December 15, 2025 • 34 mins
MMQB with HUGH MILLEN Hugh isn’t concerned by the close game or by how they defended Phillip Rivers, but he does have some concerns, where does he start? Why didn’t the Seahawks defense attack more? Hugh sets the record straight on whether or not Phillip Rivers had a good game. It’s plain and simple; there was one problem coming out of yesterday’s win. Why are the Seahawks unable to score a touchdown and having to settle for field goals? :30- We return with Hugh and MMQB and get Hugh’s thoughts on Klint Kubiak’s huddle with the offense and the sloppiness we saw from them at times. :45- We wrap up the first hour with Hugh with some positive thoughts and glimpses of what we saw yesterday.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
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(00:46):
Now the Monday Morning Quarterback with Mike hom Grin and
Hugh Millin.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Here's Chuckin' buck.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Oh what an odd game on Sunday, A game that
the Seahawks won by a final score of eighteen to
sixteen behind six that's right, six Jason Meyer's field goals,
including the game winner with the clock you know, with
inside seconds the remaining in the contest. Mike Homernil join
us at nine o'clock to evaluate everything. Joining us though
(01:14):
right now is our QB one. I'm so curious as
to where he wants to start his analysis because there's
a major topics out there. So where does it begin
for you, Hugh this morning?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Well, first of all, I would just say the as
a fan, as an analyst, the close game didn't bother
me at all. I mean, the Seahawks are still number
one in the NFL in point margin at one hundred
and sixty three. There's only three teams that are over
one hundred rams and Patriots being the other one. So
they have six games where they've had double digit wins.
(01:50):
That's second most in the NFL. So the fact that
it was a tight game, it's the NFL. That stuff's
gonna happen. We'll get into it in detail, I assume,
but I'm not the least bit disappointed with how they
defended Philip Rivers. Yeah. I thought there'd be more sacks.
That's that's really the area that surprised me. But they
(02:12):
were not only fine, they were very good on defense.
I think that the and of course the kicker phenomenal.
But what does concern me is the red zone and
the fringe red zone. The Seahawks have in weeks ten,
(02:34):
in the last six weeks, they are making field goals
when they get inside the opponent's forty yard lines. That
makes sense. Red zone is inside your opponents twenty fringe
red zone is inside the opponent's forty the Seahawks, that's
at just under seventy sixty nine point seven percent. Not
only they number one in the NFL in field goals
(02:57):
and and and only thirty first in touchdowns. Let me
say that the first, but their field goal percentage, the
gap between them and second place is greater than the
gap between second place and twenty fourth place. Like, they
are kicking field goals at an alarming rate. Now, good
on Myers that he's making them. But I think that
(03:19):
that that is problematic given where we are on the skit,
on the calendar, and on the schedule moving forward. They
just you know, these this clunkiness of the offense I
think is concerning. And and they've had a thirty seven
percent drop in their big play production, uh in the
(03:40):
last five weeks. So there's some things that you know
that I can I can discard about the game yesterday,
But there's some elements of the football team that constituted
my mind trends that just simply must get reversed.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
All right, well, we're gonna have obviously, we got a
couple hours with you and and so we're going to
get to the bottom of all of that stuff. But
I'm gonna go to kind of the first thing, just
the bigger topic going into the game. Didn't you didn't
have much of an issue or any issues with the
way in which they defended the Colts in particular, Philip Rivers,
I'm with you. I didn't feel like it was bad.
(04:15):
I mean, they end up scoring sixteen points, so it
wasn't bad. They didn't give up a ton was it
more of a they just had a good game plan
of how to get rid of the ball. Because Greg
had kind of thought, well, why didn't they just play
press and just bring a bunch of guys up because
it didn't look at all like they were going to
try to go over the top and beat you, so
why not take that underneath stuff away.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yeah, I agree with that.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
I think they could have tried to make more havoc.
But let's just stop for a moment here. Philip Rivers
threw for one hundred and twenty yards, and he had
a seventy three point passerwaty. While we're getting caught up
and the fact that he's forty four years old and
haven't played in five years, let's just put that into context.
(04:56):
If if he did that, if he was the starting
quarterback for an NFL team, and he did that every
week seventeen games, he would throw for two thousand and
forty yards. Last year, there were eleven quarterbacks who had
played seventeen games. The minimum is thirty five hundred and
forty one yards. The average is four thousand and fifty eight,
(05:21):
so he would be less than half of the average
for a guy playing seventeen games. And then the passer
rating the minimum I mentioned Rivers was seventy three. The
minimum of those starters who had eleven starters who had
seventeen games, the minimum was an eighty seven pass rating.
(05:41):
The average is ninety nine point eight, call.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
It one hundred.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
So if Philip Rivers did that for an NFL team
for an entire season, that team would be picking number
one in the draft, because that would be one of
the worst quarterback seasons we've seen in history, certainly in
recent history. So there you know, air yards per completion.
(06:08):
Philip Rivers had one point three to nine. This is
all straight from the NFL staff portal. One point three
nine that's that's that's one point four yards from the
line of scrimmage. On his average on his completions on
on throws that he threw the ball more than five
yards from the line of scrimmage, he was two of nine.
He completed two passes where the ball went more in
(06:29):
five yards. So look, I actually I really like Philip Rivers.
I'm a fan. If he wasn't playing for the Seahawks,
I think I'd be rooting for him. But but let's
let's not true. He didn't have four interceptions, he didn't
give him a max braswell, he didn't have nine sacks.
So I certainly we can all envision a scenario where
(06:50):
where it was much uglier for Philip Rivers. But on
no no planet. I mean, I'll dig in on the
beach and and fight you hard. If you're going to
say that that in any way, that that he had
a good game or a decent game, No, he did
not have a good game. He did not have a
decent game. He just avoided the calamity that would land
(07:11):
him the first story on Sports Center. That's about all
you can say. Yeah, I like to do. I like
to do like I don't. I don't take any joy
trying to rip Philip Rivers. But look, I'm just confronting
these facts. Still was better than I thought it was
going to be. Yeah, because we thought it would be
a calamity, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
And for for him to have not played in five
years and practiced twice and really not based the speed
of the game, I mean, for him to have not
been sacked five times and throw three interceptions.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
I think it's damn near a football miracle.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
You.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yeah, I think there could be two truths.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
I think that could be true and and I think
it also can be true that that that the Colts
pass offense was entirely, entirely uh you know, non productive
by anybody's reasonable standard in modern NFL. I mean, if
this was I mean the league started in nineteen twenty
I mean, if we went back one hundred years, I
(08:08):
bet that was an okay passing game for nineteen twenty five,
But did they have the forward pass and nineteen fortally
I think. But my point so look, The Seahawks defense
was fine, more than fine. They just didn't create the
havoc that probably many of us expected. But the problem
(08:30):
from yesterday was the offense.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Well, let's get into it.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Yeah, let's get into the offensive aspect of this. And
maybe at the heart of it is we just keep
waiting for this run game, and we keep waiting for
Ken Walker to be effective. And yeah, they had three
yards at halftime, and yet the determination to run the
football still exists. And even there was one drive here
(08:57):
where it looked like they'd moved up tempo. They completed
a couple passes in a row and it looked like, Okay,
now the offense is starting to kick in, and they
go with three straight runs, bogged down and settle for
a field goal. So I don't know where you want
to start with it, but certainly the run game is
not helping this offense play. Well, no, it's really not.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
And particularly on the the stretch plays, the wide zone
that we heard so much about with Clint Kubiak and
and I think you know, and watching that tape, it
looked like it was first week of mini camp. Just
the fundamentals. You know early on there, you you have
to have eyes when you when when you have basically
(09:40):
zone blocking, you're stepping in the direction you're going and
you're trying to reach, but you're you're going to have
two guys are going to say, Okay, we're we're double
teaming those two. One guy at the defensive line level,
one guy at the at the next level, and and
you both come off and you're trying to be hip
hip shoulder to soulder and get some movement with that guy.
(10:02):
But then you both then you have eyes on the
next level guy, the linebacker, and then one of the two,
if he takes an inside angle, then the inside guy's
gonna block him. If he tries to scrape over the top,
then the outside guy's gonna get him. So there's too
many times where early on they're they're they're they're not
seeing guys, they're not getting The timing of when they
(10:23):
released the second level was very poor. And then it's
like they overcompensated because then they said, Okay, we're not
getting to our second level guys, and then you start
to see that they making they're making problems for their
selves because they're getting the second level too fast and
almost looks like man and man blocking, Well, if you
get man and man blocking. There's a reason why there's
(10:44):
the zone blocking where you want to get the initial
double teams at the at the line of scrimmage with
the defensive linemen. So if you only have one guy
to block at the defensive line, then then that's a problem.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
There.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Another facet was I thought the Colts were very good,
and you know, at some point you run out of
bodies on those wide zone The wide receiver he's got
to either block the corner or he's got to block
the safety. And depending on the hass and the formation
and the coverage, it can be different. But I thought
the Colts when when when the wide receiver go block
the safety the corner, Bam, he just triggered and fired
(11:19):
almost to the point where Seattle could have called a
half back pass. You know, if they have it in
there in their repertoire, because the the secondary is firing
so fast and they're they're absolving what's There's what's called
primary support and secondary support. Primary run support on an
edge is if you see the ball coming out, you
(11:39):
just fire cornerback. Uh, there has to be somebody who
has secondary run support where you say, wait a minute,
you don't get to fire until the ball passes the
line of scrimmage because you have to defend the halfback pass.
And so I thought the Colts their secondary on some
of those wide plays were triggering really really fast. Either
whoever wasn't blocked between the corner and the state, he
(12:00):
did a good job. And you know, and then they
try and run a power you know, a gap scheme
they pull I don't know why they pull Anthony Bradford
and go power left. I would pull Gray's Abel and
go power right. But that was a mess. So so
it just looked like, I don't know, it looked like
mini camp is what it looked like in terms of
(12:21):
just how they're handling fundamentals. And give give the Colts
some credit as I described.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
I'm with you.
Speaker 5 (12:28):
I mean, I think credit is deserved to some degree
kind of across the board, the way in which they
came out and played decent defense to kind of try
to shut down some of the things that they weren't gonna.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Let him be run all over.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
To me, there was a part of it where if
there was a disappointment, it would be that it almost
seemed like the play calling was We're okay with just
kind of eating up clock when we get it, and
if we have to pawn a few times, fine, If
we got to just settle for three, that's fine. Whereas
the idea to me would be after a quarter. You
(13:01):
kind of saw the Colts weren't going to be this,
you know, trying to you know, hit you with big plays.
They were just going to be trying to methodically move
it down there with a run game primarily, and a
couple of third down conversions and then the settle for
three majority of the time themselves. So I thought, why
not open it up a little bit, because if you
just scored one touchdown, it felt like you were going
(13:21):
to be able to kind of run away with this thing. Instead,
they went really conservative. It felt like to me, did
you see that or no?
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Well, I think there was a number of times where
they were calling plays where they're trying to get downfield verticals,
whether it's like all goes or whether they're doing what's
called dagger concept where you're clearing out the inside and
trying to bring an any intermediate cut in from the
outside on a deep inbreaking route there. They had those
(13:49):
plays called. But I thought that Sam Darnold was really
had to move early in the down. I mean there
was constant breakdowns, whether it was physical breakdowns in the
or in the communication. They didn't get a block, you know,
running backs, poor pass blocking, uh Aj Barner missing a
(14:10):
past block. I mean they had They had a variety
of breakdowns where Sam Darnold was having to move off
the spot. So I think that there was an effort
to try and open it up more. I just think, uh,
they didn't get the execution. And you know, I don't
talk about field position every week, but I think it's
worth mentioning guys this that the Colts. Basically both teams
(14:32):
had ten drives. If we if we if we exclude
Seattle's when they got the interception at the very end
of the game, they took one play to kneel down right,
So if we exclude that, then both teams had ten drives,
and all ten of those drives started with the opposing
(14:54):
team kicking right. It was it was off the foot
of the opposing teams got me. So when so the Seahawks,
all of their offensive drives were either because they got
a punt or because they got a kickoff. And same
thing with the Colts. There was no turnovers, and there
was no four downs loss of downs. Okay, so every
(15:15):
drive started but from a kick. The worst start that
the Colts had was on their own twenty four yard
line for the entire game. Worst, Seattle had seven starts
that were worse than the Colts worse. See the average.
If you take away again that kneel down, that one
(15:36):
playe kneel down as the last play of the game.
If you take that away, the Colts average start was
at their own thirty five yard line. Again, all of
those started as a result of a Seattle either Dixon
or Meyers kicking to them. Seattle's was the twenty You say, well, okay,
fifteen yard difference. No, that's fifteen yards average times ten.
(15:59):
That's one hundred and fifty yards advantage that the Colts
had in field position over the course of the game,
just in terms of where they started. So I think
that that played a factor, you know, in some of
the the troubles that Seattle had offensively.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Well, let's discuss that, because the first thing out of
your mouth, when it just open ended, where does your
mind go about this game? Was settling for the field goals.
So when they had that offensive huddle. Should it have
been the players taking Kubiak to task or vice versa.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
What is breaking.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Down for you that's forcing them to settle for these
field goals that are frustrating.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Well, they had the six field goals, and anytime you say, okay, okay,
that's great, six field goals, no touchdowns. Now technically they were.
They were over to in the red zone. That's why
I wanted to say the red zone fringe, which is
the forty in and I hope you guys got that
in the last you know, the last five weeks that
(17:03):
you know they're they're at seventy percent of the time
they break through the opponent's forty, they're going to kick
a field goal, which is.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
By far and away number one.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
I just think that there's they don't have the protection
to get the ball down the field. And now there
was there was a couple of breakdowns. I think sam
Donold had a good game under the circumstances. But I've
got a couple minuses on his sheet in the second quarter.
I'll tell you what, and I'll get back to your
(17:35):
question about Kubiak addressing the team the final drive of
the second quarter where they got the field goal right there,
down thirteen to three. Did you feel like that was
a pivotal drive that they could get the field goal
and pulled the within touchdown. Didn't that seem like that
was important? The first play of that drive, number forty four,
(17:58):
look him up, the linebacker for the Colts. He comes
based on a miscommunication with Seattle. He comes untouched through
the a gap. I mean literally not even a finger.
Nobody even knew. It was like he was.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Wearing an invisible suit. Nobody blocked him.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
And if that's a on first down, if he takes
a six seven eight yard sack there and it's and
they don't go down the field, I thought that was
a hell of a play by him. But Darnaire Franklin,
by the way, Franklin just somehow Sam Darnold made him miss.
Somehow he made a miss, and that might have been
a three point a very vital three point miss. But
(18:35):
later in that drive, the Colts were doing a coverage
you just rarely see. They start looking like they're in
a three deep zone. And this is the defense that
I like into a baseball outfield and infield, all right,
because there's three deep in four hundred and if you
can picture four hundred in an infield and three three
deep in an outfield, of course you can. Well that's
(18:57):
that's what cover three is. But the Holts were taking
the safety and they were coming down. It would be
like the center fielder at the snap coming down to
stand on second base, and and the entire centerfield is
wide open. And when I first saw it, I got like,
is that a bust? Like was that supposed to rotate?
(19:18):
Like like that guy was coming down? It must be
a coverage called three buzz where he has the he
plays the short stop, and then the and then the
guy who lines up at second base. He runs to
center field to carry out the baseball analogy. But there
was an opportunity where Rashi Chi he the corners outside leverage.
When that safety comes down, Rashid Shihad had a post.
(19:38):
I'm telling you every NFL quarterback meeting room in the league,
it's like, dude, the light ain't gonna get any greener.
You've got to crank that thing up and go for uh,
go for the touch and if you miss it, you
miss it. But you can't not throw that post down
and then and then uh in the red zone when
he missed Rashi shiheid U. It was a classic cover six,
(20:01):
which which means they roll over the top in the
end zone. On third down, they roll over the top
of JSN to Sam Donald's left, so that means the
corners in the flat, the safety's over the top. It's
a form of double double coverage high low double coverage
within his own concept. And Rashid Shaheed has free access,
meaning he's not getting jammed. He's got one on one
(20:24):
with the corner. The tight end is barner is eating
up the safety. So you got one on one and
Donald threw it well behind him, and that's got to
be a touchdown now before I put it all on Donald,
if you go if you go back and listen to
the podcast in August about things I was seeing at
training camp, I do not like a wide receivers to
(20:48):
come up and then they have free access, so the
defense has decided not to roll on Scheeheed.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Let me explain this.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
Play because this is there's a big part of Seattle's
offense to me that I think it's worth a minute
to describe what has Sam Darnold's seen. He says, Okay,
I got cover six. They're rolling to my left on JSN,
the tight end is eating up to safety. I got
one on one, beautiful. This is exactly what we practiced
(21:15):
on Friday, because Friday's red zone day, and they would
have scripted the defense and that's the play. That's the
coverage they were looking for. This is the play to
beat that coverage. So Rasids he comes out what I
would what I would want him to do is have
his inside leg forward, go five steps, do not slow
(21:36):
down whatsoever. Put playing your outside leg and break to
the post. And that is much easier to time up.
You don't slow your momentum down. It's easier to throw
routes on air. There's less inconsistency, which means more consistency.
And yet the way the Seahawks teach it is it
(21:56):
comes down and he he like stutters and he his
momentum down and then he's got to re accelerate. And
just fifty years of playing, coaching and analyzing the position,
it's much harder to be on you know, to have
cohesion when you teach that type of technique. I hate it.
(22:17):
And so Donald ends up throwing the ball high and
away looks it's a bad pass. I guarantee a pro
football focus is gonna ding him on that, and I
am too, like it's got to be a touchdown.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
I get it, but I wish.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
That they didn't teach it that way because it would
give Donald a much better chance to see things and
to anticipate it. You do it just like it plays
out against the defense, just like routes on air when
you're throwing back in march and you just tighten up
the consistency. So at any event, those are plays. You know,
(22:51):
we're sitting here talking about red zone, we're talking about
kicking a lot of field goals, and these are some
of the details where you say we got to be
better because you got a super Bowl winning defense. Yeah,
you do not have a super like you're gonna have
to somehow hide a very non super bowl offensive line.
(23:12):
But the things, you know, they're good. The people who
touch the ball on offense, that's a pretty damn good
group story, including Darnold, the running backs, the wide receivers,
get Tory Horton back. It's great to see Shaheed. I
like the tight end Like, things are pretty damn good
in terms of the people who touch the ball, but
when they get opportunities, like I'm described and they have
(23:33):
to hit it because the offensive line is the weakness
of the football team and everything even down to the
special teams that I was talking about, you know, starting
field position, what the defense, the offensive line impacts everybody.
But you get an opportunity to make some of those plays,
you got to hit them.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Monday Morning Quarterback with Hugh Mellan will continue on the
other side, It's Chucking Buck Sports Radio ninety three point
three KJRFM.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
And by court Construction on your home for the twelfth
Man Sports Radio ninety three point three kJ r FM.
Watching this, Donald operates the Seattle offense.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
Flash.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Donald steps up, throws on the run and he's got
a man Smith in Chigbuk picks Ray Smith and chickback
down the sun line at first to the bounds.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Pop Pine up, Chuck Bowbuggy. Jacobson, Ashley Ryan with you.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
It's Monday Morning Quarterback Day. Hugh Millan with us to
react to yesterday's eighteen sixteen win over the Indianapolis Colts.
Jason Meyers six for six on field goal attempts, including
the game winner. But certainly one of our main topics
today has been the offense not being able to score
a touchdown yesterday, I wrote at one point, Hugh, right
(24:48):
about the six minute mark, after you went from first
and ten to second and thirteen on a penalty, to
second and eighteen to third and eighteen and then got
a tackle for loss, I just wrote, down sloppiest the
Hawks have looked all year long. And then about two
forty five seconds later, Clint Kubiak had huddled the offense
(25:09):
over on the sideline. A lot of people are texting
and wondering your reaction to that. What was your thought
at that point? Yeah, you're right, it would happen. Right
after that sequence they try to fly sweep and you
know what an off ball linebacker. That's one of the
the gambles you take is that you hope it hits
fast enough.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
And they don't recognize it. But a guy linebacker came
from four or five yards deep. The false start the scramble,
I put the question was that necessary? With two question marks?
I thought maybe Darnold could have stayed in the throwing
position and just slid up and found a check down.
And so I think at that juncture it's just kind
(25:52):
of wait, wake the f up, you know. I think
that there was maybe a malaise with back to the
Colts and the fact they don't have their quarterback, and
and you know those guys know they're playing the Rams
on Thursday. I mean, in theory, you would just focus
on the Colts, but in reality, I think that some
(26:14):
of those thoughts can creep in. I'm not in their heads,
but I think it's fair to make an inference that way.
But you know, you know, I think that coaches when
they do that, obviously it's just kind of judicious. You
can't do that very often, but it often will have
you know, it had a good fact. I mean they
(26:36):
I believe that was Yeah, they scored on the next
drive that happened to be the field goal drive. And
yet some of the problems, and we're talking about the
red zone persistent. I mean, you get a beautiful design
play with Brady Russell in the flat with lead blocker
that might have gone for twelve fifteen yards, Brady Russell
drops it. I mean it hits him right in the
(26:56):
belly button, you know, and you're down in the red zone.
And wait a minute, You're gonna line up Cooper Cup
as the what's called number three counting outside and he's
the third guy on trips, he's gonna run a five
yard in route. Yeah, some people people call that a
finn as in five yard in five in zone coverage.
You're not gonna be able to make a connection with
(27:18):
Cooper cup and Sam Darnold on a finn route because
Cooper cup Is is hauling ass into into a zone
coverage and Donald's throwing behind. I'm certain that the quarterback
was right and the receiver is wrong, even though I
think he's the smartest receiver in the NFL. Like the
idea that you can't like, there's just a couple of
(27:39):
examples of of you're not even doing stuff that eighth
graders can do. And so you got to clean that up,
and you got to clean that up now because this
is this is one of the coolest, most exciting games
coming up Thursday that we've had in years and years.
And in the NFL, by the way, the Rams are
the betting favorite to win the Super Bowl, and number
(28:03):
two on the list right now is the Seattle Seahawks. Like,
that's what we have this Thursday. And so you can't
be dropping balls in your belly button and you can't
have a PhD level football player making eighth grade mistakes.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
Yeah, there was an element to the game though, correct
me if I'm wrong where it was like when you
played your when you were like a high school basketball
star or at least a starter, and you were yeah,
and then the family reunion comes together and your uncle
wants to play one on one and you're trying to
(28:39):
take it easy on the old man. And then the
next thing, you're down seven to two. Wait a minute,
I better step up, my gamer. I'm near the end
of this. I'm supposed to be a starter on the
high school team here, and you know, Uncle Jim has
taking me to the woodshed out here.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Right there seemed to be a little bit of an
element to that. I think you're right.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
I think that psychology can creep in and you know,
but remember now, this was a team here. This is
this is a truth as of eight days and uh yeah,
eight days and two hours ago. If you looked up
who was the highest scoring team in the NFL, the
(29:18):
answer was the Indianapolis Colts. And so there it wasn't
just Daniel Jones. They've got some targets. They're other than
right tackle going into the game. The offensive lines are
damn good. Uh They lost lost their left tackle, and.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
That's it didn't seem to have a problem.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
So that would be probably the only thing that you know,
it's like, wait a minute, why didn't you create free
runners against this guy? Like I just that part of it,
the mayhem in in Philip rivers lap just didn't materialize, but.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
The way that we expect. But the defense.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
Look, if if I just if I put up your
you're blindfolded you and you didn't know who the quarterback was,
and I just said, this is how their quarterback is
gonna play, and this is what they're gonna do. On offense,
You're gonna say, that's a slam dunk. That's a win.
Every you know you're gonna go. You're probably gonna go
seventeen and oh and the worst you're gonna go is
sixteen and one. If you can make an opposing quarterback do.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
That, well, they almost they almost they almost have the one.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Yeah, all right, one more segment with Hugh before coach
joins this here at nine o'clock, it's Modernday morning Quarterback
for you, Chucking Buck Sports Radio ninety.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Three point three kh A r f M.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
Then in Melvin Franklin coming in with that deep voice
and that that picks up. You're right when I suggest
bumper music. I'm always cognizant of what is the first
five or six seconds because it's radio right, But that's
Ashley backed me up. That's the one time where I like,
you know what we just got. You know, however it starts.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
You gotta let it build, Yeah, let it go. I
thought about it. I was like, should I start it later? No,
can't get can't you can't skimp on the beginning.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
No, I'm aware it's sluggish, but you know, kind of
like the Seahawks first half on offense.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Yeah, lately, you know, and we we've talked a lot
about like that.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
One, Bucky.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
We've talked this hour, you know, about the offensive struggles
because we got a big game and we can't play
that way on Thursday. We can't wait until the second
half against the Rams on Thursday. But I will say
this just to in this first hour, like on a
positive note, I do love the way Sam Darnold just
rips it.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
I mean he can.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
Fumble the ball out of bounds and then the very
next pass it's like three steps boom, and he's just
gonna launch.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
It on a laser to somebody. I love that.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
And then I love that fourth and three play that
he made where he escaped the pressure and found and
found aj Barner for the first down. That that was
my favorite play.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Of the day. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
And you know what, the NFL calculate that exactly four
point five seconds that he was, you know, trying to
find something and credit the offensive line. But he had
a concept of three man concept too, was right, and
uh and and and Barner was doing a block block
block check release. So so just that was a lot
(32:08):
of just kind of off script savvy by him. And
of course the the the final drive. Uh you know
that that seventeen yarder to Shahed, I mean that's a
cover four defense. Uh and and and in theory they're
gonna be double teaming Shaheed over to his left. It's
press coverage. And and the timing when you look at
(32:30):
when he cut that loose, he cut that loose like
well ahead of she she Heed's break and he put
it right on his outside thighpad.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
And had you said freeze right.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
Now, you know when you're you play freeze tag when
you're a kid, if you play you said freeze, and
you said she He based on where the coverage is,
where would you want the ball exactly? Well, you just said,
well how about right here? And he would have put
his hands the size of a salad plate right over
his right thighpad. Because that's that's what I'm based on
on the position of defender. That's exactly where he wanted
(33:05):
the ball. It was just you know, and then he
gets the uh the quick out you know, to to
uh to what to get seven eight yards to uh
make the field goal shorter. So so this is a There's
been a number of times where late in the game,
last minute, minute and a half of the game where
Donald has made big time plays. And so now I'm
(33:27):
I agree with Tony Gonzalez a month ago on a
Thursday Night Prime sitting on that that that desk, right
after the RAM loss, he said, the guy in the
NFL who has the most pressure on him of anybody
in the league is Sam Darnold. And he's pointing ahead
to this Thursday And I agree with that. I agree
(33:50):
with that. I'm rooting like hell for the kid. I
think he's a wonderful guy, but you know what he's
got to produce and and and uh, this Thursday is
a big time midterm for him.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
Yeah, well, there's no time like the present. We might
as well jump into it and start breaking this one
down because it's just that big and we don't have
a lot of the week to do it, all right.
Hugh Mellan is with us. Mike Holmgren will join us
at the top of the hour. It is Monday Morning Quarterback,
brought to you by North Creek Roofing Core Contractors, Muckleshoot
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(00:46):
Now the Monday Morning Quarterback with Mike hom Grin and
Hugh Millin.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Here's Chuckin' buck.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Oh what an odd game on Sunday, A game that
the Seahawks won by a final score of eighteen to
sixteen behind six that's right, six Jason Meyer's field goals,
including the game winner with the clock you know, with
inside seconds the remaining in the contest. Mike Homernil join
us at nine o'clock to evaluate everything. Joining us though
(01:14):
right now is our QB one. I'm so curious as
to where he wants to start his analysis because there's
a major topics out there. So where does it begin
for you, Hugh this morning?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Well, first of all, I would just say the as
a fan, as an analyst, the close game didn't bother
me at all. I mean, the Seahawks are still number
one in the NFL in point margin at one hundred
and sixty three. There's only three teams that are over
one hundred rams and Patriots being the other one. So
they have six games where they've had double digit wins.
(01:50):
That's second most in the NFL. So the fact that
it was a tight game, it's the NFL. That stuff's
gonna happen. We'll get into it in detail, I assume,
but I'm not the least bit disappointed with how they
defended Philip Rivers. Yeah. I thought there'd be more sacks.
That's that's really the area that surprised me. But they
(02:12):
were not only fine, they were very good on defense.
I think that the and of course the kicker phenomenal.
But what does concern me is the red zone and
the fringe red zone. The Seahawks have in weeks ten,
(02:34):
in the last six weeks, they are making field goals
when they get inside the opponent's forty yard lines. That
makes sense. Red zone is inside your opponents twenty fringe
red zone is inside the opponent's forty the Seahawks, that's
at just under seventy sixty nine point seven percent. Not
only they number one in the NFL in field goals
(02:57):
and and and only thirty first in touchdowns. Let me
say that the first, but their field goal percentage, the
gap between them and second place is greater than the
gap between second place and twenty fourth place. Like, they
are kicking field goals at an alarming rate. Now, good
on Myers that he's making them. But I think that
(03:19):
that that is problematic given where we are on the skit,
on the calendar, and on the schedule moving forward. They
just you know, these this clunkiness of the offense I
think is concerning. And and they've had a thirty seven
percent drop in their big play production, uh in the
(03:40):
last five weeks. So there's some things that you know
that I can I can discard about the game yesterday,
But there's some elements of the football team that constituted
my mind trends that just simply must get reversed.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
All right, well, we're gonna have obviously, we got a
couple hours with you and and so we're going to
get to the bottom of all of that stuff. But
I'm gonna go to kind of the first thing, just
the bigger topic going into the game. Didn't you didn't
have much of an issue or any issues with the
way in which they defended the Colts in particular, Philip Rivers,
I'm with you. I didn't feel like it was bad.
(04:15):
I mean, they end up scoring sixteen points, so it
wasn't bad. They didn't give up a ton was it
more of a they just had a good game plan
of how to get rid of the ball. Because Greg
had kind of thought, well, why didn't they just play
press and just bring a bunch of guys up because
it didn't look at all like they were going to
try to go over the top and beat you, so
why not take that underneath stuff away.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yeah, I agree with that.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
I think they could have tried to make more havoc.
But let's just stop for a moment here. Philip Rivers
threw for one hundred and twenty yards, and he had
a seventy three point passerwaty. While we're getting caught up
and the fact that he's forty four years old and
haven't played in five years, let's just put that into context.
(04:56):
If if he did that, if he was the starting
quarterback for an NFL team, and he did that every
week seventeen games, he would throw for two thousand and
forty yards. Last year, there were eleven quarterbacks who had
played seventeen games. The minimum is thirty five hundred and
forty one yards. The average is four thousand and fifty eight,
(05:21):
so he would be less than half of the average
for a guy playing seventeen games. And then the passer
rating the minimum I mentioned Rivers was seventy three. The
minimum of those starters who had eleven starters who had
seventeen games, the minimum was an eighty seven pass rating.
(05:41):
The average is ninety nine point eight, call.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
It one hundred.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
So if Philip Rivers did that for an NFL team
for an entire season, that team would be picking number
one in the draft, because that would be one of
the worst quarterback seasons we've seen in history, certainly in
recent history. So there you know, air yards per completion.
(06:08):
Philip Rivers had one point three to nine. This is
all straight from the NFL staff portal. One point three
nine that's that's that's one point four yards from the
line of scrimmage. On his average on his completions on
on throws that he threw the ball more than five
yards from the line of scrimmage, he was two of nine.
He completed two passes where the ball went more in
(06:29):
five yards. So look, I actually I really like Philip Rivers.
I'm a fan. If he wasn't playing for the Seahawks,
I think I'd be rooting for him. But but let's
let's not true. He didn't have four interceptions, he didn't
give him a max braswell, he didn't have nine sacks.
So I certainly we can all envision a scenario where
(06:50):
where it was much uglier for Philip Rivers. But on
no no planet. I mean, I'll dig in on the
beach and and fight you hard. If you're going to
say that that in any way, that that he had
a good game or a decent game, No, he did
not have a good game. He did not have a
decent game. He just avoided the calamity that would land
(07:11):
him the first story on Sports Center. That's about all
you can say. Yeah, I like to do. I like
to do like I don't. I don't take any joy
trying to rip Philip Rivers. But look, I'm just confronting
these facts. Still was better than I thought it was
going to be. Yeah, because we thought it would be
a calamity, right, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
And for for him to have not played in five
years and practiced twice and really not based the speed
of the game, I mean, for him to have not
been sacked five times and throw three interceptions.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
I think it's damn near a football miracle.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
You.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yeah, I think there could be two truths.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
I think that could be true and and I think
it also can be true that that that the Colts
pass offense was entirely, entirely uh you know, non productive
by anybody's reasonable standard in modern NFL. I mean, if
this was I mean the league started in nineteen twenty
I mean, if we went back one hundred years, I
(08:08):
bet that was an okay passing game for nineteen twenty five,
But did they have the forward pass and nineteen fortally
I think. But my point so look, The Seahawks defense
was fine, more than fine. They just didn't create the
havoc that probably many of us expected. But the problem
(08:30):
from yesterday was the offense.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Well, let's get into it.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Yeah, let's get into the offensive aspect of this. And
maybe at the heart of it is we just keep
waiting for this run game, and we keep waiting for
Ken Walker to be effective. And yeah, they had three
yards at halftime, and yet the determination to run the
football still exists. And even there was one drive here
(08:57):
where it looked like they'd moved up tempo. They completed
a couple passes in a row and it looked like, Okay,
now the offense is starting to kick in, and they
go with three straight runs, bogged down and settle for
a field goal. So I don't know where you want
to start with it, but certainly the run game is
not helping this offense play. Well, no, it's really not.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
And particularly on the the stretch plays, the wide zone
that we heard so much about with Clint Kubiak and
and I think you know, and watching that tape, it
looked like it was first week of mini camp. Just
the fundamentals. You know early on there, you you have
to have eyes when you when when you have basically
(09:40):
zone blocking, you're stepping in the direction you're going and
you're trying to reach, but you're you're going to have
two guys are going to say, Okay, we're we're double
teaming those two. One guy at the defensive line level,
one guy at the at the next level, and and
you both come off and you're trying to be hip
hip shoulder to soulder and get some movement with that guy.
(10:02):
But then you both then you have eyes on the
next level guy, the linebacker, and then one of the two,
if he takes an inside angle, then the inside guy's
gonna block him. If he tries to scrape over the top,
then the outside guy's gonna get him. So there's too
many times where early on they're they're they're they're not
seeing guys, they're not getting The timing of when they
(10:23):
released the second level was very poor. And then it's
like they overcompensated because then they said, Okay, we're not
getting to our second level guys, and then you start
to see that they making they're making problems for their
selves because they're getting the second level too fast and
almost looks like man and man blocking, Well, if you
get man and man blocking. There's a reason why there's
(10:44):
the zone blocking where you want to get the initial
double teams at the at the line of scrimmage with
the defensive linemen. So if you only have one guy
to block at the defensive line, then then that's a problem.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
There.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Another facet was I thought the Colts were very good,
and you know, at some point you run out of
bodies on those wide zone The wide receiver he's got
to either block the corner or he's got to block
the safety. And depending on the hass and the formation
and the coverage, it can be different. But I thought
the Colts when when when the wide receiver go block
the safety the corner, Bam, he just triggered and fired
(11:19):
almost to the point where Seattle could have called a
half back pass. You know, if they have it in
there in their repertoire, because the the secondary is firing
so fast and they're they're absolving what's There's what's called
primary support and secondary support. Primary run support on an
edge is if you see the ball coming out, you
(11:39):
just fire cornerback. Uh, there has to be somebody who
has secondary run support where you say, wait a minute,
you don't get to fire until the ball passes the
line of scrimmage because you have to defend the halfback pass.
And so I thought the Colts their secondary on some
of those wide plays were triggering really really fast. Either
whoever wasn't blocked between the corner and the state, he
(12:00):
did a good job. And you know, and then they
try and run a power you know, a gap scheme
they pull I don't know why they pull Anthony Bradford
and go power left. I would pull Gray's Abel and
go power right. But that was a mess. So so
it just looked like, I don't know, it looked like
mini camp is what it looked like in terms of
(12:21):
just how they're handling fundamentals. And give give the Colts
some credit as I described.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
I'm with you.
Speaker 5 (12:28):
I mean, I think credit is deserved to some degree
kind of across the board, the way in which they
came out and played decent defense to kind of try
to shut down some of the things that they weren't gonna.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Let him be run all over.
Speaker 5 (12:40):
To me, there was a part of it where if
there was a disappointment, it would be that it almost
seemed like the play calling was We're okay with just
kind of eating up clock when we get it, and
if we have to pawn a few times, fine, If
we got to just settle for three, that's fine. Whereas
the idea to me would be after a quarter. You
(13:01):
kind of saw the Colts weren't going to be this,
you know, trying to you know, hit you with big plays.
They were just going to be trying to methodically move
it down there with a run game primarily, and a
couple of third down conversions and then the settle for
three majority of the time themselves. So I thought, why
not open it up a little bit, because if you
just scored one touchdown, it felt like you were going
(13:21):
to be able to kind of run away with this thing. Instead,
they went really conservative. It felt like to me, did
you see that or no?
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Well, I think there was a number of times where
they were calling plays where they're trying to get downfield verticals,
whether it's like all goes or whether they're doing what's
called dagger concept where you're clearing out the inside and
trying to bring an any intermediate cut in from the
outside on a deep inbreaking route there. They had those
(13:49):
plays called. But I thought that Sam Darnold was really
had to move early in the down. I mean there
was constant breakdowns, whether it was physical breakdowns in the
or in the communication. They didn't get a block, you know,
running backs, poor pass blocking, uh Aj Barner missing a
(14:10):
past block. I mean they had They had a variety
of breakdowns where Sam Darnold was having to move off
the spot. So I think that there was an effort
to try and open it up more. I just think, uh,
they didn't get the execution. And you know, I don't
talk about field position every week, but I think it's
worth mentioning guys this that the Colts. Basically both teams
(14:32):
had ten drives. If we if we if we exclude
Seattle's when they got the interception at the very end
of the game, they took one play to kneel down right,
So if we exclude that, then both teams had ten drives,
and all ten of those drives started with the opposing
(14:54):
team kicking right. It was it was off the foot
of the opposing teams got me. So when so the Seahawks,
all of their offensive drives were either because they got
a punt or because they got a kickoff. And same
thing with the Colts. There was no turnovers, and there
was no four downs loss of downs. Okay, so every
(15:15):
drive started but from a kick. The worst start that
the Colts had was on their own twenty four yard
line for the entire game. Worst, Seattle had seven starts
that were worse than the Colts worse. See the average.
If you take away again that kneel down, that one
(15:36):
playe kneel down as the last play of the game.
If you take that away, the Colts average start was
at their own thirty five yard line. Again, all of
those started as a result of a Seattle either Dixon
or Meyers kicking to them. Seattle's was the twenty You say, well, okay,
fifteen yard difference. No, that's fifteen yards average times ten.
(15:59):
That's one hundred and fifty yards advantage that the Colts
had in field position over the course of the game,
just in terms of where they started. So I think
that that played a factor, you know, in some of
the the troubles that Seattle had offensively.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Well, let's discuss that, because the first thing out of
your mouth, when it just open ended, where does your
mind go about this game? Was settling for the field goals.
So when they had that offensive huddle. Should it have
been the players taking Kubiak to task or vice versa.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
What is breaking.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Down for you that's forcing them to settle for these
field goals that are frustrating.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Well, they had the six field goals, and anytime you say, okay, okay,
that's great, six field goals, no touchdowns. Now technically they were.
They were over to in the red zone. That's why
I wanted to say the red zone fringe, which is
the forty in and I hope you guys got that
in the last you know, the last five weeks that
(17:03):
you know they're they're at seventy percent of the time
they break through the opponent's forty, they're going to kick
a field goal, which is.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
By far and away number one.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
I just think that there's they don't have the protection
to get the ball down the field. And now there
was there was a couple of breakdowns. I think sam
Donold had a good game under the circumstances. But I've
got a couple minuses on his sheet in the second quarter.
I'll tell you what, and I'll get back to your
(17:35):
question about Kubiak addressing the team the final drive of
the second quarter where they got the field goal right there,
down thirteen to three. Did you feel like that was
a pivotal drive that they could get the field goal
and pulled the within touchdown. Didn't that seem like that
was important? The first play of that drive, number forty four,
(17:58):
look him up, the linebacker for the Colts. He comes
based on a miscommunication with Seattle. He comes untouched through
the a gap. I mean literally not even a finger.
Nobody even knew. It was like he was.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Wearing an invisible suit. Nobody blocked him.
Speaker 4 (18:14):
And if that's a on first down, if he takes
a six seven eight yard sack there and it's and
they don't go down the field, I thought that was
a hell of a play by him. But Darnaire Franklin,
by the way, Franklin just somehow Sam Darnold made him miss.
Somehow he made a miss, and that might have been
a three point a very vital three point miss. But
(18:35):
later in that drive, the Colts were doing a coverage
you just rarely see. They start looking like they're in
a three deep zone. And this is the defense that
I like into a baseball outfield and infield, all right,
because there's three deep in four hundred and if you
can picture four hundred in an infield and three three
deep in an outfield, of course you can. Well that's
(18:57):
that's what cover three is. But the Holts were taking
the safety and they were coming down. It would be
like the center fielder at the snap coming down to
stand on second base, and and the entire centerfield is
wide open. And when I first saw it, I got like,
is that a bust? Like was that supposed to rotate?
(19:18):
Like like that guy was coming down? It must be
a coverage called three buzz where he has the he
plays the short stop, and then the and then the
guy who lines up at second base. He runs to
center field to carry out the baseball analogy. But there
was an opportunity where Rashi Chi he the corners outside leverage.
When that safety comes down, Rashid Shihad had a post.
(19:38):
I'm telling you every NFL quarterback meeting room in the league,
it's like, dude, the light ain't gonna get any greener.
You've got to crank that thing up and go for uh,
go for the touch and if you miss it, you
miss it. But you can't not throw that post down
and then and then uh in the red zone when
he missed Rashi shiheid U. It was a classic cover six,
(20:01):
which which means they roll over the top in the
end zone. On third down, they roll over the top
of JSN to Sam Donald's left, so that means the
corners in the flat, the safety's over the top. It's
a form of double double coverage high low double coverage
within his own concept. And Rashid Shaheed has free access,
meaning he's not getting jammed. He's got one on one
(20:24):
with the corner. The tight end is barner is eating
up the safety. So you got one on one and
Donald threw it well behind him, and that's got to
be a touchdown now before I put it all on Donald,
if you go if you go back and listen to
the podcast in August about things I was seeing at
training camp, I do not like a wide receivers to
(20:48):
come up and then they have free access, so the
defense has decided not to roll on Scheeheed.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Let me explain this.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
Play because this is there's a big part of Seattle's
offense to me that I think it's worth a minute
to describe what has Sam Darnold's seen. He says, Okay,
I got cover six. They're rolling to my left on JSN,
the tight end is eating up to safety. I got
one on one, beautiful. This is exactly what we practiced
(21:15):
on Friday, because Friday's red zone day, and they would
have scripted the defense and that's the play. That's the
coverage they were looking for. This is the play to
beat that coverage. So Rasids he comes out what I
would what I would want him to do is have
his inside leg forward, go five steps, do not slow
(21:36):
down whatsoever. Put playing your outside leg and break to
the post. And that is much easier to time up.
You don't slow your momentum down. It's easier to throw
routes on air. There's less inconsistency, which means more consistency.
And yet the way the Seahawks teach it is it
(21:56):
comes down and he he like stutters and he his
momentum down and then he's got to re accelerate. And
just fifty years of playing, coaching and analyzing the position,
it's much harder to be on you know, to have
cohesion when you teach that type of technique. I hate it.
(22:17):
And so Donald ends up throwing the ball high and
away looks it's a bad pass. I guarantee a pro
football focus is gonna ding him on that, and I
am too, like it's got to be a touchdown.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
I get it, but I wish.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
That they didn't teach it that way because it would
give Donald a much better chance to see things and
to anticipate it. You do it just like it plays
out against the defense, just like routes on air when
you're throwing back in march and you just tighten up
the consistency. So at any event, those are plays. You know,
(22:51):
we're sitting here talking about red zone, we're talking about
kicking a lot of field goals, and these are some
of the details where you say we got to be
better because you got a super Bowl winning defense. Yeah,
you do not have a super like you're gonna have
to somehow hide a very non super bowl offensive line.
(23:12):
But the things, you know, they're good. The people who
touch the ball on offense, that's a pretty damn good
group story, including Darnold, the running backs, the wide receivers,
get Tory Horton back. It's great to see Shaheed. I
like the tight end Like, things are pretty damn good
in terms of the people who touch the ball, but
when they get opportunities, like I'm described and they have
(23:33):
to hit it because the offensive line is the weakness
of the football team and everything even down to the
special teams that I was talking about, you know, starting
field position, what the defense, the offensive line impacts everybody.
But you get an opportunity to make some of those plays,
you got to hit them.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Monday Morning Quarterback with Hugh Mellan will continue on the
other side, It's Chucking Buck Sports Radio ninety three point
three KJRFM.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
And by court Construction on your home for the twelfth
Man Sports Radio ninety three point three kJ r FM.
Watching this, Donald operates the Seattle offense.
Speaker 4 (24:11):
Flash.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
Donald steps up, throws on the run and he's got
a man Smith in Chigbuk picks Ray Smith and chickback
down the sun line at first to the bounds.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Pop Pine up, Chuck Bowbuggy. Jacobson, Ashley Ryan with you.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
It's Monday Morning Quarterback Day. Hugh Millan with us to
react to yesterday's eighteen sixteen win over the Indianapolis Colts.
Jason Meyers six for six on field goal attempts, including
the game winner. But certainly one of our main topics
today has been the offense not being able to score
a touchdown yesterday, I wrote at one point, Hugh, right
(24:48):
about the six minute mark, after you went from first
and ten to second and thirteen on a penalty, to
second and eighteen to third and eighteen and then got
a tackle for loss, I just wrote, down sloppiest the
Hawks have looked all year long. And then about two
forty five seconds later, Clint Kubiak had huddled the offense
(25:09):
over on the sideline. A lot of people are texting
and wondering your reaction to that. What was your thought
at that point? Yeah, you're right, it would happen. Right
after that sequence they try to fly sweep and you
know what an off ball linebacker. That's one of the
the gambles you take is that you hope it hits
fast enough.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
And they don't recognize it. But a guy linebacker came
from four or five yards deep. The false start the scramble,
I put the question was that necessary? With two question marks?
I thought maybe Darnold could have stayed in the throwing
position and just slid up and found a check down.
And so I think at that juncture it's just kind
(25:52):
of wait, wake the f up, you know. I think
that there was maybe a malaise with back to the
Colts and the fact they don't have their quarterback, and
and you know those guys know they're playing the Rams
on Thursday. I mean, in theory, you would just focus
on the Colts, but in reality, I think that some
(26:14):
of those thoughts can creep in. I'm not in their heads,
but I think it's fair to make an inference that way.
But you know, you know, I think that coaches when
they do that, obviously it's just kind of judicious. You
can't do that very often, but it often will have
you know, it had a good fact. I mean they
(26:36):
I believe that was Yeah, they scored on the next
drive that happened to be the field goal drive. And
yet some of the problems, and we're talking about the
red zone persistent. I mean, you get a beautiful design
play with Brady Russell in the flat with lead blocker
that might have gone for twelve fifteen yards, Brady Russell
drops it. I mean it hits him right in the
(26:56):
belly button, you know, and you're down in the red zone.
And wait a minute, You're gonna line up Cooper Cup
as the what's called number three counting outside and he's
the third guy on trips, he's gonna run a five
yard in route. Yeah, some people people call that a
finn as in five yard in five in zone coverage.
You're not gonna be able to make a connection with
(27:18):
Cooper cup and Sam Darnold on a finn route because
Cooper cup Is is hauling ass into into a zone
coverage and Donald's throwing behind. I'm certain that the quarterback
was right and the receiver is wrong, even though I
think he's the smartest receiver in the NFL. Like the
idea that you can't like, there's just a couple of
(27:39):
examples of of you're not even doing stuff that eighth
graders can do. And so you got to clean that up,
and you got to clean that up now because this
is this is one of the coolest, most exciting games
coming up Thursday that we've had in years and years.
And in the NFL, by the way, the Rams are
the betting favorite to win the Super Bowl, and number
(28:03):
two on the list right now is the Seattle Seahawks. Like,
that's what we have this Thursday. And so you can't
be dropping balls in your belly button and you can't
have a PhD level football player making eighth grade mistakes.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
Yeah, there was an element to the game though, correct
me if I'm wrong where it was like when you
played your when you were like a high school basketball
star or at least a starter, and you were yeah,
and then the family reunion comes together and your uncle
wants to play one on one and you're trying to
(28:39):
take it easy on the old man. And then the
next thing, you're down seven to two. Wait a minute,
I better step up, my gamer. I'm near the end
of this. I'm supposed to be a starter on the
high school team here, and you know, Uncle Jim has
taking me to the woodshed out here.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Right there seemed to be a little bit of an
element to that. I think you're right.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
I think that psychology can creep in and you know,
but remember now, this was a team here. This is
this is a truth as of eight days and uh yeah,
eight days and two hours ago. If you looked up
who was the highest scoring team in the NFL, the
(29:18):
answer was the Indianapolis Colts. And so there it wasn't
just Daniel Jones. They've got some targets. They're other than
right tackle going into the game. The offensive lines are
damn good. Uh They lost lost their left tackle, and.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
That's it didn't seem to have a problem.
Speaker 4 (29:37):
So that would be probably the only thing that you know,
it's like, wait a minute, why didn't you create free
runners against this guy? Like I just that part of it,
the mayhem in in Philip rivers lap just didn't materialize, but.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
The way that we expect. But the defense.
Speaker 4 (29:55):
Look, if if I just if I put up your
you're blindfolded you and you didn't know who the quarterback was,
and I just said, this is how their quarterback is
gonna play, and this is what they're gonna do. On offense,
You're gonna say, that's a slam dunk. That's a win.
Every you know you're gonna go. You're probably gonna go
seventeen and oh and the worst you're gonna go is
sixteen and one. If you can make an opposing quarterback do.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
That, well, they almost they almost they almost have the one.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
Yeah, all right, one more segment with Hugh before coach
joins this here at nine o'clock, it's Modernday morning Quarterback
for you, Chucking Buck Sports Radio ninety.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Three point three kh A r f M.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
Then in Melvin Franklin coming in with that deep voice
and that that picks up. You're right when I suggest
bumper music. I'm always cognizant of what is the first
five or six seconds because it's radio right, But that's
Ashley backed me up. That's the one time where I like,
you know what we just got. You know, however it starts.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
You gotta let it build, Yeah, let it go. I
thought about it. I was like, should I start it later? No,
can't get can't you can't skimp on the beginning.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
No, I'm aware it's sluggish, but you know, kind of
like the Seahawks first half on offense.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Yeah, lately, you know, and we we've talked a lot
about like that.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
One, Bucky.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
We've talked this hour, you know, about the offensive struggles
because we got a big game and we can't play
that way on Thursday. We can't wait until the second
half against the Rams on Thursday. But I will say
this just to in this first hour, like on a
positive note, I do love the way Sam Darnold just
rips it.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
I mean he can.
Speaker 3 (31:28):
Fumble the ball out of bounds and then the very
next pass it's like three steps boom, and he's just
gonna launch.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
It on a laser to somebody. I love that.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
And then I love that fourth and three play that
he made where he escaped the pressure and found and
found aj Barner for the first down. That that was
my favorite play.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Of the day. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
And you know what, the NFL calculate that exactly four
point five seconds that he was, you know, trying to
find something and credit the offensive line. But he had
a concept of three man concept too, was right, and
uh and and and Barner was doing a block block
block check release. So so just that was a lot
(32:08):
of just kind of off script savvy by him. And
of course the the the final drive. Uh you know
that that seventeen yarder to Shahed, I mean that's a
cover four defense. Uh and and and in theory they're
gonna be double teaming Shaheed over to his left. It's
press coverage. And and the timing when you look at
(32:30):
when he cut that loose, he cut that loose like
well ahead of she she Heed's break and he put
it right on his outside thighpad.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
And had you said freeze right.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
Now, you know when you're you play freeze tag when
you're a kid, if you play you said freeze, and
you said she He based on where the coverage is,
where would you want the ball exactly? Well, you just said,
well how about right here? And he would have put
his hands the size of a salad plate right over
his right thighpad. Because that's that's what I'm based on
on the position of defender. That's exactly where he wanted
(33:05):
the ball. It was just you know, and then he
gets the uh the quick out you know, to to
uh to what to get seven eight yards to uh
make the field goal shorter. So so this is a There's
been a number of times where late in the game,
last minute, minute and a half of the game where
Donald has made big time plays. And so now I'm
(33:27):
I agree with Tony Gonzalez a month ago on a
Thursday Night Prime sitting on that that that desk, right
after the RAM loss, he said, the guy in the
NFL who has the most pressure on him of anybody
in the league is Sam Darnold. And he's pointing ahead
to this Thursday And I agree with that. I agree
(33:50):
with that. I'm rooting like hell for the kid. I
think he's a wonderful guy, but you know what he's
got to produce and and and uh, this Thursday is
a big time midterm for him.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
Yeah, well, there's no time like the present. We might
as well jump into it and start breaking this one
down because it's just that big and we don't have
a lot of the week to do it, all right.
Hugh Mellan is with us. Mike Holmgren will join us
at the top of the hour. It is Monday Morning Quarterback,
brought to you by North Creek Roofing Core Contractors, Muckleshoot
(34:22):
Bingo in Auburn, and Washington Center for Sleep Sports Radio
ninety three point three kh a RFM
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