December 11, 2025 • 38 mins
12th Man Roundtable with HUGH MILLEN & GREGG BELL (Tacoma News Tribune) We start off with the most obvious topic of discussion- Phillip Rivers might start on Sunday, should he? Did the Colts call Hugh first? How does Hugh feel about Rivers’ return? :30- We continue with the Roundtable- What’s going on with Jalen Sundell and the O-Line? How special is Nick Emmanwori becoming right before our eyes? Should we have any concerns about the Colts defense? :45- We wrap up our roundtable with Gregg’s keys and prediction and Hugh’s final thoughts.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:13):
Eight o'clock hour here on this Thursday time for the
twelfth Man Roundtable. They're much anticipated weekly or twelfth Man
Roundtable with our Seahawks insider Greg Bell and of course our.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
QB one Hugh Millon.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
And yeah, I thought about throwing Hugh Millan on Tuesday
and Wednesday when.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I heard about this Philip Rivers story.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
And I'm kind of glad we have preserved the Thursday
roundtable to hear hughes reaction to Philip Rivers trying to
get go this Sunday at age forty four against the
Seattle Seahawks. So certainly that's where we'll start this hour.
But a lot of things to discuss Seahawks getting ready
for the Colts, not just with our QB one, but
(00:54):
with our Seahawks insider Greg Bill as well.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Ashley Ryant's here. Bucky is not here.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Everything's okay, but he just needed to be on the
home front. He's got a rising river, uh and certainly
understandable that just in case there does occur an emergency,
that he'll be there to help his wife deal with
it and his children. So no Bucky today, he should
be back with us tomorrow. Let's get things started here
on the roundtable. Good morning, gentlemen, Good morning.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
All right. You can we start, Hugh? Can we start
by asking did the Colts call you?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
The Colts call you?
Speaker 4 (01:30):
They wouldn't have called me when I was twenty four.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
I'm not too sure.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
I'm not just pretty shocking. It's pretty shocking, right, Are.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
You sure you you can't give it a go?
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Well, well, I'm sixty two. Uh sock.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
It might have been next. It might have been next.
As I understand that the Colts, their GM and their
head coach, Saint Sticher, we're in the tunnel in Jacksonville
after that loss of the Jaguars, after their rookie quarterback
came up and said, you know, I thought something in
my need and then they tested it and found that
it was a m C L on top of Daniel
(02:14):
Jones's achilles in the same game. And they were in
that tunnel saying, well, what about Rivers? And the coach said,
do you think he'd do it? And then they called
him and said, oh, let's give it a try, And
that's how it started. But that's I mean, who knows
you might have been the next one calling.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I'll tell you the guy that top of mind for
me in that regard is Brett Ribbon. I mean, what
does this stand Brett Ribbon? You know, he's of age
and healthy and been in the camp. I mean, that's
just that that's got to be very humbling for Ripping
to experience all of this, that that that they feel
that that Philip Rivers is the preferred option in this.
(02:56):
You know, look, I'll preface it. You know, Philip Rivers
is a thoroughbread He's going to Hall of Fame. I
was just, you know, a hack trying to make my
way around. But I have a little bit of parallel
to it because I coached high school football after you know,
while I was near that age where I was, I
(03:16):
think I was at youth football at that time. So
I'd throw it around and what I would think for
him is a couple things. And I'm reminded of a
conversation I had with Jim Kelly. I remember Jim Kelly.
I was with the Patriots, he's with the Bills at
the time, and you know, later we had kind of
talked to him. He said he could remember that his
(03:38):
the velocity in his arm started really to drop at
at age thirty one thirty two and if you look
at his career log when he had five Pro bowls,
none after the age of thirty two, but at age
thirty he had one hundred and one passer rating, and
then at age thirty one he was at ninety eight,
(03:59):
then two. Although he made the Pro Bowl, his passworading
went from ninety eight to eighty one, and then from
that point on he was never above eighty five. My
point saying some people, you know, we I think we're
lulled into, you know, Tom Brady and all of his
accomplishments at an older age. I think it's very rare,
you know, And so I would think that the velocity
(04:21):
would be down, the quick quickness and the reaction. And
then another piece of that is his eyes in some way,
you know, if he's messing around with throwing seven on
seven or something, he's used to seeing high school size
guys and certainly the speed of high school guys. And
now he's got enough reps that he can bank that, well,
you know, it's gonna be a big step up. I
(04:43):
still think there's gonna be a portion of his of
his processing that's going to be like, WHOA, these guys
are really big and they're really fast, and you know,
just just by the by virtue of because I've heard
a lot of people say, well, you know, he hasn't
been out of shape. He's been you know, coach in
high school and he's throwing the ball around, you know,
you know, uh, you know, every once in a while,
(05:05):
I think with an injury or somebody. I took high
school seven on seven and man, I just you know,
it's like my body just didn't feel I felt like
I was weird in my drop. I didn't have velocity.
I don't know. I'm shocked that this is even a discussion.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Quite honestly, this is impossible right here, and then this.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Is per se I think.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
I think Kurt Warner said he doesn't know because we
haven't seen enybody.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
Trying to do this right right, but all your sensibilities,
I've watched guys in there in the middle of their
prime at thirty who missed two weeks and can't catch
back up for another couple of weeks.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
How on earth you is he going to be able
to do this? Yeah, I look, he may be able to.
He's bound for the Hall of Fame. I mean, if
if he comes beat the Seattle Seahawks skip the five
year waiting period, put him in the Hall of Fame
Wednesday or no on a Friday. So right, if he.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Wins this, this would be the most stupendous performance by
a quarterback in NFL history. If he wins this game Sunday.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
I don't even care there, I don't even care if
you get there's three defensive touchdowns and a punt return touchdown.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
If he wins this game, it's just unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
No, it'd be the most remarkable thing the regular season
performance in NFL history. This should defy logic. There's no
way an NFL defense, especially Mike McDonald's the way it's
humming right now, can lose this game. And for Rivers
to be able to win this game out of five
years of retirement. You know, I know you're trying hard
(06:38):
to be self deprecating and not equate yourself to Rivers,
But can you even imagine from a personal standpoint of
just saying, you know what, I'll walk away from possible
enshrinement to canon. He's a semi finalist who could be
on the stage in Canton in July. I'm gonna walk
away from that and go play a game in Seattle
at Christmas time in the rain to try to save
this Colts team that I had nothing.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
Yeah, that's absolutely a fair point. And I don't know
how important it is to him. Maybe he just figures, well,
if I'm in, I'll be in in five years. But
that's that's certainly a component to this. And and you know,
there's no guarantee, right, I don't think that he's in
slam dunk. He's a definite Hall of Famer. You know
(07:22):
it could he Could he in some odd way hurt
his legacy. I mean you'd say no, but if he
was literally you know, fifty points zero zero zero zero
zero one to make it and forty nine point what
you know, zero zero or nine nine nine not to
make it? Could could him come in out and having
a disaster. Could that tweet, you know, push one person's vote.
(07:46):
I wouldn't think so, but I don't know. It is odd.
That's another component that I'm sure he's considered. But you know,
I tip my hat to him if he says, hey,
you know, I don't care about that. If on one level,
it's kind of kind of unspired, not onspiring, but it's
kind of kind of a cool little statement. If that's
where he is.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Yeah, I worry about his health. I worry about his health.
I worry about a two hundred and fifty five pounds
Derek Hall or a blitzing free, unblocked Leonard Williams smashing
a forty four year old guy who hasn't been hidden
five years. How's this boy to take? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:25):
Well, I I couldn't agree more. You think of, okay,
the brain, you know, the spine, the most important parts
of him, you know. Would it shock me if twenty
five years from now people said, hey, the best way
you know to avert concussions? Here we have We have
far less practice and contact for players than we've ever had.
(08:48):
We the the helmets are vastly superior in terms of
their construction, and yet we have more concussions. Would it
shock me if in twenty five years a team neurologists
came out and said, you know, you gotta we made
a mistake back in the in the twenty tens because
the brain has to be calloused a little bit, and
(09:10):
they did a better job of averting concussions before because
they would hit a little bit and whatever the tissiud
needs to be callous to prevent concussions. You know, that
was kind of constantly being challenged because there was more hitting.
You know, he hasn't taken any hits in several years
(09:33):
and at forty four and so, so I don't you
know that connective you know, tissu. Obviously I'm not qualified
to speak in any any terms, but but it just
seems like like the brain, his brain hasn't been hit
in what five years now, Yeah, and now all of
a sudden, no training camp, and it won't be and
(09:55):
it won't be hit until Sunday, and then it might
get hit a lot.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
And you know, for a man with ten kids and
already has grandkids, that health concern, I'd love to know
what his wife is privately thinking about this.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I mean, he does sound like he's got the right approach.
I mean, I think he's a I think he's as
much as people talk about his punishable face when he
played and the whining that took place, I think he's awesome.
I mean, I love his personality. I kind of love
his approach to life and everything else and his quirkiness
and the way that he puts things. And he sounds
(10:30):
like he's saying the right things, and he's going into
this with eyes wide open, at least from the podium.
But yeah, this is about as big a task as
you could face as an NFL player, maybe in history.
I'm curious, and Greg, I'll throw this to you. I mean,
Mike McDonald defensively preparing for this. I mean, you do, unfortunately,
(10:52):
have to be ruthless, do you not. I mean you
got to. You're trying to win a football game. You're
making sure that you don't get upset by Philip Rivers
in this in this game on Sunday, So you gotta
throw everything at this poor guy, don't you.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Oh? Absolutely. They aren't gonna come in and say, well,
let's let's take it. Oh, we're about to hit Rivers.
Let's not hit him because he hasn't been hitting five years.
Or let's not blitz him because he hasn't seen Blitzer.
And hey, let's not disguise what we've been doing all
season and moving em and worry around just to take
it easy on a legend. No, no, no, and no.
(11:27):
But McDonald said this is tricky because for him personally,
he said, I love overthinking things, and I could go
down a rabbit hole and chase down San Diego Chargers
film on this guy, and he said, I got to
refrain from doing that. He said, what I really need
to do is stick with what the Colts and Sane
Steichen has had him been doing all season with Daniel
(11:48):
Jones a quarterback, and then maybe go back and look
at the Colts film from twenty twenty to see how
he rivers with offense, which is different than Stikens, but
not go too deep in they don't go back to
the San Diego Chargers in the Qualcom Jack Murphy Stadium
games that he played in to have a to draw
a line somewhere. This week began with McDonald with me
(12:10):
asking McDonald about how unpredicted it will be to be
facing Riley Leonard, just like he faced Max Brosner with
the Vikings a couple years ago in his first NFL
start to rookie and how rookie there's no film on
rookie quarterbacks, and how it's a guessing game. And then
a day later I'm asking him about facing their forty
four year old gandpa hasn't played in five years, and
how tricky that is. That's how bizarre this week has
(12:33):
been for Mike McDonald, and he laughed and said, this
is the NFL. He said it reminded him of last
year when the power went out in November and they
played to practice two days in the dark at the
facility when the storms in November last year. And then
Connor Williams is center that he had just signed in
free ins to just quit the middle of the season
and retired at age twenty seven, and he won ten
games and didn't make the playoffs. As that rookie had
(12:55):
one of the best rookie head coaching seasons ever and
he didn't make the playoffs. He said, this is the
He said this year was kind of weird because up
until now, nothing really crazy, bizarre had happened until till this.
But he said, yes, this is unexpected, this is bizarre,
and from a preparation standpoint, this is weird for him.
But he said, eventually, we just have to do what
(13:16):
we do, and what they do is hide their blitzes,
disguise their coverages, bring Emon Warry from all different angles,
bring Witherspoon from different angles. Yeah, they're not taking it
easy on Philip Rivers Sunday schematically do well.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
I would even double down on that idea. I would
if I were Mike McDonald, I would kind of challenge
the defense, like, really, are you going to take this?
Do you realize what they do? They think that they
can sign a forty four year old dude hasn't played
in five years. I don't care who he is, you know,
I don't care if they pull Autogram out of the
grave like they're playing a forty four year old against you,
(13:57):
right and kind of turning around like that it's a slap,
you know, not necessarily that it is, but I'd couch
it that way. Appeal to their competitiveness. I mean, we
know some of the greatest competitors of all time. All
they need is a little you know, a little hook
Jordan and Brady and everybody else. But but you know,
speaking of the Colts, I think one thing to consider
(14:19):
is that these guys prior to this Sunday, you just
go back to one week ago today, the Colts were
number one in the NFL in for the entire season,
and points scored number one in the NFL and EPA.
This new metric expected points added that has a little
bit higher correlation than all the other stats. It's a
(14:39):
real deal to pay attention to this is this was
a great off now was it declining? Yes? But the
thirty third team, the think tank for which I'm a
part of, Mike Tanne mom you know, asked me, hey,
will you present on Daniel Jones a few weeks back,
and I'm like, okay. I went and I I looked
(15:00):
at every single play of the Colts and then had
to pull together about twenty plays for Daniel Jones and
then present to everybody. And in that process, what I
learned is they've got some great targets. I mean, we've
all heard of Michael Pittman, but they got a dude,
Alec Pierce maybe you know, a big toll like he
(15:23):
is a playmaker up the sideline, tall six foot three.
And then they got this little guy, Josh Downs number two.
I looked up his side. I think he's like under
one hundred and seventy pounds, but man, is he lightning quick.
And they did a nice job. If they anticipated like
cover four, for example, forty three under, they would match
him up in ways to get a middle linebacker on him.
(15:47):
And I was looking at Ty Warren, you know, for
the week that I'm studying or the better part of
a week that I'm studying the Colts, I'm like, Ty
Warren's going to the Hall of Fame, like this dude
is is like a gronk who can run like so.
And of course there's Jonathan Taylor. So there's a reason
the Colts had those numbers up until a few days ago.
(16:08):
Now this past week they slipped a little, and we
we you know, would predict that they would slip uh
and not retain those numbers. But there's still some horsepower
in that offense. Now. The good thing uh and and
the area for Seattle is I thought that the left
tackle for them was bad, uh and I thought the
right tackle was worse. So I thought that all the while,
(16:32):
Daniel Jones Wiley had really good targets to throw to.
I thought his offensive line was just knew. And so
the Seahawks have got attack that as.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Good as Jonathan Taylor is greg I mean, and we're
again back to Phillip rivers. I can't imagine there's gonna
be a lot downfield. I would imagine they're going to
try to protect him by throwing short passes, trying to
get run after the catch with all of those weapons,
because they're big guys. Pittman's a big receiver. Warren's a
big tight end. Most tight ends are big. He's bigger,
and so I would imagine everything's gonna kind of happen
(17:03):
right there at the line of scrimmage. If you're going
to try to attack Mike McDonald's defense without the ability
to threaten it deep, I mean, you have no chance,
right Greg.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Well, they have a chance that they get Jonathan Taylor going.
And that's been the key to the Seahawks success on
defense and setting up their pass rush all season is
they've stopped the run on early downs and I would
expect the Colts game plan to be heavy on Jonathan Taylor,
especially with the quarterback who's playing in first time in
five years. But that can slow down a pass rush
(17:37):
more than any of that. If you're in third and
two now all of a sudden, you can't pin back
your ears and come after Philip Rivers. If you're a
third and nine and ten, you camp, how do you
get in third and two? You run the ball effectively
with Taylor on early downs. Teams all season have not
done that. Also, Seattle has played it from ahead and
teams have abandoned the run there have been six weeks
that their teams have just run ten twelve times with
(17:59):
the running backs. Minnesota ran their two running backs six
times each in a game they fell behind right away
in the first half by two scores. So that's the
key for Indianapolis to stay in the game and compete
with how McDonald's defense is play in is to run
the ball and put them in either or downs on
third down because if it's passing downs, McDonald's schemes will
(18:23):
kill you. And that's what's happened all season the team.
That's what happened to Atlanta the other day. They couldn't
run Bijon Robinson later in the game when they fell behind.
Robinson had his early in the game, and the defense
William Jessterdady talked about how they didn't play up to
their standard and run defense early in that game. That
game changed one when Rashid Shaheed's kickoff return gave the
(18:43):
Seahawks a lead and joled on them out of a
six to sixth slog. But two, it changed when Jon
Robinson stopped the effective running in the second half and
then Cousins was dead. And that'll be the key. On Sunday,
the meme.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Yeah, well, Hugh, try to be one dimensional against Mike
McDonald's defense.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
Good luck. Right now, they have the as we said,
the skill position, they have the dudes that to not
have to be one dimensional. I just think that that
you attack that weakness in the offensive line. I think
Seattle's been able to build a wall almost every game
against the running attack. And then you know, create those
(19:22):
those situations, those passing situations, and feast on those blitzes.
And and as smart as Philip Rivers is and as
experienced as he is, I think there's there's some new
you know, juju going on with Mike McDonald that Philip
Rivers doesn't have a lot of experience with in terms
of those simulated pressures, and so he you know, if
(19:42):
you just make him think an extra tick of a second.
We saw Aaron Rodgers throw a ninety ninety seven yard
pick six to Leonard Williams, so certainly Rivers could do
something like that as well.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Now, either truck's backing up near Greg Bell or Philip
Rivers met alert bracelet is going off.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
I'm not sure, but you falling and he can't get up. Yeah,
let's take a break. We'll come back.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
More of our Monday morning cord excuse me our Thursday
twelve Man Roundtable session with Hugh Millon and Greg Bell
Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.
Speaker 6 (20:15):
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Speaker 1 (20:32):
Top Man Roundtable continues here on a Thursday. That's right,
one hour, one hour with Hugh Millon, Greg Bell, more
on the Seahawks, cults, some things other than Philip Rivers,
which is what we covered in our first segment together.
And I'm also glad that Hugh Millan could be here
to witness history. This is the longest Greg Bell's gone
this week without saying beat Navy out loud, so we
(20:54):
haven't heard it once this hour.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
All right, Oh, I don't know Greg's listening or not.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
I was deferring to Greg on that shot.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
That's the longest. That's the longest we've gone.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
All right.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Well, I hope Greg is with us because I was
going to start this segment with him. Greg, what's going
on with the offensive line and the return of Jalen Sundal.
I know this is the third day in a row.
I've asked you, but I'm wondering we got any more
information on that.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Yeah, be navy. I was just retraining from that. I
was gonna wait till the end. I'm sorry. Jalen Sindell
returned to practice yesterday. He looked appeared to be full go.
It appears signs are he's going to be the center,
and that meansful with Timmy is online to be the backup,
and they're going to stay status quo with Anthony Bradford.
(21:47):
It's an issue of not wanting to upset the whole
Apple car to the offensive line, and let's do the
thing that would be the least disruptive to continuity, which
will be go back to what it was the first
nine games this season with Sondell at center and Bradford
right now. I know a lot of fans listening want
Anthony Bradford out of the right guard position, but the
fact is they feel Jalensondell is more valuable to them
(22:08):
the center than he would be a right card and
they don't have a better option than Anthony Bradford the
right guard. And it already would have used them. Christian
Haynes would be the upson favorite, the third round pick
out of Connecticut last year, but he's obviously not the guy.
This is three chances he's had to win the job
and he hasn't won him yet, And so they're going
to roll with the Peers Sindell at center and Bradford
(22:29):
at right guard for the rest of the season. He's
if the health station, you good with that, Hugh.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
Well, I I look at the right guard and Anthony Bradford.
I'm sorry, I'm trying to come up with new ways
to say the same thing, because this is like a
song that has been going on for a long time
and I'm looking for a new refrain. But yeah, I mean,
you know, Anthony Bradford, it kind of is what it
is now. He had he had a pretty good game.
(22:57):
He had he had a very good game if he
if he played as well as he did last Sunday
against the Falcons, wouldn't be an issue. You could say,
also the game at Arizona, But the problem is all
the other games prior to the Arizona game and in between.
So so I would welcome any change, but you know,
I certainly respect and defer to their eyes. And if
(23:21):
they think Bradford's the best option, then you got to
play him. But you better have that, you know, high
up on the priority list, perhaps the highest going into
the offseason to try and upgrade there.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Let's talk about nick Eme and Warri. Let's talk about
nick Em and Warri.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
We spent a lot of time on him last week,
There's no question about it. But then he goes out
there and he has just, I mean, just fills up
the stat sheet. I mean, Hugh, they always say that
you get eat your point in your season where you're
not considered a rookie anymore, this guy's not considered. Not
only not considered a rookie anymore, I mean, are we
talking pro bowler here? We're talking all pro here? I mean,
(23:59):
are are we just drinking the koole as we get
to see him every play? How special is this guy
becoming right before our eyes?
Speaker 3 (24:05):
Well?
Speaker 4 (24:05):
I don't think he's gonna make the Pro Bowl this year. Remember, now,
he had been injured for a good portion. Wasn't till
to what week five or six, Greg that that he
played was an Arizona the first Arizona game. But since then,
I think that he's shown everything that Mike McDonald wanted
(24:27):
in terms of a guy that can replicate Kyle Kyle Hamilton,
the the all pro safety at the Ravens, who is
a tall, rangy guy like uh, like Emon Worry and
and while maybe on tape at Notre Dame, he'd say
that Kyle Hamilton had a little bit more instinct that
(24:49):
you you look at Emon Worry and now under the
tutelage of McDonald, he's making a lot of instinctive plays
when I you know, I think he's a lot of
times I look at the taping, he's seen it before
it happens. He doesn't bring the violence to the game
that Cam Chancellor did. So he's a big guy, but
that's not his forte. Nor was it at South Carolina.
(25:10):
I remember just going and I kept waiting for that
big couple of big hits. That's not his deal butt.
He's an extraordinary tackler. So while I love Bam Bam
and his physicality, I don't think I'm we're likely to
see that unless that develops in him. I kind of
switched my gears and I just admire the athletic beauty
(25:32):
of his of his fluidity, of how he changes direction,
how he accelerates. He's a very sure tackler. If he's
not a violent tackler, he's got long arm and his
tackling technique is outstanding. And so I think he's just got,
you know, a physical skill set and now an emerging,
you know, grasp of the game that is likely to
(25:54):
be next level real soon if it isn't already.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Well.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Devin Wetherspoon plays like he thinks he's cam chance size,
There's no doubt. And Greg, those two guys together might
be coming off their best games individually. He got Julian
Love back. I mean things are humming in that secondary
right now.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Yeah, that was the first time all season that the
entire defense was together. And because the Chenn and Wilson
missed the opener, that don't even where he got hurt in.
John Love comes back from injured reserve, and he was
based on a pitch count. It got easier to limit
him in the second half once the game became a
three and four score game. In Atlanta, he'll play more
than the twenty some snaps he played against Atlanta. On
(26:35):
Sunday against the Colts, I would expect him to be
close to back to full go. If not, maybe they
keep him on a pitch count so that he's full
go by Thursday night, four days later against the Rams
from probably the NFC West leads. So they air whole.
And this is exactly when you want to be whole,
to be at your best. This is as healthy and
(26:55):
as fully available as they've been all season, and now
they're doing it for the foremost important games of the year.
Emon Worry and Witherspoon alone give them all kinds of
options in the secondary, whether to blitz, whether to played nickel,
whether to played dime, whether to switch coverage from Manna's own,
whether the shell, whether the goat shade to one side
or the other. And it's just the options that McDonald
(27:19):
has built for himself and John Schneider has in the
personnel staff have given him by trading up to draft
Emon Worry. It's everything. It allows them to not blitz
and had pressure with the front four. If we talked
about that's a key to Seattle success on defense in
the past. Defense this year is to get their front
four Leonard Williams, de Marcus Lawrence, Byron Murphy with seven sacks.
(27:40):
Those guys have really been able to allow McDonald to
do a lot more than he thought he could do.
He thought he was gonna blitz more this year and
he just hasn't had to because of the success of
the front four getting in on the quarterback. And now
they're gonna send those front four against the forty four
year old grandpas and played in five years. This really
favors Seattle Sunday because of how many options Mike McDonald
(28:03):
has because of Emon Warri and Witherspoon primarily.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Well, let's just use the last couple of minutes of
the segment, Hugh. I don't think we're gonna need a
lot of points on Sunday to win this game. But
what about the Colts defense is worth worrying about?
Speaker 4 (28:17):
Well, what intrigues me is the Colts sat there right
before the tread debt trade deadline, excuse me, and they
had the number one offense and then they say, okay,
what is going to put us over the top. The
trade that they made for two first round draft picks
to the Jets to acquire Sauce Gardner seemed to be
like a real push, you know, down the backstretch, believing
(28:40):
that they had all the parts. And since the acquisition
now he's had a mild calf strain and his health
is in doubt. But since they acquired him, they are
twenty fifth in points. Defensively, they're twenty ninetheen yards first
(29:00):
and expected points. There's just no way that that he's
had the impact that the Colts envisioned. So I think
that's that's a really interesting portion of their secondary Blackman
and Jones the corners. There's a good reason why they
acquired him. I mean, there's their nickel guy. Kenny Moore
is probably their best deep defensive back. But really they're
(29:23):
they're really only challenge of any consequences Leatu Latu, who
you know, had a brief stint with the Huskies, but
but he's the edge pressure, you know. Charles Cross, who
I thought had a poor first quarter certainly in the
game against the Falcons, probably performed the worst of any
(29:45):
player on the football team for that first quarter. He's
gonna get the matchup and and so that would be
the one area that might be a little bit of concern.
But I think that the defense just greg on the whole.
People make acquisitions like that, you know, with the idea
that they're going to, you know, make a deep push
in the playoffs. I understand the logical why they did it.
(30:08):
I know we're up against the break, but but do
you have a quick thought on where they are defensively
after that acquisition.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
Yeah, Sauce Gardner didn't practice yesterday because of the calf.
He's trending toward for potentially not playing on Sunday. The
Forest Buckner did practic. I know he's getting older, but
the Forest Buckner in the middle of the defensive line
has been a problem for the Sea Arts going back,
and when he played for the forty nine ers, he
will be an issue for the interior of the offensive
line if he wple play. He was a limited participant
in practice es today, but it looks like the word
(30:34):
out of Indianapolis as that Buckner will play and that
will be problems for Seattle's run game. But Hughes right,
they made that move to get over the top defensively,
and Gardner has, largely because of injury, has not gotten
them there. Seattle again, what they need to do every
week they want to run the ball, They're going to
run the ball a lot. Well, they run the ball
(30:55):
for yards. Buckner not being in there would help that,
but they yet to be still to me, where they
want to be offensively running the ball against anybody consistently,
including Kenneth Walker, who I saw had the best minus
one and plus one yard runs in Atlanta of his career,
three or four guys waiting on him every time he
got the ball. Almost They got to get that fixed.
(31:17):
I keep harping on it. But against the forty nine
ers in the Rams, you've got to run the ball
better than they've been running the ball all year.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Greg's keys and Hugh's final thoughts.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
One more segment of the twelve man round Table here
on this Thursday, Chucking Box Sports Radio ninety three point
three KJRFM.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
All right, nal.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Segment here the twelve man round Table here on a Thursday,
Seahawks versus Colts. A lot of time spent this hour
on Philip Rivers, who I guess we don't know if
he's starting for sure.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
It just seems to be trending that way.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
When Greg suggested that yesterday in our seven five I've segments,
I was like, no way, but yeah, he was onto something.
He is trending towards starting in this football game. So
certainly this has become a lot more interesting to a
lot more people the Philip Rivers show on Sunday, Greg,
but we still have a football game to win.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Better not lose this one. What's the key to getting
this done on Sunday?
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Well, he has started stopping Jonathan Taylor on early downs
about Rivers. Jen and Wols had played with him with
the Chargers and the beginning of his career at the
end of Rivers's time with the Chargers, and he said
yesterday heinate no way Philip Rivers has come out of
retirement to sign with the Colts, get on a plane
and take a five hour ride to Seattle at Christmas
(32:44):
time to not play. Yeah, yeah, And so they have
game planned for Rivers ever since Tuesday when they got
the news that he was trying out had tried out,
so they think he's playing. Mike McDonald's game plan is
that he's playing, and I expect him to get the
full Mike McDonald experience, as like you said, maybe even
(33:04):
more things they haven't seen he hasn't shown yet in
the regular season. It's going to be nick even worry
is a five tech defensive end and nine tech defensive
end moving all over the field, full meal deal. As
we said, this is now for the first time all season,
they've got their full defense and everybody on board and healthy.
(33:25):
That's where the game should be won. But they got
to stop Jonathan Taylor in early down so that it's
not an easier third down situation for Rivers on Sunday.
I think they'll do that. I think they're running defense
and their front four the key to their season. Continue
to have a big seat. Byron Murphy has been an
MVP for them, both in run stopping and crushing the quarterback.
(33:46):
It's the most interesting regular season game I can think
of covering, maybe since Brett Farve on a Monday night
in Oakland the day after his father died, and that
was way back in two thousand and three. That's probably
the most That's the only thing I can even equate
to this. It's gonna be a spectacle. It's gonna be
it's gonna be wild to see this unfold. It's like
(34:06):
a Disney movie. It is. I think they win something
like twenty four to ten to move to eleven and
three and shut set up a battle royale with the
Rams on Thursday night.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
I don't know what it is about the Seahawks ever
since I moved here. Maybe it was going on forever.
They never, of course this happened to them because they
always have something interesting going on. Never seen a franchise
be more consistently interesting than the Seattle Seahawks. All right here,
what are your final thoughts getting ready for this match
up here?
Speaker 4 (34:37):
Well, I just think that Mike McDonald is finally getting
all the tools that he wants with the health of
the defense. And you know, the percentage of plays where
the Seahawks bring five plus rushers this is straight out
of the NFL staff portal, twenty one percent. That's twenty
fourth in the league. But the percent of plays where
(34:58):
they bring five rush that results in a negative EPA
Expected points average, that's sixty seven percent. That's number one
in the league. So the Seahawks don't do it a lot,
but they're really effective when they do. And then you know,
they've been number one in the use of nickel in
all the NFL. They just don't play bass. But prior
(35:22):
to Emon Worry getting in the lineup, they were eighteenth
in the use of dime. Now that's they're up to fifth.
And so just the pieces I think we're gonna see,
we're gonna start to see more of those pressures, as
evidenced by their their their great success rate, and they've
got talented blitzers, even worries Sony can get home and
(35:48):
and of course Witherspoon can get home. I like the
fact that they're doing a better job of containing it.
Drive me crazy how they would lose contain on They
have this unbelievably well designed it's pressure. They get a
free runner, but then a right d a quarterback is
allowed to escape out to his right. So I think
they've kind of buttoned that up. I just I'm I'm
(36:10):
just gonna grab my popcorn and watch how this man
Mike McDonald now that he has all of his parts.
Remember now they lost to the Buccaneers. They had they
had four starters out, you know, and so you've got
an emerging The experiences is exponentially raising for emon worry
so that they feel like they can do more things.
(36:31):
I just I just can't wait for this mad scientist
to unleash for the last month and it starts against
a forty four.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Year old Yeah yeah, I think Philip. I know how
gung Holy is, but I think I would have watched
that Seahawks defense film and said, how about next week?
Speaker 2 (36:45):
How about we start next week?
Speaker 3 (36:47):
Right?
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Yeah? Have you not acquired any wisdom in these forty
four years?
Speaker 4 (36:52):
You know your football, don't you?
Speaker 3 (36:55):
But they get the forty nine ers next week. It's
not a picnic for a good point.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
At least he got a week and a half to
get ready as opposed to like two soft practices. Greg,
I think pretty convinced. Twenty four to ten. This is
you know, this is gonna be a runaway. I'm like
forty four to three. That's where I'm at with this game.
That's what I think it's gonna end up being. And
I think it could be a lot worse. But they're
(37:19):
gonna call off the dogs. That's what I think is
gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
All right, gentlemen, awesome stuff. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
We appreciate it. We'll do it again next week and
we'll talk to you both tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (37:29):
Thanks.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
Thanks for worts, two warts Forrawlli. Yeah baby, yeah, yeah. Figure.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
I figured you'd squeeze one more of those.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
In there yet.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Our Seahawks inside of Greg Bell.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Make sure you following them at g Bell Seattle and
of course, complete Seahawks coverage at the Neewstribune dot com
ur QB one. Hugh Millen will be back with him
tomorrow at nine o'clock for our ex'es and O segment.
Speaker 4 (37:50):
We do it every Friday.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Mike Sandos still to join us at nine thirty.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
We were gonna play Beat Bucky today, but without Bucky here,
it's not nearly as fun. So oh, I think it
provides us a tremendous opportunity Ashley and I to discuss
this Charon More firing in Michigan and how it so
greatly impacts us as college football fans and also as
a Pacific Northwest U dub fan.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM
Eight o'clock hour here on this Thursday time for the
twelfth Man Roundtable. They're much anticipated weekly or twelfth Man
Roundtable with our Seahawks insider Greg Bell and of course our.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
QB one Hugh Millon.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
And yeah, I thought about throwing Hugh Millan on Tuesday
and Wednesday when.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
I heard about this Philip Rivers story.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
And I'm kind of glad we have preserved the Thursday
roundtable to hear hughes reaction to Philip Rivers trying to
get go this Sunday at age forty four against the
Seattle Seahawks. So certainly that's where we'll start this hour.
But a lot of things to discuss Seahawks getting ready
for the Colts, not just with our QB one, but
(00:54):
with our Seahawks insider Greg Bill as well.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Ashley Ryant's here. Bucky is not here.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Everything's okay, but he just needed to be on the
home front. He's got a rising river, uh and certainly
understandable that just in case there does occur an emergency,
that he'll be there to help his wife deal with
it and his children. So no Bucky today, he should
be back with us tomorrow. Let's get things started here
on the roundtable. Good morning, gentlemen, Good morning.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
All right. You can we start, Hugh? Can we start
by asking did the Colts call you?
Speaker 2 (01:27):
The Colts call you?
Speaker 4 (01:30):
They wouldn't have called me when I was twenty four.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
I'm not too sure.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
I'm not just pretty shocking. It's pretty shocking, right, Are.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
You sure you you can't give it a go?
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Well, well, I'm sixty two. Uh sock.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
It might have been next. It might have been next.
As I understand that the Colts, their GM and their
head coach, Saint Sticher, we're in the tunnel in Jacksonville
after that loss of the Jaguars, after their rookie quarterback
came up and said, you know, I thought something in
my need and then they tested it and found that
it was a m C L on top of Daniel
(02:14):
Jones's achilles in the same game. And they were in
that tunnel saying, well, what about Rivers? And the coach said,
do you think he'd do it? And then they called
him and said, oh, let's give it a try, And
that's how it started. But that's I mean, who knows
you might have been the next one calling.
Speaker 4 (02:32):
I'll tell you the guy that top of mind for
me in that regard is Brett Ribbon. I mean, what
does this stand Brett Ribbon? You know, he's of age
and healthy and been in the camp. I mean, that's
just that that's got to be very humbling for Ripping
to experience all of this, that that that they feel
that that Philip Rivers is the preferred option in this.
(02:56):
You know, look, I'll preface it. You know, Philip Rivers
is a thoroughbread He's going to Hall of Fame. I
was just, you know, a hack trying to make my
way around. But I have a little bit of parallel
to it because I coached high school football after you know,
while I was near that age where I was, I
(03:16):
think I was at youth football at that time. So
I'd throw it around and what I would think for
him is a couple things. And I'm reminded of a
conversation I had with Jim Kelly. I remember Jim Kelly.
I was with the Patriots, he's with the Bills at
the time, and you know, later we had kind of
talked to him. He said he could remember that his
(03:38):
the velocity in his arm started really to drop at
at age thirty one thirty two and if you look
at his career log when he had five Pro bowls,
none after the age of thirty two, but at age
thirty he had one hundred and one passer rating, and
then at age thirty one he was at ninety eight,
(03:59):
then two. Although he made the Pro Bowl, his passworading
went from ninety eight to eighty one, and then from
that point on he was never above eighty five. My
point saying some people, you know, we I think we're
lulled into, you know, Tom Brady and all of his
accomplishments at an older age. I think it's very rare,
you know, And so I would think that the velocity
(04:21):
would be down, the quick quickness and the reaction. And
then another piece of that is his eyes in some way,
you know, if he's messing around with throwing seven on
seven or something, he's used to seeing high school size
guys and certainly the speed of high school guys. And
now he's got enough reps that he can bank that, well,
you know, it's gonna be a big step up. I
(04:43):
still think there's gonna be a portion of his of
his processing that's going to be like, WHOA, these guys
are really big and they're really fast, and you know,
just just by the by virtue of because I've heard
a lot of people say, well, you know, he hasn't
been out of shape. He's been you know, coach in
high school and he's throwing the ball around, you know,
you know, uh, you know, every once in a while,
(05:05):
I think with an injury or somebody. I took high
school seven on seven and man, I just you know,
it's like my body just didn't feel I felt like
I was weird in my drop. I didn't have velocity.
I don't know. I'm shocked that this is even a discussion.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Quite honestly, this is impossible right here, and then this.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Is per se I think.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
I think Kurt Warner said he doesn't know because we
haven't seen enybody.
Speaker 5 (05:27):
Trying to do this right right, but all your sensibilities,
I've watched guys in there in the middle of their
prime at thirty who missed two weeks and can't catch
back up for another couple of weeks.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
How on earth you is he going to be able
to do this? Yeah, I look, he may be able to.
He's bound for the Hall of Fame. I mean, if
if he comes beat the Seattle Seahawks skip the five
year waiting period, put him in the Hall of Fame
Wednesday or no on a Friday. So right, if he.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Wins this, this would be the most stupendous performance by
a quarterback in NFL history. If he wins this game Sunday.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
I don't even care there, I don't even care if
you get there's three defensive touchdowns and a punt return touchdown.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
If he wins this game, it's just unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
No, it'd be the most remarkable thing the regular season
performance in NFL history. This should defy logic. There's no
way an NFL defense, especially Mike McDonald's the way it's
humming right now, can lose this game. And for Rivers
to be able to win this game out of five
years of retirement. You know, I know you're trying hard
(06:38):
to be self deprecating and not equate yourself to Rivers,
But can you even imagine from a personal standpoint of
just saying, you know what, I'll walk away from possible
enshrinement to canon. He's a semi finalist who could be
on the stage in Canton in July. I'm gonna walk
away from that and go play a game in Seattle
at Christmas time in the rain to try to save
this Colts team that I had nothing.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
Yeah, that's absolutely a fair point. And I don't know
how important it is to him. Maybe he just figures, well,
if I'm in, I'll be in in five years. But
that's that's certainly a component to this. And and you know,
there's no guarantee, right, I don't think that he's in
slam dunk. He's a definite Hall of Famer. You know
(07:22):
it could he Could he in some odd way hurt
his legacy. I mean you'd say no, but if he
was literally you know, fifty points zero zero zero zero
zero one to make it and forty nine point what
you know, zero zero or nine nine nine not to
make it? Could could him come in out and having
a disaster. Could that tweet, you know, push one person's vote.
(07:46):
I wouldn't think so, but I don't know. It is odd.
That's another component that I'm sure he's considered. But you know,
I tip my hat to him if he says, hey,
you know, I don't care about that. If on one level,
it's kind of kind of unspired, not onspiring, but it's
kind of kind of a cool little statement. If that's
where he is.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
Yeah, I worry about his health. I worry about his health.
I worry about a two hundred and fifty five pounds
Derek Hall or a blitzing free, unblocked Leonard Williams smashing
a forty four year old guy who hasn't been hidden
five years. How's this boy to take? Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:25):
Well, I I couldn't agree more. You think of, okay,
the brain, you know, the spine, the most important parts
of him, you know. Would it shock me if twenty
five years from now people said, hey, the best way
you know to avert concussions? Here we have We have
far less practice and contact for players than we've ever had.
(08:48):
We the the helmets are vastly superior in terms of
their construction, and yet we have more concussions. Would it
shock me if in twenty five years a team neurologists
came out and said, you know, you gotta we made
a mistake back in the in the twenty tens because
the brain has to be calloused a little bit, and
(09:10):
they did a better job of averting concussions before because
they would hit a little bit and whatever the tissiud
needs to be callous to prevent concussions. You know, that
was kind of constantly being challenged because there was more hitting.
You know, he hasn't taken any hits in several years
(09:33):
and at forty four and so, so I don't you
know that connective you know, tissu. Obviously I'm not qualified
to speak in any any terms, but but it just
seems like like the brain, his brain hasn't been hit
in what five years now, Yeah, and now all of
a sudden, no training camp, and it won't be and
(09:55):
it won't be hit until Sunday, and then it might
get hit a lot.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
And you know, for a man with ten kids and
already has grandkids, that health concern, I'd love to know
what his wife is privately thinking about this.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
I mean, he does sound like he's got the right approach.
I mean, I think he's a I think he's as
much as people talk about his punishable face when he
played and the whining that took place, I think he's awesome.
I mean, I love his personality. I kind of love
his approach to life and everything else and his quirkiness
and the way that he puts things. And he sounds
(10:30):
like he's saying the right things, and he's going into
this with eyes wide open, at least from the podium.
But yeah, this is about as big a task as
you could face as an NFL player, maybe in history.
I'm curious, and Greg, I'll throw this to you. I mean,
Mike McDonald defensively preparing for this. I mean, you do, unfortunately,
(10:52):
have to be ruthless, do you not. I mean you
got to. You're trying to win a football game. You're
making sure that you don't get upset by Philip Rivers
in this in this game on Sunday, So you gotta
throw everything at this poor guy, don't you.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Oh? Absolutely. They aren't gonna come in and say, well,
let's let's take it. Oh, we're about to hit Rivers.
Let's not hit him because he hasn't been hitting five years.
Or let's not blitz him because he hasn't seen Blitzer.
And hey, let's not disguise what we've been doing all
season and moving em and worry around just to take
it easy on a legend. No, no, no, and no.
(11:27):
But McDonald said this is tricky because for him personally,
he said, I love overthinking things, and I could go
down a rabbit hole and chase down San Diego Chargers
film on this guy, and he said, I got to
refrain from doing that. He said, what I really need
to do is stick with what the Colts and Sane
Steichen has had him been doing all season with Daniel
(11:48):
Jones a quarterback, and then maybe go back and look
at the Colts film from twenty twenty to see how
he rivers with offense, which is different than Stikens, but
not go too deep in they don't go back to
the San Diego Chargers in the Qualcom Jack Murphy Stadium
games that he played in to have a to draw
a line somewhere. This week began with McDonald with me
(12:10):
asking McDonald about how unpredicted it will be to be
facing Riley Leonard, just like he faced Max Brosner with
the Vikings a couple years ago in his first NFL
start to rookie and how rookie there's no film on
rookie quarterbacks, and how it's a guessing game. And then
a day later I'm asking him about facing their forty
four year old gandpa hasn't played in five years, and
how tricky that is. That's how bizarre this week has
(12:33):
been for Mike McDonald, and he laughed and said, this
is the NFL. He said it reminded him of last
year when the power went out in November and they
played to practice two days in the dark at the
facility when the storms in November last year. And then
Connor Williams is center that he had just signed in
free ins to just quit the middle of the season
and retired at age twenty seven, and he won ten
games and didn't make the playoffs. As that rookie had
(12:55):
one of the best rookie head coaching seasons ever and
he didn't make the playoffs. He said, this is the
He said this year was kind of weird because up
until now, nothing really crazy, bizarre had happened until till this.
But he said, yes, this is unexpected, this is bizarre,
and from a preparation standpoint, this is weird for him.
But he said, eventually, we just have to do what
(13:16):
we do, and what they do is hide their blitzes,
disguise their coverages, bring Emon Warry from all different angles,
bring Witherspoon from different angles. Yeah, they're not taking it
easy on Philip Rivers Sunday schematically do well.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
I would even double down on that idea. I would
if I were Mike McDonald, I would kind of challenge
the defense, like, really, are you going to take this?
Do you realize what they do? They think that they
can sign a forty four year old dude hasn't played
in five years. I don't care who he is, you know,
I don't care if they pull Autogram out of the
grave like they're playing a forty four year old against you,
(13:57):
right and kind of turning around like that it's a slap,
you know, not necessarily that it is, but I'd couch
it that way. Appeal to their competitiveness. I mean, we
know some of the greatest competitors of all time. All
they need is a little you know, a little hook
Jordan and Brady and everybody else. But but you know,
speaking of the Colts, I think one thing to consider
(14:19):
is that these guys prior to this Sunday, you just
go back to one week ago today, the Colts were
number one in the NFL in for the entire season,
and points scored number one in the NFL and EPA.
This new metric expected points added that has a little
bit higher correlation than all the other stats. It's a
(14:39):
real deal to pay attention to this is this was
a great off now was it declining? Yes? But the
thirty third team, the think tank for which I'm a
part of, Mike Tanne mom you know, asked me, hey,
will you present on Daniel Jones a few weeks back,
and I'm like, okay. I went and I I looked
(15:00):
at every single play of the Colts and then had
to pull together about twenty plays for Daniel Jones and
then present to everybody. And in that process, what I
learned is they've got some great targets. I mean, we've
all heard of Michael Pittman, but they got a dude,
Alec Pierce maybe you know, a big toll like he
(15:23):
is a playmaker up the sideline, tall six foot three.
And then they got this little guy, Josh Downs number two.
I looked up his side. I think he's like under
one hundred and seventy pounds, but man, is he lightning quick.
And they did a nice job. If they anticipated like
cover four, for example, forty three under, they would match
him up in ways to get a middle linebacker on him.
(15:47):
And I was looking at Ty Warren, you know, for
the week that I'm studying or the better part of
a week that I'm studying the Colts, I'm like, Ty
Warren's going to the Hall of Fame, like this dude
is is like a gronk who can run like so.
And of course there's Jonathan Taylor. So there's a reason
the Colts had those numbers up until a few days ago.
(16:08):
Now this past week they slipped a little, and we
we you know, would predict that they would slip uh
and not retain those numbers. But there's still some horsepower
in that offense. Now. The good thing uh and and
the area for Seattle is I thought that the left
tackle for them was bad, uh and I thought the
right tackle was worse. So I thought that all the while,
(16:32):
Daniel Jones Wiley had really good targets to throw to.
I thought his offensive line was just knew. And so
the Seahawks have got attack that as.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
Good as Jonathan Taylor is greg I mean, and we're
again back to Phillip rivers. I can't imagine there's gonna
be a lot downfield. I would imagine they're going to
try to protect him by throwing short passes, trying to
get run after the catch with all of those weapons,
because they're big guys. Pittman's a big receiver. Warren's a
big tight end. Most tight ends are big. He's bigger,
and so I would imagine everything's gonna kind of happen
(17:03):
right there at the line of scrimmage. If you're going
to try to attack Mike McDonald's defense without the ability
to threaten it deep, I mean, you have no chance,
right Greg.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Well, they have a chance that they get Jonathan Taylor going.
And that's been the key to the Seahawks success on
defense and setting up their pass rush all season is
they've stopped the run on early downs and I would
expect the Colts game plan to be heavy on Jonathan Taylor,
especially with the quarterback who's playing in first time in
five years. But that can slow down a pass rush
(17:37):
more than any of that. If you're in third and
two now all of a sudden, you can't pin back
your ears and come after Philip Rivers. If you're a
third and nine and ten, you camp, how do you
get in third and two? You run the ball effectively
with Taylor on early downs. Teams all season have not
done that. Also, Seattle has played it from ahead and
teams have abandoned the run there have been six weeks
that their teams have just run ten twelve times with
(17:59):
the running backs. Minnesota ran their two running backs six
times each in a game they fell behind right away
in the first half by two scores. So that's the
key for Indianapolis to stay in the game and compete
with how McDonald's defense is play in is to run
the ball and put them in either or downs on
third down because if it's passing downs, McDonald's schemes will
(18:23):
kill you. And that's what's happened all season the team.
That's what happened to Atlanta the other day. They couldn't
run Bijon Robinson later in the game when they fell behind.
Robinson had his early in the game, and the defense
William Jessterdady talked about how they didn't play up to
their standard and run defense early in that game. That
game changed one when Rashid Shaheed's kickoff return gave the
(18:43):
Seahawks a lead and joled on them out of a
six to sixth slog. But two, it changed when Jon
Robinson stopped the effective running in the second half and
then Cousins was dead. And that'll be the key. On Sunday,
the meme.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Yeah, well, Hugh, try to be one dimensional against Mike
McDonald's defense.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
Good luck. Right now, they have the as we said,
the skill position, they have the dudes that to not
have to be one dimensional. I just think that that
you attack that weakness in the offensive line. I think
Seattle's been able to build a wall almost every game
against the running attack. And then you know, create those
(19:22):
those situations, those passing situations, and feast on those blitzes.
And and as smart as Philip Rivers is and as
experienced as he is, I think there's there's some new
you know, juju going on with Mike McDonald that Philip
Rivers doesn't have a lot of experience with in terms
of those simulated pressures, and so he you know, if
(19:42):
you just make him think an extra tick of a second.
We saw Aaron Rodgers throw a ninety ninety seven yard
pick six to Leonard Williams, so certainly Rivers could do
something like that as well.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Now, either truck's backing up near Greg Bell or Philip
Rivers met alert bracelet is going off.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
I'm not sure, but you falling and he can't get up. Yeah,
let's take a break. We'll come back.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
More of our Monday morning cord excuse me our Thursday
twelve Man Roundtable session with Hugh Millon and Greg Bell
Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.
Speaker 6 (20:15):
Now back to Chuck and Bug in the morning, powered
my two Leila Prezort, Casino, DraftKings, Sportsbook for the Action
never Stops on Sports Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Top Man Roundtable continues here on a Thursday. That's right,
one hour, one hour with Hugh Millon, Greg Bell, more
on the Seahawks, cults, some things other than Philip Rivers,
which is what we covered in our first segment together.
And I'm also glad that Hugh Millan could be here
to witness history. This is the longest Greg Bell's gone
this week without saying beat Navy out loud, so we
(20:54):
haven't heard it once this hour.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
All right, Oh, I don't know Greg's listening or not.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
I was deferring to Greg on that shot.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
That's the longest. That's the longest we've gone.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
All right.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Well, I hope Greg is with us because I was
going to start this segment with him. Greg, what's going
on with the offensive line and the return of Jalen Sundal.
I know this is the third day in a row.
I've asked you, but I'm wondering we got any more
information on that.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Yeah, be navy. I was just retraining from that. I
was gonna wait till the end. I'm sorry. Jalen Sindell
returned to practice yesterday. He looked appeared to be full go.
It appears signs are he's going to be the center,
and that meansful with Timmy is online to be the backup,
and they're going to stay status quo with Anthony Bradford.
(21:47):
It's an issue of not wanting to upset the whole
Apple car to the offensive line, and let's do the
thing that would be the least disruptive to continuity, which
will be go back to what it was the first
nine games this season with Sondell at center and Bradford
right now. I know a lot of fans listening want
Anthony Bradford out of the right guard position, but the
fact is they feel Jalensondell is more valuable to them
(22:08):
the center than he would be a right card and
they don't have a better option than Anthony Bradford the
right guard. And it already would have used them. Christian
Haynes would be the upson favorite, the third round pick
out of Connecticut last year, but he's obviously not the guy.
This is three chances he's had to win the job
and he hasn't won him yet, And so they're going
to roll with the Peers Sindell at center and Bradford
(22:29):
at right guard for the rest of the season. He's
if the health station, you good with that, Hugh.
Speaker 4 (22:36):
Well, I I look at the right guard and Anthony Bradford.
I'm sorry, I'm trying to come up with new ways
to say the same thing, because this is like a
song that has been going on for a long time
and I'm looking for a new refrain. But yeah, I mean,
you know, Anthony Bradford, it kind of is what it
is now. He had he had a pretty good game.
(22:57):
He had he had a very good game if he
if he played as well as he did last Sunday
against the Falcons, wouldn't be an issue. You could say,
also the game at Arizona, But the problem is all
the other games prior to the Arizona game and in between.
So so I would welcome any change, but you know,
I certainly respect and defer to their eyes. And if
(23:21):
they think Bradford's the best option, then you got to
play him. But you better have that, you know, high
up on the priority list, perhaps the highest going into
the offseason to try and upgrade there.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Let's talk about nick Eme and Warri. Let's talk about
nick Em and Warri.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
We spent a lot of time on him last week,
There's no question about it. But then he goes out
there and he has just, I mean, just fills up
the stat sheet. I mean, Hugh, they always say that
you get eat your point in your season where you're
not considered a rookie anymore, this guy's not considered. Not
only not considered a rookie anymore, I mean, are we
talking pro bowler here? We're talking all pro here? I mean,
(23:59):
are are we just drinking the koole as we get
to see him every play? How special is this guy
becoming right before our eyes?
Speaker 3 (24:05):
Well?
Speaker 4 (24:05):
I don't think he's gonna make the Pro Bowl this year. Remember, now,
he had been injured for a good portion. Wasn't till
to what week five or six, Greg that that he
played was an Arizona the first Arizona game. But since then,
I think that he's shown everything that Mike McDonald wanted
(24:27):
in terms of a guy that can replicate Kyle Kyle Hamilton,
the the all pro safety at the Ravens, who is
a tall, rangy guy like uh, like Emon Worry and
and while maybe on tape at Notre Dame, he'd say
that Kyle Hamilton had a little bit more instinct that
(24:49):
you you look at Emon Worry and now under the
tutelage of McDonald, he's making a lot of instinctive plays
when I you know, I think he's a lot of
times I look at the taping, he's seen it before
it happens. He doesn't bring the violence to the game
that Cam Chancellor did. So he's a big guy, but
that's not his forte. Nor was it at South Carolina.
(25:10):
I remember just going and I kept waiting for that
big couple of big hits. That's not his deal butt.
He's an extraordinary tackler. So while I love Bam Bam
and his physicality, I don't think I'm we're likely to
see that unless that develops in him. I kind of
switched my gears and I just admire the athletic beauty
(25:32):
of his of his fluidity, of how he changes direction,
how he accelerates. He's a very sure tackler. If he's
not a violent tackler, he's got long arm and his
tackling technique is outstanding. And so I think he's just got,
you know, a physical skill set and now an emerging,
you know, grasp of the game that is likely to
(25:54):
be next level real soon if it isn't already.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Well.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Devin Wetherspoon plays like he thinks he's cam chance size,
There's no doubt. And Greg, those two guys together might
be coming off their best games individually. He got Julian
Love back. I mean things are humming in that secondary
right now.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
Yeah, that was the first time all season that the
entire defense was together. And because the Chenn and Wilson
missed the opener, that don't even where he got hurt in.
John Love comes back from injured reserve, and he was
based on a pitch count. It got easier to limit
him in the second half once the game became a
three and four score game. In Atlanta, he'll play more
than the twenty some snaps he played against Atlanta. On
(26:35):
Sunday against the Colts, I would expect him to be
close to back to full go. If not, maybe they
keep him on a pitch count so that he's full
go by Thursday night, four days later against the Rams
from probably the NFC West leads. So they air whole.
And this is exactly when you want to be whole,
to be at your best. This is as healthy and
(26:55):
as fully available as they've been all season, and now
they're doing it for the foremost important games of the year.
Emon Worry and Witherspoon alone give them all kinds of
options in the secondary, whether to blitz, whether to played nickel,
whether to played dime, whether to switch coverage from Manna's own,
whether the shell, whether the goat shade to one side
or the other. And it's just the options that McDonald
(27:19):
has built for himself and John Schneider has in the
personnel staff have given him by trading up to draft
Emon Worry. It's everything. It allows them to not blitz
and had pressure with the front four. If we talked
about that's a key to Seattle success on defense in
the past. Defense this year is to get their front
four Leonard Williams, de Marcus Lawrence, Byron Murphy with seven sacks.
(27:40):
Those guys have really been able to allow McDonald to
do a lot more than he thought he could do.
He thought he was gonna blitz more this year and
he just hasn't had to because of the success of
the front four getting in on the quarterback. And now
they're gonna send those front four against the forty four
year old grandpas and played in five years. This really
favors Seattle Sunday because of how many options Mike McDonald
(28:03):
has because of Emon Warri and Witherspoon primarily.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
Well, let's just use the last couple of minutes of
the segment, Hugh. I don't think we're gonna need a
lot of points on Sunday to win this game. But
what about the Colts defense is worth worrying about?
Speaker 4 (28:17):
Well, what intrigues me is the Colts sat there right
before the tread debt trade deadline, excuse me, and they
had the number one offense and then they say, okay,
what is going to put us over the top. The
trade that they made for two first round draft picks
to the Jets to acquire Sauce Gardner seemed to be
like a real push, you know, down the backstretch, believing
(28:40):
that they had all the parts. And since the acquisition
now he's had a mild calf strain and his health
is in doubt. But since they acquired him, they are
twenty fifth in points. Defensively, they're twenty ninetheen yards first
(29:00):
and expected points. There's just no way that that he's
had the impact that the Colts envisioned. So I think
that's that's a really interesting portion of their secondary Blackman
and Jones the corners. There's a good reason why they
acquired him. I mean, there's their nickel guy. Kenny Moore
is probably their best deep defensive back. But really they're
(29:23):
they're really only challenge of any consequences Leatu Latu, who
you know, had a brief stint with the Huskies, but
but he's the edge pressure, you know. Charles Cross, who
I thought had a poor first quarter certainly in the
game against the Falcons, probably performed the worst of any
(29:45):
player on the football team for that first quarter. He's
gonna get the matchup and and so that would be
the one area that might be a little bit of concern.
But I think that the defense just greg on the whole.
People make acquisitions like that, you know, with the idea
that they're going to, you know, make a deep push
in the playoffs. I understand the logical why they did it.
(30:08):
I know we're up against the break, but but do
you have a quick thought on where they are defensively
after that acquisition.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
Yeah, Sauce Gardner didn't practice yesterday because of the calf.
He's trending toward for potentially not playing on Sunday. The
Forest Buckner did practic. I know he's getting older, but
the Forest Buckner in the middle of the defensive line
has been a problem for the Sea Arts going back,
and when he played for the forty nine ers, he
will be an issue for the interior of the offensive
line if he wple play. He was a limited participant
in practice es today, but it looks like the word
(30:34):
out of Indianapolis as that Buckner will play and that
will be problems for Seattle's run game. But Hughes right,
they made that move to get over the top defensively,
and Gardner has, largely because of injury, has not gotten
them there. Seattle again, what they need to do every
week they want to run the ball, They're going to
run the ball a lot. Well, they run the ball
(30:55):
for yards. Buckner not being in there would help that,
but they yet to be still to me, where they
want to be offensively running the ball against anybody consistently,
including Kenneth Walker, who I saw had the best minus
one and plus one yard runs in Atlanta of his career,
three or four guys waiting on him every time he
got the ball. Almost They got to get that fixed.
(31:17):
I keep harping on it. But against the forty nine
ers in the Rams, you've got to run the ball
better than they've been running the ball all year.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Greg's keys and Hugh's final thoughts.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
One more segment of the twelve man round Table here
on this Thursday, Chucking Box Sports Radio ninety three point
three KJRFM.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
All right, nal.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Segment here the twelve man round Table here on a Thursday,
Seahawks versus Colts. A lot of time spent this hour
on Philip Rivers, who I guess we don't know if
he's starting for sure.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
It just seems to be trending that way.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
When Greg suggested that yesterday in our seven five I've segments,
I was like, no way, but yeah, he was onto something.
He is trending towards starting in this football game. So
certainly this has become a lot more interesting to a
lot more people the Philip Rivers show on Sunday, Greg,
but we still have a football game to win.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Better not lose this one. What's the key to getting
this done on Sunday?
Speaker 3 (32:23):
Well, he has started stopping Jonathan Taylor on early downs
about Rivers. Jen and Wols had played with him with
the Chargers and the beginning of his career at the
end of Rivers's time with the Chargers, and he said
yesterday heinate no way Philip Rivers has come out of
retirement to sign with the Colts, get on a plane
and take a five hour ride to Seattle at Christmas
(32:44):
time to not play. Yeah, yeah, And so they have
game planned for Rivers ever since Tuesday when they got
the news that he was trying out had tried out,
so they think he's playing. Mike McDonald's game plan is
that he's playing, and I expect him to get the
full Mike McDonald experience, as like you said, maybe even
(33:04):
more things they haven't seen he hasn't shown yet in
the regular season. It's going to be nick even worry
is a five tech defensive end and nine tech defensive
end moving all over the field, full meal deal. As
we said, this is now for the first time all season,
they've got their full defense and everybody on board and healthy.
(33:25):
That's where the game should be won. But they got
to stop Jonathan Taylor in early down so that it's
not an easier third down situation for Rivers on Sunday.
I think they'll do that. I think they're running defense
and their front four the key to their season. Continue
to have a big seat. Byron Murphy has been an
MVP for them, both in run stopping and crushing the quarterback.
(33:46):
It's the most interesting regular season game I can think
of covering, maybe since Brett Farve on a Monday night
in Oakland the day after his father died, and that
was way back in two thousand and three. That's probably
the most That's the only thing I can even equate
to this. It's gonna be a spectacle. It's gonna be
it's gonna be wild to see this unfold. It's like
(34:06):
a Disney movie. It is. I think they win something
like twenty four to ten to move to eleven and
three and shut set up a battle royale with the
Rams on Thursday night.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
I don't know what it is about the Seahawks ever
since I moved here. Maybe it was going on forever.
They never, of course this happened to them because they
always have something interesting going on. Never seen a franchise
be more consistently interesting than the Seattle Seahawks. All right here,
what are your final thoughts getting ready for this match
up here?
Speaker 4 (34:37):
Well, I just think that Mike McDonald is finally getting
all the tools that he wants with the health of
the defense. And you know, the percentage of plays where
the Seahawks bring five plus rushers this is straight out
of the NFL staff portal, twenty one percent. That's twenty
fourth in the league. But the percent of plays where
(34:58):
they bring five rush that results in a negative EPA
Expected points average, that's sixty seven percent. That's number one
in the league. So the Seahawks don't do it a lot,
but they're really effective when they do. And then you know,
they've been number one in the use of nickel in
all the NFL. They just don't play bass. But prior
(35:22):
to Emon Worry getting in the lineup, they were eighteenth
in the use of dime. Now that's they're up to fifth.
And so just the pieces I think we're gonna see,
we're gonna start to see more of those pressures, as
evidenced by their their their great success rate, and they've
got talented blitzers, even worries Sony can get home and
(35:48):
and of course Witherspoon can get home. I like the
fact that they're doing a better job of containing it.
Drive me crazy how they would lose contain on They
have this unbelievably well designed it's pressure. They get a
free runner, but then a right d a quarterback is
allowed to escape out to his right. So I think
they've kind of buttoned that up. I just I'm I'm
(36:10):
just gonna grab my popcorn and watch how this man
Mike McDonald now that he has all of his parts.
Remember now they lost to the Buccaneers. They had they
had four starters out, you know, and so you've got
an emerging The experiences is exponentially raising for emon worry
so that they feel like they can do more things.
(36:31):
I just I just can't wait for this mad scientist
to unleash for the last month and it starts against
a forty four.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
Year old Yeah yeah, I think Philip. I know how
gung Holy is, but I think I would have watched
that Seahawks defense film and said, how about next week?
Speaker 2 (36:45):
How about we start next week?
Speaker 3 (36:47):
Right?
Speaker 2 (36:48):
Yeah? Have you not acquired any wisdom in these forty
four years?
Speaker 4 (36:52):
You know your football, don't you?
Speaker 3 (36:55):
But they get the forty nine ers next week. It's
not a picnic for a good point.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
At least he got a week and a half to
get ready as opposed to like two soft practices. Greg,
I think pretty convinced. Twenty four to ten. This is
you know, this is gonna be a runaway. I'm like
forty four to three. That's where I'm at with this game.
That's what I think it's gonna end up being. And
I think it could be a lot worse. But they're
(37:19):
gonna call off the dogs. That's what I think is
gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
All right, gentlemen, awesome stuff. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
We appreciate it. We'll do it again next week and
we'll talk to you both tomorrow.
Speaker 4 (37:29):
Thanks.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
Thanks for worts, two warts Forrawlli. Yeah baby, yeah, yeah. Figure.
Speaker 2 (37:34):
I figured you'd squeeze one more of those.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
In there yet.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Our Seahawks inside of Greg Bell.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
Make sure you following them at g Bell Seattle and
of course, complete Seahawks coverage at the Neewstribune dot com
ur QB one. Hugh Millen will be back with him
tomorrow at nine o'clock for our ex'es and O segment.
Speaker 4 (37:50):
We do it every Friday.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
Mike Sandos still to join us at nine thirty.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
We were gonna play Beat Bucky today, but without Bucky here,
it's not nearly as fun. So oh, I think it
provides us a tremendous opportunity Ashley and I to discuss
this Charon More firing in Michigan and how it so
greatly impacts us as college football fans and also as
a Pacific Northwest U dub fan.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM
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