November 26, 2025 • 36 mins
12th man Roundtable with HUGH MILLEN and GREGG BELL (Tacoma News Tribune) We start off the roundtable with a look at some areas of concerns with the Seahawks- i.e turnover differential and the run game! :30- We can’t have a roundtable and NOT talk about JSN’s incredible season. What does JSN do that a QB loves? What does Gregg see from him behind the scenes? :45- We close out the short week and the roundtable with game keys and predictions from Gregg and one last thing from Hugh.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:19):
Alrighty, welcome back to the show here at Sports Radio
ninety three point three kJ R f M. It is
a final hour before Thanksgiving, and I mean, if this
show just doesn't keep on giving us stuff. Now, all
of a sudden, we got we get to have our
Seahawks roundtable. We just got done having Softy and Cam
(00:40):
abused me. Hugh absolutely abused me about a duck game
that's coming up. That was a real treat. I'm pretty
happy that the Seahawks aren't playing the Broncos this week.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, well, abuse you enough, so yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
the Husky duck. Yeah it's real, Yeah, it is real.
You see my shirt, by the way, can you see
what's on my shirt here? You little ducks.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
It's called My shirt is called get Ducked, so you
can get ducked. Anyways, I'm gonna go ahead and and
say we're not gonna talk anymore ducks here.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
You got your You got that off your chest.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Now you're good with that.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
I'm sure Greg's probably not coming at me either with
this one. But we are going to discuss, obviously Seahawks,
what we've seen and what we're expecting coming in to
this week against the Vikings. We got Greg Bell with
us as well. Sorry, Greg, I didn't see you here
on zoom. I know you're going to be joining us
here in a second, but we've got you on the phone.
You're there, right, bro, Hello, good morning? Hello, Hello, Hello, Okay,
(01:41):
real quick, Greg, No fighting last night, no sparring with
your spouse.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
No, she's I was on my best behavior. That Yeah,
that's the worst. That's the worst advantage of being a
marriage as you know to be. You know that she
owes you one.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
And for those that don't know yet, today we found
out that the Greg Bell family went and did some
boxing and sparred and now, yeah, his wife owes him
one because maybe a couple too many body shots landed
or something there. So yeah, good luck with that on Thanksgiving.
Uh And so anyway, we're gonna talk about wife well
a little bit.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
I took a few Liberties shoe they were doing a
little sparring I did. I had boxing West Point. You
have to have a boxing class to graduate, and I
had in my sophomore year.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
So we took the kids to place the.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Roosevelt Emerald City Gym, Washington Husky's club boxing, great team,
great part where you had Zee taught us to coach there,
and we.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Had a great time. But it's a workout. It's an
aerobic workout. You got to keep your hands time for
an hour or.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
But I yeah, we weren't supposed to really, we were shabbing.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
But I may have.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
I may have jabbed off with Buff a couple of times.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, every husband's dream to get in the ring with
their wife. Did you pull that on?
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Oh my god, Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
It will never happen again. Uh oh.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
And anyways, quite the way to kick off the Thanksgiving
weekend and the celebration. They're thankful that you didn't have
to go to another boxing class, but good luck with
that over the weekend. All right, Well we got we
got Seahawks Vikings Vikings rolling into town. Obviously, you know
at this point six games left in the season, and
you're in a tight battle. The NFC West is is tight,
(03:33):
with the Rams just ahead of you and and the
Niners still right there about a half a game behind you, essentially,
So going into this game, I'll start with you, Hugh.
Biggest concern we we had sand to Wan earlier today.
He was kind of talking about we were talking about
pros and cons. Basically, the big con is the giveaways,
you know, the turnover and the turnover differential there. I
(03:56):
think they're second or third worst at only a minus
seven their second and behind the Minnesota Vikings with twenty giveaways.
The Minnesota Vikings have given the ball away twenty one times.
What's your biggest concern going into a game that you
feel like is a game you should be able to
come out because I think it's.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
A little bit of the health for Seattle and the
idea that although JJ McCarthy has, you know, and just
kind of looking at these numbers pretty abysmal and in
terms of how they're passing the football, I mean they're
dead last and touchdown to interception ratio, third down conversions
thirty first yards per play twenty six. That just is
(04:34):
not indicative of a Kevin O'Connell offense, nor what everybody
thought about JJ McCarthy's potential. So you don't want JJ
McCarthy to get right this Sunday, So that would be
a potential concern. And then and then you know, they
can create some havoc on defense or a blitzing group
(04:55):
and they can have some problems. I think it should
be noted wh while turnovers have been an issue, I
think that you know, it should be noticed. Sam Donald
is number one in the NFL, not just in you know,
yards per completing, yards per attempt and all the metrics
that you see throwing the ball down the field, but
Pro Football Focus they measure turnover worthy plays.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
There's there's a half a dozen of the top quarterbacks
that are that are that are have more turnover worthy
plays than Sam Donald. But Sam Donald is number one
stands alone, uh in big time throws and and big
time throw percentage. So while we can lament some of
the turnovers, I think sometimes that's the cost of doing
(05:43):
business when you get all the big plays the offense
has been producing.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, gee, what do you think any any overarching concerns
when a team that you feel like is maybe heading
in one direction and you're supposedly heading in the other.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Well, Bucky, here the turnovers that Donald should have had
three interceptions against Tennessee. The first pass, the second pass
of the game could have been intercepted. It was actually
probably his fourth pass on the first drive. Kenneth Walker
changed the projectory came by breaking up a checkdown pass
(06:17):
in the right flat that a cornerback would The Titans
cornerback was standing in front of Walker when Donald threw
the pass. It was Donald the cornerback, and then Walker
in progression were when that ball was arriving, and Walker
from behind knocked that ball away From where I was
in the press box, that was a pick six. There
was nobody behind those two out on the extreme right sideline.
(06:40):
If that corner had intercepted that pass, the Titans would
be up ten to nothing right out of the gate.
And then there were two other passes, one that went
off for it deflected pass and went off the defenders
both of his hands. And then and then a diving
play that probably should have been caught for three interceptions.
Should have twenty three takeaways or.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Giveaways on offense this year.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
They were really fortunate that game didn't change a lot differently,
Especially if I talked to Ken Walker after the game,
he said, Yeah, that probably would have been a big six.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
I knew I had to break that path up.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
The other thing, I'm still not sold. I know Walker
had eleven carries for seventy one yards. They're not running
consistently effectively like they need to to beat the Rams
in forty nine ers. They run in spurts, they run
against some teams. They get second half numbers when they
have a lead, But how they really want to run
the ball for as much as they do. They're still
doing it, and they're working that and it looks like
(07:35):
Walker is now starting to ech into more of a
true number one back role. But they are not whole
in the run game. So yes, he was absolutely right.
Donald has been a big play twenty plus yards recompletionency
leads the league, ten plus yards complacency leads the league. Dackson,
Smith and Jigba looked like Jerry Rice the way he
(07:56):
contorted his body and controlled defensive backs in Tennessee. He's
on pace to break Calvin Johnson's single season record, which
is I fied on side. I had never expected that.
But he's on pace for a two thousand yard season
all that. Yes, they just aren't doing it the way
they were designed to. Will they ever offensively be the
way they're designed to by the end of this season?
(08:17):
They got the Rams of December sixteenth, they've got the
forty nine ers to end the regular season. Will they
run the ball against those teams? The way they want to.
To me, that still is the issue nagging at them offensively. Defensively,
they can win most games the way they played defensively,
they only gave up one offensive touchdown until a garbage
time score in the last minute. Again in Nashville on Sunday.
(08:39):
I know that's a one to ten team with a
rookie quarterback. They left the rookie quarterbackers scape and make
plays and misstackles on him. But the defense by and
large is gonna give up one or two touchdowns and
that's it in a game seventeen points in most games
before garbage time. They'll win most games of their defense
if they can just get their offense to function the
way they want to.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, and to that point, Seattle's number three in the
NFL and points margin, they're number one in the NFL
and first half points marginal. You know, getting on top
of teams has not been an issue. Now at minus
four they actually have there. They're in the red in
terms of second half points margin. They're just eighteenth in
(09:22):
the league in that. But you know, just to finish
the loop on the conversation about Sunday and the turnovers, Yeah,
I mean we all saw the play in the flat,
I think that there was a possibility that was a turnover.
I think any running back would be expected to reach
back and and have his hands on it. So I
(09:44):
don't I don't think the threat is as serious as
as Greg is is describing. Maybe others feel. I understand
in the flat it could have been a pick six,
but that would have assumed that your running back made
exactly zero effort to break it up, you know, you know,
as it describes the luck that quarterbacks have or don't have,
(10:06):
and that's a thing. Sam Darnold has the same number
of turnover worthy plays in the season as Bo Knicks
and Dak Prescott. These are Pro Bowl level guys. Drake
May has more, Patrick Mahomes has more, and yet and
(10:28):
so I think, yeah, you'd like it to be better.
I don't think it's catastrophic when you consider that the
big time throw percent, you know, and the throat number
one in the NFL, and you know, just you know,
Donald Is is some almost twenty percent higher than Matthew
Stafford in big time throws. So at an event, well,
(10:50):
we'll just have to see. I know this that you
can't have four interceptions against the rams in a few weeks.
But but I'm willing to live with for the most
part of what we've seen from Sam Donald.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
I'm with you.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
I think it is the way you put it when
you say it's kind of the cost of doing business.
I mean, we were talking about two weeks ago Sam
Donald was in the conversation for the MVP, and large
part it's because of what he and JSN have been doing,
and so that's going to be there. I mean, when
you look at Matt Stafford's thirty touchdowns to two interceptions,
(11:24):
obviously taking care of the ball better, but at the
same time, they're not. All of the stats tell nothing
but the truth. I think that there's some things that
can be lost in the shuffle that aren't real interceptions
on the quarterback, just like you can have some that
could have been an interception and it didn't turn out
to one. That's just the way that sports works. I
will go I'll go with you Greg on this one. First,
(11:47):
the run game. You've been you know, kind of pounding
the drum, not just this year but for years that
they needed to run the ball more, and they want
to run the ball more. They hear that critique and
say Yep, we're going to run the ball more. When
I watch the Niners on Monday Night Football, give Christian
McCaffrey thirty one touches, and then you look over the
(12:09):
stats of Ken Walker and he's typically a you know,
eleven fourteen touches a game something around there. Every once
in a while I will creep up to seventeen. Is
there a part where it's just this is what you're
going to get. You're maybe it's borderline preserving him. Maybe
it's we like certain plays that sharbon Ay can run
(12:31):
when maybe it's just straight ahead run, go bulldoze. We
don't need you to do any juking on this one.
Is this just maybe what you're going to get. I mean,
we're eleven games into it. Maybe this is just who
they are. They're not going to change, and they maybe
don't even feel like they need to because the passing
game is working fairly well when the he's not thrown
it to the other team.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
Well, I've not exactly press mcdonnd, but I'd ask him
a few times the last couple of weeks about this
and he said again this. He said Monday, coming out
of the Tennessee game, that they are going to continue
to trend more toward Walker earning more carries and more
running back one status. But they still put Sharbona in
(13:12):
as a two minute back. They still put him in
as a third down back, and they still had him
at the goal line. Of course, I had to bounce
out five yard touchdown run. That was a drive in
which Walker got him down there. But that's not often
in games, depending on when the possessions shakeout. Often in games,
you as you're doing two minute and you're doing short yardage,
(13:34):
and you're doing goal line. And that's how scharbon A
has more snaps percentage higher percentage than Walker. I'm with you,
I think they need to get to a point where
Walker gets twenty touches a game. He is explosive in
the past game because he can outrun linebackers in the flat,
which he did a couple of times again in Tennessee.
He did that against the Rams. He had a twenty
(13:54):
three yard run and catch it by just running past
the middle linebacker. A middle linebacker just got an extension
a three year contract this week from LA. He just
flat sprinted past him and got twenty three yards because
he beat the linebacker into the flat charoneye doesn't give
you that and charmon Ay also the biggest thing. I
think that Walker needs to get more short Garady than
go on. Walker makes guys miss who are unblocked in
(14:17):
the backfield. Charbone makes guys tacklers who are unblocked in
the backfield. He runs right into him. Walker eludes them
and jukes him and has the speed to get around
those guys. And I'm thinking of Ram's game Kobe Turner,
who was standing in the backfield on a third and one.
It should have been a two yard loss and Walker
ran right around him for five yard ga could have
been a touchdown with about the safety with his shoe
(14:39):
string tackle Walker to me and they're saying what McDonald's saying, Yes,
done with the maintenance. Then he said last week we're
done with worry about his knee and maint foot and
maintaining him. And then Friday he shows up questionable with
a clute injury out of nowhere, and we asked him mcdonland,
what's this, Well, it's maintenance. Were you just told us
(15:00):
we're done with maintenance. So they are not done with
maintenance with Walker and they are still preserving him, which
is why he didn't get twenty touches in Tennessee. But
this is the end of his contract. As we've talked about,
I think they owe it to Walker, and they owe
it to their offense to give Walker twenty plus touches
per game. And if he gets hurt doing that, then
(15:21):
that's why they wouldn't resign him next year. But he's
your number one threat to make guys miss and have
explosive plays at running back for an offense that runs
more than anybody in the league. Give him the ball
twenty plus times a game.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
I agree with everything that Greg just said, and I've
been beating that drum for years. I just think, you know,
you look at the NFL with their proclivity to try
and run the ball. They're number one in the NFL
in pass run racial meaning running the ball. To me,
the net explosives have been one of the few stats
(15:57):
where you can look and you say that rivals nets
for the statistic that correlates most to winning again. Net
explosive plays, commonly defined as ten yard rushes, is an
explosive play or a twenty yard pass, and the Walkers
Walker's capacity to produce an explosive play in the running
(16:18):
game is so much higher than Charbonnet's. That to me,
it's like you're you know, you're rolling dice and you
just want to give yourself those opportunities that he's going
to have those explosives. I think he puts more fear
into defensive coordinators. I think everything Greg touched on with
respects to the contract is apt and and so Yeah,
(16:40):
to me, I think there's a really good chance when
they finally figure this out, that's when they will reach
their highest potential. And we'll be doing shows on Monday.
Greg just saying, we've been talking about this for months.
We've been talking about this for years.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
You know.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Here, you know, Walker just had one hundred and thirteen
yards in a play off game and it was the
difference between winning and losing. And it's like, where was this?
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
I can tell you he's not thrilled. He's played good soldier,
but he is an individual, knowing where his contract situation is,
he has not been happy with how this season is gone.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Let's see what they do here in the last six games.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Yep, it'll be interesting to see how they do it.
All Right, Well, we're gonna break here and when we
come back, I have a question from a couple of
different angles to ask both these guys about a certain
individual that's bawling out at this point right here at
Sports Radio ninety three point three KGRFM. Well, Thanksgiving is
(17:43):
tomorrow and I am thankful for a lot of things,
and now one of those things is Hugh Millan and
Greg Bell. You guys are coming on here, and I
don't have to deal with Softy and cam Mother fluffing me.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Now.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
I did get a little bit of ribbon from Hugh,
and that's to be expected him being an actual dog,
so I'll take that.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
But yeah, this is good.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Haven't been able to finish our show before Thanksgiving, So
having Thanksgiving to you guys, and thanks for being here.
We got Hugh, Yeah, Hugh and Greg. I got a
question for you guys about JSN, and yet I think
it's from two different angles. The idea of what this
guy's doing right now. I mean, there's still a lot
of season. He's got to stay healthy and you obviously
probably want your number one quarterback to stay healthy, and
(18:29):
all of the things have to continue working in his favor.
If he's going to track down Megatron for this this
you know, possible record breaking season, and yet we can
still talk about it as if that it is historical
at this point, just simply because he's already broken the record.
But I want to go at it from I think, Hugh,
I'll go with you first about how what he does
(18:50):
that like a quarterback loves that it is from what
he does as a receiver. And then Greg, you can
follow with what you see behind the scenes that contribute
to this guy being something outstanding. So you what is
it that you see this guy do that probably makes
him an absolute dream to work with. When it comes
to the guy throwing to him.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Well, he's quick off the ball at the release. If
he happens to get jammed or ruled, he has exceptional
body control. When he runs speed outs, he can do
it at a tight radius at near full speed. I
think in part because of his body composition. At six
foot and a half, he's neither really tall nor really short,
(19:31):
but he's short legged. The percentage of his height that's
in in his legs is relatively low, and so that
low center of balance set of gravity allows him to
do a lot of quick things. His IQ is next level.
He has an understanding both, you know, by a race
(19:53):
of about three to one. I don't have the exact numbers,
but I've done the research by a race of about
three to one. He excelled in the slot at Ohio State,
and so he had to learn, you know, there's more
grasping of a defensive package that you have to be
aware of by learning it from the slot, and then
(20:14):
when you take it to the outside like he has
this year, he's already got the knowledge. So he knows
how to be quarterback friendly in his zone. He knows
when the windows, Hey, I'll turn my numbers at precisely
the right time. And the quarterback is very easy to
read his idol rate, so he identifies those quickly. And
(20:35):
then and then the way he finishes, you know, on
these deep balls, Tyler Lockett I think was an extraordinary
when he was at a pro bowl level Ish Tyler Lockett,
I thought he had an exceptional ability to close on
a deep ball. But he would catch with his body.
You can almost in your minds, I see all those
catches where he caught the ball with his forearms and
his chest. Jackson Smith and Jigba has that incredible ball
(21:00):
tracking ability and an ability to finish with guys grabbing
on him on deep passes, but he can just pluck
it last second with his hands, and so you know,
you know, you saw the sixty was a sixty three
yarder where you know, he just kind of had enough
of a hand fighting. You know, by all accounts, that
ball should not have been thrown by Sam Darnold on
(21:22):
a third and six. He had an open receiver in
the flat. The safety you know, you know, you think about, oh,
you're on an island. The safety wasn't on an island.
He had helped deep into the post to the anxiety.
He had shallow hope help on a low hole. So
all he had to do, really do was make sure
that you defend the outbreaking routes well well. Now of
(21:44):
a sudden that that that that's like having you know
that that defender's responsibility has been cut in half, and
yet he still couldn't cover him well enough. When Donald
just dropped that ball, uh literally walked it out to him.
So great. You know, I didn't expect these ratios, but
this year you've got JSN at eighty six snaps in
(22:08):
the slot four hundred and four to the outside, and
you know, you know, well over four pushing, you know,
four and a half times, and yet he's been burning corners.
You know, before he used to burn linebackers and safeties inside.
It takes more moxie inside now. In addition to that,
(22:30):
he's just wearing guys out on the perimeter.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
First player in NFL history was seventy five plus receiving
yards in the first eleven games of the season. He,
Marvin Harrison, and Cooper Cup that twenty one year with
the Rams are the only three guys to ever have
this many yards through thirteen games and have one hundred
plus yards for the eleven consecutive games, not just to
(22:55):
start a season, but at any eleven consecutive game mark.
And as I said, he's on pace to break Calvin
Johnson's nineteen sixty four one town to nine oh sixty
four yards from twenty twelve to the Detroit Lions. He
and Frismon Jackson work a lot. Bucky and Hugh at
practices on judging balls in the air, high pointing balls,
(23:17):
and having defenders keeping defenders onto their back hip. That
sixty three yard catch in Tennessee, he was not the
primary receiver run at play, and that was not his
route and when he saw it was going to be
a safety covering him, he decided to take that safety
on a walk across the field from left to right.
After that play on the sideline, Sam Donald went up
(23:37):
to his offensive lineman and thanked every one of them
because they had extraordinary pass rush on the pass protection
on that to allow Donald to time and Smith and
Jib at the time to run a forty yard route
from left to across the field to the right. And
then the ball comes in the air and Smith and
Jigg was slows down and because he can judge the
(23:58):
ball to be not quite as far as he was running,
but while he slowed down, he kept the defender on
his back. That took me and then.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
I don't say this lightly.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
That reminded me of Jerry Rice the way. Rice wasn't
the fastest straight line player, yet what made him a
Hall of Famer was how he judged the ball in
the air and then used his body against the defender
and kept a defender away from catching the ball even
in coverage. And for a quarterback, I would think you
you would answer this better and I would that that
makes you feel like you can throw it in any
(24:28):
coverage whether he's covered or not, no matter who's on him,
because he'll just box him out and he'll judge and
he'll do the right thing with his hands and timing.
I also asked him after the Tennessee game about the
fine line of holding your hand out. We all remember
the famous sticking the handout by Darryl Jackson in the
Super Bowl in Detroit that got an offensive pass interference
in the back of the ends, and that probably wasn't
(24:50):
but just because his hand got his hand extended the
referee the official in the back through the flag and
gated a touchdown for the Seahawks against the Steelers. Well,
that's basically what Smith and Jagba did against the tight
He kept his hand out. I said, what's the fine
line there? But if you keep your hand out doing
at OPI and he says, Frisman Jackson and I work
about keeping that hand in the frame of my body
(25:10):
and not extending and showing the official that I am
keeping it between my shoulders and not making my area
bigger than the frame of my body. And he said
that I've come really good at doing that. He also
said it doctor the Tennessee game. Frankly, I'm better judging
the ball than the defensive backs are and he thinks
that's his number one trait for doing what he's doing,
(25:33):
is that he can judge the ball in flight better
than the guys that are covering him. So far, he's
the best in the NFL doing it. And Hugh, I'm
going to ask you this week about his slought experience
at Ohio State because I think you're exactly right about
his IQ and reading defenses and being much more effective
outside receiver because of what he does inside.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
I would like to know. Yeah, I described the mount
He pushes off like goldilocks in the porche, not too hot,
not too cold, and you've got to push off a
little to get the cats, but not too much to
get the OPI but I would like to know verbat
him his quote about the audiblizing. Uh. This this this
(26:15):
freelancing that was taking place during the play because he
mosted from left to right and then ran a corner out.
He was the lined up as the inside innermost of
three receivers. It's man to man like was there a
hand signal before the play? I mean, when I coached
you know, passing game coordinated at high school level, we
used to have the the the corner route or the seam.
(26:37):
We used to call call it dolphin check double finn
on the outside and then uh and then then you
have a check by the third guy either your post
to the corner. But there's there's more to the cohesion
between the quarterback and the receiver than just saying well
I'm gonna I'm gonna just go out there and run
(26:58):
a corner route, particularly again it's an outside leverage guy.
I would love to overbad him what he said when
that took place in the play before the snap? What
have you on that? Did he give any details, because
that's pretty fascinating.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Well, it was.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
It was actually a lot of what Donald said as well.
After that it was not the primary target and then
when he saw it was going to be safety man
through the motion, that's when he thought, okay, I go
I have Basically I have the entire right side.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Of the field to get Smith and Jigbito with the ball.
Speaker 4 (27:30):
Donald assessed once they saw safety man coverage in the
motion pre snap, that he was going to go left
to right across the field for a longs. Basically it
was a long flag.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
When he snapped, he was on the right side, So
so he went vertical stem and then a corner route.
So so in the sense of left to right. But
it wasn't like it wasn't like an over route where
he the ball was snapped. Who's on the left side
he was. He was on the right side of nowhere
up against a one this time. But but but he
he went to the corner route, that would be that
(28:05):
would be a lot of latitude for the quarterback to
not know what route he was running as he's dropping back,
you know, So I'm that.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
Mischaracter he saw once he saw the coverage and the
safety gonna be man on him. After the motion, Darnold
said he knew he had the flag route the corner
route for Smith and Jiggba. It's just a matter of
getting it long enough to get it to him. And
that's when he credited the pass protection for it. Suffice
to say, the trust factor is really high. For a
quarterback and receiver have only played eleven games together plus
(28:37):
of training camp, it looks like they've played together for years.
There's a discussion inside of this, well, what about the
trooper cup and Rasid Shahit Shaheit has three three catches
for thirty yards.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
In three games with the Seahawks right.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
Now, when will it catch up to him that they're.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
The preponderance of all these targets are Smith and Jigbus.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Yeah, it's impressive to say the least. All Right, Well,
we're going to go to break, can come back with
one last segment. I might get just an overarching view
looking forward about this. We'll stick around and get one
more segment of the Seahawks Round Table with Hugh and
Greg right after the break here at Sports Radio ninety
three point three KGRFM.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Welcome back to the show.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
One final segment on our Seahawks Roundtable. We got Hugh,
we got Greg breaking it down, getting it from all
different angles. We're gonna go into this fairly quick. We
don't have a ton of time before people are gonna
get home and I don't know, start cooking their turkeys
and whatnot. So I'll go ahead and I'll start with you, Hugh.
What's your kind of one last thought getting ready for
(29:44):
a game that maybe you feel like, maybe the Seahawks
feel like this is when we should win, maybe gotta
win considering how tight the standings are.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Well, a couple of things. I think it's interesting that
the NFC West. The two teams that you're competing against
the Rams obviously in forty nine because of the placement.
Last year, the Rams won the division. Seattle was number two,
but the forty nine Ers were last. They had the
forty nine ers got the better schedule in that regard,
And and there's there's three wild I shouldn't use wild card
(30:15):
because that that that denotes playoffs, but there's three slotted
games based on your division. And and for Seattle, because
they were number two in the NFC West, it was
the Steelers who were number two in their division. Last year,
Seattle obviously got to win. It was the Commanders. Seattle
got to win. And now it's Minnesota, and we'll see
(30:35):
what happens in that regard. The forty nine Ers, they
with the fourth place schedule, they've already played the Giants,
they have yet to play Cleveland and Chicago. That's their
their corresponding fourth place teams that is yet to be determined.
And the Rams they had Philadelphia they lost, and they
they had Baltimore where they won, and they have the
(30:59):
week before the play Seattle. They have Detroit, which was
the first place team in the NFC North. So I
think this the whole scale of part that that interests me,
and then the other part we kind of touched on it.
The Vikings, they are number one in the NFL in
the use of three to four that's base personnel, but
three defensive linemen four linebackers. When you have three defensive
(31:20):
linemen and four linebackers to create a four man rush,
you're gonna have blitz at least one linebacker. So there's
more of an issue with identification. And to that end,
the Vikings are number one in the NFL in the
percentage of their snaps that produce a pressure. So they
are doing a defense that's number one in the NFL.
(31:41):
And by the way, Seattle in training camp when you're
practicing that Seattle is less than two percent of their
plays than three four The Vikings are forty four and
a half percent. So they're going to be seeing something
that they don't see. And the Vikings again number one
in the NFL. Now Seahawks are number one in the
total number of pressures by their defense, but the percentage
of plays that produce a pressure, the Vikings are number one.
(32:05):
I don't know if I've confused in that regard. It's
just there's a difference in contrast where the Seahawks and finally, Greg,
the Seahawks are number one in the NFL and use
of nickel, the Vikings are dead last thirty second, which
corresponds to what I said about the three four of
the base. But it's not just base personnel. It's three
(32:25):
four base personnel, which means that some linebreckers coming from
somewhere and it's still and which seems like a blitz
to a quarterback, but it's still just a four man rush.
They can play their seven man zones, which is standard
in the back end. So that's a challenge for Seattle's offense.
You've seen some of the effectiveness as reflected in those numbers.
(32:47):
Five Minnesota's defense impressive. Hugh, you never cease to amaze me.
You really don't. Honest to god, I'm order to bore you. No,
I don't get bored inundate you WITHISSI manussa.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Nope, Nope, I don't get bored. Are all right? Well
that's good stuff, Greg. I mean what going into this game,
which you're kind of overarching thought and prediction on this
bad boy.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
Two words Max Brosmer, Who the hell is Max Brosmer exactly.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
That's that's the game right there.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
Max Brosmer played four years at the University in New Hampshire.
He played one year at the University of Minnesota. He
didn't get drafted the NFL, he didn't get to my recollection,
invited to the combine, and he's going to start at
quarterback as an undrafted rookie on Sunday because JJ McCarthy
has a concussion. He's getting all the number one snaps
this week in Minnesota. They've been saying it seems inevitable
(33:37):
that he was going to beat the quarterback because not
only was McCarthy gonna end up getting hurt again, but
the number two is hurt. Carson Wentz is also injured
with an out of the year, out of the year
with a shoulder injury. So now of that, the number three,
a number three undrafted rookie quarterback coming in here against
Mike McDonald's defense.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
Game over, end of story.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
Sam donald could throw five interceptions and they're gonna win
on Sunday if the defense just does its job, and
they've been doing its job pretty much all season, stopping
the run, forcing long third downs and then being able
to pressure quarterbacks when it's third and eight, nine, ten
to eleven instead of third, two and three. The biggest
difference in the Rams game for the Seahawk defense the
(34:17):
turnovers that put him in boxes. Yes, and the gift
of the Rams two touchdowns. But Stafford was in third
and two and three a lot, and even in the
second half in Tennessee, the Titans converted all those third
and fourth downs because it was third and fourth and one,
two and three and not third and ten. The Seahawks
by and large this season have had teams in third
and tens. This should be a mismatch with the defense.
(34:38):
I think in like one, I'm not going to I
won't predict a shutout again because I messed that up
last week, but I'm saying twenty four to six something
like that.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Yeah, Griggs exactly right on that point. But there have
been a few quarterbacks that under Kevin McConnell have have
have six Nick Mullins, Jaren Hall and do you remember
when Josh Dobbs was picked up in in three days,
he went like four and oh his first four starts
now eventually turned into a pumpkin. But mccon Kevin O'Connell
(35:07):
has some success with these third string young quarterbacks playing
well beyond expectation. Hopefully that doesn't happen on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
All right, guys, great stuff again and breaking it down,
figuring out what to look forward to, what to watch
out for when it comes into this game. I want
to wish you both a happy Thanksgiving and thank you
for coming on and adding what you do to us
here at the morning show and everybody at KGr right
back at you.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
Thank you guys, Happy Thanksgiving. Everybody listening as well with
your families.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
If we can't, yeah, all right, well that's Greg and
Hugh breaking it down. That's the end of our Seahawks roundtable.
That is going to bring us to the end of
our show. I do want to also extend a very
big Thanksgiving to everybody out there listening, and like Greg said,
enjoy it. Spend some time with your family, love on
your loved ones, and enjoy this a little bit of
(35:54):
a long weekend. Don't eat too terribly much. What am
I talking about? I'm in need a ton so anyway.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Stick around.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
We got to I'm Jay and Christopher Kidd coming up
after this here at Sports Radio ninety three point three KJR.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
FM.
Speaker 5 (36:05):
You can't miss a thing from today's show because we're
on demand. Their podcast will be up right after the show.
Just click on demand on our website at ninety three
three KJR dot com and click on Check and Bug
podcast to replay anytime anywhere. From Sports Radio ninety three
point three KJR FNL.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
This report is sponsored by Mattress Firm.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
You have a new blocking problem in Sumner. This is
going to be a crash traveling eastbound Highway four ten
near one
Alrighty, welcome back to the show here at Sports Radio
ninety three point three kJ R f M. It is
a final hour before Thanksgiving, and I mean, if this
show just doesn't keep on giving us stuff. Now, all
of a sudden, we got we get to have our
Seahawks roundtable. We just got done having Softy and Cam
(00:40):
abused me. Hugh absolutely abused me about a duck game
that's coming up. That was a real treat. I'm pretty
happy that the Seahawks aren't playing the Broncos this week.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, well, abuse you enough, so yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
the Husky duck. Yeah it's real, Yeah, it is real.
You see my shirt, by the way, can you see
what's on my shirt here? You little ducks.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
It's called My shirt is called get Ducked, so you
can get ducked. Anyways, I'm gonna go ahead and and
say we're not gonna talk anymore ducks here.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
You got your You got that off your chest.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Now you're good with that.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
I'm sure Greg's probably not coming at me either with
this one. But we are going to discuss, obviously Seahawks,
what we've seen and what we're expecting coming in to
this week against the Vikings. We got Greg Bell with
us as well. Sorry, Greg, I didn't see you here
on zoom. I know you're going to be joining us
here in a second, but we've got you on the phone.
You're there, right, bro, Hello, good morning? Hello, Hello, Hello, Okay,
(01:41):
real quick, Greg, No fighting last night, no sparring with
your spouse.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
No, she's I was on my best behavior. That Yeah,
that's the worst. That's the worst advantage of being a
marriage as you know to be. You know that she
owes you one.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
And for those that don't know yet, today we found
out that the Greg Bell family went and did some
boxing and sparred and now, yeah, his wife owes him
one because maybe a couple too many body shots landed
or something there. So yeah, good luck with that on Thanksgiving.
Uh And so anyway, we're gonna talk about wife well
a little bit.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
I took a few Liberties shoe they were doing a
little sparring I did. I had boxing West Point. You
have to have a boxing class to graduate, and I
had in my sophomore year.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
So we took the kids to place the.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Roosevelt Emerald City Gym, Washington Husky's club boxing, great team,
great part where you had Zee taught us to coach there,
and we.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Had a great time. But it's a workout. It's an
aerobic workout. You got to keep your hands time for
an hour or.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
But I yeah, we weren't supposed to really, we were shabbing.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
But I may have.
Speaker 4 (02:48):
I may have jabbed off with Buff a couple of times.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, every husband's dream to get in the ring with
their wife. Did you pull that on?
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Oh my god, Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
It will never happen again. Uh oh.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
And anyways, quite the way to kick off the Thanksgiving
weekend and the celebration. They're thankful that you didn't have
to go to another boxing class, but good luck with
that over the weekend. All right, Well we got we
got Seahawks Vikings Vikings rolling into town. Obviously, you know
at this point six games left in the season, and
you're in a tight battle. The NFC West is is tight,
(03:33):
with the Rams just ahead of you and and the
Niners still right there about a half a game behind you, essentially,
So going into this game, I'll start with you, Hugh.
Biggest concern we we had sand to Wan earlier today.
He was kind of talking about we were talking about
pros and cons. Basically, the big con is the giveaways,
you know, the turnover and the turnover differential there. I
(03:56):
think they're second or third worst at only a minus
seven their second and behind the Minnesota Vikings with twenty giveaways.
The Minnesota Vikings have given the ball away twenty one times.
What's your biggest concern going into a game that you
feel like is a game you should be able to
come out because I think it's.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
A little bit of the health for Seattle and the
idea that although JJ McCarthy has, you know, and just
kind of looking at these numbers pretty abysmal and in
terms of how they're passing the football, I mean they're
dead last and touchdown to interception ratio, third down conversions
thirty first yards per play twenty six. That just is
(04:34):
not indicative of a Kevin O'Connell offense, nor what everybody
thought about JJ McCarthy's potential. So you don't want JJ
McCarthy to get right this Sunday, So that would be
a potential concern. And then and then you know, they
can create some havoc on defense or a blitzing group
(04:55):
and they can have some problems. I think it should
be noted wh while turnovers have been an issue, I
think that you know, it should be noticed. Sam Donald
is number one in the NFL, not just in you know,
yards per completing, yards per attempt and all the metrics
that you see throwing the ball down the field, but
Pro Football Focus they measure turnover worthy plays.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
There's there's a half a dozen of the top quarterbacks
that are that are that are have more turnover worthy
plays than Sam Donald. But Sam Donald is number one
stands alone, uh in big time throws and and big
time throw percentage. So while we can lament some of
the turnovers, I think sometimes that's the cost of doing
(05:43):
business when you get all the big plays the offense
has been producing.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, gee, what do you think any any overarching concerns
when a team that you feel like is maybe heading
in one direction and you're supposedly heading in the other.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
Well, Bucky, here the turnovers that Donald should have had
three interceptions against Tennessee. The first pass, the second pass
of the game could have been intercepted. It was actually
probably his fourth pass on the first drive. Kenneth Walker
changed the projectory came by breaking up a checkdown pass
(06:17):
in the right flat that a cornerback would The Titans
cornerback was standing in front of Walker when Donald threw
the pass. It was Donald the cornerback, and then Walker
in progression were when that ball was arriving, and Walker
from behind knocked that ball away From where I was
in the press box, that was a pick six. There
was nobody behind those two out on the extreme right sideline.
(06:40):
If that corner had intercepted that pass, the Titans would
be up ten to nothing right out of the gate.
And then there were two other passes, one that went
off for it deflected pass and went off the defenders
both of his hands. And then and then a diving
play that probably should have been caught for three interceptions.
Should have twenty three takeaways or.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Giveaways on offense this year.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
They were really fortunate that game didn't change a lot differently,
Especially if I talked to Ken Walker after the game,
he said, Yeah, that probably would have been a big six.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
I knew I had to break that path up.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
The other thing, I'm still not sold. I know Walker
had eleven carries for seventy one yards. They're not running
consistently effectively like they need to to beat the Rams
in forty nine ers. They run in spurts, they run
against some teams. They get second half numbers when they
have a lead, But how they really want to run
the ball for as much as they do. They're still
doing it, and they're working that and it looks like
(07:35):
Walker is now starting to ech into more of a
true number one back role. But they are not whole
in the run game. So yes, he was absolutely right.
Donald has been a big play twenty plus yards recompletionency
leads the league, ten plus yards complacency leads the league. Dackson,
Smith and Jigba looked like Jerry Rice the way he
(07:56):
contorted his body and controlled defensive backs in Tennessee. He's
on pace to break Calvin Johnson's single season record, which
is I fied on side. I had never expected that.
But he's on pace for a two thousand yard season
all that. Yes, they just aren't doing it the way
they were designed to. Will they ever offensively be the
way they're designed to by the end of this season?
(08:17):
They got the Rams of December sixteenth, they've got the
forty nine ers to end the regular season. Will they
run the ball against those teams? The way they want to.
To me, that still is the issue nagging at them offensively. Defensively,
they can win most games the way they played defensively,
they only gave up one offensive touchdown until a garbage
time score in the last minute. Again in Nashville on Sunday.
(08:39):
I know that's a one to ten team with a
rookie quarterback. They left the rookie quarterbackers scape and make
plays and misstackles on him. But the defense by and
large is gonna give up one or two touchdowns and
that's it in a game seventeen points in most games
before garbage time. They'll win most games of their defense
if they can just get their offense to function the
way they want to.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, and to that point, Seattle's number three in the
NFL and points margin, they're number one in the NFL
and first half points marginal. You know, getting on top
of teams has not been an issue. Now at minus
four they actually have there. They're in the red in
terms of second half points margin. They're just eighteenth in
(09:22):
the league in that. But you know, just to finish
the loop on the conversation about Sunday and the turnovers, Yeah,
I mean we all saw the play in the flat,
I think that there was a possibility that was a turnover.
I think any running back would be expected to reach
back and and have his hands on it. So I
(09:44):
don't I don't think the threat is as serious as
as Greg is is describing. Maybe others feel. I understand
in the flat it could have been a pick six,
but that would have assumed that your running back made
exactly zero effort to break it up, you know, you know,
as it describes the luck that quarterbacks have or don't have,
(10:06):
and that's a thing. Sam Darnold has the same number
of turnover worthy plays in the season as Bo Knicks
and Dak Prescott. These are Pro Bowl level guys. Drake
May has more, Patrick Mahomes has more, and yet and
(10:28):
so I think, yeah, you'd like it to be better.
I don't think it's catastrophic when you consider that the
big time throw percent, you know, and the throat number
one in the NFL, and you know, just you know,
Donald Is is some almost twenty percent higher than Matthew
Stafford in big time throws. So at an event, well,
(10:50):
we'll just have to see. I know this that you
can't have four interceptions against the rams in a few weeks.
But but I'm willing to live with for the most
part of what we've seen from Sam Donald.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
I'm with you.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
I think it is the way you put it when
you say it's kind of the cost of doing business.
I mean, we were talking about two weeks ago Sam
Donald was in the conversation for the MVP, and large
part it's because of what he and JSN have been doing,
and so that's going to be there. I mean, when
you look at Matt Stafford's thirty touchdowns to two interceptions,
(11:24):
obviously taking care of the ball better, but at the
same time, they're not. All of the stats tell nothing
but the truth. I think that there's some things that
can be lost in the shuffle that aren't real interceptions
on the quarterback, just like you can have some that
could have been an interception and it didn't turn out
to one. That's just the way that sports works. I
will go I'll go with you Greg on this one. First,
(11:47):
the run game. You've been you know, kind of pounding
the drum, not just this year but for years that
they needed to run the ball more, and they want
to run the ball more. They hear that critique and
say Yep, we're going to run the ball more. When
I watch the Niners on Monday Night Football, give Christian
McCaffrey thirty one touches, and then you look over the
(12:09):
stats of Ken Walker and he's typically a you know,
eleven fourteen touches a game something around there. Every once
in a while I will creep up to seventeen. Is
there a part where it's just this is what you're
going to get. You're maybe it's borderline preserving him. Maybe
it's we like certain plays that sharbon Ay can run
(12:31):
when maybe it's just straight ahead run, go bulldoze. We
don't need you to do any juking on this one.
Is this just maybe what you're going to get. I mean,
we're eleven games into it. Maybe this is just who
they are. They're not going to change, and they maybe
don't even feel like they need to because the passing
game is working fairly well when the he's not thrown
it to the other team.
Speaker 4 (12:51):
Well, I've not exactly press mcdonnd, but I'd ask him
a few times the last couple of weeks about this
and he said again this. He said Monday, coming out
of the Tennessee game, that they are going to continue
to trend more toward Walker earning more carries and more
running back one status. But they still put Sharbona in
(13:12):
as a two minute back. They still put him in
as a third down back, and they still had him
at the goal line. Of course, I had to bounce
out five yard touchdown run. That was a drive in
which Walker got him down there. But that's not often
in games, depending on when the possessions shakeout. Often in games,
you as you're doing two minute and you're doing short yardage,
(13:34):
and you're doing goal line. And that's how scharbon A
has more snaps percentage higher percentage than Walker. I'm with you,
I think they need to get to a point where
Walker gets twenty touches a game. He is explosive in
the past game because he can outrun linebackers in the flat,
which he did a couple of times again in Tennessee.
He did that against the Rams. He had a twenty
(13:54):
three yard run and catch it by just running past
the middle linebacker. A middle linebacker just got an extension
a three year contract this week from LA. He just
flat sprinted past him and got twenty three yards because
he beat the linebacker into the flat charoneye doesn't give
you that and charmon Ay also the biggest thing. I
think that Walker needs to get more short Garady than
go on. Walker makes guys miss who are unblocked in
(14:17):
the backfield. Charbone makes guys tacklers who are unblocked in
the backfield. He runs right into him. Walker eludes them
and jukes him and has the speed to get around
those guys. And I'm thinking of Ram's game Kobe Turner,
who was standing in the backfield on a third and one.
It should have been a two yard loss and Walker
ran right around him for five yard ga could have
been a touchdown with about the safety with his shoe
(14:39):
string tackle Walker to me and they're saying what McDonald's saying, Yes,
done with the maintenance. Then he said last week we're
done with worry about his knee and maint foot and
maintaining him. And then Friday he shows up questionable with
a clute injury out of nowhere, and we asked him mcdonland,
what's this, Well, it's maintenance. Were you just told us
(15:00):
we're done with maintenance. So they are not done with
maintenance with Walker and they are still preserving him, which
is why he didn't get twenty touches in Tennessee. But
this is the end of his contract. As we've talked about,
I think they owe it to Walker, and they owe
it to their offense to give Walker twenty plus touches
per game. And if he gets hurt doing that, then
(15:21):
that's why they wouldn't resign him next year. But he's
your number one threat to make guys miss and have
explosive plays at running back for an offense that runs
more than anybody in the league. Give him the ball
twenty plus times a game.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
I agree with everything that Greg just said, and I've
been beating that drum for years. I just think, you know,
you look at the NFL with their proclivity to try
and run the ball. They're number one in the NFL
in pass run racial meaning running the ball. To me,
the net explosives have been one of the few stats
(15:57):
where you can look and you say that rivals nets
for the statistic that correlates most to winning again. Net
explosive plays, commonly defined as ten yard rushes, is an
explosive play or a twenty yard pass, and the Walkers
Walker's capacity to produce an explosive play in the running
(16:18):
game is so much higher than Charbonnet's. That to me,
it's like you're you know, you're rolling dice and you
just want to give yourself those opportunities that he's going
to have those explosives. I think he puts more fear
into defensive coordinators. I think everything Greg touched on with
respects to the contract is apt and and so Yeah,
(16:40):
to me, I think there's a really good chance when
they finally figure this out, that's when they will reach
their highest potential. And we'll be doing shows on Monday.
Greg just saying, we've been talking about this for months.
We've been talking about this for years.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
You know.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Here, you know, Walker just had one hundred and thirteen
yards in a play off game and it was the
difference between winning and losing. And it's like, where was this?
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 4 (17:06):
I can tell you he's not thrilled. He's played good soldier,
but he is an individual, knowing where his contract situation is,
he has not been happy with how this season is gone.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Let's see what they do here in the last six games.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Yep, it'll be interesting to see how they do it.
All Right, Well, we're gonna break here and when we
come back, I have a question from a couple of
different angles to ask both these guys about a certain
individual that's bawling out at this point right here at
Sports Radio ninety three point three KGRFM. Well, Thanksgiving is
(17:43):
tomorrow and I am thankful for a lot of things,
and now one of those things is Hugh Millan and
Greg Bell. You guys are coming on here, and I
don't have to deal with Softy and cam Mother fluffing me.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Now.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
I did get a little bit of ribbon from Hugh,
and that's to be expected him being an actual dog,
so I'll take that.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
But yeah, this is good.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Haven't been able to finish our show before Thanksgiving, So
having Thanksgiving to you guys, and thanks for being here.
We got Hugh, Yeah, Hugh and Greg. I got a
question for you guys about JSN, and yet I think
it's from two different angles. The idea of what this
guy's doing right now. I mean, there's still a lot
of season. He's got to stay healthy and you obviously
probably want your number one quarterback to stay healthy, and
(18:29):
all of the things have to continue working in his favor.
If he's going to track down Megatron for this this
you know, possible record breaking season, and yet we can
still talk about it as if that it is historical
at this point, just simply because he's already broken the record.
But I want to go at it from I think, Hugh,
I'll go with you first about how what he does
(18:50):
that like a quarterback loves that it is from what
he does as a receiver. And then Greg, you can
follow with what you see behind the scenes that contribute
to this guy being something outstanding. So you what is
it that you see this guy do that probably makes
him an absolute dream to work with. When it comes
to the guy throwing to him.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Well, he's quick off the ball at the release. If
he happens to get jammed or ruled, he has exceptional
body control. When he runs speed outs, he can do
it at a tight radius at near full speed. I
think in part because of his body composition. At six
foot and a half, he's neither really tall nor really short,
(19:31):
but he's short legged. The percentage of his height that's
in in his legs is relatively low, and so that
low center of balance set of gravity allows him to
do a lot of quick things. His IQ is next level.
He has an understanding both, you know, by a race
(19:53):
of about three to one. I don't have the exact numbers,
but I've done the research by a race of about
three to one. He excelled in the slot at Ohio State,
and so he had to learn, you know, there's more
grasping of a defensive package that you have to be
aware of by learning it from the slot, and then
(20:14):
when you take it to the outside like he has
this year, he's already got the knowledge. So he knows
how to be quarterback friendly in his zone. He knows
when the windows, Hey, I'll turn my numbers at precisely
the right time. And the quarterback is very easy to
read his idol rate, so he identifies those quickly. And
(20:35):
then and then the way he finishes, you know, on
these deep balls, Tyler Lockett I think was an extraordinary
when he was at a pro bowl level Ish Tyler Lockett,
I thought he had an exceptional ability to close on
a deep ball. But he would catch with his body.
You can almost in your minds, I see all those
catches where he caught the ball with his forearms and
his chest. Jackson Smith and Jigba has that incredible ball
(21:00):
tracking ability and an ability to finish with guys grabbing
on him on deep passes, but he can just pluck
it last second with his hands, and so you know,
you know, you saw the sixty was a sixty three
yarder where you know, he just kind of had enough
of a hand fighting. You know, by all accounts, that
ball should not have been thrown by Sam Darnold on
(21:22):
a third and six. He had an open receiver in
the flat. The safety you know, you know, you think about, oh,
you're on an island. The safety wasn't on an island.
He had helped deep into the post to the anxiety.
He had shallow hope help on a low hole. So
all he had to do, really do was make sure
that you defend the outbreaking routes well well. Now of
(21:44):
a sudden that that that that's like having you know
that that defender's responsibility has been cut in half, and
yet he still couldn't cover him well enough. When Donald
just dropped that ball, uh literally walked it out to him.
So great. You know, I didn't expect these ratios, but
this year you've got JSN at eighty six snaps in
(22:08):
the slot four hundred and four to the outside, and
you know, you know, well over four pushing, you know,
four and a half times, and yet he's been burning corners.
You know, before he used to burn linebackers and safeties inside.
It takes more moxie inside now. In addition to that,
(22:30):
he's just wearing guys out on the perimeter.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
First player in NFL history was seventy five plus receiving
yards in the first eleven games of the season. He,
Marvin Harrison, and Cooper Cup that twenty one year with
the Rams are the only three guys to ever have
this many yards through thirteen games and have one hundred
plus yards for the eleven consecutive games, not just to
(22:55):
start a season, but at any eleven consecutive game mark.
And as I said, he's on pace to break Calvin
Johnson's nineteen sixty four one town to nine oh sixty
four yards from twenty twelve to the Detroit Lions. He
and Frismon Jackson work a lot. Bucky and Hugh at
practices on judging balls in the air, high pointing balls,
(23:17):
and having defenders keeping defenders onto their back hip. That
sixty three yard catch in Tennessee, he was not the
primary receiver run at play, and that was not his
route and when he saw it was going to be
a safety covering him, he decided to take that safety
on a walk across the field from left to right.
After that play on the sideline, Sam Donald went up
(23:37):
to his offensive lineman and thanked every one of them
because they had extraordinary pass rush on the pass protection
on that to allow Donald to time and Smith and
Jib at the time to run a forty yard route
from left to across the field to the right. And
then the ball comes in the air and Smith and
Jigg was slows down and because he can judge the
(23:58):
ball to be not quite as far as he was running,
but while he slowed down, he kept the defender on
his back. That took me and then.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
I don't say this lightly.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
That reminded me of Jerry Rice the way. Rice wasn't
the fastest straight line player, yet what made him a
Hall of Famer was how he judged the ball in
the air and then used his body against the defender
and kept a defender away from catching the ball even
in coverage. And for a quarterback, I would think you
you would answer this better and I would that that
makes you feel like you can throw it in any
(24:28):
coverage whether he's covered or not, no matter who's on him,
because he'll just box him out and he'll judge and
he'll do the right thing with his hands and timing.
I also asked him after the Tennessee game about the
fine line of holding your hand out. We all remember
the famous sticking the handout by Darryl Jackson in the
Super Bowl in Detroit that got an offensive pass interference
in the back of the ends, and that probably wasn't
(24:50):
but just because his hand got his hand extended the
referee the official in the back through the flag and
gated a touchdown for the Seahawks against the Steelers. Well,
that's basically what Smith and Jagba did against the tight
He kept his hand out. I said, what's the fine
line there? But if you keep your hand out doing
at OPI and he says, Frisman Jackson and I work
about keeping that hand in the frame of my body
(25:10):
and not extending and showing the official that I am
keeping it between my shoulders and not making my area
bigger than the frame of my body. And he said
that I've come really good at doing that. He also
said it doctor the Tennessee game. Frankly, I'm better judging
the ball than the defensive backs are and he thinks
that's his number one trait for doing what he's doing,
(25:33):
is that he can judge the ball in flight better
than the guys that are covering him. So far, he's
the best in the NFL doing it. And Hugh, I'm
going to ask you this week about his slought experience
at Ohio State because I think you're exactly right about
his IQ and reading defenses and being much more effective
outside receiver because of what he does inside.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
I would like to know. Yeah, I described the mount
He pushes off like goldilocks in the porche, not too hot,
not too cold, and you've got to push off a
little to get the cats, but not too much to
get the OPI but I would like to know verbat
him his quote about the audiblizing. Uh. This this this
(26:15):
freelancing that was taking place during the play because he
mosted from left to right and then ran a corner out.
He was the lined up as the inside innermost of
three receivers. It's man to man like was there a
hand signal before the play? I mean, when I coached
you know, passing game coordinated at high school level, we
used to have the the the corner route or the seam.
(26:37):
We used to call call it dolphin check double finn
on the outside and then uh and then then you
have a check by the third guy either your post
to the corner. But there's there's more to the cohesion
between the quarterback and the receiver than just saying well
I'm gonna I'm gonna just go out there and run
(26:58):
a corner route, particularly again it's an outside leverage guy.
I would love to overbad him what he said when
that took place in the play before the snap? What
have you on that? Did he give any details, because
that's pretty fascinating.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Well, it was.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
It was actually a lot of what Donald said as well.
After that it was not the primary target and then
when he saw it was going to be safety man
through the motion, that's when he thought, okay, I go
I have Basically I have the entire right side.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Of the field to get Smith and Jigbito with the ball.
Speaker 4 (27:30):
Donald assessed once they saw safety man coverage in the
motion pre snap, that he was going to go left
to right across the field for a longs. Basically it
was a long flag.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
When he snapped, he was on the right side, So
so he went vertical stem and then a corner route.
So so in the sense of left to right. But
it wasn't like it wasn't like an over route where
he the ball was snapped. Who's on the left side
he was. He was on the right side of nowhere
up against a one this time. But but but he
he went to the corner route, that would be that
(28:05):
would be a lot of latitude for the quarterback to
not know what route he was running as he's dropping back,
you know, So I'm that.
Speaker 4 (28:14):
Mischaracter he saw once he saw the coverage and the
safety gonna be man on him. After the motion, Darnold
said he knew he had the flag route the corner
route for Smith and Jiggba. It's just a matter of
getting it long enough to get it to him. And
that's when he credited the pass protection for it. Suffice
to say, the trust factor is really high. For a
quarterback and receiver have only played eleven games together plus
(28:37):
of training camp, it looks like they've played together for years.
There's a discussion inside of this, well, what about the
trooper cup and Rasid Shahit Shaheit has three three catches
for thirty yards.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
In three games with the Seahawks right.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
Now, when will it catch up to him that they're.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
The preponderance of all these targets are Smith and Jigbus.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Yeah, it's impressive to say the least. All Right, Well,
we're going to go to break, can come back with
one last segment. I might get just an overarching view
looking forward about this. We'll stick around and get one
more segment of the Seahawks Round Table with Hugh and
Greg right after the break here at Sports Radio ninety
three point three KGRFM.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
Welcome back to the show.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
One final segment on our Seahawks Roundtable. We got Hugh,
we got Greg breaking it down, getting it from all
different angles. We're gonna go into this fairly quick. We
don't have a ton of time before people are gonna
get home and I don't know, start cooking their turkeys
and whatnot. So I'll go ahead and I'll start with you, Hugh.
What's your kind of one last thought getting ready for
(29:44):
a game that maybe you feel like, maybe the Seahawks
feel like this is when we should win, maybe gotta
win considering how tight the standings are.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Well, a couple of things. I think it's interesting that
the NFC West. The two teams that you're competing against
the Rams obviously in forty nine because of the placement.
Last year, the Rams won the division. Seattle was number two,
but the forty nine Ers were last. They had the
forty nine ers got the better schedule in that regard,
And and there's there's three wild I shouldn't use wild card
(30:15):
because that that that denotes playoffs, but there's three slotted
games based on your division. And and for Seattle, because
they were number two in the NFC West, it was
the Steelers who were number two in their division. Last year,
Seattle obviously got to win. It was the Commanders. Seattle
got to win. And now it's Minnesota, and we'll see
(30:35):
what happens in that regard. The forty nine Ers, they
with the fourth place schedule, they've already played the Giants,
they have yet to play Cleveland and Chicago. That's their
their corresponding fourth place teams that is yet to be determined.
And the Rams they had Philadelphia they lost, and they
they had Baltimore where they won, and they have the
(30:59):
week before the play Seattle. They have Detroit, which was
the first place team in the NFC North. So I
think this the whole scale of part that that interests me,
and then the other part we kind of touched on it.
The Vikings, they are number one in the NFL in
the use of three to four that's base personnel, but
three defensive linemen four linebackers. When you have three defensive
(31:20):
linemen and four linebackers to create a four man rush,
you're gonna have blitz at least one linebacker. So there's
more of an issue with identification. And to that end,
the Vikings are number one in the NFL in the
percentage of their snaps that produce a pressure. So they
are doing a defense that's number one in the NFL.
(31:41):
And by the way, Seattle in training camp when you're
practicing that Seattle is less than two percent of their
plays than three four The Vikings are forty four and
a half percent. So they're going to be seeing something
that they don't see. And the Vikings again number one
in the NFL. Now Seahawks are number one in the
total number of pressures by their defense, but the percentage
of plays that produce a pressure, the Vikings are number one.
(32:05):
I don't know if I've confused in that regard. It's
just there's a difference in contrast where the Seahawks and finally, Greg,
the Seahawks are number one in the NFL and use
of nickel, the Vikings are dead last thirty second, which
corresponds to what I said about the three four of
the base. But it's not just base personnel. It's three
(32:25):
four base personnel, which means that some linebreckers coming from
somewhere and it's still and which seems like a blitz
to a quarterback, but it's still just a four man rush.
They can play their seven man zones, which is standard
in the back end. So that's a challenge for Seattle's offense.
You've seen some of the effectiveness as reflected in those numbers.
(32:47):
Five Minnesota's defense impressive. Hugh, you never cease to amaze me.
You really don't. Honest to god, I'm order to bore you. No,
I don't get bored inundate you WITHISSI manussa.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Nope, Nope, I don't get bored. Are all right? Well
that's good stuff, Greg. I mean what going into this game,
which you're kind of overarching thought and prediction on this
bad boy.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
Two words Max Brosmer, Who the hell is Max Brosmer exactly.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
That's that's the game right there.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
Max Brosmer played four years at the University in New Hampshire.
He played one year at the University of Minnesota. He
didn't get drafted the NFL, he didn't get to my recollection,
invited to the combine, and he's going to start at
quarterback as an undrafted rookie on Sunday because JJ McCarthy
has a concussion. He's getting all the number one snaps
this week in Minnesota. They've been saying it seems inevitable
(33:37):
that he was going to beat the quarterback because not
only was McCarthy gonna end up getting hurt again, but
the number two is hurt. Carson Wentz is also injured
with an out of the year, out of the year
with a shoulder injury. So now of that, the number three,
a number three undrafted rookie quarterback coming in here against
Mike McDonald's defense.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
Game over, end of story.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
Sam donald could throw five interceptions and they're gonna win
on Sunday if the defense just does its job, and
they've been doing its job pretty much all season, stopping
the run, forcing long third downs and then being able
to pressure quarterbacks when it's third and eight, nine, ten
to eleven instead of third, two and three. The biggest
difference in the Rams game for the Seahawk defense the
(34:17):
turnovers that put him in boxes. Yes, and the gift
of the Rams two touchdowns. But Stafford was in third
and two and three a lot, and even in the
second half in Tennessee, the Titans converted all those third
and fourth downs because it was third and fourth and one,
two and three and not third and ten. The Seahawks
by and large this season have had teams in third
and tens. This should be a mismatch with the defense.
(34:38):
I think in like one, I'm not going to I
won't predict a shutout again because I messed that up
last week, but I'm saying twenty four to six something
like that.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Yeah, Griggs exactly right on that point. But there have
been a few quarterbacks that under Kevin McConnell have have
have six Nick Mullins, Jaren Hall and do you remember
when Josh Dobbs was picked up in in three days,
he went like four and oh his first four starts
now eventually turned into a pumpkin. But mccon Kevin O'Connell
(35:07):
has some success with these third string young quarterbacks playing
well beyond expectation. Hopefully that doesn't happen on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (35:15):
All right, guys, great stuff again and breaking it down,
figuring out what to look forward to, what to watch
out for when it comes into this game. I want
to wish you both a happy Thanksgiving and thank you
for coming on and adding what you do to us
here at the morning show and everybody at KGr right
back at you.
Speaker 3 (35:31):
Thank you guys, Happy Thanksgiving. Everybody listening as well with
your families.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
If we can't, yeah, all right, well that's Greg and
Hugh breaking it down. That's the end of our Seahawks roundtable.
That is going to bring us to the end of
our show. I do want to also extend a very
big Thanksgiving to everybody out there listening, and like Greg said,
enjoy it. Spend some time with your family, love on
your loved ones, and enjoy this a little bit of
(35:54):
a long weekend. Don't eat too terribly much. What am
I talking about? I'm in need a ton so anyway.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Stick around.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
We got to I'm Jay and Christopher Kidd coming up
after this here at Sports Radio ninety three point three KJR.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
FM.
Speaker 5 (36:05):
You can't miss a thing from today's show because we're
on demand. Their podcast will be up right after the show.
Just click on demand on our website at ninety three
three KJR dot com and click on Check and Bug
podcast to replay anytime anywhere. From Sports Radio ninety three
point three KJR FNL.
Speaker 4 (36:25):
This report is sponsored by Mattress Firm.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
You have a new blocking problem in Sumner. This is
going to be a crash traveling eastbound Highway four ten
near one
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