Best of Chuck & Buck 11-13

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Forty thousand channing MVP climb on un Chatterer couns ten sixty.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Home runs your MVP moment, cha.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
RM, Well, I don't know if any.

Speaker 4 (00:36):
Player topic was more discussed during the course of the
Major League Baseball season then who should win MVP. It
became pretty clear probably around the All Star break that
it was going to come down to Cal Raleigh of
the Seattle Mariners and Aaron Judge of.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
The mighty New York Yankees.

Speaker 4 (00:55):
And that conversation was held throughout the second half of
the season. And it's been talked about so much that
it's almost like two political parties at this point. You know,
it's the Catcher party and the whistle teeth party, because
you know, there's people have certainly chosen their guy.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
You're not really hearing a lot of you.

Speaker 4 (01:18):
You know, I'm still on the fence because it's been
discussed so much by now you if you know, if
you have the ability to draw an opinion at all,
you should have probably reached your opinion as to who
you think is going to win the Most Valuable Player award.
But the announcement's going to be made tonight. Obviously, we
can't wait to hear the result. We want to finally

(01:40):
have an answer to this question. I do know that
it's going to be tight. I do know i'd vote
for Cal, and I do believe Aaron Judge is probably
going to win it, just based off of the conversations
I've heard on MLB Network across their panel a lot
of different sports writers Bucky that are tied in to

(02:01):
a lot of other sports writers and feel like they've
got their finger on the pulse more so than I do.
But I think there's certainly a chance that I can
be pleasantly surprised. Cal's definitely got a chance to be
crowned MVP tonight. A good chance, Yeah, it does, and
rightfully so. I mean, I mean, I don't think it should.

Speaker 5 (02:19):
Be really as big of a debate. It's a wonderful debate,
and I mean, one thing I want to make perfectly
clear is when I'm saying I don't I don't think
it should be close. In my opinion, it's not close.
That's not taken away from Judge at all. Judge is spectacular.
I mean, Judge is unbelievable, but it's the idea of

(02:40):
to me, there's just a there's a bit of a
short sightedness or there's a there's parts of the numbers
that that people will look into that just plain and
simple can't tell the truth and the whole truth and
nothing but the truth. You know, are you gonna go
with judges steady, brilliance and amazing I mean, absolute, out
of this world VB MVP caliber without a doubt offensive numbers?

(03:05):
And then there's some people or the cal Rawley's you know,
his power surge, and it's like, but that doesn't that
a statement like that doesn't even come close to telling
the whole truth. It just doesn't to me. Cal Rawley's
home runs are impressive, and yes, should be recognized for
doing what he did that no catcher's ever done and
no switch hitters ever done. That's saying something right, But

(03:27):
at the same time, it's that's just a piece of it.
I mean just a piece, And I mean I ended
up spending time last night looking into a bunch of
different stuff that they're saying. The voters are going to
go into different saber metrics that you know, dial in
your you know, most of these offensive saber metrics are
going to be advantage judge, and understandably, so I mean
they hit three thirty and you know, drove in a

(03:50):
ton of runs. And still it's not like he hit
twenty homers and you're comparing them agains. Somebody hit sixty.
I mean, he still hit a ton of home runs
and drove in a bunch of guys. I mean, he
did unbelievably. It's he's definitely the more feared hitter at
the plate. It's just a most valuable player to me.
When they start looking into things, you're fielding runs or

(04:10):
whatever that what is it called the fielding runs average
or how many runs you save a game compared to
someone else, and it has because Aaron Judge is pretty
good in right field. Typically, it hasn't.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
Made use last year because he played d H a
lot because of his injury.

Speaker 5 (04:27):
But the numbers toill come out that he was a
four and that Calroy was a five. It's like, no, no, sorry,
they're not even close to one run difference over the
course of a full season of how much they helped
their team when they're on the defensive side of the ball.
And so it just there's a lot of it that
I think just gets to some degree overlooked how difficult

(04:49):
that position is. All of the things that you can't
put a number on, well, how you call a game
and all that stuff. You can't put a number on that,
And so to me, it's it shouldn't even be close.
Even though what Aaron Judge did that he needs to
be in any conversation about most valuable player period.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
Well, without a shadow of a doubt.

Speaker 4 (05:05):
There are things Cal Rawley does that they can't put
a number on, like, for example, how he affects every
single pitch thrown by the Mariner's pitching staff. You know,
he pretty much makes every decision on which pitch everybody
throws d throughout the course of the season. The leadership
that he brings, and Aaron Judge brings just as much leadership,

(05:26):
so we can make that clear. But but they don't
have a stat that can quantify how much value Cal's
knowledge of other hitters behind the plate brings to the table.
So literally, they can't calculate Cal's value defensively to Aaron Judge.

(05:46):
They don't have a number as many stats as they've
come up with. They don't have a stat to figure
out just how much he's helping his pitchers get through
hitters on a daily basis. But I do think that
it is very close. I mean, Aaron Judge has two
hundred plus points in OPS over cal and that's after
a sixty home run season. For goodness sake, he has

(06:09):
a two point fifteen OPS plus. That's one of the
greatest numbers in the history of the sport offensively, even war,
which is supposed to factor in everything. Aarons is nine
point seven, Cols is seven point four. I mean, that's
kasmic that gap. But as you said, there are some
things that those numbers just can't calculate. In regards to

(06:31):
cal Raley's value, I do definitively think cal Raley is
going to win the should win the MVP, but I
do think it's very close. I likened it to a
sprint yesterday. That's a mistake baseball season, everybody tells you.
As a marathon, I mean, you can definitively win a
marathon by fifteen yards and.

Speaker 3 (06:54):
That's still a very close race. You know, after.

Speaker 4 (06:56):
Twenty six miles of competing, you know, one one in Seattle,
one in New York. That's still a very close marathon
if it comes down to fifteen meters after you ran
twenty six miles and That's what I'd like in it too.

Speaker 6 (07:11):
Ashley, Yeah, no, I would agree, And I do think obviously,
as Bucky said, you know, one doesn't take away from
the other. Right, saying that you think Cal deserves it
over Judge or should win it over Judge or vice versa,
isn't taking away from the phenomenal performance that both of
these guys had this season.

Speaker 3 (07:27):
But I do think only one can win the trophy.

Speaker 7 (07:30):
Well, we think, right, that's true.

Speaker 3 (07:33):
It is especially right.

Speaker 7 (07:35):
He's like, let's go co that's my job, my thought.

Speaker 6 (07:37):
But I just think, yeah, as you guys were saying,
there's so many things that Cal does with every single
aspect of the game versus what Judge is doing, not
with every single aspect of the game, And those are
the things that push him over the top and should
push him over the top in most people's opinion, because
just because it's not something you can look at in
a stat call him on you know, ESPN dot Com,

(08:00):
doesn't mean that those things aren't equally as large of
a factor in every single game. And on top of it,
the where and Terry's putting on his body on every
single game.

Speaker 5 (08:09):
And I mean still hitting, he's playing a more demanding
position and was still posting every single day in the lineup,
whereas Aaron Judge had an injury. Not that to fault
him for it, but you weren't as really, you weren't
as as available as the dude that plays a position
that takes foul balls and has.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
To block our fastball. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (08:31):
And it's not the most offensive player award. It is
the most valuable player award, And to a t to
his team, Cal was a I think, far more valuable player,
far more.

Speaker 5 (08:44):
Yeah, I mean it's I'm glad we're going to get
to talk about it more. And I'm sure we'll talk
about it tomorrow more tomorrow, you know, once we find
out the results of it. I know it's close, and
I understand why because of how outstanding Judges offensive season one.
It just is when you take if it was like
you said, if you take it as the most outstanding

(09:08):
guy that walks into a batter's box, then it's Aaron Judge,
even though he didn't hit as many home runs and
didn't drive in as many runs, even though he didn't
do a couple things as well as Cal didn't do
put up the same offensive season that he did. It
just is not even a contest when you come to
comparing the other two, the other side of the equation
and then the third side, if you want to call

(09:29):
it that, which is the stuff you're talking about that
you can't put a number on the amount of effort
he puts into calling games, helping his pitchers set up
game plans before games, the beating that he takes. There's
just there's just not a when you're talking about strictly
value across the board, one is more valuable than the other.

Speaker 3 (09:48):
And that's cal Rawley.

Speaker 4 (09:49):
All right, we'll talk more about a little bit later
on in the show coming out next, A tale of
two wide receivers and why our guys Smelling like a Rose.
Sports Radio ninety three point three AJRFM. All right, here

(10:11):
we go, Chuck Poubluggy Jacobs and Ashley Ryan. We roll
into the seven o'clock hour Factor Fiction coming your way
at seven thirty five today, Softy Air in a matter
of moments, It's Thursdays with Softy on Sports Radio ninety
three point three KJRFM. But first we have your headlines.
They are brought to you by frost brewed cors like
Choose Chill. We will start with the National Football League

(10:32):
Seahawks getting ready to take on the Rams Sunday at
one o'clock. We got a roundtable to discuss it today
with Greg Bell and Hugh Millan at eight o'clock. Thursday
Night football gets started tonight the Jets taking on the
New England Patriots. Mike Sandal will be with us today
our NFL Insider at nine thirty to discuss that very
uninteresting matchup. And then I do want to I said

(10:53):
this in our first headline segment yesterday. The Dallas Cowboys
finally had a chance to mourn their teammates Marshawn Kneeling.
Brian Schottenheimer, who we know very well here in Seattle now,
the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, spoke about it
yesterday at the press conference, and I thought it was
worth playing here this morning for you, because, man, is

(11:13):
this is about as good as you can do it.

Speaker 3 (11:15):
Here's Brian Schottenheimer.

Speaker 8 (11:17):
I'd like to just take a few moments and offer
my condolences to you know, Marshawn's family, Catalina, his girlfriend,
and we had an opportunity last night to celebrate Marshawn's life.

(11:37):
Tell some stories share, laugh, cry. Marshawn loved the words
one love, so we talked a lot about love as
we grieve, and I just got a chance to really
share a couple of things that I'll miss the most
about Marshawn. Those top couple things was he had the

(12:00):
most playful spirit of any young man I've been around.
His smile could take you to your knees. And in
terms of him as an athlete, no one had a
better motor than him. So my heart is heavy, our
team's heart is heavy. We don't move on, but we

(12:22):
do move forward.

Speaker 4 (12:26):
Brian Schottenheimer yesterday, there was a little bit more to it,
which is really impactful. But Brian Schottenheimer, Yeah, I thought
he just handled it perfectly. I now understand why people
think so highly of that guy. At least that was
a nice job by him. I'm not going to transition
right like that into softy. Let's rip through the other
headlines for you. Husky's taking on Purdue this Saturday, and

(12:49):
this Friday tomorrow night, Husky's basketball taking on the Koogs
and Pullman Friday eight o'clock Tip number two Perdue versus Alabama.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
If you actually want to watch.

Speaker 4 (13:00):
A good sporting event tonight versus Thursday night football is
a very good game cracking and the Jets play tonight
at Climate Pledge Arena, and Paul Skins and Trek Scoubel
are your cy Young Award winners tonight, we know the
most valuable players in both the National and American leagues
joining us now to talk about that and many other things.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
Our guy David Soft.

Speaker 9 (13:21):
Joined the buckets of rain that are coming down outside
my house right now.

Speaker 4 (13:25):
Yeah, do you think you're gonna be talking about cal
Raley MVP tonight?

Speaker 10 (13:30):
We talked about that yesterday.

Speaker 9 (13:32):
You know, I have said for the last month and
a half I think he's gonna win it, and so yeah,
I think he's gonna win it, you know, But nobody
can be surprised or angry, I think on either side, right.
I mean, if you're a Yankee fan, you're pulling for Judge.
You're a Mariner fan, you're pulling for cal Raley. I mean,
I don't think any fan base can be pissed off
if their guy didn't win. I mean, for us from

(13:54):
our perspective, if caw doesn't get it done. Look, man,
Aaron Judge, I had an OPS two hundred points higher
than Cal. He had like thirty seven extra hits in
seven less games than cal Rawley did. Obviously, he's a
much more well rounded I think you guys would agree
with that offensive player. But when you factor in the
defense and the impact that cal Rawley had on the

(14:15):
sport and in his clubhouse, I don't know. I've just
had a funny feeling since the middle of September that
Cal is gonna win it, and I don't know if
I've heard anything from any potential voters that's made me
change my mind since the end of the regular season.
What do you think I mean if I if I
told you pick the winner of the MVP tonight, guys,
and if you're wrong, you're going to sleep on the

(14:35):
sidewalk for a week.

Speaker 10 (14:37):
Who do you take?

Speaker 4 (14:38):
I would pick Cal to win it, but I think
Aaron's going to edge him out slightly.

Speaker 3 (14:44):
That's my that's my feeling.

Speaker 9 (14:45):
Yeah, yeah, which is again, I'm not going to throw
a fit if that happens, right Like, I'm trying to
prepre myself and prepare everybody that if Aaron Judge wins,
it's not some I don't think it's some highway criminal robbery.
If Aaron Judge wins the MVP, I mean he's in
I'm laevable player, and the the MVP is supposed to
go to the best player in baseball, regardless of where

(15:06):
their team finished. I think a lot of people would
agree with that it's the best player. I mean, you
and I are old enough to remember when Andre Dawson
won the MVP on the last place Cubs team forty
years ago, right in eighty seven the Hawk.

Speaker 10 (15:18):
He was amazing, man. So hey, look I get it.

Speaker 9 (15:20):
You know, maybe there's some Yankee fatigue that will help
out Cal.

Speaker 10 (15:23):
But I don't know, man.

Speaker 9 (15:25):
We've been talking about this for a while in the
year with the Heisman, and maybe it's tend to do
a baseball with how many teams are making the playoffs, guys,
that maybe we should start including the postseason when it
comes to voting for the MVP as well.

Speaker 4 (15:36):
You're taking a little level out an approach. Ashley and
Bucky both threatened to kidnap Aaron Boone and hold him
for ransom.

Speaker 3 (15:42):
Yeah, Cal doesn't win, it.

Speaker 9 (15:44):
Just goes to show you how wacko those people are.
I mean, let's be honest.

Speaker 7 (15:48):
There are other things, but I'm not allowed to say that.

Speaker 9 (15:50):
Actually has got a lot of I mean, the engine
is running, but there's nobody behind the wheel.

Speaker 10 (15:53):
Yeah, just be honest.

Speaker 3 (15:54):
A couple wacko nut Johns.

Speaker 7 (15:56):
You're not the first person to say that.

Speaker 3 (15:57):
What I got to deal with every day, there's not
from Mark.

Speaker 5 (16:00):
By the way, Oh, there's not a lot of time. Yeah,
there's there's not a lot of times that I'll get
super frustrated, especially about something like this that really is
neither here nor there. I mean, it'd be nice to
win an MVP, but yeah, I think Cal would rather
If you asked Cal, hey, would you rather win a
World Series and not win the MVP or not win

(16:22):
the World Series and but you get that trophy, he
wouldn't even be close. So totally it's but I yeah,
I don't know if I want to sleep on the sidewalk,
but I might be stomping up and down some sidewalks.

Speaker 9 (16:33):
Interesting, mad, Yeah, I mean, look, the guy's a stud man,
no doubt. I mean, you know the uh amount of
time he spent behind the dish. I mean he's the
captain of the team. I mean, you guys, I've told
you guys the exact moment in time that I fell
in love with Cal Rowley is when he called out
the baseball team when they missed the playoffs in twenty three.
Scott Service told him to calm down. That's the exact

(16:55):
day that Scott's Service lost me. In the exact day
I turned a a I over to cal Remember the
movie The Natural when Roy Hobbs struck out the Whammer
and Barbara Hershey went from stocking the Whammer to stocking
Roy Hobbs. Yeah, at that exact second, that was you.
That's that was me, man, I was I was Barbara
Hershey when I could not believe it. Yeah, could not, Bucky.

(17:16):
I mean, you played the game. Can you imagine a
former catcher as this guy's manager and he's showing all
that emotion, all that passion after missing the playoffs. He's
pissed off, he's angry, and his manager tells him to
control himself, get out of here.

Speaker 5 (17:30):
Well, yeah, because that manager was best buddies with the
guy he was calling out. And now, I bet if
you asked Scott's Service, do you regret that now? He's like, no,
I was thinking the same damn thing.

Speaker 10 (17:40):
Yeah, I just was my blood still to this day.

Speaker 4 (17:42):
I just want to point out, by the way, to
our listeners and maybe to you, maybe you need to
hear this. You do know, Barbara Hershey ended up shooting
Roy Hobbs.

Speaker 9 (17:50):
Yes, okay at all? Yeah, unless Cay Rowley wants to
take like twenty years off and then come back and
play at the age of forty five with the bull
has got a game winning home run to put the
M's in the World Series.

Speaker 3 (18:02):
No, we got to win the World Series. That would
be incredible.

Speaker 4 (18:05):
Yeah right, all right, Well, uh, let me ask you,
since Bucky's already thinking about stomping up and down the sidewalks,
were you were you stomping up and down the sidewalks
when I lumped you into my little lesson in how
you can't go by head to head so heavily in
college football playoff basketball.

Speaker 9 (18:23):
I mean, I gotta be honest with you, and I
don't know how else to say it, so I'll just
say it. Your argument that you had yesterday for people
that are mad about you can't just go head to
head and all that stuff. I've never said that on
the air like ever, so I don't even know where
that came from.

Speaker 10 (18:39):
No, you said it.

Speaker 4 (18:39):
We were talking and you were like, you couldn't believe
a couple of weeks ago the one team wasn't rated
when they beat them head down.

Speaker 9 (18:45):
I got, I've got problems with the pull overall, okay,
But to just go strictly on head to head dot
down the.

Speaker 10 (18:53):
Top twenty five, I totally agree with that shot.

Speaker 9 (18:56):
I mean, just because you beat one team doesn't mean
you got a better overall resume than that team. You
should apology. Yeah, I spent the entire night just stewing. Man,
I was mean to my wife, I was impatient with
my dogs. I hung up the phone on my mom.
The dogs terrible mood because of your ridiculous cockamami accusation
from yesterday's show.

Speaker 10 (19:17):
But here's my problem with the poll.

Speaker 9 (19:19):
My problem really is with the ap poll and not
even the CFP, to be totally honest with you. First
of all, I find it ridiculous that teams are getting
rewarded with head starts during the preseason for things they
haven't earned yet.

Speaker 10 (19:31):
Like I'll give you an example.

Speaker 9 (19:33):
Notre Dame has one win over a top twenty five
team in USC They're number nine in the country right now.
You know why because they began the year at number six.
How about the Iowa Hawk guys, the Iowahaw guys. You
saw this, Bucky, They pushed your ducks to the limit,
baby on Saturday in Iowa City. They're six and three.
They got three losses by ten points combined to Indiana
Oregon in Iowa State. They're not even ranked in the

(19:55):
AP Pole anymore. You know why, partially because they began
the year at number five, forty four in the country.
Tennessee began the year in the top twenty five. They're
six and three. They've beaten nobody, and they're still in
the top twenty five. So I think these teams that
get these head starts over the offseason, I think it's ridiculous.
I'm glad the AP Pole doesn't play any role whatsoever

(20:17):
in selecting these teams, unless, like me, you're a little
bit convinced and maybe concerned that the committee is slightly
influenced by the eight peopole when they make their initial selections,
which I think they possibly are influenced by the AP Pole,
and I don't think they should be whatsoever. So look,
the AP Pole is never going away. It's a third

(20:38):
party entity. They make many off it. It's a great
news organization, as John Wilner has said over and over again.
But the only freaking poll that matters is the one
that came out last week for the first time, and
that's the c IF popole.

Speaker 10 (20:49):
The APO pole, in my opinion, needs to die. That's it.

Speaker 5 (20:54):
I'm with you, I'm with you. That's you just kind
of put it the way. That's one frustrating to me.

Speaker 10 (21:00):
One more? Can I add one more?

Speaker 3 (21:02):
Yes?

Speaker 10 (21:02):
Please?

Speaker 9 (21:03):
How in the hell do you guys beat Iowa and
then flip spots with Ole Miss who beat the Citadel?

Speaker 4 (21:10):
They didn't flip spots. All Miss was in the AP
poes again.

Speaker 9 (21:15):
In the AP pole, they absolutely flip spots, which is why, like,
what are we doing?

Speaker 3 (21:19):
Man?

Speaker 10 (21:19):
Why do we even bother with the A P Pole?

Speaker 9 (21:21):
I mean, guys, how often do you look at the
coaches poll these days?

Speaker 10 (21:24):
Never? Right?

Speaker 9 (21:25):
Ever, that's the way the AP polls gotta go the
way the coaches pull right down the toilet.

Speaker 3 (21:30):
So you don't want any polls at all during the regulation.

Speaker 9 (21:32):
Only poll that I want, the only poll that I want,
is the CEFP poll that comes out in the early
part of November.

Speaker 4 (21:41):
That's where I completely disagree. That's why I like the polls.
I like the numbers, and I like the conversation around
the numbers. Do you have a problem with them?

Speaker 3 (21:48):
Great, But I.

Speaker 4 (21:49):
Think we need the numbers. I think we would miss
the numbers if we didn't have that. I think you
would miss the numbers.

Speaker 9 (21:54):
I think a lot of people would agree with you.
But I also think you're smart enough to know who's
good and who's not. And again, I think in the NFL,
for example, we don't need preseason rankings to tell us
who's good and who's bad. In the NFL, we watched
the sport because we love the sport, and I agree
with you initially, Chuck, it would be odd because it's
all we know. But eventually they go away, and the

(22:15):
only poll you have is the one that comes out
in the second week in November.

Speaker 10 (22:19):
You'd get used to it.

Speaker 4 (22:20):
The Dogs did not remain ranked for very long. What
the hell happened in Madison?

Speaker 9 (22:25):
Disgrace, disgrace. They they gave it away everything Wisconsin had.
They gave it away three scoring drives that all began
inside the Husky fifty yard line. Thought the defense was
actually pretty damn good man. I mean, the defense gave
up the one touchdown when Wisconsin got the ball on
the seven yard line and they couldn't stop him from
getting out of the end zone. Bad special teams punting

(22:47):
was terrible. Some of the decisions by Demon Williams. And
there's a reason for it. He's nineteen years old. He
hasn't figured out the road thing yet. We're terrible. The
interception to des Roebuck, it was obvious that that annoyed
the coaching staff. That's a mistake he can't make. Throwing
that ball down the field third and twelve, scrambling, turning
his back away from the defense and dropping the pill.

(23:08):
You want to go down and just go down and
punt and live to see another day. But you know,
this offense for me, and I'll just say this, I
think they're a bit of a paper tiger, right.

Speaker 10 (23:20):
I mean, I don't know what else to say.

Speaker 9 (23:21):
Like some of the numbers look great, you know, overall,
but then you look at the way they've played on
the road at Michigan and at Wisconsin for an entire
half against Maryland Ohio State. I mean, if they're really
one of the elite offenses in football, they're not going
to play four games like that where they just get
totally shut down, totally shut down by the opponent. You know,

(23:46):
maybe it happens once and you play the number one
team in the country, Okay, whatever, you can excuse it.

Speaker 10 (23:51):
But this is now three or four.

Speaker 9 (23:52):
Times, guys, where their offense hasn't even shown up in
a game. And that's not the mark of an elite offense.
So I don't even really care what the numbers say
overall nationally, guys. I just think that they're they're kind
of a paper tiger. And when it comes to how
elite people really think they.

Speaker 3 (24:08):
Are, Yeah, I'm with you. I thought, I know you
agree with that book.

Speaker 5 (24:12):
Yeah, but I mean I don't have the disdain that
most Duck fans do for UW.

Speaker 3 (24:18):
You know that.

Speaker 5 (24:18):
And so to me, it was just I thought it
was preemptive. I thought that there was a wow, number
one offense in the country, and it's like, but they
there's things that I think are going to come back
to haunt them. And this week, this past weekend, was
one of those games. So, I mean, Demon Williams, We've
talked a lot about him. He's unbelievably explosive and fantastic
to watch when things are clicking, But what is it

(24:40):
when you're watching him right now? Because if if it
is a paper tiger, at times it looks like a tiger,
and other times it looks very paperish, paper mache ish,
And so I'm wondering, what is it that you think
most he needs to grow up with.

Speaker 9 (24:54):
I think they're putting way too much on his plate period,
end of story. I think he's a nineteen year old quarterback,
and I think they're putting way too much on his shoulders.
They don't have a running game right now at all.
They have no consistent wide receiver even really behind Denzel Boston,
and Denzel Boston's been up and down himself at times
this year. They're relying on a ton of freshmen Desmond Roebuck,

(25:15):
Raden Vines Bright, for example. They have no tight end
at all, none, no pass catching tight end on this
football team whatsoever. Their offensive line obviously has been banged up,
and that's certainly a part of it. But I just
think the identity of the football team, the responsibility to
move the ball and score points, falls on the shoulders
of a nineteen year old kid.

Speaker 10 (25:34):
I think it's too much they're just putting too much
on his plate.

Speaker 9 (25:37):
Like, go back and look at the twenty twelve Seahawks,
for example, when Russell Wilson was a rookie, he had
the league's highest paid offensive line. He had Marshawn Lynch,
Michael Robinson, Sydney Rice, Doug Baldwin, Golden Tate, and Zach Miller.

Speaker 10 (25:48):
He did not have to do anything.

Speaker 9 (25:50):
I mean, obviously he played great, but he had an
incredible supporting cast. And I understand Bucky why that is
at Washington because the roster two years ago got blown
bits when Kitlyn Demore took off for Alabama, and there
just hasn't been enough time, I think, to rebuild the
offense to give a quarterback those types of pieces yet. Right,

(26:10):
Let's see what happens a year or two years from now.
But just overall, I think they're putting way, way, way
too much of the responsibility on the shoulders of a
nineteen year old kid.

Speaker 4 (26:20):
I'm gonna just skip Perdue entirely this week because I've
been wanting to ask you this all week long and
I only got like a minute and a half.

Speaker 3 (26:26):
If that is Chris Peterson done done? Yeah, he has done.

Speaker 9 (26:31):
Yeah, I'd be very surprised if he came back to
coach college football.

Speaker 4 (26:35):
If he hadn't removed himself for four years just to
kind of gauge how nil was gonna work, and then Okay,
I think I can manage it now.

Speaker 9 (26:42):
You never say never, right, But I mean I was
just talking to him like three weeks ago, and he's
doing other stuff, right, And I think I'd be less
surprised if Nick Saban came back. I mean, Nick Saban
honestly has stayed way more involved in college football, as
you know, than Chris Peterson has. So I'd be fairly
surprised if Pete got back in the game.

Speaker 3 (27:03):
Ok.

Speaker 10 (27:03):
Why you want to bring him back?

Speaker 3 (27:04):
Well, I don't know.

Speaker 4 (27:05):
I mean just saw this fish talk this week and
I'm like, uh, well, why steal somebody else when we've
got somebody right here.

Speaker 9 (27:11):
He seems like the kind of guy that maybe he
would come back on an interim basis if something happened
in the middle of the year or late in the
game over the offseason, Like God, was it Barry Alvarez
that went back to Wisconsin to be like their interim
ad Remember that for a while, I think.

Speaker 4 (27:29):
He was their ad for a long time. I think
he was their AD and then became the interim head coach.

Speaker 10 (27:33):
Okay a little.

Speaker 9 (27:34):
While, Yeah, something along those lines. But you know what
I'm talking about. Like we've seen you know, names, name
coaches come back. Name AD's come back and see I'll
help you out for a while, maybe do something like that.

Speaker 10 (27:44):
But I'd be pretty surprised if he came back.

Speaker 3 (27:47):
For good to know, good to know.

Speaker 4 (27:48):
All right, you the man, thank you very much. We
appreciate anything. I need to plug this quickly.

Speaker 9 (27:53):
Let's say we're at the five twenty Mike, call him
Grin Rick new heisl today David Sampson.

Speaker 10 (27:58):
You guys know Dave the former is the Marlins.

Speaker 9 (28:01):
He'll join us in the five o'clock hour and by
then we'll well, no, no, if it's Kyle Rawley or
Aaron Judge. So that should be announced around four o'clock
this afternoon.

Speaker 3 (28:10):
All right, saleo to the wife and dogs. Okay, guys,
all right, see see.

Speaker 4 (28:14):
David Softy mall that joining us right here on Chugging
Buck in the morning's coming up next Factor Fiction at
seven thirty five.

Speaker 3 (28:20):
And here's another thing, a new wrinkle to.

Speaker 4 (28:22):
The old ram Seahawks rivalry and I'm not sure everybody's
aware is going to exist this Sunday, but it will.
Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM, the most important
roundtable of our lives is coming your way at eight o'clock. Yes,
those two guys are gonna join us to talk about
the Seahawks and Rams. I'm sure we've had a bigger,
more impactful playoff round table in the past with these guys,

(28:46):
but I'm a prisoner of the moment. Oh okay, this
feels like the most important thing right now, Okay, right now,
all right, I agree, But because.

Speaker 5 (28:53):
You made me more nervous than normal, I get really
nervous talking to these two. And then when you throw
that on top of it, Yeah, I'm like what, I'm sure.

Speaker 4 (29:02):
We did a playoff round table at one point, but
it does right now.

Speaker 3 (29:08):
All that matters is the Rams. That's just how I operate.
Oh yeah, good for you.

Speaker 5 (29:12):
Yeah, I don't think about things in the past can
change it, That's right, It's just whatever is in front
of me, and I just.

Speaker 3 (29:18):
Put everything into it. Good for you, so good, So Greg, Hugh.
I think they feel the same way.

Speaker 4 (29:26):
I think Hugh was just chewing on glass this morning,
getting ready for his his analysis today, Greg Bell breaking
through walls.

Speaker 3 (29:34):
You know, Greg is Yeah, so not calm at all. Cold,
not a head cold could keep that guy down.

Speaker 4 (29:41):
So eight to nine, we'll have them join us to
talk to Seahawks Rams for one entire hour, all right,
in the meantime, I mean, yes, we're getting ready for
this game. This has been on my mind a little bit,
and I don't even know. I mean, I've been looking
it up, and you find different information everywhere. But for
for whatever reason, I don't know why this is happening

(30:04):
everywhere I look, Aaron Donald keeps popping up. And Aaron
Donald looks as good physically as he ever has in
his entire life. Like he looks like he could put
on a uniform and be a pro bowler Sunday if

(30:25):
he wanted to. That's how good he looks. I mean,
he retired very early after years of dominating this he Hawks.
You want to shake up the rivalry. I think he
has been retired longer than his contract with the Rams.

(30:45):
Let's go get him. Yeah, my kid, try to kidnap him.
Let's go sign him. Let's go make an offer. He
can't refuse. Let's go get Aaron Donald. Let's up this rivalry.
And I mean, like before Sunday.

Speaker 7 (31:05):
Let's watch him wreck their crap.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
Now that's silly.

Speaker 4 (31:07):
I mean obviously can't, but honestly, like he I know
he keeps saying over and over and over he's not
going to play again. Why is he working out so
damn hard? Why is he suddenly going to football games?
Why is he suddenly going on ANFL podcast? Maybe he's
got the itch to play again. And I think, and

(31:27):
I don't know this for a fact, there's various things,
different reports about how these contracts work. But I think
once he's been retired longer than his contract was with
the team he left, he is a free agent and
he can sign with any team now maybe not, maybe
only the Rams who he could come back to. And

(31:48):
my guess is that he probably would if he did
come back from retirement. I don't think he left on
bad terms with the Rams. I think he still lives
in Los Angeles. He'd probably suit up for the Rams.
So I don't want to put any thoughts in his
head because I don't want him suiting up for the
Rams this year. But this is somebody that I'm telling you,
within two weeks is playing Pro Bowl caliber defensive line.

(32:10):
So let's go get him. Let's really pull a fast
one on the old Rams. Let's shake up this rivalry.
Come on, John, you got a silver tongue. Come on,
Mike McDonald, you got the best defensive mind and all
of football. Imagine what Aaron, what you could convince you
could do with Aaron Donald. Come on, Seattle, you know,

(32:30):
let's let's all join together and sing a song at
the holiday time to make a miracle happen. Let's hat
Aaron Donald suit up for the Seahawks before the season
comes to it today.

Speaker 3 (32:43):
Everybody would shake it up.

Speaker 7 (32:45):
And he is a free agent as of twenty twenty four.

Speaker 3 (32:50):
Well, I read that too, but I've also read that
the I don't know. You might be right, you might
be wrong.

Speaker 7 (32:57):
Yeah, I've read different things this morning.

Speaker 5 (32:59):
Yeah, yeah, I don't know what the contract thing. I
don't know if that would matter. My first wrestlers.

Speaker 3 (33:06):
And he came back like with a mask on Andre
the Giant.

Speaker 5 (33:10):
Basically and came to the sea the Rams anyway, he
wrote to us, But he wore like a mask or
like Hulk Cogan.

Speaker 4 (33:17):
Did he just you know, you know, dyed his goatee,
you know, came back as a different wrestler, right right, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (33:25):
Just he could do that.

Speaker 5 (33:26):
I mean, I suppose, I think, because boy, that would
shake it up. That would be unbelievable, I think at
this point. Yeah, I think it would be really very
bright on his part, and I think he is pretty
bright to just be like, yeah, I kind of wanted
to step away, just take care of my body, and
now I just like he's a different breed.

Speaker 3 (33:47):
Obviously.

Speaker 4 (33:48):
Michael Jordan stepped away twice. Michael Jordan stepped away twice
and was so desperate to get back to the competitive
spirit that he played for the Wizards for goodness sake.
I mean, boxer retire thirteen times because they think they're
ready and then all of a sudden one day they're like,
I can't replace the high of playing, of fighting somebody

(34:08):
or playing football or whatever the case. Plenty of people
have come out of retirement that are a lot worse
shape than Aaron Donald looks like right now, he looks
like he's preparing to play football.

Speaker 5 (34:18):
Mm. Yeah, well he's He's a lot closer to it
than most people. Right after the retire half the football
players like shrink. They just turn in like what you
were an offensive lineman. You're not even You're.

Speaker 3 (34:29):
Like a shadow of yourself.

Speaker 5 (34:31):
I think he probably would be like, yeah, I'll come
back and be a Ram again.

Speaker 3 (34:35):
And so I don't even know if you like putting
this out in the universe.

Speaker 6 (34:38):
Here's the thing is that he has repeatedly said his
passion for the game is gone. So I blame the
Rams for that. So if I'm him, I'm not going
to go sign with the team that made me lose
my passion for the game. I need to play for
a new team and then kindle.

Speaker 5 (34:51):
That's a phenomenal point. I think he lost his passion
because it was like too easy.

Speaker 3 (34:56):
No, I think it was crap. Every single year.

Speaker 6 (35:00):
You can reckon the same people's crap. I got to
turn it around and wreck the Rams crap. That'll be
the full circle.

Speaker 3 (35:05):
You know what.

Speaker 4 (35:06):
I'm going to take this further. Ashley has inspired me.
We're going to sign Aaron Donald. As a matter of fact,
play the breaking news. It's just breaking news audio areas.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
I got news.

Speaker 4 (35:18):
Just this and not kJ R is ready to announce that.
I don't know when, or how or what's going to happen,
but it is unofficially official. Aaron Donald is a Seahawks
very unofficially.

Speaker 7 (35:31):
Yeah, let's focus on the unofficially.

Speaker 3 (35:33):
Unofficially unofficial lead.

Speaker 4 (35:35):
He's signing with the Seahawks right as we speak.

Speaker 7 (35:38):
It makes, oh boy, a very little amount of sense.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
I think he's going to help our defense.

Speaker 5 (35:44):
Yeah, it makes a ton of sense if you're a
Seahawks fit. It makes no sense for any other person involved.

Speaker 7 (35:50):
I love it, though, Let's do it.

Speaker 3 (35:52):
I can't believe we got Aaron Donald today.

Speaker 7 (35:53):
I can't believe this is just happening right now as
we speak.

Speaker 3 (35:56):
Can't believe he's a Seahawks. This is awesome. I'm getting
a jersey round table next on kJ ART. All right,
good morning to you.

Speaker 7 (36:16):
It is a.

Speaker 4 (36:17):
Thursday, it is eight o'clock. It is time to assemble
the top analysts in town. Are Insider. Greg Bell is
here r QB one, Hugh Millan is here, Ashley Bucky
Chuck with you, twelve man round table time. And it
is the biggest game yet of the season for the
Seattle Seahawks. We're getting ready to chop it up for
an hour here with Greg and Hugh and I just

(36:39):
want to start by apologizing to Greg. I stepped on
your toes a little bit. I just broke some news.
I know this is your area, but I am announcing
that the Seahawks are going to sign Aaron Donald. I
just decided to do it. I don't have any information
you all, but I just decided i'd do it.

Speaker 3 (36:56):
Yeah. Okay, okay, okay. I think use him.

Speaker 4 (37:00):
I think he'd be a nice help. He's in good shape. Yeah,
he's still in great shape. But I think that he
hates the Rams now. I think that he'd likes to
play for a defensive coach and not one of them
stilly offensive coaches for once.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
Uh So, anyway, I'm throwing it out there.

Speaker 4 (37:14):
We're signing Aaron Donald. So anyway, may want to do some,
may want to do some.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
Yeah, I'm supposed to go follow the lead on.

Speaker 4 (37:26):
Yeah, I'll leave some bread crumbs for you. You follow him,
you do the rest. Okay, Uh, I've heard worse.

Speaker 3 (37:34):
All right, Well let's get it started.

Speaker 4 (37:36):
Man, What a game, what a matchup we've got on Sunday?
And uh and Hugh, I mean I could tell on
Monday you couldn't wait to start talking about these two
coaches going head to head, these minds getting ready to meet,
and so here we are on Thursday. There's no I
don't even know if we played a game this past week.
All I'm focused on is the Rams. So McDonald versus McVeigh,

(37:57):
How excited are you to watch this chess match?

Speaker 3 (37:59):
Couldn't be more excited?

Speaker 11 (38:01):
I just get echo, yes, but I couldn't be upside
And so you just look at it's not just the
coaching matchup. I even go as so far as Lesnie
the GM versus John Schneider and some of the decisions
they've made. But but with you know, and and Sam Donold,

(38:22):
you know, his his nemesis is one playoff game was
was just a few months back against these Rams. So
I think that he's got a little bit of a
monkey on his back. I'm excited to watch him. But
you know, when you think about John Schneider and the
decision they made to let Pete Carroll walk, and you know,
it was thought that hey, we got to get maybe

(38:42):
Ben Johnson to get a similar you know, an elite
offensive mine.

Speaker 3 (38:46):
Maybe he would be the guy.

Speaker 11 (38:47):
But I think that once they sat down with Mike McDonald,
they were singularly focused on. No, the way we're going
to win this NFC West against these brilliant minds and
Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan is we're gonna get equal
brilliance on the opposite side of the ball. And all
of the data prior to that and all of the
data after that have have proven, in my opinion that

(39:08):
that was, you know, the right decision called a great decision,
love the path of the defense. And so you know,
you you've got some titans. I mean, this is Bobby
Fisher against big Blue IBM. I mean, you know in
a chess matchic you can't you can't get any bigger,
greg in terms of of of just kind of a

(39:29):
divisional matchup and the coaching battle on one on one
side of the ball versus the other. I bet man,
it's going to be great, great theater, Gregor.

Speaker 4 (39:39):
He was fired up for it as what we are
just to watch from a football perspective, just to see
these two go ahead.

Speaker 3 (39:45):
That I mean, the first year, rookie year.

Speaker 4 (39:46):
Mike McDonald has a little learning curve, but right now
he seems to be humming, and we know mcveigh's always humming.

Speaker 2 (39:52):
Yeah, I'll be honest, there I'm doing I've been doing
this a couple of days now, twenty plus years, and
when I get on planes on some weekend in November, it's.

Speaker 3 (40:01):
Like, I won't mind this trip.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
This is I'm getting on a plane to LA on Saturday,
and I'm going to see something that should be very fascinating.

Speaker 3 (40:10):
He's right.

Speaker 2 (40:11):
The reason they hired Mike McDonald is to win this game.
They decided the most broken part of their team was
what had once gotten them to the Super Bowl twice
in a row, and that's their defense and Yp Carroll
was no longer their coach. Is that the defense had
faltered so poorly.

Speaker 3 (40:26):
Remember when they.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
Hired Mike McDonald, they were thirtieth, thirty, first, thirty second
in the league for a couple of years against the run.
You know what they are now they're number one. And
that's where it starts. When you play the Rams. Everyone
gets Sean McVay his kudos and flowers for his past game,
his quick pass game and what he made Hooper Cup
and Matthew Stafford and all the crossers and horizontal games

(40:50):
you play with defenses, but it starts with the run
and the threat to run that allows all that stuff
to work and give the quarterback time to throw and
in game after game after game over the years against
the Seahawks, the Rams have it doesn't matter who the
running backs have been, third, fourth string guys off the
practice squad, Kyrine Williams, it doesn't matter. The same results

(41:11):
they established the run. They have thirds and shorts, second
in shorts, and the Seahawks are on their heels defensively
the entire time screen passes Tyler Higbee tight ends thirteen
person All of that stems off the fact that they
had short guardage on second and third down to do
whatever they wanted in mcveigh's playbook.

Speaker 3 (41:29):
McDonald this year so far has.

Speaker 2 (41:30):
Limited offensive play callers to third and longs because they've
stopped the run on early downs and that has allowed
McDonald to dictate.

Speaker 3 (41:40):
To two offenses on third down.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
All of it that we've been talking about since September, Guys,
doesn't matter if they don't beat the Rams. If they
don't beat the Rams, they're not winning the division. They're
not having home playoff games, not going to Super Bowl.
I know they've been great on the road, they're not
winning three games on the road. In January to go
to Super Bowl.

Speaker 3 (41:57):
They just aren't.

Speaker 2 (41:58):
The history of the NFL and the history of the
seat so tells us that. So this is what they've
been building toward, and it's the times of beating the
Steelers and the Saints and the Cardinals twice.

Speaker 3 (42:07):
It's over.

Speaker 2 (42:09):
Now it's time to beat the teams that you have
to to win the division. In the first one of
those Sunday, we'll see how McDonald's and his defense does
against McVeigh in that setting.

Speaker 11 (42:17):
I fee I lot to go to respond to their
First of all, I feel like Seattle needs to split
with the Rams. I don't feel like if they were
to lose this game Sunday that that prevents them from
winning the division. Obviously we're all hoping that they will.
But you know, Greg touched on the thirteen personnel that's

(42:39):
one running back, three tight ends. That is, the Rams
are number one in the use of that to Greg's
point about their desire to run the ball. Now, Seattle,
their cold run play percent is Seattle at fifty two,
they're number one in the NFL. But the Rams are eight,

(43:01):
you know, you know, forty three percent but still eighth
and and so uh, Yeah, you have to get them
in the too, the longer yardage situations and those thirteen personnel.
Let's see Seattle. I think an important part of this
Seattle's number one in defensively in the use of nickel
eighty six percent of the time. But their nickel has changed.

(43:23):
The nickel a lot was uh with Devin Witherspoon, you know,
one hundred and eighty one pounder was the the nickel.
Now with Nickim and Worry two hundred and twenty pounds,
they can play. They can play in the paint, hardball
in the paint more with the nickel that they have,
So it's not just nickel's how is your nickel constructed?

(43:46):
And when Sean mccavay wants to go to those heavy sets, look,
Seattle may ultimately be compelled to say we we we
got to play bass and have three linebackers on the field,
and they're not they're they're they're nicked up at linebacker.
But uh, if they want to play the nickel, as
I mean that's eighty six percent of the time they
want to play nickel, they can based on the talent

(44:06):
they've acquired here with the Eamon Worry at popping Devin
Witherspoon out there to play corner.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
The last four weeks, when the Rams have beaten everybody
by fourteen or more points, just boat racing the entire league,
They've been in thirteen personnel with three tight ends forty
percent of the time, almost half the time. Half the time.
Now the teams they've been playing have been going to
base defense against that, including the San Francisco forty nine
ers last week. Their answer to three tight ends has

(44:33):
been debased so far.

Speaker 12 (44:35):
Mike McDonald's answer to three tight ends has been nickel
and dime against thirteen. This season, McDonald's been in nickel
or dime fifty eight percent of the time, which leads
to huston an eighty six percent time against any formation
there in nickel but there, McDonald is gonna give McVeigh
something on Sunday he hasn't been seeing, which is extra

(44:57):
defensive backs against his three tight ends. Nick Emon worry
is the reason you can go nickel and dime against
three tight ends. He's a two hundred and twenty pounds
and sixty four big enough to take on Tyler Higbee
and tight ends around the league. Yet he's fast enough
and sure enough to make tackles in the open field
like Witherspoon and oh by the way, they're gonna blitz
him off the edge a few times as well too,

(45:19):
pla him as a post Sakety to play him as
a slot corner. They're gonna play him in different ways
that McVeigh hasn't seen yet. Emon Worry and Witherspoon coming
back healthy gives McVeigh a lot more to have to
digest When he goes thirteen personnel, He's gonna see some
sub packages and nickel and dime. McDonald's even floating now there.

Speaker 2 (45:38):
He's gonna do more dime this week because of how
neami Pritchett played against Arizona. He wanted I led him
into a question on Monday that I know he wanted
out publicly, so McVeigh could hear. Yeah, we may do
more dime because I can't keep pritching off the field.
He may not do it as much as he tried
to bleed on so McVeigh. But the point is Seattle's
defense could be far more varied than what McVeigh has

(45:59):
been attacking with his extra tight end so far. That's
another game within a game.

Speaker 11 (46:02):
Well, as we're talking personnel. I think a point in
this is the is Davante Adams. Now, if Davante Adams
is your number two receiver, you know, like like that guy. Now,
I get it, he's older, but he has a potential
to really impact a game in my opinion. Still, And
you know, to that point, the Rams for the season offensively,

(46:27):
they're eleven personnel, which is the number one personnel for
every team in the NFL other than Baltimore. They're at
sixty eight points called sixty nine percent, that's sixth most.
They may have Greg been going to thirteen, you know,
the more of the tight end sets and leaving the
one receiver Pooka nakup on the field because they didn't

(46:50):
have a healthy Adam. So I don't you know, you
may know from a reporting standpoint, what's the latest injury
up to date with him, but I think some of that,
the those inclinations may have been because of the personnel
that they had healthy.

Speaker 3 (47:06):
What do we know about Adams?

Speaker 10 (47:07):
Greg?

Speaker 4 (47:08):
And then I will flip it on the Seahawks side.
Is Ernest Jones going to play? How important is that?

Speaker 2 (47:14):
Well, let's start with the Seahawks. First, Ernest Jones was
on the field yesterday in a limited fashion to practice.
He of course tweeted out and then I think the
Seahawks made him take it down, resurrecting from the dead
a rap star resurrect from the dead on Tuesday, saying
he's back, he's playing. But if he's breathing on Sunday morning,
he's playing. And I'm thinking I'm gonna predict it. He's

(47:34):
going to be breathing on Sunday morning, so he's going
to be in the middle of that defense because he's
not missing this game.

Speaker 4 (47:40):
Sure he missed that Aaron Donald's story, but you got
this one, all right, good?

Speaker 2 (47:44):
Yeah, I'm going to bypass the Aaron Donald's story for
my time being. My LA connections haven't given me any
reason to go chase that one.

Speaker 3 (47:51):
Okay, yeah, okay.

Speaker 2 (47:54):
Tory Harton was on the field yesterday. Jake Bobo was
on the field yesterday. Both of them missed the game
last week with injuries. It looks like they're going to
have Josh Job try to go through the concussion protocol
and see how he fares at the end of the week.
He was on the practice field beginning to practice yesterday
at the starting corner and he's important because he's going

(48:14):
back in the starting line. There's some people that's saying, well,
riek wool And will start over Josh Job. I don't
see that happening. I see Joe going right back to
starting and then your dying becomes Woolen, not pritch it
as much, unless he wants to play seven defensive backs,
which I don't see happening. But it looks like with
the exception of course, at Jaylensondell, who's going to miss
the game with the knee injury, it looks like they're

(48:36):
getting healthier on that side of the ball. Adams the
oblique yesterday did not practice down in LA but again
in November on a Wednesday, four days before a game.
I wouldn't read too much into a veteran not practicing.
Let's see if he practices Thursday or Friday.

Speaker 3 (48:51):
Yep.

Speaker 11 (48:52):
Yeah, you know, I just going back to your question
about the coaching because there's still I still got more
notes and the coaching match. If you go back to
Mike McDonald's last year at Baltimore when they played the Rams.
Baltimore won the game, but the Rams scored thirty points,
so in a way, you know, you could say advantage McVeigh.

(49:16):
Last year in lumen in lumen Field, it was flipped.
You look at the score, you say, well, the Rams
beat the Seahawks twenty six to twenty. They scored twenty
six points.

Speaker 3 (49:26):
Did they No.

Speaker 11 (49:28):
Gino Smith had one hundred and five yard interception return,
had another interception in the red zone, and one of
those touchdowns was in overtime. So in regulation the Rams
only scored thirteen points against the Seahawk defense. And in
that game the Rams had the most they had. They

(49:50):
had seven to three and outs against Seattle's defense. So
that was right around the time after the Buffalo game
when Seattle was kind of at its worst and they
were starting hit their inclined, just like in year one.
In twenty twenty two in Baltimore, that that chess. Now,
we didn't see the chess match in the last game
of the year because that was a JV game nobody

(50:11):
was playing. But that mid season game, you know, I
think there's reason to say, wait a minute, Mike McDonald,
he got the best of saw McVay. I think that
game has relevance.

Speaker 3 (50:21):
Well let's talk about that.

Speaker 4 (50:23):
I mean, okay, so if a train's leaving the station,
Mike McDonald at fifty five miles per hour heading north
and then trains leaving the station in La Matthew Stafford
and he's playing his best football and he's going seventy
five miles per hour heading east. What happens when the
two collide? I mean, can the great Mike McDonald stump
Matt Stafford as well as he's playing right now?

Speaker 11 (50:42):
You well, I think that you look at what the
Rams do, well, they you know, the more you look
at this game, they just really match up very similarly.
You know, both teams offensively, you know they're gonna get
in shit. The Rams are number one in under center,

(51:05):
the Seahawks are number two. So in in play action percentage, uh,
the Rams are number one, the Seahawks are six. But
and uh, you know passer rating play action, well, the
Seahawks and Sam Donald there number two. Sam Donald as
one hundred and twenty eight passer rating eight four. So
that I think that what's gonna happen is you're gonna

(51:29):
have some really exotic blitzes at very critical time that
Mike McDonald is gonna he's gonna employ For example, he said,
wait a minute, Matthew Stafford. He's a veteran, he can
handle that.

Speaker 3 (51:43):
Well.

Speaker 11 (51:44):
How about when Leonard Williams had a ninety seven yard
pick six return against Aaron Rodgers right on a on
a dropping pop and drop type of scheme with cover zero.
Looked like on all our blitz but the defensive tack
was we're blocking. Uh uh, we're receding. So I think
that there is an opportunity to get Matthew Stafford, particularly,

(52:08):
you know, an under center play action he's got his
back turned. There may be some and they I miss
where the receivers are close to the ball. That gives
a lot of blitzing opportunities for corners. Devin Witherspoon, you
line up, you say, hey, wait a minute, if they
get into this formation from this hash mark, you go,

(52:28):
it's and and and Weatherspoon is a great uh you
know ballhawks. So so the Seahawks don't do it often.
They're the percentage of plays where they bring five rushers,
the Seahawks are twenty ninth in the league. But the
percentage of times that they bring a dB in the rush,

(52:50):
there's seventh. So what wait, you say, what what the
hell does that mean?

Speaker 3 (52:54):
How could that?

Speaker 11 (52:54):
How could those two facts be true because you're doing
simulated pressures, you're dropping defensive lineman off away from the pressure.
And here's the critical point, Chuck, to answer your question
on the percentage of plays where they bring five or
more that's defined as the blitz in the NFL, when
they the percentage of time they produce a negative EPA

(53:16):
Expected points average. We're not going to go through that.
Google it if you're it's a new matrix that has
correlation to winning. The percentage of times that the Seahawks
bring five or more rushers and they produce a negative EPA.
They're second in the NFL, so they don't do it often,
but they are very effective when they do it. And
and by the way, last week they they were number one.

(53:37):
I don't know after that Cardinal game how they could
have fallen from one to two, but they are really
really effective. So what does that speak to That is
Mike mcdone. All those numbers point to Mike McDonald doesn't
blitz a lot. When he does blitz, it's creative and
it's it's a non risky situation more often to be
his zone behind it, right, And and it's discussed well

(54:00):
enough that they're creating having That's what those numbers point to.
And I think that they can get Matthew Stafford in
the same manner that they got Aaron Rodgers. It might
only take one or two big plays at the right
time in what we expect to be a close game.

Speaker 3 (54:15):
Great look for number zero.

Speaker 2 (54:17):
DeMarcus Lawrence in coverage on Sunday, he talked about that yesterday.
He said that that's the one they called Mike McDonald's
play defensive playbook a Harvard playbook that you need a
Harvard education to figure it out. But the main difference
is he said he had to know when to pass
us and when to cover, and in Dallas for eleven
years he never had to worry about when to cover.

Speaker 11 (54:37):
MY biggest concern about this, and please remember, I said,
Matthew Stafford is a right handed quarterback. I can't believe
how many times, for as smart as Mike McDonald is,
how many times And Marcus Lawrence has been as guilty
as anybody greg when he brought it up. Is there
losing contained? Don't lose contained to a right handed quarterback? Extended?

(55:00):
Now you've got to cover three times as long if
you're going to if you're gonna lose contained make a
quarterback go left. It's much harder for him under under
dress to make a play going to his left, So
so d law and others. That's that's a That's one
of my concerns is that you know you lost the
forty nine ers game with Brock Purdy. You know DeMarcus

(55:21):
Lawrence lost contained Rock Purdy. He's out on the edge.
Now a two and a half second played becomes a
five and a half second play.

Speaker 3 (55:28):
Can't cover that long, So that fifty of his yards
that way.

Speaker 4 (55:34):
Well, it is certainly fascinating McVeigh versus McDonald this Sunday,
that that battle inside the war if you will uh
as they get ready to uh to do their thing. Yeah,
it make fascinating as a matter of fact. Coming up
on the other side, though, we will talk about Sam Donald.
All right, So how we stop Sam Donald? Maybe there

(55:54):
is a blueprint as you mapped it out, But what
about scoring points? Can we keep scoring at a thirty
point per game clip against one of the top five
defenses in the National Football League. We'll talk about Sam
Darnold Neck Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM, fright
nine o'clock hour here on this Thursday, man, have we

(56:16):
discussed the MVP of the Major League Baseball season a
lot this calendar year, and for good reason. You can't
spell calendar without cal cal Raleigh and Aaron Judge. One
of those two is gonna be named Most Valuable Player
tonight of of the American League. And you can catch
the coverage at MLB Network. They have exclusive coverage of

(56:40):
the MVP Award results. It's gonna start at four pm
our time, and you can watch our next guest.

Speaker 3 (56:48):
You know, break it down for you. We're gonna have
break it down for us right now.

Speaker 4 (56:51):
Thirteen year major League Baseball catcher, mostly with the Tigers.

Speaker 3 (56:55):
Sorry about having to beat you.

Speaker 4 (56:57):
Alex Avila now joins us right here on Chuck in Buck.

Speaker 13 (57:00):
Good morning, sir, Good morning guys. Appreciate you having me,
And that's all right. It was one heck of a series,
wasn't it, That Tiger's Mariners series, So, like you know,
it's one of those where, yeah, I might have had
a little bit of you know, rooting for the Tigers,
but at the same time I wasn't upset to see

(57:21):
the Mariners move on at that point.

Speaker 3 (57:23):
Well, thank you for joining us. We appreciated it.

Speaker 4 (57:27):
I'm really curious to get your thoughts on this MVP
decision tonight. And I don't know if there's bias because
you're a catcher. I mean, does every catcher have to
vote for Cal for MVP Alex?

Speaker 13 (57:43):
You know, I think most catchers would tell you yes, okay,
you know, and just and just because of you know,
you don't you don't really understand what a catcher goes
through unless you're a catcher, right.

Speaker 8 (57:56):
And.

Speaker 13 (57:58):
You know, to see what Cal did the course of
the whole year, I mean, it was was truly remarkable
having been through that, So I think most catchers would say, yeah, like,
if you have a guy like Cal that has a
year like he had a historic season, you know, that's
definitely merits to the m v P. But like you said,

(58:20):
we were we were debating this all year because it's
it's the best probably MVP race that we've had in
a long time and probably probably And it kind of
reminds me and I go back to twenty twelve MVP
race between Cabrera and Mike Trout. That's what it kind
of reminds me of that a little bit, because you

(58:41):
know Trout was by far the most valuable player you
know from from the way he can impact the game
at that point in time. But Cabrera won a triple crown,
so it was like, you know, what do you what
do you do there? In a similar situation, you have
Aaron Judge right that has you know, incredible numbers, historic

(59:02):
season in his own right, but you know the season
that Cal had, breaking the homer record for a switch hitter,
you know, for a catcher and a Mariners franchise record, Like,
how do you not fall in love with that story?

Speaker 3 (59:15):
One hundred percent?

Speaker 5 (59:16):
And yet to me and correct me if I'm wrong,
give me the catcher's perspective. I mean, although I played,
I didn't catch outside of a week where my college
coach thought, hey, let's try this out. I did one
session of blocking balls and said, yeah, no thanks, I'll
get back out in right field. So I understand the
difference just having played as long as I did. To me,

(59:37):
it's not even the I mean the historic numbers he
put up as a switch hitter and a catcher home
run wise, sure, but I mean when it comes to
just comparing offenses, I think the reason it's a debate
at all. Is because is because you know, Cal did
great offensively, but it's not he didn't even compare offensively
to what the numbers I think that that Judge put up.

(59:57):
To me, it's the it's the other stuff. It's the
pitch selection and calling a game. It's the framing balls,
it's blocking wild pitches, it's whearing foul balls, are throwing
out base runners, and you know, managing your pitching staff
mentally and and going out there mound visits and helping
them through tough times. I mean, to me, that's where
you can't put a number on that stuff. Necessarily they

(01:00:18):
try to, but you can't put a number on all
that stuff. And to me, that's where it doesn't even
feel like it's a it's a legitimate competition in my opinion,
even though I'm giving Judge all the credit he deserves
for the outstanding performance he did offensively.

Speaker 13 (01:00:32):
No, I mean, I agree with you. I think that's
where it separates, at least in my eyes. I mean,
because when you look at Judges numbers, he led major
league baseball, not just the American League, major League baseball
in every single offensive category. And then when you look
at you know, America obviously an American league, Cal had
got him in Homer's and RBIs. But like judges judges season,

(01:00:58):
like you're you're talking about guys like Mickey Mann Old
Jimmy Fox, like you know his he's going to go
down as a legendary player. But you know, I also
look at it when when when it comes to MVP,
it's obviously, you know, value to your team. You know

(01:01:18):
what Cal was able to do for the Mariners over
the course of the year, really put them on his
shoulders over the course of the year, propel them into
the playoffs, get deep into the playoffs. I mean you
can see it the way Cal is playing through the playoffs,
Like you could tell he was tired, like his like
he was giving absolutely everything he had physically and still

(01:01:39):
producing at an incredibly high level. But like you know,
from a player's perspective, watching the games through the course
of the playoffs, you could tell, like man like like
he was giving everything he had. So I think that
and you know, when you put that together with the
type of season he had from historical historical perspective as

(01:02:03):
a catcher and a switch hitter, I just I fell
in love with the story and I think the narrative,
you know, the story when you have you know, that
kind of season should play into you know, the decision
on on on the most valuable player, because Cal was

(01:02:24):
to his team, to the Mariners, you know, the most
valuable guide. And I'm not I'm not a big fan
of the whole debate. Well, if you take him off
the team, does the team still do that? Like a
lot of people are trying to talk about that with
Judge all the Yankees still be a good team? Would
the Mariners be as good without Cal? All that kind
of stuff. To me, I put I put that out

(01:02:45):
the window.

Speaker 10 (01:02:46):
For me.

Speaker 13 (01:02:46):
It's more about, like you know, with them actually on
the team, let's debase them on the team and what
their value is to that team, the type of narrative
that is throughout that that that develops throughout the season
because of their incredible performance. I think that all should
play into into the decision. But there is, like you said,

(01:03:09):
so much more that goes into what a catcher does
on a daily basis that is impossible to quantify in
terms of value for your team. That you know, Cal
obviously brought that to the Mariners and and I'd even think,
like Judge would tell you, Yeah, obviously, you know, a
catcher's got a lot more on his plate than than

(01:03:30):
an outfielder does on a daily basis, and you know,
to be able to do that and put up the
type of numbers from an offensive perspective he did, Uh,
and also have another very good season behind the plate.
I mean it for me, it's hard to it's hard
to argue, but to your point, yeah, I mean the

(01:03:52):
season that Judge has, Like, that's why this.

Speaker 10 (01:03:54):
Is at debate.

Speaker 4 (01:03:56):
Plus, I mean, cal Rally is a human being and
Aaron Judge is a centaur, and I think that.

Speaker 3 (01:04:01):
Should factor that to the conversation. And it's not.

Speaker 4 (01:04:05):
Factoring in enough, and the conversations I'm hearing it's not
even coming up. Alex Savila is with his former major
league catcher member of the Major League Baseball Network. He'll
be a part of the network that does the next
outstanding job their coverage of the MVP announcement tonight at
four o'clock.

Speaker 3 (01:04:22):
What is it?

Speaker 4 (01:04:23):
I mean, if somebody, just average Yankee fan sat by
you and said, why is it so much more important
that he played catcher? Why is that even a factor?
Give us some insight into what even the average baseball
fan doesn't understand what a catcher goes through on a

(01:04:44):
year by year basis and a day by day basis.

Speaker 13 (01:04:48):
Well, I mean, the one thing is that a catcher,
their first priority is the pitcher. So most of your
day revolves around trying to help that picture be the
best he can on that particular day, and not just
your starting pitcher, but all your relievers as well. So

(01:05:09):
that's your number one priority. And every catcher would tell
you that, even even the really good offensive catchers you
know that we've had throughout history, their number one priority
is the success of their pitcher. So your day revolves
around him, you know, from you know game prep, you know,

(01:05:29):
knowing the ins and outs of all of your guys
as far as what makes them tick, how to motivate them,
how to get them through tough situations, how to keep
them grounded at times like all those things going to play.
That's part of your responsibility as a catcher, and that
is your number one responsibility. Then after that comes like
what you can do for yourself and for your team offensively.

(01:05:55):
So that's that's the biggest difference, where every other position
on the field, you know, is the priority is that
position and what you can bring from an offense and
defensive perspective, But the catcher, your your responsibility is the pitcher.
And then on top of that, just the physicality of

(01:06:17):
the position, you know, just having you know, blocking balls,
you know, the the wear and tear on the body
over the course of a of an entire season, especially
when you catch as many innings as Cow does. You know,
there's there's no other position that comes close to the
type of physical demand under body.

Speaker 3 (01:06:38):
The year you hit nineteen and we're an All Star
in twenty eleven, you probably thought you did something pretty
special that year, didn't you.

Speaker 13 (01:06:45):
Well, I actually got some down m VP boats and
that in that season exactly. And I'm looking at those
numbers and you know, obviously Cow's numbers dwarf those in comparison.

Speaker 4 (01:07:00):
You had a fantastic career. You were you were a
lot of fun to watch.

Speaker 3 (01:07:03):
So enjoy the show tonight. Uh.

Speaker 4 (01:07:07):
Do you think Cal's gonna win? I can tell you
want Cal to win. Do you think he's gonna win?
Do you think that we'll have something to celebrate tonight?
Here in Seattle?

Speaker 13 (01:07:16):
You know, I hope, So I'm rooting for Caw to win.
I've said it a few times over the course of
the year that I for some reason, I think it's judge,
you know. But but at the same time, like I'm
I'm rooting for caw To to do it because I
think he he absolutely deserves it. So I hope, uh,

(01:07:37):
I hope I'm wrong. But nonetheless, it was a it
was a fascinating season to have two tremendous players like
that have the years that they had. But I'm definitely
rooting for cal all right.

Speaker 4 (01:07:53):
Great to hear. Uh, well, we'll be watching tonight. Thank
you very much for your time.

Speaker 3 (01:07:57):
That was great, Thanks guys.

Speaker 4 (01:08:00):
All Right, Alexavila, thirteen year catcher in the major leagues.
Catchers are going to be a little bit biased, But
you also need to know I thought that was such
a fascinating response. I mean, think about that, Bucky. I
know you know this, but I had sixty home runs
this year, and my focus wasn't the offense my offense
at any time during the season. My focus was making

(01:08:22):
sure the pitcher was ready to give us a great performance.
That's incredible.

Speaker 3 (01:08:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:08:26):
Well, I mean that's again that you can't really you
can't really qualify all of the ways in which you
want to measure. It just boils down to where do
you put more of the lion's share?

Speaker 3 (01:08:38):
Right?

Speaker 10 (01:08:39):
Is it?

Speaker 5 (01:08:39):
The fact that will you just watch Judge do again
was something that we have rarely seen. We haven't seen
anybody co come by and just turn into this much
of a dominant hit or power average, on base percentage.
He just basically when he steps in the batter's box,
You're like, this guy doesn't even look human. But to me,

(01:09:00):
I just can't understand how how you can think about
what all the things that a catcher does and then
recognize even when I if I was to sit here
and go down the list, I kind of just did
a little bit with him of all the things that
a catcher is involved in that are impact parts of
the game that a right fielder has nothing to do with,
you know.

Speaker 3 (01:09:19):
And then you can get somewhere it's like.

Speaker 5 (01:09:20):
Okay, well, you know, plays at home plate, Okay, that's
a catch thing, but a lot of times the right
fielder's throw is what makes it a play at home plate,
so they can have some impact on the game. Still defensively,
there's a lot of things, But then there's a ton
of things that you can't even think about, Like, when
do you got now that there's a certain amount of
mound visits, when do you go out to write the

(01:09:41):
ship with the guy between the years or mechanically something
he's doing, or game plan wise, here's what our game
plan was against this guy, you know, leading into the
game and our pregame meeting and leading up to this performance.
And yet he looks like he's on that game plan,
like he was expecting it. So we're gonna shift gears,
When do you do that? That's you can't put a
number on that. And he does that about as well
as anybody out there, throwing runners out. He's great at

(01:10:03):
This year was his best year behind the plate, block
and balls, but it still wasn't horrible. And so I
just don't see it as I mean the major league
baseball player. I don't always agree with players voting for
things because I think it becomes a popularity contest and
it's not something they dive into necessarily. But he was
voted the most outstanding player by his peers. The people

(01:10:25):
that are playing right now in the game right now,
to me, that is those guys that are playing right
now that they're in the game, they play against him,
they watch him play, They're saying, that's the dude that
is the most outstanding. And to me, it's if you
say outstanding player, that's where Judge has an argument, you
say the most valuable player.

Speaker 3 (01:10:44):
I don't even think.

Speaker 5 (01:10:45):
It's a I don't even think it should be a debate,
to be honest, it is because of how great Aaron
Judge's season was. But it's the value that Cal Rawly
brings to the Mariners. There's nobody that brings more value
to their team.

Speaker 4 (01:10:56):
Well, I would definitely have voted for Cal Raleigh, and
I say that without bias. I honestly mean that. I
say that completely without bias. But I do think I'm
sixty one percent sure he's not going to win, So
I gives him a thirty nine percent chance of winning tonight.
So that's where I'm at. I don't think we're going

(01:11:17):
to get the news we're wanting tonight, but I think
that there is a chance, Ashley, that we're going to
get that news.

Speaker 6 (01:11:23):
Yeah, and I'm holding on to hope. I will say this,
I do think that Cal should win it. And I
know that I have bias when I say that. Originally
but also hearing all of the arguments and listening to
things and as we've talked about it over the last
few weeks and months, and thinking about all of the
things that cat pitchers do, and just hearing what Alex
had to say.

Speaker 7 (01:11:41):
I mean, I have zero doubt that cal should win.

Speaker 3 (01:11:44):
Well.

Speaker 4 (01:11:44):
I mean, just to be fair, just to show the
other side, there are plenty of former major leaguers at
MLB Network that you're going to hear tonight break this
down that think Aaron Judge should win. I mean, Sean
Casey has gone on. We tried to get Sean Casey
on as well today and he's he's been one hundred
percent on Aaron Judge.

Speaker 3 (01:12:03):
It's not even close. I mean, so it's it's you know.

Speaker 4 (01:12:06):
There are plenty of MLB Network former players that have
the aeron Judge.

Speaker 3 (01:12:10):
There might even be more for all I know.

Speaker 4 (01:12:12):
But yeah, I don't think there's one catcher out there
that's not that if they had a vote, wouldn't vote.

Speaker 3 (01:12:18):
For col No.

Speaker 5 (01:12:19):
And I think that that's it isn't just because of
the go some catcher brotherhood. It's because of an understanding
of how crazy it was if you caught in the
Big Leagues for ten years, you understand, Oh my god.

Speaker 3 (01:12:31):
How is he?

Speaker 5 (01:12:32):
Yes, the numbers sixty home runs is crazy. I don't
care if you're a DH it's crazy. But to do
it while you're catching and managing the staff and wearing
the foul balls and block them, it's just absolutely berserk.

Speaker 4 (01:12:43):
Yeah, Chris Young, he's on the judge side. Cliff Flower
Air alot of them. So but you know, to convince me,
I think you should win the MVP. But we shall
see if it goes down tonight, and certainly we'll react
on tomorrow's show. Coming up next though, Mike Sando will
be with us. Ask him about Seahawks rams. Also Thursday
Night Football and more. Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.

(01:13:06):
It's time for our Thursday visit with Mike Sando of
the Athletic and brought to you by Hunt Services.

Speaker 1 (01:13:13):
Get on the horn and call Hunts Now with Mike.

Speaker 3 (01:13:16):
Here's Chuck and bud.

Speaker 10 (01:13:20):
Hi.

Speaker 3 (01:13:20):
Yes, Mike Sando joins his each and every week. Let's
ask Mike real quick, he's a smart fella. Cal Rally
or aaron judge.

Speaker 14 (01:13:26):
Mike cal Rallio. Let's go with the hometown guy. I mean,
and I'm an expert.

Speaker 3 (01:13:29):
Believe me.

Speaker 14 (01:13:30):
I've I've watched some of the playoffs and uh, I'm
actually excited. Are we gonna get the Mariners on local
TV this year? If you have, like, you know, a
YouTube TV?

Speaker 3 (01:13:39):
I wanted to have that. What does it matter with
you? You know? I get like it doesn't sound like you're
tuned in.

Speaker 8 (01:13:44):
No.

Speaker 14 (01:13:44):
Well, I mean, I'm not gonna work that hard to
watch the games. But I mean, you know, in a
sport I'm not covering, but I'm interested. So I'm a
terrible expert in that. But cal rally, that guy's amazing.
I know enough of that. Okay, every time you, even
if you don't follow baseball, you realize he's doing something
heroic every week.

Speaker 3 (01:14:00):
All Right, we'll take it, We'll accept it. Your vote
has been cast.

Speaker 4 (01:14:03):
All right, Well, let's talk about what you do cover
for a living and what you do have incredible passion for.

Speaker 3 (01:14:09):
That's the National Football League. You watched a.

Speaker 4 (01:14:12):
Lot of games, you got ready for a lot of games.
I mean, how big is this one between the Seahawks
and the Rams for a mid season affair?

Speaker 14 (01:14:21):
I think it's the most fun anticipated regular season matchup
for the Seahawks since when. I mean it would have
to go back to prime Russell Wilson, right. I mean,
it's been a while that you really felt like it's
a great matchup and you're excited and you feel like

(01:14:42):
these guys could you know, not only if they could
win the game, but like they could really go somewhere.

Speaker 3 (01:14:48):
So I love it.

Speaker 14 (01:14:49):
I think these are two of the best teams in
the league. When's the last time Seahks been one of
the best teams in the league.

Speaker 3 (01:14:54):
It's been top five team to nine years? Probably Yeah,
in a minute, it.

Speaker 14 (01:14:59):
Feels really differ.

Speaker 3 (01:15:00):
So I love it.

Speaker 14 (01:15:00):
Yet, I feel like if the Seahawks lose, I think
they just dust themselves off and get them next time.
I don't think it's a must win, but I do
think it's a helpful win for validity, you know, having
Sam Donald had the bad playoff game last time, so
there's some things that can be changed perception wise, I
think with this game. But I still think Seattle's on
the same track no matter what happens.

Speaker 5 (01:15:20):
Agreed, I don't think either team has some signature win.
This is kind of the measuring stick for both of them.
I mean, the easiest or the most common thread to
pull on when you're thinking about this is McVeigh and
his offense versus McDonald and his defense. And yet both
sides of the ball play well on both of these teams.

(01:15:42):
And so what's an underlying thing that you're going to
think that you think might be one of the determining
factors in this thing.

Speaker 14 (01:15:50):
Well, Seattle's defense. Both these teams defensive lines really are
surly and get after it. I think that's where it starts.
I think the Seahawks have a better overall rotation of people,
but those you know, Jared versus probably you know the
people with the guy. People have heard about it around
the country, So I think both. I think they play
with attitude and tenacity upfront on defense and whoever kind

(01:16:11):
of I think someone's going to set the tone with
that in this game, and I think it's I think
it may be Seattle. I kind of feel like the
Seahawks are going to win this one and then maybe
have their hands more full of the second time. That's
just kind of my feel I feel like they're starting
kind of surging now, the team with a little bit
more to prove, and they may get them, but they
haven't seen the last of them.

Speaker 4 (01:16:29):
Either what's what's more surprising to you that Matthew Stafford
closing in on forty might be better now than he's
ever been, or that Sam Donald, considering where he was
two years ago, is in the MVP conversation this season.

Speaker 14 (01:16:45):
Donald, to me, Donald's more surprising because because Stafford has
played at a high level, He's always been someone who
everyone thought had the talent. And I think we can
see in retrospect that he had the talent, but you know,
they had a bad situation a lot of the time
with the organization. And I think he's got a great
set up now with McVeigh and and he's at a
he's at peace, and he and he's he's in a

(01:17:07):
different place I think for Donald, uh, you know, to
go from to go from a major market where you're
kind of seen. When you fail in a place like
New York as a quarterback or a head coach, you
kind of get branded in a different way, right, You
kind of get laughed at and mocked. Think of Adam Gase,
he was a good coach in the league. Have you
seen him a lot lately?

Speaker 3 (01:17:28):
Right? You know what I mean?

Speaker 14 (01:17:31):
Like when it happens though in that place, these are
these are good. These aren't a lot of cases. Good
people are good coaches, and you know, Sam Donald was
not the complete buffoon he was made out to be
seeing ghosts and all that. Things take on a uh,
you know, things take on a greater meaning there, and
so I think we're used to a lot of times
those guys just kind of it's hard to recover from.

(01:17:52):
You know, you don't necessarily get the other chance. You
get branded and you have a hard time changing that identity.
So I think that's just it's a great story. Maybe
we're seeing it a little more now. I mean, Daniel
Jones is having it too, So that's I think that's
just a great thing. It reflects really well on those guys,
and they're current teams, but it's still a surprise when
you see it. You're used to most of those guys

(01:18:13):
just kind of going.

Speaker 3 (01:18:13):
Away, Sando.

Speaker 5 (01:18:15):
One of the reasons for the surprise that is Sam
Darnold's i mean MVP ish first half of the season
is Jackson Smith and Jigmin. He's got like twenty percent
more receiving yards than Jamar Chase, who's in second place,
And yet I kind of feel like, at some point
during the season, you're going to have someone that's going
to have some game plan. Even if the game plan
is we're gonna put six guys on him, he's not

(01:18:37):
going to beat us. I don't know what how you
try to slow this guy down, but it seems impossible
at this point. Nobody's figured out how to do it
through nine games in the season, and so.

Speaker 1 (01:18:46):
Can it be done?

Speaker 5 (01:18:47):
Do you expect that to be the priority for the
Rams defense, at least in.

Speaker 3 (01:18:51):
The back end of that secondary.

Speaker 14 (01:18:53):
Yeah, I would think that that's the case. But if
you notice with most wide receivers that are good, they
don't get solved like that, you know, And I think
it's harder to defend wide receivers now if you go back,
you know, you know, when I was covering the Super
Bowl team in two thousand and five, If you just
look at the game, it's so different. There's there's two
running backs on the field and neither one of them

(01:19:14):
is going to really stretch you vertically as a receiver.
Your tight end's gonna hopefully be a decent blocker, you know,
and then you've got two wide receivers out there. So
if you want to stop one of those wide receivers.
I think it was easier than to do that, right
because there's only a couple of them, and your tight
end's kind of a half receiver, that sort of a thing,
and you might go to three wides. They did that,
but it might be third down, you know. So I

(01:19:35):
think now there's three wide receivers out there every play,
the tight end looks like a big wide receiver. Now
he's not as great as a blocker, but man, he
could be a threat. And even your half back grew
up in a seven on seven worlds, So saying you're
going to stop a wide receiver just it's harder to do.
There's more space out there, there's lighter you know. It's

(01:19:55):
just you can do it. And I think there's scheming
in the NFL now. Is is a even bigger thing
than it was before. I think teams used to run
their system and you might try to stop it. Now
they're scheming these guys in a different way.

Speaker 4 (01:20:08):
I say, good luck trying to stop these guys. The
Eagles fans might disagree with you about.

Speaker 14 (01:20:13):
Well, that's really interesting. Yeah, that's a whole other conversation.

Speaker 3 (01:20:17):
Actually, Yeah, I wanted to talk about it a little bit.

Speaker 4 (01:20:20):
If I'm going to talk about one national story other
than Seahawks rams here, I wanted to get your thoughts because,
on one hand, I do think AJ Brown is going
about this all the wrong way, and he's coming off
as a bad teammate for sure, and he shouldn't be
doing it.

Speaker 3 (01:20:36):
But I think he's got a point.

Speaker 4 (01:20:38):
It's like, how can we have this much talent and
we're having this much difficulty getting the ball from quarterback
to wide receipts.

Speaker 3 (01:20:46):
It's not just him.

Speaker 4 (01:20:47):
DeVante Smith can't catch a pass either, So does I
mean at what.

Speaker 14 (01:20:51):
Point smiths on pace for good year?

Speaker 10 (01:20:53):
Though? Solid?

Speaker 3 (01:20:54):
Yes, solid?

Speaker 4 (01:20:55):
But you know what point is it justified that a
player goes to the media because he can't get through
to the coaching staff on how he's being used.

Speaker 14 (01:21:07):
I say this is the most diplomatic, well reasoned, smartest
protests like this. Usually guys are emotional at their locker overtime,
you know what I mean, and they just finally snap
and then it comes off as super selfish, and it isn't.
I feel like the selfish part of this is only
in that you know it is drawing attention now to it,

(01:21:28):
and if they don't reach their goals this season, which
is unlikely. You're not gonna win the super Bowl anyway.
Most years, you know, it'll kind of look like it's
because they didn't get him the ball more. But I
think I think there's something to it, and he is
does have a good point in that, Hey, just because
we're winning the games doesn't mean that we're playing our
best ball. And he's trying to say that it doesn't

(01:21:51):
mean I have to get the ball every week. I
think he believes that, but it's not clicking. And so
I'll give you an example like Denver's won seven games
in a row and their quarterback is struggling, and that's
all gonna when they lose losing some games, it's gonna
come to the it's gonna be a conversation. I think
what what A J. Barn is saying is like, we're

(01:22:13):
not the way we're playing right now. We may win
a lot of these games, but we're not We're not
our best right now, and he's just kind of a
cry for help. But I agree he's kind of putting
it on that coordinator more than anything, because he he
he hasn't just said it's Jay. He hasn't said it's
Jalen hurts as much, wouldn't you agree?

Speaker 3 (01:22:32):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:22:33):
I mean I think he was kind of hinting at
it last year. Remember when they had the little tiff
last year.

Speaker 3 (01:22:38):
So I don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:22:39):
I mean, I'm sure it started behind the scenes and
he couldn't get where he was going with it. I
do believe he has a point. There's no reason why
that offense. Would I think he wanted to struggle that much.

Speaker 3 (01:22:50):
I think he wants to win.

Speaker 4 (01:22:52):
Yeah, yeah, I hear you, all right, Thursday night football,
Patriots versus Jets. I mean, it's not exactly a hum
dinger here, Mike, but yeah, oh yeah, that is interesting.
What's interesting about this game? Hey, anytime we can watch
New England with Drake May, I'm all for it. I
think this is somebody who in his second year has
outperformed the expectations everybody thought in the league. Probably a

(01:23:14):
good reason that this was a team to be reft
of talent even coming into this year, even after spending
in free agency, and they've won seven in a row.
They're really great on defense, that's stopping the run, so
they make you a little bit one dimensional, and this
quarterback without a bunch of targets you've heard of. I
think he had.

Speaker 14 (01:23:31):
I think they had four plays on offense last week
that were fifty yards or more and I was looking
that up like that just doesn't happen. I couldn't find
in twenty the last twenty five years, anyone had more
than that. So I think that's a really cool story.
And it's the interesting twist of it is, you know,
I think the Jets really wanted to hire Mike Rabel,
so guess what Mike Rable' is the edter coach. And

(01:23:52):
it feels to me as much as I, you know,
have defended Aaron Glenn a little bit early on, I
feel like he's starting to get some of these press converences,
are starting to feel like he's losing it a little bit.
So I want to watch just how that all goes
to have New England having turned it with a roster
that was perceived to be worse.

Speaker 3 (01:24:13):
Than the Jets a year ago.

Speaker 14 (01:24:14):
Interesting in the division, I mean, I think this is
one of those games where if the Patriots gotten win
by thirty points, I think it's very much more damaging
to the new people and the Jets.

Speaker 4 (01:24:25):
I knew you would find something that you couldn't wait
to watch about Thursday night football. You can count on
Sandal Well really enjoy the football this weekend, and we're
all going to enjoy that Seahawks Rams game.

Speaker 3 (01:24:36):
That's gonna be special. Oh, it's gonna be great. I
can't wait.

Speaker 4 (01:24:38):
Thanks, Thanks Mike. All Right, Mike Sando or NFL Insider
from the Athletic. You can follow him at Sando NFL
must follow for you football fans out there, and we
love having him on every Thursday on the program. All Right,
coming up next, we'll close it out with one last
thing on Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM

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