven zero seventy percent,
(05:28):
which is not only number one in the NFL, the
next closest is forty eight point three percent. We're going
to get real granular. So the gap between one and
two is greater than the gap between two and twenty
fourth in the league. That's the regularity. That's the frequency
with which the Seahawks are kicking field goals once they
(05:51):
crossed the opponent's forty. Now, the good news is they're
not they're not turning the ball over because that was
the issue we were discussing twelve months ago. Is all
the red zone turnovers by Geno Smith. So they are
actually their scoring rate have ninety seven percent when they
get in the red zone fringe. That's number one in
(06:13):
the NFL. But again that the scoring rate kicks into
account field goals or touchdowns. Field goals, they're number one,
as I said, by a huge margin. Touchdowns, they've gone
from forty eight percent down to twenty seven percent. Twenty
seven percent probably tapped out on the numbers that I
should be given in for one segment, but they're thirty
(06:35):
first in the NFL in touchdown percentage once they hit
the red zone fringe. About the Seahawks, talk about the Seahawks,
Seahawks offense, Jesus in the.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
By the way, can you repeat that again? Say because
that needs to be You cannot overstate that enough. Say
that again about red zone fringe and where the Seahawks
rank in the league.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Weeks ten through fifteen, Seahawk offense when they crossed the
opponent it's forty yard line. They are getting a touchdown
on twenty seven point three percent of the time. That
is ranked thirty first.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
And they're start Hugh, i't me just check my MATGA
to two team they're thirty two teams NFL. So that's
you're basically almost DNFL here almost NFL. Yeah, and then
and then and then, but your field goals once you
get in the red zone fringe sixty nine points seven percent.
I rounded to seventy percent. But that's number one, and
I and and again I outlined how big the gap is.
(07:27):
So so they've gone from a now now they're scoring
scoring ninety seven percent of the time. But that's a
combination of touchdowns or field goals. So they're number one
in the NFL in terms of they're gonna get a score.
They just need to tilt that balance a little bit
and obviously get sevens not threes. Interesting, you know, Hugh,
I was actually watching some clips and I know you
(07:50):
get all the film and you're on all that. How
is Anthony Bradford still on an NFL roster yet alone
a team that is arguably the best team in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
You know, it's a flat out mystery. I don't give
I was I was. You know, it's like Stonehenge and
you know, where's the arc? You know, like there's there's
some real transcendent you know, mysteries in the history of mankind,
and I think Anthony Bradford is in the top eight
(08:20):
of those mysteries. So I thought that that John Schneider
was doing a complete overhaul of the offensive line this offseason.
They got Gray's abel, and you know it's not like
he's been playing like John Hannah right.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Maybe. By the way, great reference, great reference.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
You know I was talking about seventy three.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Man, I tell you what I grew up.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Man, I would I would get those magazines and number
seventy three.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Kid who John? Oh yeah, don't worry about it. He's
a whole fame guard Christopher. But uh, but you know,
I I have this this kind of strange relationship personally
with pro football focus because on the one hand, I
I I need to acknowledge all thirty two teams subscribe
(09:19):
to their service, all thirty two NFL teams, and I'm
told all the college teams do. Now all is a
big number. But but the college teams do as well.
I think they get more right than they get wrong.
They're the kind of the one outfit that endeavors to
objectively with some kind of rubric to grade and and
do you have a pen?
Speaker 2 (09:38):
I want I want you to right this right?
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Right?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Okay, So this is the let me get it out,
the one winning okay, yep, okay.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
So we're going left to right left tackle, left guard, center,
right guard, right, tackle. I'm just going to give you
the left or right. Okay, this is the this is
the rankings of the Seahawk offensive line that this is
their rank. Okay, left tackle, we'll start with Charles Cross
twenty sixth, Zabel sixty seventh, Sundell twenty sixth, Bradford sixty first. Oh,
(10:12):
can you go back to Sundal twenty sixth center, okay? Uh,
Anthony Bradford sixty first guard and Lucas Abe Lucas twenty
third tackle. Okay, so just read the read those rankings
by real quick, because.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
All right, twenty six left tackle, left guard, Zabel sixty seven.
I'm surprised it was that low center Jalen Sondell twenty six,
right guard sixty one at Bradford and right tackle twenty three.
So we're good at We're good on the outside. We're
going to the episode now.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Now I'm gonna give you the rankings for the Los
Angeles Rams left to right.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
All right, I'm writing down. You don't need to know
the names, because no, no, no, no, no, I know. I
just I'm writing them down anyway.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Left tackle ready, yep, eight oh, left guard, fifth center
ninth Jesus right guard second right tackle tenth.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
As long as I've been looking at Pro Football Focus
and and I usually look, I get up at four
in the morning to grade the or not to grade,
to watch the tape. I grade them in my own mind.
But when I come on with Chuck and I do
the two hours, PFF doesn't even have their grades out,
and I don't even care. A lot of times I'll
go in, you know, two weeks and I haven't even
(11:30):
looked at the site. But there are times when I
want to make a point where I say, I, you know,
I'm driving this this car on this point, I need
somebody to ride shotgun with me.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
So let me let me just say this. I trust
I trust HMF more than PFF. I trust Shu Millan focusball.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
You flatter, but look at that. I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Let's let's run through this exercise again, boys and girls,
Let's do it. Seahawks left tackle from Charles Cross all
the way to Abe Lucas left tackle twenty sixth Pro
Football Focus left guard, sixty seven center, twenty six, sundal
right guard, We know who sixty first, right tackle twenty third.
Now with the Rams left tackle, eighth, left guard, fifth center,
(12:18):
ninth right guard, second right tackle, tenth.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
I don't ever remember seeing an offensive line with all
five dudes in the top ten, that is all, even
the Eagles, who I thought. I've made the argument that
no team in the Super Bowl era has ever put
a better team around the quarterback than the Eagles did
last year. They had the number pff' number one offensive line,
they had the PFF number one Tan receivers with Smith
(12:44):
and Brown, they had obviously they had Saquon, and then
they had the number one defense, you know on the aggregate,
number one defense.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
So I've seen a lot of this stuff.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
You know, just as I said, I'm inconsistent with how
I refer to him. I don't remember looking at you know,
particularly this late in the season. You know, we're going
to get this offensive line that all five guys are
in the top ten. Never seen it. So that's almost
like Mike McDonald. You know, here you acquire Mike McDonald
to uh to battle Sean McVay. You know, as you know,
(13:18):
a master, this is like you know, Bobby Schiff Fisher
going against Big Blue. That's a chess reference to Bobby Fisher,
the greatest and back on IBM had a big blue
you know, back before AI existed. You know, you know
when chess was in the news. Uh for one time
in my life at any rate, the chess match between
the genius McVeigh on the offensive side and the genius
(13:42):
uh of.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Of our guy. I uh I, you know, I look.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
At that and to go it's like he's got one
hand tied behind his ball.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
I was gonna say, you're handicapped. You're like for like
you definitely to win a.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Game with that type of imbalance. And so Mike mc
donald against Son McVeigh. Look, that is that is popcorn worthy.
That is a legitimate you know, if you even profess
to like football, let alone love football, you were you
are now the thrust of where we are is like, hey,
we got to bring it, we got to come. You know, somehow,
(14:17):
some way, the Seahawks have to have one more point
than the Rams. I get that, but but you know,
essential theme to that is McVeigh versus McDonald. That is
why you acquired McDonald is to combat Shanahan and McVeigh
in this division. And every single sign that we have
seen has pointed to that was a great decision on
(14:38):
John Schneyder's part. To bring McDonald in. I mean, race,
you don't love Mike McDonald right now, Mike McDonald, listen,
say if you have your hand in there, you're a fool. Yeah,
I agree, Yeah, right, No, I think he's one of
the best coaches in the NFL already. Really, Oh imagine
if Seattle, Well this is preposterous, but imagine if he
hit the open market right now, people would be firing
(14:59):
coaches that.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Let me tell you something, if they're gonna if Larry Ellison,
the guy who started this company you might have heard
of called Oracle, kind of a big deal. That's just
man in California right exactly. Larry Ellison, who wants to
keep his third wife very happy, she went to Michigan. Listen,
Larry Elson, Hey, I might throw e. I might throw sixteen.
(15:23):
I'd make him the highest paid coach in college football.
I'd say, come to Michigan, make a sixteen to eighteen
million right now, literally, because that's how much I think
of Mike McDonald. So with that being said, Hugh, he
can't coach the old line too, you know somebody. But
here's the thing. I don't even blame it on John Benton.
You don't have the players. It's kind of like what
we're seeing here. And I've said this. I said this
(15:45):
to Mike Betton, who comes on every Wednesday. Lane Lambert
is the right hire for the Kraken. I love Lane Lambert.
He's the guy who's successful with the Islanders when he
was there.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
He doesn't have any players.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
When you want to talk about numbers, you when you
look at NHL points leaders, you gotta go down to
one forty seven to find the highest ranked points leader
for the Seattle Kraken. That's not on Lane Lambert. You
don't have the players. So meanwhile, Mike McDonald, you are
you right now? That's why Matthew Stafford never gets touched
hardly hardly ever, because he's he's dealing with an all
(16:21):
time elite O line. And conversely, you know at positions
now Canzabel can Zabel turning around?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah, you have to believe in him, right, you know
he's a rookie. Yeah, I need to, like, if you
want to write, I don't. I don't think the Seahawks
have ninety nine problems. The Seahawks are damn good football team.
The Seahawks right now, if you went to Vegas, the
number two the shortest odds for to win the Super Bowl.
The Rams and the and the Seahawks are number two.
I mean, the Seahawks are number one in the NFL
(16:53):
in point margin at one hundred and sixty three, and
there's only two other teams that are over one hundred.
In fact, there's two other teams that are over ninety five. Like,
the Seahawks are a damn good football team. But you know,
when I was playing, they would call things like the
wide receiver they call position group. Somewhere along the line,
(17:14):
I don't know, fifteen years ago, twenty years ago, somebody
started saying, well, the room, what's the wide receiver room?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Like? You know, what's the dB room like? And I'm like, well,
don't you just mean the position group?
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Well, so people have been using this term room right now.
So at the rent and facility, these are the rooms.
You got the QB room, wide receiver room, tight end room,
running back room, offensive line room, defensive line room, linebacker room,
and defensive back. Okay, so you got now the specialists,
you know, they got a I don't know, a a
(17:45):
mop closet or some somewhere, but we'll ignore them. So
of the eight rooms. Seven of them are above the
median and probably the majority of them are well in
the top quadrant. Like some of these are are some
of the best in the NFL. Like this is one
hell of a football team. The problem is the offensive
(18:06):
line room, and it brings down the entire dam team.
It just it just it's come on, John Snider and
and so editorate, they're gonna, you know, they're just gonna
have to make do you know, your your your bubble
gum and your bailing wire trying to you know, trying
to hold the hole together, right with that so in
(18:29):
an event, uh and and yet it's just testament to
how good the rest of the rooms are to keep
the uh the analogy going that that they're even as
good as they are.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Hugh Millen join us here on MJ and the Midday
Sports Radio ninety three three k j R f M.
I want to get to the game coming up Thursday night, Hugh,
And you know you we just can't have you on
for one we need you for We're just gonna need
you for you know, a noe more uh thing, can
you know? So I always wanted to do it, but
we had a sponsorship usually around this time, which is
(19:03):
ended now in factor fiction. So we're gonna come back
with Hu Mail and we're gonna talk about how big
of a game ostensibly this is on Thursday Night versus
the l A Rams, and what this could do for
the Seattle Seahawks in terms of their January playoff future
(19:25):
coming up just in a few weeks.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
We'll get to that next with you.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Oh, I might ask him a question about his Huskies
and what they did on Saturday night and the buck
Up LA Bowl versus Boise State.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
We might talk to him about that as well.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Hugh Millen right here on MJ and the Midday Sports
Radio ninety three to three KJR, film number one is
the Rams and number two is the Seahawks. That's what
the world thinks right now, the football world of these
two franchises. But Hugh, there's a fine line between being
a contender and then just being a pretender. And I
believe the Seahawks are a content. We know they are,
(20:01):
no doubt about it. But how much does this game
go to kind of showing the football world that Seattle
is for real? And you know, because the three playoff
teams they play in the NFC this year, that we
couldn't currently be in the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
They're ozer and three.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
So how much would this game go to kind of
showing the world that the Seattle Seahawks are back.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yeah, that's the NFC.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
I mean, I think that's kind of cherry picking if
you want it is cherry picking, because look, what do
you do to the AFC South?
Speaker 2 (20:34):
I know, I know, Jacksonville Houston.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Yeah, and by the way, maybe I can pull it
up while we're talking. But the strength of victory it
is usually for playoff teams below five hundred, like it's
it's not uncommon for playoff teams to to you know,
only have over the course of the year beaten two
(20:56):
or three playoff teams. I'll crystallize that facts here hopefully.
But I would say the Rams are more of a
finished product in the sense that obviously their quarterback is
much older, their coach has been you know, and particularly
on the offensive side of the ball, where cohesion is paramount,
(21:20):
They're just they're a more mature team. And so as
a fan, I'm saying, hey, burn the boats. Everything is
about Thursday night, Like, I don't I don't want to
have anything like Yeah, but if they lose it, you know,
you know, here's the silver lining. I'm not even thinking
that way, but if you just try and be objective,
(21:41):
detach the the visceral attraction to this game. If the
Rams were to beat their favored, their favored for a reason,
you would still say, well, okay, Mike McDonald hasn't they
haven't caught the Rams yet, but they're if you graft,
the Seahawks are on a much more of an incline
that you could ever say. The Rams are like the
(22:04):
Rams are at the crest. And with Stafford, you know,
the back, you know, whatever he did, he fixed his
back this summer. But you wouldn't expect to see Apuly
the second youngest team next to Green Bay in the NFL.
And so they got a twenty eight year old quarterback
that all signs to me look like a guy that
can be your quarterback for five or six years. You know,
(22:26):
youth kind of everywhere, and you fix the offensive line
and you could really take off. So so it's not
gonna be devastating if they lose. And I hate that
I even said that for reasons why prior stated it,
because to me, it's like, hey, you got Leonard Williams
as you know, a guy that's a year away, just
(22:46):
a year removed from being a contender for you know,
one of the best defensive players. He slipped a little
bit this year, but to me, that that sweet spot
of where the defense is. They got a bunch of youth,
but they still got Leonard Williams capable of being a
game wrecker. So to me, it's like go time. Now,
there's certainly a part of me in that in that regard,
(23:09):
but you do have to when you compare the Rams
to the Seahawks, you have to say the Rams or
the Seahawks rather are on much more of an incline
upward trajectory as a football team.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Yeah, you know, Hugh, I think to a lot of
people where you know, yeah, I was cherry picking a
little bit, but let's just say that. I mean, listen,
you know, you want to talk about stats. I mean,
Matthew Stafford as a Ram is undefeated against the Seahawks
when he plays. He's six and oh okay, so you
want to slay the Blue Dragon, Well you got to
do it on Thursday night. You got to do it
(23:42):
because if you do this on Thursday night, Hugh and
the Seahawks take care of business, which I I'm not
getting predictions here yet, but I believe they have a
very strong likelihood that they can win this game on
Thursday night. Everything kind of falls into place where if
you just went out, you are not only going to
be the NFC West champions, you're going to be the
(24:03):
one seeds with a buy.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
Well, look that stat is is meaningful and it's relevant. Okay,
so I'm not gonna but thank you, but let's just
kind of parse it a little bit. First of all,
Mike McDonald has only played three games against the Rams,
so we'll start with it. Sam Donald has only played one. Uh,
you got a new offensive coordinator. So so last year,
(24:28):
let's throw out the last game of the year because
that was JVU.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Yeah. They laid down.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
Yeah, and as did the Seahawks, you know, because they're
because they're like, well, you know, it had the that
detracted from the Seahawks intensity. Yes, the Seahawks won it,
but defensively, it's like, you know, what are we going for?
The you know, Gino Smith is playing for you know,
two or six million or whatever the hell it was.
But defensively, let's just throw that last game out. You
(24:56):
go to the first game in Seattle, Mike McDonald and
his defense had the Rams seven to three and ounce
so like they they stymied the Rams, and in irregulation
the Rams only scored thirteen points and it was there
was an overtime touchdown. And then there was the pick
(25:18):
six by Gina one hundred and five yards that in
terms of EPA negative VPA for one play, it was
the second most impactful play of the NFL season expected point. Like,
the Seahawks are trying to throw a touchdown pass and
they give up one hundred and five yard pick six.
So while the score says, what twenty six to twenty
(25:39):
seven points, not so fast? And so I think that,
and then you go back to obviously you saw the
game and expressing our memory what happened a month ago.
So I know that Sean McVay when he he's getting
up a little earlier and he's fallen asleep a little
later this week because he know, damn well, what what
(26:02):
kind of job that Mike m Mike McDonald has done
to his offense? And you know, you know Matthew Stafford
only threw for one hundred and thirty yards in their
last game. Yeah, and so so I think we got
to Yes, your point is correct, and there's players that
have experienced that, so it's there's relevance to it. But
you got to put an asterisk and and you know,
(26:24):
drilled down a little bit more granular to just say no, no, no, no,
no the McVeigh. McVeigh hasn't done anything to Mike McDonald nothing.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Uh fair enough fair I mean, but but okay, yeah,
I mean, oh no offensely no no, no, he didn't know.
I mean, listen, this Seahawks defense was so elite in
that meeting a month ago that they had a chance
to win at the end of the game despite the
fact that their quarterback through for interceptions. I mean, that's insane.
That to me shows how great Mike McDonald's play calling
(26:55):
is on defense. Hugh, I got to ask you this,
give me your anopsis of the twenty twenty five Washington
Huskies football team and their nine to four season.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Well, I think it was maybe just a par yep, okay,
because look beating to me, I said yesterday, it was
something I said when I coached youth in high school football.
Good is the enemy of great, because when you're good,
you get lulled into complacency. You know, there's not a
(27:30):
sense of urgency, and I think there's a lot I
hear a lot of flowers being thrown and bouquets beingn
and look, Boise State is not this boys. State's got
a damn good brand in this century. They've had fourteen
more than fourteen seasons, more than half of their seasons
they've had two losses or less, eight to eight they've
(27:53):
been one loss or less. You know, Chris Peterson and
some of the others have done some really great things,
but this was not a Boise State team like the
brand that they were. They're a five lost Boise team
that got smoked by Fresno, got smoked by San Diego State.
So that that didn't the bowl games shouldn't impress you
(28:14):
if you really have reasonably high standards for the Huskies
and then their challenge. Look, the defense was fantastic. I
got no critique for the defense to have lost their coordinator.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
They were Ryan Walters did a good job.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
He really took go to for Fish to have identified
Ryan Walters, brought him in and did the job they did.
There's no critique there. Offensively, they're barking about a lot
of numbers the offense and for demon Williams. As I said,
I'm going to skip the evidence for the conclusion because
(28:49):
I've already said it on more than one show on
this radio. So I'm not going to give you the
evidence I can, but I'd be repeating myself. I'm going
to jump to the conclusion. Here's the conclusion. There are
sixty seven teams in powerfour conferences. If you take the
offensive performance on yards in EPA, the one yards points
(29:10):
in EPA, and you on the aggregate, you can make
this conclusion of sixty seven teams. How the Huskies perform
against bottom twenty teams in the Power four, which all
five of their wins were Purdue, Maryland UCLA wreckers, and
then what was the other one, Illinois? All five of
(29:34):
them were win the bottom twenty in defense out of
the Power Forward. If you take how they performed against
bottom twenty defenses versus top twenty five defenses, which were
their four losses, Yes, Wisconsin was twenty third in defense.
The Huskies had the biggest drop in their performance both
(29:57):
all the offense and all the passing game. And there
is no team that had as big a drop as
Washington in terms of how they played against boar teams
versus how they played against good teams. And so a
lot of the aggregate numbers that you hear, they're just
they're just fluffed up by by what you did out
(30:18):
of conference and what you did against the worst teams
in the in the Big Ten. And so they've got
to put their eyes squarely on, like that's got to
be a sense of urgency. What are we doing Ohio
State with the ball? Okay, you were not, but you
only scored seven points and you got your ass handed
to you in the red zone by Matt Patricia, a
three time who has through three Super Bowl rings, who
(30:40):
I'm not going to get in the details the coverages.
He just absolutely put the vice clamp on and all
the rest of it. And and so they got to
say that they can't be walking around patting themselves on
the back. And and I hear you know, coaches saying, well,
we were this, and we were that, and we were
this and that. Well that's based on what you did
against you Ce Davis and Washington State. And you were
throwing fifty yards down the field against Washington State with
(31:03):
you know, a minute and a half to go.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
No stat padding. Yeah, I mean stat pat And so
I don't want to hear the stats.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Why don't you say this, We had the biggest drop
against the lousy teams, uh uh to the good teams,
the biggest drop in all power for football. And and
are we are laser focused on that fact and we
are putting bright kleague lights on that fact, and we
are we we have to fix that fact. And I
(31:31):
would let you know, not I don't really expect them
to say that, but you know, at least, you know,
some mention of uh, you know, even a vague reference
of that. So so yeah, I think that it was fine,
you know, if you want, you had a you're a
four lost team. Yeah, And but it's got you know,
(31:52):
it's got to be better. And and they're gonna have
to uh to approach things, you know, Demon Williams, in
my opinion, he sets up too deep. You know, there's
too many times where he's ten and a half yards
from alion scrimmage. You know, he's got to be comfortable
closer to the lion scrimmage because it helps the offensive
tackles on their blocking angles and the ball gets to
the target faster. You go, gets the best teams, and
(32:14):
they're faster, they react to the ball and play and
and so that affects the passing game. And again it
doesn't matter when you're playing Wreckers, but it doesn't matter
when you play Michigan, and so.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
It's a completely different thing. Those lanes closely different. Yeah,
that's exactly, those lanes close much quicker. I was at
that Ohio State and the Oregon games, and you just see,
you see when you have five star depth, which is
what Ohio State in Oregon, and that's why they're in
the playoffs period.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
If you're standing ten and a half yards. You know,
I did the math. You know, if you throw the
ball fifty five miles an hour and a DB's running
nineteen miles an hour when they can run twenty two,
but I put it in nineteen. You know, a ten
racket is twenty seven inches, but you gotta you gotta
grab it, uh, And so it makes it about nineteen
and a half inches longer than your your reach would
(33:10):
be based on setting up a yard and a half deeper.
And I've done all the studying on Fernando Mendoza because
I have a Heisman vote, and and I put those
quarterbacks under intense lights, and and and I was, I
was making note of where Mendoza is in the pocket.
And he's very comfortable at seven and a half eight
(33:31):
eight and no deeper in eight and a half yards,
and the ball gets there faster. And when you calculate
all the the uh, the math on that a dB
can close the space, it's it's exactly as if he
had that all the defenders have tennis rackets in each hands.
That that's how much longer their arms are when you
(33:53):
are even just a yard and a half. Look, you
can do the math and and and so what he
is doing by being so deep in the pocket he
is in and that's just making every defender have an
inspector gadget arms they can reach down and without bending
over they can touch their ankles. That this is a
(34:15):
clear problem, and it's gonna be more of a problem
against the best teams. And I and I'm giving you
the stats to back me up on that. And so
if they don't address that, demon Williams is gonna be
one of two guys. He's gonna be either Kyler Murray,
like Jedfish says he's gonna be. He's gonna he's gonna
be phenomenal or he's gonna be Dorrian Thompson Robinson. Dorrian
(34:37):
Thomas Robinson was a you know through for ten thousand,
seven undred yards at UCLA.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Had a hell of a career.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
He's drafting the third round. But you know what, Ucla
went nine and four, U what nine to three and
eight and four his last two years kind of a
nothing burger. Don't do anything with Dorrian Thompson Robinson.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
So what what is.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
What is Demon gonna be? Is he gonna be more
like Kyler Murray? Or is he gonna be more like
Dorian tom Robinson. And and if you just say, well
he's gonna be a year older, he's gonna be better.
He'll be calm Kyler Murray just because he's older. Well,
a year ago, after the game against Louisville, every saying
we'll think how much better he's going to be next year,
Well guess what. He wasn't better. And Washington's offense wasn't
(35:17):
better at all. They had an easier schedule and against
the good teams where it matters, they weren't one bit improved.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Well he will see you, hey man, I hate to Kye.
We we are way but Christopher Kids is gonna come
in here and close line me. But to your point,
I know exactly good on all the rest of it.
I'm really good at killing Clark. No, hey, no, it's great.
H And we'll see where the step is in year
(35:47):
three with Jedfish and You're and yeah in Demon Williams
and Hayden Vines Bright and those guys. So we'll find out.
Hugh Millan, always appreciate your time. We'll talk to you
next week. Okay, all right, all right, all right, that's
Hugh Millan, will to Benvollen coming up at noon right
here on MJ in the midday.
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And on a scale of one to ten, with ten
being the most in terms of surprise or maybe even
shocked that a forty four year old man was able
to come out of retirement after five years and stay
on the field with what is one of the, if
not the best team in the NFL.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
How surprised or shocked were you?
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Yeah, I was surprised. I thought that it'd be more
of a disaster for the Colts. I thought there'd be
more sacks, that would be probably foremost. I thought there'd
just be more pressures, more hits on him. You know,
I guess I have to choose my words carefully because
it's been misconstrued. I want you to think of it
like a coin. Right, If you look at the one
(00:45):
side of the heads, there's all kinds of attributes. You
could describe the heads, and then you flip it over
and you could describe the tails. Right, They're totally different,
but they're connected together. Right, So if Philip Rivers game
against they was like a coin. If you just asked me,
don't say his name, Philip Rivers, don't tell me his ages.
(01:05):
The quarterback for the Colts, through for one hundred and
twenty yards, had a seventy three passer rating. His air
yards per completion was one point four yards. On passes
where the ball went more than five yards from the
line of scrimmage, he was two for nine, and his
(01:25):
offense that as of nine days before had been the
number one scoring offense in the NFL. That they scored
sixteen points. I would tell you that the quarterback for
the Colts objectively and factually had a very very subpar game.
Now you flip the coin over and you say the
(01:46):
guy was forty four years old and hadn't played in
five years. Yes, I'm just as as odd by that.
Pick whatever adjective you want. It was incredible that he
could just even function. So I think can be uh,
you know there to describe what happened with Philip Rivers.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, and you know, Hugh watching this, what was this
was the stat you said, two of nine?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
What was that again?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Uh? On all passes what's called air yards the NFL
air yards greater than five yards. Okay, I think beyond
five yards. He completed two of nine passes. Oh, I
think I think the other completions were at five yards
or less or behind the line of scrimmage. So when
(02:36):
we say that Philip Rivers didn't throw the ball down
the field. Philip Rivers really did not throw the ball
down the field, at least not with any consistency. Now
he had the he had the a great throw to
tywarn On a on a little seam route, a bender
in uh on the middle of the field, and then
he had that back shoulder of fate. And so those
(02:57):
were your two balls that were his best throws, and
they were the ones that were the completions beyond five yards.
But other than that, I mean, Philip Rivers wasn't the
reason why the Seahawks were biting their nails into the
fifty ninth minute.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
No, no, And I'd seen something more than ten yards.
I think he was two of six to that extent,
So more than five two of nine. Oh boy, yeah,
that which begs the question. And the Seahawks defense, you
only gave up two hundred and seventeen total yards one
hundred and twenty seven to Philip Rivers. Was like you said,
most of them, you know, weren't passes, you know, more
(03:34):
than five to ten yards.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Like, how were they able to stay in the game
for four quarters?
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Well, it's all a misfunction of the offense and now
in the red zone. Technically, you say, well, they they
kicked six field goals, they must have been in the
red zone six times. No, they were only in the
red zone twice, right, and they had six plays from scrimmage.
They went three and outs. Now the out happened to
(04:02):
be field goals. But of those six, when measured by
what's called successful play, this is not my metric, this
is kind of universal to the league. Forty percent of
the needed yards on first down, sixty percent of the
needed yards on second down, or all of the needed
yards on third and fourth down. Of the six snaps
(04:24):
in the red zone, Seattle was zero for six, not
one successful play by that measure, and obviously no touchdowns.
And then the red zone fringe. This is kind of
an emerging problem for the Seahawks in weeks in weeks
one through nine, the Seahawks when they got it, and
(04:47):
red zone fringe is very simple, just when you cross
the opponent's forty yard line, right like red zone is
inside their twenty, red zone fringes inside their forty Okay,
In weeks one through nine, the Seahawks when they when
they got into the red zone fringe, they kicked field
goals on twenty nine percent. At the time, that was
(05:07):
nineteenth in the league. You don't really want to lead
the league in that right, So nineteenth is about where
you want to be because you know that they were
a touchdown to forty eight percent. They were twelfth in
terms of touchdowns, so not great. But in the left
in weeks ten through fifteen, they've taken that field goal
percentage from twenty nine percent to seventy seven zero seventy percent,
(05:28):
which is not only number one in the NFL, the
next closest is forty eight point three percent. We're going
to get real granular. So the gap between one and
two is greater than the gap between two and twenty
fourth in the league. That's the regularity. That's the frequency
with which the Seahawks are kicking field goals once they
(05:51):
crossed the opponent's forty. Now, the good news is they're
not they're not turning the ball over because that was
the issue we were discussing twelve months ago. Is all
the red zone turnovers by Geno Smith. So they are
actually their scoring rate have ninety seven percent when they
get in the red zone fringe. That's number one in
(06:13):
the NFL. But again that the scoring rate kicks into
account field goals or touchdowns. Field goals, they're number one,
as I said, by a huge margin. Touchdowns, they've gone
from forty eight percent down to twenty seven percent. Twenty
seven percent probably tapped out on the numbers that I
should be given in for one segment, but they're thirty
(06:35):
first in the NFL in touchdown percentage once they hit
the red zone fringe. About the Seahawks, talk about the Seahawks,
Seahawks offense, Jesus in the.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
By the way, can you repeat that again? Say because
that needs to be You cannot overstate that enough. Say
that again about red zone fringe and where the Seahawks
rank in the league.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Weeks ten through fifteen, Seahawk offense when they crossed the
opponent it's forty yard line. They are getting a touchdown
on twenty seven point three percent of the time. That
is ranked thirty first.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
And they're start Hugh, i't me just check my MATGA
to two team they're thirty two teams NFL. So that's
you're basically almost DNFL here almost NFL. Yeah, and then
and then and then, but your field goals once you
get in the red zone fringe sixty nine points seven percent.
I rounded to seventy percent. But that's number one, and
I and and again I outlined how big the gap is.
(07:27):
So so they've gone from a now now they're scoring
scoring ninety seven percent of the time. But that's a
combination of touchdowns or field goals. So they're number one
in the NFL in terms of they're gonna get a score.
They just need to tilt that balance a little bit
and obviously get sevens not threes. Interesting, you know, Hugh,
I was actually watching some clips and I know you
(07:50):
get all the film and you're on all that. How
is Anthony Bradford still on an NFL roster yet alone
a team that is arguably the best team in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
You know, it's a flat out mystery. I don't give
I was I was. You know, it's like Stonehenge and
you know, where's the arc? You know, like there's there's
some real transcendent you know, mysteries in the history of mankind,
and I think Anthony Bradford is in the top eight
(08:20):
of those mysteries. So I thought that that John Schneider
was doing a complete overhaul of the offensive line this offseason.
They got Gray's abel, and you know it's not like
he's been playing like John Hannah right.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Maybe. By the way, great reference, great reference.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
You know I was talking about seventy three.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Man, I tell you what I grew up.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Man, I would I would get those magazines and number
seventy three.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Kid who John? Oh yeah, don't worry about it. He's
a whole fame guard Christopher. But uh, but you know,
I I have this this kind of strange relationship personally
with pro football focus because on the one hand, I
I I need to acknowledge all thirty two teams subscribe
(09:19):
to their service, all thirty two NFL teams, and I'm
told all the college teams do. Now all is a
big number. But but the college teams do as well.
I think they get more right than they get wrong.
They're the kind of the one outfit that endeavors to
objectively with some kind of rubric to grade and and
do you have a pen?
Speaker 2 (09:38):
I want I want you to right this right?
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Right?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Okay, So this is the let me get it out,
the one winning okay, yep, okay.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
So we're going left to right left tackle, left guard, center,
right guard, right, tackle. I'm just going to give you
the left or right. Okay, this is the this is
the rankings of the Seahawk offensive line that this is
their rank. Okay, left tackle, we'll start with Charles Cross
twenty sixth, Zabel sixty seventh, Sundell twenty sixth, Bradford sixty first. Oh,
(10:12):
can you go back to Sundal twenty sixth center, okay? Uh,
Anthony Bradford sixty first guard and Lucas Abe Lucas twenty
third tackle. Okay, so just read the read those rankings
by real quick, because.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
All right, twenty six left tackle, left guard, Zabel sixty seven.
I'm surprised it was that low center Jalen Sondell twenty six,
right guard sixty one at Bradford and right tackle twenty three.
So we're good at We're good on the outside. We're
going to the episode now.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Now I'm gonna give you the rankings for the Los
Angeles Rams left to right.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
All right, I'm writing down. You don't need to know
the names, because no, no, no, no, no, I know. I
just I'm writing them down anyway.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Left tackle ready, yep, eight oh, left guard, fifth center
ninth Jesus right guard second right tackle tenth.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
As long as I've been looking at Pro Football Focus
and and I usually look, I get up at four
in the morning to grade the or not to grade,
to watch the tape. I grade them in my own mind.
But when I come on with Chuck and I do
the two hours, PFF doesn't even have their grades out,
and I don't even care. A lot of times I'll
go in, you know, two weeks and I haven't even
(11:30):
looked at the site. But there are times when I
want to make a point where I say, I, you know,
I'm driving this this car on this point, I need
somebody to ride shotgun with me.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
So let me let me just say this. I trust
I trust HMF more than PFF. I trust Shu Millan focusball.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
You flatter, but look at that. I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Let's let's run through this exercise again, boys and girls,
Let's do it. Seahawks left tackle from Charles Cross all
the way to Abe Lucas left tackle twenty sixth Pro
Football Focus left guard, sixty seven center, twenty six, sundal
right guard, We know who sixty first, right tackle twenty third.
Now with the Rams left tackle, eighth, left guard, fifth center,
(12:18):
ninth right guard, second right tackle, tenth.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
I don't ever remember seeing an offensive line with all
five dudes in the top ten, that is all, even
the Eagles, who I thought. I've made the argument that
no team in the Super Bowl era has ever put
a better team around the quarterback than the Eagles did
last year. They had the number pff' number one offensive line,
they had the PFF number one Tan receivers with Smith
(12:44):
and Brown, they had obviously they had Saquon, and then
they had the number one defense, you know on the aggregate,
number one defense.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
So I've seen a lot of this stuff.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
You know, just as I said, I'm inconsistent with how
I refer to him. I don't remember looking at you know,
particularly this late in the season. You know, we're going
to get this offensive line that all five guys are
in the top ten. Never seen it. So that's almost
like Mike McDonald. You know, here you acquire Mike McDonald
to uh to battle Sean McVay. You know, as you know,
(13:18):
a master, this is like you know, Bobby Schiff Fisher
going against Big Blue. That's a chess reference to Bobby Fisher,
the greatest and back on IBM had a big blue
you know, back before AI existed. You know, you know
when chess was in the news. Uh for one time
in my life at any rate, the chess match between
the genius McVeigh on the offensive side and the genius
(13:42):
uh of.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Of our guy. I uh I, you know, I look.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
At that and to go it's like he's got one
hand tied behind his ball.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
I was gonna say, you're handicapped. You're like for like
you definitely to win a.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Game with that type of imbalance. And so Mike mc
donald against Son McVeigh. Look, that is that is popcorn worthy.
That is a legitimate you know, if you even profess
to like football, let alone love football, you were you
are now the thrust of where we are is like, hey,
we got to bring it, we got to come. You know, somehow,
(14:17):
some way, the Seahawks have to have one more point
than the Rams. I get that, but but you know,
essential theme to that is McVeigh versus McDonald. That is
why you acquired McDonald is to combat Shanahan and McVeigh
in this division. And every single sign that we have
seen has pointed to that was a great decision on
(14:38):
John Schneyder's part. To bring McDonald in. I mean, race,
you don't love Mike McDonald right now, Mike McDonald, listen,
say if you have your hand in there, you're a fool. Yeah,
I agree, Yeah, right, No, I think he's one of
the best coaches in the NFL already. Really, Oh imagine
if Seattle, Well this is preposterous, but imagine if he
hit the open market right now, people would be firing
(14:59):
coaches that.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Let me tell you something, if they're gonna if Larry Ellison,
the guy who started this company you might have heard
of called Oracle, kind of a big deal. That's just
man in California right exactly. Larry Ellison, who wants to
keep his third wife very happy, she went to Michigan. Listen,
Larry Elson, Hey, I might throw e. I might throw sixteen.
(15:23):
I'd make him the highest paid coach in college football.
I'd say, come to Michigan, make a sixteen to eighteen
million right now, literally, because that's how much I think
of Mike McDonald. So with that being said, Hugh, he
can't coach the old line too, you know somebody. But
here's the thing. I don't even blame it on John Benton.
You don't have the players. It's kind of like what
we're seeing here. And I've said this. I said this
(15:45):
to Mike Betton, who comes on every Wednesday. Lane Lambert
is the right hire for the Kraken. I love Lane Lambert.
He's the guy who's successful with the Islanders when he
was there.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
He doesn't have any players.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
When you want to talk about numbers, you when you
look at NHL points leaders, you gotta go down to
one forty seven to find the highest ranked points leader
for the Seattle Kraken. That's not on Lane Lambert. You
don't have the players. So meanwhile, Mike McDonald, you are
you right now? That's why Matthew Stafford never gets touched
hardly hardly ever, because he's he's dealing with an all
(16:21):
time elite O line. And conversely, you know at positions
now Canzabel can Zabel turning around?
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah, you have to believe in him, right, you know
he's a rookie. Yeah, I need to, like, if you
want to write, I don't. I don't think the Seahawks
have ninety nine problems. The Seahawks are damn good football team.
The Seahawks right now, if you went to Vegas, the
number two the shortest odds for to win the Super Bowl.
The Rams and the and the Seahawks are number two.
I mean, the Seahawks are number one in the NFL
(16:53):
in point margin at one hundred and sixty three, and
there's only two other teams that are over one hundred.
In fact, there's two other teams that are over ninety five. Like,
the Seahawks are a damn good football team. But you know,
when I was playing, they would call things like the
wide receiver they call position group. Somewhere along the line,
(17:14):
I don't know, fifteen years ago, twenty years ago, somebody
started saying, well, the room, what's the wide receiver room?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Like? You know, what's the dB room like? And I'm like, well,
don't you just mean the position group?
Speaker 4 (17:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Well, so people have been using this term room right now.
So at the rent and facility, these are the rooms.
You got the QB room, wide receiver room, tight end room,
running back room, offensive line room, defensive line room, linebacker room,
and defensive back. Okay, so you got now the specialists,
you know, they got a I don't know, a a
(17:45):
mop closet or some somewhere, but we'll ignore them. So
of the eight rooms. Seven of them are above the
median and probably the majority of them are well in
the top quadrant. Like some of these are are some
of the best in the NFL. Like this is one
hell of a football team. The problem is the offensive
(18:06):
line room, and it brings down the entire dam team.
It just it just it's come on, John Snider and
and so editorate, they're gonna, you know, they're just gonna
have to make do you know, your your your bubble
gum and your bailing wire trying to you know, trying
to hold the hole together, right with that so in
(18:29):
an event, uh and and yet it's just testament to
how good the rest of the rooms are to keep
the uh the analogy going that that they're even as
good as they are.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Hugh Millen join us here on MJ and the Midday
Sports Radio ninety three three k j R f M.
I want to get to the game coming up Thursday night, Hugh,
And you know you we just can't have you on
for one we need you for We're just gonna need
you for you know, a noe more uh thing, can
you know? So I always wanted to do it, but
we had a sponsorship usually around this time, which is
(19:03):
ended now in factor fiction. So we're gonna come back
with Hu Mail and we're gonna talk about how big
of a game ostensibly this is on Thursday Night versus
the l A Rams, and what this could do for
the Seattle Seahawks in terms of their January playoff future
(19:25):
coming up just in a few weeks.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
We'll get to that next with you.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Oh, I might ask him a question about his Huskies
and what they did on Saturday night and the buck
Up LA Bowl versus Boise State.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
We might talk to him about that as well.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Hugh Millen right here on MJ and the Midday Sports
Radio ninety three to three KJR, film number one is
the Rams and number two is the Seahawks. That's what
the world thinks right now, the football world of these
two franchises. But Hugh, there's a fine line between being
a contender and then just being a pretender. And I
believe the Seahawks are a content. We know they are,
(20:01):
no doubt about it. But how much does this game
go to kind of showing the football world that Seattle
is for real? And you know, because the three playoff
teams they play in the NFC this year, that we
couldn't currently be in the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
They're ozer and three.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
So how much would this game go to kind of
showing the world that the Seattle Seahawks are back.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yeah, that's the NFC.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
I mean, I think that's kind of cherry picking if
you want it is cherry picking, because look, what do
you do to the AFC South?
Speaker 2 (20:34):
I know, I know, Jacksonville Houston.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Yeah, and by the way, maybe I can pull it
up while we're talking. But the strength of victory it
is usually for playoff teams below five hundred, like it's
it's not uncommon for playoff teams to to you know,
only have over the course of the year beaten two
(20:56):
or three playoff teams. I'll crystallize that facts here hopefully.
But I would say the Rams are more of a
finished product in the sense that obviously their quarterback is
much older, their coach has been you know, and particularly
on the offensive side of the ball, where cohesion is paramount,
(21:20):
They're just they're a more mature team. And so as
a fan, I'm saying, hey, burn the boats. Everything is
about Thursday night, Like, I don't I don't want to
have anything like Yeah, but if they lose it, you know,
you know, here's the silver lining. I'm not even thinking
that way, but if you just try and be objective,
(21:41):
detach the the visceral attraction to this game. If the
Rams were to beat their favored, their favored for a reason,
you would still say, well, okay, Mike McDonald hasn't they
haven't caught the Rams yet, but they're if you graft,
the Seahawks are on a much more of an incline
that you could ever say. The Rams are like the
(22:04):
Rams are at the crest. And with Stafford, you know,
the back, you know, whatever he did, he fixed his
back this summer. But you wouldn't expect to see Apuly
the second youngest team next to Green Bay in the NFL.
And so they got a twenty eight year old quarterback
that all signs to me look like a guy that
can be your quarterback for five or six years. You know,
(22:26):
youth kind of everywhere, and you fix the offensive line
and you could really take off. So so it's not
gonna be devastating if they lose. And I hate that
I even said that for reasons why prior stated it,
because to me, it's like, hey, you got Leonard Williams
as you know, a guy that's a year away, just
(22:46):
a year removed from being a contender for you know,
one of the best defensive players. He slipped a little
bit this year, but to me, that that sweet spot
of where the defense is. They got a bunch of youth,
but they still got Leonard Williams capable of being a
game wrecker. So to me, it's like go time. Now,
there's certainly a part of me in that in that regard,
(23:09):
but you do have to when you compare the Rams
to the Seahawks, you have to say the Rams or
the Seahawks rather are on much more of an incline
upward trajectory as a football team.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Yeah, you know, Hugh, I think to a lot of
people where you know, yeah, I was cherry picking a
little bit, but let's just say that. I mean, listen,
you know, you want to talk about stats. I mean,
Matthew Stafford as a Ram is undefeated against the Seahawks
when he plays. He's six and oh okay, so you
want to slay the Blue Dragon, Well you got to
do it on Thursday night. You got to do it
(23:42):
because if you do this on Thursday night, Hugh and
the Seahawks take care of business, which I I'm not
getting predictions here yet, but I believe they have a
very strong likelihood that they can win this game on
Thursday night. Everything kind of falls into place where if
you just went out, you are not only going to
be the NFC West champions, you're going to be the
(24:03):
one seeds with a buy.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
Well, look that stat is is meaningful and it's relevant. Okay,
so I'm not gonna but thank you, but let's just
kind of parse it a little bit. First of all,
Mike McDonald has only played three games against the Rams,
so we'll start with it. Sam Donald has only played one. Uh,
you got a new offensive coordinator. So so last year,
(24:28):
let's throw out the last game of the year because
that was JVU.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Yeah. They laid down.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
Yeah, and as did the Seahawks, you know, because they're
because they're like, well, you know, it had the that
detracted from the Seahawks intensity. Yes, the Seahawks won it,
but defensively, it's like, you know, what are we going for?
The you know, Gino Smith is playing for you know,
two or six million or whatever the hell it was.
But defensively, let's just throw that last game out. You
(24:56):
go to the first game in Seattle, Mike McDonald and
his defense had the Rams seven to three and ounce
so like they they stymied the Rams, and in irregulation
the Rams only scored thirteen points and it was there
was an overtime touchdown. And then there was the pick
(25:18):
six by Gina one hundred and five yards that in
terms of EPA negative VPA for one play, it was
the second most impactful play of the NFL season expected point. Like,
the Seahawks are trying to throw a touchdown pass and
they give up one hundred and five yard pick six.
So while the score says, what twenty six to twenty
(25:39):
seven points, not so fast? And so I think that,
and then you go back to obviously you saw the
game and expressing our memory what happened a month ago.
So I know that Sean McVay when he he's getting
up a little earlier and he's fallen asleep a little
later this week because he know, damn well, what what
(26:02):
kind of job that Mike m Mike McDonald has done
to his offense? And you know, you know Matthew Stafford
only threw for one hundred and thirty yards in their
last game. Yeah, and so so I think we got
to Yes, your point is correct, and there's players that
have experienced that, so it's there's relevance to it. But
you got to put an asterisk and and you know,
(26:24):
drilled down a little bit more granular to just say no, no, no, no,
no the McVeigh. McVeigh hasn't done anything to Mike McDonald nothing.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Uh fair enough fair I mean, but but okay, yeah,
I mean, oh no offensely no no, no, he didn't know.
I mean, listen, this Seahawks defense was so elite in
that meeting a month ago that they had a chance
to win at the end of the game despite the
fact that their quarterback through for interceptions. I mean, that's insane.
That to me shows how great Mike McDonald's play calling
(26:55):
is on defense. Hugh, I got to ask you this,
give me your anopsis of the twenty twenty five Washington
Huskies football team and their nine to four season.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Well, I think it was maybe just a par yep, okay,
because look beating to me, I said yesterday, it was
something I said when I coached youth in high school football.
Good is the enemy of great, because when you're good,
you get lulled into complacency. You know, there's not a
(27:30):
sense of urgency, and I think there's a lot I
hear a lot of flowers being thrown and bouquets beingn
and look, Boise State is not this boys. State's got
a damn good brand in this century. They've had fourteen
more than fourteen seasons, more than half of their seasons
they've had two losses or less, eight to eight they've
(27:53):
been one loss or less. You know, Chris Peterson and
some of the others have done some really great things,
but this was not a Boise State team like the
brand that they were. They're a five lost Boise team
that got smoked by Fresno, got smoked by San Diego State.
So that that didn't the bowl games shouldn't impress you
(28:14):
if you really have reasonably high standards for the Huskies
and then their challenge. Look, the defense was fantastic. I
got no critique for the defense to have lost their coordinator.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
They were Ryan Walters did a good job.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
He really took go to for Fish to have identified
Ryan Walters, brought him in and did the job they did.
There's no critique there. Offensively, they're barking about a lot
of numbers the offense and for demon Williams. As I said,
I'm going to skip the evidence for the conclusion because
(28:49):
I've already said it on more than one show on
this radio. So I'm not going to give you the
evidence I can, but I'd be repeating myself. I'm going
to jump to the conclusion. Here's the conclusion. There are
sixty seven teams in powerfour conferences. If you take the
offensive performance on yards in EPA, the one yards points
(29:10):
in EPA, and you on the aggregate, you can make
this conclusion of sixty seven teams. How the Huskies perform
against bottom twenty teams in the Power four, which all
five of their wins were Purdue, Maryland UCLA wreckers, and
then what was the other one, Illinois? All five of
(29:34):
them were win the bottom twenty in defense out of
the Power Forward. If you take how they performed against
bottom twenty defenses versus top twenty five defenses, which were
their four losses, Yes, Wisconsin was twenty third in defense.
The Huskies had the biggest drop in their performance both
(29:57):
all the offense and all the passing game. And there
is no team that had as big a drop as
Washington in terms of how they played against boar teams
versus how they played against good teams. And so a
lot of the aggregate numbers that you hear, they're just
they're just fluffed up by by what you did out
(30:18):
of conference and what you did against the worst teams
in the in the Big Ten. And so they've got
to put their eyes squarely on, like that's got to
be a sense of urgency. What are we doing Ohio
State with the ball? Okay, you were not, but you
only scored seven points and you got your ass handed
to you in the red zone by Matt Patricia, a
three time who has through three Super Bowl rings, who
(30:40):
I'm not going to get in the details the coverages.
He just absolutely put the vice clamp on and all
the rest of it. And and so they got to
say that they can't be walking around patting themselves on
the back. And and I hear you know, coaches saying, well,
we were this, and we were that, and we were
this and that. Well that's based on what you did
against you Ce Davis and Washington State. And you were
throwing fifty yards down the field against Washington State with
(31:03):
you know, a minute and a half to go.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
No stat padding. Yeah, I mean stat pat And so
I don't want to hear the stats.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Why don't you say this, We had the biggest drop
against the lousy teams, uh uh to the good teams,
the biggest drop in all power for football. And and
are we are laser focused on that fact and we
are putting bright kleague lights on that fact, and we
are we we have to fix that fact. And I
(31:31):
would let you know, not I don't really expect them
to say that, but you know, at least, you know,
some mention of uh, you know, even a vague reference
of that. So so yeah, I think that it was fine,
you know, if you want, you had a you're a
four lost team. Yeah, And but it's got you know,
(31:52):
it's got to be better. And and they're gonna have
to uh to approach things, you know, Demon Williams, in
my opinion, he sets up too deep. You know, there's
too many times where he's ten and a half yards
from alion scrimmage. You know, he's got to be comfortable
closer to the lion scrimmage because it helps the offensive
tackles on their blocking angles and the ball gets to
the target faster. You go, gets the best teams, and
(32:14):
they're faster, they react to the ball and play and
and so that affects the passing game. And again it
doesn't matter when you're playing Wreckers, but it doesn't matter
when you play Michigan, and so.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
It's a completely different thing. Those lanes closely different. Yeah,
that's exactly, those lanes close much quicker. I was at
that Ohio State and the Oregon games, and you just see,
you see when you have five star depth, which is
what Ohio State in Oregon, and that's why they're in
the playoffs period.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
If you're standing ten and a half yards. You know,
I did the math. You know, if you throw the
ball fifty five miles an hour and a DB's running
nineteen miles an hour when they can run twenty two,
but I put it in nineteen. You know, a ten
racket is twenty seven inches, but you gotta you gotta
grab it, uh, And so it makes it about nineteen
and a half inches longer than your your reach would
(33:10):
be based on setting up a yard and a half deeper.
And I've done all the studying on Fernando Mendoza because
I have a Heisman vote, and and I put those
quarterbacks under intense lights, and and and I was, I
was making note of where Mendoza is in the pocket.
And he's very comfortable at seven and a half eight
(33:31):
eight and no deeper in eight and a half yards,
and the ball gets there faster. And when you calculate
all the the uh, the math on that a dB
can close the space, it's it's exactly as if he
had that all the defenders have tennis rackets in each hands.
That that's how much longer their arms are when you
(33:53):
are even just a yard and a half. Look, you
can do the math and and and so what he
is doing by being so deep in the pocket he
is in and that's just making every defender have an
inspector gadget arms they can reach down and without bending
over they can touch their ankles. That this is a
(34:15):
clear problem, and it's gonna be more of a problem
against the best teams. And I and I'm giving you
the stats to back me up on that. And so
if they don't address that, demon Williams is gonna be
one of two guys. He's gonna be either Kyler Murray,
like Jedfish says he's gonna be. He's gonna he's gonna
be phenomenal or he's gonna be Dorrian Thompson Robinson. Dorrian
(34:37):
Thomas Robinson was a you know through for ten thousand,
seven undred yards at UCLA.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Had a hell of a career.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
He's drafting the third round. But you know what, Ucla
went nine and four, U what nine to three and
eight and four his last two years kind of a
nothing burger. Don't do anything with Dorrian Thompson Robinson.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
So what what is.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
What is Demon gonna be? Is he gonna be more
like Kyler Murray? Or is he gonna be more like
Dorian tom Robinson. And and if you just say, well
he's gonna be a year older, he's gonna be better.
He'll be calm Kyler Murray just because he's older. Well,
a year ago, after the game against Louisville, every saying
we'll think how much better he's going to be next year,
Well guess what. He wasn't better. And Washington's offense wasn't
(35:17):
better at all. They had an easier schedule and against
the good teams where it matters, they weren't one bit improved.
Speaker 1 (35:25):
Well he will see you, hey man, I hate to Kye.
We we are way but Christopher Kids is gonna come
in here and close line me. But to your point,
I know exactly good on all the rest of it.
I'm really good at killing Clark. No, hey, no, it's great.
H And we'll see where the step is in year
(35:47):
three with Jedfish and You're and yeah in Demon Williams
and Hayden Vines Bright and those guys. So we'll find out.
Hugh Millan, always appreciate your time. We'll talk to you
next week. Okay, all right, all right, all right, that's
Hugh Millan, will to Benvollen coming up at noon right
here on MJ in the midday.
Speaker 4 (36:04):
After historic RNs, many people in western Washington have found
themselves flooded out of their homes without food, clothing, or
a place to stay. It's insane, which is what I've
been saying the past three days.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
But just so much water're just phenomena.
Speaker 4 (36:18):
You can help provide the essentials for people displaced by
the floods by donating even to the Red Cross right now,
just text the word Red Cross to nine zero nine
nine nine. A public service message from Sports Radio ninety
three point three kjr FM.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
This report is sponsored by Lows.
Speaker 5 (36:37):
There's an accent on the shoulder in Lindwood South and
I five forty fourth, and it's backing you up heavily
from the four h five interchange. We've been seeing a
recovery effort taking place traveling West Point eighteen or the
Tiger Mountain Summit. There was an earlier semi crash. There
were have some maintenance work that's taking place in Mount
Vernon SOUTHNI five Scadget River Bridge, and this is creating
a backup from State Round eleven.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
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