December 8, 2025 • 39 mins
MMQB with HUGH MILLEN We start off the first hour of MMQB with Hugh breaking down the play of the Seahawks and the play from the 1st half to the 2nd half. How did he grade the defensive line and how impressive was Nick Emmanwori? :30- We continue MMQB with Hugh and get his thoughts on the CFP committee’s selections. Did they get it right? :45- We wrap up the first hour with Hugh and take a look at the explosive start to the 2nd half by Rashid Shaeed and the Seahawks.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is the Monday Morning Quarterback on your Home for
the NFL, brought to you by Muckleshut Bingo. No one
does bingo like Muckleshute, Bigger sessions, bigger payoffs, and NonStop
action every day. Muckleshute, Bingo and ubern your home from
Machine Goo by North Creek Rooffine. Just like the twelves
know how to raise the roof, so it is North
(00:22):
Creek Rooffine if your roof springs elite called North Creek
North Creek Roffine dot Com by the Washington Center for Sleep,
Sleep Better, Feel Better, transforming lives through better sleep by
treating snoring and obstructive sleep at Inia with SEATPAP alternatives,
and by Core Construction Remodel Restore. Remember Core Core Contractors
(00:44):
LLC dot com. Now the Monday Morning Quarterback with Mike
hom Grin and Hugh Millin.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Here's Chuck and Buck, mikel I'm gonna be joining us
at nine o'clock this morning. Hugh Millin ur QB one
is with us from eight to ten every Monday to
recap the latest Sea Hawk game. We also might talk
a little college football before the hour comes to a close.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
But no, don't worry.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
We're not gonna talk hockey this hour with you.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Yeah, they're gonna keep it in the football realm, that's sure.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
I guarantee you that.
Speaker 5 (01:15):
All right, I'll try to let me scratch those hockey
questions off then.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, I know you were ready, Bucky, alright, so let
me don't do it. Don't ask him about Joey to court. Okay, Hugh,
good morning, sir, good morning. Good to be with you,
Good to be with you. All right, So this was
a six to six game at halftime. Bucky referenced it earlier.
Peyton Manning one set on the Manning cast that we
(01:39):
overdo the halftime adjustments that there aren't as many as
what you think, or it's not as dramatic as you
think something changed you at halftime, because this is a
completely different team in the second half.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Yeah, I agree with Peyton Manning. I think generally in
those meetings, certainly from a quarterback perspective, it's kind of like, hey,
this was the game plan, and you're just kind of
looking and say, well, these are the things we like
on the game plan. You've already been studying it all week,
and so you kind of narrow your focus now that's
not to say that offensive linemen aren't over there drawing
up on the board and making some adjustments on the
(02:13):
how they made block. But I agree with Manning's general assertion.
But you know, for me, I think that, well, it's
easy to look at the first half. I think that
there was a juncture that delineated that was a little
bit before that with fifty seven seconds remaining. Remember, now
Atlanta just kicked that field goal. So they go up
(02:33):
six to three, and the Seahawks they get a drive
there where they go seven plays forty five yards and
they kick the field goal to pull within six six
at halftime. Right, remember that drive. So prior to that drive,
and sometimes what happens late in the second quarter is
a catalyst for what you talk about at halftime, and
(02:56):
maybe a catalyst for the view that the offensive coordinator
may have for what he wants accomplished in the second half.
And so let me let me point out that prior
to that drive got me. So we'll call that the
the you know, the juncture that it was fifty seven
seconds to go in the second quarter, which means they've
(03:17):
played forty eight point four to two percent of a
total game going by seconds. Yeah, I did that calculation
pretty simple. But but and the reason why I wanted
to give that calculation. At that point Darnold had eleven
targets for thirty seven yards, and prior to that UH
(03:41):
and that juncture you had JSN he had been fifty
five percent of the targets and seventy percent of the
pass yards. However, the Seahawks were only on a pace
at that juncture. If you go down to second they
were on a pay staff seventy six total yards of
(04:04):
passing for the game from that point on, from that
that juncture, on that that endo drive, and then all
the second quarter they went from targets to JASN fifty
five percent, dropped it to twenty one percent, got other
people involved. The yards went from seventy percent to thirty
(04:24):
one for jsn UH after that juncture just thirty one
percent of the pass yards and the pace went from
as I said they before that they were on a
pace to have seventy six yards of passing. Their productivity
after that juncture was a pace that would be worth
four hundred and eleven yards passing for a game. That
(04:46):
is a big change. And so you just you just look,
I think it was a very pivotal game, uh for
Rashid sa heat, you know, not just the kickoff, but
you know, I think now he feels like he's part
of the team U. But there was time you know, hey,
they're rolling the coverage to to JSN. They're playing what's
called cover six, which means you you take cover two
(05:08):
to to JSN side, put a safety over the top,
but then you allow free access to uh to Rashid
hi head. And he's just one on one on most routes,
and so they motioned him. They hit him on on
some third down conversions. They the the the big dig
route right before the field goal, which was to she
(05:30):
head over the middle. There was only one pass rusher.
There was ten guys playing zone and yet rashi Hi
Hid he made a great move on the corner, got
into the inside. If you're dropping ten, they should have
been a lot there should have been a lot more holes.
But I think that for both Sam Darnold and for
Clint Kubiak, you know, uh, that drive and and and
(05:54):
the discussion to get other people involved, not to try
and force it to j SN. I think that was
a good thing for the football team.
Speaker 5 (06:01):
Well, nobody dissects it like you can and do so.
I mean, if you had to give the lion's share
of the credit, is it Kubiak making play calls where
the primary was someone else to start spreading it around
or was it Sam Darnold actually just not getting you know,
focused on trying to force it into Jays.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Yeah, that's a good question, and I think that the
tape shows evidence of both. I mean, you're you're you
know that motion play where you're going to motion him
and then run him on an Omaha route on on
third down, a quick out route. You know, that's clearly
he's the targeted guy. They were they on a number
of times. Flood routes are when you have a deep,
(06:44):
an intermediate, and a shallow uh concept and the way
the the you know, the the the Falcons were mixed.
They played a lot of man and man and and
they played a lot of zone. So so what they
were able to trigger some zone coverage and they would
get a weak side flood. What weak side flood means
(07:05):
is a strong side flood would be your intermediate is
a sail route, a corner route. You're deep is a
go route or a post route. And then there's somebody
in the flat, but the intermediate emanates on the strong
side of where the reed is. A weak side flood
is when you bring the backside receiver and slot and
(07:27):
slot him in between the deep in the shallow and
they hit thirty three yards on rashichi. He bringing him
from the other side, and it's just, you know, kind
of breathtaking how fast he can get to that spot.
So he's running intermediate crossing route. He caught the ball
twenty two yards from the line of scrimmage and he
(07:48):
got there, so dog one fast. So Darnold doesn't have
to wait. The picture presents itself. He's like, okay, I
got the deep guy clearing out the deep guy. I
got a flat. Now we are inserting for the opposite
side of the field. We're getting resichi heat to run
this deep angle cross or race route. There's other terms
that people use, but but they get over there and
(08:10):
and and uh so that's that's targeting. You know that
some serious speed getting over there. So yeah, I'd say
the answers both here.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Melanis with us r QB one Monday Morning Quarterback is
brought to you by I muckle Shut Bingo North creek roofing,
Washington Center for sleeping core construction. Home renovation can be
a nightmare, shoddy work, price gouging, even abandonment. Core Contractors
is your remodeling and restoration center, all right, So a
lot to discuss here in this game, certainly, Uh, But
(08:40):
on the defensive side of the ball, that was where
you were bending a little bit, not breaking in the
first half, and then you decided just not to bend
at all.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Let's just not even ben.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Uh and the second half and and and sort of
shut down Atlanta. I mean, they didn't shut out Bjon Robinson,
but did did keep him from destroy you. And we
have to talk about nick emon Waurie because we spent
a lot of time on him last week, and obviously
that was justified because man, he was.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Sensational yesterday, maybe the best we've ever seen him. He
is really blossoming, isn't he? A couple of things? Okay, So,
first of all, in my opinion, I thought the defensive
line had their poorest game since Tampa Bay. Among their
two or three worst games. I thought there was just
a noted and it was in my notes on Friday
to talk about the Falcons offensive line they don't have
(09:31):
Caleb McGarry the right tackle. The other four positions are
pretty damn good. I thought they they moved the line
of scrimmage better than I've seen almost any team against
the Seahawks. You know here there's articles in the Times
and everybody's throwing these flowers at the defensive line. I
just thought they were okay because I thought they got
moved too much. Now, the secondary, the back seven, even
(09:54):
if you want to count the linebackers, I thought had
a really good game active, you know, creating kaok and havoc.
But where the entire defense really clamped was in the
red zone. The Falcons. They had eighteen plays in the
red zone on the Falcons offense against Sales defense. A
(10:14):
successful play. This is not a me term. This has
been around for a few decades now. Successful play is
described as forty percent of the needed yards on first down,
sixty percent of the needed yards on second and all
the needed yards on third or fourth down, so that
that constitutes a successful play. The Falcons only had two
successful plays in the red zone for the entire game
(10:36):
out of eighteen.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
And so you know, when you talk about clamping down
the defensive line, all of a sudden, you're like, whoa,
that looks like the defensive line of the twenty twenty
five Seahawks. You know where was that forty yards ago?
But they just came alive and great. You know, you
know they're played a lot of zone down there. And
(10:59):
I tell you what I'm is so much more inspired
by watching defenses that play zone defense. Great because there's
a cohesion. You have to know where your help is.
You have to go, you know, cover this guy for
precisely the right number of steps down to the step
and then turn and don't get out of position, and
(11:19):
trust if you play man to man. Some people call
that cat defense. Don't confuse that with cat blitz. Is
that's a corner blitz. But people who call it cat blitz,
they just say, hey, our cat, my cat against your cat.
And if you can, you know, play good defense, well
you got better cats than them in man and man.
But the zone just the way they trigger on their
(11:40):
their route recognition, they're so well coached, they're they're tied together,
and you know, you get numbers like two successful plays
out of eighteen in the red zone.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
What's the main thing when a defense tightens up it's
obviously not just all right, guys, we've allowed them to
get down here. Now we've got to get tougher. I mean,
is it because there's not as much rooms they can't
really take the top off, there is no top left.
Is it that the secondary plays with cohesion like you're
talking about in the zone or is it? I mean,
(12:10):
obviously it's a combination of more than just one thing.
But from your standpoint, when a good defense has the
ability to then stiffen up when they get down in
the red zone, why typically is that?
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Yeah, you know, I think I have opposite responses to that.
I think, first and foremost, I think the adage, hey
stop the run and get ahead of the sticks, you know,
put them in second along, etc. And of course the
field tightens up. But I think all you know, from
a quarterback perspective, you know, on first down, when they're
(12:41):
inclined to take shots and send two or three, you know,
at least a couple guys at the end zone and
then have a checkdown, it's like you better, you better
be able to you know, deny any windows because out
in the middle of the field, if you give up
a seventeen yard completion, okay, you know you live. You know,
they got a first down lineup and stop him. On
(13:03):
the next year, you give up a seventeen yard completion,
it's a touchdown. So you got to be really sticky
in terms of presenting preventing those big plays that people
draw up to try to get, particularly to the back
of the end zone in the red zone, you know,
and and uh so you got to be sound over
the top and you got to stop the run, and
they were doing both. As for Emon worry, I don't know, Chuck,
(13:27):
I'm not sure if I I answered that. You know,
there's so much to talk about with him, But.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
Where did they take it that you have not seen
him go before?
Speaker 3 (13:34):
I mean yesterday. Well, I think his recognition, you know,
he's you heard the sound bite from Mike McDonald, he's
I think it's very important for Mike McDonald to not
overburden him with responsibilities. It's like, hey, trust your instinct,
and you know he had tackle for loss where he's
a like essentially a Nickelson. He's just a Sam linebacker
(13:56):
and at two hundred and twenty pounds, you know he
has the ability, but his it's his it's his athleticism.
At that size, I mean at six foot three. Here's
his here's his percentiles for safeties. He's in the ninety
one percentile for height, his arm span, and we'll talk
(14:17):
about the field. Go block is eighty seven percent. His
forty yard dash is ninety six percent. His ten yards
split his ninety three percent. His broad jump is one
hundred percent. He had one hundred and thirty eight in
broad YMP his vertical of forty three inch, his ninety
nine percent all and is tackling. By the way, coming
out of college, he was in the one hundred percentile
for tackling efficiency. So you're talking about a dude who's
(14:40):
a really big man who can move and jump. He's
got explosion. And so now when you're just you're kind
of say, hey, cut it loose. You know, his tackle
for loss is just he just saw an opening off
ball line back. That wasn't a dog, that wasn't a
run blitz, that was just him being off ball and sensing, oh,
here here's an opportunity to knife in there. And and
(15:03):
he's so fast because of his size, he covers a
lot of ground. He's strong enough that unless you really
get a center cut block on him, if you just
get a shoulder, he's gonna run through it. And so
I think his instincts are playing out. Uh, you know
you got a credit Witherspoon for on both those interceptions,
him triggering on you know, as a zone defender, just
(15:26):
being sticky in zone, popping the ball up. But him
and Worry had the you know, the the quick hands,
the athletic hands to be able. That's that's a hard
play for a lot of defenders to make that tip ball,
but he was able to well, oh I got it
and then converted to an interception, So that play making
ability is just coming through. And then on the field
goal block, here's the guy. You guys have been watching
(15:48):
football along that I was gonna say as long as me,
but I'm older. But you know what I mean. You
guys been watching You know the guys who play on
the edge on field goal block, they're always cornerbacks. They're
always cornerbacks, right because because they have the quickness to
turn the radius of the circle right. Well, they put
him and Worry out there at I already gave you
(16:09):
the height in the reach and everything, so so you
tell me, in a game of inches, the guy to
be that big, but then also to have an ability
to turn it, uh the hoop on the field goal
block as if he was a cornerback, but just in
a longer package. Well that's that's a that's a nightmare
for a special teams meeting. I was. I was a holder,
(16:29):
so I've been in those meetings. Yeah, I mean, you know,
he just creates havoc due to his athleticism and his
emerging instincts. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
Well, I mean he's probably on his way then to
living up to like the X factor that was Jamal Adams.
Speaker 6 (16:43):
Right, almost dumped that on. That's what we're going for,
isn't it? I thought X factor?
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Yeah? A weapon? What was it? Weapon?
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Weapon? How that's invest in the nation. She well, you
know the sack he you know, there's a timing to
that and ability to close ground, be powerful. Uh yeah,
you know things that we we uh really didn't see
from from.
Speaker 5 (17:15):
I haven't seen emon worry do a header yet like
try to get an interception and just headed back to
somebody else yet, but maybe next week.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I do wonder how many sacks even wore he could
get if Pete Carroll was just trying to get him.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Then yeah, yeah, right, just so he could he could
turn to the owner, so he could turn to judges, Yeah,
Jody Allen and say, hey see this is why we
acquired him. Oh what a fraud, that whole situation. Sorry,
I don't know why I went.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
There, even even Worri Sack. I mean he almost had
a forced fumble too. I mean he approached it the
perfect way and almost ripped the ball out of Cousin's hands.
I mean, just just the sensational And I'm glad you
brought up Witherspoon because to me, it felt like every
single play he was involved in.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
I thought he had a great game yesterday too. Oh yeah,
I'll touch on him. But just a final thought on
the on the Emon Warrior Sack. So when I was
I coached youth in and high school, middle school, high
school for twenty four seasons, and and you know, so
that means I was involved for the defense in some
of those years. And I would have a drill where
(18:26):
I would have the I would have the defensive guys,
anybody who's likely to to be coming after the quarterback.
I would set up a cone. I would have a
spot for the quarterback, and then I would set up
a cone two yards to the right handed quarterback's right,
because you don't want to go at straight at a
right handed quarterback he's because his impulse will be to
(18:46):
evade to the right. Now, all of a sudden, the
right handed quarterback, he's outside the pocket, and you got
a good chance of losing that play. He can you know,
he can remain a running threat. So what I do
is set up a cone like sprint to the cone
and then to the quarterback. Does that make sense so
that it denies the quarterback's instincts to evade to his right.
(19:08):
And you've heard me on a number of times coming
and go, how are we letting a right handed quarterback
out of the pocket. I mean he lost the forty
nine er game because d Law, a guy with all
his experience, led a right handed quarterback out out of
the pocket to the right and so on the em
and worry play. If you look at it, he looked
exactly like I would say in the teaching tape teaching
(19:29):
my kids, like go to the cone and then change
your angle to the quarterback so that he has Now
you're gonna say, Cousins, not that athletic, But there's a
certain instinct of like, no, I'm not gonna even let
you think about bailing out of the escape hatch to
the right side. I'm gonna I'm gonna take that angle
(19:49):
then close hard into you. And that's exactly what he did.
I don't you know, I don't know if he did
the drill, you know, that's just instinctive in his mind,
or McDonald broke out drill. But whatever it was, you know,
it was textbook how he finished. As for Witherspoon, I
mean Doug Garnett, I mean, who doesn't love the way
(20:10):
this guy competes. I mean he is just so infectious
and feisty, and he's got him playing corner that he
doesn't play in the what's called the overhang defender as
much because he had been nickel. I think that's a
good decision. I think it preserves his body to play
more to the outside. But he's still when he gets
(20:31):
the opportunity, he's a feisty dog and he's gonna get after.
He's gonna give you all one hundred and eighty one
pounds that he's that he's got.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
Hugh mellanis with us r QB one.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
We are Monday Morning Quarterbacking, which usually means two straight
hours of Seahawks conversation, but I want to get thoughts
from you on the college football playoff controversies that have
stemmed from the rankings that were made official yesterday. So
we'll talk some college football next Sports Radio ninety three
point three kJ R F m.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
H.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
It's Monday Morning Quarterback with Hugh Millen here this morning,
and normally it's all Sea Hawk Talk, brought to you
by Core Construction, Washington Center for Sleep at North Creek Roofing,
and Muckleshoote Bingo in Auburn, your home for Machine Go.
But this college football story is such a big topic
that I wanted to get huge thoughts on it. What
(21:33):
was your biggest reaction.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
To Sunday's announcements.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
I thought that the committee got every single pick right.
Speaker 6 (21:43):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
And I understand the arguments for against. I think we
all do. It's just what you value. But I think
that I'm glad that the argument is is not the BCS.
The argument is, you know number three got screwed, and
then initially in the CFP, then oh number five got screwed. Well,
(22:06):
now we're saying number thirteen got screwed. But I think
that given the circumstances, Yes, every single spot, every team,
and every spot. In my opinion, I agree with.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
Oh well, I mean, then Alabama's right where they should be,
even though I mean, I don't want to fault them
for losing in a conference championship game when others didn't
even have the opportunity to and yet it seems like
they did do that to b YU.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Agreed, and there's a distinction in my mind. First of all, Bama,
you watch the game. What color jerseys were was Alabama
wearing in that game? You guys remember, h yeah they
were red? No? They were yeah? Yeah, right, yeah, they're
wearing their their dark reds. You know why because they're
(22:59):
the number one seed from the SEC one hundred years
from now. If you look in an almanac, the Alabama
was the number one team in the regular season in
the SEC. There was four who had one loss, and
the way the conference determines, they say strength of schedule.
Of those four Bama, Georgia, Texas A and n Ole
(23:22):
Miss Bama had the number one strength of schedule. Georgia
had the number two. Now Bama wasn't number one seed
because they had the number one strength of schedule. They were.
They just eliminated Texas A and N and min Ole
miss due to strength to schedule, and then it left
George and Bama, and because Bama beat Georgia, they were
number one. And so if you had told me in
(23:45):
August the team that this is the SEC now maybe
at the top two or three, it's even with other conferences,
but you go ten twelve deep. I mean, these are
the teams from the SEC that didn't make it. They
got five who were in Texas didn't make it, Vanderbilt, Missouri, Tennessee, LSU.
That is by I think Anti Metrics is the deepest
(24:07):
conference in college football. And for Alabama to be the
number one, if you told me in August the number
one team from the SEC, whoever it is, do they
deserve to be in a twelve team playoff? I would
say absolutely, unequivocally yes. And you know, yeah they played,
they didn't look good. But what in the hell is
(24:29):
with college football? In the NFL and the Major League Baseball,
all these sports the best teams get a bye. So
how is college football got this thing where now the
best teams, well, they don't get a bye. They have
to play each other. And teams like Oregon, and A
and M and H and Ole miss they sit here
and they don't play. So I think we all understand that.
(24:53):
But to me, it's what I value, and Alabama is
in and I don't have any hesitation with that.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Yeah, I don't think college conference championships are going to
be around much longer.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
I think it's too difficult. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
I mean even in the ACC, I mean, why do
you have a tie breaker system that puts why couldn't
you have Miami versus Virginia and we could have avoided
all of this?
Speaker 4 (25:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Yeah, but even the tie breakers.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Seasons, Yeah, I agree. Talk about Notre Dame. Do they
have a beef though? I know, I know you're saying
they got it all right? So why do you think
Notre Dame deserved to be on the outside looking in?
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Well, listen, they have been invited to the conference, the
Big Ten. I've looked it up for decades. They played
one hundred and nineteen years. They have turned down the
opportunity to be in a conference, the Big Twelve, the ACC.
In fact, during the COVID they were temporarily in the ACC.
And of course they've they've been in the Big East
and the ACC and other sports. But they want to
(25:51):
be independent. Okay, fine, you can still win the national
championship as an independent, but you're going to lose all
ties if you go out and you play a schedule
like that. They their their their one impressive win is
is usc and they you know, they lose the AM
and m they lose to Miami and then they they
don't want to play in a conference. So to me,
(26:13):
when you compare that to what Alabama, you know, Alabama
had to go four straight games and beat and they
did beat ranked teams, I think that the you know,
the schedule and the idea that so before they played
the conference championship game, then you would have said Alabama
at two losses has a much more impressive resume than
(26:36):
Notre Dame at two losses and then at least on
the balance of the season. And then and then you say,
well Alabama had to play and well, okay, Notre Dame
is never going to put themselves in that situation. In
my opinion, what I value, I'd say, Notre Dame, you're
going to lose all ties. This was a tie, you
lost the tie. I'm with you.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
I think I think that there's room for that, and
yet that kind of goes to the Tulane and James Madison.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Yeah, before you get to that, just a point on
Notre Dame. They played football for one hundred nineteen years.
For one hundred and four of those years, there was
no Big Ten championship game. So in that so the discrepancy,
you know, between them being independent, it didn't it didn't
get thrust to the forefront when in the rankings because
nobody else was playing conference championship games. In this era
(27:23):
of conference championship games, I think that they're in a
detriment to the the in the manner that I described.
Speaker 5 (27:30):
All right, well, I mean so too. Then to me,
it's like there's a couple of teams you were saying,
like Texas and Vanderbilt and some other teams that are
good teams in that SEC conference. For example, Notre Dame
is a good team. They've been playing good football, and
yet they're along with the others on the outside looking in.
And I like, giving an underdog an opportunity to play
with the big boys, and yet I'm not one hundred
(27:51):
percent sure if I mean, you're just looking at you know, Tulane,
for example, one of their losses. It's not like they
went undefeated. One of their losses, they lost forty five
to ten to Old Miss is who they are going
to face now in the first round of the playoffs.
It doesn't seem like that's one of the teams that
really has a chance of winning this thing.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Everything that I'm going to say really has nothing to
do with, hey, do we want to give the little
guy a chance? You know, look, look we're the United
States and the Olympics. You know a lot of people
look at us like we're the Yankees, or you know,
we're Notre Dame or what have you. This is an
argument from pragmatics, and I think we all I'll just
(28:31):
say for me, and I'll try maybe to convince you,
we need to shut the hell up and accept the
group of five. For the following reason. If you know,
when I was a player rep in the NFL, did
a lot of reading about anti trust law school. We're
going through the strike then that intrigued me. I've read
(28:53):
all fifty four pages of Allston versus the NCAA, all
the things that a lot of college felt football fans.
I would say most football fans are turned off about
college football the nil the revenue sharing, the open transfer portal,
all of that was triggered by the NCAA, who got
(29:15):
greedy in the Alston case. That was just that was
not a case about the compense overall compensation for players.
That was just educated education related like computers or postgraduate training,
or a violin for a musician a music major. And
the NCAA they lost at the appellate court or the
(29:37):
lower court. They lost at the appellate court. They took
it to the Supreme Court, not Austin, and they lost
nine to nothing. They have had some really bad legal
advice when you look with respect to understanding anti trust laws.
When you look at the college football playoffs, this is
the courts look at that as a multi billion dollar
commercial marketplace, not just a tournament. They control the TV money,
(30:01):
the recruiting, visibility, conference, financial survival. I'm talking about the
group of five right now. Okay, the group of five.
They compete in the same division under the same rules,
and so the courts say that's the same legal marketplace.
If the if the power for schools want to coordinate
some exclusion that is unlawful restrative trade and from the
(30:24):
championship market and the same principles that they lost the
Austin and lost the old Bona abandon case. You cannot
restrict economic opportunity without lawful competitive justification, and so they
they would be running a foul. They would be foolish
for another time to UH to to push the group
(30:48):
of five into anti trust court, because that they lose
an anti trust court and they misjudged like they did
with with Austin. They're going to have cord inclusion of
the group in five. You know you're gonna get a
lot more group of five teams involved. They're gonna have
force revenue sharing, okay, just like they've ordered the players
to get about twenty million, they're gonna have UH an
(31:10):
anti trus court. When you lose, it's called treble damagel
treble damages. What's treble just meets triple So whatever injury
you can show that you've you have, then the UH
the defendant owes you three times as much. You're gonna
have a loss of postseason control. I would just say
this in the same way that the the NCAA should
(31:31):
have just said, hey, let the players have their freaking violin.
Don't let this get exposed in the courts, I would
say to you know, for me, I just look at it.
It's a ten team tournament and there's two teams from
the group of five. Let it be. Let those two
teams play. And if you if you say, well, that's
bad football, don't watch, just to say Oregon's got a
(31:54):
scrimmage and it just had instead of it being an
intersquad scrimmage, they're gonna scrimmage JM. You don't watch, but
don't try and eliminate JMU, because you're going to have consequences.
You had no idea, the idea and guess what, you've
already lived it in the last five years. I think.
So let's understand where the NCAA and and where the
(32:16):
college football playoff would be with respect to the anti
trust laws, and don't incite those group of fives to
take the power forward to court.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
I think James Madison's winning by thirty here.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
Hey, listen, I'd rather I'd rather give them three teams.
If you want to pump it up to sixteen, I'd
rather and and and not have to go to court.
So at any event, I hope, I hope, I'll just
I'm not you know, think how you want to you
want to hate the JMU and and and Tulane is
in there, fine, but there's a damn good reason why
(32:52):
they're in there. Just put them in another category in
your mind. Just put them in a different category. It's
a ten team power for conference. And get us what Oregon,
Oregon gotta buy with James Madison and Ole Miss gotta
buy with tu let Just think of it as not
four teams, with the buy six teams. That's what I
(33:13):
would recommend.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
It's still better than just having four in so.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
And by the way, you know, the one thing they
could do. You know, if you look up, if you
just google NFL Playoff on procedures, you can find it
right on NFL dot com. It says what happens if
two teams they call it two clubs tie? What are
three or more? And there's literally twelve stages in order
in order and how they The NCAA's problem is they
(33:40):
need to do it, like they need to say this
is what the system is, so that we don't have
to wait for the committee, like what are they doing
this year? What are they doing next year? You just
follow the program just like the NFL, and have twelve
steps on how to determine who's in.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Monday Morning Quarterback with Hugh Millan, and we will get
back to Seahawks talk next and of course with coach
Holmgren at nine o'clock Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.
Speaker 7 (34:11):
Third of the yard play action Donald on the roll
looking downfield, deflected kind it's intercepted, picked up by my
cues off the deflection of down at the thirty of Seattle.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
Fox Sports with the highlight call.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
The Seahawks had a lot of highlights in the second
half of their blowout, went over the Atlanta Falcons to
move to ten and three on the season, thirty seven
to nine, the final score of a game that was
tied at halftime, six to six. Mike Homer will join
us at nine o'clock, which means one more segment here
with just Hugh millin r QB one as part of
(34:52):
our Monday Morning Quarterback session and boy Man game talk
about a game that turns on a dime, and we've
already talked about the second half adjustments, but Rashid shah
Heed to return that kick and I guess Mike McDonald
called it in the second half. You can't get much
better start to a second half than that. Hugh, Yeah,
(35:15):
I don't know. I'd pump the brakes on that thought.
I think that every coach says that, you know, hey,
we're getting the kick off, you know, you know, hey, hey,
let's return for a touchdown. Yeah, you say say it
two hundred and fifty times and finally it happens. I
don't know, maybe that was the first time.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
I haven't been in that locker, but but I think
that's pretty typical coach talk. But I'll tell you what,
that that heat that he brings is just breathtaking, right,
I mean, he has such a beautiful stride. I mean
you could you could put a champagne glass on top
of his helmet as he's sprinting. He's just so smooth
and there's just this this gliding nature to it. I mean,
(35:55):
just beautiful gait in him. And it's just so explosive.
And I mean, you had Todd gone and I had
it in my notes where the great blocks, but but
you had you had a double team at the point
of attack. Bobo uh And I'll get those numbers in
a second. Bobo had the most difficult single block. And
(36:15):
the good thing that he did is while he started
to lose it, which will happen. These are long bloss
to sustain. But how often do you see a great
kickoff return like that, And of course it's negated because
somebody held, so Bobo at the point of attack had
the discretion to say, hey, I lost that block, which
was better, but I'm just I'm not gonna I'm not
(36:37):
gonna hold because of it. And that was where he
had a slight broken tackle there uh coming up the
pipe for Shihet and the rest of it was just
you know, he just fast enough to make guys miss
and uh and and so at any rate, that's you
know that fourth and fifth round and that was that
that they gave up. Nice to see it pay off
(36:57):
payoff yesterday.
Speaker 5 (36:58):
Well, I don't know how few have enough time to
get into that Donald interception.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
I'm sure there's some people like, oh now.
Speaker 5 (37:04):
The turnover and although I don't know for sure, that's
one that you would say are all created equal?
Speaker 3 (37:09):
Right, Well it you know, it's oddly it was the
same structure of the play that member against the Vikings
when when Max Broswell threw that eighty five yard pick six.
Of course you do. It was just a week ago
Ernest Jones right. Structurally was the same thing. You're you're
you're in an offset eye. The fullback's going away, but
the run the tailback is going to the side of
(37:29):
the role. And so Canine was kind of covered there
and and so Donald. You know, as a right handed
quarterback going to his left, he's they've had more naked
bootlegs to his left. I think that's a harder throw
Eliza Royo, you know he's working on man to man
against a corner. They're a lighter man. You know, you
(37:49):
want on that route, you want to do what's called
the ladder step, go vertical and then flatten. He did that,
he didn't get the separation goes. He's going against a
faster man. What you see in JSN all over it
was on yesterday's tape, it's been on the tape all
the time, is he will lose ground slightly on an
inbreaking route when he senses that the need. And so
(38:13):
I think Arroyo could have lost more ground. What I
mean by that has come close angled, closer to the
line of scrimmage. You know, he kind of slowed down,
which which caused the ball to be ahead. I think
Arroyo was thinking, hey, I'll get this guy in my
back like a rebounder. I think Darnold even referenced that
in the post game, So they weren't quite on the
(38:35):
same page and the technique. And by the way, one
further point, this is what this is what professional football
is all about. Precisions in the detail. So this is
a we talked about the week side flood, deep, intermediate
and short, and and Arroyo's being the intermediate guy from
the opposite side Cody White to that song, He's got
the deep route against that corner, He's got to go
(38:55):
over the top of him to create a nice picture
for the quarterback. Instead, he tries the crawl face. So
instead of having deep, intermediate, short, in essence, there was
two guys in the intermediate window. Do you want to
have better spacing than that? That could cause a little
bit of a hesitation for a quarterback. I don't know
if Darnold would confirm that, but I know that that
(39:17):
spacing wasn't right. So just cleaning up the details and
at least you got that red zone defense we talked about.
Only two out of eighteen successful plays by the Falcons
in the red zone. They cleaned up the mess.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
It's Monday morning, quarterback time.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Mike Omber joins the conversation next as we continue to
talk about the seahawks tenth win of the year over
the Atlanta Falcons, a second half runaway on Sports Radio
ninety three point three KJRFM.
This is the Monday Morning Quarterback on your Home for
the NFL, brought to you by Muckleshut Bingo. No one
does bingo like Muckleshute, Bigger sessions, bigger payoffs, and NonStop
action every day. Muckleshute, Bingo and ubern your home from
Machine Goo by North Creek Rooffine. Just like the twelves
know how to raise the roof, so it is North
(00:22):
Creek Rooffine if your roof springs elite called North Creek
North Creek Roffine dot Com by the Washington Center for Sleep,
Sleep Better, Feel Better, transforming lives through better sleep by
treating snoring and obstructive sleep at Inia with SEATPAP alternatives,
and by Core Construction Remodel Restore. Remember Core Core Contractors
(00:44):
LLC dot com. Now the Monday Morning Quarterback with Mike
hom Grin and Hugh Millin.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Here's Chuck and Buck, mikel I'm gonna be joining us
at nine o'clock this morning. Hugh Millin ur QB one
is with us from eight to ten every Monday to
recap the latest Sea Hawk game. We also might talk
a little college football before the hour comes to a close.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
But no, don't worry.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
We're not gonna talk hockey this hour with you.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Yeah, they're gonna keep it in the football realm, that's sure.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
I guarantee you that.
Speaker 5 (01:15):
All right, I'll try to let me scratch those hockey
questions off then.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, I know you were ready, Bucky, alright, so let
me don't do it. Don't ask him about Joey to court. Okay, Hugh,
good morning, sir, good morning. Good to be with you,
Good to be with you. All right, So this was
a six to six game at halftime. Bucky referenced it earlier.
Peyton Manning one set on the Manning cast that we
(01:39):
overdo the halftime adjustments that there aren't as many as
what you think, or it's not as dramatic as you
think something changed you at halftime, because this is a
completely different team in the second half.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Yeah, I agree with Peyton Manning. I think generally in
those meetings, certainly from a quarterback perspective, it's kind of like, hey,
this was the game plan, and you're just kind of
looking and say, well, these are the things we like
on the game plan. You've already been studying it all week,
and so you kind of narrow your focus now that's
not to say that offensive linemen aren't over there drawing
up on the board and making some adjustments on the
(02:13):
how they made block. But I agree with Manning's general assertion.
But you know, for me, I think that, well, it's
easy to look at the first half. I think that
there was a juncture that delineated that was a little
bit before that with fifty seven seconds remaining. Remember, now
Atlanta just kicked that field goal. So they go up
(02:33):
six to three, and the Seahawks they get a drive
there where they go seven plays forty five yards and
they kick the field goal to pull within six six
at halftime. Right, remember that drive. So prior to that drive,
and sometimes what happens late in the second quarter is
a catalyst for what you talk about at halftime, and
(02:56):
maybe a catalyst for the view that the offensive coordinator
may have for what he wants accomplished in the second half.
And so let me let me point out that prior
to that drive got me. So we'll call that the
the you know, the juncture that it was fifty seven
seconds to go in the second quarter, which means they've
(03:17):
played forty eight point four to two percent of a
total game going by seconds. Yeah, I did that calculation
pretty simple. But but and the reason why I wanted
to give that calculation. At that point Darnold had eleven
targets for thirty seven yards, and prior to that UH
(03:41):
and that juncture you had JSN he had been fifty
five percent of the targets and seventy percent of the
pass yards. However, the Seahawks were only on a pace
at that juncture. If you go down to second they
were on a pay staff seventy six total yards of
(04:04):
passing for the game from that point on, from that
that juncture, on that that endo drive, and then all
the second quarter they went from targets to JASN fifty
five percent, dropped it to twenty one percent, got other
people involved. The yards went from seventy percent to thirty
(04:24):
one for jsn UH after that juncture just thirty one
percent of the pass yards and the pace went from
as I said they before that they were on a
pace to have seventy six yards of passing. Their productivity
after that juncture was a pace that would be worth
four hundred and eleven yards passing for a game. That
(04:46):
is a big change. And so you just you just look,
I think it was a very pivotal game, uh for
Rashid sa heat, you know, not just the kickoff, but
you know, I think now he feels like he's part
of the team U. But there was time you know, hey,
they're rolling the coverage to to JSN. They're playing what's
called cover six, which means you you take cover two
(05:08):
to to JSN side, put a safety over the top,
but then you allow free access to uh to Rashid
hi head. And he's just one on one on most routes,
and so they motioned him. They hit him on on
some third down conversions. They the the the big dig
route right before the field goal, which was to she
(05:30):
head over the middle. There was only one pass rusher.
There was ten guys playing zone and yet rashi Hi
Hid he made a great move on the corner, got
into the inside. If you're dropping ten, they should have
been a lot there should have been a lot more holes.
But I think that for both Sam Darnold and for
Clint Kubiak, you know, uh, that drive and and and
(05:54):
the discussion to get other people involved, not to try
and force it to j SN. I think that was
a good thing for the football team.
Speaker 5 (06:01):
Well, nobody dissects it like you can and do so.
I mean, if you had to give the lion's share
of the credit, is it Kubiak making play calls where
the primary was someone else to start spreading it around
or was it Sam Darnold actually just not getting you know,
focused on trying to force it into Jays.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Yeah, that's a good question, and I think that the
tape shows evidence of both. I mean, you're you're you
know that motion play where you're going to motion him
and then run him on an Omaha route on on
third down, a quick out route. You know, that's clearly
he's the targeted guy. They were they on a number
of times. Flood routes are when you have a deep,
(06:44):
an intermediate, and a shallow uh concept and the way
the the you know, the the the Falcons were mixed.
They played a lot of man and man and and
they played a lot of zone. So so what they
were able to trigger some zone coverage and they would
get a weak side flood. What weak side flood means
(07:05):
is a strong side flood would be your intermediate is
a sail route, a corner route. You're deep is a
go route or a post route. And then there's somebody
in the flat, but the intermediate emanates on the strong
side of where the reed is. A weak side flood
is when you bring the backside receiver and slot and
(07:27):
slot him in between the deep in the shallow and
they hit thirty three yards on rashichi. He bringing him
from the other side, and it's just, you know, kind
of breathtaking how fast he can get to that spot.
So he's running intermediate crossing route. He caught the ball
twenty two yards from the line of scrimmage and he
(07:48):
got there, so dog one fast. So Darnold doesn't have
to wait. The picture presents itself. He's like, okay, I
got the deep guy clearing out the deep guy. I
got a flat. Now we are inserting for the opposite
side of the field. We're getting resichi heat to run
this deep angle cross or race route. There's other terms
that people use, but but they get over there and
(08:10):
and and uh so that's that's targeting. You know that
some serious speed getting over there. So yeah, I'd say
the answers both here.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Melanis with us r QB one Monday Morning Quarterback is
brought to you by I muckle Shut Bingo North creek roofing,
Washington Center for sleeping core construction. Home renovation can be
a nightmare, shoddy work, price gouging, even abandonment. Core Contractors
is your remodeling and restoration center, all right, So a
lot to discuss here in this game, certainly, Uh, But
(08:40):
on the defensive side of the ball, that was where
you were bending a little bit, not breaking in the
first half, and then you decided just not to bend
at all.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Let's just not even ben.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Uh and the second half and and and sort of
shut down Atlanta. I mean, they didn't shut out Bjon Robinson,
but did did keep him from destroy you. And we
have to talk about nick emon Waurie because we spent
a lot of time on him last week, and obviously
that was justified because man, he was.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Sensational yesterday, maybe the best we've ever seen him. He
is really blossoming, isn't he? A couple of things? Okay, So,
first of all, in my opinion, I thought the defensive
line had their poorest game since Tampa Bay. Among their
two or three worst games. I thought there was just
a noted and it was in my notes on Friday
to talk about the Falcons offensive line they don't have
(09:31):
Caleb McGarry the right tackle. The other four positions are
pretty damn good. I thought they they moved the line
of scrimmage better than I've seen almost any team against
the Seahawks. You know here there's articles in the Times
and everybody's throwing these flowers at the defensive line. I
just thought they were okay because I thought they got
moved too much. Now, the secondary, the back seven, even
(09:54):
if you want to count the linebackers, I thought had
a really good game active, you know, creating kaok and havoc.
But where the entire defense really clamped was in the
red zone. The Falcons. They had eighteen plays in the
red zone on the Falcons offense against Sales defense. A
(10:14):
successful play. This is not a me term. This has
been around for a few decades now. Successful play is
described as forty percent of the needed yards on first down,
sixty percent of the needed yards on second and all
the needed yards on third or fourth down, so that
that constitutes a successful play. The Falcons only had two
successful plays in the red zone for the entire game
(10:36):
out of eighteen.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
And so you know, when you talk about clamping down
the defensive line, all of a sudden, you're like, whoa,
that looks like the defensive line of the twenty twenty
five Seahawks. You know where was that forty yards ago?
But they just came alive and great. You know, you
know they're played a lot of zone down there. And
(10:59):
I tell you what I'm is so much more inspired
by watching defenses that play zone defense. Great because there's
a cohesion. You have to know where your help is.
You have to go, you know, cover this guy for
precisely the right number of steps down to the step
and then turn and don't get out of position, and
(11:19):
trust if you play man to man. Some people call
that cat defense. Don't confuse that with cat blitz. Is
that's a corner blitz. But people who call it cat blitz,
they just say, hey, our cat, my cat against your cat.
And if you can, you know, play good defense, well
you got better cats than them in man and man.
But the zone just the way they trigger on their
(11:40):
their route recognition, they're so well coached, they're they're tied together,
and you know, you get numbers like two successful plays
out of eighteen in the red zone.
Speaker 5 (11:49):
What's the main thing when a defense tightens up it's
obviously not just all right, guys, we've allowed them to
get down here. Now we've got to get tougher. I mean,
is it because there's not as much rooms they can't
really take the top off, there is no top left.
Is it that the secondary plays with cohesion like you're
talking about in the zone or is it? I mean,
(12:10):
obviously it's a combination of more than just one thing.
But from your standpoint, when a good defense has the
ability to then stiffen up when they get down in
the red zone, why typically is that?
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Yeah, you know, I think I have opposite responses to that.
I think, first and foremost, I think the adage, hey
stop the run and get ahead of the sticks, you know,
put them in second along, etc. And of course the
field tightens up. But I think all you know, from
a quarterback perspective, you know, on first down, when they're
(12:41):
inclined to take shots and send two or three, you know,
at least a couple guys at the end zone and
then have a checkdown, it's like you better, you better
be able to you know, deny any windows because out
in the middle of the field, if you give up
a seventeen yard completion, okay, you know you live. You know,
they got a first down lineup and stop him. On
(13:03):
the next year, you give up a seventeen yard completion,
it's a touchdown. So you got to be really sticky
in terms of presenting preventing those big plays that people
draw up to try to get, particularly to the back
of the end zone in the red zone, you know,
and and uh so you got to be sound over
the top and you got to stop the run, and
they were doing both. As for Emon worry, I don't know, Chuck,
(13:27):
I'm not sure if I I answered that. You know,
there's so much to talk about with him, But.
Speaker 4 (13:31):
Where did they take it that you have not seen
him go before?
Speaker 3 (13:34):
I mean yesterday. Well, I think his recognition, you know,
he's you heard the sound bite from Mike McDonald, he's
I think it's very important for Mike McDonald to not
overburden him with responsibilities. It's like, hey, trust your instinct,
and you know he had tackle for loss where he's
a like essentially a Nickelson. He's just a Sam linebacker
(13:56):
and at two hundred and twenty pounds, you know he
has the ability, but his it's his it's his athleticism.
At that size, I mean at six foot three. Here's
his here's his percentiles for safeties. He's in the ninety
one percentile for height, his arm span, and we'll talk
(14:17):
about the field. Go block is eighty seven percent. His
forty yard dash is ninety six percent. His ten yards
split his ninety three percent. His broad jump is one
hundred percent. He had one hundred and thirty eight in
broad YMP his vertical of forty three inch, his ninety
nine percent all and is tackling. By the way, coming
out of college, he was in the one hundred percentile
for tackling efficiency. So you're talking about a dude who's
(14:40):
a really big man who can move and jump. He's
got explosion. And so now when you're just you're kind
of say, hey, cut it loose. You know, his tackle
for loss is just he just saw an opening off
ball line back. That wasn't a dog, that wasn't a
run blitz, that was just him being off ball and sensing, oh,
here here's an opportunity to knife in there. And and
(15:03):
he's so fast because of his size, he covers a
lot of ground. He's strong enough that unless you really
get a center cut block on him, if you just
get a shoulder, he's gonna run through it. And so
I think his instincts are playing out. Uh, you know
you got a credit Witherspoon for on both those interceptions,
him triggering on you know, as a zone defender, just
(15:26):
being sticky in zone, popping the ball up. But him
and Worry had the you know, the the quick hands,
the athletic hands to be able. That's that's a hard
play for a lot of defenders to make that tip ball,
but he was able to well, oh I got it
and then converted to an interception, So that play making
ability is just coming through. And then on the field
goal block, here's the guy. You guys have been watching
(15:48):
football along that I was gonna say as long as me,
but I'm older. But you know what I mean. You
guys been watching You know the guys who play on
the edge on field goal block, they're always cornerbacks. They're
always cornerbacks, right because because they have the quickness to
turn the radius of the circle right. Well, they put
him and Worry out there at I already gave you
(16:09):
the height in the reach and everything, so so you
tell me, in a game of inches, the guy to
be that big, but then also to have an ability
to turn it, uh the hoop on the field goal
block as if he was a cornerback, but just in
a longer package. Well that's that's a that's a nightmare
for a special teams meeting. I was. I was a holder,
(16:29):
so I've been in those meetings. Yeah, I mean, you know,
he just creates havoc due to his athleticism and his
emerging instincts. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (16:37):
Well, I mean he's probably on his way then to
living up to like the X factor that was Jamal Adams.
Speaker 6 (16:43):
Right, almost dumped that on. That's what we're going for,
isn't it? I thought X factor?
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Yeah? A weapon? What was it? Weapon?
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Weapon? How that's invest in the nation. She well, you
know the sack he you know, there's a timing to
that and ability to close ground, be powerful. Uh yeah,
you know things that we we uh really didn't see
from from.
Speaker 5 (17:15):
I haven't seen emon worry do a header yet like
try to get an interception and just headed back to
somebody else yet, but maybe next week.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I do wonder how many sacks even wore he could
get if Pete Carroll was just trying to get him.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Then yeah, yeah, right, just so he could he could
turn to the owner, so he could turn to judges, Yeah,
Jody Allen and say, hey see this is why we
acquired him. Oh what a fraud, that whole situation. Sorry,
I don't know why I went.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
There, even even Worri Sack. I mean he almost had
a forced fumble too. I mean he approached it the
perfect way and almost ripped the ball out of Cousin's hands.
I mean, just just the sensational And I'm glad you
brought up Witherspoon because to me, it felt like every
single play he was involved in.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
I thought he had a great game yesterday too. Oh yeah,
I'll touch on him. But just a final thought on
the on the Emon Warrior Sack. So when I was
I coached youth in and high school, middle school, high
school for twenty four seasons, and and you know, so
that means I was involved for the defense in some
of those years. And I would have a drill where
(18:26):
I would have the I would have the defensive guys,
anybody who's likely to to be coming after the quarterback.
I would set up a cone. I would have a
spot for the quarterback, and then I would set up
a cone two yards to the right handed quarterback's right,
because you don't want to go at straight at a
right handed quarterback he's because his impulse will be to
(18:46):
evade to the right. Now, all of a sudden, the
right handed quarterback, he's outside the pocket, and you got
a good chance of losing that play. He can you know,
he can remain a running threat. So what I do
is set up a cone like sprint to the cone
and then to the quarterback. Does that make sense so
that it denies the quarterback's instincts to evade to his right.
(19:08):
And you've heard me on a number of times coming
and go, how are we letting a right handed quarterback
out of the pocket. I mean he lost the forty
nine er game because d Law, a guy with all
his experience, led a right handed quarterback out out of
the pocket to the right and so on the em
and worry play. If you look at it, he looked
exactly like I would say in the teaching tape teaching
(19:29):
my kids, like go to the cone and then change
your angle to the quarterback so that he has Now
you're gonna say, Cousins, not that athletic, But there's a
certain instinct of like, no, I'm not gonna even let
you think about bailing out of the escape hatch to
the right side. I'm gonna I'm gonna take that angle
(19:49):
then close hard into you. And that's exactly what he did.
I don't you know, I don't know if he did
the drill, you know, that's just instinctive in his mind,
or McDonald broke out drill. But whatever it was, you know,
it was textbook how he finished. As for Witherspoon, I
mean Doug Garnett, I mean, who doesn't love the way
(20:10):
this guy competes. I mean he is just so infectious
and feisty, and he's got him playing corner that he
doesn't play in the what's called the overhang defender as
much because he had been nickel. I think that's a
good decision. I think it preserves his body to play
more to the outside. But he's still when he gets
(20:31):
the opportunity, he's a feisty dog and he's gonna get after.
He's gonna give you all one hundred and eighty one
pounds that he's that he's got.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
Hugh mellanis with us r QB one.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
We are Monday Morning Quarterbacking, which usually means two straight
hours of Seahawks conversation, but I want to get thoughts
from you on the college football playoff controversies that have
stemmed from the rankings that were made official yesterday. So
we'll talk some college football next Sports Radio ninety three
point three kJ R F m.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
H.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
It's Monday Morning Quarterback with Hugh Millen here this morning,
and normally it's all Sea Hawk Talk, brought to you
by Core Construction, Washington Center for Sleep at North Creek Roofing,
and Muckleshoote Bingo in Auburn, your home for Machine Go.
But this college football story is such a big topic
that I wanted to get huge thoughts on it. What
(21:33):
was your biggest reaction.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
To Sunday's announcements.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
I thought that the committee got every single pick right.
Speaker 6 (21:43):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
And I understand the arguments for against. I think we
all do. It's just what you value. But I think
that I'm glad that the argument is is not the BCS.
The argument is, you know number three got screwed, and
then initially in the CFP, then oh number five got screwed. Well,
(22:06):
now we're saying number thirteen got screwed. But I think
that given the circumstances, Yes, every single spot, every team,
and every spot. In my opinion, I agree with.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
Oh well, I mean, then Alabama's right where they should be,
even though I mean, I don't want to fault them
for losing in a conference championship game when others didn't
even have the opportunity to and yet it seems like
they did do that to b YU.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Agreed, and there's a distinction in my mind. First of all, Bama,
you watch the game. What color jerseys were was Alabama
wearing in that game? You guys remember, h yeah they
were red? No? They were yeah? Yeah, right, yeah, they're
wearing their their dark reds. You know why because they're
(22:59):
the number one seed from the SEC one hundred years
from now. If you look in an almanac, the Alabama
was the number one team in the regular season in
the SEC. There was four who had one loss, and
the way the conference determines, they say strength of schedule.
Of those four Bama, Georgia, Texas A and n Ole
(23:22):
Miss Bama had the number one strength of schedule. Georgia
had the number two. Now Bama wasn't number one seed
because they had the number one strength of schedule. They were.
They just eliminated Texas A and N and min Ole
miss due to strength to schedule, and then it left
George and Bama, and because Bama beat Georgia, they were
number one. And so if you had told me in
(23:45):
August the team that this is the SEC now maybe
at the top two or three, it's even with other conferences,
but you go ten twelve deep. I mean, these are
the teams from the SEC that didn't make it. They
got five who were in Texas didn't make it, Vanderbilt, Missouri, Tennessee, LSU.
That is by I think Anti Metrics is the deepest
(24:07):
conference in college football. And for Alabama to be the
number one, if you told me in August the number
one team from the SEC, whoever it is, do they
deserve to be in a twelve team playoff? I would
say absolutely, unequivocally yes. And you know, yeah they played,
they didn't look good. But what in the hell is
(24:29):
with college football? In the NFL and the Major League Baseball,
all these sports the best teams get a bye. So
how is college football got this thing where now the
best teams, well, they don't get a bye. They have
to play each other. And teams like Oregon, and A
and M and H and Ole miss they sit here
and they don't play. So I think we all understand that.
(24:53):
But to me, it's what I value, and Alabama is
in and I don't have any hesitation with that.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
Yeah, I don't think college conference championships are going to
be around much longer.
Speaker 3 (25:03):
I think it's too difficult. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
I mean even in the ACC, I mean, why do
you have a tie breaker system that puts why couldn't
you have Miami versus Virginia and we could have avoided
all of this?
Speaker 4 (25:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Yeah, but even the tie breakers.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Seasons, Yeah, I agree. Talk about Notre Dame. Do they
have a beef though? I know, I know you're saying
they got it all right? So why do you think
Notre Dame deserved to be on the outside looking in?
Speaker 3 (25:30):
Well, listen, they have been invited to the conference, the
Big Ten. I've looked it up for decades. They played
one hundred and nineteen years. They have turned down the
opportunity to be in a conference, the Big Twelve, the ACC.
In fact, during the COVID they were temporarily in the ACC.
And of course they've they've been in the Big East
and the ACC and other sports. But they want to
(25:51):
be independent. Okay, fine, you can still win the national
championship as an independent, but you're going to lose all
ties if you go out and you play a schedule
like that. They their their their one impressive win is
is usc and they you know, they lose the AM
and m they lose to Miami and then they they
don't want to play in a conference. So to me,
(26:13):
when you compare that to what Alabama, you know, Alabama
had to go four straight games and beat and they
did beat ranked teams, I think that the you know,
the schedule and the idea that so before they played
the conference championship game, then you would have said Alabama
at two losses has a much more impressive resume than
(26:36):
Notre Dame at two losses and then at least on
the balance of the season. And then and then you say,
well Alabama had to play and well, okay, Notre Dame
is never going to put themselves in that situation. In
my opinion, what I value, I'd say, Notre Dame, you're
going to lose all ties. This was a tie, you
lost the tie. I'm with you.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
I think I think that there's room for that, and
yet that kind of goes to the Tulane and James Madison.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Yeah, before you get to that, just a point on
Notre Dame. They played football for one hundred nineteen years.
For one hundred and four of those years, there was
no Big Ten championship game. So in that so the discrepancy,
you know, between them being independent, it didn't it didn't
get thrust to the forefront when in the rankings because
nobody else was playing conference championship games. In this era
(27:23):
of conference championship games, I think that they're in a
detriment to the the in the manner that I described.
Speaker 5 (27:30):
All right, well, I mean so too. Then to me,
it's like there's a couple of teams you were saying,
like Texas and Vanderbilt and some other teams that are
good teams in that SEC conference. For example, Notre Dame
is a good team. They've been playing good football, and
yet they're along with the others on the outside looking in.
And I like, giving an underdog an opportunity to play
with the big boys, and yet I'm not one hundred
(27:51):
percent sure if I mean, you're just looking at you know, Tulane,
for example, one of their losses. It's not like they
went undefeated. One of their losses, they lost forty five
to ten to Old Miss is who they are going
to face now in the first round of the playoffs.
It doesn't seem like that's one of the teams that
really has a chance of winning this thing.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Everything that I'm going to say really has nothing to
do with, hey, do we want to give the little
guy a chance? You know, look, look we're the United
States and the Olympics. You know a lot of people
look at us like we're the Yankees, or you know,
we're Notre Dame or what have you. This is an
argument from pragmatics, and I think we all I'll just
(28:31):
say for me, and I'll try maybe to convince you,
we need to shut the hell up and accept the
group of five. For the following reason. If you know,
when I was a player rep in the NFL, did
a lot of reading about anti trust law school. We're
going through the strike then that intrigued me. I've read
(28:53):
all fifty four pages of Allston versus the NCAA, all
the things that a lot of college felt football fans.
I would say most football fans are turned off about
college football the nil the revenue sharing, the open transfer portal,
all of that was triggered by the NCAA, who got
(29:15):
greedy in the Alston case. That was just that was
not a case about the compense overall compensation for players.
That was just educated education related like computers or postgraduate training,
or a violin for a musician a music major. And
the NCAA they lost at the appellate court or the
(29:37):
lower court. They lost at the appellate court. They took
it to the Supreme Court, not Austin, and they lost
nine to nothing. They have had some really bad legal
advice when you look with respect to understanding anti trust laws.
When you look at the college football playoffs, this is
the courts look at that as a multi billion dollar
commercial marketplace, not just a tournament. They control the TV money,
(30:01):
the recruiting, visibility, conference, financial survival. I'm talking about the
group of five right now. Okay, the group of five.
They compete in the same division under the same rules,
and so the courts say that's the same legal marketplace.
If the if the power for schools want to coordinate
some exclusion that is unlawful restrative trade and from the
(30:24):
championship market and the same principles that they lost the
Austin and lost the old Bona abandon case. You cannot
restrict economic opportunity without lawful competitive justification, and so they
they would be running a foul. They would be foolish
for another time to UH to to push the group
(30:48):
of five into anti trust court, because that they lose
an anti trust court and they misjudged like they did
with with Austin. They're going to have cord inclusion of
the group in five. You know you're gonna get a
lot more group of five teams involved. They're gonna have
force revenue sharing, okay, just like they've ordered the players
to get about twenty million, they're gonna have UH an
(31:10):
anti trus court. When you lose, it's called treble damagel
treble damages. What's treble just meets triple So whatever injury
you can show that you've you have, then the UH
the defendant owes you three times as much. You're gonna
have a loss of postseason control. I would just say
this in the same way that the the NCAA should
(31:31):
have just said, hey, let the players have their freaking violin.
Don't let this get exposed in the courts, I would
say to you know, for me, I just look at it.
It's a ten team tournament and there's two teams from
the group of five. Let it be. Let those two
teams play. And if you if you say, well, that's
bad football, don't watch, just to say Oregon's got a
(31:54):
scrimmage and it just had instead of it being an
intersquad scrimmage, they're gonna scrimmage JM. You don't watch, but
don't try and eliminate JMU, because you're going to have consequences.
You had no idea, the idea and guess what, you've
already lived it in the last five years. I think.
So let's understand where the NCAA and and where the
(32:16):
college football playoff would be with respect to the anti
trust laws, and don't incite those group of fives to
take the power forward to court.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
I think James Madison's winning by thirty here.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
Hey, listen, I'd rather I'd rather give them three teams.
If you want to pump it up to sixteen, I'd
rather and and and not have to go to court.
So at any event, I hope, I hope, I'll just
I'm not you know, think how you want to you
want to hate the JMU and and and Tulane is
in there, fine, but there's a damn good reason why
(32:52):
they're in there. Just put them in another category in
your mind. Just put them in a different category. It's
a ten team power for conference. And get us what Oregon,
Oregon gotta buy with James Madison and Ole Miss gotta
buy with tu let Just think of it as not
four teams, with the buy six teams. That's what I
(33:13):
would recommend.
Speaker 4 (33:14):
It's still better than just having four in so.
Speaker 3 (33:18):
And by the way, you know, the one thing they
could do. You know, if you look up, if you
just google NFL Playoff on procedures, you can find it
right on NFL dot com. It says what happens if
two teams they call it two clubs tie? What are
three or more? And there's literally twelve stages in order
in order and how they The NCAA's problem is they
(33:40):
need to do it, like they need to say this
is what the system is, so that we don't have
to wait for the committee, like what are they doing
this year? What are they doing next year? You just
follow the program just like the NFL, and have twelve
steps on how to determine who's in.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Monday Morning Quarterback with Hugh Millan, and we will get
back to Seahawks talk next and of course with coach
Holmgren at nine o'clock Sports Radio ninety three point three KJRFM.
Speaker 7 (34:11):
Third of the yard play action Donald on the roll
looking downfield, deflected kind it's intercepted, picked up by my
cues off the deflection of down at the thirty of Seattle.
Speaker 4 (34:29):
Fox Sports with the highlight call.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
The Seahawks had a lot of highlights in the second
half of their blowout, went over the Atlanta Falcons to
move to ten and three on the season, thirty seven
to nine, the final score of a game that was
tied at halftime, six to six. Mike Homer will join
us at nine o'clock, which means one more segment here
with just Hugh millin r QB one as part of
(34:52):
our Monday Morning Quarterback session and boy Man game talk
about a game that turns on a dime, and we've
already talked about the second half adjustments, but Rashid shah
Heed to return that kick and I guess Mike McDonald
called it in the second half. You can't get much
better start to a second half than that. Hugh, Yeah,
(35:15):
I don't know. I'd pump the brakes on that thought.
I think that every coach says that, you know, hey,
we're getting the kick off, you know, you know, hey, hey,
let's return for a touchdown. Yeah, you say say it
two hundred and fifty times and finally it happens. I
don't know, maybe that was the first time.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
I haven't been in that locker, but but I think
that's pretty typical coach talk. But I'll tell you what,
that that heat that he brings is just breathtaking, right,
I mean, he has such a beautiful stride. I mean
you could you could put a champagne glass on top
of his helmet as he's sprinting. He's just so smooth
and there's just this this gliding nature to it. I mean,
(35:55):
just beautiful gait in him. And it's just so explosive.
And I mean, you had Todd gone and I had
it in my notes where the great blocks, but but
you had you had a double team at the point
of attack. Bobo uh And I'll get those numbers in
a second. Bobo had the most difficult single block. And
(36:15):
the good thing that he did is while he started
to lose it, which will happen. These are long bloss
to sustain. But how often do you see a great
kickoff return like that, And of course it's negated because
somebody held, so Bobo at the point of attack had
the discretion to say, hey, I lost that block, which
was better, but I'm just I'm not gonna I'm not
(36:37):
gonna hold because of it. And that was where he
had a slight broken tackle there uh coming up the
pipe for Shihet and the rest of it was just
you know, he just fast enough to make guys miss
and uh and and so at any rate, that's you
know that fourth and fifth round and that was that
that they gave up. Nice to see it pay off
(36:57):
payoff yesterday.
Speaker 5 (36:58):
Well, I don't know how few have enough time to
get into that Donald interception.
Speaker 3 (37:03):
I'm sure there's some people like, oh now.
Speaker 5 (37:04):
The turnover and although I don't know for sure, that's
one that you would say are all created equal?
Speaker 3 (37:09):
Right, Well it you know, it's oddly it was the
same structure of the play that member against the Vikings
when when Max Broswell threw that eighty five yard pick six.
Of course you do. It was just a week ago
Ernest Jones right. Structurally was the same thing. You're you're
you're in an offset eye. The fullback's going away, but
the run the tailback is going to the side of
(37:29):
the role. And so Canine was kind of covered there
and and so Donald. You know, as a right handed
quarterback going to his left, he's they've had more naked
bootlegs to his left. I think that's a harder throw
Eliza Royo, you know he's working on man to man
against a corner. They're a lighter man. You know, you
(37:49):
want on that route, you want to do what's called
the ladder step, go vertical and then flatten. He did that,
he didn't get the separation goes. He's going against a
faster man. What you see in JSN all over it
was on yesterday's tape, it's been on the tape all
the time, is he will lose ground slightly on an
inbreaking route when he senses that the need. And so
(38:13):
I think Arroyo could have lost more ground. What I
mean by that has come close angled, closer to the
line of scrimmage. You know, he kind of slowed down,
which which caused the ball to be ahead. I think
Arroyo was thinking, hey, I'll get this guy in my
back like a rebounder. I think Darnold even referenced that
in the post game, So they weren't quite on the
(38:35):
same page and the technique. And by the way, one
further point, this is what this is what professional football
is all about. Precisions in the detail. So this is
a we talked about the week side flood, deep, intermediate
and short, and and Arroyo's being the intermediate guy from
the opposite side Cody White to that song, He's got
the deep route against that corner, He's got to go
(38:55):
over the top of him to create a nice picture
for the quarterback. Instead, he tries the crawl face. So
instead of having deep, intermediate, short, in essence, there was
two guys in the intermediate window. Do you want to
have better spacing than that? That could cause a little
bit of a hesitation for a quarterback. I don't know
if Darnold would confirm that, but I know that that
(39:17):
spacing wasn't right. So just cleaning up the details and
at least you got that red zone defense we talked about.
Only two out of eighteen successful plays by the Falcons
in the red zone. They cleaned up the mess.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
It's Monday morning, quarterback time.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
Mike Omber joins the conversation next as we continue to
talk about the seahawks tenth win of the year over
the Atlanta Falcons, a second half runaway on Sports Radio
ninety three point three KJRFM.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com