Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to the Seahawks insiders. Gino looks go way
up over the top. Got a man out there and
he's got it.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Touchdown, say Hawks, getting you ready for Seahawks football every Sunday.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Hurts drops back, hastime, loads up, throws aj Brown the
defense does he keep it?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Speed him? He does? Stay off ball presented by Delta,
the official airline of the Seahawks.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Now here's your host, Jen Mueller.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
After what feels like an extended break, I guess you
would really call it a mini buy, the Seahawks are
back on the road. They are back to work. They
are ready to turn things around. John Boyle, do you
feel rested? Do you feel like recuperated after that long
weekends with three children?
Speaker 1 (00:46):
I was as rested as one can who was with
three kids all weekend? Sure? Okay, but it was nice.
You know, the family time is nice, right.
Speaker 4 (00:54):
Make sure that you get that in so that Lindsay
and the.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Kids know exactly, Yes, it's good to spend family a
fun family event.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
That's awesome. I sat and looked the water.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
I was sofully just watching the waves roll in roll out.
There was some wine, there was some coffee, There was
a deep dive on jellyfish after watching one get washed
up on the beach. I can tell you all sorts
of things, which then led me on a deep dive
of SpongeBob SquarePants.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
And it was.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
With something on a Saturday.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Man.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Well, I didn't have any football to dive into. I
mean I could have.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
I did watch some college football, but I wasn't like
preparing for a Sunday game, so I had a lot
of time to learn about a lot of things.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
That were not football related.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
All right, Okay, that's fun.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Jellyfish actually can't swim very far, job.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
Float around, and they can stay on the beach for
apparently a long time based on.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
What I served before they get back in the water. Okay, look,
here's the thing.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
We had a chance to recuperate and maybe rest up
a little bit.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
So did the team.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
And I can tell after being around these guys for
even just a day or two, it did.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
A lot of good.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Oh for sure, just physically.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Sure, I think mentally it was just as important.
Speaker 5 (02:08):
Yeah, talking to guys Monday and then especially yesterday and
kind of full locker room, just you could tell guys,
just even though I mean, obviously the team's lost three
in a row, and that's not great, but you could
tell the mood with such like guys were refreshed, as
you said, getting no chance to get away from it.
You know, we heard a couple of players talk about
that a really good meeting on Monday to kind of
get to the truth of what's been going on and
(02:29):
how they're going to fix it. So I feel like
despite the recent losses, the team's in a really good
headspace right now.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Yeah, And I.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Do think that those losses in that three and three
record would feel different if you hadn't lost three in
a row, Oh for sure. Right, that makes a big
difference too. I am glad that you mentioned that team
meeting on Monday. It was big for a couple of reasons.
Number one, you did need to reset. Number two, it
was a chance for Mike McDonald to show how he
was going to respond after this. And number three, according
(02:56):
to DK Metcalf, what got said really needed.
Speaker 6 (02:59):
To be said Monday was a very much needed team
meeting to where you know, Mike just told us the
truth of you know, it's not anything the other teams
are doing. We're just hurting our sales penalties, you know,
giving the ball away not getting the ball on a defense.
So he just basically told us the truth, you know,
of what we need to clean up, you know, moving forward,
(03:20):
and you know we all took it, you know, the
right way, and we're ready to finish the season.
Speaker 5 (03:26):
And we heard similar a few of us talk to
Julian Love after and he said that the phrase he
used was it's us against us right now. It's not,
you know, he said if we were seeing on film
that like, oh, this guy, I think the example, he's like,
this guy can't cover in man coverage, Like that's the
personnel problem.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
You're in trouble. That's not what they're seeing.
Speaker 5 (03:42):
They're seeing, you know, a lot of self inflicted stuff
they're you know, they're learning new scheme and mistakes are
getting made that they feel like they can fix.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
I was talking to a few of the offensive players
on Wednesday about some of those penalties and procedure because
one of the things Mike McDonald had said last week
when we talked to him following the forty nine ers
last was just the that they take the line of scrimmage,
which I generally don't think about that as a thing.
We did hear about that in the preseason. But in
talking to guys like Noah and Charles Cross, they said, look,
(04:11):
if we are more intentional and if you take that
line of scrimmage with just a little bit more command,
now you position yourself so that you were not making
those mental mistakes or not lacking that attention to detail
which has caused way too many penalties and called back
way too many big plays.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
A few in your touchdown last week, Yeah, Kenneth Walker's
feet weren't quite set right.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
And you know, the other thing that they also mentioned was, look,
it's not an excuse. It is hard to be mentally
on for three games in eleven days.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
Like, it's just hard to do that.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
So by function of having a couple extra days, I
do think some of that gets cleaned up.
Speaker 5 (04:48):
Yeah, and just having a normal week of practice. You know,
it's a couple guys point like they haven't had a
full pad of practice since before the Lions game because
you're short week coming off that game, short week for
Thursday night, so that you know, eyes and needed a
chance to just sort of get back into a normal routine.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
And they'll have that this week.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yeah. In fact, I have not been able to figure
out what day is all week because it's a normal
week and we haven't had one of those in a while.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
It's Thursday, Jen, There we solved your problem.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
Thanks. Hey, you know what, everything I have a question, everything.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I have a quess.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
That does not mean that they have not had their
challenges and challenges that need to be fixed. Look, once again,
they need to run the ball more on offense, they
need to stop the run on defense, and you'd like
for it to be an easy fix.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
I don't know that that is what Mike McDonald has seen.
Speaker 7 (05:38):
The good news is is there's a lot of good stuff.
The bad news is is there's a chunk of plays
that are really bad and the ball is getting out
and there's just way too many explosives. You can't play though.
If you take those plays out games, it's just not
that's not reality.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
But it does.
Speaker 7 (05:53):
It does kind of sober you up because it is less.
It's not every play, So it's hey, this is what's
happening on these selects group of plays, and let's go
to work at it. You know, let's get it, let's
let's make it right.
Speaker 5 (06:04):
Yeah, as Mike said, you can't just throw those out
because I mean, when you look across the league at
anyone's running numbers like those are partly the result of
big plays factory in the average. But to his point, like,
if you see twenty good run plays a game and
five bad ones, those five bad ones really hurt you.
But it's a little easier to address the problem versus like, hey,
we're just getting gashed every play.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
How much do.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
You think it is just time on task with these
guys together.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
I think that's.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
Got to be a big part of it for two reasons. One,
and we talked about this a little earlier. But it's like,
this is all new, and as much as we would
have loved for the team to hit the ground running,
start three and zero and just play clean all year,
that's probably not realistic when you have a new scheme,
a new coaching staff, and a lot of new personnel,
and then add to that how banged up they've been
on defense. You haven't had the same group of guys
(06:55):
together for pretty much the whole first half of the
season now, so it's you know, it's a little tougher
to everybody be on the same page. You know a
phrase make McDonald loves uses it. It takes all eleven guys
to play good run defense, and you haven't had the
same eleven guys.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Yeah, and while there is depth, and that is what
we talk about every year in training camp, right, you
can't have too many of those guys across the front,
can't have too many of those guys in the secondary
because what you thought was just a what plethora of riches?
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Is that the phrase I'm looking for sure?
Speaker 1 (07:24):
That works? Okay? I like plethora?
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Okay, we're going with that.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
You are now dealing with injuries at safety and corner.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Yeah, and so.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
You've got to have somebody step up.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
But to your point, right, like you are where you
are on the depth chart for a reason. It does
not mean that you cannot step up and level up
your game. But it's hard if you're not playing with
your group of people, and if you're asking somebody who's
further down on the depth chart to step into a
larger role.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 5 (07:54):
I mean, look, you want everybody to be ready to go,
and you have fifty three guys that seem that you
hope are ready to help you. But and even if
they are, even if that guy is gonna come out
and be great, at some point, there's gonna be the
adjustment of not just him getting used to being out
there with those stars reps, but the guys around him
getting used to that play or so well.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
And so much of it is communication in his defense, right,
And it's not always the verbal communication.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
It's understanding what this.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Look means, right, or when I give you kind of
this little nuts or not like that year that we're.
Speaker 5 (08:23):
Doing all the timing back when you know, if it
was camin Earl or kJ and Bobby, you hear that
if a guy goes down, like I played with this
guy so long, I'm used to like, if we see
this look, I know what he's doing. He knows what
I'm doing, And there's no you don't even need to
communicate it, whereas if a new guy's out there, you
need to make sure, like, hey, this is what we're
doing because of this look.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Yeah, And this week they really have to have that
short up because Atlanta's run game got going last week
granted against the Carolina Panthers, but they're two running backs
rush for two hundred yards, and they've got the advantage
of familiarity with their scheme.
Speaker 7 (08:57):
Well, they're two really good backs. Both have been running
this scheme for multiple years, going back to when uh,
you know, when they're running a similar scheme their last year,
the same all line coach. Both see it really well.
Both run it a little bit differently, one little bit
more power, you know. I think I think Robinson is
more and more of a one cut guy. But both
(09:18):
both both like the compliment and the scheme go well
hand in hand, and it's it's a tough play to
stop so and it's not one of those things where
it's just one guy. It's all eleven guys on it.
We always say in the run defense, but all eleven
guys in order to uh, to stop wide zone.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
I sat him up for that, I said, Mike McDonald
loves to say it's all eleven guys.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
And then he just said, and then he backs you up.
You were lying.
Speaker 5 (09:41):
I didn't just make that up. Some of what I
say on here, if you fact check, could be made up. No,
I mean, look to your point earlier. Like Carolina has
obviously had their struggles, you're also playing for Head a
lot of that game, so those run numbers.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Might be a little skewed.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
But Elana is also going to look at you know,
the Seahawks have struggled to stop their run.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
They you know, they've give up what is it, one.
Speaker 5 (10:01):
Hundred and seventy five or more yards hitting three games
this year, including two hundred and twenty eight last week.
So even though Atlanta feels like they have the firepower
to throw the ball if they need to, they threw
for over five hundred yards a couple of weeks ago
in that win over Tampa Bay. I'm sure we're going
to see them come test the Seahawks run defense and
see if I can hold up.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Yes, yes, they will again.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
I do think that last week's numbers skewed what we're
looking at in the run game, and give Seattle a
few extra days and sometime to fix communication.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
I think that looks better.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
And I think on the other side of it is
being able to get the run game going, because when
you look at the comparisons between these teams, Atlanta's given
up almost as many yards per game on the ground
as Seattle Lists. So there's a chance to get that going,
which John would help because in the last three games,
Seattle Lists played from behind in all but two quarters.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah. No, they that's it.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
Yeah, they tried, you know, obviously they barely ran the
ball the previous game, but they tried to run it
last week and they did. I think it was the
first three or four possessions were run, run, pass, run,
run pass. But eventually you get that far behind and
kind of the script goes out the window. So I
do think we'll see them try to get back to
getting ken Walker involve, getting the run game involved for sure.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
And when you have to pass, you are not facing
the same type of line that you have faced the
last three weeks. There have been some elite pass rushers
and disruptors. And I know that they traded for Matthew
Judon in August and he has not been that spark
that they were hoping for in Atlanta.
Speaker 4 (11:35):
In fact, I was trying to copy down some numbers.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
And I'm like, oh, his numbers look really good, and
then I realized what I was looking at was his
teammate right below him on the stat sheet. Because he's
not really flashed much at all.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
I hope he doesn't now, because we're going to blame
you for Jen If this is his breakout game with
the Falcons, it's not going to be.
Speaker 4 (11:55):
His breakout game. I think they're frustrated.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Look, here is the thing with the Falcons though they
have a true bend but don't break defense. And this
is a Raheem Morris coach team, right, and this is
part of what he is known for.
Speaker 8 (12:08):
Right.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
We've seen many people.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Come out of this tree and have this philosophy. They
give you yards, it's just a matter of what you
do with them.
Speaker 5 (12:15):
And they're good on the back end, so they're not
gonna be easy to throw against. Even though the pass
rush has not been there five sacks least in the league,
but that doesn't you look at that, and you look
at the run numbers, you might think there's a terrible defense,
but like points and total yards, they're not. They're kind
of middle of the pack because they're doing some things well.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
That's right, But they do have a couple of injuries
that they're dealing with on the back end.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Both of their safeties are heard.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Justin Simmons has a hamstring Micah Abernathy has a knee injury.
So I'm not really sure where they're what they're looking
at for Sunday, but you know, they've got some injuries there.
You mentioned pass rush isn't there. You know what it's
going to be challenging for Seattle to dial up it's
pass rush this week because we flip this around just
a little bit. You know, Kirk Cousins, we talk about
(12:59):
the reinvent that's happening in Minnesota. How about Kirk Cousins
in some ways reinventing himself with Atlanta and what he's
been able to do well.
Speaker 7 (13:09):
They do a great job of staying on schedule. There's
not many third downs in the breakdown. I think, you know,
there's their averaging. It feels like six or seven third
downs a game. So you need to win first down.
And it's not like they're just running every first down
as runs actions. They got a good tempo package. They
do a great job, so you got to be able
to knock out the runs they're presenting you on early
downs and then forcing them into passing situations. And again
(13:31):
we said, hey, the passing stats on offense is complimentary
how we're playing on defense. It's the same way. If
if we can get off to a fast start and
take the lead, you know, and if you have the
lead in the second half, then you know they're forcing
into passing situations as well. So it's kind of a
team approach.
Speaker 5 (13:47):
I also like it it just seems like it's been
he's really been embraced there, and he's embraced the whole
city and the team like it's it's kind of an
interesting fit. You bring this guy in late in his
career free agency, but you know it's early still, but
seems to be going well as he gets healthy. He's
coming off that Achilles injury. But yeah, I mean there's
a lot to like about his game and about again
(14:07):
going back to their own game, they've they've got the
ability to be pretty balanced and attack you different ways.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Mike McDonald mentioned the third downs. In fact, sixty four
third downs for Atlanta this year that is tied with
the sixth fewest. Now you can look at that one
of two ways. You can say, well, you know, they're
not staying on the field very much. You know, like
there's a whole bunch of things. They're one of the
best offensive teams in terms of total yards, so they
are getting those yards, as Michael Thumb said without even
(14:34):
getting to third down on that one. Yeah, so I
think that that certainly plays a factor.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah, this offense will test you for sure.
Speaker 3 (14:42):
And that offensive line that's been pretty good because Kirk
Cousins has only been sacked ten times this season. That's
among the league lowest, and he's still converting or completing
excuse me, sixty six percent of his passes. So yeah,
kind of funny. He was a little bit vilified I
think in Minneso. Now he's a hero.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
And you've see swagsurfing out there. He's what swagsurfing?
Speaker 1 (15:05):
What is that?
Speaker 5 (15:07):
I'm not going to try to describe it, but it's
a little It's an Atlanta thing, some dancing after the
game that they do. Oh, it's not just in a
lant thing. It's an old song help me out NASA
early two thousands, mid two thousands.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Yeah, I would say mid to late two thousands, okay,
blu Wayne. Oh yeah, the fans do it after the game.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Okay, Well, apparently I need to study up on this
because now I feel like I am far too old
or not hip, or I don't know what's happening right here.
I'd like to change the subjects. Can I please change
the subject? Can I please bring in our fantasy insider
Scott Engel, to save me from this conversation and tell
you what you need to know for your fantasy lineup
(15:46):
this week.
Speaker 8 (15:47):
Thanks Senn and John and we get ready for Week
seven in fantasy football. We helped you find the lineup
options and the streamers debt should need. We started running
back JK. Dobb of the Chargers twenty five carries last week.
Gets a good matchup with the Arizona Cardinals in NFL
Week seven. Also Chase Brown of the Cincinnati Bengals four
(16:10):
touchdowns from scrimmage in his last three games at wide receiver.
Let's go with the rookies. How about that Brian Thomas
Junior of the Jacksonville Jaguars in that Sunday morning game
against the New England Patriots. Good matchup we saw when
DK Metcalf did against the Patriots earlier this season. Also
Xavier Lagett of the Carolina Panthers two touchdowns in his
(16:34):
last three games. Good matchup against the Washington Commanders at quarterback.
The exciting game between the Lions and the Vikings. Sam
Darnold is a good streamer from Minnesota. Should be good
for at least two touchdown passes. Added. Tight end from
the Seahawks Noah fan in two of his last four
games six plus catches and sixty plus yards. If you
(16:58):
need a tight end streamer go No a fan of
the Seahawks. Check out more of my work more line
of options at Seahawks dot com, the News Tab, Fantasy Insider,
also rotobowler dot com and The Athletic. Back to you,
Jenn and John for Seahawks Falcons Week seven.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
All right, thank you, Scott. I think that was a
nice little break in the action.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Sure, how it's a nice break.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
I don't like to look at the schedule and make predictions,
but given how things are playing out in the NFL,
now that we are more than a quarter over the
way through the season, do you consider this week's game
a must win?
Speaker 1 (17:39):
I hate doing the must win thing because then.
Speaker 5 (17:41):
It's like and I love putting you on the spot
for that, because look, they're all important.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
It's cloch to say. But like, if if the Shares
do go.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
To Atlanta and lose and you say it's a must win,
are we giving up on the season after seven games? Like, no,
they're gonna be three and four if that happens. Obviously
you don't want to happen. But yeah, the schedule gets tough.
Buffalo is good. Rams are always a headache for I mean,
there's a lot of tough games in there, but trying
to look ahead at the NFL and predict things. I mean,
teams change, injuries happen. I think you just got to
(18:11):
go out and get ready for this one. But to
call it must win, I think you put yourself in
a bad situation if things don't go well of like,
oh no, we lost the must win game, season's over.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Yes, I would say I totally agree with that, because, right,
you don't just decide that you're not playing the rest
of the games and go home. Losing four in a
row again feels different. For sure, that becomes difficult. I
do think it is a critical juncture, and maybe more
than wins and losses, because if you take this down
to the basics and you go back to something that
(18:43):
you said before, this is a new system, they are
all learning, right, this is still part of an install.
As long as you show progress and feel confident moving forward.
I think that there's ways to get wins in the game,
regardless of what the final score is. But I do
think you need to start seeing some of those steps
and seeing a turnaround from what we've seen the last
(19:04):
three game.
Speaker 5 (19:04):
Oh for sure, Yeah, I mean you need to see
the progress in the run defense especially, you need to
see the offense stop turning the ball over. It's the
actually negative six in the turnover differential. Now that's not
how you win games. So there are things that, for sure,
I mean, win or lose, you want to see improvement in.
Those are two areas that are big.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
We did not even mention the fact that, yeah, it's
going to be tough to get the ball out, that
was one of those points of emphasis. But yeah, tough
to get the ball out given how they're playing them offense. Yeah,
maybe that will factor into the two things that you
need to tell me related to a Seahawks win. I'm
gonna buy you just a little bit of time as
we get a word from our presenting sponsor.
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Speaker 4 (20:13):
Okay, John, I bought you a little bit of time.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
What do you need if he didn't need it, he's
giving me this look like I didn't need it.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
You know, give me all the time to refine my thoughts.
I appreciate.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
Fine, refine your thoughts.
Speaker 5 (20:25):
Okay, all right, offensively, just get out of your own way.
I think this offense can be really good if I'm
going to say, don't turn the ball over, and you know,
let's minimize, if not get rid of the procedure penalties,
like you're going to have an occasional hold. If you
get beat, you're gonna you know, penalties happen. But stop
with the false starts, the illegal motion, the pre snap stuff. Defensively,
(20:47):
I want to seem to be really good on first
and second down.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
We talked about the Falcons don't have a lot of
third downs.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
We've also talked about the lack of takeaways, and two
ways to change both those things. Be good first and
second down, whether it's run or pass it, and put
them in the those third and medium, third and longs
where you can dial up the pass rush, you can
get some blitzes going, you can do some more exotic
things to a just help your defense off the field,
but be create some of those opportunities for turnovers, because
it's a lot harder to turn the ball over if
(21:13):
you're not affecting the quarterback exactly.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
I was gonna say, just minimize penalties altogether. Yes, we've
seen a lot of the procedure ones, but they are
among the most penalized teams in the league. You cannot
do that on the road, so I would piggyback on
that one. I would also say I want to see
two scores in the first half, and if I'm being
real greedy, I want to see two scores in the
first quarter because playing from ahead, especially when you have
more than a one score lead, that changes things a lot.
(21:38):
Because it's way too easy to say I want Ken
Walker to rush for one hundred yards. Yeah, I'd like to,
but you're gonna have to play with a lead in
order to do that. So getting points on your first
two drives I think will be critically important this week.
And I want to see somebody step up on defense
and have the game that we know they can have
(22:00):
Hm just hasn't been highlighted on film yet. And maybe
that's whoever's filling in for Rayshawn Jenkins. Maybe it's, you know,
one of those guys across the d line that flashes differently.
Speaker 4 (22:13):
But I just there.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
Needs to be a big game, the one where you're like,
he's the walk off interview, here's the podium, he's.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
The guy defensive player of the week. Maybe yes, yes,
that's player of the week.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Is there a belt for that? Do they get one
of those?
Speaker 3 (22:30):
We have a belt, belts and necklaces.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
We'll work on that.
Speaker 3 (22:35):
We'll work on that until until or while we do that,
we'll just say goodbye and we'll look forward to talking
to you next week on another edition of Seahawks Insiders
podcast