December 9, 2025 • 33 mins
Hugh Millen is back for his weekly visit to talk some Seahawks and much more. Hugh shares what took place in the 2nd half versus the Atlanta Falcons, is this the best defensive line in Seahawks history, plus much more.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I don't know how the how Okay, So my question
is this, if the Seahawks, which they take care of
business on Sunday against the Colts, and the Rams lose
to the Lions, which could very well likely happen, how
come the Seahawks can't clinch a playoff berth. They'd have
(00:25):
a better record than the Rams and they play the
Rams a week from Thursday night. So why are the
Seahawks not in a playoff clinching scenario? I don't know
how that works, but all I know is that this
week the Broncos can clinch a playoff win with a
win and a bunch of other things. The Patriots can
clinch the AFC East where they win over the Bills.
(00:48):
They just need to beat the Bills and they're in.
And the Rams can clinch a playoff berth with a win.
But that's screwy to me because the Seahawks should be
if they win and the Rams lose, shouldn't the Hawks
be in?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I believe the Hawks have the win over the Rams
in that scenario, but they should.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
What I'm I get that part.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
I'm not saying they clinch the division, but I'm saying
they're both ten and three Rams lose. Hypothetically they're ten
and four Seahawks win. Likely they're eleven to three. Wouldn't
that clinch? It wouldn't that clinch the players?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
The Rams have one extra win because didn't they beat
the Niners as well? Where the Seahawks loss to the Niners,
you'd have ten, you'd division.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah, okay, yeah, that's probably it?
Speaker 4 (01:36):
All right, all right?
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Because the Hawks got to be close, man, I mean,
what more they have to do?
Speaker 4 (01:45):
All right?
Speaker 1 (01:46):
We were supposed to be joined by Hugh Millen. I
hope he's okay. We were just texting a little bit
back and forth. So we're waiting on joining him. And
Omar Ruiz will join us coming up next hour. So
there's that scenario. Hawk are huge. Now it's up to
thirteen and a half points on Sunday, thirteen and a
(02:07):
half point spread over the Colts, which it's about right,
I mean, that's where the Colts are. The Colts are
like the Bucks. They have fallen big time right now,
absolutely big time. So there's that, and then the Rams
are a five and a half point favorite over the
(02:27):
Lions at home. Go Lions on that one to put
the Seahawks in a much better position. So my thing
is that, man, I mean, wow, you could really make
up some ground here if the Lions and Lions could
pull that off. Man, they have the team to pull
that off. They've got to, you know, they've got to
be able to do that. Other interesting games this week,
(02:49):
and thankfully no team is on a bye this week.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I mean, that's that's good.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
The Titans are at San Francisco, so that's a pretty
easy win for the forty nine ers. They're a twelve
and a half point favorite. So we've got a lot
of double digit favorites this week in the NFL. Hawks
are double digit favorite, Niners are double digit favorite. Texans
are a ten point favorite over the Arizona Cardinals. The
Eagles are an eleven and a half point favorite over
the Las Vegas Raiders. So yeah, they're like, those are
(03:20):
a lot of that's you don't usually see. Well, depending
on how the schedule work, you don't usually see a
lot of double big, double digit favorites this late in
the season like that. But then again, when you're playing
the Raiders, when you're playing the Jets, when you're playing
the you know, all these garbage teams, you know, you're
(03:42):
gonna have double digit favorites. Okay, Hughesday Tuesday, Hugh was
on the line here with us. All right, Hugh, let's
get to the game on Sunday. What happened in the
first half that it was such a struggle.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Well, I think you start with Charles Ross missed a
couple of oh that really disrupted things, that cost a
couple of drives. He was pivotal, and I think that
when you look at how they were targeting jsn oddly,
(04:19):
they actually went down in their percentage. They started getting
other people involved and that allowed them. They were on
a pace prior to that drive. At the end of
the second quarter, with fifty seven seconds to go, they
were on a pace where is it for under under
(04:39):
eighty yards of passing for the game seventy six yards
of passing and then from that point on their pace
for a sixty minute game was four hundred and eleven
yards gotten that I mean so over a half of
a football You know, they operated at a really good pace,
but they got other people involved. I think it was
really important to get Rashika heat and they got him
(05:01):
on a on a deep dig route. They got him
on a deep angle cross on a third down, they
ran him in motion, and and uh and and ran
him on a quick out route and and on a
couple of those occasions there were mirrored routes where Sam
Darnold had the choice of of JSN or of Rasi
(05:22):
chihed and and as a general rule, Donald has always
in those mirrored route concepts, He's always gone to JSN.
So I think he's loosing it up and starting to
feel a little bit more comfortable throwing to Rashi Chihi.
So I think that was an important development.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yeah, no, that's good point. I.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
And and the fourth and the fifth round pick they
gave up for him started to pay off at the
beginning of that third quarter on that one hundred yard
kickoff return, that'll kind of you know, that seemed to
just open up the floodgates for the Hawks in that game.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
And that is right. Yeah, it almost feel felt like, Okay,
Seattle's defense is so dominant that they he could have
just you could have just taken knees offensively and spiked
the ball and and punted and you still would have
won the game. Right, But yeah, that was breathtaking. Uh uh.
(06:14):
We saw the real speed for him. And and you know,
I think that there was great blocks at the point
of attack on a double team, but the single team
that j Bobo had was probably the key block in
that when he started to lose it, uh as will
happen on a kickoff returning camp block forever. He there
(06:36):
may have been an impulse and you often see guys
have a holding call there, but he just he just
let it go and he said, hey, if Reid he
gets tackled here, so be it. Uh race. She was
able to break the arm tackle and of course take
to the house. So so I thought that was very
key to kind of just loosen things up. And then darnold, uh,
(07:01):
I don't know, it felt like he just found a rhythm,
felt more comfortable. As I said, he's targeting the other
receivers and they you know, they kept them on the move,
you know, bootleg left and right, and so I think
there was enough movement and enough targeting of others to
kind of unleash him. But again, to be at a
(07:22):
pace of four hundred and eleven yards per game, be
at that pace for more than a half good sign
for Seattle.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
What adjustments do you think that Clint Kubiak made in
the second half to spur aw and obviously where yeah,
I mean take a side the one hundred yard kickoff
return for a touchdown. The offense added twenty four points
in addition to that and thirty one in total.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Well, I think he gave them looks that made the
Falcons have to make some adjustments. The first pass of
the second half, which is often an indicator of how
you are targeting, what kind of adjustments you want to make,
they'd put JSN too the weak side, and then they
(08:05):
had a three man concept and Robbie Utz was in
the middle of the three, lined up as a receiver
course season fullback, and of the three routes that were
they were running football people call that a three man
levels and Robby Uts was running the deepest route on
a deep intermediate incut. And then you had Barner and
(08:28):
you had Cooper Cup running just five yard in routes.
Most teams would if you're going to have a fullback
out there, he would be the widest guy running just
the five yard in route. Again, they had Oots in
the middle running an intermediate in route. I'm sure that
the Falcons had a hard time communicating that, and Barner
(08:50):
was open for a nice easy seven yard completion. That
was the first pass to the second half. There was another,
you know, I believe a thirty three yard er where
anticipated okay, you're gonna get rolled coverage with the safety
over the top of JSN. You can get off that
coverage free access, which was she she head. He's gonna
line up on the left side relatively close to the football,
(09:12):
and then he's gonna run a deep angle cross crossing
route to the other side where JSN is clearing out
two defenders. And now you just kind of insert Shaheed
in an intermediate pocket there with JSN being the deep
and then you got to check down on the flat.
But you get a nice thirty three yard or on
that intermediate and and just the speed with which she
(09:36):
he got to his spot. I believe the air yards
were twenty two yards, but it's diagonal. You know, he's
running more than twenty two yards because it's a diagonal,
but he just got there so fast. It presented a
nice picture for the eyes of of Sam Darnold. And
so I think those and other examples are of okay,
(09:57):
they're going to roll on on js in. Let's let's
find a way to get some easy completions, Let's get
some chunk plays to other guys, and I think Kobiak
was able to dial that up.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Hugh Millen here, former NFL quarterback, great analysts here on
MJ and The Middayhuesday, Tuesday. So how much when you
look at the first half, And I've been someone who
have absolved kind of exonerated Sam Darnold on some of
his turnovers, But how much blame do you put on
him for that interception the first half?
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Well, if I was coaching him, I would definitely give
him a minus double minus. Okay, So you know it
was third and one. I understand he was trying to
make a play. You know, look, Elijah Royo was running
across the route against a cornerback and so you know
there was speed there and you know, he just didn't
(10:54):
get a royal, didn't get the separation. Now, was there
anything that he could have done? I mean, he could
have lost a little ground, But I think that sometimes
you know, it was hard because it's third and one,
and see I was likely punting because it was in
their own territory. And you know that's the impulse for
a quarterback is is that you're literally assessing this in
(11:16):
fractions of a second. Hey, do I have an opportunity?
Is you know, he knew that the light was not green.
What he was debating is is this a yellow light
or a red light? And you know, the best quarterbacks
are going to operate in the yellow on a frequent,
somewhat frequent basis. You know, like, hey, he's pretty covered,
(11:36):
but if I throw it in exactly the right spot,
then uh, then we're gonna get completions. I mean that
happens all the time with n if you know NFL quarterbacks,
If you if you're just waiting for bright green lights
all the time, you're gonna just check down and you're gonna,
you know, you won't throw an interception, but you're gonna
you're gonna lose the game thirteen to nine because you're
just not pushing the ball down the field. So so
(11:59):
I understand why he wanted to make we all understand.
Doesn't take me to you know, hey, it's third and one.
I don't want to punt. It's pretty pretty simple. So
so now all of a sudden, you look at a
guy and you say, well, he's pretty covered, but if
I put it on his body, he's a bigger body,
it's a tight end against a corner. You know, he
should have just put the ball if he was going
to throw it. Uh, And it was the circumstances were
(12:22):
more needy to get the first down. Let's say it's
you know, early fourth quarter, you're down by ten points,
what you know, describe a situation was more needy. Then
you'd say, well, you know, just throw it at his
testicles and let him know. I'm I'm being serious.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Yeah, yeah, no, no, I get it.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
You know, man, I'm trying to have a little fun
with right. That's that's the perfect spot for it. So
he can kind of shield his body, go down to
it and and uh and you can get a completion.
But it wasn't worth the risk at that time, at
that field position, with the way Seattle's defense uh is dominant.
So I you know, hopefully he just keeps calibrating that
(13:04):
aggression discretion meter within his head that all quarterbacks have.
He's done for a good job for the most part,
because while he has, he has you know, look, the
interceptions are the interceptions. We're not I'm not going to
try and and absolve those away. But I think what
Mike McDonald has stated and is that uh and alluded
(13:27):
to is that because he's producing so many big plays
that he's not gonna come out and say we'll live
with the with the the consequences. But you know, I
think right now Mike McDonald's saying it's a cost of
doing business. We'll try to get better, but I'm not
gonna try and paralyze him, uh for fear of retribution
(13:49):
on a mistake like that. We just kind of fine
tune the calibration.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
When you look at this team, specifically the D line, Humillen,
can you make an argument that this defensive line is
the best in Seahawks franchise history?
Speaker 4 (14:03):
You can. I think that they don't have a star
power on a defense from a defensive end standpoint, sure
star power with the Marcus Lawrence and you know Byron Murphy.
That's kind of the strength of them. And then as
far as the edge guys, I don't think their strength
(14:24):
is any one you know, Miles Garrett type. I think
their their strength is they've got several B level players,
you know, B plus level players, maybe no A players,
but the depth they keep bringing you this wave of
B plus level edge players. And then and then that
coupled with the scheme. Remember now, in Mike McDonald's final
(14:49):
year at the Ravens, the Ravens led the NFL in sacks.
They also led the NFL in most turnovers and fewest
points allowed. But getting back to sacks, the defensive ends
were Kyle van Noy and Jadavian Clowney, both over thirty,
both on at least their fifth team, Right, So you
(15:12):
don't think of the term journeyman to describe Jadeveon Clowney
because of the number one overall pick.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
You.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
I don't think a journeyman that describes guys like me.
But the facts were that he had journeyman defensive ends
on the wrong side of thirty, and yet they still
led the NFL in sacks. Igwood Beakway, I can never
pronounce his name quite right, but you know they had
they had one, you know, really elite level defensive tackle
(15:40):
like Leonard, like Leonard Williams. But it was more the
scheme than it was just the horsepower that they had
at the traditional sack positions, that being the defensive ends.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
So I mean you look at his line and he
and imagine this for a second, and I was looking
at you know the biggest thing that every team hates
the most turnovers. And right now, out of the top
six teams, like in terms of who have turned the
most the ball over the most times this year, well
(16:15):
you can call them the worst six teams. The Seahawks
are second next to the Vikings. They've turned the ball
over twenty three times. Okay, and none of those six
teams right now are in the playoffs today except for Seattle. So, Hugh,
imagine just you know, how about this? Imagine if you
(16:36):
could divide those turnovers in half. The Rams have only
turned the ball over eleven times. Now, to me, I'm
gonna look at that Seahawks thing, and I'm gonna look
at the glass half full. Hear you, You've turned the
You have the second most turnovers in the league, and
your defense is arguably the best in the NFL. Imagine
(16:56):
if you didn't turn the ball over twenty three times,
and you only turned it over eleven or twelve, how
much better would this team be?
Speaker 4 (17:04):
Yeah? I get that, And and I don't think there's
any coach that's just gonna say, hey, I don't have
a problem with turnovers. I think that what it's kind
of like a Jenga tower. You know we can, we can.
Let's equate it to baseball. You know, for years there's
a question each Row he's you know, he's he's got
(17:25):
the most hits in baseball, But can he hit for
a little bit more power? Can we can we have
a few less singles, but a few more doubles and
a few more home runs. Are we willing to take strikeouts?
Can we strike out a few more times too? But
it's worth it because we can hit more home runs,
(17:47):
whether it's whether it's each Row or anybody else. Right, So,
I think we understand there's there's there's kind of this
this risk associated and right now Sam Darnold is number
one in the NFL and yards per pass attempt there
is an extremely high correlation to yards per pacity. In fact,
(18:10):
Seattle right now is that they are number one in
yards per attempt on offense and number one fewest yards
per attempt on defense. That's only been done one time
in the history of the NFL, the nineteen ninety one
Redskins who won the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
So can't you say that line one more time?
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Seattle is number one on offense in yards per passe
attempt and they are the best. They're also number one
on defense in terms of forcing opposing quarterbacks to have
the fewest yards per attempt. So Seattle obviously their net
number one offense and defense, but they are also you
(18:51):
could be net number one and be like two on one,
second place on one, and third on another, atom up,
and they're the best. No, what I'm saying is they
are no. Number one on offense and they are number
one on defense. And I have only I have only
in the entire time, I'm kind of interested in numbers
along with football. I've only heard in my entire life,
(19:13):
I've ever seen studies done that core be the highest
correlation to winning being either turnovers or net yards per
passe attempt or net explosive plays. I've never heard any
other stat advanced as the number one correlation to winning.
And so here again, So getting back to Seattle, Yes,
(19:35):
you would like to have fewer turnovers. I'm not I'm
not just saying, hey, hey, Sam, doesn't matter, you know,
whether you have one one interception or zero or four
doesn't matter. No, But what the the way you're you're
trying to fine tune this thing is, you say, Sam
Darnold is number one in the NFL and yards per attempt,
he's number one in in yards per completion, he's no
(20:00):
Number one in most yards completions over ten yards, he's
number one in most completions over twenty yards, and many
other So he's giving you a lot of production. So
he's hitting a lot of home runs, he's hitting a
lot of doubles. He's striking out more than you would like.
But if you tell them, hey, I don't want you
to strike out as much, are you going to lose
(20:22):
the doubles? Are you going to lose the home runs?
He has a style that he's playing Seattle is they
are in terms of points scored? I filter for the
points scored. There was it fifth or sixth in the
NFL and points scored by the offense. If you take
the whole team, I think you know their second or
third because they got kickoff returns and picked sixes. So
(20:43):
their offense, they're scoring the points. They're married to a
defense that can absorb those mistakes, like you saw the
defense that was in Seattle's territory. So the Falcons get
the ball. Guess what out of eighteen plays that the
Falcons ran for in the red zone. Sunday, you go
(21:05):
successful play for the needed yards on first down, sixty
percent of the needed yards on second down, or all
the needed yards on third or fourth down. Eighteen plays
the Falcons ran in the Seahawk red zone. The only
the Falcons had two successful plays out of eighteen, So
so Seattle has the ability to absorb those. Now, now
(21:27):
the flip side, you'd say, well, wait a minute, what
if what if you clamp down, don't turn the ball
over and just punt and make teams go along field.
I get it, but I just think there are there
are tentacles to this conversation. And while yes, you would
like to to dial back the turnovers and let's say,
(21:50):
specifically for Darnold, the interceptions, beware of unwanted consequences, and
now all of a sudden, you get one less interception
per game, but you get six less explosive plays. Well,
I'm not sure that Mike McDonald would make that trade.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Great point, you know, Hugh factor, fiction's done, but you
know what that means. That means more, hum Millan, do
you have time for another segment?
Speaker 4 (22:13):
Yeah? Rock and roll?
Speaker 1 (22:14):
All right, here we go, Hugh millon hus Day Tuesday, Baby,
We're back.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
We're back, baby.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
We got the daily double a hu Millon coming up next,
I wanna I'm gonna throw some facts at Hugh Millan.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
I want to get his thoughts on this.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
And where this team how much next Thursday night could
be for everything against the Rams here for basically, what
is the de facto or could be the de facto
NFC West Divisional Championship game.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Hugh Millin m Jay in the midday and a Huesday Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I was familiar with his game and he could be
the Heisman Trophy winner after Saturday night. They're saying that
through that performance against Ohio State leading in Dan to
an undefeated regular season, that they're calling him Fernando Heisman.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
That's a great name. That's a great name. Yeah, Hugh
Millin here on.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Before we get to that, Hugh, I got to ask
you about the one thing about this Seahawks team. I
brought this up yesterday. I want to get your thoughts
and I don't need to leave the witnesses stand. My
biggest concern, if there is one, I'm sure you have
multiple defending the tight end. You even saw when the
Cardinals came in here. Trey McBride over on his receiving yards.
(23:24):
That was an easy cover. Is there anything that concerns
you even more than covering the tight ends.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
Defensively?
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Anything, anything at all about Bradford? Anything at all? Oh?
Speaker 4 (23:37):
Yeah, The offensive line, I think is if we can
all agree this is not a slight. I'm as optimistic
as I could be. Can't wait for these games, can't
wait for Thursday. The I know, December is the month
of anticipation. I feel like a kid waiting for a day.
It just happens to be exactly seven days before Christmas
on December eighteenth, that game against the Rams. So yeah,
(24:00):
I mean there's always every team, all thirty two teams
have concerns, But my concern is that offensive line. I mean,
and of course, you know Donald, he's going to be
under the lights. I mean, Telly Gonzalez said about a
month ago on one of those Thursday night teleg as,
you said, he thinks that of all the players in
the NFL, the guy who has the most pressure on
(24:22):
him of anybody is Sam Donald. And I agreed with that.
You know, we talked after the four interception game on
that Monday that there's not much Sam Donald can do
until December eighteenth to a change how people feel about him.
And so yeah, h.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Scale one to ten, you can do decilamate points in
between ten being the most. How much do you trust
Sam Donald to win big games in January?
Speaker 4 (24:51):
I'm gonna say we'll call it a seven.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Oh wow, I thought that's a little high for you.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
Well, look I've done it. Look I've creeped on this
kids background. I mean, you know, he's great, He's a
great usc. You know I'm digging on. Is there is
there evidence that he is a clutch player? Is there
evidence that he chokes? You know, just is that in
his nature. That's not to say that a guy couldn't
acquire new traits in that regard, but I mean, even
(25:21):
back to San Clementi High School, he played in a
district championship game and he put up thirty seven points.
Then he got a concussion and the other team came back.
But he played lights out. I mean in a Rose
Bowl fifty two to forty nine victory over Penn State
PAC twelve championship game three and twenty five yards against
(25:45):
Stanford in a pack in the championship game at Husky Stadium.
When when the Huskies. That year they went to the
Final four and Jake Browning was the Pac ten, PAC
twelve excuse me, Player of the Year, and Sam Donald
came in dropped about two hundred and eighty yards on
(26:07):
a seventy percent completion in Husky Stademan there. His career
is littered with clutch performances and even last year, oh
my gosh, you know what. A week from today, I
pulled up these numbers. I don't have it in front
of me. I compared his numbers to last year, to
every quarterback's numbers in losing games. And I did it
(26:32):
over the last six years. And I'll just tease it.
I don't have in front of me. But Sam Donald,
he had to higher his game against the Rams. He
had twenty seven pressures. That was the most of any
quarterback in all of any playoffs of this entire decade.
(26:52):
And he had a higher passer rating than Pat Mahomes
has when he loses playoff games and many other like
high profile guys. Guess what if you see a team
lose a playoff game, their quarterback usually had a bad game.
That's the takeaway and so and yet twenty seven takeaway
or excuse me, pressures in that Ram playoff game was
(27:15):
by far the most. I mean, I think the average
is like thirteen or fourteen. So that was a team
breakdown in that playoff game the Vikings had against the Rams.
And yet people want to hold it over Sam Darnold.
I don't know. I think there's a context that he's
been getting screwed on. But having said that, I understand
if he doesn't play well against the Rams next Thursday,
(27:38):
guys like me are going to run out of of
opportunity to defend him.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
No question.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
But now that's why you're putting this position, and now
you get a chance to show it on the field.
That's why they play the games. I mentioned last night
Tony Jefferson game ceiling interset on Jalen Hurts his fourth one.
You heard at the beginning coming back out of the commercial.
(28:06):
By the way, it's Cracking ticket Tuesday. Congratulations to Tracy Golden,
Susan Golden, Susan Golden for winning a pair of tickets
for the Cracking to take on.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Well, this is an old school name. The broad Street
believes the Philadelphia Flyers.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
On December twenty eighth, so I mentioned that Tony Jefferson
did it last night and we brought the beginning of
the show, Hugh, how come athletes after their team loses
don't give glory to God.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
It's a fair question, and so.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Thank you, thank you you, that's the thank you.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
I appreciate that. Yeah, you know it. It doesn't bother me.
I mean, you're asking me personal ethic. The most important
question you can ask in life is that particular question.
And and so, you know, we live in a more
secular world. I don't have a problem with somebody, you know,
making a brief statement about their faith. I understand you,
(29:02):
uh that that maybe the networks don't like it, but
you know, personally, uh, you know, I've studied the materials
explanation for the origin of the universe and and the
origin of first life on Earth. I'm not looking at
the Bible. I'm looking at science books, and I find
the proposed causes insufficient to create the or produced the
(29:22):
effect in question, that being the origin of those so,
so to me, I leaning towards design and intelligence behind
it all. I understand that that's a that's a very
personal decision. But but when somebody uh steps up for
a couple of seconds and pronounces their faith doesn't bother
me one bit, but you do raise a chuckling question
(29:47):
that in losses, I think if you, if you probe
them that, I think a true believer would believe that
that if if they they they have a relationship with
their God, it's in win or loss. That's what I
was gonna say, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean there's
there lost losses super server purpose as well. And I
don't think that by just because you don't hear an
(30:09):
athlete proclaim his faith after a loss, to make the
inference that that that that he somehow thinks that that
God isn't with him or what have you. No, I
just think that you know, on that date, uh, that
God chose to to uh give him a hurdle and
and some adversity to overcome it in the right way.
(30:29):
That's what I would think most of them would say.
But I'm not in everybody's head that that would be
the logical exploit explanation. I have to reconcile those two facts.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
I like that very well.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
I knew you would be able to nail that answer
out of the park better than anybody, and so I'm
glad you. Glad we brought out it's just something that
I've noticed. I don't have any issues. I mean, listen,
it's been going on for decades and decades and decades,
and it will continue. I just it's something that you
kind of notice, and I'm like, huh, yeah, I wonder
if Jalen Hurt I get it.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
Look at that pudding. I understand. And you know, and
that's one of the beautiful things about America, the establishment
clause of the First Amendment, that you know that religious
freedom is very important and and atheism is a religion,
don't kid yourself. And so people are free to choose
that and uh and uh and and and and we
respect everybody's uh conclusions on that matter. I just hope
(31:20):
that everybody takes the time to consider it, because it's
I like that. I like that I do.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
That's great, great, that's really great stuff. Hey, Hugh, before
I let you go, I'm gonna give you three options.
You know, I don't want explanation. You just pick one, Okay, yes,
best nickname for this Seahawks defense. Oh gosh, okay, you
give me give me options. Yeah, I'll give me options.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
You just picked one. Now, I did one as a spin.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Off, and I know who the Minister of Defense was,
the late great Reggie White. We all know I said,
Ministry of Defense. Okay, I'm gonna give you two more
of defense.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Uh they DeMarcus Lawrence said they call themselves the dark
Side or or someone just texted in and I love
this one. And it's a reference to one of the
greatest label and hip and rap history, death Row.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
All right, Well, first of all, it's it's very hard
for me to go against uh, the leader, DeMarcus Lawrence,
if he wants to stay there, the dark Side. I
love that. Uh, but that's what I want if I
if I were to if I were to say, I
would say the Undertaker defense. How about that?
Speaker 3 (32:39):
How about death Row?
Speaker 4 (32:40):
Though? No, uh, death Row is great, but it hasn't
that been taken? Hasn't that been taken? Well? I mean
you don't like the Undertakers?
Speaker 3 (32:49):
No, because that's been taken by the wrestler.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
Oh has it the Undertaker?
Speaker 1 (32:56):
No?
Speaker 3 (32:57):
I know, I know, but he was he.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
Was so Okay, sorry, then scratch that. Then I'm going
with the dark Side, the dark Side, right, Okay, cool
dark Side. I think we can blow the dark Side up.
Marcus launches that if that's their thing, if they're vibing
on the dark side, absolutely all.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
Right, Fara good.
Speaker 4 (33:13):
I like it. That's why I gave you. I don't
even know why the conversation extended. If if de Las
wants dark side, I'm down for dark side, all right,
fair enough, Millan, we'll talk to you next week. We
got it, all right, we come back coming up next.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
I got something for it. You're gonna love.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
And I gotta tell you that that death Row one
that is like wow, that's that's better than all of
them to me. Purple people, eaters, monsters of the Midway,
you name it. I like that one. Omar Ruiz coming
up at noon. And congratulations to the winner yesterday of
Hot Take Monday and bores Head platter of sandwiches. Eric Longworth,
(33:54):
Thank you very much. Eric, you did a great job.
Don't go anywhere,
I don't know how the how Okay, So my question
is this, if the Seahawks, which they take care of
business on Sunday against the Colts, and the Rams lose
to the Lions, which could very well likely happen, how
come the Seahawks can't clinch a playoff berth. They'd have
(00:25):
a better record than the Rams and they play the
Rams a week from Thursday night. So why are the
Seahawks not in a playoff clinching scenario? I don't know
how that works, but all I know is that this
week the Broncos can clinch a playoff win with a
win and a bunch of other things. The Patriots can
clinch the AFC East where they win over the Bills.
(00:48):
They just need to beat the Bills and they're in.
And the Rams can clinch a playoff berth with a win.
But that's screwy to me because the Seahawks should be
if they win and the Rams lose, shouldn't the Hawks
be in?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I believe the Hawks have the win over the Rams
in that scenario, but they should.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
What I'm I get that part.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
I'm not saying they clinch the division, but I'm saying
they're both ten and three Rams lose. Hypothetically they're ten
and four Seahawks win. Likely they're eleven to three. Wouldn't
that clinch? It wouldn't that clinch the players?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
The Rams have one extra win because didn't they beat
the Niners as well? Where the Seahawks loss to the Niners,
you'd have ten, you'd division.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Yeah, okay, yeah, that's probably it?
Speaker 4 (01:36):
All right, all right?
Speaker 1 (01:37):
Because the Hawks got to be close, man, I mean,
what more they have to do?
Speaker 4 (01:45):
All right?
Speaker 1 (01:46):
We were supposed to be joined by Hugh Millen. I
hope he's okay. We were just texting a little bit
back and forth. So we're waiting on joining him. And
Omar Ruiz will join us coming up next hour. So
there's that scenario. Hawk are huge. Now it's up to
thirteen and a half points on Sunday, thirteen and a
(02:07):
half point spread over the Colts, which it's about right,
I mean, that's where the Colts are. The Colts are
like the Bucks. They have fallen big time right now,
absolutely big time. So there's that, and then the Rams
are a five and a half point favorite over the
(02:27):
Lions at home. Go Lions on that one to put
the Seahawks in a much better position. So my thing
is that, man, I mean, wow, you could really make
up some ground here if the Lions and Lions could
pull that off. Man, they have the team to pull
that off. They've got to, you know, they've got to
be able to do that. Other interesting games this week,
(02:49):
and thankfully no team is on a bye this week.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I mean, that's that's good.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
The Titans are at San Francisco, so that's a pretty
easy win for the forty nine ers. They're a twelve
and a half point favorite. So we've got a lot
of double digit favorites this week in the NFL. Hawks
are double digit favorite, Niners are double digit favorite. Texans
are a ten point favorite over the Arizona Cardinals. The
Eagles are an eleven and a half point favorite over
the Las Vegas Raiders. So yeah, they're like, those are
(03:20):
a lot of that's you don't usually see. Well, depending
on how the schedule work, you don't usually see a
lot of double big, double digit favorites this late in
the season like that. But then again, when you're playing
the Raiders, when you're playing the Jets, when you're playing
the you know, all these garbage teams, you know, you're
(03:42):
gonna have double digit favorites. Okay, Hughesday Tuesday, Hugh was
on the line here with us. All right, Hugh, let's
get to the game on Sunday. What happened in the
first half that it was such a struggle.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Well, I think you start with Charles Ross missed a
couple of oh that really disrupted things, that cost a
couple of drives. He was pivotal, and I think that
when you look at how they were targeting jsn oddly,
(04:19):
they actually went down in their percentage. They started getting
other people involved and that allowed them. They were on
a pace prior to that drive. At the end of
the second quarter, with fifty seven seconds to go, they
were on a pace where is it for under under
(04:39):
eighty yards of passing for the game seventy six yards
of passing and then from that point on their pace
for a sixty minute game was four hundred and eleven
yards gotten that I mean so over a half of
a football You know, they operated at a really good pace,
but they got other people involved. I think it was
really important to get Rashika heat and they got him
(05:01):
on a on a deep dig route. They got him
on a deep angle cross on a third down, they
ran him in motion, and and uh and and ran
him on a quick out route and and on a
couple of those occasions there were mirrored routes where Sam
Darnold had the choice of of JSN or of Rasi
(05:22):
chihed and and as a general rule, Donald has always
in those mirrored route concepts, He's always gone to JSN.
So I think he's loosing it up and starting to
feel a little bit more comfortable throwing to Rashi Chihi.
So I think that was an important development.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yeah, no, that's good point. I.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
And and the fourth and the fifth round pick they
gave up for him started to pay off at the
beginning of that third quarter on that one hundred yard
kickoff return, that'll kind of you know, that seemed to
just open up the floodgates for the Hawks in that game.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
And that is right. Yeah, it almost feel felt like, Okay,
Seattle's defense is so dominant that they he could have
just you could have just taken knees offensively and spiked
the ball and and punted and you still would have
won the game. Right, But yeah, that was breathtaking. Uh uh.
(06:14):
We saw the real speed for him. And and you know,
I think that there was great blocks at the point
of attack on a double team, but the single team
that j Bobo had was probably the key block in
that when he started to lose it, uh as will
happen on a kickoff returning camp block forever. He there
(06:36):
may have been an impulse and you often see guys
have a holding call there, but he just he just
let it go and he said, hey, if Reid he
gets tackled here, so be it. Uh race. She was
able to break the arm tackle and of course take
to the house. So so I thought that was very
key to kind of just loosen things up. And then darnold, uh,
(07:01):
I don't know, it felt like he just found a rhythm,
felt more comfortable. As I said, he's targeting the other
receivers and they you know, they kept them on the move,
you know, bootleg left and right, and so I think
there was enough movement and enough targeting of others to
kind of unleash him. But again, to be at a
(07:22):
pace of four hundred and eleven yards per game, be
at that pace for more than a half good sign
for Seattle.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
What adjustments do you think that Clint Kubiak made in
the second half to spur aw and obviously where yeah,
I mean take a side the one hundred yard kickoff
return for a touchdown. The offense added twenty four points
in addition to that and thirty one in total.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Well, I think he gave them looks that made the
Falcons have to make some adjustments. The first pass of
the second half, which is often an indicator of how
you are targeting, what kind of adjustments you want to make,
they'd put JSN too the weak side, and then they
(08:05):
had a three man concept and Robbie Utz was in
the middle of the three, lined up as a receiver
course season fullback, and of the three routes that were
they were running football people call that a three man
levels and Robby Uts was running the deepest route on
a deep intermediate incut. And then you had Barner and
(08:28):
you had Cooper Cup running just five yard in routes.
Most teams would if you're going to have a fullback
out there, he would be the widest guy running just
the five yard in route. Again, they had Oots in
the middle running an intermediate in route. I'm sure that
the Falcons had a hard time communicating that, and Barner
(08:50):
was open for a nice easy seven yard completion. That
was the first pass to the second half. There was another,
you know, I believe a thirty three yard er where
anticipated okay, you're gonna get rolled coverage with the safety
over the top of JSN. You can get off that
coverage free access, which was she she head. He's gonna
line up on the left side relatively close to the football,
(09:12):
and then he's gonna run a deep angle cross crossing
route to the other side where JSN is clearing out
two defenders. And now you just kind of insert Shaheed
in an intermediate pocket there with JSN being the deep
and then you got to check down on the flat.
But you get a nice thirty three yard or on
that intermediate and and just the speed with which she
(09:36):
he got to his spot. I believe the air yards
were twenty two yards, but it's diagonal. You know, he's
running more than twenty two yards because it's a diagonal,
but he just got there so fast. It presented a
nice picture for the eyes of of Sam Darnold. And
so I think those and other examples are of okay,
(09:57):
they're going to roll on on js in. Let's let's
find a way to get some easy completions, Let's get
some chunk plays to other guys, and I think Kobiak
was able to dial that up.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Hugh Millen here, former NFL quarterback, great analysts here on
MJ and The Middayhuesday, Tuesday. So how much when you
look at the first half, And I've been someone who
have absolved kind of exonerated Sam Darnold on some of
his turnovers, But how much blame do you put on
him for that interception the first half?
Speaker 4 (10:32):
Well, if I was coaching him, I would definitely give
him a minus double minus. Okay, So you know it
was third and one. I understand he was trying to
make a play. You know, look, Elijah Royo was running
across the route against a cornerback and so you know
there was speed there and you know, he just didn't
(10:54):
get a royal, didn't get the separation. Now, was there
anything that he could have done? I mean, he could
have lost a little ground, But I think that sometimes
you know, it was hard because it's third and one,
and see I was likely punting because it was in
their own territory. And you know that's the impulse for
a quarterback is is that you're literally assessing this in
(11:16):
fractions of a second. Hey, do I have an opportunity?
Is you know, he knew that the light was not green.
What he was debating is is this a yellow light
or a red light? And you know, the best quarterbacks
are going to operate in the yellow on a frequent,
somewhat frequent basis. You know, like, hey, he's pretty covered,
(11:36):
but if I throw it in exactly the right spot,
then uh, then we're gonna get completions. I mean that
happens all the time with n if you know NFL quarterbacks,
If you if you're just waiting for bright green lights
all the time, you're gonna just check down and you're gonna,
you know, you won't throw an interception, but you're gonna
you're gonna lose the game thirteen to nine because you're
just not pushing the ball down the field. So so
(11:59):
I understand why he wanted to make we all understand.
Doesn't take me to you know, hey, it's third and one.
I don't want to punt. It's pretty pretty simple. So
so now all of a sudden, you look at a
guy and you say, well, he's pretty covered, but if
I put it on his body, he's a bigger body,
it's a tight end against a corner. You know, he
should have just put the ball if he was going
to throw it. Uh, And it was the circumstances were
(12:22):
more needy to get the first down. Let's say it's
you know, early fourth quarter, you're down by ten points,
what you know, describe a situation was more needy. Then
you'd say, well, you know, just throw it at his
testicles and let him know. I'm I'm being serious.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
Yeah, yeah, no, no, I get it.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
You know, man, I'm trying to have a little fun
with right. That's that's the perfect spot for it. So
he can kind of shield his body, go down to
it and and uh and you can get a completion.
But it wasn't worth the risk at that time, at
that field position, with the way Seattle's defense uh is dominant.
So I you know, hopefully he just keeps calibrating that
(13:04):
aggression discretion meter within his head that all quarterbacks have.
He's done for a good job for the most part,
because while he has, he has you know, look, the
interceptions are the interceptions. We're not I'm not going to
try and and absolve those away. But I think what
Mike McDonald has stated and is that uh and alluded
(13:27):
to is that because he's producing so many big plays
that he's not gonna come out and say we'll live
with the with the the consequences. But you know, I
think right now Mike McDonald's saying it's a cost of
doing business. We'll try to get better, but I'm not
gonna try and paralyze him, uh for fear of retribution
(13:49):
on a mistake like that. We just kind of fine
tune the calibration.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
When you look at this team, specifically the D line, Humillen,
can you make an argument that this defensive line is
the best in Seahawks franchise history?
Speaker 4 (14:03):
You can. I think that they don't have a star
power on a defense from a defensive end standpoint, sure
star power with the Marcus Lawrence and you know Byron Murphy.
That's kind of the strength of them. And then as
far as the edge guys, I don't think their strength
(14:24):
is any one you know, Miles Garrett type. I think
their their strength is they've got several B level players,
you know, B plus level players, maybe no A players,
but the depth they keep bringing you this wave of
B plus level edge players. And then and then that
coupled with the scheme. Remember now, in Mike McDonald's final
(14:49):
year at the Ravens, the Ravens led the NFL in sacks.
They also led the NFL in most turnovers and fewest
points allowed. But getting back to sacks, the defensive ends
were Kyle van Noy and Jadavian Clowney, both over thirty,
both on at least their fifth team, Right, So you
(15:12):
don't think of the term journeyman to describe Jadeveon Clowney
because of the number one overall pick.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
You.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
I don't think a journeyman that describes guys like me.
But the facts were that he had journeyman defensive ends
on the wrong side of thirty, and yet they still
led the NFL in sacks. Igwood Beakway, I can never
pronounce his name quite right, but you know they had
they had one, you know, really elite level defensive tackle
(15:40):
like Leonard, like Leonard Williams. But it was more the
scheme than it was just the horsepower that they had
at the traditional sack positions, that being the defensive ends.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
So I mean you look at his line and he
and imagine this for a second, and I was looking
at you know the biggest thing that every team hates
the most turnovers. And right now, out of the top
six teams, like in terms of who have turned the
most the ball over the most times this year, well
(16:15):
you can call them the worst six teams. The Seahawks
are second next to the Vikings. They've turned the ball
over twenty three times. Okay, and none of those six
teams right now are in the playoffs today except for Seattle. So, Hugh,
imagine just you know, how about this? Imagine if you
(16:36):
could divide those turnovers in half. The Rams have only
turned the ball over eleven times. Now, to me, I'm
gonna look at that Seahawks thing, and I'm gonna look
at the glass half full. Hear you, You've turned the
You have the second most turnovers in the league, and
your defense is arguably the best in the NFL. Imagine
(16:56):
if you didn't turn the ball over twenty three times,
and you only turned it over eleven or twelve, how
much better would this team be?
Speaker 4 (17:04):
Yeah? I get that, And and I don't think there's
any coach that's just gonna say, hey, I don't have
a problem with turnovers. I think that what it's kind
of like a Jenga tower. You know we can, we can.
Let's equate it to baseball. You know, for years there's
a question each Row he's you know, he's he's got
(17:25):
the most hits in baseball, But can he hit for
a little bit more power? Can we can we have
a few less singles, but a few more doubles and
a few more home runs. Are we willing to take strikeouts?
Can we strike out a few more times too? But
it's worth it because we can hit more home runs,
(17:47):
whether it's whether it's each Row or anybody else. Right, So,
I think we understand there's there's there's kind of this
this risk associated and right now Sam Darnold is number
one in the NFL and yards per pass attempt there
is an extremely high correlation to yards per pacity. In fact,
(18:10):
Seattle right now is that they are number one in
yards per attempt on offense and number one fewest yards
per attempt on defense. That's only been done one time
in the history of the NFL, the nineteen ninety one
Redskins who won the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
So can't you say that line one more time?
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Seattle is number one on offense in yards per passe
attempt and they are the best. They're also number one
on defense in terms of forcing opposing quarterbacks to have
the fewest yards per attempt. So Seattle obviously their net
number one offense and defense, but they are also you
(18:51):
could be net number one and be like two on one,
second place on one, and third on another, atom up,
and they're the best. No, what I'm saying is they
are no. Number one on offense and they are number
one on defense. And I have only I have only
in the entire time, I'm kind of interested in numbers
along with football. I've only heard in my entire life,
(19:13):
I've ever seen studies done that core be the highest
correlation to winning being either turnovers or net yards per
passe attempt or net explosive plays. I've never heard any
other stat advanced as the number one correlation to winning.
And so here again, So getting back to Seattle, Yes,
(19:35):
you would like to have fewer turnovers. I'm not I'm
not just saying, hey, hey, Sam, doesn't matter, you know,
whether you have one one interception or zero or four
doesn't matter. No, But what the the way you're you're
trying to fine tune this thing is, you say, Sam
Darnold is number one in the NFL and yards per attempt,
he's number one in in yards per completion, he's no
(20:00):
Number one in most yards completions over ten yards, he's
number one in most completions over twenty yards, and many
other So he's giving you a lot of production. So
he's hitting a lot of home runs, he's hitting a
lot of doubles. He's striking out more than you would like.
But if you tell them, hey, I don't want you
to strike out as much, are you going to lose
(20:22):
the doubles? Are you going to lose the home runs?
He has a style that he's playing Seattle is they
are in terms of points scored? I filter for the
points scored. There was it fifth or sixth in the
NFL and points scored by the offense. If you take
the whole team, I think you know their second or
third because they got kickoff returns and picked sixes. So
(20:43):
their offense, they're scoring the points. They're married to a
defense that can absorb those mistakes, like you saw the
defense that was in Seattle's territory. So the Falcons get
the ball. Guess what out of eighteen plays that the
Falcons ran for in the red zone. Sunday, you go
(21:05):
successful play for the needed yards on first down, sixty
percent of the needed yards on second down, or all
the needed yards on third or fourth down. Eighteen plays
the Falcons ran in the Seahawk red zone. The only
the Falcons had two successful plays out of eighteen, So
so Seattle has the ability to absorb those. Now, now
(21:27):
the flip side, you'd say, well, wait a minute, what
if what if you clamp down, don't turn the ball
over and just punt and make teams go along field.
I get it, but I just think there are there
are tentacles to this conversation. And while yes, you would
like to to dial back the turnovers and let's say,
(21:50):
specifically for Darnold, the interceptions, beware of unwanted consequences, and
now all of a sudden, you get one less interception
per game, but you get six less explosive plays. Well,
I'm not sure that Mike McDonald would make that trade.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Great point, you know, Hugh factor, fiction's done, but you
know what that means. That means more, hum Millan, do
you have time for another segment?
Speaker 4 (22:13):
Yeah? Rock and roll?
Speaker 1 (22:14):
All right, here we go, Hugh millon hus Day Tuesday, Baby,
We're back.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
We're back, baby.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
We got the daily double a hu Millon coming up next,
I wanna I'm gonna throw some facts at Hugh Millan.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
I want to get his thoughts on this.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
And where this team how much next Thursday night could
be for everything against the Rams here for basically, what
is the de facto or could be the de facto
NFC West Divisional Championship game.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Hugh Millin m Jay in the midday and a Huesday Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I was familiar with his game and he could be
the Heisman Trophy winner after Saturday night. They're saying that
through that performance against Ohio State leading in Dan to
an undefeated regular season, that they're calling him Fernando Heisman.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
That's a great name. That's a great name. Yeah, Hugh
Millin here on.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Before we get to that, Hugh, I got to ask
you about the one thing about this Seahawks team. I
brought this up yesterday. I want to get your thoughts
and I don't need to leave the witnesses stand. My
biggest concern, if there is one, I'm sure you have
multiple defending the tight end. You even saw when the
Cardinals came in here. Trey McBride over on his receiving yards.
(23:24):
That was an easy cover. Is there anything that concerns
you even more than covering the tight ends.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
Defensively?
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Anything, anything at all about Bradford? Anything at all? Oh?
Speaker 4 (23:37):
Yeah, The offensive line, I think is if we can
all agree this is not a slight. I'm as optimistic
as I could be. Can't wait for these games, can't
wait for Thursday. The I know, December is the month
of anticipation. I feel like a kid waiting for a day.
It just happens to be exactly seven days before Christmas
on December eighteenth, that game against the Rams. So yeah,
(24:00):
I mean there's always every team, all thirty two teams
have concerns, But my concern is that offensive line. I mean,
and of course, you know Donald, he's going to be
under the lights. I mean, Telly Gonzalez said about a
month ago on one of those Thursday night teleg as,
you said, he thinks that of all the players in
the NFL, the guy who has the most pressure on
(24:22):
him of anybody is Sam Donald. And I agreed with that.
You know, we talked after the four interception game on
that Monday that there's not much Sam Donald can do
until December eighteenth to a change how people feel about him.
And so yeah, h.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Scale one to ten, you can do decilamate points in
between ten being the most. How much do you trust
Sam Donald to win big games in January?
Speaker 4 (24:51):
I'm gonna say we'll call it a seven.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Oh wow, I thought that's a little high for you.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
Well, look I've done it. Look I've creeped on this
kids background. I mean, you know, he's great, He's a
great usc. You know I'm digging on. Is there is
there evidence that he is a clutch player? Is there
evidence that he chokes? You know, just is that in
his nature. That's not to say that a guy couldn't
acquire new traits in that regard, but I mean, even
(25:21):
back to San Clementi High School, he played in a
district championship game and he put up thirty seven points.
Then he got a concussion and the other team came back.
But he played lights out. I mean in a Rose
Bowl fifty two to forty nine victory over Penn State
PAC twelve championship game three and twenty five yards against
(25:45):
Stanford in a pack in the championship game at Husky Stadium.
When when the Huskies. That year they went to the
Final four and Jake Browning was the Pac ten, PAC
twelve excuse me, Player of the Year, and Sam Donald
came in dropped about two hundred and eighty yards on
(26:07):
a seventy percent completion in Husky Stademan there. His career
is littered with clutch performances and even last year, oh
my gosh, you know what. A week from today, I
pulled up these numbers. I don't have it in front
of me. I compared his numbers to last year, to
every quarterback's numbers in losing games. And I did it
(26:32):
over the last six years. And I'll just tease it.
I don't have in front of me. But Sam Donald,
he had to higher his game against the Rams. He
had twenty seven pressures. That was the most of any
quarterback in all of any playoffs of this entire decade.
(26:52):
And he had a higher passer rating than Pat Mahomes
has when he loses playoff games and many other like
high profile guys. Guess what if you see a team
lose a playoff game, their quarterback usually had a bad game.
That's the takeaway and so and yet twenty seven takeaway
or excuse me, pressures in that Ram playoff game was
(27:15):
by far the most. I mean, I think the average
is like thirteen or fourteen. So that was a team
breakdown in that playoff game the Vikings had against the Rams.
And yet people want to hold it over Sam Darnold.
I don't know. I think there's a context that he's
been getting screwed on. But having said that, I understand
if he doesn't play well against the Rams next Thursday,
(27:38):
guys like me are going to run out of of
opportunity to defend him.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
No question.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
But now that's why you're putting this position, and now
you get a chance to show it on the field.
That's why they play the games. I mentioned last night
Tony Jefferson game ceiling interset on Jalen Hurts his fourth one.
You heard at the beginning coming back out of the commercial.
(28:06):
By the way, it's Cracking ticket Tuesday. Congratulations to Tracy Golden,
Susan Golden, Susan Golden for winning a pair of tickets
for the Cracking to take on.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Well, this is an old school name. The broad Street
believes the Philadelphia Flyers.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
On December twenty eighth, so I mentioned that Tony Jefferson
did it last night and we brought the beginning of
the show, Hugh, how come athletes after their team loses
don't give glory to God.
Speaker 4 (28:36):
It's a fair question, and so.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
Thank you, thank you you, that's the thank you.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
I appreciate that. Yeah, you know it. It doesn't bother me.
I mean, you're asking me personal ethic. The most important
question you can ask in life is that particular question.
And and so, you know, we live in a more
secular world. I don't have a problem with somebody, you know,
making a brief statement about their faith. I understand you,
(29:02):
uh that that maybe the networks don't like it, but
you know, personally, uh, you know, I've studied the materials
explanation for the origin of the universe and and the
origin of first life on Earth. I'm not looking at
the Bible. I'm looking at science books, and I find
the proposed causes insufficient to create the or produced the
(29:22):
effect in question, that being the origin of those so,
so to me, I leaning towards design and intelligence behind
it all. I understand that that's a that's a very
personal decision. But but when somebody uh steps up for
a couple of seconds and pronounces their faith doesn't bother
me one bit, but you do raise a chuckling question
(29:47):
that in losses, I think if you, if you probe
them that, I think a true believer would believe that
that if if they they they have a relationship with
their God, it's in win or loss. That's what I
was gonna say, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean there's
there lost losses super server purpose as well. And I
don't think that by just because you don't hear an
(30:09):
athlete proclaim his faith after a loss, to make the
inference that that that that he somehow thinks that that
God isn't with him or what have you. No, I
just think that you know, on that date, uh, that
God chose to to uh give him a hurdle and
and some adversity to overcome it in the right way.
(30:29):
That's what I would think most of them would say.
But I'm not in everybody's head that that would be
the logical exploit explanation. I have to reconcile those two facts.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
I like that very well.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
I knew you would be able to nail that answer
out of the park better than anybody, and so I'm
glad you. Glad we brought out it's just something that
I've noticed. I don't have any issues. I mean, listen,
it's been going on for decades and decades and decades,
and it will continue. I just it's something that you
kind of notice, and I'm like, huh, yeah, I wonder
if Jalen Hurt I get it.
Speaker 4 (30:58):
Look at that pudding. I understand. And you know, and
that's one of the beautiful things about America, the establishment
clause of the First Amendment, that you know that religious
freedom is very important and and atheism is a religion,
don't kid yourself. And so people are free to choose
that and uh and uh and and and and we
respect everybody's uh conclusions on that matter. I just hope
(31:20):
that everybody takes the time to consider it, because it's
I like that. I like that I do.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
That's great, great, that's really great stuff. Hey, Hugh, before
I let you go, I'm gonna give you three options.
You know, I don't want explanation. You just pick one, Okay, yes,
best nickname for this Seahawks defense. Oh gosh, okay, you
give me give me options. Yeah, I'll give me options.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
You just picked one. Now, I did one as a spin.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Off, and I know who the Minister of Defense was,
the late great Reggie White. We all know I said,
Ministry of Defense. Okay, I'm gonna give you two more
of defense.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (31:59):
Uh they DeMarcus Lawrence said they call themselves the dark
Side or or someone just texted in and I love
this one. And it's a reference to one of the
greatest label and hip and rap history, death Row.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
All right, Well, first of all, it's it's very hard
for me to go against uh, the leader, DeMarcus Lawrence,
if he wants to stay there, the dark Side. I
love that. Uh, but that's what I want if I
if I were to if I were to say, I
would say the Undertaker defense. How about that?
Speaker 3 (32:39):
How about death Row?
Speaker 4 (32:40):
Though? No, uh, death Row is great, but it hasn't
that been taken? Hasn't that been taken? Well? I mean
you don't like the Undertakers?
Speaker 3 (32:49):
No, because that's been taken by the wrestler.
Speaker 4 (32:53):
Oh has it the Undertaker?
Speaker 1 (32:56):
No?
Speaker 3 (32:57):
I know, I know, but he was he.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
Was so Okay, sorry, then scratch that. Then I'm going
with the dark Side, the dark Side, right, Okay, cool
dark Side. I think we can blow the dark Side up.
Marcus launches that if that's their thing, if they're vibing
on the dark side, absolutely all.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
Right, Fara good.
Speaker 4 (33:13):
I like it. That's why I gave you. I don't
even know why the conversation extended. If if de Las
wants dark side, I'm down for dark side, all right,
fair enough, Millan, we'll talk to you next week. We
got it, all right, we come back coming up next.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
I got something for it. You're gonna love.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
And I gotta tell you that that death Row one
that is like wow, that's that's better than all of
them to me. Purple people, eaters, monsters of the Midway,
you name it. I like that one. Omar Ruiz coming
up at noon. And congratulations to the winner yesterday of
Hot Take Monday and bores Head platter of sandwiches. Eric Longworth,
(33:54):
Thank you very much. Eric, you did a great job.
Don't go anywhere,
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