October 9, 2024 • 33 mins
Gregg Bell and Christopher Kidd are live and get the show rolling w/ headlines as the Seattle Kraken come up a little short and lose to the St. Louis Blues. If you missed the interview yesterday, Gregg caught up w/ Kraken General Manager Ron Francis to talk about this upcoming season, and much more. We also talk about Seahawks issues on running the football as the team hasn't been doing a lot of it and most recently Ken Walker only had five carries versus the New York Giants.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Cracking coach Jessica Campbell made NHL history as the first
woman to be an assistant coach behind the bench in
a regular season game. We tried to talk to her yesterday.
He was a tad busy yesterday morning before her first
NHL game, But we are going to speak to her
of dealing with the cracking in her schedule. They're headed
out onto the road after an off day to day
the crack and have a three city road trip. We'll
(00:21):
talk about that in the second but we're gonna hear
from Jessica Campbell and making NHL history behind the bench,
first woman behind the bench yesterday. We'll hear from her
in the coming days when we can work the schedule
out for that cracking. As I mentioned, now, head out
for three road games at Minnesota Saturday, at Dallas Sunday,
at Nashville Tuesday, all here on ninety three point three KGRFM.
(00:42):
Their next home game is October seventeenth against Philadelphia. Signs
are three and two. Seahawks may not have cornerback Reek
Wollen playing tomorrow night against two to three San Francisco.
He has a sprained ankle and it doesn't look great.
Didn't practice yesterday and they were just in T shirt.
It was basically a research recess practice. You remember that
day you came out to training camp, Chris, and they.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Were, oh, yeah, I was very happy. I was so excited,
couldn't wait. I said, damn it, give me a T
shirt and a hat. I'll go out there and do
the same thing.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah. Well, after getting beat up for gaming, they thought
they that's the pent tempo they're going at this week.
It was even lighter than that day you came out
to training camp yesterday.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Well, I don't blame it, like you said, they just
played a game.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Yeah, that's the tempo it. Let me take this time
to tell you again that in most normal NFL game weeks,
a lot of players, more than you would think, cannot
even walk properly until about Thursday. And it reminds me
of Doug Baldwin in Arizona, the night that Richard Sherman
ripped out his achilles and never played again for the
Seahawks and Cam Chancellor injured his neck and never played
(01:44):
again for the Seahawks. After that game, we were waiting
outside the locker room in Glendale in the garage tunnel
there into the stadium and you have to wait about
ten minutes for what they call cooling off period before
you can go into the locker room to.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Let you in.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
And Doug Baldwin, this is the only time in my
twenty plus year career this has happened. Doug Baldwin opened
the door, came out and talked to us on the
beat and said this blank should be illegal. Quote me
on that, meaning Thursday night games. They shouldn't be playing it,
and we can. We have talked about why the Thursday
night games passed and the CBA and how the owners
(02:19):
out maneuvered the players Association in that. But these players, guys, gals,
when you watch Tomorrow night, the stuff they have to
go through just to get on the field, some of
them just for our entertainment, you'd probably be less inclined
to be a fan of Thursday night football if you
saw it and realized it up close. So Roland probably
(02:39):
won't play tomorrow. It seems we're gonna find out this
afternoon about one o'clock when the injury report for the
game comes out, the outs, the doubtfuls, and the questionables.
I'm expecting Wolan to be doubtful at best. We'll see,
but boy Mafey jog right past me yesterday at the
beginning of practice and he joined in and he is
on track. It appears to reach for missing two games
(03:01):
with his knee injury. He was a co leader in
sacks with Derek Hall when he went out. Hall meanwhile,
hasn't practiced this week. We'll see if he can play.
Don't beat a ton into guys's not practicing. One, they're
not practicing pretty much physically strenuous practice anyway. But two,
with the short week, you tend to have guys rest
(03:24):
and not practice before a Thursday night game, So today's
injury report would be more telling. Mike McDonald's has already said, though,
that Byron Murphy and the Chennan wils who will not
play tomorrow night. Murphy's missing his third straight game because
of an injured hamstring. New Wolso has a new injury.
He got that twenty minute twenty excuse me, twenty plays
into his first real game in twelve months thigh injury
(03:45):
against the Giants the other day, So just after they
had him back playing his first game in twelve months,
he goes right back out again, and he appears he
may go on injured reserve coach Mike McDonald has hinted
there'll be a roster mover to today or tomorrow related
to injuries. Nuolsa Chris has only played six games since
he signed his forty five million dollar contract extension before
(04:06):
the twenty twenty three season, and only twenty snaps so
far this season. The other day, luck yeah, they need him.
They need him to set the edge against the run
as much as anything. He went out after twenty plays
and the Giants ran for one hundred and seventy five
yards on him last weekend. Forty nine Ers are going
to be without injured running back Christian McCaffery and he's
(04:28):
still an injured reserve tight end George Kittle with ribs
and middle linebacker Fred Warner with an ankle injury. Hasn't
they have been limited in practice. They played injured in
the forty nine ers home loss to the Cardinals last weekend.
New England. We knew this was common. They made the
awaited switch to rookie first round pick Drake May as
the new starting quarterback of her placeholder Jacoby Brissett, whom
(04:49):
the Seahawks, of course beat in Week two. So it
takes five games for Drake, made to sit and now
thrown in to the Patriots season. Houston Texans put Nico
Collins uninjured reserves, the NFL's leader in receiving yards. You
know probably by now that the Washington Huskies four and
two play at Iowa. That's a nine am Saturday kickoff
Seattle time, eleven o'clock Iowa time right here on ninety
(05:12):
three point three KJRFM. That should mean a Husky pregame
show with Dave Softimont and a Husky Hunts beginning at
five am. It would be a test for them. I'll
see if that actually comes off at five am. Who
would be listening? The four and one Washington State Cougar's
returned from there by at Fresno State four pm Saturday
television on FS one. For that. Major League Baseball, the
(05:33):
Mets beat the Phillies. They have a two to one
lead now in the best of five National League Division Series.
The Padres held off of Dodgers. Comeback to Oscar Hernandez
Grand Slam Home. I remember that guy struck out too
much in Seattle.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Like I said, these guys seem to find greater, better
pastors when they leave the Manners.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
It's really weird how that works out.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Mariner fans know the story. They could have offered him
a twenty million dollar qualifying offer, and if he signed elsewhere,
he could have got a draft pick out of him.
But they were afraid he'd sign for twenty million, is
what it came down to, and to save the money,
they didn't offer him. And now he's the home run
Derby champion for the Dodgers and he hits a grand
Slam in the playoff game to get him back from
six to one yesterday, though they lost six ' five.
(06:13):
All four Vision series are playing today. Cleveland's at Detroit
at noon our time. Game three series tied one one.
The Mets try to eliminate the Phillies in Game four.
New York. The Yankees are in Kansas City Tide with
the Royals at a game each and the Patterys can
eliminate showhy Tani and the Dodgers today with another win.
That's then actually a night game six pm in San Diego, Okay.
(06:35):
Yesterday out here, Ryan Greb was the story the offensive
coordinated former Washington Husky's play caller for Michael Pennix. He
just owned it. Chris he said, yeah, it's on me,
all on me that I didn't get the ball more
than five times to Kenneth Walker in fifty eight play
calls Sunday and the Seahawks lost to the Giants. This
(06:55):
was Ryan Grebb to us yesterday, all.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
On that gotta get ball in Ken Moore. I think
we had plenty of run game in the plan. Didn't
have anything to do with not have enough calls for
that just didn't get called. And for us, you know,
we leaned on the wrong thing. And I think if
we get Ken ten more touches, fifteen more touches, things
are gonna look different. So that's that's one hundred percent
on me and my jobs. Make sure you get all
our guys in the best position possible to win the game.
(07:18):
And I didn't do that.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
So they had a plan going in obviously, and in
the previous games, you know, Smith was leading the league
in completions and second and completion percentage at first in
passing yards, and that's what Ryan Greb leaned on. And
he saw the Giants weren't playing much man, they're playing zone.
So he leaned on that and he says too far. Now,
(07:44):
he got away with it. Offensively anyway. In Detroit, it's
just a defense for the Seahawks didn't hold up its
end and they lost forty to twenty nine. But it
worked the opposite way against the Giants, and when the
Giants didn't see him running, they sacked you know, Smith's
seven times. And Chris, it's while the accountability is really laudable,
(08:05):
it does make you wonder how many other times in
Ryan Grebb's career did you feel this way after a game?
So I asked him that, I said, when you were
at Washington or before that Fresno State, or way back
when you were at Sioux Falls, if you passed too
much in a game, what was your reaction to that?
And he kind of looked at me and said, I
ran it more the next game. They're going to run tomorrow, Chris,
(08:28):
not just because Grubb wants to and set a tone
and get the message out that Kenneth Walker is still
a big part of this team, but because they have
to because if they don't, Nick Bosa might get seven
sacks by himself, let alone what the forty nine ers
defensive front might do to the Seahawks offensive line. It
does beg the question that we brought up a little
(08:48):
bit yesterday, is some of the reluctance to run the
ball because they don't believe the offensive line can block
well enough for Kenneth Walker to gain yards and make
it worthwhile.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, my concern would be they just try to force
it to Kin and they're behind the sticks. They're in
the same situations that they're always in, which is third
and long, third and seven or more, and now you're
gonna allow Bosa and whatever the Niners want to do
defensively to attack the Seahawks as opposed to the Seahawks
attacking the Niners.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
So I hope it's balanced.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
But I think that goes to what I was stating
yesterday about, Yeah, the Seahawks are struggling to run the
football a certain way, but I think Ryan Grubb is
going to have to find creative ways to get Kin
the ball, and it is a way that can be
successful for this offense to get positive yards because when
you run the ball the first play of the game
(09:41):
and it's minus two, okay, it's second and twelve, now
you're kind of in a situation where you have to
pass the ball. They haven't had much success on first
down runs early down runs. Should I say so, this
is going to be a chess match now, depending on
how the Niners line up, because Gino has the autonomy
to do what to switch plays, and I think Gina
has been doing do that quite a bit. I don't
know if that's accurate, but from what I'm watching, it
(10:03):
seemed that he's liking the opportunities to throw the football
and he changes plays at the line of scrimmage. It'll
be interesting to see against the Niners how often he's
switching out of things based on what the Niners are showing.
Because the Niners are gonna say, yeah, we want you
to run the football, and we're gonna be ready for it.
But can the Seahawks execute and do their part? And
that's why I brought up the specific play against the
(10:24):
Lions on Monday Night two weeks ago where they had
Ken Walker do an orbit motion. So started off at
the line of scrimmage, runs behind Geno Smith. They do
a nice little toss to him and Zach Scharbarnay is
his lead blocker and Jack Sarbonnay did a really good job.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
He laid out the person in front of him.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
But the Seahawks gonna do the best job of getting
out the offensive line and do the best job of
getting out and getting to the linebacker, getting to that
next level. And it was only a two yard game,
if I'm not mistaken. So I think Ryan Grubbs really
gonna have to figure out creative ways to get Kim
the football that way. It's not just here's an infirmation
lead run. Oh, it goes for negative too, oh negative
one oh, third and ten. Here we go third and eleven.
(11:02):
I think that's gonna be the problem that they could
run into if they do struggle in early run situations.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Grub hasn't done that thus far. That is, just run
his head, run into a brick wall on first and ten.
Through five games, the Seahawks have forty eight rushes on
first and ten, but eighty three passes, so almost twice
as many passes. So it's not as if he has
established run early in series of downs all that much.
(11:30):
I think that's where you may see the difference tomorrow
night first and ten rushes and in giving Walker not
only giving Walker the opportunity to make yards and as
we know, he's elusive and can make guys miss it
or even getting into the backfoot of beating blocks, but
also to slow Bosa down and slow the San Francisco
defensive front down. And also what I wrote about this
(11:52):
morning and the News Tribune. It's up right now at
the Newstribune dot com. The play action pass game. There's
this discussion in the analytics world that you don't need
to run the ball to have play action passes work effectively.
Sometimes that's true, and Geno Smith made a reference to
the first play of the second half, a thirty three
yard pass to Tyler Lockett on the left sideline between
(12:15):
the underneath and deep zone for the Giants. That was
a play action pass, a fake hand off to the
left to Kenneth Walker, a short roll to the right
by Geno Smith, and the throwback to the left and
against the soft into the soft part of the zone.
And up to that point the Seahawks had just run
two times for two yards before that play action passed
for thirty three yards. But fourth and one, had Brian
(12:40):
Burns for the Giants been even thinking about the possibility
of a running play, then perhaps Geno Smith can get
around him, because he isn't charging Burns is and charging
straight up the field into the quarterback's face. But he
after only five runs the whole game up to that point,
Burns didn't even consider the fact that on fourth and
one it might be a running play. Look at the
(13:01):
lineman blocking to his right and where they were blocking to.
He didn't even look at Sharponnay his flow to the
opposite side. He just went straight for Geno Smith because
he knew they weren't going to run the.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Ball, right.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
That's that's what Greb was talking about yesterday, and he said, yeah,
I need the run game so we can play do
our play action and everything else in our playbook. And
that's where tomorrow night, I think you're going to see
early down runs by Grub even if they don't go anywhere,
and there'll be people booing and hissing that why is
he running the ball for just one or two yards
(13:32):
on first down. It's the means to an end. It's
not necessarily the result of that play that he's doing
it for. But you can't have Gino Smith stand back
there with this offensive line and throw it fifty times
and run the ball five against San Francisco. He'll be
on injured reserve on Friday. You cannot you can't do that.
(13:52):
There are some teams you can do that against, and
they have done it against Miami. Comes to New England,
comes to mind where they started throwing the ball eight
in the game in New England, came back. You can't
do that against San Francisco. The five consecutive losses have
shown that their offensive line cannot withstand San Francisco's pass rush,
cannot Gino Smith's back has been sacked thirteen times. I
(14:14):
think it is in the last four starts in the
story I did yesterday thirteen times in four starts against
San Francisco. He missed one of them due to injury
during this five game losing streak. But in the four
games that Geno Smith has started, he's been sacked thirteen
times by San Francisco. So you can't just drop back
and forget the run tomorrow. And that's why I think
you're gonna see early in the game a preponderance of
(14:37):
touches and opportunities for Kenneth Walker. One for Ryan Grebb
to send a message, but two is set up this
play action pass game that is so much a big
part of what Grub wants to do and Chris, we've
talked about it. Grub's offenses layered pass routes to put
a safety in a bind on this hiding with the
cover in front of him, behind him, outside of him.
(14:57):
But those take time, and those take time that the
the offensive line has to provide the quarterback. And you
can't do that if you give Kraft Walker the ball
just five times in fifty eight touch of fifty eight
play calls. But to Ryan Grubski absolutely owned it. We'll see,
we've been in this situation before in this town, the
offensive coordinator not running the ball and the head coach
(15:18):
saying we need to run the ball more and nothing changed.
We'll see tomorrow the same situation with this new coaching staff.
If something will change. I think it's the key to
the game tomorrow that in turnovers. Chris, Yeah, it'll be interesting.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
That's why I think it's gonna be a big chess
match between obviously what the Niners are showing and as
I mentioned, you know has autonomy, he has full control
of the offense. Does he stick with it, does he
audible out of it? And how they attack this nine
of defense, because that's what it's about. How can they
go out there, execute what they want to do and
move the football, get in situations where it's second and
(15:53):
three or it's third and one, where these are obvious
you can do whatever you want options in the playbook
because you've put yourself in position as opposed to third
and nine. Well, damn it, we have to throw the
ball here. So guess what the Niners are gonna do.
They're gonna put probably six seven guys in coverage, They're
gonna pressure you. It just becomes a problem. And that's
what you've seen through five weeks so far with the Seahawks.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
They've had twenty three snaps of third and ten or
more in five games, four games, five game. Excuse me,
twenty three that's too many. Yeah, they they're offensive line
cannot pass block when it's third and ten or more.
There's no chance. Most times, there's absolutely no chance. So
that's the challenge tomorrow against Nick Bosa and the forty
nine Ers. Can Seahawks and Ryan Grebb run the ball
(16:37):
effectively enough on early downs to set up their play
action game and not be in third and ten for
the twenty fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh times of this season.
Lots more we're gonna talk about with the Seahawks and
forty nine Ers. Game Tomorrow night, we'll have Hugh mellon
at eleven o'clock, four nine, four or five one on
the telem we'll do text line what question would you
ask you? What wrong? The two things I'm focused on
with him is what we're wrong against the Giants? How
(16:58):
can they beat the forty nine or four nine, four
to five one? Text your questions for Hugh what you'd
asked our quarterback and we may air a couple of
those at eleven o'clock when he comes on eleven thirty five.
Factor Fiction and chance to win one thousand dollars from
the Emerald Queen Casino. Up next, we're goin to shift gears.
You're gonna hear from Crack and general manager Ron Francis.
At the start of his fourth season in charge of
(17:19):
Seattle's NHL team, he made the expectations clear to me
on what this team's goal and expectations are for this season.
That's coming up next, live from the Virginia Mason Athletic
Center in Renting Seahawks headquarters, a day before they played
the forty nine Ers on ninety three point three kjarfm
dot com. Greg Bell loved the News Tribune, Christopher kid
Jessman McIntyre with you. I am outside Climate Pledge Arena
(17:41):
in the Westgates. Please to be joined by the Hockey
Hall of Famer Ron Francis, Cracking, general manager, an hour
and a half before puck drop of his fourth season
in charge of the Crack in fourth year in the NHL. Sir,
pleasure to meet you, Pleasure to be on the show.
Thanks for joining us. And it's a busy day for you.
You've been around hockey for a day or two. What
is Opening day still mean to you?
Speaker 4 (18:02):
That's exciting. You know your season ends the season before
and it's a long summer. You've got a draft to
prepare for. You got free agency, you got guys contracts,
you're you're trying to re sign for your team and
make your team better. And then you get into training
camp and you kind of go through there and try
to valuate what you have at the NHL level, what
you have in your minor league system that can help
give you games if you have injuries, and what you
(18:23):
have in the pipe pline with real young prospects. So
a lot of work getting to this point, but it's
always exciting we're opening days here because here we go
again life in a hockey staff.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Ron, Francis Cock and Gentleman joining us an opening day
here from Climate PUDs Arena on ninety three point three KJFM.
Ron your roster with some young players you're not bringing
up and Shane Wright for instance on your opening day roster.
How have you seen Dan Bowsman, Jessica Campbell in the
in the Coachella Valley core coaching staff with those players,
It's that been an advantage to those guys in their
(18:55):
development at the NHL level.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Yeah, I think it's easier for those guys stepping in.
I think they were much more comfortable in training camp
maybe in years past because they knew the drills that
Dan was doing or Jessica was doing. They knew what
his expectations were of those individuals. So probably a little
bit easier for him to transition from the America League
to the NHL. But they've had real good camp, so
we're excited to see once the season goes. Hopefully they
(19:17):
can keep doing what they've been doing so far in
training camp.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
What will a fan notice about the difference in how
Dan Bowsma coaches and what the product looks like during
games on the ice.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
Yeah, you know, what I'm hoping for is that we've
played fast north south kind of game and not so
much East west. I think we got away from that
last year a little bit, and hopefully we can get
back to that speed game up and up and back.
We've made some additions in the offseason with Stevenson and montur,
you know, bringing in some of the younger kids, as
you mentioned in Wright and Evans. Re signed some of
(19:49):
our veteran players in tolvn In and Larson with an extension.
So pretty exciting here. We think we're a better team.
Hopefully we can stay healthy. It's not a sprint that
to grind the eighty two games, but we're excited to
get it going.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Brandon on tour, How does he just round out your
blue line? Now you have a right handed shot there,
you have a couple of deep lines of veteran players.
Speaker 4 (20:13):
Yeah, you know you watch him in the preseason. Is
uh hope you get a chance to meet him. His personality,
it's just electric, very very energetic, very bubbly, great addition
in our locker room. Stanley Cup winners, So he knows
what it takes, you know, twenty three plus minutes a
night for the Stanley Cup Champs last year. So with
his skating skating ability, we think you'll be able to
(20:33):
get up in the rush and that'll help create some
more offense. And then with Vince Dunn and Adam Larson
being a solid pair, we're open with with Monto and Alexiak,
they can form another solid pair for us. And with
those two guys Done and Montour should help the power
player as well.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Of course, optimism reigns on day one, but to you,
do you feel like you've built a playoff team?
Speaker 4 (20:53):
Is that the expectation here? That is the expectation? Absolutely?
I mean, you know, it's not an easy league. There's uh,
there's a lot of good teams in the league. And
it's like I said, eighty two games is a long
grind and and you know you need some luck, you
need some bounces, you need to stay healthy, and hopefully
we can have that this season. But I do think
we're capable of getting into the playoffs. And that's all
(21:13):
you need is to take it to the dance. Once
you get in, everybody's got a chance to win it.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Your goaltending situation would would you eventually like it to
be like a Boston was with Allmark and Swayman.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
Do you want to one?
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Do you want to one? One? A? You've got to
the court. I think opened some eyes for you last year,
and what do you think about how that might shake
out as the season goes on?
Speaker 4 (21:33):
Yeah, no, you know, I think the days of a
guy playing, you know, sixty five seventy games is kind
of behid. There's so much more parody in the league
makes it harder each and every night with a travel
It's hard for these guys to do that. So having
two guys that we think for burn confidence putting in
the net on any given night should be a good
benefit for us. And Joey certainly stepped in last year,
(21:55):
played really well for us, and you know, it looks
good so far in training camp. So with Gruby and
Joey really comfortable with that goaltending.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I deal with this a lot with the Seahawks to
travel and they have an East Coast head coach, and
learning that rigors of that. In the NHL, of course,
you're on the road even longer and the trips are wilder.
How has now that you've worked in Seattle and run
this team for three years, how do you what steps
do you take to make that easier on the players
and the team. The travel aspect.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Yeah, so you know, my whole career, played twenty three
years in the league. I never played in the West.
It was always in the East. And I tell the
story I played in Madison Square Gardens one night when
I was playing for Carolina and we finished the game,
flew home. When I was climbing into my bed it
wasn't even twelve thirty at night yet, So that was nice.
We don't get too many of those here in the West.
But you know, you learn to kind of adjust. There's
(22:46):
certain things that we do, you know, games on the road.
If we're traveling, we can't get in by a certain time.
We're not going to make that triple spend the night
in the hotel, fly the next day. We certainly have
to look at giving our players I think more rest.
It hurts us a little bit of sense. We don't
get as much practice time, but I think the rest
is much more important those situations. We had a stretch
(23:07):
a couple of years ago. I think we won an
eight game undefeated streak. We didn't practice for seventeen days,
which is kind of crazy, but sometimes with two or
three games, sometimes four games a week. It's hard to
get the practice time in and mandate the rest with
all the travel we have. So our guys are great.
They don't complain about it. They just go about doing
their business. But a lot of communication with our leadership group,
coaching staff and how we want to make sure that
(23:28):
they're properly rested and give them the best opportunity to
play well.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
A lot of fans have noticed this is Ron Francis,
general manager. You're a Seattle crack and joining us from
outside climbing pledge are in ninety minutes before the season
opener here on ninety three point three KJERFM Ron. A
lot of fans have noticed you have twenty one players
and it seems a little thin, but I know you're
up against the salary cap. Is that some maneuvering you'd
like to do to get some extra backup bodies and continuencies.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Well, with twenty one we got four two hundred and
eighty eight dollars worth of cap space, so I'm not
sure I much maneuvering we do. We don't have room
for a twenty second player at this point. That's what
it is. You know. We did put Jason Mahir on
on wat and waivers Josh Mhair right before we submitting
our rosters. So with him clearing, that does give us
some flexibility in case we run an injury, we can
(24:15):
move some people around. But you know, as of right now,
this is what we have and this is what we're
gonna run with. If things change down the road, we'll
certainly look at those opportunities, but right now, this is
our team.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
A lot of fans ask us where Ryan Winterton fits
in this season. I know he's a future guy, but
is there a chance we see him quite a bit
up here?
Speaker 4 (24:33):
Yeah, well, we just talked about the cap, so I
don't have here. I don't have room to call him
up right now. But he's he's really had a you know,
a really strong couple of years. He scored twenty plus
goals last year, never got on the power play, was
really good killing penalties down there. Tim in here, had
a real strong training camp. If we had to call
(24:54):
up Ryan and put him in our lineup, we're not
going to lose any sleepover that. We think he's he's
that good a player, But with our situation, we'll send
him down there. You know, he'll play first line. I
hope to get some power play time, continue to work
on that offensive ability his and I'm sure at some
point the cracking fans will see him up here in Aurlana.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
What can cracking fans expect from Stevenson, your big acquisition
from Vegas.
Speaker 4 (25:16):
He's he's just a smart two way player, you know,
very smooth skater, very smart in all three zones of
the ice. You know. We made the deal with the deadline.
We couldn't extend Winberg, and we made that move. We
had a hole in that position in Chandler. We're really
excited to bring him into the mix. Two time Stanley
Cup champs, so he knows what it takes to win.
(25:37):
We'll be a great leader and mentor for our young
centnerment and Beniers and and right, and this is the guy.
Opening day was strong in the face off circle as well,
can play, powerplay and kill penalties, can beyond the ice
when you're up you know, six one five of the
other game or down six five against six of the
other game. So sort of a jack of all trades.
And they should be pleased with Chandler in his game
(25:58):
as they as they watch him.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Play more with the speed in today's game run the premium,
what premium do you put on skating? Where do you
think this team is as a skating speed team.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
Well, when you look at two years ago, that's what
everybody talked about, how fast we played, how fast we played,
and you know, I think we got away from that
last year. We started hanging on the pucks a little
bit going east and west, and then our forwards we're
getting stretched out and we're standing at the far bu
line instead of having that motion through the neuches on
and when you do that, now you're tipping a puck
in and you don't have the speed to go get
(26:29):
it on the ford check. So we think we're a
fast team, but we'd like to play faster, which is
that north south game, And that's what we're going to
continue to work on to get back to that level
that we work a couple of years ago, where teams
had a tough time handling our speed in our court check?
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Is that maybe the biggest the game has changed since
when you played? The speed in the skating aspect or
how has it changed most since you played?
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Well, yeah, I think it's I think the players are
certainly faster and more skilled in today's game than in
the past, and I think there's 's probably a little
easier to get to the net or some of the
tougher areas in today's game than it was back then.
You know, holding, cross checking, all that kind of stuff
was allowed back then. It's been a little bit much
tighter here and I think it's it's helped speed up
the game, so you know, you adjust your lineups as
(27:16):
the way the game is being called. And we feel
comfortable with the group we have. Ron.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
We know this is a busy day. We appreciate you
coming out and saying hi and joining us, and we'll
be with you all season.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
As you know.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Thanks a lot for all you doing a good luck
in their whole season. My pleasure, great, great talking to you, sir.
Speaker 4 (27:30):
Take care.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Ron Francis the general manager I have to see out
crack and entering his fourth season that's in charge of
the team, and his interesting his comments on goaltending is
interesting this morning given the fact that about a forty
five minutes ago, the team announced they've given Joey de
coord a new five year contract extension that will start
next year worth twenty five million dollars five million dollars annually.
(27:55):
They have Philip Grubauer, who is four years older in
his early thirties. He's not thirty three, actually five years
older than the Cord, who's under contract for two more
years after this one. So it is interesting that the
Cord appears to be the goaltender of the future as
well as the one a of the present. You heard
Ron Francis tell me that you've gone are the days
you're going to try to goaltender out there for sixty
(28:18):
starts a season. But it seems like there's a transition
of foot Chris, that Joey to Cord is going to
be the guy going forward in the next couple of years.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
That's the hope, right.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
How much money they got in cap space, Yeah, eight dollars,
which you can find in the couch covers, the NHL
team's couch covers. So yeah, that's the Not that they're
going to cut Gruber anytime soon, but it was a
nod toward the future the goaltending re signing Joey to
Cord for five years, twenty five million dollars beginning next year.
(28:49):
Contractor will take effect next year. The team announced that
this morning as we were going on air. Up next,
we asked you want to tell him were do tax
line four nine four to five one? What you would
ask Hugh Millon when he talked to us at eleven o'clock.
There's some interesting questions on there. We're going to go
through a couple of those, and I'll ast Q one
or two or whatever we have time for at eleven
o'clock or eleven thirty five Factor Fiction, your chance to
(29:10):
win one thousand dollars from the Emerald Queen Casino your
daily chance comes up, and then make my pick for
today eleven thirty. We'll read back your text at four
nine four five one of the tell them we'll do
text line. The Internation will join us at eleven forty
five one into the show from twelve to three. I
roll on here from the Virginia Mason Athletics Center and
renting Seahawks headquarters the day before they play the forty
nine ers. Lots more to talk to coming up next
(29:30):
on ninety three point three KJRFM. Welcome back, Greg Bell, Love,
the Newstribute and Christopher Kaid with you as we are
every weekday, ten am to noon on ninety three point
three KJRFM IM at the Seahawks, Virginia Mason Athletics Center
(29:51):
and rent in the day before they play the forty
nine Ers Thursday Night Football five fifteen at Lumen Field
for first place in the NFC West. I asked you
on the tell them we'll do text nine four nine,
four to five one. What you'd ask Hugh Millen when
we talked to him at eleven o'clock a couple interesting questions?
Two six asks hughes seen a difference between the offense
(30:11):
greb ran at U dub and one he's running at
the Seahawks. We asked him that before the season began,
maybe five games, and that'd be something interesting to revisit.
Craig from Fox Island two five three says why is
it so hard to find quality offensive lineman in the NFL?
Is it the rare to define lineman and matchup with
the speed of defensive players? Are the blocking schemes that
(30:33):
much more complex at the NFL level? Signing a forty
two year old Jason Peters is that the best we
can do right now? And it's interesting. The theory that
John Schneider, the general manager for the Seahawks, has said
is that players coming up in high school and college
football want to be defensive edge rushers because that's where
the money and the glamour is, and so a lineman
(30:54):
who might otherwise be offensive lineman become defensive ends and
the claw the athletes end up on that side of
the ball. More recently, I'm not sure that's true across
the board, but that's for some instance it's true. Four
to five ass do you think, Hugh just you think
the Seahawks should trade for an offensive lineman. Well, unless
(31:17):
they're going to give up a first round or second
round draft pick, one that's starting currently in the NFL
is probably not going to be available for to five ass,
why not try Kenny McIntosh? I know Walker is a
bad boy, but why not? And when is Mafay coming back?
Mafey may come back tomorrow. He was at practice yesterday.
Dare you how much is our offensive line affecting what
(31:38):
the offensive coordinator can call for plays the two? Five
to three ask? I think that's a bigger issue and
more that's probably hitting a nail more on the head,
don't you think, Chriz?
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Yeah, without a question. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
It's not like Ryan Grubb can come out in a
press common to say, man if you had the offensive
line that I have, and you would talk about would
you run?
Speaker 3 (32:01):
You know, why not say that?
Speaker 5 (32:02):
Why?
Speaker 3 (32:03):
They're not gonna fire him on the spot. They're probably
gonna Hey, we're gonna have a meeting.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
You can't go out there and shame the guys. That's
not gonna you know what I would say? Have you
watched the film with me?
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (32:13):
We do watch the film together. You're seeing the same
thing I'm seeing. Sometimes you gotta throw guys under the bus.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
By the five players have ears. It's not like that
would be more damage than the locker.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Definitely would, But I would love to just have a
bunch of drama. These guys stink. What do you want
me to do? I don't you tell me? Have you
seen these guys block?
Speaker 3 (32:33):
There?
Speaker 1 (32:34):
You go two five three? Say they should go naked,
bootleg and first play shot the DK metcalf. Everyone thinks
they're gonna run it, including the Niners. Mike McDonald did
make a point of that this week, saying, I know it.
Ryan Grubb knows that we know it. Even our opponents
know that they need to run the ball more with
Kenneth Walker. Thanks for that. In four nine, four or
five one to tell them. We'll do text line. We'll
(32:54):
read back Semocrat if we have time. We'll get to
those when we talk to Humeling at eleven o'clock. On
the other side of the break thirty five Factor Fiction
your chance to win one thousand dollars from the Emerald
Queen Casino, Lots more coming up from the Virginia Mason
Athletic Center and renting on ninety three point three KJRFM.
Cracking coach Jessica Campbell made NHL history as the first
woman to be an assistant coach behind the bench in
a regular season game. We tried to talk to her yesterday.
He was a tad busy yesterday morning before her first
NHL game, But we are going to speak to her
of dealing with the cracking in her schedule. They're headed
out onto the road after an off day to day
the crack and have a three city road trip. We'll
(00:21):
talk about that in the second but we're gonna hear
from Jessica Campbell and making NHL history behind the bench,
first woman behind the bench yesterday. We'll hear from her
in the coming days when we can work the schedule
out for that cracking. As I mentioned, now, head out
for three road games at Minnesota Saturday, at Dallas Sunday,
at Nashville Tuesday, all here on ninety three point three KGRFM.
(00:42):
Their next home game is October seventeenth against Philadelphia. Signs
are three and two. Seahawks may not have cornerback Reek
Wollen playing tomorrow night against two to three San Francisco.
He has a sprained ankle and it doesn't look great.
Didn't practice yesterday and they were just in T shirt.
It was basically a research recess practice. You remember that
day you came out to training camp, Chris, and they.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Were, oh, yeah, I was very happy. I was so excited,
couldn't wait. I said, damn it, give me a T
shirt and a hat. I'll go out there and do
the same thing.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah. Well, after getting beat up for gaming, they thought
they that's the pent tempo they're going at this week.
It was even lighter than that day you came out
to training camp yesterday.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Well, I don't blame it, like you said, they just
played a game.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Yeah, that's the tempo it. Let me take this time
to tell you again that in most normal NFL game weeks,
a lot of players, more than you would think, cannot
even walk properly until about Thursday. And it reminds me
of Doug Baldwin in Arizona, the night that Richard Sherman
ripped out his achilles and never played again for the
Seahawks and Cam Chancellor injured his neck and never played
(01:44):
again for the Seahawks. After that game, we were waiting
outside the locker room in Glendale in the garage tunnel
there into the stadium and you have to wait about
ten minutes for what they call cooling off period before
you can go into the locker room to.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Let you in.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
And Doug Baldwin, this is the only time in my
twenty plus year career this has happened. Doug Baldwin opened
the door, came out and talked to us on the
beat and said this blank should be illegal. Quote me
on that, meaning Thursday night games. They shouldn't be playing it,
and we can. We have talked about why the Thursday
night games passed and the CBA and how the owners
(02:19):
out maneuvered the players Association in that. But these players, guys, gals,
when you watch Tomorrow night, the stuff they have to
go through just to get on the field, some of
them just for our entertainment, you'd probably be less inclined
to be a fan of Thursday night football if you
saw it and realized it up close. So Roland probably
(02:39):
won't play tomorrow. It seems we're gonna find out this
afternoon about one o'clock when the injury report for the
game comes out, the outs, the doubtfuls, and the questionables.
I'm expecting Wolan to be doubtful at best. We'll see,
but boy Mafey jog right past me yesterday at the
beginning of practice and he joined in and he is
on track. It appears to reach for missing two games
(03:01):
with his knee injury. He was a co leader in
sacks with Derek Hall when he went out. Hall meanwhile,
hasn't practiced this week. We'll see if he can play.
Don't beat a ton into guys's not practicing. One, they're
not practicing pretty much physically strenuous practice anyway. But two,
with the short week, you tend to have guys rest
(03:24):
and not practice before a Thursday night game, So today's
injury report would be more telling. Mike McDonald's has already said, though,
that Byron Murphy and the Chennan wils who will not
play tomorrow night. Murphy's missing his third straight game because
of an injured hamstring. New Wolso has a new injury.
He got that twenty minute twenty excuse me, twenty plays
into his first real game in twelve months thigh injury
(03:45):
against the Giants the other day, So just after they
had him back playing his first game in twelve months,
he goes right back out again, and he appears he
may go on injured reserve coach Mike McDonald has hinted
there'll be a roster mover to today or tomorrow related
to injuries. Nuolsa Chris has only played six games since
he signed his forty five million dollar contract extension before
(04:06):
the twenty twenty three season, and only twenty snaps so
far this season. The other day, luck yeah, they need him.
They need him to set the edge against the run
as much as anything. He went out after twenty plays
and the Giants ran for one hundred and seventy five
yards on him last weekend. Forty nine Ers are going
to be without injured running back Christian McCaffery and he's
(04:28):
still an injured reserve tight end George Kittle with ribs
and middle linebacker Fred Warner with an ankle injury. Hasn't
they have been limited in practice. They played injured in
the forty nine ers home loss to the Cardinals last weekend.
New England. We knew this was common. They made the
awaited switch to rookie first round pick Drake May as
the new starting quarterback of her placeholder Jacoby Brissett, whom
(04:49):
the Seahawks, of course beat in Week two. So it
takes five games for Drake, made to sit and now
thrown in to the Patriots season. Houston Texans put Nico
Collins uninjured reserves, the NFL's leader in receiving yards. You
know probably by now that the Washington Huskies four and
two play at Iowa. That's a nine am Saturday kickoff
Seattle time, eleven o'clock Iowa time right here on ninety
(05:12):
three point three KJRFM. That should mean a Husky pregame
show with Dave Softimont and a Husky Hunts beginning at
five am. It would be a test for them. I'll
see if that actually comes off at five am. Who
would be listening? The four and one Washington State Cougar's
returned from there by at Fresno State four pm Saturday
television on FS one. For that. Major League Baseball, the
(05:33):
Mets beat the Phillies. They have a two to one
lead now in the best of five National League Division Series.
The Padres held off of Dodgers. Comeback to Oscar Hernandez
Grand Slam Home. I remember that guy struck out too
much in Seattle.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Like I said, these guys seem to find greater, better
pastors when they leave the Manners.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
It's really weird how that works out.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Mariner fans know the story. They could have offered him
a twenty million dollar qualifying offer, and if he signed elsewhere,
he could have got a draft pick out of him.
But they were afraid he'd sign for twenty million, is
what it came down to, and to save the money,
they didn't offer him. And now he's the home run
Derby champion for the Dodgers and he hits a grand
Slam in the playoff game to get him back from
six to one yesterday, though they lost six ' five.
(06:13):
All four Vision series are playing today. Cleveland's at Detroit
at noon our time. Game three series tied one one.
The Mets try to eliminate the Phillies in Game four.
New York. The Yankees are in Kansas City Tide with
the Royals at a game each and the Patterys can
eliminate showhy Tani and the Dodgers today with another win.
That's then actually a night game six pm in San Diego, Okay.
(06:35):
Yesterday out here, Ryan Greb was the story the offensive
coordinated former Washington Husky's play caller for Michael Pennix. He
just owned it. Chris he said, yeah, it's on me,
all on me that I didn't get the ball more
than five times to Kenneth Walker in fifty eight play
calls Sunday and the Seahawks lost to the Giants. This
(06:55):
was Ryan Grebb to us yesterday, all.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
On that gotta get ball in Ken Moore. I think
we had plenty of run game in the plan. Didn't
have anything to do with not have enough calls for
that just didn't get called. And for us, you know,
we leaned on the wrong thing. And I think if
we get Ken ten more touches, fifteen more touches, things
are gonna look different. So that's that's one hundred percent
on me and my jobs. Make sure you get all
our guys in the best position possible to win the game.
(07:18):
And I didn't do that.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
So they had a plan going in obviously, and in
the previous games, you know, Smith was leading the league
in completions and second and completion percentage at first in
passing yards, and that's what Ryan Greb leaned on. And
he saw the Giants weren't playing much man, they're playing zone.
So he leaned on that and he says too far. Now,
(07:44):
he got away with it. Offensively anyway. In Detroit, it's
just a defense for the Seahawks didn't hold up its
end and they lost forty to twenty nine. But it
worked the opposite way against the Giants, and when the
Giants didn't see him running, they sacked you know, Smith's
seven times. And Chris, it's while the accountability is really laudable,
(08:05):
it does make you wonder how many other times in
Ryan Grebb's career did you feel this way after a game?
So I asked him that, I said, when you were
at Washington or before that Fresno State, or way back
when you were at Sioux Falls, if you passed too
much in a game, what was your reaction to that?
And he kind of looked at me and said, I
ran it more the next game. They're going to run tomorrow, Chris,
(08:28):
not just because Grubb wants to and set a tone
and get the message out that Kenneth Walker is still
a big part of this team, but because they have
to because if they don't, Nick Bosa might get seven
sacks by himself, let alone what the forty nine ers
defensive front might do to the Seahawks offensive line. It
does beg the question that we brought up a little
(08:48):
bit yesterday, is some of the reluctance to run the
ball because they don't believe the offensive line can block
well enough for Kenneth Walker to gain yards and make
it worthwhile.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, my concern would be they just try to force
it to Kin and they're behind the sticks. They're in
the same situations that they're always in, which is third
and long, third and seven or more, and now you're
gonna allow Bosa and whatever the Niners want to do
defensively to attack the Seahawks as opposed to the Seahawks
attacking the Niners.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
So I hope it's balanced.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
But I think that goes to what I was stating
yesterday about, Yeah, the Seahawks are struggling to run the
football a certain way, but I think Ryan Grubb is
going to have to find creative ways to get Kin
the ball, and it is a way that can be
successful for this offense to get positive yards because when
you run the ball the first play of the game
(09:41):
and it's minus two, okay, it's second and twelve, now
you're kind of in a situation where you have to
pass the ball. They haven't had much success on first
down runs early down runs. Should I say so, this
is going to be a chess match now, depending on
how the Niners line up, because Gino has the autonomy
to do what to switch plays, and I think Gina
has been doing do that quite a bit. I don't
know if that's accurate, but from what I'm watching, it
(10:03):
seemed that he's liking the opportunities to throw the football
and he changes plays at the line of scrimmage. It'll
be interesting to see against the Niners how often he's
switching out of things based on what the Niners are showing.
Because the Niners are gonna say, yeah, we want you
to run the football, and we're gonna be ready for it.
But can the Seahawks execute and do their part? And
that's why I brought up the specific play against the
(10:24):
Lions on Monday Night two weeks ago where they had
Ken Walker do an orbit motion. So started off at
the line of scrimmage, runs behind Geno Smith. They do
a nice little toss to him and Zach Scharbarnay is
his lead blocker and Jack Sarbonnay did a really good job.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
He laid out the person in front of him.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
But the Seahawks gonna do the best job of getting
out the offensive line and do the best job of
getting out and getting to the linebacker, getting to that
next level. And it was only a two yard game,
if I'm not mistaken. So I think Ryan Grubbs really
gonna have to figure out creative ways to get Kim
the football that way. It's not just here's an infirmation
lead run. Oh, it goes for negative too, oh negative
one oh, third and ten. Here we go third and eleven.
(11:02):
I think that's gonna be the problem that they could
run into if they do struggle in early run situations.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Grub hasn't done that thus far. That is, just run
his head, run into a brick wall on first and ten.
Through five games, the Seahawks have forty eight rushes on
first and ten, but eighty three passes, so almost twice
as many passes. So it's not as if he has
established run early in series of downs all that much.
(11:30):
I think that's where you may see the difference tomorrow
night first and ten rushes and in giving Walker not
only giving Walker the opportunity to make yards and as
we know, he's elusive and can make guys miss it
or even getting into the backfoot of beating blocks, but
also to slow Bosa down and slow the San Francisco
defensive front down. And also what I wrote about this
(11:52):
morning and the News Tribune. It's up right now at
the Newstribune dot com. The play action pass game. There's
this discussion in the analytics world that you don't need
to run the ball to have play action passes work effectively.
Sometimes that's true, and Geno Smith made a reference to
the first play of the second half, a thirty three
yard pass to Tyler Lockett on the left sideline between
(12:15):
the underneath and deep zone for the Giants. That was
a play action pass, a fake hand off to the
left to Kenneth Walker, a short roll to the right
by Geno Smith, and the throwback to the left and
against the soft into the soft part of the zone.
And up to that point the Seahawks had just run
two times for two yards before that play action passed
for thirty three yards. But fourth and one, had Brian
(12:40):
Burns for the Giants been even thinking about the possibility
of a running play, then perhaps Geno Smith can get
around him, because he isn't charging Burns is and charging
straight up the field into the quarterback's face. But he
after only five runs the whole game up to that point,
Burns didn't even consider the fact that on fourth and
one it might be a running play. Look at the
(13:01):
lineman blocking to his right and where they were blocking to.
He didn't even look at Sharponnay his flow to the
opposite side. He just went straight for Geno Smith because
he knew they weren't going to run the.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Ball, right.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
That's that's what Greb was talking about yesterday, and he said, yeah,
I need the run game so we can play do
our play action and everything else in our playbook. And
that's where tomorrow night, I think you're going to see
early down runs by Grub even if they don't go anywhere,
and there'll be people booing and hissing that why is
he running the ball for just one or two yards
(13:32):
on first down. It's the means to an end. It's
not necessarily the result of that play that he's doing
it for. But you can't have Gino Smith stand back
there with this offensive line and throw it fifty times
and run the ball five against San Francisco. He'll be
on injured reserve on Friday. You cannot you can't do that.
(13:52):
There are some teams you can do that against, and
they have done it against Miami. Comes to New England,
comes to mind where they started throwing the ball eight
in the game in New England, came back. You can't
do that against San Francisco. The five consecutive losses have
shown that their offensive line cannot withstand San Francisco's pass rush,
cannot Gino Smith's back has been sacked thirteen times. I
(14:14):
think it is in the last four starts in the
story I did yesterday thirteen times in four starts against
San Francisco. He missed one of them due to injury
during this five game losing streak. But in the four
games that Geno Smith has started, he's been sacked thirteen
times by San Francisco. So you can't just drop back
and forget the run tomorrow. And that's why I think
you're gonna see early in the game a preponderance of
(14:37):
touches and opportunities for Kenneth Walker. One for Ryan Grebb
to send a message, but two is set up this
play action pass game that is so much a big
part of what Grub wants to do and Chris, we've
talked about it. Grub's offenses layered pass routes to put
a safety in a bind on this hiding with the
cover in front of him, behind him, outside of him.
(14:57):
But those take time, and those take time that the
the offensive line has to provide the quarterback. And you
can't do that if you give Kraft Walker the ball
just five times in fifty eight touch of fifty eight
play calls. But to Ryan Grubski absolutely owned it. We'll see,
we've been in this situation before in this town, the
offensive coordinator not running the ball and the head coach
(15:18):
saying we need to run the ball more and nothing changed.
We'll see tomorrow the same situation with this new coaching staff.
If something will change. I think it's the key to
the game tomorrow that in turnovers. Chris, Yeah, it'll be interesting.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
That's why I think it's gonna be a big chess
match between obviously what the Niners are showing and as
I mentioned, you know has autonomy, he has full control
of the offense. Does he stick with it, does he
audible out of it? And how they attack this nine
of defense, because that's what it's about. How can they
go out there, execute what they want to do and
move the football, get in situations where it's second and
(15:53):
three or it's third and one, where these are obvious
you can do whatever you want options in the playbook
because you've put yourself in position as opposed to third
and nine. Well, damn it, we have to throw the
ball here. So guess what the Niners are gonna do.
They're gonna put probably six seven guys in coverage, They're
gonna pressure you. It just becomes a problem. And that's
what you've seen through five weeks so far with the Seahawks.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
They've had twenty three snaps of third and ten or
more in five games, four games, five game. Excuse me,
twenty three that's too many. Yeah, they they're offensive line
cannot pass block when it's third and ten or more.
There's no chance. Most times, there's absolutely no chance. So
that's the challenge tomorrow against Nick Bosa and the forty
nine Ers. Can Seahawks and Ryan Grebb run the ball
(16:37):
effectively enough on early downs to set up their play
action game and not be in third and ten for
the twenty fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh times of this season.
Lots more we're gonna talk about with the Seahawks and
forty nine Ers. Game Tomorrow night, we'll have Hugh mellon
at eleven o'clock, four nine, four or five one on
the telem we'll do text line what question would you
ask you? What wrong? The two things I'm focused on
with him is what we're wrong against the Giants? How
(16:58):
can they beat the forty nine or four nine, four
to five one? Text your questions for Hugh what you'd
asked our quarterback and we may air a couple of
those at eleven o'clock when he comes on eleven thirty five.
Factor Fiction and chance to win one thousand dollars from
the Emerald Queen Casino. Up next, we're goin to shift gears.
You're gonna hear from Crack and general manager Ron Francis.
At the start of his fourth season in charge of
(17:19):
Seattle's NHL team, he made the expectations clear to me
on what this team's goal and expectations are for this season.
That's coming up next, live from the Virginia Mason Athletic
Center in Renting Seahawks headquarters, a day before they played
the forty nine Ers on ninety three point three kjarfm
dot com. Greg Bell loved the News Tribune, Christopher kid
Jessman McIntyre with you. I am outside Climate Pledge Arena
(17:41):
in the Westgates. Please to be joined by the Hockey
Hall of Famer Ron Francis, Cracking, general manager, an hour
and a half before puck drop of his fourth season
in charge of the Crack in fourth year in the NHL. Sir,
pleasure to meet you, Pleasure to be on the show.
Thanks for joining us. And it's a busy day for you.
You've been around hockey for a day or two. What
is Opening day still mean to you?
Speaker 4 (18:02):
That's exciting. You know your season ends the season before
and it's a long summer. You've got a draft to
prepare for. You got free agency, you got guys contracts,
you're you're trying to re sign for your team and
make your team better. And then you get into training
camp and you kind of go through there and try
to valuate what you have at the NHL level, what
you have in your minor league system that can help
give you games if you have injuries, and what you
(18:23):
have in the pipe pline with real young prospects. So
a lot of work getting to this point, but it's
always exciting we're opening days here because here we go
again life in a hockey staff.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Ron, Francis Cock and Gentleman joining us an opening day
here from Climate PUDs Arena on ninety three point three KJFM.
Ron your roster with some young players you're not bringing
up and Shane Wright for instance on your opening day roster.
How have you seen Dan Bowsman, Jessica Campbell in the
in the Coachella Valley core coaching staff with those players,
It's that been an advantage to those guys in their
(18:55):
development at the NHL level.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Yeah, I think it's easier for those guys stepping in.
I think they were much more comfortable in training camp
maybe in years past because they knew the drills that
Dan was doing or Jessica was doing. They knew what
his expectations were of those individuals. So probably a little
bit easier for him to transition from the America League
to the NHL. But they've had real good camp, so
we're excited to see once the season goes. Hopefully they
(19:17):
can keep doing what they've been doing so far in
training camp.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
What will a fan notice about the difference in how
Dan Bowsma coaches and what the product looks like during
games on the ice.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
Yeah, you know, what I'm hoping for is that we've
played fast north south kind of game and not so
much East west. I think we got away from that
last year a little bit, and hopefully we can get
back to that speed game up and up and back.
We've made some additions in the offseason with Stevenson and montur,
you know, bringing in some of the younger kids, as
you mentioned in Wright and Evans. Re signed some of
(19:49):
our veteran players in tolvn In and Larson with an extension.
So pretty exciting here. We think we're a better team.
Hopefully we can stay healthy. It's not a sprint that
to grind the eighty two games, but we're excited to
get it going.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Brandon on tour, How does he just round out your
blue line? Now you have a right handed shot there,
you have a couple of deep lines of veteran players.
Speaker 4 (20:13):
Yeah, you know you watch him in the preseason. Is
uh hope you get a chance to meet him. His personality,
it's just electric, very very energetic, very bubbly, great addition
in our locker room. Stanley Cup winners, So he knows
what it takes, you know, twenty three plus minutes a
night for the Stanley Cup Champs last year. So with
his skating skating ability, we think you'll be able to
(20:33):
get up in the rush and that'll help create some
more offense. And then with Vince Dunn and Adam Larson
being a solid pair, we're open with with Monto and Alexiak,
they can form another solid pair for us. And with
those two guys Done and Montour should help the power
player as well.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Of course, optimism reigns on day one, but to you,
do you feel like you've built a playoff team?
Speaker 4 (20:53):
Is that the expectation here? That is the expectation? Absolutely?
I mean, you know, it's not an easy league. There's uh,
there's a lot of good teams in the league. And
it's like I said, eighty two games is a long
grind and and you know you need some luck, you
need some bounces, you need to stay healthy, and hopefully
we can have that this season. But I do think
we're capable of getting into the playoffs. And that's all
(21:13):
you need is to take it to the dance. Once
you get in, everybody's got a chance to win it.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
Your goaltending situation would would you eventually like it to
be like a Boston was with Allmark and Swayman.
Speaker 4 (21:23):
Do you want to one?
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Do you want to one? One? A? You've got to
the court. I think opened some eyes for you last year,
and what do you think about how that might shake
out as the season goes on?
Speaker 4 (21:33):
Yeah, no, you know, I think the days of a
guy playing, you know, sixty five seventy games is kind
of behid. There's so much more parody in the league
makes it harder each and every night with a travel
It's hard for these guys to do that. So having
two guys that we think for burn confidence putting in
the net on any given night should be a good
benefit for us. And Joey certainly stepped in last year,
(21:55):
played really well for us, and you know, it looks
good so far in training camp. So with Gruby and
Joey really comfortable with that goaltending.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I deal with this a lot with the Seahawks to
travel and they have an East Coast head coach, and
learning that rigors of that. In the NHL, of course,
you're on the road even longer and the trips are wilder.
How has now that you've worked in Seattle and run
this team for three years, how do you what steps
do you take to make that easier on the players
and the team. The travel aspect.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
Yeah, so you know, my whole career, played twenty three
years in the league. I never played in the West.
It was always in the East. And I tell the
story I played in Madison Square Gardens one night when
I was playing for Carolina and we finished the game,
flew home. When I was climbing into my bed it
wasn't even twelve thirty at night yet, So that was nice.
We don't get too many of those here in the West.
But you know, you learn to kind of adjust. There's
(22:46):
certain things that we do, you know, games on the road.
If we're traveling, we can't get in by a certain time.
We're not going to make that triple spend the night
in the hotel, fly the next day. We certainly have
to look at giving our players I think more rest.
It hurts us a little bit of sense. We don't
get as much practice time, but I think the rest
is much more important those situations. We had a stretch
(23:07):
a couple of years ago. I think we won an
eight game undefeated streak. We didn't practice for seventeen days,
which is kind of crazy, but sometimes with two or
three games, sometimes four games a week. It's hard to
get the practice time in and mandate the rest with
all the travel we have. So our guys are great.
They don't complain about it. They just go about doing
their business. But a lot of communication with our leadership group,
coaching staff and how we want to make sure that
(23:28):
they're properly rested and give them the best opportunity to
play well.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
A lot of fans have noticed this is Ron Francis,
general manager. You're a Seattle crack and joining us from
outside climbing pledge are in ninety minutes before the season
opener here on ninety three point three KJERFM Ron. A
lot of fans have noticed you have twenty one players
and it seems a little thin, but I know you're
up against the salary cap. Is that some maneuvering you'd
like to do to get some extra backup bodies and continuencies.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Well, with twenty one we got four two hundred and
eighty eight dollars worth of cap space, so I'm not
sure I much maneuvering we do. We don't have room
for a twenty second player at this point. That's what
it is. You know. We did put Jason Mahir on
on wat and waivers Josh Mhair right before we submitting
our rosters. So with him clearing, that does give us
some flexibility in case we run an injury, we can
(24:15):
move some people around. But you know, as of right now,
this is what we have and this is what we're
gonna run with. If things change down the road, we'll
certainly look at those opportunities, but right now, this is
our team.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
A lot of fans ask us where Ryan Winterton fits
in this season. I know he's a future guy, but
is there a chance we see him quite a bit
up here?
Speaker 4 (24:33):
Yeah, well, we just talked about the cap, so I
don't have here. I don't have room to call him
up right now. But he's he's really had a you know,
a really strong couple of years. He scored twenty plus
goals last year, never got on the power play, was
really good killing penalties down there. Tim in here, had
a real strong training camp. If we had to call
(24:54):
up Ryan and put him in our lineup, we're not
going to lose any sleepover that. We think he's he's
that good a player, But with our situation, we'll send
him down there. You know, he'll play first line. I
hope to get some power play time, continue to work
on that offensive ability his and I'm sure at some
point the cracking fans will see him up here in Aurlana.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
What can cracking fans expect from Stevenson, your big acquisition
from Vegas.
Speaker 4 (25:16):
He's he's just a smart two way player, you know,
very smooth skater, very smart in all three zones of
the ice. You know. We made the deal with the deadline.
We couldn't extend Winberg, and we made that move. We
had a hole in that position in Chandler. We're really
excited to bring him into the mix. Two time Stanley
Cup champs, so he knows what it takes to win.
(25:37):
We'll be a great leader and mentor for our young
centnerment and Beniers and and right, and this is the guy.
Opening day was strong in the face off circle as well,
can play, powerplay and kill penalties, can beyond the ice
when you're up you know, six one five of the
other game or down six five against six of the
other game. So sort of a jack of all trades.
And they should be pleased with Chandler in his game
(25:58):
as they as they watch him.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Play more with the speed in today's game run the premium,
what premium do you put on skating? Where do you
think this team is as a skating speed team.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
Well, when you look at two years ago, that's what
everybody talked about, how fast we played, how fast we played,
and you know, I think we got away from that
last year. We started hanging on the pucks a little
bit going east and west, and then our forwards we're
getting stretched out and we're standing at the far bu
line instead of having that motion through the neuches on
and when you do that, now you're tipping a puck
in and you don't have the speed to go get
(26:29):
it on the ford check. So we think we're a
fast team, but we'd like to play faster, which is
that north south game, And that's what we're going to
continue to work on to get back to that level
that we work a couple of years ago, where teams
had a tough time handling our speed in our court check?
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Is that maybe the biggest the game has changed since
when you played? The speed in the skating aspect or
how has it changed most since you played?
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Well, yeah, I think it's I think the players are
certainly faster and more skilled in today's game than in
the past, and I think there's 's probably a little
easier to get to the net or some of the
tougher areas in today's game than it was back then.
You know, holding, cross checking, all that kind of stuff
was allowed back then. It's been a little bit much
tighter here and I think it's it's helped speed up
the game, so you know, you adjust your lineups as
(27:16):
the way the game is being called. And we feel
comfortable with the group we have. Ron.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
We know this is a busy day. We appreciate you
coming out and saying hi and joining us, and we'll
be with you all season.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
As you know.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Thanks a lot for all you doing a good luck
in their whole season. My pleasure, great, great talking to you, sir.
Speaker 4 (27:30):
Take care.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Ron Francis the general manager I have to see out
crack and entering his fourth season that's in charge of
the team, and his interesting his comments on goaltending is
interesting this morning given the fact that about a forty
five minutes ago, the team announced they've given Joey de
coord a new five year contract extension that will start
next year worth twenty five million dollars five million dollars annually.
(27:55):
They have Philip Grubauer, who is four years older in
his early thirties. He's not thirty three, actually five years
older than the Cord, who's under contract for two more
years after this one. So it is interesting that the
Cord appears to be the goaltender of the future as
well as the one a of the present. You heard
Ron Francis tell me that you've gone are the days
you're going to try to goaltender out there for sixty
(28:18):
starts a season. But it seems like there's a transition
of foot Chris, that Joey to Cord is going to
be the guy going forward in the next couple of years.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
That's the hope, right.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
How much money they got in cap space, Yeah, eight dollars,
which you can find in the couch covers, the NHL
team's couch covers. So yeah, that's the Not that they're
going to cut Gruber anytime soon, but it was a
nod toward the future the goaltending re signing Joey to
Cord for five years, twenty five million dollars beginning next year.
(28:49):
Contractor will take effect next year. The team announced that
this morning as we were going on air. Up next,
we asked you want to tell him were do tax
line four nine four to five one? What you would
ask Hugh Millon when he talked to us at eleven o'clock.
There's some interesting questions on there. We're going to go
through a couple of those, and I'll ast Q one
or two or whatever we have time for at eleven
o'clock or eleven thirty five Factor Fiction, your chance to
(29:10):
win one thousand dollars from the Emerald Queen Casino your
daily chance comes up, and then make my pick for
today eleven thirty. We'll read back your text at four
nine four five one of the tell them we'll do
text line. The Internation will join us at eleven forty
five one into the show from twelve to three. I
roll on here from the Virginia Mason Athletics Center and
renting Seahawks headquarters the day before they play the forty
nine ers. Lots more to talk to coming up next
(29:30):
on ninety three point three KJRFM. Welcome back, Greg Bell, Love,
the Newstribute and Christopher Kaid with you as we are
every weekday, ten am to noon on ninety three point
three KJRFM IM at the Seahawks, Virginia Mason Athletics Center
(29:51):
and rent in the day before they play the forty
nine Ers Thursday Night Football five fifteen at Lumen Field
for first place in the NFC West. I asked you
on the tell them we'll do text nine four nine,
four to five one. What you'd ask Hugh Millen when
we talked to him at eleven o'clock a couple interesting questions?
Two six asks hughes seen a difference between the offense
(30:11):
greb ran at U dub and one he's running at
the Seahawks. We asked him that before the season began,
maybe five games, and that'd be something interesting to revisit.
Craig from Fox Island two five three says why is
it so hard to find quality offensive lineman in the NFL?
Is it the rare to define lineman and matchup with
the speed of defensive players? Are the blocking schemes that
(30:33):
much more complex at the NFL level? Signing a forty
two year old Jason Peters is that the best we
can do right now? And it's interesting. The theory that
John Schneider, the general manager for the Seahawks, has said
is that players coming up in high school and college
football want to be defensive edge rushers because that's where
the money and the glamour is, and so a lineman
(30:54):
who might otherwise be offensive lineman become defensive ends and
the claw the athletes end up on that side of
the ball. More recently, I'm not sure that's true across
the board, but that's for some instance it's true. Four
to five ass do you think, Hugh just you think
the Seahawks should trade for an offensive lineman. Well, unless
(31:17):
they're going to give up a first round or second
round draft pick, one that's starting currently in the NFL
is probably not going to be available for to five ass,
why not try Kenny McIntosh? I know Walker is a
bad boy, but why not? And when is Mafay coming back?
Mafey may come back tomorrow. He was at practice yesterday.
Dare you how much is our offensive line affecting what
(31:38):
the offensive coordinator can call for plays the two? Five
to three ask? I think that's a bigger issue and
more that's probably hitting a nail more on the head,
don't you think, Chriz?
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Yeah, without a question. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
It's not like Ryan Grubb can come out in a
press common to say, man if you had the offensive
line that I have, and you would talk about would
you run?
Speaker 3 (32:01):
You know, why not say that?
Speaker 5 (32:02):
Why?
Speaker 3 (32:03):
They're not gonna fire him on the spot. They're probably
gonna Hey, we're gonna have a meeting.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
You can't go out there and shame the guys. That's
not gonna you know what I would say? Have you
watched the film with me?
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (32:13):
We do watch the film together. You're seeing the same
thing I'm seeing. Sometimes you gotta throw guys under the bus.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
By the five players have ears. It's not like that
would be more damage than the locker.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Definitely would, But I would love to just have a
bunch of drama. These guys stink. What do you want
me to do? I don't you tell me? Have you
seen these guys block?
Speaker 3 (32:33):
There?
Speaker 1 (32:34):
You go two five three? Say they should go naked,
bootleg and first play shot the DK metcalf. Everyone thinks
they're gonna run it, including the Niners. Mike McDonald did
make a point of that this week, saying, I know it.
Ryan Grubb knows that we know it. Even our opponents
know that they need to run the ball more with
Kenneth Walker. Thanks for that. In four nine, four or
five one to tell them. We'll do text line. We'll
(32:54):
read back Semocrat if we have time. We'll get to
those when we talk to Humeling at eleven o'clock. On
the other side of the break thirty five Factor Fiction
your chance to win one thousand dollars from the Emerald
Queen Casino, Lots more coming up from the Virginia Mason
Athletic Center and renting on ninety three point three KJRFM.
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