December 15, 2025 • 35 mins
Headlines and 12th Man News with GREGG BELL (Tacoma News Tribune) Gregg had quite the weekend from Baltimore to Lumen Field! What did Gregg think about Phillip Rivers return to the NFL? The game was not without concerns on the Seahawks side of the ball. Next up, it’s the Rams on Thursday night… are the Seahawks ready for this rematch? :30- What concerns do we have from yesterday’s win over the Colts? It definitely didn’t go how we would have predicted, but a win is a win! :45- It’s time to hear from Coach himself- how did Mike McDonald feel about his team’s win? Let’s talk about the use of those timeouts in the 4th.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Myers kick on the way.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
It is.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Meyer's delivers Seahawks up by two, as Myers is the
first Seattle kicker ever with six field goals.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
In a game.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Hey, good Monday morning to you.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
It is Chuck Buck and Ashley with you is Greg
Bell will join us in a matter of moments to
recap that game from yesterday. I was gonna say exciting.
I don't know if it was exciting. I don't know
if it's excited, very stressful. Six field goals from Jason
Myers and the Seahawks do find a way to defeat
the Indianapolis Colts and Philip Rivers by a final score
(01:08):
of eighteen to sixteen. The Hawks moved to eleven and
three on the year, five and two at home, by
the way with the two point win, and now get
ready for the game of the year this Thursday, Thursday
Night Football, they will host the Los Angeles Rams with
first place on the line. Both teams eleven and three
on the season. So much to discuss today with our insiders.
(01:32):
Greg here in about two minutes. Hugh Milling at eight o'clock,
Mike Homeran at nine o'clock. Here on a Monday morning,
quarterback let's rip through the your other headlines though brought
to you by Frostbrewed Corps Light Shoes Chill. Patrick Mahomes
injured his knee at the end of the Kansas City
Chiefs lost to the Los Angeles Chargers. It was a
loss that knocked them from the playoffs any contention for
(01:55):
the playoffs, i should say, and Mahomes also suffered a
torn ACL, so he will certainly miss the rest of
this season, and he will miss a portion of next
season as well, at least that is the thought. Micah
Parsons of the Green Bay Packers also tore his ACL
yesterday and a loss to the Denver Broncos. He will
(02:15):
miss the rest of the season. Davante Adams injured a
hamstring at the end of the Rams win over the
Detroit Lions, and so seems kind of far fetched that
he might be ready to go in time to play
on a short week Thursday against the Seahawks, but we
shall see. Monday Night football will close out this week
in the National Football League. It'll be the Miami Dolphins,
(02:38):
who have been hot just a game under five hundred
at Pittsburgh against the Steelers, who are just a game
over five hundred college football all sorts of news. Over
the weekend. You dubbed thirty eight ten winners over Boise State.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
And the LA Bowl.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Army did lose to Navy, which we'll talk more to
about with Greg Bell here in a matter of moments.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
Be careful, I'm not gonna be sensitive.
Speaker 6 (03:03):
Oh wowow what I said to him on Friday before Wow.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
Jeez.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Fernando Mendoza won the Heisman Trophy the Indiana quarterback and
the Michigan Wolverines have still not hired their next head coach,
which pretty much puts every fan base in America on
blast waiting to see which domino will fall in that area.
The college football playoff will start this Friday with Bama
(03:30):
at Oklahoma. Stove news over the weekend.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Or A.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Polanco is not returning to the Mariners. He signed a
two year, forty million dollar deal to become a member
of the New York Mets. The Kraken have lost eight
of nine games and we'll try to get right tomorrow
at home against the Colorado Avalanche. So those are your
headlines here. A lot going on. One other note, I
(03:55):
should certainly pass on you dub soccer playing for the
men's Championship game tonight against NC State four pm. Finally,
some bragging rights over Will Brinson that jerk. Four pm.
That's when that match will get started. It will be
on ESBNU. So go Dogs. Best of luck to Washington
(04:16):
as they try to win the soccer title tonight, Let's
talk some football with Greg Bell with the Bell totals.
Speaker 7 (04:23):
It must be seven o'clock and time for twelfth Man
News with Greg Bell. Brought to you by Copoala Diamond
Collection Prosecco, Chris Sparkling with bright Fruit flavors to make
every toast shine Game Day Bubbles only with Copola Diamond Forseeco.
Now with twelfth Man News, here's Greg Bell with Chuck
and bund.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
I.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
Sure hope your weekend went well despite the fact that
Ashley's a little bit of a jerk about you know,
the things she says, and that things didn't quite turn
out the way you wanted them to on Saturday. Are
you all right?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Oh? Good morning? Fortunately the Army Davy. One of the
magical things of it is that it's so much more
than the game itself. It was a reunion for me.
I got to see at the end of the first quarter.
At the end at every Army Davy game we meet
behind one of the sections and have a class picture.
And every year I'd see guys from my class that
(05:25):
I had seen in thirty years, twenty years, ten years,
five years, and we catch up. And that's what happened
on Saturday. And I missed most of the second quarter
because I was catching up with guys and Giles I
hadn't seen in a while. So we had ind sparracks,
which is the basic training for West Point cadets. You
very first day, when you are dropped off our day,
(05:47):
you go into a squad of ten and those are
your day ones, as the kids saying, those are the
people you go all the way through be sparricks with
and there today. See it's your worst and toughest and
when you're stressed, you want those first ten. The East
squad five of them were there and that was cool.
I got five of my Day one and caught up
(06:09):
with and pictures. That was great, so great, Yes, it was.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
And your son to be a part of it with.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
You that first time he's been. He was blown away.
Speaker 5 (06:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
We were on the field for the end of the
game and man if the kid had just fallen. The
sense of them had just fallen on that fumble, they
probably win. And you tried to scoop it up and
run ninety seven.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
I'd get it.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
He could have been an immortal for scooping it up
and run ninety seven yards in the Army Navy game
for touchdown. So he tried that and he lost the
ball and maybe score. But yeah, that's always a thrilling event,
the whole thing, the scene. I keep saying it. But
if you've never gone, and you're a sports fan and
you had the means, I would so highly recommend you
(06:52):
go to an Army Navy game. It's it's unparalleled.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Did Mike McDonald give you a condolences when he saw
you yesterday?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
He didn't. I thought he might, actually, Yeah, I think
he saw how disheveled and exhausted I was. I went
straight from the It was snowing in Baltimore yesterday morning,
and so we were sitting on the tarmac for two
hours after we pushed away from the gate waiting to
get de iced. So when we landed, that was only
like ten am. We didn't land till afternoon. So I
(07:21):
went straight from the airport too. I changed in the
Sea Tack parking garage bathroom and put on the dressier clothes.
I went straight from the airport to the stadium and
I was, yeah, I'm sorry, News Tribune readers, that was
my best game story in the history of the Earth. Yesterday.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
What was the reaction in the locker room players coaches
to having faced Philip Rivers in the story of the
Week in the National.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Football Room this year. I thought Bier and Murphy put
it best. He said to me, I said, what do
you expect facing Rivers and trying to get to him
and all that was that we'd expected. He said, I
didn't know what to expect. He said, I didn't know
if he was going to come out and rip it.
I didn't know if he could barely move. Devin Witherspoon
said he'd never been quite sick this way, but he
(08:14):
said what was different was that the defensive backs had
to adjust to how slow the passes were coming and
that the balls were fluttering. It was like facing Phil
nicro as a quarterback or Tim Wakefield. He said that
they were miss timing getting to receivers and sometimes being late,
(08:35):
sometimes being early. They got a couple of passive ferance
penalties Josh Job in particular, in the first half, they
were not used to the change ups that Rivers were throwing.
He was throwing. I mean even his bubble screens were fluttering.
It was way different. Now, having said all of that,
I thought there were still a couple of grandpa moments,
didn't you, Like in the first half when he just
(08:57):
fell down and then got up and just felled down bracelet.
Speaker 5 (09:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yet they were just throwing all short passes for a while.
He wasn't throwing anything beyond five yards, And in fact,
in the second quarter, Rivers threw it beyond ten yards
for the first time in the game, and his receiver
Downs number two down the left sideline had beaten Josh Job,
it would have been a touchdown. But Downs didn't even
(09:27):
look up for the ball, and he's like, well, there's
no way your grandpa's gonna throw it this far, and
it landed like two yards inside of him at his feet.
I don't know if you remember that, yes, yeah, but
if he that, I'm sure that's because Downs was like,
he's not gonna throw it this far, and there was
it would have been a touchdown. I'd been looking for
the ball so it took the Seahawks about a quarter
(09:49):
and a half to figure all that out. That's how
they started the game far too soft and coverage way
too far off and allowing the culture just run two
or three yard routs right in front of them. They
got tighter in the second quarter, but still they should
have gone eleven across the front honestly to take away
run lanes and then just challenge the receivers to try
(10:11):
to go buy them because Rivers was not going to
throw deep. I can count like three times I remember
Rivers throwing further than ten twelve yards, including the last
play of the game when Weather's been tipped it to
Josh Joe for the interception. I think I saw the
stat that of the twenty seven throws that Rivers had yesterday,
eighteen of them were below ten yards in the air,
(10:31):
and so I thought it took the Seahawks way too
long to change And after the game, McDonald said, yeah,
it was a massive departure from what the Colts usually
do offensively and that we had to change it up
as well. I thought they should have plastered and like
I said, it'd been eleven across the line of screwage yeah.
Speaker 8 (10:50):
I mean, it seemed like the Colts had a good
game plan of how to use an aging guy that
hasn't really been in the building, because just to me,
it feels like the further you go downfield, the more
the lack of timing is going to be in you know,
in rhythm with the guys. And yet they moved the ball.
I mean, there's got to be some sort of concern.
(11:13):
You ended getting a w so the concern shouldn't be excessive,
is it? Is it nothing on the concern of what
they did defensively because you held a team to sixteen points?
Is it just more so the offensive woes the fact
that you didn't score a touchdown.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Well, I'd underlined it. And you almost had to be
perfect defensively to stay in the game because how the
offense was alfunctioning, especially at third down the red zone.
It was I think you were two for thirteen on
third down. The key to the game was stopping Jonathan Taylor.
It was that coming into it and it was going
out of it. In the first quarter and a half,
(11:48):
let's just call it the first half, he had sixteen carries.
He was averaging nineteen carries a game coming in and
he had sixteen. By halftime, he had fifty eight yards.
He ended up with just eleven yards in the second half.
To me, that was the key to the game because
in the first half the Colts their first seven drives
in the game. Until deep in the third quarter, they
(12:10):
had run on multiple plays multiple times in a row
to start a drive. Every time two or three times
in a row they ran this begins drives. That happened
seven consecutive drives, So what's that mean. The Colts game
plan was that they were going to run on first
and second down, so that it was third and short
instead of third and nine. And the game turned when
the Seahawks stopped Taylor elimited him on first and second down.
(12:33):
And that was in the third quarter, and the Colts
only scored three points in the second half because the
runs on first and second down didn't go anywhere, and
instead of third and two and three, it was third
and nine and ten, and that's when the Seahawks got
after Rivers affected him and he couldn't throw well beyond
ten yards down the field on third and three. It
doesn't matter if you're throwing five yard outs, see you,
(12:54):
we'll get the first down. On third and nine, third
and ten, you throw five yard outs your putting. That's
honestly what the difference in the game was that once
the sex limited Taylor to just eleven yards of the
second half, they stopped them from scoring but three points.
That was the key to the game. It's easier said
than done. Taylor was dragging defenders in the first half.
They started when they hit him, bringing them down in
(13:16):
the second half instead of getting dragged, and that was
a difference between third and three and third and eight.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
Greg bellis whether it's our Seahawks insider of course, Seahawks
winning yesterday over the Indianapolis Colts barely eighteen to sixteen,
and Philip rivers. If you want to follow Greg and
his coverage thenews Tremmune dot com also at chi Bel Seattle.
What was the message? What was the wording that was
used by Clint Kubiak on the sidelines when he huddled
up an offense that did not score a touchdown all
(13:43):
day long?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Well, the player said he was as animated he's been
all year, and he was pretty fired up near the
end of the game before they went out and drove
down the field. Let's go back. I think the hero
of the game was Mike McDonald. When there was a
minute twelve left, when Josh Joe gave up that third
down completion to Tyler Warren the tight end on the
(14:06):
left sideline, it was third and seven. The Seahorks look
even get the ball back in goodstead to win the game,
and then Joe gives up a third and sent the
coach probably would have gone on fourth down of course
there too, but it was a fifteen to thirteen game.
The Colts had just crossed midfield. They were at the
forty nine of the Seahawks with one twelve left, and
that's when McDonald started using his timeouts. And there was
(14:28):
some murmuring in the press box with my colleagues on
what they were doing there, because that's a sixty some
yard field goal from there, so why are you taking
your defensive timeouts? Then well, McDonald assumed rightly that worst case,
if they do somehow kick a field goal from here,
or if they start getting first downs, I need to
(14:48):
get my offense, leave my offense enough time to operate.
And after the game, Sam Donald said, we played that mean.
McDonald played that perfectly, because as a quarterback, I'd rather
have fifty seconds and no timeouts, then twenty or fifteen
seconds with two timeouts, and he explained, he kind of inferred,
he didn't quite explain, but their difference is with fifty
(15:09):
seconds and no timeouts, you can throw the ball anywhere
middle of the field, down deep down the field, because
there's still enough time if you catch it in bounds
to run your offense up and spike the ball. When
you have twenty or fifteen seconds but two timeouts, you're
somewhat limited there. You can only do that one or
two times if you have a time out left. And
sure enough, the Colts play exactly as McDonald had guessed.
(15:34):
The Colts played for a field goal from sixty yards.
They ran Jonathan Taylor on first down, They ran Jonathan
Taylor on a third and four to set up a
sixty yard field Who does that? And then the kicker
Shane Steichen is right. His kicker made a sixty yard
field goal with like three or four yards of spare.
But because McDonald used all three of his timeouts on
defense in that sequence, when the Colts are running twice
(15:55):
and three downs and throwing in bounds on the third play,
then the Seahawks had forty seven seconds when they got
the ball back, Rashid Shaheed makes a great kickoff return.
That was a poor kick by the way, is landed
like a seven yard He just can't do that. You
got to give a make it more of a challenge
to the goal line. It was a short kickoff Rashid
from the seven to the thirty seven. It was their
(16:16):
second best drive start of the game. There were ten
on their own goal line the whole game, but there
they were at the thirty seven. One pass on an
interro out to Shihed, another eight yard passed the sheet
and there in field goal range with just two completions
thanks to Shied's kick return. After the game, you know
how they give game balls. Devin Witherspoon and Niki mo
Worry have gotten them. Jackson Smith and Jigger was collecting
(16:37):
them for the year he's had. Mike mcdond in the
locker room gave the lot the game bowl to Brian Ayres,
his lead research analyst, because Errs was up in the
press box telling Mike McDonald to use his timeouts, and
he said that Errs was so convicted about it and
was so convincing about it that he had to do it.
He said he was kind of on the fence whether
(16:57):
to do it from midfield, but errors convinced him to
do it. It won the game. If they had let most
coaches would have not used those timeouts until field. The
Colts were in better field goal more conventional field goal range,
airs convinced McDonald to use him when he did. Air's
got a game ball for giving the offense the chance
to win the game.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
Jason Myers has to be what the f What do
I got to do? What a kicker got to do
to get a game ball?
Speaker 5 (17:19):
Around? Here?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Can we cut that ball in half? Truth be told?
Truth be told. They give out multiple game balls, and
I'm sure Jason Myers going to all right, yeah, in.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
Our last minute before we got to ask about Thursday.
I mean, it's going to be here before you know it,
and so here we go. Are they ready? I mean
they're not playing as good as football as they were
I think the last time they faced the Rams. Are
they ready for this?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
I don't think they're ready right now because they can't
a lot of guys can't even walk on Monday morning.
But they will get there, and their offense has to
be better. Just that's nothing no great shakes to that.
They got to be better on third down. But I
will say this, they are good enough. If their quarterback
doesn't turn the ball over, they win. The biggest thing
(18:03):
Sam Donald did yesterday is he didn't turn the ball over.
He led the league in the sixteen turnovers. He almost
lost one when he fumbled it, but it went out
of bounds in the second quarter. But if he hasn't
turned the ball over, the two games throw out the
JV game at the end of last season. The two
games the McDonald and McVay have gone head to head.
McDonald's schemes have limited the Rams offense. They made Stafford
(18:25):
look like something like a forty four year old Philip
rivers Don in Inglewood last month. And if Donald doesn't
throw four interceptions, they win that game. They lost twenty
one to nineteen. When the quarterback the four interceptions and
handed the Rams they're three touchdowns. The McDonald's got confidence
that he can shut them down. The key to the
(18:47):
game is that Donald can't give the Rams a short field.
Donald doesn't turn it over. The defense is playing at
the level that they can beat the Rams. The problem
now is the forty nine ers aren't losing either. So
now you have two of these, you got battle Royals.
It's gonna beat the Rams in the forty nine ers
to win the division. But yeah, they're not ready today, guys.
They won't even be ready Wednesday. Let me tell you.
(19:08):
NFL players are not ready to play Thursday night games.
But they're gonna have to be ready physically. The Rams
are in the same boat, of course. But yeah, Sam
Donald holds the keys of this game on Thursday.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
All Right, we'll go get some rest. I mean, you
gotta be ready for next year's Army Navy game and that.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Starts today, especially because it's in New York. But yes,
I won't get rest.
Speaker 5 (19:29):
Thank you, all right.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
Greg mel our insider joining us right here on Chuck
and Buck. Of course, his segment with us is brought
to you by Copola Diamond Prosecco. Every game needs an MVP.
This one sparkles people. Copola Diamond Collection Prosecco is light,
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(19:52):
Call I'm next man, I'm not gonna beat around the bush.
We got this Thursday game to get ready for Sports
Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Hey, happy Monday, everybody. Good to have you with us.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
My name is Chuck Powell, Bucky Jacob since here, Ashley
Ryan is here. Monday morning. Quarterback coming your way at
eight o'clock. Hugh Mill and Mike Home We're gonna be
with us from eight to ten to talk about the
Seahawks eighteen sixteen went over the Indianapolis Colts. Yeah, I
did believe that. I was kind of surprised that the
lack of aggression that our defense showed. It kind of
(20:36):
felt like we're just not gonna let anything get behind us.
I don't think he was capable of getting anything behind you. Frankly,
so I was. As Greg pointed out, they were even
surprised at the changeups that he was throwing. It did
seem like a lack of aggression. I kind of thought
(20:59):
that they were gonna be as bee hivey as they've
ever been. And I don't know if I saw that.
Speaker 5 (21:04):
I didn't. I didn't feel.
Speaker 8 (21:06):
I mean, I he can throw the ball over if
you just put eleven right up there and just said
we don't think he can throw it beyond ten fifteen yards.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
I mean he can. Is he gonna be successful at it?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
No?
Speaker 5 (21:17):
I don't.
Speaker 8 (21:17):
I think that that would have been a really tall
task to ask a guy to do when he doesn't
know any of these receivers he's throwing too, he doesn't
really know what the defense is all about. I think
that he probably comes into it knowing this is different
than anything I've seen before how they disguise things. But
you weren't gonna probably put him in a situation that's
going to inevitably turn into turnovers. Probably you're gonna rely
(21:42):
on your defense, rely on your run game. I mean
I didn't feel like they were not trying to be
like a beehive. I just think the game plan made
it to where we're gonna get rid of the ball
before he has to move even move around in the pocket.
Because that one, you know, slip and fall thing that
he did. Yeah, it looked like you just had her
shoes on, like he didn't have cleats, probably because he
(22:03):
didn't want to get those things stuck in the ground.
And when he's getting twisted up on because he just
isn't gonna be as strong holding up another dude and
trying to go down in a way that isn't going
to get you twisted up and hurt, and and so
to me, it just felt like their game plan was,
there are this is a beehive that's coming after us.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
We're just not going to let him get there.
Speaker 8 (22:20):
We're gonna just dump it off and then hopefully it
happens when we need it and there's a third and eight,
then we're gonna trust that he's gonna throw it where
it's supposed to be and out of danger. And he
did that two or three times. It just was not
the They weren't going to try to push it down
the field because then you have to make sure that
nobody gets even near him, because I don't know if
he was going to be able to move around to
(22:40):
the pocket at all.
Speaker 9 (22:41):
Yeah, they definitely got the ball away very quickly.
Speaker 6 (22:43):
But there was numerous times that I was yelling, like,
why are we I just I assume going into that
game that we were gonna sack him fifteen times?
Speaker 9 (22:49):
I kinda do, right and so.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
And if not, and if not, if he was going
to try to avoid that and was just gonna throw
the ball just to get rid of h Yeah, then
if you didn't get fifteen. I thought you would get
three picks.
Speaker 9 (23:01):
Yes, I agreed, I didn't get your one.
Speaker 6 (23:03):
Yeah, to get the pick at the very end, to
have that be your only one, the whole thing surprised me.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
I won sack too, I'm not mistaken. One and a
meaningless desperation interception and that was it. So certainly I
was surprised. And if anybody tuned in to hear me
say that I was wrong, I clearly was wrong too.
I went really strong on Philip Rivers as no chance,
(23:28):
and he was functional, certainly functional, and I'm glad that
he was because it made for a more entertaining game.
I'm not so sure I'd been glad had we lost,
which it kind of felt like we might do there
toward the end. But in eighteen sixteen went over the Seahawks.
But there is really no reason to beat around the
bush on this thing. This one's in the rear view mirror.
(23:49):
It's a win. You moved to eleven and three, well,
the top heavy NFC. That doesn't even guarantee you a
spot in the playoffs. You know, at this stage in
the process, there's still a scenario in which you don't
even make the playoffs with an eleven and three record,
and then when it comes to the division, you got
three teams with ten wins or more. And so here
(24:10):
we go, last three games of the regular season. There's
no reason to stand on ceremony. Usually we don't start
previewing the next opponent till Wednesday. On Thursday games, we'll
start on Tuesday. F that we start today because the
Rams are this Thursday game of the year at home.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
Let's get it on. Well, this is a huge game.
Speaker 8 (24:33):
I mean for the big game factor that doesn't happen
in April of baseball season. This is a game where
you're getting down to the end of the year. You're
sitting there at eleven and three, and typically you'd be like, okay,
locked up a playoff spot.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
The Rams locked up one with their win.
Speaker 8 (24:49):
Now that's just because they at this point hold that
kind of half game tiebreaker over the Seahawks because they
beat him once before. But this game comes down to,
I mean, if if you want to win the division,
it almost feels pretty musty that you end up needing
to win this one, because otherwise you're going to have
to win the last two and hope they lose the
last two in order to win the division over them.
(25:09):
So if you want to control your own destiny, you
got to win on Thursday. And then it's the idea
of the fact that it isn't just a two team race,
the fact that the Niners are right there behind you
as well. It makes it a very intriguing story. Going
into the final three weeks of the season. You start thinking, Okay, well,
this is the Rams toughest game for sure, because they
got the Cardinals and the Falcons after that, and then
(25:33):
the Niners have. You have one against the Niners. Their
schedule is not necessarily in their favor for them to
jump up and sniper you as well. But you basically
lose this one, it'll add a whole bunch of pressure
going into that Carolina game. You'll all of a sudden
be like, wait a minute, we drop this one, and
then we have to play against the Niners, who then
(25:54):
might be in front of you.
Speaker 5 (25:55):
Then you're just fighting.
Speaker 8 (25:56):
I mean you right now, three weeks left and you
have the chance of getting the number one seed in
the NFC a bye, win the division, or you have
a chance of being third in your division of possibly
on the outside looking in. That's you'd have to have
a kind of a meltdown. You'd have to have a
lot of bad luck in the final three games of
this thing to lose all three of them, I think.
(26:18):
But it's not like it's out of the rowned possibility.
So this is a big week coming up for them.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
Yeah, usually you're eleven and three, you're you're sitting there
already having locked up a spot. But there is a scenario.
And the reason that the Rams clenched yesterday is because
of their win over Detroit.
Speaker 5 (26:33):
We don't have that tiebreaker.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
Uh So that's that's why they clinched yesterday, because Detroit
is the team that can take it from you here
down the stretch. But but yes, Seahawks versus Rams this Thursday,
and Ashley, I mean the last time we played the Rams.
That's as well as the Seahawks were playing this entire season.
(26:56):
You had the back to back quality wins against the
Jaguars and ten, who still weren't what they are right now, right,
but you had those big and then you had the
bye week, and then you came out of the bye
week and played your most complete game when you just
absolutely dominated Washington, doubled up Arizona, and I feel, and
I don't think I'm alone in this, but I might
(27:16):
be in the minority that you outplayed the Rams even
though you lost the game, But since that time, had
a sloppy game against Tennessee Vikings, game where it took
you a little while to get cranked up, even though
you ended up winning in lopsided fashion. Same thing happened
the following week against the Falcons, and then this game
against the Colts where you don't even score an offensive touchdown.
I feel like we were playing better football when we
(27:39):
were playing the Rams the first time than what we're
playing right now.
Speaker 6 (27:42):
Yeah, offensively for sure, and that is the big concern
to go in against that tough defense and with our
slow start to our offense. I mean, I said it earlier,
you can't win a football game with one quarter of
good football again, and you brought you pointed out against
a good team exactly, that's.
Speaker 9 (27:58):
What you can't do.
Speaker 6 (27:59):
So you got to figure it out and get your
stuff together before Thursday. Defensive your stuff together, Yeah, defensively,
I think, I mean, gosh, they had to go into that.
That Tennessee game was probably the one where it was
like the weakest I think for them, But other than that,
they've been pretty stellar.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
Uh well, yeah, I mean it's a great defense. I
was a little surprised they were more aggressive yesterday yea,
but certainly they've been playing great defense all season long.
So here we go. We'll talk a little bit about
it with Hugh and with coach today as we get
ready for Thursday night football against the Rams coming up next.
We're gonna hear from Mike McDonald. We always play some
(28:39):
Mike McDonald audio, and since we're transitioning into Mike McDonald,
we might as well play our McDonald's delivery of the game.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
Right.
Speaker 10 (28:47):
Here's Vince done left side crack it with the face off.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
Steve that said, left.
Speaker 11 (28:51):
Circle shock, Taylor Stevens said on the power play has
put the crucket on the board. They trimmed that deficit
in half too.
Speaker 5 (29:08):
One.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
McDelivery of the game.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Last night's top call from the Cracking, Cracking, Cracking Audio
Network is brought to you by McDonald's Ordering the food
you Craved with McDelivery as a whole new way to
love McDonald's ordered directly from the McDonald's app and select
McDelivery today and start earning points for free food. See
app for details. Speaking of McDonald's we'll hear from coach
(29:31):
next Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM QB one
will be with us, you millen to break all of
this down. Always interested to see where he wants to
go first when reacting to a Seahawks game, because there
are a lot of big subjects that we can discuss
over the course of the next couple of hours. Mike
McDonald talking about how difficult wins are to come by
(29:53):
in this league, and yet they've come by eleven and
fourteen games. Sunday didn't look as pretty as anybody really
wanted here in Seattle, but it is an eighteen to
sixteen win. And of course his strategy down the stretch,
in his use of timeouts was as important as anything
that happened in the game. Here's coach explaining it.
Speaker 10 (30:15):
Well, it's kind of a function of like, hey, you know,
as is this kind of declared as the last possession
even though they still had three timeouts. You know, just
you're trying to figure out a way like if you know,
if it doesn't go your way, you got a chance
to come back and win it. So and Brian heres
did a phenomenal job managing it, and he was really decisive.
And and then then really I gave him a lot
(30:38):
of credit. Game got a game ball in the in
the locker room because he really put us in position
to go I still have a chance.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
To win the game.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
The calculations, I mean, you want to talk about analytics,
you want to talk about a new world that we're
living in. You'd have tried this just three years ago.
People have been like, what is he doing? Yeah, this
is insane. You're saving time for the Colts to move
down the field. You're burning all three of your timeouts.
(31:05):
Even if you get the ball back, You're leaving the
Colts with three timeouts to give them a chance to
get the ball back again. Against you, What are you doing?
And it ends up that what he was doing was
saving enough just enough time for Sam Darnold to get
the team into field goal range where Jason Myers could
win it with a sixth field goal of the day.
(31:27):
I don't, I don't, I don't. I'm the math from it.
I don't know one hundred percent no if it was
the right thing to do, but it certainly turned out
to be a game saver.
Speaker 8 (31:36):
Yeah, well, I mean I think that you basically are
you know, we see it, You've seen it forever where
it's like, if they get in the first down there,
you're not going to be able to It's going to
come down to the last second, right, which was basically
you were trying to give yourself another chance if they
make a field goal, and yet the fact that they didn't,
(31:57):
they weren't really even trying to get the first down
now or they just we're thinking Jonathan Taylor gives us
the best chance and worst case scenario, he gets three
or four yards closer, so it's a sixty yardfield goal
instead of a sixty four yardfield goal sixty three yard
field goal. But the idea of when he's going and
burning those timeouts on defense, he's saying, Okay, we're going
(32:17):
to stop them here and then hopefully they don't make
the field field goal, but if they do, we can
complete a couple passes, maybe get a good return, which
they did complete a passeror two, and we're in field
goal range and we spike the ball. That's essentially still
getting be able to stop the clock. But the idea
of the Colts saying how We're going to just go
ahead and just trust that we can make a sixty
(32:38):
yard field goal and then stop them, which is crazy
in today's game with the kickoff rules. First of all,
bad kickoff for I mean they get only kicks it
like the nine or ten yard line, and it almost
went out of bounds. Reshij Head ended up turning was
maybe not a great decision in catching that ball, turns
it into taking it back to almost to the forty
(32:59):
to where with in one play you're the first what's.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
The modern game? Yeah, I mean with the kickoff, I
mean he it was a bad kickoff because he's trying
to trying to put it inside the five. He doesn't
want it to go into the en zone because then
they get it to the thirty five. He don't want
to go out of bound because then they get it
to the forty. And with Myers, who's damn near automatic.
Now inside sixty yards, you know you're looking in today's game,
you only have to complete like a fifteen yard pass
(33:24):
in order to be in the field goal range. And
so I didn't think group A had it in him
to hit from sixty yards. I mean that's like the
fifth kicker, the Colts have even used this year. Yeah,
and he's like three foot one, Yeah, he is fieteen pounds.
Speaker 9 (33:39):
Palmer ken't be like, why is that guy so small?
Speaker 4 (33:42):
Yeah, but he's got group a groupies. Now I'll tell
you that he does, because he came through with a
sixty yard field goal and it's a good thing. I mean,
at the time, I'm wondering, WHOA, this is some interesting
strategy and it turned out to be life saving. You
don't win the game if you don't call those timeouts.
You just don't.
Speaker 8 (34:01):
I mean, the fact of the matter is we're sitting
here talking about a win, and a win is a win,
and you get to take it. It doesn't matter how it looked.
But there's multiple things down the stretch there where that
was an abbreviated version of the Indianapolis Colts because they
had a forty four year old guy just coming basically in,
you know, not even having a full week of practice,
(34:22):
and yet they end up he ends up completing a
couple passes to get him in position to retake the lead.
Because all you had been able to do is muster
field goal after field goal, so you weren't distancing yourself.
I mean it feels like if you just got a
head by seven at one point in time, game over
with your defense the way that they were trying to
do their offense. But no, all you're doing is just
going tick for tat and catching up with three points
(34:44):
at a time. But yeah, I mean, it works out.
It was a genius decision to call the timeouts the
way they did because they didn't end up getting a
first down. Otherwise they're doing a walk off field goal there,
whether they make it or not, you know, who knows
how that would have worked. But instead, I mean, and yeah,
you just end up with the balls the way they
get to doctor the kicking balls now, it seems like
(35:06):
if you get a decent return back to thirty five,
it just just they got a seventeen yard pass, an incompletion,
and an eight yard pass and boom, they were well
within Jason Myer's range to kick the game winner.
Speaker 5 (35:18):
So I just kind of lucked out there.
Speaker 4 (35:19):
There was fifty two seconds left, so even if Group
A misses, the Colts still could have called their timeouts
and gotten the ball back. Yeah, I mean that was
you just wouldn't have seen this strategy implemented five years ago.
I might even say three years ago, but the way
that the game now works and the kickoff rules and
the strength of these kickers legs these days, it was
(35:41):
the right strategy.
Speaker 9 (35:42):
It really was.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
That's very clear. And we don't win that game if
you don't implement that strategy. All right, Humel will join
us next. Mike homg gonna be with us at nine
o'clock Monday morning. Quarterback gets underway on Sports Radio ninety
three point three KJRFM,
Myers kick on the way.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
It is.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Meyer's delivers Seahawks up by two, as Myers is the
first Seattle kicker ever with six field goals.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
In a game.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Hey, good Monday morning to you.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
It is Chuck Buck and Ashley with you is Greg
Bell will join us in a matter of moments to
recap that game from yesterday. I was gonna say exciting.
I don't know if it was exciting. I don't know
if it's excited, very stressful. Six field goals from Jason
Myers and the Seahawks do find a way to defeat
the Indianapolis Colts and Philip Rivers by a final score
(01:08):
of eighteen to sixteen. The Hawks moved to eleven and
three on the year, five and two at home, by
the way with the two point win, and now get
ready for the game of the year this Thursday, Thursday
Night Football, they will host the Los Angeles Rams with
first place on the line. Both teams eleven and three
on the season. So much to discuss today with our insiders.
(01:32):
Greg here in about two minutes. Hugh Milling at eight o'clock,
Mike Homeran at nine o'clock. Here on a Monday morning,
quarterback let's rip through the your other headlines though brought
to you by Frostbrewed Corps Light Shoes Chill. Patrick Mahomes
injured his knee at the end of the Kansas City
Chiefs lost to the Los Angeles Chargers. It was a
loss that knocked them from the playoffs any contention for
(01:55):
the playoffs, i should say, and Mahomes also suffered a
torn ACL, so he will certainly miss the rest of
this season, and he will miss a portion of next
season as well, at least that is the thought. Micah
Parsons of the Green Bay Packers also tore his ACL
yesterday and a loss to the Denver Broncos. He will
(02:15):
miss the rest of the season. Davante Adams injured a
hamstring at the end of the Rams win over the
Detroit Lions, and so seems kind of far fetched that
he might be ready to go in time to play
on a short week Thursday against the Seahawks, but we
shall see. Monday Night football will close out this week
in the National Football League. It'll be the Miami Dolphins,
(02:38):
who have been hot just a game under five hundred
at Pittsburgh against the Steelers, who are just a game
over five hundred college football all sorts of news. Over
the weekend. You dubbed thirty eight ten winners over Boise State.
Speaker 5 (02:51):
And the LA Bowl.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Army did lose to Navy, which we'll talk more to
about with Greg Bell here in a matter of moments.
Speaker 5 (02:58):
Be careful, I'm not gonna be sensitive.
Speaker 6 (03:03):
Oh wowow what I said to him on Friday before Wow.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
Jeez.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Fernando Mendoza won the Heisman Trophy the Indiana quarterback and
the Michigan Wolverines have still not hired their next head coach,
which pretty much puts every fan base in America on
blast waiting to see which domino will fall in that area.
The college football playoff will start this Friday with Bama
(03:30):
at Oklahoma. Stove news over the weekend.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Or A.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Polanco is not returning to the Mariners. He signed a
two year, forty million dollar deal to become a member
of the New York Mets. The Kraken have lost eight
of nine games and we'll try to get right tomorrow
at home against the Colorado Avalanche. So those are your
headlines here. A lot going on. One other note, I
(03:55):
should certainly pass on you dub soccer playing for the
men's Championship game tonight against NC State four pm. Finally,
some bragging rights over Will Brinson that jerk. Four pm.
That's when that match will get started. It will be
on ESBNU. So go Dogs. Best of luck to Washington
(04:16):
as they try to win the soccer title tonight, Let's
talk some football with Greg Bell with the Bell totals.
Speaker 7 (04:23):
It must be seven o'clock and time for twelfth Man
News with Greg Bell. Brought to you by Copoala Diamond
Collection Prosecco, Chris Sparkling with bright Fruit flavors to make
every toast shine Game Day Bubbles only with Copola Diamond Forseeco.
Now with twelfth Man News, here's Greg Bell with Chuck
and bund.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
I.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
Sure hope your weekend went well despite the fact that
Ashley's a little bit of a jerk about you know,
the things she says, and that things didn't quite turn
out the way you wanted them to on Saturday. Are
you all right?
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Oh? Good morning? Fortunately the Army Davy. One of the
magical things of it is that it's so much more
than the game itself. It was a reunion for me.
I got to see at the end of the first quarter.
At the end at every Army Davy game we meet
behind one of the sections and have a class picture.
And every year I'd see guys from my class that
(05:25):
I had seen in thirty years, twenty years, ten years,
five years, and we catch up. And that's what happened
on Saturday. And I missed most of the second quarter
because I was catching up with guys and Giles I
hadn't seen in a while. So we had ind sparracks,
which is the basic training for West Point cadets. You
very first day, when you are dropped off our day,
(05:47):
you go into a squad of ten and those are
your day ones, as the kids saying, those are the
people you go all the way through be sparricks with
and there today. See it's your worst and toughest and
when you're stressed, you want those first ten. The East
squad five of them were there and that was cool.
I got five of my Day one and caught up
(06:09):
with and pictures. That was great, so great, Yes, it was.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
And your son to be a part of it with.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
You that first time he's been. He was blown away.
Speaker 5 (06:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
We were on the field for the end of the
game and man if the kid had just fallen. The
sense of them had just fallen on that fumble, they
probably win. And you tried to scoop it up and
run ninety seven.
Speaker 5 (06:29):
I'd get it.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
He could have been an immortal for scooping it up
and run ninety seven yards in the Army Navy game
for touchdown. So he tried that and he lost the
ball and maybe score. But yeah, that's always a thrilling event,
the whole thing, the scene. I keep saying it. But
if you've never gone, and you're a sports fan and
you had the means, I would so highly recommend you
(06:52):
go to an Army Navy game. It's it's unparalleled.
Speaker 4 (06:54):
Did Mike McDonald give you a condolences when he saw
you yesterday?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
He didn't. I thought he might, actually, Yeah, I think
he saw how disheveled and exhausted I was. I went
straight from the It was snowing in Baltimore yesterday morning,
and so we were sitting on the tarmac for two
hours after we pushed away from the gate waiting to
get de iced. So when we landed, that was only
like ten am. We didn't land till afternoon. So I
(07:21):
went straight from the airport too. I changed in the
Sea Tack parking garage bathroom and put on the dressier clothes.
I went straight from the airport to the stadium and
I was, yeah, I'm sorry, News Tribune readers, that was
my best game story in the history of the Earth. Yesterday.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
What was the reaction in the locker room players coaches
to having faced Philip Rivers in the story of the
Week in the National.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Football Room this year. I thought Bier and Murphy put
it best. He said to me, I said, what do
you expect facing Rivers and trying to get to him
and all that was that we'd expected. He said, I
didn't know what to expect. He said, I didn't know
if he was going to come out and rip it.
I didn't know if he could barely move. Devin Witherspoon
said he'd never been quite sick this way, but he
(08:14):
said what was different was that the defensive backs had
to adjust to how slow the passes were coming and
that the balls were fluttering. It was like facing Phil
nicro as a quarterback or Tim Wakefield. He said that
they were miss timing getting to receivers and sometimes being late,
(08:35):
sometimes being early. They got a couple of passive ferance
penalties Josh Job in particular, in the first half, they
were not used to the change ups that Rivers were throwing.
He was throwing. I mean even his bubble screens were fluttering.
It was way different. Now, having said all of that,
I thought there were still a couple of grandpa moments,
didn't you, Like in the first half when he just
(08:57):
fell down and then got up and just felled down bracelet.
Speaker 5 (09:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yet they were just throwing all short passes for a while.
He wasn't throwing anything beyond five yards, And in fact,
in the second quarter, Rivers threw it beyond ten yards
for the first time in the game, and his receiver
Downs number two down the left sideline had beaten Josh Job,
it would have been a touchdown. But Downs didn't even
(09:27):
look up for the ball, and he's like, well, there's
no way your grandpa's gonna throw it this far, and
it landed like two yards inside of him at his feet.
I don't know if you remember that, yes, yeah, but
if he that, I'm sure that's because Downs was like,
he's not gonna throw it this far, and there was
it would have been a touchdown. I'd been looking for
the ball so it took the Seahawks about a quarter
(09:49):
and a half to figure all that out. That's how
they started the game far too soft and coverage way
too far off and allowing the culture just run two
or three yard routs right in front of them. They
got tighter in the second quarter, but still they should
have gone eleven across the front honestly to take away
run lanes and then just challenge the receivers to try
(10:11):
to go buy them because Rivers was not going to
throw deep. I can count like three times I remember
Rivers throwing further than ten twelve yards, including the last
play of the game when Weather's been tipped it to
Josh Joe for the interception. I think I saw the
stat that of the twenty seven throws that Rivers had yesterday,
eighteen of them were below ten yards in the air,
(10:31):
and so I thought it took the Seahawks way too
long to change And after the game, McDonald said, yeah,
it was a massive departure from what the Colts usually
do offensively and that we had to change it up
as well. I thought they should have plastered and like
I said, it'd been eleven across the line of screwage yeah.
Speaker 8 (10:50):
I mean, it seemed like the Colts had a good
game plan of how to use an aging guy that
hasn't really been in the building, because just to me,
it feels like the further you go downfield, the more
the lack of timing is going to be in you know,
in rhythm with the guys. And yet they moved the ball.
I mean, there's got to be some sort of concern.
(11:13):
You ended getting a w so the concern shouldn't be excessive,
is it? Is it nothing on the concern of what
they did defensively because you held a team to sixteen points?
Is it just more so the offensive woes the fact
that you didn't score a touchdown.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Well, I'd underlined it. And you almost had to be
perfect defensively to stay in the game because how the
offense was alfunctioning, especially at third down the red zone.
It was I think you were two for thirteen on
third down. The key to the game was stopping Jonathan Taylor.
It was that coming into it and it was going
out of it. In the first quarter and a half,
(11:48):
let's just call it the first half, he had sixteen carries.
He was averaging nineteen carries a game coming in and
he had sixteen. By halftime, he had fifty eight yards.
He ended up with just eleven yards in the second half.
To me, that was the key to the game because
in the first half the Colts their first seven drives
in the game. Until deep in the third quarter, they
(12:10):
had run on multiple plays multiple times in a row
to start a drive. Every time two or three times
in a row they ran this begins drives. That happened
seven consecutive drives, So what's that mean. The Colts game
plan was that they were going to run on first
and second down, so that it was third and short
instead of third and nine. And the game turned when
the Seahawks stopped Taylor elimited him on first and second down.
(12:33):
And that was in the third quarter, and the Colts
only scored three points in the second half because the
runs on first and second down didn't go anywhere, and
instead of third and two and three, it was third
and nine and ten, and that's when the Seahawks got
after Rivers affected him and he couldn't throw well beyond
ten yards down the field on third and three. It
doesn't matter if you're throwing five yard outs, see you,
(12:54):
we'll get the first down. On third and nine, third
and ten, you throw five yard outs your putting. That's
honestly what the difference in the game was that once
the sex limited Taylor to just eleven yards of the
second half, they stopped them from scoring but three points.
That was the key to the game. It's easier said
than done. Taylor was dragging defenders in the first half.
They started when they hit him, bringing them down in
(13:16):
the second half instead of getting dragged, and that was
a difference between third and three and third and eight.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
Greg bellis whether it's our Seahawks insider of course, Seahawks
winning yesterday over the Indianapolis Colts barely eighteen to sixteen,
and Philip rivers. If you want to follow Greg and
his coverage thenews Tremmune dot com also at chi Bel Seattle.
What was the message? What was the wording that was
used by Clint Kubiak on the sidelines when he huddled
up an offense that did not score a touchdown all
(13:43):
day long?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Well, the player said he was as animated he's been
all year, and he was pretty fired up near the
end of the game before they went out and drove
down the field. Let's go back. I think the hero
of the game was Mike McDonald. When there was a
minute twelve left, when Josh Joe gave up that third
down completion to Tyler Warren the tight end on the
(14:06):
left sideline, it was third and seven. The Seahorks look
even get the ball back in goodstead to win the game,
and then Joe gives up a third and sent the
coach probably would have gone on fourth down of course
there too, but it was a fifteen to thirteen game.
The Colts had just crossed midfield. They were at the
forty nine of the Seahawks with one twelve left, and
that's when McDonald started using his timeouts. And there was
(14:28):
some murmuring in the press box with my colleagues on
what they were doing there, because that's a sixty some
yard field goal from there, so why are you taking
your defensive timeouts? Then well, McDonald assumed rightly that worst case,
if they do somehow kick a field goal from here,
or if they start getting first downs, I need to
(14:48):
get my offense, leave my offense enough time to operate.
And after the game, Sam Donald said, we played that mean.
McDonald played that perfectly, because as a quarterback, I'd rather
have fifty seconds and no timeouts, then twenty or fifteen
seconds with two timeouts, and he explained, he kind of inferred,
he didn't quite explain, but their difference is with fifty
(15:09):
seconds and no timeouts, you can throw the ball anywhere
middle of the field, down deep down the field, because
there's still enough time if you catch it in bounds
to run your offense up and spike the ball. When
you have twenty or fifteen seconds but two timeouts, you're
somewhat limited there. You can only do that one or
two times if you have a time out left. And
sure enough, the Colts play exactly as McDonald had guessed.
(15:34):
The Colts played for a field goal from sixty yards.
They ran Jonathan Taylor on first down, They ran Jonathan
Taylor on a third and four to set up a
sixty yard field Who does that? And then the kicker
Shane Steichen is right. His kicker made a sixty yard
field goal with like three or four yards of spare.
But because McDonald used all three of his timeouts on
defense in that sequence, when the Colts are running twice
(15:55):
and three downs and throwing in bounds on the third play,
then the Seahawks had forty seven seconds when they got
the ball back, Rashid Shaheed makes a great kickoff return.
That was a poor kick by the way, is landed
like a seven yard He just can't do that. You
got to give a make it more of a challenge
to the goal line. It was a short kickoff Rashid
from the seven to the thirty seven. It was their
(16:16):
second best drive start of the game. There were ten
on their own goal line the whole game, but there
they were at the thirty seven. One pass on an
interro out to Shihed, another eight yard passed the sheet
and there in field goal range with just two completions
thanks to Shied's kick return. After the game, you know
how they give game balls. Devin Witherspoon and Niki mo
Worry have gotten them. Jackson Smith and Jigger was collecting
(16:37):
them for the year he's had. Mike mcdond in the
locker room gave the lot the game bowl to Brian Ayres,
his lead research analyst, because Errs was up in the
press box telling Mike McDonald to use his timeouts, and
he said that Errs was so convicted about it and
was so convincing about it that he had to do it.
He said he was kind of on the fence whether
(16:57):
to do it from midfield, but errors convinced him to
do it. It won the game. If they had let most
coaches would have not used those timeouts until field. The
Colts were in better field goal more conventional field goal range,
airs convinced McDonald to use him when he did. Air's
got a game ball for giving the offense the chance
to win the game.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
Jason Myers has to be what the f What do
I got to do? What a kicker got to do
to get a game ball?
Speaker 5 (17:19):
Around? Here?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Can we cut that ball in half? Truth be told?
Truth be told. They give out multiple game balls, and
I'm sure Jason Myers going to all right, yeah, in.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
Our last minute before we got to ask about Thursday.
I mean, it's going to be here before you know it,
and so here we go. Are they ready? I mean
they're not playing as good as football as they were
I think the last time they faced the Rams. Are
they ready for this?
Speaker 2 (17:42):
I don't think they're ready right now because they can't
a lot of guys can't even walk on Monday morning.
But they will get there, and their offense has to
be better. Just that's nothing no great shakes to that.
They got to be better on third down. But I
will say this, they are good enough. If their quarterback
doesn't turn the ball over, they win. The biggest thing
(18:03):
Sam Donald did yesterday is he didn't turn the ball over.
He led the league in the sixteen turnovers. He almost
lost one when he fumbled it, but it went out
of bounds in the second quarter. But if he hasn't
turned the ball over, the two games throw out the
JV game at the end of last season. The two
games the McDonald and McVay have gone head to head.
McDonald's schemes have limited the Rams offense. They made Stafford
(18:25):
look like something like a forty four year old Philip
rivers Don in Inglewood last month. And if Donald doesn't
throw four interceptions, they win that game. They lost twenty
one to nineteen. When the quarterback the four interceptions and
handed the Rams they're three touchdowns. The McDonald's got confidence
that he can shut them down. The key to the
(18:47):
game is that Donald can't give the Rams a short field.
Donald doesn't turn it over. The defense is playing at
the level that they can beat the Rams. The problem
now is the forty nine ers aren't losing either. So
now you have two of these, you got battle Royals.
It's gonna beat the Rams in the forty nine ers
to win the division. But yeah, they're not ready today, guys.
They won't even be ready Wednesday. Let me tell you.
(19:08):
NFL players are not ready to play Thursday night games.
But they're gonna have to be ready physically. The Rams
are in the same boat, of course. But yeah, Sam
Donald holds the keys of this game on Thursday.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
All Right, we'll go get some rest. I mean, you
gotta be ready for next year's Army Navy game and that.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Starts today, especially because it's in New York. But yes,
I won't get rest.
Speaker 5 (19:29):
Thank you, all right.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
Greg mel our insider joining us right here on Chuck
and Buck. Of course, his segment with us is brought
to you by Copola Diamond Prosecco. Every game needs an MVP.
This one sparkles people. Copola Diamond Collection Prosecco is light,
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(19:52):
Call I'm next man, I'm not gonna beat around the bush.
We got this Thursday game to get ready for Sports
Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
Hey, happy Monday, everybody. Good to have you with us.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
My name is Chuck Powell, Bucky Jacob since here, Ashley
Ryan is here. Monday morning. Quarterback coming your way at
eight o'clock. Hugh Mill and Mike Home We're gonna be
with us from eight to ten to talk about the
Seahawks eighteen sixteen went over the Indianapolis Colts. Yeah, I
did believe that. I was kind of surprised that the
lack of aggression that our defense showed. It kind of
(20:36):
felt like we're just not gonna let anything get behind us.
I don't think he was capable of getting anything behind you. Frankly,
so I was. As Greg pointed out, they were even
surprised at the changeups that he was throwing. It did
seem like a lack of aggression. I kind of thought
(20:59):
that they were gonna be as bee hivey as they've
ever been. And I don't know if I saw that.
Speaker 5 (21:04):
I didn't. I didn't feel.
Speaker 8 (21:06):
I mean, I he can throw the ball over if
you just put eleven right up there and just said
we don't think he can throw it beyond ten fifteen yards.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
I mean he can. Is he gonna be successful at it?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
No?
Speaker 5 (21:17):
I don't.
Speaker 8 (21:17):
I think that that would have been a really tall
task to ask a guy to do when he doesn't
know any of these receivers he's throwing too, he doesn't
really know what the defense is all about. I think
that he probably comes into it knowing this is different
than anything I've seen before how they disguise things. But
you weren't gonna probably put him in a situation that's
going to inevitably turn into turnovers. Probably you're gonna rely
(21:42):
on your defense, rely on your run game. I mean
I didn't feel like they were not trying to be
like a beehive. I just think the game plan made
it to where we're gonna get rid of the ball
before he has to move even move around in the pocket.
Because that one, you know, slip and fall thing that
he did. Yeah, it looked like you just had her
shoes on, like he didn't have cleats, probably because he
(22:03):
didn't want to get those things stuck in the ground.
And when he's getting twisted up on because he just
isn't gonna be as strong holding up another dude and
trying to go down in a way that isn't going
to get you twisted up and hurt, and and so
to me, it just felt like their game plan was,
there are this is a beehive that's coming after us.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
We're just not going to let him get there.
Speaker 8 (22:20):
We're gonna just dump it off and then hopefully it
happens when we need it and there's a third and eight,
then we're gonna trust that he's gonna throw it where
it's supposed to be and out of danger. And he
did that two or three times. It just was not
the They weren't going to try to push it down
the field because then you have to make sure that
nobody gets even near him, because I don't know if
he was going to be able to move around to
(22:40):
the pocket at all.
Speaker 9 (22:41):
Yeah, they definitely got the ball away very quickly.
Speaker 6 (22:43):
But there was numerous times that I was yelling, like,
why are we I just I assume going into that
game that we were gonna sack him fifteen times?
Speaker 9 (22:49):
I kinda do, right and so.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
And if not, and if not, if he was going
to try to avoid that and was just gonna throw
the ball just to get rid of h Yeah, then
if you didn't get fifteen. I thought you would get
three picks.
Speaker 9 (23:01):
Yes, I agreed, I didn't get your one.
Speaker 6 (23:03):
Yeah, to get the pick at the very end, to
have that be your only one, the whole thing surprised me.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
I won sack too, I'm not mistaken. One and a
meaningless desperation interception and that was it. So certainly I
was surprised. And if anybody tuned in to hear me
say that I was wrong, I clearly was wrong too.
I went really strong on Philip Rivers as no chance,
(23:28):
and he was functional, certainly functional, and I'm glad that
he was because it made for a more entertaining game.
I'm not so sure I'd been glad had we lost,
which it kind of felt like we might do there
toward the end. But in eighteen sixteen went over the Seahawks.
But there is really no reason to beat around the
bush on this thing. This one's in the rear view mirror.
(23:49):
It's a win. You moved to eleven and three, well,
the top heavy NFC. That doesn't even guarantee you a
spot in the playoffs. You know, at this stage in
the process, there's still a scenario in which you don't
even make the playoffs with an eleven and three record,
and then when it comes to the division, you got
three teams with ten wins or more. And so here
(24:10):
we go, last three games of the regular season. There's
no reason to stand on ceremony. Usually we don't start
previewing the next opponent till Wednesday. On Thursday games, we'll
start on Tuesday. F that we start today because the
Rams are this Thursday game of the year at home.
Speaker 5 (24:30):
Let's get it on. Well, this is a huge game.
Speaker 8 (24:33):
I mean for the big game factor that doesn't happen
in April of baseball season. This is a game where
you're getting down to the end of the year. You're
sitting there at eleven and three, and typically you'd be like, okay,
locked up a playoff spot.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
The Rams locked up one with their win.
Speaker 8 (24:49):
Now that's just because they at this point hold that
kind of half game tiebreaker over the Seahawks because they
beat him once before. But this game comes down to,
I mean, if if you want to win the division,
it almost feels pretty musty that you end up needing
to win this one, because otherwise you're going to have
to win the last two and hope they lose the
last two in order to win the division over them.
(25:09):
So if you want to control your own destiny, you
got to win on Thursday. And then it's the idea
of the fact that it isn't just a two team race,
the fact that the Niners are right there behind you
as well. It makes it a very intriguing story. Going
into the final three weeks of the season. You start thinking, Okay, well,
this is the Rams toughest game for sure, because they
got the Cardinals and the Falcons after that, and then
(25:33):
the Niners have. You have one against the Niners. Their
schedule is not necessarily in their favor for them to
jump up and sniper you as well. But you basically
lose this one, it'll add a whole bunch of pressure
going into that Carolina game. You'll all of a sudden
be like, wait a minute, we drop this one, and
then we have to play against the Niners, who then
(25:54):
might be in front of you.
Speaker 5 (25:55):
Then you're just fighting.
Speaker 8 (25:56):
I mean you right now, three weeks left and you
have the chance of getting the number one seed in
the NFC a bye, win the division, or you have
a chance of being third in your division of possibly
on the outside looking in. That's you'd have to have
a kind of a meltdown. You'd have to have a
lot of bad luck in the final three games of
this thing to lose all three of them, I think.
(26:18):
But it's not like it's out of the rowned possibility.
So this is a big week coming up for them.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
Yeah, usually you're eleven and three, you're you're sitting there
already having locked up a spot. But there is a scenario.
And the reason that the Rams clenched yesterday is because
of their win over Detroit.
Speaker 5 (26:33):
We don't have that tiebreaker.
Speaker 4 (26:35):
Uh So that's that's why they clinched yesterday, because Detroit
is the team that can take it from you here
down the stretch. But but yes, Seahawks versus Rams this Thursday,
and Ashley, I mean the last time we played the Rams.
That's as well as the Seahawks were playing this entire season.
(26:56):
You had the back to back quality wins against the
Jaguars and ten, who still weren't what they are right now, right,
but you had those big and then you had the
bye week, and then you came out of the bye
week and played your most complete game when you just
absolutely dominated Washington, doubled up Arizona, and I feel, and
I don't think I'm alone in this, but I might
(27:16):
be in the minority that you outplayed the Rams even
though you lost the game, But since that time, had
a sloppy game against Tennessee Vikings, game where it took
you a little while to get cranked up, even though
you ended up winning in lopsided fashion. Same thing happened
the following week against the Falcons, and then this game
against the Colts where you don't even score an offensive touchdown.
I feel like we were playing better football when we
(27:39):
were playing the Rams the first time than what we're
playing right now.
Speaker 6 (27:42):
Yeah, offensively for sure, and that is the big concern
to go in against that tough defense and with our
slow start to our offense. I mean, I said it earlier,
you can't win a football game with one quarter of
good football again, and you brought you pointed out against
a good team exactly, that's.
Speaker 9 (27:58):
What you can't do.
Speaker 6 (27:59):
So you got to figure it out and get your
stuff together before Thursday. Defensive your stuff together, Yeah, defensively,
I think, I mean, gosh, they had to go into that.
That Tennessee game was probably the one where it was
like the weakest I think for them, But other than that,
they've been pretty stellar.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
Uh well, yeah, I mean it's a great defense. I
was a little surprised they were more aggressive yesterday yea,
but certainly they've been playing great defense all season long.
So here we go. We'll talk a little bit about
it with Hugh and with coach today as we get
ready for Thursday night football against the Rams coming up next.
We're gonna hear from Mike McDonald. We always play some
(28:39):
Mike McDonald audio, and since we're transitioning into Mike McDonald,
we might as well play our McDonald's delivery of the game.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
Right.
Speaker 10 (28:47):
Here's Vince done left side crack it with the face off.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
Steve that said, left.
Speaker 11 (28:51):
Circle shock, Taylor Stevens said on the power play has
put the crucket on the board. They trimmed that deficit
in half too.
Speaker 5 (29:08):
One.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
McDelivery of the game.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Last night's top call from the Cracking, Cracking, Cracking Audio
Network is brought to you by McDonald's Ordering the food
you Craved with McDelivery as a whole new way to
love McDonald's ordered directly from the McDonald's app and select
McDelivery today and start earning points for free food. See
app for details. Speaking of McDonald's we'll hear from coach
(29:31):
next Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM QB one
will be with us, you millen to break all of
this down. Always interested to see where he wants to
go first when reacting to a Seahawks game, because there
are a lot of big subjects that we can discuss
over the course of the next couple of hours. Mike
McDonald talking about how difficult wins are to come by
(29:53):
in this league, and yet they've come by eleven and
fourteen games. Sunday didn't look as pretty as anybody really
wanted here in Seattle, but it is an eighteen to
sixteen win. And of course his strategy down the stretch,
in his use of timeouts was as important as anything
that happened in the game. Here's coach explaining it.
Speaker 10 (30:15):
Well, it's kind of a function of like, hey, you know,
as is this kind of declared as the last possession
even though they still had three timeouts. You know, just
you're trying to figure out a way like if you know,
if it doesn't go your way, you got a chance
to come back and win it. So and Brian heres
did a phenomenal job managing it, and he was really decisive.
And and then then really I gave him a lot
(30:38):
of credit. Game got a game ball in the in
the locker room because he really put us in position
to go I still have a chance.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
To win the game.
Speaker 4 (30:44):
The calculations, I mean, you want to talk about analytics,
you want to talk about a new world that we're
living in. You'd have tried this just three years ago.
People have been like, what is he doing? Yeah, this
is insane. You're saving time for the Colts to move
down the field. You're burning all three of your timeouts.
(31:05):
Even if you get the ball back, You're leaving the
Colts with three timeouts to give them a chance to
get the ball back again. Against you, What are you doing?
And it ends up that what he was doing was
saving enough just enough time for Sam Darnold to get
the team into field goal range where Jason Myers could
win it with a sixth field goal of the day.
(31:27):
I don't, I don't, I don't. I'm the math from it.
I don't know one hundred percent no if it was
the right thing to do, but it certainly turned out
to be a game saver.
Speaker 8 (31:36):
Yeah, well, I mean I think that you basically are
you know, we see it, You've seen it forever where
it's like, if they get in the first down there,
you're not going to be able to It's going to
come down to the last second, right, which was basically
you were trying to give yourself another chance if they
make a field goal, and yet the fact that they didn't,
(31:57):
they weren't really even trying to get the first down
now or they just we're thinking Jonathan Taylor gives us
the best chance and worst case scenario, he gets three
or four yards closer, so it's a sixty yardfield goal
instead of a sixty four yardfield goal sixty three yard
field goal. But the idea of when he's going and
burning those timeouts on defense, he's saying, Okay, we're going
(32:17):
to stop them here and then hopefully they don't make
the field field goal, but if they do, we can
complete a couple passes, maybe get a good return, which
they did complete a passeror two, and we're in field
goal range and we spike the ball. That's essentially still
getting be able to stop the clock. But the idea
of the Colts saying how We're going to just go
ahead and just trust that we can make a sixty
(32:38):
yard field goal and then stop them, which is crazy
in today's game with the kickoff rules. First of all,
bad kickoff for I mean they get only kicks it
like the nine or ten yard line, and it almost
went out of bounds. Reshij Head ended up turning was
maybe not a great decision in catching that ball, turns
it into taking it back to almost to the forty
(32:59):
to where with in one play you're the first what's.
Speaker 4 (33:02):
The modern game? Yeah, I mean with the kickoff, I
mean he it was a bad kickoff because he's trying
to trying to put it inside the five. He doesn't
want it to go into the en zone because then
they get it to the thirty five. He don't want
to go out of bound because then they get it
to the forty. And with Myers, who's damn near automatic.
Now inside sixty yards, you know you're looking in today's game,
you only have to complete like a fifteen yard pass
(33:24):
in order to be in the field goal range. And
so I didn't think group A had it in him
to hit from sixty yards. I mean that's like the
fifth kicker, the Colts have even used this year. Yeah,
and he's like three foot one, Yeah, he is fieteen pounds.
Speaker 9 (33:39):
Palmer ken't be like, why is that guy so small?
Speaker 4 (33:42):
Yeah, but he's got group a groupies. Now I'll tell
you that he does, because he came through with a
sixty yard field goal and it's a good thing. I mean,
at the time, I'm wondering, WHOA, this is some interesting
strategy and it turned out to be life saving. You
don't win the game if you don't call those timeouts.
You just don't.
Speaker 8 (34:01):
I mean, the fact of the matter is we're sitting
here talking about a win, and a win is a win,
and you get to take it. It doesn't matter how it looked.
But there's multiple things down the stretch there where that
was an abbreviated version of the Indianapolis Colts because they
had a forty four year old guy just coming basically in,
you know, not even having a full week of practice,
(34:22):
and yet they end up he ends up completing a
couple passes to get him in position to retake the lead.
Because all you had been able to do is muster
field goal after field goal, so you weren't distancing yourself.
I mean it feels like if you just got a
head by seven at one point in time, game over
with your defense the way that they were trying to
do their offense. But no, all you're doing is just
going tick for tat and catching up with three points
(34:44):
at a time. But yeah, I mean, it works out.
It was a genius decision to call the timeouts the
way they did because they didn't end up getting a
first down. Otherwise they're doing a walk off field goal there,
whether they make it or not, you know, who knows
how that would have worked. But instead, I mean, and yeah,
you just end up with the balls the way they
get to doctor the kicking balls now, it seems like
(35:06):
if you get a decent return back to thirty five,
it just just they got a seventeen yard pass, an incompletion,
and an eight yard pass and boom, they were well
within Jason Myer's range to kick the game winner.
Speaker 5 (35:18):
So I just kind of lucked out there.
Speaker 4 (35:19):
There was fifty two seconds left, so even if Group
A misses, the Colts still could have called their timeouts
and gotten the ball back. Yeah, I mean that was
you just wouldn't have seen this strategy implemented five years ago.
I might even say three years ago, but the way
that the game now works and the kickoff rules and
the strength of these kickers legs these days, it was
(35:41):
the right strategy.
Speaker 9 (35:42):
It really was.
Speaker 4 (35:43):
That's very clear. And we don't win that game if
you don't implement that strategy. All right, Humel will join
us next. Mike homg gonna be with us at nine
o'clock Monday morning. Quarterback gets underway on Sports Radio ninety
three point three KJRFM,
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